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Hello everyone. While Standard might not be played as much in person as it used to be, it's still my favorite way to play Magic. If you like Standard too, you'll want to check out my column each week. Once again, I have a few Standard decks that you can use against your friends or at a Standard event at your local game store. Let's get started.
Grixis Discard
The first deck I have for you features a discard theme along with some powerful finishers. Let's take a look at the deck.
Grixis Discard | Standard | SwayzeMTG
To start things off, you'll want to play cards like The Long Reach of Night that can force your opponent to discard cards from their hand. This enchantment can sometimes be difficult to get the desired effect if your opponent has a fair amount of expendable creature tokens that they can sacrifice, but most of the time, playing it will give you the desired effect of discarding cards. Aggressive Sabotage is another spell that will force your opponent to discard two cards. If you can pay the kicker cost, go for it, but I wouldn't hold onto this card to get the kicker, as it's just an extra bonus.
Another way to force your opponent to discard cards is by playing Bladecoil Serpent. While this Serpent is expensive to play, you can possibly force your opponent to discard three or more cards at once. Other cards that will help you force your opponent to discard cards are The Cruelty of Gix and Liliana of the Veil. With a copy of The Cruelty of Gix on the battlefield, you can eventually put any creature card in a graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. It can feel great to defeat your opponent by attacking with one of their own creatures.
In addition to attacking with the biggest threat in anyone's graveyard, this deck has a couple of other great ways to help you close out games. First is with Junji, the Midnight Sky. Not only is Junji a huge 5/5 flying threat with menace, but if Junji dies, you get to put a non-Dragon creature card from any graveyard onto the battlefield under your control. The other way to reduce your opponent's life total quickly is by playing Painful Quandary. This enchantment will force your opponent to lose five points of life whenever they cast a spell, unless they discard a card. If you've already forced them to discard much of their hand already, it becomes increasingly difficult to cast spells for them without losing a huge chunk of their life.
Jeskai Urza
Next, I have a deck featuring Urza, Prince of Kroog, who can really boost your powerful artifacts. Let's look at the deck.
Jeskai Urza | Standard | LegenVD
With a copy of Urza, Prince of Kroog on the battlefield, all your artifact creatures will get a +2/+2 bonus. That boost will make the smallest 1/1 Thopter tokens that Saheeli, Filigree Master can create into formidable 3/3's. It will also boost your other artifact creatures, like Combat Thresher and Skitterbeam Battalion, into major threats. Urza, Prince of Kroog can also create his own 1/1 Soldier artifact creature tokens that are also immediately boosted into 3/3's.
While I briefly mentioned them earlier, I'd like to talk a little more about Combat Thresher and Skitterbeam Battalion. Both artifact creatures can be cast for their prototype cost, making them playable threats at multiple points throughout the game. Combat Thresher allows you to draw a card when it enters the battlefield. It also has double strike, so whether it's a 1/1 or a 3/3, it will be able to attack well on offense, and it can take out much larger threats when used defensively.
Skitterbeam Battalion has trample and haste, making it a very effective attacker. It also has an ability that creates two token copies of it when it enters the battlefield, as long as Skitterbeam Battalion was cast. That allows you to attack with a surprising amount of power, even if you cast Skitterbeam Battalion for its prototype cost. This surprise for your opponent can be made even worse thanks to the +2/+2 that Urza, Prince of Kroog will provide to each copy of Skitterbeam Battalion.
Four-Color Skyfisher Artifact Madness
The final deck I have for you today is a four-color deck that gains life, grows its creatures bigger, and has the means to destroy any nonland permanent. Let's check it out.
4c Skyfisher Artifact Madness | Standard | MtgMalone
Teething Wurmlet gives you a point of life every time an artifact enters the battlefield under your control. It also gets a +1/+1 counter once per turn when you gain life this way. By playing this creature early, you'll be able to grow it into monstrous proportions as the game progresses. Helping Teething Wurmlet is Third Path Iconoclast. While Third Path Iconoclast is on the battlefield, you'll create a 1/1 Soldier artifact creature token whenever you cast a noncreature spell. Since there's a fair number of noncreature spells in this deck, you'll be able to create a decent amount of Soldiers in this way.
You'll be able to utilize those Soldiers very effectively by sacrificing them with Oni-Cult Anvil. Doing this will deal one point of damage to your opponent, while giving you a point of life. That will trigger Oni-Cult Anvil's ability that creates a 1/1 Construct artifact creature token, which triggers Teething Wurmlet in the process. As you can see, this deck builds upon itself, one card creating a trigger for another card, which in turn creates a trigger for another card. It's that interaction that makes this deck so much fun to play.
This deck also uses Skyfisher Spider as its preferred method of removal. When Skyfisher Spider enters the battlefield, you can sacrifice another creature to destroy a nonland permanent. When Skyfisher Spider dies, you can gain life equal to the number of creature cards in your graveyard, causing you to exile Skyfisher Spider. You can gain these benefits repeatedly by creating a copy of Skyfisher Spider with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, the transformed side of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. Destroying any nonland permanent and gaining life each turn makes this a powerful combo indeed.
Wrapping Up
While Standard might not be the most played format in paper anymore, it's still a ton of fun to play. Right now, there are so many fun and interesting decks to play, which offers a deck for everyone, regardless of their play style. As we enter 2023, will Standard make a comeback? I don't know, but I'm hopeful it does. Regardless, I'll continue bringing you the best decks for Standard I can find for you to use, both in person and on Magic Arena.
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
