Hello everyone. We're just five weeks away from the official release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm, which gives me just enough time to present my series of articles where I show you decks that are focused around a singular color. I usually start off with White, but I've decided to change things up a bit and start with a different color this time. I'll be starting with decks focused around Blue mana this time, and my plan is to continue starting at a new point each time I do this series in the future. I've got five decks to look at and a limited number of words to do it with, so let's get started.

Mono-Blue Monument

I always start off with a mono-colored deck, and this Mono-Blue deck happens to enjoy reaping the benefits of Monument to Endurance. Let's take a look at the deck.

Mono-Blue Monument | DFT Standard | SwayzeMTG, aetherhub.com user

• Instants (20)
• 4 Aetherize
• 4 Into the Flood Maw
• 4 Refute
• 4 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Unsummon

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Season of Weaving

• Artifacts (12)
• 4 Collector's Vault
• 4 Monument to Endurance
• 4 The Enigma Jewel

• Lands (24)
• 20 Island
• 4 Fountainport

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Monument to Endurance is the main route to victory in this deck. While you have it in play, whenever you discard a card, you can do one of three things: draw a card, create a Treasure token, or cause your opponent to lose 3 life. While losing 3 life is a slow march toward winning, you'll be causing significantly more life loss once you have multiple copies of Monument to Endurance in play.

Of course, casting additional copies of Monument to Endurance is one way, if you manage to draw them from your deck. Alternatively, you can simply create additional token copies by casting either Three Steps Ahead or Season of Weaving. If you're able to create 3 or 4 token copies, victory is almost assured. Each additional copy you create increases your chances of winning simply by discarding a single card.

Azorius Mill

Next we'll add some White mana and see what Azorius has for us. I think I'm going to really like this deck because it wins by milling your opponent's deck. Let's take a look at it.

Azorius Mill | DFT Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Terisian Mindbreaker

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Jace, the Perfected Mind

• Instants (8)
• 2 Elspeth's Smite
• 3 Get Lost
• 3 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (9)
• 2 Split Up
• 3 Day of Judgment
• 4 Voyage Home

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Unstoppable Plan

• Artifacts (13)
• 3 Braided Net
• 3 Perilous Snare
• 3 Riverchurn Monument
• 4 Simulacrum Synthesizer

• Lands (24)
• 6 Plains
• 7 Island
• 3 Meticulous Archive
• 4 Floodfarm Verge
• 4 Restless Anchorage

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

The best way to win with this deck is by attacking your opponent with Terisian Mindbreaker, which will force your opponent to mill half of their library, rounded up. Then, you can use the exhaust ability of Riverchurn Monument to force them to mill a number of cards equal to the number of cards in their graveyard. As long as they haven't returned any cards to their library, this should cause them to lose the game.

I've written about a deck similar to this recently, however that deck was in Grixis colors. By using White mana instead of Red and Black, you do remove some of the targeted removal spells those colors have to offer. However, by adding White, you gain access to some mass removal spells, such as Day of Judgment and Split Up.

Dimir Bounce

Next, we add Black mana and get a deck that benefits from returning its own permanents to your hand. Let's check it out.

Dimir Bounce | DFT Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (14)
• 2 Enduring Curiosity
• 4 Spyglass Siren
• 4 Fear of Isolation
• 4 Floodpits Drowner

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

• Instants (4)
• 4 This Town Ain't Big Enough

• Enchantments (14)
• 2 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Hopeless Nightmare
• 4 Nowhere to Run
• 4 Stormchaser's Talent

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Grim Bauble

• Lands (23)
• 4 Island
• 4 Swamp
• 3 Restless Reef
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Underground River

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Fear of Isolation and This Town Ain't Big Enough both allow you to return permanents that you control to your hand. By doing this, you can benefit from effects that happen when those permanents come into play an additional time.

A great choice to return is Hopeless Nightmare. When this card enters the battlefield, your opponent will need to discard a card and lose 2 life. You could also return Grim Bauble, playing it again to give one of your opponent's creatures -2/-2 until the end of the turn. There's also Stormchaser's Talent, which creates a 1/1 Otter creature token with prowess when it enters the battlefield.

Izzet Lotus Boom Combo

Up next, I have an Izzet combo deck featuring a pair of cards from Aetherdrift. Let's take a look at the deck.

Izzet Lotus Boom Combo | DFT Standard | LegenVD, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (4)
• 2 Skitterbeam Battalion
• 2 Thran Spider

• Instants (4)
• 4 Torch the Tower

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion

• Artifacts (24)
• 1 Radiant Lotus
• 1 The Mightstone and Weakstone
• 2 Boommobile
• 2 Chainsaw
• 2 Collector's Vault
• 2 Legion Extruder
• 2 Mazemind Tome
• 4 Repurposing Bay
• 4 Simulacrum Synthesizer
• 4 The Enigma Jewel

• Lands (24)
• 4 Mountain
• 5 Island
• 1 Fomori Vault
• 2 Thundering Falls
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Shivan Reef
• 4 Spirebluff Canal

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

As you can see, this deck has a ton of artifacts. This is important, because one of the pieces of the combo in this deck is Radiant Lotus. While Radiant Lotus is in play, you can use it to sacrifice any number of artifacts to gain three mana of one color for each artifact you sacrifice. With this, you can gain a lot of mana at one time which you'll be able to use to defeat your opponent.

The second card in this combo is Boommobile. Boommobile has an exhaust ability that allows you to deal X damage to any target, where X equals an amount of mana used to activate the exhaust ability. Direct that damage at your opponent's life total and you can win games out of the blue.

Simic Midrange

The final deck I have for you features a new God card from Amonkhet that gets bigger as the game goes on. Let's take a look at the deck.

Simic Midrange | DFT Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (13)
• 2 Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied
• 3 Tranquil Frillback
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Overlord of the Hauntwoods

• Instants (6)
• 3 Repulsive Mutation
• 3 This Town Ain't Big Enough

• Sorceries (5)
• 1 Doppelgang
• 4 Unsummon

• Enchantments (9)
• 2 Innkeeper's Talent
• 3 Up the Beanstalk
• 4 Stormchaser's Talent

• Battles (1)
• 1 Invasion of Arcavios // Invocation of the Founders

• Lands (26)
• 3 Island
• 4 Forest
• 2 Hedge Maze
• 2 Restless Vinestalk
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Willowrush Verge
• 4 Yavimaya Coast

• Sideboard (10)
• 1 Skyserpent Seeker
• 1 Aetherize
• 1 Outrageous Robbery
• 1 Three Steps Ahead
• 1 Time Stop
• 1 Doppelgang
• 1 River's Rebuke
• 1 Season of Gathering
• 1 Season of Weaving
• 1 Titania's Command

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Sab-Sunen, Luxa Embodied is quite a card. For five mana, you get a 6/6 indestructible creature with both reach and trample. At the beginning of your first main phase, Sab-Sunen gains a +1/+1 counter. If you have an odd number of counters on Sab-Sunen, you'll get to draw two cards. However, if you have an even number of counters on Sab-Sunen, it will be able to attack and block (which it can't do with an odd number of counters).

Overlord of the Hauntwoods is another powerful creature for this deck. If you cast it for its impending cost, your opponent will feel the time ticking away until Overlord of the Hauntwoods becomes a creature. This sense of dread can often cause players to not play as effectively as they could, making small mistakes that you can capitalize on. Once Overlord of the Hauntwoods becomes a creature, you have another big beater that can decimate your opponent's team and deal lethal damage to your opponent very quickly.

Wrapping Up

While Blue isn't one of my favorite colors to play, I cannot deny that these decks look fun to play. I love alternate win conditions, so I'm looking forward to trying out the mill deck first. Which of these decks is your favorite?

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