Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Standard”
The Magic community has filled great tomes with the discussion of the 2019-2020 Standard environment; at this point, it’s hard to justify repeating the analysis in detail. Suffice to say that the format is historically short on deck variety, and one reason why is how incredibly hard it is to play aggro decks right now. Standard has been dominated by …
Hello readers — and please give a warm welcome to our new friend, Core Set 2021! They’re gonna need that warmth, because it is hard to be a new Standard set right now. Simply put, the new core set is entering one of the most powerful Standard environments ever. It’s not just the per-card power level of a format which …
Last week, Wizards of the Coast released a much-anticipated Banned and Restricted announcement that has ramifications for Standard, Historic, and companion cards as we know them. As always, I recommend reading the official announcement yourself to get the long-form reasoning behind the changes. But for convenience: Agent of Treachery and Fires of Invention are banned in Standard Agent of Treachery …
We’re somehow into May now, and I’ve found myself writing more and more about Ikoria Standard in recent weeks. We’re at what I’d call the “mature” end of the format, with the largest and deepest card pool possible all on the table to tinker with until the Ravnica sets and M20 rotate out in a couple months. With so much …
Editor’s Note, May 11, 2020: This article was originally published on December 19, 2019. We want to ensure you have the most up-to-date information about popular decks, so we’ve updated this article and re-published it on May 11, 2020. Editor’s Note: June 1, 2020: Fires of Invention and Agent of Treachery have been banned in Standard and Historic. Read the …
Editor’s Note, June 1, 2020: Wizards of the Coast has announced a change to the companion mechanic. Companions may no longer be cast from the sideboard; instead, players must pay 3 mana of any color to put a companion from their sideboard into their hand. Since the release of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, companions have been shoehorned into every deck …
I’ve been thinking these last few days about a popular phrase: “a good problem to have.” Some of the best players in Magic have made earnest complaints about Zenith Flare — the all-star uncommon of Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths — and the cycling-heavy deck which has arisen around it. The deck is certainly winning a lot in the last week …
Sometimes, in Standard, we have access to a lot of lands that come into play tapped. These are exciting for deck-building purposes because they give you access to more colors of mana, which, in turn, provides players with a ton of flexibility. But lands that enter the battlefield tapped have major downsides. You don’t have immediate access to the mana …
Editor’s Note, 4/29/20: This article was originally published on October 28, 2019. We want to ensure you have the most up-to-date information about popular decks, so we’ve updated this article and re-published it on April 29, 2020. Editor’s Note, 8/3/20: Cauldron Familiar has been banned in Standard effective August 3, 2020. Read the full announcement from Wizards of the Coast …
With more Magic players battling online these days, we’ve seen an explosion in online organized play opportunities. From MagicFest Online Qualifiers to the Brawler’s Guildhall to independently organized events, there are tons of options for players across the casual-to-competitive spectrum. One of these events is FNM at Home: a weekly event on MTG Arena that keeps players connected to local …
