For today’s blog post, we have a deck archetype that has been rising in the Standard metagame to become that of a top-tier deck. I initially noticed this deck on the top finishes of the recent Magic: the Gathering tournaments online and on paper. For reference are those whose decks are listed on the MTG Top 8 website.

I would consider this not as an aggro deck but instead more of a good stuff midrange deck based on the card components in which most are already powerful even if cast alone. If you guys are familiar with the Standard metagame in terms of single cards’ financial value, these cards are auto-included in the deck builds as long as they are color-affiliated.

Check out the full decklist of the Standard-rising deck, Esper Aggro below.

Maindeck

26 LANDS
4 Brightclimb Pathway
4 Clearwater Pathway
2 Deserted Beach
4 Hengegate Pathway
2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
1 Plains
4 Raffine’s Tower
3 Shattered Sanctum
2 Shipwreck Marsh

15 CREATURES
1 Legion Angel
4 Luminarch Aspirant
4 Raffine, Scheming Seer
3 Tainted Adversary
3 Tenacious Underdog

7 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Infernal Grasp
4 Vanishing Verse
2 Void Rend

12 OTHER SPELLS
2 Kaito Shizuki
1 Lolth, Spider Queen
2 Sorin the Mirthless
3 The Wandering Emperor
4 Wedding Announcement

Sideboard
3 Duress
2 Go Blank
3 Legion Angel
1 Malevolent Hermit
2 Negate
3 Ray of Enfeeblement
1 The Meathook Massacre

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=36267&d=472850&f=ST

If you would notice, the card lineup assigned for the late game plan is obviously in high-demand and pricey in the current market. The power value would be able to sustain and prevent opponents’ board setup. Of course, going for the best cards to utilize is the way.

You can check the rest of the finishes of the deck archetype on the MTG Top 8 website via this link.