CBF checking the cards atm, I think the escalate cards are alright, but they don't have flash? If they did they would be fantastic.

Yeah true, I just haven't had enough experience with delirium/resurrection. I'll leave it to the Graveyard/delirium experts

Meh, underwhelming set at 1st glance. The obvious standout best cards are white (Gisela and Thalia seem the most powerfull cards, the 3 mana escalate removal seems strong also and the Thalia's Lancers+Bruna combo seems sweet). Black got some nice new toys also. Green didn't seem to get much and blue and red got in general pretty screwd again (there is a lack of pushed for standard cards).
There seems to be a lot of support for delirium, although I'm a bit sceptical of how good it still is since the cards are mostly very aggressive oriented and losing tempo to achieve the delirium seems a nonbo with the strategy itself.
I don't think neither vampires or zombies will make a splash. The new cards seem to be very powerful when the synergies are going but very underwhelming when they don't happen and that was the problem of these decks. I was expecting them to reprint stuff like Gravecrawler, Geralf's messenger or Falkenrath aristrocrats or print stuff with similar power level but I guess Wizards doesn't like competitive tribal.
The emerge Eldrazi (deep fiend, craterhoof 2 and the double discard one) seem very powerfull and the haste land also seems quite good(especially good vs planeswalkers). Not sure if Emrakul is better than Ulamog in midrange decks, it will need testing.
Overall I except both standard and duels metas to be mostly unchanged, with every deck getting minor upgrades and a GW based midrange deck still dominating.

At first I was like:but why would I want delirium in blue? Then I saw the draw spell that becomes an instant speed draw 3 for 4 if delirious.

I'm so confused by the fact there was actually about 3 pages of discussion about a card that's just a very bad counter.

Think of this: is it much worse at countering than Calculated Dismissal? Yes it is. Do we use Calculated Dismissal. No we don't.

I think UW flyers/spirits, GW humans/tokens and a bant combo will go well. Don't think vampires and zombies are strong enough.

Not sure about control though, I'm sure the good control players will figure it out.

Jesus, Contingency Plan is great.

Delirium control, Bant fliers, Azorius fliers, Bant Humans, Selesnya Humans are all alot stronger. Superfriends got very little besides potentially Deploy the Gatewatch. This reminds of before SOI when everyone told me Ramp would remain the best deck. Give this set a week and the meta will look very different.

It's a sick combo with opalescence and assault suit .

I still feel advanced stichwing might be a decentish secondary plan alongside rise from the tide if you go the control route : 4 toughness ,flying and reanimable means you don't have to protect it from too many things.

@divinenert:I could see superfriends abusing lili and primal druid way more than the new white sorcery.

Well as one of the de-facto humans players, the card I am most excited about is:



And if I'm right, it will be sufficient, all on it's own, to make Boros Humans the real deal. You'll have access to red direct damage and removal, as well as one of - if not - the best 2/3 drop package for an aggressive shell. That card alongside Hanweir Captain, and Thalia's Lt is going to be very strong, possibly strong enough to justify the whole deck, which wasn't particularly bad before the expansion.

Don't forget that Abbot of Keral Keep is still a card, even though it's been unplayable this season.

Also, Green is getting some fantastic 1 drops.

and

Both look very playable to me.

Obviously, we have no idea what we'll be getting, but still... Don't underestimate this set too much.

This may also be exceedingly good. I will definitely be testing it.

Both quite tasty.

Was Delirium control ever a thing? I dont see many cards that can make it something relevant also. Azorius fliers got stronger of course because of so many good white cards(the new 3 mana spirit is quite good also) but I dont see it being a format defining thing. Selesnya Humans was already one of the best decks in Duels and it indeed got much stronger. I never claimed Superfriends got much because they actually didn't (Deploy the Gatewatch reminds me a lot of See the Unwritten and that card was very inconsistent). You might have enough good cards to play a 3 or even 2 color GW midrange deck now, which I still expect to remain the top dog.

Hanweir Garrison is indeed very good. It seems a slightly worst Rabblemaster (very good still).
Both green 1 drops are indeed good, I am just not sure if the remaining shell is good enough to support them

Fwiw, ramp did remain the best deck. Didn't it win 2 out of 3 tournaments? Or am I mistaken? (I know there was a second tournament on iOS, so I guess we can try to claim 2 of 4, but that's still 50%)

Edit: regarding the 1 drops, they may be a huge deal if we get both of them. They aren't going into an already existing shell, they will create one all on their own - which will have proven cards in it like Sylvan Advocate, and Tireless Tracker alongside possibly good red damage and werewolves, or just Duskwatch Recruiter, Lambholt Pacifist, etc... all of which are VERY good... the deck will build itself, and be very efficient for Duels)

And Thalia herself!

I'm not convinced of Boros consistency but hopefully a good build is developed.

I'm a little ho-hum on those green drops since they don't have flying, but mix them up and that helps

I think divinevert was talking about standard when Oath come out. GR ramp was a decent deck that got many seemingly very powerfull tools like Kozile's Return and World Breaker. The deck ended up underperforming to the expectations, with 4 C rally/coco and an Abzan midrange shell remaining on top

It also has the advantage of fixing a major shortcoming of Selesnya or Azorius... it has direct damage that can hit PW.deck where it hurts, and reach when needed.

Well, I'll wait to see what he says, but I think he's forgotten who the tournament champions actually were. You were a Superfriends build though right? And PW decks did well in all tournaments, so that shouldn't be forgotten either.

I screwed up, because I should have played Selesnya in both. The WG Humans deck was clearly superior, but I didn't want to play the same deck twice. (I don't think it would have mattered, but maybe.)

t3 Foul Emissary t4 Elder Deep Fiend on opponent's upkeep, tap their lands, smash for 8 that's strong.

Id' be surprised that combo doesn't make it into standard.

I see a simic deck that can go all the way up to the craterboar behemoth right now.