The second day of the Arena Open has concluded! Players had the chance to win up to $2000 USD in cash prizes for reaching 7 wins before 2 losses (or $1000 USD with 6 wins) in best-of-three (BO3) Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Standard. For this article, we will be changing the format slightly from previous iterations.
We will sample a deck from different archetypes that saw success in the tournament and list them all at the end. This is partly due to the lack of diversity leading up to the release of Innistrad: Crimson Vow in less than a month.
Magic Pro League’s Rei Sato was one of many players that stuck with Mono White for the second day to win the maximum $2000 prize. Packing strong interactive spells and creatures to exile the opponent’s hand and board, it looks to be the one of the three pillars of Standard, with Mono Green and Izzet, at least for another month until Crimson Vow is released.
Mono Green is is fighting for its share of the pie in the Standard metagame along with Mono White, with the benefits of larger creatures and great offensive and defensive spells such as Blizzard Brawl and Snakeskin Veil.
Urlich, who popularized Mono Black Control, recommended a Mono Black variation deck prior to the event. Many players would have picked it up and found success, to combat the aggro and Izzet decks that are popular right now. Ken Yukuhiro also found success with Mono Black Zombies for a more aggressive build.
Rivals League pro player Matthieu Avignon was extremely close to the maximum prize, but brought along a spicy aggro-combo deck to the high stakes event. Sejiri Shelter and Choose Your Weapon allows you to finish unexpecting opponents in a single turn, combined with your usual White-based aggro shell.
BO3 7 Win Standard Decklists
More decks will be added here as the event progresses, check back soon!
