Theros is here, and it looks awesome! There are all manner of new cards, interactions, and Commanders to explore, and I can't wait to get started. This week we've got a pair of Standard decks featuring Theros goodness, awesome decks from Modern and Legacy, and a Commander deck featuring the god of the sun. Let's get started:

We knew that people would try to build mono-Red decks and Blue-White decks after rotation, but I don't know that anyone expected Satyr Hedonist to be Standard playable. Maybe Andrew Hernandez is on to something with his Green-Red Monstrous deck. Let's take a look:

GR Monsters - Standard | Andres Hernandez, 4th Place Standard Tournament

• Lands (24)
• 7 Forest
• 9 Mountain
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Temple of Abandon

• Creatures (27)
• 4 Burning-Tree Emissary
• 4 Elvish Mystic
• 3 Ember Swallower
• 4 Ghor-Clan Rampager
• 4 Satyr Hedonist
• 3 Scavenging Ooze
• 4 Stormbreath Dragon
• 1 Polukranos, World Eater

• Spells (3)
• 3 Mizzium Mortars

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 4 Domri Rade
• 2 Xenagos, the Reveler

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Ratchet Bomb
• 2 Mistcutter Hydra
• 3 Burning Earth
• 1 Destructive Revelry
• 1 Ruric Thar, the Unbowed
• 2 Chandra, Pyromaster
• 1 Garruk, Caller of Beasts
• 3 Anger of the Gods

Buy This Deck

In recent years, Green-Red ramp decks have always comprised a reasonable portion of the metagame. What's changed is that we don't have access to Rampant Growth or Primeval Titan any more. That isn't stopping Andres though. He's curving Elvish Mystic into Burning-Tree Emissary into Xenagos and monsters.

This deck seems awesome; you're more than capable of just casting Ember Swallowers and activating them against control opponents, and enormous monsters should be enough to stabilize the ground against aggressive decks. Even something as simple as a Ghor-Clan Rampager should be enough against most aggressive decks at this point in the format.

What's most exciting to me is that Satyr Hedonist on its own powers out a turn three Stormbreath Dragon. On later turns, Satyr Hedonist is just a ritual for monstrous activations. There are two things I'd like to see tried in this style of deck: first Gyre Sage as a back-up mana creature and an additional way to activate monstrous; second Nykthos, Shrine to Nix as another way to generate mana early on. Just a Burning-Tree Emissary and Ember Swallower already generates mana, and any extra permanents will put you ahead and help get your monstrous on.

The first take on control decks have been a little strange in this format. There aren't many Standard formats in recent memory where people would play more Divinations than Sphinx's Revelations, but that's where we've been. So what is one to do if you just want to cast the biggest Revelation possible? Gerry Thompson thinks he's got an idea:

[Cardlist Title= UWR Control - Standard | Gerry Thompson]

• Lands (27)
• 2 Mountain
• 4 Plains
• 4 Azorius Guildgate
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 1 Izzet Guildgate
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Steam Vents
• 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx

• Creatures (13)
• 2 Angel of Serenity
• 4 Boros Reckoner
• 4 Precinct Captain
• 3 Heliod, God of the Sun[/Creatures]

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

• Spells (18)
• 2 Blind Obedience
• 4 Chained to the Rocks
• 4 Detention Sphere
• 4 Sphinx's Revelation
• 2 Spear Of Heliod
• 2 Mizzium Mortars

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Archangel of Thune
• 4 Yoked Ox
• 2 Negate
• 2 Swan Song
• 1 Wear
• 2 Glare of Heresy
• 2 Mizzium Mortars

Buy This Deck

Nykthos, Shrine to Nix powering out Sphinx's Revelation. You've got my attention, Gerry. Midrangey cards like Precinct Captain and Boros Reckoner do a great job of stalling the ground while you resolve Heliod and Elspeth, and power up your Nykthos so they can net you four or more mana. With that kind of mana generation, Sphinx's Revelation for ten or more isn't so far out of reach.

I'm especially excited about how creature-based this control deck is. When your deck leans heavily on Supreme Verdict to beat creature decks, you can just lose if you can't cast one on turn four. This deck can curve out with creatures and removal, trumping the aggressive decks at every point along the curve.

Against control decks, you have access to way more threats than they have answers, and threats like Elspeth and Heliod don't care very much about removal or sweepers. I think the biggest issue this deck has to deal with is fighting against Aetherling, and even that should be beatable with enough Sphinx's Revelations and Blind Obedience triggers.

Back in the day, there was a Gilded Lotus storm deck that relied on Twiddle effects into Mind's Desire as the primary engine of the deck. People have tried the same thing in Legacy with Cloud of Faeries and Seal of Removal in enchantress decks. But what if a deck like that were possible in Modern? Obv might have found the shell:

Gifts Storm - Modern | obv, 3-1 Modern Daily Event

• Lands (17)
• 3 Breeding Pool
• 1 Forest
• 2 Island
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 4 Scalding Tarn
• 1 Simic Growth Chamber
• 1 Steam Vents
• 1 Stomping Ground

• Spells (43)
• 4 Dream's Grip
• 4 Fertile Ground
• 4 Gifts Ungiven
• 1 Grapeshot
• 4 Hidden Strings
• 3 Ideas Unbound
• 2 Manamorphose
• 2 Overgrowth
• 3 Past in Flames
• 4 Serum Visions
• 4 Sleight of Hand
• 4 Twiddle
• 4 Utopia Sprawl

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Ancient Grudge
• 1 Beast Within
• 1 Defense Grid
• 2 Dismember
• 1 Echoing Truth
• 2 Gigadrowse
• 1 Mindbreak Trap
• 2 Pithing Needle
• 3 Twisted Image

Buy This Deck

Utopia Sprawl, Fertile Ground, and Overgrowth are the manabase of this deck. You want to get as many of them onto a single land as you possibly can. Those enchantments backed with Dream's Grip, Hidden Strings, and Twiddle are what let you generate enough spells to win the game in one turn.

You can cast Gifts Ungiven for whatever combination of Past in Flames, Twiddles, and cantrips you need, and pretty easily set up a critical mass of mana, spells, and cards to combo off.

The big risk to playing a deck like this is that people play Ghost Quarter and Molten Rain to hate on Tron decks. You will just lose games to those cards. The upside is that you have even fewer cards that most decks can interact with than typical storm decks. You have no Goblin Electromancers and even a single resolved Past in Flames can very easily win you the game.

Shardless BUG has been a top tier Legacy deck for quite awhile now. Since then we've seen a few variations, mostly involving RUG cascade or Four-Color cascade with both Shardless Agent and Bloodbraid Elf. But what happens when you it Stoneforge Mystic into a Shardless Agent shell? Grebyn90 thinks he has the answer:

[Cardlist Title= Shardless Bant - Legacy | grebyn90 , 3-1 Legacy Daily Event]

• Lands (22)
• 4 Flooded Strand
• 4 Misty Rainforest
• 2 Savannah
• 2 Treetop Village
• 2 Tropical Island
• 4 Tundra
• 2 Wasteland
• 2 Windswept Heath

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Loxodon Smiter
• 4 Noble Hierarch
• 4 Shardless Agent
• 4 Stoneforge Mystic
• 2 Voice of Resurgence

• Spells (19)
• 4 Ancestral Vision
• 1 Batterskull
• 4 Brainstorm
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 4 Force of Will
• 4 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Umezawa's Jitte

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Mind Sculptor

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Detention Sphere
• 3 Ethersworn Canonist
• 2 Meddling Mage
• 1 Relic of Progenitus
• 1 Rest in Peace
• 2 Rhox War Monk
• 2 Supreme Verdict
• 1 Sword of Feast and Famine
• 2 Voice of Resurgence[/Sideboard]

Buy This Deck

This deck seems awesome. While BUG decks cascade into Tarmogoyf and Abrupt Decay, you get to cascade into Stoneforge Mystic and Swords to Plowshares. Seems like a strict upgrade, right?

In some ways it is. Your matchup against creature decks should be way better than Shardless BUG, you have Voice of Resurgence and Stoneforge Mystic as well as maindeck Umezawa's Jitte.

The problem is that your only disruption for combo decks is Force of Will plus hatebears out of the sideboard. While the BUG decks get to play Thoughtseize and Hymn to Tourach, you can't play the traditional Spell Pierce and Flusterstorms that UW-based decks do, because of Shardless Agent.

But if you anticipate playing mostly against other creature decks and control decks, the value generated from Voice of Resurgence seems almost too good to pass up.

First Purphoros, then Erebos, and now Heliod. Personally, this is my favorite of the Legendary Enchantment Creatures. I love mono-white token decks that grind out their opponents with small creatures and incremental value, and that's exactly what Heliod allows you to do. The typing of the creatures he generates also allows for some really interesting interactions. What can you do with an endless supply of Clerics? Let's find out with WhinyTortoise:

Heliod Control - Commander | WhinyTortoise

• Commander (1)
• 1 Heliod, God of the Sun

• Lands (38)
• 38 Plains

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Ajani's Chosen
• 1 Ancestor's Prophet
• 1 Angel of Jubilation
• 1 Avacyn, Angel of Hope
• 1 Battletide Alchemist
• 1 Crovax, Ascendant Hero
• 1 Doubtless One
• 1 Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
• 1 Heliod, God of the Sun
• 1 Intrepid Hero
• 1 Knight of the White Orchid
• 1 Master Apothecary
• 1 Solemn Simulacrum
• 1 Whipgrass Entangler
• 1 Windborn Muse

• Instants and Sorceries (9)
• 1 Brave the Elements
• 1 Condemn
• 1 Oblation
• 1 Path to Exile
• 1 Return to Dust
• 1 Swords to Plowshares
• 1 Iona's Judgment
• 1 Mass Calcify
• 1 Survival Cache

• Artifacts and Enchantments (37)
• 1 Caged Sun
• 1 Coat of Arms
• 1 Everflowing Chalice
• 1 Extraplanar Lens
• 1 Gauntlet of Power
• 1 Illusionist's Bracers
• 1 Leonin Sun Standard
• 1 Lightning Greaves
• 1 Rings of Brighthearth
• 1 Skullclamp
• 1 Slate of Ancestry
• 1 Sol Ring
• 1 Swiftfoot Boots
• 1 Thran Dynamo
• 1 Angelic Destiny
• 1 Cathars' Crusade
• 1 Celestial Mantle
• 1 Crusade
• 1 Divine Sacrament
• 1 Endless Horizons
• 1 Ethereal Armor
• 1 Ghostly Prison
• 1 Glorious Anthem
• 1 Greater Auramancy
• 1 Honor of the Pure
• 1 Intangible Virtue
• 1 Journey to Nowhere
• 1 Leyline of Sanctity
• 1 Leyline of the Meek
• 1 Marshal's Anthem
• 1 Oblivion Ring
• 1 Path of Bravery
• 1 Prison Term
• 1 Shared Triumph
• 1 Spear of Heliod
• 1 Sphere of Safety
• 1 True Conviction

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Elspeth, Sun's Champion

Buy This Deck

This deck is packed with the kind of small, cute interactions that I love to see. Battletide Alchemist, Ancestor's Prophet, and Doubtless One, for example, are going to be must-answer threats at every stage of the game, or Heliod and his faithful are going to put the game out of reach very quickly.

Add to that the pile of Glorious Anthem effects that WhinyTortoise is playing, and your tokens will be more than a match for Titans of any kind. The most exciting card in this deck is Cathars' Crusade, because it becomes very easy to just combo off and create a pile of enormous Clerics; at instant speed even!

I'd love to see cards like Diversionary Tactics to help keep the board under control, but just making a bunch of enormous tokens is good enough most of the time. The mana of this deck is what can use the most work. There are a ton of utility lands and Caged Sun effects that can make their way into this kind of deck to compliment Heliod as a mana sink. It's a real shame that Profane Prayers and the other Black Cleric support cards can't be played with Heliod, but I guess you can't have it all.