Standard just became a brand new world all over again. All of a sudden, it was entirely unclear what decks would steal the crown now—now that the original Thief of Crowns was gone. We asked some notable players for their opinion: What are the best decks in Standard after the ban, and why are they great now? Here is what they had to say …

Niklas Holtmann, three-time Cardmarket Series Top 8 competitor: “Probably Fires of Invention or Esper Hero. Black-Green Adventures looks great too.”

Andreas Reling, quarterfinalist Grand Prix Stockholm 2016: “Aggressive strategies profit from Oko's disappearance and blue or black control Decks where suppressed by Veil of Summer. I think that Monored, Gruul Beatdown, and Golgari Adventures will be popular in the upcoming weeks.”

Patrick Kistler, Modern finalist Cardmarket Series Bologna 2019: “Hard to say, there will definitely pop up some decks we havent really seen till now. I can see that some green-based ramp strategy inolving Gilded Goose, Nissa, and Hydroid Krasis still remain on top of the metagame.”

Kai Behrens, Standard semifinalist Cardmarket Series Frankfurt 2019: “I do not really know how the Standard metagame will shape up and everything will depend on that. However, I do know that if I were to play Standard this weekend, I would play Monored. The deck is always good in a fresh, open field, as people are generally underprepared and like to try cute things. And one of red's biggest enemies just got banned in Oko.”

Michael Schlegel, 2018 Power 8 player: “This is tough as so much of the environment was impacted by the bans. And a large part of the rest was mostly trying to have good matchups against the Oko decks. I think the format's quite open now. The decks that were hit still have strong mana acceleration and Nissa/Krasis, so they won't die completely. But everything else gets a boost.”

Felix Stenitzer, Standard champion Cardmarket Series Barcelona 2019: “I haven't figured it out myself yet. I guess its either Jeskai Fires or Black-Green Cat Food. The Fires decks are good because they can have pretty explosive draws and are strong against the Witch's Oven decks. I still like Cat though, because you have the tools to outgrind every other deck, and even Jeskai Fires is beatable postboard. Since its like week-one Standard, people should respect Monored.”