Mean Green Tops the Most Played Creatures in Innistrad Standard

In the recent Magic: the Gathering Standard tournaments and events posted at MTG Top Eight, I have checked on the statistics of the top creatures played in the format, and it showed that composed of the Green Aggro deck.

Based on the results, the top two archetypes under the Aggro category are Mono-Green and Mono-White. Other aggro decks might be seeing top finishes but based on the frequency, these are the top two choices.

The Top Three Notable Green cards are Werewolf Pack Leader, Kazandu Mammoth, and Old-Growth Troll, each averaging four copies in the deck. The pack leader is probably the best two-drop in the deck and also functions as a late-game mana sink with the pump ‘transforming’ ability. Kazandu Mammoth was before a superstar in the Gruul landfall, and somewhat fallen in flavor & function of being a land drop or a 3/3 for three.

Following these three is White’s two-drop pump creature, Luminarch Aspirant. The deck has a version of a walking anthem with its free +1/+1 counter each turn, and can constantly pump your best dude in the long game if left unchecked. It also averaged four copies in the deck for maximized efficiency.

Next in line is another relevant White creature deck that locks out control and snow decks, Reidane, God of the Worthy. It averaged three copies in the deck though, in my personal preference, I would have four copies due to the current metagame.

The rest of the top ten creatures in rank based on the current Standard tournament results in the past two weeks are the following.

Elite Spellbinder – Decks (25.4%) – Average (3.8)
Intrepid Adversary – Decks (24.9%) – Average (3.9)
Sculptor of Winter – Decks (24.4%) – Average (3.8)
Usher of the Fallen – Decks (21.1%) – Average (3.8)
Tangled Florahedron – Decks (19.1%) – Average (2.3)

Goldspan Dragon falls past the ten with 14.8% of the decks in the metagame using it. It is probably the best creature choice for red-based deck archetypes, whether aggro, midrange, or control. In particular, is its record of success in the Izzet Epiphany decks.

We will see if this rank will change in the coming weeks as more and more tournaments will be held online or face-to-face.

Until the next blog post.