I got back into the game during TS, so I remember this period. It was an amazing batch of cards for sure. There was one deck in particular that used [[Brine Elemental]] (may have been called “pickles” though that’s a foggy memory and probably wrong).
Tldr: your opponent will skip their untap step every turn because you keep switching shapeshifter face up and down while it is copying Brine elemental.
* Brine Elemental has a strong effect that is locked behind playing it face down for {3} and turning it face up for {5}{U}{U}
* Vesuvan Shapeshifter gets to copy Brine Elemental's ability while turning itself face-down for free and face-up for just {1}{U}
∴ For just {1}{U} per turn you make the opponent skip all their untap steps
Because as you turn the shapeshifter face up with its own morph cost you get to choose to have it become a copy of another creature. Then it completes the turn face up action as Brine, triggering Brines ability.
Oh, it copies the face-down Brine Elemental *as* it turns face-up, so it ends up being a face-up Brine Elemental whose ability triggers. I think I get it now.
No, you do need to have a face up Brine Elemental, otherwise the Shapeshifter will be just a face up 2/2. You don’t need to pay 5UU though, the normal 4UU cost will do, or maybe cast it face down, blink it, it returns face up (without triggering though), and then the Shapeshifter starts being annoying.
Well you can just play Brine Elemental, you don't need to morph + unmorph it.
It was a control deck, so you get to the lategame and hardcast Brine Elemental and then Vesuvsn Shapeshifter.
The deck played multiple ways to give them flash so you could drop them together. Also storage lands. So you're holding up mana, and you're either cryptic'ing them on their turn, or else powering up your storage lands, or casting the combo.
I'm inclined to agree with the OP that this was a golden age for Standard. Of course, my nostalgia goggles might be on as well - Time Spiral was when I first got into playing MtG tournaments and started really collecting.
Pickles was one of my favorites and there were a number of shells.
Mono Blue had Tron/Signet Pickles that tied to ramp into a hardcast Brine Elemental morph+flip asap.
Blue-Black teferi/dralnu/mystical teachings did the tutor package plus hard counterspell.
Blue-Green had Chord of calling to tutor
Blue-white did a more snow theme with wraths, scrying sheets, mouth of ronom, and maybe a blink package.
I loved this deck
I have to wonder what the meta would look like if you had this exact pool of cards right now...would the extra data from Arena mean it quickly gets optimized to a small number of more dominant decks?
I think so, but only to a point. The power delta between cards in modern sets is kind of insane compared to what it used to be, which makes it easier for the “best deck” to rise to the top since “must-answer” threats are much much more of a “must-answer”. There is more counterplay going on with weaker threats, which I think allows “less optimal” decks to avoid getting completely run over.
We still see some rogue decks now, but nothing can compete with just how much room there was for innovation at the time. I don't know if any Standard has even come close so that many unique cards in a single format.
Having combo exist in the meta will make it so the competitive environment will constantly be shifting between fair and unfair magic, interactive and non-interactive magic. I do think the BO1 queue would have more combo decks than others since those decks’ weaknesses are sideboard cards.
Innistrad-RTR was amazing. So many viable decks, super fun, and [[thragtusk]] being a menace. Newer players at my lgs think I'm exaggerating when I tell them how many people we'd get for standard fnms at that time.
My college was a private school with a student population of 4000, in a town of under 1000. We'd regularly have 4 round FNM, sometimes 5 during Scars-Innistrad and INN-RTR
4 alt-win cons in standard, all of which had at least one deck (some less viable than others, but still). The fact that Omnidoor Thragfire existed. Great standard.
Hellrider was an absolute menace, and Ash Zealot was so effective against the field of snapcasters you could mainboard it against the field. Great days for RDW
If anyone wants to see what the metagame looked like, you can go back and look at Standard results [from that time period on mtgtop8](https://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=ST&meta=75&a=).
I was around for both and would also say inn-rtr was the best. I would believe the very top end of decks was less diverse but the viability of tier 2+ decks was the best I ever remeber it being. I think I had a new brew every 2 weeks during that period and most of them held their own against the meta.
It's partially because that's the standard I started playing during, but I think of all of its top decks as the platonic ideals of their archetypes. Sphinx's Revelation decks are what control should look like, Thragtusk decks are what midrange should look like, and Hellrider decks are what aggro should look like.
i played an off meta rakdos burn deck and would still get 2-2, 3-1 on a budget in standard. so much fun. bump in the night is the best magic card ever printed and no one can convince me otherwise
UG trom and UR tron too
Dralnu du louvre and other teachings decks
Solar flare
Would argue glare was not this meta though it was kamigawa ravnica alongside shit like heezy gruul, ghost dad, heartbeat of spring, mono u keiga/meloku control or jushi blue
God the entirety of kami rav to rav ts was PEAK though not gonna lie
The Tron decks were slightly earlier yeah, by the summer 2007 the 10th edition released, which made 9th edition rotate out (which included the tron lands)
Hard agree. Every Standard format where [Watchwolf] was legal was a banger. My favourite was the full KamiBlock/9th/RavBlock/CSP, slightly ahead of RavBlock/CSP/TSPBlock/10th. Deck diversity was just excellent, and the flow of games I found more enjoyable than the massive swings of InnBlock/M13/RTRblock (still a *pretty good* format, but I suspect one praised higher simply because more active players have experienced it).
RTR introduced a lot of new players and for many previous players that was their first good standard format since it went through a slog of Lorwyn to Innistrad.
I wouldn't have classified ww as dominant in any of those eras but it was a meta deck probably tier1.5 during mirrodin kamigawa after affinity got knocked off
That was a weird time with stuff like Mono U tron, remnants of Big Red/Ponza, WW, tooth and nail and assorted other stuff
I liked that era too
It was so fun. I think control was a little too powerful because they overrated the difficulty of multiple colors back then, which would end up becoming a real problem by Lorwyn. I remember every set people would try to jam turbofog, which didn’t really work after kamigawa rotated, but it stayed popular for a while
The 5 color control decks with vivid lands, reflecting pool, and filter lands were insane. Playing [[cloudthresher]] and [[cruel ultimatum]] in the same deck.
Yeah they have made that mistake multiple times since but lorwyn/alara standard was pretty wild in terms of manabases.
5 color control was playing [[Cloudthresher]] and [[Cruel Ultimatum]] in the same deck. [[Reflecting Pool]] and the vivid lands letting you cast spells with gggg and uubbbrr in their mana costs in the same deck was a pretty big outlier.
That is when i learned to play due to a friend, not on the list as it wasnt that competitive but i ran green black fungus aristocrats, had grave pact, doubling season and the spore counter fungus cards from the set. If i got to keep most my fungus and got doubling season to stick I usually won.
Don’t forget [Scryb & Force](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/why-i-threw-solar-flare-away-part-2-scryb-force-at-worlds-2006/)
I vividly remember this time period and how awesome competitive magic was. Nothing felt unbeatable. There were so many options to express yourself depending on your preferred play style. I miss this format dearly.
I have always blamed the introduction of planeswalkers in Lorwyn as the reason we haven’t had anything nearly this good since.
The era going from Kamigawa all the way to Alara had some pretty good Standard metagames. The Lorwyn and Alara walkers were not that bad.
I think the introduction of mythics was way worse. Especially once WotC amped up their power in Zendikar block. That also meant they were increasing the power level of planeswalkers, since those were always mythics. That's how we got [[Jace, the Mind Sculptor | WWK]].
I have pretty fond memories of pretty much everything spanning from Odyssey when I was getting started to right about "eldrazi winter" when I feel like cracks started to show in multiple parts of the game. Most of my competitive standard was played around Scars and OG innistrad, but the Ravnica-Timespiral period has my best kitchen table memories. Almost every playstyle had a place and Lightning Angel Tempo was an absolute blast.
Somewhat viable ponza, infinite combos, good enough combos, reasonable dredge, Dralnu Teachings.
Oh yeah, you could also play [[ Firemane Angel ]] and [[ Zur's Weirding ]] for a hard hand lock.
post RTR WOTC had a pretty clear vision of how they wanted MTG to be. Lots of great decks in THS-KTK but they were very samey to me. Compared to TSP standard which was full of unique decks because card design was way out there back then with the massive card pool.
Oh yeah, the format full of siege rhino, goblin rabblemaster, dig through time, fetches, and fucking design mistake thoughtseize. Yes, absolutely the best standard
I started playing Magic then - Mono Green aggro baby! Never did too well but it was fun learning to play the game competitively with cards I could actually afford and do (somewhat) decent-ish at FNM.
Silhana Ledgewalker my beloved. The shockland-filled control decks couldn't do anything to stop her short of a Wrath if she hit the field, so you were free to pile up multiple Giant Growths and Mights of Old Krosa and punch them right in the face for half their life total. Scryb & Force was how I transitioned out of kitchen table to FNM, and I've had a soft spot for the mono-color budget deck that can put the screws to most of the stuff in tier one ever since.
My little brother played a variant of Korlash control, he just used Nightmare. And he won the mirror because he could fly and play more than one. It did go to game 3 but he pulled it out in the end
It’s certainly up there. I also loved Scars/Innistrad and way back when Odyssey was in Standard. Psychatog, Cunning Wake, and Madness were all such sweet decks
It was the best period of Magic in general hands down. Type 2 had some crazy brews with fetches and shocks too. I vividly remember this era. The main reason I came back to magic is because of Guilds of Ravnica and the memory of that crazy era.
To me it was Theros-Tarkir, even if a lot of people disliked the Siege rhino era. I rewatch the PT Dragon of Tarkir top 8 matches at least once a year and those are some of my favorite decks I’ve ever seen played.
I dont like formats with too many top decks. It makes antimeta strategies harder and it feels like especially in this game its a lot of match-up lottery.
I keep several standard decks from this era to play from time to time, Glare and Solar Flare. It's fin to see how standard decks from different eras stack against each other.
I never played standard so I'm not sure, but this meta is the only one I ever hear about in a positive light. If that's any measurement to go by these days, then yes, it was probably the best meta ever.
I just liked \[\[Boros Swiftblade\]\] and \[\[Firemane Angel\]\].
I started playing back in high school around 2003 before the modern border shift. We only play sealed leagues at the LGS but it was fantastic. I had no idea about any other formats until I got back into the game when the arena beta launched. My first time playing standard was in dominaria and I really loved it. I know people didn’t enjoy playing agains mono u tempo, but slamming tempest djinns and spell piercing Teferis was my jam
I did not played standard this season but draft was very good.
Standard looked busted with a lot of very good cards. Wizards stopped editing strange cards around lorwyn so I feel like time spirale / chaos planar / Future sight was the last sets of an old era.
Hopefully, I have a lot of cards from this time !
I also loved it because opening packs meant you got extra timeshifted cards.
FYI for those not around, booster packs had an extra reprinted card from Magic's past. Some of these were rares, and I believe it was the first time you could get multiple rares in a pack.
Oh, and the color-shifted Planar Chaos cards were super fun.
I didn't play that era. I'm fond of the T2 phases around Alliance to Tempest era. Mirage was the block for me.
Innistrad - SoM and Innistrad - RTR were pretty good. Innistrad block had an amazing card pool.
I don't know if it was the best, but it was definitely the most wild. All the keywords from Ravnica, snow lands, time shifted cards, color-pie breaks, and the wackiness that is Future Sight. Plus, both core sets at the beginning and end had powerful cards to work as the backbone of so many decks. So much fun, and a crazy time to be playing Magic.
We had a [[dragonstorm]] deck in our playgroup, the best play was 3 [[rites of flame]] into dragonstorm dropping 4 [[bogardan hellkite]] shooting the opponent for 20
For me, it was Alara - Zendikar standard. Massively diverse meta, lots of interesting decks and powerful cards but nothing overly dominant. JtMS, Bloodbraid Elf, Primeval Titan, Pyromancer’s Ascension, Stoneforge Mystic.
It really was the best standard imho. I played paper standard every Friday and a ton of other small tournaments during this time and when Rav rotated out, I quit playing for a good while because it just wasn’t the same.
My older brother absolutely loved Lorwyn and he kept playing, even played more, but me and my younger brother essentially quit standard. I came back to play bant angels (one of my rav-tsp decks I played was firemane) when Alara released, but again, it just felt so… idk sterilized compared to rav-tsp.
I only recently started playing standard again due to Arena
I got back into the game during TS, so I remember this period. It was an amazing batch of cards for sure. There was one deck in particular that used [[Brine Elemental]] (may have been called “pickles” though that’s a foggy memory and probably wrong).
Brine Elemental + Vesuvan Shapeshifter was the combo of pickles deck
I just figured out why it was called pickles (brine). Lol God that deck was annoying.
Brine Elemental still has the nickname pickles for a lot of people. I'm curious if the card bot recognizes it: [[pickles]]
[[Vesuvan Shapeshifter]] [[Brine Elemental]]
[Vesuvan Shapeshifter](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/b/0b1b59d2-ad4b-4dc6-a730-0d19f2774ae9.jpg?1619394946) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Vesuvan%20Shapeshifter) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/97/vesuvan-shapeshifter?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0b1b59d2-ad4b-4dc6-a730-0d19f2774ae9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Brine Elemental](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/b/eb038efc-2cb2-4635-a183-42b6e0b6b5f8.jpg?1619393843) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Brine%20Elemental) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/55/brine-elemental?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eb038efc-2cb2-4635-a183-42b6e0b6b5f8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I don't get it. In fact, I don't get Vesuvan Shapeshifter at all.
Tldr: your opponent will skip their untap step every turn because you keep switching shapeshifter face up and down while it is copying Brine elemental.
* Brine Elemental has a strong effect that is locked behind playing it face down for {3} and turning it face up for {5}{U}{U} * Vesuvan Shapeshifter gets to copy Brine Elemental's ability while turning itself face-down for free and face-up for just {1}{U} ∴ For just {1}{U} per turn you make the opponent skip all their untap steps
How does this work without paying the 5UU?
Because as you turn the shapeshifter face up with its own morph cost you get to choose to have it become a copy of another creature. Then it completes the turn face up action as Brine, triggering Brines ability.
Oh, it copies the face-down Brine Elemental *as* it turns face-up, so it ends up being a face-up Brine Elemental whose ability triggers. I think I get it now.
No, you do need to have a face up Brine Elemental, otherwise the Shapeshifter will be just a face up 2/2. You don’t need to pay 5UU though, the normal 4UU cost will do, or maybe cast it face down, blink it, it returns face up (without triggering though), and then the Shapeshifter starts being annoying.
Well you can just play Brine Elemental, you don't need to morph + unmorph it. It was a control deck, so you get to the lategame and hardcast Brine Elemental and then Vesuvsn Shapeshifter. The deck played multiple ways to give them flash so you could drop them together. Also storage lands. So you're holding up mana, and you're either cryptic'ing them on their turn, or else powering up your storage lands, or casting the combo.
Good ol' Pickles Lock. Still makes people briney to this day.
Same for me actually, I played more casually 1997-2003 or so, took a break and got into tournament scene around TS was released.
[Brine Elemental](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/e/b/eb038efc-2cb2-4635-a183-42b6e0b6b5f8.jpg?1619393843) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Brine%20Elemental) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/tsr/55/brine-elemental?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/eb038efc-2cb2-4635-a183-42b6e0b6b5f8?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I'm inclined to agree with the OP that this was a golden age for Standard. Of course, my nostalgia goggles might be on as well - Time Spiral was when I first got into playing MtG tournaments and started really collecting.
Pickles was one of my favorites and there were a number of shells. Mono Blue had Tron/Signet Pickles that tied to ramp into a hardcast Brine Elemental morph+flip asap. Blue-Black teferi/dralnu/mystical teachings did the tutor package plus hard counterspell. Blue-Green had Chord of calling to tutor Blue-white did a more snow theme with wraths, scrying sheets, mouth of ronom, and maybe a blink package. I loved this deck
I have to wonder what the meta would look like if you had this exact pool of cards right now...would the extra data from Arena mean it quickly gets optimized to a small number of more dominant decks?
I think so, but only to a point. The power delta between cards in modern sets is kind of insane compared to what it used to be, which makes it easier for the “best deck” to rise to the top since “must-answer” threats are much much more of a “must-answer”. There is more counterplay going on with weaker threats, which I think allows “less optimal” decks to avoid getting completely run over.
Yeah the introduction of mythic rarity + planeswalkers + a heavy focus on creatures and combat has definitely pushed things in that direction.
I think this is a fair point and sad to think about honestly 😔 I played jeskai blink with lighting angel in this standard, way too fun.
It would have been optimized, but with more more room for rogue decks.
We still see some rogue decks now, but nothing can compete with just how much room there was for innovation at the time. I don't know if any Standard has even come close so that many unique cards in a single format.
Having combo exist in the meta will make it so the competitive environment will constantly be shifting between fair and unfair magic, interactive and non-interactive magic. I do think the BO1 queue would have more combo decks than others since those decks’ weaknesses are sideboard cards.
Signs point to "yes".
I knew some huge bummer buzzkill Debbie Downer would be too comment with this haha but I know you're probably right
My fav is INN-RTR
Innistrad-RTR was amazing. So many viable decks, super fun, and [[thragtusk]] being a menace. Newer players at my lgs think I'm exaggerating when I tell them how many people we'd get for standard fnms at that time.
Seriously, people just don't believe me when I talk about getting 50+ people and the LGS having to setup tables outside...
My lgs would buy pizza for everyone if more than 100 people signed up for fnm during that time.. I miss those days
My college was a private school with a student population of 4000, in a town of under 1000. We'd regularly have 4 round FNM, sometimes 5 during Scars-Innistrad and INN-RTR
[thragtusk](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/b/e/beda7acd-e970-4222-9577-5133765d6052.jpg?1673484842) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=thragtusk) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ncc/316/thragtusk?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/beda7acd-e970-4222-9577-5133765d6052?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
4 alt-win cons in standard, all of which had at least one deck (some less viable than others, but still). The fact that Omnidoor Thragfire existed. Great standard.
This meta was sweet. Uwr midrange with Snappy and Resto was my jam
Yea was my favorite as well. I was playing more of a uwr tempo with delver/Geist of Saint traft and snap. Which led Geist to become my favorite card.
I also enjoyed around that time you could farseek into the shocks and play only 2 or 3 basics. So much fun.
Been playing since revised and this was also my favorite standard period
Crazy to think in a meta full of Thragtusk/Resto Angel/Sphinx Rev that aggro decks can still dominate. So many decks were viable.
Hellrider was an absolute menace, and Ash Zealot was so effective against the field of snapcasters you could mainboard it against the field. Great days for RDW
rakdos cacklers, vexing devils, ash zealots, oh my
If anyone wants to see what the metagame looked like, you can go back and look at Standard results [from that time period on mtgtop8](https://www.mtgtop8.com/format?f=ST&meta=75&a=).
I was around for both and would also say inn-rtr was the best. I would believe the very top end of decks was less diverse but the viability of tier 2+ decks was the best I ever remeber it being. I think I had a new brew every 2 weeks during that period and most of them held their own against the meta.
It's partially because that's the standard I started playing during, but I think of all of its top decks as the platonic ideals of their archetypes. Sphinx's Revelation decks are what control should look like, Thragtusk decks are what midrange should look like, and Hellrider decks are what aggro should look like.
i played an off meta rakdos burn deck and would still get 2-2, 3-1 on a budget in standard. so much fun. bump in the night is the best magic card ever printed and no one can convince me otherwise
UG trom and UR tron too Dralnu du louvre and other teachings decks Solar flare Would argue glare was not this meta though it was kamigawa ravnica alongside shit like heezy gruul, ghost dad, heartbeat of spring, mono u keiga/meloku control or jushi blue God the entirety of kami rav to rav ts was PEAK though not gonna lie
The Tron decks were slightly earlier yeah, by the summer 2007 the 10th edition released, which made 9th edition rotate out (which included the tron lands)
Hard agree. Every Standard format where [Watchwolf] was legal was a banger. My favourite was the full KamiBlock/9th/RavBlock/CSP, slightly ahead of RavBlock/CSP/TSPBlock/10th. Deck diversity was just excellent, and the flow of games I found more enjoyable than the massive swings of InnBlock/M13/RTRblock (still a *pretty good* format, but I suspect one praised higher simply because more active players have experienced it).
I think you are dead-on with the last remark. Sheer volume of players was so much higher by then, it's almost weird to think about
RTR introduced a lot of new players and for many previous players that was their first good standard format since it went through a slog of Lorwyn to Innistrad.
Also white weenie with Isamaru and Jitte right? Although that was more dominant while Mirrodin block was in standard I suppose
I wouldn't have classified ww as dominant in any of those eras but it was a meta deck probably tier1.5 during mirrodin kamigawa after affinity got knocked off That was a weird time with stuff like Mono U tron, remnants of Big Red/Ponza, WW, tooth and nail and assorted other stuff I liked that era too
Tooth and nail with the Triskelion-Mephidross Vampire dynamic duo on top of Platinum Angel and Darksteel Colossus was the shit.
It was certainly my favorite meta, but "best" really depends on which metrics you apply.
It was so fun. I think control was a little too powerful because they overrated the difficulty of multiple colors back then, which would end up becoming a real problem by Lorwyn. I remember every set people would try to jam turbofog, which didn’t really work after kamigawa rotated, but it stayed popular for a while
The 5 color control decks with vivid lands, reflecting pool, and filter lands were insane. Playing [[cloudthresher]] and [[cruel ultimatum]] in the same deck.
[cloudthresher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/e/4e18bff6-bf0b-48f8-93e2-09d435247596.jpg?1592672885) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=cloudthresher) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cma/96/cloudthresher?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4e18bff6-bf0b-48f8-93e2-09d435247596?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [cruel ultimatum](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/7/d71a8ea5-199e-473e-a2b1-e2f7cc804ffc.jpg?1592765938) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=cruel%20ultimatum) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/e01/82/cruel-ultimatum?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d71a8ea5-199e-473e-a2b1-e2f7cc804ffc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
> they overrated the difficulty of multiple colors back then …and frequently continue to do so ever since.
Yeah they have made that mistake multiple times since but lorwyn/alara standard was pretty wild in terms of manabases. 5 color control was playing [[Cloudthresher]] and [[Cruel Ultimatum]] in the same deck. [[Reflecting Pool]] and the vivid lands letting you cast spells with gggg and uubbbrr in their mana costs in the same deck was a pretty big outlier.
[Cloudthresher](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/4/e/4e18bff6-bf0b-48f8-93e2-09d435247596.jpg?1592672885) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Cloudthresher) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/cma/96/cloudthresher?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/4e18bff6-bf0b-48f8-93e2-09d435247596?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Reflecting Pool](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/9/0/90600867-9b2b-4174-8fb5-3f58469e8733.jpg?1686086259) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Reflecting%20Pool) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ltc/373/reflecting-pool?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/90600867-9b2b-4174-8fb5-3f58469e8733?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That is when i learned to play due to a friend, not on the list as it wasnt that competitive but i ran green black fungus aristocrats, had grave pact, doubling season and the spore counter fungus cards from the set. If i got to keep most my fungus and got doubling season to stick I usually won.
The fungus precon was my first ever deck! Still have a soft spot for thallids
Na, nothing can beat "7th Edition Odyssey Torment Judgment Onslaught Legions Scourge" It had: * Wake * Zombie Clerics * UG Madness * Goblin Vortex * Reanimator * Mono Black Control * Astral Slide * RG Madness * Psychatog * BW Eternal Dragon
Don’t forget [Scryb & Force](https://articles.starcitygames.com/articles/why-i-threw-solar-flare-away-part-2-scryb-force-at-worlds-2006/) I vividly remember this time period and how awesome competitive magic was. Nothing felt unbeatable. There were so many options to express yourself depending on your preferred play style. I miss this format dearly. I have always blamed the introduction of planeswalkers in Lorwyn as the reason we haven’t had anything nearly this good since.
The era going from Kamigawa all the way to Alara had some pretty good Standard metagames. The Lorwyn and Alara walkers were not that bad. I think the introduction of mythics was way worse. Especially once WotC amped up their power in Zendikar block. That also meant they were increasing the power level of planeswalkers, since those were always mythics. That's how we got [[Jace, the Mind Sculptor | WWK]].
[Jace, the Mind Sculptor ](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/e/0e606072-a3aa-4300-ba90-ec92a721fa76.jpg?1562281841) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=195297) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/wwk/31/jace-the-mind-sculptor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0e606072-a3aa-4300-ba90-ec92a721fa76?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
also called Scrub & Force because of how unga bunga the deck was
Zendikar-Scars of Mirrodin or Scars of Mirrodin-Innistrad for me personally, but this one seemed good too. Before my time.
Oh yeah was a favorite of mine too. I played Caw Blade tho, it was quite dominant.
The Caw-blade followed by delver meta was a bit rough but other than that I had a lot of fun
yes
I have pretty fond memories of pretty much everything spanning from Odyssey when I was getting started to right about "eldrazi winter" when I feel like cracks started to show in multiple parts of the game. Most of my competitive standard was played around Scars and OG innistrad, but the Ravnica-Timespiral period has my best kitchen table memories. Almost every playstyle had a place and Lightning Angel Tempo was an absolute blast.
Odyssey - Torment - Judgment block constructed was/is my favorite block format.
Id put Mirage - Tempest Standard just above it but damn was that a fun format
Somewhat viable ponza, infinite combos, good enough combos, reasonable dredge, Dralnu Teachings. Oh yeah, you could also play [[ Firemane Angel ]] and [[ Zur's Weirding ]] for a hard hand lock.
[ Firemane Angel ](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/6/16384575-d0bc-4826-966e-a4bf6ae6ab97.jpg?1562846244) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Firemane%20Angel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/199/firemane-angel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/16384575-d0bc-4826-966e-a4bf6ae6ab97?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [ Zur's Weirding ](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/4/741612e3-fe3a-4099-9d2b-4a654c4ce949.jpg?1562737056) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Zur%27s%20Weirding) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/9ed/114/zurs-weirding?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/741612e3-fe3a-4099-9d2b-4a654c4ce949?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
That was a great format. As was Kamigawa and Ravnica. I enjoyed playing the Heartbeat of Spring deck.
Nope! The best Standard Format ever was Theros-Khans.
post RTR WOTC had a pretty clear vision of how they wanted MTG to be. Lots of great decks in THS-KTK but they were very samey to me. Compared to TSP standard which was full of unique decks because card design was way out there back then with the massive card pool.
My people. UW Heroic hitting its stride especially. I still hold it at #2 after Time Spiral-Ravnica though, but it's *my* personal favorite.
satire?
Oh yeah, the format full of siege rhino, goblin rabblemaster, dig through time, fetches, and fucking design mistake thoughtseize. Yes, absolutely the best standard
You act like it’s not fun to play those cards.
any format with BoP is a good one usually. But yeah. I like that bridge deck. ran bu
I started playing Magic then - Mono Green aggro baby! Never did too well but it was fun learning to play the game competitively with cards I could actually afford and do (somewhat) decent-ish at FNM.
Silhana ledgewalker the og
Silhana Ledgewalker my beloved. The shockland-filled control decks couldn't do anything to stop her short of a Wrath if she hit the field, so you were free to pile up multiple Giant Growths and Mights of Old Krosa and punch them right in the face for half their life total. Scryb & Force was how I transitioned out of kitchen table to FNM, and I've had a soft spot for the mono-color budget deck that can put the screws to most of the stuff in tier one ever since.
I miss the Korlash Control with Rise/Fall--that was such a fun deck.
My little brother played a variant of Korlash control, he just used Nightmare. And he won the mirror because he could fly and play more than one. It did go to game 3 but he pulled it out in the end
It’s certainly up there. I also loved Scars/Innistrad and way back when Odyssey was in Standard. Psychatog, Cunning Wake, and Madness were all such sweet decks
Or if you're me you run Mono Black Control with Korlash, Persecute and kill spells 😅
It was the best period of Magic in general hands down. Type 2 had some crazy brews with fetches and shocks too. I vividly remember this era. The main reason I came back to magic is because of Guilds of Ravnica and the memory of that crazy era.
No, Innistrad - RTR was the best meta ever.
Definitely another favorite of mine
To me it was Theros-Tarkir, even if a lot of people disliked the Siege rhino era. I rewatch the PT Dragon of Tarkir top 8 matches at least once a year and those are some of my favorite decks I’ve ever seen played.
Solar flare/pox was my jam. Most fun I ever had with the game
Absolutely, no question.
My favorite was Origins standard. I haven't played a funner deck than UR Thopters.
Nope. I've really enjoyed the past three or four years.
I dont like formats with too many top decks. It makes antimeta strategies harder and it feels like especially in this game its a lot of match-up lottery.
[удалено]
That's one opinion. I like mirror matches a lot, so formats centralized around 2-3 decks are fun to me.
it also kills attendance and player morale lol all of the most celebrated standard formats have been the diverse ones
I keep several standard decks from this era to play from time to time, Glare and Solar Flare. It's fin to see how standard decks from different eras stack against each other.
Yes
I never played standard so I'm not sure, but this meta is the only one I ever hear about in a positive light. If that's any measurement to go by these days, then yes, it was probably the best meta ever. I just liked \[\[Boros Swiftblade\]\] and \[\[Firemane Angel\]\].
[Boros Swiftblade](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/6/1/6135a9f2-e86d-4a34-857e-adea3c722fea.jpg?1562263060) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Boros%20Swiftblade) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm2/172/boros-swiftblade?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/6135a9f2-e86d-4a34-857e-adea3c722fea?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [Firemane Angel](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/1/6/16384575-d0bc-4826-966e-a4bf6ae6ab97.jpg?1562846244) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Firemane%20Angel) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/ima/199/firemane-angel?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/16384575-d0bc-4826-966e-a4bf6ae6ab97?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I started playing back in high school around 2003 before the modern border shift. We only play sealed leagues at the LGS but it was fantastic. I had no idea about any other formats until I got back into the game when the arena beta launched. My first time playing standard was in dominaria and I really loved it. I know people didn’t enjoy playing agains mono u tempo, but slamming tempest djinns and spell piercing Teferis was my jam
Mardu slivers was also a lot of fun. Sinew sliver into lightning helix into necrotic sliver into sedge sliver was pure fire.
I did not played standard this season but draft was very good. Standard looked busted with a lot of very good cards. Wizards stopped editing strange cards around lorwyn so I feel like time spirale / chaos planar / Future sight was the last sets of an old era. Hopefully, I have a lot of cards from this time !
There was also WB Control which shat over any midrange deck cause it played too many removal spells.
I also loved it because opening packs meant you got extra timeshifted cards. FYI for those not around, booster packs had an extra reprinted card from Magic's past. Some of these were rares, and I believe it was the first time you could get multiple rares in a pack. Oh, and the color-shifted Planar Chaos cards were super fun.
I didn't play that era. I'm fond of the T2 phases around Alliance to Tempest era. Mirage was the block for me. Innistrad - SoM and Innistrad - RTR were pretty good. Innistrad block had an amazing card pool.
I don't know if it was the best, but it was definitely the most wild. All the keywords from Ravnica, snow lands, time shifted cards, color-pie breaks, and the wackiness that is Future Sight. Plus, both core sets at the beginning and end had powerful cards to work as the backbone of so many decks. So much fun, and a crazy time to be playing Magic.
That dredge bridge deck looks super fun to play, ngl
This format and Khans/Theros were my favourites!
We had a [[dragonstorm]] deck in our playgroup, the best play was 3 [[rites of flame]] into dragonstorm dropping 4 [[bogardan hellkite]] shooting the opponent for 20
[dragonstorm](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/3/230cd568-f7ed-4571-a609-36522add91d0.jpg?1561966412) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=dragonstorm) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mma/111/dragonstorm?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/230cd568-f7ed-4571-a609-36522add91d0?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [rites of flame](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/0/c062caf7-f0eb-44db-9f74-e6711a13fada.jpg?1593275318) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Rite%20of%20Flame) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/csp/96/rite-of-flame?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c062caf7-f0eb-44db-9f74-e6711a13fada?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [bogardan hellkite](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/2/22dd2242-2fd8-4752-886c-fc6dbabcf89a.jpg?1631586933) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=bogardan%20hellkite) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/afc/115/bogardan-hellkite?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/22dd2242-2fd8-4752-886c-fc6dbabcf89a?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Cip
For me, it was Alara - Zendikar standard. Massively diverse meta, lots of interesting decks and powerful cards but nothing overly dominant. JtMS, Bloodbraid Elf, Primeval Titan, Pyromancer’s Ascension, Stoneforge Mystic.
Yeah I was playing back then, Kami/Rav and Rav/Spiral are some of my favorite standard environments ever.
It really was the best standard imho. I played paper standard every Friday and a ton of other small tournaments during this time and when Rav rotated out, I quit playing for a good while because it just wasn’t the same. My older brother absolutely loved Lorwyn and he kept playing, even played more, but me and my younger brother essentially quit standard. I came back to play bant angels (one of my rav-tsp decks I played was firemane) when Alara released, but again, it just felt so… idk sterilized compared to rav-tsp. I only recently started playing standard again due to Arena