MTGO Standard Challenge – December 9 & December 10, 2023 – Top 8 Decklists and Breakdown

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: December 9th and December 10th 2023!

December 9th, Top 8 Decks

3 copies of Golgari Midrange, 2 copies of Esper Midrange, 1 copy of Domain Ramp, 1 copy of Azorius Soldiers and 1 copy of Orzhov Midrange!

Lets go take a look at the decklists!

1st (by tzio), 2nd (by SoIMBAGallade), and 4th place (by Big_Game_Hunter) were taken down with Golgari Midrange!

These decks use some of the strongest creatures so they can overwhelm the opponent in value while also removing their side of the battlefield so the threats can safely connect!

Lets start of with the core and those are the threats! They include forms of disruption like Deep-Cavern Bat or Graveyard Trespasser, value engines like Mosswood Dreadknight, Sentinel of the Nameless City or Glissa Sunslayer and some generally powerful creatures like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or Blossoming Tortoise. These creatures are able to set a really strong pace on the opponent thanks to their stats and value they provide, but you can still run into problems like large blockers from the opponent or boardwipes and for that you got your non-creature spells.

Those include standard removal spells like Go for the Throat or Cut Down, but also some ways to deal with the already mentioned boardwipes like Virtue of Persistence which can help you settle after it has resolved, Duress which can help you by forcing the opponent to discard the card or Liliana of the Veil which can take apart the opponents hand before they become able to cast their spells.

3rd (by Demian77), and 5th place (by Arianne) were taken down with Esper Midrange!

This deck tries to do the same thing as Golgari Midrange, but with a different card package!

Starting of with the threats again, they also include some disruptive elements like Deep-Cavern Bat or Tishana's Tidebinder, value engines like Raffine, Scheming Seer or Lord Skitter, Sewer King and some generally powerful creatures like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

As for the non-creature spells, interaction includes the same removal spells like Cut Down or Go for the throat and also counterspells like Make Disappear. And the deck also includes more powerful effects in the noncreature slot. First one is Subterranean Schooner which works well with your cheap threats, and the two other are Wedding Announcement and Virtue of Loyalty which make your threat package even scarier by buffing them up!

6th place was taken down with Domain Ramp by _Shatun_!

This decks main goal is hardcasting its bombs like Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Herd Migration to take over the game.

The way the deck gets to it is with ramp spells like Topiary Stomper or Invasion of Zendikar, removal like Leyline Binding or Sunfall, and cards like Archangel of Wrath that help you stabilize against some aggressive starts.

7th place was taken down with Azorius Soldiers by _Batutinha_!

This deck uses some of the strongest soldiers the format has to offer.

They include some cheap cards that help you make the battlefield wide like Resolute Reinforcements, Zephyr Sentinel or Lunarch Veteran. And also cards that let you use the wide battlefield to your advantage like Knight-Errant Of Eos, Wedding Announcement or Virtue of Loyalty.

And of course a deck full of creatures is scared of boardwipes, and for that the deck has Make Disappear to straight up counter them or Tishana's Tidebinder which can also save you from mass removal effects from cards like The Eternal Wanderer or Unstable Glyphbridge.

And the last deck is 8th place Orzhov Midrange by KarnageKardsENT!

The core of the deck is white where its filled with a bunch of powerful removal effects and a few value cards that help the deck gain an advantage on the opponent, black is there mostly for sideboard cards and a few copies of Breach the Multiverse as a strong finisher for the archetype.

Starting of with the interaction, the deck includes some cheaper cards like Lay Down Arms or Get Lost, but also some more expensive ones like The Wandering Emperor or Sunfall so you can remove creatures more effectively as the turns go by

As for the value cards, they include some cheaper ones that just replace themselves like Spirited Companion or Clay-Fired Bricks, some that let you use them until they get removed like Serra Paragon, and then Wedding Announcement which helps you stabilize or The Restoration of Eiganjo that can ramp you and provide blockers later.

And as for closing the game out, this deck mostly does it with its small creatures spread out over a few turns or with its top end cards like Breach the Multiverse which can help you in closing the games out faster.

And that is it for the first Challenge, let’s go take a look at the one that took place on Sunday, December 10th 2023!

December 10th, Top 8 Decks

Same as last weekend, this top 8 is also more diverse then the saturday one, lets take a look at it!

2 copies of Domain Ramp, 1 copy of Rakdos Breach, 1 copy of Azorius Soldiers, 1 copy of Azorius Artifacts, 1 copy of Rakdos Midrange, 1 copy of Esper Midrange and 1 copy of Orzhov Midrange.

Let’s go take a look at the decklists!

1st (by RubyXillia) and 4th place (by Gul_Dukat) were taken down with Domain Ramp!

As already mentioned, this deck tries to reach 7 mana so it can resolve its bombs like Atraxa, Grand Unifier which should hopefully take over the game.

It gets to that point with a combination of ramp spells, removal and other helpfull cards that i will cover later. Ramp spells include cards like Topiary Stomper or Invasion of Zendikar which accelerate you and help you fix your mana, removal includes some single target cards like Leyline Binding and also boardwipes like Sunfall and the other cards can include creatures like Archangel of Wrath which provides a great blocker against aggressive decks, or they can also include Up the Beanstalk which helps you by supplying you with cards.

2nd place was taken down with Rakdos Breach by Ivan_Draw_Go! This deck is slightly similar to Domain since it also plays a bunch of removal, a few ramp cards and expensive top end cards that should take over the game.

Lets start of with the removal which can include some cheaper instants like Virtue of Persistence or Go for the Throat, but also some more expensive boardwipes like Brotherhood's End or Burn Down the House which can effectively deal with a large battlefield.

As for the other supportive cards. They include a few artifacts like The Celestus and The Irencrag which ramp you and provide some other abilities for you to use in the late game, and they also include Big Score which draws you into your bombs and also ramps you at instant speed!

And as for the finishers, they include some powerful creatures or planeswalkers like Etali, Primal Conqueror, Archfiend of the Dross or Chandra, Hope's Beacon and they also include the namesake card Breach the Multiverse which should hopefully also get you to the mentioned threats and possibly even more!

3rd place was taken down with Azorius Soldiers by VictorCarvalho01!

This deck uses some of the strongest soldier cards in the format to its advantage! They include a bunch of small creatures like Lunarch Veteran, Resolute Reinforcements or Zephyr Sentinel which quickly swarm the battlefield with power that you can then later use to your advantage with Knight-Errant of Eos or Wedding Announcement!

As with most creature decks, opposing blockers and boardwipes/removal are the toughest cards to compete with and for that the deck has Werefox Bodyguard to removal any problematic creatures and Make Disappear to counter any unwanted spells!

5th place was taken down with Azorius Artifacts by Ignotus97!

This deck uses a lot of artifacts to achieve full control over the opponents battlefield and then take over the game with the artifacts since some of them also act as powerful finishers!

Lets start of with the cheaper artifacts that mostly include the defensive part of the deck like Market Gnome, Spring-Loaded Sawblades or Braided Net, but it also includes some ramp elements like Fabrication Foundry or Thran Spider.

The more expensive cards include even more powerful elements like a boardwipe in the form of Unstable Glyphbridge, a strong token maker in the form of Thousand Moons Smithy and The Mightstone and Weakstone which lets you choose from 2 powerful effects either it be removal or card advantage!

With all of these, the deck wants to stabilize and then take over the game with value/creatures from its top end artifacts!

6th place was taken down with Rakdos Midrange by Rooney56!

This deck uses some of the strongest Rakdos threats to present a bomb after bomb onto the battlefield until the opponent cannot keep up with the boardstate!

The threats include interactive cards like Deep-Cavern Bat or Bloodtithe Harvester, value engines like Preacher of the Schism or Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor, the new discover cards Geological Appraiser and Trumpeting Carnosaur, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse which probably doesn’t need much explaining.

All of these threats combined with removal like Go for the throat and a powerful reanimate saga The Cruelty of Gix create a very powerful midrange deck that is able to put on a lot of pressure on the opponent!

7th place was taken down with Esper Midrange by Xwhale!

Same as Rakdos, this one also uses a bunch of strong threats, but this deck also has some strong elements in the enchantment slot!

Starting of with the threats, the deck includes disruptive elements like Deep-Cavern Bat or Faerie Mastermind, value creatures like Raffine, Scheming Seer and one of the strongest creatures in the format Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Interaction is also an important part of the deck and it includes a bunch of removal like Go for the throat or Destroy Evil and a counterspell in the form of Make Disappear.

And the last important section are the enchantments which include Wedding Announcement and Virtue of Loyalty which help you in making your threat package bigger on the battlefield!

And 8th place was taken down with Orzhov Midrange by LucasG1ggs!

As already covered, this deck is filled with a bunch of removal, value and a few top end cards to take over the game!

The removal part includes some cheaper cards like Lay Down Arms or Get Lost, but also some more expensive and powerful ones like The Wandering Emperor or Sunfall.

As for the value part, it includes some cheaper cards that just replace themselves like Spirited Companion or Clay-Fired Bricks, creatures that let you repeat the value until they get removed like Serra Paragon and other effects like the 2 enchantments – Wedding Announcement that lets you stabilize against aggro or sneak in damage against control and The Restoration of Eiganjo that ramps you while providing a blocker for the later turns!

And as for closing the games out, you got one of the reasons the deck plays black which is Breach the Multiverse and your above mentioned threats, enchantments and other cards that provide creatures.

End Step

And that’s it for the article! If you want to read more, I suggest you to check out my Mythic decks of the week article where I cover the most interesting decks that people reached Mythic with every week!

MTG Arena Mythic Decks of December 2023 – Week 1