MTG Standard meta at Pro Tour Minneapolis healthy mix of old decks and new cards

A healthy mix of Magic: The Gathering Standard Constructed decks were submitted for the second Pro Tour of the 2022-2023 season beginning on May 5, from Aggro to Control. 

The Standard meta within MTG competitive play has reached a healthy spot leading up to fall rotation. Many tried-and-true builds like Rakdos Midrange, Grixis Midrange, and Esper Legends still rank as the best three decks within the format. New cards from MOM and ONE have improved the existing top MTG decks while also supporting less popular Traditional builds like Five-Color Ramp, Mono-White Midrange, Mono-Red Aggro, and a host of reanimator decks. 

Over 200 MTG players from around the globe are competing at Pro Tour Minneapolis, which features MOM Draft and Standard Constructed gameplay. Of those 200-plus players, the most popular submitted deck was Rakdos MIdrange, according to WotC. 

• Rakdos Midrange: 47 players and 18.7 percent of field
• Grixis Midrange: 39 players and 15.5 percent of field
• Esper Legends: 30 players and 11.9 percent of field
• Rakdos Reanimator: 23 players and 9.1 percent of field
• Grixis Reanimator: 18 players and 7.1 percent of field
• Domain Control: 12 players and 4.8 percent of field
• Five-Color Ramp: Nine players and 3.6 percent of field
• Mono-White Midrange: Nine players and 3.6 percent of field
• Jeskai Control: Seven players and 2.8 percent of field
• Rakdos Breach: Seven players and 2.8 percent of field

Roughly half the field at MTG Pro Tour Minneapolis brought decks that have a solid record of performance within a competitive Standard best-of-three format. And no one build is dominating the field over the others. The other half of the players at the second Magic Pro Tour of the season chose to bring decks like Domain Control, Rakdos Breach, Five-Color Ramp, and even Soldiers. 

• Azorius Soldiers: Three players
• Grixis Incubate: Three players
• Mono-Blue Tempo: Three players
• Four-Color Legends: Two players
• Orzhov Toxic: One player
• Orzhov Phyrexians: One player
• Mono-Black Midrange: One player

Many Pro players likely chose decks they were comfortable playing and have tested at various organized play tournaments prior to the Pro Tour at Minneapolis. But that doesn’t mean the lesser-played decks are bad. Azorius Soldiers has beaten out Control and Midrange builds before and is solid against other Aggro decks. In addition, Orzhov Phyrexians is a new Standard deck following the release of MOM and has proven powerful on the MTG Arena Ranked ladder along with Mono-Black Midrange and Grixis Incubate. 

Fans can watch the action unfold at MTG Pro Tour Minneapolis from May 5 to 7. Six rounds will feature MOM Draft while the remaining Swiss rounds and playoff rounds will showcase Traditional Standard Constructed.