Duskmourn cards have now been available for tournament play for over three weeks, and we’ve seen them have a huge impact across a variety of formats. Given the miniscule size of the Standard card pool compared to other non-rotating formats, it’s not too surprising that a set as powerful as Duskmourn is creating some major metagame shifts in Standard.
However, Duskmourn has not done so in a negative manner. In fact, in my opinion, this is the best Standard has looked over the past five years. Between the overall diversity of decks and realistic opportunity for innovation, Duskmourn Standards offers a ton in the way of healthy, skill-testing gameplay.
The reality is, many previous Standard environments have had some major flaw holding them back. This can range from having one deck or card that is too oppressive to having an unbalanced metagame dominated by aggro, midrange, or combo. Duskmourn Standard is a breath of fresh air in this regard. In order to bolster this argument, it’s important to look at how previous Standard formats fared in comparison.
A History of Problems
From the release of Theros Beyond Death back in early 2020 to the arrival of Duskmourn, Standard has gone through a multitude of rough patches. These issues have largely stemmed from two different areas.
The first is that many MTG sets have brought a few cards that were clearly way stronger than the rest of the cards in the set. This has resulted in incredibly skewed metagames centered around one specific archetype that warps the format. In June 2020, Agent of Treachery and Fires of Invention were banned for good reason, as the Fires of Invention deck was able to gain such a huge mana advantage.
Yet, things didn’t stay healthy for long, as Wilderness Reclamation would become one of the most dominant forces Standard has seen over the last 10 years. Before the year even concluded, Omnath, Locus of Creation, Lucky Clover, and more had to join the banlist, too.
Kaldheim would bring Alrund’s Epiphany, while Strixhaven would feature Divide by Zero, both of which would warp the metagame around them. Things would settle down a bit, but The Meathook Massacre and then Fable of the Mirror-Breaker would create a boatload of mirror matches.
Beyond just banworthy cards, though, it’s been quite common for various Standard formats to be centered around one or two strategies that make up such a huge percentage of the metagame. This is the second area that has brought problems to Standard.
Take the Esper midrange deck that emerged thanks to the power of Raffine, Scheming Seer, for example. Raffine never ended up getting banned, but Esper midrange still held a chokehold on Standard for a period of over a year. Raffine came to Standard in 2022, and Esper decks were a force to be reckoned with all the way until Raffine rotated with Bloomburrow’ arrival.
This caused Standard to grow stale over time, since the release of new sets in 2023 and early 2024 didn’t do enough to give rise to new, fun strategies. Luckily, Duskmourn Standard has none of these problems.
A Healthy Mix
Currently, there are a wide variety of strategies represented in Standard. No one archetype feels overly dominant. Gruul Prowess, which seems to be the most heavily played deck, is very easily combatable. Sure, Leyline of Resonance can be a bit frustrating to face down in best-of-one. Luckily, there are ample cheap removal spells in Standard to help keep the deck in check.
This leads us to a big reason why Duskmourn Standard is so intriguing: there is a very healthy mix of aggro, midrange, control, and ramp all present. As good as Gruul Prowess is, the deck can have some difficulty playing through black midrange decks with playsets of Cut Down and Go for the Throat.
At the same time, these midrange shells don’t line up particularly well against Domain. The Overlords are devastating to see across the table. Yet, Domain isn’t outrageously dominant, because the aggro decks can keep it in check.
This creates an excellent push-pull dynamic. The ebb and flow within the metagame makes for a great format.
A Wealth of Changes
In addition to the fact that there are plenty of different types of strategies available for players to use, one thing that puts Duskmourn Standard over the top is that there are a bunch of new decks for people to try out. Bloomburrow helped start this trend, giving rise to Rakdos Lizards and white token control decks built around Caretaker’s Talent.
These decks are still great choices. Duskmourn just added more to the party. Azorius enchantments is made up primarily of Duskmourn cards, showcasing the power of Eerie threats like Entity Tracker in conjunction with elite Auras, such as Sheltered by Ghosts.
Another deck that emerged in Duskmourn Standard is Azorius Abhorrent Oculus. Azorius Mentor has popped up from time to time, but Abhorrent Oculus is such a huge upgrade that the deck has become top-tier.
From the Overlords to Enduring Innocence, there are a boatload of Duskmourn cards making names for themselves. Yet, none of them feel overwhelming. All of these signs point to a format that is fun and dynamic. Hopefully Standard can continue down this path with the influx of new sets.
