Zendikar Rising Standard Decks from Day 3

by Terence · Published September 20, 2020 · Updated September 19, 2020

We are keeping a close eye on the Zendikar Rising Standard metagame as it develops, and this will be our third daily coverage before we delve into individual decks and metagame in more detail.

Four-Color Omnath

Omnath decks may be dominating the current ladder but there are definitely other decks that are looking to compete on the same level. In CFB Pro Showdown’s single elimination tournament today, the finals have taken place between the two variations and the final boss Reid Duke even bringing the Yorion version of the deck himself. The winner sported two copies of Waker of Waves in the main deck, offering plenty of room for the archetype to evolve over time (if given the chance!). You can find the top 8 decklists from this event below.

Aggro and Tempo

The aggro decks that want to go under it have some potent weapons to finish the opponent before it spirals out of control, such as Embercleave and Winota, Joiner of Forces. In one of the first tournament results, Gruul Adventures took down Jeff Hoogland’s double elimination event in a field of 70 players with Mono Red Aggro in second place. Another popular archetype in the same colors was Gruul Landfall aggro, which looks to have a decent critical mass of cards for it to be decent. It is reminiscent of the Gruul Kaheera Fires deck from the last Standard rotation, which sadly had to be put down due to the nerfing of Companions and the banning of Fires of Invention. Unfortunately, Omnath gaining four life for the first Landfall trigger really hurts a lot and cards like Roiling Vortex is a decent but narrow solution.

Dimir Rogues and Flash can be considered a decent, fun deck but may be a riskier proposition in this environmen. Firstly, the archetype requires you to fuel your opponent’s graveyard for Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath and there is enough incidental lifegain, card advantage and even disruption from the other side. 9 out of 70 players (13% of the field) brought the deck to Jeff Hoogland’s tournament but could collectively only muster a dismal 28% win rate against other decks. For your convenience, the link to the report and the decklists from the tournament are also listed for you below.

Midrange and Control

The slower decks take a bit more time to adjust and adapt to the metagame as we need to fine tune the correct amount of answers and threats. If ramp decks are to be more present (and it certainly appears that way), trading one card for one may not quite be enough because Omnath and Uro already draws you a card to replace themselves when they are cast. We have seen Dimir, Rakdos and Sultai all pop up so far as the follow up from last Standard’s Sultai Ramp. With the double-faced modal cards, there should be some fun deck building challenges ahead to get to the optimal build.

Temur Adventures transfers along decently from the previous Standard without needing much of the new cards (if any at all). While it can grind out the other fellow midrange and control decks nicely, it may have a harder time going over the top of the Omnath decks quickly enough or to deal with their threats efficiently – which has always been one of the weaknesses for this deck. It may still be a good budget option for players going forward though, if aggro decks continue to be suppressed.

You can also go straight to our Standard deck section and check out more early decks for ideas and inspirations: