Table of Contents
- General Thoughts
- Standard Best of One (Bo1) Meta Tier List – July 13, 2023
- Standard Best of Three (Bo3) Meta Tier List – July 13, 2023
- #10: Azorius Soldiers
- #9: Rakdos Midrange
- #8: Selesnya Enchantments
- #7: Mono Red Aggro
- #6: Orzhov Midrange
- #5: Dimir Midrange
- #4: Esper Control
- #3: Mono Black Aggro
- #2: Five-Color Ramp
- #1: Esper Legends
- Conclusion
The Standard metagame changes week to week, decks get pushed out, and new strategies flow in. It might be difficult to keep up with trends sometimes. This is why I will be making it much easier for you by making a ranking of the best decks for a given period! Let’s introduce the Meta Tier List update for the week and the Standard Power Rankings.
General Thoughts
In this installment, I want to welcome three new decks that hadn’t been in the top 10 yet, namely Esper Control and Orzhov Midrange.
It seems like playing Black is the best thing you could be doing. Azorius Control turned into Esper, Mono White Midrange turned into Orzhov. On top of that Mono Black Aggro and Dimir Midrange are in a very strong position in the metagame.
Standard Best of One (Bo1) Meta Tier List – July 13, 2023
| Tier | Deck Name | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Mono Black Aggro 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Mono Red Aggro 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Azorius Soldiers | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Mono White Aggro 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Selesnya Enchantments 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Esper Legends | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Mono Blue Tempo | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Selesnya Toxic 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Five-Color Ramp | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Dimir Midrange | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Orzhov Midrange 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Rakdos Midrange | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Rakdos Reanimator | Guide |
Standard Best of Three (Bo3) Meta Tier List – July 13, 2023
| Tier | Deck Name | Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Esper Legends | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Five-Color Ramp | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Mono Black Aggro 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Esper Control 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 1 | Dimir Midrange 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Orzhov Midrange 🔼 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Mono Red Aggro 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Selesnya Enchantments | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Rakdos Midrange | Guide |
| Tier 2 | Azorius Soldiers | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Rakdos Reanimator | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Mono White Aggro 🔽 | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Selesnya Toxic | Guide |
| Tier 3 | Mono Blue Tempo | Guide |
#10: Azorius Soldiers
Azorius Soldiers
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
0 mythic
35 rare
16 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (26)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$148.46
Sideboard
15 Cards
$78.21
Azorius Soldiers is a deck that seems to come and go, depending on the weekend. It’s a disruptive aggro deck that can play longer games, has access to evasion, and even card draw. There are builds floating around that embrace a more flashy game with countermagic and a higher density of instant speed spells. A turn-two Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on the play can be lights out against some decks although players seem to be moving away from it in lieu of more actual noncreature spells.
On the flipside though, the fact that it does a bit of everything makes it fall short at times. Maybe you’ll draw the more card drawing half with Skystrike Officer when you really need to put the pedal to the metal. Or you happened to draw countermagic against Mono Red. Sometimes you can get such a wrong-half issue which is not what you want in a linear shell.
It keeps its #10 from the previous week. There still seems to be better options for aggressive strategies and better for flexible blue creature decks – like Dimir.
#9: Rakdos Midrange
Rakdos Midrange
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
13 mythic
25 rare
13 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (18)
Sorceries (2)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$553.98
Sideboard
15 Cards
$39.81
Rakdos used to be the absolute best deck in the format but it got a huge hit after the bans. While it did lose very powerful cards, it still has tools like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Liliana of the Veil, or Bloodtithe Harvester.
Since the deck can still play some of the best cards in the format, alongside super efficient interaction in Go for the Throat and Cut Down, players have opted to play it again and reinvigorated this seemingly dead deck.
#9 goes to Rakdos Midrange, second time in a row.
#8: Selesnya Enchantments
Selesnya Enchantments
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
4 mythic
25 rare
12 uncommon
19 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (14)
Instants (3)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (19)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$208.68
Sideboard
15 Cards
$45.29
It used to be a tier 2-3 strategy but recently it’s been spreading its wings, even being chosen as the deck for Arena Championship 3 by Seth Manfield.
The deck has aggressive draws with Generous Visitor and Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr but generally wants to play longer games with Hallowed Haunting.
It’s one of the biggest beneficiaries of Invoke Despair ban since now black decks won’t have a versatile answer to the enchantment type.
This strategy even managed to Top 8 one of the mid-June MTGO Challenges so the archetype is clearly here to stay.
#7: Mono Red Aggro
Mono Red Aggro
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
11 rare
20 uncommon
21 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (19)
Sorceries (2)
60 Cards
$92.5
Sideboard
15 Cards
$21.35
Like a phoenix from ashes, Mono Red Aggro is back at it. While previously in the top 3, it falls back again to the middle of the pack.
The mix of utter aggression and interaction make it a formidable opponent. While it does struggle against efficient removal and incidental life gain, the sideboard provides necessary tools to fight through such scenarios. One of the most popular approaches is to side in multiple Planeswalkers, making people scratch their heads when they’re holding up multiple Go for the Throat or Abrade.
Last time I said it might fall off until the next installment comes and it did materialise. It had a really good showing while the meta was in flux but not it seems to have fallen behind a little bit. It still has a firm grip on Best of One though.
#6: Orzhov Midrange
Orzhov Midrange
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
19 rare
15 uncommon
18 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Sorceries (10)
Enchantments (10)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$343.6
Sideboard
15 Cards
$70.61
This deck shines when it knows what decks it will play against and can prepare hate pieces, interactions, and threats accordingly. In an open meta, it has to give way to its black counterparts.
Despite the fact that it lost Reckoner Bankbuster, it can still very much fight in the format, especially if you know what to expect. The strong core of The Wandering Emperor, Wedding Announcement, Ossification, and Lay Down Arms make it hard to go wrong with.
This strategy is an offshoot from previously played Mono White Midrange. While the main core remains largely the same, the addition of Breach the Multiverse allows it to have a great go-over-the-top late game capabilities. On top of that, the sideboard contains effects like Duress which Mono White wouldn’t be able to provide.
#5: Dimir Midrange
Dimir Midrange
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
10 mythic
24 rare
11 uncommon
15 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (7)
Creatures (13)
Instants (13)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$476.28
Sideboard
15 Cards
$5.91
From #6 to #5, we have Dimir Midrange. With the necessity of playing red gone, players have started to experiment with other colour combinations. Blue offers countermagic and access to flash threats, allowing the strategy to be more adaptable and flexible. The deck still plays Cut Down, Go for the Throat, or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse since they are still at the top when it comes to the best cards in the format.
Instead of going full on creatures though, there are a bunch of Planeswalkers trying to attack from different angles. With Invoke Despair no longer in the format, it has opened up opportunities for new card types to shine.
#4: Esper Control
Esper Control
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
4 mythic
36 rare
13 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Instants (24)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$420.52
Sideboard
15 Cards
$190.23
The strategy is simple – counter and destroy everything you see and win the game eventually. While the deck is more oriented at not losing than actually winning, with The Wandering Emperor the games can be turned around in a blink of an eye.
This deck does not play one of the best cards in the format, Wedding Announcement, but it does go with The Wandering Emperor and mass removal which is probably the second-best thing you could do in those colours. If others choose to swarm the battlefield though, you’ll always want to be on the side of Depopulate.
Previously played as Azorius, black allows for powerful and efficient interaction in Cut Down, Go for the Throat and the ever-versatile Void Rend.
#3: Mono Black Aggro
Mono Black Aggro
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
9 mythic
25 rare
7 uncommon
19 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (29)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$393.54
Sideboard
15 Cards
$64.41
From not being in the top10, now in the top 3. Last time Mono Red Aggro had such a great overall performance and now it’s Mono Black.
The versatility that the colour black provides between interaction and the threats that are both great early and late such as Phyrexian Fleshgorger or Tenacious Underdogstarted to shine through.
There is a trend to lean more onto the colour black so I am not surprised that a deck centered around this colour has had so much success.
#2: Five-Color Ramp
Five-Color Atraxa
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
8 mythic
33 rare
8 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (15)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$513.2
Sideboard
15 Cards
$79.45
Five-Color Atraxa is a ramp deck that actually wants to hardcast Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Etali, Primal Conqueror. In midrange battles, few decks will be able to outgrind it.
Despite being called a ramp strategy, it’s very interactive. With Ossification and Leyline Binding, any threat can be stopped in its tracks very early in the game. If the opponent manages to go wide though, you’ve got Sunfall to take care of that.
Keeping its #2, it’s certainly a deck to be on the lookout for. It has put up multiple solid results in the MTGO Challenges and it has only lost Reckoner Bankbuster which it played around 2 copies anyways.
It was thought to fall off with the prediction that Black midrange decks would become less popular and that’s what Five-Color Ramp preys on. However, black strategies are very well positioned and so is Five Color.
#1: Esper Legends
Esper Legends
by Skura
Standard
best of 3
10 mythic
41 rare
5 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (22)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$651.56
Sideboard
15 Cards
$19.39
Third time in a row, #1!
Esper Legends treads the line between aggro and midrange but one thing is certain – it’s a full-on creature strategy. It does not interact much pre-board but can become much more reactive if need be. The main plan is to outclass whatever the opponent is doing by playing the absolute best creatures in the Esper colour combination. The manabase is surprisingly consistent, in large part thanks to Plaza of Heroes which is both a painless Mana Confluence and Tamiyo's Safekeeping all in one card.
Despite its strength, it still got a new toy in Rona, Herald of Invasion. It provides early card filtering which is at its premium in a deck that can draw too many of the same legendary. On top of that, it can flip into a formidable threat later in the game. Currently, decks sometimes even opt to go for full four Rona, Herald of Invasion!
Contrary to previous weeks, it’s not hands down the best deck. The line between the decks in top 3 becomes ever more blurry. Esper Legends is by no means a dominating force. However, it’s the consistency that still makes it the best deck out there.
Conclusion
Overall, the hero of this installment of the Standard Power Rankings – Esper Legends!
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Skura
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