Wizards of the Coast officially announced its banned and restricted cards on Monday, May 18th. While formats like Modern and Pioneer have each received bans and reinstatements, the question on everyone's mind in our community is clear: What is the real impact on the Standard meta?
To put it simply: Wizards of the Coast has chosen to make no changes to Standard.
That's it! End of article! But no, for casual players, this might be surprising, but for a player who wants to get serious about competitive play, it's a ton of unspoken information about how Wizards analyzes the game and the direction the current meta is taking. Let's break down the developers' thought process and the strategies to adopt for your next in-store tournaments.
The Illusion of Izzet Decks
If you look at the overall meta from a distance, you'll notice that archetypes based on the Blue/Red color combination (Izzet) represent nearly 45% of competitive decks. In a purely casual setting, this would be very poorly received, and I understand that some of you might think it should raise alarm bells and lead to bans.
However, Wizards has decided to leave the format unchanged, so we need to examine their reasoning to understand what's happening in tournaments.
The Fragmentation of Izzet
Despite the popularity of Izzet decks, they haven't yet managed to break through in major tournaments or even achieve true consistency among the cards that make up the decks. They are popular, but that doesn't make them unbeatable. Beneath that seemingly enormous 45%, you'll find radically different strategies.
Don't make the mistake of building a generic sideboard against Izzet. You first need to understand whether you're facing a deck focused on pure control, landfall, or tempo, because the answers you'll need won't cover all of these possibilities.
Other Decks
Since the format isn't closed, several distinct strategies continue to break into the Top 8 and establish themselves as excellent choices for anyone looking to perform well in tournaments. The competitive landscape is opening up to decks like:
Azorius Tempo / Azorius Prison
This deck has recently moved away from some more classic aggressive options in favor of Flash. The deck and its iterations performed very well at Pro Tour Secrets of Strixhaven, so expect its popularity to skyrocket very soon.
Azorius Momo
Another White/Blue variant, but one that maintains its focus on air attacks and getting creatures out quickly. Momo Friendly Flier is obviously the main focus.
Mardu Discard
A fairly aggressive and disruptive archetype that relies on discarding to gain speed and boost creatures to put constant pressure on your opponent.
4-Color Control
A creature-free deck with a lot of reactivity, capable of handling threats as they arise.
How to adapt to the current meta?
The lack of bans confirms that the current Standard format is adaptable and, according to their criteria, balanced enough to allow all types of decks to thrive. For a player transitioning to competitive play, or for a seasoned veteran, here are some key points to consider:
Mana stability
The presence of four-color decks in the meta confirms that the current foundations allow for a great deal of creative freedom. Don't limit yourself to two colors if you have a specific idea in mind for fear of inconsistency.
The importance of a sideboard
With so many viable archetypes, you need to spend a significant amount of time on the 15 sideboard cards to ensure you have the most optimized answer to the most popular metas currently being played. Your main deck should be optimized to execute your Plan A as quickly as possible, and your sideboard should be able to adapt your game based on what's in front of you.
In conclusion
Wizards of the Coast trusts in players' ability to adapt and evolve the format without their intervention. This is the perfect time to try Standard competitively, as the door is wide open for innovation!
Come to the store or join our Discord to discuss the Standard meta with our community!