Top Mythic Standard and Historic Decks – September 2021 Season – Final Week

Each week, we receive scores of decklists from players across the internet along with the ranks they managed to achieve. In this article, we’re going to check out the highest ranked decks in Standard and Historic from last week’s submissions.

This week brought the September Ranked season to a close on MTG Arena, so we get the pleasure of reviewing the decks that players used to make that final push into the Top 1200 Mythic or defend their rank to the end. Standard is still fresh from rotation as archetypes are developed and the meta adjusts to decks coming out of Magic’s competitive scene.

Looking for more decklists in the new Standard? Be sure to browse our coverage of last weekend’s tournaments for decks straight out of Magic’s competitive scene.

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MTG Arena Standard Mythic Decks of the Week

Let’s get started by checking out our Top 5 decks from the Standard format. The format is still in its early stages, and many of the decks we’re going to be looking at put a bit of a new twist on some familiar archetypes as players strive to adjust to the ever-shifting meta.

Dimir Control by JS2 – #11 Mythic

Dimir Control decks have been showing up both on the ladder and in tournaments since rotation. Builds such as this one, posted by high Mythic regular JS2, are heavy on counterspells – a factor that makes them line up well again Izzet and other Alrund’s Epiphany-based decks. Meanwhile, a suite of solid targeted removal spells paired with sweepers like Shadows’ Verdict and The Meathook Massacre keep aggro opponents in check in game one.

Mono White Exile by ViolenceHD – #31 Mythic

Our next deck from this week is a variation of Mono White Aggro. Starting in the Standard 2022 format, the most popular version of Mono White ran the double-cast package consisting of Codespell Cleric and Monk of the Open Hand. This deck, which was shared by player Violence HD, has forgone the double-spell package entirely for something else – an exile buildaround.

Decks featuring Stonebinder’s Familiar have shown up here and there in the past, and now ViolenceHD has taken their deck built around the card to #31 Mythic. The little ghost dog is able to grow to huge sizes thanks to cards that are already known staples of the archetype: Elite Spellbinder, Skyclave Apparition, Portable Hole, and now Brutal Cathar.

Bo1 Mono Black Control by CovertGoBlue – #32 Mythic

This deck is just about the opposite of the last – Mono Black Control. Various control decks featuring the sacrifice synergy package of Eyetwitch, Shambling Ghast, Skullport Merchant, and Deadly Dispute have been around since the beginning of the Standard 2022 format. Since this core of cards was first popularized, we’ve seen variations on the package in Orzhov, Dimir, and Grixis.

Earlier this week, popular YouTuber CovertGoBlue shared his latest take on the archetype in a Mono Black shell optimized for best-of-one. The archetype gained a handful of new cards from Innstrad: Midnight Hunt; perhaps the most notable one is The Meathook Massacre, which can cause a huge life swing over the course of the game on top of being a serviceable sweeper against aggro decks.

Bo1 Mono White Aggro by salazarqui – #234 Mythic

Jumping down a bit in rankings, our next deck is also a Mono White Aggro build, although this one has been constructed for the best-of-one queue. This deck was posted on Twitter by player salazarqui, and it follows the more traditional double-spell theme we discussed above. This version of the deck still gets the job done well enough to take salazarqui into high Mythic – especially in best-of-one where greedy control and midrange decks don’t have the opportunity to sideboard in sweepers and other aggro hate.

Gruul Werewolves by Geometra – #257 Mythic

To close out our Standard section for this week, we have Gruul Werewolves, as played by Geometra to #257 Mythic. The werewolves deck hasn’t dominated Standard so far to the point that some players had feared at the beginning of the format, but the deck is still potent and definitely a contender in the meta.

Geometra’s version of the deck runs the full 4 copies of Wrenn and Seven and Eskia’s Chariot alongside the werewolves and tribal synergies. For those who haven’t already seen it, the interaction that Esika’s Chariot has with the tokens from Wrenn and Seven has become notorious for its ability to take over the game if left unchecked.

Add in a little ramp from Kessig Naturalist or the ability to give the Chariot haste from Reckless Stormseeker, and you’ve got an aggressive midrange deck with a ton of explosive power.

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MTG Arena Historic Mythic Decks of the Week

Now it’s time to take a quick look at the Historic format, where powerful cards from Jumpstart: Historic Horizons dominated the lists shared with us over the week.

Mono Red Madness by detsportsfan92 – #152 Mythic

First up in Historic we have a Mono Red aggro deck based on the powerful discard synergies brought into the format by Historic Horizons, namely Blazing Rootwalla, Dragon’s Rage Channeler, and Fiery Temper. This deck, which was originally created by Jim Davis, was adapted by player detsportsfan92 who took the deck to an impressive #152 Mythic.

Of course, Faithless Looting is still legal in the Historic format, which helps to power out Rootwallas with ease and puts Managorger Phoenix straight into the graveyard. The deck runs only 18 lands and has a sickeningly low curve, packing enough aggro and burn to get the opponent dead before they can stabilize.

Historic Merfolk by veggiboy – #771 Mythic

Our last deck of the week is one of my personal all-time favorite archetypes – Merfolk! Merfolk decks got a huge boost in power thanks to Historic Horizons, and the archetype has proven itself to be pretty competitive in the format. The tribe now has three separate lords, powerful utility in the form of Svyelun of Sea and Sky and Shoreline Scout, and of course benefits hugely from having access to Collected Company. Player veggiboy was able to run this version of the deck up the ladder to #771 in Mythic.

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This column is our weekly roundup of Standard and Historic decks players are using to climb the ranked ladder on MTG Arena! Our goal is to curate and post a variety of deck archetypes and interesting card choices at the end of each week to help you keep up to date with the latest trends in the metagame. If you have any decks you want featured, please tweet us at @mtgazone or give us a shout at our Discord.