Magic: The Gathering‘s new set Phyrexia: All Will Be One has had a major impact on Standard by introducing new archetypes to the format.
Toxic provides an alternate win condition through poison counters which haven’t been seen as prevalently in several years. There’s a suite of new Equipment support and big-mana finishers in each color, providing decks the top-end threats to reward patient gameplans. There are plenty of exciting cards that have been introduced in the set from Rare Planeswalkers to threatening creatures that dodge removal.
Out of all of the cards in ONE, there are five that stand out as having the biggest projected impact on the Standard format. Here are the best cards from ONE for Standard following the set’s release.
Tyrranax Rex
Remember Carnage Tyrant? This isn’t exactly that, but it’s still very hard to remove and immediately enters the battlefield as the biggest and baddest creature on most boards. Tyrranax Rex is a seven-mana 8/8 with Trample, Ward 4, and Haste. It can’t be countered and can end the game in a few combat steps either through damage or with its Toxic 4 ability. This is a huge Mythic Rare pile of stats and abilities that will be a solid late-game finisher for Green ramp strategies. If this card rises in the meta, look for players to begin prioritizing edict effects to remove this hulking creature.
Venerated Rotpriest
It won’t be shocking if Venerated Rotpriest ends up either getting banned or causing Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief to catch the ban hammer. Venerated Rotpriest is a fantastic one-drop creature with Toxic 1 and can dish out poison counters like it’s nobody’s business. Whenever it’s targeted by a spell, an opponent gets a poison counter. This ability punishes the opponent for using removal spells to get rid of it and rewards you for using protection or pump spells that target it. It’s the centerpiece of Toxic decks in the format early into ONE’s release window and will likely be a staple in Standard until ONE rotates out.
The Eternal Wanderer
The Eternal Wanderer is a value machine coming at six mana and five starting loyalty. She synergizes with plenty of control archetypes with a particular eye for lists that play to the board. The +1 is a great option to get repeated value out of powerful enter the battlefield triggers. In other situations, the token generation and board wipe abilities can help close out a game in the later turns. As a top-end finisher, White decks won’t do much better than a resolved copy of The Eternal Wanderer.
Mondrak, Glory Dominus
Of this cycle, it appears Mondrak has the most teeth in Standard. This four-mana 4/4 creature doubles up token generation, which is a powerful ability in White decks. Currently, in the format, White decks are built around generating tokens for value by using spells like Wedding Announcement and The Wandering Emperor. It can fairly easily gain an Indestructible counter and start mixing it up in combat. The four-drop slot in White decks is mainly occupied by The Wandering Emperor, but this card fills a different role and should play well in the same list as a two or three-of addition.
All Will Be One
This will be one of the breakout cards from ONE. All Will Be One is a five-mana Enchantment that deals damage to any target equal to the number of counters that are put on permanents you control. Many players will just slot this as a win-more do-nothing Enchantment, but there’s a significant upside to this spell. If you untap with All Will Be One it’s hard to envision a scenario where you lose that game. It triggers off Planeswalkers, creatures, and Sagas which are all prevalent in most decks in the format. Another key to this spell being playable is its synergy with Storm the Festival. This spell can enable you to get immediate value out of All Will Be One in the same turn it enters the battlefield. Look for this spell to be a solid player in Standard going forward.
