A Rock Paper Scissors metagame

The current Standard metagame can be considere very similar to a Rock Paper Scissors game. A quick look to the MTGO results, reveals that basically there are just three decks worth playing in the current standard.

Dimir Midrange (Rock)
Izzet Cauldron (Scissors)
Izzet Prowess (Paper)

In this trio we have a strange situation with Prowess slightly favoured against Dimir, Cauldron slightly favoured against Prowess and Dimir slightly favoured against Cauldron. None of theese matchups are un-winnable but the situation is quite clear. Let's analyze each of theese decks with their pros and cons.

Dimir Midrange

About
Name [S3] Dimir Midrange

Deck
1 Anoint with Affliction
3 Cut Down
2 Soulstone Sanctuary
4 Deep-Cavern Bat
4 Enduring Curiosity
1 Faebloom Trick
2 Faerie Mastermind
4 Floodpits Drowner
4 Gloomlake Verge
3 Go for the Throat
2 Restless Reef
3 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
2 Phantom Interference
4 Island
1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
1 Sheoldred's Edict
1 Island
4 Spyglass Siren
4 Darkslick Shores
2 Tishana's Tidebinder
4 Underground River
3 Swamp
1 Swamp

Sideboard
1 Anoint with Affliction
1 Cut Down
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Negate
1 Faebloom Trick
1 Faerie Mastermind
1 Ghost Vacuum
2 Gix's Command
1 Intimidation Tactics
1 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares
1 Duress
1 Duress
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
1 Preacher of the Schism

This was the bully of the format right after the Ban, even if the meta adjusted to face it, this is still one of the strongest choices for Standard.

Kaito plus Curiosity plus a very nice pack of removals make this deck extremely powerful. The deck has some issue against very fast decks (hence the mildly bad matchup against Prowess).

Quick additional note: this is really difficult to pilot, a lot of hard decisions to take every turn and a deep knowledge of the meta is absolutely required.

Izzet Cauldron

About
Name [S3] Izzet Cauldron

Deck
4 Vivi Ornitier
4 Fear of Missing Out
1 Glacial Dragonhunt
3 Into the Flood Maw
1 Island
4 Marauding Mako
2 Mountain
4 Proft's Eidetic Memory
4 Riverpyre Verge
4 Shivan Reef
2 Soulstone Sanctuary
1 Spell Pierce
4 Spirebluff Canal
3 Tersa Lightshatter
2 Torch the Tower
1 Island
4 Winternight Stories
1 Mountain
4 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
1 Fire Magic
3 Voldaren Thrillseeker
3 Thundering Falls

Sideboard
1 Tishana's Tidebinder
2 Enduring Curiosity
1 Spell Pierce
1 Scorching Shot
2 Negate
1 Disdainful Stroke
3 Fire Magic
2 Unable to Scream
2 Draconautics Engineer

The new bad boy of the meta. Draws, discards, buffs, Vivies and kills you with one single combat (Or with a Thrillseeker...). This deck is reporting a lot of good results, both in league and Challenges.

An unchecked Vivi often leads to a win, sometimes just one untap is needed. Cauldron adds consistency to the whole deck (and makes the mirror a nightmare to play).

The deck suffers graveyard hate, counters and a high count of removals (Hence the slightly bad matchup against Dimir - Tishana being the MVP here).

Izzet Prowess

About
Name [S1] Izzet Prowess

Deck
4 Shivan Reef
1 Mountain
4 Astrologian's Planisphere
2 Wild Ride
4 Riverpyre Verge
4 Stock Up
2 Get Out
1 Mountain
2 Fear of Missing Out
2 Into the Flood Maw
4 Vivi Ornitier
4 Torch the Tower
1 Island
1 Island
1 Rebel Salvo
2 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
1 Island
4 Stormchaser's Talent
4 Spirebluff Canal
4 Opt
1 Island
1 Island
1 Island
1 Mountain
4 Sleight of Hand

Sideboard
2 Faerie Mastermind
2 Abrade
1 Disdainful Stroke
1 Rebel Salvo
1 Unable to Scream
2 Spell Pierce
2 Fire Magic
1 Ral, Crackling Wit
1 Into the Flood Maw
2 Enduring Curiosity

Fast, explosive and devastating whenever some piece is left unchecked. Unlike the cauldron version, this is not a graveyard based combo deck.

Planisphere plus Vivi provide a lot of damage and dangerous combat phases. The only, big, downside of this deck is the matchup against Cauldron, we are basically providing 4 additional Vivis to be exiled by Cauldron. The deck also lacks efficient removals.

Final thoughts and honorable mentions

I think the Standard meta is clearly defined by the analysis above, a good results is more likely to be obtained using one of the three decks presented. Mono G landfall and Boros/Jeskai convoke could be considered as valid alternatives but, i think those are still suboptimal choices.

Whatever deck you will play in the Qualifier, i wish you good luck and amazing top decks!