Big news this week... I'm excited to announce that Covertgoblue has come on as the official cohost of the Arena Craft Podcast! I'm stoked to be working with him, and we have a lot planned content-wise. This marks a shift away from the interview-focused format (though we will still have interviews) towards a more episodic-driven format. Tell us what you think!

This week, we discuss some MTG news including the announcement of Historic Anthology 3. Big nasties Phyrexian Obliterator and Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger return to plague the battlefields of Arena. DCI numbers are being phased out. Then, we pivot to talking about the Standard metagame. Aaron Barich's monoblack Obosh list took her all the way to #1 on the ranked ladder. Covertgoblue reached #120 playing Keruga Fires. We discuss an update to the Yorion decks, and cover one of the new kids on the block, Jeskai Cycling. Finally, we introduce a new segment to the show – Gas, or Ass?! Let us know what you think ;)

Find Covertgoblue on his YouTube channel and at his personal site.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

Everyone's favorite wisecrackin' YouTuber returns this week to discuss the week 1 Standard metagame. There's a lot to dig into here: Companions at 60-70% of the meta. Many different builds of Yorion and Lurrus. People going bigger with Obosh. Fires continues to dominate, picking up some truly gas cards from the new set. We discuss Jeskai control and Temur Reclamation as non-Companion options to consider. And CGB gets perhaps the most epic introduction of his entire career...

Find Covertgoblue on his YouTube channel and at his personal site.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

Returning guest Danny West helps us to work through the monstrosity that is Ikoria! We kick off with a broad discussion of Ikoria and its implications for magic as a whole (are companions the new Oko?), as well as our thoughts on the incorporation of Kaiju into the MTG universe. Next, we go over some of the important interaction and answers in the meta, and finally, we discuss some of the most prominent new archetypes in Standard and our assessment of their viability moving forward. New sets are the best time in Magic!

Danny West stays away from social media for the most part, but you can find him and his unique articles at coolstuffinc.com and also sometimes on Twitch.

Link to Covertgoblue's article about Standard archetypes on Coolstuffinc.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

This week, we're joined by streamer, speedrunner extraordinaire and Genji teammate Skybilz! We're taking a look at the Ikoria complete spoiler and diving into our thoughts on how the set will impact Standard. We go through our power rankings of the Legendary Elemental mutating creature cycle, discuss all the Ultimatums, consider the impact of the Companions on the format, and cover various other cards and their implications. This set will be wild, y'all -- it's just up to us to bust it wide open before anyone else!

Find Skybilz on Twitch and Twitter.

Watch her compete against Shahar Shenhar at the Mythic Invitational.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

I loved the Theros Beyond Death draft format so much that I wanted to do a little retrospective on it. So I invited my friend Rich G, co-host of the Mythic Legendaries podcast, to come on and chat THB limited with me. This is a super informal, unstructured and mostly unedited conversation, so take that into consideration and enjoy! Regular episode will be released on the usual schedule.

You can find Rich G at Mythic Legendaries on Twitter and listen to their show here.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

If you're like many lately, you're pretty tired of Standard. The ladder has been a brutal grind, with the challenge of finding a deck that consistently goes above 50% feeling nigh impossible outside of the most streamlined meta decks. Most of us are probably ready to see Ikoria shake up Standard... but before we get there, we have to play for another few weeks at least. Here's where Danny West comes in to help us make sense of the meta and what to do about it. We go into what we're seeing in the meta, reflect on the design trends in Magic of late, discuss specific archetypes we're seeing in the format, and give our takes on what we think is competitive right now.

As a jumping-off point for this episode, we refer to the Top 8 Decklists from the MagicFest Online weekly championship. Click here to check out those lists.

Danny West stays away from social media for the most part, but you can find him and his unique articles at coolstuffinc.com and also sometimes on Twitch.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

This week, we are joined by Arena Decklists co-host and SCG writer / commentator Bryan Gottlieb to discuss broad strategies for leveling up in MTG. If you've ever wondered how to get from being a "good at FNM" player to a "doing well at tournaments" player, that is precisely what we get into on this episode. Bryan takes us through his approach to metagaming and card evaluation, highlighting the importance of having a deck with a plan tailored to what you expect to see in a format.

Find Bryan on Twitter, tweet decklists @ArenaDecklists, and listen to the Arena Decklists Podcast.

Find Absurd Heroine's video of our Deathmatch games on her channel. Should be releasing this week!

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

This week we're joined by personal friend John Peterson to help us get into the Brawl format. Brawl is free for the next month, so let's dive in and see what we can learn. John takes us through the basics of the format, tells us which interaction and removal you should be running, the threats to watch out for, and the commanders you can expect to run into on the ladder. In addition, we talk about manabases and the speed of the format. Try it out – I've been playing it a lot recently, and the format is GAS.

ALSO, please tune in this week on Thursday, March 26 at 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern for my livestream on Twitch. I'll be facing off against friend of the show Absurd Heroine in the new Deathmatch format, where it's a race to be the first person to die! Come check it out – it should be a good time. Tune in here.

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

This week, we join with Jeff and Sean of the Magic Arena Drafting Club to discuss our picks for the the top 10 underrated rares in THB draft. Too many powerful rares are getting passed in this format, and we hone in on the ones you need to be considering to up the power of your decks. Sleeping on these cards can leave a lot of equity on the table and have you ending up with decks that never really push it over the top. Find out which rares are worth picking over Pharika's Spawn...

It was a pleasure collaborating with Magic Arena Drafting Club this week. They run an awesome show that you should check out at https://www.magicarenadraftingclub.com/ .

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.

This week, we have an interview with one of my favorite recent content creator discoveries – Absurd Heroine. She's been making fantastic Arena content on YouTube for the last year, and she's blowing up right now, so we get to join her community right at the beginning of a meteoric rise! She's known for her entertaining videos and her absurd brews, so we dive into the life of a regular brewer and discuss what her process is for coming up with original decks. We also revisit deckbuilding basics such as making sure your curve matches the plan of your deck, and filling out the extra slots in your deck with the cards that will be support your core strategy.

Find Absurd Heroine on her YouTube channel and on Twitter.

Watch her Enigmatic Etrata brew and her Atemsis, All-Seeing brew referenced on the show.

Go show her some love!

Find Arena Craft on:

1. Discord
2. Twitter
3. Twitch
4. YouTube
5. Facebook
6. Email Us

This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino label and is used with permission.