Standard Tier List: CHRIMUHTIME

With the advent of a new RCQ season upon us, as well as a new Foundational standard set, there comes a new way to envision the meta around us. Additionally, the standard format as a whole over the past year has been better than any standard format since RTR-Theros, and I'll stand on that. There are many different playable decks playable at the moment, and I would say any one of these top 10 decks could potentially win an RCQ, but obviously the ones at the top will be the ones I feel are the best to get your tickets to Minneapolis and Hartford.

Here is the tier list, for those of you who want it, although we will go more in-depth deck by deck afterwards:

10. Azorius/Jeskai Convoke
9.  Boros Burn
8. Domain
7. Azorius Oculus
6. White Control
5. Temur Otters
4. Red Prowess
3. Golgari Midrange
2. Gruul Prowess
1. Dimir Midrange

Now for the in-depth breakdowns!

Tier 3: Good decks with Strong Niches

These are decks which will usually prey on rooms which either do not pack sideboard hate, or skew too much towards a specific archetype. They still have game in any matchup, but there are rooms where they will be a lot better- and a lot worse.

10. Azorius/Jeskai Convoke

Credit to teammate Ben Ejnes for this list. This deck has more consistent mana (in three colors) than it has in the past, and that, coupled with the best starts in the format and one of the most broken value generating creatures in Knight-Errant of Eos, make its game ones almost unbeatable, especially against black midrange decks. However, two major things stand in this deck's way: a plethora of sideboard answers, and terrible mana.  I would say that if you think your room will be inundated with black midrange decks cutting on their aggro hate to cannibalize each other, this deck is an excellent choice. However, if you think you will face a reasonably diverse metagame, especially one featuring  white control decks, or just decent sideboard cards against aggressive decks, this may not be the best option.

9. Boros Burn

Credit to my buddy Omar Valencia for this list. This is actually the most consistent of the red aggressive decks, card for card. It packs a lot of over-the-top damage, and tends to care the least about removal/boardwipes compared to the prowess-oriented variants. However, it suffers from a pronounced weakness, as do many of the decks in this tier: it has virtually no real answer to recursive life-gain. While this may sound like something which is not normally a huge deal, magic design over the past few years has made recursive life-gain a huge part of most premier formats. This includes standard, with cards like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and Ritual Annex, Carrot Cake, and the like keeping traditional burn decks down. However, if you find rooms without Golgari midrange, Mono-White Control, or sideboard cards that shore up burn matchups, then this deck can absolutely crush a room.

8. Domain

This deck is... weird. There are a lot of cards which simultaneously do nothing in some matchups, and everything in others. This leads to the classic "Oh, I drew the wrong half of my deck" problem in some matchups, but there are also matchups where you win because you are simply playing a lot of busted mythics and rares with synergy on top. That being said, what really keeps this deck from being positioned higher is an extreme weakness to mono-red/red aggressive variants, which often just plow through the deck before it can really get its engines going. I do think there is something to be said for this deck being exploitative of skill edges, in that if you are better than your opponents, you will get outsized mileage from this deck in build and in play, but I still can't seriously recommend it because of its issues with aggression.

7. Azorius Oculus

This has been a pet deck of mine for a while, and with the upgrades Abhorrent Oculus and Founding the Third Path have provided recently, the deck is more fun than ever. But we'd be kidding ourselves if we didn't recognize the decks biggest issues: consistency and sideboard cards. This deck wins a lot of game ones, particularly against midrange decks, and even post-board games if the black decks elect to cheat on copies of Anoint with Affliction. But cards like Ghost Vacuum, Anoint, Sunfall, and Archfiend of the Dross can be very difficult for this deck to beat, despite how good a lot of its matchups may feel pre-board. That said, if your room is skimping on graveyard hate, or if you're just high rolling the entire day, this deck can really get there pretty easily. There are a lot of powerful cards, and you get a lot of interaction for much cheaper than many other decks.

6. White Tokens

Credit to Zane Toledo for this list, you can check out his social media here, or his YouTube channel here, he's an excellent player. This archetype is reminiscent of a similar mono-white control deck which made waves in 2022 back when Grixis and Rakdos midrange strategies were dominant in the format.  As with that version, this deck has risen to beat up black midrange strategies, however, unlike last time this deck was good, the format is not inundated with those types of decks. Don't get me wrong, the black decks are good, and popular, but I think you would be hard-pressed to say outright they are definitely the best decks in the format to the extent the Vampires strategies were back in the day. This token strategy plays with an amount of value most midrange decks will never be able to contest with, however, it does have pronounced weaknesses to decks which punish the amount of wheelspinning and setup it has to do to get their engines online. This means weaknesses to the red and red-x Prowess decks, as well as tempo-oriented draws from blue decks, as it can struggle against countermagic. I would play this in rooms heavily inundated with GB midrange, or to a lesser extent, the UB flash deck. It has game against most creatures, but I still wouldn't recommend playing this in a room full of prowess decks.

Tier 2: Strong decks, less weaknesses

You can win with these in any room, but it may be more difficult than the tier 1 strategies, seeing as they have less agency in their poor matchups.

5. Temur Otters

This deck is WILD. Also, for credit reasons, I stole this particular list from HexdrinkerMTG, you can follow his social media here, and his YouTube channel here.  I think this archetype likely has the most room for skill expression of any deck on this list, which is not necessarily a good or bad thing in a vacuum... although I supposed we don't usually play magic in a vacuum. That being said, this deck has a lot going for it. It plays a reasonable amount of removal for the aggressive decks, This town ain't Big Enough is at an all-time-high of viability at the moment, and it operates as an control-combo deck rather than a spell-density or two-piece combo deck, where eventually it will just find the pieces to go off even if it doesn't have the speed of other combo archetypes. It also does not need to "go infinite" in order to kill. That being said, its combo package is so heavy it struggles to play enough interaction to keep up with decks that demand it, which means trouble with aggressive decks and aggressive curves from midrange decks. On the other hand, it shines against control decks, or decks which struggle to kill in general. I would play this if your room is inundated with heavy midrange or decks like the Monowhite deck, or if you feel like you have a massive skill edge against a given room.

4. Red Prowess

Mono-red Prowess is just a good solid aggro deck, playing on axes different from red decks in the past with their pump spells and valiant triggers. And its strong. Really strong. That being said, while strong overall and in a general sense, it can still be attacked on a fair axis and lose, seeing as it rarely gets all the way over with burn spells alone, meaning if its creatures don't do damage, the deck probably won't be able to push it. Sideboard games are also interesting, seeing as if the deck can protect an Urabrask's Forge, it often wins the game off of that card alone. The only serious drawback  to this deck is its lack of options due to being monocolored.

Tier 1: Strong decks, all weaknesses are able to be played through

All of these decks have far better spreads than the previous tier, however, they each happen to have one pronounced weakness which they will struggle with, even if they can play through them. Telltale of a good format, in my opinion, especially in standard.

3. Golgari Midrange

I've played a lot of this deck as well.  Green has a lot of powerful removal right now (WoTC smoking crizzack for that one) in Tear Asunder, Pawpatch Formation, Tranquil Frillback, and Vivien Reed, and the black demon package is just very strong. That, coupled with black removal being at a relative high compared to it's white counterpart, has allowed this deck to become the second most represented in the meta. It has a significantly more polarized matchup spread than midrange decks of the past, however, with definitive weaknesses against Temur Otters as well as Dimir Midrange, while having very good matchups against almost the entirety of the rest of the metagame, with a particular emphasis on its red aggressive matchup being very very strong. I would heavily recommend playing this deck if there is just no Dimir in your area.

2. Gruul Prowess

This is the deck I have played the second most during this season, and it is an incredible piece of work. Monstrous Rage is contextually one of the strongest pump spells in standard, ever. The deck has a lot of reach, everything is aggressively costed, and Questing Druid is literally Ancestral Recall. I haven't missed a top 8 playing this deck yet, but it does have weaknesses. While you would figure the Beza decks such as Domain and mono-White would be problematic, the deck that actually crushes red is, as previously mentioned, Golgari. Every top 8 match I have lost so far has been to that deck, and while the matchup is winnable, there is clearly some work to be done in the sideboard to fix it.

1.Dimir Midrange

One of my buddies probably put it best: "Decks that have the most moves are decks that tend to be really good, and I think Dimir has the most moves by a lot." The amount of plays, answers, and threats this deck has are so diverse in terms of how they operate on board and from the hand that it feels impossible to play around all of them. In other competitive games (particularly fighting games), this amount of option select/access is referred to as "coverage." Any move the opponent makes, Dimir can potentially cover/counter in different ways, and making Dimir's answers wrong is a lot harder than being wrong yourself. Operating largely at instant speed, the deck is basically a pile of efficient answers backed up by eight good cards, namely 4 copies of both Enduring Curiosity and Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, both of which draw you a TON more of those answers. Good pile. Excellent pile. Potentially even... best pile?

I don't know how to end this article. You should probably play red if you're defaulting and not experienced in the format, Dimir as you get deeper. I like all the decks. Standard is in the best spot its been in for YEARS if not a decade outright at the moment. I have enjoyed the RCQ season, and will continue to grind it out.

#ILiterallyCannotBelieveImPlayingStandardAgainAndLegitimatelyEnjoyingIt

-Kazi Baker