Historically, professional and competitive level magic players have always viewed standard as the so-called ‘best’ constructed format. Wizards of the Coast have always promoted standard as a midrange creature format in which players can – in theory – gain a huge edge over their opponents through tight sequencing, bluffing and careful calculation. For this reason it allows the most competitive players to thrive.

But times have changed.

Recently there has been a dramatic shift in standard where the best decks have been based upon two card combos such as Saheeli Rai and Felidar Guardian as well as Aetherworks Marvel and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger. But for some reason, people seem not to enjoy playing against 10/10 indestructible creatures on turn 4. Their prayers have been answered and a new set of standard bannings have left the format wide open; now is the time for innovation. A new perspective will be needed to break this new standard season.

There is no denying that New Perspectives is an unique magic card. The unusual limitation of only reducing cycling costs if you have at least seven cards in hands puts a serious constraint on deckbuilding, meaning that in order to utilise it fully you need to have 5 cards in hand and 6 mana in play before you cast it. This presents a puzzle that I am happy to try and solve.

This deck is insane! There is no feeling quite like the one you get from drawing 40 cards in a single turn whilst simultaneously killing your opponent with an off the wall win condition like Approach of the Second Sun (or even the combination of Fling and Noose Constrictor!)

The deck works by casting New Perspectives and then continually cycling cards for 0 mana until you draw and cycle multiple copies of Shefet Monitor and Vizier of Tumbling Sands. These cards allow you to gain mana when used in conjunction with New Perspectives which therefore can let you cast Shadow of the Grave in order to do it all over again. This means that you keep cycling until you have made the requisite mana to cast Approach of the Second Sun… twice… in the same turn…

What’s more, the deck fairs fantastically well against the plethora of midrange decks that are currently dominating in the post-marvel world. By fighting on a unusual axis, the new perspectives combo deck is very difficult to interact with and creature decks such as zombies and the mono white monument deck, although blisteringly fast, struggle to compete against a turn 5-6 kill backed up by fog effects. Even the Temur Monsters deck has a measly 2 copies of Negate to defend itself against the combo menace!

Despite this, the deck is not without weaknesses and there are two key issues that the deck faces: counterspells and an inconsistent manabase. The above decklist has 15 cycling lands that enter the battlefield tapped, many of which don’t even provide green mana which is necessary to cast and cycle some of the key cards. Luckily, help is on its way. The addition of Hour of Devastation to standard allows for the incorporation of Djeru’s Renunciation, meaning that there is no longer any need for a sweeper effect that costs two red mana (Sweltering Suns) as this unassuming white common can act as yet another ‘fog’ effect alongside Haze of Pollen.

The counterspell problem is one that is not so easily solved. A single Negate on our Approach of the Second Sun will spell the end of the game before sideboarding (unless you’re feeling particularly passionate about casting some Shefet Monitors). In what is possibly a feeble attempt to sure up what would normally be an unwinnable control matchup, my sideboard is full of high impact bullets and has a full 11 cards to bring in against these decks! The gameplan is to sideboard out all 4 of your New Perspectives and Shadow of the Graves as well as some of your renunciations and hazes and bring in as much of the countermagic as possible alongside 3 Sphinx of the Final Word and 2 more Approach of the Second Sun. The sphinx allows you to use Approach as an uncounterable win condition which can only really be raced by a very early copy of Torrential Gearhulk – seeing as almost every card in the deck can cycle, a play which runs headlong into censor.

It may not look like the most competitive deck on the surface, but in a field full of Mardu Vehicles, Zombies, Green-Black Energy and Temur Monsters, there is hope for the second sun to rise once more over standard.

If you have any questions about the deck, or have any thoughts about how this deck can improve with the release of Hour of Devastation, please comment below.