Best Magic: The Gathering Standard decks for MTG Arena, and tabletop

The release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One shifted the Standard meta slightly, buffing existing Magic: The Gathering Standard meta decks while also creating new ones.

Ranking up the MTG ladder with the best Standard decks can get accomplished via your choice of Aggro, Midrange, or Control decks. The release of Phyrexia: All Will Be One (ONE) brought about a boost to MTG cards that are worth money, in addition to returning mechanics like Proliferate and a new take on Poison counters through Toxic.

The release of ONE takes place toward the end of the Standard rotation, with only the release of March of the Machine and March of the Machine: The Aftermath remaining before the fall rotation takes place. More sets within the Standard format typically result in existing meta decks remaining at the top of the tier lists. But once in a while, a set can bring about a totally new archetype that shakes things up or boosts an existing build that needed a few good cards to make it great.  

Here are the best MTG Standard meta decks during the ONE season, heading into the release of March of the Machine.

Best MTG decks within ONE Standard meta

Refusing to get pushed out of the Standard meta as one of the best decks was Grixis Midrange, along with Azorius Soldiers. Jund Midrange has bounced back out of B-tier status thanks to Glissa Sunslayer from ONE while Esper Legends is popping off thanks to the addition of Skrelv, Defector Mite.

Esper Legends was the most played deck at the DreamHack Standard tournament that took place from April 8 to 9, followed by Rakdos Midrange and Mono-White Midrange.

• Esper Legends: 15.7 percent of the field
• Rakdos Midrange: 15.3 percent of the field
• Mono-White Midrange: 12.6 percent of the field
• Grixis Midrange: 8.3 percent of the field
• Rakdos Reanimator: 5.8 percent of the field
• Domain Control: 4.6 percent of the field

The best-of-one Standard MTG Arena meta is somewhat the same as the best-of-three format, with exceptions like Mono-Red Aggro, Soldiers, Selesnya Toxic, and GW Humans.

Selesnya Toxic Standard deck

Players ranking up the best-of-one ladder on MTG Arena are all too familiar with Venerated Rotpriest and Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief Selesnya Toxic deck. The Standard meta deck has gone through a variety of changes since ONE was released, moving away from the Rotpriest and Spellthief combo.

New versions of the Selesnya Toxic build contain more creatures to combat Aggro decks like Mono-Red and Soldiers while including new MTG cards like Staff of Compleation and Skrelv, Defector Mite.

This version of Selesnya Toxic has been performing well on the MTG Arena ladder and has even placed in the top eight of smaller Standard tournaments that took place toward the end of Feb., according to MTGdecks.

Rei Sato took that early version of Selesnya Aggro to another level by leaning into the poison strategy at the Japan Champions Cup with his Selesnya Aggro Poison deck, winning the tournament and earning a direct invite to the 2023 Magic World Championship.

Mono-White Midrange Standard deck

Mono-White decks gained a few powerful new cards through ONE, reshaping the Mono-White deck within the Standard meta. Cards like the planeswalker The Eternal Wanderer are strong within Control and Midrange builds, while cheap removal spells like Ossification work well with Lay Down Arms.

This Mono-White Midrange version earned a first at The Great Gingerbread Showdown, piloted by Mu$td13. Other similar variations finished in the top eight of various MTG tournaments in Feb. as well.

Grixis Midrange Standard deck

The Grixis Midrange Standard deck has dominated the meta since the 2022 fall rotation. Some new cards from ONE have worked their way into the build over time, from Sheoldred’s Edict and Blue Sun’s Twilight to Kaito, Dancing Shadow. Core cards in the Grixis deck are still Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, Corpse Appraiser, and Bloodtithe Harvester.

Esper Legends Standard deck

Esper Legends is an existing Standard meta deck rising up the ranks of the meta thanks to Skrelv, Defector Mite, and the dual-land Seachrome Coast. Piloted by Nakajima Chikara at a store qualifier in Japan, the Esper Legends deck shuts down a variety of strategies in the Standard meta through powerful legendary creatures.

Azorius Soldiers Standard deck

Soldiers are still meta within the MTG Standard format as one of the most viable Aggro decks to play at a tournament. Piloted by QiuLaohan at the TouchFisher2 tournament through MTG Arena, the Azorius Aggro deck finished fifth overall, beaten out by multiple Grixis Midrange decks. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben continues to shut down cheap removal during the early game while Dennick locks down graveyards and Brutal Cathar disrupts other Aggro and Midrange builds.

Mono-Red Aggro

Ranking in the top 100 of the Mythic Rank on MTG Arena is Mono-Red Aggro, using low-cost creatures with Haste in addition to an arsenal of burn spells. This version, piloted by SteveTheMighty, plays four copies of Mechanized Warfare, along with four Play with Fire and Lightning Strike burn spells.

The upside to Mono-Red Aggro is that it wins games quickly but it struggles against MTG decks like GW Humans and even Soldiers.

GW Humans

Created by CovertGoBlue, the Green and White Human deck counters Mono-Red Aggro, along with a majority of the best MTG decks in the best-of-one Standard meta. One of the key cards in the build is Annointed Peacekeeper, able to slow down opponents since the cards they are playing aren’t much of a surprise during these later stages of the Standard meta.

Another neat addition to the GW Humans build is Katilda, Dawnhart Prime. The two-drop has protection from werewolves (Brutal Cathar), while also providing ramp and mana fixing. Melira, the Living Cure protects creatures like Brutal Cathar and Sigarda, Champion of Light. At the same time, Intrepid Adversary boosts the team and adds some much-needed Lifelink to the MTG Standard deck.

Jund Midrange Standard deck

Like Grixis Midrange, the new Jund Midrange decks are taking advantage of ONE card like Glissa Sunslayer, Lukka, Bound to Ruin, Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting, Sheoldred’s Edict, and Thrun, Breaker of Silence. Piloted by Hank Moody, this Jund Midrange deck showcases how the new cards are being used in the main deck and the sideboard.

Mono-Blue Tempo

Mono-Blue Tempo emerged all over the globe at tournaments that took place during the first week of March. Finishing in the top eight at the Champions Cup in Japan was a Mono-Blue Tempo deck piloted by Kiesuke Naito. His version of the deck went 10-3-1 at the tournament, with Naito’s draw occurring in a matchup against Sato and his Selesnya Aggro Poison deck.

Mono-Black Standard deck

Hanging out on the fringes of the ONE Standard meta is Mono-Black. The deck has seen a variety of variations over the last year, with recent builds taking advantage of Bilious Skulldweller and Sheoldred’s Edict. Piloted by Fighter at The Great Gingerbread Showdown, this Mono-Black version earned second place at the tournament.

Update Feb. 26 1pm CT: All the best ONE Standard meta decks were updated.

Update March 5 11:30am CT: All the best ONE Standard meta decks were updated following Constructed organized play tournaments.

Update April 9 12pm CT: All the best Standard meta decks were updated heading into the March of the Machine launch.