MTGO Standard Challenge – November 18 & November 19, 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: November 18th and November 19th 2023!

November 18th, Top 8 Decks

First challenge since the set release! Lets take a look what upgrades the meta decks got!

Azorius Soldiers still keep crushing at the top tables taking up the 1st and 4th place. Both of the decklists also got their creature package upgraded with cards in the new set!

2nd place got taken down with Esper Midrange which also got some new toys to make it even stronger at grinding its way through the battlefield!

3rd place was taken down with Boros Aggro which takes and upgrades the established mono-white strategy with new Boros cards from Ixalan!

5th, 6th and 8th place were taken down with Mono-Red Aggro which almost always does well when new set releases by taking an advantage off all the new brews that might not be prepared for a fast-paced strategy.

And 7th place was taken down with Rakdos Breach which is a deck that wants to get to Breach the Multiverse as quickly as possible with precisely timed removal spells and instant speed advantage!

Lets go take a look at the decklists!

1st (by _Batutinha_) and 4th place (by remf) were taken down with Azorius Soldiers!

Lets first go over the general game plan of the deck. Its main goal is to present a lot of strong and synergistic threats ranging from the cheapest like Recruitment Officer or Resolute Reinforcements and topping out with bombs like Knight-Errant of Eos or Werefox Bodyguard!

The strength of the deck naturally lies in its threats, but its non-creature spells also take a big part in the decks success. They include 4 Make Disappear as a great measure against anything unwanted, and they also include 4 Wedding Announcement and 1 Virtue of Loyalty which can make your threats even scarier.

And as for the upgrade from Lost Caverns of Ixalan, the deck got 2 new maindeck cards. First one is Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel which provides an evasive body that lets you filter through your deck with a potential late game benefit. And the second one is Cavern of Souls which can make your creatures uncounterable!

2nd place was taken down with Esper Midrange by etoustar!

This is also one of the top contenders in the format next to Azorius Soldiers. It uses some of the strongest permanents ranging from creatures like Raffine, Scheming Seer or Dennick, Pious Apprentice, powerful enchantments like Wedding Announcement or Virtue of Loyalty to make those creatures even stronger, and also planeswalkers in the form of The Wandering Emperor to help you interact with the opponent.

Of course 2 copies of a planeswalker isn’t enough interaction and for that reason the deck has more removal like Go for the throat or Cut Down and also counterspells like Make Disappear to catch unwanted spells!

And now for the Ixalan cards! We got more this time, first one is Deep-Cavern Bat which provides another angle of interaction, second one is Get Lost which acts as a versatile removal spell and the last one is Subterranean Schooner which provides a threat and a strong ability in one!

3rd place was taken down with Boros Aggro by Hamuda!

This deck tries to finish the opponent with a creature-based aggro strategy packed to the brim with powerful abilities! Lets start of from the cheapest cards and work our way up. The cheapest creatures include cards like Recruitment Officer or Hopeful Initiate so you can get the clock going quickly! The 2 mana slot is also heavily represented and it includes cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or Coppercoat Vanguard where both of them make it harder to interact for the opponent. And the curve ends at the 3 drop slot with a representative in the form of Adeline, Resplendent Cathar!

And now for the new cards which include a total of 20 maindeck cards! Lets start of with the threats again. They include Warden of the Inner Sky as an early threat that can get bigger as the turns pass by, Kellan, Daring Traveler which gets you more cards to cast, Inti, Seneschal of the Sun which lets you filter through your deck and also makes your threats bigger, and the last creature Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon which grows every single turn and also creates more tokens by doing so.

As for the new non-creature spells, the deck has Get Lost as a versatile removal spell for anything that you might stumble upon, and Cavern of Souls which makes all of your creatures uncounterable!

5th (by deleon91), 6th (by trampled) and 8th place (by O_danielakos) were taken down with Mono-Red Aggro!

This deck did not get anything new, but that doesn’t stop it from taking down events! By using some of the strongest threats like Monastery Swiftspear, Bloodthirsty Adversary, Squee, Dubious Monarch or Goddric, Cloaked Reveler the deck is able to put on a lot of pressure that some decks have a hard time dealing with and result in mono red taking the match!

And if the threats are not enough the deck has more tools to attack the opponent either with burn spells like Lightning Strike that let you get in the last points of damage, removal like Witchstalker Frenzy that basicaly does the same, but by removing problematic threats from the battlefield or Monstrous Rage that can pump up your unblocked creatures to finish the opponent!

And the last 7th place was taken down with Rakdos Breach by Soon!

This deck wants to get to Breach the Multiverse by using instant speed card advantage spells, ramp cards and well timed removal spells to its advantage! The most important cards in the early game are the removal spells. They include some of the cheapest ones like Go for the Throat or Sheoldred's Edict, but also more expensive ones like Brotherhood's End or Burn Down the House that let you take out the whole battlefield

When you get the opponent under control you can start using your surplus mana for instant speed card advantage like Big Score or Decadent Dragon so you can find your top end cards that you will take over the game with. Those of course include the namesake card Breach the Multiverse, but also other cards like Etali, Primal Conqueror or Chandra, Hope's Beacon so you have more cards to choose from!

And that is it for the first Challenge, let’s go take a look at the one that took place on Sunday, November 19th 2023!

November 19th, Top 8 Decks

1st, 2nd, 4th and 7th place were taken down with Esper Midrange! Being full of interaction, powerful creatures and great enchantments the deck is able to compete with anything in the format!

3rd place was taken down with Azorius Midrange, which tries to do the same as Esper, but without black.

5th and 8th place were taken down with Boros Aggro which is a freshly upgraded mono-white aggro list with new red cards from WOE and LCI.

And 6th place was taken down with Gruul Dinosaurs which combines the scariest and strongest dinosaurs from LCI and puts them all in a single deck!

Let’s go take a look at the decklists!

1st (by TheManLand), 2nd (by duke12), 4th (by BigGoon86) and 7th place (by Franticore) were taken down with Esper Midrange!

The combination of powerful permanents and cheap interaction has worked in a lot of formats and this deck is not an exception. The permanents include creatures like Raffine, Scheming Seer or Deep-Cavern Bat where they make it a pain to interact with and they also include enchantments like Wedding Announcement and Virtue of Loyalty to make those creatures bigger!

Now that we got the creatures covered lets take a look at the cards that let them stay on the battlefield and connect! For the protection part the deck has Make Disappear so you can counter boardwipes and removal spells, and when you want them to connect you got a bunch of removal like Go for the throat, Get Lost and even The Wandering Emperor so the battlefield is always clean on the opponents side!

3rd place was taken down with Azorius Midrange by StickyWicket!

This deck has a very similar game plan to Esper Midrange, but its creature package is different and consists of more evasive threats! They include a lot of cheap cards that are also from the new set like Warden of the Inner Sky, Spyglass Siren or Kitesail Larcenist. Since it plays a lot of cheap creatures the deck is also able to play 4 copies of Subterranean Schooner which potentially makes those cheap creatures larger while also filtering your draws!

Same as Esper this deck also plays enchantments in the form of Wedding Announcement and Virtue of Loyalty which makes those creatures bigger the later the game gets!

And now that we got the threats covered we can go the the interaction once again. It also includes Make Disappear since its probably the best counterspell in standard atm. And when it comes to removal it plays white instants like Destroy Evil and of course it also has The Wandering Emperor which slots nicely into the deck!

5th (by SoIMBAGallade) and 8th place (by Mogged) were taken down with Boros Aggro!

Both of these decks took the established mono-white aggro shell and upgraded it with some powerful cards from Ixalan! The deck wants to stay on top of its curve so it can cast its strongest threats efficiently so for that reason lets start with the cheapest cards and work our way up. The cheapest cards include creatures like Recruitment Officer and also a new addition in the form of Warden of the Inner Sky.

The 2 drop slot is also represented with great creatures like Coppercoat Vanguard, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben or even Inti, Seneschal of the Sun. The 3 drop slot is where the curve starts to reach its peak. It can include cards like Adeline, Resplendent Cathar, Imodane's Recruiter or Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon! And sometimes the decks play even more expensive cards, but its almost always Knight-Errant of Eos which you get to cast as a 3 drop anyway thanks to its convoke mechanic!

And when opponents creatures become a problem you got instant speed removal in the form of Get Lost or even removal on your creatures like Brutal Cathar!

And the last deck to cover is 7th place Gruul Dinosaurs by mtgbentcard!

This deck uses some of the strongest dinosaurs from LCI and combines them into a deck! Starting with the one drops we actually got a non-dinosaur in the form of Ixalli's Lorekeeper but it slots well into the deck thanks to its ability. The rest of the deck is filled with dinosaurs like Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath, Pugnacious Hammerskull or Rampaging Raptor that give the deck its power.

Of course this deck also needs removal since it wants to let its creature connect, and thanks to those creatures being large you get the chance to play cards like Bushwhack and Triumphant Chomp that let you do the desired action for very cheap!

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 November 2023 – Week 3