An Overview of the Standard Metagame

By Sanjay Roopnah:

I figured I'd write something for the SA magic community to contribute. This article is aimed primarily at the newbies to assist them in identifying their preferred archetype and choosing the deck that most suits them. I will give a very simplistic overview of each archetype and list the decks available in each, but I will not be posting deck lists for couple of reasons:

1. I believe that a Magic player needs to do some research by themselves.
2. Deck lists are supposed to be dynamic, and need to be tweaked on a weekly basis.
3. By the time they print this article, there will be some more deck lists that will be available.

The new player should therefore decide which archetype he/she most likes and pick a deck and play. If he/she wants some help with a deck list, I will gladly assist.

 With the release of Return to Ravnica, Standard has become very interesting again. The reprinting of the Ravnica Shocklands was the best thing that Wizards of the Coast could have done. The most important thing in Magic is having access to a stable mana base because it allows you to consistently cast all the spells in the deck. Moreover, there are some very interesting cards that were printed. I will put the decks in the following categories (archetypes) and the list of decks is not exhaustive by any means:

1. Aggro
2. Pure Control
3. Aggro-Control
4. Midrange / Fringe



1. Aggro
Aggro decks aim at dealing damage to an opponent primarily by casting creatures. It usually entails casting creatures from the first turn and every turn after that and swarming the opponent. You will generally lose if you have not killed your opponent by turn 6.
Available decks:
a) GW Humans
b) RB Zombies
c) Mono Red
d) GB Zombies
e) UW Aggro
f) White Weenie
These decks are very fun to play and are perfect to introduce beginners to the game. Once you have identified which colours you enjoy playing, pick a deck and go beat people in the face. One proviso; a newbie playing with a decklist will have very different results from a seasoned magic player and you must not look at a loss as a bad thing in the early stages.. Perfection is only achieved with time.

2. Pure Control
These decks aim at playing the long game. Typically, these decks will play spells that deal with creature swarms to get them to the late game such as Azorius Charm and Supreme Verdict and once they have dealt with the board, will drop one big creature and kill their opponent a few turns later. They also play Counterspells, cards that prevent you from casting a spell that assist them in retaining board control, and numerous cards that draw more cards. It is not advisable for beginners to play a pure control deck since it is very difficult to play and any mistakes (even small ones) will usually result in a loss. You also need to have a very good understanding of the format to play these decks.
Available decks:
a) UW Control
b) Bant (UWG) Control
c) Esper (UWB) Control
d) UWR Control
e) 5 Color Control
As you can see, these decks usually rely on a UW shell and then sometimes add a colour or two to hose out any potential weaknesses.

3. Aggro Control
This archetype combines both aspects of Aggro & Control, i.e. they aim at putting some creatures down in the first three turns & will then prevent you from furthering their opponent's game via counterspells or cards that will remove creatures from the way. These decks are also fairly difficult to play and some believe are the most difficult to play.
Available decks:
a) UWR Aggro
b) UR Delver
c) UW Flash
Typically, most aggro control decks have Blue in them.

4. Midrange / Fringe
This archetype aims at casting a balanced mixture of spells and creatures that allow them to 'get there'. The spells will include cards that deal with creatures, cards that make opponents discard cards, cards that ramp their manabase and they will eventually cast some creatures & planeswalkers to finish off their opponent. Most beginners usually transition from Aggro to Midrange once the Magic bug overpowers them.
Available decks:
a) Jund (BGR)
b) Junk Tokens
c) Reanimator
d) Bant Midrange
e) Hoof, There It Is

Midrange decks are played by players that have played the game for at least couple of months and specifically those that believe that blue based control decks are not enjoyable. The fools :-)

These are, in a nutshell, the different archetypes & the decks available to you in the current standard format. Pick the archetype and deck that you like most, sleeve some cards & join your friends at a magic tourney. Remember that it's only a game, and the main objective is to have fun, win or lose.

PS: TO ALL OF THE REGULAR PLAYERS OUT THERE, THIS ARTICLE IS LACKING IN MANY RESPECTS, BUT I WANTED TO GIVE NEWBIES A VERY SIMPLISTIC APPROACH TO MAGIC TO ENABLE THEM TO ENJOY THE GAME!!!!