Top 8 Standard Cards from Crimson Vow

8. Valorous Stance

It's been around five years since Valorous Stance was last in Standard. During its time in the format, it was a staple, as many of the best threats had big butts. Siege Rhino, Anafenza, the Foremost, and Dragons like Dragonlord Ojutai and Thunderbreak Regent all fell to the two-mana instant. But they were also protected by it; chains of Valorous Stances on the stack were not uncommon.

If you're playing a White deck with creatures, particularly one geared more toward midrange, you will be playing three or four copies of this card. Because of its flexibility, it's never dead. It answers all the premier threats of the format (Hullbreaker Horror, Esika's Chariot, all the Dragons, Adeline, Wrenn Treefolk) while also providing valuable counterplay to the creatureless Alrund's Epiphany and Dimir decks.

The thing that is currently holding back Valorous Stance is that there is only one deck in which White is playable, and that's Monowhite Aggro, which is too fast to be all that interested in the card when they have options like Brutal Cathar and Portable Hole. If the format eventually tends toward midrange, be prepared to see this card a lot.

7. Dollhouse of Horrors

In the past, we've had similar cards to Dollhouse of Horrors become the centerpiece of Tier 1 decks. Whip of Erebos and God-Pharaoh's Gift were both powerhouses, though neither was an immediate player. Figuring out the right build (closer to combo vs closer to midrange) and the right payoffs will take time, and will likely change with the format.

Already, there are powerful options among the creatures. Hullbreaker Horror's abilities are insane against everything, but there are also more niche options such as Avabruck Caretaker; Toxrill, the Corrosive; Jadzi, Oracle of Arcavios; Koma, Cosmos Serpent; Olivia, Crimson Bride; Phylath, World Sculptor ; Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider; Xanathar, Guild Kingpin; and, of course, Lier, Disciple of the Drowned. The jankier players among us might even try to combine it with Teferi, Who Savors Sunsets (or whatever he's called) to get multiple activations. Decks like this have great access to sideboard bullets and tend to be highly customizable.

While White and Green Aggro and UR Alrund's Epiphany/Hullbreaker Horror place tough constraints on the format, if midrange ever does become viable, I expect to see a Dollhouse deck emerge.

6. Sorin the Mirthless

Planeswalkers that upticked to draw a card and downticked to protect themselves used to be the bread and butter of WotC's planeswalker design. These designs typically cost 5 mana and were almost always Constructed-playable, but they often felt the same. Over time, appropriately, WotC explored other designs. The last comparable planeswalkers were Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Vraska, Golgari Queen, and Vivien Reid. More recently, Wizards has returned to these designs with Lolth, Spider Queen and Wrenn and Seven.

Sorin, importantly, costs four mana and can use its downtick twice before dying. His ultimate is appropriately game-winning, and he's a mono-colored planeswalker. While he lacks the flexibility of Chandra, Torch of Defiance and her multiple upticks, he otherwise compares well to the old Standard powerhouse. He ultimates at the same rate and draws cards without needing to build around it dramatically, like you might with Vraska, Golgari Queen.

Taken together, I'm surprised that Sorin hasn't gotten more attention. He seems strong as an option for aggressive Black decks to grind with and as a card advantage option for Black midrange decks. While his downtick isn't quite as strong as Chandra's, it does have synergy with the Vampires deck, provides some nice reach with flying, and can pad your life total. Even as a worse version of Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Sorin looks like a nice option for Standard play.

5. Self-Mill Package

In order for cards like Dollhouse of Horrors or other “graveyard-matters” decks to be competitive, we need competitive mill cards. Crimson Vow delivers; Undead Butler isn't getting a ton of attention right now, but neither did Satyr Wayfinder when it was initially spoiled. Butler fuels the graveyard, chumps or can be sacrificed, and then replaces itself, much like Wayfinder. While Wayfinder is typically better on Turn 2 with the ability to hit a land drop, Butler is a better top-deck in the late game.

While we don't have Wayfinder to hit land drops, we do have Mulch, which doesn't come with a body, but does a fantastic job of fueling the yard and sometimes drawing multiple lands.

In conjunction with Faithless Looting and Strategic Planning, Standard is providing players with a nice set of options for milling themselves. As I discussed in the context of Dollhouse, self-mill strategies typically take a while to get figured out; discerning the correct builds takes time, testing, and a more stable metagame.

4. Syncopate

Counterspells in Standard have been a bit lackluster recently. As is traditional, we have playable Cancel variants in Saw It Coming and Dissipate, but Standard Control decks typically need one other solid counterspell. Decks have tried to fill this niche with a mix of Jwari Disruption, Negate, Disdainful Stroke, and Test of Talents, but all of these have major blind spots.

Syncopate does everything that these don't; it counters everything in the early game, it exiles important cards like Memory Deluge, and it's still live in the late game. Last time we had Syncopate in Dominaria, it didn't see a ton of play until Torrential Gearhulk rotated because of the anti-synergy, but then it was a fantastic role-filler. I fully expect this counterspell to become the staple in pure Blue control shells that it typically is.

3. Vampire Package

Vampires was just a bit short of being playable after Midnight Hunt. We had Falkenrath Pit Fighter into Vampire Socialite into Florian, Voldaren Scion, but we were missing another aggressive two-drop and a way to close out games. Additionally, the mana was a tad shaky for a two-color aggro deck with no fastlands. Crimson Vow has delivered on all counts. Bloodtithe Harvester attacks well, generates Blood tokens for synergy and smoothing that aggro decks always appreciate, and kills stuff. Anje can often come down to drain for the final two points of damage; if you untap with her, you are quite likely to win off a massive Drain Life. Voldaren Estate provides the requisite mana fixing and has the upside of generating nearly free Blood for further synergies and smoothing.

Together with Sorin the Mirthless and other powerful four-drop options such as Bloodvial Purveyor and Henrika Domnathi, Vampires will finally get its time in the spotlight as an aggressive deck that can attack the slow UR archtypes but play control against White and Green.

2. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is a truly remarkable card. It sees play in every Constructed format, from Standard and Modern to Legacy and Vintage. Despite this widespread playability, it isn't broken in any of these formats. Given how dramatically these formats differ from each other, it is truly surprising that a card like Thalia can exist.

In Standard, as she does in every other format, we are already seeing Thalia do what she does best: punish cheaty spell-based decks while pressuring opponents superbly. In creature matchups, a 2/1 first-striker for two mana is a great rate. Against the UR shell, she absolutely requires an answer before they can do their thing. A three-mana Expressive Iteration with an inability to cast another spell is a pretty terrible rate; Thalia totally wrecks the efficiency and smoothness that the UR decks are built to take advantage of.

Get used to seeing Thalia; she'll be a staple until rotation.

1. Hullbreaker Horror

Hullbreaker Horror is an interesting card to think about because of its mana cost in conjunction with its abilities requiring additional spells. In Limited, you've likely spent most of your resources in-hand just to get to a spot where you can cast the Horror as a 7/8 flash blocker, which means when you untap, you're unlikely to be able to “go off” with the Kraken.

In Constructed, this is still true, but to a lesser extent. Seven mana is significantly more mana than six; control players always felt comfortable playing the full playset of Torrential Gearhulk, and they never had trouble casting it. Pearl Lake Ancient and Nezahal, Primal Tide, on the other hand, were inconsistent and hard to get to. (They were also just worse than Gearhulk, so not a perfect comparison, but seven mana is a lot!)

In a control deck, the hope is that when you slam Hullbreaker, you may have a spell or two left in hand, and your opponent should be mostly out of resources. Hullbreaker does incentivize you to play cards like Consider and Expressive Iteration so that you can easily trigger it and then chain it into additional spells. This may further delay the casting of Hullbreaker until you can cast Consider as well, though you often won't have this luxury.

In UR shells, you aren't usually netting cards while you buy time to get to your endgame. Fading Hope puts you down cards, and Unexpected Windfall and Learn cards are wheel-spinning. Lier, of course, makes this trivial; if you can cast a Hullbreaker with a Lier on-board, you'll be hard-pressed to lose. But to be fair, you're probably going to win anyways if you have a Lier on-board unanswered for a couple of turns, with or without Hullbreaker.

Hullbreaker is undeniably powerful, and it is absolutely an endgame card that can firmly close out games. In that way, it may feel better for players sick of Epiphany after Epiphany. However, casting it does not guarantee a win because of its mana cost and its need of additional spells. As such, I don't buy into the gloom and doom that Hullbreaker is broken, but I do think that players need to be ready for it. Including hard removal spells that answer it (Valorous Stance, for example) is a must, and Hullbreaker requires that when you build a deck, you need to have a realistic plan to end the game before it goes too long. Durdling past turn eight is a surefire way to get your hull broken. In that way, Hullbreaker might actually be good for the format, as it matches up favorably against the most combo-centric builds of Galvanic Iteration/Alrund's Epiphany.

And those are my picks for the best Standard cards from Crimson Vow (I'd also give an honorable mention to the land cycle and Cemetery Gatekeeper and Chandra, Dressed to Kill). Did I miss anything? Which Crimson Vow cards are you most looking forward to playing with in Standard?

Ryan Normandin is a grinder from Boston who has lost at the Pro Tour, in GP & SCG Top 8's, and to 7-year-olds at FNM. Despite being described as "not funny" by his best friend and "the worst Magic player ever" by Twitch chat, he cheerfully decided to blend his lack of talents together to write funny articles about Magic.