Hello everyone. We've officially reached that point where the previews for the upcoming set, Streets of New Capenna, have made it impossible to want to brew the best deck for Standard, because it will be obsolete soon. For me, during this 'lame duck' phase, I like to take a look for some decks that I think will be fun to play, but still stand a chance of winning (because there's a bit of Spike in me, after all). This week I have a few decks that I plan on trying out over the next couple of weeks. Let's get started.

Poisonous Ninjas

The first deck I have for you features a couple of things that I enjoy, at least in Magic - Poison and Ninjas. Let's take a look at a deck that combines these two things to see what it's capable of.

Poisonous Ninjas | NEO Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (31)
• 2 Henrika Domnathi // Henrika, Infernal Seer
• 2 Kappa Tech-Wrecker
• 3 Spring-Leaf Avenger
• 4 Eyetwitch
• 4 Fang of Shigeki
• 4 Fell Stinger
• 4 Fynn, the Fangbearer
• 4 Tainted Adversary
• 4 Tajuru Blightblade

• Instants (2)
• 2 Master's Rebuke

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Binding the Old Gods

• Lands (24)
• 4 Swamp
• 7 Forest
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 1 Woodland Chasm
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 4 Darkbore Pathway // Slitherbore Pathway
• 4 Deathcap Glade

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Basic Conjuration
• 1 Containment Breach
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Expanded Anatomy
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Necrotic Fumes
• 1 Pest Summoning

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To help you achieve this alternate win condition, this deck includes a ton of creatures with deathtouch. Tajuru Blightblade and Fang of Shigeki are both one-mana value creatures with deathtouch. They might not do much damage on their own, but it only takes a couple of attacks from them while Fynn is on the battlefield to put a lot of pressure on your opponent. You'll also be able to destroy your opponent's creatures by playing Master's Rebuke. One point of damage from a creature with deathtouch will kill any opposing creature, so be sure to save this to use against flying threats or creatures with trample.

I've played many decks with Fynn, the Fangbearer and have seen opponents allow some attacks by your creatures with deathtouch to go through unblocked. Their thought is that only the attack that gives them their tenth poison counter needs to be blocked. They couldn't be more wrong when facing this deck. Having an unblocked creature is an open invitation for you to sneak in with Spring-Leaf Avenger, thanks to its ninjutsu ability. You can then return a permanent from your graveyard to your hand. Additionally, if your opponent has eight poison counters and you're having trouble getting a creature with deathtouch through, if you can get any creature through unblocked, you can use Kappa Tech-Wrecker's ninjutsu ability to deal that last bit of poison damage. Your opponent might not see this sneak attack coming.

Mirror Box Humans

Next, I have a deck that combines legendary Humans with Mirror Box. Let's check it out.

Mirror Box Humans | NEO Standard | Redd_Cat_MTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (33)
• 2 Sigarda, Champion of Light
• 3 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 3 Katilda, Dawnhart Prime
• 3 Minsc, Beloved Ranger
• 3 Sigrid, God-Favored
• 3 Thalia, Guardian of Thraben
• 4 Halana and Alena, Partners
• 4 Hopeful Initiate
• 4 Intrepid Adversary
• 4 Luminarch Aspirant

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Mirror Box

• Lands (23)
• 1 Plains
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 2 Cragcrown Pathway // Timbercrown Pathway
• 2 Overgrown Farmland
• 2 Sundown Pass
• 4 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway
• 4 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 4 Secluded Courtyard

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This deck boasts a few neat combos. One combines the mana production from Katilda, Dawnhart Prime with Minsc, Beloved Ranger and his giant miniature space hamster partner, Boo, to create a massive threat that has trample. This can allow you to deal lethal damage to your opponent even when faced with a large number of chump blockers. Alternatively, the mana production ability that Katilda provides can be used to further bolster your ranks, allowing you to play more and more Humans each turn.

Sigarda, Champion of Light is the only non-Human creature in this deck. She still fits in perfectly here, though, because of her coven ability. This ability allows you to search the top five cards of your library for a Human creature card to put into your hand whenever Sigarda attacks and you control at least three creatures with different power amounts. This is a great way to continue to find additional creatures you can cast to keep pressure on your opponent. Sigarda also happens to be another great target for Minsc's activated ability, as she has both evasion and trample.

Mardu Tokens

My final deck this week wants to flood the battlefield with a gigantic amount of creature tokens as its way of ending the game. Let's take a look at it.

Mardu Tokens | NEO Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Adeline, Resplendent Cathar
• 3 Eyetwitch
• 3 Immersturm Predator
• 3 Sedgemoor Witch
• 3 Usher of the Fallen
• 4 Clarion Spirit

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 2 Kaya, Geist Hunter
• 2 Lolth, Spider Queen

• Instants (4)
• 4 Infernal Grasp

• Sorceries (4)
• 2 Burn Down the House
• 2 Sunset Revelry

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Wedding Announcement
• 4 Dramatic Finale

• Lands (23)
• 2 Plains
• 1 Cave of the Frost Dragon
• 1 Sundown Pass
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 2 Blightstep Pathway // Searstep Pathway
• 2 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 2 Haunted Ridge
• 2 Hive of the Eye Tyrant
• 2 Needleverge Pathway // Pillarverge Pathway
• 2 Shattered Sanctum
• 2 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 You See a Pair of Goblins
• 1 Necrotic Fumes
• 1 Pest Summoning
• 2 Mascot Exhibition
• 2 Environmental Sciences

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Additional ways to create creature tokens are by activating the loyalty abilities of Kaya, Geist Hunter and Lolth, Spider Queen. There are also other various spells that will create creature tokens, like Sunset Revelry, Burn Down the House, and Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity. One great thing about Wedding Announcement is that once it has three or more invitation counters, it transforms into Wedding Festivity, which gives all of your creatures +1/+1. Since this enchantment is non-legendary, you can have multiple copies in play, which will give a considerable boost to your creatures.

Also included in this deck is a playset of Dramatic Finale. This enchantment will give a +1/+1 bonus to all creature tokens you control. You'll also be able to create a 2/1 Inkling creature token with flying once per turn whenever a nontoken creature you control dies. Multiple copies will provide multiple bonuses and multiple creature tokens, so you'll want to cast this whenever you're able to. With the evasion these Inkling creature tokens have, plus the bonuses they receive from Dramatic Finale and Wedding Festivity, you can quickly deal a lot of damage to your opponent, gaining a victory in the process.

Wrapping Up

None of these decks brings with them any tournament pedigree, but I still find myself wanting to try them out. Each of them attempt to win games in different ways, providing enjoyment in an otherwise stagnant environment. I'm looking forward to trying out each of these on Magic Arena over the next couple of weeks.

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