Standard: 5 Decks to keep an eye post-Pro Tour Outlaws

Following the results of the Pro Tour Outlaws of Thunder Junction, we can get a broader perspective on how each archetype stood out at the event this weekend - but beyond this perspective, it is also possible to understand how Standard's Megatame will adapt to the news of the new expansion and what professional players brought to one of the game's biggest competitive events.

In this article, we present decks that stood out in the Pro Tour with new features which, naturally, you will find more frequently in Magic Arena Ranked matches, Magic Online Leagues or Challenges in the coming weeks!

Orzhov Bronco

Considered one of the event's breakout decks, Orzhov Bronco is an Aggro-Combo aimed at the interaction between Caustic Bronco and high-cost cards - more specifically, Shadow of Mortality.

Caustic Bronco was one of several attempts to emulate the cost and effect of Dark Confidant in Standard. However, due to the way its ability triggers, we can also use it to our advantage when we sadde it with another of our creatures, dealing damage to the opponent equal to the mana value of the revealed card.

Therefore, with Shadow of Mortality, Caustic Bronco is capable of dealing 15 damage to the opponent the moment it attacks, commonly winning the game given the deck's proactive game plan with low-cost creatures with relevant effects - and to ensure we don't need too many copies of a virtually dead card in our hand, we resort to Insatiable Avarice to put Shadow of Mortality on top for the combo.

The rest of the list is made up of efficient ETB effects coupled with high-impact cards, such as Anointed Peacekeeper, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse and Steel Seraph, along with a good combination of removals to maintain our flow during the games.

Given the explosive nature of the Orzhov Bronco and its ability to win games suddenly, it's common for it to become one of the most prominent new archetypes post-Pro Tour, with players adapting lists to see how best to keep it fresh against the Metagame now that it is on the radar.

Jund Analyst

Another of the biggest highlights of Pro Tour Outlaws was the new variant of decks based on Worldsoul's Rage in Jund () colors or, in this case, Golgari with a slight splash to red.

Just like the Temur versions, Jund Analyst's game plan is to play many lands in the graveyard to return them to the battlefield with Aftermath Analyst, but Outlaws of Thunder Junction brought two good reasons to give up of blue in favor of black in the archetype:

In a deck that puts so many lands into play, Pillage the Bog is as efficient as a tutor on most occasions, commonly allowing to look at a third or even half of your list as the game goes on, making it easier to find the right cards for the game, or recur to other cards in your graveyard with Shigeki, Jukai Visionary and prepare a massive Worldsoul's Rage the next turn.

Pitiless Carnage, on the other hand, has an almost broken interaction with Aftermath Analyst and Splendid Reclamation, where we sacrifice our lands to it to draw an absurd number of cards and then return all them to the battlefield.

Just like the Temur version, the Jund Analyst is one of the archetypes that suffers most from the insertion of Rest in Peace. However, at least on the Pro Tour, that didn't stop it from being one of the highlights and having the highest winrate in the Standard portion of the tournament.

Azorius Control

After constant absences due to the predominance of Domain Ramp, Azorius Control returned to the radar, and much of this result is due to the best Cancel ever printed - Three Steps Ahead

Three Steps Ahead is a great example of how the Spree mechanic can be used functionally when all card modules are equally useful for your deck's strategy.

A counterspell that allows you to draw cards has seen play previously in Standard and to this day in other formats, and while the cost to do so is higher and less comprehensive than Cryptic Command, the new spell can be useful at any moment - even to speed up the clock when copying a token created by The Wandering Emperor.

Azorius Control is a competitive Magic classic and favorite of many players who, even when the archetype was declining, continued to play with it in ranked matches. Now that it is regaining traction in the competitive Metagame and had an excellent result in the Pro Tour with Yuta Takahashi, it is likely that its presence in the format will increase in the coming weeks and consolidate it as one of the main decks in the format.

Golgari Midrange

Led by Reid Duke in the tournament, Golgari Midrange is another classic archetype with many enthusiasts in Standard, and Outlaws of Thunder Junction brought some great additions, with the main one being Caustic Bronco as another means of generating card advantage early.

Due to its theme, it is a flexible choice that seeks to use the best cards in its color combination to respond to different cases in the Metagame and has presented satisfactory results to remain one of the current best decks.

Four-Color Legends

With one of the highest win rates of the event and two copies in the Top 8, Four-Color Legends went from an average strategy to one of the format's main competitors, demonstrating the potential that adding new legends to each expansion can bring when cards like Relic of Legends are in a competitive format.

The insertion of Honest Rutstein with Outlaws of Thunder Junction and its interaction with Rona, Herald of Invasion and Relic of Legends allows us to have a combo approach, where we can use two copies of Honest Rutstein to return the other one to the hand with his ability while we use Rona's looting to dig through the deck searching for the cards we need and even for a combo-kill with Slogurk, the Overslime.

Although it is not easy to pilot and has some timer problems in both Magic Online and Magic Arena which might hinder some players, its combination of cards and a combo that is difficult to disrupt without removals will make Four -Color Legends a mainstay in the format until the next rotation.

That's all for today!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!