Locations
Hello everyone. Now that the full spoiler list for Core Set 2021 has been released, we can start looking at new decks being built with these new cards. I have three new decks for you this week that I'm anxious to look at, so let's get started.
Boros Dogs
The first deck I have for you features Dogs, a 'new' creature type in Magic. Let's take a look at the deck.
Boros Dogs | M21 Standard | Arij0ker, deckstats.net user
- Creatures (24)
- 4 Alpine Houndmaster
- 4 Alpine Watchdog
- 4 Bolt Hound
- 4 Igneous Cur
- 4 Pack Leader
- 4 Selfless Savior
- Planeswalkers (2)
- 2 Gideon Blackblade
- Instants (9)
- 2 Fight as One
- 3 Scorching Dragonfire
- 4 Unbreakable Formation
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Embercleave
- Lands (21)
- 5 Mountain
- 8 Plains
- 1 Castle Ardenvale
- 1 Castle Embereth
- 2 Temple of Triumph
- 4 Sacred Foundry
Bolt Hound is another Dog that encourages you to attack often. By buffing your team with a +1/+0 boost, you'll be able to deal with larger blockers. Igneous Cur has a fire breathing ability that you can activate to give it +2/+0 with each activation. By combining this ability with the double strike and trample that Embercleave provides, you'll be able to end games quickly.
Even though Dogs are the main focus of this deck, there's still a very important Human in the deck as well. Alpine Houndmaster can be a key way for you to begin building your pack. When Alpine Houndmaster enters the battlefield, you can search your library for an Alpine Watchdog and an Igneous Cur. I've already mentioned how useful Igneous Cur can be, but Alpine Watchdog also has its own part to play in your attempt at victory. While you'll still want to attack with Alpine Watchdog whenever Pack Leader attacks, since Alpine Watchdog has vigilance, you'll be able to use it on defense as well. It's nice that you can attack with no fear, and still have the safety net of having a creature that you can block with.
Tutelage Mill Combo
If I'm not playing an aggro deck like the Boros Dogs deck above, I'll probably be playing a deck with an alternate-win condition. That's exactly what this next deck is. Let's take a look at it.
Tutelage Mill Combo | M21 Standard | Bkl88@comcast.Net, deckstats.net user
- Creatures (8)
- 4 Brazen Borrower
- 4 Murderous Rider
- Instants (12)
- 4 Drown in the Loch
- 4 Negate
- 4 Rewind
- Sorceries (8)
- 1 Peer into the Abyss
- 3 Ritual of Soot
- 4 Grim Tutor
- Enchantments (8)
- 4 Shark Typhoon
- 4 Teferi's Tutelage
- Lands (24)
- 4 Island
- 4 Swamp
- 4 Castle Locthwain
- 4 Fabled Passage
- 4 Mystic Sanctuary
- 4 Watery Grave
- Sideboard (15)
- 3 Aether Gust
- 3 Heartless Act
- 3 Noxious Grasp
- 4 Mystical Dispute
- 1 Peer into the Abyss
- 1 Ritual of Soot
In order for this deck to run as a mill deck, you'll want to get Teferi's Tutelage on the battlefield as quickly as possible. This will allow you to begin milling out your opponent's deck slowly. If you can get multiple copies of Teferi's Tutelage into play, you'll set up your combo even faster. Once you have milled your opponent a few times, you can play Peer into the Abyss, choosing yourself to be the target of this spell. You'll draw half of your deck into your hand and lose half of your life, but with Teferi's Tutelage in play, your opponent will mill two cards for each card you draw when Peer into the Abyss resolves.
If you ever have trouble finding Peer into the Abyss, you can use Grim Tutor as a means of finding it. You could also use Grim Tutor to find a copy of Teferi's Tutelage if you needed to, but since there are four copies of it in the deck, you're likely to draw one before you have the 7 mana needed to cast Peer into the Abyss.
Chandra Tribal
The final deck I have for you features a host of Chandra planeswalkers. Let's take a look at the deck.
Chandra Tribal | M21 Standard | haydenbwilding, deckstats.net user
- Creatures (13)
- 1 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
- 4 Chandra's Embercat
- 4 Chandra's Spitfire
- 4 Runaway Steam-Kin
- Planeswalkers (12)
- 1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
- 1 Chandra, Novice Pyromancer
- 3 Chandra, Flame's Catalyst
- 3 Chandra, Flame's Fury
- 4 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame
- Instants (7)
- 3 Chandra's Triumph
- 4 Shock
- Artifacts (4)
- 4 Chandra's Regulator
- Lands (24)
- 23 Mountain
- 1 Castle Embereth
Four of the five versions of Chandra in this deck have a planeswalker ability that deals noncombat damage to an opponent. Each of those abilities will give Chandra's Spitfire +3/+0 until the end of the turn. With a copy of Chandra's Regulator on the battlefield, you're able to copy these planeswalker abilities for one mana. If your opponent doesn't have a way to deal with Chandra's Spitfire, it's very possible to end the game with a single attack.
While this deck is all about dealing damage to the opponent and attacking with a large flying Elemental, it has a lot of ways to interact with an opponent. Chandra's Triumph will usually be able to deal five points of damage to a creature or planeswalker an opponent controls. There are also numerous planeswalker abilities that you can use to deal damage to an opponent's creatures or to cast an instant from your graveyard. I'm looking forward to trying this deck out on Magic Arena and seeing just what havoc I can create.
Wrapping Up
This weekend marks the prerelease for Core Set 2021. While we're still not at a point where all of us can play in a prerelease at our local game store, I'm looking forward to getting a prerelease kit for each member of my family to play with against each other. I'm also looking forward to cracking open a box of booster packs and playing some pack wars as well.
What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below 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
