Hello everyone. It's always so much fun to see the new decks that are created when a new set releases. Aetherdrift has given us some spicy new cards and mechanics to build around. This week, I'll be taking a look at a few more decks you can use in events at your friendly local game store or just against your friends at home. Let's get started.

Rakdos Aggro

We'll start things off this week with a deck that wants to get to max speed as quickly as possible. Let's take a look at the deck.

Rakdos Aggro | DFT Standard | MTGMalone

• Creatures (34)
• 2 Laughing Jasper Flint
• 3 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
• 3 Flamecache Gecko
• 3 Gev, Scaled Scorch
• 3 Hazoret, Godseeker
• 4 Far Fortune, End Boss
• 4 Gastal Thrillseeker
• 4 Hired Claw
• 4 Iridescent Vinelasher
• 4 Viashino Pyromancer

• Instants (2)
• 2 Lightning Strike

• Lands (24)
• 8 Mountain
• 8 Swamp
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Jagged Barrens

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Gastal Thrillseeker is a terrific card in an aggressive deck like this. When it comes into play, you will start your engines. That puts you at speed 1. When Gastal Thrillseeker enters the battlefield, it will deal 1 damage to your opponent and you'll gain 1 life. This damage will immediately increase your speed to 2. You're officially halfway to max speed by only casting this creature.

Gastal Thrillseeker also happens to be a Lizard, providing synergy with a couple of other cards in this deck. If you have Gev, Scaled Scorch on the battlefield when you cast Gastal Thrillseeker, Gev will deal 1 damage to your opponent. Hired Claw also cares that Gastal Thrillseeker is a Lizard, as it will deal 1 damage to your opponent whenever one or more of your Lizards attack.

Getting to max speed is important because it's needed to allow Hazoret, Godseeker to attack or block. While having a 5/3 indestructible creature can enable you to plow through your opponent's defenses, fear not if you haven't reached max speed when Hazoret comes into play. She has an activated ability that you can use to make a creature with power 2 or less unblockable for the turn. This can enable you to deal damage to your opponent while your opponent has a defensive team in play, triggering your speed to go up, getting you one step closer to allowing Hazoret to attack and block.

Selesnya Counters

The next deck I have for you likes to gain +1/+1 counters.

Selesnya Counters | DFT Standard | JayVillain

• Creatures (24)
• 2 Brightglass Gearhulk
• 3 Bulwark Ox
• 3 Calix, Guided by Fate
• 4 Botanical Brawler
• 4 Optimistic Scavenger
• 4 Toadstool Admirer
• 4 Tomakul Honor Guard

• Enchantments (15)
• 3 Audacity
• 4 Ethereal Armor
• 4 Shardmage's Rescue
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (22)
• 5 Forest
• 7 Plains
• 3 Brushland
• 3 Hushwood Verge
• 4 Razorverge Thicket

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Optimistic Scavenger has been a great enabler for decks that want to gain +1/+1 counters since Duskmourn came out. While this Human Scout is on the battlefield, whenever an enchantment you control enters the battlefield or whenever you fully unlock a Room, you'll get to put a +1/+1 counter on a creature.

There are a couple of good choices for those +1/+1 counters to go. Botanical Brawler has trample, which allows you to deal excess damage to your opponent if it gets blocked. Of course, you could also add the +1/+1 counter to Brightglass Gearhulk instead, which also has trample. Botanical Brawler has the additional benefit of gaining a +1/+1 counter whenever you add a +1/+1 counter to another creature if it's the first time you've added +1/+1 counters to that creature. Pump up both creatures at the same time and reap the extra benefits.

One unsung hero in this deck is Toadstool Admirer. This very innocent looking 1/1 for 1 mana can end up being quite the thorn in your opponent's side. It has ward 2, making it difficult to remove in the early game. Once your opponent has the mana to use a removal spell on it, removing a 1/1 often isn't worth their time. However, Toadstool Admirer has an ability that adds a +1/+1 counter to it which just requires mana to be spent. Use this in the later stages of the game to bulk up, benefitting your Botanical Brawler in the process.

Grixis Riverchurn Mill

The final deck I have for you this week features one of my favorite alternate win conditions, mill.

Riverchurn Mill | DFT Standard | LegenVD

• Creatures (4)
• 4 Terisian Mindbreaker

• Planeswalkers (4)
• 4 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (16)
• 2 Anoint with Affliction
• 2 Bitter Triumph
• 2 Cut Down
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 2 Sheoldred's Edict
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Ephara's Dispersal

• Sorceries (6)
• 2 Deadly Cover-Up
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Riverchurn Monument

• Lands (26)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Swamp
• 3 Island
• 2 Restless Reef
• 3 Fabled Passage
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Thundering Falls
• 4 Undercity Sewers

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Jace, the Perfected Mind can often act as a finisher for this deck. While you can use his -2 loyalty ability to mill three cards from your opponent's deck and draw a card (or possibly three), it's often just better to use his -X loyalty ability instead. This will put more cards into your opponent's graveyard, getting them closer to defeat.

Another great way to get cards from your opponent's library into their graveyard is with Terisian Mindbreaker. When Terisian Mindbreaker attacks, your opponent will mill half of their library, rounded up. Subsequent attacks aren't quite as impactful as the first, so, if possible, you'll want to put Terisian Mindbreaker onto the battlefield via its unearth ability. For this reason, you might want to use Jace's milling abilities on your own deck, so you can ensure that you have a Terisian Mindbreaker to unearth.

Once half of your opponent's library is in their graveyard, it's time to finish them off. You can certainly do this with Jace's -X loyalty ability, as we've seen in the past, or you can use mills newest tool from Aetherdrift, Riverchurn Monument. This artifact has a minor activated ability that can mill any number of players of two cards. However, in order to finish off your opponent, you'll want to activate Riverchurn Monuments exhaust ability, milling your opponent a number of cards equal to the number of cards in their graveyard. Finish them off in one fell swoop.

Wrapping Up

With there being six Standard releases this year, there's not much time between new releases. Make sure to take some time to try out some of these new cards from Aetherdrift to see what synergies you can find. It won't be long until our next spoiler season, so try to enjoy these new cards while they're still fresh.

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