So here I am.

Just minding my own business.

Testing out a new build of Black-Blue bounce.

Do all right. Unremarkable run in my first Event, but the deck is feeling good. Some pilot error. A little bad luck. Is it bad luck? Or did I just draw cards I put into my deck? I do a little tuning...

Out:

In:

Go for the Throat is only a two-of in this age of new and exciting Aetherdrift options. But that same world is one full of Vehicles and Gearhulks. Feeling good about my decision to two-of Shoot the Sheriff.

Queue up the next Event...

The first time I have the open mana to catch an opponent is on a Map token. I'm gonna Shoot the spit out of that Siren.

Buuuuut...

Spyglass Siren is a... Pirate?

A Pirate is an... Outlaw?

Argh. This run is nothing but Assassins and Warlocks. What two-mana instant kill spell am I supposed to choose? Isn't Black the king of two mana instant kill spells?

This is not currently a dilemma for White.

Four-Color Zur | DFT Standard | MyNameTidus, 5-0 MTGO Standard League 2/17/2025

• Creatures (11)
• 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring
• 3 Overlord of the Mistmoors
• 3 Zur, Eternal Schemer
• 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods

• Planeswallkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist

• Instants (6)
• 2 Ride's End
• 4 Get Lost

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Herd Migration
• 1 Sunfall
• 2 Analyze the Pollen
• 2 Day of Judgment
• 3 Pest Control

• Enchantments (8)
• 4 Leyline Binding
• 4 Up the Beanstalk

• Lands (25)
• 2 Forest
• 1 Island
• 1 Plains
• 1 Swamp
• 1 Shadowy Backstreet
• 2 Floodfarm Verge
• 2 Hedge Maze
• 2 Meticulous Archive
• 2 Wastewood Verge
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Hushwood Verge
• 4 Lush Portico

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Authority of the Consuls
• 1 Doppelgang
• 2 Elspeth's Smite
• 2 Jace, the Perfected Mind
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist
• 2 Obstinate Baloth
• 1 Pest Control
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 1 Tear Asunder

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How Does This Deck Work?

MYNAMETIDUS's deck is a pretty straight port of the Zur deck from the last format. Wastewood Verge is a nice add for a deck where the for Zur, the Enchanter is potentially competing with the of Overlord of the Hauntwoods on three.

The main idea is to use your Impending mode on Overlords various, and then animate them with Zur. The Everywhere token from Overlord of the Hauntwoods can give you a discounted Leyline Binding, which triggers Up the Beanstalk despite being functionally only one mana much of the time.

Zur animating any of these five or six (or even seven!) mana enchantments that you paid 1-4 mana for is kind of the deck's trick. The "enchantment creatures" have deathtouch. lifelink, and hexproof all... So formidable racers against Red, and also not something you're typically going to want to block if you can avoid it.

So, what's up with Ride's End?

Well if it's attacking you, MYNAMETIDUS is never going to have to worry about the Vehicles v. Sheriffs dilemma I found myself in this week. Ride's End doesn't just kill an incoming creature; it kills it dead. Beyond regular dead if you know what I mean.

If it's not attacking?

Sometimes it will still be tapped; as with a Llanowar Elves.

Sometimes you just have to pay full price, though. This is a deck that can open on Overlord of the Hauntwoods. Five is weirdly not a bad ask. Not what you "want" to be doing, and certainly wouldn't have made the cut without the cheaper mode... But this deck can more than achieve five mana in a pinch. Ride's End is already in a ton of decks.

Boros | DFT Standard | jupiterbrando, 5-0 MTGO Standard League 2/17/2025

• Creatures (18)
• 3 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 3 Voldaren Thrillseeker
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Guardian of New Benalia
• 4 Phyrexian Dragon Engine

• Instants (8)
• 4 Burst Lightning
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Helping Hand
• 4 Recommission

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Monument to Endurance

• Lands (22)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Plains
• 4 Battlefield Forge
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 The Mycosynth Gardens

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 2 Lithomantic Barrage
• 3 Loran of the Third Path
• 3 Pest Control
• 3 Sheltered by Ghosts

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Monument to Endurance looks to be one of the signature cards from Aetherdrift. It looks like it can fit into either a beatdown or a control deck (honestly, my instinct was for control)... JUPITERBRANDO's is a beatdown deck, though.

At first glance, Monument to Endurance looks very Lightning Rift-like. It costs one more mana, but doesn't require additional mana to deal damage once it's already on the battlefield. In fact, once you're done banging the opponent's life total for three, Monument to Endurance will MAKE YOU mana via Treasure tokens! Of course, drawing extra cards along the way will be nice, too. The obvious synergy is with cycling cards (where you'll be drawing cards anyway)... But the Monument is also defense against the uber-popular Hopeless Nightmare.

On second glance you might notice something about this postmodern Lightning Rift... There isn't a single cycling card in the main deck! Discard text? Sure. Across lots of cards. But only Pest Control cycles, and that's in the sideboard.

The creatures in this deck mostly have some sort of discard or graveyard synergies. Even Voldaren Thrillseeker just puts itself into the graveyard. Guardian of New Benalia can get tough by discarding. Inti, Senechal of the Sun was always a master of his own discarding ability. Now with so many other discard effects (and a few cycling cards), Inti can generate massive card advantage.

All this discarding or sacrificing or whatnot is (duh) going to put some creatures in the graveyard. Elegant Parlor will do that sometimes, too. That's why JUPITERBRANDO played the full set of Recommission and Helping Hand. Kind of borrowing a bit from Azorius Oculus.

Speaking of which...

Jeskai Oculus | DFT Standard | rushi_00, 5-0 MTGO Standard League 2/16/2025

• Creatures (16)
• 2 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 2 Steamcore Scholar
• 4 Abhorrent Oculus
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Guardian of New Benalia

• Instants (7)
• 1 Destroy Evil
• 2 Broadside Barrage
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 Chart a Course
• 2 Helping Hand
• 2 Highway Robbery
• 4 Recommission

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Monument to Endurance

• Lands (23)
• 1 Mountain
• 1 Battlefield Forge
• 1 Shivan Reef
• 2 Thundering Falls
• 3 Adarkar Wastes
• 3 Elegant Parlor
• 4 Inspiring Vantage
• 4 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Spirebluff Canal

• Sideboard (14)
• 2 Abrade
• 2 Destroy Evil
• 1 Exorcise
• 2 Ghost Vacuum
• 3 Negate
• 4 Screaming Nemesis

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This deck is of a similar structure... Just splashing blue for the pure power of the Oculus.

In addition to a giant flying 2/2 machine, blue gave RUSHI_00 another new tool from Aetherdrift:

I'm not so sure this card wouldn't have seen play without the draw/discard language. Red already plays any number of three mana / deal five damage cards in order to help contain Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. But this one is an instant that will also trigger Monument of Endurance (and help fix your hand).

I know this isn't exactly new; and I know that lots of streamers have tried Steamcore Scholar in some Outlaw / Eidetic Memory nonsense. But can you really remember the let's-call-it name of such decks? Yeah, I thought not.

That's because this is a card that at first blush doesn't look that great in 2025... a 2/2 for three-mana is Grey Ogre range! But adding some draw/discard action (thereby triggering the Monument) and some potential offense/defense game play make this one a lot more palatable with its synergies. But unless something goes right for you it's still kind of half a Serra Angel for 60% of the cost of a Serra Angel. Luckily Monument synergies can have two or more things go for right for you!

Did someone mention Proft's Eidetic Memory? I forget.

Well, this deck plays that card, but it's not the shining center of why CAKE363 gets a mention this week... Or even the most interesting one-of.

Dimir Bounce | DFT Standard | Cake363, 5-0 MTGO Standard League 2/16/2025

• Creatures (9)
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 4 Entity Tracker
• 4 Fear of Isolation

• Instants (10)
• 2 Cut Down
• 2 Get Out
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough

• Sorceries (1)
• 1 Gix's Command

• Enchantments (15)
• 1 Proft's Eidetic Memory
• 2 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Hopeless Nightmare
• 4 Nowhere to Run
• 4 Stormchaser's Talent

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Grim Bauble

• Lands (24)
• 5 Island
• 5 Swamp
• 2 Undercity Sewers
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Underground River

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Blot Out
• 1 Cut Down
• 2 Duress
• 2 Fear of Impostors
• 1 Get Out
• 1 Gix's Command
• 1 Go for the Throat
• 1 Grim Bauble
• 2 Malicious Eclipse
• 1 Marketback Walker
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1 Spell Pierce

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Here we have a more controlling look at the straight Black-Blue bounce deck. Entity Tracker is a kind of dopey 2/3 for three-mana but this isn't a card that you choose purely on size. If the opponent fails to immediately kill Entity Tracker, it can help you draw roughly eight cards, if you turned that eight on its side.

Of course Fear of Isolation (also 2/3, lest we forget) triggers Entity Tracker... While setting up your enchantments like Hopeless Nightmare and Nowhere to Run for another turn of making Mice miserable.

The payoffs from Aetherdrift are Grim Bauble and Momentum Breaker.

Grim Bauble is just an incredible upgrade for this archetype... Better by far than a lot of the options Black mages were choosing at one mana because of the longer game synergies with Fear of Isolation and This Town Ain't Big Enough.

Momentum Breaker is the really special one, though. This card gives you redundancy on Nowhere to Run and potential redundancy on Hopeless Nightmare! If the opponent doesn't have a creature in play, you can just make them discard (and also start your engines). The ability to gain life later on is just gravy... But it's going to save you once or twice before the season is out, I'm sure.

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse is a great finisher here. Especially given all the extra card drawing, which will translate into even more life gain.

Right now I feel like when you're at the car dealership and you kind of like a vehicle but you're not 100% sure... And the salesman says that he also has it in White.

Esper Bounce| DFT Standard | RubyXillia, 1st Place MTGO Standard Challenge 2/16/2025

• Creatures (15)
• 3 Spiteful Hexmage
• 4 Fear of Isolation
• 4 Nurturing Pixie
• 4 Optimistic Scavenger

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares

• Instants (6)
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough

• Enchantments (13)
• 1 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Hopeless Nightmare
• 4 Nowhere to Run
• 4 Stormchaser's Talent

• Lands (23)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Adarkar Wastes
• 2 Restless Anchorage
• 3 Caves of Koilos
• 3 Underground River
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Seachrome Coast

• Sideboard (15)
• 3 Destroy Evil
• 2 Grim Bauble
• 1 Momentum Breaker
• 2 No More Lies
• 3 Rest in Peace
• 1 Sheltered by Ghosts
• 2 Shrouded Shepherd
• 1 Spell Pierce

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While the Esper version that won this Challenge has a lot of cards in common with the Dimir deck we just looked at, it's philosophically quite different. This is a much more aggressive deck, with Spiteful Hexmage as a 3/2 for one mana and Nurturing Pixie to get in flying damage.

Momentum Breaker is arguably better in this deck just because it's going to deal damage more reliably to rev up speed. Especially with a sneaky Ninja Planeswalker exploiting flying (to set up more and more self-bounce).

Esper Pixie was one of the most popular decks at the end of Foundations Standard. It looks to stay there, just getting better with one of the best cards in Aetherdrift fitting in perfectly with the self-bounce theme.

With Momentum Breaker we saw a card that turns on speed but doesn't really do that much with it. Sure gaining 1-4 life at some point is nice... But when is the control version even ramping up speed?

But Amonkhet Raceway? Now here's a card that is really going to do something with speed. MAX speed!

It might not start your speed counter though... Wouldn't you rather run Burnout Bashtronaut on one mana, and then start ramping speed with attacking, maybe before the opponent even has any defense?

Mono-Red Goblins | DFT Standard | SaddlebackLagac, 5th Place MTGO Standard Challenge 2/16/2025

• Creatures (32)
• 4 Burnout Bashtronaut
• 4 Draconautics Engineer
• 4 Fanatical Firebrand
• 4 Greasewrench Goblin
• 4 Howlsquad Heavy
• 4 Krenko, Mob Boss
• 4 Rundvelt Hordemaster
• 4 Searslicer Goblin

• Instants (3)
• 3 Torch the Tower

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Agatha's Soul Cauldron

• Lands (23)
• 7 Mountain
• 4 Amonkhet Raceway
• 4 Copperline Gorge
• 4 Karplusan Forest
• 4 Thornspire Verge

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
• 3 Brotherhood's End
• 2 Case of the Crimson Pulse
• 2 Chandra, Spark Hunter
• 2 Lithomantic Barrage
• 3 Pawpatch Formation
• 2 Witchstalker Frenzy

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That's right folks! Thirty-two creatures... and thirty-two Goblins.

I think Goblins are finally back. One of the most deadly tribes in the history of Magic has been kind of quiet, linearly speaking, for maybe decades. This is the team of Goblin Lackey into Goblin Piledriver; Goblin Warchief making Siege-Gang Commander a one-spell death squad... But not before drawing a ton with Goblin Ringleader.

Sure, there have been nice Goblins since... But not really a great top-to bottom linear aggro deck for many years.

Until now?

This one is sure putting in the effort.

Burnout Bashtronaut is insane at . Menace getting in means that it's going to ramp your speed unless they kill it, because they probably aren't blocking it early. And if they do block it? The Bashtronaut might kill everything they put in front of it because of its built-in Firebreathing ability.

Draconics Engineer is... fine? Or at least it looks fine? 2/2 for two. Sure. We've seen that a thousand times before. Oh wait... That's a lot of text. Draconics Engineer is fine on curve, and you might never activate its Exhaust abilities (or at least not for a while). But both of its Exhaust abilities are incredible. One of them is sneaky and the other is just plain powerful. You kind of have to kill this creature before they get to four mana because if you can't kill a 2/2 how the heck are you going to remove a 4/4 flyer that they just got for free?

We just spent two decks looking at why Momentum Breaker might be the best card in Aetherdrift. Here are two Goblins that are just praying that Black plays Momentum Breaker. I can tell you from being on the wrong end of a Searslicer Goblin that forcing them to sacrifice an extra 1/1 token is not getting you anywhere, and will barely - barely - keep the Control side alive.

And this is what we're doing with our Amonkhet Raceway. This is what all those cards that say "Start your engines!" are moving us to.

A 3/3 for four mana... The knock on Krenko has always been that he'd be in the graveyard before you tapped him the first time. Well there are a heck of a lot of ways to give the Mob Boss haste in this deck. How many times does he have to tap before the other player taps out?

Goblins looks absolutely real to me. Real scary, too.

And thank God right? Aggressive red decks are finally going to get a chance to play in Standard. Whew.

LOVE

MIKE