Hey all. Strickles here, back with Week 4 of our Standard Meta Reports. To give you all the latest info without 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.
With all that said, let’s dive into the top decks of the weekend. This weekend we have four Standard Challenges on MTGO to look at. As the meta has settled down there are less new decks to talk about, so instead of comparing returning decks to new decks, I’m going to break it up into deck categories to evaluate the results. Let’s start with aggro, then go to midrange, and finish with control.
Gruul Prowess was the most represented deck in Top 8s this weekend, with eight decks into Top 8s. With its impressive finishes last weekend, where it was also the most represented deck, it has cemented itself as the aggro deck to beat moving forward.
I think the rise of Gruul Prowess shows the awesome exploration that Standard can offer as a format. Gruul Prowess put up zero results the first two weeks of the format but is now the most represented deck two weeks in a row. Will it continue to perform the rest of the month before Duskmourn releases? Or will another aggro deck rise to dethrone it?
While Gruul Prowess is the new hotness, Rakdos Lizards has been a much more consistent performer across all four weeks. Rakdos Lizards put five decks into Top 8s this weekend, including one event win. I think the power of Rakdos Lizards comes from its ability to have both explosive starts, curving out and pressuring an opponent out before they can set up their own gameplan, but also to go long and ping the opponent to death with Iridescent Vinelasher, Gev, Scaled Scorch, and Hired Claw.
Rakdos Lizards has proven to be consistent, and I expect it to continue to perform the rest of the season, but as we look ahead to Duskmourn, we have to assume that this deck won’t be getting any new cards (unless there are a lizard or two hanging out in the haunted house). So while other decks get new tools, Rakdos Lizards may not be able to say the same.
Mono-Red Prowess only had one Top 8 this weekend, but it was an event win. This deck is very similar to the Gruul Prowess deck, but is cutting Green for more consistent mana. Wrenn’s Resolve serves as a replacement for Questing Druid, and gives the deck a nice way to keep the pressure coming.
I think that Gruul Prowess will continue to win out over Mono-Red because the Green cards add so much. Snakeskin Veil frustrates Midrange and Control decks relying on spot removal, and Innkeeper’s Talent can turn any creature into a scary threat, especially once you are out of spells to buff them up.
However, I think this Mono-Red list is a good spot to enter the format as you won’t need to spend wildcards, or money in paper, on dual lands.
Convoke put up two decks into Top 8s, one of the Jeskai variety and one of the Boros variety. When picking which one you want to play it comes down to a couple of questions. First, how valuable are counterspells in your local meta or the tournament you are preparing for if you are playing in paper, or against what you are expecting on the ladder on MTGA. That is the main appeal of the Jeskai version to me, is having access to counterspells if you are expecting a lot of sweepers.
Second, how important is having a consistent mana base? Against a lot of other aggro decks, having a more clunky and painful mana base, which the Jeskai version has, can prove deadly as other aggro decks punish you for taking too much damage from your lands, or for missing a key color in the early turns.
So really it all comes down to what you expect. More control? I would advocate for Jeskai. More aggro? I would advocate for Boros. Regardless, Convoke has proven to not be the force that we all thought it might be after rotation, as other aggro decks have proven to be just as fast and just as potent, we’ll have to see if anything we get from Duskmourn changes the trajectory of Convoke moving forward.
Boros Mice put up a single deck into Top 8s this weekend, putting in its second entry into Top 8s this season. I think the problem with Boros Mice in these more competitive events, is that every deck is prepared for aggro decks, be it sweepers or an abundance of spot removal, and Boros Mice just isn’t as fast or explosive as a deck like Gruul Prowess, and doesn’t have the late game reach of a deck like Rakdos Lizards.
Boros Mice is another deck that probably won’t get anything new in Duskmourn, making me skeptical of its relevance in competitive events in the future, but I’m sure it will still be frustrating on the MTGA ladder.
The breakout Midrange deck of the weekend was Orzhov Midrange, with three decks into Top 8s this weekend. While we have seen Orzhov Midrange before, this version of the deck is going a bit bigger and a bit slower with its game plan. Previous versions looked to utilize Zoraline, Cosmos Caller and creatures like Caustic Bronco to grind through the mid game. This version is more about keeping the board under control early, with a variety of removal spells, and then stabilizing the board with Beza, the Bounding Spring and Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal.
As aggro continues to dominate the meta, we can expect midrange decks to skew towards more removal and life gain, so perhaps this version of Orzhov Midrange will beat out Dimir and Golgari moving forward.
The other midrange deck that put three decks into Top 8s this weekend was Dimir Midrange. I have really run out of things to say about this deck as it has not changed in the slightest over the last three weeks. The decklists remain largely the same, and its results continue to be consistent around two to three top finishes.
Dimir is quite good if you are expecting other control and midrange decks, as access to counterspells and card advantage make it easy for them to pull ahead and keep the door shut in those matchups.
Golgari Midrange put up one copy into Top 8s this weekend, keeping its streak alive and being the only midrange deck to have top results every week so far. However, I think the honeymoon period is over for Golgari. While it is still good at what it does, everyone is prepared for the combo of Innkeeper’s Talent and Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting, taking away that surprise win factor.
I expect Golgari Midrange to continue to be a fine option moving forward, but I currently prefer the Orzhov Midrange deck above in a format with a lot of Aggro.
Orzhov Blink is a deck we have seen before but it makes its first entrance this season with one deck into Top 8s this weekend, however it was an event win.
This is a sweet value deck, but I am worried about trying to play a value deck in a world full of aggro decks. The Witch’s Vanity is the decks’ attempt to answer aggro decks, as removal plus a food token can really help stem the bleeding, but spending turn three just to get a bit of value most games still seems dubious to me. If the format slows down I could see this deck becoming more of a player.
Domain bounced back from its abysmal results last weekend, and put four decks into Top 8s this weekend. The deck has not really changed much week to week, so I’m not sure why it failed to put up results last week but was able to bounce back this week. Domain is theoretically well positioned against aggro decks, with sweepers Temporary Lockdown and Sunfall main deck, and plenty of life gain in Herd Migration, Heaped Harvest, and Archangel of Wrath.
However, the current aggro decks are very fast and top deck very well, meaning that playing a bunch of tapped lands and relying on Leyline Binding for spot removal, which is not castable until turn three most games, means that Domain usually falls behind early, has to rely on a sweeper to stabilize, and then can still die to haste threats and other forms of reach that Gruul Prowess and Rakdos Lizards have.
All that being said, Domain did bounce back this week, so perhaps the Domain players are more experienced playing against these decks and are better at navigating how to sequence their lands, sweepers, and threats to win out against these aggro decks moving forward.
Innkeeper’s Talent continues to be the preferred tool for control players looking to have consistent card advantage. Players continue to explore options but while we had four different varieties last week, this week we only had two, each putting one copy into Top 8s, in Boros and Jeskai.
These decks have all of the same tools as Domain, sweepers, life gain, and spot removal, but don’t have the same top end in Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Herd Migration, making it harder for them to close out games after they have stabilized. This makes me think that in a world dominated by Aggro decks, Domain is more suited than these token control decks moving forward.
Azorius Control was the last control deck to put up a deck into Top 8s this weekend. This deck eschews the token plan that other control decks play and tries to control the board with removal, counterspells, and sweepers and then take over the game with Teferi, Temporal Pilgrim and Beza, Bounding Spring.
I think that Azorius Control is really missing Memory Deluge for card advantage and card selection. Deduce and Spellgyre are fine card advantage spells, but Memory Deluge was so good at finding what they needed in any given situation. Unless it gets another card selection spell like that in Duskmourn, I expect Azorius Control to remain on the fringe, but to not disappear.
All Decklists
You can see all of the decklists of the weekend on the links below:
Standard continues to shine as a flexible format. Since I started tracking all of these decks a few weeks ago we’ve seen decks rise and fall, new players emerge like Gruul Prowess, consistent performers in Domain and Rakdos Lizards, and control players trying to find the right build to keep up with the format. We’ve got a couple more weekends before Duskmourn releases, so I’ll be back to see how things shake out.
As always, best of luck in all of your matches, and I’ll see you next time.
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