By Yusuke Kanazawa
They say any deck has a shot in the current Standard environment, and indeed it’s an all-out war, fought between many powerful warlords.
As the clans battle it out for Standard supremacy, let’s take a look at the current metagame.
■ Abzan – 47 players
As to be expected, boasting the highest amount of pilots in the environment are none other than the Abzan Houses. They made up about 36% of the field, in fact. Above all reign most notably the Aggro, Midrange, Planeswalker Control, and Reanimator disciplines of the desert-dwelling clan. This suggests quite a comprehensive suite of strengths in the White-Black-Green color scheme.
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■ Jeskai – 26 players
Just in from the 2014 World Championships, the traditional Mantis Rider-laden lists were few in number, giving most of Jeskai’s real estate to the more token variety of playstyles. Combined with the explosive power of Jeskai Ascendency, this strategy is truly remarkable.
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■ Mardu – 24 players
Many found this clan’s strength in being the home of cheap, powerful removal like Chained to the Rocks and Crackling Doom. People spotted a surprising amount of synergy packed amongst token generators and already excellently compatible cards like Sorin, Solemn Visitor, Wingmate Roc, and Butcher of the Horde.
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■ Sultai – 12 players
Solidly emerged from the depths is of course Sidisi Whip. If actively using the Whip, Sidisi, Brood Tyrant can spew out targets to serve up as threat fodder from beyond the grave, or just as easily she can provide fuel to power out viciously efficient delve spells for support. The naga shaman is surely the khan who most embodies her clan’s keyword.
With Sidisi, Brood Tyrant, it’s both possible to churn out back up removal spells, meanwhile overwhelming the board in no time, which made for an appealing assurance of long term advantage for tenaciously fighting wide swaths of strategies.
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■ Temur – 7 players
Teetering tepidly into the fray is the rugged Temur Frontier, who met with some unfortunate results. However, based on the sheer force of Red and Green and the more generous maneuvering afforded by efficient counters like Stubborn Denial, the wooly ones may yet be able to exert their true power when the environment shifts more heavily.
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And so goes this environment as the clans continue to clash for hegemony. The next expansion, Fate Reforged, looms ahead on the infinite line of the horizon, wherein lies the next evolution of the metagame.
