The current Magic: the Gathering Standard format is looking to be a healthy metagame in the sense that the balance of the top-tier deck archetypes is moderated fairly. There is no deck build that seems to be overwhelming other decks and the sideboard can basically answer most of them.

Currently, the variance of aggro goes with Boros Tokens/Convoke, Mono-Red Aggro, Gruul Aggro, Dimir, Selesnya, and Mono-White Aggro. The midrange goes with Golgari, Orzhov, Rakdos, and 4-color Legends, and the control archetypes are Azorius, Dimir, Orzhov, Temur, and Esper Control. We have been posting videos of the recent matchups on Ranked Standard grind on MTG Arena and did some observation of the matchups of these decks. We will then base these results on adjusting possible sideboard options and explore further the other strategies.

Here are some of the recent matchups recorded and posted on my YouTube channel Deathmarked TV. 

When the latest version of the Quintorius in his planeswalker form was released in the Lost Caverns of Ixalan set, I got pretty excited about the deck strategy that will come out of it for the Standard format. With new components going with the deck list, I expected it to be a new deck candidate for the top-tier category.

It turned out to be not what I deemed it to be as it was not that efficient and powerful enough to compete with the other decks in the metagame at that time. However, I did not lose hope.

I was happy to see a familiar deck build when browsing through the recent Standard decklist posted per event at the MTG Top 8 website. It got a good finish in the tournament, and the deck build splashed a third color, Green, to open access to Questing Druid. I think this is a good setup as the deck needs an additional threat under the two-drop slot whilst also providing card advantage.

I made a video deck tech of the build which I uploaded on my Youtube channel. You guys can also view it here below.

Today’s blog post of certain deck gameplay in the Murders at Karlov Manor Standard format shows the combination of the control deck shell and a reanimation splash. That deck is the Rakdos Discover build which caters to the “Discover” Mechanic from Lost Caverns of Ixalan.

The deck can process to curve out pretty well from its two-drop and three-drop creatures while also going well with efficient spot removals against opponents’ creatures. The top curve Trumpeting Carnosaur provides a good card advantage with Discover 5 and has a 7/6 Trampling body.

The deck’s sideboard plan also works against most of the archetypes in the Standard format, which you can also see in the sideboard games in the video below.

Check them out, and don’t forget to like and subscribe to the channel.

One of the prestigious Magic: the Gathering tournaments in Japan is the Japan Standard Cup, which was held last weekend & was hosted by Big Magic. This event featured the newest MTG set, Murders at Karlov Manor, which showed how the new cards would affect the Standard format.

With 448 participants, it is pretty high attendance and a lot of rounds of gameplay to determine which deck would be triumphant. After the smoke of the battle had settled, Dimir Aggro emerged as the best deck of the tournament. It finished at a record of 8-0-2 in the Swiss and disposed of a lot of other Top-Tier Standard decks in the playoffs.

Here below is a decklist of Dimir Aggro piloted by Yutaro Tokuyama for Standard with Murders at Karlov Manor.

Maindeck:
4 Faerie Mastermind
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
3 Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor
3 Preacher of the Schism
2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Ertai Resurrected
1 Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal
4 Spyglass Siren

2 Subterranean Schooner
4 Go for the Throat
2 Make Disappear
2 Cut Down
3 Invasion of Amonkhet

4 Shipwreck Marsh
4 Underground River
4 Darkslick Shores
4 Swamp
3 Island
2 Restless Reef
2 Mirrex
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Otawara, Soaring City

Sideboard:
1 Cut Down
2 Duress
2 Negate
2 Disdainful Stroke
1 Parasitic Grasp
1 Anoint with Affliction
1 Liliana of the Veil
1 Tishana’s Tidebinder
2 Night Clubber
2 Gix’s Command

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=52196&d=587538&f=ST

One of the Standard deck tech brews for the new cards from the Murders at Karlov Manor set goes with the core “stompy” build. That is curving early on with cheap mana cost, high-power, and toughness creatures, and winning the game with huge damage output in just a few attacks.

The current Standard sets go with the same deck build strategy, thus, I made a reference deck tech video and the list was posted on the MTG Goldfish website under the User-submitted decks.

The Standard Mono-Green Stompy deck utilized the new MKM cards, Sharp-eyed Rookie and Axebane Ferox to curve out from Turn 1 while also getting card and board advantage for each creature cast. Do check out the video deck tech below of the card-by-card strategy discussion.