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It has now been almost a week since the start of the February 2020 ranked ladder season! The competition to finish as one of the top 1200 Mythic ranked players is set to be more fierce than ever, as this is the last chance to qualify for the second and final Ikoria Mythic Invitational Qualifier in March. In this week’s roundup, we have over 10 decks that reached the heights of Mythic ranking early in the season. We will be using this as a basis for delving into the current Standard metagame and how it has evolved over the last week, but you can click here to jump straight to the deck lists!
Also be sure to check out the other Mythic Theros Beyond Death Standard decks from previous weeks:
- Top Mythic Ladder Decks – January 2020 Season – Week 4
- Top Mythic Ladder Decks – January 2020 Season – Week 3
Standard Metagame Overview
The hype around the new Theros Beyond Death cards has now largely been settled, and the format looks to be enjoying a decent equilibrium of Aggro, Midrange, Control and Combo decks. We updated our Standard Metagame Tier List (BO1 version here) this week, and there does not seem to be any known deck clearly dominating (at least not in the same level as Field of the Dead or Oko, Thief of Crowns) each with their strengths and weaknesses. We will take a look at the archetypes and how they are adapting below.
Aggro
When climbing the ladder, it is no secret that using a speedy aggressive deck can get you there a bit faster. One of the first decks to reach Mythic this season was a Mono Red Aggro deck. Make sure to check out our recent Mono Red Aggro Deck Guide, which we cover in detail the two viable builds that exist at the moment. If you notice an abundance of Mono Red mirrors or control decks in your ladder adventures, we recommend you try the “Big Red” version of the deck, which has a higher curve but generally holds the ground better with cards like Bonecrusher Giant and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell.
Gruul Adventures is also a close second when it comes to aggro decks in the current environment. Its comparatively large creatures hold the ground against aggro well and Edgewall Innkeeper’s card advantage is decent against control decks. The First Iroan Games is also beginning to see play. One of the weaknesses of the deck is the manabase, where there is a trade off using lands that come into play tapped and wanting to curve out perfectly. We can see that some decks are beginning to include some copies of Temple of Abandon and Fabled Passage.
With both of these decks, cards that exile creatures such as Scorching Dragonfire and Lava Coil has become an important part of the sideboard primarily because of Anax, Hardened in the Forge and Phoenix of Ash), as well as efficient burn spells such as Redcap Melee that can also hit Torbran.
Midrange
Simic Ramp and Jeskai Fires are the best “Midrange” decks right now. These decks generally don’t do much until turn 4 or 5, when they can play their key card Nissa, Who Shakes the World or Fires of Invention. After that, they can go over the top very quickly with the available excess mana – for example, a big Hydroid Krasis or two Cavaliers in one turn. Both decks have minimal interaction between opponents (especially the Simic Ramp deck) and generally has a hard time against aggro until after sideboarding.
The latest Simic Ramp deck welcomes Gilded Goose and Wicked Wolf to increase their odds against the likes of Mono Red, whereas the Bant version splashes white for more interactive cards such as Teferi, Time Raveler, Elspeth Conquers Death (another very important card against the likes of Anax, Hardened in the Forge and Phoenix of Ash) and even Dream Trawler.
Control
Azorius Control has settled as the control deck of choice in the current environment. Glass Casket is being added to the deck as a way to hold down the popular Anax, Hardened in the Forge and Phoenix of Ash, so that your important board wipes don’t leave creatures behind. Narset, Parter of Veils is also another card being included as the metagame shifts away from good planeswalker interaction spells, and many unsuspecting opponents will forget about its passive ability! Combined with incidental lifegain from Absorb and The Birth of Meletis, the deck holds relatively well against aggro decks.
The recent Star City Games Team Open first place deck was Azorius Control piloted by Corey Baumeister and used by PrediMTG to reach #1 Mythic, featuring a clean list with all four copies of Dream Trawler, Elspeth Conquers Death, Narset, Parter of Veils and three Glass Casket in the main.
Having said that, Esper is still a viable option that has access to strong cards like Ashiok, Nightmare Muse, Oath of Kaya, Kaya’s Wrath and Agonizing Remorse. You will find the latest Mythic Esper deck by Eurisko below using the faithful Doom Foretold and Dance of the Manse combination as well as the aforementioned cards.
Combo
Temur Reclamation is currently the Combo deck representing Standard (read the deck guide for more information). At the moment, it is a very versatile deck that can perform well against all three of the deck types above. It is particularly strong against opposing midrange decks if you can manage to outrace them to a quick Wilderness Reclamation and slowing them down with cards like Brazen Borrower or Storm’s Wrath.
It can also do well against Azorius Control and your biggest weakness, Teferi, Time Raveler (that pretty much disables your combo). You have access to counterspells yourself in the form of Thassa’s Intervention, and the combo is not your only way of winning. You have creatures like Brazen Borrower and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath to attack in a different angle and they can wear down your opponent as they find resources to remove them.
MTG Arena Mythic Standard Decks of the Week
Here is the full list of known Mythic decks over the past week shared by the players, sorted by the deck archetype name with their highest placement noted!
The first metagame defining Standard tournament will be held on February 14 – the World Championship XXVI. The deadline for players to submit their Standard decklists have already passed – all eyes will be on what they chose to bring, and whether any of them will be different to what we are seeing so far. It was also just announced with February’s State of the Game that a special showcase event will be held on MTG Arena where we will be able to play against each other with their decks (without having to spend Wildcards)! You can find out more information about this upcoming event at Magic.gg.
We will be back this weekend for the return of the Treasure Constructed event, and as always, we will be continuously adding more decks as we find them which you can find here. Thanks for reading!
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 wish to be featured, please tweet us at @mtgazone or give us a shout at our Discord.
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