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Legendary Brews in Dominaria United Standard

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Hello everyone. When a new set comes out, one of the first places I look to find new decks are the legendary creatures in the set. Legendary creatures can provide a deck with some special abilities that can make a deck both fun to play as well as competitive. This week, I have a few decks that feature legendary creatures, but are for Standard, not Commander. Let's get started.

King Darien XLVIII & Queen Allenal of Ruadach / Selesnya Tokens

We'll get started with a deck featuring two legendary creatures, King Darien XLVIII and Queen Allenal of Ruadach. It's a Selesnya token deck that goes wide, attacking with a lot of creatures. Let's take a look at the deck.


King Darien XLVIII
Queen Allenal of Ruadach

There are numerous ways to create creature tokens in this deck. King Darien XLVIII allows you to pay five mana to put a +1/+1 counter on himself while also creating a 1/1 Soldier creature token. Torens, Fist of the Angels will create a 1/1 Human creature token whenever you cast a creature spell. Adeline, Resplendent Cathar will create a 1/1 Human creature token whenever you attack. There's also Wedding Announcement // Wedding Festivity, which will create a total of three 1/1 Human creature tokens over a few turns. Finally, while you have Queen Allenal of Ruadach on the battlefield, you'll get an extra 1/1 Soldier token whenever you would create any creature tokens.

With all of those additional creature tokens on the battlefield, Adeline, Resplendent Cathar's power can be quite large. The same is true of both the power and toughness of Queen Allenal of Ruadach. In order to maximize their potential when attacking, you'll want to utilize Tamiyo's Safekeeping to do exactly what its title says it does, keep them safe from harm.

Not only are there a bunch of creature token creators in this deck, but there are lots of ways to boost the effectiveness of those tokens (and your other creatures as well). Valiant Veteran provides a +1/+1 bonus to other Soldiers you control. Sigarda, Champion of Light provides a +1/+1 bonus to your Humans. Wedding Festivity gives a +1/+1 bonus to each creature you control, while King Darien XLVIII provides a similar bonus, but not to himself. All of these bonuses make your creatures more effective to use and more difficult for your opponent to deal with.

Shanna, Purifying Blade / Lifegain Humans

Next, we come to Shanna, Purifying Blade. She is a great starting point for a Bant lifegain deck. Let's take a look at it.


Shanna, Purifying Blade
Shanna, Purifying Blade does everything you want in this deck. She's a 3/3 creature, which is right in line with what you would expect for three mana. She has lifelink, allowing you to gain a few points of life when you attack or defend, making your opponent's job of defeating you more difficult. She also allows you to draw additional cards at the beginning of your end step based on the amount of life you gained this turn. Since this isn't reliant on the life Shanna helped you gain, but includes all sources of lifegain, you have the potential of drawing a lot of extra cards.

This deck includes a few ways to remove your opponent's creatures. Fateful Absence is one of the most popular cards in Standard because it allows you to destroy any creature or planeswalker for only two mana. It will provide a Clue token to the controller of that creature or planeswalker, which is usually a small price to pay. Lagrella, the Magpie can also exile any number of creatures currently in play, other than herself, yours or your opponents. If you manage to play her at the right time, you'll be able to attack unimpeded by any resistance from your opponent, as all of their creatures will find themselves suddenly exiled.

Brokers Ascendancy is a card that I think doesn't get enough love. With a copy of Brokers Ascendancy on the battlefield, each of your creatures will get a +1/+1 counter at the beginning of your end step, and each of your planeswalkers will get a loyalty counter. While it is an enchantment that doesn't provide you with any immediate benefit and relies on having other creatures or planeswalkers in play, the fact that it provides a potential advantage turn after turn makes it a great card for this deck.

Rith, Liberated Primeval / Four-Color Dragons

Finally, the last deck I have for you features Dragons, a favorite tribe of mine. Let's check it out.


Rith, Liberated Primeval
Rith, Liberated Primeval is the focal point for this deck. As a 5/5 flying creature, you'll be able to end games quickly by attacking with Rith. It also has a ward ability which offers a bit of protection unless your opponent pays an additional two mana. While Rith is on the battlefield, your other Dragons will also gain this same ward ability. Rith will also allow you to create 4/4 Dagon creature tokens if you're able to deal excess damage to a creature or planeswalker your opponent controls. No more chump blocking for your opponent, or else they'll suffer the consequences.

In addition to the Dragon creature tokens you'll be able to create, there are a lot of other Dragons included in this deck. Moonveil Regent offers you the means of dealing direct damage to your opponent when it dies. Rivaz of the Claw provides two mana of any colors that can be used to cast Dragon creature spells, helping you play bigger creatures easier. Atsushi, the Blazing Sky can create three Treasure tokens when it dies, providing another way to cast big creatures more easily.

The final pair of Dragon creatures offer you the ability to end games very quickly. Shivan Devastator gets a +1/+1 counter for each mana that you use to cast it other than the first Red mana. It has flying and haste, allowing you to attack unexpectedly for a good amount of damage. You can then sacrifice Shivan Devastator (or any other creature) with Ziatora, the Incinerator's end step ability, allowing you to deal direct damage to any opposing creature equal to the power of the sacrificed creature. This will allow you to attack easier on future turns, pushing through more damage.

Wrapping Up

There are many more legendary creatures in Dominaria United, so I expect to search for more decks featuring some of the new legendary creatures in the upcoming weeks. Each of these decks looks like a lot of fun to play and showcases the specialness of the legendary creature each deck showcased. I'm looking forward to trying out each of them on Magic Arena.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. 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

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