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Happy Tarkir: Dragonstorm release day! While we are still a few days away from a MTG Arena release, we have a few decklists to talk about today, as this past week was Tarkir: Dragonstorm early access for MTG content creators. I'll also share some ideas I've been brewing for this format, so without further ado, let's dive in!
Banned and Restricted Announcement: No Updates
Unsurprising to most, no cards were banned in Standard this past Monday for the routine Banned and Restricted Announcement. While this doesn't come as a huge surprise to Standard players, given the diversity in the format and the fact that a brand new set is just releasing, it is a bit disappointing, however. In my last This Week in Standard article, I talked about how I'd like to see a few cards in the format banned, notably Monstrous Rage, Up the Beanstalk, and either This Town Ain't Big Enough or Hopeless Nightmare.
Monstrous Rage decks currently take about over 25% of the format, which feels pretty large with how many sets are in Standard at the moment. Monstrous Rage, in my opinion, leads to some boring play patterns. Yes, removal spells kill the creature they Rage, but how often can you afford to do that, given their deck has all haste threats due to Rockface Village and cards like Sunspine Lynx to dome you for a bunch out of nowhere?
Up the Beanstalk and Hopeless Nightmare aren't as offensive, but I do think playing against Red, Domain, and Esper Pixie is becoming repetitive. Maybe I'm just a jaded Azorius Control player, but I do think that the metagame could be better balanced, and bans would give the Standard community some freshness in discovering new strategies or giving light to decks that are currently not powerful enough to be competitive.
Tarkir Early Access
I luckily got to watch a bit of the Tarkir: Dragonstorm streams, and a few Standard decks that content creators were trying out.
New Ugin is a messed up card even in standard. Every time it resolved it just took over the game. Played it in a mostly colorless deck during #MTGTarkir early access with white for some interaction. Gameplay below but thanks @MTG_Arena for the invite!https://t.co/qMtTC1X2zM pic.twitter.com/Egoce0EzUn
— MTG_Joe (@MTGJoe2) April 2, 2025
Check out this Colorless-Ramp deck from MTGJoe. Utilizing Ugin, Eye of the Storm, this deck aims to ramp into the new powerful planeswalker with cards like The Irencrag and Solemn Simulacrum, while also providing protection in the form of Day of Judgment and Unstable Glyphbridge.
I also like the inclusion of Clay-Fired Bricks // Cosmium Kiln here, as it's a way to buff up your Fountainport tokens to end the game after Ugin has wiped out your opponent's relevant cards. I also like Cityscape Leveler as another win-con. Ugin, Eye of the Storms is a powerful planeswalker, but it doesn't win the game on its own - you need to have a sizable amount of ways to also win the game.
This leads me to want to explore new versions of Mono-White Tokens/Control that top out at Ugin but still have a solid Caretaker's Talent plan.
One of my favorite Magic streamers, frequently at the top of the Standard MTG Arena ranked ladder, Meowodic shared a really cool Jeskai Revelation deck.
Forgive the image quality, as I was only able to snag a screenshot from their stream, but there's a lot of cool stuff going on in this list. First, I like that it has early removal in the form of Lightning Helix and Glacial Dragonhunt. Astral Cornucopia is another card that I loved back in earlier builds of Domain, with Niv-Mizzet. This allows you to slow games down against Red decks, while getting you to your Ill-Timed Explosions to stabilize.
The main idea of this deck, however, is to cheat in a Jeskai Revelation. You can do this in multiple ways, either by plotting it with Make Your Own Luck, casting it naturally after putting an Astral Cornucopia or two into play, or by using the new Temur card, Songcrafter Mage to flash it back from your graveyard, discounting it by 3 mana for its Harmonize cost. I really like that Songcrafter Mage can buy you more Revelations, but can also flashback a Make Your Own Luck to draw some cards or to get back an Ill-Timed Explosion.
Shiko, Paragon of the Way in conjecture with Lightning Helix and Rediscover the Way is something I've been high on since those new cards got spoiled, so I'm excited to see them here in Meowodic's list. I really liked the Izzet decks that utilized Magma Opus back in the day, and Jeskai Revelation is an exciting new iteration on that card. Also - how sick is it to bounce an opponent's land after casting this card on turn five??
With Spotlight Series Denver on the horizon, I'm shifting my gears to Limited. However, I would be remiss if I didn't celebrate Tarkir: Dragonstorm release day with my updated Azorius Control list!
Azorius Control | TDM Standard| Roman Fusco
- Creatures (7)
- 1 Horned Loch-Whale
- 1 Marang River Regent
- 2 Overlord of the Mistmoors
- 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
- Planeswalkers (3)
- 3 Elspeth, Storm Slayer
- Instants (15)
- 1 Change the Equation
- 1 Elspeth's Smite
- 2 Deduce
- 2 No More Lies
- 3 Get Lost
- 3 Ride's End
- 3 Three Steps Ahead
- Sorceries (7)
- 2 Day of Judgment
- 2 Sunfall
- 3 Stock Up
- Enchantments (2)
- 2 Temporary Lockdown
This list is pretty stock to what I won my RCQ with, but I'm swapping Jace, the Perfected Mind for Elspeth, Storm Slayer and adding in a copy of Marang River Regent.
As for sideboarding, I'd be mindful of what popular decks are still in the format. I'd probably want at least two Jaces for the Domain matchup, and maybe two Rest in Peace for Azorius Omniscience and random Abhorrent Oculus decks. Elspeth's Smite is still pretty necessary against Red, and a one-of Tishana's Tidebinder couldn't hurt. Boon-Bringer Valkyrie, my love, is still high on my list of a card I want in my sideboard, but with the new Elspeth I kind of want to try Sage of the Skies. Boon-Bringer having First Strike is hard for me to get rid of, though.
I think depending on the metagame it also might be time to return to Chrome Host Seedshark, to double the amount of incubate tokens with Elspeth. Other than that I'd consider a fourth Beza, the Bounding Spring, at least three copies of some combination of Obstinate Baloth and Wilt-Leaf Liege for Pixie, and there you have it.
While I probably wouldn't go too crazy with my build in week one of the format, I do want to explore more Control options in Standard, primarily Jeskai Shiko, Paragon of the Way variants and decks with more copies of Marang River Regent - I also want to look back into Mono-White Tokens with Elspeth, Storm Slayer. However, that's an article for another time.
Thanks for tuning in for another episode of This Week in Standard, hope to see you next week!
-Roman Fusco
