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Hello, everyone! Theros Beyond Death has been out for a few weeks now and it has really freshened up Standard. We're definitely in the "honeymoon phase" for this set, where anything seems possible. This week, we'll be taking a look at a few decks that have received upgrades from Theros Beyond Death that you might want to try out at a tournament near you. Let's get started.
Jund Food
The first deck I have for you this week has been around for a while, but got a few new cards from Theros Beyond Death. Let's take a look at the deck:
Jund Food | THB Standard | TELSACOW, (5-0) MTGO
- Creatures (20)
- 4 Cauldron Familiar
- 4 Gilded Goose
- 4 Korvold, Fae-Cursed King
- 4 Mayhem Devil
- 4 Wildborn Preserver
- Instants (7)
- 3 Eat to Extinction
- 4 Assassin's Trophy
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Trail of Crumbs
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Witch's Oven
- Lands (25)
- 1 Mountain
- 1 Swamp
- 3 Forest
- 4 Fabled Passage
- 4 Overgrown Tomb
- 4 Stomping Ground
- 4 Temple of Malady
- 4 Temple of Malice
Theros Beyond Death brought the allied scry lands, which makes the mana for this deck much easier. You now have access to a playset of Temple of Malice, which taps for either Red or Black mana, but also allows you to scry the top card of your library when it comes into play. That allows you the ability to send an unwanted land card to the bottom of your library when you're flooding, or keep it on top if you're mana screwed. Or, you can use it to send away an extra creature if you're searching for a piece of removal.
Speaking of removal, Theros Beyond Death also added a powerful removal spell for this deck to use. Eat to Extinction allows you to exile any creature or planeswalker at instant speed. This removal isn't restricted to only removing a creature with a specific converted mana cost (CMC) or size. The fact that it exiles the creature makes it a very powerful piece of removal against decks attempting to utilize a creature's Escape ability. You can also use this on any of the Gods once the opponent has enough devotion to turn them into creatures. This gets around the fact that they are indestructible, since exiling doesn't destroy the creature.
Temur Reclamation
The next deck I have for you features one of the Elder Giants from Theros Beyond Death. Let's take a look at it:
Temur Reclamation | THB Standard | BOBINCHESE, (5-0) MTGO
- Creatures (9)
- 2 Gadwick, the Wizened
- 3 Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
- 4 Brazen Borrower
- Instants (12)
- 4 Expansion // Explosion
- 4 Growth Spiral
- 4 Thassa's Intervention
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Storm's Wrath
- Enchantments (8)
- 4 Omen of the Sea
- 4 Wilderness Reclamation
- Lands (27)
- 1 Mountain
- 2 Forest
- 2 Island
- 1 Temple of Abandon
- 2 Castle Vantress
- 2 Fabled Passage
- 2 Temple of Mystery
- 3 Temple of Epiphany
- 4 Breeding Pool
- 4 Steam Vents
- 4 Stomping Ground
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Aether Gust
- 2 Chandra's Pyrohelix
- 2 Fry
- 3 Mystical Dispute
- 1 Negate
- 1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
- 3 Scorching Dragonfire
Storm's Wrath is the sweeper that Red has needed for a while. Dealing four damage is usually just enough to destroy most creatures on the battlefield. The fact that Storm's Wrath deals four damage to each planeswalker is also very important. Red decks have usually been comprised of smaller creatures that can quickly become outclassed, making it difficult to attack an opposing planeswalker if the opponent has any decent blockers on the battlefield. Now, even though you'll generally wipe your own board, Red decks have a way to reset the battlefield when things start to become difficult.
Thassa's Intervention is a great modular spell that can be pretty vital to this deck. If you need it to, you can cast it to counter an opponent's spell unless they pay additional mana. However, it's much more likely that you'll use Thassa's Intervention to find a copy of Expansion // Explosion that you can finish the game with on the following turn.
Rakdos Aggro
The final deck I have for you this week proves the power of Embercleave. Let's take a look at it:
Rakdos Aggro | THB Standard | DR_MACOLER_, (5-0) MTGO
- Creatures (28)
- 4 Blacklance Paragon
- 4 Bonecrusher Giant
- 4 Fervent Champion
- 4 Knight of the Ebon Legion
- 4 Rotting Regisaur
- 4 Spawn of Mayhem
- 4 Stormfist Crusader
- Sorceries (4)
- 4 Drill Bit
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Embercleave
- Lands (24)
- 9 Mountain
- 9 Swamp
- 2 Castle Locthwain
- 4 Blood Crypt
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Duress
- 2 Epic Downfall
- 2 Legion's End
- 2 Murderous Rider
- 4 Noxious Grasp
- 2 Sorcerous Spyglass
One fun combo to try is to equip Embercleave to one of your Knight creatures as a means of creature destruction. This works well if you are also able to flash in Blacklance Paragon to give the equipped Knight deathtouch. If you're lucky, your opponent will block with multiple creatures as a way to avoid taking trample damage. By giving the Knight deathtouch, you only need to assign one point of damage to each blocking creature in order to destroy them, which leaves any additional damage free to trample to your opponent's life total.
While this deck is likely the least complicated of the decklists I have for you this week, it's also quite possibly the most powerful. If you're looking for a deck that you can play at your local Friday Night Magic event, you should give this one a try. You can likely play your best of three match in about 30 minutes or less, leaving you plenty of time to socialize with your friends.
Wrapping Up
Theros Beyond Death has reinvigorated my love for Standard. For a while, Standard was a little lackluster, but thanks to the influx of new cards, I'm excited to play Standard again.
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
