Table of Contents
Another week is on the books, and with it comes the time to analyze the relevant tournaments that have taken place. They all have Outlaws at Thunder Junction as a playable collection in Standard.
Little by little, cards from the latest set find their home in pre-established archetypes. In MTG Arena, many new archetypes prove their strength in the ranked queues. However, if we look closely at the highly competitive environments of competitive tournaments, players still hold to their well-known Tier 1 decks.
Bo1 Standard Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Mono-White Humans 🔼 |
| Tier 1 | 4-Color Reanimate 🆕 |
| Tier 1 | Mono-Red Prowess 🆕 |
| Tier 1 | Mono-Red Aggro 🔽 |
| Tier 1 | Selesnya Enchantments 🔽 |
| Tier 1 | Rakdos Aggro 🆕 |
| Tier 1 | Boros Convoke 🔼 |
| Tier 2 | Boros Heroic 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Mono-Black Skeletons 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Temur Ramp 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Temur Prowess 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Azorius Control 🔽 |
| Tier 2 | Bant Toxic 🔽 |
| Tier 2 | Mono-Blue Tempo 🔽 |
| Tier 2 | Izzet Prowess 🆕 |
| Tier 3 | Mono-Black Aggro |
| Tier 3 | Orzhov Amalia 🔽 |
| Tier 3 | Naya Discover 🆕 |
Bo3 Standard Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 5-Color Domain 🔼 |
| Tier 1 | Esper Midrange 🔼 |
| Tier 1 | Boros Convoke |
| Tier 1 | Dimir Midrange 🔼 |
| Tier 2 | Simic Artifacts 🔽 |
| Tier 2 | Golgari Midrange 🔽 |
| Tier 2 | Temur Prowess 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Mono-Black Skeletons 🆕 |
| Tier 2 | Temur Ramp 🔽 |
| Tier 3 | Boros Heroic 🆕 |
| Tier 3 | Golgari Legends 🆕 |
Meta Overview
The first thing we have to notice is how strong Esper Midrange is. This isn’t something new, however, during the last updates to our tier list, Esper wasn’t capable of taking first place. It is always a close fight with 5-Color Domain and Boros Convoke.
This weekend says otherwise with Esper being the most dominant deck in the field with 8 appearances combining the three top 8s stats.
It’s no surprise Domain and Convoke are close behind. What calls my attention is how UW Control, an unpopular archetype in the Bo3 queue in MTG Arena managed to position itself as a serious contender with 3 appearances.
Likewise, I’m glad Izzet Control, an almost unknown archetype, appeared in the final stages this weekend.
Old acquaintances some with new cards such as Rakdos Aggro, Red Deck Wins – Dimir Midrange, and Temur Ramp placed with 2 and 1 appearances respectively.
Let’s look closely at the data and lists of all these archetypes to present a clearer picture of what happened this week.
Top 8 MTGO Challenge 32 – 20/04 #1
- 3 Esper Midrange
- 1 Boros Convoke
- 1 Dimir Midrange
- 1 Rakdos Aggro
- 1 Red Deck Wins
- 1 UW Control
- April 20th, 2024
- 42 players
Top 8 MTGO Challenge 32 – 20/04 #2
- 3 Esper Midrange
- 2 UW Control
- 1 Rakdos Aggro
- 1 Red Deck Wins
- 1 Temur Control
- April 20th, 2024
- 54 players
Top 8 MTGO Challenge 32 – 21/04
- 3 Boros Convoke
- 2 5-Color Domain
- 2 Esper Midrange
- 1 Izzet Control
- April 21th, 2024
- 87 players
Combined Top 8 Breakdown
- 8 Esper Midrange
- 4 Boros Convoke
- 3 UW Control
- 2 5-Color Domain
- 2 Rakdos Aggro
- 2 Red Deck Wins
- 1 Dimir Midrange
- 1 Temur Ramp
- 1 Izzet Control
Esper Midrange
Esper Midrange – KingHairy MTGO Challenge 1st Place
by Bohe
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
9 mythic
36 rare
13 uncommon
2 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (22)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$357.02
Sideboard
15 Cards
$42.57
Duelist of the Mind is now a core card of this archetype. Even if two of the 8 Esper decks of this weekend’s top 8s don’t play the card, the other 6 made a clear statement. This card is amazingly good in combination with Raffine, Scheming Seer.
Also, Duelist of the Mind 3 toughness is very good in the current state of the meta. Having the chance to block early aggression helps this archetype reach the midgame, the moment of the game where it shines the most.
Another curious thing is how Tinybones, the Pickpockethas managed to sneak in 5 of these Esper lists. The pressure it exerts demands an answer or at least sacrificing a creature to block it. Just one hit and this little skeleton will be worth its weight on gold.
Boros Convoke
Boros Convoke – L1X0 MTGO Challenge 3rd Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
4 mythic
24 rare
18 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (27)
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$273.76
Sideboard
15 Cards
$45.07
L1X0’s list is the most spicy of all the Boros Convoke decks out there. 2 copies of Legion Extruder one in the mainboard and one in the sideboard give this archetype a better chance to fight in the long run.
It is well known that this archetype can rebuild the board quickly. One Temporary Lockdown may not be enough. However, having the chance to make 3/3 golems using our clues and blood tokens is highly appreciated.
L1X0 is not the only one playing Nurturing Pixie. 2 of the 4 Boros Convoke lists are now playing 1 to 2 copies of this new OTJ faerie. It has many good targets like Imodane's Recruiter and Knight Errant of Eos which are the biggest payoffs for this card.
Warleader's Call seems like a card that you want to play. However, 2 players opt not to use the card, while the other two play 2 copies.
UW Control
UW Control – KLVR MTGO Challenge 3rd Place
by Bohe
Standard
Control
best of 3
5 mythic
43 rare
8 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (5)
Instants (24)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$377.48
Sideboard
15 Cards
$57.39
The line between calling this UW Control and Jeskai Control is thin. The three UW list of this weekend plays 4 Lightning Helix KLVR being responsible for two of them and reaching 10th place in the last.
Another way to use our red mana is with High Noon. This card can make the game go in the “Draw-Go” fashion, something that this particular build of UW like a lot. The chance to throw this enchantment at a big threat or our opponent’s face can be a game-changer in many situations. 1 copy in the mainboard and 1 in the sideboard seems the right choice.
Three Steps Ahead is the new core card in UW. 4 copies can serve many purposes like countering a threat or drawing cards. Copying High Noon is also possible. UW Always appreciates flexible cards and this is no exception.
Speaking of flexibility, 1 copy of Final Showdown diversifies our wrath effects a little bit more while giving us tools for shooting down strategies centered around creature abilities and protecting our creatures, all in one card.
5-Color Domain
5-Color Domain – RubyXillia MTGO Challenge 1st Place
by Bohe
Standard
Ramp
best of 3
11 mythic
31 rare
9 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (12)
Enchantments (10)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$603.12
Sideboard
15 Cards
$70.07
This archetype is in a weird situation to analyze. It put two players into the top 8 of the biggest tournament of the weekend, but at the same time, it only has two more appearances in the top 16 of the three tournaments.
It looks like Domain can dominate a tournament, and at the same time disappear from the last instances. In any case, this doesn’t mean this deck is an archetype we should not consider as one of the strongest in the current state of Standard.
The main build doesn’t have changes. However, ShawnD4nger, a player who finished in 3rd place in Sunday’s tournament played with two copies of Pest Control. It’s an interesting card, no doubt about that. It can take out almost every threat Boros can put in front of us while trying to swarm us and having a cycle prevents it from becoming a dead card in hand in other matchups.
Rakdos Aggro
Rakdos Aggro – _goblinlackey MTGO Challenge 2nd Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
10 mythic
27 rare
16 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (25)
Sorceries (2)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$580.12
Sideboard
15 Cards
$73.53
Rakdos Aggro is in an interesting spot. It looks like it’s not a very popular deck, but the players who choose this archetype as their weapon of choice get good results. Just two copies in the top 16 of the three tournaments, but both in the top 8; one finishing in 2nd place.
We already mentioned how good Tinybones, the Pickpocket is. As far as it looks, this creature will be in every Black deck from now on and for a long future. You better be prepared against it.
Just as UW diversifies its wrath effects, Rakdos is now diversifying its spot removal. We know how important singletons are in a tournament environment, and Shoot the Sheriff works perfectly for that purpose.
Red Deck Wins
Red Deck Wins – ryuumei MTG Challenge 6th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
4 mythic
15 rare
20 uncommon
21 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (14)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
60 Cards
$89.12
Sideboard
15 Cards
$43.81
This is one of the biggest surprises of the weekend. Slickshot Show-Off is the best rare in OTJ and is overperforming in MTG Arena.
On the other side of the spectrum, the two lists of Red Deck Wins that made the top 8s this weekend are both from the same player, ryuumei doesn’t play the new cowboy bird.
Instead, a classic RDW build shows once more that it has what it needs to compete at the highest level.
Something that helps is the new spot removal Scorching Shot. Having more chances to kill Raffine, Scheming Seer, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, Archangel of Wrath, and Topiary Stomperis something that this archetype appreciates. Finally, Witchstalker Frenzy has some help.
quinniac reached the top 16 on April 20th MTGO Challenge #1 with RDW playing 4 Slickshot Show-Off.
Dimir Midrange
Dimir Midrange – parrers MTGO Challenge 5th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
7 mythic
28 rare
15 uncommon
10 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (24)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$398.52
Sideboard
15 Cards
$60.63
Dimir is losing momentum on the tournament scene. Even if it’s one of the most popular decks for the Bo3 queue on MTG Arena, only two players reach the top 16th this weekend.
parrers ends in 5th place in the first Saturday tournament. After looking at their list carefully, Lost Jitte seems like a card that could give this archetype a new boost. Trying 1 or 2 more copies is something I will test heavily this week.
Something that I will also try is Duelist of the Mind. Any Blue deck that can take advantage of this creature had to. This deck doesn’t draw many cards like Esper with Raffine, Scheming Seer. However, finding a way to make Duelist of the Mind work here seems not that hard.
Temur Ramp
Temur Ramp – hgcavagnoli MTGO Challenge 7th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Ramp
best of 3
8 mythic
13 rare
10 uncommon
29 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (10)
Lands (29)
60 Cards
$215.54
Sideboard
15 Cards
$35.77
In my latest tier list updates and meta reports, I said there are many incredible graveyard-centered strategies, and playing them is the right choice; until the people start respecting it and Unlicensed Hearse became once again a staple in people’s sideboards.
Now that’s the case. It’s not a 100% rule, but many players are now using Unlicensed Hearse, and if you have access to White, OTJ brings Rest in Peace one more time.
With this in mind, playing Temur Ramp, 4-Color Reanimator, or Squirming Emergence seems complicated.
I’m not saying that is impossible, and winning many first games could be easy, but you must be prepared with a plan against graveyard hate packing alternate win conditions when possible.
Izzet Control
Izzet Control – bless_von MTGO Challenge 8th Place
by Bohe
Standard
Control
best of 3
10 mythic
24 rare
10 uncommon
16 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Enchantments (1)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$244.36
Sideboard
15 Cards
$92.89
Last but not least, the rogue deck of the week. If you like big robots, this is the deck for you. It reminds me of some iterations of Big Red back when The Brothers' War was released.
You will ramp fast into Cityscape Leveler and Skitterbeam Battalion with powerstone tokens produced by Stern Lesson and Thran Spider+
This wouldn’t be possible without Simulacrum Synthesizer, a new card from Big Score OTJ Subset that lets us create constructs that grow big thanks to the aforementioned Powerstone tokens.
Ill-Timed Explosion is now a well-known sweeper thanks to Temur Ramp. However, in this deck, it can be used to its full potential thanks to our big robots.
This is a fun deck with chances against almost anything in the high tiers. It is worth a try if you want something different.
End Step
There were not many big tournaments in Arena this weekend. Nevertheless, analyzing three MTGO Challenges let things clear before the Outlaws at Thunder Junction next weekend.
If you don’t know the latest news, here is our April and May schedule, including the Pro Tour data:
I’m excited to watch what Pro Tour OTJ will bring to the format. If you want to chat about it join us and let us know your thoughts on this and any other MTG-related topics in the MTG Arena Community Discord, on my Twitter, and in the comment section of this article.
Don’t forget that I have started providing personal coaching services for Magic the Gathering and Marvel Snap. If you want to contact me, look for me:
- On Discord as bohettv
- On my Twitter
- Via email at [email protected]
- On Twitch
Thank you so much for reaching this last paragraph and remember; don’t forget to smile every day; it surely makes a difference.
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Bohe
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