Building Blocks

How can a card like Prism Ring possibly be good?  Life gain artifacts basically never are, especially post-new world order card design.  On first look, it doesn't look like that much of an upgrade - only one mana, but it doesn't count your opponent's spells.  However, when you combine it with a high velocity deck and a slower paced format, the potential of the deck can shine.  It may have been a flash in the pan, but what an odd flash it was.

We're finishing up our discussion on Modern Horizons 2, focusing on the rest of the notable cards in the set.  From Cursed Scroll to Quirion Ranger, we've got hot takes and lightning rounds a plenty!  If you haven't listened to the first part, we highly recommend you do so, as that's where the mythics are discussed.  Enjoy, and have a happy prerelease!

Just about the whole Magic world is excited about Modern Horizons 2, and we're no different.  With the prerelease this weekend, it's the perfect time to gather our thoughts about the set.  We have a fair bit of them, as this episode is going to be split into two parts.  This first part is mostly focused on how the Mythics might impact the Modern metagame.  The second part of the discussion will be coming out later in the week!

Following up on our last episode, we're taking a look at the time when the inspiration for Fauna Shaman was Standard legal.  We're jumping all the way back to before the dawn of the millennium to talk about the combination of Survival of the Fittest and Recurring Nightmare that won the 1998 World Championships in the hands of Brian Selden.  These two enchantments obviously are a phenomenal pair, but how well did the rest of the cards age?  That's what's in stock this week!

A creature with an ability banned in Legacy has to be good in Standard, right?  The answer to that question is a combination of multiple factors.  Fauna Shaman got both an injection of great cards and awful luck.  Having access to Vengevine and Stoneforge Mystic is fantastic, but the format it was in was truly unfortunate.

We're also premiering a new, as of yet unnamed segment where one of the hosts asks the other to name an obscure card with some kind of nonsense ability from the format.  Feel free to play along!

With the latest Invitational card being printed in Strixhaven, we thought it would be a great time to talk about the cards that previous versions of the tournament gave us.  For ten years, the winner of the event would be able to design a card that would be printed in an upcoming set.  The catch?  You had to beat the best players in the world in some...unique formats.  From Sylvan Safekeeper to Snapcaster Mage, we're going to talk about all the cards that came out of this tournament!

Credit to @MTGHistory for the artwork.

What was the first tournament you attended?  What cards were played?  This episode, we're tackling the first time players sleeved up some Standard decks.  Taking place later in Magic's history than expected, some of the deck choices stand out for how well they've aged.  Some, however, stand out for the opposite reason.  Madness and Psychatog aren't the only decks alive at GP Milwaukee 2002!

Back in 1998, Urza's Saga was released, centering around artifacts.  It contained some powerful cards, to say the least.  Somehow, Gaea's Cradle and Serra's Sanctum aren't the best lands to come out of the set, let alone their own cycle.  That honor belongs to the topic of this episode - Tolarian Academy, a card so good it's banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage.  So how'd it do in Standard?

Oracle of Mul Daya is a deceptively powerful card.  Playing additional lands is already a great effect, adding the ability to play them from the top of your library just makes it better.  What if a certain four mana blue planeswalker from Worldwake was added to the mix?  The end result is a deck with such card advantage that it was able to out grind fully powered Jund in its heyday.

With Time Spiral Remastered currently in our minds, we're taking a look one of the possibly the most famous deck from Time Spiral Standard - Dragonstorm!  Initially a blue/red actual storm deck, it evolved into the burn/storm hybrid that led Patrick Chapin and Gabriel Nassif to their famous Game Four at Worlds 2007.  This is certainly a unique deck, and one we're very excited to talk about.