Energy is dead. Long live energy!

Magic’s premier format has been under the oppression of Temur (and four-colour) energy for a while now, but with the release of Rivals of Ixalan and the latest Banned and Restricted announcement, the format has had a huge shake-up and is wide open for creativity and exploration. The only question now is where to start?

Surprisingly, I’ve got my eyes fixed on a classic; pushed out of the meta by the power level of Temur Energy (and Aetherworks Marvel/Saheeli before that), I think Dynavolt Tower is due for a comeback.

The upcoming weeks of Standard are going to be the Wild West, and with the tribal decks getting a number of big upgrades i’m expecting a lot of creature based strategies going forward, with the rest of the format divvied up between Blue-X control decks (UB with The Scarab God, UW Approach etc.) and the God Pharaoh’s Gift decks. In this kind of environment, a control deck featuring Red has a significant advantage over the alternatives thanks to the power of Sweltering Suns and Hour of Devastation. The tandem boardwipes help to clean up threats of various sizes, and specifically having action on turn 3 that interacts meaningfully with a swarm of tokens, whilst dodging Siren Stormtamer’s ability is very promising. Mono-Red will continue to be a contender in the new format, so dealing with Hazoret through either countermagic or Hour of Devastation is a key priority.

Silently, the printing of Opt gave this deck a big boost. Simultaneously it helps to smooth out your curve and slot in around countermagic to help find Dynavolt Tower, whilst also powering your Towers at a low opportunity cost. In this way, you’re incentivised to be spending your mana on spells rather than cycling, so prioritising cards like Essence Scatter and Supreme Will instead of Censor and Hieroglyphic Illumination. Abrade remains central to the deck’s strategy, given the expected uptick in God Pharaoh’s Gift and the potential resurrection of Mardu Vehicles.

Without further ado, this is where I would start this weekend:

The biggest weakness of this deck as I see it is the mana; with only two different U/R lands in Standard, you’re likely to have to lean on your Aether Hubs early on. It’s possible that it’s correct to go up even as high as 4 Evolving Wilds, depending on the speed of the format. The sideboard here is loaded with threats, as other decks will slow down post-board and take out their removal, bringing in interaction for Tower. Glorybringer is the perfect card to punish this, lending recursive removal from the trigger and the quick clock which makes your Towers that much more devastating. Trophy Mage will be a menace in control match ups, as it’s a natural two-for-one that will get in a good amount of damage over the course of the game, as much of the cheaper removal comes out in favour of countermagic.

In general, playing a control deck in the first few weeks of the format is usually a little dangerous, as it’s difficult to line up your answers against the threats in an unknown field. Fortunately, Dynavolt Tower helps to smooth this out as it’s an answer to creatures, planeswalkers and an early threat for control match ups.

As a short aside, there has been a change in the Magic Tournament Rules to the way that energy and poison have to be tracked at Competitive and Professional Rules Enforcement Level. If you’re playing a PPTQ/RPTQ, Grand Prix, Pro Tour or any other competitive event, you are now required to write down any changes to energy or poison as you would the life totals – using tokens or dice is no longer sufficient. There is a perceived risk that dice can easily be knocked over or tampered with. Spread the word to avoid getting into dangerous waters with your judge!