Introducing the Standard Compendium

By Jacob Van Lunen

Jacob Van Lunen began playing Magic in 1995. He has participated in organized play at every level of competition and was a member of the winning team at Pro Tour San Diego in 2007, thanks to an innovative draft strategy. As a writer, Van Lunen has had more than three hundred Magic strategy pieces published

The Standard format is taking shape and competitive players everywhere are scouring the Magic Online event results in search of the best deck. Grand Prix Charleston and Grand Prix Bochum are just a few days away and the format's diversity offers a complex problem to be solved. Today, I'm happy to introduce a Magic Online Standard deck compendium. Readers have been asking for this type of comprehensive breakdown since the column's inception. From this point forward, every column on the second week of the month will be an updated breakdown of Standard in its current state.

Leaving no stone unturned, I will dissect every archetype you can expect to see in competitive Standard play.

Before we get into the decklists, we should take a look at some Premier Event results from November 10 through 12 for a snapshot of the Standard metagame in its current form. Here's a breakdown of the decks that managed to Top 8 by archetype.

Let's get into this!

White-Blue Control is the flavor of the week on Magic Online. The deck is being heralded as the deck to beat by some of the most visible Magic Online grinders. The deck plays a very effective control game that accelerates against Planeswalker-based strategies and creature decks that don't play Thragtusk or Lingering Souls. The deck may look like it has trouble applying enough pressure, but a timely Runechanter's Pike makes the deck close games very quickly. This list was initially pioneered by Adam Prosak and Gerry Thompson, and the deck's strong position in the current metagame has made it evangelize followers very quickly. More aggressive tempo strategies and hyper-aggressive black-green, red, and black-red decks are well-positioned against the White-Blue Control deck. Make sure you're prepared for Seraph of Dawn in post-sideboarded games, though. The seemingly out-of-place 2/4 flyer is often worth at least one free game when the opposing deck has no way to interact with it profitably in game two.

Here's Todd Anderson's list that won the November 11 Standard Premier event:

Strong Sad's White-Blue Control

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (11)

4 Augur of Bolas 4 Restoration Angel 3 Snapcaster Mage

Instant (23)

4 Azorius Charm 2 Dissipate 2 Essence Scatter 2 Rewind 2 Sphinx's Revelation 2 Syncopate 2 Think Twice 4 Thought Scour 3 Unsummon

Artifact (2)

2 Runechanter's Pike

Land (24)

1 Azorius Guildgate 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 9 Island 2 Moorland Haunt 4 Plains

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Moorland Haunt 2 Detention Sphere 2 Dispel 1 Faith's Shield 3 Purify the Grave 3 Seraph of Dawn 3 Supreme Verdict

Deal Another Hand

Red-White-Blue Geist of Saint Traft decks didn't perform exceptionally well in the recent Premier Events on Magic Online, but the deck is still putting up great numbers in the daily events and its good matchup against White-Blue Control will likely increase its popularity in the days leading up to Grand Prix Charleston and Bochum. The deck plays similarly to the Delver of Secrets decks from last Standard season, attempting to establish board advantage with Geist of Saint Traft, Thundermaw Hellkite, or Restoration Angel. Once the Red-White-Blue deck is winning the race it becomes extremely difficult to stop the deck thanks to its powerful removal/permission suite.

Here's a list that recently 4–0ed a Daily Event.

MagicLair's Red-White-Blue Geist

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (14)

4 Geist of Saint Traft 4 Restoration Angel 4 Snapcaster Mage 2 Thundermaw Hellkite

Sorcery (4)

4 Pillar of Flame

Instant (16)

3 Azorius Charm 2 Dissipate 2 Essence Scatter 1 Izzet Charm 3 Searing Spear 3 Syncopate 2 Unsummon

Enchantment (2)

2 Detention Sphere

Land (24)

4 Clifftop Retreat 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 1 Island 2 Moorland Haunt 1 Mountain 4 Steam Vents 4 Sulfur Falls

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Dissipate 1 Izzet Charm 1 Searing Spear 3 Dungeon Geists 2 Negate 2 Purify the Grave 1 Sundering Growth 3 Supreme Verdict

Deal Another Hand

Jund Midrange had the best numbers for the first few weeks of the new Standard format. The deck is an update on the absolutely, positively best Innistrad Block Constructed deck. Recently, successful Jund Midrange players have added a few copies of Cavern of Souls to the deck to help the deck's matchup against the new breed of control decks. This deck may feel like old news, but the Cavern of Souls version maintains its incredibly matchup against aggressive decks and also performs well against the new White-Blue Control decks. Unfortunately, the deck struggles with many of the recent Bant Control and Unburial Rites decks that are doing well. Recent Daily and Premier Event results haven't had a ton of the bad Jund matchups performing well, so we could see Jund Midrange make a big comeback at the Grand Prix this weekend.

Here's the latest Premier Event Top 8 version from ProtossX, a player we've seen have a lot of success with this archetype:

ProtossX's Jund Midrange

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (2)

2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Creature (12)

2 Deathrite Shaman 4 Huntmaster of the Fells 2 Olivia Voldaren 4 Thragtusk

Sorcery (16)

3 Bonfire of the Damned 2 Dreadbore 4 Farseek 4 Pillar of Flame 1 Rakdos's Return 2 Sever the Bloodline

Instant (3)

2 Abrupt Decay 1 Ultimate Price

Artifact (3)

3 Rakdos Keyrune

Land (24)

4 Blood Crypt 2 Cavern of Souls 4 Forest 1 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Mountain 4 Overgrown Tomb 4 Rootbound Crag 4 Woodland Cemetery

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Deathrite Shaman 1 Rakdos's Return 1 Ultimate Price 2 Appetite for Brains 3 Duress 2 Rolling Temblor 2 Slaughter Games 2 Thundermaw Hellkite

Deal Another Hand

Thragtusk seems to be a lightning rod for debate as of late. Many players are complaining that the format is being pushed further and further toward the control end of the spectrum, leaving aggro decks in an awkward place where they cannot effectively compete. However, it seems that the format may be completing an orbit because this week's Premier Events had an oddly large number of successful aggressive decks. The most successful mono-red decks in recent events have played Reckless Waif over Stromkirk Noble—a recent innovation.

The following list recently Top 8ed a Premier Event:

HermonHero's Mono-red

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (24)

4 Ash Zealot 4 Gore-House Chainwalker 4 Hellrider 4 Rakdos Cackler 4 Reckless Waif 4 Vexing Devil

Sorcery (4)

4 Pillar of Flame

Instant (11)

3 Brimstone Volley 4 Searing Spear 4 Thunderous Wrath

Land (21)

21 Mountain

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Annihilating Fire 2 Flames of the Firebrand 2 Mizzium Mortars 2 Nightbird's Clutches 2 Tormod's Crypt 3 Traitorous Instinct 2 Zealous Conscripts

Deal Another Hand

Bant Control seems to be a favorite among professionals recently; the deck absolutely crushes faster creature decks. The deck gives its pilot many opportunities to outplay the opponent, but its difficulty can often punish the pilot in control matchups. Still, though, against the creature decks the Bant player can just cast all his or her spells in a reasonable order (Supreme Verdict, then creatures) and it's usually good enough to win handily. Don Juan Quixote has been doing well with this archetype for well over a week.

Here's the list from a recent Daily Event Top 8:

Don Juan Quixote's Bant Control

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (6)

1 Garruk, Primal Hunter 3 Jace, Architect of Thought 2 Tamiyo, the Moon Sage

Creature (12)

2 Angel of Serenity 2 Borderland Ranger 3 Restoration Angel 1 Snapcaster Mage 4 Thragtusk

Sorcery (8)

4 Farseek 3 Supreme Verdict 1 Terminus

Instant (7)

2 Azorius Charm 1 Dissipate 2 Sphinx's Revelation 2 Syncopate

Enchantment (2)

2 Detention Sphere

Land (25)

2 Cavern of Souls 1 Forest 4 Glacial Fortress 4 Hallowed Fountain 3 Hinterland Harbor 1 Island 1 Kessig Wolf Run 1 Plains 1 Steam Vents 3 Sunpetal Grove 4 Temple Garden

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Detention Sphere 1 Dissipate 1 Supreme Verdict 1 Acidic Slime 2 Centaur Healer 1 Dispel 1 Ground Seal 1 Negate 1 Oblivion Ring 1 Purify the Grave 1 Ray of Revelation 2 Sigarda, Host of Herons 1 Sundering Growth

Deal Another Hand

There's usually a new oddity being floated around in these decklists. This week offers up an interesting Green-White Midrange deck that looks to be well positioned against the white-blue decks that have been getting so popular. This deck curves out just like an aggressive deck, but the deck designer recognized that almost all the decks in the format (except Red, Black-Red, and Black-Green) are operating in every stage of the game. The Green-White Midrange deck is very bad against Jund Midrange, but all the other standard matchups seem very reasonable. Jund Midrange has dropped significantly in popularity and this may be a good opportunity to cast Trostani, Selesnya's Voice.

This is a list from the Top 8 of a recent Daily event:

Kuthoht's Green-White Midrange

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (2)

2 Garruk, Primal Hunter

Creature (29)

4 Arbor Elf 1 Armada Wurm 4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 3 Borderland Ranger 4 Loxodon Smiter 4 Restoration Angel 3 Sigarda, Host of Herons 4 Thragtusk 2 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice

Instant (4)

4 Selesnya Charm

Enchantment (1)

1 Oblivion Ring

Land (24)

10 Forest 2 Gavony Township 4 Plains 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Temple Garden

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Trostani, Selesnya's Voice 2 Oblivion Ring 2 Ground Seal 2 Plummet 1 Rest in Peace 2 Rootborn Defenses 3 Slayer of the Wicked 2 Sundering Growth

Deal Another Hand

Green-White Humans has been lingering on the sidelines for a few weeks, but the recent dominance of hard control decks encouraged Jonathan Sukenik, also known as Watchwolf92, to dust off the hyper aggressive green-white deck. Cards like Mayor of Avabruck seem especially strong in the current metagame. This deck will likely struggle with the new wave of Thragtusks and Supreme Verdicts rolling in again, but it's worth noting its existence.

Here's Jonathan's recent list from a Premier Event Top 8:

Watchwolf92's Green-White Humans

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (31)

4 Avacyn's Pilgrim 4 Champion of the Parish 2 Dryad Militant 4 Knight of Glory 3 Loxodon Smiter 4 Mayor of Avabruck 4 Silverblade Paladin 3 Sublime Archangel 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben

Instant (3)

3 Selesnya Charm

Enchantment (4)

4 Rancor

Land (22)

4 Cavern of Souls 5 Forest 5 Plains 4 Sunpetal Grove 4 Temple Garden

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

2 Dryad Militant 1 Loxodon Smiter 1 Selesnya Charm 4 Centaur Healer 3 Oblivion Ring 4 Rest in Peace

Deal Another Hand

Black-Green Zombies was the first big deck when Return to Ravnica first rotated into standard. The deck fell out of favor quickly when the format became dominated by Unburial Rites decks and Jund Midrange. Recently, these decks have become less popular and the format has more control decks than ever. Black-Green Zombies is putting up very good numbers as of late and could be the best aggressive deck going into Grand Prix Charleston and Bochum.

Here's the list from Optimus that won a Standard Premier Event.

Optimus's Green-Black Zombies

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Planeswalker (1)

1 Liliana of the Veil

Creature (27)

4 Blood Artist 4 Bloodthrone Vampire 4 Diregraf Ghoul 4 Dreg Mangler 4 Geralf's Messenger 4 Gravecrawler 3 Lotleth Troll

Sorcery (2)

2 Killing Wave

Instant (6)

4 Tragic Slip 2 Ultimate Price

Enchantment (3)

3 Rancor

Land (21)

3 Cavern of Souls 4 Overgrown Tomb 10 Swamp 4 Woodland Cemetery

60 Cards

Sideboard (15)

1 Liliana of the Veil 2 Deadly Allure 4 Deathrite Shaman 2 Sever the Bloodline 2 Underworld Connections 4 Vampire Nighthawk

Deal Another Hand

Standard has a lot of control decks and Unburial Rites decks. Some players have thought about it, and they've decided that Delver of Secrets would be really good in this new metagame. The new breed of Delver of Secrets does well against the control and Unburial Rites decks, but it suffers from very weak matchups against the most aggressive decks in the format.

Here's ManuGodineau's list from a recent Daily Event:

ManuGodineau's White-Blue Delver

Decklist Stats Sample Hand

Creature (10)

4 Delver of Secrets 2 Restoration Angel 4 Snapcaster Mage

Instant (28)

4 Azorius Charm 4 Dissipate 2 Essence Scatter 4 Midnight Haunting 2 Syncopate 4 Think Twice 4 Thought Scour 4 Unsummon