Welcome back to another This Week in Standard! While Standard is in a bit of a slow spot as we near the end of the Standard RCQ season and approach a new expansion coming out in a matter of weeks, there are a couple of cool new changes in the meta. While I didn't play a ton of RCQs this season, I actually won one this past weekend!

Azorius Control | DFT Standard | Roman Fusco, RCQ/1st

• Creatures (6)
• 1 Horned-Loch Whale
• 2 Overlord of the Mistmoors
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (19)
• 1 Destroy Evil
• 1 Elspeth's Smite
• 1 Change the Equation
• 2 Deduce
• 2 No More Lies
• 3 Get Lost
• 3 Ride's End
• 3 Stock Up
• 3 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (4)
• 1 Sunfall
• 3 Day of Judgment

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Temporary Lockdown

• Lands (26)
• 3 Island
• 5 Plains
• 1 Blast Zone
• 1 Demolition Field
• 2 Adarkar Wastes
• 2 Fountainport
• 2 Meticulous Archive
• 3 Restless Archive
• 3 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Floodfarm Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 1 Devout Decree
• 1 Elspeth's Smite
• 1 Negate
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 1 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 1 Jace, The Perfected Mind
• 1 Wilt-Leaf Liege
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Boon-Bringer Valkyrie

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Azorius Control has always been my bread and butter at these kinds of events, and this 75 is actually pretty similar to the list I won my Standard RCQ last year with (RIP The Wandering Emperor!). While I don't know if this is the deck I'll play at the Minneapolis Regional Championship in May, I do really like playing these kinds of decks at smaller local events, usually given the fact that no one plays this archetype, even when it's really good!

In the two RCQs I played to qualify I beat up on Red (punting to it pretty horrifically in the Top 4 of the one I lost in) and other creature-centric decks like Azorius Oculus and Golgari Obliterator. If your local meta has a lot of Dimir, I'd probably steer clear of registering this deck, but if it's a bunch of Red and various Aggro decks - swing away, Merrill.

All in all, Azorius Control is just a fun and easy deck to play that can take advantage of specific metagames, and you can customize it to your advantage. Just make sure you know how to sequence and manage your clock.

Next up is a Standard Challenge winning list that caught me by surprise, an updated Golgari Midrange:

Golgari Midrange | DFT Standard | Tchuco, 1st Standard Challenge 32 3/13/25

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1 The Speed Demon
• 1 Tranquil Frillback
• 2 Archfiend of the Dross
• 3 Preacher of the Schism
• 3 Sentinel of the Nameless City
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Mosswood Dreadknight

• Instants (10)
• 1 Shoot the Sheriff
• 1 Tear Asunder
• 2 Anoint with Affliction
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 2 Gix's Command

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

• Lands (25)
• 3 Forest
• 4 Swamp
• 3 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 3 Wastewood Verge
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Restless Cottage

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Choking Miasma
• 1 Cut Down
• 3 Duress
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 1 Harvester of Misery
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 2 Nissa, Ascended Animist
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Tear Asunder

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I think while Golgari Midrange did get much better with the printing of Wastewood Verge, it still can be kind of clunky. However, I think this build of Golgari has some pretty great game against Esper Pixie, especially going back to the demon package of Unholy Annex and Archfiend of the Dross. I think the amount of Domain in the meta has calmed down since Matt Nass won Pro Tour Aetherdrift, so this deck has a decent matchup against some of the more popular strategies. I think as an Azorius Control player Golgari can definitely be tough depending on how fast they pump out an Unholy Annex and the amount of timely Duresses they draw. I think this is a great choice if you're still planning on grabbing an RC invite or just want to take down a Store Championship.

Tarkir Dragonstorm Spoilers

As we near the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm there's already a few spoilers we can look at before the debut stream next week.

Inevitable Defeat is my kind of Magic card. It's a removal spell that gets around pesky Ward abilities, while also giving you some life to work with (draining your opponent for 3 is a nice bonus as well). The question becomes, however, where does this fit in to Standard? My one big hope for Tarkir: Dragonstorm, is that it provides a boatload of solid Midrange cards to Standard. Back in Khans of Tarkir Standard, Midrange was kind of the name of the game, since decks had such great mana and the threats like Siege Rhino and Elspeth, Sun's Champion were so potent. The format did evolve with the addition of Dragon-based Control decks and various Red Aggro decks. My personal favorite deck of that time period was Abzan Aggro - who doesn't love playing three-color Aggro decks?

Inevitable Defeat is a card that I think would've been amazing back in that Standard format, so I'm skeptical of how it slots into this current one, even though I really love the design of this card. Is there a Mardu Midrange or Control deck that would want to run this? Is four-mana too expensive for a removal spell that gains you a bit of life? Ultimately, I really want this card to be playable, and I hope it is - but I worry if Standard is too fast/value-based to accommodate a four-mana removal spell.

In similar fashion, Skirmish Rhino also feels too Midrange for this Standard meta. It feels too slow to combat a Red deck that has Heartfire Hero, Emberheart Challenger, and Monstrous Rage, and also is too small to make a dent in a deck with Overlord of the Hauntwoods and Up the Beanstalk. It kind of sits in this weird middle, being bad against both spectrums of the current Standard metagame. This isn't to say the card won't see play - we've only seen a small fraction of the set. My hope is that there are enough good Midrange cards in the next set to justify Midrange being a dominant force in Standard again (and I'm not counting Dimir mainly creatures + Kaito a traditional Midrange deck!).

Shiko, Paragon of the Way is yet another card from this set that I want to be good! I just want to cast free Stock Ups with this card all day long. I think there's definitely some sort of Jeskai Midrange/Control deck that could utilize this card, alongside Stock Up, Deduce, Lightning Helix, etc.

At the end of the day, part of me feels like there needs to be a small set of Standard bannings in order for some of the new cards to shine. While I don't think we're in dire need of a ban in Standard, removing cards like Up the Beanstalk, Monstrous Rage, and even Hopeless Nightmare would give the format some freshness. With a three-year rotation cycle it can be stale having to play against the same cards over and over again.

That's all for now, friends. Next week, join me as I go over more Tarkir: Dragonstorm spoilers. Maybe we'll finally get a look at what two new planeswalkers the next set will bring...

As always, thanks for reading.

-Roman Fusco