What does your meta look like?
Standard forum
Posted on Dec. 12, 2014, 12:03 p.m. by Gorgosaurusrex
I thought my meta was a reasonably healthy mix of Jeskai Tempo, Abzan Midrange, Sultai Delve, Temur Monsters, Green Devotion, RDW, and the odd control or combo deck.
When I went to the standard tournament this week (I play Jeskai Tempo), I played against 2 Sidisi, Brood Tyrant/Whip of Erebos decks followed by 2 Abzan Midrange decks and 1 Mardu Midrange deck. I saw a couple Jeskai Combo decks but for the first time since the release of Khans I was the only Jeskai Tempo player there (out of ~30 people).
Has anyone else seen Jeskai Tempo decks die out? Basically everyone in my area is now playing some sort of midrange deck. What does your meta look like?
Its a bit different at both shops I frequent, but both have a fair mix of decks. Of course there's overlap in players, but many only go to one or the other. Abzan Midrange is probably the most common at both, but there are plenty of other decks floating around.
My primary shop sees a Jeskai Burn deck and a couple Jeskai Tokens decks, one with infinite combo and one without. There's a mono-white deck, a Villainous Wealth deck, BR aggro, and a couple Mardu players including me. At least one Sidisi Whip and Temur deck usually show up. There's 1-2 mono-red decks as well, along with variations on mono-white, WU, and WR Heroic. Last deck I can remember is a 4-color Good Stuff deck, though I can't remember what color was missing.
There's less variety at my secondary shop. Sidisi Whip is catching on more and there are more Mardu players. I've seen one or two Sage of Hours decks, and a couple Temur/GR Monsters decks. Cap it off with a Jeskai Tokens deck and that's all I can think of, though I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff.
December 12, 2014 1:37 p.m.
I should note that though there aren't a lot of Jeskai decks in my area now, there never were. There was always just the one Burn/Tempo/Whatever player. There were a couple of the old Ascendancy combo decks (with Sylvan Caryatid and whatnot) that transitioned into the token decks. Everybody else played different things.
December 12, 2014 1:41 p.m.
I would say that the metagame everywhere is going to change and it will be based on the Worlds 2014 Top 2
Which is Sidisi Whip Reanimato and Abzan.
I expect to go against this 2 decks on today FNM
December 12, 2014 1:59 p.m.
JakeHarlow says... #7
There are two very solid Sidisi Whip guys, several Abzan Midrange lists, a lot of Gruul Monsters, a large amount of Jeskai (tempo and combo), a couple RDW and U/W heroic, one Esper Control, one U/B control, and about three high-tier Mardu players. There's also Temur ramp/aggro and Constellation decks of various colors. The rest of the 50-60 players at my FNM run home brews, or fringy builds like Izzet artifacts.
So, I get to see the majority of Standard's most popular decks.
December 12, 2014 3 p.m.
Dalektable says... #8
Jeskai Tempo does seem to be dying out, and isnt very well positioned right now. I am very glad I decided to go with Mardu Midrange instead of it.
My meta is a mix of Mardu Midrange/Aggro, Gruul/Temur Monsters, a couple control players between the esper color combo, some mono red aggro and a couple guys who come with a different brew practically every week, which is awesome and great to play against them. Just a couple weeks ago one of them got second place playing a mono black Waste Not control deck.
December 12, 2014 4:42 p.m.
I havn't been to play at my LGS since mid November....#schoollife.
I have no idea what people are playing anymore, but there was always a good variety.
December 12, 2014 7:35 p.m.
OP_Magikarp says... #10
I am literally the only person I have seen running Green Devotion at our meta, despite all of the success I have been having. Most of ours is Temur, and actually just started to get a competitive Sidisi Whip player so I'm excited (Whoooo more green).
December 12, 2014 11:35 p.m.
JexInfinite says... #11
I don't play standard, but I do know the modern meta.
There is quite a lot of blue. About 65% of the decks have blue. We have a very healthy mix of what is being done with blue in different decks, though. Some people play UR Delver, others have UWR Control, one person plays Gifts. Not too much combo, but a reasonable amount of aggro, including Zoo, Affinity, and Soul Sisters. There are 2 Soul Sisters players at the LGS, and I'm probably safe in saying that my deck is better.
Luckily for me, there is only 1 Pod player, but because it's so mentally draining, he only plays it every second week. He's using random decks when he's not on Pod. He went 3-1 last week with Burn without having a sideboard. This week, who knows what madness he will bring.
December 13, 2014 12:11 a.m.
Hickorysbane says... #12
i saw a lot of fringe, an abzan deck that was missing black (no really, it played just like the typical Abzan deck but he was just selesnya), some homebrew Sultai, I was playing janky Mardu that i absolutely loved and managed to get second off of it (i think i was the only one), there were a few monsters deck too. I don't recall seeing any Jeskai at all. But we barely have (at least this most recent Friday, and that was the first one I've been to in a while) over a dozen people
December 15, 2014 12:50 a.m.
It was nearly dead, but then Yuuya came along and introduced us to Jeskai Tokens. There really isn't much reason to be playing the "tempo" build at this point.
December 15, 2014 9:38 a.m.
Gorgosaurusrex says... #14
jr92_2000: Yeah, that's the same conclusion that I've drawn. The tokens build is just much more reliable at this point. I'll be taking it to my shop's standard tournament this week for sure.
December 15, 2014 11:42 a.m.
JakeHarlow says... #15
Yesterday's Grand Prix Trial for Memphis at my Jacksonville store was about 60% Jeskai Ascendancy/Tokens. I got pretty bored of that matchup after the third game, haha.
December 15, 2014 12:11 p.m.
My meta is all Control and Jeskai Ascendancy Combo. If you're not playing one of those decks, then you're probably new to the store :P.
Sometimes there are shifts, like Green Stompy decks begin to be popular, but that's about it.
December 15, 2014 9:21 p.m.
Pretty much everything is played. People at my local shop don't like playing mirror matches and will usually call dibs on a deck archetype so its pretty diverse. This isn't to say that there aren't multiple abzan decks but they look very different. I've seen everything from abzan midrange to RDW. I personally run B/W tempo. One guy runs super friends and its pretty hard to beat.
December 16, 2014 1:56 a.m.
everyone and their grandmother are playing some form of whip or some variant of jeskai after worlds.
i am sticking to mardu midrange / aggro control. i got a friend who prefers temur.
December 16, 2014 6:16 a.m.
Quadsimotto says... #19
It is a pretty good mix up of deck lists where i play. One guy solid on the jeskai ascendancy combo, but abzan is not really being played much at the lgs i play at several temur decks and several jeskai tempo couple of rabble reds and one or two mardu aggro. My last go round i had a lot of fun playing out of town against a sheer diversity of builds. It gets old playing the same shit over and over.
December 18, 2014 7:50 a.m.
Gorgosaurusrex says... #20
I took 1st at a standard tournament last night with my Jeskai Tempo deck. I played against Sidisi Whip, R/W Aggro, U/W Heroic, and Jeskai Tempo.
I saw a few Mardu builds and many Sidisi Whip decks, but I only saw a single Abzan Midrange player (out of ~32 people). I though Abzan was the deck to beat, but I guess now it's Sidisi Whip and Jeskai. There was also one U/B control player.
December 18, 2014 11:32 a.m.
jandrobard says... #21
A lot of decks are in red. RDW, Temur, Jeskai, you name it.
mathimus55 says... #2
Lots of Abzan, lots of U/B Vault control. A few lingering Gx devotion decks. I think I've only played one or 2 Jeskai decks, one of ascendancy and the other was tempo/tokens. One guy plays Mardu to a T and it's always lots of fun playing him. Then there's me with my Temur beating all the Abzan snobs...
December 12, 2014 12:52 p.m.