Guessing this season's meta
Standard forum
Posted on April 25, 2017, 9:33 a.m. by Argy
I know that a lot of people think that the top decks for the Amonkhet season are going to be Zombie decks.
What about you?
I wouldn't be surprised if Control decks make a bit of a comeback.
Essence Scatter fills the Creature counter spell hole that was left when Nullify dropped out of Standard.
Agreed clayperce, I predict 6 4c Saheeli, 1 Mardu Vehicle and 1 fringe for PT Amonkhet (money is on grixis emerge because of Trespasser's Curse).
April 25, 2017 9:47 a.m.
I think 4C Copycat will still dominate unfortunately, but we did get quite a few cards to begin shutting down Mardu Vehicles. Now that we've got a tiny bit of breathing room I think the meta can begin to force Saheeli out as long as Vehicles stays down. I think that control decks are finally viable again, but probably at a Tier 1.5-2 level. I don't see zombies doing well at high levels of play because we finally got good graveyard hate in the form of Scarab Feast and Watchers of the Dead. Pretty sure Delirium amd G/B Counters are mostly dead, they'll come up with some form of cycling deck, whether it's mine or Scorprix's idk but I'm obviously biased towards mine xD Mono red aggro or R/x aggro will definitely try to be a thing but whether or not it can compete with Sweltering Suns and be fast enough while still dealing with 4C Copycat at a professional level remains to be seen. T1 will still probably be the same, but the less knowledgeable people (i.e. FNM Net deckers) are probably in for a bit of a surprise...
Tl;dr: I don't see the professional metagame getting too stirred up, but I think FNM should have a bit more variety now.
April 25, 2017 9:54 a.m.
LeaPlath,
Glorybringer is amazing against Planeswalkers and stops Heart of Kiran. Plus either Saheeli Rai or Felidar Guardian make the Exert drawback irrelevant.
I've been testing against this build and it's pretty insane: 4 Color Gloryheeli.
April 25, 2017 11:48 a.m.
landofMordor says... #7
At first, I think we'll see a wider variety of aggro decks, particularly Hellbent variations using Hazoret the Fervent and/or Shadow of the Grave.
Then, I think Jund counters might branch out into using -1/-1 counters and Hapatra.
Finally, I see control coming back with the new Gideon, Aftermath, Pull from Tomorrow, and Drake Haven. Those are all really powerful control tools, and I didn't even mention Censor, haha.
Don't know if any of those will push out Saheeli, but those are the decks I predict will be competing for space with Vehicles and GB counters.
April 25, 2017 11:48 a.m.
I recall an SCG guy mentioning using Hazoret in the BR zombies build given the synergies of having very few cards in hand. And it serves as an extra discard outlet for your madness spells and the amalgam.
April 25, 2017 2:52 p.m.
Haha thanks Zaueski. I have no idea what the best deck will, be but I assume some sort of saheeli combo. Next will probably be some type of / or Jund/Naya Rhonas the Indomitable deck with HoK, and after that it might be some sort of Marvel deck. RDW might make a come back, or at least plashing blue and/or black. From there it will probably be different types of the same decks, like variations of Dynavolt or Dredge. I also think cycling control or combo will also have a place in the meta.
April 25, 2017 5:46 p.m. Edited.
emrakulinsmugglers says... #10
i think some sort of odd burn deck with Insult / Injury, Soul-Scar Mage, Cut / Ribbons, like jund -1/-1 counters using Channeler Initiate, and making tossing in rhonas or hazoret?
could be that 1 deck that somehow top 8's a grand prix or pt because everyone needs answers against copycat and mardu, which probably can stay in the format. Manglehorn, dispossess, and by force are all nice answers to those decks that fit jund colors, but can be stopped.
April 25, 2017 11:32 p.m. Edited.
A small hint on the meta ...
The 5-0 decks from the first day of Amonkhet Competitive Standard Constructed League on MTGO:
- 4c Glory Saheeli
- UR Control
April 25, 2017 11:54 p.m.
Argeaux,
RG Marvel begs to disagree.
The leagues are actually home to all kinds of jank. Only the very best decks can consistently rise to the top though. So when you see only two archetypes with consistent 5-0s, it's not that the Leagues lack imagination, it's that we've got an unhealthy meta.
If you're talking about this particular league though, I think it's just a function of a small player pool yesterday (~100 people, rather than the usual ~1000). It's rare to only have 2 decks on the list. Usually there are 7 or more.
April 26, 2017 6:45 a.m. Edited.
I am taking about that particular league.
If Copy Cat continues to dominate I think the Pros will do what they did with #1 Mardu Vehicles and come up with a deck that outraces it.
Any league that is relying on either Copy Cat or Control to win is relying on established archetypes.
Hence why I say it is lacking imagination.
As much as I hated the way that #1 Mardu Vehicles dominated Standard, at least the original build was something different.
April 26, 2017 9:04 a.m.
Another small hint on the meta ...
The 5-0 decks from the second day of Amonkhet Competitive Standard Constructed League:
- 2x GB Counters
- 2x 4c 'Normal' Saheeli
- 1x 4c 'Nissa' Saheeli
- 1x Temur Control
- 1x UR Control
- 1x UR Discard/Emerge
April 26, 2017 4:18 p.m.
emrakulinsmugglers says... #17
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/news/addendum-april-24-2017-banned-and-restricted-announcement-2017-04-26
guys, great news, copycat is ruined. thank you Ryjo, i just noticed that.
we wil be seeing 0 copycats in the top 8!
April 26, 2017 8:59 p.m.
So now my prediction is Control (which I see is already being played), and a resurgence of Snek Deck, with Snek Players counting on people siding against Control, so not being able to run a whole lot of stuff that puts -1/-1 Counters on everything.
clayperce says... #2
My guess: Top deck will be 4c Saheeli with Glorybringer. Any deck that has game against that will be a serious Pro Tour contender, and the rest us us will just have to hope for the next B&R Announcement (on June 4th).
April 25, 2017 9:45 a.m.