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 (Bo3) 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 Three (Bo3) Meta Tier List
Tier
Deck
Tier 1
Mono-Red Aggro
Tier 1
Dimir Midrange
Tier 1
Golgari Midrange
Tier 2
Azorius Oculus
Tier 2
Gruul Prowess
Tier 2
Boros Burn
Tier 2
Zur Domain
Tier 2
Jeskai Convoke
Tier 3
Mono-White Token Control
Tier 3
Temur Prowess Combo
Tier List Disclaimer
Tier 1: The decks that have the best recent competitive results and a strong presence on the MTG Arena ladder, making them cornerstones of the format that all players should be prepared to face. They are great at executing their game plan, and have good answers to other top decks.
Tier 2: Tier 2 decks are also good at executing their game plan, but either have worse competitive results or lower presence on the MTG Arena ladder. They are players in the format that you should be aware of and prepared for, but are likely slightly worse at executing their game plan than Tier 1 decks.
Tier 3: Tier 3 decks are solid at executing their own game plan, but are either largely unexplored or have weaknesses against the top decks in the meta. They also see less play both in competitive events and on the ladder.
Mono-Red Aggro is a fast aggro deck, that swarms the board with must answer creatures, and finishes the opponent off with burn spells.
Our creatures include Monastery Swiftspear to get in early and grow when we cast spells, Hired Claw to deal extra damage and grow on turns that we have extra mana, and Screaming Nemesis, a powerful haste threat that puts the opponent in a damned if they do, damned if they don’t situation with blocking. In a pinch, you can use a burn spell on your own Screaming Nemesis to redirect the damage to the opponent so that they can’t gain life for the rest of the game.
Our other creatures are the mice of Bloomburrow. Heartfire Hero grows when we target it with spells and abilities, and deals damage to our opponent when it dies, while Emberheart Challenger grows when we cast spells, and exiles the top card for us to play when we target it. Or best way to target either of these creatures is with Manifold Mouse to give them double strike or trample.
Our burn spells are Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike, which can be used as creature removal or just at the opponent to trigger prowess. Witchstalker Frenzy helps us fight bigger creatures, and Monstrous Rage helps force through damage, and is a good way to trigger valiant on our mice.
In the mana base we have Rockface Village to grant haste to all of our mice and Hired Claw. This means that all of the creatures in our deck can have haste in the mid to late game.
Why Tier 1? This deck is brutally efficient, all of its creatures are must answer threats on their own, and they have access to great spells to help close out the game and force through damage. This deck will punish any opponent that stumbles, and thanks to all of their creatures having haste or being able to gain haste, they can keep the pressure on after sweepers or other removal spells.
Playing Against this Deck: Removal is a must, but so is establishing your own game plan and moving the game forward. It is a balancing act of slowing them down while keeping the pressure on, because if you give them time they will find more action, be it a creature with haste or a burn spell, every draw step will be a sweat. If you have lifegain, make sure you have removal spells for Screaming Nemesis like Go for the Throat, so that they don’t put the de-buff on you.
Dimir Midrange is a midrange-tempo deck looking to disrupt the opponent’s game plan with removal and counterspells, all while using their own creatures to gain card advantage and further slow the opponent down.
The keystone of the deck is Enduring Curiosity, which can be flashed in and lets us draw cards whenever our creatures deal damage. To facilitate this, most of our early creatures have flying.
Spyglass Siren comes with a map token, to find a land or pump up one of our creatures, Deep-Cavern Bat disrupts our opponent’s curve, and Faerie Mastermind gives us a mana sink later in the game to draw more cards. Floodpits Drowner can be used to tap an opposing creature and put a stun counter on it, helping us slow down aggro decks or force through damage.
Our other reasaon for playing cheap flying creatures is to get Kaito, Bane of Nightmares into play with ninjitsu, to draw cards, buff up Kaito with his plus one, or stun an opposing creature with his minus two.
Why Tier 1? Dimir Midrange is great at tempo-ing other decks out of the game. Thanks to the variety of flash threats, they are able to hold up removal and counterspells, or flash in threats as they see fit. The amount of flexibility and options in the deck mean that it is able to respond fluidly to the opponent and then execute their own game plan of draw a ton of cards to refill and keep the answer coming.
Playing Against this Deck: Playing against this deck can be tough, because it can feel like they always have the right answer. Have a plan for both Enduring Curiosity, by using exile removal like Tear Asunder, and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, as those are their two most consistent forms of card advantage. They don’t play many sweepers in the sideboard, so you can try to overwhelm their spot removal by going wide.
Golgari Midrange is a midrange deck, similar to Dimir Midrange, that is trying to build their own threatening board while disrupting the opponent’s plan with removal.
Builds of Golgari Midrange will differ on which creatures they plan and in what quantities, but the core creatures include Mosswood Dreadknight, great on both offense and defense and a source of card advantage in grindy games, Glissa Sunslayer as a must answer threat that can draw cards, answer enchantments, or remove counters from planeswalkers, and new from Foundations, Llanowar Elves to kick start the curve and play ahead of schedule.
Archfiend of the Dross is also a demon which plays nicely with our main source of card advantage, Unholy Annex. Turning that life loss into life drain is key against red based aggro decks, especially since they don’t have great ways to remove the Archfiend.
The rest of the deck is there to disrupt the opponent, such as efficent removal like Cut Down, Go for the Throat, Anoint with Affliction, Virtue of Persistence, Tear Asunder, etc. Reprinted in Foundations we also have Maelstrom Pulse, a nice catch all that can deal with any problematic permanent. Just be aware that it destroys all permanents with that name, including yours, so think carefully before carelessly targeting an opponent’s Unholy Annex when you also have one in play.
Why Tier 1? Just like Dimir Midrange, Golgari has a lot of good answers, and can quickly turn games thanks to their effectively costed threats. Llanowar Elves has helped Golgari Midrange keep up with aggro decks, and scale into their mid and late game faster against other midrange and control decks. Unholy Annex is a very powerful card, and it currently seems that Golgari Midrange is the best home for it, giving it an advantage over other midrange decks that are trying to play into the late game.
Playing Against this Deck: Have a plan to deal with both Glissa Sunslayer and Unholy Annex, as those are their main sources of consistent card advantage. Without that card advantage, it is easy to get them out of resources with one-for-one trades. Aggro decks should try to overwhelm their removal spells by deploy a variety of threats, as most Golgari decks are light on sweepers.
Azorius Oculus is a combo-tempo deck, looking to reanimate threats from the graveyard while keep the opponent off balance with bounce spells and removal spells.
Our core creatures are Haughty Djinn, which grows based on the number of instants and sorceries we have in our graveyard, and Abhorrent Oculus which makes an army if left unchecked. Our goal is to get these creatures into the graveyard and then bring them back for cheap with Helping Hand or Recommission.
We get cards into our graveyard by milling them with the adventure of Picklock Prankster, or Moment of Truth, or discard them with Chart a Course or new from Foundations Kiora, the Rising Tide. Kiora is a powerful addition to the deck, because not only does it put key cards into our graveyard, but it is a payoff for filling up our graveyard itself, giving us a huge 8/8 token. It is worth noting that the token is legendary, so don’t try to make more than one.
We also have Founding the Third Path as a way to cast a spell for free, mill ourselves, and then recast a reanimation spell or card advantage spell from the graveyard.
We disrupt the opponent with cards like Phantom Interference, Negate, Unsummon, which can also bounce our own creatures to protect them from exile spells like Anoint with Affliction, and Soul Partition, another way to remove an opponent’s threat or protect our own.
Why Tier 2? While Azorius Oculus has a very straightforward gameplan that it is very good at executing, it lands in tier 2 for a couple of reasons. First, everyone is prepared to fight this strategy now with cards like Anoint with Affliction and various forms of graveyard hate. Second, this deck is very light on removal and other interaction, meaning it can be easily run down by the most aggressive decks in the format. That said, it is very powerful deck that must be respected at all times, or it will sneak in and steal an event hear and there.
Playing Against this Deck: As mentioned above, graveyard hate can help slow them down, although they do have ways to deal with it, so you also need to be prepared to remove their threats and put your own pressure in play. They don’t have a ton of removal, so if you can get a couple of threats to stick, while disrupting their plan, you should be able to close the game out.
Gruul Prowess is an aggro deck looking to deploy creatures to the board early, and then use pump spells and burn spells to buff up their creatures and finish the game quickly.
The creatures in Gruul Prowess are very similar to Mono-Red Aggro. The mice of Bloomburrow return, as just a solid base of creatures that synergize well together and must be answer in some capacity. Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger are more powerful in this deck thanks to the increased number of spells that can target them to trigger valiant.
Monastery Swiftspear helps put the pressure on, while Screaming Nemesis puts the opponent in that tough spot where both blocking and not blocking are tough. Gruul Prowess also gets access to Questing Druid, a powerful threat on its own, but also a great source of card advantage with its adventure. This card helps Gruul compete into the mid and late games against slower decks.
The spell suite is similar to Mono-Red Aggro, with Burst Lightning and Lightning Strike to take out opposing creatures or go at the opponent directly, and Monstrous Rage to help force through damage. This build also includes Might of the Meek as more ways to grant trample, and Snakeskin Veil to protect our threats. Lastly, we have Bushwhack as a cheap spell to trigger prowess, but also as a way to cheat on our land count and give us a removal spell when we don’t need the land.
Why Tier 2? I think that Gruul Prowess fell off a bit just because a lot of players chose the more consistent mana base of Mono-Red Aggro. These decks are very similar, in that they are both full of must answer threats, and fast clocks. At the end of the day it is a personal preference in choosing between the two, but lately Mono-Red Aggro has seen more play and had better competitive results, so it got the spot in Tier 1, while Gruul has to chill out in Tier 2 for now.
Playing Against this Deck: Just like against Mono-Red Aggro, removal is a must, although be aware of Snakeskin Veil, but so is establishing your own game plan and moving the game forward. It is a balancing act of slowing them down while keeping the pressure on, because if you give them time they will find more action, be it a creature with haste or a burn spell, every draw step will be a sweat. If you have lifegain, make sure you have removal spells for Screaming Nemesis like Go for the Throat, so that they don’t put the de-buff on you.
Boros Burn is another aggro deck with the core Red aggressive creatures, this time supplemented by more direct burn spells to try to finish off opponents.
The spells should look familiar too, such as Monstrous Rage to force through damage, and Burst Lightning as a cheap way to remove a blocker or go face. This decks goes further on the burn spells though, including cards such as Lightning Helix, and new from Foundations, Boltwave, dealing three damage to the opponent for just one mana.
Reprinted in Foundations we have Boros Charm, a great burn spell dealing four damage for two mana, but it also has other relevant modes, such as protecting your team from certain sweepers, or granting double strike, which could be worth more damage if the target is a Slickshot Show-Off with one or two other spells cast that turn.
This build is also playing Shardmage's Rescue to protect our threats, but it is also possible to play less creatures and instead play more burn like Lightning Strike or even Shock.
Why Tier 2? Boros Burn is relatively new to the scene, and while it is riding the coattails of the powerful red creatures that also see play in other aggro decks, it remains to be seen if going this deep on dedicated burn is worth while. While it has put up some positive results, it has yet to prove itself as a top contender in the format, finding it a comfortable home in tier 2.
Playing Against this Deck: Just like against the other red aggro decks, removing their threats is important, because they are sources of sustained damage, where as their spells are just one shot uses. Lifegain can help buy time, but with Screaming Nemesis around, they are likely going to be able to turn that off at some point, so have a plan to deal with that creature. Otherwise, develop your own clock so that you can end the game before they top-deck lethal burn on you.
Zur Domain is a build of Domain Ramp that focuses on using Zur, Eternal Schemer to impact the board earlier than most ramp decks, transforming your overlords into real threats very early on.
The cool interaction here, is that we can get our overlords into play with their impending cost, and then play Zur, Eternal Schemer and activate him to turn one of our dormant overlords into a big threat, letting us attack with it to get its trigger, and gain a lot of life as Zur grants our enchantment creatures lifelink.
The rest of the deck is a familiar Domain shell. Up the Beanstalk works great with overlords, as even when cost for their impending cost they will trigger the beanstalk. Get Lost and Leyline Binding help slow down our opponent, while Sunfall and Split Up can clean up wide boards.
Lastly, Herd Migration can fix our mana early or be a big payoff later on, and Scrollshift is also great with our overlords, as it can exile a dormant overlord and return it to play in its creature from, giving us a surprise blocker or an attacker before our opponent was ready to deal with it.
Why Tier 2? Zur Domain actually solve some of the problems that traditional Atraxa builds had, such as ending the game quickly. Thanks to Zur, this deck can actually have a quite fast clock, animating not only overlords but also Leyline Binding and other enchantments. The lifelink helps race against aggro decks, although be careful of Screaming Nemesis, and the deck still has plenty of removal to fight against aggro and midrange decks. That said, the blistering fast starts that some aggro decks in the format can have are still problematic for this deck, especially since it is so much lighter on sweepers than previous builds, knocking it down a peg.
Playing Against this Deck: Pack your sideboard full of enchantment removal, as that is your best chance to fight against the powerful threats this deck produces. You also need to have a plan to remove Zur before he activates too many times. With Zur in play, enchantment creatures have hexproof, so you sometimes will need to remove an overlord before Zur resolves, or deal with Zur and then deal with the enchantment creature.
Jeskai Convoke is a creature aggro deck trying to establish a wide board and end the game with one or two big attacks. While Boros Convoke was the deck everyone was worried about coming into rotation, Jeskai Convoke has emerged as more consistent and with a better plan in the sideboard games.
The sideboard of the Jeskai version gives us Protect the Negotiators, which is a great answer to sweepers or other big plays that could damage our board.
Why Tier 2? Convoke decks have kind of fallen by the wayside thanks to the popularity of other aggro decks, but they still are putting up some results and still have a fast and consistent game plan. The more players move away from sweepers towards cheap spot removal, the better positioned a deck like Convoke will be to take down opponents who aren’t prepared.
Playing Against this Deck: Sweepers are king against Convoke decks, as keeping the board clear will not only prevent them from killing you thanks to all of their ways to buff their creatures power, but also will prevent them from casting Knight-Errant of Eos and finding more and more threats. For aggressive decks, try to put on the pressure early before they can establish a wide board, and make use of trample granting spells like Monstrous Rage to force through damage if they chump block.
Mono-White Token Control is a control deck looking to use tokens as a source of card advantage to keep their hand full of answers to their opponent’s boards before taking over the game with their own board.
The two sources of card advantage in this deck are Caretaker's Talent, which draws us a card when a token enters once per turn, and Enduring Innocence, which draws us a card when a small creature enters once per turn, which all of our tokens happen to be. With one or both of these enchantments in play, our deck is able to generate a lot of cards.
The important part of Carrot Cake, Virtue of Loyalty, and Fountainport is that they can make tokens at instant speed, so all of our draw effects that only trigger once a turn can also be triggered on our opponent’s turns to give us even more cards.
The rest of the deck is removal and sweepers to slow our opponents down. Thanks to our high plains count we can play Lay Down Arms. Get Lost gives us more spot removal, and Sunfall cleans up the board, and gives us a token which can trigger our Caretaker's Talent.
In the sideboard is the only new addition from Foundations, Authority of the Consuls which helps slow down aggro decks and lets us use our sorcery speed removal and sweepers to contest those creatures.
Why Tier 3? This deck has fallen a long way from the beginning of last season when I had it in Tier 1. A few things have caused it to fall: First, enchantment removal is much more common, and without its sources of card advantage, this deck is just kind of low powered control deck that is easily run out of answers. Second, the aggro decks got a lot better and Dimir Midrange rose up, brining counterspells and discard spells to really hurt these decks chances at getting their engines going. All that said, this deck is still great when it does have its engine going, and will be a scary deck to play against if you aren’t prepared.
Playing Against this Deck: As just discussed, you need to either pack enchantment removal, or put on such a fast clock that they don’t have time to deploy their sources of card advantage for fear of being run over. Counterspells and discard spells are also quite effective against this deck, slowing them down considerably.
Temur Prowess Combo is a creature combo deck looking to use their creatures to cast their spells, grow large, and kill the opponent in one big swing.
The main synergy involves Enduring Vitality, which gives your creatures the ability to tap for mana, and Valley Floodcaller, which grows and untaps your otters, and rats, when you cast a noncreature spell. So, you tap your creatures for mana, cast a spell, they grow and untap, and you rinse and repeat until you can swing for lethal.
Now, the combo turn is much more complicated than that, and I’m not sure I’m the best equipped to explain how to combo off with this deck. The general goal is to use Stormchaser's Talent and Thundertrap Trainerto have enough otters in play to start generating extra mana, and then using various one mana spells such as Torch the Tower, Analyze the Pollen, or Bushwhack to generate triggers.
Eventually you bank enough mana to cast a big Song of Totentanz, and the rat tokens are also effected by Valley Floodcaller, and since they have haste they can also then be used to cast spells.
If this deck is interesting to you, I would suggest finding a much more in-depth guide on Youtube, as I do not feel I have adequately prepared you to play it here.
Why Tier 3? This deck is difficult to pick up and largely unproven. I wanted to include it on the tier list because it is really cool, but I think that its difficulty keeps it from reaching to higher tiers. Experience pilots will certainly be able to consistently go off with it, showing the decks real power. That said, I do suspect that this deck can struggle against the top aggro decks in the format, and can be quite susceptible to removal.
Playing Against this Deck: You have to kill Valley Floodcaller in response to the first spell they cast with it in play. Dealing with Enduring Vitality is more difficult, but if you have exile removal then it is also key to remove. Other than that, execute your game plan quickly, putting the pressure on them to try to combo off and then falling into your removal spell trap.
Wrapping Up
We are only a couple of weeks into Foundations Standard, so the format is still open for innovation. While I base the Best-of-Three tierlists more heavily on competitive results, we’ve only had two weekends of results so far, meaning that things are likely to change moving forward.
We see every archetype represented here though, and although aggro and midrange are dominant, combo, control, and ramp all exist in the meta. Foundations hasn’t made the biggest impact on most decks yet, but it is going to be legal for five years, so those cards have time to show up.
I hope this tier list was helpful as you try to find a new deck to try or want to understand what decks you should be prepared to face as you brew up your own decks to take on the meta.
Regardless, and as always, best of luck in all of your matches.
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