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: June 25, 2023. Lets go take a look at all of the interesting decks people chose to register this weekend!
A very control dominated top 8. Even that people are trying to be prepared against Esper Legends and Mono-Red Aggro since it has been popular both of them still managed to put up a copy in the top 4! The 2 other remaining decks are Orzhov Midrange which has been putting up strong results recently and the last one is Mono-White Aggro
The first place was taken down with Esper Control (by Johnny_Hobbs), the deck also took down 4th place (by Kazuga), 6th place (by SilvergillLord) and 7th place (by Phill_Hellmuth)!
The idea of the deck is straightforward. It wants to do the thing all control decks try to do and that is controlling the board with removal and counterspells early in the game. When they manage to get the battlefield under control and are in a good spot from which they can interact with most cards the opponent can cast they slowly proceed to finish the opponent with a threat (mostly it being a creature land or a planeswalker that puts them so much ahead that the opponent cannot win).
This deck finishes the opponent most often with Sunfall which is a very strong boardwipe that also nets you a big threat for only investing 2 more mana! If Sunfall isn’t enough the deck also plays The Wandering Emperor which mostly acts as a removal spell and Mirrex which slowly finishes the opponent when needed! All of the lists are very similar so for that reason I chose to feature them all at once.
The 2th place was taken down with Mono-Red Aggro piloted by ejk!
A very stock Mono-Red Aggro list. As with every aggro deck it wants to win the game as fast as possible. This deck does that well with total of 12 copies of 1 mana threats and 11 copies of 2 mana threats with all of them having haste so they can connect the turn they come in! The Mono-Red Aggro strategy has been strong in a lot of standard rotations and this one isn’t an exception!
The 3rd place was took down with Esper Legends by MJ_23!
There are a few ways to build this deck. This pilot chose to play a very clean list with no one of card choices to maximize the probability of you drawing the same threats. 4 copies of Skrelv, Defector Mite as a powerful way to protect your strong threats like Raffine, Scheming Seer and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.
This creature gameplan is also supported with Wedding Announcement which acts as an anthem effect that also creatures 1/1 tokens or draws you cards! Esper went down in numbers compared to the first 2 weeks but still puts up strong results almost every weekend!
5th place was taken down with Orzhov Midrange by _Batutinha_! We also talk about this deck almost every weekend so you are probably already familiar with it.
To those who don’t know it the idea of the deck is quite simple. It wants to control the board with removal which white is really good at doing (either it being removal or planeswalkers)! When it comes to finishing the game the creatures this deck plays provide some sort of value either by replacing themselves or having other benefits (for example Serra Paragon and Loran of the Third Path).
If the clock of these smaller creatures in combination with Wedding Announcement isn’t enough the deck also splashes black for Breach the Multiverse which should be able to finish the game faster!
The last 8th place was taken down with Mono-White Aggro by Hamuda!
Another aggro deck but this one in white! As with every aggro deck this one also wants to finish the opponent as fast as possible. When this deck gets to cast its creatures on curve it can get really tough for the opponent!
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.
