Hello everyone. With the release of Magic: The Gathering - Final Fantasy upon us, it's time for me to finish my series of Standard decks you can play that feature a specific color. The only color I haven't looked at is Blue, so that's where the focus will be this week. Let's get started.

Mono-Blue Arcanis Madness

I'm starting off with a Mono-Blue deck that is difficult to pilot effectively. Let's take a look at the deck.

Mono-Blue Arcanis Madness | TDM Standard | SlothMtg, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (17)
• 1 Arcanis the Omnipotent
• 1 Archmage of Runes
• 1 Eddymurk Crab
• 1 Enduring Curiosity
• 2 Fear of Impostors
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 2 Naga Fleshcrafter
• 2 Overlord of the Floodpits
• 2 Voracious Greatshark
• 3 Tempest Djinn

• Planeswalkers (1)
• 1 Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator

• Instants (12)
• 1 See Double
• 1 Time Stop
• 3 This Town Ain't Big Enough
• 3 Three Steps Ahead
• 4 Spectral Denial

• Sorceries (3)
• 1 Winternight Stories
• 2 River's Rebuke

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Proft's Eidetic Memory

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 Treasure Map

• Lands (24)
• 23 Island
• 1 Fountainport

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By looking at the decklist, you can see that there aren't a lot of playsets of cards in this deck. Instead, it's comprised of mostly 1-of or 2-of's that are situationally useful. Most of these cards are counter spells or spells that return your opponent's nonland permanents to their hands. By using these spells effectively, you can keep your opponent's side of the battlefield clear of most threats.

By utilizing the card drawing power of Arcanis the Omnipotent alongside the unlimited hand size Proft's Eidetic Memory provides, you should have little trouble getting the cards you need as you need them. Once you have the battlefield under control, it's time to deploy your own threats. Tempest Djinn is my favorite threat in this deck, but Marang River Regent and Voracious Greatshark can also get the job done.

Azorius Cats

Next, I have a deck that barely splashes Blue mana that has a lot of synergy. Let's take a look at the deck.

Azorius Cats | TDM Standard | SwayzeMTG, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (27)
• 3 Prideful Parent
• 4 Arahbo, the First Fang
• 4 Enduring Curiosity
• 4 Gloryheath Lynx
• 4 Leonin Vanguard
• 4 Regal Caracal
• 4 Skyknight Squire

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Artifacts (5)
• 2 Banner of Kinship
• 3 Patchwork Banner

• Lands (24)
• 4 Plains
• 2 Fountainport
• 2 Soulstone Sanctuary
• 4 Adarkar Wastes
• 4 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Seachrome Coast
• 4 Secluded Courtyard

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Even though this is mainly a White deck, the small splash of Blue for Enduring Curiosity can help out a lot. While Enduring Curiosity is on the battlefield, you'll get to draw a card whenever a creature you control deals combat damage to a player. These extra cards will naturally bring you extra threats that you can attack with, dealing damage to your opponent and drawing even more cards.

Since Enduring Curiosity is a Cat Glimmer, it will benefit from all of the other Cat typal cards in this deck. Arahbo, the First Fang, Regal Caracal, and Patchwork Banner will all provide a +1/+1 bonus to it. Banner of Kinship will count it for the number of fellowship counters the artifact received when it enters play. It even adds a +1/+1 counter to Skyknight Squire if played after the Cat Scout is in play.

Dimir Dragonologist Kairi Push

The next deck I have for you features a heavy Dragon theme and can defeat its opponent unexpectedly. Let's check it out.

Dimir Dragonologist Kairi Push | TDM Standard | SlothMtg, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (13)
• 3 Dragonologist
• 3 Oildeep Gearhulk
• 3 Qarsi Revenant
• 4 Hidetsugu and Kairi

• Instants (12)
• 2 Bitter Triumph
• 2 Cease // Desist
• 2 Go for the Throat
• 3 Caustic Exhale
• 3 Dispelling Exhale

• Sorceries (7)
• 3 Duress
• 4 Push // Pull

• Enchantments (4)
• 2 Roiling Dragonstorm
• 2 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

• Lands (24)
• 3 Island
• 3 Swamp
• 2 Cavern of Souls
• 4 Darkslick Shores
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Undercity Sewers
• 4 Underground River

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Marang River Regent
• 2 Cease // Desist
• 2 Negate
• 2 Deadly Cover-Up
• 2 Demonic Counsel
• 2 Dreams of Steel and Oil
• 3 Malicious Eclipse

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Dragonologist is a card from Tarkir: Dragonstorm that I love. When she enters the battlefield, you can look at the top six cards of your library, putting a revealed instant, sorcery, or Dragon card from among those six cards into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library. If you're able to, you'll likely want to put Hidetsugu and Kairi into your hand. Dragonologist also provides hexproof to any untapped Dragons you control.

When you play Hidetsugu and Kairi, you'll get to draw three cards, and then put two cards from your hand on top of your library. When Hidetsugu and Kairi dies, you'll exile the top card of your library, causing your opponent to lose life equal to the mana value of that card. If that is an instant or sorcery, you can then cast that card for free. If you want to make sure Hidetsugu and Kairi will die, you can always target them with your own Push // Pull while they're tapped.

Izzet Aggro

Up next, we'll see what the addition of Blue mana to an already aggressive Red deck can do. Let's take a look at the deck.

Izzet Aggro | TDM Standard | MTGA-Assistant-Meta, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (8)
• 4 Monastery Swiftspear
• 4 Slickshot Show-Off

• Instants (16)
• 2 Into the Flood Maw
• 2 Shock
• 4 Burst Lightning
• 4 Monstrous Rage
• 4 Opt

• Sorceries (8)
• 4 Sleight of Hand
• 4 Stock Up

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Stormchaser's Talent

• Artifacts (4)
• 4 Cori-Steel Cutter

• Lands (21)
• 8 Island
• 8 Mountain
• 1 Spirebluff Canal
• 4 Riverpyre Verge

• Sideboard (11)
• 1 Abrade
• 1 Witchstalker Frenzy
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 3 Torch the Tower
• 1 Lithomantic Barrage
• 1 Pyroclasm
• 2 Ghost Vacuum

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Monastery Swiftspear and Slickshot Show-Off are two of the best aggro creatures Red currently has. They are both benefitted whenever you cast a noncreature spell, which this deck has in spades. Like most other Red aggressive decks, this deck runs full playsets of both Monstrous Rage, to boost your own creatures with, and Burst Lightning, to use as either targeted removal or direct damage to your opponent.

By adding Blue mana, you open up options to draw additional cards. Opt, Sleight of Hand, and Stock Up all provide you with the means of additional gas for those times you might otherwise stall. Into the Flood Maw offers you a temporary reprieve from an oppressive creature. Finally, Stormchaser's Talent and Cori-Steel Cutter offer the means of creating additional attackers that have prowess (even though Cori-Steel Cutter doesn't actually need the Blue mana to be played).

Simic Turtles

The final deck I have for you is capable of dealing more damage that you'd think at first glance. Let's take a look at the deck.

Simic Turtles | TDM Standard | LilianaDoVrau, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Ambling Stormshell
• 3 Fecund Greenshell
• 3 The Pride of Hull Clade
• 4 Aegis Turtle
• 4 Armored Scrapgorger
• 4 Bedrock Tortoise
• 4 Caelorna, Coral Tyrant
• 4 Overgrown Zealot

• Instants (8)
• 4 Into the Flood Maw
• 4 Botanical Sanctum

• Lands (24)
• 3 Island
• 5 Forest
• 4 Hedge Maze
• 4 Heritage Reclamation
• 4 Willowrush Verge
• 4 Yavimaya Coast

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Aegis Turtle, Caelorna, Coral Tyrant, Armored Scrapgorger, Overgrown Zealot, and Bedrock Tortoise are terrific defensive creatures. They all have 0 power, but anywhere from 3-8 toughness. With these creatures on the battlefield, you'll be able to withstand most threats. Bedrock Tortoise is the most important of these creatures, as it has an ability that turns these creatures into wrecking machines.

While Bedrock Tortoise is in play, each creature you control whose toughness is greater than its power will assign combat damage equal to its toughness instead of its power. That 0/6 is suddenly now effectively a 6/6 in combat. It's important to keep Bedrock Tortoise alive, so save those copies of Into the Flood Maw to use when Bedrock Tortoise would be destroyed and Botanical Sanctum to use when Bedrock Tortoise is exiled via an enchantment (such as Sheltered by Ghosts).

Wrapping Up

As we shift into Final Fantasy Standard, these decks will still be playable. Use them, and any of the other decks focused on a single color that I've shown you over the past few weeks, to compete while you acquire cards from the new set. Come back to them in a few weeks after people have forgotten about them (as they focus on the new, shiny cards) and you might surprise your opponent with something they're not prepared for.

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