Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Standard”
I want to let you in on a secret. There’s one aspect of Magic: The Gathering that defines everything we do in the game, but we don’t think or talk about it as much as we should. I’m not talking about mulliganing, sideboarding, or card advantage — I’m talking about mana. Lands are some of the most impactful cards in …
Since the banning of Omnath, we have seen the Standard format blossom. We’ve had a lot of churn in the top decks, fun dynamic gameplay, and a good balance of decks. Typically, around this time in a format, we would be talking about how best to tune one of the three best decks we have been talking about for weeks. …
I recently heard a story that I’ve been thinking about a lot. A Magic player was once talking to Brad Nelson, and they asked him for advice on how to improve their game. This player was playing the stock best deck with all the best cards on rate, but they still weren’t getting the results they wanted. Here’s the advice …
Standard has finally settled down, and three top decks have emerged: Gruul, Rakdos Kroxa, and Rogues. While the format is very diverse and other decks have a chance to win events, these three decks have the biggest targets on their backs. Today, we’re going to go over these three decks, including their biggest strengths and weaknesses, so you can have …
Standard has had a lot of churn these past few weeks. Since Omnath’s ban, five or six different decks have become top dog, only to be dethroned a few days later. This is great for Standard, if you ask me! But the amount of change we’ve seen may also leave you feeling unsure what to play in the Arena Open …
This new Standard format has been moving fast. In the past week, we’ve seen the rise of Black-Green Adventures, Black-Red Kroxa, and Mono-Green Stompy. But a new menace is coming to take over Standard: Yorion, Sky Nomad. Yorion has emerged as the best way to go over the top of other decks in the format, and there are a variety …
After each new banning shakes up Standard, there begins a cycle of hope. I rush to Arena and go to my maxed-out Decks screen, where jank brews untold await testing and tuning. “This time,” I say to myself. “This time W/B Auras and Mono-U Self-Mill and Vito Aggro will be good!” Then, I take them to the ladder and realize …
Welcome to our third week of “Week One” Standard. (Third time’s the charm, right?) Today, I’m going to share some decks you could be playing on the Arena ladder this weekend — but first, I wanted to briefly talk about the bans themselves. I think we can all agree that Omnath needed to get banned. I also think the Lucky …
In my article on Standard last week, I mentioned that Omnath Adventures is probably the best deck in the format given Uro’s banning. Lo and behold, it has since become a dominant force in Standard. Like many players, I jumped right onto the Arena ladder after the announcement with my Four-Color Adventures deck, ready to battle. But as the days …
Current Standard has more ramp than a skate park built in a multi-level parking garage. Ramp decks have always been a part of Magic, escaping the limits of the mana curve since the first Llanowar Elves tapped to cast Force of Nature. But design changes in the Standard rotation shifted the balance of power, doing away with many of the …
