Hello everyone. Three-color decks offer a lot of power and flexibility, but can sometimes have the drawback of being inconsistent when it comes to providing the right color of mana needed to cast the spells in your hand. Right now, with the abundance of various tri-color and dual-color lands currently in Standard, much of that inconsistency can be avoided. This week, I'll be taking a look at some three-color decks that you can play for fun or at your local tournaments. Let's get started.

Bant Control

We'll begin with a control deck that utilizes milling as its main route to victory. Let's take a look at the deck.

Bant Control | ONE Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (3)
• 3 Contagious Vorrac

• Planeswalkers (10)
• 2 Tamiyo, Compleated Sage
• 4 Jace, the Perfected Mind
• 4 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (9)
• 2 Soul Partition
• 3 Endless Detour
• 4 Memory Deluge

• Sorceries (7)
• 1 Sunset Revelry
• 2 Depopulate
• 2 Farewell
• 2 Silver Scrutiny

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker

• Lands (27)
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Adarkar Wastes
• 2 Brushland
• 2 Deserted Beach
• 2 Overgrown Farmland
• 2 Razorverge Thicket
• 2 Seachrome Coast
• 3 Dreamroot Cascade
• 3 Yavimaya Coast
• 4 Spara's Headquarters

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One card that will help with this is Tamiyo, Compleated Sage. Her -X loyalty ability can target a copy of Jace in your graveyard, creating a token copy of that card on the battlefield. If you have a copy of Jace on the battlefield, you can target it with Soul Partition, exiling it and allowing you to recast it. If you do this, make sure you utilize Jace's -X loyalty ability where X is equal to Jace's loyalty minus one before casting Soul Partition. You can also use Endless Detour regardless of whether Jace is on the battlefield or in your graveyard. This will ensure that you'll be able to draw him the next time you would draw a card, setting up the potential to mill an additional 15 cards the next time he is cast.

Toxic Abzan

Next, I have an Abzan deck that wants to win via poison counters. Let's take a look at it.

Toxic Abzan | ONE Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (30)
• 2 Bloated Contaminator
• 4 Annex Sentry
• 4 Bilious Skulldweller
• 4 Crawling Chorus
• 4 Jawbone Duelist
• 4 Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 4 Slaughter Singer
• 4 Venerated Rotpriest

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Drown in Ichor

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Skrelv's Hive

• Lands (22)
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Secluded Courtyard
• 2 Thran Portal
• 4 Caves of Koilos
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Razorverge Thicket
• 4 The Seedcore

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There are a few ways to help ensure that you can push through some damage, dealing poison counters in the process. First is by attacking with Bilious Skulldweller. Since this Phyrexian Insect has deathtouch, your opponent won't want to block unfavorably, so it will often be allowed to deal combat damage. You can also attack with Bloated Contaminator, as it has trample, so your opponent might have to double block it to ensure no damage tramples over their defenders. Finally, Skrelv, Defector Mite has an ability you can activate to make a creature of yours unblockable by creatures of a chosen color. Sneak right by your opponent's defense and serve up some poison counters.

Jund Reanimator

The next deck I have for you wants to bring big creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield, by cheating them into play. Let's take a look at the deck.

Jund Reanimator | ONE Standard | SlothMtg, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Atraxa, Grand Unifier
• 4 Bloodtithe Harvester
• 4 Titan of Industry

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Liliana of the Veil

• Instants (6)
• 2 Thrill of Possibility
• 4 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Brotherhood's End
• 4 Diregraf Rebirth

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki
• 4 The Cruelty of Gix

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Reckoner Bankbuster

• Lands (25)
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 2 Rockfall Vale
• 3 Sulfurous Springs
• 4 Deathcap Glade
• 4 Haunted Ridge
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Ziatora's Proving Ground

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In order to return these creatures to the battlefield, you'll be relying on two more playsets of cards that can be cast as early as turn four thanks to the Treasure token you can create with the help of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki. Chapter Three of The Cruelty of Gix allows you to return a target creature from any graveyard to the battlefield under your control. Diregraf Rebirth does the same, but it can only target a creature from your own graveyard. Diregraf Rebirth also has flashback, so it can be used an additional time later in the game if your initial plans don't pan out.

Grixis Combo

The final deck I have for you this week features a one-turn kill combo. Let's check it out.

Grixis Combo | ONE Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Solphim, Mayhem Dominus
• 4 Ill-Tempered Loner // Howlpack Avenger
• 4 Third Path Iconoclast

• Instants (12)
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 Go for the Throat
• 3 Make Disappear
• 3 Memory Deluge

• Sorceries (8)
• 2 Diabolic Intent
• 3 Brotherhood's End
• 3 Burn Down the House

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Fable of the Mirror-Breaker // Reflection of Kiki-Jiki

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 The Celestus

• Lands (24)
• 1 Island
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 2 Haunted Ridge
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Shipwreck Marsh
• 2 Shivan Reef
• 2 Stormcarved Coast
• 2 Sulfurous Springs
• 2 Underground River
• 4 Xander's Lounge

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Since this is a combo deck, there are certain things you'll need in order to defeat your opponent in a single turn. To begin, you'll want a copy of Ill-Tempered Loner // Howlpack Avenger in play. You'll want to have Ill-Tempered Loner transform into Howlpack Avenger, turning it into night with the help of The Celestus if you need to. Whenever a creature you control is dealt damage, Howlpack Avenger will deal that much damage to any target, preferably directly to your opponent. You'll also want a copy of Solphim, Mayhem Dominus on the battlefield. This doubles the amount of any noncombat damage you deal to your opponent. Finally, you'll want to cast Burn Down the House, which will see your opponent taking 10 damage for each creature you have in play.

Much like any combo deck, you'll need the right cards at the right time for your plan to go accordingly. Memory Deluge can be cast to help you find any pieces of the combo you're missing. This deck is also chock-full of removal spells that you can use against your opponent's creatures, helping to keep your life total from getting too low. Finally, there's even a few copies of Brotherhood's End that can be used instead of Burn Down the House, allowing both Howlpack Avenger and Solphim to remain alive, while still dealing a fair amount of damage directly to your opponent.

Wrapping Up

The four decks I've brought you this week all feature non-traditional routes to victory. From mill to poison, or reanimation to combo damage, you're likely to find a deck currently in Standard that you would consider fun to play. Because of this variety, I've found our current Standard environment to be very enjoyable. I'm excited to see what happens when March of the Machine releases, and I hope that it continues the trend of allowing a variety of decks to shine.

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