Standard is in deep, deep trouble even with bans.

Assuming Steel-Cutter and Rage get banned, the format is going to get slightly less fast but it's not going to be significantly less solved or even remotely less toxic. The amount of power creep has turned standard into essentially what used to be modern power level. Even if we get rid of the red boogeyman (which, don't get me wrong, is absolutely necessary), standard is still going to be a degenerate turn 4-5 format.

I'm not trying to rant. Just want to point out the world we live in now with the standard card pool. Bans are a band-aid on a bullet wound at this point. There are functionally zero "fair" decks that can compete now. Bans will open up a couple more decks to be viable for competitive play, which, mission accomplished in that respect. But it's still going to just be a pool of stuff that can either win or bury you by turn 4 and it's not going to open up to anything rogue or new or allow for substantially more interesting and interactive gameplay.

Card design needs to fundamentally change and Wizards needs to stop thinking they can only sell cards to people who see busted shit to play in commander or whatever. Standard is supposed to be the most consistent, stable, and self-contained format that exists. The power level needs to decrease and the window for sets needs to lower dramatically. I guess maybe that is a rant to some degree but call it a prediction. Standard will continue to "flourish" in Wizards speak until something significantly changes with set design or standard card pool or both.