Explore every episode of the podcast Raise the Standard: an MTG Podcast

Don your raincoats and pop open your umbrellas as we prepare to brave the weather with none other than Richard Owen as we journey through the history of Storm as a 7PT archetype in Highlander.

There are few players who are as familiar with Storm's changes as Richard, and we're incredibly lucky to have him back for his third episode (Richard Count: 3). Storm has changed in significant strokes, brought on by changes to the points and metagame as the committee has shepherded the format over the years.

Where did Storm come from? What points changes have necessitated full deck changes? Where will Storm be in the future? Is there still a viable Storm deck to be played? Let's discuss!

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| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

He's back! There are few people who have played as much storm as Richard, and few people still who have beaten storm as much as he has. While the storm archetype remains the Big Bad of the Highlander metagame as we wait to see what impact the most recent points update has on the format, Richard is here to reassure us that storm is beatable!

Today, Storm expert Richard Owen is taking us through the plan for sideboarding against storm, encouraging us to not make plans around game one, and to proactively adapt to the second and third games of the match. A huge thanks to Richard for joining us once again to talk about all things Storm!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

The day before the Highlander Committee pointed Storm, it rained for three days straight in Melbourne, Australia, where we set the scene for the latest Highlander Points Update. And who better to talk about the latest changes to Storm than the weatherman himself: Richard Owen!

Richard has developed Storm as a 7PT archetype over the last four years and has earned himself some impressive pointings in the wake of his success as a Storm pilot. He has worked with the deck through many pointings and today we turn to him to better understand the reason for the updates to Storm's points as well as the perceived intended shift in the Highlander metagame.

A huge thank you to Richard for joining us for this episode! As an archetype expert and someone we have mentioned many times on the show, we're incredibly lucky to have spent this time discussing Storm and how it's had to change over the years.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Today's episode is brought to you by Kira, who really, really wanted to talk about the merits of Underground Sea as your 8th point. Within this discussion, we debate the broader pointing philosophy, the function of good mana, and having to re-think deckbuilding decisions after a points update.

Reminder: we are not committee members! The Highlander Points Committee works incredibly hard to manage the format and works within a Magic life cycle that is printing hundred of cards into the format every couple of months.

Additionally: this episode was recorded before Basser's Charity Brawl, where four of the top eight decks played Fantasticar. Comments about "the format is healthy" are to be taken with a grain of salt. (This message brought to you by the "Car to 5" conglomerate.)

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

There's a lot of churn happening in Standard post-ban, and that leaves room for a lot of innovation in the format. New sets and recent bans mean that players are going rogue--looking for new combos, synergies, and play patterns that may prove to be incredibly powerful.

Today, we're taking a look at a handful of rogue decks that are or have performed well in the current metagame. What do these decks do, what makes them successful, and what happened to all of our weenies?

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

And lo, the Committee said unto the Highlander players: Strip Mine is now 2 Points. And there came a great commotion from the masses of Land players and Weenie players, who were distraught at this news and there came upon a great relief from anyone who has had their land Strip'd.

Strip Mine to 2! Bones to 1! And who in the world suggested Daze to 1?! Today, we're talking about the most recent Highlander points update: what happened, why these cards received points, and what we can expect going forward.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Well...! Here we are again. The week after we said, "There's no way that Wizards will ban Cub and Talent if they haven't banned them yet," Wizards said, "Bet." So, at long last, the new villains of the Standard format have been ushered into an early retirement.

What does this mean for Standard now? Why wait until this ban cycle (August 10, 2026) to ban these cards? How will this impact the format going forward? All this and more in today's episode!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

He's back, and he's Boros than ever...! We're kidding, of course, there is no way that Titan enthusiast Riley Jones would play Boros at the Modern Spotlight series...or is there?

We're thrilled to have Riley Jones back for another episode, this time about team prep ahead of Spotlight Series Brisbane, the first Spotlight event in Australia since the retirement of the GP series. We're chatting about how PT Super Heroes influences the choices players are making ahead of Brisbane, how teams work to develop deck strategies, and why Riley will inevitably swap to Boros for the tournament*.

A huge thank you to Riley for joining us for another episode! You can find Riley online at @badatmagicbones and you can keep up with Team Quality Lines here on Twitter/X. Best of luck to Riley and the team!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

*For legal reasons, this is a joke. Or is it...?

As of time of recording (24/7/26), we still don't know what the Universes Beyond sets for 2027 are...so let's have a bit of a laugh and wildly speculate about what those sets could be!

We're parsing this episode as part of the 'Time in the Round' series, as it's more of a bonus episode, but is content that we still found quite funny! What is your wish for a Universes Beyond set? Game of Thrones? Wheel of Time? Fortnite?? Join us for a cheeky chat as we wildly and unseriously speculate as to what the year ahead might hold.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

On the heels of an incredible run at the Sydney Standard Spectacular $100K, we're joined today by Riley Jones! Far from being bad at Magic, Riley placed second at the $100K on a build of Prowess that incidentally has a great track record of beating the stock Prowess deck in Standard.

Today, we're chatting with Riley about how the deck was built, the conception around playing the best deck while simultaneously trying to beat it, and how the metagame influences deckbuilding decisions in an open-decklist tournament.

A huge thank you to Riley for joining us for this episode, and congratulations again for a stunning show of skill at the $100K! Team Quality Lines walked away with nearly 30% of the total prizepool, so watch out for the QL Boys as they prepare to head to Spotlight Series Brisbane!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Obviously, we're a bit late to the party here--but we're going to talk about the 'No Changes' ban announcement anyway!

This announcement was published June 29th of this year and honestly, we were a bit surprised. With the way the Standard metagame has been moving (or some would say, not moving) we had anticipated at least a couple of changes to the format. So why didn't we see anything banned? Let's chat about format construction and ban philosophy and how Stormchaser's Talent has managed to dodge the ban hammer for its entire Standard lifecycle.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

We've been gone for a while...so what's been happening while we were away?! From no bans in Standard to ProTour Marvel Super Heroes and everything in between, there's been a lot that we've missed. So join us today as we dive straight back in and chat about what's happening in Magic and what's coming up!

We sincerely appreciate your patience and support as we've had to take additional time away from the show. We're so excited to be back and bringing you more Magic content, from Standard to Highlander, Universes Within and Beyond, and sharing incredible guests along the way. Thank you for sticking with us!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Class is now in session! Our guest lecturer today is none other than Highlander committee member and Highlander World Champion: Aunt Voltie ⚡

Voltie is a seasoned deckbuilder and a competitive Magic player of remarkably high caliber. She is a content creator, tournament organiser, and community member who is well-known for her knowledge and prowess within the game of Magic. Today, we're chatting with Voltie about common deckbuilding pitfalls, planning for the "middle state", and being an active participant in your deckbuilding process.

A huge thank you to Voltie for sharing her time and expertise on the show! If you're interested in Voltie's deckbuilding and deck doctor services or are looking to find more of her content, you can find her online at @AuntVoltie and via her LinkTree, which contains links to her social media, her Discord, and other tutoring services.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

After her dominating performance at Highlander Worlds, we've brought beloved Highlander committee member and friend of the show, Aunt Voltie, back to answer for her crimes: playing 7PT Boros.

In her previous episode, Voltie talked about the benefits of two-colour pair decks (Dimir and Boros most notably) playing 8PT lists rather than 7PT lists. However, rather than take her own advice, she registered 7-Point Boros for Highlander Worlds. A decision that clearly panned out, as she took down the entire tournament and won a Time Walk! A huge congratulations to Voltie on her performance at Highlander Worlds.

But now...she must answer herself! Why play 7PT Boros just for a single Plateau? Is the dual land really worth an 8th point in that list? What decisions go into a deck like hers and how do those percentage points convert to results in-game? All these questions and more in today's episode!

Many thanks again to Voltie for giving us her time and energy here on the show. If you want to find Voltie online, you can search her up at @AuntVoltie across social media and can access her deck doctor and tutoring services through her LinkTree.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

MTG Arena's Alchemy format is truly in a league of its own. From "conjure" mechanics and "draft from spellbook" the online-only mechanics are often difficult if not impossible to replicate in paper. But there is another, more interesting use of the Alchemy format: de-powering paper cards.

Cards like The One Ring, Orcish Bowmasters, Heartfire Hero, and Cori-Steel Cutter are amongst the modern paper cards that have been 'nerfed' in Alchemy. This is often a concession to the true power of the paper card and are ones that have been banned in one format or another (be it Modern, Standard, Pioneer, or in multiple formats).

So today, we're talking a bit about the "Alchemy versions" of Standard cards, how Alchemy could be used to mitigate problematic cards before they head to print, and how we would alchem-ify some cards that are currently running rampant in the Standard metagame.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

> This episode was filmed prior to Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven <

The most important test of a Magic player's career happened this weekend! But prior to the Pro Tour, we sat down to discuss the PT in broad strokes: what we expected to see, what we hoped to see, and what we thought might be coming next for the Standard metagame.

This weekend has been a showing that the Standard metagame is currently stable. The decks that we expected to see have a large representation (Izzet Prowess, Landfall, Izzet Spellementals, Izzet Lessons) did have that same representation, and those same decks that we expected to do well, did perform as expected.

So...what did we think before the event started? Sit down with us today and chat!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Folks, let's be honest with each other. The "Year of Izzet" has persisted a lot longer than any of us really expected. A majority of the current Standard banlist as of April 2026 is comprised of red and/or blue cards, yet Izzet has remained a dominant colour pair throughout these ban cycles. So...why is that?

Between access to perfect mana, a suite of interactive spells and card refinement options, and good creatures to boot, Izzet as a colour pair and format-defining archetype maintains an iron grip on the Standard metagame. Though it has fallen out of favour at times or fallen victim to other strong decks in the meta like Landfall and Reanimator, Izzet always manages to make it out on top in the end.

Today we're talking about what enables Izzet decks to remain in Tier 1, how the deck is resilient to bannings, and why Stormchaser's Talent is the secret backbone of the archetype.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

We've seen the increased power level amongst Standard sets steadily growing over the last few months, but there's something that feels decidedly pushed about Strixhaven.

From creatures with iconic Magic spells stapled on them to recursive spell effects that will dominate a game, Strixhaven is powerful in a way that feels different to other current Standard-legal sets. So let's talk about the power of Secrets of Strixhaven, the potential effect it will have on the metagame, and how Standard has shifted towards a level that eclipses original Modern by miles.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Gather your scrolls, ink your quills, and make sure you have your lecture schedule handy--we're heading back to Strixhaven!

As is tradition, we have gathered a handful of some of the cards we think are going to be standouts in the Standard format. From lands to sorceries, we've got a little bit of everything today! Rest assured, we did our research and took some notes, like all good students do!

Which cards are you most excited for? What new archetypes might develop from this new set? Let's chat!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

We would be remiss not to bring back our most-mentioned player, Ben Tudman, for another conversation on the Standard format, its quirks, how it's changed, and what comes next for players and the metagame alike.

So join us for another episode with Ben Tudman, recorded shortly after his appearance at Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed. Listeners beware--there is a moment during this recording where the camera stopped recording...but the microphones didn't! Enjoy a brief intermission wherein we wait for the camera to cool down and ramble for a bit before realising we're still live.

A huge thank you, as always, is owed to Ben for joining us for another episode and lending us his thoughts and opinions. Ben will be on his way to Amsterdam for the next pro tour, and you can bet we'll be roping him in for another series once he's returned!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Back on the pod today is none other than Sam Loy! In Sam's last episode, we touched on the ten-year pause he put on competitive Magic and today we're going to dive into that break, how competitive Magic has changed in that time, and how players grow and adapt in ever-changing metagames.

A huge thank you to Sam for coming back for another episode and for sharing his wisdom with us! This was such a fun back-and-forth and we're so excited to see Sam off on this new leg of his competitive journey.

If you're looking to play more competitive Magic, head on over to ⁠mtgbazaarevents.com⁠ and have a look at this year's upcoming tournaments! From Highlander Worlds next month to the $100K Standard event in July, there is a huge range of premiere events to choose from!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

We just can't get enough of our amazing competitive players--and today, we've got return friend of the show Michael Billinghurst back for another episode!

If you are playing in the competitive Melbourne scene--especially if you're playing Highlander--then you know Billinghurst's name. From the committee to judging, Billinghurst is a pinnacle of the Vic crowd, and we're thrilled to have him for another episode. Today we're talking about the progression of skill in competitive Magic, how to avoid burnout, and why grinders are more prone to feeling like they're not improving even when they're at the top of their game.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

We're on the ProTour grind! Joining us today is the eponymous leader of Team Sam Loy--it's Sam Loy!

Today we're chatting about Sam's pro tour experience, being on the feature match table, and predicting the Standard metagame when the field is wide open. A huge thank you to Sam for joining us for today's episode.

And we're so incredibly excited to announce that Raise the Standard is now sponsored by MTGBazaar! Pat and the Bazaar crew are a pillar of the Magic community and of the competitive Magic scene here in Aus, and we are so lucky to be a part of this amazing group.

You can find this year's upcoming events online at MTGBazaarevents.com.au and the next event coming is Highlander Worlds, from April 24-26 at Coburg Town Hall!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Ben Tudman...Ben Tudman...Ben Tudman...! He's back! Friend of the show, the player whose name we invoke more than anyone else, and ProTour regular, Ben Tudman joins us again on the podcast to discuss his experience at ProTour Lorwyn Eclipsed!

Ben had an incredible showing at PT Lorwyn Eclipsed and is re-queued for the next two PTs--so today we're discussing what the event was like, the deck he played, and what the future of his pro play looks like. A huge thank you to Ben for coming back to join us in the studio and to impart even more of his wisdom upon us!

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| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Today we've got a very special episode brought to you from the Raise archives: one of our very first screentests! Journey with us through the time vortex back to August 2025, when we first sat down in the studio to test our transition to video.

Laugh with us as we read through Ashiok's MTG wiki page, discuss its involvement (or lackthereof) in War of the Spark, and shudder to think of the number of teeth it has.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Our very own Meia trucked off to Canberra for CanCon 2026 and played in the annual Highlander tournament, an event that boasted over 200 competing players. Through eight rounds of competitive play, butting heads with Grixis, Moons, and even a Zirda combo deck, she placed in the Top 8!

Today, our special guest is Meia herself, as she talks about the tournament, her deck, and what it took to Thoracle combo all over the competition. A huge congratulations to Meia for an incredible result! We're looking forward to seeing her combo off at the next one!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Oh. My. Pro Tour. Seven different decks in the Top 8, brand new archetypes that dominated the competition, and Badgermole Cub getting beaten into the dirt? Yes, please!

This was a heck of a ProTour to kick off 2026. On the heels of an incredibly strong set--Lorwyn Eclipsed--the chance for Standard to change on a massive scale was just on the horizon. The Pros got their hands on the cards and went to work, crafting Elemental decks and refining the Control and Reanimator archetypes. Today, we're looking back at ProTour Lorwyn Eclipsed and discussing the breakout decks, the matchups, and how Standard is in a really, really good place right now.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

We sat down and took it easy today--before heading off to CanCon for a weekend of Highlander excitement, we were in the studio chatting about the format, countervailing opinions within the community, and whether or not Brainstorm is worth one point.

This episode was recorded before Canberra Convention 2026, where Meia placed in the Top 8 of a 200+ player tournament! We've recorded an episode about Meia's tournament experience, the deck she played, and how she's grown as a successful Highlander player which will be coming out in the next couple of weeks. A huge congratulations to Meia for an incredible performance!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Hey guys...We don't want to jinx anything...but Standard is looking pretty good right now! From the recent Spotlight Series metagame to new cards coming into the format via Lorwyn: Eclipsed, Standard seems to be going in a really good direction.

We're taking it easy and chatting about the metagame distribution, good cards, better archetypes, and what might be coming at the next Pro Tour.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

We've returned to Lorwyn! After nearly 20 years, we have returned to the plane of light and shadow, of brumbly boggarts and merry merfolk, and we couldn't be more excited! Today, we're going through our usual rigamarole of discussing which cards we think will see constructed play across Standard, Modern, and Highlander (with an emphasis on Standard-playable cards especially).

Are you a night-loving creature of Shadowmoor? Or are you a bright-eyed native of Lorwyn? Come along with us as we pick through our favourite hopefully-playable cards!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

From "Magic on Hard Mode" to 9 Pro Tour appearances, today's guest is a player of incredible talent and skill, and is a repository of immense Magic knowledge. Today, we're sitting down with Luke Mulcahy to discuss deckbuilding, getting roasted by LSV on Twitter, and how working within a player community to develop an archetype makes your deck stronger in the long-term.

Affectionately nicknamed "Mulch", Luke is a skilled Nadu player in Highlander and has himself created Magic content over the years, and one of his most iconic works is "Magic on Hard Mode": a semi-facetious article of "tips and tricks" to improve your competitive play (in a very Spike-y fashion) though many of the tips seem to have become commonplace in the years since the article was published...!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text: Welcome back, Standard enjoyers! For our first episode of Season 2 and our first episode of 2026, join us as we sit down and discuss Badgermole Cub: is it banworthy?

From pushed design philosophy to power creep in the format, Badgermole Cub has all of the hallmarks of a card that could end up on the Standard banlist: mana acceleration, card advantage, stats that break parody, and nothing but upsides.

But are each of those qualities individually enough to warrant banning the badger? Or is it each aspect together on one card that makes this cub a show of force in the Standard metagame?

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

What a year it's been! From Aetherdrift to Avatar, we've seen Standard through its highs and lows of 2025, and we ourselves have grown from focusing solely on Standard to becoming a competitive-constructed podcast, expanding to include segments like Mildly Modern and Hardly Highlander.

All of this is thanks to you, our listeners and our community, and we cannot thank you enough for the support that you've given us this year. When we started this show in February, we had no idea where it would take us. To be here, at our last episode of Season One, forty-nine episodes later, is a dream that we are humbled to share.

Today, we're reminiscing on the year: our favourite episodes and our favourite decks, as well as looking ahead to 2026 (and the start of Season Two!) From the bottom of our hearts: Thank You. We cannot wait to bring you another year of Raise the Standard in all its forms.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

The World Championship tournament was an amazing show of force with a roster of new Standard decks; a byproduct of both the latest set, Avatar: the Last Airbender, as well as the most recent bannings that took place earlier in November.

And let's just say...we've learned some lessons. So today, we're talking about MTG Worlds: the decks that appeared and dominated the metagame, the cards that are powering the format, and what the next year of Standard is going to look like.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Back-to-back committee members! Today we brought back Aunt Voltie--committee member, content creator, and competitive player--to chat about her work in the 8-Point space of Australian Highlander.

The 8-Point rule, sometimes referred to as the "Accessibility Rule", rewards players that don't play Reserve List cards with an extra point in their otherwise 7-Point restricted decks. Voltie has built dozens of 8-Point decks, has played them at locals and large tournaments alike, and is a pioneer within the 8-Point/budget space to create an accessible entry point for new Highlander players.

So join us today as we talk about how Voltie started building 8-Point lists, what makes the 8-Point rule important in Highlander, which decks function better on 8 points than on 7, and how you can get in touch with her for deckbuilding advice and tutoring!

A huge thank you to Aunt Voltie for sharing her knowledge and experience with us! You can find her online at @AuntVoltie, and you can subscribe to her Patreon for exclusive sideboard guides, articles, and deckbuilding advice. Her public decklists can be found here on Moxfield.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Continuing in our (new?) tradition of hosting committee members on the show, we are joined today by none other than renowned Esper enthusiast, Michael Billinghurst! With decades of competitive Magic play under his belt and several years' residence as a member of the 7-Point Highlander committee, who better to take a guest slot on the pod than a well-loved judge and community member to discuss what the committee is and how it functions.

Australian Highlander is one of the few formats (similar to many of the Highlander variants) that is stewarded by a select group of its elected and nominated players. So we brought Michael onto the podcast today to discuss what makes the Highlander committee successful, the role the committee plays in shaping and directing the format, and exactly what the committee does and perhaps more importantly, what it doesn't do.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

As a show that is focused on competitive play in Magic--and especially focused on competitive play here in Australia--it should come as no surprise that we've started playing more 7-Point Australian Highlander. While the Wizards-sanctioned competitive seasons alternate from Standard to Modern, one format remains steady between them: Highlander.

Being a Vintage format, Highlander carries a massive scope of power and complexity. From Black Lotus to Time Walk, Mawloc to Deadpool, Quantum Riddler and Cori-Steel Cutter, Highlander takes the best of the best cards in Magic's history and puts their power to the test in competitive singleton 1-vs-1.

So what is the format like? Why are we playing it? Exactly how many people play Storm and own a Black Lotus? These questions and more on today's episode of Hardly Highlander, another MTG podcast within an MTG podcast.

| Music by Malko on Pixabay.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Good news, everyone! Vivi Ornitier is banned in Standard!

The snail's pace of a numb format took us all the way until November 10th when the inevitable announcement came: Vivi Orinitier is banned in Standard, along with Proft's Eidetic Memory and Screaming Nemesis. So...is Standard finally fixed?

Let's chat today about the most recent ban announcement, what it means for the format, our thoughts, and what the next iteration of Standard decks might look like going forward.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

We're recapping Regional Championship 10 that happened a few weeks back in October! Kira was a part of the Super Series commentary team and spent the whole weekend neck-deep in Modern and the competitive scene--so let's chat about the metagame, the plays, and all the things that make Modern great right now!

If you're interested in starting your competitive journey, the ANZ Super Series is a great starting point! Participating in RCQs (a series of qualifying events for the magnanimous Regional Championship) is a great way to build your skill and learn more about competitive play. And even if you're not that interested in competitive constructed, RC's have a ton of amazing side events, artists, and vendors to visit!

Our next ANZ Regional Championship is 13-15 March 2026 in Sydney, and the format will be Standard. You can find more information about the Super Series and all of its events online at https://anzmtg.com.au/

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Water...earth...fire...air...Magic! From 2005 on Nickelodeon to 2025 as a part of Wizards' own Magic: the Gathering, the Avatar: the Last Airbender (Universes Beyond) set is lining up to be just as much of a hit as its original TV series.

The nostalgia factor coupled with thoughtful card designs have fans itching for pre release, which is scheduled for this Friday, November 14th. As always, we have lined up their picks for which cards they think will see constructed play!

While we largely have focused on cards we believe will see play in Standard, as we have branched Raise: the Standard as a show to cover more 60-card competitive formats (like Modern and 7PT Highlander) our predictions, too, have expanded in scope. Is Wan Shi Tong, Librarian the absolute best card of the set? Is a turn 3 win with Firebending Student feasible? Let's discuss!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

For our next deck tech spotlight, we're going absolutely big-brained. We loved so many of the decks from our series about the underdogs of the Standard format, the decks that are just below the surface and waiting to break through--and Kira loved Simic Omniscience so much that she immediately built the deck and started playing it.

So today, we're walking you through Simic Omniscience: what the deck does, how it does it, and what it looks like in the current metagame. We're all crossing our fingers and toes for good news next week...so let's talk about a different, very cool deck that could survive into a hopefully Vivi-less meta.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Our third guest on the show is a woman who needs little introduction--but we will give her one anyway! She is a member of the Australian 7-Point Highlander Points Committee, a veteran Magic player of incredible skill, a Top 4 player at Pat's most recent CanBrawl tournament, and a pioneer of the 8-Point Archetype: today's special guest slot is taken by none other than Aunt Voltie!

In the wake of an incredible Top 4 placement at CanBrawl, Kira sat down with Voltie to discuss the event, her content challenge deck, and the advice around netdecking in Highlander. The challenge: build a Highlander deck on a $150USD budget in a format where reserve list cards are a mainstay and more than one person in the room owns a Black Lotus.

As we here at Raise the Standard turn our focus towards competitive 60-card formats, this is our unofficial official start of Hardly Highlander, another podcast-within-a-podcast where we talk about, you guessed it, 7-Point Australian Highlander. We, of course, had to start of strong with one of the best players in the format and we will be sharing a second episode with Voltie focused around the 8-Point rule and her work in pioneering 8-Point decks in the coming weeks!

A huge thank you to Aunt Voltie for sharing her knowledge and experience with us! You can find her online at @AuntVoltie, and you can subscribe to her Patreon for exclusive sideboard guides, articles, and deckbuilding advice. Her CanBrawl decklist can be found here on Moxfield.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Standard is in...a bit of a state right now. But lurking underneath the surface of a metagame dominated by Cauldrons and Mono Red lie some interesting Standard decks that have yet to crack the ice. Today, we look at the "Marit Lage" decks (copyright Kira 2025), the decks that are hiding just below but may soon break through into the meta.

Some decks that we discuss--like Simic Aggro--have already seen metagame success! Others have yet to come into their prime. So what could Standard look like post-Vivi? What decks are lurking just beneath? Is Meia going to mention more pixie decks? Let's find out!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

We were at PAX Australia this weekend, and as we recover from our first-ever live show and a weekend of Magic, we bring to you this incredible archival piece from our Raise the Standard catalogue. In this episode, we were discussing (at the time) what cards we believed could be banned in Standard, which decks were in strong positions, and how things might possibly change if there were any bans to happen.

NOTE: This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded in March 2025, prior to the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm and prior to spoiler season for TDM officially starting. Which means: we were blissfully unaware of the terror that is now known as Cori-Steel Cutter.

It is incredibly funny to listen along to this episode as we confidently cry "No Bans Needed" prior to the release of TDM and the introduction of Cori-Steel Cutter into the Standard format. So join us today and listen back to our naive Standard selves, unaware of what was soon to come...!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

Wait a second...this isn't even Standard!

Welcome to our very first episode of Mildly Modern, an MTG podcast within an MTG podcast! We as Magic players are not so linear as to only play one format, and while Standard is the format that is nearest and dearest to our hearts, we realised how much we love and are invested in 60-card constructed competitive formats and decided that it is time to raise our own Standards and broaden our Magic horizons.

So it is our great pleasure to sit with you today for the launch of Mildly Modern, a podcast focused on the Modern format, its competitive events, its metagame, and its evolution. Mildly Modern will follow a similar path as Raise the Standard, and as our competitive seasons alternate between Standard and Modern, we'll never run out of events and decks to talk about!

We're starting off with Pro Tour Edge of Eternities and discussing the event, the results, the decks, and how unbelievably different Modern is to our beloved Standard.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

The audio lives on! Welcome to another episode of Time in the Round, where we let our clips and chats live on in a beautiful farm up north. Today, we went on a bit of a tangent about Magic: the Gathering Arena: how it can make you a better player, how it can make you a complacent player, and how sometimes it even lets you "cheat".

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Thumbnail text from ⁠TextStudio⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

🎶 Spider-Man, Spider-Man, he's a--Legendary Creature Spider Human Hero--and he does whatever a spider can 🎶

Today we bring you our Spider-Man Standard predictions, taking a dive into which cards we think are going to see play in the meta, what role they might play, and which decks we may see them played in.

The second Universes Beyond set of 2025 has some unique challenges, but also presents some really cool cards that have a chance to see representation in the meta. Are they all land cards? Yes, but that's not important right now.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

So, you want to learn how to play Magic? We've got the best thing for you! No, it's not a pre-con Commander deck...

From the Arena tutorial, to Starter Kits, to playing Standard, constructed formats are a new player's best friend! (In our humble opinion.) Starting with Standard is easier and more comprehensible for players who have not played a game of Magic--with a reduced card pool, overall faster pace of play, and increased focus on gameplay, Standard (and other constructed products) is the best way for new players to learn Magic.

Join us today as we discuss the merits of learning Standard, the benefits of EDH (Commander) and its diversity, as well as what makes constructed formats more approachable than 100-card singleton.

[ Apologies for the video quality! While our source videos were recorded in 4K, things seem to have gotten a little bit crunchy along the way. We are still testing the waters and doing our best as we transition to a video-focused format, and we appreciate your support as we learn! ]

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Thumbnail text from ⁠TextStudio⁠.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

Oracle Text:

For this installment of Time in the Round, we laugh at Vryn's most sopping wet meow-meow, discover exactly how tall Tezzeret is, and discuss the merits of Blood Moon in other formats.

Time in the Round is a sub-series where we have a laugh and share outtakes from the main episodes. While we endeavour to stay on track and on topic...we may occasionally get distracted. It's been known to happen! So grab a cuppa, tuck in, and have a laugh on us!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Plenty of Games. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Thumbnail text from ⁠TextStudio⁠.

Oracle Text:

Hold our hands. It's going to be okay. I promise it's going to be okay. This is the inevitable Vivi episode where we commiserate about Standard's worst Black Mage.

We don't need to talk about if Vivi is bad/bad for the format. We know it is, and we can see from the results that Izzet Cauldron is putting up that the deck is a real force in the format. But the way that Vivi is homogenizing Standard as a competitive format is something to turn a critical eye towards.

So let's chat about Vivi.

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at the State Library of Victoria. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.