Standard Changes: Future Impacts and August Format

Standard Changes: What it Means Going Forward, and What the Format Will Be like in August

Discover the upcoming Standard changes in Magic: the Gathering, their impacts, and what to expect in August. Get insights on strategies and key cards.

Pro Tour MH3 has ended, and we have plenty of things to say about the eternal formats as they await possible bans. Standard has kind of become somewhat of an afterthought for competitive play, but everyone will have to be mindful of the new changes to the format, and the players who frequently play Standard are ready for the format to feel fresh again. We can't really say that the format itself has gotten stale - many would tell you that Standard is in a good place right now. The main thing is that it's simply time for some cards to rotate out, as people are starting to get sick of them. It feels as if a lot of us have forgotten what it's like to play in the format when there are only five sets available to choose from. Three years after the release of Kamigawa, New Capenna, and Innistrad Block, we are ready to take a look at the new Standard.

Foundational Changes to the Format

We already know that we are going to have a three year period, as announced last year. Somewhat of a bomb that was dropped at Pro Tour MH3, however, was that we are going to get a Foundations Set for Standard. So just WHAT is Foundations? My best advice is to think of it as a core set, but at the same time, it still does its own thing. It appears to be what will take the place of the core set, as they are no longer printed. Ok, so now you are probably wondering "Hm, I wonder what cool new cards they will print for Foundations that act as good core cards for the format." Well, that's the funny thing. Based on the information we have so far, it appears that Foundations will actually feature reprints of old cards that have not been legal in Standard for a few years. What is even more noteworthy about this phenomenon that the cards in Foundations will be legal for years in Standard. We will receive more information on this as we approach the release date of Foundations on November 15, 2024. Let's take a look at a few that we know of so far:

This is a card that a lot of people have been asking for. Llanowar Elves is one of the original mana dorks that simply help us ramp into playing big dumb creatures way sooner than they should be played. They are a staple of Mono Green in Pioneer, and it is entirely possible that they could be one of the key cards that help make Mono Green relevant again in Standard - something it hasn't been for close to two years now.

So we know that we are losing a board wipes with rotation at the end of the month. It's interesting that they would print more (yes, I am using the word interesting as a euphemism here, I'm clearly unhappy with this). Day of Judgment is one of the original board wipes that many pseudo-reprints of the card often replicate. What I can only hope by this card being legal in Standard for as long as it will be is that we will hopefully see fewer board wipes printed in each set.

This one is another head-scratcher. Many people are hoping that it is just a trap card that isn't too relevant, or maybe just a fun collectible card. It probably didn't need to be reprinted. We can think of plenty of other staples within blue that we would rather see. Before we get too ahead of ourselves though, we have only seen five cards from Foundations spoiled so far. It is highly likely that we get plenty of cards from every color that are format-impacting and overall useful.

Important Dates Coming Up In Standard

Bloomburrow will be released on August 2nd. Note that on Arena, we will see the new cards on July 30th. There will also be pre-releases starting July 26th. Standard Rotation will also happen at this time, so we will get the freshness that our format is craving. There aren't a ton of Bloomburrow Spoilers yet, so I held off on showing any of those cards until I have a bunch of goodies to show.

We also recently learned that Duskmourne will release on September 27th. It is possible that the Arena release is a few days before this, but that has not been confirmed or denied by WOTC, as it is a little farther away. Something that is noteworthy, however, is that these cards are being released before the Regional Championship in DC where Pioneer will be the format for the event. We will have to see the short time period from 9/27-10/4 shows us a big swing in the meta given the new cards that we will have access to.

Ok, I know this is the dates section, but there is a card from Duskmourne that I cannot wait to show you. It is a bomb. Indulge my terrible attention span really quick and check out this card:

This is my absolute favorite way to play magic. The gain and drain effect is the chef's kiss to me. We haven't seen a card like this in Standard since Vito, and before that it was Sanguine Bond. This card effectively bridges the gap between both of them, as one was an enchantment one was a creature, and they respectively cost three and five mana. This is an enchantment creature that costs four mana, starts as a creature, then comes back as an enchantment. It is one of the most exciting cards I've seen printed in some time.

As mentioned above, we will have our new Foundations set on November 15th. This one is noteworthy, because it will give us some time to mess around with the two previous sets while they are still new and there are no foundational cards to make the meta different.

It's both an exciting time and somewhat of an anxious time for Standard right now. We know changes are coming, and things are exciting, but it is another BIG change to the format. We are also anticipating some very unique cards to be printed. The perpetual spoiler season is upon us, and we are here for it - even if we do all have a little extra anxiety.

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.

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Explore the power of Rakdos Dragons in this midrange Magic: The Gathering deck. Unleash combos, removal, and ramp for competitive edge in Standard.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!

You didn't think I could only give you one dragon deck, did you? I honestly saw too many fun options to do just Boros, so today I'm bringing you another. This one steers toward the more midrange, good ol' honest Magic side of things. I wanted to center a deck around something that is more consistent with the status quo of dragons: carnage and destruction. We have plenty of removal in this deck, and a creature that doubles as a board wipe when needed. Since we aren't doing a super fancy combo in this deck, I wanted to add element of ramp to get to the higher mana spells that we have in the deck. We will be able to use early creatures to help out with that, and also a new fancy artifact. We will torch the board and force our opponents to be more resilient than we are, while flying over the top of what they might manage to keep on the board. Let's take a look at the deck and then I'll tell you some of my favorite things about it. You can see some of the fun that we will have right off the bat with this deck. We are looking to smash aggro decks, and still punish other decks that don't play to the board. Although this one has fewer dragons on paper, we have a few permanents that can actually turn into them, and this leads to some cheeky interactions. Let's check out some of the new cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm that are in this deck, and then we will go over some fun combos! Key New Cards

It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!

There is an ongoing argument in both Standard and Pioneer currently. What color combination is the best for aggressive decks? We have seen people try out Jeskai Aggro to try and incorporate the best of both worlds between Azorius Aggro, and Boros Aggro. Some like to stick with Gruul Aggro because of the high rolls that it allows for, and there is also an argument that sometimes all you need is mono red - and the results have proven as much in major events. There has been a bit of a surge of some Mardu Aristocrat/Sacrifice decks, and today's list will follow that to some degree. We went a little bit more aggro-based, but there is a combo element to it, along with a healthy sideboard that should provide for balanced gameplay. We will look to get a bunch of creatures onto the board, and then create a bunch more based on the amount that we have, while punishing the opponent when they die. If that isn't enough, the go-wide strategy should also allow us to swing for ample damage at an ample pace. A new ability called Mobilize that is being brought to us in Tarkir Dragonstorm is going to allow us to pull off some pretty powerful swings in combat. Mobilize allows us to create a bunch of tapped and attacking 1/1 tokens based on either the number behind it, or circumstances that pertain to "X." Something that is particularly fun is that we can benefit from our creatures dying, because the mobilize ability requires us to sacrifice the creatures that we get from mobilizing at the beginning of our end step. This is yet another deck that can allow us to win on the end step which is always fun. Another fundamental reason why I think the deck is good is because we are rewarded for something that would normally be considered a setback. If you find enough ways to turn negatives into positives, it usually can translate into the small margins that win you a match. Enough of me blabbing. Let's take a look at the cool new cards! Key New Cards

Demons Are Getting New Toys, and This Deck is ROTTEN

We have seen the vast majority of the cards that will be released in Tarkir Dragonstorm, and the excitement is definitely building. Magic players are expecting this to meet the hype that Duskmourn brought us, and hopefully more. We were left a bit underwhelmed with Aetherdrift, but this is proving to be all but a filler set. It's something that is so easy to be excited for. Who doesn't love dragons?! Anyone with an ounce of nerdiness is interested as soon as they hear the word. Although I don't have a dragon deck for you today, I am going to do my obligatory Mono Black Deck for the new set. If you have read my articles in the past, you know that I do one every set - and this one is no different. We finally have enough cards from Tarkir to give me what I needed to make a new-and-improved Demons list for you. We have a new one that will let us pull off some combos on earlier turns, and hopefully have a better body early on to put pressure on aggro decks. I think that should give us a better shot against the meta, since the threat of a 5 damage crackback can definitely give someone extra things to consider in combat phases. He also isn't a bad creature to discard, as he has an ability to activate from the graveyard. This will help us against the bounce/pixie decks. We have ample graveyard hate and removal for the graveyard combo decks, so I like most of our matchups against the current meta. The only thing we will have to see with time is if the meta shifts with this monster of a new set. We really have some fun cards to add here, and we are adding another type of threat to the deck. We have historically not used our graveyard for much, but now we are able to get additional value from it with a new addition. Our sideboard even has a dragon with an adventure that reads like The Meathook Massacre! I've said enough, let's check out these cards. Relevant New Cards

Free Dragons = Turn 4 Wins!

We are officially in the perpetual spoiler season of the MTG year, and Wizards has not been disappointing us. Most people can get behind a set centered largely around dragons, and it definitely helps that the plane itself is one that we have wanted to see them bring back for a long time. Over a decade later, we are going back to Tarkir. I played a good bit of Magic and did a lot of deck building the last time we had some fun dragons on Arena, and I knew that this set was going to call me back to those days. My favorite archetype a couple of years ago was Boros Dragons. I largely played that in the Alchemy format, but I am going to bring you a Boros Dragons Standard Deck today. We are going to take advantage of a combo that is used in Standard currently, but we are going to use a different payoff this time. We are going to cast dragons for FREE and then either they will have the opponent dead just from entering, or we will hopefully have a way to give them all haste! We will take a look at the new cards that are awesome. Then I'll let you know about the combo that will help us get there. We want to keep the board as clear as we can for our dragons and then slam them all on the board at once to clean things up. We also have some smaller creatures that we can use to chump block earlier in the game. When needed, we also have board wipes to deal with other creatures. New Cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm

I See a Monument and I want it Painted Black

It's been a few weeks since Aetherdrift came out, and we are starting to see the cards that are standing out in the meta. We didn't expect the set to change things too much with regard to what we have been seeing. What we did get from it is a nice supplement to many other decks. Although we did not get a ton of format-shaping cards, we have seen a couple that have lit up fringe archetypes. What I've brewed for today plays off of a familiar archetype, and it was one that we kind of already had, but it allows us to pivot in a certain way and get additional value from it that we may not have gotten in the past. One of the biggest things that our deck can do is have plenty of action on the end step/cleanup step. It's an interesting scenario because usually when we think of the cleanup step at the end of each turn, we remove damage, and we discard to hand size. Usually discarding to hand size is pretty much the final step, and there aren't any triggers... until now. We will be using Monument to Endurance to have triggers when we discard to hand size, and get additional value from it. Now we don't care if we end the turn with nine or ten cards in hand, because we are going to benefit from it. This will help us possibly get in some finishing damage against our opponent, or get extra value. It is worth noting that this will cause triggered abilities on the cleanup step, and this is something that our opponents can respond to. This has historically been a point in the turn where no player can respond to actions. We'll take a look at the relevant cards in the deck, and then I'll detail a few fun combos that we may see during gameplay. Relevant Cards

We've had a Couple of Weeks to Try Achievements on MTG Arena, and I have Opinions

The economy on MTG Arena has always been a pain point, and a grand debate over how far a digital version of a card game should go to ensure players feel as if they are getting proper value for their time. Wizards has two different versions of its beloved game on the internet, and they both seem to have their benefits and drawbacks. On February 11, Arena launched the Achievement System to reward players for hitting milestones in-game, and completing specific tasks. While it is always fun to do these kinds of things in each game, something that gamers always do is assess whether the reward for doing so in-game is worth putting forth the extra effort for the task. While there are some things in the achievement tab that I believe to be kind of fun, and certain things that I know people will want, I view the entire thing as largely a waste of time. Today we will look at why the new feature on Arena simply isn't enough for what the game should have, and what it could be. The Good and The Bad There are plenty of things that we love about Arena, with how it is the easiest way to play our favorite decks from Standard, and not spend thousands of dollars in doing so. It is probably the most efficient way to try out decks. We also love the wildcard system. Although it is not the easiest to obtain them, it is great that a rare/mythic wildcard could buy a rare/mythic card that is of any value and it still just costs one wildcard. This was especially helpful in getting a play set of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I still don't have a play set in paper simply because I don't want to spend that much money on it, but on Arena it was easy. I had the wildcards to do what I needed. The only part where this may be lacking is the economy itself. What if we could earn wildcards for hitting certain achievements (I.E. the achievement tab giving us wildcards instead of sleeves, etc.)? I believe that the rewards from this new feature being solely cosmetic underscores the ongoing issue of the economy on Arena simply not being enough for us.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!