We finally have the entire M21 spoiler available to us! This set looks sweet. This week we go over the final list and pull out the remaining cards that might be Standard viable. Notables this week are Demonic Embrace, Kitesail Freebooter and Barrin, Tolarian Archmage. Looks like Black Aggro might be a thing, and if you thought T3 tempo plays were phasing out of Standard along with Teferi, Time Raveler, you have another thought coming, friends! Be sure to join Covertgoblue and Arjuna for streamin...
Jun 22, 2020•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 28
It's part 3 of our big M21 spoiler review! This week we're focusing on such heavy hitters as Scavenging Ooze, Liliana's Standard Bearer and a new card with troubling implications – Discontinuity! Is this another instance of game-breaking cost reduction? Time will tell... Big congrats to Covertgoblue for hitting 69k followers on YouTube! Find him on his YouTube channel and at his personal site . Find Arena Craft on: Discord Twitter Twitch YouTube Facebook Email Us This show features the track 'Re...
Jun 19, 2020•1 hr 27 min
We're back with part 2 of our in-depth set spoiler review for this week! M21 is kicking out the bangers. This time around, CGB is the one advocating, and Arjuna is the skeptic on whether Garruk, Unleashed is the aggressive Green Planeswalker we want. We also discuss Chandra, Heart of Fire, and some of her flunkies such as Chandra's Incinerator, to see whether they deserve a home in Standard. Be sure to stay tuned for part 3, releasing later this week, as well! Big congrats to Covertgoblue for hi...
Jun 17, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 27
Covertgoblue and Arjuna are feeling ambitious this week – we're going into detail on every card that might make an impact on Standard from M21. This is 1 out of 3 episodes we'll be releasing this week, so stay tuned for the next two! One of the highlights this week is Basri Ket, our new 3 mana aggressively-slanted Planeswalker. This might be enough to get a low-curve aggro archetype back to the top of the format. We discuss the ins and outs, and touch on some other spoiled cards that synergize w...
Jun 15, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 27
It's the goodest time of the year again – spoilers for the next Standard-legal set! Today we go over most of the existing spoilers (leaving out a few draft cards and the Planeswalker deck inclusions) and discuss our thoughts. Ugin, The Spirit Dragon is our favorite reprint so far. Teferi, Master of Time is the most intriguing new card spoiled yet. Are they really bringing back Phasing? Plus 'mill' is finally an evergreen keyword mechanic! And the villagers rejoice. We also discuss Arjuna's fun o...
Jun 08, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 26
They done did it. They banned Agent. They banned Fires. They banned Winota in Histor... oh wait. And ya boi T3feri lives to slow down Standard another day. We talk about what this means for the Standard and Historic metagames, and what we expect to see being playable and unplayable moving forward. Find the complete B&R announcement here . Covertgoblue's Jeskai Mutate list Find Covertgoblue on his YouTube channel and at his personal site . Find Arena Craft on: Discord Twitter Twitch YouTube F...
Jun 01, 2020•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 25
The time has come for us to speculate on what will be banned in Monday's upcoming announcement! Will Agent of Treachery's double dealings finally be dispatched? Will T3feri get the justice he deserves? Is Winota TOO busted in Historic (or Standard, for that matter)? Covertgoblue and Arjuna will discuss this and many more possibilities. We also take some time to speculate on potential changes to the Companion mechanic. Many have pointed out that the lack of card parity with non-companion decks ma...
May 31, 2020•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 25
This week we're joined by Arena's most prominent Monogreen mage, Maxim 'Rint' Salmin! We go into the current build he used to top 64 Redbull Untapped. We discuss (almost) every card in the deck in-depth, go over some of the deprecated choices from previous versions, and examine other possible builds of the deck and why he believes this current version is the one to beat in the meta. He's running some sick tech to get under Yorion Lukka, and in general the deck has surprising resiliency against m...
May 25, 2020•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 24
Covertgoblue and Arjuna went head to head this past week to discover what's working in Historic and what's not. We discuss our thoughts from those matches. Then we go over the major cards and archetypes currently present in the format. Then we speculate on what Ikoria and Historic Anthology 3 will bring to the table. Covertgoblue's Lurrus Grixis Graveyard deck we were impressed with in testing. Also, thanks for everyone who helped the Arena Craft twitch stream reach affiliate! You all are amazin...
May 18, 2020•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 23
This week is a juicy one! We discuss: The upcoming Historic reveal, including CGB's preview cards Arjuna's forays into brewing Mono Green Mutate Yorion Lukka, the current scourge of Standard, and what to do about it Link to Arjuna's Mono Green Mutate decklist . Find Covertgoblue on his YouTube channel and at his personal site . Find Arena Craft on: Discord Twitter Twitch YouTube Facebook Email Us This show features the track 'Real Virtuality' from Eero Johannes released on the Sound Pellegrino l...
May 11, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 22
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 ...
May 05, 2020•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 21
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...
Apr 28, 2020•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 20
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...
Apr 23, 2020•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 19
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...
Apr 14, 2020•1 hr 49 min•Ep. 18
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: Disc...
Apr 12, 2020•1 hr 14 min
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...
Apr 06, 2020•1 hr 34 min•Ep. 17
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 ...
Mar 30, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 16
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 for...
Mar 23, 2020•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 15
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 pleas...
Mar 16, 2020•1 hr 37 min•Ep. 14
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 su...
Mar 09, 2020•59 min•Ep. 13
This week we bring you another interview with friend of the podcast and returning guest, Aaron Gertler. Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll probably recognize him and Temur Clover deck from taking down Dreamhack Anaheim. He's been consistently #1 Mythic with this deck, and now he's proven it can go all the way in a high-stakes tournament. More and more pro players, as well as the larger Magic community, are starting to take notice of Temur Clover as a serious co...
Mar 02, 2020•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 12
Returning guest Covertgoblue joins us to discuss THB Standard in its post-Worlds, mid-Dreamhack glory. We go over some of the 3-color adjustments people have been making to improve their matchups, discuss how to attack the Mono-Red scourge on the ladder, and evaluate some of the fringe decks we've been seeing. CGB's enjoying Boros Control, Arjuna's loving Temur Breach, Temur Adventures is making a deep run at Dreamhack... This format is by no means solved! Find Covertgoblue on Youtube , Twitter ...
Feb 24, 2020•1 hr 16 min
The largest Magic tournament of all time has just concluded, and so it's time to commence the analysis! In this episode I go over all the archetypes we saw in the tournament, discuss what worked and what didn't, compare some different builds of the same decks, and in general dive deep into the guts of what is likely to be the shape of the Standard meta moving forward. I go into some of the breakout cards this weekend, some of the dissapointments, and the cards and decks that were conspicuously a...
Feb 18, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 10
This week, we'll be exploring how to navigate Theros Beyond Death draft by looking out for "card clusters," key sets of cards that synergize well and which can be dropped into many different successful decks in the format. Recognizing and memorizing card clusters can help take some of the work out of building optimal limited decks, letting you put more of your focus into the key picks that really matter. This episode shows you some of the key heuristics for recognizing card clusters, and then ou...
Feb 11, 2020•58 min•Ep. 21
I've been fixated on one thing this past week, and that's Theros Beyond Death draft! This format is fantastic, an instant favorite of mine, and in this episode I bring you my thoughts on what's working and what's not. Instead of discussing each individual card or touching upon cards that have already been well-covered, I focus on the cards that I think people are sleeping on, or which I've found to be overrated. I'm looking for cards where I think my evaluation might be different from the averag...
Feb 04, 2020•2 hr•Ep. 20
We've had Theros Beyond Death in Standard now for just over a week, and the format has been cooking! Today, I'm joined by special guest YouTuber and streamer Covertgoblue as we examine what's been good so far, and what looks like it still needs more work. Some of the deck archetypes we touch on are Mono Black, Blue White Control, Esper Hero, Blue Green Ramp, Temur Elementals, and then we do a deep dive on my personal favorite, Mono Blue Devotion. We share thoughts on the new planeswalkers and a ...
Jan 27, 2020•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 19
This week, we dive deep into the new world of Pioneer to discuss which cards are safe to buy into, and which cards are still on code yellow for possible future bannings. Coolstuffinc writer and eternal format veteran Jonathan Medina joins us to shed a reassuring light on a format that has been, up until recently, tempestuous and ban-prone. Jonathan makes a case for why you should be buying into Pioneer NOW, and why it's likely to be a safe investment in the longterm scope of the format. Jonathan...
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 18
This week we cover a topic near and dear to many players' hearts – what is the quickest and most efficient way to grow your collection and maximize the use of your wildcards? My guest, economics Ph.D student Marcus Tomaino, takes us through a systematic approach, centered around BO3 drafting, that provides a solid foundation for getting rare-complete, or even mythic-complete if you so desire! This is likely the quickest route to accumulating a complete collection of any set on Magic Arena. We'll...
Dec 30, 2019•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 17
This week's episode was so much fun to bring to you — I spent the weekend at Magicfest Portland! The show is my reflections on the experience of attending (it was my first), followed by a series of interviews I did on the floor with attendees, competitors, artists and cosplayers from the event! If you've never been to one of these events before, I would A. recommend you go, and B. encourage you to get a taste of it via this episode! Enjoy. Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro, my experience at the Magicfest...
Dec 24, 2019•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 16
Another fantastic interview with another fantastic guest this week— this time it's ChannelFireball writer and r/spikes mod Josh Silvestri / jsilv! Josh is a veteran of the game and a fantastic conversationalist who can talk at length on any Magic topic you care to throw at him. We discuss a little Magic history (including the founding of the original ChannelFireball LGS in the California Bay Area, and his experience hacking it up with LSV, Paul Cheon and friends). Then we shift into talking abou...
Dec 17, 2019•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 15
