Hello everyone. With the new Universes Beyond: Assassin's Creed set releasing this week, everyone is all abuzz about these new cards. However, while these new cards are cool, they aren't legal in Standard. So, while you won't be able to build new decks with these cards for your local Standard events, there are still fun and exciting Standard decks that you can play. I have a few of them for you this week, so let's get started.

Simic Ramp

The first deck I have for you features some big creatures alongside a bit of ramp. Let's take a look at the deck.

Simic Ramp | OTJ Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (22)
• 2 Armored Scrapgorger
• 2 Kellan, Inquisitive Prodigy
• 2 Railway Brawler
• 3 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
• 3 Colossal Rattlewurm
• 3 Goldvein Hydra
• 3 Vaultborn Tyrant
• 4 Freestrider Lookout

• Instants (8)
• 2 Cosmic Hunger
• 3 Memory Deluge
• 3 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Hard-Hitting Question

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Omenpath Journey

• Lands (25)
• 3 Island
• 6 Forest
• 1 Blast Zone
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 2 Hedge Maze
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Restless Vinestalk
• 3 Lush Oasis
• 4 Dreamroot Cascade

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There are a lot of big creatures in this deck. Railway Brawler boasts 5 power, while Colossal Rattlewurm and Vaultborn Tyrant both have 6 power. These big creatures can be quite difficult for your opponent to block effectively. You also have Goldvein Hydra, with the ability to enter play with as many +1/+1 counters on it as you have available mana. What makes these big creatures even more impressive is that they all naturally have trample. Your opponent won't be able to chump block with a tiny 1/1 and take zero damage like they can do against so many other creatures.

The drawback to these big creatures is that they have a fairly high mana value. To help mitigate this problem, you have a couple of creatures that can help add extra mana to your cause. First, there's Armored Scrapgorger, which can be tapped to add a mana of any color. There's also Freestrider Lookout, who can put a land from the top five cards of your library onto the battlefield tapped once per turn when you commit a crime. Remember that commiting a crime is accomplished any time you target your opponent, spell of theirs, or one of their permanents with a spell or ability. This can easily be accomplished with many of your sorcery and instant spells, or simply by playing a land such as Lush Oasis.

Azorius Mill

Next, I have a deck that features one of my favorite ways to win - milling your opponent's deck out of cards. Let's check it out.

Azorius Mill | OTJ Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Terisian Mindbreaker

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (15)
• 2 Memory Deluge
• 3 March of Otherworldly Light
• 3 No More Lies
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Faithful Mending

• Sorceries (6)
• 3 Sunfall
• 3 Sunset Revelry

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Temporary Lockdown

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 The Celestus

• Lands (26)
• 3 Island
• 3 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Mirrex
• 4 Adarkar Wastes
• 4 Deserted Beach
• 4 Meticulous Archive
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (1)
• 1 Farewell

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Once you're able to, you'll want to get a copy of Terisian Mindbreaker onto the battlefield, either by casting it for its full mana value, or the reduced unearth amount. When you attack with this Juggernaut, your opponent will mill half of their library, rounded up. By attacking with Terisian Mindbreaker once or twice, you can usually set up your Jace, the Perfected Mind to mill the remaining cards with his -X loyalty ability.

Boros Control

The next deck I have for you is a control deck in colors that are usually more aggressive in nature. Let's take a look at the deck.

Boros Control | OTJ Standard | SlothMtg, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (1)
• 1 Sanctuary Warden

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 1 Chandra, Hope's Beacon
• 4 The Wandering Emperor

• Instants (7)
• 3 March of Otherworldly Light
• 4 Lightning Helix

• Sorceries (8)
• 1 Farewell
• 3 Sunset Revelry
• 4 Burn Down the House

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Temporary Lockdown

• Artifacts (9)
• 1 Staff of Compleation
• 1 The Stone Brain
• 2 Realmbreaker, the Invasion Tree
• 2 The Celestus
• 3 Treasure Map

• Lands (26)
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Plains
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Mirrex
• 4 Sundown Pass

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Burn Down the House is a very versatile card for this deck. Against an aggressive opponent, it will act as a great source of creature removal. Against a control deck, you can use the 1/1 Devil creature tokens as attackers to bring their life total down. If you're able to cast Burn Down the House while you have Chandra, Hope's Beacon, you're likely to win the game. Her static ability, which creates copies of instant or sorcery spells you cast, provides a ton of value throughout the game, doubling the effectiveness of many of the spells in this deck.

Selesnya Poison

The final deck I have for you features another of my favorite alternate ways to win, poison counters. Let's take a look at the deck.

Selesnya Poison | OTJ Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (24)
• 4 Annex Sentry
• 4 Bloated Contaminator
• 4 Jawbone Duelist
• 4 Skrelv, Defector Mite
• 4 Slaughter Singer
• 4 Venerated Rotpriest

• Instants (12)
• 1 Snakeskin Veil
• 1 Take Up the Shield
• 3 Trash the Town
• 3 Tyvar's Stand
• 4 Infectious Bite

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Requisition Raid
• 2 Helping Hand

• Lands (21)
• 4 Forest
• 4 Plains
• 1 The Fair Basilica
• 1 The Hunter Maze
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Brushland
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

• Sideboard (6)
• 1 Royal Treatment
• 1 Soul Partition
• 1 Bushwhack
• 1 Helping Hand
• 1 Requisition Raid
• 1 Restless Prairie

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Every creature in this deck has toxic, so unless your opponent is able to block every attacker you have, you're likely to get a few poison counters into play. Even if they do have blockers for each of your creatures, you might be able to get some poison into your opponent's system thanks to the trample ability of Bloated Contaminator. Alternatively, you can give any of your creatures with Trash the Town. Even if you're not able to deal all ten poison counters to your opponent by attacking, there are other ways to win the game via poison damage.

Infectious Bite can act as a creature removal spell, plus it will give each opponent a poison counter. There's a full playset of Infectious Bite in this deck, so you might be able to get four poison counters simply by casting this spell. Your opponent will also get a poison counter whenever they target your creatures while you have a copy of Venerated Rotpriest in play. This ability triggers for each Venerated Rotpriest you have in play, so it might become impossible for your opponent to deal with your creatures without gaining a fatal amount of poison counters in the process.

Wrapping Up

We have less than a month until Standard's next set, Bloomburrow, releases and Standard rotation happens. Luckily, there are still new and exciting decks being brewed in Standard, so be sure to come back next week when I show off a few more.

What do you think of these decks? 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