At the moment, it’s no surprise who the boogeyman of the Standard format is. Since the MTG Arena Championship, Izzet Cauldron has showcased its dominance in every aspect. The deck is fast, resilient, and has an excellent backup plan. Many players have been quick to call for an emergency ban, which unfortunately does not appear to be on the way.
While things seem hopeless, we have actually seen some major metagame shifts in recent weeks. Most notably, different red aggro variants have been on the rise.
Red Resurgence
Back when Monstrous Rage and Heartfire Hero were banned on June 30, red aggro decks almost immediately fell by the wayside. A lot of the explosiveness from mono-red was lost. Support elements like Manifold Mouse became significantly less appealing without the best one-drop Mouse in the picture.
However, over time, the metagame has shifted in a big way. Even without much in the way of upgrades releasing in Edge of Eternities, a variety of different red aggro builds have begun surging in the last couple weeks.
First, we have traditional mono-red aggro. This archetype still utilizes the synergy behind Rockface Village and Emberheart Challenger, but most decklists eschew Manifold Mouse entirely. Burnout Bashtronaut has proven to be a solid one-drop replacement. With the right support, the gameplan of curving out with threats and jamming Screaming Nemesis is quite strong.
Recently, a Japanese tournament took place that featured four mono-red decks in the top eight. On top of that, two of the mono-red players met in the finals for a mirror match, making it past the Izzet Cauldron players in their path.
While this version of mono-red hasn’t been quite as heavily represented in Standard Challenges thus far, both mono-red Dragons and Boros Mice have quickly made names for themselves. Both strategies made it to the finals of Standard Challenges in the last couple days, showcasing their ability to compete in a field dominated by Izzet and Dimir.
Mono-red Dragons is very similar to mono-red aggro. The main difference is the presence of Nova Hellkite and Twinmaw Stormbrood to enable Sarkhan, Dragon Ascendant as a potent accelerant. Boros Mice is much more synergy driven with Manifold Mouse and Mabel, Heir to Cragflame serving as elite Mouse payoffs. Nonetheless, even this version of red aggro has a lot of tools that give it a chance to spar with the top dogs.
Attacking the Izzet Menace
The success of these shells begs the question: what do they do to attack the metagame in a favorable manner? Well, to start, we need to look at red aggro’s approach to Izzet Cauldron.
Izzet Cauldron has the potential to go way over the top of other decks with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron and Vivi Ornitier, but what really gives it its edge is the presence of Proft’s Eidetic Memory alongside card draw elements. Between Winternight Stories, Fear of Missing Out, and other creatures that churn through your library, it’s easy to pull ahead on resources while simultaneously adding a ton of power and toughness to the board. This gives the deck excellent grinding power in the face of removal.
Fortunately, mono-red has some ways to punish this strategy. First and foremost, the adoption of Razorkin Needlehead makes a big difference in the matchup. Current iterations of Izzet Cauldron don’t run that many removal spells. Into the Flood Maw is only a temporary answer. With red aggro’s super low curve, though, the tempo loss isn’t too concerning.
Screaming Nemesis then excels against Izzet Cauldron’s ground blockers and damage-based removal spells. By getting on the board quickly and using Obliterating Bolt or Twinmaw Stormbrood to clear away blockers, you can actually out-tempo Izzet Cauldron. Throw in some sideboard copies of Abrade, and you’ve got a solid gameplan.
In the Dimir midrange matchup, red aggro plays plenty of answers to Preacher of the Schism, which used to be a big problem. A healthy mix of hasty threats and Sunspine Lynx helps you cross the finish line.
As for Boros Mice, a similar objective of flooding the board with threats, then using removal spells to keep the pressure on works wonders. The presence of multiple Offspring threats and Whiskervale Forerunner give you a good shot at grinding through Dimir midrange’s removal suite, too.
More Evidence is Needed
With all this being said, the resurgence of red aggro is a pretty recent development. It’s very possible Izzet Cauldron players will be able to adjust, especially given how condensed the Standard metagame is. Honestly, they might not even need to make significant adjustments.
On top of that, even though some tournament results look promising, others continue the trend of making Izzet Cauldron feel like a complete outlier. It’s much easier for players to adjust to red aggro than Izzet Cauldron, which has shown its ability to dominate with a target on its back.
Therefore, we’re not confident that Izzet Cauldron will actually release its chokehold on Standard in the near future. More results are needed in red aggro’s favor. No bans are scheduled until November 24, so hopefully, red aggro can keep up its momentum and at least make upcoming Store Championship events feel less stale.
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