Table of Contents
How did Aetherdrift impact the Standard meta? We’re certainly seeing a shakeup since the last meta report, with several deck archetypes rising in popularity and others experiencing a sharp decline.
Take a look at what you’re likely to face in your next Standard event or while queuing up in Arena with our tier list breakdown below.
Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Meta Share |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Domain Overlords | 10% 🔼 |
| Esper Pixie | 7% 🔽 | |
| Gruul Aggro | 6% 🔽 | |
| Golgari Midrange | 6% 🔼 | |
| Tier 2 | Mono White Tokens | 4% 🔼 |
| Dimir Bounce | 4% 🔽 | |
| Dimir Midrange | 4% 🔽 | |
| Goblins | 3% 🆕 | |
| Tier 3 | Azorius Oculus | 2% 🔼 |
| Jeskai Oculus | 2% 🆕 | |
| Azorius Control | 1% 🆕 | |
| Mono Red | 1% 🔽 | |
| Selesnya Tokens | 1% 🔽 | |
| Azorius Aggro | 1% 🔽 | |
| Turbo Roots | 1% 🆕 |
Notes:
- Tier 1: The most dominant decks of the moment. This implies the percentage of victories, presence in the meta, and favorable games.
- Tier 2: These will be solid decks with a relevant presence in the meta. A good pilot will probably be able to play one of these archetypes and have a good result in a competitive event. They usually have at least one difficult match against the rest of the archetypes.
- Tier 3: In this tier, we find decks with little presence, but enough to be considered when preparing for a tournament. In addition to their low popularity, they are decks that present two or more complicated matchups against the meta. This prevents them until the release of additional support or a meta shift from standing out. However, players who dedicate themselves to mastering these archetypes usually have the opportunity to obtain good results.
- Silent Performer: Lastly, at the end of the spectrum we find some decks that are little to almost non-present in the current metagame state. However, these archetypes may have won or reached the Top 8 in a relevant tournament or the Top 16 in any event with more than 100 players. The sample size may be too small to represent their actual strength.
This Standard meta report covers the results of major events in the past 30 days. This includes major tournaments, RCQs, MTGO leagues, and in-store events.
Meta Overview
The recent Pro Tour: Aetherdrift made big waves in shaping the current Standard BO3 metagame. The winning deck, Domain Overlords, has surged to the forefront, becoming the most popular archetype right now.
Esper Pixie is solidly the bounce archetype of choice. Gruul Aggro and Dimir Midrange have fallen by the wayside, in terms of numbers at least, though they are still formidable weapons in the right hands.
So far, Goblins seems to be the biggest addition of Aetherdrift to the Standard meta. A few cards have made it in some of the already popular archetypes but it's pretty fair to say the impact of the new set has been underwhelming.
Several new decks entered the meta, including Jeskai Oculus, Golgari Graveyard (which posted a Top 8 finish in the Pro Tour), Omniscience, Turbo Roots, and Azorius Control. It's exciting to see what new innovations happen as the meta develops.
Tier 1
Domain Overlords
The outstanding performance of Domain in the Pro Tour certainly boosted its popularity. It’s got so many powerful things it can do in the late game, with all the tools to make it there.
dmu-228-zur-eternal-schemer plays nicely with big enchantments like otp-4-leyline-binding and impending Overlords. dsk-194-overlord-of-the-hauntwoods is so strong in this deck. It does everything you need: it ramps, gets you full domain, and enters the red zone.
Fast starts by an opponent can put a lot of pressure on Domain decks, but you have enough anti-aggressive answers in otp-4-leyline-binding, dmu-36-temporary-lockdown and a new card from Aetherdrift, dft-25-rides-end.
Esper Pixie
Esper Pixie is all value, with efficient permanents that impact the board as soon as they enter along with plenty of ways of bouncing and recasting them. Though there are several archetypes utilizing this strategy, Esper Pixie is all-in on it.
dsk-220-kaito-bane-of-nightmares does double duty in being a bounce spell as well as a payoff, letting you return otj-20-nurturing-pixie and dsk-58-fear-of-isolation, which also bounce value enchantments like dsk-111-nowhere-to-run and woe-95-hopeless-nightmare. blb-75-stormchasers-talent combos really well with otj-74-this-town-aint-big-enough, so you can keep looping for even more value.
The Esper version has now become more popular than the Dimir version, which eschews the white creatures in favor of dsk-371-enduring-curiosity and a more consistent mana base. Aetherdrift adds dft-97-momentum-breaker, a versatile tool that works against aggro and control matchups alike.
Gruul Aggro
If you want to hit hard and hit fast, pick Gruul Aggro. It’s so strong and easy to play that you often won’t need to mind what your opponent is doing, and simply focus on bringing their life to zero. It has a great matchup against Domain, so it's a great choice for this meta.
The key choice when building the deck is deciding whether to go dsk-379-leyline-of-resonance or dsk-157-screaming-nemesis plus blb-180-innkeepers-talent.
woe-234-questing-druid-seek-the-beast is the other big reason to go Gruul instead of mono-red. It provides pseudo card draw and a threat that grows, and khm-194-snakeskin-veil, which ensures that buffed attackers can scoff at removal.
Golgari Midrange
Overall, Golgari Midrange didn't gain anything from Aetherdrift. Golgari players continue to innovate though, as a list sporting 4-of Phyrexian Obliterator and Bushwhack that did well in the Pro Tour can attest.
Most builds agree on including 3-4 copies each of pwoe-231p-mosswood-dreadknight-dread-whispers, lci-113-preacher-of-the-schism and lci-211-sentinel-of-the-nameless-city, along with the usual black removal.
The addition of fdn-227-llanowar-elves to Magic: Foundations is big, making it the most recent 4-of in the deck. fdn-661-maelstrom-pulse is also seeing play as a catch-all removal spell, while fdn-234-vivien-reid and fdn-133-soulstone-sanctuary give it additional late-game tools.
Tier 2
Mono White Tokens
Gaining nothing from Aetherdrift, Mono White Tokens is impressive in that it still puts up respectable numbers. It has languished for while now, with the rise of Domain making it struggle even further.
The game plan is simple: survive until you mom-40-sunfall then hit back with an ever-growing horde of tokens. This controlling strategy is great against decks that can't easily handle creature swarms. Meanwhile, you’re fine throwing expendable troops in the line of fire until they get big enough with woe-38-virtue-of-loyalty-ardenvale-fealty and blb-6-caretakers-talent.
blb-6-caretakers-talent and dsk-6-enduring-innocence go a long way in generating card advantage for the deck. mom-263-realmbreaker-the-invasion-tree against mirrors and other slower matchups is an interesting win con with all their card draw engines.
Dimir Bounce
Dimir Bounce feels like a hybrid of Esper Pixie and Dimir Midrange, with the value engine of the former and the tempo elements of the latter. Without white, it's more streamlined and can run dsk-371-enduring-curiosity to go with evasive blue creatures.
Piloting Dimir Bounce is not easy and can explain some of the downswing of the deck's popularity. It has the same game plan as Esper Pixie but can go for a more aggro and tempo oriented approach with early drops lci-78-spyglass-siren and dsk-59-floodpits-drowner, bouncing blockers in the way.
Dimir Midrange
No longer at the top of Standard, Dimir Midrange did not do too well at the Pro Tour, leading to its decline. Still, with efficient targeted removal, sneaky permission spells and strong card draw, Dimir Midrange is great at getting ahead and keeping its lead in most matchups.
Once you start getting unblocked attacks through, which is easy with flying and flash creatures, dsk-220-kaito-bane-of-nightmares and dsk-371-enduring-curiosity are excellent in making sure the opponent has a tougher time playing catch-up.
New cards from Aetherdrift that have found their way to Dimir Midrange lists include dft-215-oildeep-gearhulk and dft-92-intimidation-tactics, which can snipe key cards proactively.
Goblins
Aetherdrift gave us a lot of interesting new goblins, with dft-134-howlsquad-heavy leading the charge giving your gobbos haste. At max speed, it combos nicely with m13-138-krenko-mob-boss to let you cast everything, too. dft-115-burnout-bashtronaut and dft-121-draconautics-engineer give the deck more payoffs late-game.
Plus, dft-249-avishkar-raceway can turn dead draws into better cards. Or you can use to keep up the pressure after sweepers with hasted creatures.
The synergies between goblin token generators and goblin lords is strong enough to push the staple mono-red deck lower in overall popularity.
Tier 3
Azorius Oculus
Jeskai Oculus
Azorius Control
Mono Red
Selesnya Tokens
Azorius Aggro
Turbo Roots
Final Thoughts
It's still early into this new Standard meta so the numbers are seeing a lot more brews trying out the new cards from Aetherdrift. That said, there seems to be too few new archetypes emerging from the expansion, as even most of the pros at the Pro Tour relied on tried-and-true builds.
There's promise with some of the new decks that performed well at the event though, so we'll have to wait and see what innovations players come up with in the coming weeks.
Comment below with your preferred BO3 deck!
