MTGGoldfish is supported by its audience. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn a commission.
Browse > Home / Strategy / Articles / A Metagame for Christmas

A Metagame for Christmas


Heading into the holidays we all have a lot to be thankful for. Whether it is family, friends, or Magic, this is a great time of the year. Personally I'm thankful for all 3 of those, but especially the current state of Standard right now. I can't remember the last time we had a metagame this diverse. You can take anywhere from 6 to 10 different archetypes into a tournament and have a chance at being the best deck in the room that day. It's a great environment that has developed, grown, and evolved to a point where there still isn't really a "top" deck. One could argue that there are as many as 5 Tier One decks currently. Let's dive into the post Worlds/SCG Invitational metagame.

First up is Dylan Donegan's take on Yuuya Watanabe's Jeskai Tokens list from Worlds. Dylan tore through the Invitational with this list finishing 7-1 and taking home the top prize. While his maindeck currently is the same as Yuuya's, he's made some interesting changes to the sideboard. It seems he wasn't happy with the all-out control plan Yuuya had for the sideboard, and instead allowed himself more cards that helped him control the board while continuing to apply pressure on his opponents. This deck continues to do some broken things with Jeskai Ascendency and at times looks unstoppable.

Gone from the sideboard are Anger of the Gods, End Hostilities, and Magma Spray. Instead Dylan opted to bring in Hushwing Gryff, allowing him to look at cards like Hornet Queen and Siege Rhino as speed bumps instead of stop signs. With Whip or Erebos decks out in full force in addition to token decks, 1-for-1 removal is worse. Having a single card that can apply pressure as well as stop those pesky ETB effects that can stonewall the deck seems like a great change. Another card that he added was Arc Lightning, which is most likely a change made with the mirror in mind. Although losing the ability to take out an entire set of Hornet tokens from Anger of the Gods hurts, being able to keep your own board intact and keeping up the pressure seems is great. While it's not as good against the Whip decks since it doesn't exile opponents creatures, he still packs plenty of hate with Disdainful Stroke and Erase.

Abzan has continued to be a top deck throughout all of Khans of Tarkir standard. McLaren's list may be the most controlling version yet as he cut down all the way to 12 creatures. The list is much more reminiscent of Mono-Black from last standard: it plays a game where it just kills all of your threats and uses one or two monsters to bring you to zero. Granted it doesn't have a Pack Rat to run away with the game, Siege Rhino is still a threat that can be very difficult to deal with. This newest iteration runs a maindeck Duneblast and 14 spells which can either disrupt or remove a threat. Even the dedicated control decks will have a tough time dealing with the deck, as post board it can cut all of those for a suite of card draw featuring Read the Bones and a plethora of Planeswalkers. This version also cuts down on the double white casting cost cards like Wingmate Roc and Brimaz, King of Oreskos to allow for a little cleaner manabase. While Abzan typically has few mana issues thanks to Sylvan Caryatid, reducing the double white casting cost cards to the 2 End Hostilities in the sideboard is not something to overlook. Over the last few weeks before Fate Reforged is released, Abzan Midrange may start to have a more difficult spot in the metagame with the rise of decks like UW Heroic.

Blue/White Heroic has grown from being Tom Ross's baby to the premier aggressive deck in the format. While mostly absent from Worlds, the deck continues to make an appearance in just about every other Top 8 that comes out. Heroic pilots finished 2nd at GP San Antonio and in the top 4 of the SCG Invitational, as well as being 3 of the 8 decks which finished the Invitational with 7-1 or better records. The deck has a lot of play to it; its main goal is to create one large threat that is difficult to handle. The Heliod's Pilgrim package continues to be popular, as digging up Ordeal of Thassa to draw extra cards continues to be good. The newest addition to the deck seems to be the addition of Mortal Obstinacy as a way to help control Whip and Ascendency decks. Speaking of Whip decks...

Reanimator decks have been all the rage the past few weeks, as it turns out recurring Hornet Queen is a pretty good plan. Shahar Shenhar went back-to-back at Worlds with his version of Sidisi Whip which includes a few copies of Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver to give him an edge in the mirror and other midrange matchups. He tries to get on the board fast with Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and create an army to overwhelm opponents. The blue in the deck not only allows Sidisi to be an option, but allows for counter magic out of the sideboard to help the deck against pure control decks. The Sultai Charms in the sideboard give the deck a flexible card that can come in against multiple matchups.

After Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and company started making appearences in the metagame, it wasn't long until the Abzan version joined the party. Forsaking Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and counter magic for more raw power with Siege Rhino, Abzan looks to go over the top of the other Whip decks by including Elspeth, Sun's Champion and Sorin, Solemn Visitor to give the deck another angle of attack. Access to white also gives the deck a trump in the Hornet Queen mirror in Soul of Theros, allowing the deck to swing in with reckless abandon and minimal worry. On Magic Online, you may have begun to notice there are a few lists our there combining these two together for a 4 color build which uses both Sidisi, Brood Tyrant and Siege Rhino.

The last of the Whip decks is GB Constellation. This deck uses whip of erebos along with powerful Constellation cards like Eidolon of Blossoms and Doomwake Giant, and pairs them with Pharika, God of Affliction to create powerful board states with strong synergies. It provides a powerful board presence which can also bury you in card advantage if you get to untap with an Eidolon of Blossoms in play. It also uses Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx as a way to allow the deck to go over the top of the other slow decks in the format.

Reid played another version of this deck at the SCG Players' Championship where he splashed Blue for cards like Disdainful Stroke and Kiora, the Crashing Wave. Without actually talking to Reid, I would assume that he had added the blue to help his matchups against UW Heroic and Control decks. Kiora, the Crashing Wave shuts down Heroic's main threat and can provide a difficult threat to deal with in the control games, especially if she ultimates and starts making Krakens each turn. Disdainful Stroke protects against Sweepers and allows the deck another angle to fight against fellow Whip decks. This may be the future of this deck as the format continues to adjust.

Conclusion

While it wouldn't be difficult to argue that decks using Whip of Erebos are starting to take over this metagame, there are still plenty of options to go to battle with. Jeskai Tokens, UW Heroic, Abzan Midrange, along with the Whip decks are starting to cement their place at the top of the format. However there is still plenty of room for decks like Temur Midrange, Mardu Midrange, Mono-Red Aggro, Blue-Black or White-Blue Control, and GR Aggro to make their splashes in the tournament scene before the next set is upon us. Starting next week, Wizards will be starting to drop spoilers for Fate Reforged. Hopefully, they do a great job at continuing to provide us with a very diverse and fun Standard environment. I look forward to discussing the impact of spoiled cards on the current metagame and if any new decks can be created. Until then, I look forward to continue the grind on the PPTQ circuit.



More on MTGGoldfish ...

Image for Single Scoop: Mono Red Reanimator Exists? single scoop
Single Scoop: Mono Red Reanimator Exists?

When you think of Reanimator, its usually not in red! We had to try this standard deck out!

Mar 29 | by TheAsianAvenger
Image for Outlaws of Thunder Junction Spoilers — March 28 | Geralf, Pushed 2-drops and Terror of the Peaks Returns! daily spoilers
Outlaws of Thunder Junction Spoilers — March 28 | Geralf, Pushed 2-drops and Terror of the Peaks Returns!

Third day of spoiler is here with a new Geralf, some pushed 2-drops and Terror of the Peaks!

Mar 28 | by mtggoldfish
Image for Vintage 101: Vintage March 2024 Metagame! vintage 101
Vintage 101: Vintage March 2024 Metagame!

Joe Dyer dives into the current Vintage metagame in March 2024!

Mar 28 | by Joe Dyer
Image for Against the Odds: I Explode Yargle's Corpse on an Ill-Tempered Loner against the odds
Against the Odds: I Explode Yargle's Corpse on an Ill-Tempered Loner

What are the odds of winning by exploding Yargle and Multani's corpse on an Ill-Tempered Loner? Let's find out!

Mar 28 | by SaffronOlive

Layout Footer

Never miss important MTG news again!

All emails include an unsubscribe link. You may opt-out at any time. See our privacy policy.

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Twitch
  • Instagram
  • Tumblr
  • RSS
  • Email
  • Discord
  • YouTube

Price Preference

Default Price Switcher