MTGA Standard BO1 October 2020 Expanded List

Coming off of yesterday’s October BO3 expanded tier list I put together a tier list for BO1 to help with anyone tackling the competitive MTGA Landscape, those who like a visual or just to discuss! As a player I know it can be a tough choice to figure out which deck you would like to play, additionally knowing the importance of playing decks that you don’t play I wanted to share some thoughts!

Additionally you can find this month’s BO3 Tier List here, and the previous two lists for October BO1 & BO3 pre Omnath Ban for historical context.

Due to all the recent events with Standard in particular the Omnath ban, and lots of deck trends and diversity, I thought this information would be helpful for everyone. Last, particularly for those of us who still enjoy being competitive or playing even in the face of some of the client base frustrations with Standard format.

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 (Trends)

Omnath Ban Shift – In terms of BO1 the decks that were at the top of the list continue to remain towards the top or moved up the list based on the broader range of decks in play. Mono Red & Dimir Rogues continue to be top performers with rising stars in Gruul adventures and Mono White Aggro. A lot of this has to deal with the ban, disappearance of a few key decks and the emergence of new playables.
Gear Shift – Despite the ban there hasn’t been as large of a meta shift at the top end of the curve. Now with that said going one gear notch in change doesn’t mean that we still may find some additional contenders. However, as suspected and interesting from a case study depending on the ban targets there may or may not be as big of an impact in BO1 space vs BO3. Not to say Omnath or Clover decks weren’t competitive in BO1 however more so the change in the untouched decks.
Pick your Adventure – One thought of interest is the apply innkeeper option here. The surge of green + color of adventure decks is pretty interesting. This wasn’t necessarily on my radar or line of thought coming out of the post omnath world. The more I think about it definitely makes sense in terms of adversity and resilience in the format. Plus, combining both innkeeper and GH is a strong strategy that’s hard to go wrong with! Golgari Adventure was/is definitely one of the hottest decks post ban.

Where is Ugin? – I missed this in my BO3 commentary so figured I would add here. There is becoming a slight rise in ramp decks sadly next release for me, however I think that is also due in part to not a high usage of Ugin in the format yet…I say yet because I did posterize that Ugin definitely may make a comeback, and is certainly a great answer to loads of decks in the format.
Mono Colored Decks – Still a great strategy + aggro in the format!
The re-rising of Yorion – Yorion is making a splash more and more in the format and definitely edging its way into BO1 more and more. It can be a very very difficult deck to burn down quickly with aggro, and can lead to a coin toss at times. I can still T4 with mono red, however if the decks start dropping better early game plays and board wipes the story may change. Keep an eye on the more late game focused decks for bo1.
FloodGates are Open – One final thought as I have already called out and will continue to be a spirit squad leader is the health of standard. Both in BO1 and BO3 I feel it is very balanced at the moment, as no one deck rules them all. This allows us to brew, play a variety of decks, be competitive, and have fun all in one fell swoop. I think we will continue to see many new decks, and I have a backlog to get through that I am extremely excited to try out.

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! 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!

All Full Deck lists below!

MTGA BO1 October 2020 Tier List

Tier 1 (3)

Tier 2 (10)

Tier 3 (6)

Deck lists in Detail

*Note you can copy and paste the specific lists right into MTG, and you are off to the races!