Standard Metagame Report and Best Decks – January 2024

Standard is ever evolving with not only new cards flowing in with every new set but also players finding out new ways to attack the metagame and brew to disrupt the top dogs.

In today’s piece, I want to look at what cards have gained popularity in recent weeks, which brews have risen to prominence, and whether the very top is stale or stable.

This is also accompanied by full updates to the meta tier list for both Best of One and Best of Three, including new decklists and descriptions. Check them out below!

Bo1 Standard Metagame Tier List and Rankings

Bo3 Standard Metagame Tier List and Rankings

New Key Cards

In this section I want to talk about cards that were released with the last expansion, The Lost Caverns of Ixalan, that may not have caught enough traction at the beginning but now can very much be considered main-stays of the format.

Despite initial skepticism, this innocuous uncommon proved to be a role player in multiple black-based strategies.

It’s a classic effect where you take away an opposing card temporarily. Why not play a straight-up discard spell then? Reasons are multi-fold.

For one, there is no proper Thoughtseize effect in the format. One would have to resort to subpar options like Duress, Ego Drain, or Dread Fugue. There is no much better alternative.

Even if there was though, here you’re getting a body on top of the discard. This matters plenty as it synergises with cards like Raffine, Scheming Seer or Subterranean Schooner.

Crucially, against noninteractive decks, it will be as good as a discard spell with an actual free body attached.

Last but not least, it draws a removal spell, forcing the opponent to spend a card and mana to deal with it.

All in all, with these upsides combined it makes this cute Bat into a proper inclusion in multiple decks.

In the past, black-based midrange strategies had their favourite three-drop in Graveyard Trespasser. Now, Preacher of the Schism has taken its place!

Being a 2/4 deathtoucher allows you to block anything, regardless of the size. Against aggro strategies that have been running rampant, four toughness is real roadblocker.

When you get into the red zone, you get two separate triggers that, depending on the life total situation, yield a different result. If you have more life, you get to draw a card, essentially creating card advantage. If the opponent is on the backfoot, you get a 1/1 white vampire to further be able to pressure the life total.

Interestingly, if both players are at the same life, like starting 20, you get both effects!

Furthermore, Preacher adds to the powerful suite of deathtouch creatures available in black, namely Glissa Sunslayer and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Tishana's Tidebinder took Modern by storm but it turns out it can also shine in Standard!

While countering an ability in itself is not very impressive, when you add a proper body to it and the fact that you can shut down a permanent completely, it changes the dynamic.

Being able to Stifle the Sheoldred’s trigger and turn it off forever or blank an opposing planeswalker is huge! But it works against so many cards – Subterranean Schooner, The Wandering Emperor, Chrome Host Seedshark, and the list goes on.

In an aggressive shell, you basically get to free roll interaction on a body that you’d be tempted to put into your deck anyways.

Smuggler's Copter anyone?

Another case of being completely neglected at the start and then rising to prominence.

Subterranean Schooner is an exceptionally aggressive card that matches up against the format as if it was tailor-made to combat it. It dodges Cut Down, Go for the Throat, and when the opponent is holding up some two-mana interaction like Get Lost on turn two, you play this *non*creature permanent and waste their mana.

The card selection it provides is a great way to filter through your draw and ensure that you always have gas available.

Be mindful of what you crew it with! You might want to strategies and make your evasive threats bigger, for instance.

While no combo is to be found, both discover threats have turned out to be nonetheless great.

Appraiser cascading into Preacher of the Schism and Trumpeting Carnosaur spinning into The Cruelty of Gixare vicious sequences that Rakdos Discover opponents have to be able to contend with… somehow.

Nowadays, creating game objects is much more important than raw or virtual card advantage – and these cards do exactly that. They put a ton of power onto the field, dominating the board.

Brews, brews everywhere!

Azorius Artifacts is a deck that pops up here and there in MTGO Challenges and seems to do well every time.

It utilises Urza, Lord Protector who is our discount mechanic to have almost the entire rest of the deck cheaper. Getting this reduction on two mana spells halves their cost. While what I wrote is mathematically obvious, it affects play patterns immensely. For example, on turn four you can now play 4 two-drops instead of 2.

The Mightstone and Weakstoneis both interaction and card advantage, so depending on the situation we can take full advantage of it. It can also meld with Urza for an ultimate flashy moment.

Toxic is baaaaaaaack!

Toxic was one of the most dominating decks when Phyrexia released but then it fell off immensely. The reason was that a one-set deck couldn’t really compete with the format at large.

Or could it?

It used to be played as Selesnya in a very aggressive shell. Now, it’s more of an Azorius Tempo deck with green splashed (almost) exclusively for Venerated Rotpriest.

It retained the linear openings with Crawling Chorus into Skrelv's Hive into Annex Sentry that you might remember from the past. However, it has another full layer of intricacy in cards like Bring the Ending, Serum Snare, or Experimental Augury.

I’ll be super biased here but I am so happy that my personal favourite brew which I’d written about some time ago now has become successful!

The main premise here is to cheat Monastery Mentor into play with Helping Hand, resulting in very explosive turns that are hard to contain. Mentor is also an instant must-kill from the opponent’s perspective but…we basically play 8 copies, 4 of which cost one mana!

A recent innovation is venturing into Esper.

Halo Forager can flashback Helping Hand, essentially doubling their number in the deck and so increasing the virtual number of Mentors available even further! There are also tricks like using Helping Hand not on Mentor but on Forager so that this Forager immediately recasts Hand and then brings back Mentor.

Bitter Triumph is a black Get Lost that also allows you to ditch Mentor early for later revival. Very cool addition that black allows.

Standard Azorius Mentor Deck and Sideboard Guide

Crème de la crème

The very top of the metagame looks rather familiar. We’re used to seeing both Ramp and Midrange, intermingling at the top2 spots on tier lists.

However, there is a lot happening beyond the top 2. Rakdos has gone through being a midrange deck, to a ramp deck, to a reanimator deck, back to midrange, back to ramp, and now… it’s a discover strategy! It’s great that within a colour combination there could be so many different ways to play ‘the same’ deck – now incorporating some new cards.

Mono Red seems to either be in the top 5 or it’s close to unplayable. It catches unsuspecting opponents off guard and slides through metagame where players want to keep going over the top of each other.

It’s worth pointing out that the whole metagame seems super open to innovation and brewing while keeping your favourite deck playable. Soldiers might be the third best deck this week and seventh next, but with so many playable decks at large it always means you can take down a tournament with it.

Conclusion

All in all, the format is as healthy as it gets. I am super pumped that the Standard season is upon us and top players will try to find the absolute best tools to beat the metagame week-to-week.