Welcome to Metagame Mentor, your weekly guide to the top decks and latest Constructed developments on the path to the Pro Tour. This week, I'm taking a brief break from coverage of the ongoing Pioneer Regional Championships. Instead, I'll look at the biggest innovations in Standard and Modern since the release of The Brothers' War.

Regional Championship Qualifiers (RCQs) in these formats are happening right now. Until December 19, 2022, RCQs will feed the second round of Regional Championships, which will be held in February, March, or April 2023 depending on your region. After a holiday break, RCQs from January 7, 2023 through April 3, 2023 will feed the third round of Regional Championships, which will be held in May, June, or July 2023. Don't miss your chance to qualify by finding tournaments on the Store & Event Locator or your regional organizer's website.

Standard with The Brothers' War

To provide a metagame snapshot for Standard, I used all Magic Online decklists from Standard Challenge, Standard Last Chance, and Standard Showcase Qualifier events held from November 21 through December 12. In addition, I included all decklists with net positive records from Standard tournaments on MTG Melee from the same time period, which captures the last three weeks of competition.

After correcting archetypes and assigning to each deck a number of points equal to its number of match wins minus its number of match losses, I derived the following record-weighted metagame breakdown. It may be interpreted as a winner's metagame that you can expect to see at the top tables. Archetype names hyperlink to a well-performing decklist closest to the aggregate of the archetype. Up and down arrows signify the biggest changes compared to my metagame roundup from early November, right before the release of The Brothers' War.

The "Other" category contains such deck archetypes as Grixis Control, Rakdos Sacrifice, Mardu Angels, Mono-White Soldiers, Mono-White Aggro, Bant Soldiers, Dimir Midrange, Boros Reanimator, Azorius Control, Azorius Heroic, Jund Sacrifice, The Kami War, Izzet Ramp, Mono-Red Ramp, Boros Aggro, Four-Color Midrange, Mono-Green Aggro, Orzhov Midrange, Esper Control, and Mono-Red Midrange.

At 36.8% of the winner's metagame, Grixis Midrange continues its domination of Standard. The deck won the World Championship in the hands of Nathan Steuer, and it hasn't slowed down after the release of The Brothers' War. Grixis has the best threats, interaction, and card advantage across blue, black, and red, and there are various ways to build it. But no matter how you slice it, you can control the early game with Make Disappear and Bloodtithe Harvester, pull ahead on card advantage with Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Corpse Appraiser, and close out the game with Invoke Despair.

Yet cards from the new set have led to substantial Standard metagame shifts. The top 10 most-played new cards from The Brothers' War across my 450-decklist data set have boosted existing Standard archetypes and delivered new ones:

• Go for the Throat (876 copies): An efficient removal spell with a nearly negligible restriction as the downside. In many black midrange decks, it has replaced Infernal Grasp.
• Brotherhood's End (514 copies): A three-mana sweeper that is particularly potent against aggro decks. It's mostly a sideboard card, but various Rakdos Midrange decks have even included it in their main decks.
• Mishra's Foundry (286 copies): A creature land that fits into mana base that already has more than enough colored sources. Mishra's Foundry has made its way into nearly every mono-color deck.
• Lay Down Arms (231 copies): A removal spell that can take out opposing creatures at an extremely mana-efficient rate. It has led to the emergence of Mono-White Midrange, which has enough Plains for the card to shine.
• Phyrexian Fleshgorger (205 copies): A flexible creature that punishes Abrade and other removal spells. It has enhanced the creature curve of Mono-Black Aggro in particular.
• Underground River (199 copies): A pain land that improves the consistency at which you can cast your blue and black spells. It has enhanced the mana base of Esper Midrange, Grixis Sacrifice, and so on.
• Steel Seraph (174 copies): A flexible creature that not only provides an immediate combat effect but also dodges Go for the Throat, Cut Down, and Destroy Evil. It has found a home in Mono-White Midrange and Mardu Midrange.
• Loran of the Third Path (170 copies): A way to add to the battlefield while destroying Reckoner Bankbuster, Oni-Cult Anvil, or Wedding Announcement. It's mostly a sideboard card, but various Esper Legends decks have even included it in their main decks.
• Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor (146 copies): A powerful creature that makes cheap, difficult-to-block creatures more curious. Gix synergizes well with Evolved Sleeper, Misery's Shadow, and Phyrexian Fleshgorger, and it has given mono-black decks a more aggressive orientation.
• Monastery Swiftspear (116 copies): A Pioneer and Modern staple that has now also found its way into Standard. It has revitalized Mono-Red Aggro.

So these are the top new cards, but what do the new decks look like? If you last played Standard right before The Brothers' War, then the following five decklists should get you back up to speed.

Mono-White Midrange, at 12.5% of the record-weighted metagame, is now the top non-black midrange deck in Standard. Wedding Announcement and The Wandering Emperor are two of the most powerful cards in Standard, and the mono-color mana base allows you to exploit Lay Down Arms and Mishra's Foundry from The Brothers' War. The creature base, featuring Ambitious Farmhand and Spirited Companion in the two-drop slot, embarrasses opposing Cut Down or Invoke Despair, as you have no juicy Cut Down targets and you have enough sacrifice fodder for Invoke Despair.

Mono-Red Aggro, at 6.4% of the winner's metagame, has surged after The Brothers' War added Monastery Swiftspear; Feldon, Ronom Excavator; and Mechanized Warfare. Obliterating Bolt for the sideboard didn't hurt either, and Mishra's Foundry is your payoff for staying mono-color. While Mono-Red Aggro is mostly about haste creatures and burn spells, the prowess mechanic is important as well. To reliably trigger Monastery Swiftspear, there's a playset of Reckless Impulse. Jaya, Fiery Negotiator has finally found a home as well.

Mardu Midrange, at 5.5% of the record-weighted metagame, is a relatively new development. It exploits several new cards from The Brothers' War (Steel Seraph, Go for the Throat, and Battlefield Forge) but its main draw is Archangel of Wrath. The Archangel's enters-the-battlefield ability lines up extremely well against Bloodtithe Harvester and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker from Grixis Midrange. And even though Mardu doesn't have a tri-land, the color combination does provide appealing access to both Wedding Announcement and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Although there are versions that go deeper into black with Bloodtithe Harvester and the like, the more controlling version shown above merely splashes black for a bit of removal.

Valiant Veteran was around before, but it was waiting for The Brothers' War. Now, there are enough powerful Soldiers to fill an entire competitive Standard deck. You can put a lot of pressure on your opponent with Recruitment Officer or Yotian Frontliner on turn one; Harbin, Vanguard Aviator on turn two; and Skystrike Officer or Siege Veteran on turn three. And with Fortified Beachhead, you have so many colored white and blue sources the inclusion of several Mishra's Foundry is even possible. Finally, since this is all-creature deck with token generators, In the Trenches is perfect for overwhelming your opponents.

Oni-Cult Anvil has been supercharged by two new blue cards from The Brothers' War: Third Path Iconoclast and Saheeli, Filigree Master. Their steady stream of artifact tokens fuels Oni-Cult Anvil and keeps the sacrifice synergies going. In addition, Mishra's Research Desk is like a better version of Experimental Synthesizer, as it digs deeper, gives you an additional turn to play the exiled card, and triggers Oni-Cult Anvil twice. Grixis Sacrifice is one of the many new Standard archetypes enabled by the latest expansion set.

Modern with The Brothers' War

To provide a metagame snapshot for Modern, I used all Magic Online decklists from Modern Preliminary, Modern Challenge, Modern Last Chance, and Modern Showcase Qualifier events held from November 21 through December 12. I added all decklists with net positive records from Modern tournaments on MTG Melee from the same time period, plus all Top 8 decklists from the RCQ at Spielepyramide Karlsruhe, RCQ at Apex Gaming, and 4Seasons Tournament.

After correcting archetypes and assigning to each deck a number of points equal to its number of match wins minus its number of match losses, I derived the following record-weighted metagame breakdown. It may be interpreted as a winner's metagame that you can expect to see at the top tables. Archetype names hyperlink to a well-performing decklist closest to the aggregate of the archetype. Up and down arrows to signify the biggest changes compared to my metagame roundup from early November, right before the release of The Brothers' War.

The "Other" category contains such deck archetypes as Urza ThopterSword, Glimpse of Tomorrow, Rakdos Midrange, Belcher, Goblins, Grixis Shadow, Prison Tron, Humans, Four-Color Control, Jeskai Stoneblade, Insects, Temur Breach, Mono-Red Obosh, Dredge, Devoted Druid, Gruul Breach, Twiddle Breach, Ponza, Asmo Turns, Bant Stoneblade, Rakdos Shadow, CrabVine, and Enchantress.

With Yorion, Sky Nomad banned, Izzet Murktide, Hammer Time, and Rakdos Undying have emerged as the top-tier decks to beat. Meanwhile, Four/Five-Color Creativity has taken an enormous plunge, as opponents have gotten ready with Blood Moon or Orvar, the All-Form. Also, a new Jund Reanimator archetype has provided an alternative way to exploit Archon of Cruelty.

Indeed, the top 10 most-played new cards from The Brothers' War across my 944-decklist data set had a noticeable impact on the Modern format:

• Brotherhood's End (161 copies): A reliable sweeper against aggro decks and artifact decks that excels against Hammer Time, where both modes are relevant. It's almost solely a sideboard card, most commonly seen in Izzet Murktide lists.
• Haywire Mite (135 copies): An efficient answer to troublesome permanents like Urza's Saga or Leyline Binding. As it serves as a tutor target, it's found a home in the main deck of Urza's Saga decks like Hardened Scales and Hammer Time. (The white-blue Hammer Time variant remains most prominent, but white-green is on the rise.) Haywire Mite is also seen in the sideboard of Chord of Calling decks like Yawgmoth and in the sideboard of Karn, the Great Creator decks like Mono-Green Tron. It has even empowered a brand new Insects archetype!
• Bitter Reunion (113 copies): An enabler for the card Persist that can immediately grant haste to Archon of Cruelty or Primeval Titan. It has found a home in several Indomitable Creativity decks and has fueled the new Jund Reanimator archetype.
• The Stone Brain (81 copies): A solid answer to single-card combos like Indomitable Creativity, Living End, or Scapeshift. As an artifact, The Stone Brain a big deal for all Tron decks with Karn, the Great Creator. Likewise, it's a great sideboard tool for decks with metalcraft or artifact synergies, such as Hammer Time and Hardened Scales.
• Third Path Iconoclast (66 copies): A massive improvement on Young Pyromancer because it synergizes with Mishra's Bauble and creates artifacts. Third Path Iconoclast has been doing a lot of work in Izzet Prowess, which has had a resurgence. It can also act as an alternative win condition in Jeskai Breach: A few decks have cut Thassa's Oracle, unlocked Jegantha, the Wellspring as a companion, and aim to win the game by sacrificing enough Soldier tokens to Grinding Station to mill out the opponent.
• Mishra's Research Desk (34 copies): A new value card that acts as a tutor target for Urza's Saga. The most prominent Urza's Saga decks where it has found a home are Jeskai Breach and newcomer Steelseeker Food.
• Sarinth Steelseeker (30 copies): A way to generate a lot of velocity for artifact-laden decks with graveyard synergies. It has spawned an entirely new archetype in Steelseeker Food.
• Scrapwork Mutt (29 copies): An enabler and a payoff for Sarinth Steelseeker. Scrapwork Mutt is almost solely seen in this new archetype.
• Forging the Anchor (23 copies): A sorcery that can potentially draw five cards for three mana. Forging the Anchor has revitalized Affinity.
• Arcane Proxy (20 copes): A way to cast suspend cards like Crashing Footfalls from the graveyard. Arcane Proxy has been included in various Rhinos decks.

So these are the top new cards, but what do the new decks look like? If you last played Modern right before The Brothers' War, then the following five decklists should get you back up to speed.

Izzet Prowess, at 2.8% of the record-weighted metagame, has surged ahead since the release of The Brothers' War. The archetype takes advantage of the prowess mechanic on its creatures by playing a burst of cheap card draw spells and flashback spells. With a pair of Monastery Swiftspears followed by a flurry of Mutagenic Growths and Lava Darts, a turn three kill is easily possible. Newcomer Third Path Iconoclast allows you to overrun your opponents with an army of tokens, and it's superior to Sprite Dragon when interactive grindy midrange decks form a large part of the metagame and raw explosiveness is not as essential.

Jund Reanimator, at 2.1% of the winner's metagame, can lead with Thoughseize on turn one, discards Archon of Cruelty to Bitter Reunion on turn two, and casts a game-ending Persist on turn three. Bitter Reunion gives Archon of Cruelty haste, which means that you get two triggers right away. Another new card from The Brothers' War, Mishra's Command, offers an alternative way of getting Archon of Cruelty into your graveyard on turn two.

A few versions run Primeval Titan for redundancy, but it's more common to fit the reanimation angle in an Indomitable Creativity shell. As a Jund deck, it's more resilient against Blood Moon than the five-color builds with Leyline Binding. Perhaps this is only a temporary benefit, as I'm already seeing the trend of Izzet Murktide players moving away from Blood Moon and back towards Archmage's Charm, but Jund Reanimator has emerged as a major contender over the past few weeks.

Steelseeker Food, at 1.2% of the record-weighted metagame, is AspiringSpike's latest innovation. The appetizing strategy revolves around the existing The Underworld Cookbook + Ovalchase Daredevil engine, which creates a pile of Food tokens. With those tokens, you can activate Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar or return Feasting Troll King from the graveyard. This engine got supercharged by Sarinth Steelseeker and Scrapwork Mutt from The Brothers' War.

Sarinth Steelseeker is easily triggered by Underworld Cookbook, and it generates a relevant advantage if the top of your library provides a free land or an Ovalchase Daredevil, Feasting Troll King, or Scrapwork Mutt to send to the graveyard. Scrapwork Mutt, in turn, is a discard outlet for Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar, helps put Ovalchase Daredevil or Feasting Troll King into the graveyard, and synergizes with Sarinth Steelseeker. Besides these two main new tools, The Brother's War also offered Urza's Saga updates in the form of Mishra's Research Desk and Haywire Mite. I'm excited to see such a sweet new archetype put up numbers!

Affinity has returned to the spotlight after The Brothers' War added Forging the Anchor. In the deck shown above, which is filled to the brim with artifacts, you will draw 3.6 cards on average, which is a pretty good deal for three mana. It means that you won't run out of gas and will control enough artifacts to cast Sojourner's Companion for free. I'm not sure if such a three-mana card draw spell is really what the archetype needed to succeed, but it's a fascinating addition nonetheless.

When I first looked at Haywire Mite, I quickly glanced over its creature type. "Insect, irrelevant," I thought. But as shown by CrusherBotBG on Magic Online, the creature type actually matters a lot. With Blex, Vexing Pest and Swarmyard as existing payoffs, Haywire Mite was the missing one-drop to elevate Insects to competitive viability. Decks like these show that Modern remains a brewer's paradise filled with possibilities.

Looking Ahead

Next week, I'll return to Pioneer. I'm looking forward to analyzing last weekend's Regional Championship for West Canada and this weekend's Regional Championship for Mexico/Central America/Caribbean. For anyone participating in an RCQ or Regional Championship this weekend: Good luck, and have fun!