Traditional Standard (BO3) Metagame Tier List and Rankings – Kaldheim – February 2021
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. Explore the Traditional (BO3) Standard metagame as we regularly rank the top decks in a tier list, as well as our comprehensive analysis and review.
- Click here to view the separate analysis and tier list for Arena Standard (BO1).
- Click on the deck archetype name to find a brief description, links to the full deck guide with a more detailed overview and to find the latest decklists representing it.
- 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.
- Below the tier list you will also find a curated decklist for each archetype as well as a full explanation and reasonings behind these rankings and tiers.
Methodology
When constructing the tier list, we take into account a variety of factors and sources:
- Field representation, win rate and matchups: How prolific a deck is on the Mythic ladder and how it stacks up against the other popular decks in the metagame.
- Third-party applications: that track matches and publishes the data directly from ladder play. Currently, we have access to Untapped.gg, MTGA Assistant, MTG Arena Pro and MTG Arena Tool.
- Tournaments: Important results shaped professional players. MTGmeta.io and MTG Data aggregates these results to analyze their performance.
- Game Mode: As a general rule, best-of-one (BO1) prefers linear strategies and the metagame is different from Traditional best-of-three (BO3). Read more about the differences here. Generally speaking, the tournaments results are in BO3 only, have a much smaller sample size and its environment is very different from an open MTG Arena ladder experience.
- Opinion: Our own ladder experience and in consultation with players.
- Others: If a deck doesn’t appear below, either the play rate of it is too low for it to make a tangible impact or it falls below the tier 3 threshold which we sometimes will highlight as Honorable Mentions below. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad deck either, as this will just be focused on the most popular decks in the current metagame.
Legend
- 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 List
- February 10, 2021: Kaldheim has been out for a couple of weeks and there have been huge developments in the metagame. Despite fears that the meta would remain stale and dominated by Throne of Eldraine, a lot of new archetypes have pushed themselves into prominence forming new experiences that I can’t wait to explore more of! I was good and ready to make this Tier list on Saturday, until I was introduced to the brand new deck that won the SCG $5k Kaldheim qualifier. With that, I hope you’re ready for a Hot Take.
- December 10, 2020: The Zendikar Rising Championship (click on the link for the matchup analysis) has come and gone and every player had to come equipped with a great Standard and Historic deck to have a chance of doing well. Now that a lot of work has gone into Standard, it’s time to revisit it to see how the metagame panned out and how the metagame looks moving forward. For this metagame update, it’s interesting that the more things change, the more things stay the same.
- November 24, 2020: Historic has been the talk of the town with Kaladesh Remastered, but that doesn’t mean Standard is not being played! There are still plenty of people on ladder jamming what is turning into a GOAT Standard format and there are still tournaments to be played as well! It’s been a few weeks since the last update and as further proof for how good this format is, a lot has changed, a new deck reigns supreme, and there’s a few new decks to keep your eyes on. Let’s take a look at the new tier list!
- October 30, 2020: With the crazy weekend of Magic we had behind us, a lot has changed! There’s even more fun look forwarding with the Arena Open this weekend then the second Zendikar Rising League Weekend the next so I found it prudent to fully update our tier list.
| Rank | Archetype | Tier | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 |  | Gruul Adventures | 2 |
| 5 |  | Naya Adventures | 1 |
| 4 |  | Dimir Rogues | 1 |
| 2 |  | Rakdos Midrange | 1 |
| 1 |  | Sultai Ultimatum | 1 |
| 3 |  | Sultai Yorion | 1 |
| 12 |  | Abzan Yorion | 3 |
| 11 |  | Temur Adventures | 3 |
| 7 |  | 2 | |
| 6 |  | 2 | |
| 10 |  | 2 | |
| 9 |  | Mono Green Food | 2 |
TIER ONE
1. SULTAI ULTIMATUM
- Deck Guide Coming Soon!
Companion
Creature (5)
Sorcery (18)
Instant (9)
Artifact (4)
Enchantment (14)
Land (30)
Sideboard (15)
This is definitely an ambitious stance to take and I know the deck is very new, but I think Sultai Ultimatum is the best deck. Sultai Ultimatum goes over the top of every other midrange deck, is resilient against grindy decks, and has a lot of interaction against the fast decks. The meta is going to quickly warp around this deck, whether you’re playing it or playing to beat it. Do I think this deck is unbeatable? I don’t think so, but it’s not going to be easy either especially as Sultai gets more refined. If you want to grind up quickly while the metagame is unprepared, play this deck before decks start to adjust.
2. RAKDOS
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 58.5%
Companion
Creature (22)
Sorcery (4)
Instant (4)
Enchantment (6)
Land (24)
Sideboard (15)
I slated Rakdos as one of the major winners of Kaldheim and it took a week or so to prove my prediction right! Rakdos can be built in many different ways, but every build focuses around the extremely powerful Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger. Depending on the metagame, you can build your version of Rakdos to combat it and it’s particularly strong against the creature strategies. Furthermore, Rakdos has had the highest play rate and one of the highest win rates through all of last weekend’s SCG events. The only thing barring Rakdos from taking the number one spot is Sultai Ultimatum which is a very difficult matchup for Rakdos in all of it’s forms. In fairness to Rakdos, it hasn’t had significant time to adjust and it’s definitely possible it can find the right configuration to start beating Sultai.
3. SULTAI YORION
- Deck Guide Coming Soon!
- Win Rate: 55.8%
Companion
Planeswalker (2)
Creature (15)
Sorcery (4)
Instant (12)
Enchantment (12)
Land (35)
Sideboard (15)
A more proactive spin off of Dimir Yorion, Sultai utilizes more midrange options like Llanowar Visionary and Valki over more counterspells to play a quicker and more value oriented game. With a motley of strong plays and access to great interaction, Sultai Yorion is an extremely malleable archetype that can be adjusted to beat whatever you need.
4. ROGUES
- Deck Guide Being Updated Soon!
- Win Rate: 58.2%
Companion
Creature (15)
Sorcery (11)
Instant (12)
Land (22)
Sideboard (15)
Rogues have been a staple in the Standard meta for a long while, and it’s not going anywhere soon. Right as it seemed like Rogues was going to be pushed out by Rakdos, Sultai Ultimatum comes around and gives Rogues a great, popular matchup. Rogues is always going to be a powerful deck, but how well positioned it is will wax and wane dependent on how much the rest of the metagame cares about it and how many slow decks there are.
5. NAYA ADVENTURES
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 56.8%
Naya Adventures v2
Creature (26)
Sorcery (3)
Artifact (4)
Enchantment (5)
Land (22)
Sideboard (15)
Naya is the evolution of the Gruul Adventures archetype and is the quintessential midrange deck of Standard. You have the powerful Adventures package, Showdown of the Skalds, The Great Henge, and so one. You can be fast, grindy, or any variation in between to tailor your needs to the metagame. Right now with Sultai Ultimatum on it’s meteoric rise, I would opt for a faster variant of Naya.
TIER TWO
6. MONO WHITE AGGRO
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 60.8%
Creature (31)
Artifact (4)
Enchantment (4)
Land (21)
Sideboard (15)
I put Monowhite Aggro at the very top of Tier 2 and there’s a great argument to put it into Tier 1 as well. Monowhite Aggro boasts the highest win rate on Plat-Mythic Bo3 ladder and has performed relatively well in the SCG tournaments as well. Pretty much the only reason I don’t put this into Tier 1 is the lists are still in the process of being refined are there are so many variants it’s hard to say where the deck will settle, and when it does, what the meta will look like. Keep an eye on this deck though, it certainly could be Monowhite’s time to shine.
7. IZZET TEMPO
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 55.5%
Izzet Snow v2
Creature (15)
Sorcery (3)
Instant (17)
Enchantment (4)
Land (23)
Sideboard (15)
Izzet Snow has been a mainstay in Standard since Day 1, and is constantly evolving by the day. I wasn’t a fan of the original lists which had an overreliance on Goldspan Dragon, but newer evolutions are diversifying their threats making it harder to shut them down. Furthermore, Izzet naturally boasts a strong win rate against slow decks and can easily be tailored to beat up on Aggro decks as well. If slow decks begin to take over the format, which I believe they will, Izzet Snow can act as a great foil to them.
8. GRUUL ADVENTURES
- Deck Guide Being Updated Soon!
- Win Rate: 58.6%
Creature (28)
Sorcery (4)
Instant (1)
Artifact (6)
Enchantment (1)
Land (20)
Sideboard (15)
Good old Gruul hasn’t fallen from grace so much as it’s now just another reasonable choice in a very open metagame. Gruul was struggling a bit with the prominence of Rakdos and Naya, but did well against other aggressive decks and was fast against the slow decks. Like Izzet, if the metagame moves towards slower decks, Gruul can become the defacto aggro deck of choice.
9. MONO GREEN FOOD
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 59.3%
Creature (26)
Sorcery (3)
Artifact (5)
Enchantment (3)
Land (23)
Sideboard (15)
I’m going to be a bit of a contrarian on this one. Despite Monogreen Food having the second highest win rate on Plat-Mythic ladder, I’m not the biggest fan of the deck. This deck definitely crushes Aggro decks like no other, but there’s a lot going against Food now. All of their good matchups have become more difficult, Adventures went from a good matchup (Gruul) to an even one (Naya), and a lot of decks that are trying to go over the top of each other are seeing play. Similar to Rogues, Food is never a bad deck, but it can be a poorly positioned one. Right now, I think it’s poorly positioned as it’s too bad against the slow decks and not even good against the decks that counter the slow decks (Rogues and Izzet).
10. MONO RED AGGRO
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 58.5%
Creature (28)
Instant (4)
Artifact (4)
Land (24)
Sideboard (15)
In every Standard metagame, there will be die hard Monored fans. I love Monored myself and it has some powerful cards, but unfortunately, there are generally better options for your aggressive decks. Monored can find its niche when it’s the fastest aggressive deck, but it’s fragility hurts it in matchups that can present tough roadblocks (Bonecrusher Giant and Lovestruck Beast) or cheap interaction (Frost Bite, Heartless Act, Eliminate). If the metagame slows down so much to the point it’s all slow decks trying to one up each other, Monored could definitely find its footing. To sum up, I don’t think Monored is bad, even now, but there are generally stronger options.
TIER THREE
11. TEMUR ADVENTURES
- Deck Guide
- Win Rate: 54.2%
Planeswalker (2)
Creature (23)
Sorcery (7)
Instant (4)
Land (24)
Sideboard (15)
Temur is a deck that relies on having a good metagame for it to flourish, and this is not one of those times. It’s weird when Genesis Ultimatum isn’t the most powerful thing you can be doing, but here we are. Furthermore, with a lot of Aggro decks seeing a lot of play and putting up good results, it’s a bad time to be a Temur player. You really would need a lot to change in the meta for Temur to be a strong option again, because as is, there’s not a compelling reason to play it.
12. ABZAN YORION
- Deck Guide Coming Soon
- Win Rate: 52.2%
Big Abzan Yorion
Companion
Planeswalker (1)
Creature (18)
Sorcery (2)
Instant (4)
Artifact (3)
Enchantment (21)
Land (31)
Sideboard (15)
Right now Abzan has one major thing going for it and against it.. What’s going against it, is that it can’t really hope to outgrind the more powerful slow decks of the format, especially without counterspells. Blinking a few permanents with Yorion looks pretty silly compared to an Emergent Ultimatum or a Genesis Ultimatum. The upside however, is that you can build your deck to absolutely demolish creature decks should they become really popular. If creature decks begin to rise to prominence, I could see Abzan Yorion rallying back.
Thank you for reading! Have a great day!
