Standard Meta Review August 2022: Awaiting Dominaria United

Let’s discuss the variances in the meta between best-of-one and best-of-three Standard, as well as some Dominaria United spoilers!

Prelude

With Dominaria United just around the corner, I wanted to analyze the current state of Standard and how the meta is shaping up to be one of the most diverse yet! It’s almost despairing to think that in a short time, it will rotate, and we will lose many of the staples people have come to love/hate in Standard.

Discussing Social Media Grievances

I’ve seen some people complaining on social media that they hate the current state of Standard and no longer enjoy playing as much, and I don’t blame them since I was also in the same boat myself for a time. I was a best-of-one-only player when I first started playing MTGA, and it remained that way for upwards of a year. I tried branching out into playing more best-of-three matches and reading as much as possible about different decklists online.

Afterward, I discovered the meta’s for best-of-one and best-of-three are entirely separate. Completely separate. While you may be facing game after game of Boros Burn in best-of-one, I’ve found it one of the least popular decks in best-of-three. It is much more diverse than you could imagine if all you’ve been playing is best-of-one. I get it, though; not everyone enjoys playing best-of-three or different game modes and chooses to play what they love. If you’re a best-of-one player, hang in there, and after rotation, you may find yourself in a new atmosphere that you enjoy more than the current Standard meta.

Top-Tier Standard Decks

While I’ve briefly touched on the divergences of the meta between best-of-one and best-of-three, I want to focus primarily on the latter since it’s what I’ve been playing lately. Top-tier decks always shine bright, far above any other deck you could be playing in every format. That can’t ever stop you from playing what you love, though, and you’re in luck because Standard in best-of-three right now seems like the most diverse it’s been in a long time.

The current top-tier decks include Jeskai Hinata, Orzhov Midrange, Esper Midrange, and Boros Aggro. Don’t let that fool you into thinking that’s all you’ll face. I’ve also encountered Temur Control, Gruul Aggro, Mono Green, Izzet Tempo, Bant Virtuoso, Mono Red Burn, Mono Black, and even Simic Ramp. Those are just the decks I’ve encountered so far; I’m sure other players face various decks not included here when they play. Every week, I see someone on Twitter sharing a decklist for a new archetype they’ve been playing in Standard and had a decent win rate that no one else has been playing.

Grixis Vampires

I’ve been having a great time playing Grixis Vampires in Standard, and it seems to be able to keep up with most decks unless Temur starts slamming a Titan of Industry every turn in the late game. Here’s the list:

grixis-vampires-fc1c6

Dominaria United Spoilers

While examining the meta of Standard is engaging in its own right, who doesn’t love new cards?

First is Evolved Sleeper (rare), a one black mana 1/1 Creature-Human. It has three abilities. For one black mana, Evolved Sleeper becomes a Human Cleric with base power and toughness 2/2. For one of any color and one black mana, If Evolved Sleeper is a Cleric, put a deathtouch counter on it and it becomes a Phyrexian Human Cleric with base power and toughness 3/3. For one of any color and two black mana, If Evolved Sleeper is a Phyrexian, put a +1+1 counter on it, then you draw a card and you lose 1 life. Will a new clerics deck arise after rotation? Only time will tell.

Jaya, Fiery Negotiator (mythic) is a two of any color and two red mana Legendary Planeswalker-Jaya. Its abilities include the following:

+1- Create a 1/1 red Monk creature token with prowess.

-1- Exile the top two cards of your library. Choose one of them. You may play that card this turn.

-2- Choose target creature an opponent controls. Whenever you attack this turn, Jaya, Fiery Negotiator deals damage equal to the number of attacking creatures to that creature.

-8- You get an emblem with “Whenever you cast a red instant or sorcery spell, copy it twice. You may choose new targets for the copies.”

At first glance, this planeswalker looks powerful. We haven’t had any red planeswalkers that come with both the ability to make a creature right away or draw cards. It seems versatile and resilient.

Shivan Devastator (mythic) is an x amount of any color mana and one red Creature- Dragon Hydra X/X with flying, haste. Shivan Devastator enters the battlefield with X +1+1 counters on it.

There are many dragons in every new set that comes out. Shivan Devastator doesn’t seem exceptional, but it would be cool to cast this in the late game when you may be flooded and make a 15/15 dragon or something ridiculous.

Temporal Firestorm (rare) is a three of any color and two red mana Sorcery that reads, Kicker-one of any color and one white mana and or/ one of any color and one blue mana (You may pay an additional one of any color and one white, or one of any color and one blue mana as you cast this spell) Choose up to X creatures/and or planeswalkers you control, where X is the number of times this spell was kicked. Those permanents phase out. Temporal Firestorm deals 5 damage to each creature and each planeswalker.

This card seems like a combination of March of Swirling Mist and Burn Down the House but all in one! It will probably be tested, especially with Hinata, Dawn-Crowned.

Llanowar Loamspeaker (rare) is a one of any color and one green mana Creature-Elf Druid 1/3. Its abilities are:

Tap, add one mana of any color.

Tap, Target land you control becomes a 3/3 Elemental creature with haste until end of turn. It’s still a land. Activate only as a sorcery.

With some key cards rotating out for mono green (Old Growth Troll, Blizzard Brawl), Loamspeaker may prove to fill the role of a capable two-drop to fit the curve of an aggressive or midrange deck.

The stained glass land arts look incredible as well; there’s much to look forward to in Magic the rest of this year!