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Main » Articles » Three Decks for Turn Three Wins in Standard

Three Decks for Turn Three Wins in Standard

Michael Flores
Posted on December 17, 2024
 Reddit

Standard is currently my second-favorite Magic: The Gathering format.

To be fair, it's been up there for years now. Standard is just a great and most importantly varied format where - as long as you understand the rules of engagement and the pillars that hold the whole thing up - you can do any number of different things in all the colors and at all different speeds.

There has been a ton said about the various aggro decks (and there will be more said in this article), but Standard is way more than exploding sportscars. When I say you can do different stuff at different speeds, keep in mind some of my favorite decks to play are Mono-White Control and Simic Beans, both of which grind forever relying on bulk card advantage to make up for a general lack of Counterspells.

This article, though, is about some very different neighborhoods in Standard. Aggro and combo decks from the other side of not only the tracks but the Fundamental Turn that can end the game by turn THREE. In Standard!

What's interesting about these decks is how differently they end games, even if it's quickly. Hasty enchantments, dastardly Plots, or more +1/+1 counters than starting life totals: They demand different answers. Sometimes a trusty Lay Down Arms will be good enough... And other times, not. If you stretch to turn four or later, mana totals and life totals can become meaningless. It's wild out there.

Let's look!

Deck Zero: The Turn Two Kill

Gruul Prowess | FDN Standard | Jean-Emmanual Depraz, World Championships 2024

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Prior to the recent World Championships (and at this point, prior to Magic: The Gathering Foundations), Leyline of Resonance aggro decks were a hot topic in Standard. Chatter around Leyline of Resonance has died down for a couple of reasons.

Despite an impressive Standard start by Jean-Emmanuel Depraz with this build, Gruul decks with Leyline of Resonance simply weren't the preferred way to tap a Copperline Gorge at Worlds. The Pro level players largely knew about the potential high roll of having Leyline in your opening hand... But avoided including it because the card can be terrible if your 20-land deck is forced to actually cast the enchantment for 4 mana any time after turn zero.

The average player on Magic: The Gathering Arena had way more exposure to fast Leyline starts... Especially if they weren't playing Best-of-Three. That, of course, is now in the past.

The other major reason is the emergence of the Mono-Red deck with four copies of Rockface Village that made Top 8 at Worlds and largely replaced both Copperline Gorge and Bloodcleave Cliffs with Screaming Nemesis. Don't worry about the Red mages: They still have plenty of fast kills, if not turn two.

The Two Kill:

Turn 0: Start with Leyline of Resonance in Play

Turn 1: Mountain, Cacophony Scamp or Heartfire Hero

Turn 2: Mountain, Turn Inside Out + Burn Together

The uber-fast kill puts six (or seven) additional power on your 1-drop, allowing you to get in for 7-8 damage. The unique death trigger abilities on Cacophony Scamp and Heartfire Hero allow you to win on the second turn via Burn Together.

The Depraz deck only has one Burn Together, but lots of other builds (especially in MTGA Best-of-One prior to the Leyline of Resonance ban) had as many as four copies. Given the ability to win on turn two with this deck, you can imagine there are any number of turn three kills.

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

Barely.

The answer is technically yes, but your window is extremely narrow; and it often doesn't save you if your opponent has so much as a second 1-drop.

Boros Auras, a Turn Three Kill

Boros Aggro | DSK Standard | fives, 5-0 MTGO Standard League

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Boros Auras has become one of my favorite decks to play since I first wrote about it back in October. I started out kind of lukewarm on the deck, in part because of the rising popularity of Nowhere to Run as a preemptive answer to Shardmage's Rescue... But then I got better at playing the deck, and in turn, it kind of grew on me.

There are updated versions of this deck with some Black dual lands to cast Callous Sell-Sword, but it's largely been the same deck, in form and strategy.

There are lots of third turn kills available with this deck, which in some ways is the spiritual descendant of the Leyline / Mouse deck. Boros Auras is less "all in" than Leyline / Mouse, but then again "only" has turn three kills, not turn two. One of the huge incentives to this deck over other Red Aggro possibilities is simply that Sheltered by Ghosts gives you such an advantage in quasi-mirrors due to lifelink. Another is that unlike other haste decks in general (and certainly other Urabrask's Forge decks) the ability to side in Get Lost gives you resistance to Authority of the Consuls.

Turn 1: [Plot] Demonic Ruckus

Turn 2: [Plot] Slickshot Show-Off

Turn Three: Play Show-Off and Ruckus from Exile, Monstrous Rage, Burn Together

On turn three your Show-Off enters as a 1/2

Demonic Ruckus adds 3 power; 1+3=4

Monstrous Rage adds 5 more power 4+5=9

At this point you could actually just attack the opponent to 11 and finish them with Burn Together with Shardmage's Rescue backup.

Here's a more attack-centric way of doing things:

Turn 1: [Plot] Demonic Ruckus

Turn 2: [Plot] Slickshot Show-Off

Turn 3: Play Show-Off and Ruckus from Exile, Ethereal Armor, Ethereal Armor, Monstrous Rage

You start the same way, with your Plot cards "starting" Show-Off at 4 power.

The first Ethereal Armor adds another 2 from the Show-Off trigger (4+2=6)... And then counts your enchantments, so 8.

The second Ethereal Armor adds another 2 from the Show-Off trigger (8+2=10)... And then counts enchantments, so 13. The first Armor now counts the second armor, so 14.

At this point, Monstrous Rage puts you well into the lethal range between triggers and Armors, but you don't have the Rescue backup possibility you have in the other scenario.

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

Sadly, Lay Down Arms can't stop either of these variations. You never present a creature on the opponent's main phase, and some versions of the kill can cover with Shardmage's Rescue, which allow you to defend from other White removal like Elspeth's Smite or Get Lost.

But can Boros Auras present a third turn kill that can give the opponent a Lay Down Arms chance?

How about this one?

Turn 1: Heartfire Hero

Turn 2: Manifold Mouse

Turn 3: Monstrous Rage, Burn Together

On turn one you make a Heartfire Hero (1/1).

Manifold Mouse can give Heartfire Hero additional power via Valiant on turn two, plus Double Strike, allowing you to send for 4 damage (opponent on 16).

On turn three a simple Monstrous Rage will take Heartfire Hero from 2 power to 3 (Valiant) to 6 (Monstrous Rage). Double Strike here (especially with Heartfire Hero already trampling from Monstrous Rage) will attack the opponent down to 4. That implies a few things.

Most additional pump spells will just kill the opponent. You don't need much more power. Obviously, a Burn Together will do it. For simplicity's sake I just chose that as the finisher.

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

It sure can! You have opportunities to kill the Heartfire Hero before it can even attack, and you can break it up from the Manifold Mouse side before the lethal turn, so long as you have two Plains in play.

Mono-Red Prowess | FDN Standard | Echo part 4, 5-0 MTGO Standard League 12/15/2024

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One of the reasons Standard Red players were so okay with abandoning poor Leyline of Resonance was that in Mono-Red they got a more consistent inheritor to the aggro reins... And one with some pretty cool features.

I fell in love with this deck's four nonbasic lands from the first shuffle up. Witchstalker Frenzy is just so cool here. You can shoot down problematic blockers like Sheoldred, the Apocalypse; or your own Screaming Nemesis - nuking the opponent along the way - as you turn off their life gain.

Mono-Red is actually a better Mouse aggro deck than Boros Auras, because it has four copies of Manifold Mouse. It is also less reliant on finishing tricks like Burn Together because of its powerful Screaming Nemesis side plan and plentiful burn spells that can end the game outside of the Red Zone.

Like its cousins, this deck is quite capable of some similar turn three kills.

Turn 1: Heartfire Hero

Turn 2: Manifold Mouse

Turn 3: Monstrous Rage, Lightning Strike

This is a really similar kill to the last one we showcased from Boros Auras. But like I said, with twice the copies of Manifold Mouse, Mono-Red is even better at setting it up.

Turn one you have a 1/1 Heartfire Hero.

Again, on turn two you can be attacking for 2 (+1 from Valiant) but actually 4 thanks to Double Strike; this puts the opponent on 16.

On turn three your double striking Heartfire Hero can come in for 12 again with a Monstrous Rage. That would take the opponent from 16 to 4... But what about one more point from the Manifold Mouse itself attacking (3)... And then a simple Lightning Strike for the last three!

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

As above.

And Now for Something Completely Different

Mono-Green | FDN Standard | LegenVD

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This unusual beatdown deck comes to us from fabulous YouTuber LegenVD.

It's got a cool turn three kill!

Turn 1: Llanowar Elves

Turn 2: Mossborn Hydra

Turn 3: Snakeskin Veil, Ordeal of Nylea

Mossborn Hydra enters with a single +1/+1 counter.

On your third turn, you can cast Snakeskin Veil to put a second +1/+1 counter on the Mossborn Hydra.

Presuming you make your land drop, landfall will turn this into four +1/+1 counters.

Add Ordeal of Nylea. When the Mossborn Hydra attacks, it gains a fifth +1/+1 counter. This is more than the three +1/+1 counters the enchantment asks for to go hunting for two lands. Landfall from them will proceed to turn Mossborn Hydra into a cardboard tray too small for the TWENTY +1/+1 counters it will now be wearing.

This was kind of an awkward way to do it (and who leads with Hexproof, I mean really)... But it does showcase a very different route to a third turn kill in Standard. You could also do it this way:

Turn 1: Llanowar Elves

Turn 2: Mossborn Hydra

Turn 3: Bristly Bill, Spine Sower, Ordeal of Nylea

Remember, with a land drop on turn three, you have 4 mana to work with. Bristly Bill and Ordeal of Nylea together will put your Hydra well over 20 power, though you'll be tapped out.

Fabled Passage is another way to get the +1/+1 counters rolling... The important core cards you want for a turn three kill in this deck are Mossborn Hydra and Ordeal of Nylea.

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

Kind of.

You can kill the Elf ("Bolt the Bird") which would allow you to pre-empt the turn-two Hydra; though you may have problems killing he Hydra before it kills you while the opponent is tapped out, because it's a 3-drop and you probably won't have enough Plains in play to satisfy the hungry hungry Lay Down Arms.

Let Me Tell You About Turn Four

If you let your opponent get to turn four there are any number of wild ways you might up and die.

Did you know the Trix combo is back in Standard?

Demonic Pact
Harmless Offering

I guess this deck doesn't actually kill you on turn four, but its machinery can get going and at some point it can become very hard to deal with. The opponent can even empty your hand three turns in to make sure you can't counter the Harmless Offering. Ideally, they'll have done the Warleader's Helix thing, the Divination thing, and the Stupor thing, leaving just one thing for you.

Another cool variation on this that I've seen is with Archfiend of the Dross. Basically they hold you off for a few turns, dare you to kill their Demon, and then hand it over to you for similar game-ending purposes.

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop These Kills?

Demonic Pact? No; absolutely not. Archfiend of the Dross? Maybe.

Unstoppable Slasher
Bloodletter of Aclazotz

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

Generally, yes. But the beauty of the Mono-Black decks with Unstoppable Slasher is that they often don't care about Bloodletter (combo kills are nice, but the Slasher hits hard and munches defenders either way). Just wanted to make sure I added this because technically it can get you combo-style on turn four.

Finally:

Squirming Emergence
Omniscience

I really Really REALLY scratched my noggin on this one but couldn't figure out a way in any published deck to get Omniscience onto the battlefield on turn three. Presumably once you have it you can win that turn. The Pro move is to play a second Omniscience as soon as you can so that the opponent can't disrupt you with a single Get Lost or Into the Flood Maw; but then it's all about rolling that Atraxa die several times until you've Jace'd the opponent to high heaven.

Can a Lay Down Arms Stop This Kill?

Absolutely not. But on the other hand, if you're relying on Lay Down Arms for defense, you will probably lose to their multiple Jaces whether they set them up with a combo kill or not.

Was this actually three for turn three? I guess not. But hopefully you can see that there are a ton of different ways you might stumble into doom by the third turn in Standard; but on the other hand, a one mana sorcery can at least sometimes get you out of these pickles various. Standard really is a rewarding and varied place to play.

LOVE

MIKE

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TAGS articles, standard, metagame, constructed, analysis, decklist, michael flores, fdn standard, 12172024

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