One thing about me that you may not have known is that I'm a pretty big baseball fan, and therefore have always associated “winter” with “offseason,” and it currently feels applicable to the Magic world as well. There aren't any big tournaments currently with the Holiday Season in full swing with the New Year rapidly approaching.

Aether Revolt will shake up a Standard format that looked to be only B/G Delirium and W/U Flash a couple of months ago but is now dominated by . Modern players are also holding their breath as a new set also means an update to the Banned and Restricted list, and it wouldn't be too shocking to see many cards banned and unbanned, nothing happen, or anything in between.

While the two largest Constructed formats are eagerly awaiting Aether Revolt to see what the future entails for them, a brand-new format has started to emerge from seemingly out of nowhere, Frontier.

As it stands now, Frontier is a non-rotating format that has been designed to be a bridge between Standard and Modern, the latter of which now includes expansion and core sets from the last thirteen-and-a-half years. Frontier encompasses expansion and core sets that have the Magic 2015 card frame, which currently includes Magic 2015, Khans of Tarkir block, Magic Origins, Battle for Zendikar block, and Kaladesh block.

Now there are plenty of reasonable questions that many, including me, have about the future of Frontier. As currently constructed, it's designed to fill the same role that Modern was when it came into existence five-and-a-half years ago. Some questions that I currently hear often when people discuss Frontier's future include:

Will Frontier face the same problems in five years that Modern has now as far as high monetary barrier to entry costs?

Will Frontier be “solved” too easily when more people try to break the format?

Will Wizards of the Coast recognize and support Frontier?

Is Frontier just the newest fad that will disappear in a couple months a la Tiny Leaders?

Tiny Leaders? Will Frontier need a Banned and Restricted list as well?

And many more, but to be honest, I don't have any answers to these questions, and I'm not here to dwell on them today. I think the more ways to play Magic, the better, and instead of focusing too much on what may happen way down the line, I'd like to see what Frontier is currently like. So let's first dive in and see what the very preliminary attempts at deckbuilding for the format looks like. With a format this new there isn't necessarily a lot of data, but let's take a look at this wide-open format.

Let's start off with what is perceived by some to be the best deck in the format, Four-Color . There hasn't been very much graveyard hate printed in Frontier's timespan, and Four-Color aims to take full advantage of that. is the big addition to the deck that wasn't legal when was one of the most popular Standard decks early in 2016. Wayfinder is an incredibly efficient way to fill the graveyard, so much so that being able to play is an option. is also a nice addition to the deck, providing another way to interact with your opponent's spells while comboing with quite nicely. You can sacrifice the with the exile trigger on the stack, exiling their spell forever.

Four-Color is definitely one of the early leaders in the clubhouse as being the best deck in Frontier, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have predators. Both Goblins and Atarka Red are aggressive options that have the ability to go under Four-Color , and control decks such as Esper Dragons have the ability to grind through Four-Color with the use of efficient counterspells.

It pains my heart to only see three in this list, and the first thing I would (probably wrongly) do is find room for the fourth. The rest of the list resembles good ol' Atarka Red we all remember, dealing unheard-of amounts of damage with little 1/1s, until seeing those four s. To be fair, is a wonderful addition to this strategy, with "Crew 1" being the perfect number and allowing the deck to find the final or to finish off the opponent. We have two in the sideboard, which is the most commonly used graveyard hate card in the format as of now.

There isn't too much difference between Atarka Red and Goblins, mainly the Foundry Street Denizon, , and . Thankfully Joe found room for all four s, but only three ? C'mon! At least I'm a fan of the singular that both lists have; I think one is the perfect number for that card. Over in the sideboard I like the three , especially if it means I have a better chance at untapping with a .

If aggro isn't really your thing, how about control? The biggest payoff by going with Esper Dragons as opposed to a control deck built around is having access to , which is the best counterspell in the format. is also a quality one-sided sweeper that can take out everything from to . looks a little out-of-place here, but having a critical mass of Dragons to turn on your is necessary. I'd probably want another over one of them, but there is certainly value in having a diversity of Dragons to be able to deploy. is wonderful in the format as a sideboard answer to , , , , and even the token-making cards from the aggressive decks.

On a completely different end of the spectrum, we have Elves by Ikuta Masaya, and this deck built around is after my own heart. and allow plenty of surprising one-ofs to be used throughout the maindeck and sideboard, including a . How about getting an instant-speed to pop in front of a , or casting a and searching for two s, both of which trigger twice? Sign me up!

Reddit user Nandu has been leading the pack in a Frontier league after two weeks, with Mardu Dragons being their weapon of choice. There isn't too much different about this list from what Mardu Dragons decks looked like during their time in Standard, but those sideboarded s would not be welcome from the Elves player's perspective.

Note: There was only an eleven-card sideboard submitted online.

: an enchantment that was wrongfully held back in Standard by the widespread use of , similar to . Put it in a wide-open format and add in , , and , however, and suddenly we have a really interesting deck. The first thing I notice here though is the use of only two , which feels like it's too low with all of the ways to fill the graveyard with the deck. I would like the random and Fateful Showdown to become copies three and four. I approve of a format where mill is a viable strategy, especially when good aggro decks exist.

Let's finish up with a first-place Abzan Aggro list, a deck that everyone playing since Khans of Tarkir remembers quite well. Especially all of those s, sigh, so I guess we'll have to deal with packs of s again.

Wait a minute, what's this? This can't be right. Let me keep looking.

Zero s? In Abzan Aggro?

I love it. Matt Mealing knew what he was doing with his list and what he wanted for the metagame, which included a full playset of in the maindeck over playing s. There are still your other classic Abzan cards with ; ; and making an appearance, but the new additions of , , and allow the deck to be lower to the ground. Considering all the decklists we took a look at today, this looks the most promising on paper, but I think a little more sideboard help against Atarka Red would be useful.

The two words I always hear when people refer to Frontier is that it is a “brewer's paradise,” which it undeniably is, but that is to be expected with a format that is as new as it is. Even so, I haven't heard anything but positive words about the format from everyone that has played it, and it's ripe for innovation.

I don't know what the future holds for Frontier. Sure, it may be a flash in the pan, but on the other hand, maybe it's not. If you're looking for a fun new format to play with your friends or at your local store, go ahead and give it a try. Brew away! If you have been playing the format already, what deck(s) are you enjoying so far?