Hello everyone. It's time, once again, for me to start taking a look at some decks that are focused on a specific color. For Tarkir: Dragonstorm, I'll be starting with decks featuring Black mana and working my way around the color wheel in future articles. Let's get started.

Mono-Black Vampires

I like to start with a mono-colored deck, and this time it features a cool creature type, Vampires. Let's take a look at the deck.

Mono-Black Vampires | TDM Standard | JayVillain, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (29)
• 2 Starscape Cleric
• 3 Bloodthirsty Conqueror
• 4 Bloodghast
• 4 Bloodletter of Aclazotz
• 4 Gas Guzzler
• 4 Marauding Blight-Priest
• 4 Qarsi Revenant
• 4 Vengeful Bloodwitch

• Instants (5)
• 2 Cut Down
• 3 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Strategic Betrayal

• Lands (24)
• 22 Swamp
• 2 Cavern of Souls

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Gatekeeper of Malakir
• 1 Ichor Drinker
• 1 Markov Baron
• 1 Preacher of the Schism
• 1 Vraan, Executioner Thane
• 1 Withering Torment
• 1 Nowhere to Run

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

This deck features a fair amount of removal, including a new sorcery from Tarkir: Dragonstorm. Strategic Betrayal is this spell, and it's a doozy. For just two mana, you'll be able to exile a creature your opponent controls and their graveyard. The drawback is that your opponent gets to choose which of their creatures to exile, but that's easily mitigated by destroying all of their other creatures with spells like Cut Down and Bitter Triumph.

This deck attempts to drain its opponent of life, while gaining life itself. Qarsi Revenant has lifelink and Vengeful Bloodwitch can also gain you life. Gaining life with these can give you a leg up on your opponent, especially if you have either Marauding Blight-Priest or Starscape Cleric in play, as the act of gaining life will cause your opponent to lose life. Maximize this effect by having Bloodthirsty Conqueror or Bloodletter of Aclazotz on the battlefield and wrap things up quickly.

Orzhov Lockdown

Next, I have an Orzhov deck that features numerous ways of locking down your opponent's threats. Let's take a look at the deck.

Orzhov Lockdown | TDM Standard | alanwyfaa, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Nurturing Pixie
• 4 Sunpearl Kirin

• Enchantments (26)
• 2 Builder's Talent
• 2 Ossification
• 2 Seal from Existence
• 3 Authority of the Consuls
• 3 Bandit's Talent
• 3 Corroding Dragonstorm
• 3 Hopeless Nightmare
• 4 Momentum Breaker
• 4 Temporary Lockdown

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 Grim Bauble

• Lands (24)
• 8 Plains
• 8 Swamp
• 2 Bleachbone Verge
• 2 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Caves of Koilos

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

Since I play a lot of aggressive decks, Temporary Lockdown is one of the most annoying cards in Standard. By combining this card with other enchantments that exile creatures while those enchantments are on the battlefield, like Ossification and Seal from Existence, you'll be able to keep quite a handle on the creatures your opponent has in play. Further combine those cards with the bounce effects that Nurturing Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin offer, and you can ensure that your opponent's biggest threats are neutralized.

Alternatively, you might opt to the bounce effects that Nurturing Pixie and Sunpearl Kirin offer with Corroding Dragonstorm. Doing this will cause your opponent to lose 2 life and you to gain 2 life. Do this enough, and you might be able to defeat your opponent without even attacking. This is made even more possible if your opponent has lost life in other ways, such as the effects of Bandit's Talent and Hopeless Nightmare.

Dimir Midrange

The next deck I have for you is a midrange deck that seems to have an answer for any problem. Let's take a look at the deck.

Dimir Midrange | TDM Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (21)
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 2 Tishana's Tidebinder
• 3 Deep-Cavern Bat
• 3 Floodpits Drowner
• 4 Enduring Curiosity
• 4 Preacher of the Schism
• 4 Spyglass Siren

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Kaito, Bane of Nightmares

• Instants (9)
• 1 Anoint with Affliction
• 1 Phantom Interference
• 1 Spell Pierce
• 3 Cut Down
• 3 Go for the Throat

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Dreams of Steel and Oil
• 2 Duress

• Lands (25)
• 3 Island
• 5 Swamp
• 2 Restless Reef
• 3 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Underground River

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 3 Faerie Mastermind
• 1 Cut Down
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 1 Negate
• 1 Phantom Interference
• 2 Anoint with Affliction
• 1 Duress
• 2 Gix's Command
• 2 Ghost Vacuum

Buy This Deck Export text

Preacher of the Schism is a creature I hate to see on my opponent's side of the board. As a 2/4 creature, it's capable of blocking a lot of other creatures. Plus, since it has deathtouch, it can often slow things down a ton, allowing you to get all of your ducks in a row. However, it's not just a great creature for defense. It also has some amazing abilities that trigger when it attacks.

Another amazing creature in this deck is Tishana's Tidebinder. You can flash this Merfolk Wizard into play, allowing you to counter an activated or triggered ability. By countering an ability on an artifact, creature, or planeswalker your opponent controls, you'll also get to remove all abilities from that card for as long as Tishana's Tidebinder is on the battlefield. This can be crippling against certain decks.

Rakdos Outlaws

Next, I've got a deck for you that's chock-full of outlaws. Let's check it out.

Rakdos Outlaws | TDM Standard | Redd_Cat_MTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Laughing Jasper Flint
• 1 Sidisi, Regent of the Mire
• 2 Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier
• 4 Fanatical Firebrand
• 4 Forsaken Miner
• 4 Gas Guzzler
• 4 Howlsquad Heavy
• 4 Stadium Headliner
• 4 Vengeful Bloodwitch

• Instants (8)
• 2 Corrupted Conviction
• 2 Shoot the Sheriff
• 4 Burst Lightning

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Rakish Crew

• Lands (22)
• 4 Swamp
• 6 Mountain
• 1 Fountainport
• 3 Sulfurous Springs
• 4 Blackcleave Cliffs
• 4 Blazemire Verge

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

If you're a fan of Assassins, Mercenaries, Pirates, Rogues, and Warlocks, this might just be the deck for you. Every creature, with the exception of Stadium Headliner, happens to be an outlaw. If you happen to have a copy of Laughing Jasper Flint in play, you'll end up with a lot of extra cards that you'll be able to cast each turn thanks to his ability.

Since there are so many outlaws, you'll be able to deal a lot of incidental damage if you have Vial Smasher, Gleeful Grenadier on the battlefield. While this Goblin Mercenary is in play, it will deal 1 damage to your opponent whenever another outlaw enters the battlefield under your control. You can deal even more incidental damage by having Rakish Crew in play, which will cause your opponent to lose 1 life and you to gain 1 life whenever an outlaw you control dies.

Golgari Elves

The final deck I have for you features a whole bunch of synergy due to having creatures of all one type. Let's take a look at the deck.

Golgari Elves | TDM Standard | 8pm, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (32)
• 1 Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen
• 1 Glissa Sunslayer
• 1 Sentinel of Lost Lore
• 1 Tyvar, the Pummeler
• 1 Tyvar the Bellicose
• 1 Wardens of the Cycle
• 2 Thornweald Archer
• 4 Dwynen's Elite
• 4 Elvish Archdruid
• 4 Imperious Perfect
• 4 Leaf-Crowned Visionary
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Yavimaya Iconoclast

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Nissa, Ascended Animist

• Instants (4)
• 1 Sheoldred's Edict
• 1 Tear Asunder
• 2 Go for the Throat

• Lands (23)
• 3 Swamp
• 5 Forest
• 3 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 4 Restless Cottage

Buy This Deck Export text Export Arena

As you might expect, all of the creatures in this deck are Elves. That can create a lot of synergy. Some of your creatures, such as Leaf-Crowned Visionary, Dwynen, Gilt-Leaf Daen, Elvish Archdruid, and Imperious Perfect provide a +1/+1 bonus to other Elves you control. Since these bonuses stack, you can end up with some very powerful (and tough) Elves on the battlefield.

Once you have seven mana available to you (which might be sooner than you expect thanks to the mana abilities of both Llanowar Elves and Elvish Archdruid), you can cast Nissa, Ascended Animist. By activating Nissa's -7 loyalty ability, you'll give all of your creatures +1/+1 for each Forest you control, plus trample. Having trample can be game ending, because you'll often be able to deal lethal damage to your opponent's life total even if they are able to block some or all of your creatures.

Wrapping Up

Whether you're discarding cards from your opponent's hand, dealing incidental damage to your opponent, or destroying the best creatures your opponent has played, Black decks have a lot to offer. Each of these decks is very unique, and I'm looking forward to trying them all out for myself.

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