Standard is in a tricky place right now. While there has been a multitude of decks performing well across challenges and leagues on MTGO, the fact of the matter is that Vivi Cauldron is still the de facto "best deck," with an almost ~33% metagame share.

This weekend marks the first time you can win physical product on MTG Arena playing Constructed, with the Standard option for the Edge of Eternities direct August 21-23rd. This gives Constructed players the option to not play best of one Limited, and instead put their Standard knowledge to the test. While Vivi Cauldron is probably still the best option for a format that is so die-roll dependent, there are a few other strategies worth considering as well. Best of one is unique in that you can still sort of metagame if you think a certain deck will see a ton of play.

Boros Burn | Edge of Eternities Standard | Mike Flores

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Fanatical Firebrand
• 4 Nova Hellkite
• 4 Screaming Nemesis
• 4 Slickshot Show-Off

• Instants (18)
• 2 Shock
• 4 Boros Charm
• 4 Burst Lightning
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Lightning Strike

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Boltwave

• Lands (22)
• 7 Mountain
• 3 Starting Town
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Sunbillow Verge

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First up is Boros Burn. While Burn has been kind of unplayable in Modern (rest in peace), it certainly has the tools in the current Standard meta. Edge of Eternities brought a couple of key cards to the archetype, most notably Sacred Foundry and Nova Hellkite. Sacred Foundry works well with Sunbillow Verge, and is a nice upgrade from Battlefield Forge. Nova Hellkite is also just another Boros Charm, if you're able to sneak in four damage by Warping it and then attack with it on a later turn.

I think while there are some games you have to close out fast, especially against decks with lifegain with cards like Beza, the Bounding Spring, you can also play some really patient games of Magic with this deck. I learned a lot from playing the Modern of this deck for many years, and when you're up against decks that are slower or have permission, you don't always have to play right into their removal. I like the versatility of Nova Hellkite, Screaming Nemesis, and Slickshot Show-Off for this reason. You can Warp a Nova Hellkite in safely for four damage, cast Screaming Nemesis when you have a Shock open to get its trigger, and plot Slickshot Show-Off to set up for a big turn once your opponent taps out.

Unlike other Aggro decks that play primarily into the board, this deck can play the long game pretty well if you time your spells right and exercise patience.

Sultai Control | Edge of Eternities Standard |Roman Fusco

• Creatures (8)
• 2 Bloomvine Regent
• 2 Disruptive Stormbrood
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 2 Scavenger Regent

• Instants (8)
• 2 Caustic Exhale
• 2 Rakshasa's Bargain
• 2 Shoot the Sheriff
• 2 Urgent Necropsy

• Sorceries (9)
• 2 Singularity Rupture
• 3 Deadly Cover-Up
• 4 Esper Origins // Summon: Esper Maduin

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Virtue of Persistence
• 4 Awaken the Honored Dead

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Ancient Cornucopia

• Lands (24)
• 1 Island
• 3 Swamp
• 5 Forest
• 1 Underground Mortuary
• 2 Restless Cottage
• 2 Wastewood Verge
• 2 Willowrush Verge
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Watery Grave

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Next up is my version of Sultai Control, with a few changes from my last article. There's a similar Sultai Control deck floating around from the most recent Arena Championship, and while I play-tested that deck a lot due to its supposedly good matchup against Vivi Cauldron, ultimately I found myself losing games because I didn't have a high enough threat density.

I like my take on Sultai for two key reasons. The first is the lifegain aspect about this deck. Ancient Cornucopia is one of my favorite Constructed cards from recent sets, and with Awaken the Honored Dead, Rakshasa's Bargain, Esper Origins, and Bloomvine Regent, you have a multitude of ways of gaining life. The second reason I like this deck is how many answers you have to the various threats in the format. Awaken the Honored Dead, in conjunction with Urgent Necropsy, is a surefire way to be able to answer any threat your opponent can throw at you.

Ultimately, I think this is a solid choice against Vivi and other Aggro and Midrange decks, but you probably get rocked pretty hard against countermagic. While I would be packing my sideboard with lots of Negates and Duress effects against Azorius Control, you might just have to accept defeat in this matchup. You can't win them all!

Rakdos Reanimator | Edge of Eternities Standard |Roman Fusco

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Overlord of the Balemurk
• 2 Trumpeting Carnosaur
• 4 Arden, the Usurper
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Tersa Lightshatter
• 4 Valgavoth's Faithful
• 4 Valgavoth, Terror Eater

• Instants (7)
• 3 Abrade
• 4 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Zombify

• Lands (25)
• 6 Swamp
• 4 Mountain
• 3 Restless Vents
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Raucous Theatre

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Rakdos Reanimator is a deck I overall probably wouldn't recommend you play in Standard, but I think it has great Best of One applications. If you're not aggroing out your opponent, another great strategy in Best of One is to just ignore your opponent's plan entirely, and enact an early combo of some kind. This can be especially powerful against decks that lack the removal to deal with your threats appropriately or can't put on enough pressure fast enough to win before you do.

This is why I like putting a turn four Valgavoth, Terror Eater into play. There aren't a ton of removal spells that deal with it cleanly, it has a high Ward cost, and if you put this in play on turn four on the play you're probably winning that match. I also like that Valgavoth's Faithful is pretty annoying to deal with. It gets around countermagic like Dispelling Exhale, and if you cast it on turn five while you also have a Zombify in hand, your opponent can't deal with it cleanly by tapping out for a Three Steps Ahead.

You also naturally have a beatdown plan with your discard enablers, like Tersa Lightshatter and Fear of Missing Out. You can play a number of removal spells to combat aggressive starts, like Abrade (which also importantly kills Agatha's Soul Cauldron) and Bitter Triumph - Bitter Triumph in particular is probably the best it can be in this archetype, as you can just use it to destroy a Kaito, Bane of Nightmares or any other creature by discarding one of your reanimation targets for no downside.

While I think this deck can definitely lose to sideboard cards like Rest in Peace, you don't have to worry about that in a Best of One metagame (usually). Like I said, this is a deck I normally wouldn't recommend due to how fragile it can be, but if the stars align you can win some pretty fast games of Magic, especially if you put in a haymaker into play on turn four.

Overall, Standard is not in a great place, which is unfortunate after all of the recent bannings. Vivi Ornitier still has a chokehold on the format, and while that may be the case for a lot of events it doesn't mean that you can't play other strategies. If you're a solid Vivi player then I think it's a no-brainer to register it for your Arena Direct events this weekend. However, if you're looking to play something more off the beaten path, then any one of these decks would be a solid option in my opinion.

As always, thanks for reading!

-Roman Fusco