Hi Planeswalkers, it has been a pleasure covering Kaldheim! Today we close the chapter on this book and look forward to Strixhaven.
We have certainly had our fair share of impacts I have been following and covering here over the last few weeks in the weekly meta pieces. I will leave you today with an updated final tier list, and most importantly a good start of my advice with every new set to hopefully tee you up for short term success.
This month I have also combined both the BO1 & BO3 tier lists into one post. Generally, I break these out and would be happy to hear your feedback below on the new format. Mainly, I ran out of time!
March’s Tier Lists & Weekly Meta Updates. This will help you understand some of the observations & trends over time, and provide additional context as well as shuffling of decks.
Tier Lists
March Standard Articles: BO1 & BO3
March Standard Videos: BO1 & BO3
April Historic BO1 & BO3 Article / Video
Friday Night Meta – Weekly Series
April Week 2 (Article, Youtube)
April Week 1 (Article, Youtube)
March Week 4 (Article, Youtube)
March Week 3 (Article, Youtube)
Collaboration – Meta Talk
Qualifying for Mythic Final Top 1000
Mythic Qualifier Day 1
I pull these lists together to help give us an alternative competitive angle, as well as trends, with a nice little timestamp as I believe being competitive there is a long term knowledge angle we need to take as well 🙂
Additionally, I like to provide a competitive MTGA Landscape, those who like a visual or just to discuss! You can find the observations along with the tier list below. Please share your thoughts as always, and feel free to comment on the new format or decks I should consider that I missed.
TLDR: Players have fallen into a back and forth motion with key decks in the Meta, Kaldheim Championship effect, some call outs that went well, others that were surprises, and a little touch on Strixhaven.
What it is, current meta observations, and deck overviews! Additionally I love sharing the observations and recent changes we have faced in an ever evolving fast paced format.
Items of Interest & Considerations:
- Player Favorites – I would say that at this point given the daily/weekly/monthly cycles for Kaldheim it certainly has been “solved”. I mean it from the standpoint that when I/we look at the key T1 decks across both BO1 & BO3 everything mainly stayed intact from last month. There would be what I would coin one real newcomer at this point in which I will touch on in the next section. I am pleasantly both surprised as well as dissatisfied. I do think one challenger to the pack is temur lukka. However, it needed a bit more limelight and shine. Additionally, I didn’t cover it below, and I would probably put it in T2 for now.
At this point in the game players are sticking to what they know, settled in with what they have, and ready for the next chapter in this book of magic.
- Kaldheim Championship – As always a shout out to Arne on his win. I had been saying rogues were never dead, and he certainly proved that point. Reading the META and pulling from that deck to run not only in standard, but historic as well. Additionally, piloting it to a nice #1 finish. We definitely saw several after effects, and they were most certainly felt in the meta. You can see a lot of these things from my weekly piece that I pull together.
One other item to cover is Kushiros Gruul Food deck. If there was what I would definitely say a big challenger that made something feel real it was his deck hitting the top 8. This deck definitely got a boost, and was fully tweaked for the current meta. Hats off here as well.
- Kaldheim Reflections – As we now leave the Kaldheim plane in favor of a good study I did want to spend a minute reflecting on some of the things I noted a while back. Lands made an impact, snow was/is a thing. The culture was not crushed by the viking tide, and we saw a nice healthy continuation of the meta! The modal lands definitely helped some of the fixing, and to round my bridge guidance decks that are at the top generally don’t fall out of favor right away.
- Surprises – Some of the largest things here I found interesting were honestly how powerful the pull through was from the last ladders. I mentioned the boros colors of note, and I would have actually expected a bit more of a turnover at the top end there. Additionally, the fact of how powerful mono red snow aggro is or mono red, and holding down both BO1 & BO3 for a while.
As things come to a close a few other parts here as well. Doomskar was certainly hyped, and in my opinion is still a great card. We never really saw a strong rise to an Azorius Control deck. The other thing we sort of buzzed right over was midrange as well. Midrange came into favor for a hot second with some rakdos Sacrifice decks, and as swiftly as it was here it was gone. Unless I would say we claim one of the 100 flavors of Naya adventures this stop gap. The final part to this was really the only foretold impact seen in Temur Turns if you ask me.
- School of Magic – As we prepare to be schooled in some enemy color schools of magic I am excited even as mainly playing mono red or aggro decks for a large portion of the past year to have a more interactive focused block. I saw this as a lot of it revolves around sorcery and instant speed spells. I do believe Magecraft a prowess of sorts but special effects by school, and the learn mechanic will lead to some interesting board interactions.
We all best read the cards and most likely pay a tad more attention to the board. I don’t think this set at least for the time being seems in general as linear as our aggro decks. On the flip side they may actually be slow, and just get pummeled by aggro or the current meta. Either way as always I am looking forward to what is to come. If nothing else a love for new lore, art, bomb rares/mythics, and most of all some fun new decks! Maybe Tibalt will show his face again.
What goes into this list?
For returners or those that are new I have been asked before on how I pull these together as well. BO1 is a slightly different beast vs. BO3. Here I rely heavier on win rate stats at very competitive levels starting at Mythic then work my way backwards through the tiers if needed for additional POVs. It is also based on gameplay – and I myself favor BO1 until I hit Top 1500 usually 🙂 – I take into consideration untapped.ggs companion app stats as they tend to have a great amount of data, and a good ability to slice and dice decks. One additional call out again is due to the vastness of decks or newest additions not all data is readily available so for the gaps I try to expand where I can via experience, tournaments, and other data driven sites available.
BO3 has much broader impacts when it comes to data. You can find all the sources, experiences, and information I take into consideration in the Additional info spot.
THANK YOU & Additional Info
I have produced this list from a culmination of a few things. I have reached this point by pulling together research data from multiple sources like untapped, MTGAzone, Aetherhub, twitter, personal gameplay, tournament matches, this reddit as well as others, personal stats, and consistently hitting Mythic over the last year and participation in the last Mythic Qualifier.
Again, Happy to discuss or talk about decks not included! Feel free to hop in the Multiverse Discord Server. Tier list below plus deck lists (shells – tweak to your heart’s content) if you are looking for some options most all top 1500 at some point many at the #1 Rank, and multiple top end tournament results!
One last thought I would like to share: If you have a competitive deck (different than one featured) I am always happy to do a piece on it time permitting. I have several folks that ask, and have done several player featured decks. I rather enjoy this so please don’t hesitate to reach out or ask. I always try to prioritize with the following and timing or relevance – MTGA Rank (1500s)/Top Tournaments down to Plat2Mythic Decks.
If you would like to do a collaboration feel free to reach out as well.
MTGA Standard BO3 April 2021 Tier List (50 Decks)
Tier 1 (7)
Temur Turns (Deck Link)
Mono White Aggro (New Deck Link) (Old YT Deck Link)
Mono Red Snow (Deck Link)
Jeskai Pyromancer Cycling (Deck Link)
4C Jeskai Cycle (Deck Link)
Dimir Lurrus Rogues (Deck Link)
Naya Adventures (Deck Link)
Tier 2 (18)
Naya Aggro Adventures (Deck Link)
Gruul Food (Deck Link)
Sultai Ultimatum (Deck Link)
Temur Aggro aka Wet Gruul (Deck Link)
Izzet Tempo (Deck Link)
4C-Sultai Yorion Control (Deck Link)
4C Yorion Doom (Deck Link)
Boros Aggro (Deck Link)
Mono Green Food (Deck Link)
Rakdos Sacrifice (Deck Link)
Mono Green Stompy (Deck Link)
Jund Jegantha Sacrifice (Deck Link)
Dimir Yorion Control (Deck Link)
Azorius Fable (Deck Link)
Esper Yorion Doom (Deck Link)
Grixis Control (Deck Link)
Mono Red Shadowspear (Deck Link)
Mono Red Boast (Deck Link)
Tier 3 (15)
Mono Green Aggro (Deck Link)
Temur Ultimatum (Deck Link)
Mono White Lifegain (New Deck Link) (Old YT Deck Link)
Golgari Midrange (Deck Link)
Boros Equipment (Deck Link)
Naya Winota (Deck Link)
Jeskai Mutate (Deck Link)
Naya Runes (Deck Link)
Izzet Snow Giants (Deck Link)
Abzan Yorion Control (Deck Link)
Orzhov Doom Tergrid (Deck Link)
Selesnya Toski (Deck Link)
Boros Knights (Deck Link)
Mono Black Auras (Deck Link)
Tier 4 (11)
Mono Green Bombs (Deck Link)
5C Shrines (Deck Link)
Esper Gyruda Blink (Deck Link)
Abzan Yorion Midrange (Deck Link)
Jeskai Spells (Deck Link)
Jund Adventures (Deck Link)
Abzan Adventures (Deck Link)
Bant Mutate (Deck Link)
Mardu Jegantha Winota (Deck Link)
Azorius Fliers (Deck Link)
Jeskai Fliers (Deck Link)
MTGA Standard BO1 April 2021 Tier List (50 Decks)
Tier 1 (7)
Mono White Lifegain
Mono White Aggro
Mono Red Snow
4C Jeskai Cycle
Sultai Ultimatum
Temur Turns
Dimir Lurrus Rogues
Tier 2 (17)
Mono Black Auras
Mono Red Shadowspear
Mono Red Boast
Jeskai Pyromancer Cycling
4C-Sultai Yorion Control
Rakdos Sacrifice
Jund Jegantha Sacrifice
Temur Ultimatum
Mono Green Stompy
Temur Aggro aka Wet Gruul
Boros Equipment
Naya Adventures
Gruul Food
Mono Green Food
Naya Aggro Adventures
Naya Fury
Naya Winota
Izzet Tempo
Tier 3 (16)
Azorius Fable
Esper Yorion Doom
Selesnya Toski
Mono Green Aggro
Boros Aggro
Izzet Snow Giants
Boros Knights
4C Yorion Doom
Golgari Midrange
Jund Adventures
Dimir Yorion Control
Naya Runes
Mono Green Bombs
5C Shrines
Abzan Yorion Control
Orzhov Doom Tergrid
Tier 4 (10)
Grixis Control
Jeskai Mutate
Esper Gyruda Blink
Bant Mutate
Abzan Yorion Midrange
Abzan Adventures
Mardu Jegantha Winota
Jeskai Spells
Jeskai Fliers
Azorius Fliers
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this slice of competitive Magic the Gathering on Arena or if you are lucky right now in paper. Thank you for your time, and feedback is always welcome! As previously mentioned happy to discuss deck choices, decks, and lists as always!