Metagame: The First Post-Pro Tour Aetherdrift Challenges

The last Challenges of February and the first events of March - also the first after the Pro Tour Aetherdrift - point to small winds of change as we approach the Tarkir: Dragonstorm season.

In Standard, despite the average results in the main event, Esper Bounce continues to stand out as one of the best decks in the format, accompanied by red Aggro and the return of Azorius Control to competitive tables. Meanwhile, the rise of Bounce in Pioneer has migrated its natural predator to the format, with Selesnya Cage decks performing well in two events last week.

Modern has a new regulator: Ketramose, the New Dawn has solidified itself as a staple of Orzhov Ephemerate and the inclusion of Relic of Progenitus in the maindeck puts the dominance of Grinding Breach in check, while Legacy takes ever greater strides in making Stock Up - now also found in Delver lists - the new format staple!

Check out the main news of this week in Magic Online Challenges!

The week in Standard began with the notable rise of Azorius Control and variants with Obstinate Baloth, a useful card in Bounce games and an answer to a common side-in for Black-based Midranges in these matchups - Liliana of the Veil.

Overall, it seems like Azorius Control is here to stay, and Stock Up has solidified itself as a staple of the archetype and should remain relevant in Standard for much of its lifespan, with copies also showing up in Omniscience lists.

Another highlight of this week during the Standard Showcase Challenge was the inclusion of Haunt the Network in Azorius Omniscience as a win condition with the loop between the enchantment, Invasion of Arcavios and This Town Ain’t Big Enough.

The Showcase Challenge also showed that Bounce decks remain relevant despite the results of Pro Tour Aetherdrift, being the archetype with the greatest share in the Top 32. The winning list mixes the archetype's package with an attrition plan around Preacher of the Schism and Overlord of the Balemurk, in addition to the inclusion of two copies of Stock Up.

Mono Red Aggro was also present with multiple copies in the Top 32, with the highlight being the runner-up list, with a slight splash of for Questing Druid in the Sideboard.

With the rise of Yorion Bounce in the Pioneer Metagame, it was only natural that its predator would eventually be ported to the format, and this weekend, two Selesnya Cage lists made it to the Top 8.

The plan here is the same as in Standard, but with the addition of more mana dorks for increased consistency, as well as another excellent payoff for Collector’s Cage with Emeria’s Call, which doubles as a land and a bomb to be cast for free.

Brightglass Gearhulk was also widely adopted in Pioneer for allowing for an efficient toolbox in the Sideboard and Maindeck, with options like Haywire Mite, Dusk Rose Reliquary, Portable Hole, and Shapers’ Sanctuary.

Last Standard season, Temur Analyst was an archetype that enjoyed a few months of glory before rotation. Player BMadman took basically the same shell that the archetype already had in Standard to create his version in Pioneer with Yorion, Sky Nomad - with extra style points for the copy of Aegis Turtle in the Sideboard.

Modern gained a new king, or at least a new fun police with Ketramose, the New Dawn.

Orzhov Ephemerate was already on the rise when players mixed Overlord of the Balemurk with blink effects to extract value from the new Duskmourn card. But the release of Ketramose has seen the deck take the next step and adopt a package that's more geared toward exile and graveyard interactions, including copies of Relic of Progenitus in the maindeck—a card that's well-positioned to hold off Grinding Station decks while generating value every turn with Ketramose.

Combined with the efficient package of removals and threats that ensure a fair matchup against Energy, Orzhov Ephemerate seems to be positioned to keep watch on the Metagame and keep Modern's top strategies in check.

That doesn't mean Grinding Breach is on decline. Quite the contrary: it, Boros Energy, and now Orzhov Ephemerate are consistently the decks that place the most in the Top 32 of Challenges—and the archetype was the latest to adopt Stock Up in Modern as a way to dig deep for the pieces it needs.

This week's surprise is Mono Red Burn, which reached the Top 8 in the hands of player quinniac. The reason for choosing not to run Boros Charm despite having a complete package of Fetch Lands and even Sunbaked Canyon and Elegant Parlor remains a mystery.

Stock Up was the highlight of Legacy this week and should remain so for some time. Apparently, a mix of Divination with Memory Deluge is enough to make forgotten archetypes emerge, such as Mono Blue Painter

Or this Show and Tell list with Sol Lands and Chrome Mox to close the combo as early as the first turn and featuring four copies of Stock Up.

And little by little, the card is no longer just a piece to increase the consistency of blue combos in Legacy, reaching the maindeck of Tempo lists with Delver of Secrets.

Perhaps, in the next few weeks, we will see Stock Up arrive in the current versions of Reanimator - the current best deck in the format - and the consistency added by the card can significantly change the Metagame when it reaches this point.

Aetherdrift didn't have much competitive relevance in Pauper, but one of the main cards that found a home in this week's tournaments and even won one of the Challenges was Pactdoll Terror, which became the most recent payoff of Altar Tron as it fits the colors that the archetype needs for cards like Deadly Dispute and Eviscerator's Insight.

Deadly Dispute was also in another archetype with a Top 8 this weekend, and one that we don't usually see frequently in Pauper: Mono Black Sacrifice

The idea here is basically the same as it has always been since the Mortician Beetle downshift: use effects that sacrifice creatures with cards that, when they die, perform some effect to extract value.

What has changed in these almost ten years is the individual quality of the sacrificed creatures - we now have more of them in a single color - added to the increased consistency in both the sacrifice effects and the payoffs of the deck with Gixian Infiltrator.

That's all for today!

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Thanks for reading!