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Main » Articles » Innovating in NEO Standard

Innovating in NEO Standard

Mike Likes
Posted on March 10, 2022
 Reddit

Hello everyone. Another week has gone by and more Standard Challenge tournaments have taken place on Magic Online. While we're seeing a lot of the same decks being played, it's still possible to find innovation. This week I have three more decks for you that I find to be innovative and fun. Let's get started.

Bant Control

We'll get started by taking a look at a deck that came in 14th place. While it's not one of the usual decks I would play, I think it has a lot of potential. Let's take a look at the deck.

Bant Control | NEO Standard | WOOKIEWASABI, 14th Place, Standard Challenge, 02/27/2022

The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration

Operating like a typical control deck, this deck has numerous ways to counter your opponent's spells and destroy their creatures. Saw It Coming, Disdainful Stroke, and Negate offer you the means of countering your opponent's spells. Jwari Disruption // Jwari Ruins can also counter an opponent's spell, or at least make them pay additional mana in order for it to resolve. Doomskar can be used to wipe the battlefield clear of all creatures, with Fateful Absence being used to pick off specific targets. March of Otherworldly Light and Farewell offers a more permanent solution for numerous card types, exiling them rather than just destroying them.

Once you've limited your opponent's options by countering and destroying or exiling their threats, it's time for you to take the fight to them. This deck has a few cards you can use as win conditions. First, you have Colossal Skyturtle. If you haven't used it for its channel effects, you can cast Colossal Skyturtle as a creature spell. Getting a 6/5 flying creature with ward 2 onto the battlefield can allow you to end things rather quickly. It can also act as a great blocker, but its high mana value means you won't be able to cast it until the late stages of the game.

The Restoration of Eiganjo // Architect of Restoration can also act as a finisher. Once it transforms into the Architect of Restoration, you can begin building up a force of 1/1 Spirit creature tokens. Use those tokens as chump blockers, or overwhelm your opponent with them while attacking. Those tokens can also crew Reckoner Bankbuster. This vehicle can be used as another finisher, even though its primary purpose is drawing you additional cards. Finally, you can create a large Treefolk creature token by using Wrenn and Seven's -3 loyalty ability. This token grows in size as you play more lands, enabling you to continually pressure your opponent's defenses.

Naya Enchantments

The next deck I have for you took first place, and it's quite an enchanting brew. Let's take a look at the deck.

Naya Enchantments | NEO Standard | GUL_DUKAT, 1st Place, Standard Challenge, 02/27/2022

Runeforge Champion
If you're looking for a highly synergistic deck to play, look no further. Runeforge Champion is a star player in this deck. When this Dwarf Warrior enters the battlefield, you can put a Rune from either your deck or graveyard into your hand. He also allows you to cast Rune spells for a single mana rather than that spell's mana value. By combining this effect with the static ability on Jukai Naturalist, which allows your enchantment spells to be cast for one mana less, and you'll be able to cast Rune spells for free. Since each Rune spell allows you to draw a card when they enter the battlefield, you can chain together a bunch of Runes for maximum effectiveness.

Casting Runes and other enchantment spells will allow your Kami of Transience to grow larger, thanks to the +1/+1 counters it will gain. That increased size allows you to attack even in the face of blockers since Kami of Transience has trample. Kami of Transience also will return to your hand from the graveyard on any turn where an enchantment was put into your graveyard from the battlefield. In addition to the natural +1/+1 counters Kami of Transience will gain throughout the game, you can place even more on it by having Generous Visitor on the battlefield.

Most of the currently played enchantment decks are Green and White. This deck goes further by adding Red mana. This is useful for a couple of cards. Showdown of the Skalds can provide you with additional cards to cast when it enters play. During later chapters, it will also provide even more +1/+1 counters you can place on any creature you control. Red mana also allows you to play Rune of Speed, which will grant the creature it is enchanted to a +1/+0 bonus and haste. With some well-timed spells, you can find yourself defeating your opponent unexpectedly.

Azorius Vehicles

The final deck I have for you utilizes artifacts to secure victory over its opponent. Let's check it out.

Azorius Vehicles | NEO Standard | MJ_23, 24th Place, Standard Challenge, 02/26/2022

Silver Raven
Silver Raven is often the unsung hero in this deck. As a 1/1 flying creature that only costs a single Blue mana to cast, you can often attack for a few turns without any opposition. You can use those attacks as a means of sneaking in extra damage with Covert Technician, thanks to its ninjutsu ability. If all goes according to play, once Covert Technician has dealt its damage to your opponent, you'll be able to put a vehicle from your hand onto the battlefield for free, as long as its mana value is equal to or less than the amount of damage Covert technician dealt.

In this deck, the only vehicle you can put into play with this effect is Mechtitan Core. You can help make sure you have a copy of Mechtitan Core in your hand by playing Ingenious Smith. When Ingenious Smith enters the battlefield, you can put an artifact from within the top four cards of your library into your hand. With a bit of luck, you'll be able to find Mechtitan Core this way, but if not, there's plenty of other artifacts for you to find.

With a total of twenty-eight artifacts in this deck, even if you're not able to find Mechtitan Core, you'll still be able to deal quite a bit of damage thanks to the playset of Michiko's Reign of Truth // Portrait of Michiko. This saga will allow you to boost one of your creatures based on the number of artifacts and/or enchantments you control. Once this sage transforms into Portrait of Michiko, you'll have a creature whose power and toughness are equal to the number of artifacts and/or enchantments you control. Plus, since Portrait of Michiko isn't legendary, getting multiple copies of it into play is very possible, which amounts to a great deal of damage potential.

Wrapping Up

Over the past few weeks, we've seen a lot of innovation out of Standard decks. Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty has really shaken things up. Even though there are signs that certain decks are better than others, I'm hopeful that new decks that are both fun to play and capable of winning continue to be developed.

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

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, mike likes, neo standard, 03102022

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