The current Magic: the Gathering Standard format still revolves around the top-tier decks such as Izzet Epiphany, and Mono-White. That does not mean though that the other deck brews will not a good finish in the local tournaments or on Magic: the Gathering Arena. For today’s Standard deck feature, we have the archetype that caters and takes advantage of the traditional graveyard shenanigans.

Check out this Golgari Reanimator deck below.

Maindeck:
24 LANDS
3 Barkchannel Pathway
2 Clearwater Pathway
3 Darkbore Pathway
3 Deathcap Glade
4 Forest
2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
1 Hostile Hostel
6 Swamp

19 CREATURES
2 Burning-Rune Demon
2 Eccentric Farmer
4 Eyetwitch
1 Koma, Cosmos Serpent
1 Lord of the Forsaken
3 Old Rutstein
4 Shambling Ghast
1 Tovolar’s Huntmaster
1 Toxrill, the Corrosive

11 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Culling Ritual
4 Diregraf Rebirth
3 Infernal Grasp

6 OTHER SPELLS
2 Binding the Old Gods
4 Heirloom Mirror

Sideboard
1 Confront the Past
1 Containment Breach
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Expanded Anatomy
1 Go Blank
4 Inscription of Ruin
1 Introduction to Prophecy
1 Mascot Exhibition
1 Necrotic Fumes
3 Sarulf, Realm Eater

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=34215&f=ST

Starting with today’s blog post, I will be delving more into a detailed Magic: the Gathering strategy and not only sharing updated Standard decklists. This is on leaning more on describing the deck’s game plan like in certain deck matchups, and early and late-game scenarios. The strategy that I was using back in the paper Magic events.

I am kicking this off with a Standard deck archetype in which the colors are a personal favorite. What I liked about it is that it utilized more cards from the recent two sets in which I will detail later on. First, we look at the decklist.

Maindeck
24 LANDS
4 Branchloft Pathway
4 Cragcrown Pathway
1 Forest
1 Mountain
4 Needleverge Pathway
3 Overgrown Farmland
1 Plains
3 Rockfall Vale
3 Sundown Pass

22 CREATURES
3 Briarbridge Tracker
3 Brutal Cathar
4 Elite Spellbinder
4 Goldspan Dragon
4 Prosperous Innkeeper
4 Reckless Stormseeker

3 INSTANTS and SORC.
3 Fateful Absence

11 OTHER SPELLS
4 Esika’s Chariot
4 Showdown of the Skalds
3 Wrenn and Seven

SIDEBOARD
2 Burn Down the House
3 Burning Hands
2 Reidane, God of the Worthy
1 Skyclave Apparition
3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
2 Thundering Rebuke
2 Tovolar’s Huntmaster

This was played by username atarka711 in the recent MTGO Standard League with the record of 5-0. The other deck archetypes with the same record as his are still composed of the same top-tiers in the Standard metagame. I’d expected also that his matchups were a few of those decks.

Now, we see that the deck is semi-midrangeish with most of the creatures’ mana costs are on three. A playset of Prosperous Innkeeper is the only two-drop that can ramp and fix the colors with its Treasure Token.

Looking at the specific card choices, most of them deliver card value and are not only efficient attackers. Worth the mention are Elite Spellbinder, Brutal Cathar, Reckless Stormseeker, and Goldspan Dragon. This bunch works well in disrupting opponents’ board and with the Haste granted by the Stormseeker gets you to attack right away.

The inclusion of three copies of Wrenn and Seven along with the playset of Showdown of the Skalds means that the late-game plan is powerful enough to finish the game in the case that the early aggression was dealt with. Wrenn generates a Treefolk that gets bigger as you control more lands which are already got you the value as they now needed to deal with two threats.

Fateful Absence supports the Cathar in dealing with opponents’ creatures but the instant also can instakill troublesome planeswalkers.

The sideboard list is more on the switching of inefficient cards for certain matchups. One example is Mono-White Aggro wherein Wrenn, Showdown and the Dragon can be pretty slow to cope up with them. Thus, you can switch them to Burn Down the House, Skyclave Apparition, and Thundering Rebuke. As more Mono-Green, you have Burning Hands to kill their fatties.

Thalia, Guardian of Thraben and Reidane, God of the Worthy can be disruptive to Izzet and Dimir Control but you have to play around with their counterspells and removals while trying to optimize your damage as much as possible. I call it “Spell baiting”, to see if they got the counter available. Carefully check the untapped lands on the possible spells that they got to deal with your threats. They can Dragon’s Fire your creature or Divide by Zero your Chariot or planeswalker.

In this build, you can just maximize one spell per turn early on until you build your mana so it is important not to miss your land drops. I see Izzet as a tougher matchup as they have Spikefield Hazard to deal with your Thalia but try to play threats after threats each turn. Of course, familiarization with the usual cards these decks play is also important.

To conclude, I would recommend this build of the Naya Aggro deck in its current list. In which case you’d feel that your local metagame is composed more of the aggro decks, then you can just replace a card or two in the three-drops or cut one Wrenn and Seven for a lower cost creature or additional spot removal.

That is a wrap, thanks for your time reading this post and until the next one.

The color support in the Magic: the Gathering Standard format is well established with the various dual nonbasic lands starting with the pathways from Zendikar Rising. Hence, the three-color deck builds are still good contenders in the metagame with the little issue on the mana fixing.

Today’s Standard feature is a three-color deck of the colors that had become an iconic archetype back in the Khans of Tarkir Standard, and that is the Abzan (Black-Green-White). The decklist’s source is from the result of the Best Of 3 Cup Preliminary @ Total Jank Games and was played by Tim Calvert.

I like his creature choices wherein he considered the card value of each of them With the variance of utility creatures in the deck’s lineup, it will surely get to an efficient late-game plan and at the same time cope up with aggressive opponents.

Check out the full decklist below.

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=33883&d=458013&f=ST

Merry Christmas guys! I do hope you have enjoyed cherishing this occasion with your family and loved ones. This is despite the situations and problems that we have faced this year, not to mention the ongoing pandemic. Anywho, I am back to sharing the Standard decklist before we hit some good stuff in the upcoming Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty set.

The decklist I am sharing today is a reminiscing version of one of the classic tribal decks in Magic: the Gathering. The deck is Mono-Red Goblins still maintaining its aggressive build and I am happy to see one with a good finish in an online MTG tournament, particularly the MTGO Standard League last December 23^rd. This list was played by AlphaWereWolf303 and here below is the full deck.

Maindeck
23 LANDS
4 Faceless Haven
19 Snow-Covered Mountain

24 CREATURES
4 Battle Cry Goblin
4 Fireblade Charger
4 Goblin Javelineer
4 Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
4 Hobgoblin Captain
4 Hulking Bugbear

13 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Alchemist’s Gambit
4 Frost Bite
4 Roil Eruption
4 You See a Pair of Goblins

Sideboard
3 Abrade
4 Burning Hands
4 Heated Debate
4 Magic Missile

In the Magic: the Gathering Standard format, sticking with only two colors might not be enough to achieve efficient gameplay against the Top Tier decks. It may be either a “beat them or join them” setting, but for today’s Standard deck feature, we have a decklist that might cover the best cards for the current metagame. The deck is consists of probably the best three-color combination today: Sultai.

Check out the Sultai Aggro Deck by Yojiro Futamata:

14 CREATURES
4 Briarbridge Tracker
2 Concealing Curtains
2 Henrika Domnathi
1 Primal Adversary
2 Reclusive Taxidermist
3 Tainted Adversary

13 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Baleful Mastery
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
3 Crippling Fear
2 Dig Up
2 Emergent Sequence
2 Infernal Grasp
1 Negate

9 OTHER SPELLS
1 Binding the Old Gods
4 Esika’s Chariot
4 Wrenn and Seven

Sideboard
1 Binding the Old Gods
2 Disdainful Stroke
4 Go Blank
2 Power Word Kill
2 Ray of Enfeeblement
1 Shadows’ Verdict
3 Skyclave Shade

14 CREATURES
4 Briarbridge Tracker
2 Concealing Curtains
2 Henrika Domnathi
1 Primal Adversary
2 Reclusive Taxidermist
3 Tainted Adversary

13 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Baleful Mastery
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
3 Crippling Fear
2 Dig Up
2 Emergent Sequence
2 Infernal Grasp
1 Negate

9 OTHER SPELLS
1 Binding the Old Gods
4 Esika’s Chariot
4 Wrenn and Seven

Sideboard
1 Binding the Old Gods
2 Disdainful Stroke
4 Go Blank
2 Power Word Kill
2 Ray of Enfeeblement
1 Shadows’ Verdict
3 Skyclave Shade

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=33524&d=455449&f=ST

The Mono-Color deck archetypes in the current Magic: the Gathering Standard format lean on Green, White, and Red for the aggro category and Black for the Midrange bracket. The lesser choice, Blue, is dependent on what card components the current set offers. The good news, though, is that it is seeing gameplay in the current Standard which we will have in today’s Standard deck feature.

The decklist was referenced from the MTG Top 8 website on the Japanese tournament named “83rd Event @ Friday Asim Magic”. I usually dig through these Japanese websites for this kind of event to look for unusual deck builds, and they did not disappoint. The good thing is that it was posted on a website where I did not need to do some text translation. Anywho, the deck build caters to the tribal Spirits creature type and uses tempo and Flash creatures to outmaneuver opponents’ board.

See the full decklist below.

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=33296&d=454154&f=ST

Innistrad Crimson Vow Standard decklists are now posted in versions of BO1 and BO3 for the Magic: the Gathering Arena platform. Players get to test the gameplay of their deck brews and also try the new cards in the current deck archetypes in the metagame. Hence, today’s Standard deck update looks upon the Dimir Control deck, and its new tools from the Innistrad: Crimson Vow set.

The reprinting of Hero’s Downfall has pushed further the instant spot removal options of the deck, and an effect has opened to the reactive approach of just playing spells during opponents’ turns. The same can be said with its newest creature threat, the flashy Hullbreaker Horror.

The reference decklist shown below is from the deck played by DameVelue in the BO1 Standard. There is a variance in the type of Instants and Sorceries played, with counter-go as its main strategy.

Main Deck
3 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
2 Hullbreaker Horror
3 Consider
3 Fading Hope
3 Jwari Disruption
3 Infernal Grasp
3 Power Word Kill
2 Hero’s Downfall
3 Divide by Zero
4 Memory Deluge
3 Dread Fugue
2 Shadows’ Verdict
2 The Meathook Massacre
4 Island
4 Swamp
4 Field of Ruin
4 Clearwater Pathway
2 Hall of Storm Giants
2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
4 Shipwreck Marsh

Sideboard
2 Environmental Sciences
2 Teachings of the Archaics
2 Pest Summoning
1 Mascot Exhibition

Reference: https://mtgazone.com/deck/bo1-dimir-control-by-damevelue-98-mythic-crimson-vow-standard-day-2/