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: July 2, 2023. Lets go take a look at all of the interesting decks people chose to register this weekend!
This top 8 is very similar to the one from the Saturday challenge! It also has Mono-Black Aggro (2 copies this time). A deck that takes an advantage of all the black creatures and backs them up with premium removal to secure a fast clock! Then we got 2 copies of Domain Ramp as a returning deck that originates from the pre ban midrange menace and has been getting more popular again recently. Then we got 2 copies of Esper Control as the premium control deck of the format that has gotten really popular recently. The rest is 1 copy of Mono-Blue tempo, a tempo deck that utilizes a lot of counterspells with instant speed card draw to take control over the game and then win with huge creatures like Haughty Djinn! And the last one is Golgari Midrange as one of the formats midrange decks that emerged after the strongest cards of Rakdos and Grixis got banned!
1st place and 6th place were taken down with Mono-Black Aggro by FerMTG and Coly2!
This deck combines all the strong black creatures in the format like Tenacious Underdog, Graveyard Trespasser and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. Then backs them up with premium removal spells to get in easier and present a fast clock! This deck can also play defense well since most of its creatures gain life and have good stats to block. This deck has been putting up more results recently and looks like it might have a spot in the metagame!
The other finalist and also the 7th place were taken down with Domain Ramp by _Batutinha_ and MaxMagicer!
This deck has been existing in the format for a while now originally being created in the midrange menace as a good meta call. After the bans it lost some of its popularity but its slowly starting to return again! The idea of the deck is simple consisting of ramping and controlling the board early and then curving out into its big threats like Atraxa, Grand Unifier to take over the game!
At 3rd and 4th place we have Esper Control by Ignotus97 and Nammersquats!
This deck has started existing just recently and got a lot of popularity in the crowd! This rotation did not have a good proper control deck for a while so its nice for it to exist! The gameplan goes like with every normal control deck. It wants to control the board with counterspells, removal and boardwipes in the early and mid game and then when you get enough mana and card advantage from your spells you then slowly proceed to win the game with your threats! This rotation has strong control cards like Sunfall, Make Disappear and Go for the Throat so the deck is powerful as much as its popular!
5th place was taken down with Mono-Blue Tempo by Soto_!
This deck has been existing for a while even pre bans but it never got much popularity and results. It does win some from time to time but its not the top contender of the format. The idea of the deck is written in its name. It wants to play the tempo gameplan with cheap counterspells and instant speed card advantage so it always has enough answers for the opponents spells. When it has enough mana it goes for huge threats like Haughty Djinn to take the game over fast while still controlling the board. Even that the deck isn’t that popular the gameplay is fun so I recommend giving it a try!
And the last 8th place was taken down with Golgari Midrange by Shadowz2005!
This deck has been one of the replacements for the Rakdos Midrange decks that got the majority of its cards banned. Since this deck did not loose a lot in the bans it has been getting more popular recently as one of the midrange decks of the format! The idea goes the same as with every midrange deck. Cast your strong threats, gain some 2 for 1 advantage, remove creatures and try to get damage in whenever you can.
Hi! I am Vertyx, I am 18 years old and I am from the Czech Republic. Most people know me due to my results on MTGO. I have countless Challenge Top 8s and a handful of wins with a wide variety of decks. I manage data from Magic: The Gathering events on MTG Arena Zone and MTG Meta.
