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Hello everyone. With Innistrad: Midnight Hunt previews starting this week, we'll soon have a new set entering Standard. We also have Standard rotation happening at the same time, so this week I've decided to bring you a few decks that you'll be able to play over the next few weeks that I think look fun. Let's get started.
Selesnya Magecraft
We start this week with a deck that is capable of dealing a ton of damage and winning games very quickly. Let's take a look at the deck.
Selesnya Magecraft | AFR Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (19)
- 2 Clever Lumimancer
- 2 Mavinda, Students' Advocate
- 3 Monk of the Open Hand
- 4 Clarion Spirit
- 4 Dragonsguard Elite
- 4 Leonin Lightscribe
- Instants (14)
- 3 Show of Confidence
- 3 Wings of the Cosmos
- 4 Charge Through
- 4 Snakeskin Veil
- Sorceries (7)
- 3 Blizzard Brawl
- 4 Guiding Voice
Clever Lumimancer is similar to Leonin Lightscribe, but it only provides a bonus to itself when you cast or copy an instant or sorcery spell. The bonus it receives, though, is +2/+2, and in conjunction with Leonin Lightscribe, it can become quite powerful. A great spell to target it with is Wings of the Cosmos. With just this single spell, your Clever Lumimancer will become a 3/6 creature with flying until the end of the turn. With a couple more spells, you'll have an evasive threat that can easily take down nearly any opponent.
Another creature that really helps the magecraft abilities in this deck is Mavinda, Students' Advocate. Mavinda allows you to cast an instant or sorcery spell from your graveyard that targets a creature you control for free, but only once per turn. This allows you to easily activate your magecraft abilities on your turn and your opponent's turn. It also gives you a second use out of each instant or sorcery spell you've previously cast. The fact that you can do this without spending any mana gives you quite an advantage over your opponent.
Prismari Goblins
Next, I have a deck for you that combines the token creation effect of Delina, Wild Mage with Relic Robber to quickly finish off an opponent. Let's check it out.
Prismari Goblins | AFR Standard | Gigex, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (15)
- 2 Fireblade Charger
- 2 Hobgoblin Bandit Lord
- 3 Delina, Wild Mage
- 4 Battle Cry Goblin
- 4 Relic Robber
- Instants (15)
- 2 Divide by Zero
- 2 Magma Opus
- 2 Negate
- 2 Saw It Coming
- 3 Test of Talents
- 4 Prismari Command
- Sorceries (2)
- 2 Split the Party
- Enchantments (4)
- 2 Barbarian Class
- 2 Ray of Frost
One terrific creature to target with Delina's ability is Relic Robber. Whenever Relic Robber deals combat damage to a player, that player creates a 0/1 Goblin Construct token that can't block and will deal one damage to your opponent at the beginning of their upkeep. Normally, if your opponent were to steal Relic Robber and use it against you, you would get one of these tokens which would deal damage to you. Most decks would then want to destroy this token right away, but since this deck runs a pair of Hobgoblin Bandit Lords in it, you can actually attack with the token and force your opponent to block and potentially destroy it or take some damage themselves.
You can also pump up all of your Goblins with Battle Cry Goblin. By paying two mana, you can give Goblins you control a +1/+0 bonus and haste until the end of your turn. With its pack tactics ability, if you attack with creatures whose power totals six or more, you'll create a 1/1 Goblin creature token that's tapped and attacking. If possible, be sure to activate Battle Cry Goblin's activated ability after you've created this token, so it will also get the bonus to its power.
Vorpal Snakes
The final deck I have for you features Vorpal Sword, which has the potential to allow you to automatically win the game. Let's take a look at the deck.
Vorpal Snakes | AFR Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (19)
- 3 Krydle of Baldur's Gate
- 4 Guild Thief
- 4 Hoard Robber
- 4 Yuan-Ti Fang-Blade
- 4 Yuan-Ti Malison
- Instants (8)
- 4 Flunk
- 4 You Come to a River
- Sorceries (2)
- 2 Bloodchief's Thirst
- Enchantments (2)
- 2 Warlock Class
- Artifacts (8)
- 1 Treasure Chest
- 2 Goldvein Pick
- 2 Vorpal Sword
- 3 Reaper's Talisman
When Yuan-Ti Malison attacks alone, it can't be blocked. Guild Thief has an activated ability that can make it unblockable for the turn, but this costs four mana to use, so activating it in addition to the activation cost of Vorpal Sword might prove to be impossible. Finally, Krydle of Baldur's Gate allows you to pay two mana whenever Krydle attacks to make any target creature unblockable for the turn. By utilizing these abilities, you should be able to become unblockable when you need to.
You might not need to be unblockable, though, because this deck also features a deathtouch sub-theme. Yuan-Ti Fang-Blade naturally has deathtouch. Vorpal Sword provides deathtouch to the creature that has it equipped. Reaper's Talisman also provides deathtouch to the creature that has it equipped. By attacking with these creatures with deathtouch, you'll place your opponent in a position where they must block, and therefore lose one of their creatures, or take damage without blocking. It can be a difficult decision for them to make, making it possible that they will make a mistake and allow you to win more easily.
Wrapping Up
While there's not much time for these decks to shine, there's still a few weeks. Each of these decks attempts to win in unique ways, and I'm looking forward to trying them all out.
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
