Hello everyone. One of my favorite flavors of the holiday season is peppermint. The icy-cool flavor is a taste I truly enjoy. Peppermint candies also happen to correlate to two of my favorite colors in Magic, Red and White. This week, I'll be taking a look at a few peppermint inspired decks that I think I'll enjoy playing. Let's get started.

Boros Double Strike Aggro

The first deck I have for you brings the powerful punch that peppermint can be known for. Let's take a look at this aggressive deck.

Boros Double Strike Aggro - FDN Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (20)
• 2 Swiftblade Vindicator
• 3 Monastery Swiftspear
• 3 Optimistic Scavenger
• 4 Emberheart Challenger
• 4 Heartfire Hero
• 4 Manifold Mouse

• Instants (6)
• 2 Might of the Meek
• 4 Monstrous Rage

• Enchantments (14)
• 3 Shardmage's Rescue
• 3 Etali's Favor
• 4 Ethereal Armor
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (21)
• 5 Mountain
• 6 Plains
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Restless Bivouac
• 1 Rockface Village
• 3 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Inspiring Vantage

• Sideboard (7)
• 2 Get Lost
• 1 Crash Through
• 1 Authority of the Consuls
• 1 Feather of Flight
• 2 Demonic Ruckus

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Heartfire Hero is the perfect Mouse for you to target with Manifold Mouse, as doing so will give it a +1/+1 counter the first time you target it with a spell or ability each turn. Alternatively, you could opt to target Emberheart Challenger instead. The first time you do this each turn, you will exile the top card of your library which may then be played until the end of the turn.

This deck also has a ton of auras that will help boost the stats of your creatures, providing you with even more damage that you'll be able to deal when you add on double strike or trample. Ethereal Armor is the best of these auras, as it gets better and better with each additional aura you have. Make sure to attach Ethereal Armor to a creature that is able to get double strike in order to deal as much damage as possible when you attack.

Boros Midrange

Next, what I have for you might not have as many early drops as the previous deck, but it still can end games in a hurry. Let's check it out.

Boros Midrange | FDN Standard | CouR, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (12)
• 4 Ball Lightning
• 4 Overlord of the Boilerbilges
• 4 Screaming Nemesis

• Instants (2)
• 2 Get Lost

• Sorceries (17)
• 1 Exorcise
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 2 Split Up
• 4 Obliterating Bolt
• 4 Recommission
• 4 Sunfall

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Urabrask's Forge

• Lands (25)
• 2 Plains
• 7 Mountain
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Restless Bivouac

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This deck also utilizes a playset of Screaming Nemesis as a means of keeping your opponent's life total in check. By continuing to attack with Screaming Nemesis, you'll either go in unblocked and deal 3 points of damage to your opponent, or Screaming Nemesis will get blocked and likely dealt some damage. Simply redirect that damage toward your opponent and they cannot gain life for the remainder of the battle.

This deck also uses Urabrask's Forge to keep pressure on your opponent. Since it churns out a bigger and bigger creature token each turn that happens to have trample, your opponent is likely to run out of blockers. If they destroy Urabrask's Forge, you can always cast Recommission to return it to the battlefield, which effectively gives you eight chances to get Urabrask's Forge into play.

Boros Equipment

The final deck I have for you this week uses equipment as a way of finishing off their opponent. Let's take a look at the deck.

Boros Equipment | FDN Standard | shadowmoon22, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (18)
• 2 Heartfire Hero
• 4 Cacophony Scamp
• 4 Kellan, the Fae-Blooded
• 4 Kemba, Kha Enduring
• 4 Warden of the Inner Sky

• Enchantments (6)
• 2 Blacksmith's Talent
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Artifacts (13)
• 1 Basilisk Collar
• 4 Bladehold War-Whip
• 4 Lavaspur Boots
• 4 Leyline Axe

• Lands (23)
• 4 Mountain
• 4 Plains
• 2 Mirrex
• 2 Restless Bivouac
• 3 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Inspiring Vantage

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As you'd expect, this deck includes quite a few pieces of Equipment. One of my favorite Equipment cards is Basilisk Collar. While Basilisk Collar is equipped, that creature will gain both deathtouch and lifelink. If a creature has both deathtouch and first strike or double strike, they're able to destroy any opposing creature, regardless of their size, before any damage will be dealt back.

Sometimes in decks that feature a lot of Equipment, you can run into situations where you have Equipment sitting on the battlefield without any creatures to use it. Kemba, Kha Enduring is the answer for this very problem. She enables you to create a 2/2 Cat creature token, plus whenever a Cat enters the battlefield under your control, you can attach one Equipment you control to that creature. Problem solved.

Wrapping Up

Boros decks have always been some of my most preferred decks, and being able to tie them into the holiday season makes them even more fun. If you happen to play against your friends with any of these decks during the holidays, you might want to track your life total using peppermint candies, or use a candy cane to denote your Sword token.

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