Metagame: Standard Tier List with Tarkir: Dragonstorm

Mono Red Aggro

Mono Red Aggro has one of the strongest and most consistent versions in the history of Standard and is currently the deck to beat in the current Metagame, being the archetype that every player needs to prepare for when building their lists.

Much of this is due to the excellent role that the mix of the mice package and Monstrous Rage offers, along with Screaming Nemesis, whose ability to permanently lock life gain guarantees safe games even in the face of common hates.

Tarkir additions included the multi-format staple Cori-Steel Cutter as well as Tersa Lightshatter, whose decent body and cost, along with its hand-filtering ability and immediate board impact, help the deck maintain its threat flow and pressure even in the face of poor draws.

Izzet Prowess

The release of Cori-Steel Cutter has boosted Tempo and Prowess strategies across all competitive formats, and Standard has been no exception—this Izzet version forgoes the mice package in favor of extracting the most from the new artifact with cheap spells and hand-filtering that mitigate some of the explosive potential in favor of topdeck manipulation, a slight dose of card advantage, and the potential for increased damage when all of your creatures have Prowess.

This mix makes Izzet Prowess one of the best decks in Standard today and the newest challenger in the Metagame. It is more flexible than other variants in its category and has greater ease in extending games thanks to Stock Up and Stormchaser’s Talent, while the Sideboard (or even the maindeck) can take advantage of cards like Spell Pierce and Into the Flood Maw to protect itself.

Esper Bounce

Once the best deck in the format to the point that players demanded a ban, Esper Bounce remains one of the main competitors in the Metagame and possibly the most flexible archetype in Tier 1 in terms of gameplay.

The existence of this strategy and its position today is a natural consequence of the change in Magic card design so that everything has a relevant impact when it enters. Fear of Isolation and Nurturing Pixie reuses the ETBs from any permanent and have established a strategy that can play both with an aggressive tempo clock through Stormchaser’s Talent and Hopeless Nightmare and go for the longer attrition with Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and This Town Ain’t Big Enough.

Sunpearl Kirin was the most important addition to the archetype, and has been the main choice for the extra threat slots in the deck. After all, in addition to also allowing you to reuse ETBs, it is a way to protect Kaito, Bane of Nightmares from lethal damage and reuse it again, always having “protection” for it when needed in your hand while keeping the opponent’s board under control.

Jeskai Oculus

Sometimes the best way to win games is to bypass mana costs and force your opponent to respond to your threat as soon as possible — if they can't, the game will be won by the snowball that Abhorrent Oculus can cause as early as turn two in Jeskai Oculus.

Half Tempo, half Aggro-Combo, the archetype mixes efficient discard effects and cheap creatures with a reanimate subtheme that targets a threat that we can also cast for cheap. Proft's Eidetic Memory is another way to ensure that your threats grow as the game goes on.

Winternight Stories has become a staple of current lists due to its interaction with Abhorrent Oculus, and it's just as good as a Thirst for Knowledge in enabling the “combo” while generating card advantage, and the fact that it is reusable from the graveyard and also interacts with Proft makes it another way to secure extra counters.

Dimir Midrange

Dimir is currently the most flexible color combination among the Midranges in the current Standard. After all, stack interaction is one of the most important elements of a format, where everything that enters has some immediate effect and/or can cause a major snowball if it stays on the board for too long.

Furthermore, the combination of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares with a dozen cheap creatures, combined with the chances of burying the opponent with card advantage, puts Dimir Midrange in an excellent position as the “fair deck”, with a dozen options on how to customize its list for the expected Metagame.

Jeskai Control

Jeskai was the only three-color combination from the Tarkir clans to catapult into an archetype of its own with the addition of red to the old Azorius Control lists. For the most part, players have opted for this version over the more traditional two-color variants.

The third color added, in addition to cheap removals, the possibility of using Shiko, Paragon of the Way as a large-bodied Snapcaster Mage when we reuse spells like Stock Up and also with Jeskai Revelation, a late-game bomb that is particularly lethal alongside Chandra, Hope’s Beacon.

Omniscience Combo

Regardless of the variant and splash, the combo between Abuelo’s Awakening and Omniscience remains one of the most respectable archetypes in current Standard and has gained tools that increase its consistency, such as Marang River Regent and Jeskai Revelation.

Many Rest in Peace and Ghost Vacuum that we see in the Sideboards have as their main objective to avoid a potential loss on the fourth turn caused by this combo, and while this strategy has problems interacting with very explosive decks, it holds up considerably well against slower strategies, being able to get around hates such as discards and counterspells with ease.

Orzhov Bounce

Sunpearl Kirin has pulled Orzhov Bounce's popularity from its post-Pro Tour Aetherdrift results. Now with eight consistent effects, players can take advantage of Temporary Lockdown interactions more frequently, while also maindecking one of the best cards to deal with Cori-Steel Cutter and a sizable portion of Bounce deck permanents, making it a rising strategy in the current Metagame.

Gruul Prowess

Gruul Prowess was once the best deck of the format, lost ground to Bounce and then regained its place until it was gradually replaced by Mono Red and now Izzet Prowess. However, it is still a solid and extremely reliable option for the current Metagame.

Cards like Pawpatch Formation remain relevant in the format, and Questing Druid provides more breathing room in the game while having good interactions with Cori-Steel Cutter. Other variants rely on a plan around the mice package and Innkeeper’s Talent, and Pawpatch Recruit also offers another good reason to go for the splash.

Azorius Control

While not as popular as the three-color variants right now, Azorius Control remains a solid option for Standard, including additions like Marang River Regent and Elspeth, Storm Slayer, whose interaction with Fountainport and Beza, the Bounding Spring provides a way to dominate the board once the game has stabilized.

Flexibility is the main reason to go for the two-color variants over Jeskai. Sunspine Lynx remains a staple of red decks, and being less likely to be punished by it also counts as a bonus.

Domain Overlords

While it didn't receive any major cards with Tarkir: Dragonstorm, Domain Overlords remains a popular Midrange predator, but it suffers a considerable loss with the rise of Aggro in the current Metagame, especially against those who can easily invalidate individual removals with Cori-Steel Cutter.

Golgari Midrange

Golgari Midrange is very popular, and does some good work, but it is notoriously disadvantaged in the Metagame compared to the blue variants and also to Orzhov Bounce, which should become the most popular two-color Midrange variant due to the inclusion of Sunpearl Kirin and its results in Bologna.

The Unholy Annex plan for Archfiend of the Dross or Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a bit too fair for a Metagame where your opponents are stacking the board with Prowess, attacking with a Heartfire Hero for 12 with Trample and Double Strike on turn three, or activating an Overlord of the Mistmoors with Zur, Eternal Schemer on turn five, but if you manage to hold the early-game or the most explosive starts, you have a great fair grindy matchup ahead of you.

Rakdos Prowess

The combination of Heartfire Hero or Slickshot Show-Off with Callous Sell-Sword remains one of the best free-win buttons the format has to offer. Now, with Cori-Steel Cutter, Rakdos Prowess can forgo Leyline of Resonance for a more consistent card that offers a more robust game plan.

However, the addition of offers very little to the archetype when compared to other splashes, making it the least popular Prowess variant today.

Caretaker Control

Whether it's Mono White, Orzhov, or Selesnya, Caretaker's Talent decks have gotten a significant boost with Elspeth, Storm Slayer, which offers a way to increase the number of token put on the board while also offering an evasive clock boost that eases one of the biggest problems this strategy has in the format today — closing games.

Still, it's an unpopular choice in the current Standard because it mixes factors that make it very vulnerable against some of the main pillars of the Metagame, while preying on strategies that are currently low.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!