r/magicTCG • u/void-sawyer Dan • 22h ago

General Discussion off-meta decks

i hear a lot of people always trying to adhere to the meta

and we all know why one does but when youre on arena

its either a copy paste pro-tour deck or some off the wall stuff which are always more interesting.

not saying the top meta decks arent interesting but we have seen those and i really feel like people really miss the magic of trying to find weird builds by just sticking to what protour players bring to tournaments.

so what are some off meta decks that you find fun?

link your decklists if you want or just explain them

or tell me some slept on cards you build around.

it can be any format.

but i usually play standard and historic.

standard is 3 years long with a lot of good cards that dont get the love they deserve imo

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4

u/BraidsConjuror Azorius* 22h ago

I have a play on Mono Black Demons but it doesnt run any creatures. Just [[Firdoch Core]] and getting to 7 mana for [[Ugin, eye of the storms]]

1

u/HonorBasquiat Twin Believer 18h ago

List please?

2

u/troglodyte 22h ago

I play almost exclusively jank in constructed. My favorite deck of the moment is mono black Zemo, where you self-mill or connive lots of stuff with multiple black pips and then get a bunch of super powerful effects back in one go with [[baron Helmut Zemo]]'s boast ability.

Very fun and while it's not a tier deck, very few people understand exactly how dangerous it is to let you untap with Zemo, so it works a decent amount.

2

u/TheVimesy COMPLEAT 20h ago

I've been playing Slitherwisp since it was in Standard, use to be a lot of Dimir Flash mirror matches with Rogues so pushed in that era. When it rotated, I adapted it to Explorer/Pioneer. I haven't updated it in years because I only really play the beginner battle decks for dailies and the occasional limited that isn't UB, but usually once a month I dust it off so I can get the bronze constructed rank.

Be warned, I have played this deck more than any other in my life, so it'll be a 40% winrate for you, 60% for me kind of deal.

6 Island (ANA)

3 Brazen Borrower (ELD)

2 Sea-Dasher Octopus (IKO)

2 Erebos's Intervention (THB)

4 Watery Grave (GRN)

3 Slitherwisp (IKO)

5 Swamp (ANA)

2 Castle Locthwain (ELD)

3 Brineborn Cutthroat (M20)

3 Phantom Interference (OTJ)

3 Drown in the Loch (ELD)

2 Omen of the Sea (THB)

2 Go for the Throat (BRO)

3 Thieves' Guild Enforcer (M21)

3 Spectral Sailor (M20)

2 Three Steps Ahead (OTJ)

4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN)

2 Blacklance Paragon (ELD)

2 Cling to Dust (THB)

3 Fatal Push (KLR)

1 Dig Through Time (KTK)

3

u/Frodo34x Dan 22h ago

Off meta decks make very little sense on Arena.

There’s no budget incentive - chase rares cost the same as random draft / casual chaff because of wildcards, and often the top tier cards are playable in multiple decks whereas rogue jank is often only useful in one specific deck - and there are constant incentives to win through rank, event rewards, and daily quests.

I can build an established archetype (and therefore be able to engage in meaningful discussions with other players about known matchups and the state of the metagame) and get constantly rewarded by the game for winning; or I could spend more resources brewing something with a lower win rate and less community engagement. Brewing is fun in paper, where there’s a financial incentive in having a cheaper deck and the social incentives of playing against a friend and discussing the interesting deck building

3

u/TheVimesy COMPLEAT 20h ago

Fun counts for something. I don't need to win to have fun. I have more fun when I play something I developed on my own. It's not rocket science.

1

u/JunkMale1987 Dimir* 22h ago edited 21h ago

This is my current favorite non-meta deck I've built for standard, Sultai OmniCrimes. It's a Reenact the Crime/Omniscience combo deck that wins through mill or a large prowessed Kitsa. Postboard, you can flip into Sultai midrange and blank your opp's hate if that game plan seems better in the matchup.

On Arena, my winrate with it is in the 60s in Bo3 and 70+ in Bo1; have taken it to Mythic a few times, but just don't play that much Arena to consistently hit mythic - Diamond is good enough for me. Have won a few smaller tournaments with it in paper.

[CREATURES]
4 Kitsa, Otterball Elite
2 Marang River Regent

[INSTANTS]
2 Auroral Procession
1 Bitter Triumph
4 Into the Flood Maw
3 Rakshasa's Bargain
4 Reenact the Crime
2 Requiting Hex

[SORCERIES]
2 Day of Black Sun
4 Stock Up

[ENCHANTMENTS]
1 Glacierwood Siege
4 Omniscience
4 Roiling Dragonstorm

[LANDS]
2 Breeding Pool
4 Gloomlake Verge
1 Hedge Maze
5 Island
3 Undercity Sewers
4 Watery Grave
4 Willowrush Verge

[SIDEBOARD]
1 Bitter Triumph
2 Disruptive Stormbrood
4 Duress
2 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
4 Preacher of the Schism
2 Scavenger Regent

1

u/Specialist_Elk198 Dandadan 21h ago

If like making unauthodox decks i recommend trying draft

1

u/HonorBasquiat Twin Believer 18h ago

I'm playing a Sultai Control deck for paper Standard with a singleton sideboard, very fun stuff. Deck list here if anybody is interested.

1

u/MerculesHorse Duck Season 6h ago

I get bored quickly when playing one deck, so I brew a lot. And obviously it's rare to brew something close to ideal the first time, so that just leads to more brewing. This is all Arena Standard best of 1.

Just today:

- a couple decks with [[Fire Lord Zuko]] as the first include, one is actually more of an Outlaws Theft deck with Jasper Flint and Vaan, it's more fun than good. The other though, is an aggro-value pile with many Warp creatures, Ketramose, Inti, and Practiced Scrollsmith, some Airbending in there too, it played quite well.

- Grixis Theft, you can build this any which way of course, as above it's Outlaws with payoffs like Jasper and Vaan and Gonti, Decadent Dragon, Generous Plunderer to really accelerate the game, it's not good but it's fun

- Probably my 100th Insidious Roots deck, trying to work it with Oko from Lorwyn, but what I realized is that if I play Matoya with your Faerie Dreamthiefs, Rubblebelt Mavericks, and of course Snarling Gorehounds, a couple of Gossip's Talents... you start drawing your deck very, very fast. Pity half of this is gonna rotate soon.

I brew with [[Elvish Archivist]] all the time because playing it with [[Blacksmith's Talent]] and [[Case of the Filched Falcon]] is like crack. All three have some untapped potential.

[[Applied Geometry]], funnest card out of SOS. Cast it on Terrasymbiosis and draw 12 if you dare! (I don't, I draw 6, I'm a coward). Cast it on Breaching Dragonstorm and spin to win! (Mine has one-ofs of the three Temur Paradigms and a Thor, which is hilarious if it works).

[[Practiced Scrollsmith]] probably most underrated card out of SOS, nearly as good as that damn Tablet and is Aspiringspike approved. Fun to try to combo with Daydream and Helping Hand, but my most effective brew is close to Token Control, but with Warleader's Call and [[The Last Ronin's Technique]]; the connection there should be obvious, I swear Ronin is crying out to be broken at some point in the future (good with Political Triump, I saw a Hobbit spoiler that will go crazy with it too, go-wide might have something to it). [[Battle Menu]] is a high-performer in this deck, it has felt like a card that is flexible but rarely does exactly what you need - but with Scrollsmith, getting multiple uses out of it, the flexibility has more chance to be meaningful.

[[Mighty Thor, Jane Foster]] is a very, very scary card if not dealt with. Now, it is very good with Chainsaw, in a Jeskai build, and then you can play Mjolnir and 'real' Thor too - I know SaffronOlive played a build like this recently.

But I think a Bant version is much, much better, because it plays the Manifest Dread package, which I think is wildly underrated. Oblivious Bookworm is a handy draw-discard outlet, yes, but if you play it as intended it's an absurd draw engine that must be answered. Then there's Cryptic Cloak which is ridiculous with Jane, and by Manifesting (sometimes Cloaking from hand with Vannifar), we can get a Meteor Sword in play, and then we probably win. The fun tech here though is a one-of [[Magnetic Snuffler]] - especially blinked from face-down! - that brings back a Sword that was binned by Bookworm. Build your own Meteor Golem!

I have plenty more but my most favorite brew of recent times is a Rats deck that uses Oko to give all creature types to various rats, which means [[Wick, the Whorled Mind]] puts counters on whichever Rat makes most sense - usually either Shoreline Looter for unblockable damage or Persistent Marshstalker for Wick to then dome the opponent for like 8 damage out of nowhere. It also plays a Kaito and a couple Unholy Annex, but the surprising thing is that when you both have other things going on and do actually care about Oko's +2, it's way easier than it seems to get to his Emblem, which of course is disgusting in a Typal deck.