Am I having new set fatigue right now? I think I am as it is the only explanation as to why I only found out Crimson Vow is releasing on Magic the Gathering Arena tomorrow, 11/11/2021. It’s been what? Six weeks since Midnight Hunt? I remember being excited for two Innistrad sets being released in consecutive months. But right now, I am a little gun shy, unsure of my expected delve into a brand-new magic set when I haven’t finished exhausting the current one. I’ll blame myself on this as it took me up until this week to collect all the cards I wanted on Arena. I’m not going to get on my soapbox about the daunting price of set collecting as a mostly F2P player but with these sets so close, it is tough not to.

There is a lot to be excited about in Crimson Vow, a lot. So much so that I found it tough to pick out just five when there are just so many unique build-arounds that I can’t wait to try. We’ve got vampire support, zombie support, three new mechanics, and some huge boosts to the monster that is Mono Green. 

New Mechanics

Just a quick rundown of the new mechanics added in Crimson Vow. There are three; Blood Tokens, Cleave, and Training. Exploit has also returned.

Blood Tokens: Much like clues, Crimson Vow gives us a brand new token in Blood Tokens. These token artifacts read pay 1 mana, tap, discard a card, sacrifice this artifact: draw a card. At this moment it is hard to evaluate exactly how strong these will be as I would say they are weaker than their clue counterparts. But a lot of creatures and even a land care about these tokens so maybe they carve their own spot into the meta.  

Cleave: Cleave is the weirdest version of kicker yet. I applaud WotC for exploring this entirely new design space by having cards be able to remove brackets on said cards. But mostly this is just kicker with extra steps.

Training: +1/+1 counters for attacking creatures. (Whenever this creature attacks with another creature with greater power, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.) Should be okay in aggro based strategies or even in +1/+1 counters matter. 

Number Five: Graf Reaver/Sorin the Mithless

Breaking my rules early in this one as my number five card (or cards) to build around are Graf Reaver and Sorin the Mirthless. To be honest there are like four or five more prime black cards in this set that compel me to play Mono Black. Control, midrange, aggro? It dosen’t matter because right now black has the tools do it all. I’m most likely going to do my best to recreate the fabled “Rock” as Golgari is my favorite color combination. 

Graf Reaver is exactly what a grindy, midrange deck wants. Low mana value on an aggressively stat-ed body that can destroy a planeswalker. With Wrenn and Seven still terrorizing standard I expect this card to shine. 

He might be mirthless but at least he’s hot. Sorin the Mirthless comes equipped with card draw and a way to defend itself, it’s already a Standard all star and it hasn’t been released yet. I expect this card to mostly show up in aggro decks as top end but I think he fits perfectly in the Storm the Festival strategies we’ve seen in Standard. 

Number Four: Overcharged Amalgam

Overcharged Amalgam feels like a pet card to me but I so badly want it to be viable. A flash, flying 3/3 for four is good on its own but adding in an exploit that counters pushes this to another level. Not only can it counter a spell, but it can also counter an activated ability or triggered ability. Having a creature on board for this exploit seems like it might be difficult but I imagine Blue/Black strategies involving decayed zombie tokens will let this spread its disgustingly stitched wings.

Number Three: Faithbound Judge/Sinner’s Judgement

Hello control staple/finisher! A three mana 4/4 with flying, defender and vigilance? I don’t even need to read the rest of the card to know that this is a perfect defensive card. Once this card goes to the graveyard you can bring it back with disturb, and the disturb side has my favorite three words, “win the game.” It comes back as an enchantment that you can attach to a target player. I don’t know how viable this will be as a finisher but that isn’t going to stop me from trying.

Number Two: Kaya, Geist Hunter

We have returned to three mana Kayas. This one feels perfect in a token based aggro strategy but I want to experience a more unattainable outcome. I’m cranking out Abzan tokens where I use Kaya’s -2 to double my Esika’s Chariot tokens or my Wrenn and Seven tokens. Catch me in the ranked queue trying to make this work. In all seriousness this will more likely find a place in Orzhov Vampires or maybe a splash in Mono White.

Number One: Necroduality

My commander-heart is throbbing. Read this card as double your zombies. I want this on the field with Rooftop Storm. I want to storm off with zombies. So, send me your Grimgin, Corpse-Born lists.

New Standard Contenders?

I don’t know how and I don’t know when but I imagine a dedicated ramp deck will make some waves in standard with the introduction of Hullbreaker Horror. An absolute monster control finisher with flash that will likely close out games on its own. If you remember those Cyclone Summoner decks that popped up a bit, this fits right in. Wouldn’t be surprised to see the Temur Treasures deck sideboard this card. 

Are vampires viable? This is the question we are all asking ourselves. Is there enough vampire support to make waves in a Standard meta dominated by Mono Green? I hesitate to say yes as vampires just doesn’t have the payoffs that other aggro decks do. Everything the vampire deck wants to do is just done better by others, which is disappointing. I think Rakdos vamps will have some legs but it will not crack the top tiers. 

We got more spirit support in Crimson Vow than I expected which is cool. I think spirits are fun to play even though they’ve been largely unsuccessful in their time on Arena. Standard probably won’t see a dedicated spirits deck but I imagine Historic will. If you were hoping for a strong Standard spirits deck, I’m sorry to disappoint you.

Current Standard Decks Continue their Reign of Terror

Mono White: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, Savior of Ollenbock, Welcoming Vampire 

I can’t believe it’s taken me this whole article to mention Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is back in Standard. I think it speaks to the amount of fun cards we are getting in this set. But look at Mono White trying to fight off the demon that is Mono Green. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben is an automatic lock for the 60 of current Mono White but she’s not alone. There is a lot of white support in this set and I imagine we will see this deck all over the ladder.  

Izzet Turns: Manaform Hellkite, Inspired Idea, Wash Away

Listen, I don’t like playing against the various “turns” decks in Standard. I can’t imagine many people do but they are here to stay so it’s worth mentioning that they will be getting a boost with Crimson Vow. Manaform Hellkite is an absolute house of a dragon that benefits from everything Izzet is currently trying to do. Izzet Turns will be here for the foreseeable future so we must rely on the aggro decks to keep these guys in check.    

Mono Green: Ascendent Packleader, Cemetery Prowler, Avabruck Caretaker 

Mono Green is already the premiere aggro deck in the Standard format and it just got an anabolic steroid boost from Crimson Vow. Just so many toys for it to play with including a brand new one drop that can grow and isn’t a dead draw in the late game. There is nothing in this set that I can see that suggests anything but Mono Green being the top deck of the format. I imagine people will find solutions but Mono Green is a behemoth and will torment the ladder. Good luck.