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Main » Articles » Rising to the Challenge

Rising to the Challenge

Mike Likes
Posted on February 6, 2020
 Reddit

Hello, everyone! This past weekend a Standard Challenge was held on Magic Online (MTGO). This week, I'll be taking a look at a few of the decks from this event that look fun and innovative. Let's get started by taking a look at the deck that came in First Place.

Azorius Control

The deck that ultimately won this tournament was Azorius Control. Thanks to a creature from Theros Beyond Death, control decks have access to an amazing finisher. Let's take a look at the deck:

Azorius Control | THB Standard | PETOMARTINEZ, 1ST PLACE, STANDARD CHALLENGE #12081603

Dream Trawler
The finisher that I referred to earlier is, of course, Dream Trawler. With its restrictive mana cost, it won't be the perfect finisher for all control decks, but for Azorius, it's likely the best choice. The fact that it has both flying and lifelink are what make this finisher so effective. During the course of a game, a control player is likely to have taken a fair amount of damage. After all, we've been taught that your life total is another resource you can use to help you win the game, as only your last point of life actually matters. Because of these abilities, you're able to attack with Dream Trawler once you have a firm control over the battlefield, regaining your life points while taking away your opponents'. Dream Trawler's toughness is also high enough that your opponent might be forced to stop attacking you once it comes into play, since you might be able to block their creature, destroying it in the process, and gain additional points of life.

This deck gets a lot of help from two new sagas, The Birth of Meletis and Elspeth Conquers Death. The Birth of Meletis helps ramp your mana by putting a Plains from your deck into your hand. It also creates a 0/4 Wall creature token that you can use to help soften the amount of damage you'll be taking. Finally, it gives you two points of life. This saga plays nicely with Teferi, Time Raveler as well. If you already have a handle on your opponent's side of the battlefield thanks to your counterspells, you can use Teferi's -3 loyalty ability to return The Birth of Meletis to your hand after your second lore counter has been placed on it. This will allow you to gain multiple 0/4 Wall blockers in the event your opponent starts to mount an offense.

Elspeth Conquers Death starts off by exiling an expensive permanent your opponent controls. Some great targets will be costly creatures, especially those with evasion, or other planeswalkers. Chapter two makes it more difficult for your opponent to cast noncreature spells for a turn. If you've been worried that your Dream Trawler will be countered by your opponent, cast it now with a little more certainty. Finally, the last chapter of Elspeth Conquers Death allows you to return a creature or planeswalker from your graveyard to the battlefield with either a +1/+1 counter or an extra loyalty counter on it. If you thought Dream Trawler was good, it's even better with a +1/+1 counter.

Rakdos Aristocrats

The next deck I have for you uses one of the best two-card combos currently in Standard as a starting point that ultimately uses the death of everything as the way to win the game. Let's take a look at it:

Rakdos Aristocrats | THB Standard | ELYALLO, 2ND PLACE, STANDARD CHALLENGE #12081603

The Akroan War
With a copy of Cauldron Familiar and Witch's Oven on the battlefield, you have an engine that you can use to win the game without the need of attacking your opponent. Every time Cauldron Familiar enters the battlefield, you gain a point of life while simultaneously causing your opponent to lose a point of life. You can then sacrifice Cauldron Familiar by activating Witch's Oven, which will create a Food token. Then, you can sacrifice that Food token to return Cauldron Familiar from your graveyard to the battlefield, triggering its ETB (enters the battlefield) effect. Repeat this process as many times as you're able to activate Witch's Oven each turn and whittle your opponent's life away.

This deck has a couple of other cards that also work wonders when you sacrifice a creature. Mayhem Devil allows you to deal a point of damage to any target when you sacrifice a creature. You can use this damage to destroy an opponent's creatures or planeswalkers, or point it directly at the opponent instead and take their life total down even faster. Midnight Reaper allows you to draw a card with the added cost of taking one point of damage whenever a nontoken creature you control dies (yes, sacrificing a creature counts as it dying).

While it's great to sacrifice your own creatures for this added value, it's even better to steal your opponent's creatures and sacrifice them. Claim the Firstborn allows you to steal an opponent's creature with a converted mana cost (CMC) of three or less for the turn. The Akroan War allows you to steal any creature for as long as The Akroan War remains on the battlefield. Steal an opponent's creature, use it to attack its owner, and then sacrifice it for extra value. This is a lot of fun to do (but less fun when it happens to you).

Mono-Red Aggro

The final deck I have for you went undefeated during the Swiss portion of this tournament, but only managed to come in Fifth Place once the Quarterfinals took place. Let's take a look at it:

Mono-Red Aggro | THB Standard | KASA, 5TH PLACE, STANDARD CHALLENGE #12081603

Anax, Hardened in the Forge
Phoenix of Ash is the latest in a long line of Phoenixes that Wizards of the Coast has brought us. As a hasty flier, it can attack unexpectedly early in the game. As the game goes on, your opponent will need to find a way to deal with Phoenix of Ash, otherwise you can use its "fire-breathing" ability to deal additional damage whenever it attacks. Assuming your opponent does have a removal spell for Phoenix of Ash, it's relatively easy to return it to the battlefield thanks to its ability to escape from the graveyard. A resilient, evasive threat that can act as a mana sink is exactly what Red needed.

Another creature from Theros Beyond Death that I've been impressed with is Anax, Hardened in the Forge. With Anax's power being directly tied to your devotion to Red, it has the potential to deal a lot of damage. The fact that Anax creates a 1/1 Satyr creature token (or possibly two) whenever a nontoken creature you control dies offers a ton of resiliency. No longer can your opponent rely on a single destruction spell to remove all of your creatures.

Anax works wonders when paired up with Embercleave. Since Embercleave increases your devotion to Red by two, Anax will have a minimum of 4 power while both cards are on the battlefield. If you equip Anax with Embercleave, you'll have a minimum 5/4 creature with double strike and trample. This can allow you to finish off your opponent is a few turns with no additional help.

Wrapping Up

We're beginning to see what decks are most predominantly played in Standard, based on the results of tournaments like this one. However, that doesn't mean that there's no room for innovation in Standard.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. 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

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, decklists, theros block, thb, thb standard, 02052020

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