Top MTG Standard Cards for Winning: Meta Bombs & Strategies

Want to WIN Games in Standard? Play These Cards!

Discover the top Standard "bombs" in Magic: The Gathering with high win rates when cast. Optimize your deck strategy for competitive play!

People often discuss win rates when cards are included in a deck, or maybe win rates if a card is drawn during a game. There is even something to take from the percentage of decks a card appears in. Sure, we can say x and y are good cards to put in your deck, but what cards are truly the best? Which ones give you the best chance of winning a game after you cast them? We are going to look at those cards today. We are effectively examining the biggest bombs in the format. There is still a concept of not relying on one card to win the game, and using synergies to win. I get it. I would invite you to consider, however, even if you do not plan to play any of these cards, you should definitely be aware of what is a bomb that needs your attention in the format. Without further ado, let's check out the bombs in Standard, and see how insane their win rates are.

Standard Cards with Highest Win Rate (When Cast)

Note that this statistic is simply if the card was cast from someone's hand. It does not look at whether or not the spell was resolved. I think this has bearing on the outcome of the game as well. If it gets countered or removed, we know it is also that much more important. This is why I believe looking at win rate when cast is the best metric for the biggest threats.

If you aren't familiar with this card, it is used with cards that say "Lose the game" on them, and it is used to hand it off to an opponent. With a recent printing of Demonic Pact in Foundations, this deck has become a thing in Standard. It doesn't have a crazy metashare, but when it works, it works. Harmless Offering boasts an 82% win rate in Standard when cast. That has quickly propelled this to the top. The best way that we can deal with it is to have removal for the permanent that is about to be handed off. That and counter spells are likely the only reason this card doesn't have a 100% win rate.

When this card was spoiled, the groans were audible from miles away. It's safe to say that we don't see this card a ton in Standard currently, but if someone casts it, it's pretty hard to win the game after that. There are too many other ridiculous cards in the format that make it just about impossible to win if they are being cast for free. This ten-mana enchantment has a win rate of 80% when cast. It is close to Harmless Offering, and it is possible that the two could trade places from time to time given metashare. This card is seeing a lot of play in Pioneer in Hidden Strings decks, and I imagine the win rate is pretty high for it there too.

This card is a little more fun, and has an exciting interaction. It doesn't immediately make you lose the game, or directly lead to things that make you lose, usually. It just accelerates the clock for...doomsday. It is also possible that players can lose to decking themselves by playing this card, which I think is interesting too. It's also a demon, and you know that those things are in right now. Excruciator is also more commonly played. We have over 8,000 games of data to go from with this deck, which should give it more consistency and accuracy in the numbers. If that isn't enough for you to want to play it, the guy who just won the World Championship used it to win his trophy. I think that alone could be enough to convince me. I'll sweeten the pot even more: it has a 75% win rate when cast.

This card is the opposite of fun to play against. It doesn't help that it is not very commonly played, but when it does resolve, this thing hurts. If it is late enough in the game, and your opponent has enough mana, they will basically kill you in two turns after getting rid of all of your creatures. It also helps the opponent stabilize with the life gain. Twilight has a 75% win rate when cast, and it is pretty tough to deal with the aftermath of it. Two swings from the five mites that they make and you lose. Some decks have the audacity to play sunfall and this card, and sometimes we are left to wonder if some people were loved enough as a child.

Atraxa has solidified itself ever since being included in the format. With a 74% win rate when cast, it turns out that refilling your hand after casting a huge spell is really good. It is also helpful that it is one of the best attackers and blockers in the format. The lifelink can help you stabilize and deter an opponent's attack, and the vigilance allows you to attack on your turn and still hold it back as a blocker. It is a great combination of keywords, and it is definitely one of the keys to winning games in Standard.

Best Practices for Dealing with Bombs in Standard

Two of these cards are creatures, but the other three are spells. Something else that is noteworthy is that for all of these cards to be good, they cost four or more mana. This means cards like Disdainful Stroke could be a really good answer for people to have in their sideboards. It also contributes to a great mana-positive exchange while dealing with a card that could hand us a loss if resolved. With one of the spells being a board wipe, it is also effective to have cards that give creatures indestructible. If you are concerned with losing to Demonic Pact, it would be a good idea to have enchantment removal. Three out of the five colors have it available now, and one of the colors can at least bounce permanents to their owner's hand. Having these answers can help you deal with Omniscience and Demonic Pact. I personally play Withering Torment to deal with pesky enchantments. These are the top five bombs in Standard, and even if you don't want to play these cards, I hope this has helped you prepare to deal with them!

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.

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Check out more content by Numbskull

Explore the power of Rakdos Dragons in this midrange Magic: The Gathering deck. Unleash combos, removal, and ramp for competitive edge in Standard.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!

You didn't think I could only give you one dragon deck, did you? I honestly saw too many fun options to do just Boros, so today I'm bringing you another. This one steers toward the more midrange, good ol' honest Magic side of things. I wanted to center a deck around something that is more consistent with the status quo of dragons: carnage and destruction. We have plenty of removal in this deck, and a creature that doubles as a board wipe when needed. Since we aren't doing a super fancy combo in this deck, I wanted to add element of ramp to get to the higher mana spells that we have in the deck. We will be able to use early creatures to help out with that, and also a new fancy artifact. We will torch the board and force our opponents to be more resilient than we are, while flying over the top of what they might manage to keep on the board. Let's take a look at the deck and then I'll tell you some of my favorite things about it. You can see some of the fun that we will have right off the bat with this deck. We are looking to smash aggro decks, and still punish other decks that don't play to the board. Although this one has fewer dragons on paper, we have a few permanents that can actually turn into them, and this leads to some cheeky interactions. Let's check out some of the new cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm that are in this deck, and then we will go over some fun combos! Key New Cards

It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!

There is an ongoing argument in both Standard and Pioneer currently. What color combination is the best for aggressive decks? We have seen people try out Jeskai Aggro to try and incorporate the best of both worlds between Azorius Aggro, and Boros Aggro. Some like to stick with Gruul Aggro because of the high rolls that it allows for, and there is also an argument that sometimes all you need is mono red - and the results have proven as much in major events. There has been a bit of a surge of some Mardu Aristocrat/Sacrifice decks, and today's list will follow that to some degree. We went a little bit more aggro-based, but there is a combo element to it, along with a healthy sideboard that should provide for balanced gameplay. We will look to get a bunch of creatures onto the board, and then create a bunch more based on the amount that we have, while punishing the opponent when they die. If that isn't enough, the go-wide strategy should also allow us to swing for ample damage at an ample pace. A new ability called Mobilize that is being brought to us in Tarkir Dragonstorm is going to allow us to pull off some pretty powerful swings in combat. Mobilize allows us to create a bunch of tapped and attacking 1/1 tokens based on either the number behind it, or circumstances that pertain to "X." Something that is particularly fun is that we can benefit from our creatures dying, because the mobilize ability requires us to sacrifice the creatures that we get from mobilizing at the beginning of our end step. This is yet another deck that can allow us to win on the end step which is always fun. Another fundamental reason why I think the deck is good is because we are rewarded for something that would normally be considered a setback. If you find enough ways to turn negatives into positives, it usually can translate into the small margins that win you a match. Enough of me blabbing. Let's take a look at the cool new cards! Key New Cards

Demons Are Getting New Toys, and This Deck is ROTTEN

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Free Dragons = Turn 4 Wins!

We are officially in the perpetual spoiler season of the MTG year, and Wizards has not been disappointing us. Most people can get behind a set centered largely around dragons, and it definitely helps that the plane itself is one that we have wanted to see them bring back for a long time. Over a decade later, we are going back to Tarkir. I played a good bit of Magic and did a lot of deck building the last time we had some fun dragons on Arena, and I knew that this set was going to call me back to those days. My favorite archetype a couple of years ago was Boros Dragons. I largely played that in the Alchemy format, but I am going to bring you a Boros Dragons Standard Deck today. We are going to take advantage of a combo that is used in Standard currently, but we are going to use a different payoff this time. We are going to cast dragons for FREE and then either they will have the opponent dead just from entering, or we will hopefully have a way to give them all haste! We will take a look at the new cards that are awesome. Then I'll let you know about the combo that will help us get there. We want to keep the board as clear as we can for our dragons and then slam them all on the board at once to clean things up. We also have some smaller creatures that we can use to chump block earlier in the game. When needed, we also have board wipes to deal with other creatures. New Cards from Tarkir Dragonstorm

I See a Monument and I want it Painted Black

It's been a few weeks since Aetherdrift came out, and we are starting to see the cards that are standing out in the meta. We didn't expect the set to change things too much with regard to what we have been seeing. What we did get from it is a nice supplement to many other decks. Although we did not get a ton of format-shaping cards, we have seen a couple that have lit up fringe archetypes. What I've brewed for today plays off of a familiar archetype, and it was one that we kind of already had, but it allows us to pivot in a certain way and get additional value from it that we may not have gotten in the past. One of the biggest things that our deck can do is have plenty of action on the end step/cleanup step. It's an interesting scenario because usually when we think of the cleanup step at the end of each turn, we remove damage, and we discard to hand size. Usually discarding to hand size is pretty much the final step, and there aren't any triggers... until now. We will be using Monument to Endurance to have triggers when we discard to hand size, and get additional value from it. Now we don't care if we end the turn with nine or ten cards in hand, because we are going to benefit from it. This will help us possibly get in some finishing damage against our opponent, or get extra value. It is worth noting that this will cause triggered abilities on the cleanup step, and this is something that our opponents can respond to. This has historically been a point in the turn where no player can respond to actions. We'll take a look at the relevant cards in the deck, and then I'll detail a few fun combos that we may see during gameplay. Relevant Cards

We've had a Couple of Weeks to Try Achievements on MTG Arena, and I have Opinions

The economy on MTG Arena has always been a pain point, and a grand debate over how far a digital version of a card game should go to ensure players feel as if they are getting proper value for their time. Wizards has two different versions of its beloved game on the internet, and they both seem to have their benefits and drawbacks. On February 11, Arena launched the Achievement System to reward players for hitting milestones in-game, and completing specific tasks. While it is always fun to do these kinds of things in each game, something that gamers always do is assess whether the reward for doing so in-game is worth putting forth the extra effort for the task. While there are some things in the achievement tab that I believe to be kind of fun, and certain things that I know people will want, I view the entire thing as largely a waste of time. Today we will look at why the new feature on Arena simply isn't enough for what the game should have, and what it could be. The Good and The Bad There are plenty of things that we love about Arena, with how it is the easiest way to play our favorite decks from Standard, and not spend thousands of dollars in doing so. It is probably the most efficient way to try out decks. We also love the wildcard system. Although it is not the easiest to obtain them, it is great that a rare/mythic wildcard could buy a rare/mythic card that is of any value and it still just costs one wildcard. This was especially helpful in getting a play set of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I still don't have a play set in paper simply because I don't want to spend that much money on it, but on Arena it was easy. I had the wildcards to do what I needed. The only part where this may be lacking is the economy itself. What if we could earn wildcards for hitting certain achievements (I.E. the achievement tab giving us wildcards instead of sleeves, etc.)? I believe that the rewards from this new feature being solely cosmetic underscores the ongoing issue of the economy on Arena simply not being enough for us.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!