Hello everyone. Adventures in the Forgotten Realms has been out for a couple of weeks now and I'm having a blast with these new cards. I've seen a ton of new, interesting decks and have a few of them to share with you this week. Let's get started.

Orzhov Teleportation Circle

I've had a lot of fun with a Simic Fractals deck that utilized Thassa, Deep-Dwelling to 'blink' Fractal makers. This deck also features a means of 'blinking' for you to take advantage of. Let's take a look at the deck.

Orzhov Teleportation Circle | AFR Standard | MenacingMTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (23)
• 2 Massacre Wurm
• 2 Tergrid, God of Fright
• 3 Acquisitions Expert
• 3 Clackbridge Troll
• 3 Elderfang Disciple
• 3 Gray Merchant of Asphodel
• 3 Moon-Blessed Cleric
• 4 Solemn Simulacrum

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Blood on the Snow

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Banishing Light
• 2 Elspeth's Nightmare
• 2 Teleportation Circle
• 3 Elspeth Conquers Death

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Cosmos Elixir

• Lands (24)
• 8 Snow-Covered Plains
• 9 Snow-Covered Swamp
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 2 Castle Locthwain
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway // Grimclimb Pathway

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Environmental Sciences
• 1 Expanded Anatomy
• 1 Introduction to Annihilation
• 2 Introduction to Prophecy
• 2 Pest Summoning

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This deck is full of other enchantments you might want to find with Moon-Blessed Cleric's ability. Banishing Light is a catch-all answer for any nonland permanent your opponent has in play that you want to remove. It's best saved for those times your opponent has an artifact or enchantment you want gone that you'd otherwise have difficulty removing. Elspeth Conquers Death can also exile any permanent an opponent controls, but the target must have a mana value of three or more. Finally, Elspeth's Nightmare is a great way of removing a troublesome creature your opponent has with a power of two or less. By 'blinking' Moon-Blessed Cleric, you can find all of these helpful enchantments easily.

There are other great targets to 'blink', though. If you 'blink' Massacre Wurm on the same turn that you play it, your opponent's creatures will get a -4/-4 decrease, which will likely destroy many of them. Elderfang Disciple will cause your opponent to discard a card when it is 'blinked'. The same goes when you 'blink' Acquisitions Expert. You'll be able to find multiple basic land cards to put into play by 'blinking' Solemn Simulacrum. Finally, 'blinking' Gray Merchant of Asphodel can allow you to win the game without even attacking if you're able to do it often enough.

Selesnya Lifegain

Next, I have a deck for those of you that love to gain additional points of life. Let's take a look at it.

Selesnya Lifegain | AFR Standard | MTGArenaOriginalDecks, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (28)
• 4 Celestial Unicorn
• 4 Hallowed Priest
• 4 Impassioned Orator
• 4 Prosperous Innkeeper
• 4 Righteous Valkyrie
• 4 Soulmender
• 4 Trelasarra, Moon Dancer

• Enchantments (5)
• 1 Paladin Class
• 4 Cleric Class

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Cosmos Elixir

• Lands (23)
• 13 Plains
• 6 Forest
• 4 Branchloft Pathway // Boulderloft Pathway

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With this deck, you'll be playing creatures, gaining life, and gaining +1/+1 counters. Soulmender, Impassioned Orator, Righteous Valkyrie, and Prosperous Innkeeper are all great ways to gain additional life. By combining these cards with Cleric Class, you'll add on extra life. Hallowed Priest, Celestial Unicorn, and Trelasarra, Moon Dancer all gain a +1/+1 counter when you gain life, allowing these creatures to grow quite large. By getting additional bonuses from Paladin Class and potentially Righteous Valkyrie, your creatures have the potential to become huge.

One card that really shines in this deck is Cosmos Elixir. This artifact will likely initially allow you to gain two points of life at the beginning of your end step. Once your life total is greater than 20, you'll be able to draw a card instead of gaining life. If you get multiple copies of Cosmos Elixir in play, each will trigger, and you'll be able to gain extra life or draw additional cards, depending on what your life total is at the beginning of your end step. Remember that this check is done when Cosmos Elixir's ability resolves, so if you're at 19 points of life and have two copies of Cosmos Elixir in play, you'll end up at 21 life and you'll draw one extra card.

Mono-Blue Mill

The final deck I have for you features milling, which is one of my favorite alternate ways to win. Let's check it out.

Mono-Blue Mill | AFR Standard | Gigex, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Glasspool Mimic
• 4 Relic Golem
• 4 Ruin Crab

• Instants (12)
• 2 Negate
• 2 You Find the Villains' Lair
• 4 Saw It Coming
• 4 Teach by Example

• Sorceries (11)
• 3 Inscription of Insight
• 4 Maddening Cacophony
• 4 Tasha's Hideous Laughter

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Confounding Conundrum

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Trickster's Talisman

• Lands (21)
• 17 Island
• 4 Evolving Wilds

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While you're milling cards with these creatures, you'll primarily be using your mana to counter an opponent's threats. Saw It Coming, Negate, and You Find the Villain's Lair will really help with this. Make sure to save some of your counters for those spells your opponent casts that will destroy your creatures. You'll also want to be wary of any creatures that your opponent conjures that have flying, as you won't be able to block them. On the other hand, if you have a Relic Golem or two in play, your opponent may decide it's not worth attacking you on the ground.

To finish off an opponent, you can use Tasha's Hideous Laughter. This new sorcery exiles cards from an opponent's library until cards with a total mana value of 20 or more have been milled. This spell can really cripple an opponent's chances of making a comeback. If you cast a second copy of Tasha's Hideous Laughter, or if you copy it with Teach by Example, it can easily be game over. This deck also runs a full playset of Maddening Cacophony which can mill away half of your opponent's library if you kick the spell when you cast it. That can also help to seal your opponent's fate.

Wrapping Up

I've been playing each of these decks on Magic Arena for the past few days, and they're all a blast to play. They might not be so much from the other side though, as I've been doing pretty well with them. They're all different enough from each other that I can find myself playing longer than usual because I'm able to switch up which deck I'm playing and keep things fresh and exciting.

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