Okay, first up. "Fix" is a bit verbose, but I gotta make big claims to get your attention. Standard isn't broken, not really. As much as I'd like to see something banned in the red decks (I've gone on the record advocating for a Monstrous Rage ban to take the deck's average win down by a turn), Standard is still the best format in Magic at the moment. It's good, but with a little tweaking it could be so much better.

Pioneer isn't broken so much as it feels like it has been forgotten. It could be that the format would be much better as is, if it had the benefit of more people trying to figure it out (by being incentivized to play it).

There are a ton of cards that once ruled Magic but have been priced out of Modern/Legacy/Vintage. So, these are cards that I would like to see reprinted for Standard and Pioneer.

10. Chalice of the Void

This is the one I'm the most iffy on because it tends to lead to incredibly unfun game states. But, something needs to be shoved into Standard/Pioneer to combat the decks that pack nothing but 1 or 2 mana spells. Control is present in both formats, but not overwhelming, and this could be a strong sideboard card for the archetype. Boseiju, Who Endures is a great pressure outlet in Pioneer to keep this in check, and it can still be Thoughtseized on turn 1.

9. Avalanche Riders

Look, I hate land destruction, but having it as a threat forces people to at least pay attention to their manabases. Pillage or Stone Rain might be too much, as turn 2 plays off Llanowar Elves, but 4-mana feels like the sweet spot (and it looks like we're starting to see this trend with cards like Magmatic Hellkite).

8. Mulldrifter

I don't think Up the Beanstalk is going to be legal for the long term, it will inhibit future card design (Wizards loves printing expensive cards with alternatively lower casting costs), so I think this would be safe, and may even show up in our return to Lorwyn next year. Card advantage has come a long way, and this would be good, but not busted.

7. Tarmogoyf

"Back in my day, Tarmogoyf was a $200 card! People got into fistfights because a Pro rare drafted a foil version in the Top 8 of a GP!"

"Sure, okay Grandpa, let's get you back to bed."

Honestly, I'm not sure this would be a top rare in the format (Standard has the best ensemble of graveyard hate it's ever had at the moment), but I would love to see this come back as a bridge to Magic's past. And it would be a fun card to brew around.

6. Ichorid

Speaking of, "This is probably safe to reprint because Standard's level of graveyard hate compared to the power level of graveyard decks is like using a nuclear weapon to kill a spider." Friggorid was a great deck and I'd love to see how modern brewers tackle this old favorite.

5. Stoneforge Mystic

Equipment seems be practically a dead card type for the formats. Wizards seems to want the cards to see play, as they keep giving us Equipment that's ALMOST good enough. Maybe, instead they should look for more cards to enable the Equipment at a reasonable rate.

4. Noble Hierarch

Llanowar Elves has been good, not great. There are so many good removals spells at 1 mana, that it feels like 1 drop mana dorks might finally be safe for reprinting. Hierarch would give bant decks a boost (which could use, as Black and red are the two strongest colors in both formats), and possibly enable a good Humans deck. This may be the most dangerous card on this list for Standard.

3. Prismatic Vista

I held out hope with Tarkir: Dragonstorm, but it feels like Wizards has relegated the true fetch lands to Modern. Vista can slot into the formats as the closest thing we can get, and combined with Fabled Passage could give decks that want cards in the graveyard, or landfall decks, a boost without making them broken. It does enable 5-color brewing, but forces a cost/drawback in such decks (gotta run those basics to make this playable).

2. Jace the Mind Sculptor

People are going to look at this list and think I'm a control player. If Liliana of the Veil can return and slot into the format as a strong but not busted Planeswalker, then why can't the OG busted walker do it as well? Would this be powerful enough to push control strategies into Tier 1? Possibly, but since Jace's days in Modern have passed it by, let's bring it to a lower-powered format and see what happens.

1. Path to Exile

On one hand, this would be one of the best (if not the best) removal spells in Standard/Pioneer the moment it is printed. On the other hand, giving someone an extra land drop has the potential to be an unreal drawback. The danger is that Path is so low cost that it makes anything that costs 3 mana or more practically unplayable, but the drawback should hopefully keep it in check. Path is the type of card that can help reshape a format.

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456 and on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/anakinsdad.bsky.social