No its not the gold standard. Any high smoke point oil will work.Crisco, lard, bacon fat, canola, avocado. and on and on.
I use both. Flaxseed works great, but good old Crisco works well also. This is a great video on seasoning cast iron. The seasoning portion of the video begins at 10:10:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6Tz3HnnCFsWinz
You want an oil that has polymerization propertiesOn other words use flaxseed oil
I use flaxseed oil, and buy it from Amazon. 6 or more very thin coats. The first time I tossed a piece of butter into my Griswold griddle, it skidded right across the surface and onto the stovetop (which cast iron grates I also seasoned with flaxseed oil).