Hello everyone. With only a few weeks to go until the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, I'm smack dab in the middle of my look at some current decks that all feature a specific color. This week I'm looking at some decks featuring the color Red. Let's get started.

Mono-Red Aggro

I always start by looking at a mono-colored deck, so we'll begin by taking a look at a Mono-Red aggressive deck.

Mono-Red Aggro | DFT Standard | MTG_Joe, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (24)
• 4 Emberheart Challenger
• 4 Heartfire Hero
• 4 Hired Claw
• 4 Manifold Mouse
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Screaming Nemesis

• Instants (16)
• 4 Burst Lightning
• 4 Lightning Strike
• 4 Monstrous Rage
• 4 Witchstalker Frenzy

• Lands (20)
• 16 Mountain
• 4 Rockface Village

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Fast damage is the name of the game with this deck. There are full playsets of three different creatures with a mana value of one. You could start off with a hasty attacker like Monastery Swiftspear. Or, perhaps start with a creature that deals extra damage to your opponent whenever you attack with a Lizard like Hired Claw. You could even start with a creature that deals damage to your opponent when it dies like Heartfire Hero. All three of these creatures are sure to get things started positively for you.

This deck also features a full playset of Screaming Nemesis, a key creature for most Standard Red-based decks. When Screaming Nemesis is dealt damage, it will also deal that same amount of damage to any target. You'll want to target your opponent directly, because this will make that player unable to gain life for the rest of the game. Since Red decks want to win fast, shutting off any life gain is vital.

Boros Mice

The next deck I have for you adds White mana, which provides a little more protection for this deck. Let's take a look at it.

Boros Mice | DFT Standard | MTG_Joe, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Mabel, Heir to Cragflame
• 2 Screaming Nemesis
• 4 Emberheart Challenger
• 4 Heartfire Hero
• 4 Hired Claw
• 4 Manifold Mouse

• Instants (12)
• 4 Burst Lightning
• 4 Lightning Helix
• 4 Monstrous Rage

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Shardmage's Rescue
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (22)
• 6 Mountain
• 2 Sunbillow Verge
• 3 Restless Bivouac
• 3 Rockface Village
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Inspiring Vantage

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This Boros deck is very similar to the previous Mono-Red Aggro deck. Much of the play of the deck is the same. You're wanting to get threats onto the battlefield quickly, and pile on 20 damage ASAP. It even uses the same creatures to accomplish this result. The main difference is that this deck can get just a little bit bigger thanks to Mabel, Heir to Cragflame. When Mabel enters the battlefield, she brings with her Cragflame. This equipment gives the equipped creature a +1/+1 bonus in addition to vigilance, trample, and haste.

The addition of White mana also offers some protection for your creatures. That protection comes in two forms. The first is with Shardmage's Rescue, which can be flashed into play and provides hexproof for the turn it enters play. The second is with Sheltered by Ghosts, which offers some removal which can be used on any nonland permanent your opponent controls. This aura also provides the creature it enchants with ward 2, keeping it safer from removal spells your opponent might cast.

Izzet Monument Control

The next deck I have for you features a very popular artifact from Aetherdrift. Let's check it out.

Izzet Monument Control | DFT Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Ral, Crackling Wit

• Instants (17)
• 2 Fuel the Flames
• 2 Negate
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 3 Broadside Barrage
• 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Season of Weaving
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Artist's Talent
• 4 Stormchaser's Talent

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 The Irencrag
• 4 Monument to Endurance

• Lands (24)
• 5 Island
• 5 Mountain
• 2 Demolition Field
• 2 Fomori Vault
• 2 Spirebluff Canal
• 2 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 2 Thundering Falls
• 4 Riverpyre Verge

• Sideboard (4)
• 1 Chandra, Hope's Beacon
• 1 Into the Flood Maw
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 1 Pyromancer's Goggles

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Monument to Endurance is the artifact I was talking about before the decklist. When this artifact is in play, whenever you discard a card, you'll get to choose to do one of the following three options: drawing a car, creating a Treasure token, or causing your opponent to lose 3 life. While the first two options are very good to use under the right circumstances, causing your opponent to lose 3 life is the way you'll win with this deck. However, the real secret to winning quickly with this ability is by creating copies of Monument to Endurance that will all activate when you discard a card.

You'll be using a couple of spells to create the additional copies of Monument to Endurance that you'll need to deal lethal damage. First, you have Three Steps Ahead. This modal spell does it all, from countering your opponent's spells, to allowing you to draw two cards, and then discard one. It can also create a copy of an artifact or creature you control. Second, you have Season of Weaving, which is able to create two copies of an artifact or creature you control. By using both of these spells, you can create a few copies of Monument to Endurance. Activate those copies a couple of times by discarding a card, and you can quickly leave your opponent's life total at 0.

Rakdos One Kitty Combo

The next deck I have for you is a combo deck featuring a couple of cards that can cause your opponent to immediately lose the game. Let's take a look at the deck.

Rakdos One Kitty Combo | DFT Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (10)
• 3 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 3 Marketback Walker
• 4 Nine-Lives Familiar

• Instants (9)
• 2 Corrupted Conviction
• 3 Bitter Triumph
• 4 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Brotherhood's End
• 2 Deadly Cover-Up
• 2 Duress

• Enchantments (6)
• 3 All Will Be One
• 3 Virtue of Persistence

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 The Millennium Calendar

• Lands (25)
• 6 Mountain
• 7 Swamp
• 2 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 2 Demolition Field
• 2 Fountainport
• 2 Raucous Theater
• 4 Blazemire Verge

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All Will Be One won't be Standard legal much longer, so now is the time to get some fun from playing it. While All Will Be One is on the battlefield, whenever you put counters on a permanent or player, this enchantment will deal an equal amount of damage to your opponent, one of their creatures, or one of their planeswalkers. Combine that with The Millennium Calendar, which gains a number of time counters based on the number of permanents you untap during your untap step, and you have the potential for a lot of damage that can be dealt.

Nine-Lives Familiar combos nicely with All Will Be One as well, providing you with an additional way of dealing a lot of damage. This Cat enters play with eight revival counters on it. When it dies, it will be returned to the battlefield with one less revival counter than it had when it was alive. By destroying your own Nine-Lives Familiar with one of your removal spells, you can trigger All Will Be One again and again, dealing damage directly to your opponent until they have no life remaining.

Gruul Dinosaurs

The final deck I have for you this week adds Green to the mix and focuses on Dinosaurs. Let's check it out.

Gruul Dinosaurs | DFT Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (33)
• 1 Itzquinth, Firstborn of Gishath
• 1 Tranquil Frillback
• 2 Agonasaur Rex
• 2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 2 Hulking Raptor
• 2 Palani's Hatcher
• 2 Pugnacious Hammerskull
• 2 Regal Imperiosaur
• 2 Trumpeting Carnosaur
• 3 Belligerent Yearling
• 3 Bonehoard Dracosaur
• 3 Ixalli's Lorekeeper
• 4 Intrepid Paleontologist
• 4 Llanowar Elves

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Triumphant Chomp

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 7 Forest
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Restless Ridgeline
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Karplusan Forest
• 4 Thornspire Verge

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Gruul Dinosaur decks have been around for a while now, so I'm going to specifically look at the new Dinosaurs that Aetherdrift has provided to this deck. First is Regal Imperiosaur. For only three mana, you get a 5/4 Dinosaur that pumps your other Dinosaurs by +1/+1. There will be times when this bonus won't matter as much, but for those times that you have Dinosaurs in play with trample, this boost will help you defeat your opponent more quickly.

Speaking of Dinosaurs with trample, the other addition from Aetherdrift, Agonasaur Rex, happens to have trample and is an 8/8 for just 5 mana. It also has a cycling ability that you can use to place two +1/+1 counters on a creature (or vehicle). This ability also provides that creature trample and indestructible until the end of the turn. By using this ability, you can turn one of your other creatures into a wrecking machine, potentially trampling over any blockers with lethal damage.

Wrapping Up

Red is always a very aggressive color, and these decks show why. I plan on building each of these to score some quick victories on Magic Arena.

What do you think of these decks? 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