While I did my Standard ranking and daily quests on Magic: the Gathering Arena mobile, I’ve noticed that a lot has changed in terms of the Standard archetypes that my opponents used. With Kaldheim set being legal to play in the format, it was quite spectacular to see that it made impact in the decks as well as in a few specific card combinations.
One particular Standard deck archetype that I faced was the Angels Tribals in the colors of Abzan. I’d expect to still stick with Mono-White but the set has offered power cards that interact well with the strategy. I have yet to check his exact decklist but from what cards I saw in play, here is what the Angels deck would look like:
4 Angelic Ascension
4 Righteous Valkyrie
4 Mythos of Nethroi
3 Esika’s Chariot
4 Emeria’s Call
4 Giant Killer
4 Firja’s Retribution
1 Legion Angel
3 The First Iroan Games
4 Selfless Savior
4 Youthful Valkyrie
4 Branchloft Pathway
4 Brightclimb Pathway
4 Indatha Triome
2 Fabled Passage
1 Swamp
1 Forest
5 Plains
It can get awkward draws even with the current pathways in Standard but the way deck is built would need mana fix critters or spells. I think it can fight well against other agro with the lifegain triggers as well as playing creatures from the top card of your library with the changeling. Control might easily wipe its board unless it can built in some card against removal such as Agonizing Memories.
Overall, this is a fresh Standard deck to see and I’d be glad to see if it can get a good finish in a major MTG Arena tournament. We shall see if the pros will consider this a valuable archetype to face the current metagame. I’ll be monitoring the next event for player’s decklists and win-loss records.
That is about it for now, until the next blog post.