The Throne of Eldraine mechanic, Adventure, is still not out of flavor in the Theros Beyond Death Standard metagame. The deck which is composed of 90% cards from the set, is proving to be a top-tier deck in the recent major Magic: the Gathering tournaments. It looks to be built around the card Lucky Clover but that is actually what makes the deck gain additional card value aside from its creatures with the Adventure ability.

Here below is a decklist that finished with 10 wins in the recent Mythic Point Challenge – Ikoria Tournament and was piloted by Brian Braun-duin:

Maindeck
4 Breeding Pool
6 Forest
4 Island
2 Mountain
3 Steam Vents
4 Stomping Ground
2 Temple of Abandon
1 Temple of Epiphany
1 Temple of Mystery

4 Beanstalk Giant
4 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Brazen Borrower
4 Edgewall Innkeeper
4 Fae of Wishes
4 Lovestruck Beast

3 Escape to the Wilds
1 Incubation / Incongruity
4 Lucky Clover
1 The Great Henge

Sideboard
3 Aether Gust
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Domri’s Ambush
1 Escape to the Wilds
1 Expansion / Explosion
1 Fling
1 Mystic Repeal
1 Negate
1 Once and Future
1 Return to Nature
1 Shadowspear
1 Sorcerous Spyglass
1 Storm’s Wrath

Source:
https://magic.gg/news/mythic-point-challenge-ikoria-mpl-and-rivals-league-10-win-decklists

The major essence of a control deck is to make sure they do not miss out on their land drops to have enough mana to cast their big spells. One way to do this is to have more lands in the deck such as 26 in the number of more or have ‘ramp’ spells in the list. One good example of this is the Standard deck I am sharing today. The deck is Bant Control and was one of the undefeated decks in the recent MTGO Standard League.

Check out its complete decklist below.

28 Lands
4 Breeding Pool
2 Fabled Passage
2 Forest
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
2 Plains
4 Temple Garden
2 Temple of Enlightenment
4 Temple of Mystery
3 Temple of Plenty

11 Creatures
3 Arboreal Grazer
4 Hydroid Krasis
4 Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath

14 Spells
4 Elspeth Conquers Death
4 Nissa, Who Shakes the World
2 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 Growth Spiral
3 Shatter the Sky

Sideboard
2 Aether Gust
2 Devout Decree
2 Dovin’s Veto
1 Heliod’s Intervention
4 Lovestruck Beast
2 Mystical Dispute
2 Sorcerous Spyglass

Source:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mtgo-standings/standard-league-2020-02-27

I was able to receive the results via Messenger of the MTG Iloilo community Saturday Standard tournament held last February 1, 2020, at Pro Rei Place. Twenty players were in attendance and it is a good number to gather the data.

The newly updated format with Theros Beyond Death went back to the basics of deck archetypes. I was able to observe the games during rounds two to four and checked on those who were at the top of the rankings. There were a few Blue-White Control while aggro decks were also present. I see that this version of the control deck was very successful in the metagame and seemed to continue its dominance in the format. Here below is the decklist:

Mainboard
2 Castle Ardenvale
2 Castle Vantress
4 Hallowed Fountain
8 Island
6 Plains
4 Temple of Enlightenment

3 Dream Trawler

4 Absorb
2 Dovin’s Veto
4 Shatter the Sky
1 Thassa’s Intervention
4 Thirst for Meaning
4 Banishing Light
4 Omen of the Sea
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
4 The Birth of Meletis

Sideboard
3 Aether Gust
1 Dovin’s Veto
1 Elspeth Conquers Death
1 Elspeth, Sun’s Nemesis
1 Glass Casket
1 Heliod’s Intervention
1 Mystical Dispute
2 Narset, Parter of Veils
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Whirlwind Denial

The setting of the decks is far different from what I brewed last time during the Theros Beyond Death spoiler season. It is mainly because of the playset copies of The Birth of Meletis which makes sure you hit your lands on turns 3 and 4. This card also provides a blocker and lets you gain life. Banishing Light is the default spot removal that is set to the 3-mana curve line of the deck alongside Teferi. The deck’s sole win condition is Dream Trawler, which is very powerful in the late game. Castle Ardenvale can also provide an army of 1/1s once the battlefield is stabilized.

The second deck in feature is the Mono-Red aggro or Red Deck Wins as most players call it. Here below is a decklist.

Mainboard

3 Castle Embereth
17 Mountain

4 Anax, Hardened in the Forge
1 Bonecrusher Giant
4 Fervent Champion
2 Phoenix of Ash
4 Rimrock Knight
2 Robber of the Rich
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
4 Scorch Spitter
4 Tin Street Dodger

4 Light Up the Stage
4 Shock
3 Embercleave

Sideboard
3 Claim the Firstborn
2 Embereth Shieldbreaker
2 Experimental Frenzy
3 Lava Coil
1 The Akroan War
4 Unchained Berserker

The aggressive start is still there and the new inclusions from Theros Beyond Death set are Anax and Phoenix of Ash. Anax looks to be devastating with Embercleave and the Phoenix can be a late-game damage source with its Escape ability.

The Top 4 finishers in last Saturday’s Standard tournament at Pro Reis place are as follows:
1st, Ace – Blue-White Control
2nd, Earl – Rakdos Sacrifice
3rd, Franco – Mono-Red Aggro
4th, Ericson – Simic Ramp
20 players, 5 rounds of gameplay.

The expected metagame might still be the same in the coming weeks unless a major tournament overseas provides a breakout deck but I doubt it will be only some deck upgrades or card tech in an existing archetype.

That is about for this local metagame report. Until the next post and thanks for reading.

Happy Thursday all. For today’s Theros Beyond Death Standard deck update, we have a control deck with Artifacts, Enchantments and with a centerpiece card: Doom Foretold. The deck is called Esper Doom and has been off the metagame scene in the past month. With the new set, the deck got new card components to play with and here below is what I think that the new deck would look like.

4 Doom Foretold
2 Elspeth’s Nightmare
4 Golden Egg
4 Guild Globe
4 Oath of Kaya
2 Treacherous Blessing

3 Dance of the Manse
2 Kaya’s Wrath
2 Mortify
3 Shatter the Sky
4 Teferi, Time Raveler
1 Liliana, Dreadhorde General

1 Castle Ardenvale
1 Castle Vantress
3 Fabled Passage
3 Godless Shrine
4 Hallowed Fountain
1 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp
4 Temple of Silence
4 Watery Grave