Hey everyone! While we’ve all been busy jamming an insane amount of Marvel Super Heroes drafts (my wife has been judging me a bit, but I maintain it’s all in the name of content), it’s once again time to take a slight break for some Midweek Magic. This week’s event is Slow Start Standard.
The short version is that the player who goes first has their first land enter the battlefield tapped. It’s not a massive difference, but it does take a little bit of the sting out of being on the draw. Other than that, we’ll mostly just be playing… standard Standard decks. (See what I did there? I am so clever.)
Standard hasn’t had a ton of changes yet despite the advent of Marvel Super Heroes so we’ll be running some familiar decks. If you’re looking for some ideas to brew something up yourself based off of MSH, you can check out this article by The MTG Hero.
I know, I know… you just want the deck lists, not the incoherent ramblings of an old man. Fine, you can have them right after the event info. (That’s basically the Magic equivalent of making a kid eat their vegetables before dessert, right?)
Event Details
Welcome to Midweek Magic! Each week, try out a different way to play MTG Arena!
Going first is always such a treat, but we all have to go second sometimes. To help smooth things out, in this Standard event the player who goes first will have their first land enter the battlefield tapped. Just take it easy for a turn!
Find out more details about this and upcoming Midweek Magic events HERE.
Duration: June 30th, 2026 @ 2:00 PM PST to July 2nd, 2026 @ 2:00 PM PST
Format: Slow Start Standard
Entry Fee: Free
Ends After: You can play as much as you like for the duration of the event.
Everyone loves playing against Ouroboroid. Alright, you got me—that was a giant lie. It’s one of the most groan-inducing cards in Standard. That means you probably want to be the one casting it, and this deck gives you exactly that opportunity.
Sunder… Sunder… Sunder… Sunderflock… HOOOOO! You really can’t go wrong with a card that lets you make a Thundercats reference. So grab your Sword of Omens and belt out the battle cry every time you slam down the big bird.
This deck also has a great matchup against the green decks. A one-sided reset is incredibly difficult for them to recover from, and by the time they rebuild, your giant flyer has usually finished the job.
This is your classic way to make sure your opponent has an absolutely miserable time. Actually winning with the deck can take a while, but more often than not they’ll concede before you have to go through all the motions. Sometimes the real win condition is convincing your opponent they have better things to do.
We all know this deck from its explosive starts, but Sapling Nursery gives it some serious staying power. Once it gets rolling, it’s capable of grinding out games just as well as it can end them quickly.
As an added bonus, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to make Ent-ish references along the way. That’s always worth a few extra percentage points… probably.
This one’s for those of you who don’t want to burn a pile of wildcards on a Midweek Magic event. It may have a tougher time against fully powered Standard decks, but it can absolutely steal some wins whenever your opponent stumbles out of the gate.
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back next week with your next dose of Midweek Magic to talk about Foundations + Marvel Super Heroes block constructed. Until then, stay classy people!
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Josh is a member of the elite limited team The Draft Lab as well as the host of The Draft Lab Podcast. He was qualifying for Pro Tours, Nationals, and Worlds literally before some of you were born. After a Magic hiatus to play poker and go to medical school, he has been dominating Arena with over an 80% win percentage in Bo3 as well as making #1 rank in Mythic.
