Hello everyone. Last week I took a look at a few decks that all paired White with another color. I figured I would continue that this week by moving over to Blue, and showing some decks that pair up Blue with another color. Let's get started.

Azorius Training

The first deck we'll start with pairs Blue with White. It's trying to take advantage of having a copy of Training Grounds in play. Let's take a look at the deck.

Azorius Training | MAT Standard | Redd_Cat_MTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (18)
• 1 Jin-Gitaxias // The Great Synthesis
• 2 Cityscape Leveler
• 2 Platoon Dispenser
• 2 Thran Spider
• 3 Urza, Lord Protector
• 4 Faerie Mastermind
• 4 Faerie Vandal

• Instants (11)
• 3 Make Disappear
• 4 Fading Hope
• 4 Union of the Third Path

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Training Grounds

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 The Mightstone and Weakstone

• Lands (24)
• 1 Plains
• 8 Island
• 1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Roadside Reliquary
• 4 Adarkar Wastes
• 4 Deserted Beach
• 4 Seachrome Coast

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Training Grounds is also very useful in helping you get Urza, Planeswalker into play quickly. While you'll still need to have both Urza, Lord Protector and The Mightstone and Weakstone, you can meld them more easily with a copy of Training Grounds on the battlefield. Once Urza, Planeswalker is in play, it's usually game over for your opponent, since his abilities are pretty powerful and you can activate his loyalty abilities twice per turn.

Dimir Mill

The next deck I have for you features one of my favorite means of winning the game, mill. Let's take a look at it.

Dimir Mill | MAT Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (13)
• 3 Ertai Resurrected
• 3 Sheoldred // The True Scriptures
• 3 Terisian Mindbreaker
• 4 Hidetsugu and Kairi

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (6)
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (10)
• 3 Gix's Command
• 3 Path of Peril
• 4 Breach the Multiverse

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 The Celestus

• Battles (2)
• 2 Invasion of Amonkhet // Lazotep Convert

• Lands (24)
• 4 Island
• 5 Swamp
• 1 Mirrex
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Raffine's Tower
• 4 Shipwreck Marsh

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Terisian Mindbreaker and Jace, the Perfected Mind perform a one-two punch, allowing this deck to mill out the opposing deck quickly. The most effective way for this to work is by discarding a copy of Terisian Mindbreaker, usually with the help of The Celestus. Then, cast Terisian Mindbreaker from your discard pile by paying its unearth cost. If you can do this a couple of times, your opponent will be in range for Jace's -X loyalty ability to finish milling their deck.

For those times where you can't quite finish the milling plan, Sheoldred // The True Scriptures is there to help you out. By transforming Sheoldred into The True Scriptures, you set up a future where you're able to put all of the creatures from all graveyards onto the battlefield under your control. You can then usually attack on your following turn for the win.

Izzet Convoke

The next deck I have for you can deal quite a bit of incremental damage throughout the game simply by casting instant and sorcery spells. Let's check it out.

Izzet Convoke | MAT Standard | powrdragn, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (13)
• 1 Lier, Disciple of the Drowned
• 2 Baral and Kari Zev
• 2 Poppet Stitcher // Poppet Factory
• 4 Third Path Iconoclast
• 4 Urabrask // The Great Work

• Instants (24)
• 2 Big Score
• 2 Meeting of Minds
• 3 Fading Hope
• 3 Impulse
• 3 Make Disappear
• 3 Stoke the Flames
• 4 Lightning Strike
• 4 Play with Fire

• Lands (24)
• 6 Island
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 1 Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 4 Stormcarved Coast

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While you have Urabrask // The Great Work in play, you'll deal one point of damage to your opponent and gain a Red mana whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell. By pairing that ability with the ability of Baral and Kari Zev, which allows you to cast an instant or sorcery for free each turn, you have the ability of dealing a lot of damage very quickly.

Even though Urabrask provides you with additional mana you can use to continue chaining instant and sorcery spells, this deck also includes Stoke the Flames and Meeting of the Minds, which both can be cast using convoke to help pay for their mana costs. There's also a copy of Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, which allows you to cast instant and sorcery spells from your graveyard as though they had flashback, so you'll usually have a good supply of spells you can cast.

Toxic Simic

The final deck I have for you is a ramp deck that includes another alternative way to win, the use of poison counters. Let's take a look at the deck.

Toxic Simic | MAT Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (15)
• 1 Colossal Skyturtle
• 1 Hullbreaker Horror
• 1 Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
• 1 Shigeki, Jukai Visionary
• 1 Titan of Industry
• 1 Vorinclex // The Grand Evolution
• 2 Contagious Vorrac
• 3 Tyrranax Rex
• 4 Topiary Stomper

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist

• Instants (7)
• 3 Memory Deluge
• 4 Fading Hope

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Silver Scrutiny
• 2 Bushwhack

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker

• Battles (3)
• 1 Invasion of Arcavios // Invocation of the Founders
• 2 Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave

• Lands (27)
• 2 Island
• 9 Forest
• 1 Boseiju, Who Endures
• 1 Otawara, Soaring City
• 2 Mirrex
• 4 Dreamroot Cascade
• 4 Spara's Headquarters
• 4 Yavimaya Coast

• Sideboard (9)
• 1 Devious Cover-Up
• 1 Filter Out
• 1 Negate
• 1 See Double
• 1 Tear Asunder
• 1 Blue Sun's Twilight
• 1 Consuming Tide
• 1 Silver Scrutiny
• 1 Titania's Command

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While Tyrranax Rex is just one of the finishers for this deck, all of them benefit from having some ways to ramp up your mana production. Azusa's Many Journeys // Likeness of the Seeker allows you to play an extra land the turn you play it. That pairs nicely with Contagious Vorrac, who allows you to potentially put a land card from your deck into your hand. You also have Topiary Stomper and Invasion of Zendikar // Awakened Skyclave which let you search your deck for some basic lands that come into play tapped when these cards are played.

Wrapping Up

While I'm not a person who usually gravitates toward playing Blue decks, I will say that these decks all have something special about them that make me want to try them out. Plus, by playing cards in colors that I usually shy away from, I'm able to get a better appreciation for what those colors can do.

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