Magic Hall of Famer Pinpoints Two Major Issues with Standard

Last updated on March 11, 2025

Up the Beanstalk | Illustration by Lucas Graciano

The infamous “Dragon Master” Brian Kibler dropped an unexpected video several days ago, giving his thoughts on the state of Standard. In his nearly 20-minute video, Kibler gave a brief history of the Standard format in general (or “Type 2” as it was once known), then moved on to specifics concerning today's Standard. What was his prognosis and recommendations?

Power Creep

Power creep was a big focus of Kibler's video. For those who don't know, power creep is a term for an incremental bump in power over time, and is a phenomenon that is hardly unique to MTG. MTG tends to get power creep via new set releases, which as Kibler said, must include ever more desirable cards in order to appeal to current players. Thus for Kibler, a big problem with current Standard is how strong certain cards are, and how volatile that makes games.

Top Decks and Busted Cards

Another problem beyond just power creep in general is the strength and ubiquity of certain cards and strategies. This is of course another common problem in MTG metagames, and often leads to bans over time. There were two cards that Kibler identified as especially problematic “pillars of the format”:

• Monstrous Rage
• Up the Beanstalk

Angry Mice

Monstrous Rage | Illustration by Borja Pindado

Monstrous Rage is an extremely efficient combat trick that makes blocking actively miserable. When combined with Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger, it's basically giving +4/+2 and trample (with a role token that sticks around!) for just a single R mana. And that's without Manifold Mouse in the picture, which quickly turns Monstrous Rage into “gg” thanks to double strike. The card has been a Standard defining staple for its entire lifespan in Standard, and has been an auto 4-of in many flavors of red aggro since release.

By suggesting a ban for Monstrous Rage, Kibler is looking to not only slow down the format a bit, but also specifically improve blocking vs red decks. Traditionally, a card like Skirmish Rhino would be an exciting card versus an aggressive red strategy, but anyone who has played Sentinel of the Nameless City knows that Monstrous Rage can easily smash through a 3/4. If Monstrous Rage were gone, this would be excellent news in particular for Brightglass Gearhulk decks, which struggle to slot enough removal to keep up with Mice.

Overpowered Beans

Watchmen comic strip by Alan Moore

Up the Beanstalk is the next card that Kibler suggested banning. It hammers the format from the opposite direction, and is simply the best card advantage engine in Standard, bar none. Three factors make Up the Beanstalk especially absurd:

• Building around it isn't too high of a cost thanks to the Overlord cycle, Leyline Binding, and decent removal like Ride's End.
• It cantrips, meaning that enchantment removal from your opponent (while painfully necessary) still puts you up a card.
• It costs just 2 mana, while other repeatable card advantage engines (i.e., Tocasia's Welcome, Enduring Innocence, Tribute to the World Tree, Outcaster Trailblazer) cost 3 mana and don't cantrip!

Given Kibler's digital background, he did remark that nerfing Up the Beanstalk would work… for a different game. The problem with Magic though is that, due to its strong paper component, its ban or bust for overpowered cards. Alchemy/Historic MTG could experiment with removing the cantrip from Up the Beanstalk (which seems to be the obvious way to make it fair without gutting it), but paper players would still be stuck with this overpowered card. Thus, it may indeed be time for Up the Beanstalk to go, as it has also been a Standard staple since Wilds of Eldraine was first released.