Bant Ramp in Standard

Felix SlooStandard

For a while, I had been struggling to find a deck I liked in Standard. Mono-Red Aggro, UW Control, Jeskai Fires, and Temur Reclamation are all cool in their own way, and each has a consistent game plan. I don’t mind playing one of them in a big tournament — in fact, I brought UW to DreamHack Anaheim just a …

MTG Challenger Decks 2020

Card KingdomStandard

Challenger Decks are back for 2020, and Magic players are already excited about what this new batch of decks has to offer. All four decks are currently available at Card Kingdom individually or as a set of four for just $99.99. Challenger Decks are preconstructed Standard decks, built to be competitive out of the box at Friday Night Magic. As …

Top 10 Theros Cards at Worlds

Hallie SantoStandard

It’s taken quite a few weeks to gauge the impact of Theros Beyond Death on Standard. Magic’s most popular competitive format took a backseat to Pioneer in the week’s following Theros’s release due to a trio of highly-publicized Regional Player’s Tours. But last weekend, at the Magic World Championship in Hawaii, we saw long-forgotten strategies surge back to the forefront …

“Hurricane Harold”: Brewing with Storm Herald

Tom AndersonStandard

“This is the story of the Hurricane… and it won’t be over ‘til he wins a game…” Magic is an amazing creative outlet, which is a big part of how the game has found success over the past few decades. Casual players love formats like Commander for the freedom it grants to play whatever cards or archetypes they can think …

Devotion Decks for Standard

Felix SlooStandard

Devotion is back in Theros Beyond Death! Devotion counts the colored mana symbols among permanents you control to make some of your cards more powerful. It’s also a returning mechanic, so we have two years’ worth of precedent for what works and what doesn’t. We know that some cards with devotion are so powerful that they incentivize you to fill …

How to Rebuild Your Oko Deck

Alex KatzBrawl, Standard

Oko, Thief of Crowns was recently banned in Standard and Brawl, to the joy of players tired of losing to Simic and Sultai food-based decks. But not everyone is rejoicing. Some players invested heavily in cards for Oko decks and are now disappointed that they can’t use those decks any longer. Fortunately, there are plenty of other uses for Oko …

Oko Banned in Standard

Chantelle CampbellStandard

Oko, Thief of Crowns? Out. Once Upon a Time? Not anytime soon. Veil of Summer? So last season.  With Monday’s Banned and Restricted announcement, some of the biggest players in Standard have been overthrown, opening up a wide world of deck-building possibilities. Artifacts and powerful creatures that Oko has turned into elk are viable again; more aggressive strategies can better …

Mythic Championship VI Metagame Preview

Tom AndersonStandard

The world of competitive Magic moves faster today than it ever has before. Just a few weeks ago, we watched Javier Dominguez win Mythic Championship V against a sea of Golos decks. Since then, we saw Field of the Dead banned, and players have had a much different Standard puzzle to solve. And now we’re rushing headlong into Mythic Championship …

B&R Analysis: October 21, 2019

Hallie SantoStandard

When Wizards of the Coast moved their latest Banned and Restricted List update up to October 21st, Magic players knew that change was coming – most likely in Standard. As many suspected, Field of the Dead has earned a spot on the Standard banned list due to its warping effect on the format. Bant Golos decks thrived in midrange mirrors …