Hello everyone. With Christmas upon us, I'm taking a break from bringing you the latest Standard decks doing well on Magic Arena or on Magic Online. This week, I have some untested decks for you that look fun and interesting that you can use against your friends or family at your holiday get-togethers. Let's get started.

Izzet Mill

We start this week with one of my favorite types of decks - a mill deck. Let's take a look at it.

Izzet Mill | ZNR Standard | Bandit_MTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (10)
• 2 Gadwick, the Wizened
• 4 Overwhelmed Apprentice
• 4 Ruin Crab

• Instants (23)
• 2 Essence Scatter
• 2 Negate
• 2 Opt
• 2 Spikefield Hazard
• 3 Jwari Disruption
• 4 Fire Prophecy
• 4 Into the Story
• 4 Valakut Awakening

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Shatterskull Smashing

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Omen of the Sea
• 4 Teferi's Tutelage

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Folio of Fancies

• Lands (15)
• 4 Mountain
• 7 Island
• 4 Riverglide Pathway

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Ruin Crab starts the party by milling your opponent of three cards every time a land enters the battlefield under your control. If you're lucky enough to land a Ruin Crab on your first couple of turns, you'll be able to mill your opponent of quite a few cards. But, in order to mill their deck completely, you'll need help.

Teferi's Tutelage is just the help you need. This enchantment mills your opponent of two cards each time you draw a card. Since you draw a card at the start of each turn, you're guaranteed to continue milling each and every turn. I've seen a number of opponents concede on the spot once I've managed to resolve my second copy of Teferi's Tutelage.

The rest of this deck is a control deck, utilizing cards like Negate and Essence Scatter to counter your opponent's spells. In the event that you're not able to counter everything your opponent casts, you have spells that can help out. Fire Prophecy and Shatterskull Smashing deal direct damage to an opponent's creatures and planeswalkers, allowing you to destroy them easily. You also have cards like Into the Story and Folio of Fancies that will help you draw additional cards each turn, providing more options to mill your opponent.

Rainbow Shrines

Our next deck is a five-color deck that harnesses the power of Shrines. Let's take a look at the deck.

Rainbow Shrines | ZNR Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (5)
• 1 Massacre Wurm
• 1 Realm-Cloaked Giant
• 3 Fae of Wishes

• Instants (2)
• 2 Negate

• Sorceries (7)
• 2 Extinction Event
• 2 Storm's Wrath
• 3 Shatter the Sky

• Enchantments (22)
• 3 Bloodchief's Thirst
• 3 Sanctum of All
• 3 Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest
• 3 Sanctum of Shattered Heights
• 3 Sanctum of Stone Fangs
• 3 Sanctum of Tranquil Light
• 4 Sanctum of Calm Waters

• Lands (24)
• 4 Branchloft Pathway
• 4 Brightclimb Pathway
• 4 Clearwater Pathway
• 4 Cragcrown Pathway
• 4 Needleverge Pathway
• 4 Riverglide Pathway

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 1 Erebos's Intervention
• 2 Heliod's Intervention
• 2 Mythos of Nethroi
• 1 Dance of the Manse
• 1 Eerie Ultimatum
• 1 Shadows' Verdict
• 1 Shatter the Sky
• 2 Elspeth Conquers Death
• 1 Tormod's Crypt
• 2 Sorcerous Spyglass

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This deck is another type of control deck that attempts to win via the power of Shrines. Four of the Shrines in Standard have effects that happen each turn, while the remaining two have effects that can be activated. Let's take a look at the Shrines with automatic effects first.

Sanctum of Stone Fangs drains your opponent of an amount of life equal to the number of Shrines you control. This can allow you to remain alive much longer, since there aren't many inexpensive creatures in this deck to protect your life total with. Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest gives you free mana that you can use to outpace your opponent. Sanctum of Calm Waters allows you to draw extra cards, giving you card advantage over your opponent. Finally, Sanctum of All allows you to put a Shrine from your library or your graveyard onto the battlefield. It also allows your other Shrines the possibility of triggering the abilities of your Shrines additional times during your turn.

The remaining two Shrines have activated abilities that you can use to control your opponent's forces. With Sanctum of Tranquil Light, you'll be able to tap an opponent's creature, making it so they can't attack you easily. Sanctum of Shattered Heights offers you a way of dealing direct damage to a target creature or planeswalker. By using these two Shrines in conjunction with the few creatures this deck has, you can help to keep your opponent's side of the battlefield clear of threats.

Boros Warriors

Our final deck this week is a Boros Warrior deck that features quite a few equipment cards. Let's check it out.

Boros Warriors | ZNR Standard | TheMTGEngineer, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (20)
• 1 Legion Angel
• 2 Akiri, Fearless Voyager
• 2 Kargan Intimidator
• 3 Seasoned Hallowblade
• 4 Fireblade Charger
• 4 Kargan Warleader
• 4 Kor Blademaster

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients

• Instants (3)
• 3 Feat of Resistance

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Emeria's Call

• Artifacts (12)
• 2 Embercleave
• 2 Shadowspear
• 4 Maul of the Skyclaves
• 4 Relic Axe

• Lands (21)
• 5 Plains
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Castle Ardenvale
• 1 Castle Embereth
• 4 Needleverge Pathway
• 4 Temple of Triumph

• Sideboard (3)
• 3 Legion Angel

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Embercleave has been used for many months as a powerful finisher for Red-based decks. With its ability to be flashed into play, it's often possible to win games unexpectedly. It can be especially effective when Embercleave is equipped to a creature that has evasion, such as Legion Angel, or a creature that is difficult to remove, such as Seasoned Hallowblade. Fireblade Charger would be another good choice to equip Embercleave to because of its ability to deal damage equal to its power to any target when it dies.

Shadowspear only costs one mana to cast and two mana to equip. One benefit it provides is lifelink, allowing you to remain in the game longer. It also provides you with a way of removing hexproof and indestructible for the turn. That can help considerably against certain decks.

The final two pieces of equipment both auto-equip to a creature when they enter the battlefield, making them effective as soon as they are cast. Maul of the Skyclaves offers both flying and first strike, turning the equipped creature into the ultimate defensive threat. But, just because that creature can defend rather well doesn't mean you should never attack with it. Relic Axe only provides a stat boost when it is equipped, but that boost increases if it's equipped to a Warrior. Since all of the creatures in this deck are Warriors, you'll always get the bigger bonus, making Relic Axe a better value in this deck than it would be in others.

Wrapping Up

Whether you're a fan of control or aggro decks, our current Standard environment has something for everyone to enjoy. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season and you're able to enjoy a bit of Magic with your loved ones.

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