Metagame: A Busy Week Before Aetherdrift

From the return of Golgari Midrange to the Top 8 of Standard tournaments to the rise of Dimir Merfolks in Pioneer and Overlord of the Balemurk in Legacy, the weekend leading up to the start of previews for Aetherdrift was quite busy for competitive Magic, with new or emergent strategies in nearly every format.

The expectation, however, is that the news will cease for a while due to spoilers for the next Magic set, scheduled to be released on February 14 and with themes that include vehicles, artifacts and some of the most iconic characters in the game, and will turn attention to the potential of future new archetypes that will enter the competitive scene next month.

Check out the main highlights of this week in Magic Online Challenges below!

Bounce decks are here to stay and have been a strong presence in Challenge win rates over the past month, leading players to adapt to the new best deck. Early options came from archetypes like Selesnya Cage, which emphasized Bounce's difficulty in dealing with efficient ETBs or excessive two-for-ones in aggressive strategies, and Azorius Oculus, which takes advantage of discards to cast Abhorrent Oculus or another bomb early.

This week, there was an increase in Golgari Midrange lists in the Top 8 Challenges, with versions that seem to be adapted to play better against Bounce by using a full set of four-toughness creatures combined with other relevant cards for this matchup, such as two copies of Maelstrom Pulse, Tranquil Frillback and, in the Sideboard, Obstinate Baloth accompanied by a full set of Harvester of Misery.

On the other side of the spectrum, a Dimir version of the Abhorrent Oculus lists won one of last week's Challenges, adding the combination of its key card with No One Left Behind and interactions that put it on a more reactive spectrum than the Azorius variants, and closer to the old Delver of Secrets decks.

Dimir lists were the highlight of this week's Pioneer, where a new version of the Bounce lists made notable Top 8 appearances in two Challenges, while an innovative take on Merfolks caught the eye by merging one of Magic's most classic creature types with a Ninja package.

Dimir Yorion takes the full Bounce package with Stormchaser's Talent, Fear of Isolation, and This Town Ain't Big Enough and complements it with some inherently valuable Pioneer permanents like Narset, Parter of Veils and The Meathook Massacre, as well as the format's classic removal and interaction like Thoughtseize and Fatal Push.

Yorion, Sky Nomad is a great choice if you want a more response-oriented list and a longer game plan. Perhaps, even in more aggressive versions like Esper Bounce, having the Companion and a more robust selection of permanents could justify playing with 80 cards in a Tempo/early-Midrange deck.

Tempo is a good definition for the new strand of Merfolks that emerged in one of the Challenges this weekend: a Dimir list using cheap and already known blue merfolks like Floodpits Drowner and Silvergill Adept with the Ninjutsu package of Kaito, Bane of Nightmares and Moon-Circuit Hacker. It also complements this strategy by using Mockingbird to copy any creature on the list for a low cost, including the Unholy Annex 6/6 demon token,

It is worth noting that this list seems to run Triton Shorestalker intentionally: it is not available on Magic Arena and Wizards did say that, if players wanted to see a card available on the platform, they could simply make Top 8 with it, but Triton Shorestalker can be replaced by Mist-Cloaked Herald, which has the same cost, body and abilities.

The numbers for Modern this weekend and the Metagame shares remain the same, and drastic changes should only occur starting with the next large-scale event in the format.

This week's highlight was a The Rock that made Top 8 in one of the Challenges. It doesn't have anything that goes beyond what is presented in Midrange variants in the format, including some that already run Agatha's Soul Cauldron in , but this one bets on a beatdown plan in the most classic version of the archetype: with Tarmogoyf and its younger brother, Nethergoyf, reducing the opponent's life to zero while removals, discards and cheap interaction keep the opponent's plans in check.

And, after all, when was the last time we saw Tarmogoyf make a Top 8 in Modern?

A Modern tech from last month arrived in Legacy. Overlord of the Balemurk had a huge price spike last week after lists who mix it with Aether Vial and Blink effects became more popular in Modern - and now it's starting to have an impact on one of Magic's most powerful formats.

In both cases, we have lists looking to extract value from Overlord through Blink effects like Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd and Flickerwisp and a toolbox of Recruiter of the Guard, with the Orzhov version geared towards the Stoneforge Mystic package while Esper seeks a more value-driven game with Baleful Strix and even going so far as to cast Abhorrent Oculus.

Apparently, having a 5/5 for two mana that lets you reurse creatures every turn while feeding your graveyard is an advantage even for Legacy's power levels, and it will be interesting to see how Overlord of the Balemurk progresses in competitive Magic over the next few weeks.

This week's Pauper highlight was an archetype that has been around the Metagame for over a decade, which takes advantage of a very aggressive format by not allowing its opponent to attack - or rather, it allows, but don't expect to deal combat damage against it.

Turbo Fog is one of the archetypes that hasn't changed much with power creep. Yes, it gained a number of new tools with Lorien Revealed, but its essence and means of winning the game remain the same since Modern Horizons, without any extra cards that actively contribute to its game plan - even so, this is still a deck that can win Challenges, as demonstrated by the player IvernOP this weekend.

The success of the above list has also put the spotlight on another version of Turbo Fog which gained more traction in Leagues since late 2024: a mostly variant with occasional splashes of other colors and running the already familiar Deadly Dispute package to keep resources flowing while Crypt Rats clears the board when necessary.

This list, with Trespasser’s Curse on the maindeck, seems very focused on the Broodscale Combo matchup, but it also has the tools needed to deal with other decks in the Pauper Metagame.

It also deserves extra points for creativity for the splash in the Sideboard and the inclusion of Obsidian Acolyte, whose ability offers protection to any creature, permanently derailing the Basking Broodscale and Sadistic Glee combo.

That’s all for today!

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

Thanks for reading!