A new meta is upon us! Just like Duskmourn, small changes here and there are slowly shaping The House into a new world for everyone interested in this format.
First and foremost, I have to make clear that we will make a fresh start every time a new set arrives. This means that the Tier List will be composed only of decks that made a top 16 on a big event after Duskmourn's release. If you want to check viable strategies from the past meta that could be upgraded for Duskmourn's Standard, please check our last Meta Tier List & Report here:
Despite this clarification, we will track up and down movements between the tiers of existing archetypes that reappear in this new meta; with or without new cards.
Tiers
- 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 have little to almost non-presence in the current state of the meta. However, these archetypes may have won or reached the Top 4 in a relevant tournament or a top 8 in a 100+ players tournament. The sample size may be too small to represent their real strength.
This meta-report will analyze the top 16 of the last four big tournaments from 27/09 to 29/09 2024.
Meta Overview
A few pleasant surprises here and there, and some expected acquaintances. Gruul Aggro returns to the top claiming its spot as The King on the Hill. However, even if we know aggressive strategies are fundamental in a fresh metagame state, Gruul is not there without new cards.
Leyline of Resonance and Turn Inside Out can push an insane amount of damage while letting us keep up the aggression above removals thanks to the manifest dread ability from Turn Inside Out.
These changes combined with other successful Red-centric aggressive builds make the line between Gruul Aggro, Boros Mice, and Red Deck Wins very thin I'm also still not talking about Non-Lizards Rakdos Aggro and Mardu Aggro.
Besides deciding what iteration of Red Aggro is the best, some archetypes with new cards and twists are still contenders in this new meta as UW Oculus, and we also have a few completely new archetypes like UW Enchantments fighting for became a solid choice as the format matures.
Let's dig into the numbers!
Top 16 Archetypes
- Gruul Aggro: 10 🔼
- Dimir Aggro: 7 🔼
- Domain: 5 🔼
- RDWx Aggro: 5 🔼
- Azorius Artifacts: 4 🔼
- Mono White Control: 4 🔼
- Orzhov Aggro: 3 🔽
- Simic Terror: 3
- UW Oculus: 3 🆕
- Boros Control: 2 🔼
- Mardu Aggro: 2 🆕
- Squirming Emergence: 2 🔼
- UW Enchantments: 2 🆕
- 4/5C Legends: 1 🔼
- Boros Mice: 1
- Golgari Midrange: 1 🔽
- Gruul Terror: 1 🔼
- Naya Domain: 1 🆕
- Rakdos Aggro: 1 🆕
- Rakdos Sacrifice: 1 🆕
🔼 - The deck has a higher top 16 appearance % from our last meta report.
🔽 - The deck has fewer top 16 appearance % from our last meta report.
🆕 - First top 16 appearance in the current Standard metagame.
Tier List
| Tier | Archetype |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | - Gruul Aggro 🔼 - Dimir Aggro 🔼 - Domain 🔼 - RDWx Aggro 🔼 - Azorius Artifacts 🔼 - Mono White Control |
| Tier 2 | - Orzhov Aggro 🔽 - Simic Terror - UW Oculus 🆕 - Boros Control 🔼 - Squirming Emergence 🔽 - UW Enchantments 🆕 - Golgari Midrange 🔽 - Mardu Aggro 🆕 |
| Tier 3 | - Gruul Terror 🔽 - Naya Domain 🆕 - Rakdos Aggro 🆕 |
| Silent Performer | - Boros Mice - 4/5C Legends - Rakdos Sacrifice 🆕 |
🔼 – The deck has improved its position on the chart. This includes movements within the same tier.
🔽 – The deck has lost positions on the table. This includes movements within the same tier.
🆕 – First appearance in the tier list.
Tier 1
Gruul Aggro 🔼
Our first deck is a good example of what I have been talking about the fine line between Red-centric aggressive decks.
Thanks to the powerful combination of Leyline of Resonance and pump spells like Turn Inside Out this type of deck doesn't have much room for second-color cards anymore. Many Gruul lists stop playing Questing Druid and other good cards such as Innkeeper's Talent.
Many Red aggressive archetypes are now differentiated from each other just by the support color they choose for this core.
Gruul support key pieces are Snakeskin Veil and Pawpatch Formation.
Dimir Aggro 🔼
It looks like Dimir adapted faster to the new format than Orzhov. Even if some Dimir pilots are still playing the old iteration of Dimir, Koki Kondo incorporates three new cards to his Dimir build, making him finish in 5th place in the biggest Standard tournaments since Duskmourn released 102 players!
Four Unstoppable Slasher may seem too much. However, a 2/3 with Deathtouch that comes back for three mana is a good deal. If this hits once it can chop half of your opponent's life on top of its good stats, making it a good card that Orzhov or Golgari may also integrate.
Enduring Curiosity is what Blue aggressive tempo-ish decks always like. Any way of drawing cards that also have the chance to keep up the aggression is a good plan for Dimir. 4/3 with Flash is good for surprises, and the chance of not losing the invested mana thanks to how this came back to play as an Enchantment is fantastic.
Domain 🔼
In a similar way to Dimir Aggro, some Domain players didn't innovate this weekend. Nevertheless, LukasDusek2 and Bayashi _ play a very innovative Domain build combining Zur, Eternal Schemer with Duskmourn's overlords.
Overlord of the Hauntwoods makes iterations as Naya Domain possible. Thanks to Everywhere tokens, the need for Streets of New Capenna lands seems finally surpassed. Don't get me wrong, Surveil lands are also good.
Now, if you transform Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Overlord of the Mistmoors into enchantment creatures with Zur, Eternal Schemer we may play these overlords for its Impending cost and still attack with them the turn afterward.
Giving Deatouch, Lifelink, and Hexproof to the Overlords with Zur makes this play even stronger.
Overgrown Zealot is just the cherry on top.
RDWx Aggro 🔼
This list gives me the perfect moment to explain the slight differences between Red aggressive decks in detail.
If you look at this list closer you may realize the only non-Red card it plays is Callous Sell-Sword. Many websites may call this archetype Rakdos Aggro, and even if it plays four Blackcleave Cliff and four Sulfurous Springs, for me this is nothing but another iteration of Red Deck Wins.
We may see some people playing Duress or similar cards on the sideboard, but even that doesn't justify the Rakdos name.
Azorius Artifacts 🔼
I put two approaches to Azorius Artifacts because it is important to understand what I have been talking about archetype names.
In this case, Hamuda plays the classic Steel Seraph iteration of the archetype. It has many of the common cards for it like Zoetic Glyph and Subterranean Schooner.
Nevertheless, even if Gateway_49305 plays new cards like Enduring Innocence and Overlord of the Mistmoors[/cards], key cards as [card]Zoetic Glyph and Subterranean Schooner are still there.
The focal point is letting you know that innovating and giving existing successful archetypes a new twist may work in your favor.
Also, I found incorporating Unidentified Hovership into the archetype is super strong.
Mono White Control
One more week and even with Duskmourn released, Mono White stands strong as the best way of playing reactively instead of proactively in the current Standard metagame.
Mono White Control is another example of how easy to splash in this format without mutating into a new archetype is. Thanks to Elegant Parlor this deck can play Imodane's Recruiter, a card that we will typically see on Convoke. More token generators and an attack boost for our team work better as expected in a Control core.
TaylorSpain decklist is an example of how old acquaintances may still work amazingly well without new cards. However, Overlord of the Mistmoors may be good here, right?
Tier 2
Orzhov Aggro 🔽
One of the biggest archetypes during the Bloomborrow era has fallen hard during Duskmourn's first weeks.
However, I don't think Orzhov will remain in Tier 2 longer than 1 or 2 more weeks. First of all, many of Orzhov's renowned pilots played something else, and then, people who stayed on Orzhov may not have found the correct numbers yet.
Overlord of the Mistmoors[/cards] is an amazing card, and [card]Overlord of the Balemurk makes me remember Takenuma, Abandoned Mire ability but for not only Legendary creatures.
Let's see what happens next week. If Orzhov pilots adapt their strategy as well as Dimir, the story may change.
Simic Terror
This archetype solidifies its position as the best budget deck of the format. Without the need for new cards and a spicy Red sideboard that you can find thanks to Analyze the Pollen, playing competitively for less than $20 is possible on MTGO.
I was fascinated with Caves during our last weeks, and it's cheaper than Simic Terror, however, getting Botanical Sanctum, Yavimaya Coast, and Hedge Maze is never a bad move. You need dual lands for newer decks, and making a full competitive deck just by adding commons and uncommon cards is a fantastic deal.
You may check the Caves archetype in our past meta reports:
UW Oculus 🆕
This is one of my favorite new archetypes. Or may I say "not so new"?
UW Oculus is just a new iteration of UW Mentor, so similar that I was thinking about calling this Mentorless Azorius.
If we look carefully, some people finally respect graveyard strategies a little more with full sets of Rest in Piece in their sideboards. However, even if Leyline of the Void is available with Duskmourn's release, the Black enchantment is still out of the game.
If UW Mentor/Oculus, Caves, Simic Terror, or Sultai Emergence are viable now, even in a metagame that adopts Leyline of the Void things may not change much.
Abhorrent Oculus may not be the new Murktide Regent; or maybe it is... Izzet Oculus here I come.
Boros Control 🔼
I see a few matches where Boros Control may have the upper hand over Mono White Control.
When Gruul, RDWx, and Dimir have many threats in the form of small creatures, playing four Lightning Helix and four Torch the Tower is a good move.
Integrating Overlord of the Mistmoors was a logical move, however, I'm still asking why many Boros Control pilots play without Beza, the Bounding Spring in their mainboard.
Sultai Emergence 🔽
Sultai Emergence incorporates a playset of Say Its Name to its core. Its functionality with a single copy of Altanak, the Thrice-Called works perfectly with what this archetype is trying to accomplish.
There will be games when casting Squirming Emergence will close the door. But in some others, attacking once with Altanak, the Thrice-Called will do the same.
Speaking about big creatures, there's one copy of Valgavoth, Terror Eater accompanying Atraxa, Grand Unifier. This version of Valgavoth is hard to remove with a single spot removal without cutting your board in half. When this demon hits harder than Griselbrand, playing one copy instead of Atraxa may be the difference in some games.
UW Enchantments 🆕
We are not in Kamigawa again. However, this archetype makes me remember the good days when Selesnya Enchantments crushed the competition.
Inquisitive Glimmer is similar to Jukai Naturalist, and Gremlin Tamer let us play wide just like Hallowed Haunting but faster.
The main difference that should push you to try this deck is that now we have Ethereal Armor. This card pushes tons of damage and is strictly faster than Michiko's Reign of Truth
I think this archetype will be on the rise soon.
Golgari Midrange 🔽
Golgari Aggro/Golgari Midrange a.k.a. Control is losing terrain with this I'm talking about Mooswood Dreadknight decks. I don't think it is because it's no longer viable. It's just something parallel to what happened to Orzhov. Both Black-centered decks didn't adapt to these first Duskmourn weeks as Dimir.
A few Black and Green cards are breaking through the format, but the only Golgari list that made a top 16 this week plays one single copy of Overlord of the Hauntwoods.
Don't get me wrong. With this, I'm not saying that regular iterations of Golgari may not succeed. It's just that many of its pilots, just as Orzhov ones, are gravitating to other decks, and the ones that stay are not making any adjustments.
Mardu Aggro 🆕
The weekend before the last, the same player, wcl, made a top with this archetype. In our latest meta-report, I labeled this archetype as Boros Mice. It's not hard to see why.
Now, wcl is playing three Blackcleave Cliffs, which makes Callous Sell-Sword enter as a creature much more often, and just 8 mice instead of 12. I'm convinced this archetype has enough differences to be considered a different deck than any traditional Boros Mice build.
I put this deck on tier two because wcl is piloting this week after week getting great finishes. But who knows? Maybe if it gains popularity it can contented with other aggressive archetypes for the top.
Tier 3
Gruul Terror 🔽
Naya Domain 🆕
Rakdos Aggro 🆕
Silent Performer
Boros Mice
4/5C Legends
Rakdos Sacrifice 🆕
End Step
Duskmourn has arrived with many fun and innovative cards that healthily shake the metagame. Many may think that Layline of Resonance and Turn Inside Out may be too strong. However, I think this only needs one or two adaptation weeks and is nothing we have to worry about.
Losing to a turn 0 Leyline of Resonance can be frustrating, but stay calm, many other amazing new cards can play on top of that.
I'm highly fascinated with the playset of Unstoppable Slasher Koki Kondo played on his Dimir build, and Overlord of the Hauntwoods in the company of Overlord of the Mistmoors prove that there are many ways of updating existing archetypes. Naya Domain is a great example, and UW Oculus follows the lead.
UW Enchantments brings back a strategy to the format which is good for keeping the format approachable to almost every playstyle. I can't wait to see what this weekend brings to the table.
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