Discover the best Magic: The Gathering Arena Standard decks and archetypes the players use to climb the ranked ladder and win tournaments. Our MTG Arena Best of One (Bo1) Standard Meta Tier List regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in the format, carefully curated by Strickles. We also follow up our choices based on various factors and sources, comprehensively analyzing the available data. Updated Post Foundations Release!
Standard Best of One (Bo1) Meta Tier List
Tier
Deck Name
Tier 1
Mono-Red Aggro
Tier 1
Boros Auras
Tier 1
Mono-Black Midrange
Tier 2
Azorius Oculus
Tier 2
Boros Burn
Tier 2
Selesnya Rabbits
Tier 2
Azorius Enchantments
Tier 3
Golgari Midrange
Tier 3
Dimir Midrange
Tier List Disclaimer
Tier 1: These decks have both a high play rate and high win rate, making it likely that you will face them on the Bo1 ladder and need to be prepared to face them.
Tier 2: These are good decks that see plenty of play and have good win rates, but have less of a presence or less dominance than the decks in Tier 1.
Tier 3: These are decks that are solid in executing their own game plan, but are either largely unexplored or struggle against decks at the top of the meta, leading to lower play rates and lower win rates.
After Leyline of Resonance was banned in Bo1, this build of Mono-Red Aggro, adapted from a decklist that made Top 8 at Worlds, become the dominate red aggro deck in the format, and it is still one of the most played and most efficient decks in the format.
Our creatures all pack a punch and must be answered: Monastery Swiftspear starts the pain from turn one, Hired Claw will get in extra damage and grow on turns when we have extra mana, and Screaming Nemesis puts our opponent in an awkward position of taking damage whether they block or not.
Our other creatures are the mice of Bloomburrow. Heartfire Hero grows when we target it, Emberheart Challenger can gain card advantage, and Manifold Mouse works well as a follow up to either of those to give them double strike or trample and trigger valiant.
Our spells include cheap burn, Shock and Burst Lightning, to take out opposing creatures or just trigger prowess and go at our opponent, Monstrous Rage to force through damage and blow out combat, and Witchstalker Frenzy to take out opposing blockers.
In the mana base we have Rockface Village, which can be used to give all of creatures that don’t already have it haste, meaning that in the mid and late game all of our threats have haste to get in damage right away.
Why Tier 1? This deck is not only efficient, but it taxes the opponent at every turn. Every creature is scary, and must be answered. This deck never lets off the gas, and has plenty of burn spells to finish off games. Thanks to haste, not even sweepers can save you from the pressure continuing. The abundance of cheap burn spells also make this deck good against other aggro decks as they can easily pick off opposing creatures and keep the pressure on.
Playing Against this Deck: Cheap removal will be necessary if you want to compete against this deck, as well as a fast and tight game plan of your own. Because this deck can give any of its creatures haste, they can quickly come back from removal spells and sweepers, so you need to put the clock on them so that they don’t have a chance to top deck lethal on you.
Boros Auras is an aggro deck looking to use cheap creatures and powerful auras to develop large threats that quickly end the game.
The core creatures of this deck are the mice of Bloomburrow. Heartfire Hero grows when we target it, Emberheart Challenger can gain card advantage, and Manifold Mouse works well as a follow up to either of those to give them double strike or trample and trigger valiant. We also gain Optimistic Scavenger to distribute counters when are auras come into play, and Callous Sell-Sword although we are mostly using the sell-sword for their adventure, to fling one of our large creatures at the opponent to finish them off.
Our auras include Ethereal Armor to grow a creature based on the number of enchantments we control, Shardmage's Rescue to protect our creatures from removal spells, Feather of Flight to grant flying to get in damage, and Demonic Ruckus for menace and trample. Feather of Flight and Demonic Ruckus also give us a bit of card advantage, drawing a card on the way in for the former and on the way out for the latter.
Sheltered by Ghosts is the MVP of the deck, not only giving us a good removal spell, but also granting lifelink to help race against other aggro decks, and ward 2 to protect it from removal spells, making it easier to safely cast our auras.
Lastly, we have Monstrous Rage, which isn’t an aura but it does grant an aura, so it will trigger Optimistic Scavenger while also doing what it normally does, which is force through damage.
Why Tier 1? This deck has a very consistent and powerful game plan. It has good tools to fight against other aggro decks, and good tools to compete with slower decks thanks to protection and card advantage.
Playing Against this Deck: You have to pick your spots when casting your removal against this deck. Play around Shardmage's Rescue if you can, only casting removal spells when they are tapped out or if you suspect they don’t have it. Sweepers like Temporary Lockdownare also quite effective against this deck, although they do have some card advantage so you will also need your own clock to end the game before they can reassemble a big threat.
Mono-Black Demons is a midrange deck that can end the game with a two card combo, grind into the mid and late game, and has plenty of removal to compete with the aggro decks of the format.
Our core creature package includes Unstoppable Slasher and Bloodletter of Aclazotz, which is a two card one hit combo, as the opponent will lose half their life from the slasher, which will be doubled to their whole life total. Our other creatures include Archfiend of the Dross, which is both a demon and a fast clock that most red decks can’t remove, and Deep-Cavern Bat to disrupt the opponent.
Unholy Annex is our main card advantage, and the reason we have demons in the deck, as changing the life loss to life drain is very important against all the aggro decks in the meta.
Why Tier 1? This deck has the removal to compete with the top aggro decks, and most importantly can end the game quickly, either with the one hit kill or just a few hits from Unstoppable Slasher or Archfiend of the Dross. The top aggro decks have a hard time removing these threats, so once we have controlled their board, it is hard for them to control ours.
Playing Against this Deck: For aggro decks, you have to overwhelm their removal with an abundance of creatures. They don’t play any sweepers, so dump as many creatures into play as you can, so that they run out of removal. For other midrange/control decks, you need to stay on top of removing their demons, and keeping Unstoppable Slasher down. If you can remove or stop them from deploying Unholy Annex, you will have an easier time fighting them into the mid and late game as they run out of resources.
Azorius Oculus is a graveyard combo deck with tempo elements, as its main goal is to reanimate a threat from its graveyard and then use bounce and removal spells to slow the opponent down for long enough to close out the game.
We have several ways to fill up our graveyard. Chart a Course can discard a threat into our yard, Picklock Prankster has an adventure that will mill us an return a spell, Moment of Truth puts a card in our graveyard, and Founding the Third Path lets us cast a spell for free, then mills us, and lastly lets us cast a spell from our graveyard, letting us reuse a Helping Hand or card advantage spell.
New from Foundations we have Kiora, the Rising Tide, which is great at getting threats into our graveyard from our hand, and is a threat itself as if we have Threshold she will make a 8/8 token on attack.
The last element of our deck is the tempo element. Unsummon can bounce our opponent’s creatures to buy time, it can also bounce our own creatures to save them from removal. Get Lost will also help us buy time to execute our game plan.
Why Tier 2? This deck is very consistent at executing its own gameplan, and getting one of its key threats into play early and often. However, it does have very little removal and interaction, meaning that the top aggro decks are usually able to run it over before it can take over. Against slower decks, it should have the upper hand, as most players do not play graveyard hate in Bo1.
Playing Against this Deck: As I said above, for aggro decks you should focus on flooding the board early and putting the pressure on before they can establish their own board. They don’t have much interaction, so use your spells aggressively. For slower decks, consider playing spells like Anoint with Affliction to exile their key threats so they cannot continuously reanimate them.
Boros Burn is an aggro deck that is looking to use cheap creatures and efficient burn spells to attack the opponent’s life total directly and end the game quickly.
The creature base is pretty straight forward and includes Monastery Swiftspear to get in early and benefit from you casting spells, Hired Claw as a threat that scales up and gets in a lot of extra damage, Slickshot Show-Off to get in for large chunks in the air, and Screaming Nemesis for more haste damage and a way to prevent life gain from the opponent. In a pinch, you can cast a burn spell on your own Screaming Nemesis to have it deal damage to the opponent and prevent life gain.
Our burn spells are as cheap and efficient as they get. Shock and Burst Lightning are great at taking out opposing cheap creatures if need be, or otherwise just being woven into our turns at the opponent. Lightning Strike and Lightning Helix can also take out creatures or go upstairs.
New from Foundations, and the reason this deck exists, are Boros Charm to deal four damage for two mana, and Boltwave to deal three damage for just one mana. Boros Charm can also protect our creatures from a sweeper, or their may be times when giving a Slickshot Show-Off double strike will actually be more damage. so keep that in mind.
Why Tier 2? This deck is very good at doing what it came to do, however without any card advantage, it can have some awkward draws that leave it close to finishing off the opponent but unable to do so. That being said, I still think it is a powerful choice in the meta because it can use its burn spells as removal spells to slow down other aggro decks.
Playing Against this Deck: Removing their creatures will help slow them down, forcing them to rely only on burn spells to finish you off. After removing their creatures, keep the pressure on, either forcing them to use their burn spells on your own creatures, or enabling you to finish the game before they top deck lethal burn.
Selesyna Rabbits is an aggro deck trying to go wide, thus frustrating opponents who are relying on using one or two removal spells to stop their opponent, and creates board states that can quickly end the game.
Warren Warleader is a great play on turn four, as it does not need to attack itself to trigger, giving you another rabbit or buffing up all of your attackers. Season of the Burrow tops off our curve, as a way to remove problematic threats or deploy a large board.
Why Tier 2? This deck is great at executing its game plan, and is going to frustrate a lot of opponent’s who aren’t prepared to answer wide boards. However, it is slower than other aggro decks in the meta, and has no real removal, so it relies on blocking and can be easily blown out by Monstrous Rage. That said, if their opponent stumbles they can easily assemble a lethal board very quickly.
Playing Against this Deck: Removing their trample threats, Valley Mightcaller and Burrowguard Mentor, should help slow them down and let you either block or otherwise execute your own game plan against them. They have very little removal, so fast kills are possible, and their creatures are generally small, making trample granting spells quite potent.
Azorius Enchantments is an aggro deck looking to make use of enchantments to grow their board and gain card advantage, slowly overwhelming the opponent with their large creatures and access to resources.
This deck makes use of the eerie mechanic from Duskmourn, which triggers when an enchantment enters on our side. Optimistic Scavenger distributes counters, Gremlin Tamer makes 1/1 tokens, and Entity Tracker draws us cards.
Our other creatures are all enchantments themselves, so they trigger our eerie creatures as well as contributing to our game plan in other ways. Inquisitive Glimmer reduces the cost of our enchantments, Silent Hallcreeper is unblockable and can draw a card, grow, and then copy one of our payoffs, and Enduring Innocence draws us cards when our other creatures enter.
Our other enchantments include Ethereal Armor to buff up one of our creatures, Shardmage's Rescue and Fae Flight to protect our key threats from removal, and Sheltered by Ghosts to remove problems from the opponent’s board, grant lifelink to win the race, and give ward 2 to make it harder to remove.
Lastly, we have Proft's Eidetic Memory as a way to turn all of our card advantage into power on our creatures.
Why Tier 2? This deck is great at executing its own game plan, thanks to an abundance of card advantage and good protection spells. However, it is slower than the other aggro decks in the format, and has very little removal, meaning that it can easily fall behind.
Playing Against this Deck: If you are an aggro deck, try to execute your own game plan as quickly as possible, as once they get their engines online they are hard to compete with. Slower decks can rely on removal, but be careful of their protection spells. If you are able to play sweepers, this deck has no counterspells or other ways to fight against them, making them quite effective.
Golgari Midrange is a midrange deck, looking to use removal spells to slow the opponent down, while deploying efficient threats to end the game in a timely manner.
Our removal includes Cut Down, Go for the Throat, and Anoint with Affliction, all good at removing threats from the opposing side, giving us time to deploy our own gameplan. Tear Asunder is also great against the variety of enchantments that see play in the format, as well as being a generic removal spell when we kick it.
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is good at closing out games, and Tranquil Frillback gives us answers to graveyard decks, artifacts and enchantments, and can gain life to help us survive against aggro decks.
Duress and Dreams of Steel and Oil help us disrupt the opponent’s curve and know what we need to focus on with our removal spells and threats.
Why Tier 3? I’ve placed Golgari Midrange in tier 3, despite it being a tier 1 deck in Bo3, because it can struggle against a variety of the aggressive decks. While it does have a lot of good removal, it doesn’t have a particularly fast clock to close out the game with, meaning that aggro opponent’s are usually able to have a chance to rebuild. That said, this deck should do well in most matches, but can have awkward draws that will make it frustrating to play in Bo1.
Playing Against this Deck: Just like against other midrange decks, try to overwhelm their removal if you are an aggro deck. They usually don’t play sweepers, so flooding the board will make it hard for them to keep up with your pressure. Slower decks should focus on having answers to cards like Mosswood Dreadknight, Glissa Sunslayer, and Unholy Annex, as those are their main sources of card advantage to carry them into the late game.
The creautre base of Dimir Midrange is all about evasion to make use of Enduring Curiosity, our main source of card advantage. Spyglass Siren brings a map to help us find a land or pump up a creature, Deep-Cavern Bat disrupts our opponent’s curve, and Faerie Mastermind is a nice mana sink in the mid and late game to get two cards for our opponent’s one card.
All of these cheap flying threats are great for hitting the opponent and drawing cards when Enduring Curiosity is in play, or for helping get Kaito, Bane of Nightmares into play with Ninjitsu on turn three. Kaito is great at drawing cards, but can also plus one to pump himself up, and minus two to keep a problematic threat tapped.
Why Tier 3? Similar to Golgari Midrange, while Dimir Midrange is a Tier 1 deck in Bo3, it falls to Tier 3 in Bo1 just because it can struggle against the abundance of aggro decks in the format. While it does have great removal, its threats are pretty puny and thus do not block well or end the game quickly. Their card advantage relies on using their creatures aggressively, which is hard to do if they have to spend most of their time fighting the opponent’s threats.
Playing Against this Deck: Using cheap removal on their flying creatures will help prevent them from getting Kaito into play early, or making use of Enduring Curiosity. They usually don’t play sweepers, so just like against Golgari Midrange focus on flooding the board and overwhelming their removal and counterspells.
Wrapping Up
Best of One may be dominated by fast aggro decks, but I think that there is a certain amount of depth to the format as midrange and control have shown that they can be playable in the format.
The format has not really slowed down since the banning of Leyline of Resonance, but I think it has grown more deep thanks to the banning and the release of Foundations. We won’t have a Standard legal set come out until February, so there is plenty of time to innovate and refine decks in this format.
I hope this tier list was helpful in giving you a deck or two to try out on the ladder, or making you aware of what you need to prepare for as you brew your own decks to take on the meta game.
As always, best of luck in all of your matches!
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