The MTG Arena Mythic Championship III Qualifier weekend has just wrapped up! Players who were able to reach top 1000 ranking in constructed or limited ladder during Ravnica Allegiance Season 1 and 2 were eligible to participate. The top 16 players from this event are then qualified to compete in the Mythic Championship III in Las Vegas, Nevada for a chance at the first prize of $100,000 US.

This Arena Standard season has been very diverse so far. There are a lot of different archetypes (some even coming back from previous seasons), the deck lists are still being refined and constantly evolving. With War of the Spark Season 1 wrapping up in a few days, this event gives us a framework on what to expect in the meta for War of the Spark Season 2. We will take a look at the meta of the event, analyze the top decks and some key cards to watch out for.

Top 128 Decks

Let’s analyze the top 128 deck lists first:

Deck Colors Deck Archetype Players % [mana]R[/mana] Mono Red Aggro 37 29.6 [mana]RG[/mana] Gruul Aggro 14 11.2 [mana]WUG[/mana] Bant Midrange 7 5.6 [mana]WUBG[/mana] 4 Color Dreadhorde 7 5.6 [mana]WU[/mana] Azorious Aggro 7 5.6 [mana]WUB[/mana] Esper Hero 6 4.8 [mana]WUR[/mana] Jeskai Walkers 5 4 [mana]UR[/mana] Izzet Phoenix 5 4 [mana]UBG[/mana] Sultai Dreadhorde 5 4 [mana]UBR[/mana] Grixis Bolas 5 4 [mana]UG[/mana] Simic Manipulation 4 3.2 [mana]WUB[/mana] Esper Walkers 4 3.2 [mana]UG[/mana] Simic Nexus 4 3.2 [mana]W[/mana] Mono White Aggro 3 2.4 [mana]BRG[/mana] Jund Death Whirler 2 1.6 [mana]WG[/mana] Selesnya Tokens 2 1.6 [mana]BG[/mana] Golgari Midrange 2 1.6 [mana]WUR[/mana] Jeskai Control 2 1.6 [mana]WBG[/mana] Abzan Citadel 1 0.8 [mana]U[/mana] Mono Blue Tempo 1 0.8 [mana]G[/mana] Mono Green Karn 1 0.8 [mana]WR[/mana] Boros Feather 1 0.8

It’s no surprise that Mono Red takes the most popular deck spot as almost 30% of the top decks. War of the Spark has somehow cemented the strength of the deck, despite adding only a few new cards, such as [c]Chandra, Fire Artisan[/c] and [c]Tibalt, Rakish Instigator[/c]. As other decks are more becoming more greedy with Mana and becoming grindier with powerful cards, Mono Red is still keeping many decks in check. Cards like Chandra and [c]Experimental Frenzy[/c] are key to the success of the deck.

Second spot goes to Gruul Aggro/Midrange. It has a load of hard-hitting, must-answer creatures that a lot of decks cannot keep up with. The opponents will find it unforgiving, as even one slight misstep could see them being overwhelmed very quickly.

Next is Azorious/Mono White Aggro, which combined had the third most represented archetype. This deck is now faring more favorably in this Standard format. It is more free to go wide and grow their army, where the control decks are more subdued and there are less board wipes being played. Even so, protection comes in the form of [c]Unbreakable Formation[/c] and the Azorious versions have access to counterspells.

Other decks to note are:

Top 16 Players

Let’s check out who came out of this event successful and what decks they used to win:

JBudde (Esper Planeswalkers)

hibananafish (Izzet Phoenix)

ucad (Azorious Aggro)

Levunga (Simic Nexus)

265 (Gruul Aggro)

FNMWorldChampion (Gruul Aggro)

FleshEatinGnome (Sultai Dreadhorde)

ESO (Golgari Midrange)

simongoertzen (Golgari Midrange)

crokodil (Esper Planeswalkers)

patrick50 (Izzet Phoenix)

Divide (Izzet Phoenix)

Rooney56 (Gruul Aggro)

tanaka (Bant Midrange)

Yumajpn (Gruul Aggro)

Magician15 (Mono Red Aggro)

There is a total of 9 different decks in the top 16, with only one of them being Mono Red. This shows that the format is healthy and wide open. Both Golgari Midrange decks have made its way to the top 16 – which is quite a feat as it is a deck archetype making its come back from before Ravnica Allegiance was released.

Gruul Aggro looks like the deck to beat in the coming months.

Key Cards to Watch Out For

Yes, the new War of the Spark Planeswalkers are powerful – it has been proven. The format is now wide open thanks to their power, versatility and our ability to make perfect Mana bases with dual lands.

If last season’s Standard was about [c]Hydroid Krasis[/c] and [c]Teferi, Hero of Dominaria[/c], let’s have a look at a snapshot of some (non-Planeswalker) cards making an impact on the current Standard format, creating their own deck archetypes and will be defining the format in the months to come.

















Closing Note

If you have read this far, thank you. As you can see the site itself is still under heavy construction at the moment, and we are still in infancy. I apologize profusely for the lack of exportable deck lists – they are still in the works. Please keep checking back for updates as we will be trying to update the site with quality content and more functionalities down the track. We are in need of any kind of help as well – please contact us at Discord!