Hello everyone. Each and every week, I'm on the hunt to find you new, innovative decks that you can play for fun against your friends or at your local tournaments and at Friday Night Magic. This week I've found a few decks that were played on Magic Arena by Platinum or Mythic ranked players that all won six or more matches in a row. Let's get started.

Izzet Control

We begin this week by taking a look at a control deck that has an answer for almost everything. Let's check it out.

Izzet Control | STX Standard | Random Platinum/Mythic Ranked Player

• Instants (33)
• 3 Divide by Zero
• 3 Jwari Disruption
• 3 Negate
• 4 Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor
• 4 Dual Strike
• 4 Frost Bite
• 4 Into the Roil
• 4 Kazuul's Fury
• 4 Thrill of Possibility

• Sorceries (13)
• 2 Sea Gate Restoration
• 3 Shatterskull Smashing
• 4 Experimental Overload
• 4 Expressive Iteration

• Lands (14)
• 4 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 6 Snow-Covered Island
• 4 Riverglide Pathway // Lavaglide Pathway

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Rowan, Scholar of Sparks
• 1 Negate
• 3 Shock
• 4 Test of Talents
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Mascot Exhibition
• 1 Teachings of the Archaics
• 3 Crush the Weak

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Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor will deal damage to an opponent's creature or planeswalker equal to the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard. Since the majority of this deck is instant and sorcery cards, you can bet that you'll be able to handle most threats. Into the Roil can return any nonland permanent to a player's hand. You can use this to set up an opportunity to counter an opponent's nonland card, or you can use it to save one of your own cards from being destroyed.

Any good control deck needs to have a means of closing out the game quickly once the opponent isn't a threat. This deck does that in a couple of ways. First, Experimental Overload can create a huge Weird creature token, where its power and toughness are based on the number of instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard. Second, Mascot Exhibition is a Lesson in your sideboard. When you cast Divide by Zero, an effect of that spell is that you are able to learn. That allows you to get Mascot Exhibition into your hand. When you cast it, you'll create three different creature tokens that you can attack your opponent with. Dual Strike can also be cast after either of these spells (more likely after Experimental Overload, though), creating an additional token for you to use.

Dimir Midrange

Next, I have a Dimir midrange deck that can often win games without attacking. Let's take a look at the deck.

Dimir Midrange | STX Standard | Random Platinum/Mythic Ranked Player

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Nadir Kraken
• 2 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose
• 4 Eyetwitch
• 4 Sedgemoor Witch

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 1 Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
• 1 Professor Onyx

• Instants (14)
• 2 Baleful Mastery
• 2 Behold the Multiverse
• 2 Saw It Coming
• 4 Plumb the Forbidden
• 4 Village Rites

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Bloodchief's Thirst
• 4 Hunt for Specimens

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Bastion of Remembrance

• Lands (23)
• 2 Snow-Covered Island
• 6 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1 Witch's Cottage
• 2 Castle Locthwain
• 2 Clearwater Pathway // Murkwater Pathway
• 2 Faceless Haven
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Ice Tunnel

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Baleful Mastery
• 1 Test of Talents
• 2 Saw It Coming
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 2 Necrotic Fumes
• 4 Agonizing Remorse
• 4 Pest Summoning

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Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose also combos nicely with this deck's only enchantment, Bastion of Remembrance. With both of these in play, every time a creature you control dies, you'll gain one point of life and your opponent will lose two points of life. You can add to these totals if the creature that died was a Pest creature token, since you'll gain one life when a Pest dies. This synergy is what makes this deck so lethal and allows you to win without the need of attacking.

In order to create Pest creature tokens, there are a few cards to keep in mind. Sedgemoor Witch has a magecraft ability that will create a Pest whenever you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell. Hunt for Specimens creates a Pest on its own, and allows you to learn, so you can add Pest Summoning from your sideboard to your hand. Pest Summoning creates two Pests when it resolves. To maximize the potency of these Pests, you can sacrifice them with other spells such as Village Rites or Plumb the Forbidden. Both of these cards help you draw additional cards while simultaneously lowering your opponent's life total while Vito is in play.

Rakdos Midrange

The final deck I have for you this week is probably the most menacing deck I've ever seen. Let's take a look at it.

Rakdos Midrange | STX Standard | Random Platinum/Mythic Ranked Player

• Creatures (18)
• 3 Immersturm Predator
• 3 Valentin, Dean of the Vein
• 4 Labyrinth Raptor
• 4 Nullpriest of Oblivion
• 4 Sedgemoor Witch

• Instants (11)
• 3 Frost Bite
• 4 Professor's Warning
• 4 Village Rites

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Tentative Connection

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Demonic Embrace

• Lands (24)
• 11 Snow-Covered Mountain
• 11 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 2 Sulfurous Mire

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
• 3 Bloodchief's Thirst
• 3 Escape Velocity

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If your opponent does have to start sacrificing their creatures, you'll hopefully have a copy of Valentin, Dean of the Vein on the battlefield. Valentin not only exiles any nontoken creature your opponent controls that would die, but also allows you to pay two mana to create a Pest creature token when this happens. These Pest tokens are great defenders, allowing you to block with them and gain life in most cases.

With so much menace on your side of the battlefield, you'll most likely be able to cast Tentative Connection for a single Red mana. With this spell, you'll be able to gain control of an opponent's creature until the end of the turn. For best results, you'll want to make sure you attack with this creature, offering your opponent the opportunity to block it and potentially destroying either of those creatures in the process. If the creature isn't blocked, finish it off by casting Village Rites during your second Main Phase, and sacrifice this creature as part of the cost of playing Village Rites.

Wrapping Up

None of these decks are the typical aggressive decks that I normally play, but each of them looks interesting to me. I'm especially excited to try out the Dimir and Rakdos decks because they are closer to my style of play, but the Izzet one looks to be more of a challenge. By trying out decks that are out of my wheelhouse, I'm able to grow as a player. I encourage you to try out decks that might not be exactly your style, as well.

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