The Best Decks For Standard In MTG

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In recent years, Magic: The Gathering has been trying to revitalise its Standard format. In 2023, it increased the rotation window from two years to three, keeping your cards playable for longer, and in 2024 it introduced Foundations, a set providing the ground floor for the format through 2029.

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The result is that Standard is in a fantastic place, with tons of fun decks and a great deal of variety. If there was ever a time to check out Magic's premiere format, it's now.

Updated October 4, 2024 by Joe Parlock: Duskmourn has only just entered the Standard format, but it's already having a big impact on it. It's a great time to be a red deck player, while midrange has lots of new toys to play with. Valgavoth has truly blessed us this day.

Standard is the format where the last three years of premiere sets are all playable together. Currently, the legal sets are:

Azorius Tempo

Picklock Prankster (x4)

Abhorrent Oculus (x4)

Haughty Djinn (x4)

Helping Hand (x4)

Into The Flood Maw (x4)

Phantom Interference (x3)

Sleight Of Hand (x4)

Three Steps Ahead (x2)

Chart A Course (x3)

Moment Of Truth (x4)

Recommission (x2)

Soul Partition (x2)

Adarkar Wastes (x4)

Floodfarm Verge (x3)

Island (x4)

Meticulous Archive (x4)

Plains

Seachrome Coast (x4)

Sideboard

Elspeth's Smite (x3)

Doorkeeper Thrull (x2)

Negate (x4)

Soul Partition

Kutzil's Flanker (x2)

Temporary Lockdown (x3)

Control will always have a place in Standard, and as long as Control has a place, so will Haughty Djinn. By casting spells to fend off your opponent, you're also making Haughty Djinn bigger and bigger, ready to tear down your opponent.

A newer toy from Duskmourn: House of Horror for the deck is Abhorrent Oculus, which gives you a way to use your cast spells sitting useless in your graveyard. Manifesting Dread may shut you out of casting some much-needed interaction, but it gets bodies on the board if all else fails.

It's interesting to see Three Steps Ahead only have two copies here, but it's mostly because of Phantom Interference also being a way to make creature tokens. If your opponent can't pay the cost, it's just as good a counter as Three Steps Ahead, if not better.

Mono-Red Prowess

Heartfire Hero (x4)

Hired Claw (x4)

Monastery Swiftspear (x4)

Charming Scoundrel (x4)

Emberheart Challenger (x4)

Goddric, Cloaked Reveler (x2)

Squee, Dubious Monarch (x3)

Shock (x4)

Lightning Strike (x4)

Obliterating Bolt (x2)

Witchstalker Frenzy (x3)

Mountain (x18)

Rockface Village (x4)

Sideboard

Lithomantic Barrage (x3)

Tectonic Hazard (x4)

Torch the Tower (x2)

Obliterating Bolt (x2)

Urabrask's Forge (x4)

Mono-Red Aggro has a spellslinging twist in this Standard rotation, thanks to the addition of prowess as a deciduious mechanic in Dominaria United.

The idea is still the same: turn creatures sideways and go for the face, but you've also got a burn package of Shock, Lightning Strike, and Obliterating Bolt to trigger Prowess and buff that damage even further.

Slickshot Showoff has really fallen off, with it being supplanted by cards like Heartfire Hero and Emberheart Challenger despite having flying. Perhaps the plot limitation of waiting a turn before casting it for free is just too much for a deck this fast to voluntarily subject themselves to.

Mono-White Tokens

Sanguine Evangelist (x4)

Beza, the Bounding Spring (x4)

Archangel Elspeth (x2)

The Eternal Wanderer

Lay Down Arms (x4)

Get Lost (x4)

Parting Gust (x2)

Sunfall (x4)

Carrot Cake (x4)

Caretaker's Talent (x4)

Virtue of Loyalty (x2)

Elegant Parlor (x4)

Fountainport (x4)

Plains (x15)

Sunken Citadel (x2)

Sideboard

Destroy Evil (x2)

Not On My Watch (x2)

Sunder the Gateway (x2)

Imodane's Recruiter (x4)

Loran of the Third Path

Temporary Lockdown (x2)

Boon-Bringer Valkyrie (x2)

This Mono-White deck ditches a lot of the tools most commonly associated with the colour, and instead goes all in one building and buffing an army of creature tokens instead. Whether it's Bats with Sanguine Evangelist, Rabbits with Carrot Cake, Knights with Virture of Loyalty, or Soldiers with Archangel Elspeth, you're going to throwing down as many tokens as is phsycially possible each turn.

When you've hit a critical mass of tokens, you can either wipe the board and turn them into one, big creature with Sunfall, or buff them up and go wide with a fully levelled-up Caretaker's Talent.

Like Mono-Red Prowess, this deck can run out of gas very quickly if your opponent can wipe or bounce the board, and so you'll be needing to go fast and play aggressively to eek out a win.

Jeskai Aggro

Novice Inspector (x4)

Spyglass Siren (x4)

Warden of the Inner Sky (x4)

Yotian Frontliner

Resolute Reinforcements (x4)

Imodane's Recruiter (x4)

Sanguine Evangelist (x2)

Knight-Errant of Eos (x4)

Gleeful Demolition (x4)

Case of the Gateway Express (x4)

Warleader's Call (x3)

Adarkar Wastes (x3)

Battlefield Forge (x4)

Inspiring Vantage (x4)

Plains

Seachrome Coast (x4)

Shivan Reef

Spirebluff Canal (x4)

Thran Portal

Sideboard

Torch the Tower (x4)

Destroy Evil (x2)

Get Lost

Lightning Helix (x4)

Protect the Negotiators (x4)

Knight-Errant of Eos has had a huge impact on Standard, thanks to being an easy way to get the creature cards you need into your hand. It helped drive red/white Convoke decks for a long time, but has since evolved into a less specific red/white/blue Aggro build instead.

Alongside Knight-Errant, there's also Warden of the Inner Sky to serve as a big beater. But primarily, your goal is to get lots of cheaper creatures like Novice Inspector and Spyglass Siren in play, as well as tokens with Imodane's Recruiter and Resolute Reinforcements to just keep swinging.

Once you're ready to win, dropping a Warleader's Call or two to buff up your entire board can help deal huge amounts of damage very quickly.

4c Domain

Tishana's Tidebinder

Tranquil Frillback

Zur, Eternal Scheme (x3)

Archangel of Wrath (x2)

Overlord of the Hauntwoods (x4)

Atraxa, Grand Unifier (x2)

Overlord of the Mistmoors (x2)

Jace, The Perfected Mind

Kaya, Intangible Slayer (x2)

Invasion of Tolvada (x2)

Analyze the Pollen (x2)

Anoint with Affliction (x4)

The End

Sunfall (x2)

Herd Migration (x4)

Virtue of Persistence (x2)

Cavern of Souls (x3)

Forest (x3)

Hedge Maze (x2)

Island

Lush Portico (x3)

Mirrex

Plains (x2)

Shadowy Backstreet (x2)

Swamp (x2)

Undercity Sewers (x2)

Underground Mortuary (x4)

Sideboard

Ghost Vacuum (x2)

Negate (x3)

Tishana's Tidebinder

Archangel of Wrath (x2)

Rankle's Prank

The End

Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines

Sunfall

Virtue of Persistence

Cease//Desist

Atraxa, Grand Unifier remains one of the best reanimation targets not just in the Standard format, but the entirety of Magic, thanks to how easily it can fill your hand up with piles of all sorts of good stuff. And thanks to the glut of great lands found in the format right now, it's easier than ever to skip the reanimating and just hard cast Atraxa as fast as possible.

The current version of this deck doesn't run some shockingly good domain cards, like Leyline Binding or Nissa, Resurgent Animist. Instead, it makes ample use of Overlord of the Hauntwoods to give you an immediate full Domain count with its Everything land.

It also uses Zur, Eternal Schemer to help you bypass the impending restriction on your Overlords and turn them back into creatures. In Overlord of the Mistmoors' case, it'll even hit for harder than usual thanks to the buffed power that comes from its mana value of seven.

Rakdos Lizards

Flamecache Gecko (x4)

Fireglass Mentor (x4)

Forsaken Miner (x4)

Gev, Scaled Scorch (x4)

Hired Claw (x4)

Iridescent Vinelasher (x4)

Laughing Jasper Flint (x4)

Thought-Stalker Warlock (x4)

Bitter Triumph (x2)

Go For The Throat (x4)

Blackcleave Cliffs (x4)

Cavern of Souls (x4)

Mountain

Mudflat Village (x2)

Rockface Village

Sulfurous Springs (x4)

Swamp (x6)

Sideboard

Cut Down (x4)

Duress (x4)

Anoint With Affliction (x3)

Glistening Deluge (x4)

Kindred decks built around a single creature type don't often rise up the ranks in Standard, with only standouts like Dinosaurs or Soldiers recently making the top spots. Bloomburrow's Lizards look like they're the next with this frightful red/black deck.

Gev, Scaled Scorch is the all-star here, with the sheer mass of cheap Lizards in the deck turning him into a machine gun of ping damage, but Iridescent Vinelasher is also a big player thanks to its landfall trigger.

Laughing Jasper Flint might seem like an odd choice at first, but he turns all your Lizards into Mercenaries to work with his outlaw ability.

This is a really straightforward deck, and, as an added bonus for paper players, is shockingly cheap. Bar the four copies of Cavern of Souls, which you could easily replace with something cheaper, this is the budget option to get into Standard.

Golgari Midrange

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal (x2)

Caustic Bronco (x4)

Glissa Sunslayer (x2)

Hostile Investigator

Kaervek, the Punisher (x2)

Mosswood Dreadknight (x4)

Preacher of the Schism (x3)

Sheoldred, The Apocalypse (x2)

Tinybones, the Pickpocket (x2)

Liliana of the Veil (x2)

Cut Down (x4)

Go For The Throat (x4)

Pillage The Bog

Shoot The Sherriff

Blooming Marsh (x4)

Fabled Passage (x4)

Forest (x2)

Llanowar Wastes (x4)

Restless Cottage (x4)

Swamp (x6)

Underground Mortuary (x2)

Sideboard

Duress (x3)

Harvester of Misery

Hostile Investigator (x2)

Liliana Of The Veil (x2)

Tear Asunder (x2)

The End (x2)

Tranquil Frillback (x3)

Black midrange decks have been a huge part of Standard for a very long time, and with Dominaria United's Cut Down, Liliana Of The Veil, and Sheoldred, The Apocalypse still legal, we won't be saying goodbye to it any time soon.

The Golgari (black/green) colour combo is a new one for midrange, though. Glissa Sunslayer, Pillage the Bog, and Restless Cottage make it easy to gain life, control the board, and get access to the cards you need, making it a very dominant deck.

Since the launch of Duskmourn: House Of Horror, Ghost Vacuum and Meathook Massacre II have been finding homes in this deck as well. Ghost Vacuum serves as graveyard hate with a massive payoff, whiile Meathook Massacre II offers something black is surprisingly lacking in this Standard rotation: a board wipe.

Dimir Midrange

Deep-Cavern Bat (x4)

Hidetsugu and Kairi (x4)

Lazav, Wearer of Faces (x2)

Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel (x2)

Phyrexian Fleshgorger (x3)

Preacher of the Schism (x4)

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse (x2)

Cut Down (x2)

Phantom Interference (x2)

Go For The Throat (x4)

Breach The Multiverse

Push//Pull (x4)

Cavern of Souls (x2)

Darkslick Shores (x4)

Demolition Field (x2)

Island (x2)

Mirrex (x2)

Restless Reef (x2)

Swamp (x4)

Undercity Sewers (x4)

Underground River (x4)

Sideboard

Cut Down (x2)

Duress (x2)

Soul-Guide Lantern

Disdainful Stroke (x2)

Negate

Glistening Deluge (x3)

Liliana of the Veil

Tishana's Tidebinder (x2)

Virtue of Persistence

After years of being top dog thanks to Raffine, Scheeming Seer, it's almost sad to see blue and black midrange decks fall so far. But that doesn't mean this isn't still a frightfully controlling deck.

Push//Pull can be paid for using only black mana, thanks to its hybrid mana pips.

By combining black's removal in Cut Down and Go For The Throat with the blue card advantage Malcolm, Alluring Scoundrel and Hidetsugu and Kairi give, this is a deck that is always able to answer threats quickly and ruthlessly.

Orzhov Midrange

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal

Aven Interrupter

Caustic Bronco (x4)

Deep-Cavern Bat (x4)

Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor (x2)

Hostile Investigator

Sheoldred, The Apocalypse (x2)

Liliana of the Veil

The Eternal Wanderer

Duress

Lay Down Arms

Anoint With Affliction (x2)

Get Lost

Go For The Throat (x2)

Shoot The Sheriff

Legions To Ashes

Sunfall (x2)

Skrelv's Hive

Virtue of Loyalty (x3)

Virtue of Persistence

Caves of Koilos (x3)

Concealed Courtyard (x4)

Fabled Passage (x2)

Mirrex (x2)

Plains (x3)

Restless Fortress (x4)

Shadowry Backstreet (x4)

Swamp (x4)

Sideboard

Cavern of Souls

Anoint With Affliction

Dust Animus (x4)

Pest Control (x2)

Aven Interrupter

Loran of the Third Path

Lord Skitter, Sewer King (x2)

Temporary Lockdown (x2)

Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal

Though Standard has finally seen Raffine rotate out, the remnants of her deck still linger with this black and white midrange deck. Making use of practically all the best black and white cards in the format, it goes for nonstop value of anything else.

You'll be doing a lot of control with Liliana and the myriad removal spells, buying you enough time for Sheoldred and Aclazotz to come in swinging. If the game turns a bit grindier, there's always Skrelv's Hive and Mirrex to try and eke a win out via toxic.

Gruul Prowess

Cacophony Scamp (x4)

Heartfire Hero (x4)

Monastery Swiftspear (x4)

Emberheart Challenger (x4)

Picnic Ruiner (x3)

Might of the Meek (x4)

Monstrous Rage (x4)

Snakeskin Veil (x2)

Turn Inside Out (x4)

Witch's Mark (x3)

Leyline of Resonance (x4)

Copperline Gorge (x4)

Karplusan Forest (x4)

Mountain (x8)

Thornspire Verge (x4)

Sideboard

Torch The Tower (x4)

Obliterating Bolt (x3)

Pawpatch Formation (x2)

Twisted Fealty (x2)

Urabrask's Forge (x4)

Red decks stay winning in Standard, with a huge number of prowess creatures and cheap instants and sorceries flooding into the format to keep it hitting hard and fast.

Alongside the tried-and-tested Heartfire Hero and Monastery Swiftspear, we've got a few Duskmourn cards here too. Turn Inside Out is a cheap way to trigger prowess and hit much harder with a +3/+0 buff with an upside if your opponent kills the creature. Leyline of Resonance is also a four-of here, copying your burns and buffs for maximum impact, especially if you can get it out before the first turn.

Thornspire Verge only really gives you access to green mana for one card, Snakeskin Veil, but having a land that can tap for either mana when you're already playing lots of Mountains isn't something to be sniffed at.

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