Hello, everyone! If you know me, you know I'm a Red mage at heart. There's nothing I like better than sending Lightning Bolts directly at my opponent and attacking them with big, Red, Dragons. That's why the last couple of iterations of the Planeswalker, Sarkhan, have interested me so much. Looking at the recent results from Magic Online (MTGO), it seems like Sarkhan has interested other players as well, as he's featured in a few of the decks that have gone 5-0. This week, I'll be taking a look at a few different Sarkhan the Masterless decks that are all looking to bring a world of hurt straight to your opponent. Let's get started.

Gruul Sarkhan

The first deck I have for you this week is a deck that can get really big, really fast. Let's take a look at it:

Gruul Sarkhan | War Standard | WINNIE, (5-0) MTGO

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Skarrgan Hellkite
• 2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 3 Dire Fleet Daredevil
• 3 Nullhide Ferox
• 4 Gruul Spellbreaker
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Paradise Druid
• 4 Regisaur Alpha
• 4 Rekindling Phoenix

• Planeswalkers (7)
• 3 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 4 Domri, Anarch of Bolas

• Lands (24)
• 7 Mountain
• 9 Forest
• 4 Rootbound Crag
• 4 Stomping Ground

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Carnage Tyrant
• 3 Cindervines
• 2 Kraul Harpooner
• 2 Shapers' Sanctuary
• 4 Shock
• 2 Thrashing Brontodon

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One other cool interaction that can happen when both Sarkhan the Masterless and Domri, Anarch of Bolas are on the battlefield together is that you can easily cast Ghalta, Primal Hunger for a mere two Green mana. The best part is that this can happen even if you otherwise control no creatures. The first time you do this, you'll likely catch your opponent off-guard.

The main deck only consists of Planeswalkers, Creatures, and Lands, so there's no easy way to interact with your opponent and their creatures. Remember that as you play, because you'll need to use the -2 loyalty ability of Domri to deal with your opponent's creatures that would otherwise give you difficulty.

Jeskai Sarkhan

The next deck I have for you this week features Sarkhan alongside some of his amazing, planeswalking friends. Let's take a look at it:

Jeskai Sarkhan | War Standard | CHUGUN, (5-0) MTGO

• Planeswalkers (18)
• 1 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 2 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 4 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 4 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 4 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (12)
• 1 Lightning Strike
• 3 Spell Pierce
• 4 Opt
• 4 Shock

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Deafening Clarion

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Mox Amber

• Lands (25)
• 1 Clifftop Retreat
• 2 Mobilized District
• 3 Glacial Fortress
• 3 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Interplanar Beacon
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Deafening Clarion
• 3 Dovin's Veto
• 2 Lava Coil
• 4 Legion Warboss
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 3 Prison Realm

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Another great interaction between Planeswalkers in this deck is with Karn, Scion of Urza and Saheeli, Sublime Artificer. Since Saheeli creates a 1/1 Servo token for every noncreature spell you cast, you can build up quite a force if you get Saheeli out early, especially since there are no creature spells in this deck. Karn's -2 loyalty ability creates a Construct token that gets +1/+1 for each Artifact you control. Since Servos are also Artifacts, your Construct tokens can get pretty large in a hurry.

Mono-Red Sarkhan

The final deck I have for you comes from a user on aetherhub.com. It features a couple of versions of Sarkhan alongside a flight of Dragons. Let's have a look:

Mono-Red Sarkhan | War Standard | color_bllnd, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Lathliss, Dragon Queen
• 3 Demanding Dragon
• 3 Skarrgan Hellkite
• 4 Sarkhan's Whelp
• 4 Verix Bladewing

• Planeswalkers (8)
• 4 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 4 Sarkhan, Fireblood

• Instants (11)
• 3 Spit Flame
• 4 Lightning Strike
• 4 Shock

• Lands (25)
• 25 Mountain

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Precision Bolt
• 4 Skewer the Critics
• 3 Smelt
• 4 Wizard's Lightning

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Since your earliest Creature or Planeswalker won't come into play until turn three at the earliest, you'll want to use those Instants to remove threatening Creatures your opponent plays. Spit Flame is a great piece of removal for this deck, as you can often return it to your hand multiple times during the game, and since it deals four damage to an opponent's creature, it'll get the job done a lot of the time without needing the help of another spell.

I really love Sarkhan, Fireblood in this deck. He helps accelerate your mana for casting Dragon spells, which allows you to get Lathliss, Dragon Queen into play as early as turn four. With her in play, your Dragon production can quickly grow out of hand and make it difficult for your opponent to block all of your flying threats effectively. Those extra Dragons also make it hard for your opponent to attack if you have Sarkhan the Masterless in play, as you'll be dealing multiple points of damage to each creature that attacks you or one of your Planeswalkers. This makes it possible you can lock your opponent out of the game if they don't have a board sweeper.

Wrapping Up

Sarkhan the Masterless is a fun, powerful Planeswalker. These decks prove just how versatile he is and how he works well alongside other Planeswalkers. I'm looking forward to bringing one of these decks to my local Friday Night Magic (FNM) and showing my opponent just how good Sarkhan can be.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg), or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. 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