Sometimes, we all just need to play goofy Commander cards in Standard. And sometimes, a set like Foundations brings a ton of goofy Commander cards to Standard for us to play with, such as Rise of the Dark Realms. Rise of the Dark Realms is the single highest-power reanimation spell in the game, but it has an absolutely crippling mana cost that's very difficult to get to in a format like Standard… unless you ramp like crazy. Today, we’re marrying ramp and reanimator to produce a huge payoff that can win the game on the spot. This deck is optimized for best-of-one because it is overly reliant on the graveyard and no amount of sideboard adjustments will likely be able to compensate for that fact. That said, I was delightfully surprised at how well the deck performed. I first built this on my stream as a goofy feature and I truly believed my mythic rank would tank as a result, but after 37 BO1 matches, it had a 57% win-rate.

If you're anything like me, a card like Ancient Adamantoise can't help but capture your imagination, and today I've decided to build around it, and I'm pretty happy with the results. As of this writing, I've played twelve matches with this beast and have an 8-4 record. Beyond just the numbers, though, the deck feels good for such a janky brew and definitely has the stopping power to help you climb the ladder. The Primary Combo

Cascade and discover are keywords that conjure images of crashing Footfalls or Geological Appraiser dominating tournaments on the backs of combos able to power out threats far ahead of any reasonable curve or go infinite. Free-casting effects like this have been staples of various formats over the years, and can often be seen on banned and restricted lists with examples like Tibalt's Trickery sitting in the prestigious company of Channel and Demonic Tutor as one of only three cards too strong to be unrestricted in Timeless. While Tarkir: Dragonstorm isn't giving us a new card with the keyword cascade or discover on it, we're getting an uncommon that behaves similarly in Breaching Dragonstorm. The titular Dragonstorms are uncommon enchantments that give an effect upon entering and then bounce themselves when a dragon enters under your control. Breaching Dragonstorm is the red installment and its text is almost “When Breaching Dragonstorm enters, Discover 8.” Is This Good?

Aetherdrift was an extremely profitable set for our beloved Goblins, especially with the addition of four great creatures in Burnout Bashtronaut, Greasewrench Goblin, Draconautics Engineer, and Howlsquad Heavy. These are already seeing play in both Standard and Pioneer formats, leading Goblins to sporadic results in competitive Magic and paving the way for ever more diverse variations. However, I like to surprise you, and today I would rather not talk to you about either format, also because there is something else that has caught my attention and that was secretly released along with Aetherdrift. I say “secretly” because it's not a regular card present in the set but an addition in its Special Guests. I am talking about Chrome Mox!

The Aetherspark is one of the goofiest types lines on any Magic: the Gathering card we've ever seen before. A Legendary Artifact Planeswalker – Equipment is certainly a novel string of words , and because the word “planeswalker” is in there, the card is eligible to be a Brawl commander. So, of course, I built it. How to Even Begin?

The best cards in Standard are making it difficult to brew these days, but where there's a will, there's a way. The current meta is dominated by "This Town Ain't Big Enough" and "Up the Beanstalk" piles, but other cards like Simulacrum Synthesizer and The Mightstone and Weakstone are powerhouse value engines in their own right if we can find a shell for them that works. We also have an absolute haymaker in Radiant Lotus that I'm finally willing to brew with and, I've got to say, I'm impressed. The Wincon

This week, MTG Arena's Midweek Magic event might have been a little more special than usual for some, because we finally got to try out Standard Pauper! I have always found Pauper (commons only) and Artisan (commons and uncommons only) extremely interesting and stimulating for several reasons that I can summarize as follows: They are fresh and new, and it’s not possible to netdeck the strongest lists right away, thus creating an unexplored metagame and leaving room for inventiveness and creativity like the Magic of the past.

The quest for a quality reanimator deck is never-ending for graveyard junkies like myself, and a Standard that includes Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Zombify is just begging for it. So today, I have a fresh take on the archetype in Abzan with a bit of a twist. The Main Threats