Hello everyone. As I write this article, the latest Banned & Restricted announcement hasn't been announced. That announcement will also address Companions. As such, I wanted to make sure that the decks that I found for you this week didn't include any of the cards that are possibilities for banning or any Companions. Even with those restrictions in place, I managed to find a few innovative decks that you can use at Friday Night Magic or with your friends. Let's get started by taking a look at the first deck.

Izzet Pumped

The first deck I have for you features some threats that prosper when you have an abundance of instants and sorceries. Let's take a look at the deck.

Izzet Pumped | IKO Standard | ReloySpankins, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Arclight Phoenix
• 2 Crackling Drake
• 3 Rielle, the Everwise
• 3 Spelleater Wolverine
• 4 Lightning Stormkin
• 4 Sprite Dragon
• 4 Yidaro, Wandering Monster

• Instants (13)
• 2 Thrill of Possibility
• 3 Fire Prophecy
• 4 Infuriate
• 4 Opt

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Cathartic Reunion

• Lands (23)
• 4 Island
• 4 Mountain
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 3 Swiftwater Cliffs
• 3 Temple of Epiphany
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 2 Mystical Dispute
• 2 Quench
• 3 Expansion // Explosion
• 3 Shredded Sails
• 2 Storm's Wrath

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To take advantage of these abilities, this deck includes a variety of instants and sorceries. Opt, Cathartic Reunion, and Thrill of Possibility are all cards that allow you to draw additional cards. This keeps the threats coming, as well as buffing the current threats in play. Fire Prophecy can also act as a means of drawing an additional card, plus it acts as creature removal. Infuriate is the best one mana combat trick Red has available, and it can be used to push through a few more points of damage.

If you get into a longer game, you'll be happy that this deck includes a playset of Yidaro, Wandering Monster. This legendary Dinosaur Turtle acts as another means of drawing additional threats, thanks to its cycling ability. If you manage to cycle it four times during a game, you'll put this 8/8 creature with haste and trample directly into play, allowing you attack unexpectedly for a ton of damage.

Mardu Mutate

The next deck I have for you features the Mutate mechanic and looks to be a ton of fun. Let's take a look at it.

Mardu Mutate | IKO Standard | GashReaper7, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (30)
• 2 Aurelia, Exemplar of Justice
• 2 Crystalline Giant
• 2 Dirge Bat
• 2 Everquill Phoenix
• 2 Kunoros, Hound of Athreos
• 2 Murderous Rider
• 2 Vulpikeet
• 4 Hushbringer
• 4 Marauding Raptor
• 4 Necropanther
• 4 Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt

• Instants (6)
• 2 Despark
• 4 Heartless Act

• Lands (24)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Bonders' Enclave
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 1 Castle Locthwain
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Savai Triome

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Noxious Grasp
• 2 Fry
• 2 Devout Decree
• 4 Elspeth Conquers Death
• 2 Deafening Clarion
• 2 Mythos of Snapdax
• 1 Grafdigger's Cage

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There are a lot of different mutate abilities to utilize in this deck. Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt deals direct damage to an opposing creature or planeswalker, while also acting as a source of lifegain for you. Dirge Bat acts as targeted creature or planeswalker destruction. Everquill Phoenix offers a way to maintain a battlefield presence in the event that your team encounters some removal. Necropanther also offers a way to maintain your battlefield presence, by allowing you to return creatures from your graveyard to the battlefield. Finally, Vulpikeet places +1/+1 counters on the mutated creature, making it a bigger threat.

Marauding Raptor's ability that allows creature spells you cast to cost one less mana can really help out a lot in this deck. Since mutate is an alternate casting cost, you'll still get the mana reduction from Marauding Raptor when casting a creature for its mutate cost. Since Marauding Raptor isn't legendary, having multiple copies of it in play will stack allow you to stack this reduction of mana, allowing your creatures to mutate more easily and potentially more often.

Mono-Red Aggro

The final deck I have for you this week is a Mono-Red deck that attempts to end games as quickly as possible. Let's take a look at it.

Mono-Red Aggro | IKO Standard | Stormcast7814, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Chandra's Spitfire
• 4 Fervent Champion
• 4 Legion Warboss
• 4 Scorch Spitter

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

• Instants (8)
• 4 Infuriate
• 4 Shock

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Light Up the Stage

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Cavalcade of Calamity

• Lands (24)
• 20 Mountain
• 4 Dwarven Mine

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This deck runs hot when you get a copy of Cavalcade of Calamity onto the battlefield. With this enchantment in play, you'll deal a point of damage to your opponent for each creature you have attacking that has a power of one or less. This extra damage also applies when you attack an opponent's planeswalker as well. The extra damage you do allows you to attack into overwhelming odds, as the damage Cavalcade of Calamity deals happens regardless of whether the attacking creature survives the combat or not.

The other creatures in this deck also play nicely with Cavalcade of Calamity. Legion Warboss creates a 1/1 Goblin token that has to attack the turn it is created, that will trigger Cavalcade of Calamity each turn. Chandra's Spitfire is a flying Elemental that has a base power of 1. When you attack with Chandra's Spitfire, you'll trigger Cavalcade of Calamity, dealing one point of damage to your opponent. That damage will then trigger Chandra's Spitfire's ability, giving it +3/+0 for the remainder of the turn. You'll be able to deal a minimum of five damage per turn to your opponent with this combo, allowing for some quick victories.

Wrapping Up

None of these decks use any Companions or any cards that are on most people's radar as potential bans, making them good decks to play over the next few weeks while things shake out from this week's banning announcement. They also look like they're pretty fun and have interesting interactions. Let me know in the comments below what your deck of choice is in this post-banning era.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below 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