MTGO Standard Challenge – August 5, 2023 – Top 8 Decklists

Hi! My name is Vertyx and I will go over the top finishes of the Magic Online Standard Challenge that took place on the weekend: August 5, 2023. Lets go take a look at all of the interesting decks people chose to register this weekend!

Top 8 Decks

The Mono-Black Midrange craze has slowly fallen off but as we see it got instantly replaced with Dimir! Both of these decks have a similar idea but it looks like playing counterspells has turned out to be better. Having a lot of powerful threats that can also offer some additional benefits like Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor makes this deck able to present a lot of pressure. And that pressure is backed up with removal, counterspells and powerful planeswalkers (as you probably already knew) to make it able to deal with everything!

Overall we have 4 copies of a more aggressive version including the 1st place and 1 copy of a less aggressive version!

2nd place was taken down with Azorius Soldiers! This one is a highly synergistic aggro deck that utilizes the most powerful soldier cards the format has to offer! Those include cards like Valiant Veteran, Harbin, Vanguard Aviator, Zephyr Sentinel where all of them have great abilities for this deck. You want to swarm the board with your cheaper threats like Resolute Reinforcements and then top them up with those above mentioned threats or Knight-Errant of Eos to finish the game with a lot of value and synergy.

4th place was taken down with Domain Ramp! The deck that started to exist as a counter to the midrange dominated format since it was built to hardcast Atraxa. Being rather slow in the early game this deck just wants to ramp itself and remove some threats so it can survive until 7 mana. 7 mana is the main turning point for the deck because you get to cast Atraxa, Grand Unifier which should overtake the game with its value and power!

And 7th place was taken down with Azorius Midrange! Over 90% of the deck is purely white with blue being there for only a few sideboard counterspells. You probably know the shell well already since its a classic Mono-White Midrange maindeck! Maximizing on removal this deck is not scared of a single threat that the opponent presents. When it comes down to other cards you play a bunch of value creatures and enchantments that are most of the time able to replace themselves and on top of that provide some additional value! A really strong deck that is able to have the board clear at all times.

1st (by kasa), 3rd (by Salvatto), 5th (by CSwicky97) and 6th (by _IlNano_) place were taken down with a more aggresive version of Dimir Midrange!

The main core of the deck are its threats! Starting at cheap cards like Evolved Sleeper and slowly moving up with Faerie Mastermind, Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse these decks have have a lot of strong effects and abilities on their threats! Ranging from disruption, value or pure aggro, this threat package has it all that you will ever need. Of course the threats have to be supported with other cards and that is where the planeswalkers come in!

Those are represented with Kaito Shizuki and Liliana of the Veil where both of them are able to provide a strong advantage that has to be answered as soon as possible. When it comes down to the opponents side of the battlefield you got a bunch of removal like Go for the Throat to deal with the opposing threats and 4 copies of Make Disappear as a strong catch all for any cards they might present!

Strong threats and great interaction is sometimes all you need for a potent deck!

2nd place was taken down with Azorius Soldiers by orantspro!

A deck that is all around soldiers! Ranging from a lot of cheap threats like Recruitment Officer, Zephyr Sentinel or Valiant Veteran, this deck is able to swarm the board with a bunch of threats very early! The more creatures you have the more synergies they will create between themselves either it be making your team bigger with Valiant Veteran or evasion with Harbin, Vanguard Aviator! If cards become a problem you also got Knight-Errant of Eos which is able to fuel you into more of your cards! When you get all of these cheap threats onto the field you also got a few counterspells to deal with some annoying spells.

4th place was taken down with Domain Ramp by mommon!

A long existing deck that was created to destroy the midrange dominated meta. Its early game can look slow because it mostly consists of a few ramp spells and removal to slow the opponent down. The breaking point for the deck is 7 mana where it wants to get as quick as possible since you get to hardcast Atraxa, Grand Unifier. When you get to hardcast it you should be able to take over the game with the card itself and also your other cards like Herd Migration or Etali, Primal Conqueror where all of them provide very potent threats.

The deck can struggle against aggro, but if it gets paired into midrange it should slice right through!

7th place was taken down with Azorius Midrange by Laplasjan!

Playing only a few counterspells in the sideboard, this deck is mostly white including the whole maindeck. The deck is full of white removal (including The Wandering Emperor or Sunfall) that is able to deal with any threat the opponent potentially presents ! Of course removal cannot be the only point of your deck and because of that you also got a bunch of value enchantments and creatures. Those cards are most of the time able to replace themselves while also providing additional value (for example The Restoration of Eiganjo or Serra Paragon).

This deck can struggle with closing the game out fast, but its able to keep all threats of the battlefield so as long as you have patience it should get the job done.

And 8th place was taken down with Dimir Midrange Tulio_Jaudy!

This list is a slower and more true midrange variant of the deck! The list has less cheap threats and rather maximizes on interaction in the form of removal and counterspells to deal with anything that may oppose you. The threat package also maximizes on more expensive cards rather than playing a lot of cheap threats. Those can include Gixian Puppeteer, Sheoldred or Cemetery Desecrator where all of them are able to provide a lot of value that is hard to deal with from the opponents side.

This variant is able to present a lot of benefits if it gets to survive into the lategame.

That’s it for today! Looks like Mono-Black midrange has lost its initial popularity but it got quickly replaced with Dimir midrange with its very similar gameplan! I hope you enjoyed the article and see you soon!