Pro Tour Dominaria took place last weekend (Congratulations, Wyatt Darby!) and, for me, a known lover of Red decks, the results couldn't have been more spectacular. But for those of you that don't have as much passion for Red as I do, where does that leave you? Fear not, for I have you covered. This week, I'll be taking a look at some decks from the Pro Tour that came up a little short but still show a lot of innovation.

Black/White Benalia

The first deck I have for you is a midrange deck. Jose Neris went 8-2 in Constructed with this deck and came in 34th place overall. Let's take a look at it.

B/W Benalia -- Dominaria Standard | Jose Neris, PT Dominaria

• Creatures (16)
• 4 Knight of Malice
• 4 Toolcraft Exemplar
• 2 Walking Ballista
• 4 Scrapheap Scrounger
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer

• Planeswalkers (6)
• 2 Gideon of the Trials
• 4 Karn, Scion of Urza

• Spells (14)
• 3 Fatal Push
• 1 Thopter Arrest
• 2 Cast Out
• 4 History of Benalia
• 4 Heart of Kiran

• Lands (24)
• 3 Swamp
• 7 Plains
• 1 Forsaken Sanctuary
• 1 Scavenger Grounds
• 1 Shefet Dunes
• 3 Ifnir Deadlands
• 4 Concealed Courtyard
• 4 Isolated Chapel

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Angel of Sanctions
• 1 Settle the Wreckage
• 2 Fragmentize
• 2 Fumigate
• 3 Duress
• 1 Profane Procession
• 2 Ixalan's Binding
• 1 Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1 Treasure Map

Buy This Deck Export text format

This deck is able to curve out nicely by playing Toolcraft Exemplar on turn one, Knight of Malice on turn two, and History of Benalia on turn three. If you're also able to play any of the deck's artifacts on the next two turns, you'll likely be able to deal lethal damage to your opponent by turn five. Even if that doesn't happen, you're usually able to have some sort of threat in play that your opponent must deal with.

The deck also has a lot of synergy with Karn, Scion of Urza. The Construct tokens he creates can be rather large since this deck can usually have 3-4 artifacts in play at any given time. There are four copies of Karn in the deck, so don't be afraid of ticking his loyalty down in order to create a Construct token. If Karn should happen to die, chances are that you'll be able to draw another one fairly quickly and the Constructs he makes might just allow you to win even if Karn is no longer around.

Steel Leaf Stompy

The next deck I have for you also went 8-2 in the Constructed portion of the Pro Tour. Let's take a look at Phimus Pan's 151st place deck, Steel Leaf Stompy.

Steel Leaf Stompy -- Dominaria Standard | Phimus Pan, PT Dominaria

• Creatures (28)
• 1 Carnage Tyrant
• 2 Ghalta, Primal Hunger
• 2 Rhonas the Indomitable
• 2 Verdurous Gearhulk
• 3 Jadelight Ranger
• 3 Thrashing Brontodon
• 3 Walking Ballista
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Merfolk Branchwalker
• 4 Steel Leaf Champion

• Instants (4)
• 4 Blossoming Defense

• Artifacts (5)
• 1 Aethersphere Harvester
• 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship
• 3 Heart of Kiran

• Lands (23)
• 19 Forest
• 4 Hashep Oasis

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Nissa, Vital Force
• 1 Thrashing Brontodon
• 3 Deathgorge Scavenger
• 2 Crushing Canopy
• 2 Heroic Intervention
• 1 Naturalize
• 3 Nature's Way
• 1 Lifecrafter's Bestiary

Buy This Deck Export text format

I wasn't able to watch all of the Pro Tour, so I'm not sure if the winner, Wyatt Darby, ever encountered a Steel Leaf Stompy deck like this one or not, but if he did, I would love to watch that match. This is a deck that I believe could give the Mono-Red and aggro decks a run for their money. While this deck isn't quite as fast as most Red-based decks, Llanowar Elves does a remarkable job of catching you up. Once this deck is at parity with their opponent, you're able to start playing larger and larger threats that most Red decks will have difficulty with. So, remember when playing this deck that you need to prioritize defending your Llanowar Elves especially in the early game so you're able to make it to the midgame where you can begin playing threats that are hard to deal with.

U/B Control

The next deck I have for you is Control. This deck was piloted by Jeremy Dezani and came in 18th place. Let's take a look at it.

U/B Control -- Dominaria Standard | Jeremy Dezani, PT Dominaria

• Creatures (5)
• 2 The Scarab God
• 3 Torrential Gearhulk

• Planeswalkers (5)
• 2 Liliana, Death's Majesty
• 3 Karn, Scion of Urza

• Instants (23)
• 1 Negate
• 2 Disallow
• 3 Cast Down
• 3 Essence Scatter
• 3 Supreme Will
• 3 Syncopate
• 4 Fatal Push
• 4 Vraska's Contempt

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Aether Meltdown

• Lands (26)
• 7 Island
• 8 Swamp
• 1 Evolving Wilds
• 2 Field of Ruin
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Fetid Pools

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 The Scarab God
• 2 Gifted Aetherborn
• 3 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 3 Knight of Malice
• 1 Cast Down
• 1 Negate
• 3 Duress
• 1 Arguel's Blood Fast

Buy This Deck Export text format

Control was a solid deck before Dominaria came out and it shows here that it still is. For a while it seemed like Control might be dead, as people were busy trying out all of the new, shiny things from Dominaria, but this deck shows that you can add a bit of the new hotness to an already good deck and have good results. Karn, Scion of Urza adds a way to get much needed card drawing while also acting as a threat that could create an attacker if your opponent should stumble. Dominaria also brought back a nice counter in the form of Syncopate and some additional removal in Cast Down. This is another deck that looks to be well poised to make a run at dominating Standard again in the near future.

G/W Midrange

The final deck I have for you this week is the deck that Craig Wescoe took to his 152nd place finish. Let's take a look at G/W Midrange.

G/W Midrange -- Dominaria Standard | Craig Wescoe, PT Dominaria

• Creatures (23)
• 1 Jadelight Ranger
• 1 Thrashing Brontodon
• 3 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 3 Rishkar, Peema Renegade
• 3 Shalai, Voice of Plenty
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Servant of the Conduit
• 4 Walking Ballista

• Planeswalkers (2)
• 2 Ajani Unyielding

• Instants (4)
• 4 Blossoming Defense

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Cast Out

• Artifacts (4)
• 2 Aethersphere Harvester
• 2 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship

• Lands (24)
• 10 Forest
• 4 Plains
• 1 Aether Hub
• 1 Hashep Oasis
• 4 Scattered Groves
• 4 Sunpetal Grove

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Nissa, Vital Force
• 1 Thrashing Brontodon
• 3 Prowling Serpopard
• 1 Naturalize
• 1 Skywhaler's Shot
• 2 Heroic Intervention
• 3 Baffling End
• 2 Thopter Arrest

Buy This Deck Export text format

If Craig had been able to get a few more wins in the drafting portion of the Pro Tour, this deck could have gone all the way. It combines the mana-ramping abilities of Llanowar Elves alongside the evasion of flying angels to create a deck that can turn the corner like no other. Being able to cast Shalai, Voice of Plenty a turn earlier than normal can make it very difficult for a Red deck to remove your formidable threats. This deck also runs Lyra Dawnbringer, which has lifelink (and provides it to your other angels). Any extra amount of life you manage to gain makes those Red decks have to work even harder and possibly overextend. Plus, this deck has built-in ways to continually make its creatures bigger, making them more and more difficult to deal with as the game progresses.

Wrapping Up

While Pro Tour Dominaria showcased the power of Red decks, it's clear that there are many other viable decks in Standard. I've shown you four here, but there are others to be found throughout the top decklists from the PT. Which is your favorite? 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. 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