Crimson Vow Standard is upon us. A lot of the old favorites are still around the top of the rankings, though there has been some movement and a couple new decks as well. Here are my initial rankings after the first weekend of action.

1. Mono-White Aggro

Mono-White was one of the best decks in the old format, and got one of the biggest improvements from Crimson Vow: Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Thalia is an easier than usual card to evaluate, given that it’s a reprint and has been played for a long time in plenty of formats. Mono-White really tore up the tournaments over the weekend, particularly faring well in the Red Bull Untapped Events. It currently has a 62.4 percent win rate on Untapped.gg.

2. Izzet Epiphany

Izzet Epiphany was the best deck in the previous format and remains a contender in this one. The deck was popular and did well over the weekend, including winning the Hooglandia Open. My personal opinion is that this version of the deck is going to be overtaken by the Hullbreaker Horror version of Izzet, though it definitely hasn’t yet, at least in terms of overall popularity. So far, Izzet Epiphany has a 60 percent win rate according to Untapped.gg

3. Mono-Green

Mono-Green has been a great deck for a while, and definitely got some new tools. That being said, I think the cards didn’t dramatically improve the deck, even though it’s a bit better. The crux of the deck is similar, though it’s a little more aggressive now, which is great. The deck still makes the best use of Blizzard Brawl, which at maximum efficiency, is the best removal spell in the format. Mono-Green has a 64.2 percent win rate according to Untapped.gg.

4. Izzet Control

This is a Hullbreaker Horror deck that popped on to the scene over the weekend in the hands of Seth Manfield. The deck is very strong and is my personal pick for the best deck in the format right now. There’s a lot of room for the format to grow, but it’s clear to me that Hullbreaker Horror is a superstar and the deck itself is very good.

5. Izzet Dragons

Izzet Dragons is not particularly flashy, but still the reigning World Championship deck. The deck has access to various cards and could be innovated on with cards like Hullbreaker Horror from Izzet Control. To be honest, mostly Goldspan Dragon is what defines a deck as Izzet Dragons, but these Izzet decks do tend to have a lot of overlap. Izzet Dragons has a 65.4 percent win rate according to Untapped.gg.

6. Selesnya Humans

Selesnya Humans is somewhat similar to Mono-White. It uses cheap creatures in combination with Thalia, Guardian of Thraben to make the opponent’s lives more difficult. The deck has cheap and annoying cards like Luminarch Aspirant, Thalia, Brutal Cathar and sometimes Reidane. The deck is strong and somewhat annoying, but in general I find Mono-White to be a more appealing choice. Selesnya has a 59.6% winrate so far on Untapped.gg.

7. Orzhov Control

Orzhov Control has been a decent deck ever since the days of Standard 2022. This deck did win the Crokeyz tournament over the weekend, but I’d be somewhat surprised if it was a huge contender going forward. One thing that this deck does have going for it is a favorable matchup against Mono-White aggro, so as long as that deck is the top dog, or close, maybe Orzhov could stick around. 

8. Mono-Black

This deck is pretty similar to the Orzhov deck that’s been winning, and a bit more popular. I think Orzhov is a bit stronger, the cost of the second color isn’t too high, but Orzhov had a better result over the weekend. Mono Black has a 63.6 percent win rate so far on Untapped.gg, albeit with quite a small sample. 

9. Dimir Control

Control decks tend to not be that great early in a format while things solidify. This isn’t always the case, but Dimir has struggled a little bit. It’s a Hullbreaker Horror deck which is nice, but needs to have the kinks ironed out. Dimir Control has a 51.3 percent win rate so far on Untapped.gg.