The Current State of Standard: Farewell
Lucas Giggs
31/01/2024 ·
8 min read
meta
With Murders at Karlov Manor just around the corner, Lucas revisits Standard, examining how it has been and what the basics are for the upcoming season.
Introduction
On Twitter, there's a running joke that players are doing called "The Current State of..." And they put the format they're talking about and some screenshots showing some unusual play for that format.
I've decided to borrow this name, but to start a new series of articles, showing the real current state of a format, and which decks are standing out. I think it might be a good time to talk about it, especially because we're about to receive another new edition, and a new edition usually shakes up the formats. This week I'll be talking about the current state of Standard, and depending on the feedback, I may return to other formats on other occasions.
The Top Five Deck
Esper Midrange
Esper continues to be the main deck, at least it is one of the ones that most produces results on Magic Online. Much of its strength comes from the fact that it can easily adapt to the expected meta. It can play with more removals, more counters, with or without Wedding Announcement, with or without Sheoldred, etc. It has a very solid base that revolves around Raffine, one of the best creatures of Standard. It has a distant cousin, UB Midrange, a deck that draws heavily from this source, benefiting more from card advantage with Gix and Preacher of the Schism. However, it has a weaker performance in grindy matches since, without white, you can't play key cards like Virtue of Loyalty and The Wandering Emperor.
One could say that the deck doesn't have very bad matchups, as it is capable of adapting to any meta, but we could also say that this is where its weakness lies. It can't attack all decks, so if you play with more light removals to fight Bant Toxic and Monored, consequently it might become more vulnerable to decks that play big, like Domain Ramp and Rakdos Breach. It's a choice based on what you expect from the played meta, and that also varies from player to player.
Rakdos Midrange
Rakdos Breach was the most prevalent Rakdos until recently, but the midrange discover verion (with a quite aggressive bias) has been standing out more in the latest tournaments. Ixalan contributed a lot to this, since cards like Inti, Preacher of the Schism, and Restless Vents brought a very solid base of creatures and an important mana fixer, which is also a threat in the late game. Lately, I would even say that it has been achieving more results than Esper, but the fact that it's not as adaptable a deck as the latter, I believe that today it is behind it.
The fact that it is a midrange deck that doesn't include blue makes it somewhat vulnerable against some decks where having counters would be important, like Domain Ramp. Not necessarily because it would be able to counter an Atraxa in a deck that uses 4 Cavern of Souls, but other cards like The Wandering Emperor, Herd Migration, and especially Sunfall are very tricky for Rakdos to navigate around. The discard plan with Duress and post-side Liliana, along with the main deck's Deep Cavern Bat, can be useful, but discard doesn't remove the top of the deck, and the topdecks of this deck are simply some of the best in the format.
Domain Ramp
It used to be the main deck of the format, but at the end of the season it has lost some of its strength, mainly due to the meteoric rise of Bant Toxic, a match that is almost impossible to win. But it is still very much present, after all, as mentioned before, it has one of the best late games of the format, with very powerful cards that have a big impact on the board, with sweepers, card advantage, and the best creatures of the format.
It has a well-balanced match against Esper Midrange, but it is favorable against the other midranges. The fact of not having a good match against Bant Toxic, a deck that has become quite popular lately, has led to a decline in the environment; besides, other decks such as UW Soldiers also gained great tools to fight against the deck, with Tishana’s Tidebinder being one of the main cards.
Monored Aggro
Monored, now and then, appears to pull off a trick and has even achieved some interesting results. It has a very aggressive curve, burn spells for reach damage, and an intriguing sideboard plan with Urabrask’s Forge and Furnace Punisher. It has a very interesting ability to change its game plan against decks with lots of removal, this versatility makes it seldom a bad option for tournaments.
For that very reason, I rank it as the 4th force; it has a fair game against the midranges, especially Esper and UB, has a good matchup against Bant Toxic, but struggles greatly to win against Domain Ramp and isn't so favorable against BG and even UW Soldiers, which used to be a favorable matchup.
Bant Toxic
I played with this deck and I must confess I didn't like it much, I found that the power level of the cards in general is very weak, but it needs to be respected, even more for having such a favorable match against one of the main decks of the format: Domain Ramp, even taking away the predominance it had in the environment until recently. Venerated Rotpriest is the soul of the deck and it in combination with March of Swirling Mist is a lethal combination that wins several games unexpectedly.
But making a Doomed Traveler with toxic is not exactly my idea of winning games, at least not in Constructed. Although it has an excellent match against Domain, against other midranges it ends up not being very favorable, especially post-side where cards like Brotherhood’s End and Gix’s Command are very effective against this deck. Still, being such a new deck and already having such a big impact on the environment, made it into my top 5 Standard decks.
Two Tier 1 Candidates
Azorius Soldiers
The deck has been achieving very good results, and I only didn't put it in my top 5 because most of these results were accomplished by two people, a couple, actually: remf and ThaisM have been playing many challenges with this deck alone and despite some not so good outcomes, they have several top 8/top 4 finishes. The deck, much like Monored, has a very interesting ability to change its game plan, either playing a more aggressive game, curving early with its low drops, with counters to protect and Knight-Errant of Eos to generate an interesting card advantage while placing a respectable body on the table. The late game is also very good, involving soldiers and a lethal attack with Harbin, Vanguard Aviator. This versatility is one of the points that catch my attention the most about this deck, but unfortunately, not many players have chosen to play with it. It could be a more explored option, as there are many paths to follow, all with a very solid foundation.
Golgari Midrange
A midrange that also has a lot of potential to become a real tier 1, but in my opinion, a bit inferior to its brother Rakdos Midrange. It has very good cards like Glissa and Nissa, and even the Blossoming Tortoise package with manlands makes it have a very interesting late game, but it suffers a lot against decks that play larger than it, such as Domain Ramp and even its own Esper Midrange, since being a midrange without blue makes it a bit weakened in comparison to its similiars. Maybe it's the closest to entering the top 5 and even more, maybe it would even be fairer to put it in place of Bant Toxic or Monored. However, the results haven't been very helpful, and the fact that it doesn't have a favorable matchup against any tier of the environment renders it an overly average deck.
Final words
As we bid farewell to the current Standard format, I'm struck by its remarkable diversity and the vibrant metagame it has cultivated.Each of the five decks I've highlighted, along with other emerging contenders, stand a real chance of triumphing in competitive play. This is a refreshing change from the lackluster interest of years past and speaks volumes about the health of the meta.
Now, with eager anticipation, we turn our eyes to the influence that Murders at Karlov Manor will have on Standard and beyond. Farewell for now, and may your next draws be ever in your favor!
Until next time!
MTGO
ARENA
PAPER
$490/142.62 Tix
Maindeck (60)
$103.94 Tix @cardhoarder
$303.10 @tcgplayer
$464.81 @cardkingdom
Visual View
Similar Decks
Proxies
Archetype Analysis
Apprentice and MWS .dec
