With Aetherdrift kicking off in just a few weeks, we’ve got time to take a look at the Standard meta before all the new cards enter the race.
The Magic Spotlight Series: Foundations tournament that took place in Atlanta, as well as the current Regional Championship Qualifier season, showcases the depth of decks available for Standard players right now.
Take a look at what you’re likely to face in your next Standard event with our tier list breakdown below.
Tier List
| Tier | Deck | Popularity | Metascore |
| Tier 1 | Dimir Midrange | 19.37% 🔼 | 111.93 |
| Gruul Aggro | 20.39% 🔼 | 103.02 | |
| Tier 2 | Esper Pixie | 8.01% 🆕 | 43.21 |
| Domain | 6.89% 🔽 | 31.34 | |
| Azorius Aggro | 5.96% 🔼 | 35.00 | |
| Golgari Midrange | 5.96% 🔽 | 26.91 | |
| Tier 3 | Mono White Tokens | 3.91% 🔽 | 19.65 |
| Red Deck Wins | 3.45% 🔽 | 16.74 | |
| Jeskai Convoke | 3.45% 🔽 | 14.00 | |
| Boros Mice | 2.61% 🔽 | 12.48 | |
| Selesnya Tokens | 2.42% 🔽 | 9.40 | |
| Dimir Control | 2.05% 🔽 | 10.15 | |
| Boros Control | 1.96% 🔼 | 8.88 | |
| Sultai/Simic Terror | 1.68% 🔽 | 7.42 |
- 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
While the meta hasn’t changed much since the last report, a new contender emerged in the form of Esper Pixie (or Esper Enchantments), which has gotten pretty popular in both digital play and local qualifiers this past month.
Despite the success of the arguably more streamlined Dimir Enchantments (or Dimir Bounce) deck that took second place at the MSS: Foundations Atlanta tournament, the Esper version is still the most preferred among players who like the synergistic archetype.
It seems Dimir players are flocking to the Dimir Midrange deck instead, thanks mainly to the strength of dsk-371-enduring-curiosity and dsk-220-kaito-bane-of-nightmares. The other Midrange archetype, Golgari, remains a popular choice for players who want flexible tools against most other decks.
Finally, Gruul Aggro continues to be the premier aggressive strategy in Standard, with efficient, powerful creatures that can absolutely dominate if the opponent’s hand is just a tad slow.
Tier 1
Dimir Midrange
Dimir has arguably the top midrange strategy right now and its significant presence in the meta proves it. Dimir Midrange was the most played deck in the Spotlight Series and had a big target on its back, yet it remains a top choice due to its overall strength.
With efficient targeted removal, sneaky permission spells and strong card draw, Dimir Midrange is great at getting ahead and keeping its lead.
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.
Having counters like woe-69-spell-stutter and aer-40-negate out of the sideboard is invaluable in sealing the deal against midrange and control matchups. Against aggro, more removal and dmu-107-sheoldred-the-apocalypse can help keep you alive until they run out of gas.
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. Plus, you can build it cheap, making it very popular among budget players.
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. The former, which the winner of the Spotlight Series employed, gives you a high roll that’s very hard to beat while the latter is a bit more resilient and has burn to remove pesky blockers and finish the opponent off.
A big advantage in going Gruul instead of mono red is woe-234-questing-druid-seek-the-beast, which provides pseudo card draw and a threat that grows, and khm-194-snakeskin-veil, which ensures that buffed attackers can scoff at removal.
Tier 2
Esper Pixie
Esper Pixie made a big splash in the Atlanta tournament, posting a win rate that’s only eclipsed by Dimir Bounce, which is simply a streamlined version of it. The deck 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.
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 Dimir Bounce version eschews the white creatures in favor of dsk-371-enduring-curiosity and a more consistent mana base. It’s similar to Dimir Midrange but with the enchantment shell instead.
Domain
Ramping into a full domain is still one of the most powerful things you can do in Standard, as proven by its strong third place finish in the Spotlight Series. It’s not as strong as it once was pre-rotation, but it’s still packed to the brim with game-winning bombs for those who like going over the top of what other decks can do.
dmu-228-zur-eternal-schemer plays really nicely with a bunch of Overlords, particularly dsk-194-overlord-of-the-hauntwoods which does it all: it ramps, gets you full domain, and enters the red zone.
As always, 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, lci-14-get-lost and sweepers.
Azorius Aggro
A fairly new deck that has been performing in recent events, Azorius Aggro focuses on going wide and tall to overwhelm opponents.
With several cheap creatures that create permanents, such as mkm-29-novice-inspector and lci-405-spyglass-siren, you can pump pwoe-25p-regal-bunnicorn and lci-359-warden-of-the-inner-sky into scary attackers fairly quickly.
Azorius Aggro is one of the cheapest decks you can build right now, though you’d really want a set of dsk-371-enduring-curiosity and dsk-259-floodfarm-verge to utilize its full potential.
Golgari Midrange
Overall, Golgari Midrange hasn’t been performing well lately, but that isn’t stopping its adherents from continuing to innovate it. There are numerous ways to build it and not just by tweaking the numbers on certain cards.
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.
So far, Golgari players have yet to agree on a refined list, though more creature-heavy versions with lci-113-preacher-of-the-schism and lci-211-sentinel-of-the-nameless-city are becoming more prevalent.
Tier 3
Mono White Tokens
Red Deck Wins
Jeskai Convoke
Boros Mice
Selesnya Tokens
Dimir Control
Boros Control
Sultai/Simic Terror
Final Thoughts
The current Standard meta feels fun and well-balanced for the most part, with plenty of options no matter your preferred colors or strategy.
Black seems to be pulling ahead, with several decks at the top tiers posting impressive results thanks to efficient removal and solid threats. Red remains an excellent aggro color and a top recommendation for those on a budget, but it’s not an overwhelming presence like in previous metas.
There’s still plenty of time to innovate on the decks you bring to your next tourney as we head into Aetherdrift spoiler season. Hopefully you can find inspiration in this tier list the next time you’re deciding which deck to play in Standard.
