11 New Standard Deck Brews Ranked

Last updated on September 2, 2025

Mossborn Hydra | Illustration by Monztre

Hello planeswalkers! With the releases of the Final Fantasy and Edge of Eternities sets comes an entirely new Standard rotation. It’s a great time to get out there and support your local TCG stores by playing some Limited tournaments and buying some boosters. After that, you’ll need to know how the new Standard landscape looks. So let’s dive into some new brews!

You came here for the important answers to important Standard questions. Is aggro still overpowered? Are Final Fantasy cards good enough to make it into competitive Standard decks? And what about this major Standard ban that came down from Wizards?

I’ll do my best to give you the ultra-competitive decks, some interesting strategies, and a bonus brew of my creation.

Standard Deckbuilding

Worldsoul's Rage | Illustration by Lius Lasahido

These are some of the best decks currently in the Standard format. I looked at a few websites like MTGGoldfish and MTGDecks and have played some Standard myself to compile what I think are the most prominent decks in the format. As an aside, these rankings are for both paper and digital Standard. Alchemy is different, so just know I’m looking at Standard only.

Within the current Standard rotation, you’ll find many cards and strategies that fit across several of the decks. The big one, Vivi Ornitier, is taking Standard by “storm”. This card makes for some unstoppable decks when you pair it with cheap spells and Agatha's Soul Cauldron.

Standard's often about speed. To counter this tendency, almost every deck needs some early removal to survive. Ultra-popular choices for early removal in this format are Torch the Tower and Tragic Trajectory. Enchantments are also getting some time in the spotlight; cards like Nowhere to Run, Seam Rip, and Pinnacle Starcage can play key roles.

There are some key lands everyone should be aware of in Standard. Fountainport works wonders in control decks, lands that become creatures like Restless Anchorage and Soulstone Sanctuary are great securities against removal, and the return of shock lands is quite important.

#10. Orzhov Midrange

Ketramose, the New Dawn | Illustration by Maaz Ali Khan

Some players will call this Orzhov control or Orzhov midrange, but it can be good either way. This deck focuses on a ton of exile removal and crushes opponents with a few solid creatures or planeswalkers.

The two big baddies of this deck are Ketramose, the New Dawn and Ugin, Eye of the Storms. Ketramose is a wonderful source of card draw through exile effects. Not only is this just a great practice for limiting opponents’ strategies, but the card advantage can swing many games. And, of course, as soon as you get Ugin onto the battlefield, you can start to dominate games. This planeswalker is absolutely ridiculous, and it isn’t an inconceivable play with the time that all the removal in this deck can provide.

Removal like Strategic Betrayal and Seam Rip are crucial to make this deck go. Building the number of cards in exile benefits you on the battlefield and with this deck’s strategy. The beauty of this deck is that while opponents focus on all the exile effects and payoffs, you also have a card like Unholy Annex to switch your advantages on a whim.

#9. Naya Yuna

Yuna, Hope of Spira | Illustration by NINNIN

The Overlord cards from Duskmourn: House of Horror can be so good, they just need a little support to be killer. Then comes Yuna, Hope of Spira, and now a deck with the Overlords can be quite competitive. This deck reanimates your solid enchantments and benefits from the very strong Overlord abilities.

This deck works well when you include four copies each of Yuna, Hope of Spira, Overlord of the Boilerbilges, and Overlord of the Mistmoors. You can play the overlords for their impending ability, or return them from the graveyard with Yuna’s ability. Either way, these are the kinds of abilities and synergies that outpace so many opponents.

Any good reanimating or refurbishing deck needs some mill or discard cards to fill that graveyard. This is where Fear of Missing Out, Terra, Magical Adept, and Dredger's Insight come into play. Not only do these cards help you to fill your graveyard, but they each have abilities that can help get to the overpowered goal of this deck.

There are also a few more versions of Yuna decks out there, like Bant () and Abzan (). The Bant version includes Overlord of the Floodpits and much more control to ensure you get Yuna onto the battlefield uncontested. The Abzan version includes some big summon sagas like Summon: Knights of Round and Summon: Bahamut to crush opponents. Naya (), Bant, and Abzan are all great builds, as long as you can reliably get Yuna onto the battlefield and massive enchantments into your graveyard.

#8. Orzhov Aristocrats

Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER | Illustration by Wisnu Tan

In the Standard meta, it’s always good to include a deck that doesn’t require much interaction with opponents. Orzhov Aristocrats turns your tiny creatures into sacrificial ping damage to take down opponents, even if you can’t attack them every turn. This deck neutralizes a lot of removal and aggressive decks with its small expendable creatures and life siphon abilities.

This deck works with sacrificial creatures, sacrifice engines, and sacrifice payoffs. To start, you want to get out creatures like Nesting Bot and Infestation Sage that produce more creatures once they die. Next, if they don’t die in combat, you want to play sacrifice outlets like Umbral Collar Zealot and Bartolomé del Presidio to sacrifice at will. And finally, you can ping your opponents to death with cards like Sephiroth, Fabled SOLDIER and Vengeful Bloodwitch.

To add even more to this aristocrat strategy, you can include a few more high-value cards. Voice of Victory limits your opponents' casting timing and provides sacrificial creatures. Raise the Past secures you against removal and brings back even more sacrificial targets. Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar can become a big body and removal rattlesnake quickly.

#7. Mono-Green Landfall

Tifa Lockhart | Illustration by Laurel Austin

Mono-Green Landfall may not be the highest-ranking deck in the Standard meta, but you’ll play against it a lot if you play Standard often. It provides the right amount of aggro and deadly threats to be an absolute menace to many opponents. The ultimate downfall of this deck is removal, but you also have some responses for that.

There are often two ways this deck can win a game. First is to have either Tifa Lockhart or Mossborn Hydra go off. The trample keyword and counter-doubling effects make these cards lethal threats on almost any turn they’re on the battlefield. The other way to grind out games is to turn your chump creatures like Sazh's Chocobo into massive threats with cards like Bristly Bill, Spine Sower and Traveling Chocobo.

If you aren’t the biggest fan of mono-colored decks, you can add some Mountains and use a card like Worldsoul's Rage to finish off games. This deck isn’t the worst if you make a bit more aggro with support cards like Overprotect and Innkeeper's Talent.

#6. Boros Mice

Mabel, Heir to Cragflame | Illustration by Aurore Folny

Emberheart Challenger and Manifold Mouse haven’t hung up their swords just yet. Boros () Mice can still pack a punch even with the bans of Monstrous Rage and Heartfire Hero. This Boros mice deck focuses a little more on the synergy of the mouse creature type instead of just pounding opponents with cheap pump spells and prowess effects.

Some cards from the previous Standard meta red aggro are still present, like Hired Claw and Emberheart Challenger. However, you also want to include more mouse support with cards like Mabel, Heir to Cragflame and Flowerfoot Swordmaster. This deck plays quite well with the number of creatures it has, and once you can get Manifold Mouse or Screaming Nemesis onto the battlefield, it can begin to take off.

This deck really focuses on the creatures; almost half of it is creature cards. Removal is kept to a small but effective minimum. You only need to draw 1-2 copies of either Burst Lightning or Sheltered by Ghosts to support your aggressive creatures.

One card I like but that isn’t always included is Sunspine Lynx. It’s a great sideboard piece, but I also think a single copy of it can fit into this deck well.

#5. Azorius Control

Marang River Regent | Illustration by John Tedrick

Enough with these quick and aggressive decks, am I right? Let’s get into some control with Azorius () Control. In typical Azorius fashion, the goal is to remove threats early and take over the game later with big effects from creatures or a planeswalker.

If you’ve played MTG for any amount of time, you’ve probably seen plenty of control decks. Of course, you’ll include some targeted removal, counterspells, and board wipes in this deck. I want to highlight some of the newer cards that make this deck solid. Pinnacle Starcage and Seam Rip are great new enchantments for taking care of aggro threats. I also love the choices of Marang River Regent to either draw or play a big creature with a great ETB effect.

Once you’ve gained control over a game, it’s time for the big guns. You can play Overlord of the Mistmoors earlier with its impending ability. Either way you play it, once this card is on the battlefield, you can start to create many token creatures. To take this a step further, Elspeth, Storm Slayer creates tokens and doubles your token output.

This deck is for those who can’t stand to see their opponents use combos or aggression to win. There are many different variants this deck can take, as is evident by the many different cards in the sideboard.

#4. Esper Self-Bounce

Fear of Isolation | Illustration by Irina Nordsol

If you thought that Esper () Self-Bounce was going to go away when Hopeless Nightmare and This Town Ain't Big Enough were banned, then you were wrong. Esper Self-Bounce is still quite strong with its ability to use great removal cards over and over.

Let’s start with the removal that should help you to control the game. This deck uses enchantment removal spells Nowhere to Run and Momentum Breaker to remove as many creatures from the battlefield as they can. Stormchaser's Talent can play a massive role when you bounce it as well.

The creatures are used as your bounce effects, as well as your win strategy once you’ve gained control over the game. Nurturing Pixie, Fear of Isolation, and Sunpearl Kirin are your bounce engines for this deck. A new addition in Cosmogrand Zenith adds a ton of value when you cast multiple of these cheap spells each turn.

#3. Izzet Prowess

Vivi Ornitier | Illustration by Toni Infante

Similar to Izzet () Cauldron, Izzet Prowess focuses on spellslinging and a ton of interactions. This deck centers around Vivi Ornitier and cheap spells. The goal is to remove early threats, get Vivi onto the battlefield, and pump it up to enable a ton of extra mana. Once you establish a board presence and get Vivi going, you can quickly take over most games.

This spellslinger deck uses a ton of 1-mana spells to gain advantages and pump Vivi quickly. Into the Flood Maw and Torch the Tower are wonderful 1-drop spells to control the board in the early game. Opt and Sleight of Hand help you to get the cards you need and use up extra available mana. All these 1-drops are great, but of course, you need Stormchaser's Talent to apply pressure to opponents early.

I have seen forms of this deck that also include Agatha's Soul Cauldron, but I don’t believe that it is necessary. With the lack of creatures, it provides only a little upside. I’d rather have another copy of Wild Ride or a single copy of Ral, Crackling Wit.

#2. Dimir Midrange

Kaito, Bane of Nightmares | Illustration by Joshua Raphael

Dimir Midrange does quite well with a mix of quick play and control. This deck contains the right amount of removal, flash cards to play variably, and throws in a solid planeswalker. The ultimate strength, and the reason it has been widely used recently, is its control over a game. It plays so cheaply and quickly, and yet it can overcome a ton of different interactions and strategies.

Early plays like Spyglass Siren help to set up the great ninjutsu ability of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares. With this planeswalker and Enduring Curiosity, you should be drawing cards from your small, elusive attacks. Card draw advantage and a mana advantage from cheap removal should be enough to take many games.

Wonderful removal like Tragic Trajectory and Shoot the Sheriff greatly help against the wide range of aggro decks. As a follow-up, cards like Floodpits Drowner and Tishana's Tidebinder can help to control midrange decks. There isn’t too much I’d change about this deck, but be creative and see if you can tweak it into something even better.

#1. Izzet Cauldron

Agatha's Soul Cauldron | Illustration by Jason A. Engle

Like Izzet Prowess, this deck accelerates once Vivi Ornitier gets going. The reason I ranked this deck higher than Izzet Prowess is its versatility and alternate strategies. Vivi is the main goal here, but that’s not all this deck has to offer.

Focusing on just one card never gets you to the top spot. This deck also brilliantly uses discard as a resource, whether it’s satisfying delirium for Fear of Missing Out or pumping up your early Marauding Mako. Winternight Stories is a card that helps to solidify this strategy.

I have seen a few versions of this deck that include varying numbers of Proft's Eidetic Memory and Ral, Crackling Wit. I think it’s great to include four copies of Proft’s and at least one copy of Ral. These cards help to take advantage of discard and noncreature spells in a way that accelerates the deck.

Also quite important to this deck is Agatha's Soul Cauldron as a backup to removal. This card can turn any of your other creatures into Vivi if it’s in your graveyard. If you play this deck, or against it, you’ll see how quickly it can take off. 

Bonus: Mono-Black Demons

Bloodletter of Aclazotz | Illustration by Antonio José Manzanedo

For the bonus, I wanted to include the high upside mono-black demons. Admittedly, this deck was superb when it also included Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Archfiend of the Dross. However, I still think this deck can pack a punch when you center it around Unholy Annex. The draw and life siphon when you control a demon is an ability that can turn a game in your favor.

The main aim of this deck is to limit opponents’ strategies and gain advantages through Dark Confidant and Unholy Annex. However, no great bonus brew would leave out an alternative wincon. Unstoppable Slasher is in this deck to apply a ton of pressure on opponents, especially when you combine it with Bloodletter of Aclazotz.

If you want to mix this deck up, I’ve also been experimenting with an Orzhov version with bats and demons. Cards like Deep-Cavern Bat and Momentum Breaker are great early-game controllers that you can bring back with Zoraline, Cosmos Caller later. All these bats go alongside Unholy Annex and Demon Wall to make an unpredictable combination. This different brew might not be as efficient, but I think it's been pretty fun to play around with.

Wrap Up

Overlord of the Boilerbilges | Illustration by Helge C. Balzer

Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you shoot up the rankings in Standard. Whether you’re the dedicated TCG shop player or MTG Arena fiend, understanding the Standard landscape can be key to squeezing out a few more victories. So, stay up to date and also experiment a little. I hope to see one of your brews on this list next time!

Please go read all the other wonderful articles on Draftsim.com or try out the equally as wonderful Arena Tutor. If you’re looking for more engagement or information, follow us on X and join the official Discord server.

Stay safe, and keep brewing!