Hey all. Strickles here with my first post Duskmourn release Standard meta report! While Bloomburrow triggered rotation forcing Standard to change drastically, Duskmourn is unlikely to make the format change nearly that much. We will likely see some of the old decks with a few upgrades and a new deck here or there for these first two or three weeks. 

To give you all the latest info and to save you from having to dig through decklists and events, each week I will be going over the top events of the weekend and provide analysis of how the meta is evolving. As all of these tournaments are Best of-3, keep in mind that these meta changes only reflect the Bo3 meta and not Bo1.

This weekend we have three Standard Challenges that took place on Magic Online to look at. This week my breakdown is going to be a bit different, as I review archetypes that have incorporated new Duskmourn cards, those that haven’t, and new decks that have popped up. But enough of that, let’s dive right in!

To Leyline or not to Leyline

This weekend we had several aggro decks incorporate the Leyline of Resonance plan and several that didn’t, we can break them down into three colors: Gruul, Boros, and Mono-Red.

Gruul Prowess

Gruul Prowess with Leyline of Resonance was tied for most represented deck this weekend, with three copies into Top 8s including two event wins.

The leyline version has evolved from what we saw last season to focus more on getting that turn two or turn three kill. This shows itself with the inclusion of creatures Cacophony Scamp and Picnic Ruiner, both great with pump spells, and new pump spell Turn Inside Out.

Another interesting inclusion is Witch’s Mark, which is awesome with the leyline, giving you a wicked role token on two creatures, and then letting you discard a card to draw two cards twice.

The green in this version is much more of a splash, with just two Snakeskin Veil main and two Pawpatch Formation in the sideboard. The adventure side of Picnic Ruiner is almost never going to come up, but I’m sure there will be a game where you’ve flooded out a bit and are able to use it.

The version not playing Leyline of Resonance is pretty much the same as last season, only playing two Thornspire Verge from Duskmourn. This could be that they just didn’t have the time to test new cards or the leyline version, or didn’t have the resources to acquire all of those cards before the weekend.

We’ll have to see if moving forward more and more Gruul Prowess players shift to the leyline package, or if the version of Gruul we are used to seeing sticks around.

Boros Prowess

Boros Prowess did pop up with two decks making Top 8s, one playing Leyline of Resonance and one opting for a different plan.

The leyline version is forgoing green and cards like Snakeskin Veil, for white to play Crumb and Get It, which fills a similar role to Snakeskin Veil, providing protection from removal, while also being a better pump spell.

This version also includes Callous Sell-Sword, to go for those turn two kills with leyline, making it a very all-in version of the deck.

An interesting card in the sideboard is Break the Spell, a one mana enchantment removal spell which I imagine is included for the leyline mirror matches, and Shardmage’s Rescue for even more protection from removal spells.

The non-leyline version is a mix of Boros Mice, Boros Enchantments, and Boros Prowess.

The new inclusions from Duskmourn include Optimistic Scavenger to buff up creatures whenever our enchantments enter, Shardmage’s Rescue to protect our creatures, Sheltered by Ghosts for removal and lifelink to swing the race in our favor, and Painter’s Studio // Defaced Gallery for some card advantage and to buff up our creatures.

This version also has Enduring Innocence and Overlord of the Mistmoors in the sideboard for more grindy matchups.

These two versions play a lot of the same cards but are going to play out very differently. We’ll have to wait and see if either of them stick around or if prowess players just default back to Gruul as the weeks go by.

Mono-Red Prowess

Most of you that play on the ladder, and especially Best of One, will recognize the list featuring Leyline of Resonance above, as it is very similar to lists that have been all over the ladder. Both of these Mono-Red decks put one copy into Top 8s this past weekend.

The leyline version is very straight forward, and it is just trying to get as many turn two or turn three kills as possible. I’m not sure what else to say, as everyone is pretty familiar with it at this point.

The real conversation at this point is what cards are worth splashing and what cards aren’t? If leyline aggro decks are going to be competitive, we will surely see every possible color combination to figure out the best configuration of the deck. So I’ll be keeping an eye on this moving forward.

The other Mono-Red deck is more of a classic Mono-Red Aggro deck. It is looking to curve out up to Goddric, Cloaked Reveler and Squee, Dubious Monarch, and then burn the opponent out with Shock and Lightning Strike.

I’m not sure that this slower version of Mono-Red, and it is crazy to say that a deck that can kill on turn four is slow but here we are, is going to win out in the end, and this is more of an aberration than a indication of a real player in the format, but only time will tell.

What’s Up with Azorius?

This week also showed us that Azorius is probably the most versatile color pair in the format. We had two players put Azorius decks into Top 8s with each of three different archetypes this weekend: Artifacts, Enchantments, and Helping Hand Tempo.

Artifacts

We’ve seen this deck before, but it did get some nice upgrades from Duskmourn. Unidentified Hovership gives some main deck removal, and so does Sheltered by Ghosts, which should really help against the aggressive decks as it can remove any nonland permanent including a Leyline of Resonance. The deck also plays Split Skin Doll for a bit of card advantage.

The nice thing about this deck is it can really frustrate opponent’s relying on Go for the Throat for removal, although artifact and enchantment removal is of course going to be very good against you.

Enchantments

If you want to play new Duskmourn cards, and nothing else, this build of Azorius Enchantments is for you. Built around the new Eerie mechanic, this deck is trying to play enchantments and get value for doing so.

Optimistic Scavenger distributes counters around, Gremlin Tamer makes 1/1 tokens, and Entity Tracker draws cards. Our enchantments creatures include Inquisitive Glimmer to reduce the costs of our enchantments, and Enduring Innocence to draw cards whenever one of our creatures enters, including our tokens from Gremlin Tamer.

Our other enchantments either save our creatures, like Shardmage’s Rescue and Fae Flight, remove our opponent’s creatures like Sheltered by Ghosts and Ossification, or make a creature hit hard with Ethereal Armor.

Overall this looks like a fun deck that is sure to frustrate opponent’s thanks to all of the protective spells and card draw. I also love deck lists that are all four copies of cards. It just looks so clean.

Helping Hand Tempo

This is also a deck that we have seen before, and we used to call it Azorius Mentor, but both of the players that put this deck into a Top 8 this weekend opted to cut Monastery Mentor for Abhorrent Oculus the new best target for Helping Hand.

The goal of this deck is to fill up your graveyard with cantrips like Moment of Truth, Chart a Course, and Picklock Prankster, and then bring back a powerful threat, either Abhorrent Oculus or Haughty Djinn, with Helping Hand or Recommission.

This deck is good at frustrating opponents thanks to Into the Flood Maw and Soul Partition to buy time, and counterspells to protect our threats.

So which version of Azorius is best? No idea. We’ll have to see how it all shakes out but I think it is cool that three (or maybe even four if Azorius Control returns) versions of Azorius are all viable and all playing very different cards.

Old Decks. Upgrades Optional.

This week was not without some old decks making an appearance. Some chose to try out some new Duskmourn cards, while others decided to stick to the tried and true. I won’t spend too much time on each of these, but they are worth talking about.

Mono-White Token Control

Mono-White Token Control tied with Gruul Prowess for most copies in Top 8s at three this past weekend. While there are several cards from Duskmourn that I would have considered for this list, we didn’t really see them this past weekend as all of the token control players stuck to the tried and true.

This list played only one copy of one new card in Overlord of the Mistmoors. We’ll see if the deck ends up adopting more copies of this card as the season goes on, or if one or two is just right.

Jeskai Convoke

There was one copy of Jeskai Convoke in a Top 8 this past weekend, and it played zero new Duskmourn cards. This could be because the player didn’t think there were any worthy additions or because they didn’t have time to test new cards or the means to acquire them.

Regardless, we’ll see if Convoke lists adopt any Duskmourn cards or not as time goes on.

Dimir Midrange

Just like Jeskai Convoke, Dimir Midrange put one deck into a Top 8 this past weekend, and it also played no new Duskmourn cards. I kind of assume this is a player that didn’t have time or means to acquire new cards, because they aren’t even playing copies of Gloomlake Verge, which seems like an easy card to include in some numbers.

So we’ll have to keep an eye on Dimir Midrange, but seeing how they didn’t really adopt any Bloomburrow cards, it might continue to be the same old deck it always has been.

Domain

One copy of Domain made its way into a Top 8 this weekend, and it made the expected upgrades that we knew it would make, adding four copies of Overlord of the Hauntwoods in place of Heaped Harvest, and even a copy of Overlord of the Mistmoors as an additional finisher that can help stall against aggro decks early.

We also had one copy of this more wacky take on Domain make its way into a Top 8, and wow does it look like a lot of fun to play.

The goal of this deck is to get an overlord into play for its impending cost, and then cast Zur, Eternal Schemer and activate it on our overlord, turning it into a creature and getting in a big lifelink attack way ahead of schedule.

The rest of the deck plays similar to normal Domain lists, but we have Invasion of Tolvada as a cool way to reanimate any of our overlords of copies of Atraxa, Grand Unifier that have made their way into our graveyard.

I’m kind of surprised that this list doesn’t play Leyline Binding since they are also really powerful with Zur, but I suppose without red mana in the mana base, they would also cost two or more, making Anoint with Affliction pretty similar when fighting against Leyline of Resonance decks.

I doubt this will be the direction Domain decks will go moving forward, but it does show the cool possibilities that three year Standard has given us (even if I’m still not convinced it was the right decision, but that is a discussion for another day).

Oddballs

Rounding out this week’s decklist, we have a few oddball decks that are both new to the meta report but not featuring many new Duskmourn cards.

5-Color Legends

We have seen this deck before rotation when it included Slogurk, the Overslime and the channel lands from Kamigawa. This list is very similar looking to make use of Relic of Legends and Rona, Herald of Invasion to power out our more expensive legends. 

This deck has a cool synergy of Tinybones Joins Up and Marchesa, Dealer of Death. Every time one of our legends enter we can mill our opponent with Tinybones Joins Up committing a crime and triggering Marchesa, keeping our card advantage flowing.

Anything we discard to Rona will trigger Inti, Seneschal of the Sun, giving us even more card advantage, and anything we discard can be brought back with Honest Rutstein.

All in all this is a cool legends synergy deck, and I think they have enough removal to be competitive in the format. We’ll see if it manages to stick around or if it was just a one hit wonder.

Dimir Reanimator

This Dimir deck had one copy in a Top 8 this weekend, and it is looking to cast the biggest spells in Standard with a little help from Reenact the Crime.

The goal of this deck is to mill or discard Conspiracy Unraveler, Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Breach the Multiverse and then cast it for free with Reenact the Crime. The way it does this is by discarding them with Vohar, Vodalian Desecrator or Collector’s Vault, or by milling them with The Tale of Tamiyo new from Duskmourn.

Is a big spell good enough on turn four or turn five? Against some opponents, sure, but I worry about the future of this deck if Leyline of Resonance decks are the most dominant in the format. Regardless, it is an interesting strategy that is worth a shot if you love cheaty graveyard decks.

Temur Tempo

This Simic deck (splashing red for sideboard cards) actually did pop up last week, and put one copy into a Top 8 this week, so it may be something to keep an eye on moving forward.

The goal of this deck is to get a cheap Eddymurk Crab or Tolarian Terrorinto play for cheap and then protect it with various bounce spells. Get Out is flexible, giving you a counterspell early on and a way to save your creatures later, and This Town Ain’t Big Enough is a great tempo play, because it can bounce your opponent’s creature and your own, saving yours and forcing them to recast theirs. This isn’t a big deal because ideally at that point your creatures are going to cost one or two mana, giving you a huge tempo swing.

First we have to fill the graveyard to make our creatures cheap. Cache Grab fills the yard and helps us find our big guys. Bushwhack, Brave the Wilds, and Analyze the Pollen all help us find lands, allowing us to play a low land count (and why you need to sideboard in the mountain if you bring in Pyroclasm or Lithomantic Barrage) but Bushwhack can also clear out a blocker later on, and Analyze the Pollen can find one of our big creatures.

Up the Beanstalk is awesome in this deck because we have several spells that will trigger it to draw a card, even though we are only spending one or two mana on them.

Stormchaser’s Talent is an interesting inclusion. It is good for recurring our land fetch spells later on once we want to use their other mode, or just good to get back a bounce spell and clear out a blocker. If we do level it up all the way we can easily make an army of otters, as we have plenty of cheap spells like Sleight of Hand to trigger it.

I’m not sure if this deck is the real deal, but it looks really interesting and I hope that players continue to experiment with it moving forward.

Wrapping Up

New sets usually have a soft landing in Standard, as players are still testing new cards or haven’t had a chance to even acquire them yet, but we saw that Duskmourn is already making its mark on Standard.

Leyline of Resonance is the obvious winner of the week, and one that we’ll have to keep an eye on moving forward, as this week more players opted for the explosiveness it offers despite the inconsistency and inevitable mulligans.

Will other Duskmourn cards prove their spot in Standard? Will the meta further develop or solidify around a few top decks? Like always, no matter what happens I’ll be back next week to break it all down.

Until then, best of luck in all of your matches!