Standard has a reputation for being the "fairest" Magic format. Compared to the politics and game ending absurdities of Commander, the turn four dominating board states of Modern, or even the turn one and two kills of Vintage and Legacy, Standard is the constructed format where you see the games that are most akin to "normal" games of Magic. Creatures are cast and die, the combat step is important, and decks often have at least a half dozen turns to get their plans in motion; there's rarely crazy combos or getting locked out of casting your spells.

That's why when something extreme comes along in Standard, it's quite the surprise.

Well... have you read Bard Class?

Time Stamps:

05:37 - Match 1

24:09 - Match 2

45:16 - Match 3

59:55 - Match 4

Bard's Tale Blitz | AFR Standard | Jim Davis

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Arni Brokenbrow
• 2 Grumgully, the Generous
• 2 Questing Beast
• 2 Radha, Heart of Keld
• 2 Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll
• 3 Esika, God of the Tree
• 3 Gallia of the Endless Dance
• 3 Klothys, God of Destiny
• 4 Bonecrusher Giant
• 4 Jaspera Sentinel
• 4 Magda, Brazen Outlaw

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Vivien, Monsters' Advocate

• Instants (2)
• 2 Spikefield Hazard // Spikefield Cave

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Shatterskull Smashing // Shatterskull, the Hammer Pass

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Bard Class

• Lands (19)
• 10 Forest
• 3 Mountain
• 2 Temple of Abandon
• 4 Cragcrown Pathway // Timbercrown Pathway

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Redcap Melee
• 2 Chainweb Aracnir
• 2 Run Afoul
• 1 Fire Prophecy
• 1 Zariel, Archduke of Avernus
• 1 Questing Beast
• 2 Garruk, Unleashed
• 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 1 Fire Prophecy
• 1 Arasta of the Endless Web

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Whenever a card lets you cheat on mana, it's always worth a second look. When you move to the second level of Bard Class, you get to reduce every legend you cast by a Red and a Green mana. It's important to note that this is not generic mana, it is specially , so any two-mana Gruul legend is now free. Three mana ones only cost one generic mana.

As long as there's a critical mass of Gruul legends in the format that meet this criterion, we've got something big cooking here.

And won't you look at that, there's a whole bunch of them!

It's not uncommon to put 8 or more power on the battlefield on turn three activating Bard Class, as you also get access to the pump effect as well. This does mean you need to put all these odd legends in your deck, but they're pretty much all reasonable cards that are just below the bar. When you have Bard Class, they're insane, and when you don't, they're passable enough.

Of course, you're not always going to have Bard Class, so the backup plan of Jaspera Sentinel plus Magda, Brazen Outlaw is here to help you cast your spells ahead of schedule.

We ended up playing some cat and mouse style games in this set and not drawing Bard Class that much, but were still able to utilize it later in games as an absurd card draw engine as well. And honestly, it's a really good thing that the deck is able to win the games where it doesn't go off with Bard Class! If you'd like to see me really pop off with the deck, check out the first draft of the deck from my recent Ten New Brews!