Vivi Ornitier is a problem, and is strangling Standard like a malicious vine wrapped around its throat. Until something is done about the card (and about the power level of Red and Blue cards in general), the top of the competitive charts are going to be very stale. I fully expect Vivi to be gone by November's ban list at the latest.

But, that doesn't mean we can't have fun brewing in Standard in the meantime!

Sometimes, we have to dig back into the current sets and try to find some hidden gems (ala Razorkin Needlehead, which just won a Standard Showdown). So, with that in mind, let's look at each of the sets in Standard to see if there are any cards that should really be seeing more play.

Wilds of Eldraine

A Beseech the Mirror can be anything (that costs 4 or less). It can even be a boat! It requires a heavy commitment to the Dark Arts, but there are so many ways to make tokens right now that this should be an easy card to Bargain. There was a lot of excitement around this when it was spoiled, but it has not seen anywhere near the play it could.

Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Bloodbraid Elf was dominant in it's time, and I'm wholly disenchanted to see that this card isn't seeing an equal amount of play. Maybe, haste on the Elf was really the final thing that tied the room together. Or, maybe Standard is too focuses on 1 and 2 mana cards to make this worth it.

Ravnica: Murders at Karlov Manor

Omniscience is still in the format, and this is one of the best ways to enable the most broken card in the format. Cards like Kitsa, Otterball Elite still exist to enable the combo, we just need to get some eager brewers to turn their attention back to this one.

Outlaws of Thunder Junction

Like Beseech the Mirror, this one requires that you commit, but it dominates the game once you do. So many decks seem like they require extremely efficient use of their mana to operate right now and this feels like the perfect disruptor.

The Big Score

Tossing this one in as a bonus. Watching the Pixie decks run with Cosmogrand Zenith makes me wonder how this never got off the ground. Without the, "once per turn" clause to limit this, it seems you could just chain Nurturing Pixie/Fear of Isolation and build an army.

Bloomburrow

I sometimes wonder if we gatekeep too many of the cards in Bloomburrow by locking them into decks based around their kindred type. Zoraline is one such card. There are a ton of ways you can take this card, but I only ever see it in fringe Bat decks. Let's see some Abzan deck with this and Dredger's Insite.

Duskmourn: House of Horror

It feels like all of the Enduring creature cycle were priced to see Standard play, and yet this one is nowhere to be seen. I don't know if you should go the Food token route and grind them out, the Soul Sisters route and just put this in to end the game quickly, or even go with a Golgari control deck and use this with Ancient Cornucopia to take life loss onto your spells. This is a great alternate wincon, that's durable, and should see more brews.

Foundations

Foundations is an incredibly deep set, and since it's here for 4-5 more years, cards will move in and out of playability as the format changes. Picking one here is like throwing at the dart board blindfolded. So, for now, I'm going with the Planeswalker who answers most of the problematic cards in the format and fuels your hand for future turns. If we ever get back to the point where Green is a color that matters in Standard, I expect this to be in a bunch of sideboards.

Aetherdrift

Loot caused some excitement when it was revealed, and even though we've seen what Agatha's Soul Cauldron can do with Vivi, it's not followed-up on that excitement. I've tinkered with this and it's always an impactful card, making itself the focus of combat the moment it hits the board. Temur has decent mana right now, and I think this could see more play in the right pseudo-ramp deck.

Tarkir: Dragonstorm

Ouroboroid is showing out in Standard right now, popping up in multiple decks as people try to figure out where it's best. Hollowmurk Siege seems like a fantastic card to pair with this, or any other Golgari beatdown strategy. This works great in multiples, and is very cheap. This might be waiting for our Overgrown Tomb reprint.

Final Fantasy

Kefka will commonly hit the board and net you a card or two, while forcing your opponent to pitch a card. That may not seem like much, but if they don't kill Kefka immediately, he will snowball with his attack trigger. If you get to the point where you can transform him, he should end the game. A lot is packed into this, and a Grixis control deck should be able to leverage him into a game defining card.

Edge of Eternities

Edge of Eternities is still new enough hat we're figuring out the set, and yet I haven't seen Exalted Sunborn hit the board in any matches since it was spoiled. Doubling tokens is a very powerful ability, and as we're seeing with Quantum Riddler, taking it onto an affordable beater with a decent Warp cost means we need to take a closer look at the card.

You can find more of my Magic musings on Twitter/X @travishall456and on Bluesky.