Some sort of spin on a popular modern archetype would be cool; That is, "COMMUNITY DECK" of course.

the problem i find with the community deck is that there are way too many opinions. especially since its more of a kitchen-table kind of deck, not a FNM sort of thing. ideas will range drastically and even if you manage to pinpoint a theme, there will still be arguments about which cards are appropriate. i think a standard tourny is the route to go

I like standard tourney.

Can I just say how funny it feels seeing my series having become an "archetype" of articles on here? It boggles my mind haha :)

I would really like to see a "workshop" type thing on here, tbh. At the same time, however, I completely understand your hesitation in doing so -- I get the same way whenever i try to critique the decks I feature.

The community idea would also be pretty fun to me. I love brewing and would probably try to be an active proponent of that sort of series!

Actually, I do have another idea that I've been thinking about doing that I wouldn't mind you using.

The idea is to create a standard deck to face another standard deck (one person for each). The twist...?

Each player has to give the opponent a color combination (I'd say 3-color or less) and then they get to "veto" 3 cards from that color-combo. For example, "Junk -- Veto: Thoughtseize , Hero's Downfall , Elspeth, Sun's Champion ."

The concept is to force players into "uncomfortable" deck-building positions that make them think beyond the norm -- to use their minds and realize what is second-best. To be able to brew up a constructed deck for battle with an imposed, inherent challenge. Thoughts?

Ooh...

Going on Spootyone's idea, how about each article, buffy, you give all the archetypes in a Standard (at the time), and "taboo" their three best cards. Then you give it up to the users and have a tourney.

Hmm, that would definitely be interesting. Forcing players to play more creatively. I like it, but how would it get incorporated? Into a tourny or just into a showdown series?.

Tourney!

I just had a FLASH of Inspiration (it was my second card [haha]).

What if we have a DDD-like "Taboo Standard" tourney. Recruit team leaders (with MTGO), assign people to groups and have the groups choose an archetype. Then, after the groups choose archetypes, assign the Taboo cards. They'll build, import it on to MTGO, and have the groups play.

If you need help, I'd be glad to help you. Email me at [email protected] with the subject being your username and we can talk.

If you did want to do a community deck, it would have to be YOUR decision on several things before we began to create the deck.

1. COLORS

We need to know if it is a mono-colored deck (not necessarily devotion, just mono) or is it 2 colors? 3? even a possible 5-colored deck? We need specifics or everyone will just keep bickering, haha.

1. FORMAT

Yes this series is currently Standard, however Modern offers A LOT more choices and I feel gives room for more creativity among the community. Hell, even EDH could be REALLY fun if you chose your colors and then picked an unusual / unpopular legendary creature we could help build a deck around. Decision, decisions.

1. BUDGET

Letting us know, "Hey this will be a budget deck, so no one card can be over 'X' amount of dollars is the limit." or you can go, "Hey this is the format and there is no budget so long as it is format-legal." Letting us know in advance will help organize things a bit more.

1. STYLE

If you wanted to, you can even decide what type of style to build the deck around. Competitive (as in Turn 'X' win) or is it Fun (as in creative and the potential to be Awesome). There are many options to go and informing the community as we help build the deck is very helpful.

I, for one, am completely open to joining with the community for a deck. There just needs to be established "perimeters" for the deck before entering the Construction Zone.

I'm going to use the Kiln Fiend Izzet Blitz Modern deck as an example. This is what it would look like:

Colors: R/U

Philosophy: Get a Kiln Fiend out, cast spells like Assault Strobe , and attack for lethal

Taboo Cards (secret, save for later): Assault Strobe , Tainted Strike , Mutagenic Growth .

I'm sure there's more, but this is all I can think of off the top of my head.

How about you create a new format and we all can put our own brewing-thirsty minds to the test and take on a new challenge?

The formats could range from anything to Commander/EDH with a Planeswalker as General all the way to completely new set of rules like the Russian Roullette format created on here awhile ago by a user. OR MAKE UP YOUR VERY OWN!

I think that would be a blast and the first article could help smooth out the rules before we begin the tourney!

Well, I would prefer to keep this standard themed, as that's the point :p.

@Dreno33: Just saw your first comment, I somehow overlooked it before. As to your comment, I haven't put tons of thought into the community deck idea, I mainly just wanted to see how many people wanted to do it. Your right on all your points though, we would obviously need some restrictions to the deck and such.

Hey I am totally down for creating a new format, too (:

This is toatally off subject (the new format wise subject) and it may have been what this series was all about, but what about giving tips about fighting the top decks of standard? Strengths, weaknesses, what makes those decks tick etc. It may be able to make tappedouters(is that even correct?) better magic players. Or even Identifying gaps in the meta that people with a taste for rouge decks can play?

What about a standard showdown with a theme? I was thinking budget style. Like deck must be less than $ xxx. This would be great for players like me who like standard but don't want to break the bank on a deck. It would also kind of fit with the "taboo" cards theme because with a deck price limit how could you run 4 Thoughtseize ? Just an idea.

I'd be up to participate in the Standard Tourney.

Standard Tourney

My Standard Pauper Challenges in the past have had overwhelming amounts of submissions.

Just a thought.

TBH, the name "The State of Standard" suggest more of a current metagame rundown, what cards/decks have recently popped up as good that might have been overlooked or underplayed before.

I watch a lot of Magic coverage (e.g. SCGlive) and revel in joy each time when a homebrew(ish) deck wins in the feature match area. They most of the time do deck techs on those too. While people could just watch those, sometimes using these homebrews and improving them or giving your own spin on them could also warrant an article. Then you pit them against top-8 lists of the usual archetypes and see how the deck stands in the meta, with explanations for sideboarding etc.

That being said, the "restricted archetype" thing sounds pretty cool to me, but you should probably rename your article series then, even if you remain in Standard :)

How about an article where we get to see a board state (screen shot from Cockatrice) and we have a competition to see who can guess "the most correct play"? This will help newcomers along with veterans and we can all collaborate together on the "correct" play.

I have two ideas: my first is Community Showdown, where the community builds you a format deck, and then you do showdowns with it for a while :D Each new deck built can have fun and interesting restrictions (I think someone once said they breed creativity).

Second, doing a standard tournament where people have to find ways to compete in certain archetypes with budget builds, or use/not use specific cards, like has been mentioned previously.

My vote is for tourney. I think that would be a great idea especially with the UGC wrapping up

Standard Tourney looks fun!

Also really like ntTg's idea of breaking down the biggest and baddest decks out there to explain what makes them tick and what kills em.

I think a Standard Tournament type thing would be fun. And I might be able to help with the play testing if you did that (on Cockatrice).

standard tourney!

Standard tourney;)

buffy I can't figure out how you have this article separate from the normal forums? Curious

I figured out that you can slide down the menu (I'm on mobile). So is it an upgraded thing?