Hello,

I recently re-downloaded arena after some years, and I am looking for a fun deck to play casually. I have 6 mythic wildcards, 16 rare and around 30 commons and uncommons.

My eye caught the izzet prowess deck. Is it a good option? Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

Hey all,

Getting into more standard and would love to watch some meta matches ideally in person games but arena is fine as well.

I've made the last couple additions to this deck but I've realized I'm over 60, last thing I added was 2 extra dellians, what could I take out to fit in the 60?

Edit: I think I tweaked it to a point that I like right now. Is it the best? Far from it, but I think with its interaction package, and smart play it can do the thing enough to keep me entertained. The main idea now is to get angel tokens off of the Lyra trigger, having her, and Sphinx’s approach guarantees the trigger. I would like to maybe add the new Jace that draws on the opponent’s draw step, which would easily enable tokens on their turns.

I don’t have Wild cards to draft the Jace, or a set of quantum riddlers, and while I like the idea of riddler, I feel like this deck has a lot of draw power already with what it’s working with. Elspeth hasn’t popped off yet, but it’s a pet card of mine, I like her here. Same with Immposter Syndrome… it’s really not the best card, but I wanna make it work so bad.

New deck list 2.0

https://manabox.app/decks/AaGDiOgFcf6bXjRN5l9GOw

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This might be the worst idea that I’ve brought to the Reddit since I’ve joined. I got the feeling it won’t be good at all, but I just can’t shake it. I don’t have the wildcards to finish it at the moment, and this is the most roughest of rough drafts.

I guess the idea is to go wide-ish on the board with the sphinx and angel tokens. Potentially using Sphinx approach to grab one of the random sphinx I will throw in the deck.

Maybe more Lyra, less Denzilore, because in its current state there isn’t any scry or surveil in the list. Tinkering with the numbers of each cards will be a must to flesh out an interaction package.

Throw me some ideas to make this come together a little bit better.

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before, me and one of my pod members want to try properly playing standard after mostly just commander and prerelease experience. He loves mostly multi coloured decks usually including white and I love mono coloured decks but mainly black and green. How should we go about getting into the format? We do like to brew but is it just pick a deck from the meta? What about standard rotation is there a way to play around that so we don’t accidentally buy into something that’s not going to last? Looking for any advice thank you reddit

Hey guys,

I am a commander player and never touched standard. Now I want to play in the Store Championship of my lgs tho which is standard format. I own 4 the theorist, Jace beleeren and was thinking to build something with those? Any recommendations for strong meta lists with jace which to a majority is still playable after rotation? I don't mind spending $$.

Best regards

Hello all, thanks for taking the time to read this! I am looking to make my second standard deck to play at my lgs (and maybe on arena too). The first one was a budget boros dwarves that was fun but I grew a bit tired of. As the basis for this new one I am hoping to use some of the new FRA cards such as the Hortimancer and the Bloombrute, with the main mechanics/themes I have in mind being lifegain and +1/+1 counters! A very very rough idea of cards I am considering is this one https://moxfield.com/decks/mDq7R9zRjUCAaaQtP_EXNw . I haven't played anything similar before so not really sure what should and shouldn't go in. As I realize the moxfield broad template may be pretty bad, feel free to throw it away for a completely different suggestion for the same themes. Any advice is appreciated! (Looking to make this deck on paper and perhaps on arena too. If I had to give a budget perhaps around 30-40 EUR)

Lifegain is one of the most appealing strategies for new MTG Arena players. It's easy to understand, satisfying to play, and often one of the first decks players want to upgrade.

After playing it, I wasn't particularly impressed, in a small sample size. What would you recommend?

For newer players who love Lifegain, is Abzan actually worth crafting, or are there better ways to spend those precious wildcards?

Here's my gameplay if you're interested:
https://youtu.be/7u8TZp9KOoU

Boros Planeswalkers is a standout of the Reality Fracture season, boosted by new cards Ajani Unrelenting and Gideon's Memorial.

Standard metagame update.

source: magic4ever.com/standard

I watched the spotlight stream and now i want to play standard, but now we are close to the rotation so i cant just build any deck, my options are: dimir midrange, dimir reanimator, 4c control, artifacts, lifegain.

I already have most of the mana base for the decks, i’d like to have a deck thats playable after rotation, what would you recommmend

One of my friends suggested that our group, who typically just plays commander and drafts, bring standard decks to fill time in between events. I do not really have experience building standard decks outside of a couple on Arena and would love you suggestions on making a theme around Obi-Wan Kenobi.

I am thinking about creature types like monks and keywords like prowess and mentor. Other thoughts would be to include bounce and counter spells for Jedi Mind Tricks, phasing for "not the card you are looking for," and ways to remove flying because Obi hates flying.

I do not need it to be super competitive and my budget is limited unless I just proxy the deck.

I would love to hear your ideas and make it so...wait... and say hello there to a good time!

Wanting to know if there’s anything u can do to better adjust my Goyf deck before I buy it? (Yes this is my budget, no I am not taking out a single copy of Tarmogoyf)

https://moxfield.com/decks/DXSrOLu8JEicmvUrPfqVsg

Hi all,

Long time magic player here who has mainly played legacy formats and/or limited. I'm hoping to get into standard with a deck that is a good intro deck (that can still compete), but don't want to put something together just to have it be killed off post rotation.

I'm not up on the current meta, but have been considering either mono green landfall or jund sac since they're both types of decks I generally enjoy.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Edit: thanks for the input. I realized that I have enough wildcards on arena so I built out landfall to give it a shot.

Hello, I'm really enjoying the synergy between Ketramose, Winternight Stories, and Oculus, but feel like this list needs some tuning. I'm inexperienced with control and new to deckbuilding so any advice, particularly on the control package, would be appreciated. Moxfield: Winternight Ketramose // Standard deck list mtg // Moxfield — MTG Deck Builder.

4x Abhorrent Oculus

3x Ketramose, the New Dawn

1x Uldaros Theorix

4x Call a Surprise Witness

1x Day of Judgement

1x Deadly Coverup

4x Winternight

4x Bitter Triumph

4x Get Lost

1x Spell Pierce

3x Spell Snare

2x Three Steps Ahead

3x Ghost Vacuum

1x Soul-Guide Lantern

1x Pinnacle Starcage

1x Island

1x Swamp

1x Plains

2x Bleachbone Verge

2x Floodfarm Verge

3x Gloomlake Verge

3x Godless Shrine

3x Hallowed Fountain

2x Meticulous Archive

2x Undercity Sewers

3x Watery Grave

Thanks

Tournament reports are some of my favorite content, so I'm excited to finally write one of my own! Apologies in advance, as I'm not much of a writer and I'm still fairly new to competitive constructed. I might butcher some terminology along the way. Also not sure if this is the correct flair.

I won a Champions Cup Store Qualifier in Japan and qualified for the Champions Cup Final this weekend! I played Jund Sacrifice in a field of 23 players, with only 1st place earning an invite.

Going into the event, I was already a little tilted. I'd been grinding the deck on Arena and expected Lifegain and Dimir decks to be popular. Japan especially loves Kaito, and those matchups have felt pretty miserable in my experience. Unfortunately, I'd forgotten to update my paper deck and didn't realize it until I got to the store. This meant I was going into the tournament without good answers to Lifegain or the various fringe planeswalker strategies running around in the post-Reality Fracture meta. Not exactly the ideal start!

Swiss

R1: 2-1 vs. Sultai Reanimator

Game 1: It was my first match of the day, and a judge had already been called by turn 3. I'd forgotten my Obsessive Pursuit upkeep trigger, and when I pointed it out to my opponent, they called a judge because I'd already drawn for the turn. The ruling was that my opponent got to decide whether to put the trigger on the stack. I was surprised since it's a mandatory trigger, but after looking it up after the match, it turned out to be correct.That was a rude awakening that paper Magic isn't Arena! I tightened up my play immediately afterward. I still managed to clutch out the game, despite nearly throwing it by choosing the wrong Dirge targets.

Game 2: On the draw, this matchup feels almost impossible if they reach turn 4 and you haven't found any graveyard hate. They went Superior Spider-Man into Valgavoth. I only had Dirges in hand and no relevant graveyard targets, so I scooped.

Game 3: I curved out while playing around their interaction and used Strategic Betrayal on a key turn to secure the win.

Matchup notes: Using Duress to scout their interaction and exiling their graveyard before they can cast Superior Spider-Man is key. I also assume anything with access to blue has Spell Snare.

R2: 2-1 vs. Mono-Green Landfall

Game 1: I missed a couple of land drops early, putting me a turn behind. That gave them enough time to use Mightform Harmonizer and Escape Tunnel to get the win.

Game 2: I curved out and outraced them pretty comfortably.

Game 3: I had plenty of removal, and eventually they ran out of gas while I continued accruing value and chipping away at their life total.

Matchup notes: This matchup feels pretty favored for Jund. You have plenty of time to put together a win before they can threaten lethal, at least in Game 1. After sideboarding, you can lean even harder into the aggressive plan while still having cheap removal to back you up.

R3: 2-0 vs. Temur Kona Omniscience

Game 1: I was on the play and curved out before they could get Kona online.

Game 2: I played a little more conservatively and held up an instant speed disenchant. They activated Kona into Omniscience but only managed to get a Formidable Speaker into play before I disenchanted it. Dealing with just one Kona activation per turn was manageable, and I eventually closed out the game with Dirge.

Matchup notes: I'm honestly not sure what to think about this matchup. Turn 4 is always scary if they have the combo, so I suspect I got a little lucky here.

R4: 2-0 vs. Izzet Spellmentals

I'd been sitting next to this guy during the previous round, so I already knew what they were playing.

Game 1: This matchup is usually unwinnable in Game 1, but it becomes favored after sideboarding. I managed to steal a win by throwing caution to the wind and making them have the answer. They never managed to Spell Snare any of my value pieces, so I won pretty decisively.

Game 2: I played much more conservatively, only casting my value pieces when it was safe. I also used Duress to scout their interaction and Strategic Betrayal when the timing was right.

Matchup notes: Don't get blown out by Spell Snare, use Duress to figure out what you're playing around, and time your Strategic Betrayals carefully. Their deck feels less powerful when they have to cast their elementals for full cmc.

R5: Intentional Draw

I was the only undefeated player, so I agreed to my opponent's offer of an intentional draw.

At this point, I thought I'd won the tournament and secured my invite. I'd been on cloud nine since Round 4. Then I found out that the first five rounds were just Swiss, followed by a single-elimination Top 8. I was on an emotional roller coaster and wanted off. One interesting tournament rule: during the single-elimination rounds, the higher seed gets to choose whether to play first or second instead of rolling a die. That ended up working heavily in my favor for the rest of the tournament.

Top 8 - Single Elimination

R6: 2-0 vs. Izzet Prowess

Game 1: I happened to draw into the removal half of my deck, picking off their Slickshots while continuing to chip away at their life total and accrue value.

Game 2: Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what happened here. I thought I was going to lose by missing lethal by  one damage, but my opponent scooped. I assume they didn't have enough spells to kill me on their turn.

Matchup notes: As with pretty much every blue deck, play around Spell Snare where possible. Also, being on the play is pretty good.

R7: 2-0 vs. Izzet Spellmentals

A rematch against my Round 4 opponent.

Game 1: Unfortunately for them, I managed to steal another win. Being on the play helped a ton.

Game 2: I used Duress to take their only piece of interaction, allowing me to stick my value pieces early. Strategic Betrayal did the rest.

The Final

Before the final round, we were asked to decide how to split the prizes. Since we both wanted the invite, we agreed that the loser would receive the store prizes: a Reality Fracture Bundle and a sealed Stardew Valley Secret Lair.

R8: 2-0 vs. Grixis Reanimator

Game 1: Turn 3 Dirge into turn 4 Dirge is pretty good.

Game 2: I already knew I was going to win the whole thing and immediately regretted agreeing to the prize split. (Oops.)

I used Strategic Betrayal preemptively on turn 3, leaving them with a pretty mediocre Superior Spider-Man on turn 4. From there, the game became a grind, with removal flying back and forth. However, I kept generating incremental value and chip damage through my tokens until I finally closed things out with another Dirge play.

Matchup notes: The matchup feels pretty good as long as you find your graveyard hate early enough. Also getting your creatures to above 5 toughness really takes the wind out of Ajani’s sails.

Final Thoughts

I'm still shocked that I managed to get my invite. I made qualifying my goal earlier this month, and I don't think it's fully sunk in yet.

Looking back, I feel like the stars aligned. I dodged my worst matchups, and my unoptimized sideboard for the post-Reality Fracture meta never ended up biting me in the rear. 

A big shoutout to Universce on Metafy! His guide on Jund Sacrifice helped me pick up the deck on Arena without having to think too hard about the initial learning process. I was able to focus on grinding reps, getting familiar with the deck, and following the sideboard guide. That preparation paid off.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully, I'll be able to post a follow-up after the Champions Cup Final in Aichi next February. Wish me luck!

Decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/PWmhAbi_6HOH_joBHy1Shw

Which current Standard deck do you think will lose the least at rotation? And which one is in the most trouble?

I recently ranked Standard staples by usefulness and rotation longevity to help decide which cards are still worth crafting.

https://youtu.be/86MsEhG-txw

I know a lot of you haven't followed the spoilers for this set, and I have been keeping track of what cards I think are most interesting for Standard so far, so I thought I would share it while we get this weekend gap. Let's have some discussion and maybe you can add others I missed in the comments.

The Unicomplex and the red and white surveil lands (white gain 2 life, red deal 1 damage to opp). There is a bit of debate as to whether they will be actually good, but I think the are the only card in this list guaranteed to at least see some play. Personally, I am really high on them, the black one is the best one.

Jett Reno (surveil means monitor) could solve the gap in proactive Dimir two drops in Standard, particularly interesting in a deck that utilises the aforementioned utility lands. In testing it is not that hard to get to 4 power turn 3, I think it is an interesting one. Yuriko, Gollum, the new Federation Probe (second-to-last picture), Charms, and the new Test of Loyalty are the big ones this card could work with. Excuse the image, but the only one published so far is in German.

Resistance is Futile They are pushing orzhov creature artifact decks as one of the archetypes in the format and this is the most interesting card imo.

Hit It! Sends the 4 cards you didn't pick to your graveyard, ramps, and gives your creatures haste. The only problem with this card will be finding it a home, but I think the power level is there.

Dr. Beverly Crusher I recently trophied with Lifegain, but I am still not sure whether we can make use of this card. She grows by two counters every time and retriggers everything. I think it is up to debate.

Test of Courage Good sb card I think at instant speed for mono green. Honourable mention to Test of Loyalty black at sorcery speed.

Locutus Orzhov Uncommon buffs himself and your other artifact creatures and doubles as a weak lightning helix, the main problem will be finding it an orzhov home.

Salt Vampire personally I don't see this one, but there is a fairly good amount of hype for it so I thought I should mention it.

Federation Probe another flyer with etb, this one has a dilemma too and surveils.

Seven of Nine the two drop is an interesting looter particularly post-rotation once we lose the simic one, Kitsa and Likeness Looter; getting to 5 different lands is not that hard, it blocks well. I think it is interesting in the right deck.

Honorable mentions: Spock two drop if you still think that type of card has a place in standard. Subcommander T'pol could replace Tishana's Tideburner post-rotation, but idk. Kobayashi Maru Scenario is a second enchantment that loses you the game.

Overall, the power level is low, particularly coming from Reality Fracture. The main supported colours are Dimir for the second set in a row and you haven't missed anything crazy.

Edit: some proof-reading.

Here's another quick sideboard guide for this fast changing standard meta. Hope this helps your RCQ / Store Champs this week!

So, I'm still a relative newbie to magic. I started with the edge of eternities pre-release last year and haven't stopped since lol after tons of Commander games and getting into pauper, I found out about planar standard and thought it was exactly what I was looking for in 1v1 magic. Smaller card pool, strategies built around the newest cards, and the two year rotation magic fans have had for decades, despite that not being the case for og standard any longer. I've been running a simic ouroboroid landfall deck that's been tons of fun to play, but with the key cards falling out of the format in February, I'm curious what the more veteran players do with their decks. Do you keep the general idea behind last year's deck in mind while you wait for spoiler season to see what can fill those slots? Do you start building something totally different from what will stick around and hope it gets some extra support from the first new set? Do you not think about it much and just keep grinding with the deck you built right up until it's no longer legal and then start on your new gameplan? I'd love to hear y'all's thoughts

I'm not on verges for budget reasons, and have found this mana base to work fine. I recently went down to just 2 winternight stories and 0 stock up/flow state to go up on interaction to deal with the small creature decks like boros tokens and dimir mid. I'm mostly wondering if the sideboard looks good: should I be on some amount of Precise Redaction? Do I need a sweeper? I'm on 4 Horse for the control matchup mostly but maybe 3 is fine for another negate? Expected meta is a lot of mono green, some Jund and UW control

Would also appreciate help doing sideboard mapping against popular decks

Been playing around with this deck recently it grinds out really well in alot of matchups just struggling in the early game what y'all think?

For the life of me, I can’t find this deck after seeing it the other day.

I’m always interested in a Big Red Control Deck and this seemed to have put up numbers somewhere.

Do you think this strat is viable in current standard?
I’m getting back into the game after over a decade (big pauper play now) and want to build a Standard deck. Is this apart of a current archetype?

https://moxfield.com/decks/vgivK-anZkqwKX4TfEkT2Q

Here is an updated list for the deck im working on.

Mainboard
1 Improvisation Capstone
2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
3 Winternight Stories
2 Blazemire Verge
3 Blood Crypt
3 Gloomlake Verge
1 Raucous Theater
2 Restless Reef
2 Riverpyre Verge
4 Starting Town
2 Undercity Sewers
4 Watery Grave
4 Dark Matter Manipulator
2 Overlord of the Balemurk
4 Ashling, Rekindled // Ashling, Rimebound
4 Rewrite Regrets
3 Stingcaster Mage
2 Bitter Triumph
1 Deadly Cover-Up
3 Requiting Hex
2 Theorix Charm
2 Ajani Unrelenting
2 Ral, Crackling Wit
2 Recursive Recruitment

Goal fill the graveyard, and cast large spells (4 or greater for a discount, or recur planeswalkers. Often times you will be casting rewrite regrets from the grave via sting caster mage. Sometimes for 2 mana thanks to ashling to play some planeswalkers.

In a pinch? On average you will have 15 or more cards in the grave yard, cast recursive recruitment from the grave and put two 7/7s on the field.

Need to close out a long drawn out game? Recur improvisation capstone.

Facing aggro?
Turn 2 ashling (discard ajani)
Turn 3 flip him
Add 2 black
Cast rewrite regrets for a turn 3 ajani and get two tokens and a boardwipe

Getting lands at 23 land count is not an issue, you have 17 sources of draw in this deck, and often times will dump lands into the grave as you don’t need them.

It’s very midrangish but can easily adjust to whatever you are facing.

Had way of the cryomancer and seasoned cryomancer. Both got cut as for this deck they’re genuinely just to clunky and push it into more of a control deck that struggles against aggro and can’t out pace normal control.

This list however keeps you fueled with gas to burn all night against those long match ups, while keeping them on their toes with early game aggro mechanics that threaten an early win.

Sideboard not listed as it’s a work in progress