The Best Standard Decks Ahead of Pro Tour Lorwyn Eclipsed

Intro

Lorwyn Eclipsed has realeased and with it, there's a Pro Tour coming up. In today's article, I will delve into where we left off with World Championship 31, what has happened until now, what metagame to expect, and whether (and if so, how much) Lorwyn is going to impact the format.

Without further ado, let's get into it!

Where we left off - World Championship 31

At World Championship 31 with Avatar, we saw a new breakout deck that terrorised the top tables, and that was none other than Izzet Lessons - which was indeed the most represented deck that also took down the trophy in the hands of Seth Manfield.

The effect of Avatar was seen across the metagame, though - notably spawning a new hot archetype in Bant Airbending combo.

We already heard talks back then that we would get another era of a top Izzet deck, right after Izzet Cauldron left the town. And even if the Lessons deck specifically wouldn't take the crown, there was also Izzet Looting to further homogenise the colour pie. If you look at the meta chart, it's only the 8th deck that contains the colour black, with blue and red clearly leading the pack.

Spotlight Series

Since Worlds, we've had a couple of Splotlight Series happen that changed the landscape of the Standard format in a meaningful way, namely Atlanta and Lyon.

In Atlanta, we saw the first deck not of Izzet colours. Not even that - it's a deck that at Worlds wasn't even in the top5! Yet another breakout deck - Simic Ouroboroid.

This is the list that Corey Burkhart, traditionally associated with Grixis colours, took to a top 4 finish at the Spotlight. This Simic strategy actually put 3 players into the top 8, which is a shocking feat, considering how much Izzet was supposed to dominate after Worlds.

Admittedly, Lessons were still a large part of the meta, being the second most popular deck and putting two players into the top 8.

We also watched a European Spotlight take place in Lyon. How did the meta look in comparison?

Both Simic and Izzet are the top two decks, almost mirroring Atlanta. Overall, the top 4 decks representation-wise stay the same; it's only the places below that where metas diverge.

When it comes to the top 8, though, we saw 3 Simics and 3 Izzets in the top 8.

Both Atlanta and Lyon very strongly cemented Simic Ouroboroid and Izzet Lessons as the two major contenders in the metagame.

Lorwyn

With Lorwyn's release, there's a couple of really hot inclusions into the Standard format.

Right off the bat, we get a completion of the cycle of shocklands. This is particularly relevant for the Lessons deck whose mana just instantly got better. However, this might also affect lesser-seen decks, giving them a bit of a needed buff.

Some Evoke elementals seem to be showing some promise as well, slotting into Simic, Sultai Reanimator, or a new shell altogether.

Formidable Speaker looks like a perfect choice for Simic where you can convert mana dorks in the mid-to-late game into something much more relevant. However, it shows a ton of promise for the previously mentioned Sultai Reanimator deck, where you can both discard a reanimation target *and* tutor out, say, Superior Spider-Man, all in one go.

There's also a suite of new interaction pieces that seem to boost Izzet and Dimir decks.

Regional Championship Portland

All that said, which decks and Lorwyn cards actually proved their strength?

RC Portland took place and it's the last major tournament before the Pro Tour. This event shall pave the way for the meta game that's going to shape at the grand stage.

The metagame at Portland does seem very similar to Lyon and Atlanta. However, one big change is the inclusion of Sultai Reanimator in the top 5.

When it comes to the top8, we have the aforementioned Sultai Reanimator but also 5 other archetypes! Look at that. People who spelled doom for the format, calling it a Simic and Izzet duel deck, are in shambles. In the top 16, there were 3 Ouroboroid and just 1 Lesson deck.

When it comes to the influence of Lorwyn except for the shocklands we saw Formidable Speaker in a lot of green decks, Explosive Prodigy in the winner's Rhythm deck, Oko, Lorwyn Liege // Oko, Shadowmoor Scion and Wistfulness in Simic Ouroboroid, or Deceit in Sultai Reanimator.

What to expect at Pro Tour Lorwyn?

If I were to make a tier list based on what happened in Portland I'd say the top 6 in no particular order would be as follows:

1. Simic Ouroboroid
2. Bant Airbending
3. Jeskai Control
4. Sultai Reanimator
5. Izzet Lessons
6. Omniscience decks

I'm excited to see what actually unfolds given this hyper-dynamic flow of changes in the Standard format. I also have to admit that the format looks very cool to play, brew, and tune in, which makes the Pro Tour that much more exhilarating!