Being Ahead of the Meta.

[Almosteric]

Wth gatecrash and competive decks already staking their ground, where do you see the meta going after dragons maze drops and things start to rotate?

Any ideas on how to stay ahead of the curve?

Any cards you think will make a name or themselves in standard after rotation?  For me it's 
{Master Biomancer}. I think this guys going to be a house.

[Dudecore]

Wth gatecrash and competive decks already staking their ground, where do you see the meta going after dragons maze drops and things start to rotate?

Any ideas on how to stay ahead of the curve?

Any cards you think will make a name or themselves in standard after rotation?  For me it's 
{Master Biomancer}. I think this guys going to be a house.

I don't see him becoming great until {Supreme Verdict} is sufficiently dealt with. I don't see anything breaking through until that card is dealt with. {Boros Charm} handles it, but right now {Supreme Verdict} keeps the entire format honest, and any crazy aggro decks that would thrive and go off, have to respect that card.

The meta is truly open, it is a good thing. Standard may finally be healthy for the first time in 3 years.

[Dudecore]

I love cards like {Supreme Verdict} and {Force of Will}. They make you design decks that play around them, because if they didn't exist - then every broken thing would be viable.

Standard now has a competitive deck in every shard, nothing is truly amazing - but most decks are competitive. {Supreme Verdict} keeps ridiculous Simic, Boros and Gruul decks from out classing everyone, keeps Frites from obliterating everything, and stops bant control decks from out tempo-ing anyone's best.

[Teysa karlov]

Agreed, we really can't know until spoilers.  I'm still curious to see if they'll actually make gate-related cards good, or if they'll continue to just be dead cards.  I actually love the gates themselves, but all the cards they have made like {Ogre Jailbreaker} and {Crackling Perimeter} are just so bad and unplayable I'm kind of annoyed with WotC for printing them.  I keep waiting for a one- or two-drop enchantment that reads "Guildgates come into play untapped," but we only get one more set for them to do it, and it's the tiny set.  Kind of off topic, sorry.  End of rant!

If they made that enchantment then maze's end decks may happen

[Wally]

If  {Rites of Flourishing} was still in standard I suspect people wouldn't mind playing gates,

If they did make that enchantment you mentioned, it would likely cost 4 or 5.
If it was 1 or 2 it would be the biggest money card in the set. Effectively making incredibly common gates as powerful as rare shock lands.

Also 'staying ahead of the meta' is a false phrase in itself. The meta changes and evolves as people play different decks. By trying to stay ahead you are just becoming part of the current meta, so there is no real 'ahead'
{Ponder} on that for a bit

[Almosteric]

If  {Rites of Flourishing} was still in standard I suspect people wouldn't mind playing gates,

If they did make that enchantment you mentioned, it would likely cost 4 or 5.
If it was 1 or 2 it would be the biggest money card in the set. Effectively making incredibly common gates as powerful as rare shock lands.

Also 'staying ahead of the meta' is a false phrase in itself. The meta changes and evolves as people play different decks. By trying to stay ahead you are just becoming part of the current meta, so there is no real 'ahead'
{Ponder} on that for a bit

Haha. I agree. We are always in the current meta and/or becoming a part of it through development of new decks and practice.
That's what makes this community great!

More or less I was just wondering is what are people predictions of what standard will be like after DM drops.  I understand without spoilers no one can say for sure where we are headed but this thread may be a way to jump start our imaginations before/when they are realesed.

[Bman0121]

Yeah, I suppose a 2 CMC all gates come in untapped would be pretty OP.  They could put restrictions on it (i.e., 2 CMC, but only if you control two or more guildgates or something like that).  In all honesty, I'm hoping they print a new mono-black board wipe to give MBC a really legitimate chance in constructed, since I think that's really all it's lacking right now.  I love {Mutilate}, but I think 4 sweepers isn't enough in the current standard environment, and I think {Barter in Blood} just doesn't get there.  I personally think we'll still see aggressive decks dominating the format, but with enough good control and mid-range cards to keep the aggro players honest.

If we do get a second black sweeper (and frankly, what I want isn't "destroy all creatures" for 5 or 6, I want something more like "destroy all creatures with power 2 or less" for 3, or even all creatures get -2/-2 until end of turn..I mean, I think {Cower in Fear} is already ALMOST playable), I think we may FINALLY see the occasional Grixis deck putting up decent win %s.  I also think, with a little more support, WBR could break out of The Aristocrats, and we might even see something like WBR tokens taking advantage of the awesomeness that is {Assemble the Legion}.  IF that happens, we'll see a lot more {Illness in the Ranks} in sideboards.  Agh, just talking about it is getting me pumped.

Im building a red bantchantment deck with {Assemble the Legion} i forgot about {Illness in the Ranks} being a real card.....

[FlickerYourOwnIdentity]

The reason i like master biomancer is cards like {Assemble the Legion}, and {Infinite Reflection}.  But those are the 2 cards that truely help that card shine.  But remember half of that group of two cards is rotating out, same as avacyn against supreme verdict.  Sadly the only viable protection is the {Boros Charm} after rotation.  Although I'm hoping to see some sort of industuctability in M14 and Dragons Maze.  Although we might have to wait for M14 because it doesn't look like an industuctability card build for Dragon Maze.  Now I hope both sets impress me, because if not I will not play standard for a while.

[MuggyWuggy]

I think it's going to be about which guilds you combine. Blue green white? Green black white? Green white red? That will be interesting to see those synergies with the cards we already know and the cards to be revealed in DM

[FlickerYourOwnIdentity]

Anyone for counter mania with simic+golgari

[Hunteroffire9]

When rtr came out I was getting first place all the time with junk rites, but now evey plays it I am finding new decks like red junk midrange.

[Wally]

The reason i like master biomancer is cards like {Assemble the Legion}, and {Infinite Reflection}....

{Infinite Reflection} non token creatures...

[FlickerYourOwnIdentity]

Oh I know, I mean separate reasons.  Infinite is for one playstyle, assemble is for a different.

[Birdbrain]

And {stormtide leviathan} can appeal to Timmy, Johnny and Spike