Welcome to Gathering Magic's weekly quintet of decks you should be aware of this weekend, whether you're playing a major online event, going to a Grand Prix, or hitting Friday Night Magic. This week, with no events other than American Thanksgiving, I'm bringing five of the spiciest metaballs I could find from each Constructed format with a Magic Online Daily attached to it.

Standard: Taking Even More Turns

There's been a ramp deck that cares about taking extra turns and attacking with lands awakened via Part the Waterveil. But Part the Waterveil isn't the only way to chain turns:

G/U Awaken ? Battle for Zendikar Standard | Loki_Domine

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Embodiment of Spring
• 4 Rattleclaw Mystic

• Spells (31)
• 2 Anticipate
• 3 Dig Through Time
• 4 Explosive Vegetation
• 4 Nissa's Renewal
• 4 Part the Waterveil
• 4 Planar Outburst
• 4 Temporal Trespass
• 1 Monastery Siege
• 1 Quarantine Field
• 4 Hedron Archive

• Lands (24)
• 3 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 8 Island
• 3 Lumbering Falls
• 4 Blighted Woodland

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Embodiment of Spring
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Dispel
• 2 Feed the Clan
• 2 Gaea's Revenge
• 1 Horribly Awry
• 1 Naturalize
• 2 Negate
• 2 Stasis Snare

Buy This Deck

Temporal Trespass joins Part the Waterveil here to keep swinging with lands. And it's clear that lands have to win—because Rattleclaw Mystics aren't a win condition. Having few creatures allows Planar Outburst to be almost entirely one-sided; if its awaken occurs, it happens off all three white mana sources in the deck. I'm not certain Wizards expected a full complement of extra-turn spells in Standard to make a competitive deck—or ramp to lead to something other than Eldrazi—but it looks like a blast to play.

Modern: What Are They Doing There?

The main deck is only moderately spicy, but the side dish is plenty spicy. Going 5–0 in a Magic Online league:

G/W Hexproof ? Modern | UniqueHorn

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Silhana Ledgewalker
• 4 Gladecover Scout
• 4 Slippery Bogle

• Spells (29)
• 1 Bear Umbra
• 2 Hyena Umbra
• 2 Snake Umbra
• 2 Spider Umbra
• 2 Unflinching Courage
• 4 Ethereal Armor
• 4 Keen Sense
• 4 Rancor
• 4 Spirit Link
• 4 Spirit Mantle

• Lands (21)
• 5 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 1 Ghost Quarter
• 4 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 Sunpetal Grove
• 1 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Bear Umbra
• 2 Blind Obedience
• 2 Brave the Sands
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Revoke Existence
• 1 Spear of Heliod
• 1 Sun Titan
• 3 Sylvan Caryatid
• 2 Umbra Mystic

Buy This Deck

Given its game plan of piling enchantments on, the deck is rarely thought of as having versatile sideboard options, but UniqueHorn went way outside the norm. Blind Obedience, an all-star Modern sideboard card not that long ago, returns here; with as many cheap enchantments as the deck normally has, the extort is a difference-maker. Brave the Sands never has been an all-star Modern card, but the abilities it gives are perfect for the massive monsters the deck wants to build—how do you race it? Sylvan Caryatid presumably comes in at the same time Sun Titan does; recurring Unflinching Courage or some totem armors is a great and surprising finisher. (And it's not as though anyone's bringing in spot removal for Sun Titan, given that it doesn't work on any other creatures.)

As for the main deck, the primary differences are the inclusion of Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and exclusion of Daybreak Coronet. Given that the deck wants to go not as all-in after sideboarding, leaving Daybreak Coronet out makes sense, but it's not everyone's first thought when playing the deck. It's an interesting experiment, and it was good enough to thrive at least in a league format. If you like this archetype but have had trouble against the usual array of hate, this version might be more to your liking.

Legacy: But Is It Really Legacy?

Check out this list, and notice what's missing:

Jund ? Legacy | DaPokpok

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Bloodbraid Elf
• 2 Grim Lavamancer
• 4 Dark Confidant
• 4 Deathrite Shaman
• 4 Tarmogoyf

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Liliana of the Veil

• Spells (16)
• 3 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Abrupt Decay
• 1 Maelstrom Pulse
• 3 Inquisition of Kozilek
• 3 Thoughtseize
• 2 Sylvan Library

• Lands (24)
• 1 Forest
• 1 Mountain
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Taiga
• 2 Badlands
• 2 Bloodstained Mire
• 3 Bayou
• 4 Verdant Catacombs
• 4 Wasteland
• 4 Wooded Foothills

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Grim Lavamancer
• 1 Thoughtseize
• 2 Blood Moon
• 2 Choke
• 1 Duress
• 3 Firebolt
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 3 Surgical Extraction

Buy This Deck

Outside Sylvan Library, Firebolt, and the mana base, every one of these cards has been legal in Modern at some point. Bloodbraid Elf and Deathrite Shaman were too good for Modern, but they're fair in Legacy. Ultimately, this is the same Jund deck we all know and (some people) love, only with a stable mana base.

And while that might not seem spicy, it's important to understand how much Legacy has been impacted by comparatively recent sets. In fact, just by years, the majority of Legacy overlaps with Modern (Legacy has ten years to itself out of Magic's twenty-two), and the percentage in which they overlap will only grow. So future Legacy might look a whole lot like this Jund deck: Modern decks with better mana bases. It's weird to consider Jund the future, but it is definitely representative of Legacy in a Modern world.

Vintage: From the Powerhouse Known as Saviors of Kamigawa

Erayo, Soratami Ascendant has two strikes against her in terms of name recognition: She's from a maligned set, and she's banned in Commander. So putting her in Vintage is a little weird at first reading:

Erayo Storm ? Vintage | desolutionist

• Creatures (6)
• 1 Monastery Mentor
• 1 Sundering Titan
• 4 Erayo, Soratami Ascendant

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Spells (43)
• 1 Ancestral Recall
• 1 Gifts Ungiven
• 1 Rebuild
• 1 Vampiric Tutor
• 4 Force of Will
• 1 Balance
• 1 Demonic Tutor
• 1 Ponder
• 1 Tendrils of Agony
• 1 Time Walk
• 1 Timetwister
• 1 Tinker
• 1 Wheel of Fortune
• 1 Yawgmoth's Will
• 3 Preordain
• 4 Gitaxian Probe
• 1 Black Lotus
• 1 Lotus Petal
• 1 Mana Crypt
• 1 Mana Vault
• 1 Memory Jar
• 1 Mox Emerald
• 1 Mox Jet
• 1 Mox Pearl
• 1 Mox Ruby
• 1 Mox Sapphire
• 1 Sensei's Divining Top
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Time Vault
• 1 Voltaic Key
• 2 Chrome Mox
• 3 Mox Opal

• Lands (9)
• 1 Gemstone Mine
• 1 Strip Mine
• 1 Undiscovered Paradise
• 1 Wasteland
• 4 Mana Confluence
• 1 Tolarian Academy

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Arcane Laboratory
• 1 Defense Grid
• 4 Nature's Claim
• 1 Pithing Needle
• 4 Ravenous Trap
• 1 Toxic Deluge
• 1 Trinisphere

Buy This Deck

This deck's Plan A is Tendrils of Agony. To get there, the same mix of Moxen and other spells that fuels storm fuels Erayo, Soratami Ascendant flipping into one of the most annoying enchantments of all time. If the Moxen were used to flip Erayo, Rebuild can put them back in the hand for the critical mass of spells needed to combo off. The combo of Voltaic Key and Time Vault is also here, along with Balance and several other things Vintage masters are used to. Relative to the format, this is a pretty large innovation—the deck has existed before, but barely—and I'm curious if it can gain a bigger spot in the format.

Pauper: These Cards Are Still Good

Anyone who played Standard in the original Zendikar remembers Boros landfall all too well. It's hard to remember now that landfall is back and more balanced than ever, but Steppe Lynx and Plated Geopede pack a wallop. Pauper lets you relive their glory days:

Boros Landfall ? Pauper | brianhoff

• Creatures (22)
• 3 Plated Geopede
• 3 Wojek Halberdiers
• 4 Kor Skyfisher
• 4 Skyknight Legionnaire
• 4 Squadron Hawk
• 4 Steppe Lynx

• Spells (17)
• 2 Electrickery
• 2 Fireblast
• 4 Lightning Bolt
• 4 Chain Lightning
• 2 Journey to Nowhere
• 3 Adventuring Gear

• Lands (21)
• 4 Mountain
• 5 Plains
• 2 Boros Garrison
• 2 Boros Guildgate
• 2 Naya Panorama
• 2 Teetering Peaks
• 4 Evolving Wilds

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Avenging Arrow
• 1 Demystify
• 1 Flame Slash
• 2 Goblin Legionnaire
• 2 Keening Apparition
• 2 Kor Sanctifiers
• 2 Lone Missionary
• 1 Nihil Spellbomb
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 2 Smash to Smithereens

Buy This Deck

All the old friends are here: Plated Geopede, Steppe Lynx, Journey to Nowhere, fetch lands, Teetering Peaks, and Kor Skyfisher to bounce lands. The rest is filled out with Boros staples. Wojek Halberdiers has great rates but didn't see much play in Standard; in Pauper, a 3/2 for 2 mana is plenty good. And with as many flyers as are in the deck, Adventuring Gear is a quick clock. Landfall is often swingy, but few things are as quick and powerful when everything's working. If you can stomach the variance, give this a shot.

Conclusion

With few large events for the rest of the year, now's a good time to explore a variety of formats. If you haven't felt comfortable entering one of these formats based on unfamiliarity with a regular deck, maybe one of these decks can help you get in.