The first major Magic: The Gathering Standard tournament following the launch of Lost Caverns of Ixalan took place at the Aichi Open in Japan this weekend, showcasing a variety of meta decks that finished in the top eight.
Over 350 MTG players competed in the Aichi Open on Nov. 25, the first major Standard tournament since Lost Caverns of Ixalan (LCI) dropped into the format. Following the first week after the global launch of LCI, decks like Gruul Dinosaurs and Boros Humans were looking like the new builds to challenge the existing Standard meta. Both decks have performed well on the MTG Arena ladder but neither finished in the top eight at the Aichi Open.
Finishing with 8-1 records at the Aichi Standard Open were four decks: Bant Beanstalk piloted by Uihyun Kim, Bant Toxic piloted by Takashi Fujii, Azorius Midrange piloted by Masashiro Kuroda, and Azorius Flash piloted by Ken Yukuhiro, according to MTGDecks.
Control decks are hot in the Standard meta and the inclusion of Bant Beanstalk in the top four at the Aichi Open confirms that Azorius Control is the deck to beat. The Bant Beanstalk deck is primarily a Blue and White Control deck that splashed Green to include Up the Beanstalk from the WOE set. The only card from LCI that was included in the build was Get Lost.
Perhaps the most unlikely top-four deck at the Aichi Open was Bant Toxic. Toxic decks were popular following the release of ONE but have fallen out of the competitive meta since then.
Nothing from LCI was added to the build and it was the cheapest deck to finish in the top four, priced at around $130 as opposed to the $391 price tag on Bant Beanstalk. Azorius Splash, however, was a top-four deck at the Aichi Open that tapped into LCI cards like Spyglass Siren, Tiashana’s Tidebinder, and Miner’s Guidewing.
Boros Humans did make it into the top 16, as did other Standard decks like Mono-White, Domain Ramp, Esper Midrange, and Five-Color Ramp. Based on tournament play so far, Azorius Control is one of the strongest decks in Standard, along with Bant Beanstalk. Mono-White and Boros Humans are the primary Aggro decks, along with the reemergence of Bant Toxic. And players shouldn’t count out other MTG Standard decks like Esper Midrange and Domain Ramp.
