These Are the Best Magic: The Gathering Decks in Standard You Can Build Right Now

Magic: The Gathering’s new space-themed set Edge of Eternities is just days away, making this an ideal time to check in on the competitive meta of the long-running card game before the second half of the year brings us spaceships and Spider-Man. Using data from MTGDecks.net, we’ve got some of the best decks around in top-tier play. Naturally, some are pricier than others, but if you’re looking for something to put together with your own collection, here are some great options. 5 - Vivi Cauldron This deck from MarkMTG claims to be ideal for Arena, and while you could build it in cardboard, the fact that it has a whopping four copies of Vivi Ornitier in it means you can expect to spend a chunk of change. Other pricey cards here include two copies of Thundering Falls, and four of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, leading to a TCGPlayer price of $678.87. 4 - Azorius Control Control decks are always fun, and this Blue/White option by Scooby_Snacks is cheaper than the Vivi option above but will still run you $363.20 on TCGPlayer. Its priciest cards are Elspeth, Storm Slayer (two copies), Beza, the Bounding Spring, and Overlord of the Mistmoors. There are just three creature cards in here, with a heavy focus on (you guessed it) control via Instants. 3 - Deck Deck This catchily titled option from Rooney56 splits the difference of the prior two decks by coming in at $465.07 on TCGPlayer, with much of that value tied up in lands. There are multiple copies of Thundering Falls, Meticulous Archive, and a single Cavern of Souls, but you’ll also find another couple of Beza, the Bounding Spring. 2 - Izzet Prowess It’s no surprise to see Vivi pop up again on this list, with the diminutive caster becoming a very popular card, but that does drive the price of this deck up to $701.96 since there are four of him, plus another quartet of Agatha’s Soul Cauldron. In fact, the only other particularly pricey cards in this Red/Blue option from JCONN are yet another couple of Thundering Falls and Ral, Crackling Wit. 1 - Dimir Midrange No Vivi? Are we sure? Yep, it’s Dimir that tops the list today, with a rather respectable value of $233.41 at TCGPlayer - the cheapest here. PorkyLorky518’s Dimir Midrange deck’s big pricey cards are a couple of Kaito, Bane of Nightmare, and a mixture of Faerie Masterminds and Gloomlake Verges, and according to MTGDecks, it’s at the tippy-top of the list. Lloyd Coombes is an experienced freelancer in tech, gaming and fitness seen at Polygon, Eurogamer, Macworld, TechRadar and many more. He's a big fan of Magic: The Gathering and other collectible card games, much to his wife's dismay.