What was your Golden Age of STD?

Standard forum

Posted on Sept. 10, 2014, 12:54 p.m. by solkanarswampking

I'm asking for your opinion on when MTG was at its best for STD. Please name the two blocks and explain. IMHO: Innistrad with Return to RavnicaWHY: Shock Lands and Check Lands together was awesome. Both have great flavor and both really demonstrate the differences and similarities of the colors.

Nigeltastic says... #2

I think the 1970s had a pretty good run with free love and AIDS running around.

September 10, 2014 12:57 p.m.

GoldGhost012 says... #3

Comment #1 gets a +1 from me.

September 10, 2014 12:59 p.m.

Blizzicane says... #4

That comment, well I started with Innistrad and RTR (And it was freaking awesome) so when Innistrad rotated standard could no longer satisfy my hunger for power as those two sets set the bar for me so I moved on to other formats but still have one standard deck for fun. :3

September 10, 2014 1:02 p.m.

Hallowed_Titan says... #5

Had I gotten the competitive bug then, I would have loved standard innistrad-rtr. I third your vote sirs.

September 10, 2014 1:09 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #6

Around the time I played This Deck

September 10, 2014 1:11 p.m.

Nigeltastic says... #7

For my actual answer, I started playing during that time too, but I actually disliked it. When standard becomes as cut throat and expensive as modern or becomes a format of ' have x or don't try to compete' ( in that case, the land package) I don't think it's as healthy. To me standard should never be as good as modern in terms of good cards.

September 10, 2014 1:13 p.m.

Epochalyptik says... #8

Moved to Standard.

September 10, 2014 1:17 p.m.

The Doctor says... #9

My golden age?

Well, boners.

September 10, 2014 1:22 p.m.

omnipotato says... #10

Odyssey block + Onslaught block. Though to be fair I didn't play at all between Saviors of Kamigawa and Theros.

September 10, 2014 1:26 p.m.

spyroswiz says... #11

Well, i play only for 2 years and the best age of standard was INN/RTR. Lots of 2 dual lands,every week he had a new top tier 1 deck,lots of powerful spells, a very nice year to play magic!

September 10, 2014 2:02 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #12

Oh Black Summer, how I miss thee.

September 10, 2014 2:05 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #13

Ohthenoises : oh dear lord. I had to google that

September 10, 2014 2:54 p.m.

capriom85 says... #14

I agree with Inn and RtR. The shock checks combined were so powerful. I played Prime Speaker Bant and literally never lost due to the insane power of those colors together.

September 10, 2014 3:16 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #15

I played a variant of bant and went undefeated in my forst tourney at my current shop. (Just moved into town.)

Instead of Supreme Verdict and Sphinx's Revelation I was running Trostani, Selesnya's Voice , Armada Wurm , and Sigarda, Host of Herons in the sideboard because gaining 15 life for 4 mana at instant speed is impossible to recover from when you're playing aggro. Go go resto thrag!

September 10, 2014 3:26 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #16

Also, VampireArmy what? >:)

September 10, 2014 3:29 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #17

C-c-c-c-c-combo standard......about as stale as it was this last summer of watching the announcer ask the same fucking question. "DOES HE HAVE GREY MERCHANT???"

September 10, 2014 3:32 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #18

looks around awkwardly it wasn't a "combo"..... Just a really fun ya to end someone with card advantage...... downcast eyes

September 10, 2014 3:42 p.m.

When I went to Tijuana. Drunken debauchery. Glad that's over with...

Other than starting in Revised, I enjoyed ZEN/SOM Standard the best. Being able to drop an Eldrazi is what caught my interest again.

September 10, 2014 3:44 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #20

turbo stasis wasnt a combo? I figured it was....

September 10, 2014 3:44 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #21

The black summer was when Necropotence got broken. Every deck was Necropotence or Force of Will . The necro decks looked more like burn/discard.

September 10, 2014 4:01 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #22

Ah, i was more talking about the opposition deck. Apaarently it was play necro or play stasis according to wiki

September 10, 2014 4:08 p.m.

Ohthenoises says... #23

Yep. Necro usually won as well lol.

September 10, 2014 4:27 p.m.

I enjoyed the Shards/Zendikar Standard the most. Then again I stopped playing before Worldwake came out, and picked it up in Innistrad.

Mono-black vampires with Vampire Nocturnus , Vampire Nighthawk , Gatekeeper of Malakir , etc. was my deck. I also ran a mono-green landfall deck that made Scute Mob work and Rampaging Baloths . That was fun.

And watching a first-timer drop Progenitus and win. Priceless.

September 10, 2014 10:27 p.m.

Dalektable says... #25

This thread is basically "This is the block i started playing Magic". That being said, INS/RTR is my vote because even though I didn't play competitively then it was incredibly powerful. Watching back the pro tours from that time is awesome, such raw power.

September 10, 2014 10:40 p.m.

VampireArmy says... #26

I started playing mtg during Zendikar but my golden years of standard were Scars-ISD though :C

September 10, 2014 10:43 p.m.

Yeah, ISD/RTR Standard got a lot of crap for being dominated by Thragtusk , but it was also a format where people commonly had fifteen lands in play, and games went long and involved lots of decisions.

September 10, 2014 10:45 p.m.

sylvannos says... #28

My favorite Standard was when Time Spiral block, Ravnica: City of Guilds block, Coldsnap, 9th. Edition, and 10th. Edition were all legal at the same time. The format was one of the largest card pools ever for Standard with a lot of different decks to play.

It had enough stuff to make up a lot of homebrews, but not so large that specific cards warped the format (Legacy, for example, has most blue decks start with four copies of Brainstorm ).

September 11, 2014 12:47 a.m.

Right on Sylvannos, that was an awesome time for STD, especially for old school players.

September 11, 2014 1 a.m.

Rhinowarrior says... #30

Definitley when i got herpies in 6th grade...

September 11, 2014 10:27 p.m.

blzd4dyz says... #31

I got started around Mercadian Masques, and I really got into the game around Invasion. Picked up some older Urza Block cards at the time, which are now worth some money! :)

I stopped playing after Apocalypse, and I didn't play again for many years. Now I'm back and more hardcore than ever. :P

Cool thread, interesting to read other people's stories!

September 13, 2014 7:42 p.m.

nighthawk101 says... #32

Something something sex.

Something nope something virgin.

September 13, 2014 8:46 p.m.

I miss RTR/ISD I know wizards likes avoiding power creep... but. Damn sometimes having a standard that has a meaningful impact on all formats is sooooo nice.

September 14, 2014 1:01 a.m.

This discussion has been closed