One of the popular Magic: the Gathering tournament done online on the Magic Arena platform is the Red Bull Untapped 2021 International which the recent one being Red Bull Untapped 2021 International Stop III. One of the Top 8 finishers of this tournament is today’s Standard deck update. I have mentioned in a previous Standard format where Jund Aggro Treasures was one of the top tier decks and with the entry of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, it simply adjusted and replaced some cards.

The current deck build still contains the core Red-Green components: Goldspan Dragons, Jaspera Sentinels, Magda, Chariots, and Shatterskull Smashings. The Black splash adopted Immersturm Predator into four copies and the spot removal Infernal Grasp. Also given that Black specializes in discard spells, a playset Duress, and two Go Blanks were included in the sideboard to take down Control’s hand setup.

See the full Jund Treasures decklist below.

MainDeck
1 Lolth, Spider Queen
4 Jaspera Sentinel
4 Prosperous Innkeeper
4 Magda, Brazen Outlaw
3 Valki, God of Lies
3 Reckless Stormseeker
4 Immersturm Predator
4 Goldspan Dragon
2 Infernal Grasp
4 Shatterskull Smashing
4 Esika’s Chariot
3 Forest
4 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Blightstep Pathway
4 Darkbore Pathway
2 Lair of the Hydra
4 Haunted Ridge
2 Rockfall Vale

Sideboard
3 Ray of Enfeeblement
3 Power Word Kill
4 Duress
2 Check for Traps
1 Inscription of Ruin
2 Go Blank

Reference: https://mtgazone.com/deck/jund-treasures-by-toru-inoue-red-bull-untapped-2021-international-stop-iii-7th-place/

Here we thought that old Magic: the Gathering set mechanics in Standard aside from Eldraine’s Adventures is already out of the picture on the metagame. Today’s Standard deck feature proved that wrong. The archetype is mentioned in the blog article’s title. Yes, that is Simic Mutate, a more straightforward deck build than the previously known Jeskai Mutate deck.

The list is about 80% composed of Ikoria cards (all creatures) while mainly having Snow-covered basics for its lands. Looks pretty budgeted right? The strategy is just Mutate and Mutate for the win so why the need for dual lands?

See the full Simic Mutate decklist below. This was referenced from the recent MTGO Standard League where the other top decks are composed of the usual metagame archetypes i.e. Mono-Green Aggro, White Weenie, Red Deck Wins, and Dimir Mill.

Reference decklist.

When mentioned the term “spells” in Magic: the Gathering deck strategy language, we always consider it as Blue and Red or Izzet. In the past deck builds up to now, Izzet usually accommodates on having the best cantrip spells and creatures with abilities like Prowess to take advantage of it. In today’s deck feature, we have an unusual color that carries the term as their main strategy.

Check out Mono-White Spells Strixhaven Standard deck:

Maindeck
Creatures (19)
4 Clever Lumimancer
4 Faerie Guidemother
4 Clarion Spirit
4 Leonin Lightscribe
3 Mavinda, Students’ Advocate

Spells (22)
4 Kabira Takedown
4 Defiant Strike
4 Fight as One
4 Guiding Voice
4 Show of Confidence
2 Study Break

Lands (19)
1 Castle Ardenvale
18 Plains

Sideboard
2 Reidane, God of the Worthy
2 Giant Killer
2 Soul-Guide Lantern
1 Academic Probation
3 Glass Casket
1 Expanded Anatomy
1 Inkling Summoning
1 Reduce to Memory
1 Spirit Summoning
1 Introduction to Annihilation

Reference:https://mtgazone.com/deck/mono-white-spells-strixhaven-standard/

The recently concluded Magic Arena Players Tour Top 8 held last night until this Sunday morning was topped by probably what the people expected, Temur Reclamation. While this version is four-color because of White splash for Teferi to deal with the mirror match, it was interesting to see that his Finals matchup is one deck that sort-of went below the line.

The deck is Mono Black Aggro and the list is slightly adjusted for this tournament metagame. This was played by Riku Kumagai and check out the decklist below.

25 LANDS
4 Castle Locthwain
2 Mobilized District
19 Swamp

28 CREATURES
2 Blacklance Paragon
4 Gutterbones
4 Hunted Nightmare
4 Kitesail Freebooter
4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
1 Murderous Rider
3 Rankle, Master of Pranks
4 Spawn of Mayhem
2 Tymaret, Chosen from Death

7 INSTANTS and SORC.
3 Duress
4 Heartless Act

SIDEBOARD
3 Agonizing Remorse
4 Cry of the Carnarium
3 Grasp of Darkness
1 Kaervek, the Spiteful
1 Murderous Rider
3 Noxious Grasp

Reference:
https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=26617&d=405545&f=ST

I remembered back when I was playing Humans in Modern, the Kitesail Freebooter was very essential in knowing the opponent’s game plan aside from temporarily taking their best noncreature nonland out. That plus the copy effect of Phantasmal Image basically cuts them off while you proceed to aggro then with cheap creatures.

This is the same strategy with the Mono Black Aggro deck. This supports the maindeck Duress which I said that the deck’s slight adjustment which is also does not affect the mana curve as it is only for one Black mana.

Another thing I noticed in the creature lineup is the playset of Hunted Nightmare. It replaced the slot that for Rotting Regisaur and though it is at a lesser power, it cope up with the Menace ability and also that the drawback of Deathtouch counter is not that relevant given that most decks in the tournament only has three to four creatures in their decks.

Here below are a few video clips of their matchups during the Top 8.

Our first #PTFinals Quarterfinal is done, with @seminiki's Mono-Black Aggro running right over @raphlevymtg's team of Teferis and Yorions.

But Levy isn't out, he's just into the lower bracket! pic.twitter.com/cdSwgfOZSB

— Magic Esports (@MagicEsports) August 1, 2020

With a Heartless Act, @seminiki is up a match in the #PTFinals Grand Finals against @Lava_Axe.

I's a best-of-three matches format, so don't count Prinz out yet. Watch live at https://t.co/GF4H5so3jq pic.twitter.com/fmGII1zJQy

— Magic Esports (@MagicEsports) August 1, 2020

Aggressive-wise, this list is still consistent with the most one-drops are still included. I might try this again on the local tournament while the Nightmares are still pretty cheap at currently less than a dollar.

That is about for this deck tech highlight. Until the next blog post.