Best Standard Decks: Bloomburrow Meta Report – August 13, 2024

Hey all. Standard continues to evolve and adapt and likely will continue to evolve as the weeks go by. To give you all the latest info without having to dig through deck lists and events, each week I will be going over the top events of the weekend and provide analysis of how the meta is evolving. As all of these tournaments are Best of Three (Bo3), keep in mind that these meta changes only reflect the Bo3 meta and not Bo1.

With all that said, let’s dive into the top decks of the weekend. This past weekend we had one large tournament take place in Japan, and three Standard Challenges on MTGO to go over.

Domain Ramp

A lot of speculators thought that Domain would be too clunky without the New Capenna Triomes to exist post-rotation, but that has proved to be false. Across three Standard Challenges there were five copies of Domain in the top 8s. And in a Japanese Tournament, Domain went 8-1 putting it in the top 9 of that tournament.

Domain has added Heaped Harvest and Fabled Passage from Bloomburrow to help find basic lands that, with the Dual lands from Murders at Karlov Manor, make domain possible by turn 3-4. While a bit slower at achieving domain than it was before, the deck has no problems casting its powerful top end spells.

Other Atraxa Decks

Two other Atraxa, Grand Unifier ramp/control decks that weren’t specifically Domain also landed in the Top 8 of Standard Challenges, making for a total of 8 decks out of the 25 that I looked at this weekend being built around the Phyrexian angel. So I’ve got bad news if you were tired of Atraxa before rotation: She doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Golgari Midrange (Combo)

There were three decks that all had 3 decks among the 25 decks I looked at. Golgari Midrange was one of them. The new combo, one-shot-kill, involving a fully leveled up Innkeeper’s Talent and Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting has slotted in really naturally to the existing Golgari Midrange deck, giving you game against aggro and other midrange decks with your grindy cards, and an out against control and ramp by just killing them with your combo.

Unfortunately for Golgari Midrange, even with the combo I expect Domain to remain a tough matchup, as they have main deck answers to Innkeeper’s Talent, such as Leyline Binding, and can sideboard into other options such as Tear Asunder.

Regardless, I expect Golgari Midrange to continue to frustrate plenty of other decks and continue to be strong. We’ll see if Domain keeps to ramp up, and what that does to the results that Golgari is able to put up.

Azorius Control

While I had predicted that Azorius Control might fade away post rotation, the control players seem to have found their footing and have put up results. Beza, the Bounding Spring is not The Wandering Emperor by any means, but seems to fill a similar role of stabilizing the board against aggro decks. Similarly, Spellgyre is by no means Memory Deluge, but it gives a nice amount of flexibility, which is nice for control decks as they try to get past the dangerous early game into the more stable late game.

Historically, control decks are always able to adapt to whatever the format develops into. The big question again is about Domain’s presence in the meta. Cavern of Souls on Angel is going to be the bane of many games against Domain, so if you are looking to pick up control, keep Atraxa and friends in mind.

Rakdos Lizards

Our last deck with three representatives, and the most represented Aggro deck is Rakdos Lizards. Built around a newly supported creature type from Bloomburrow, the deck has a lot of reach through its various ways to ping the opponent for damage, such as Gev, Scaled Scorch, Hired Claw, and Iridescent Vinelasher. This removes one of the main weaknesses of a lot of aggro decks that can’t find the last four to seven points a lot of times after their board gets swept or the opponent otherwise stabilizes.

We’ll have to keep an eye on Lizards to see if they keep putting up results, but if there are various aggro decks in the format that attack from different angles, it should keep control decks on their toes.

Azorius Mentor

Putting two decks in the top of the Japanese tournament, Azorius Mentor is a tempo deck that looks to slow the opponent with counterspells and removal spells, and then put a Monastery Mentor or Haughty Djinn into play from their hand or bring it back from their graveyard with cards like Helping Hand, and then defend that threat until they close out the game with it.

This deck didn’t get too much from Bloomburrow, mostly just Into the Flood Maw to replace Fading Hope, which just rotated. So I’m not sure what prompted these two players to break it out, but we’ll have to keep an eye on it to see if it materializes into a real player in the format.

Naya Aggro

Also with two decks at the top this weekend is a new take on Convoke with lots of Rabbits from Bloomburrow. This is basically a Rabbit typal deck with the Convoke payoffs such as Knight-Errant of Eos and Imodane’s Recruiter jammed in. What I like about this over typical Convoke decks is that it doesn’t need the Convoke payoffs to be competitive, as it can easily build up a big and threatening board without them.

Pawpatch Recruit is a very scary threat, especially when you are able to pay for Offspring, and it is very easy to grow a lethal Valley Mightcaller or Burrowguard Mentor. If you like the play patterns of Convoke but are looking for something a bit different give Naya Aggro a try.

Orzhov Midrange

The last deck with two representatives, Orzhov Midrange, is probably the most grindy deck in the format. Caustic Bronco and Preacher of the Schism keep the cards flowing, while Zoraline, Cosmos Caller is fine on rate but great on turn 5 to bring back an earlier play back from the graveyard.

Main deck copies of Liliana of the Veil helps against the Domain and Control matchups, but the games without her it will be tough to stop them from getting to their top end and taking over the game. While this deck may be able to out-grind Golgari Midrange in most normal games, without counterspells or good ways to interact with Innkeeper’s Talent, I suspect that Golgari Midrange will be able to punk out Orzhov Midrange a lot of the time.

Other Decks

10 other unique decks round out the top finishers of this week. There was a good mix of midrange, aggro, and even a couple of decks built around Rottenmouth Viper. You can see all of the decks from these events below:

• マジック：ザ・ギャザリング ジャパンオープン2024
• Standard Challenge 32 – August 10, 2024
• Standard Challenge 32 – August 10, 2024
• Standard Challenge 32 – August 9, 2024

Where are the Mice?

Boros Mice is one of the most popular decks on the ladder but put up zero top finishes this past weekend. So what gives? My best guess is that 1) everyone was prepared for it coming into the weekend, and 2) it’s still early in the format and folks are trying to find what works and what doesn’t leading them to try different decks instead of just playing a known quantity like Boros Mice. As time goes on things will likely settle down and perhaps Mice and Convoke will start to put up top finishes.

What about Convoke?

Boros Convoke also had no top finishes but Naya Aggro discussed above is playing the same payoffs as Convoke decks, and there was one top finish for Jeskai Convoke, splashing just for Spyglass Siren in the main and Protect the Negotiators in the sideboard. So perhaps Convoke needs to evolve like these Naya decks to continue to be relevant or perhaps it just had a bad weekend. We’ll have to see as time goes on. Regardless, the meta was prepared for both the popular Boros aggro decks this weekend.

Wrapping Up

Standard often goes in cycles. This past weekend, the meta was prepared for Boros aggro decks and Domain, Azorius Control, and Golgari Midrange benefitted. Perhaps this upcoming weekend everyone will be prepared to fight Domain and it will have a bad showing. Regardless, I’ll be here every week to analyze the action so you can stay up to date and feel prepared to tackle whatever the Standard format has to offer.

As always, best of luck in all of your matches, and I’ll see you next time.