A new weekend is on the books. And what a weekend it was! During our last meta-report, we analyze two weeks at once to push our first article content for having all September data.
Now, in just three days we had twelve big tournaments! One more than our two-week first article. I proceed with all the data, and let me tell you, fellow magicians, that the current state of Standard's metagame is exciting.
Let me explain to you first how I divide our tiers before we dive into the tier list and the decklists.
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. 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. The sample size may be too small to represent their real strength.
This meta-report will analyze the top 16 of the last twelve big tournaments from 13/09 to 15/09 2024.
Meta Overview
Gruul Aggro is still the king of the hill. Nevertheless, the distances are shorter. Orzhov Aggro passes from 16 to 25 tops. That was a huge jump! We saw this as something logical since the OTJ Pro Tour. Caustic Bronco is indeed an amazing card, but clearly Beza, the Bounding Spring, and Zoraline, Cosmos Caller are doing their part too.
Beyond big archetypes and small movements, I want to point out that Caves impressed me, and many rogue builds still demonstrate that the format is not yet 100% solved. Sultai Squirming Emergence is proving that graveyard hate is not there, which made me think last week that playing UW Mentor was a good idea. Some old acquaintances like Simic Cookies are finally back in the ring.
Does Gruul will lose its place next week?
Top 16 Archetypes
- Gruul Aggro: 27 🔽
- Orzhov Aggro: 25 🔼
- Golgari Aggro: 14 🔼
- Dimir Aggro: 12 🔽
- Domain: 12 🔽
- Convoke: 10 🔼
- Rakdos Aggro: 10 🔽
- Red Deck Wins: 5 🔼
- Mono-White Control 4
- Sultai Emergence: 4 🔼
- Boros Mice: 3
- UW Control: 3
- 4/5C Control: 2 🆕
- Caves: 2
- Jeskai Control: 2 🔽
- Orzhov Control: 2 🔼
- 4/5C Legends: 1 🆕
- Abzan Control: 1
- Azorius Artifacts: 1
- Cauldron Roots: 1 🆕
- Dimir Control: 1 🔽
- Dimir Rats: 1 🆕
- Golgari Lands: 1 🔽
- Izzet Control: 1 🆕
- Mono Black Aggro: 1
- Mono Black Rack: 1 🆕
- Naya Terror: 1 🆕
- Simic Artifacts: 1 🆕
- Temur Control: 1 🆕
- UW Mentor: 1 🔽
- Boros Control: 0 0️⃣
- Dimir Midrange: 0 0️⃣
- Rakdos Control: 0 0️⃣
🔼 - 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.
0️⃣ - Has top 16 appearances in the current Standard metagame, but 0 tops this weekend.
Tier List
| Tier | Archetype |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | - Gruul Aggro - Orzhov Aggro 🔼 - Golgari Aggro 🔼 - Dimir Aggro - Domain - Convoke 🔼 - Rakdos Aggro - Mono White Control 🔼 |
| Tier 2 | - Red Deck Wins - Sultai Emergence 🔼 - Boros Mice - UW Control |
| Tier 3 | - Jeskai Control 🔽 - Orzhov Control 🆕 - Abzan Control - Azorius Artifacts - Dimir Control - Dimir Rats 🆕 - Golgari Lands 🔽 - Izzet Control 🆕 - Mono Black Rack 🆕 - Naya Terror 🆕 - Temur Control 🆕 - Dimir Midrange - Rakdos Control - Boros Control - Cauldron Roots 🆕 |
| Silent Performer | - Caves - Mono Black Aggro - Simic Artifacts 🆕 - 4/5C Legends 🆕 - Azorius Mentor - 4/5C Control 🆕 |
🔼 – 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
Unlike last week, Gruul received three first-place finishes. And that's not all. With two second-place and two third-place finishes, this archetype continues to prove that it is the king of the hill.
Despite this proof of strength, Gruul lost some terrain and other archetypes took that field % showing that there are many viable archetypes to choose for your competitive events.
MJ_23 made some cuts and made room for the third copy of Inkeeper's Talent. That was also true for the Jarvis_me list, which also got first place with the archetype. Playing less than three copies of this Class starts to seem wrong.
Orzhov Aggro
The big winner of the week. Orzhov was the archetype that gained the most field % getting two wins and three top 4. It is no surprise at all. Orzhov can play as the aggressor or as the defender as needed. Its curve can get very oppressive, and the end of it has an amazing attrition capacity.
Deep-Cavern Bat and Zoraline, Cosmos Caller is a fantastic start. Go from there to Virtue of Loyality, Virtue of Persistence[/card]. and Seasons of the Burrow give this archetype a flexibility that not many Standard archetypes can have.
_Batutinha_ and Ale_MTG decklists are identical. Both got the trophy at the respective events. If you want to play this archetype, this is the starting point.
Golgari Aggro
Another one of the overperforming archetypes is Golgari Aggro. It is important to notice that in some tournaments, Golgari Aggro lists can be labeled as Golgari Control. However, I thought it was important to group all because the difference in many of those decklists is just 2 o 3 creatures.
For example, there are Golgari Aggro lists with 17 creatures, and Golgari Control lists with 13-14, but almost any other card is the same. This makes me think about how many creatures are enough to call a deck "Aggro". Nevertheless, one thing is clear, with three Top 4 + one win, any Golgari deck with Mosswood Dreadknight will be a treat.
Dimir Aggro
Dimir lost some momentum. From being the second most popular deck it falls to the fourth place. But let's take this calmly. There's no other deck with more wins this week than Dimir Aggro. Four of the twelve revised tournaments have a Dimir Aggro as their champion.
The strength of this archetype was clear, even before Bloomborrow. In other articles, I stated many months ago that this archetype was just one or two big wins way of exploding as the next Tier 1 contender, and Dimir Aggro doesn't disappoint at all.
remf's decklist is what we understand as the classic approach to the archetype, however, other players as Oyama Takafumy prove that cards like Steamcore Scholar and Faerie Dreamthief can also be part of the equation.
Domain
Domain also lost some momentum, but not as hard as Dimir. The curious thing we need to notice here is how two Japanese players had amazing runs with 4/5C Control lists, similar in concept to Domain but without many signature cards.
Domain losing momentum is not hard to decipher. This archetype can crush any midrange decklist, but when Golgari and Orzhov are playing more creatures and Grull is the top contender, when there is a race against stabilize on turn 4, Domain can fall short in some games.
Don't get me wrong. If you play Domain against those 13-15 Golgari and Orzhov decklists, you can crush them, but nowadays, there are many more aggressive builds out there to think that Domain can be my first choice in any event.
The new iterations of 5C Control the Japanese players used are below, in the SIlent Performer section.
Convoke
I put together Boros and Jeskai since my first meta report here in playingmtg. However, This week playing Jeskai proved that is the way to go. 8 Jeskai against 1 Boros in our 12 revised tournaments tops.
In the beginning, many seem reluctant to force the third color. But contrary to what many may think, playing 3+ color in the current Standard is as easy as if we were on Ravnica well, not that much, but you get my point.
With Spyglass Siren now in almost every successful Convoke list, this archetype finds what works best post-rotation, and it surely will make it stronger in the long run.
Rakdos Aggro
It looks like some Lizards players gravitate towards other options this week. I don't think having fewer Rakdos Aggro in this week's tournaments means the tribe is getting weaker. Contrarily, I'm still confident in saying Lizards are the overperformer of Bloomborrow's tribe.
Yes, red mice as Emberheart Challenger and Manifold Mouse make Gruul the top contender. However, Boros Mice is way lower in this tier list than Rakdos Lizards.
It is fun and aggressive, and Flamecache Gecko makes things get out of control quickly. Also, not many Aggro decks can push damage with pings as Lizards does. This can put this tribe above some of our other Tier 1 Aggro decks in many attrition matches against slower archetypes.
Lizards will fall from Tier 1 soon.
Mono White Control
Last week we were undecided about which iteration of pure Control was the best. This week Mono White has a better performance compared to UW or Jeskai.
Yes, Mono White Control has just one more top finish than UW. However, the competition was close. Of those four tops, Mono White has two second-place and one third-place finish against two top 4 from UW One was a 1st place.
This is not the end of this discussion. However, Beza, the Bounding Spring is the best option for the Control route.
Tier 2
Red Deck Wins
Of every Tier 2 deck, RDW was the one with the most notorious improvement from last week.
Kouei's decklist is proof of how good a redundant deck can be. With 4 of each card and 20 Mountain, Kouei finished 2nd place in a 61-player tournament. That's not a small feat for a Tier 2 archetype at all.
The interesting thing about it is how every other RDW that top last weekend has its variations like one copy of Inti, Seneschal of the Sun from Takeuchi Yosuke, old acquaintances like Goddric, Cloaked Reveler and Squee, Dubious Monarch from manalacaio or the two main-board Sunspine Lynx from Kawai Takahide.
Last week I was sure about which was the best RDW decklist. Now I'm not. It all depends on your expected metagame.
Sultai Emergence
Last week I talked about how graveyard-centric archetypes are being underplayed. Even if Rest in Peace is in this format, almost no one puts it on their sideboards.
Since the departure of Unlicensed Hearse playing this kind of deck seems like a strong choice, and finally, this week Sultai Emergence pushed that statement to the top.
Domain proves Atraxa, Grand Unifier is still a relevant strategy in this meta. Thanks to Squirming Emergence and cards like Lumra, Bellow of the Woods, playing a reanimator deck is not only fun but competitive
Boros Mice
Even if Gruul is the best way to play Emberheart Challenger and Manifold Mouse, Boros Mice is still showing us than Mabel, Heir to Cragflame and Valley Questcaller can be in the same deck than its tiny friends.
In a world of Aggro vs Aggro, Gruul will surely have the upside. But, if the games go a little longer, having Whiskervale Forerunner could be stronger than other Green options Gruul has.
White has amazing sideboard cards, and thanks to our anthem effects from Valley Questcaller and Mabel, Mice can become bigger than other Aggro decks in those kinds of Aggro vs Aggro matches.
UW Control
Mono White has more top finishes this week. This doesn't mean that UW was worst per se. Being strict UW was the only Control archetype to get a 1st place finish.
It is amazing how Caretaker's Talent, a card probably designed for pushing the Offspring mechanic is now the centerpiece of almost any Control iteration out there. Don't get me wrong, it's amazing and logical. It makes me remember Wedding Announcement .
With this in mind, the comparison seems right. The amount of value it provides is huge, and, in combination with Beza, the Bounding Spring coming back from any horrible situation Aggro decks put us in is not that hard at all.
Tier 3
Jeskai Control
Orzhov Control
Abzan Control
Azorius Artifacts
Dimir Control
Dimir Rats
Golgari Lands
Izzet Control
Mono Black Rack
Naya Terror
Temur Control
Dimir Midrange
Rakdos Control
Boros Control
Cauldron Roots
Silent Performer
Caves
Mono Black Aggro
Simic Artifacts
4/5C Legends
Azorius Mentor
4/5C Control
End Step
Thank you, dear readers, for reaching this part of the article. Doing this exercise of analyzing every big tournament each weekend is an eye-opener situation.
I know that many things could seem logical at first sight, but finding many silent performers, discovering the biggest moves week after week, and the over and underperformers are something that can help many of you on your next events I truly hope so.
The next will be the last week before Duskmourn came to shake everything up. Does Gruul will remain on top? What will happen between every Control iteration out there? Let's discover that together in our next meta-report.
Until then, if you have any comments about this or any other topic, let us know in this article comment section, or on my Twitter.
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