Hey all. Strickles here back with Week 4 of our Duskmourn 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.
This week we have four Magic Online Standard Challenges and one Standard Showcase Challenge to break down, giving us a lot of good data to comb through. We are starting to see the meta settle down and top archetypes emerge, but rogue decks still pop up here and there to challenge the kings of the meta.
With all that said, let’s dive in and break it down!
Gruul Prowess has solidified itself as the best performing aggro deck in Duskmourn Standard. Gruul Prowess put 10 copies into Top 8s this weekend, two in each tournament, and won two of those events.
All ten Gruul players have moved away from Leyline of Resonance, perhaps making it a problem only in Best-of-1 now, and have solidified around this decklist, making use of the mouse package from Bloomburrow, backed up by Monstrous Rage and Might of the Meek to force through damage with trample.
This list is just really solid. It can have fast kills and can also play into the midgame with Questing Druid and Innkeeper’s Talent. If you are preparing for a Standard tournament, you must have a plan for this deck.
You need cheap removal early and if you aren’t also an aggro deck you likely need access to sweepers as well. On top of that you need to execute your own gameplan to end the game because their threats will keep coming with haste and other forms of evasion.
Jeskai Convoke has emerged as the second best aggro deck in the format, with five decks making their way into Top 8s this weekend.
Both Jeskai Convoke and Gruul Prowess are very explosive aggro decks that can play into the midgame with card advantage, which is part of why they have done so well as the meta game has evolved.
Between Clockwork Percussionist, Knight-Errant of Eos, and Painter’s Studio // Defaced Gallery, Jeskai Convoke can recover from sweepers to continue to pressure their opponent, and their explosive draws demand a sweeper, so when you don’t have one you are out of luck.
It is a really interesting dichotomy as Jeskai convoke is a deck that spot removal is only average against and sweepers are great against, while Gruul Prowess is a deck that spot removal is usually quite good against and sweepers are just fine.
I think this is why these decks are performing so well, as players are really strained to answer all of the threats both decks have to offer.
Gruul Delirium was a new deck that put one copy into a Top 8 this weekend, and it is a cool mix of aggro and midrange game plans.
I say that because while it does play a lot of aggressive cards, such as Enduring Courage to buff and haste our creatures, Fear of Missing Out for extra combat steps, and Patchwork Beastie to hit hard, it does take a while to build up to a point where it is being aggressive.
The early turns are all about setup. Cache Grab and Say Its Name fill up the graveyard, getting us to a point where our beastie can attack, or our Omnivorous Flytrap is growing our creatures. Wrenn and Realmbreaker can help us set up with its -2, or start to beat down with its +1, and having a planeswalker in our deck ups our number of card types.
This deck is cool because it really has a distinct early game and mid game, and the switch suddenly flips as soon as delirium is achieved and there are a couple of threats in play, and it can close the game very quickly as soon as that switch is flipped.
If you have been looking for a delirium build I recommend starting here and playing around with it, as this list seems pretty nicely tuned.
Mono-White Token Control (with a blue splash) had a solid weekend, with five copies into Top 8s this weekend.
This build featuring blue cards in the sideboard has emerged as the main build of this deck, as the blue sideboard cards help out a great deal in mirror matches. Jace, the Perfected Mind is used to mill out opposing Token Control players, while Negate can slow down their engine early on and usually trade up on mana, spending two mana to counter a three or four drop.
We’ll have to see if this build of Token Control stays on top or if some new build emerges moving forward. Also, just to note, on sites such as MTGGoldfish, this deck is listed as Azorius Control, so if you are looking to compare decklists on that site, look under that name.
Four Color Overlord Control returned this weekend with two copies finding their way into Top 8s.
This deck plays very similarly to Domain ramp, focused on ramping and controlling the board early, but with a much more explosive late game, using Doppelgang to make copies of overlords to take over the board.
As no copies of Domain Top 8ed this weekend, we will have to see if Domain players move away from Atraxa in favor of this overlord focused build.
Enchantments are all over Standard right now, not just in Token Control, but even in aggro and midrange decks, making main deck enchantment removal totally reasonable, especially on these flexible cards that can have other uses when you don’t need to remove enchantments.
I like the build of this deck because it, like the blue splash version, seems nicely tuned for the mirror which should be quite common, but also has good removal and tools to fight aggro decks. So we’ll see if it emerges as a build players further explore, or if it was a one-hit wonder.
Gruul Surprise only put one copy into a Top 8 this past weekend, but it is too sweet of a list not to talk about.
The goal of this deck is to ramp in the early game with Glimpse the Core and Overlord of the Hauntwoods, and then cast Smuggler’s Surprise to put two big threats into play to take over the game.
Outcaster Trailblazer provides nice card advantage to keep us relevant into the late game, and Roxanne, Startfall Savant and Overlord of the Boilerbilges provide good removal to help control the opponent’s board. Calamity, Galloping Inferno is awesome with overlords, giving you two overlords tapped and attacking.
This kind of deck is what makes me think that Standard is still pretty sweet. Yes we have our top decks that you have to be prepared for, but a deck like this can come out of nowhere and Top 8 a tournament as well.
It kind of reminds me of old Modern back in 2014-2016, where there absolutely was a defined meta game, but rogue decks could pop up any time and take you down, keeping the format fresh and interesting.
Golgari Midrange had a great weekend, sending seven copies into Top 8s and winning two out of five events; it has solidified itself as the go-to midrange build in the format.
All of the Golgari players have moved away from Innkeeper’s Talent and Vraska builds in favor of Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber and Archfiend of the Dross builds.
I think the reason behind this is that the card advantage from Unholy Annex, combined with the fast clock of the archfiend make this deck able to keep up with the Token Control decks, and close out games against both aggro and control more quickly.
Golgari also has access to all of the good black removal for creature decks, and green enchantment removal for all of the enchantments ruling the format, making it very competitive in the current meta.
Dimir Midrange hung around this weekend, putting two copies into Top 8s.
Dimir players have mostly all adopted the Enduring Curiosity build, thanks to the utility it brings with flash, letting the Dimir player keep up counterspells and removal to interact with their opponent on critical turns in the mid game.
I think why Golgari has surged ahead of Dimir in the midrange arms race, is because Dimir doesn’t have games with a fast clock. It is usually getting in small hits here and there with their fliers, meaning that opponents have time to either scale into their late game or find more gas.
This can happen to Golgari players as well, but their threats hit harder, making it easier to end the game much more quickly.
Last week we had Orzhov Slasher builds pop up, but this weekend we saw none of those decks reappear. We did, however, have this Mono-Black Slasher build win an event, making it worthy of discussion.
This build, like the Orzhov build from last weekend, is built around Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz to one shot the opponent, but it has a lot else going for it. Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber and Archfiend of the Dross return to combo as card advantage and a big threat to close out the game.
Between Deep-Cavern Bat and Duress, we have a lot of hand disruption to slow down the opponent’s game plan, and access to all of the good black removal to slow down aggro decks.
The sideboard has a lot of good options to fight meta decks, and thanks to Withering Torment we can even answer enchantments.
Azorius Hand also held on to relevancy this weekend, with three copies into Top 8s.
This deck is quite good at executing its own game plan, but I imagine it struggles against the top aggro decks in the meta. While it does have access to some bounce and removal, a lot of times it is too busy deploying its own game plan to take off early turns to slow down their opponents.
Its variety of counterspells help it against slower decks, but those slower decks also have access to good removal that can continue to remove their threats over and over.
All in all, I expect Azorius Hand to stick around as a key player in the format, but I don’t know if it will ever have a breakout weekend due to its issue with other meta decks.
All Decklists
Two other decks Top 8ed this weekend, a copy of Azorius Enchantments and a copy of Mono-Red Aggro. You can find those decklists and all of the decklists below:
This solidified Gruul Prowess and Jeskai Convoke as our top aggro decks, Golgari Midrange as our top midrange deck, and the blue splash version of Token Control as our top control deck. That being said, there are still plenty of viable strategies in Standard and all of the decks discussed above could win a tournament on the right day.
Next weekend is the World Championships, which will feature Standard as its main format, so I will be back next week with a special edition of this meta report to break down the Top 8 decks of the tournament and the general meta of the tournament.
Until then, best of luck in all of your matches!
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