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Hello, everyone! Theros Beyond Death is officially Standard legal and new decks are seeing play. This week, we'll take a look at a few new decks that feature some of these new cards. Let's get started.
Gruul Adventure
The first deck we'll be taking a look at this week features a new Saga and a new God. Let's take a look at Gruul Adventure:
Gruul Adventure | THB Standard | CHAYAJOM, (5-0) MTGO
- Creatures (25)
- 2 Klothys, God of Destiny
- 3 Paradise Druid
- 4 Bonecrusher Giant
- 4 Edgewall Innkeeper
- 4 Lovestruck Beast
- 4 Rimrock Knight
- 4 Questing Beast
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Domri's Ambush
- Enchantments (3)
- 3 The First Iroan Games
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Embercleave
- Lands (24)
- 5 Mountain
- 7 Forest
- 2 Castle Embereth
- 2 Fabled Passage
- 4 Stomping Ground
- 4 Temple of Abandon
Later in the game, once you have some permanents in play, your devotion to Red and Green could be high enough to allow Klothys to become a creature. As long as you've had Klothys in play as an enchantment for a minimum of one turn prior to reaching seven devotion to Red and Green, Klothys won't have summoning sickness when it becomes a creature. Once that happens, you'll be able to infinitely block any single creature for the rest of the game. As long as that creature doesn't have trample, you'll have a good chance of outlasting your opponent as long as you can continue exiling nonland cards from any graveyard each turn.
This deck also plays three copies of The First Iroan Games. This saga has four chapters, which is a little different from most sagas. Each chapter of The First Iroan Games has good synergy with the following chapter. You start by creating a 1/1 Human Soldier token. Chapter two allows you to put three +1/+1 counters on a creature you control, which allows you to draw two cards when chapter three happens. The final chapter gives you a Gold token that you can use to cast your beefy creatures on future turns. Since many of your creatures are relatively large, you'll likely be able to overpower your opponent in combat.
Esper Hero
The next deck I have for you shows just how good Hero of Precinct One is alongside cards from Theros Beyond Death. Let's take a look at the deck:
Esper Hero | THB Standard | STORIES, (5-0) MTGO
- Creatures (11)
- 2 Dream Trawler
- 2 Thief of Sanity
- 3 Atris, Oracle of Half-Truths
- 4 Hero of Precinct One
- Planeswalkers (6)
- 2 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
- 4 Teferi, Time Raveler
- Instants (10)
- 2 Despark
- 2 Dovin's Veto
- 2 Mortify
- 4 Tyrant's Scorn
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Thought Erasure
- Enchantmets (3)
- 3 Oath of Kaya
- Lands (26)
- 1 Island
- 1 Plains
- 2 Swamp
- 2 Temple of Silence
- 4 Godless Shrine
- 4 Hallowed Fountain
- 4 Temple of Deceit
- 4 Temple of Enlightenment
- 4 Watery Grave
- Sideboard (15)
- 2 Duress
- 2 Elspeth Conquers Death
- 4 Kaya's Wrath
- 3 Leyline of the Void
- 4 Mystical Dispute
Another way to build up your forces is by activating the +1 loyalty ability of Ashiok, Nightmare Muse. That will create a 2/3 Nightmare token that puts the top two cards of your opponent's deck into exile whenever the token attacks or blocks. If these Nightmares are able to stall the game long enough, you might just be able to "mill" your opponent's deck entirely. If you happen to exile something particularly powerful, you can work towards activating Ashiok's -7 loyalty ability, which allows you to cast three of your opponent's cards from exile for free.
Assuming you can slow the game down long enough, you'll be able to cast Dream Trawler as a powerful finisher. Whenever you draw a card, Dream Trawler gets +1/+0 until the end of the turn. Since you'll draw a card at the start of your turn and since you also draw a card whenever Dream Trawler attacks, you'll have, at minimum, a 5/5 flying creature with lifelink. Dream Trawler is also easy to protect against targeted removal, as long as you have a card in your hand that you don't mind discarding. Getting a ten-point swing in life totals can help close out a game quickly.
Orzhov Enchantments
The final deck I have for you this week seeks to gain an advantage by playing a large number of Enchantments. Let's take a look at it:
Orzhov Enchantments | THB Standard | TOXICMAHOGANY, (5-0) MTGO
- Creatures (16)
- 1 Cavalier of Dawn
- 2 Alseid of Life's Bounty
- 2 Archon of Sun's Grace
- 3 Starfield Mystic
- 4 Aphemia, the Cacophony
- 4 Hateful Eidolon
- Instants (2)
- 2 Final Payment
- Enchantments (18)
- 1 Elspeth Conquers Death
- 2 Dead Weight
- 2 Sentinel's Eyes
- 3 All That Glitters
- 3 Mire's Grasp
- 3 Treacherous Blessing
- 4 Tymaret Calls the Dead
- Lands (24)
- 6 Plains
- 6 Swamp
- 2 Castle Ardenvale
- 2 Castle Locthwain
- 4 Godless Shrine
- 4 Temple of Silence
Once your enchantment creatures and other enchantments go to your graveyard, you can still get use out of them. Aphemia, the Cacophony allows you to exile an enchantment from your graveyard at the beginning of your end step. If you do, you'll create a 2/2 Zombie token. Those tokens can be used as blockers, so you can keep your life total high, or you can use them to outnumber your opponent's forces.
Since this deck has so many enchantments in it, All That Glitters can be used to make one of your creatures huge. Nearly every creature in this deck has either lifelink, vigilance, or flying, so finding a good target for All That Glitters shouldn't be too difficult. The best choice will either be Archon of Sun's Grace or one of the Pegasus tokens it has created, since both of these options have flying and lifelink.
Wrapping Up
The decks I've shown you this week are just the beginning of the new decks that are being created with cards from Theros Beyond Death. Which cards from this new set are you most looking forward to playing?
What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!
- Mike Likes
