Weekend Standard Metagame

Weekend Standard Metagame

Hi, everyone!
Today I wanted to make an article for you who want to win the $500 Cash GGtoor M:TG
Arena Duel #16 on the 16th of this month. The format will be Standard and we will analyze
the results of the last two Magic Online Challengers, setting up the expected metagame,
which by the way is very varied.

First point is that despite Jeskai Hinata having collected good results, it started to drop in
popularity, either because players started to focus on the mirror, taking other interactions
and making matches against other decks worse, or because every deck in the metagame
focused on winning the Jeskai, or simply because playing that mirror wasn’t pleasant. The
fact is that, despite all the hype of the deck after the SNC Championship, it doesn’t mean
that every match will be against Jeskai Hinata.

Taking the Challenger results from day 2. Top32, top16 and top8.

Top32
Grixis Control 3
Jeskai Hinata 2
Boros Aggro 2
Temur Control 1
Rakdos Midrange 1
Grixis Vampires 1
Mardu Control 1
Azorius Aggro 1
Naya Runas 1
Mono Green Aggro 1
Jund midrange 1
Orzhov Control 1

Top16
Boros Aggro 4
Jeskai Hinata 2
Grixis Control 1
Rakdos Aggro 1

Top8
Jeskai Hinata 2
Mono Green Aggro 2
Boros Aggro 1
White Winnie 1
Grixis Control 2

Hinata continues to get results, but without that dominance we saw a few weeks ago. And
this is due to two factors that are easy to see in this event, a growth in aggressive decks and
Grixis Control.

Mono Green has been slowly returning to being a deck for a few weeks now, and Boros and
Rakdos Aggro are solid options as well. With similar red bases, both decks are betting on
having range to beat Jeskai, knowing that you can push a lot of damage while Jeskai is
preparing the game and then it’s possible to finish.

Boros Aggro, by FerMTG

Rakdos, by ranranjintianchiwhat

But the highlight of the tournament was Grixis Control, who won the tournament in the hands
of Graciasportanto

Grixis Vampires was already showing that nullifying Jeskai’s creatures is a great plan,
Hinata, Dawn-Crowned and Goldspan Dragon’s abilities don’t work with them on the stack
and the deck is very vulnerable in a fight like this. In this list everything that Grixis Vampires
did best versus Jeskai is taken to the extreme and everything that did worst is removed,
making the match much better. Wandering Mind is very good here and it also synergizes
with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.
If I were to name the “winner” of the weekend it would definitely be Grixis, who won on
Saturday and had a great Sunday.
Speaking of Sunday’s Challenge, let’s get to the numbers.

Top32
Boros Aggro 5
Grixis Control 2
Jeskai Hinata 2
Esper midrange 2
Naya rune 1
Grixis Vampires 1
White Winnie 1
Mono Green 1
Orzhov Control 1

Top16
Boros Aggro 3
Grixis Vampires 2
Jeskai Hinata 2

Grixis Control 1

Top8
Jeskai Hinata 2
Boros Aggro 2
Orzhov Midrange 2
Grixis Vampires 1
Grixis Control 1

Traditionally the Sunday Challenge amplifies Saturday’s results, not least because the lists
come out early on Sunday. So nothing new and Boros Aggros and Grixis Control appearing
and even Grixis Vampires is more of a deck taking advantage of the “vacuum” that Grixis
Control has opened up.
But of course we have news, and they are in the top4, with Misplacedginger and Batutinha

Orzhov was the main deck of Standard before SNC, but it fell a lot in relation to Esper, which
became very difficult to trade resources, thanks to Raffine. However, Esper has dropped in
popularity, leaving that window for Orzhov and especially this list is quite different from the
traditional ones. Nine discard effects in the maindeck is a nightmare for slower decks and
the deck takes advantage of a Pioneer sensation card, Extraction Specialist, which does a
lot here, with the obvious synergy with Acquisitions Expert, but also with a lifelinked body,
that plays a lot against these various Boros that have appeared.
So we have a controller, a midrange and an aggro as highlights of Standard and three great
lists for you who will play Arena Duel #16. Not that Jeskai isn’t a great option, it’s just not that
absolute and mirror-focused anymore.

Until the next article!
Rudá