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Main » Articles » Standard Lists Making Mythic

Standard Lists Making Mythic

Mike Likes
Posted on March 25, 2021
 Reddit

Hello everyone. Over the past year, playing on Magic Arena has been a vitally important way for many people to continue playing this game we all love. When getting together in person is not possible, playing online can be the next best alternative. This week, I have a few decks that come from this online world. These decks have all helped their pilots achieve Mythic ranking. Let's get started.

Bant Toski

We get started this week with a deck featuring my favorite, new Squirrel, Toski, Bearer of Secrets. Let's take a look at the deck.

Bant Toski | KHM Standard | Torm, Magic Arena Player

Toski, Bearer of Secrets can be a very irritating creature to play against. While it is only a 1/1, the fact that it is indestructible and has to attack each turn means that your opponent will need to dedicate a blocker, or else they'll take at least one point of damage each turn. Since it's only a 1/1, most opponents would be tempted to just deal with the minor life loss, except Toski has another ability that allows you to draw a card whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player. That can amount to drawing quite a few cards over the course of a game, giving you card advantage over your opponent.

If you manage to have a copy of Felidar Retreat in play alongside Toski, your opponent will begin to see things spiraling out of control. Felidar Retreat does one of two things when a land enters play under your control. It either creates a 2/2 Cat Beast creature token, or it places a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control and gives those creatures vigilance for the turn. By creating a 2/2 Cat Beast creature token, you provide yourself with an additional creature to attack with, giving you a greater chance of being able to draw an additional card thanks to Toski. Alternatively, the +1/+1 counters enable your existing creatures to grow, becoming more and more difficult for your opponent to block effectively.

This deck also features an Adventure theme. That offers you multiple options to consider for many of your spells. Do you hold onto Brazen Borrower in order to return a powerful nonland your opponent controls to their hand so you can counter it by playing Disdainful Stroke, or do you get out your 3/1 flyer right away so that you can begin dealing combat damage and drawing additional cards when you have Toski on the battlefield? As with most Adventure decks, the amount of options make playing this deck a little more complex than some other decks, but those same options allow this deck to perform well against a variety of opponents.

Dimir Control

My next deck foregoes playing any creature spells entirely in its effort to control the game. Let's take a look at it.

Dimir Control | KHM Standard | Aeneas, Magic Arena Player

If you're looking to play a control deck, you might want to give this one a try. It provides numerous was to keep your opponent's battlefield clear of threats, including Bloodchief's Thirst, Heartless Act, Extinction Event, and Shadows' Verdict. It also includes spells that help you counter an opponent's spells, stopping their plans before they've had a chance to manifest. These include Negate and Saw It Coming. You also have cards that allow you to scry and draw additional cards, ensuring you'll have what you need in your hand when you need it. These spells include Behold the Multiverse and Graven Lore.

Control decks need a way of closing out the game quickly once they have things in hand. This deck has a couple of ways to make this happen. The first is with Shark Typhoon. Shark Typhoon can be used in a couple of ways, and both allow you to put into play a Shark creature token that has flying. You can either cycle Shark Typhoon to create a single token, or you can cast it as an enchantment, and Shark Typhoon will create a token every time you cast a noncreature spell. You'll likely want to get Shark Typhoon on the battlefield as an enchantment rather than cycling it the majority of the time, but having that flexibility can allow you to create a single Shark, enabling you to stay alive long enough for your plans to come to fruition.

The other way to close out a game quickly is to cast Ugin, the Spirit Dragon. Much of the time when Ugin enters the battlefield, you'll want to use his -X loyalty ability to exile each permanent with a mana cost of X or less that isn't colorless. This allows you to clear your opponent's battlefield of any threats they have in play. Of future turns, you can use Ugin's +2 loyalty ability to deal three damage to any target. If your opponent casts a creature, you can burn it away with this damage. Otherwise, if the battlefield is clear, point that damage directly at your opponent and watch their life total burn away.

Temur Turns

Temur Turns | KHM Standard | ganp, Magic Arena Player

This is another deck that features a lot of Adventures from Throne of Eldraine. Edgewall Innkeeper allows you to draw a card whenever you cast a creature that has an Adventure. This can help you draw into the cards you need much faster than simply relying on your natural drawing of a card each turn. One of the main cards you'll be searching for is Alrund's Epiphany.

When you cast Alrund's Epiphany, you'll create two 1/1 Bird creature tokens with flying. More importantly, though, Alrund's Epiphany allows you to take an extra turn after your current turn. You'll be able to use those extra turns advantageously by attacking with your creatures that are either larger than many others or with creatures that have some form of evasion. Koma, Cosmos Serpent is a terrific creature to have in play when you cast Alrund's Epiphany, as you'll be able to sacrifice a Serpent in order to tap a target permanent. You'll be able to tap potential blockers allowing you to attack for maximum damage.

Another creature that can really help out during your extra turn is Goldspan Dragon. Whenever Goldspan Dragon attacks, you'll create a Treasure token. As long as Goldspan Dragon is on the battlefield, that Treasure token can be sacrificed to provide you with two mana of any color. You can use that extra mana as a means of casting another copy of Alrund's Epiphany right away, continuing your ability to take all of the turns.

Wrapping Up

It's not an easy task to get to Mythic ranking on Magic Arena. These decks helped their pilots achieve this task, and with a little luck, they might help you as well.

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

TAGS articles, standard, metagame, constructed, analysis, decklist, mike likes, khm standard, 03252021

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