There's only one week to go until the Minneapolis Regional Championship, and we're still seeing lots of interesting moves in the Standard metagame. Standard has changed drastically with the addition of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, and while some decks have stayed relatively the same, like Gruul Aggro, we've seen new decks like Izzet Prowess and Jeskai Control pop up. We've also seen changes to preexisting archetypes like Jeskai Oculus.

As we get closer to the Regional Championship it's important to start noting what to expect at the event, and what decks are popular. As of now, I'd say the top three most popular decks are: Jeskai Oculus, Red Aggro (Mono-Red, Gruul, and Cori-Steel Cutter builds), and Esper Pixie. Standard is definitely very aggressive at this moment, and while we have decks like Jeskai and Azorius Control hanging around, we've seen less and less of the Golgari/Dimir Midrange decks, as well as Domain.

Orzhov Pixie | TDM Standard | MJ_23, Standard Challenge 64 4/22/2025/1st

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 4 Nurturing Pixie
• 4 Preacher of the Schism
• 4 Sunpearl Kirin

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (1)
• 1 Get Lost

• Enchantments (18)
• 2 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
• 4 Hopeless Nightmare
• 4 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Nowhere to Run
• 4 Temporary Lockdown

• Lands (24)
• 4 Swamp
• 4 Plains
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 3 Restless Fortress
• 4 Bleachbone Verge
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Concealed Courtyard

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 3 Duress
• 2 Get Lost
• 1 Grim Bauble
• 1 Kutzil's Flanker
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 2 Rest in Peace
• 2 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber
• 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

With Preacher of the Schism dodging Torch the Tower, Nowhere to Run, and Lightning Helix, it seems like a great threat to have after you've run your opponent out of cards with your discard spells. You can also do some fun tricks like putting your Hopeless Nightmares under a Temporary Lockdown, then use Nurturing Pixie to buy back your Lockdown, netting you new enter the battlefield triggers. This deck can also sneak in some extra lifegain and damage through Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber and Restless Fortress.

This deck seems like it would be favored in the mirror, and have legs against Aggro and Jeskai Oculus, but I do worry about managing multiple Cori-Steel Cutters without a Temporary Lockdown draw, and your opponent out-drawing you with Shiko, Paragon of the Way.

Selesnya Cage | TDM Standard | Dskbaywolf, Standard Challenge 32 4/24/2025/4th

• Creatures (25)
• 1 Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 1 Nurturing Pixie
• 2 Craterhoof Behemoth
• 2 Sanguine Evangelist
• 2 Voice of Victory
• 4 Brightglass Gearhulk
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Pawpatch Recruit
• 4 Sandstorm Salvager

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Elspeth, Storm Slayer

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Dusk Rose Reliquary
• 4 Collector's Cage

• Lands (24)
• 3 Forest
• 6 Plains
• 3 Restless Prairie
• 4 Brushland
• 4 Hushwood Verge
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 3 Aven Interrupter
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 1 Get Lost
• 1 Ghost Vacuum
• 1 Haywire Mite
• 1 Loran of the Third Path
• 1 Sheltered by Ghosts
• 4 Wilt-Leaf Liege

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Elspeth, Storm Slayer seems like a pretty reasonable Collector's Cage target, and one you can cast as early as turn three in this deck! I really like Elspeth's synergy with cards like Sanguine Evangelist, Sandstorm Salvager, and Pawpatch Recruit in this list - it's a way you can go wide against Cori-Steel Cutter decks and out-value Esper Pixie. Elspeth also gives you more diverse array of threats against the Control decks of the metagame. I think these decks can stumble on the draw if you don't have a Llanowar Elves start, but you can do some pretty powerful opening plays if you lead on an Elves into a Sandstorm Salvager.

Jeskai Control| TDM Standard | Gerardo94, Standard League 4/24/2025/5-0

• Creatures (9)
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 3 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 4 Shiko, Paragon of the Way

• Instants (15)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Ride's End
• 2 Dispelling Exhale
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Get Lost
• 4 Lightning Helix

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 4 Stock Up

• Enchantments (5)
• 2 Rediscover the Way
• 3 Temporary Lockdown

• Lands (26)
• 2 Island
• 1 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 1 Cori Mountain Monastery
• 3 Elegant Parlor
• 3 Meticulous Archive
• 3 Riverpyre Verge
• 3 Sunbillow Verge
• 3 Thundering Falls
• 4 Floodfarm Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 2 Change the Equation
• 1 Day of Judgment
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Kutzil's Flanker
• 2 Negate
• 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 2 Wilt-Leaf Liege

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Look, I know this week I also wrote a whole dang article about how I like Azorius Control over Jeskai Control. I ended up bringing Jeskai Control to my local event that night, going 2-1 and losing the finals to some pretty boneheaded plays by yours truly. I did, however, learn some pretty insightful things about Jeskai.

Overall, Jeskai might be better than Azorius in the current meta. I still stand behind Jeskai being massively unfavored when it comes to the Azorius mirror match, mainly due to the lack of Fountainport. However, I think there's a lot to be discovered with these Jeskai lists, and this 5-0 Standard League list is one that I really admire for a few reasons.

All the numbers in this list feel tight. I think one thing that's had me disillusioned with Jeskai, is that I've seen a lot of lists with cards that feel just too expensive to me. Jeskai Revelation is a powerful card, don't get me wrong, but how often are you realistically casting it? I get that it's a way to bridge the gap in the mid-to-late game, but I don't want to get stranded with a seven-mana card early in the game against proactive decks. I'd play one at most, but I don't understand the lists that run multiple copies. I feel similarly about Chandra, Hope's Beacon in these lists.

I like access to Abrade maindeck for Cori-Steel Cutter, as well as the three copies of Three Steps Ahead. Three Steps Ahead is a card that I've always been a fan of for a number of reasons. Besides being a flexible Catalog, I think it's important to stabilizing in the mid-game, especially if your opponent has cards like Boltwave, which you can't spend a normal removal spell on. I also love the one copy of Day of Judgment here too. You don't need as many wraths as Azorius Control when you have flexible removal targeted removal, but I always want at least one copy of this card as a bail out to reset the board. Split Up, while flashback-able with Shiko, Paragon of the Way, doesn't cut it.

Marang River Regent has also grown on me. It's nice to have in the mirror as an additional threat. I think if there's one thing I'd change about this list, it would be cutting the second Rediscover the Way for anything else. I feel like a lot of these Jeskai lists just have too many card draw spells in them - I've seen some with four Stock Up and three Rediscover the Way! If you want a sixth card draw spell, I actually like Deduce. While Deduce isn't as selective as Rediscover the Way it's flexible in that you can cast it on turn two, or use it in a turn where you want to cast two spells, like Beza, the Bounding Spring on turn six or casting it at instant-speed after you Stock Up on turn five.

Standard has me fired up ahead of the Regional Championship. While I'm not exactly set on a list, I'm going to register either Azorius Control or Jeskai. While I like Jeskai overall against the meta of Cori-Steel Cutter Red decks, Jeskai Oculus, and Esper Pixie, I do worry about long mirror-matches. At least playing Azorius I feel confident against Jeskai, but slightly less confident against all the other decks - it'll be a tough call.

With the meta looking like a solid mix of Esper Pixie, Mono-Red, Izzet Prowess, and Jeskai Control, there are still a handful of other competitive decks out there. Who knows, maybe something entirely new will take us by surprise in Minneapolis!

As always, thanks for reading.

-Roman Fusco