Hello everyone. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty is a breath of fresh air for Standard, and has brought many new cards to liven up a somewhat stale format. This week, I have three new decks that feature some of these new cards. While these decks are untested in tournament play, they'll be good starting points for you to tweak as needed. Let's get started.

Azorius Tempo

We get started this week with a deck that has the tools to take on any challenger. Let's take a look at it.

Azorius Tempo | NEO Standard | RickyBarnett, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Intrepid Adversary
• 2 Legion Angel
• 3 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 3 Usher of the Fallen
• 4 Elite Spellbinder
• 4 Luminarch Aspirant
• 4 Skyclave Apparition
• 4 Spectral Adversary

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (6)
• 3 Spell Pierce
• 3 Fateful Absence

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Prodigy's Prototype

• Lands (23)
• 4 Island
• 6 Plains
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Hall of Storm Giants
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 4 Deserted Beach
• 4 Hengegate Pathway // Mistgate Pathway

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Legion Angel
• 2 Reidane, God of the Worthy // Valkmira, Protector's Shield
• 3 Malevolent Hermit
• 2 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Valorous Stance
• 2 Paladin Class
• 2 Portable Hole

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The Wandering Emperor's -2 loyalty ability can make your opponent hesitant about attacking. Since you can exile a tapped creature, while simultaneously gaining two points of life, your opponent might be hesitant to put their best creatures in the path of danger. The Wandering Emperor isn't the only thing to worry about in this deck, however. Fateful Absence will destroy any creature or planeswalker you can target. Giving your opponent a clue token usually won't benefit them enough to replace this loss. You also have Skyclave Apparition, who can exile a nonland, nontoken permanent with a mana value of four or less. This Kor Spirit has been a Standard staple in most White decks for the past year, and for good reason.

So far, I've only talked about defensive cards, but this deck can put up a powerful offense as well. Many of the creatures in this deck have flying, making them more difficult for some decks to block. By combining that evasiveness with the +1/+1 counters that Luminarch Aspirant provides, plus the +1/+1 bonus you get from each valor counter you place on Intrepid Adversary, and you'll end up with some very potent and deadly flying threats.

Abzan Haunting

Next, I have a deck that harnesses the power of enchantments to great effect. Let's take a look at the deck.

Abzan Haunting | NEO Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (20)
• 3 Gloomshrieker
• 3 Kami of Transience
• 3 Weaver of Harmony
• 3 Spirited Companion
• 4 Generous Visitor
• 4 Jukai Naturalist

• Enchantments (16)
• 2 Skeletal Swarming
• 2 The Meathook Massacre
• 2 The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration
• 3 Binding the Old Gods
• 3 Michiko's Reign of Truth // Portrait of Michiko
• 4 Hallowed Haunting

• Lands (24)
• 1 Swamp
• 6 Forest
• 6 Plains
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Deathcap Glade
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 3 Overgrown Farmland
• 3 Shattered Sanctum

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Of the enchantment creatures in this deck, two of them provide you with a tangible bonus you can use throughout the game. Jukai Naturalist provides a discount of 1 mana to enchantment spells you cast. Thanks to this discount, you might be able to cast multiple threats each turn instead of just one. Weaver of Harmony provides a +1/+1 bonus to other enchantment creatures you control. This bonus works well for all of your enchantment creature spells, as well as the enchantment creatures that you get when a saga transforms.

Hallowed Haunting makes for a great finisher in this deck. Since you'll create a Spirit Cleric creature token that has power and toughness equal to the number of Spirits you control, you should be swimming in Spirit Cleric creature tokens in no time. You'll also be able to create additional Spirit creature tokens when you attack or block with Architect of Restoration, the transformed side of The Restoration of Eiganjo. Also, keep in mind that Hallowed Haunting will give flying and vigilance to creatures you control once you have seven or more enchantments in play. Achieving this should be child's play since nearly half of the deck is enchantments of one sort or another.

Rakdos Aggro

We'll wrap things up this week by taking a look at an aggressive deck that features a pair of Kamigawa's Legendary Dragon Spirits.

Rakdos Aggro | NEO Standard | HelloGoodGame, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (30)
• 1 Junji, the Midnight Sky
• 2 Atsushi, the Blazing Sky
• 2 Shambling Ghast
• 2 Thundering Raiju
• 3 Kalain, Reclusive Painter
• 4 Blade of the Oni
• 4 Bloodvial Purveyor
• 4 Fireblade Charger
• 4 Lizard Blades
• 4 Reckless Stormseeker // Storm-Charged Slasher

• Instants (6)
• 2 Abrade
• 4 Infernal Grasp

• Lands (24)
• 4 Mountain
• 4 Swamp
• 2 Den of the Bugbear
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 2 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 2 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 4 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
• 4 Haunted Ridge

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Lizard Blades is one of my favorite new cards from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. It starts out as a 1/1 creature with double strike, but it can be reconfigured to give the equipped creature double strike. Blade of the Oni is an artifact creature that starts off as a 3/1 with menace, but can be reconfigured to change the equipped creature's base power and toughness of 5/5, turning that creature into a Demon and providing it with menace. By reconfiguring both of these cards and equipping them to your other creatures, you set up a situation where you can attack with Thundering Raiju, dealing a lot of damage to your opponent.

This deck also includes a pair of Legendary Lands from Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance has a channel ability that can be used to create a pair of 1/1 Spirit creature tokens that have haste. This furthers the aggressive nature of this deck, and by equipping these tokens they can become formidable threats. Takenuma, Abandoned Mire's channel ability allows you to mill three cards and then return a creature (or planeswalker) from your graveyard to your hand. This is a great way to get back a creature your opponent previously destroyed. Alternatively, you can cast Infernal Grasp on one of your Spirit Dragons in order to use it's ability that triggers when it dies and then return it to your hand with Takenuma, Abandoned Mire, enabling you to cast it again.

Wrapping Up

Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty provides us with a ton of new and exciting cards. The decks I've shown you this week barely begin to scratch the surface of what is possible. I'm excited to see some results from Magic Arena or Magic Online to see what decks are the most competitive.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. 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