The recent 5K Strixhaven Championship Qualifier @ Star City Games saw two Cycling deck archetypes in the Top 4 finishers. One of which is of the Jeskai colors because having more color access is the variance of mainboard and sideboard. The notable maindeck cards are Improbable Alliance and Irencrag Pyromancer whereas for the sideboard are the counterspells Disdainful Stroke and Negate.

The deck was piloted by Tomohiro Nakagawa and the Top 4 finish was out of 337 players which is quite a huge tournament attendance.

Check out the full decklist below:

19 LANDS
4 Hengegate Pathway
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Needleverge Pathway
4 Raugrin Triome
4 Riverglide Pathway
1 Savai Triome

17 CREATURES
3 Drannith Stinger
4 Flourishing Fox
4 Irencrag Pyromancer
2 Rielle, the Everwise
4 Valiant Rescuer

20 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Boon of the Wish-Giver
4 Frostveil Ambush
4 Go for Blood
4 Startling Development
4 Zenith Flare
4 OTHER SPELLS
4 Improbable Alliance

SIDEBOARD
2 Disdainful Stroke
3 Glass Casket
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Negate
4 Redcap Melee
2 Soul-Guide Lantern

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=29544&d=431932&f=ST

Even with the Wizard’s banning last time of one of the combo pieces of the deck and with the rotation of several of its card components, Jund Sacrifice still continues to be a contender in the Magic: the Gathering Standard Metagame with a few new inclusions from the Kaldheim set.

Check out below these two identical Jund Sacrifice deck builds, each with relevant finishes in their corresponding Magic: the Gathering tournaments.

//Jund Sacrifice a Standard deck by BuenGordo
2 Skyclave Shade
3 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
3 Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
3 Mire Triton
3 Rankle, Master of Pranks
4 Woe Strider
4 Bonecrusher Giant

1 Kazuul’s Fury
2 Heartless Act
4 Village Rites
4 Claim the Firstborn
2 The Akroan War

1 Castle Locthwain
1 Forest
2 Mountain
3 Swamp
3 Darkbore Pathway
3 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Fabled Passage
4 Blightstep Pathway
4 Savai Triome

// Sideboard:
SB: 1 Soul Shatter
SB: 1 Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
SB: 1 Mogis’s Favor
SB: 1 Liliana, Waker of the Dead
SB: 2 Ox of Agonas
SB: 2 Skyclave Shade
SB: 2 Klothys, God of Destiny
SB: 2 The Akroan War
SB: 3 Duress

//Jund Sacrifice a Standard deck by Shota Matsumoto
2 Valki, God of Lies
3 Immersturm Predator
3 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Gilded Goose
4 Woe Strider

2 Kazuul’s Fury
4 Village Rites
4 Claim the Firstborn
2 The Akroan War
4 Trail of Crumbs

1 Forest
2 Mountain
2 Temple of Malice
3 Swamp
4 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Fabled Passage
4 Darkbore Pathway
4 Blightstep Pathway

// Sideboard:
SB: 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
SB: 1 Masked Vandal
SB: 1 Toski, Bearer of Secrets
SB: 2 The Akroan War
SB: 2 Duress
SB: 2 Elspeth’s Nightmare
SB: 2 Heartless Act
SB: 2 Ox of Agonas
SB: 2 Klothys, God of Destiny

Reference: https://mtgdecks.net/Standard/jund-sacrifice

Seeing some new Elf creatures in Kaldheim made me consider trying if the Standard deck version is viable for the format. Also given is that I was able to face a deck build during my random plays in MTG Arena. The deck colors not only rely on Green which is a thing in the past. Now, Elves goes with full support on Black-Green and the build’s icon creature for this one is Harald, King of Skemfar.

Creatures that you’d consider in the deck should provide value as optimized as possible and this is one good example. A CMC of 1BG and 3/2 p/t with Menace is already a dependable stat plus the ETB effect that gets you another card gets the extra value. You can filter out unnecessary lands and might accidentally other spot removals depending on the boar situation. That said, you mostly fill up your list with the tribe to avoid these scenarios.

Going back, another Elf creature value from the frosty new Magic: the Gathering set is Elvish Warmaster. Free 1/1 Elf Warrior tokens can quickly gum up your board without over-committing to a mass removal. It is also a good late-game mana sink.

The lone Green planeswalker that will lead the pack is Tyvar Kell with a continuous supply of 1/1 Elf Warrior tokens, a passive effect to have your guys produce Black mana, and a strong emblem if left unchecked.

Overall, the Kaldheim Standard Elves deck build would look like this one (as based on a reference list):

Creature (28)
4x Canopy Tactician
4x Elvish Warmaster
2x Harald, King of Skemfar
4x Jaspera Sentinel
2x Oakhame Adversary
4x Realmwalker
4x Skemfar Avenger
4x Wildborn Preserver

Planeswalker (2)
2x Tyvar Kell

Instants/Sorceries (5)
3x Elven Ambush
2x Agadeem’s Awakening

Enchantment (2)
2x Harald Unites the Elves

Land (23)
4x Darkbore Pathway Flip
6x Forest
6x Swamp
3x Temple of Malady
4x Woodland Chasm

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.