Hello everyone. While it might be hard to believe, in just a couple of weeks the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set drops, bringing a ton of new cards to Standard. But, until that happens and during the first few weeks of this new Standard environment, you'll need something to play. That's what this series of articles provides.

For the past three weeks, I've brought you a variety of decks in one and two-color combinations. I'm continuing that series this week with a look at a Mono-White deck, a Simic () deck, and a Rakdos () deck. Let's get started.

Mono-White Cat Lifegain

As is usual, I'll begin by taking a look at the mono-colored deck I have for you. This time, it's a Mono-White deck that is focused around the Cat creature type as well as gaining life. Let's take a look at the deck.

Mono-White Cat Lifegain | ECL Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Basri, Tomorrow's Champion
• 2 Gloryheath Lynx
• 2 Prideful Feastling
• 2 Regal Caracal
• 4 Ajani's Pridemate
• 4 Arahbo, the First Fang
• 4 Kinscaer Sentry
• 4 Leonin Vanguard
• 4 Skyknight Squire

• Instants (4)
• 4 Personify

• Enchantments (7)
• 3 Authority of the Consuls
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (22)
• 19 Plains
• 1 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 2 Cavern of Souls

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Flock Impostor
• 1 Get Lost
• 1 Restoration Magic
• 1 Raise the Past
• 1 Requisition Raid
• 1 Seam Rip
• 1 Patchwork Banner

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I can say from experience that this deck is a lot of fun to play. If possible, you'll want to start things off by playing Authority of the Consuls. The amount of incidental life gain this enchantment provides goes a long way toward keeping your life total higher than your opponents.

With the majority of the creatures in this deck having a mana value of 2 or less, gaining multiple points of life each turn won't be too difficult. Even the creatures that have a mana value of 3 or more usually bring additional creature tokens with them, keeping that trend of gaining multiple points of life each turn possible.

You'll also be gaining life due to the lifelink that many of your creatures have. Prideful Feastling, Gloryheath Lynx, and Kinscaer Sentry all naturally have lifelink, but once you get a copy of Regal Caracal into play, all of your other Cats will gain lifelink. That boon will extend to other creatures you control that have all creature types, such as any Changeling creature tokens created by Personify or an animated Soulstone Sanctuary.

All of that life you're gaining helps you create a massive Ajani's Pridemate, since it gains a +1/+1 counter every time you gain life. You can also boost it, along with all of your other Cat creatures, by playing Arahbo, the First Fang or Regal Caracal. Both of these creatures provide a +1/+1 bonus to other Cats you control. This makes your Cats bigger and tougher to kill, plus you'll get extra life from your Cats that have lifelink.

Simic Control and Ramp

Next, I have a Simic control deck that has some unusual win conditions. Let's take a look at the deck.

Simic Control and Ramp | ECL Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (3)
• 3 Overlord of the Hauntwoods

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Oko, Lorwyn Liege

• Instants (18)
• 2 Three Steps Ahead
• 3 Aetherize
• 3 Into the Flood Maw
• 3 Spell Snare
• 3 Spider-Sense
• 4 Consult the Star Charts

• Sorceries (10)
• 1 Dream Harvest
• 3 Doppelgang
• 3 Shared Roots
• 3 Stock Up

• Artifacts (4)
• 1 Riverchurn Monument
• 3 Ancient Cornucopia

• Lands (24)
• 1 Island
• 5 Forest
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 2 Demolition Field
• 2 Mistrise Village
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Hedge Maze
• 4 Restless Vinestalk

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To start things off, you'll want to play spells that will accelerate your mana. Shared Roots lets you put a basic land from your library onto the battlefield tapped. Ancient Cornucopia can be tapped for one mana of any color, plus it will provide you a little life gain when you use it. Overlord of the Hauntwoods creates land tokens that are every basic land type. Use this extra mana to cast spells that will counter your opponents spells whenever possible, most of the time.

I say to counter your opponents spells most of the time because you actually might want them to get some decent threats into play. That allows Doppelgang to be one of the win conditions for this deck. If they have something nice, maybe you should have it too, or even multiple copies of it. It always feels great to defeat an opponent using their own cards.

If winning via Doppelgang isn't a possibility, you might be able to mill your opponent instead. You can use the Exhaust ability of Riverchurn Monument to mill a number of cards from your opponent's library equal to the number of cards in their graveyard. By playing Dream Harvest before activating this ability, you'll not only have additional cards in your opponent's graveyard, but you can also find some nice cards that you can cast for free.

Rakdos Discard

The final deck I have for you this week is a Rakdos deck that doesn't mind discarding its own cards to gain some substantial benefits. Let's take a look at the deck.

Rakdos Discard | ECL Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Tersa Lightshatter
• 4 Bloodghast
• 4 Flamewake Phoenix
• 4 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
• 4 Iron-Shield Elf
• 4 Marauding Mako
• 4 Moonshadow

• Instants (4)
• 2 Bitter Triumph
• 2 Requiting Hex

• Artifacts (8)
• 4 Bloodthorn Flail
• 4 Monument to Endurance

• Lands (22)
• 3 Mountain
• 3 Swamp
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Blazemire Verge
• 4 Multiversal Passage
• 4 Starting Town

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Inti, Seneschal of the Sun, Iron-Shield Elf, and Tersa Lightshatter are all permanents that allow you to discard cards for different effects. You can also discard a card to equip Bloodthorn Flail. Having at least one of these in play offers you the ability to gain +1/+1 counters on Marauding Mako or to gain one of the effects that Monument to Endurance provides.

A couple of great cards to discard are Bloodghast and Flamewake Phoenix. Each of these creatures has the ability to return to the battlefield from your graveyard. Bloodghast returns more easily, as long as you're able to trigger landfall. Flamewake Phoenix can be a little more difficult, but it's still possible.

Moonshadow is a big payoff for discarding cards. While it initially enters play with six -1/-1 counters on it, you'll be able to remove a -1/-1 counter from it whenever a permanent card is put into your graveyard from anywhere. Whether it's another creature dying or you using an ability that allows you to discard a card, a -1/-1 counter will be removed from Moonshadow, allowing it to achieve its full-sized 7/7 body.

Wrapping Up

While there might not be a lot of time left in Lorwyn Eclipsed Standard, these decks will be viable decks for many weeks to come. By using them during the first few weeks after a new set releases, you're afforded some time to acquire new cards to add to your decks and to see what new strategies emerge.

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