We are entering a new age of Standard with the release of Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. There were tournaments this past weekend exploring the new Standard Meta, one archetype stood head and shoulders above the rest in terms of consistency and strength. There’s a few flavors of the deck, so we’ll take a look at each, but these decks are the best to climb the ladder with right now on Magic Arena.
Gruul Werewolves
There’s 2 flavors of Gruul Werewolves that are floating around to consider. The first is going to be a Pure Gruul Werewolves.
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This version of the deck is playing all werewolf creatures. The ones that are being played here that isn’t in other lists are
Outland Liberator
Outland Liberator
{1}, Sacrifice this creature: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
and
Primal Adversary
Primal Adversary
Trample
When this creature enters, you may pay {1}{G} any number of times. When you pay this cost one or more times, put that many +1/+1 counters on this creature, then up to that many target lands you control become 3/3 Wolf creatures with haste that are still lands.
. Our upside to this list is that we get to play into our werewolf synergies and the Daybound / Nightbound synergies. The downside to this is that we miss out on some very strong cards and synergies that we’ll see in the next list.
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The other list is more of a hybrid Werewolf / traditional Gruul deck. This version of the deck is rockin’ some powerful cards in the format, like
Jaspera Sentinel
Jaspera Sentinel
Reach
{T}, Tap an untapped creature you control: Add one mana of any color.
and
Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Other Dwarves you control get +1/+0.
Whenever a Dwarf you control becomes tapped, create a Treasure token.
Sacrifice five Treasures: Search your library for an artifact or Dragon card, put that card onto the battlefield, then shuffle.
,
Esika’s Chariot
Esika’s Chariot
When Esika's Chariot enters, create two 2/2 green Cat creature tokens.
Whenever Esika's Chariot attacks, create a token that's a copy of target token you control.
Crew 4
and
Goldspan Dragon
Goldspan Dragon
Flying, haste
Whenever this creature attacks or becomes the target of a spell, create a Treasure token.
Treasures you control have "{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Add two mana of any one color."
. This avenue strikes a nice balance between the powerful werewolf synergies, but also playing some strong cards to back that up.
READ MORE: Countdown to Midnight Hunt Financial Set Review: The Meathook Massacre & More!
Traditional Gruul Aggro
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Next up is a more traditional Gruul aggro style deck. This is removing most of the werewolf synergies from the last deck, and leaning more on just strong midrange cards like
Briarbridge Tracker
Briarbridge Tracker
Vigilance (Attacking doesn't cause this creature to tap.)
When this creature enters, investigate. (Create a Clue token. It's an artifact with "{2}, Sacrifice this token: Draw a card.")
As long as you control a token, this creature gets +2/+0.
and
Wrenn and Seven
Wrenn and Seven
+1: Reveal the top four cards of your library. Put all land cards revealed this way into your hand and the rest into your graveyard.
0: Put any number of land cards from your hand onto the battlefield tapped.
−3: Create a green Treefolk creature token with reach and "This token's power and toughness are each equal to the number of lands you control."
−8: Return all permanent cards from your graveyard to your hand. You get an emblem with "You have no maximum hand size."
. This is a very strong contender as the best version of the deck.
READ MORE: Best Red Cards to Buy that Survive Rotation for MTG Standard 2022
Gruul Legends
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The last version of the list and one that I think is really cool is the Gruul Legends deck, featuring
Bard Class
Bard Class
(Gain the next level as a sorcery to add its ability.)
Legendary creatures you control enter with an additional +1/+1 counter on them.
{R}{G}: Level 2
Legendary spells you cast cost {R}{G} less to cast. This effect reduces only the amount of colored mana you pay.
{3}{R}{G}: Level 3
Whenever you cast a legendary spell, exile the top two cards of your library. You may play them this turn.
. This deck isn’t really a storm deck, but we include Bard Class in the deck to take advantage of the mana reduction and additional +1/+1 counters on our creatures. This one feels a bit harder to evaluate because the cards are so off the wall in terms of power, but it’s definitely a cool one.
READ MORE: Innistrad: Midnight Hunt Gave Standard A New BROKEN Combo
All in all, I’d recommend the traditional Gruul version or the Hybrid Werewolf version of the deck to play. Traditionally, aggro is a strong contender in a new metagame, and we were handed a LOT of great tools to align with it. Definitely give these a shot and let us know your thoughts!