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! | 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! 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.