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Main » Articles » Brewing on the Color Pie

Brewing on the Color Pie

Mike Likes
Posted on June 20, 2019
 Reddit

Hello, everyone! Mono-colored decks are a great way to get started playing Magic, and they can also be a lot of fun for experienced players as well. When starting out on Magic Arena, building a mono-colored deck is often easier, since you'll need to spend less of your Wild Cards in general. Today, I have a mono-colored deck for each of the Magic colors for you to try out. Let's get started.

Mono-Red

The first deck I have for you is probably the most tried and tested of the bunch. Let's take a look at Mono-Red:

Mono-Red | War Standard | xjosho, (5-0) MTGO

Experimental Frenzy
A lot has already been written about Mono-Red, and if you've played much at all on Magic Arena, you've likely encountered a deck similar to this one. The goal of this deck is to attack early with small, quick threats, with the goal of reducing your opponent's life total to nine or less. Depending on the creatures your opponent has in play, you can either press the attack, hoping to get in a few more points of damage, or hold your creatures back for defense as you hopefully draw into some burn spells that can finish the opponent off.

Experimental Frenzy and Runaway Steam-Kin work well in conjunction with each other in this deck. Since Experimental Frenzy has a converted mana cost (CMC) of four, playing it can slow down your momentum. That's one thing you don't want to happen when playing this deck, as having no momentum means your opponent has a chance to stabilize. Assuming you have two +1/+1 counters on your Runaway Steam-Kin when you play Experimental Frenzy, you'll get that third counter needed for the Steam-Kin to be able to produce three Red mana. You can use that mana to cast additional spells from the top of your library and keep your momentum going.

Mono-White

The next deck I have for you starts off as a Mono-White deck, but after sideboarding can become an Azorius deck. Let's take a look at it:

Mono-White | War Standard | Kusakabe Kyohei, MagicFest Taipei 2019 Standard MCQ, 7th Place

Benalish Marshal
If you want to build this for Magic Arena to play in the best-of-one games, simply replace the copies of Glacial Fortress and Hallowed Fountain with Plains and you're in business. With this deck, bigger is definitely better. You'll start by playing a bunch of small creatures. Those creatures will get a little bigger when you play Benalish Marshal. Finally, use convoke to play Venerated Loxodon so that all of the creatures you tap to produce mana for the Loxodon get a +1/+1 counter. You should find yourself in a place where your creatures are larger than your opponents, making it very difficult for them to attack.

One thing to remember is that History of Benalia will boost all of your Knights when the third Lore counter is added to it, not just the tokens it creates. Dauntless Bodyguard and Benalish Marshal are both Knights, so they will get the +2/+1 buff as well. Sometimes that knowledge is all you'll need to squeak out a victory.

Mono-Blue

The next deck I have for you features an alternate way to win. Let's take a look at the deck:

Mono-Blue | War Standard | chpfiddler, archidekt.com user

Fleet Swallower
If you're a fan of winning through unconventional means, you might want to give this deck a try. While it looks like this deck could be a self-milling deck, I would initially play it as a traditional mill deck that attempts to put all of the cards from your opponent's library into their discard pile. While it is certainly possible to mill yourself to victory, the fact that there's only one copy of Jace, Wielder of Mysteries makes it far too risky for my tastes to try to win by milling myself.

As you can see by hovering over the card names, this deck includes all of the best ways currently in Standard to mill cards. One of my favorites is with Fleet Swallower. Whenever Fleet Swallower attacks, your opponent (or yourself if you're trying to self-mill) puts half of their library into their discard pile. Since Fleet Swallower won't come into play until late in the game, you'll probably have already milled some portion of the opponent's library. Fleet Swallower can get you close enough that you can finish the job with another milling effect even if the Fish gets chump blocked. I'm a big fan of alternate win conditions, so I'm hoping to give this deck a try.

Mono-Black

The next deck I have for you is Mono-Black and features a strong discard theme. Let's take a look:

Mono-Black | War Standard | Nethervoid21, deckstats.net user

Raiders' Wake
This deck is another great build for beginning players on Magic Arena. While it is light on threatening creatures, it has a ton of ways to deal with an opponent's force. Cry of the Carnarium and Ritual of Soot are able to deal with the entirety of an opposing force while leaving your Fell Specters unscathed. Kitesail Freebooter isn't so lucky, though, so be aware of this as you play.

Between Raiders' Wake, Davriel, Rogue Shadowmage, and Ob Nixilis, the Hate-Twisted, you'll be able to deal a lot of incidental chunks of damage. Over time that will really add up. One thing to consider is beefing up the number of copies of Diamond Mare in the sideboard. This Horse can be tutored for with Karn, the Great Creator's -2 loyalty ability, and the amount of life you can gain when you cast a Black spell can be just what's needed for you to stay alive for that incidental damage to take its toll on the opponent.

Mono-Green

The final deck I have for you this week wants to win through proliferation. Let's take a look at it:

Mono-Green | War Standard | Zyrnak, (5-0) MTGO

Nissa, Who Shakes the World
Nissa, Who Shakes the World proves just how good she can be in this deck. Early on, you'll want to play creatures that can add mana for you. Use that additional mana to play Wildgrowth Walker followed by creatures that explore when they enter the battlefield. You should be able to build up a few creatures before dropping Nissa onto the battlefield, but even if your side of the battlefield has been wiped away, you'll want to play her relatively early. She will give you a ton of extra mana to use, so try to make good use of it. You can use Planewide Celebration to proliferate multiple times, which can help you win the game unexpectedly.

This deck, like the Mono-Black deck, features Karn, the Great Creator. If you ever get Karn, the Great Creator on the battlefield alongside Nissa, Who Shakes the World, I suggest playing God-Pharaoh's Statue as soon as possible. Not only does it hinder your opponent by making all of their spells much more difficult to cast, but it also starts a countdown to your victory. God-Pharaoh's Statue is a card that send me tilting every time it's played against me, and it will likely put your opponent on tilt as well. Use that to your advantage and keep them on their back foot by applying more pressure each turn and you'll get the win in no time.

Wrapping Up

These decks aren't the only examples of mono-colored decks that can do well in Standard. Mono-White has a lifegain deck. Mono-Blue has a Curious Obsession/Flyers deck. Mono-Green has a big, stompy deck. Hopefully you can see the power and consistency that can come from a well-tuned mono-colored deck. Do you have a favorite mono-colored deck?

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

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, decklists, mike likes, war standard, 06202019

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