It's almost here: The Neon Dynasty Championship, featuring all members of the Magic Pro League and the Magic Rivals League as well as top players from qualifying events held on MTG Arena and Magic Online, begins Friday March 11 at 9 a.m. PT. In total, there are 229 competitors, and they will battle for $450,000 in prizes in both Historic and Alchemy formats.

Historic Metagame Breakdown

Friday and Saturday feature a combined eight rounds of (best-of-three) Historic. The metagame breaks downs as follows.

The Historic rounds at the Neon Dynasty Championship look to be dominated by blue and red cards. Nearly one-fourth of the field is on Izzet Phoenix, and the seven most-played nonland cards across all main decks are all blue and/or red: Expressive Iteration, Archmage's Charm, Unholy Heat, Faithless Looting, Consider, Opt, and Dragon's Rage Channeler.

Expressive Iteration Archmage's Charm Unholy Heat 519203 Consider 485382 Dragon's Rage Channeler

Yet the metagame keeps changing. Three months ago at the Innistrad Championship, the top four decks in Historic were Selesnya Humans, Izzet Phoenix, Heliod Company, and Golgari Food. Two of them—Izzet Phoenix and Golgari Food—have grown in popularity since, while the other two—Selesnya Humans and Heliod Company—have disappeared almost completely. This is partly driven by the rise of Azorius decks that benefited from newly released cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty.

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The seven most-played new nonland cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty across all Historic main decks and sideboards at the Neon Dynasty Championship contributed to various archetypes old and new:

• March of Otherworldly Light, The Wandering Emperor, and Farewell all found nice homes in Azorius Control, Azorius Yorion, and Azorius Lotus Field. These three archetypes can all be seen as variations on the same two-color control theme, and when you add them up together, they are 20.5% of the metagame. That's a big difference from the Innistrad Championship, where such Azorius decks were nearly non-existent. The influx of a powerful spot removal spell, planeswalker, and sweeper definitely helped the white-blue control players.
• Hidetsugu Consumes All can blow up Witch's Oven, Gilded Goose, Ravenous Squirrel, and Cauldron Familiar, which seems pretty good against Golgari Food. With the subsequent chapters, it even exiles Cauldron Familiar and provides a free 3/3 creature. Hidetsugu Consumes All is seen mostly in sideboards of Rakdos Arcanist and Izzet Phoenix decks. As a remark, such Izzet Phoenix decks with no actual black spells in the main deck are still represented as "Izzet", not "Grixis", in the metagame breakdown.
• Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice is a sweet addition to Auras decks, especially Orzhov Auras. There, Kaya's Ghostform can be fetched for immediate protection.
• Greasefang, Okiba Boss enabled a brand new archetype alongside Parhelion II. Reanimating that Vehicle on turn three is generally a game-winning combination.
• Oni-Cult Anvil improves Rakdos Sacrifice and Jund Sacrifice as it's like a Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven in a single card. Although it only creates tokens on your own turn, it still fits sacrifice decks perfectly.

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Unsurprisingly, the five channel lands are also seeing a lot of play. For most mana bases, the first copy is an upgrade over a basic land. Otawara, Soaring City is the most-played one, which is in line with Island being the most-played basic land.

Historic Archetype Overview

All Historic decklists will be published on the Neon Dynasty Championship event page at the beginning of Round 1 on Friday, March 11. Until then, you can find short descriptions of each archetype below.

Izzet Phoenix (56 players): Faithless Looting and Consider put Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard, trigger Dragon's Rage Channeler and/or Sprite Dragon, and enable delirium for Unholy Heat.

Azorius Control (21 players): It's the quintessential control deck that says no to spells with Archmage's Charm or Dovin's Veto, says no to permanents with March of Otherworldly Light or Farewell, and eventually wins the game with a planeswalker like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria or The Wandering Emperor.

Golgari Food (20 players): The trio of Cauldron Familiar, Witch's Oven, and Trail of Crumbs has remained a powerful core ever since the inception of the Historic format. In Golgari Food, they are joined by Ravenous Squirrel and The Meathook Massacre in a low-curve, two-color deck that exploits Lurrus of the Dream-Den as the companion.

Azorius Auras (15 players): Kor Spiritdancer and Sram, Senior Edificer will trigger when you're suiting up your creatures with Sentinel's Eyes, Arcane Flight, and so on. Roughly half of the Azorius Auras players at the Neon Dynasty Championship included Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice. Some of those splash a singleton Kaya's Ghostform to protect it, but since the plan is to fetch that Aura with Light-Paws rather than cast it, such versions are still labeled "Azorius".

Jeskai Control (15 players): Archmage's Charm and Lightning Helix deal with anything the opponent might attempt, and Teferi, Hero of Dominaria will win the game in the end. Less than half of the Jeskai Control decks at the Neon Dynasty Championship also have the potential to cast Magma Opus from the graveyard with Torrential Gearhulk. Most of the others are creatureless to enable Kaheera, the Orphanguard as the companion.

Azorius Lotus Field (13 players): Lotus Field requires a steep sacrifice, but Strict Proctor and/or Stifle can negate it. This allows you to ramp into massive Shark Typhoon quickly. The rest of the deck looks like a regular white-blue control deck.

Rakdos Arcanist (13 players): Ideally, you start with Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, or a removal spell on turn one, followed by Dreadhorde Arcanist on turn two. An escaped Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger will seal the deal.

Azorius Yorion (13 players): Essentially, this is the 80-card version of Azorius Control. It sacrifices a bit of consistency to gain Yorion, Sky Nomad for free. The new white control cards introduced by Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty made it easier and less painful to go up to 80 cards. Specific inclusions like Omen of the Sea synergize nicely with the companion as well.

Orzhov Auras (9 players): This archetype complements Kor Spiritdancer and Sram, Senior Edificer with Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice. Some versions have a minor splash for a singleton off-color Aura, but since the plan is to fetch that Aura with Light-Paws rather than cast it, such versions are still labeled "Orzhov".

Gruul Aggro (6 players): The ideal curve starts with Pelt Collector on turn one, Burning-Tree Emissary into Voltaic Brawler on turn two, and Embercleave on turn three.

Jund Food (6 players): Everyone has the core of Gilded Goose, Cauldron Familiar, Trail of Crumbs, Witch's Oven, and Deadly Dispute, but the red splash differs—some have Mayhem Devil, others have Korvold, Fae-Cursed King, and some have Oni-Cult Anvil. Most lists run a combination.

Mardu Greasefang (5 players): On turn two, you put Parhelion II into your graveyard with Goblin Engineer or Faithless Looting. Then on turn three, you cast Greasefang, Okiba Boss and return Parhelion II to the battlefield with haste. Still during your beginning of combat step, Greasefang pilots Parhelion II, which allows you to attack for 13 points of damage in the air right away and retains enough creatures on the battlefield to attack for lethal on the next turn.

Five-Color Niv-Mizzet (4 players): Pretty much every spell in this deck is multicolored in order to maximize Niv-Mizzet Reborn. The Triome-heavy mana base required to support Niv-Mizzet also supports Territorial Kavu perfectly—a 5/5 on turn two is not out of the question!

Selesnya Enchantress (3 players): Sythis, Harvest's Hand will trigger when you're casting enchantments like Sterling Grove or Sanctum Weaver, allowing you to draw into more and more enchantments. Two new Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty additions—Jukai Naturalist and Commune with Spirits—add explosiveness and consistency.

Esper Pact (3 players): This deck is all singletons except for 2 Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and 2 Tainted Pact. When you have one copy of each in your hand, you'll cast Tainted Pact, draw your entire deck except for the bottom card, untap, and cast Jace, Wielder of Mysteries for the win. The Esper version also features a minor reanimation theme, although with only one copy of Unburial Rites, it's not particularly consistent.

Rakdos Sacrifice (3 players): There are the usual Cauldron Familiars and Ravenous Squirrels, but the big new additions are Oni-Cult Anvil and Experimental Synthesizer. As it turns out, these artifact sacrifice synergies are powerful not only in Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty drafts but also in Historic.

Mardu Midrange (3 players): This archetype straddles the line between midrange and control, but I labeled it as midrange because I'd expect it to take the beatdown role against actual control decks. In any case, Mardu Midrange includes a lot of sweet new tools from the latest set: Reckoner Bankbuster, Hidetsugu Consumes All, and The Wandering Emperor.

Esper Greasefang (2 players): It's basically Mardu Greasefang but with Thirst for Knowledge and Faithful Mending as the main discard enablers.

Jeskai Creativity (2 players): An Indomitable Creativity for X=1, say via Hard Evidence, will reliably put Serra's Emissary onto the battlefield. Many creature decks have difficulty beating an opponent who has protection from creatures.

Azorius Affinity (2 players): Azorius Affinity is not as hyper-aggressive as old-school Modern Affinity—the prevalent Historic version is grindier and more interactive—but the name is adequate. Indeed, the deck features the actual affinity mechanic on Thought Monitor, an actual artifact land in Treasure Vault, and a mix between Cranial Plating and Master of Etherium in the form of Nettlecyst.

Izzet Aggro (1 player): This is a deck with haste creatures and burn spells. You start the assault with Ghitu Lavarunner, keep it up with Spirte Dragon, and finish the job with Wizard's Lightning.

Dimir Control (1 player): Dimir Control features the best countermagic, spot removal, card draw spells, sweepers, and discard spells in black and blue.

Simic Merfolk (1 player): A classic tribal deck, Simic Merfolk uses lords like Merfolk Mistbinder to beef up creatures, along with Svyelun of Sea and Sky and Collected Company to generate card advantage.

Heliod Company (1 player): When Scurry Oak enters the battlefield, Soul Warden gains a life, which in turn triggers Heliod to put a +1/+1 counter on Scurry Oak. Scurry Oak then creates a token, and you can loop this as often as you like.

Selesnya Humans (1 player): Selesnya Humans curves out early with Esper Sentinel into Thalia's Lieutenant and keeps up the pressure with Benalish Marshal and Collected Company.

Abzan Humans (1 player): It's basically Selesnya Humans splashing for General Kudro of Drannith.

Mardu Reanimator (1 player): Faithless Looting and Seasoned Pyromancer can put Serra's Emissary or Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in the graveyard, from where they can be reanimated via Priest of Fell Rites of Unburial Rites.

Dimir Pact (1 player): It's basically Esper Pact without the white splash.

Boros Tokens (1 player): Legion's Landing and Forbidden Friendship not only enable Indomitable Creativity but also get a boost from Intangible Virtue. Accordingly, this list combines two wildly different ways to take advantage of token creators.

Jeskai Yorion (1 player): It's basically Azorius Yorion with a red splash for cards like Lightning Helix.

Rakdos Midrange (1 player): It doesn't include Dreadhorde Arcanist or Cauldron Familiar but it is based around a very low curve to enable Experimental Synthesizer and Lurrus of the Dream-Den. Since there are many interactive spells and no aggressive haste creatures, it'll play out like a midrange deck.

Simic Paradox Engine (1 player): We've seen Paradox Engine decks with Emry, Lurker of the Loch and Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy before, but new Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty additions like The Reality Chip and Moonsnare Prototype will supercharge the combo turns.

Jeskai Lotus Field (1 player): It's basically Azorius Lotus Field splashing for Expressive Iteration and a few other tweaks in the card choices.

Rakdos Aggro (1 player): Like Rakdos Midrange, it doesn't include Dreadhorde Arcanist or Cauldron Familiar but it is based around a very low curve to enable Experimental Synthesizer and Lurrus of the Dream-Den. Yet due to the inclusion of multiple aggressive haste creatures and direct damage spells, this list will play out like an aggro deck.

Esper Auras (1 player): It's basically Orzhov Auras with a substantial, confident blue splash for multiple copies of Staggering Insight, Arcane Flight, etcetera.

Alchemy Metagame Breakdown

Friday and Saturday feature a combined seven rounds of (best-of-three) Alchemy. In addition, Sunday's Top 8 double-elimination playoff is exclusively Alchemy. Analyst Mani Davoudi already answered questions such as "What is Alchemy?" and "Why is Alchemy?" in his format primer. The actual metagame breaks downs as follows.

In its debut at a Championship, the Alchemy format is dominated by aggressive creature decks. Mono-White Aggro and the enchantment-based Naya Runes archetype may also be legal and popular in Standard, but the superior Alchemy mana bases—involving Faceless Haven for Mono-White Aggro and Forsaken Crossroads for Naya Runes—made these decks even better in Alchemy.

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The five most-played Alchemy archetypes are all white, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the five most-played nonland cards across all Alchemy main decks and sideboards at the Neon Dynasty Championship are all white as well.

To go over the five briefly, Skyclave Apparition is simply an efficient creature for aggro and midrange decks. Archon of Emeria stops opponents from chaining multiple Runes in a single turn. The Wandering Emperor is inherently powerful, even for control decks, and is proving to the standout card from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Portable Hole is an efficient piece of removal. And Elite Spellbinder slots nicely into most aggro and midrange decks. All in all, you can expect to see a lot of white cards during the Alchemy rounds.

But let's zoom into the additions from the last two Alchemy-legal sets specifically.

Citystalker Connoisseur Inquisitor Captain Sigardian Evangel Divine Purge

The five most-played nonland cards overall from Alchemy: Innistrad feature four creatures with powerful enters-the-battlefield abilities: Citystalker Connoisseur, Inquisitor Captain, Sigardian Evangel, and Town-Razer Tyrant. Their abilities ensure that they contribute a relevant effect even if the opponent has a creature removal spell, and that seems to be the key towards success for four-mana plays.

The final card in this group, Divine Purge, is a useful sweeper for control decks that gives them the time they need to reach the end game.

548337 Jukai Naturalist Generous Visitor Commune with Spirits 548443

The five most-played nonland cards overall from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty start with the aforementioned The Wandering Emperor as the highlight. Next are three important inclusions for Naya Runes, where Jukai Naturalist is arguably the most important driver behind the deck's success.

Finally, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker provides value and consistency to midrange decks with each of its chapters. The Reflection of Kiki-Jiki that you get at the end is arguably the highlight, especially once you start copying Citystalker Connoisseur.

Besides these spells, the five channel lands also see a lot of play, of course. If you guessed that Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire would be the most-played one in a white-dominated format, then you would be correct.

Alchemy Archetype Overview

All Alchemy decklists will be published on the Neon Dynasty Championship event page at the beginning of Round 1 on Friday, March 11. Until then, you can find short descriptions of each archetype below.

Mono-White Aggro (53 players): The ideal curve for most builds starts with Hopeful Initiate on turn one, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben on turn two, Archon of Emeria on turn three, and an Alchemy-specific double threat in Inquisitor Captain or Sigardian Evangel on turn four. This curve is solid against any opponent in general, and the taxing creatures are amazing against Naya Runes in particular. Thalia and Archon of Emeria look to be well-positioned in a metagame where Naya Runes is a large part of the field.

Naya Runes (42 players): With Runeforge Champion and Jukai Naturalist on the battlefield, Runes such as Rune of Speed become free spells. If you chain a bunch of them while controlling Generous Visitor, it's possible to assemble a kill out of nowhere.

Orzhov Venture (17 players): The recent Alchemy buffs to 'venture into the dungeon' cards propelled an Orzhov Venture deck to competitive viability. Orzhov Venture decks play out like midrange decks but are characterized by a playset of A-Triumphant Adventurer, a playset of Nadaar, Selfless Paladin, at least one other venture card such as A-Precipitous Drop.

Mardu Midrange (16 players): These builds are generally fairly removal-heavy, and all of them can copy Citystalker Connoisseur with the back side of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Most lists can copy Skyclave Apparition and have access to Vanishing Verse as well.

Azorius Control (15 players): Like you would expect from control decks, they features countermagic such as Jwari Disruption, spot removal such as March of Otherworldly Light, sweepers such as Divine Purge, card draw such as Discover the Formula, and planeswalkers such as The Wandering Emperor. Different builds have different card choices, but they all use the same pillars.

Rakdos Sacrifice (12 players): We've seen Deadly Dispute and Sanguine Brushstroke before, but the novel Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty addition to the sacrifice theme is On-Cult Anvil. Voldaren Epicure and Bloodtithe Harvester provide a cheap artifact to jumpstart the sacrifice engine, and Voltage Surge has awesome synergy with such a plan as well.

Jeskai Hinata (9 players): This archetype may feature control mainstays like Unexpected Windfall and Jwari Disruption, but it's really based around Hinata, Dawn-Crowned. The dream is to cast a Magma Opus for just two mana by targeting six different permanents.

Rakdos Midrange (8 players): It's everything I said about Mardu Midrange, minus the white element. Town-Razer Tyrant and Infernal Grasp are a popular replacements for the white cards, and the mana base is more consistent as a result.

Grixis Midrange (7 players): Er... it's everything I said about Mardu Midrange, but now with blue instead of white. Kaito Shizuki is included in the 75 of every Grixis Midrange deck.

Gruul Werewolves (6 players): This is an archetype dear to my heart, as it's pretty much the version I popularized after reaching the maximum number of wins in the Alchemy Arena Open and the Alchemy Qualifier Weekend. Although this gave me a qualification for the Neon Dynasty Championship, I opted out in order to do my usual metagame breakdown work instead. In terms of Gruul Werewolves' card choices, the ideal curve has Tenacious Pup on turn one, Werewolf Pack Leader on turn two, Tovolar, Dire Overlord on turn three, and Town-Razer Tyrant on turn four.

Mardu Sacrifice (6 players): This is either an Oni-Cult Anvil deck splashing for Archon of Emeria, or a Fable of the Mirror-Breaker deck with Sanguine Brushstroke and Rite of Oblivion.

Orzhov Midrange (6 players): Although some lists have A-Triumphant Adventurer, they are not as dedicated to the venture mechanic as Orzhov Venture. Instead, these decks play a more traditional midrange game with cards like Wedding Announcement, Citystalker Connoisseur, and Vanishing Verse.

Selesnya Ramp (6 players): Newcomer Azusa's Many Journeys helps ramp into an early Storm the Festival, and Ao, the Dawn Sky is a sweet new threat to put onto the battlefield from your library.

Bant Control (3 players): Shigeki, Jukai Visionary ramps you into Farewell to clear the battlefield, after which Colossal Skyturtle can take down the game—either as a massive flier or by setting up graveyard recursion loops with Shigeki.

Izzet Calamity (3 players): This archetype features the awesome game-winning combo of Body of Research plus Kazuul's Fury. This combo existed before Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, but it was too hard to fit it into a proper mana base and it was a turn too slow to be competitive. The big contribution from the latest set is Invoke Calamity, which allows you to cast Body of Research from your graveyard or your hand as early as turn five, and it's all packed into a powerful Izzet control shell.

Esper Control (3 players): It's basically everything I said about Azorius Control, with a black splash for such cards as Vanishing Verse.

Golgari Midrange (3 players): With fair, value-generating threats and solid pieces of interaction, Golgari Midrange can curve out with Reckoner Bankbuster into Graveyard Trespasser and Binding the Old Gods.

Izzet Control (3 players): The core of Expressive Iteration, Unexpected Windfall, and Jwari Disruption is still around, but after several nerfs, the win conditions have changed. Nowadays, some use Smoldering Egg and others use Atsushi, the Blazing Sky.

Esper Clerics (2 players): The dream curve is Lunarch Veteran on turn one, Cleric of Life's Bond on turn two, Righteous Valkyrie on turn three, and Inquisitor Captain on turn four. Glasspool Mimic may not be able to copy Inquisitor Captain as profitably anymore, but finding it and copying Righteous Valkyrie remains powerful.

Boros Aggro (2 players): This archetype combines the best aggressive one-drops in both colors, specifically Kumano Faces Kakkazan and Hopeful Initiate. It also gets to exploit Showdown of the Skalds in the mid-game.

Rakdos Aggro (2 players): The dream curve is Kumano Faces Kakkazan on turn one, a 2/2 Lizard Blades on turn two, and Biting-Palm Ninja on turn three. Ideally, you use the ninjitsu ability by returning the Saga to your hand.

Izzet Aggro (1 player): Delver of Secrets and Flame Channeler are aggressive creatures that reward you for playing a lot of burn spells, and Electrostatic Blast fits perfectly into such a strategy as well.

Selesnya Tokens (1 player): This beautiful deck uses Suntail Squadron to amass a large number of creatures with the same name, after which Mirror Box will boost all of them.

Mono-Red Aggro (1 player): I almost relabeled this particular list as Mono-Red Midrange, but it can still curve out aggressively with Kumano Faces Kakkazan, Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat, Reckless Stormseeker, and Town-Razer Tyrant.

Bant Ramp (1 player): The dream is using Geistchanneler to reduce the cost on Storm the Festival or Emeria's Call.

Izzet Mill (1 player): One brave Hall of Famer has registered an Izzet Mill deck based around Tasha's Hideous Laughter. I ran the numbers—of course I did—and it turns out that against an arbitrary Alchemy deck from the Neon Dynasty Championship, Tasha's Hideous Laughter will exile 13.3 cards in expectation (with a large variance). The distribution is of course influenced by the matchup, and the expected value of cards exiled can go up to 16 or more against the Aggro, Runes, or Sacrifice decks with the lowest mana curves. This means that a single Tasha's Hideous Laughter is generally not enough to win the game single-handedly, but two copies could get there with some luck, and three or four will usually be enough. Thanks to Galvanic Iteration and Invoke Calamity, it's very well possible to cast that many in a single game.

Watch it live!

Don't miss the live broadcast, March 11–13 beginning at 9 a.m. PT each day at twitch.tv/magic!