Hello, everyone! Last week, I was able to play at my local Friday Night Magic event for the first time in quite a while. From what I saw, the current Standard format is filled with decks utilizing Planeswalkers in an attempt to gain an advantage over their opponent. This week, I have for you a few decks filled to the brim with Planeswalkers that you can use to prove your dominance in Standard. Let's get started.

Esper Avengers

The first deck I have for you this week is an Esper control deck. Let's take a look at it:

Esper Avengers | War Standard | Isphera, archidekt.com user

• Planeswalkers (19)
• 1 Karn, Scion of Urza
• 2 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
• 2 Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
• 2 Liliana, Dreadhorde General
• 4 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 4 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
• 4 Teferi, Time Raveler

• Instants (3)
• 1 Moment of Craving
• 2 Cast Down

• Sorceries (10)
• 2 The Elderspell
• 4 Kaya's Wrath
• 4 Thought Erasure

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Oath of Kaya

• Lands (25)
• 1 Swamp
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Command the Dreadhorde
• 2 Cry of the Carnarium
• 2 Dovin's Veto
• 3 Enter the God-Eternals
• 3 Ixalan's Binding
• 1 Moment of Craving
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 1 The Elderspell

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Let's assume your opponent manages to get a few creatures onto the battlefield, and maybe a Planeswalker or two. This deck is well equipped to handle situations like this. Moment of Craving and Cast Down can pick off individual threats with ease. If you prefer to wipe out all of the opponents creatures in one fell swoop, you have Kaya's Wrath. The Elderspell is a great way to destroy any and all Planeswalkers your opponent has while setting up yours for a powerful ultimate ability. Finally, Oath of Kaya can be used either as another form of creature removal or as direct damage right to the opponent. Either way you use it, it will give you a few points of life that can help keep you alive long enough to outlast your opponent.

Simic Superfriends

The next deck I have for you is a Merfolk deck loaded to the gills with Planeswalkers. Let's take a look at it:

Simic Superfriends | War Standard | ScoutsIX-3, archidekt.com user

• Creatures (19)
• 1 Mesmerizing Benthid
• 1 Roalesk, Apex Hybrid
• 2 Benthic Biomancer
• 3 Merfolk Skydiver
• 4 Bioessence Hydra
• 4 Evolution Sage
• 4 Llanowar Elves

• Planeswalkers (14)
• 1 Ugin, the Ineffable
• 2 Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter
• 2 Narset, Parter of Veils
• 2 Tamiyo, Collector of Tales
• 3 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner
• 4 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor

• Sorceries (3)
• 3 Callous Dismissal

• Lands (24)
• 10 Forest
• 10 Island
• 4 Simic Guildgate

• Sideboard (13)
• 3 Crushing Canopy
• 1 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Entrancing Melody
• 4 Frilled Mystic
• 3 Negate

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Even without making those changes, I think this deck looks very fun to play. Your mission with this deck is to abuse +1/+1 counters however possible, and you can do that quite a bit thanks to various cards in the deck. Benthic Biomancer has the adapt ability, and he will allow you to draw extra cards every time one or more +1/+1 counters are placed on him. Merfolk Skydiver gives a +1/+1 counter to a creature when it enters battlefield, as well as acting as a mana-sink to proliferate with. Evolution Sage and Roalesk, Apex Hybrid also both act as additional ways to proliferate. Finally, Jiang Yanggu, Wildcrafter has the ability that grants a +1/+1 counter to a creature as well as the ability to allow your creatures with +1/+1 counters on them to tap for additional mana.

You can use that additional mana to cast the real star of this deck, Bioessence Hydra. When it enters the battlefield, it's already a 4/4, but it also gets a +1/+1 counter for each loyalty counter on planeswalkers you control. As you can see, Bioessence Hydra will usually be a huge threat when you cast it. Because of the various ways you can proliferate with this deck, Bioessence Hydra has the potential to become even bigger very fast. Bioessence Hydra also has trample, which is important, as it allows you to push through damage when chump blocked or to destroy multiple blockers at the same time.

Izzet Mizzium Tank

The final deck I have for you this week is looking to turn noncreature spells you cast into value. Let's take a look at it:

Izzet Mizzium Tank | War Standard | Somebody, archidekt.com user

• Creatures (9)
• 2 Flux Channeler
• 3 Sky Theater Strix
• 4 Burning Prophet

• Planeswalkers (15)
• 1 Ral, Storm Conduit
• 2 Chandra, Fire Artisan
• 2 Sarkhan the Masterless
• 3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer
• 3 Samut, Tyrant Smasher
• 4 Narset, Parter of Veils

• Instants (7)
• 3 Chandra's Triumph
• 4 Jaya's Greeting

• Sorceries (5)
• 2 Tamiyo's Epiphany
• 3 Callous Dismissal

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Mizzium Tank

• Lands (25)
• 13 Mountain
• 8 Island
• 4 Izzet Guildgate

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As I mentioned earlier, this deck is all about gaining value when casting noncreature spells. Mizzium Tank not only becomes an artifact creature when you cast a noncreature spell, but it also gets +1/+1 until the end of the turn. If you cast multiple noncreature spells in the same turn, while it can only become an artifact creature once (because after that it's already one), it will continue to get an additional +1/+1 bonus for each noncreature spell you cast. And it's a cast trigger, so the spell doesn't have to resolve (it can be countered) for Mizzium Tank to become a creature and get +1/+1.

Every creature in the deck also gets a bonus when you cast a noncreature spell (again, these trigger upon casting the spell, whether it is countered or not). Burning Prophet and Sky Theater Strix both get more powerful, and Flux Channeler allows you to proliferate. While proliferate won't do anything to the temporary bonuses you get for casting noncreature spells, it will help with many of the noncreature spells in this deck that happen to be Planeswalkers. Oh, and speaking of Planeswalkers, Saheeli, Sublime Artificer also has an ability that creates a 1/1 Servo token whenever you cast a noncreature spell. You can really see just how many bonuses you get simply by casting noncreature spells, even if those spells end up getting countered.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, Standard is filled with Planeswalkers. In the past, that might have been a bad thing, but with 73 different Planeswalkers currently legal in Standard, it has provided a lot of diversity in the decks so far. Do you think Standard is better with this many Planeswalkers, or do you prefer fewer?

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg), 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