What's the Current State of MTG?

[PeaceRibbon]

Hello all, new user here. I'm beginning to gain interest in returning to MTG and actually trying to find a good community after about a year away, so I was curious if anyone could tell me about the current landscape of the game before I decide on where to go and what to do with the hobby. Which formats have large playerbases, how expensive is deckbuilding, what online resources are available, and any other information you think fits the question would be greatly appreciated. Let me know your thoughts below and have a lovely day!

In Pax Christi,
PeaceRibbon

[motleyslayer]

I feel that standard has been pretty good since the release of Zendikar Rising in the fall and continued to be good with the release of Kaldheim not long ago. The format has been shifting/adapting to what decks are doing well, so it feels like you can do well if you can predict what the meta is like. Plus it doesn't feel like the meta is just overrun by one deck

I feel that both Historic and Pioneer became stale for a while because there was no real reason to play them much as there were no real events in those formats for a while. So it kinda turned into people just playing whatever they felt like in those formats for a bit. Keep in mind I haven't played those formats myself in a while so I'm just saying what other people have said about those formats. Both formats were shaken up by bans recently, so the formats could actually be a lot more open than I realize

Modern was in a pretty rough spot for a while because Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath allowed for 3/4c piles with green and blue in them to be really good, especially with Mystic Sanctuary . Both those cards are among the long lists of cards banned in modern back in mid=-Feb so since then people have been enjoying the format much more lately. Modern Horizons 2 comes out in June, so lets see how they shapes the format

[PeaceRibbon]

Thank you very much for the reply! It's good to hear that things seem to be on the upswing in all those formats, which means choice won't be lacking. I'll be sure to consider the pros and cons of each ruleset.

[Krishnath]

One thing that @motleyslayer didn't mention was the Commander format, it is the literally the most popular format at the time, and is getting a lot of support from WotC because of this. It is a multiplayer format, where besides certain cards (mostly basic lands), you may only have a maximum of one of each card in the deck. It is loads of fun.

[PeaceRibbon]

True, Commander was big at the game store I went to! Unfortunately I found that format to not really be my thing, mostly because 100 card decks are hard to build and even harder to shuffle (especially sleeved). Still, I like the concept, and maybe if paper Brawl makes a resurgence in one way or another I'd be willing to try that out.