Spotlight Series Atlanta, the first major Standard tournament and the quintessential return of Magic's "Grand Prix" circuit is on the horizon. Standard is in a pretty incredible spot at the moment, with a multitude of decks winning major events and new strategies making their appearances week after week. While the metagame has a couple of main players, specifically Mono-Red variants and Dimir Midrange, there's still a lot of room to innovate and explore before the next Standard set release.
Dimir Midrange
Dimir Midrange | FDN Standard | Roman Fusco
- Creatures (19)
- 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
- 2 Preacher of the Schism
- 4 Enduring Curiosity
- 4 Faerie Mastermind
- 4 Floodpits Drowner
- 4 Spyglass Siren
- Spells (16)
- 3 Go for the Throat
- 2 Spell Stutter
- 2 Anoint with Affliction
- 1 Sheoldred's Edict
- 1 Nowhere to Run
- 3 Cut Down
- 4 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
- Lands (25)
- 4 Island
- 3 Swamp
- 4 Underground River
- 4 Darkslick Shores
- 4 Gloomlake Verge
- 3 Soulstone Sanctuary
- 3 Restless Reef
Kaito, Bane of Nightmares is one hell of a drug, and Dimir Midrange is probably the "best" deck to play at Spotlight Series Atlanta. Ninjutsu-ing a Kaito on the play, bouncing back a Floodpits Drowner is sometimes just lights out for your opponent. I wouldn't fault anyone for playing this deck just because of how powerful its draws are and how much inevitability it has.
I do think if you're playing Dimir you need to have a decent sideboard strategy against Red. In testing I've found that you can keep a good hand on the draw, something like 3-4 lands, a Spyglass Siren, a Cut Down, a Kaito, and an Enduring Curiosity, and then just get rocked by a 1,2,3 start from your Red opponent. While you have a swath of removal spells, the issue becomes a matter of mana efficiency. Go for the Throat-ing your opponent's Heartfire Hero that already has some +1/+1 counters on it is not a favorable trade for you, and you won't keep up with your opponent at that pace.
I think you absolutely need a fourth Cut Down and even a Stab variant as well to keep up on the draw against Red. You also don't want to concede games to Urabrask's Forge so you also bring in Tishana's Tidebinder. I also like access to Gix's Command as your way to turn the corner.
Overall, I think Dimir is just the "strongest" deck in the format and has game against everything. I'd just be wary of your sideboard options against Red and know how to board and play against the mirror.
Azorius Axe (aka Azorius Rectangles)
Azorius Rectangles | FDN Standard | Roman Fusco
- Creatures (26)
- 4 Mockingbird
- 4 Novice Inspector
- 4 Spyglass Siren
- 4 Regal Bunnicorn
- 4 Warden of the Inner Sky
- 4 Steel Seraph
- 2 Floodpits Drowner
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Leyline Axe
- Enchantments (8)
- 4 Zoetic Glyph
- 4 Sheltered by Ghosts
- Lands (22)
- 4 Adarkar Wastes
- 4 Floodfarm Verge
- 1 Fountainport
- 3 Island
- 3 Plains
- 3 Restless Anchorage
- 4 Seachrome Coast
- Sideboard (15)
- 2 Elspeth's Smite
- 3 Ghost Vacuum
- 2 Destroy Evil
- 2 Get Lost
- 2 Negate
- 2 Loran of the Third Path
- 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
This is a deck my teammate Ben built and won a back to back RCQ and Store Championship with. While I've seen other Azorius Convoke/Flash lists floating around the internet, I like this one the best and I'm surprised I haven't seen more people play something like it. Leyline Axe helps you power up your Warden of the Inner Sky faster, while also giving you a pretty sizable end-game threat that's hard to remove.
Aggro is one of your best matchups, with Sheltered by Ghosts, but you also can get out of range of dying with the trigger from Steel Seraph. I think Dimir is tricky due to them having stun counters from Kaito and Floodpits Drowner, but the cool thing about Leyline Axe is that you can just stick it on any small threat and eek in enough damage to win games.
I also like that this deck can just jam Zoetic Glyph, and with so many Cut Downs and Go for the Throats in the format this makes for another threat that's hard to remove. It's worth noting that you can't equip a Leyline Axe after Glyphing it, but sometimes it's just worth it to Glyph an Axe to push on the pressure.
One thing I've learned from this Standard format is that it's important to play decks that have agency. What I mean by this is that you want to play decks that put pressure on your opponent in some form or another. I found early on in the format that slower Midrange or Control decks just felt bad because the faster decks had so much baked in inevitability to them. I like Azorius Rectangles for the fact that it can present a very fast clock while having this secret weapon of Leyline Axe to win the game off any random creature. You also have a great matchup against other aggro decks, just based on the fact you have lots of maindeck lifelink, and ways to grow your creatures to win battles in combat.
Esper Enchantments
Esper Enchantments | FDN Standard | Roman Fusco
- Creatures (16)
- 4 Optimistic Scavenger
- 4 Nurturing Pixie
- 4 Spiteful Hexmage
- 4 Fear of Isolation
- Instants (4)
- 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough
- Enchantments (14)
- 2 Sheltered by Ghosts
- 4 Hopeless Nightmare
- 4 Stormchaser's Talent
- 4 Nowhere to Run
- Planeswalkers (4)
- 4 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
- Sideboard (15)
- 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
- 2 Shardmage's Rescue
- 2 Elspeth's Smite
- 2 Negate
- 3 Destroy Evil
- 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
This deck came up on my radar only a few days ago, thanks to Fireshoes posting about it making some waves in the daily MTGO leagues. I was skeptical at first, as I've seen Orzhov versions of this deck seem pretty weak. However after playing a lot with this deck this week, I can confirm this is the real deal, and it's currently my frontrunner for Atlanta. Originally I played a different list with no Kaitos, two more copies of Sheltered by Ghosts maindeck, and two copies of Bottomless Pool // Locker Room. One thing that I realized early on is that while I was basically in a winning position by turn three in a lot of games, I was losing a lot of games by turn three if I drew 4-5 lands early on, or my opponent had a few early Cut Downs to stop my pressure.
I was a bit disheartened playing the original list, because I felt the starts the deck had were so incredible, but the games I lost just felt unwinnable by turn two. While This Town Ain't Big Enough helps you get in the last few points of damage with Hopeless Nightmares, it sometimes wasn't enough to close out games.
However, the inclusion of Kaito changes all of that. Kaito really shines in this deck for a number of reasons. The big reason is that by turn three you've already probably put in a multitude of creatures into play, whether they be your one-drop creatures, like Optimistic Scavenger or Nurturing Pixie, or otter tokens from Stormchaser's Talent. You just have so many one-drops, and also Nowhere to Run/Sheltered by Ghosts, that it's so easy to ninjutsu Kaito on turn three.
Ninjuutsu-ing Kaito also means you get to return a creature like Fear of Isolation or Nurturing Pixie back to your hand, giving you more damage and reach in cards like Hopeless Nightmare and Stormchaser's Talent, or just another removal spell in a Nowhere to Run. I kind of wish this deck had another ninja somewhere, just to make use of Kaito's +1 ability, but I think on average you're using Kaito for tempo advantage to stun down your opponent's threats to get in your last points of damage, or just draw into more pressure.
As for the sideboard, it's still a work in progress. I really like Shardmage's Rescue when you're on the play and want to protect your Optimistic Scavenger. I think you want Destroy Evil or Get Losts against decks like Domain or Golgari, or if you expect to run into Temporary Lockdowns. Elspeth's Smite is a card I've brought in against Red on the draw, just to have some early interaction against Red - it's an easy swap for Nightmare, which has diminishing returns in the matchup.
The last card I've been incredibly happy with that I'm surprised no one is playing is Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber. While this card seems hard to unlock both sides of, with only 22 lands in your deck, I've loved this card against Dimir and other midrange variants. Similar to Kaito, it gives you some inherent reach when your opponent is trying to Cut Down your small guys early, or rely on Gix's Command to turn the game around in their favor. A turn three Annex on the play just feels so good when you're already putting on pressure. It's an insurance policy that at least has some synergy with Optimistic Scavenger. I like this much better than Entity Tracker - which dies to Cut Down!
Standard is my favorite Constructed format and I'm stoked to be playing at Spotlight Series Atlanta, as well as a number of major Standard tournaments next year. It feels great to have Magic's quintessential Constructed format in the limelight once again. While the format feels pretty juiced, with aggressive strategies taking center stage, it still feels like there's lots of ways to metagame for the current environment, rewarding players that innovate.
See you in Atlanta!
-Roman Fusco