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Blizzard Brawl Art by Manuel Castañón

Standard Metagame Snapshot: Top Decks for the Week of June 15, 2022

Our weekly metagame breakdown for the Standard format. We cover the movers and shakers, complete with decklists for both best-of-one and best-of-three.

Hello everyone! We want you to have the most up to date information on Standard, and initially, we did that by providing deck guides to fill out your knowledge. However, we realized that we could still do more so we’re looking to be updating Standard’s tier list weekly as well as provide analysis on the standout decks, whether they stand out for their strength, weaknesses, or they have a large change in positioning. As always, you can find the link to the complete tier lists below.

To compile this report, the first metric that I look at the most is recent tournament successes. Following tournament trends is generally the best way to dictate what decks are overperforming for the week and can cut through the noise of inaccurate data.

The second metric I use is it’s inherent positioning in the metagame with what decks it’s good at beating and what beats it. The third metric is then win rate data where I see how the deck has historically done over it’s tracked life cycle.

Finally, I have the fourth determination of personal bias where I let my feelings fly on why I like a deck that isn’t necessary empirical. This could be deck feel, perceived matchup strength, or any other metric I would discuss that’s not already covered.

With that, let’s get into it.


This Week’s Top Performers

Esika’s Chariot Art by Raoul Vitale
Esika's Chariot Art by Raoul Vitale

Jeskai Hinata

jeskai hinata
54% global win rate
7.31% metagame share
Powered by
vs Angels
100.0% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs esper control
76.5% win rate
17 tracked matches
vs dimir control
75.0% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs izzet mill
72.7% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs grixis control
72.7% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs izzet dragons ️
66.7% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs jund midrange
65.4% win rate
81 tracked matches
vs other
65.2% win rate
115 tracked matches
vs naya humans
63.6% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Midrange
62.5% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs Bant Midrange
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs golgari midrange
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs grixis vampires
59.8% win rate
117 tracked matches
vs orzhov midrange
59.3% win rate
189 tracked matches
vs Jeskai Combo
57.7% win rate
52 tracked matches
vs Mono Red Aggro
56.3% win rate
16 tracked matches
vs temur control
55.0% win rate
40 tracked matches
vs naya runes
53.5% win rate
101 tracked matches
vs mardu midrange
52.4% win rate
21 tracked matches
vs boros aggro
51.9% win rate
129 tracked matches
vs Mono Green Stompy
50.0% win rate
100 tracked matches
vs temur aggro
50.0% win rate
26 tracked matches
vs sultai control
50.0% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs izzet control
50.0% win rate
62 tracked matches
vs five-color ramp
50.0% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs esper midrange
48.8% win rate
205 tracked matches
vs selesnya enchantments
47.6% win rate
21 tracked matches
vs azorius control
47.4% win rate
38 tracked matches
vs selesnya midrange
45.0% win rate
20 tracked matches
vs Mono White Aggro
43.0% win rate
86 tracked matches
vs Mono Blue Tempo
41.7% win rate
12 tracked matches
vs esper planeswalkers
40.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs rakdos anvil
38.3% win rate
47 tracked matches
vs rakdos midrange
36.7% win rate
30 tracked matches
vs izzet tempo
28.6% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs azorius tempo
26.7% win rate
15 tracked matches
vs gruul werewolves
20.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs dimir delver
20.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs naya midrange
12.5% win rate
8 tracked matches
Bo1 Jeskai Hinata
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $296.58
Standard
Control
best of 1
8 mythic
29 rare
12 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (8)
4
Goldspan Dragon
$83.96
Instants (22)
2
Voltage Surge
$0.70
2
Valorous Stance
$0.70
2
Negate
$0.70
2
Make Disappear
$0.98
4
Magma Opus
$21.96
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
1
Mountain
$0.35
3
Sundown Pass
$38.97
3
Deserted Beach
$19.47
60 Cards
$373.3
Jeskai Hinata by Jaberwocki
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $311.62
Standard
Control
best of 3
8 mythic
29 rare
12 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (8)
4
Goldspan Dragon
$83.96
Instants (22)
2
Voltage Surge
$0.70
2
Valorous Stance
$0.70
2
Negate
$0.70
2
Make Disappear
$0.98
4
Magma Opus
$21.96
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
1
Mountain
$0.35
3
Sundown Pass
$38.97
3
Deserted Beach
$19.47
60 Cards
$373.3
15 Cards
$22.33

Once again, if we have to pick a winner for this week, we definitely have to go with Jeskai Hinata once again, and considering how powerful it is, there’s no big surprise.

The thing with Hinata, despite everyone knowing it’s priority number one to beat right now, is that it doesn’t have just one solution to deal with it. You would think it would be simple enough, it’s a control deck that doesn’t have too many threats, and the threats they do play are somewhat clunky, but it’s much easier said than done. You need a deck that isn’t fragile to interaction, but also fast enough to not go too long with them, a deck that has enough interaction to kill their threats when presented, but the right interaction as they have good ways to defend Hinata, and the list can go on and on. The point being, the deck attacks from a lot of different angles and finding the exact configuration to beat something that is inherently very multifaceted is pretty difficult, especially when there’s always a threat of just getting blown out by a turn 6 Magma Opus out of nowhere.

However, even with all that in mind, what I said last week is beginning to come to fruition Hinata’s grasp on the metagame is definitely loosening. While it is a difficult deck tom combat, it’s definitely not impossible as just going for one countermeasure generally isn’t enough, but several could be. Most decks are now packing substantially more hate for the deck including hand disruption, main deck counterspells, Disdainful Stroke, Soul Shatter, and similar answers to help combat the Jeskai menace. This can be seen with the last Standard challenge where, although Hinata still performing well, didn’t even have a top 4 appearance unlike all the previous Standard challenges.

Esper Midrange

esper midrange
52.4% global win rate
10.36% metagame share
Powered by
vs izzet dragons ️
83.3% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs izzet tempo
75.0% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs selesnya enchantments
74.1% win rate
27 tracked matches
vs Bant Midrange
72.7% win rate
22 tracked matches
vs dimir midrange
71.4% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs dimir control
71.4% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs Izzet Calamity
70.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs five-color ramp
67.9% win rate
28 tracked matches
vs dimir ninjas
66.7% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs esper control
64.7% win rate
34 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Midrange
63.2% win rate
19 tracked matches
vs other
60.8% win rate
189 tracked matches
vs azorius control
60.8% win rate
79 tracked matches
vs golgari midrange
60.5% win rate
38 tracked matches
vs jund midrange
60.3% win rate
156 tracked matches
vs Angels
60.0% win rate
50 tracked matches
vs mardu aggro
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs grixis tempo
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs orzhov midrange
60.0% win rate
310 tracked matches
vs boros aggro
59.8% win rate
132 tracked matches
vs jund treasures
58.3% win rate
24 tracked matches
vs Mono White Aggro
58.1% win rate
172 tracked matches
vs grixis control
57.9% win rate
19 tracked matches
vs rakdos midrange
57.8% win rate
45 tracked matches
vs esper planeswalkers
55.6% win rate
18 tracked matches
vs naya midrange
55.0% win rate
20 tracked matches
vs jeskai hinata
51.2% win rate
205 tracked matches
vs jeskai control
50.0% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs Mono White Control
50.0% win rate
16 tracked matches
vs izzet control
49.5% win rate
103 tracked matches
vs Mono Green Stompy
46.6% win rate
103 tracked matches
vs rakdos anvil
44.9% win rate
118 tracked matches
vs Jeskai Combo
44.8% win rate
192 tracked matches
vs Reanimator
44.4% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs temur aggro
44.3% win rate
61 tracked matches
vs selesnya midrange
42.3% win rate
71 tracked matches
vs naya runes
41.9% win rate
272 tracked matches
vs temur control
41.2% win rate
68 tracked matches
vs naya humans
40.6% win rate
32 tracked matches
vs mardu midrange
39.7% win rate
73 tracked matches
vs grixis vampires
39.4% win rate
132 tracked matches
vs izzet mill
37.5% win rate
24 tracked matches
vs Mono Red Aggro
35.3% win rate
17 tracked matches
vs azorius tempo
34.8% win rate
23 tracked matches
vs rakdos aggro
33.3% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs Mono Blue Tempo
30.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs abzan midrange
28.6% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs gruul aggro
20.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
Bo1 Esper Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $314.27
Standard
Midrange
best of 1
12 mythic
46 rare
1 uncommon
1 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (7)
3
Kaito Shizuki
$10.47
Creatures (18)
2
Legion Angel
$0.98
Instants (5)
1
Infernal Grasp
$2.29
4
Vanishing Verse
$1.96
Enchantments (5)
60 Cards
$492.06
Sideboard
2
Legion Angel
$0.98
2 Cards
$0.98
Mogged Esper Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $348.49
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
11 mythic
42 rare
3 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (5)
2
Kaito Shizuki
$6.98
Creatures (16)
1
Legion Angel
$0.49
Instants (7)
2
Infernal Grasp
$4.58
1
Make Disappear
$0.49
2
Vanishing Verse
$0.98
Sorceries (1)
1
Emeria’s Call
$7.99
Enchantments (5)
60 Cards
$470.94
Sideboard
3
Legion Angel
$1.47
1
Negate
$0.35
1
Duress
$0.35
2
Go Blank
$1.18
1
Farewell
$8.99
1
Portable Hole
$0.99
15 Cards
$58.35

From best deck, to fine deck, and coming around again to one of the best options, we have Esper Midrange.

Esper Midrange is an extremely good deck with powerful cards and a lot of flexibility. While it is never a dominant strategy per say, it always will be a strong one. However, in the last few week Esper was struggling to find it’s foothold in a sea of Izzet decks that were starting to overpower it. Unsurprisingly though, it’s finally adjusted.

As I said before, the way to beat Hinata was to lean heavier into disruption, but more specifically, hand disruption and counterspells. Mogged definitely understood this as well with their take on Esper with multiple main deck counterspells to help fight Hinata. As splash damage though, these cards also perform extremely well against the other Izzet(x) decks like Jeskai Combo and Temur so becoming stronger against all the matchups that were previously dunking on you is definitely a great feeling. I expect this build or even a build with more main deck countermagic and/or hand disruption to become the standard version as long as the Izzet decks are popular.

Jund Midrange

jund midrange
49.1% global win rate
3.56% metagame share
Powered by
vs dimir control
87.5% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs Mono Blue Tempo
83.3% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs grixis control
81.8% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs rakdos anvil
67.5% win rate
40 tracked matches
vs Mono White Control
66.7% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Midrange
66.7% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs rakdos midrange
66.7% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs grixis vampires
63.6% win rate
44 tracked matches
vs golgari midrange
62.5% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs esper control
62.5% win rate
16 tracked matches
vs mardu midrange
61.5% win rate
13 tracked matches
vs selesnya midrange
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs Bant Midrange
58.3% win rate
12 tracked matches
vs naya midrange
58.3% win rate
12 tracked matches
vs izzet control
55.6% win rate
45 tracked matches
vs Mono White Aggro
55.6% win rate
54 tracked matches
vs Jeskai Combo
55.3% win rate
38 tracked matches
vs temur aggro
52.4% win rate
21 tracked matches
vs boros aggro
51.6% win rate
31 tracked matches
vs naya humans
50.0% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs other
50.0% win rate
86 tracked matches
vs Angels
47.5% win rate
40 tracked matches
vs Mono Green Stompy
44.2% win rate
43 tracked matches
vs azorius control
42.9% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs orzhov midrange
42.3% win rate
71 tracked matches
vs naya runes
41.8% win rate
91 tracked matches
vs esper midrange
39.7% win rate
156 tracked matches
vs temur control
36.8% win rate
19 tracked matches
vs jeskai hinata
34.6% win rate
81 tracked matches
vs grixis tempo
33.3% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs five-color ramp
0.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
Bo1 Jund Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $335.88
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
9 mythic
37 rare
12 uncommon
2 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (5)
1
Wrenn and Seven
$7.49
Creatures (10)
Instants (8)
2
Infernal Grasp
$4.58
3
Riveteers Charm
$1.05
1
Hagra Mauling
$1.29
Sorceries (1)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (7)
Lands (25)
1
Mountain
$0.35
1
Swamp
$0.35
4
Darkbore Pathway
$33.96
2
Deathcap Glade
$39.98
2
Haunted Ridge
$17.98
4
Rockfall Vale
$9.96
60 Cards
$459.12
Mahzina_Linda Jund Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $390.95
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
5 mythic
39 rare
9 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
1
Wrenn and Seven
$7.49
Creatures (10)
Instants (11)
4
Voltage Surge
$1.40
2
Infernal Grasp
$4.58
3
Riveteers Charm
$1.05
Sorceries (1)
1
Duress
$0.35
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (6)
60 Cards
$476.04
15 Cards
$63.11

Next up on our list of good midrange options, we have to talk about Jund Midrange.

More so than the other midrange decks, Jund has had an interesting time as it just took substantially longer to find the “proper” list. Esper Midrange had a substantial head start as Orzhov was a cornerstone of the previous Standard, but Jund didn’t have the same privilege. Now that a lot of iterations of Jund were thoroughly vetted, we seemed to have come to a generally agreed upon list that seems to perform better and better each week.

I’m a big fan of Jund as it does exactly what I like my midrange decks doing. You have a good curve, great interaction, but most importantly, you can be fast when you need to. This is definitely a midrange deck, but it won’t feel like that if the opponent goes Bloodtithe Harvester, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, then Esika's Chariot to absolutely dominate the board. This exact brand of midrange will be really important in the upcoming weeks as the Blue based midrange decks are certainly going to slow down to continue the good fight against the midrange decks.

In that vein, I have to wonder if Jund has now leaned too hard into the interactive part of the deck if the metagame is going to continue to slow down, but only time will tell. If I was going to take Jund into a tournament, I feel that relegating some of the more expensive pieces of removal to the sideboard in lieu of more cheap threats in the main deck would be my preference.


The Deck’s Looking To Break In / Next Best Options

Evelyn, the Covetous Art by Marta Nael

Grixis Vampires

grixis vampires
51% global win rate
3.21% metagame share
Powered by
vs Angels
100.0% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs esper control
83.3% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs izzet mill
66.7% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs Bant Midrange
66.7% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs Mono White Aggro
65.7% win rate
35 tracked matches
vs Mono Blue Tempo
63.6% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs esper midrange
60.6% win rate
132 tracked matches
vs five-color ramp
60.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs Izzet Calamity
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs other
58.8% win rate
80 tracked matches
vs izzet control
57.1% win rate
21 tracked matches
vs Jeskai Combo
57.1% win rate
42 tracked matches
vs jund treasures
57.1% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs rakdos midrange
54.5% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs mardu midrange
53.8% win rate
13 tracked matches
vs rakdos anvil
53.3% win rate
15 tracked matches
vs naya runes
51.2% win rate
43 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Midrange
50.0% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs boros aggro
49.0% win rate
49 tracked matches
vs orzhov midrange
45.9% win rate
37 tracked matches
vs jeskai hinata
40.2% win rate
117 tracked matches
vs jund midrange
36.4% win rate
44 tracked matches
vs temur control
32.3% win rate
31 tracked matches
vs naya midrange
28.6% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs Mono Green Stompy
28.2% win rate
39 tracked matches
vs naya humans
20.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs temur aggro
12.5% win rate
8 tracked matches
Bo1 Grixis Vampires
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $347.94
Standard
Midrange
best of 1
10 mythic
32 rare
12 uncommon
6 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
3
Kaito Shizuki
$10.47
Instants (8)
4
Voltage Surge
$1.40
2
Infernal Grasp
$4.58
Sorceries (1)
1
Soul Transfer
$0.49
Enchantments (7)
Lands (26)
1
Mountain
$0.35
1
Swamp
$0.35
1
Shipwreck Marsh
$6.99
2
Haunted Ridge
$17.98
60 Cards
$438.26
Lukas261997 Grixis Vampires
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $346.14
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
8 mythic
33 rare
10 uncommon
9 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
3
Kaito Shizuki
$10.47
Instants (8)
1
Spell Pierce
$0.59
4
Voltage Surge
$1.40
2
Infernal Grasp
$4.58
Sorceries (1)
1
Duress
$0.35
Enchantments (6)
Lands (26)
1
Mountain
$0.35
1
Swamp
$0.35
2
Haunted Ridge
$17.98
1
Shipwreck Marsh
$6.99
60 Cards
$396.36
Sideboard
1
Mind Flayer
$0.59
3
Annul
$1.05
1
Abrade
$0.35
1
Negate
$0.35
2
Go Blank
$1.18
2
Soul Transfer
$0.98
15 Cards
$45.89

For my first deck that’s looking to break in, we have my personal favorite, Grixis Vampires.

For weeks I feel like I’ve been preaching the good word of Grixis Vampires, yet it’s still not a particularly popular option. To be honest, I’m really not sure why. The deck has a great curve, great interaction, it’s extremely flexible, and it’s just powerful in general. To me, it has all the underpinnings of what makes Esper so powerful, but with very little of the acclaim. However, with Lukas’ second place finish in the previous Standard challenge, maybe that narrative can shift a little bit.

To be unbiased, I don’t think Vampires does anything leagues better than Esper so they are rather comparable decks, but while I believe Grixis to be a great deck, if Esika's Chariot gets more popular that could be a bit awkward. I’m not sure how Esper matches up against Chariot, but it’s definitely a pain for Grixis so it getting more popular alongside Jund wouldn’t be ideal. Grixis likes going for a slower burn with card advantage, but Chariot being forced through could create hard to beat board states quickly. Nevertheless, I’m still a big fan of Grixis and I feel the deck is only limited by how it’s built and piloted.

Orzhov Midrange

orzhov midrange
52.7% global win rate
10.29% metagame share
Powered by
vs selesnya lifegain
87.5% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs naya werewolves
83.3% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs izzet giants
83.3% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs izzet mill
76.9% win rate
13 tracked matches
vs selesnya enchantments
71.9% win rate
32 tracked matches
vs sultai ninjas
71.4% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs izzet turns
71.4% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs Mono Blue Tempo
70.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs esper control
68.6% win rate
70 tracked matches
vs sultai control
66.7% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs Mono Red Aggro
66.7% win rate
39 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Midrange
65.0% win rate
40 tracked matches
vs naya enchantments
64.3% win rate
14 tracked matches
vs Angels
63.6% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs other
63.3% win rate
109 tracked matches
vs dimir control
60.0% win rate
30 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Zombies
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs boros artifacts
60.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs Mono Red Goblins
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs gruul aggro
58.8% win rate
17 tracked matches
vs jund midrange
57.7% win rate
71 tracked matches
vs rakdos anvil
57.3% win rate
103 tracked matches
vs Mono White Aggro
57.2% win rate
250 tracked matches
vs Mono White Control
57.1% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs grixis control
57.1% win rate
14 tracked matches
vs izzet control
56.5% win rate
138 tracked matches
vs selesnya midrange
56.2% win rate
121 tracked matches
vs boros aggro
55.7% win rate
115 tracked matches
vs izzet tempo
55.6% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs mardu aggro
55.6% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs izzet dragons ️
54.8% win rate
31 tracked matches
vs golgari midrange
54.8% win rate
62 tracked matches
vs naya midrange
54.5% win rate
22 tracked matches
vs grixis vampires
54.1% win rate
37 tracked matches
vs temur aggro
53.9% win rate
76 tracked matches
vs Mono Green Stompy
53.8% win rate
143 tracked matches
vs abzan midrange
52.9% win rate
17 tracked matches
vs jeskai control
50.0% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs esper planeswalkers
50.0% win rate
18 tracked matches
vs dimir ninjas
50.0% win rate
6 tracked matches
vs Bant Midrange
50.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs rakdos midrange
50.0% win rate
42 tracked matches
vs Jeskai Combo
50.0% win rate
134 tracked matches
vs azorius tempo
48.4% win rate
31 tracked matches
vs azorius control
48.3% win rate
118 tracked matches
vs mardu midrange
47.3% win rate
74 tracked matches
vs naya runes
46.9% win rate
209 tracked matches
vs naya humans
45.3% win rate
75 tracked matches
vs gruul werewolves
45.0% win rate
20 tracked matches
vs jund treasures
42.9% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs jeskai hinata
40.7% win rate
189 tracked matches
vs esper midrange
40.0% win rate
310 tracked matches
vs temur werewolves
36.4% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs five-color ramp
28.6% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs temur control
28.6% win rate
21 tracked matches
vs naya aggro
16.7% win rate
6 tracked matches
Bo1 Orzhov Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $194.58
Standard
Midrange
best of 1
3 mythic
48 rare
3 uncommon
6 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (3)
Instants (6)
1
Kabira Takedown
$0.35
4
Vanishing Verse
$1.96
1
Hagra Mauling
$1.29
Sorceries (2)
60 Cards
$303.14
Sideboard
3
Legion Angel
$1.47
3 Cards
$1.47
Bolddd Orzhov Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $326.14
Standard
Midrange
best of 3
9 mythic
38 rare
2 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (5)
Instants (6)
2
Infernal Grasp
$4.58
3
Vanishing Verse
$1.47
1
Hagra Mauling
$1.29
Sorceries (3)
2
Duress
$0.70
1
Emeria’s Call
$7.99
Enchantments (6)
60 Cards
$419.66
Sideboard
3
Archon of Emeria
$10.47
3
Legion Angel
$1.47
2
Duress
$0.70
2
Go Blank
$1.18
15 Cards
$56.85

For our next entry, we once again have Orzhov Midrange on our list.

Orzhov Midrange is in a particularly weird spot for me, but is definitely a strong deck. While I think packing counter magic is more important now than it has been in awhile, Orzhov eschews the more standard Blue just to remain 2 colors. If there were particularly color intensive cards drawing players to drop Blue that would make sense, but weird enough, there really aren’t, so what gives? To me, it seems that Orzhov is going the path of Jund.

You could easily go Esper, slow your deck down, get countermagic and be good to go, however why not try to attack the metagame from a different direction. If every deck is looking to slow down and be more interactive to expensive threats, you can just lean down and look to curve out more often without being super soft to cheap interaction or wrath effects. Orzhov is still more of a middling option to me as I don’t know if it’s a better direction to take than Esper and Orzhov has only had decent finishes, but I could see it being an underrated option as it may be performing above par compared to it’s play rate.

Mono Green Aggro

Mono Green Stompy
52.7% global win rate
4.38% metagame share
Powered by
vs izzet dragons ️
90.9% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs izzet mill
80.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs grixis control
75.0% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs Mono Black Midrange
72.7% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs grixis vampires
71.8% win rate
39 tracked matches
vs izzet control
69.6% win rate
46 tracked matches
vs golgari midrange
69.2% win rate
13 tracked matches
vs other
61.6% win rate
73 tracked matches
vs rakdos anvil
60.5% win rate
43 tracked matches
vs simic ramp
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs dimir midrange
60.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
vs five-color ramp
57.1% win rate
7 tracked matches
vs jund midrange
55.8% win rate
43 tracked matches
vs mardu midrange
55.6% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs esper control
54.5% win rate
22 tracked matches
vs esper midrange
53.4% win rate
103 tracked matches
vs Angels
53.3% win rate
15 tracked matches
vs boros aggro
51.8% win rate
56 tracked matches
vs jeskai hinata
50.0% win rate
100 tracked matches
vs Jeskai Combo
48.0% win rate
25 tracked matches
vs selesnya midrange
48.0% win rate
25 tracked matches
vs Mono White Aggro
47.7% win rate
44 tracked matches
vs rakdos midrange
47.1% win rate
17 tracked matches
vs orzhov midrange
46.2% win rate
143 tracked matches
vs naya humans
45.5% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs Mono Blue Tempo
44.4% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs dimir control
44.4% win rate
9 tracked matches
vs temur aggro
40.0% win rate
25 tracked matches
vs temur control
40.0% win rate
10 tracked matches
vs azorius control
38.9% win rate
18 tracked matches
vs naya runes
33.3% win rate
69 tracked matches
vs selesnya enchantments
27.3% win rate
11 tracked matches
vs naya midrange
25.0% win rate
8 tracked matches
vs azorius tempo
20.0% win rate
5 tracked matches
Mono Green Aggro
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $71.89
Standard
Aggro
best of 1
0 mythic
27 rare
5 uncommon
28 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (21)
4
Jewel Thief
$1.40
1
Kazandu Mammoth
$0.49
Instants (2)
1
Snakeskin Veil
$0.35
Sorceries (7)
4
Blizzard Brawl
$1.40
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (3)
3
Ranger Class
$1.47
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$116.74
Mono Green Aggro
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $79.31
Standard
Aggro
best of 3
0 mythic
30 rare
4 uncommon
26 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (20)
1
Jewel Thief
$0.35
4
Kazandu Mammoth
$1.96
Instants (3)
3
Snakeskin Veil
$1.05
Sorceries (7)
4
Blizzard Brawl
$1.40
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
4
Ranger Class
$1.96
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$116.52
15 Cards
$16.77

For the final recommendation of the list, we have a deck that not only I like, but Wizards likes as well!

Mono Green was a deck I was a fan of with the popularity of Ob Nixilis, the Adversary, but once Izzet decks became top dog, I wasn’t as sure on it’s position. However, in the Banned and Restricted Announcement, Wizards specifically mentioned that, despite low play rates, Mono Green Aggro had a really good matchup spread and was a deck to be considered. Thinking it through and playing it, it’s not hard to see why.

A lot of decks are getting clunkier as the metagame slows down, and to combat aggro, the main way is through really cheap interaction. While one mana deal 2s are generally pretty good against aggro, it’s not nearly as good against the threats Mono Green presents as they have a slew of high toughness creatures that can dodge cheap interaction. Furthermore, although not as fast as something like Mono White, they are nearly as quick and since they are less susceptible to the interaction most people are playing, it’s harder to stop their aggression.

It’s hard to say whether or not Mono Green will remain a good option or ever become popular depending on the direction the metagame goes, but if you’re looking to play an aggressive deck, it would be hard to go wrong with such a straight forward and powerful option.

Thank you for reading!


Decklists in this Article

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DoggertQBones
DoggertQBones

Robert "DoggertQBones" Lee is the content manager of MTGAZone and a high ranked Arena player. He has one GP Top 8 and pioneered popular archetypes like UB 8 Shark, UB Yorion, and GW Company in Historic. Beyond Magic, his passions are writing and coaching! Join our community on
Twitch and Discord.

Articles: 2036