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.

In the Standard 2022 format, one of the metagame decks that will not be affected by the upcoming rotation is the Mono-Green Aggro or so-called Stompy deck. With the coming release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, we check on which Green cards would be of possible upgrade on the component of the deck whether it is a new creature, a removal spell, or an enchantment to boost your dudes.

Firstly, let us see the current deck build of Mono-Green for Standard 2022:

Standard 2022 Mono-Green Stompy by Daninja

Creatures
4 Gnarled Professor
4 Jaspera Sentinel
4 Kazandu Mammoth/Kazandu Valley
4 Old-Growth Troll
4 Swarm Shambler
4 Werewolf Pack Leader

Sorcery (2)
2 Blizzard Brawl

Instant (2)
2 Inscription of Abundance

Artifact (4)
4 Esika’s Chariot

Enchantment (4)
4 Ranger Class

Land (24)
4 Faceless Haven
4 Lair of the Hydra
16 Snow-Covered Forest

The list looks stable enough basing on the creature curve, the number of removals, and other utility cards. Its land base is on Snow lands which benefits to activate the man-land Faceless Haven.

Our Innistrad: Midnight Hunt card candidates for this deck build are the following:

Augur of Autumn lets you play lands from the top of your library and its Coven ability is somewhat easy to fulfill with the current creature lineup.

Primal Adversary is a good late-game mana sink because the more you pay for its ETB ability, the more it gets bigger and turns your lands into 3/3 Wolf. It makes it a one-Wolf army and a good hold if your initial assault has been dealt with.

Saryth, the Viper’s Fang is more of sideboard card against spot removals of Control decks because of the hexproof it provides to your other creatures. The deathtouch might not be needed as your creatures are mostly big enough to overpower other creatures.

Unnatural Growth is the newest situational Overrun Enchantment for your dudes and it is leaning to a win-more card but it is good to have at least one copy main deck.

This Green Grave Titan or what they say online as Wolf Titan, Tovolar’s Huntmaster, is a good top deck bomb and it gets you to win from there. Much more if combined with Esika’s Chariot to generate more Wolf tokens. Its flip version, Tovolar’s Packleader gives a bonus to fight potential blockers or threats. Good thing it is just Rare and Temur or Sultai midrange might get good use of this creature in their lineup.

Personally, I’d really like to try at least one of them in the maindeck given that I am a funky player in my aggro deck builds, but it might lessen the deck’s consistency so maybe I would consider a thing or two. As for an updated decklist, I will have it on a separate blog post so we’ll wrap things up by saying that Mono-Green will surely enjoy these new cards from Innistrad. The complete set spoiler is already up by the way.

Until the next blog post.

Here is a quick decklist for one of the archetypes that will gain a huge boost with the release of Dominaria in the Standard format. The deck is Mono Green Aggro which is already gaining followers from the recent tournament results in MTGO Standard league. Below is the possible look of the deck in DOM Standard:

Creatures
4 Jadelight Ranger
4 Llanowar Elves
4 Merfolk Branchwalker
4 Resilient Khenra
2 Rhonas the Indomitable
4 Steel Leaf Champion
2 Territorial Allosaurus
4 Untamed Kavu
2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
1 Verdurous Gearhulk
1 Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar

Spells
4 Blossoming Defense
2 Wild Onslaught

Lands
16 Forest
4 Hashep Oasis
2 Memorial to Unity