| Hello everyone! I'm Chris VanMeter, and welcome to this week's edition of "What I Would Play at the Open Series." ... Wait, what? There is no Open Series this weekend? Just do something else? ... Can I just complain about Sensei's Divining Top in Legacy? No? Well then, how about CVM's Top 10 Battle for Zendikar cards in Standard! #10 Catacomb Sifter  While I think that Catacomb Sifter is still in the early stages of getting the recognition that it deserves, we can thank Ali Aintrazi for what it has earned at this point. His ninth place Five‑Color Control deck from #SCGATL shows that the combination of a 2/3 with a relevant ability and a 1/1 that gives you mana is a pretty good rate. #9 Gideon's Reproach  There is a void of two mana removal in Standard and while this one may be conditional, it can definitely get the job done. Being able to kill Mantis Rider and most of the creatures in the G/W Megamorph deck is pretty nice. Unfortunately, the damage can be prevented with Dromoka's Command and probably isn't going to kill a Jace, Vryn's Prodigy any time soon. #8 Horribly Awry  With the Dragonlords, Wingmate Roc, and Whisperwood Elemental being the only popular threats that this doesn't counter, I think that Horribly Awry is going to continue to grow in popularity. It's especially good in the early stages of the game against the G/W Megamorph deck, since it can counter a Deathmist Raptor and stop it from coming back. #7 Dragonmaster Outcast  This Commander stand-out is getting some love in all manner of Jeskai decks, mainly due to how it interacts with Ojutai's Command. Being able to rebuy this guy in the late game and start churning out Dragons is a pretty sweet deal. #6 Exert Influence  Championed by the VS Series Crew, this card is starting to catch everybody's attention. The ability to answer one of your opponent's threats while presenting your own is very good, as it is similar to why Planeswalkers with removal abilities are always great. It's even better when you're able to take something that's difficult to answer in the matchup, such as an Archangel of Tithes against G/W Megamorph. #5 Dispel  Due to the lack of cheap interaction, cards like Dispel are starting to rise in stock. Being able to answer their spell with something that costs less mana is how we gain our tempo advantages. The first time you counter an opponent's Crackling Doom with your Dispel, you will definitely realize how powerful it is right now. #4 Radiant Flames  Battle lands make it extremely easy to splash a color or two in your deck, which makes usually means that Radiant Flames is a three mana, three damage Pyroclasm. While it doesn't exile everything like Anger of the Gods, it's much easier to cast in most decks with only one red mana in the casting cost. #3 Creature Lands   Shambling Vent and Lumbering Falls are seeing some amount of play in the decks that they fit into, but I can imagine that as the format evolves, going to a full four copies of these cards is where we're all going to be. We have lots of stuff to do with our mana, including these, so decks trending upward in land count are something we will see, similar to the old 27/28 land Caw-Blade days. #2 Gideon, Ally of Zendikar  We are seeing Gideon, Ally of Zendikar everywhere. Abzan decks, G/W Megamorph decks, Jeskai Black decks, basically all over Standard. While having double white in the mana cost might have been a drawback in the past, the manabases we have at our fingertips now make it much easier. Gideon reminds me of Elspeth, Knight Errant and we all know how great that card is. #1 Battle Lands  Prairie Stream, Canopy Vista, Smoldering Marsh, Sunken Hollow, and Cinder Glade are the most important cards for Standard out of Battle for Zendikar. Alongside the Khans fetchlands, we can pretty much do whatever we want, so it is now a question of what the most efficient and powerful thing is to be doing. I can only imagine what will happen if/when we get the other five battle lands. — <3 CVM, @Chris_VanMeter | 
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