One of the biggest problems with Standard is how expensive the mana bases can be relative to the rest of the cards in the format. This is one reason why Mono-Red is always one of the more popular decks in any given format. But what happens when players start exploring mono-colored decks in other colors?

Mono-Blue Aggro | Core Set 2019 Standard | AshGrabber, 5-0 Standard League

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Mystic Archaeologist
• 4 Exclusion Mage
• 4 Merfolk Trickster
• 4 Siren Stormtamer
• 4 Slither Blade
• 4 Tempest Djinn

• Instants (12)
• 2 Commit // Memory
• 2 Dive Down
• 4 Unsummon
• 4 Wizard's Retort

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Curious Obsession

• Lands (22)
• 22 Island

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Baral's Expertise
• 3 Jace's Defeat
• 3 Negate
• 3 Nimble Obstructionist
• 4 Syncopate

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In this case, Tempest Djinn is your biggest payoff. Merfolk Trickster and Exclusion Mage help you force through Tempest Djinn attacks, while your suite of Dive Downs and Wizard's Retort help you protect them. Sticking to straight Blue means that you have a higher count of Wizards than you might otherwise and will be able to consistently turn on your Wizard's Retorts.

In addition to Tempest Djinn, your disruption allows you to better protect a creature with a Curious Obsession, which is another way to steal games from your opponents. Your goal is to put a Curious Obsession onto an evasive creature like Slither Blade and get in as many hits as you can while protected by Dive Down and other disruption. This lets you continue to hit land drops as well as find threats and additional protection.

If your local metagame is low on efficient removal, this seems like a very reasonable deck to play in this Standard format. Cheap Blue creatures are great at applying pressure, and you have lots of built-in protection for your key threats that can run away with games. If you're looking for a cheap way to break into Standard, you'll be hard pressed to do better than this.