Players have been picking their Magic: The Gathering decks for Pro Tour Thunder Junction, going with either the Esper Midrange build or a number of decks that could dethrone the most popular build in Standard.
Seth Manfield | #MTGThunder Design | #PTThunder
The first MTG Pro Tour to feature Standard as the main format will take place on Thunder Junction from April 26-28, with a total prize pool of $500,000 and over 200 players. More cards than ever will be legal to play in the Standard format following rotation changes for the 2023-2024 season. The meta appears to be skewed, however, as 65 of the 207 players decided to take Esper Midrange to the second Pro Tour. But despite the limited data available for the major MTG tournament, Esper Midrange may not be the best deck.
Official decklists for MTG Pro Tour Thunder Junction aren’t out until April 26, but many are expected to add a card to the Esper Midrange build pipeline: Duelist of the Mind. The MTG card honoring World Champion Nathan Steuer teams up with Crimes, a new Thunder Junction mechanic, and card draw. Boros Convoke, the second-most popular deck at Pro Tour Thunder Junction, got a boost from arguably one of the best OTJ cards in the set, Slickshot Show-Off. And the third-most popular build, Temur Analyst, is a sleeper deck that could top the Standard meta.
Decks like Four-Color Legends and Domain Ramp, along with Mono-Red Aggro and Golgari Midrange, also show potential heading into MTG Pro Tour Thunder Junction. Notable in the Pro Tour meta are 15 individual decks ranging from Mono-Blue Cauldron and Mono-Black Bloodletter to Jeskai Artifacts and Grixis Reanimator.
