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.

Insidious Roots is one of my favorite cards in the current standard that encourages all kinds of silly builds involving the graveyard and pulling creatures out of it in one way or another. One popular build prior to our recent rotation featured Osteomancer Adept and Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler to create a self-feeding engine that could play out an entire deck and fling an enormous plant for a win. If you’re curious, check out the article I wrote on that deck here: While the theory on that deck was sound and it performed very well, one of the key combo enablers has now rotated out of the format. Tyvar is gone from Insidious Roots, but rather than accept this as the death of the deck, I've decided to push forward and accept it as a challenge to overcome.

EOE Cards Worth Building Around As of today, Edge of Eternities is live on MTG Arena, and we're just now getting a chance to tinker with the new cards. While deck lists will be forthcoming from me and others in the coming days, let's take a look at some of the individual cards to see what might be playable in Standard. I've had the privilege of playing in the Streamer Event last week, so I'll be pulling from my own personal experience in this analysis both as the player and the opponent to these cards. White Weenie Might be Back

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

At MagicCon Las Vegas, Wizards of the Coast unveiled the first glimpse of the upcoming space fantasy set, Edge of Eternities, and our first glimpse looks promising. While the vast majority of the set remains unknown, it seems only appropriate, as Magic: The Gathering fans, for us to look at the cards previewed and speculate wildly on how they'll affect Standard moving forward. Disclaimer: any predictions called out here are purely speculation. This exercise is especially challenging because we also have a banned and restricted announcement coming next Monday, June 30th, so the effective meta decks will likely be completely different by the time Edge of Eternities drops. All the same, we're going to have a great discussion and look at some fun cards, so let's get into it. Mother Flipping Shock Lands

Greetings, Janksters! Final Fantasy is upon us, and with it are a ton of new kindred mechanics, including those featuring birds. Now, I'm the kind of gamer who tried to make Kangee, Aerie Keeper work back in High School, so you can imagine my delight at being able to jam birds again in Standard. I was shocked at how well it went. Chocobos, unlike most other birds, don't fly, which means they have to operate differently from the Azorius flyers decks we've seen from birds of the past. These birds are all about landfall, and they also give Bloomburrow's birds much-needed support.

Final Fantasy is right around the corner, and the time has come to theorize about what cards are going to see play once the set hits MTG Arena. The overall power level looks in line with the standard we've come to expect for Standard sets like this, which is to say, very powerful and very fast, but which ones will stand out from the crowd and make a meaningful impact on the Standard meta? While I can’t claim to know the future, here are my predictions and explanations for five cards that just might make the cut once the set drops on June 10th. Honorable Mentions

We live in a Standard Valgavoth, Terror Eater, and Atraxa, Grand Unifier coexist, so of course graveyard junkies are going to reanimate them. While reanimating a huge threat faster than the opponent can respond is a tried-and-true Magic: the Gathering tradition, today's deck isn't focusing on that as much as you might think. Yes, the possibility of a turn four Valgavoth exists within this deck, but that's only one of many gameplans that we're going to use to move forward and climb the ladder. You could call this a midrange deck without lying, but reanimation is also a key element, so I'll stick to the reanimator label. The Core Package