Magic has a real problem with negative echo chambers.

Something happens in Magic, say a bad Standard format or confusion about digital only cards, and the community takes that as the concrete truth about the subject regardless of how the situation may change over time. People who haven't played a game of Standard since Oko, Thief of Crowns was legal or saw a preview for an odd digital only MTG Arena design once that looked like a Hearthstone card lock in their opinion and then never waver. Someone sees a cheating scandal at a Pro Tour and assumes that everyone playing in Pro events is a cheater.

"Standard sucks" is a common one of these, and frankly it's about time we dispel that notion.

Yes, Standard went through a really rough period 3 or 4 years ago. FIRE design led to a cascade of banned cards and a lot of very lopsided Standard formats. We even saw a recent round of bans, but the reality is that Standard has largely been a pretty good format in recent memory, and with the release of Wilds of Eldraine combined with that round of bans, we're at a spot now where Standard is actively excellent.

The Worlds Metagame breakdown is a good one, with only one deck in the entire field over 10%, and while Esper Midrange did put up a pretty high number, the combination of variety under it as well as awesome brews that did well was remarkable.

Seriously, it's hard to oversell how many sweet Standard brews were played at the highest level of competition a few weeks ago... but I'm going to try! Today, I'll be going over some of the most awesome decks from Worlds.

Bant Control | WOE Standard | Greg Orange, 6th Place 2023 World Championship

• Creatures (3)
• 3 Horned Loch-Whale

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (11)
• 1 Brokers Charm
• 1 Dissipate
• 1 Memory Deluge
• 1 Negate
• 2 Make Disappear
• 2 March of Otherworldly Light
• 3 Syncopate

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Sunfall
• 4 Lay Down Arms

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Leyline Binding
• 4 Up the Beanstalk

• Lands (27)
• 1 Island
• 6 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Mirrex
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Jetmir's Garden
• 3 Dreamroot Cascade
• 3 Raffine's Tower
• 4 Spara's Headquarters
• 4 Yavimaya Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 The Eternal Wanderer
• 1 Hullbreaker Horror
• 3 Chrome Host Seedshark
• 1 Sunset Revelry
• 1 Memory Deluge
• 2 Knockout Blow
• 2 Negate
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Destroy Evil
• 1 Elspeth's Smite

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There's really no other place to start than Greg Orange.

It's hard to imagine a bigger dream for a Magic player than to bring a homebrew deck to the literal World Championships and make Top 8, and that's exactly what Greg has done here.

Greg is a noted Azorius Control player, but here he takes perhaps one of the best cards in Wilds of Eldraine in Up the Beanstalk uses it as a tool to power up his typical control engine. I mean, what's more Blue/White control than counterspells, sweepers, and card draw? Horned Loch-Whale even does a really serviceable Azorius Charm impression too!

We'll see more of Up the Beanstalk, but this brew is the perfect mixture of a player playing a deck that stylistically in their wheelhouse, but also finding a way to make sure that they are playing many of the format's most powerful cards - Leyline Binding, Up the Beanstalk, Sunfall, and The Wandering Emperor - while also having good tools against all of the top decks in the format.

Azorius Soldiers | WOE Standard | Simon Nielsen, 3rd Place 2023 World Championship

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Werefox Bodyguard
• 2 Regal Bunnicorn
• 2 Yotian Frontliner
• 3 Harbin, Vanguard Aviator
• 4 Knight-Errant of Eos
• 4 Lunarch Veteran // Luminous Phantom
• 4 Recruitment Officer
• 4 Resolute Reinforcements
• 4 Zephyr Sentinel

• Instants (4)
• 4 Make Disappear

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity

• Lands (24)
• 4 Plains
• 1 Deserted Beach
• 1 Secluded Courtyard
• 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Otawara, Soaring City
• 4 Adarkar Wastes
• 4 Fortified Beachhead
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 The Wandering Emperor
• 1 Regal Bunnicorn
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 3 Protect the Negotiators
• 2 Lantern Flare
• 2 Elspeth's Smite
• 3 Tocasia's Welcome

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One of the bigger surprises in the event was the Azorius Soldiers deck that a few members of team handshake brought to the event. Simon Nielsen would run the tables in Standard with a perfect 8-0 record, only to fall in Top 4, but in doing so locked up his very impressive Player of the Year run.

In a lot of ways, it's not really surprising that Team Handshake came to this choice.

Solider is a fairly powerful deck, able to merge the aggression of a deck like Mono-White Humans alongside some very real interaction like Make Disappear which prevents the deck from folding to Sunfall while also giving the deck some serious flash/tempo game. With a good number of flash creatures, the deck is able to present a lot of pressure, but also interact as needed.

Getting to play Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity is also a good place to be too! And check out those two copies of Regal Bunnicorn, looking to end the game quickly without needing to rely on any sort of lord effect.

The results don't lie and there's a number of different ways to build the deck; soldiers is back!

Esper Control | WOE Standard | Marco Cammilluzzi, 5-2-1 2023 World Championship

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (26)
• 1 Siphon Insight
• 1 The End
• 2 Dissipate
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 2 Negate
• 2 Quick Study
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 Make Disappear
• 3 Sheoldred's Edict
• 3 Void Rend
• 4 Memory Deluge

• Sorceries (4)
• 2 Farewell
• 2 Sunfall

• Lands (27)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Restless Fortress
• 2 Adarkar Wastes
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Underground River
• 3 Shattered Sanctum
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Deserted Beach
• 4 Raffine's Tower

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 3 Chrome Host Seedshark
• 2 Dennick, Pious Apprentice
• 1 Sunfall
• 1 The End
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Siphon Insight
• 1 Negate
• 1 Anoint with Affliction
• 1 Cut Down

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Is that a real, pure control deck in Standard?

It sure is! Marco Cammilluzzi went 5-2-1 in the Standard portion of Worlds with this classic take on control - 30 spells, 4 planeswalkers, 27 lands (two of which are a win condition). This sort of pure, super-light-on-win-conditions control deck hasn't really been a thing in Standard in quite a while, so it is super refreshing to see.

Marco's deck entire deck aside from the sweepers operates at instant speed, allowing the deck to have the tools necessary to handle everything from aggressive creature starts to decks ramping all the way to Atraxa, Grand Unifier. There are some other threats in the board like Chrome Host Seedshark and Sheoldred, the Apocalpyse, but make no mistake this deck is a control player's dream.

Well, we've got Aggro decks, Control decks, and Midrange decks... but what about combo?

Simic Cauldron | WOE Standard | Alexey Paulot, 4-2-2 2023 World Championship

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Realm-Scorcher Hellkite
• 4 Fallaji Archaeologist
• 4 Kami of Whispered Hopes
• 4 Rona, Herald of Invasion
• 4 Sleep-Cursed Faerie

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 1 Jace, the Perfected Mind
• 3 Wrenn and Realmbreaker

• Instants (4)
• 4 Seed of Hope

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Brave the Wilds
• 2 Unnatural Restoration

• Enchantments (6)
• 3 Teachings of the Kirin // Kirin-Touched Orochi
• 3 Witness Protection

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

• Lands (22)
• 3 Island
• 4 Forest
• 1 Restless Vinestalk
• 2 Argoth, Sanctum of Nature
• 2 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 2 Otawara, Soaring City
• 4 Dreamroot Cascade
• 4 Yavimaya Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Wrenn and Realmbreaker
• 4 Titania, Voice of Gaea
• 1 Slogurk, the Overslime
• 2 Outland Liberator // Frenzied Trapbreaker
• 2 Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist
• 1 Animist's Might
• 1 Negate
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Tamiyo's Safekeeping

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Mono-Blue Cauldron | WOE Standard | David Olsen, 5-3 2023 World Championship

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Realm-Scorcher Hellkite
• 4 Hypnotic Grifter
• 4 Omen Hawker
• 4 Rona, Herald of Invasion
• 4 Sleep-Cursed Faerie
• 4 Surge Engine

• Instants (11)
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 2 Make Disappear
• 4 Consider
• 4 Sleight of Hand

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Witness Protection
• 4 Training Grounds

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

• Lands (19)
• 17 Island
• 2 Otawara, Soaring City

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Malevolent Hermit // Benevolent Geist
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 3 Slip Out the Back
• 2 Fading Hope
• 1 Sword of Once and Future
• 3 Witness Protection

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There was not one, but two versions of combo decks based around Agatha's Soul Cauldron at the World Championship, both with the intent of piling up abilities to make infinite mana with Sleep-Cursed Faerie and using that to win the game in one shot.

Seeing this sort of combo deck in Standard is one thing, but seeing it do well in two different iterations at the pinnacle of competitive play is something very exciting.

Both decks are looking to put a mana creature, either Omen Hawker or Kami of Whispered Hopes under the Agatha's Soul Cauldron, giving that creature's ability to Sleep-Cursed Faerie. The Mono-Blue version also needs Training Grounds in play, but once Sleep-Cursed Faerie has a big mana ability as well as the ability to untap for less mana that it would tap for, you get infinite mana. From that point you can use the ability from Rona, Herald of Invasion or Hypnotic Grifter to dig through your deck until you find Realm-Scorcher Hellkite and sink your infinite mana into it to kill your opponent.

It may look silly, but there were a few brave souls playing each version of the deck at the World Championship and doing well, which is very exciting.

And There's More!

While those were the standouts, there were a number of other exciting decks as well, beyond the big metagame share decks like Esper Midrange, Domain Ramp, and Mono-Red Aggro.

We're talking Rakdos Reanimator, Rakdos Anvil, Grixis Midrange, a Sultai Faeries deck that only splashed for Restless Cottage, Domain Cascade and more. I strongly encourage folks to check out all the decklists here.

Suffice to say though, it would be hard to have a more wide open or exciting metagame for the biggest event of the year. Aggro, Midrange, Control, and Combo all represented with multiple archetypes for each, new cards everywhere, and more.

Standard is awesome right now and I'm exciting to see it get more support from Wizards of the Coast!