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Arena Standard (BO1) Metagame Tier List and Rankings: Innistrad: Crimson Vow – January 2022
Introduction
Discover the best Magic: The Gathering Arena Standard decks and archetypes that the players are using to climb the ranked ladder and win tournaments. Our MTG Arena (BO1) Standard metagame regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in a tier list, as we also follow up with our comprehensive analysis and review from data available.
- Click here to view the separate analysis and tier list for Traditional (BO3) Standard.
- Click on the deck archetype name to find the latest decklists representing it from Mythic ladder, events, and tournaments.
- On the tier list. each deck will be ranked in numerical order as well as tier order. The higher something is within the tier, the better it is than other decks.
Meta Snapshot – December 29, 2021
Tier List and Rankings
- Tier 1: The best of the best. The most consistent decks that sport the highest win rates and generally, the highest play rates.
- Tier 2: Very solid decks that are slightly lacking in some capacity, whether it’s consistency or power compared to the Tier One archetypes. These can still be strong choices for ladder or for tournaments if you are highly skilled with the archetype or play them during the right metas.
- Tier 3: Either these decks are poorly positioned or have a lot of power/consistency issues. These are decks that see play, but are generally worse choices than your other options.
- Tier 4: Off-meta or decks that are not in the rankings, but we have coverage on.
Standard Best of One (BO1) Metagame Tier List
Tier 1 Decks
Mono White Aggro
Creatures (35)
Artifacts (2)
60 Cards
$214.22
Monowhite Aggro looks to use efficient creatures and interaction to decimate the opponent before they can enact their game plan.
Mono Black Control
Creatures (13)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$486.5
Sideboard
7 Cards
$3.93
Utilizing utility creatures and a boatload of removal, Monoblack preys upon the creature decks of the format.
Mono Green Aggro
Creatures (25)
Instants (2)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (2)
60 Cards
$162.22
Monogreen trades the velocity of Monowhite Aggro for more powerful threats and better mid game options.
Jeskai Turns
Instants (16)
Sorceries (20)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$390.28
Sideboard
7 Cards
$3.47
Jeskai looks to keep all the strength of it’s more streamlined Izzet version, but utilize White for extremely strong anti-creature options like Sunset Revelry and Doomskar.
Izzet Turns
Instants (27)
Enchantments (3)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$179.04
Sideboard
7 Cards
$4.27
With removal to stall into a combo finish, Izzet Turns is a threat to any deck in Standard but is particularly strong against midrange strategies.
Tier 2 Decks
Orzhov Midrange
Planeswalkers (6)
Creatures (15)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$397.7
Sideboard
7 Cards
$3.93
Orzhov is a derivation of Monoblack Midrange that splashes White for powerful options like Vanishing Verse and Edgar Markov.
Mono Red Goblins
Creatures (24)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$41.14
With synergistic threats and plenty of cheap removal, Goblins has the best of both worlds in a metagame filled with other aggressive decks.
Orzhov Clerics
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (28)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (2)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$277.14
Between Cleric synergies, life gain synergies, and Pyre of Heroes for consistency, Clerics is the most synergistic deck in Standard and has plenty of power to back that up.
Izzet Control
Creatures (9)
Instants (25)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (2)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$235.06
Sideboard
7 Cards
$3.23
Rather than utilize a combo finish, Izzet Control looks to answer every threat and win the game with either Lier, Disciple of the Drowned or Hullbreaker Horror.
Selesnya Humans
Creatures (36)
Instants (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$191.46
Combining the very best threats in White and Green, Humans looks to have a proactive game plan backed up by the powerful Human synergies.
Sultai Ramp
Planeswalkers (4)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (7)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$476.82
Using 12 two drop accelerants, Sultai can quickly deploy powerful cards ahead of the curve to overwhelm their opponents.
Azorius Control
Planeswalkers (4)
Instants (20)
Artifacts (3)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$264.62
The truest form of Control, Azorius will slowly grind out any strategy and then try to end the game through Strixhaven Stadium triggers.
Rakdos Midrange
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (26)
Instants (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$336.94
Sideboard
6 Cards
$3.62
Another deck taking after Monoblack Midrange, Rakdos goes Red for the opportunity to play busted Dragons like Immersturm Predator and Goldspan Dragon.
Jund Midrange
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (25)
Instants (3)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$513.92
Acting as a more traditional midrange deck, Jund has a lot of early ramp to accelerate into strong mid game threats.
Monoblack Zombies
Creatures (27)
Instants (2)
Enchantments (3)
60 Cards
$481.14
With the extremely powerful Champion of the Perished and other undead offerings, Monoblack looks to be the new spin on aggressive strategies in Standard.
Tier 3 Decks
Selesnya Magecraft
Creatures (18)
Instants (14)
60 Cards
$69.46
A different take on Selesnya, Magecraft looks to play out cheap threats, buff them with cheap spells, and run over the opponent before they can recover.
Gruul Werewolves
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (20)
Sorceries (2)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$201.6
With plenty of Werewolves and Wolves to fill out the curve, Werewolves has a nice blend of synergy and raw strength.
Simic Ramp
Creatures (20)
Instants (12)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$153.04
Sideboard
7 Cards
$4.51
Looking to capitalize on the many slower decks in the meta, Simic Ramp can easily go over any strategy and crush them with expensive threats.
Dimir Control
Instants (27)
Sorceries (2)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$436.94
Sideboard
7 Cards
$3.47
With arguably the best interaction suite in Standard, Dimir has plenty of ways to interact with the opponent before delivering the killing blow with one of your powerhouse threats.
Rakdos Vampires
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (28)
Sorceries (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$295.72
Receiving plenty of support from Crimson Vow made Vampires into a strong aggressive deck with many different types of synergies to work with.
While the BO1 and BO3 tier lists are always a bit different, it appears that’s especially true right now with tier 1 and tier 2 a near complete flip-flop between the two articles. Can you talk a little bit about what makes some of these decks so much better for BO1, and others so much better for BO3? Is it simply that midrange decks have better sideboard plans available, or is there more to it than that? Thanks!
Aggro decks fare much better in BO1 in general – because they are linear and with hand smoothing, the chances of getting a good hand are slightly better. This is why their weightings are a bit different in this regard. This is why you’ll also see some decks in BO1 (e.g. Mono Black Auras, Tibalt’s Trickery, etc) and not in BO3 because as you said, sideboarding makes them very weak.
You pretty much hit the nail on the head, Ugh. Sideboards can heavily shift matchups especially in the aggro v midrange dynamic.
Will there also be an updated metagame tier list for Historic BO1 and BO3 soon? 🙂 Last time there wasn’t one. :-/ I always highly appreciate the lists! 🙂
Coming out next week, don’t you worry! I’ve been studying up to make it as accurate as possible!
Hello, I already have a made Mono Red Aggro deck but I’m wondering if it’s worth to craft the Winota deck. Highly appreciate the lists! Thank you.
Orzhov Midrange should be playing Edgar, Charmed Groom // Edgar Markov’s Coffin, not the Edgar Markov from C17.
That’s fixed, although I’d play it if possible!
Is Orzhov Angels basically unplayable at this point in BO1?
Definitely not unplayable, just off meta. It lost a lot of it’s advantages since Blood on the Snow decks do similar things, but better.
Hi, do you think the mill archetype (ruincrab, tasha’s Hideous Laughter, etc) is playable in standard? The metagame is very fast these days
Probably not unfortunately. It’s really hard to mill fast enough while also having enough interaction to not get run over.
OK, thank you very much