Raise the Standard: an MTG Podcast

EP. 12 - Special Guest Slot: More Sam Loy!

Raise the Standard: an MTG Podcast

Show Notes

Back on the pod today is none other than Sam Loy! In Sam's last episode, we touched on the ten-year pause he put on competitive Magic and today we're going to dive into that break, how competitive Magic has changed in that time, and how players grow and adapt in ever-changing metagames.

A huge thank you to Sam for coming back for another episode and for sharing his wisdom with us! This was such a fun back-and-forth and we're so excited to see Sam off on this new leg of his competitive journey.

If you're looking to play more competitive Magic, head on over to ⁠mtgbazaarevents.com⁠ and have a look at this year's upcoming tournaments! From Highlander Worlds next month to the $100K Standard event in July, there is a huge range of premiere events to choose from!

| Music from HitsLab via ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pixabay⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

| Raise the Standard is proudly sponsored by MTGBazaar! From premiere competitive events to MTG singles for your new brew, the Bazaar is the place to go for all your Magic needs. A huge thank you to Pat and the Bazaar crew for supporting the show!

| This episode of Raise the Standard was recorded at Hen House Rehearsal Studios. Raise the Standard and its hosts would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we operate on. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land. We pay our respects to their elders past and present, and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded.

More from Raise the Standard: an MTG Podcast

Oct 19, 2026

Don your raincoats and pop open your umbrellas as we prepare to brave the weather with none other than Richard Owen as we journey through the history of Storm as a 7PT archetype in Highlander.

Oct 12, 2026

He's back! There are few people who have played as much storm as Richard, and few people still who have beaten storm as much as he has. While the storm archetype remains the Big Bad of the Highlander metagame as we wait to see what impact the most recent points update has on the format, Richard is here to reassure us that storm is beatable!

Oct 4, 2026

The day before the Highlander Committee pointed Storm, it rained for three days straight in Melbourne, Australia, where we set the scene for the latest Highlander Points Update. And who better to talk about the latest changes to Storm than the weatherman himself: Richard Owen!

Sep 28, 2026

Today's episode is brought to you by Kira, who really, really wanted to talk about the merits of Underground Sea as your 8th point. Within this discussion, we debate the broader pointing philosophy, the function of good mana, and having to re-think deckbuilding decisions after a points update.

Sep 21, 2026

There's a lot of churn happening in Standard post-ban, and that leaves room for a lot of innovation in the format. New sets and recent bans mean that players are going rogue--looking for new combos, synergies, and play patterns that may prove to be incredibly powerful.

See all episodes →