Hello everyone. The Final Fantasy Universes Beyond release is finally here, so it's time for people to start brewing some new decks. I have a few of these new decks for you this week that all feature cards from the latest release. Let's get started.
Mono-Red Self-Destruct
When a new set comes out, I typically like to start by taking a look at a Mono-Red aggro deck, since that's my favorite type of deck to play. Let's take a look at a deck featuring only one new card.
Mono-Red Self-Destruct | FIN Standard | SphorMTG, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (22)
- 4 Screaming Nemesis
- 3 Manifold Mouse
- 3 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Cacophony Scamp
- 4 Emberheart Challenger
- 4 Heartfire Hero
- Instants (18)
- 3 Felonious Rage
- 3 Turn Inside Out
- 4 Bulk Up
- 4 Monstrous Rage
- 4 Self-Destruct
- Lands (20)
- 18 Mountain
- 2 Rockface Village
The goal of this deck is to build up either a Cacophony Scamp or Heartfire Hero with bonuses to their power, such as Felonious Rage, Turn Inside Out, and Monstrous Rage. You can even cast Bulk Up to double that creature's power for the turn. Then, attack with that creature. You're likely to get blocked (unless your opponent has no clue about how this deck works), so the trample that the Monstrous Role provides can be very helpful.
Once you've taken a huge chunk out of your opponent's life total, you can then cast the new spell in this deck, Self-Destruct. That creature will deal damage to itself equal to its power, plus it will deal that same amount of damage to any other target. By targeting your opponent, you can eliminate their entire life total in no time.
Orzhov Lifegain
Next, I have an Orzhov deck that benefits each time you gain additional life. Let's take a look at the deck.
Orzhov Lifegain | FIN Standard | MtgMalone, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (22)
- 1 Squall, SeeD Mercenary
- 2 Aerith Gainsborough
- 2 Dark Confidant
- 2 Lifecreed Duo
- 2 Rosa, Resolute White Mage
- 3 Cecil, Dark Knight
- 3 Deep-Cavern Bat
- 3 Hinterland Sanctifier
- 4 Essence Channeler
- Instants (6)
- 3 Bitter Triumph
- 3 Restoration Magic
- Sorceries (1)
- 1 Raise the Past
- Enchantments (7)
- 2 Leyline of Hope
- 2 Lunar Convocation
- 3 Sheltered by Ghosts
- Artifacts (4)
- 1 Agatha's Soul Cauldron
- 1 Ghost Vacuum
- 2 White Mage's Staff
- Lands (20)
- 1 Swamp
- 5 Plains
- 2 Restless Fortress
- 4 Bleachbone Verge
- 4 Caves of Koilos
- 4 Concealed Courtyard
Both Aerith Gainsborough and Essence Channeler will get a +1/+1 counter whenever you gain life. Gaining life in this deck is fairly easy, since many of your creatures have lifelink. There are also other ways of gaining life, such as the use of White Mage's Staff. While Essence Channeler can eventually become indestructible, Aerith Gainsborough is susceptible to dying, and when she does, you'll put a number of +1/+1 counters on each other legendary creature you control equal to the number of +1/+1 counters Aerith had on her.
Cecil, Dark Knight // Cecil, Redeemed Paladin is a creature you'll want to get into play early. Whenever he deals damage, you'll lose that same amount of life. If your life total is less than or equal to your starting life total as a result of this loss of life, you can transform Cecil into Cecil, Redeemed Paladin. Whenever this version of Cecil attacks, your other attacking creatures gain indestructible for the rest of the turn.
Izzet Vivi Cutter
The next deck I have for you features one of my favorite new creatures, Vivi Ornitier. Let's take a look at the deck.
Izzet Vivi Cutter | FIN Standard | TheSplinterTwins, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (7)
- 3 Monastery Swiftspear
- 4 Vivi Ornitier
- Instants (19)
- 1 Spell Pierce
- 2 Into the Flood Maw
- 2 Turn Inside Out
- 3 Burst Lightning
- 3 Shore Up
- 4 Monstrous Rage
- 4 Opt
- Enchantments (3)
- 3 Stormchaser's Talent
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Cori-Steel Cutter
- Lands (23)
- 6 Mountain
- 7 Island
- 2 Riverpyre Verge
- 4 Shivan Reef
- 4 Spirebluff Canal
I'll be honest, I know nothing about Final Fantasy. I've never played any of the games in the series, and have never really wanted to. With that being said, from looking at the cards in this new set, my interest has been piqued. One creature I'm interested in learning more about is Vivi Ornitier. As a creature in Magic, Vivi is an unthreatening 0/3. However, in a deck like this one, you can soon grow their power immensely.
Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, Vivi will get a +1/+1 counter and deal 1 damage to your opponent. This can be a great way to deal those last few points of damage to your opponent. It also helps you utilize Vivi's activated ability. This ability provides you with extra mana based on Vivi's power. This mana can be used to cast additional noncreature spells, providing you with additional direct damage, plus it also powers up the other creature in this deck, Monastery Swiftspear.
Simic Birds
The final deck I have for you this week is a Simic deck, which trades in its usual favored creature type of Merfolk for Birds. Let's check it out.
Simic Birds | FIN Standard | MTG_Joe, aetherhub.com user
- Creatures (22)
- 3 Bartz and Boko
- 3 The Goose Mother
- 4 Llanowar Elves
- 4 Mockingbird
- 4 Sazh's Chocobo
- 4 Traveling Chocobo
- Instants (6)
- 2 Into the Flood Maw
- 4 Spell Pierce
- Sorceries (5)
- 2 Stock Up
- 3 Doppelgang
- Enchantments (4)
- 4 Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo
- Lands (23)
- 7 Forest
- 8 Island
- 4 Cavern of Souls
- 4 Fabled Passage
Sazh's Chocobo is a great opening play for this deck. It has a landfall ability that gives it a +1/+1 counter whenever you have a land enter play. If you can, follow up with a copy of Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo. This enchantment creates a 2/2 Bird creature token that also gains a temporary power boost from achieving landfall. Once you have four or more Birds in play at the start of your first main phase, you can transform Sidequest: Raise a Chocobo into Black Chocobo.
Black Chocobo immediately lets you search your library for any land card to come into play tapped. This will trigger Black Chocobo's landfall ability, providing a +1/+0 boost to all of your Birds for the turn. If you're able to play Traveling Chocobo, you'll then have the ability to play lands and cast Bird spells from the top of your library, plus your landfall abilities will trigger twice. Even though none of the Chocobos in this deck have flying, there are other Birds that do that you can attack with to drop your opponent's life total to 0.
Wrapping Up
Whether you're a new player or you've been a player for years, you're sure to find something from this new set that you'll like. As more and more new decks are created, you'll want to keep checking back here for decklists that you can use for fun against your friends or at your local tournaments.
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