Hello everyone. Last week, we saw the release of Marvel's Spider-Man, the newest Universes Beyond set to join Standard. Has it made much of an impact on Standard? Let's find out by taking a look at a few new decks to see what effect these new cards are having.

Izzet Land Destruction

We'll get started by taking a look at an Izzet deck that gains an advantage over its opponent by destroying their lands. Let's take a look at the deck.

Izzet Land Destruction | SPM Standard | Sonio, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Magmatic Hellkite

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Ugin, Eye of the Storms

• Instants (12)
• 1 Into the Flood Maw
• 1 Torch the Tower
• 2 Abrade
• 4 Divert Disaster
• 4 Three Steps Ahead

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Season of Weaving
• 4 Ill-Timed Explosion
• 4 Stock Up

• Enchantments (1)
• 1 Weftwalking

• Artifacts (7)
• 1 All-Fates Scroll
• 1 Territory Forge
• 1 The Irencrag
• 4 Extinguisher Battleship

• Lands (26)
• 2 Island
• 3 Mountain
• 2 Secluded Starforge
• 3 Mistrise Village
• 4 Demolition Field
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Spirebluff Canal
• 4 Thundering Falls

• Sideboard (7)
• 1 Marang River Regent
• 1 Dispelling Exhale
• 1 Lithobraking
• 1 Molten Duplication
• 1 Elixir
• 1 The Fire Crystal
• 1 Worldwalker Helm

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If you like playing control decks, you should give this deck a try. It has all of the usual trappings of a control deck: counterspells (like Divert Disaster and Three Steps Ahead), creature removal (like Torch the Tower and Ill-Timed Explosion), and spells that allow you to draw extra cards (like Season of Weaving and Stock Up). However, this deck goes one step further in controlling things. It features land destruction.

Territory Forge, Extinguisher Battleship, Magmatic Hellkite, and Demolition Field can all be played to help you control the amount of mana your opponent controls. Obviously, each of these cards is going to be usable at different points during the game. Demolition Field will usually be the most useful land destruction card you have, but remember that it is only usable against a nonbasic land your opponent controls.

By controlling the lands your opponent has in play, the spells they are able to resolve, and the number of creatures they have in play, you can likely reach the late stages of the game where you'll have enough mana to cast the likely finisher for this deck, Ugin, Eye of the Storms. Once Ugin is in play, it's a simple matter of drawing extra cards with his +2 loyalty ability until you're able to find some colorless spells to cast, resulting in you exiling your opponent's greatest non-colorless threats.

Dimir Reanimator

Up next, I have a Dimir deck that turns cards in the discard pile into game-winning threats. Let's take a look at the deck.

Dimir Reanimator | SPM Standard | Capricorn, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Emet-Selch, Unsundered
• 1 Gwenom, Remorseless
• 1 Norman Osborn
• 1 Superior Spider-Man
• 1 Valgavoth, Terror Eater
• 1 Valgavoth's Faithful
• 2 Jumbo Cactuar
• 2 Ultimate Green Goblin
• 4 Ardyn, the Usurper

• Instants (6)
• 2 Spell Pierce
• 4 Bitter Triumph

• Sorceries (14)
• 1 Prison Break
• 1 Zero Point Ballad
• 2 Duress
• 2 Wail of the Forgotten
• 4 Chart a Course
• 4 Zombify

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 The Death of Gwen Stacy

• Artifacts (1)
• 1 The Soul Stone

• Lands (21)
• 2 Island
• 3 Swamp
• 4 Fabled Passage
• 4 Gloomlake Verge
• 4 Undercity Sewers
• 4 Watery Grave

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Ultimate Green Goblin gets things started for this deck. While he is in play, you'll have to discard a card at the beginning of your upkeep, but you'll accelerate your mana by doing this since you'll also create a Treasure token. You'll typically want to discard cards that you're unable to cast, either because of their mana value or their color.

As the game progresses, you can play spells to reanimate those big threats you discarded. Zombify, Prison Break, Valgavoth's Faithful, and The Soul Stone can all be used throughout the game to return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield. Late in the game, you can play Zero Point Ballad to destroy your opponent's forces while putting a creature from your graveyard into play.

You can also choose to leave your big threats in your graveyard so they can be targeted by Ardyn, the Usurper. His starscourge ability allows you to exile a creature from your graveyard to create a token copy of it, but it's a 5/5 Black Demon instead. This happens to work with Ardyn's static ability which gives Denons you control menace, lifelink, and haste. Attack swiftly and repeatedly for the win.

Simic Jackal

The final deck I have for you that loves gaining +1/+1 counters and copies of its own creatures. Let's check it out.

Simic Jackal | SPM Standard | Alis3a, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (28)
• 2 Floodpits Drowner
• 2 Surrak, Elusive Hunter
• 4 Frenzied Baloth
• 4 Jackal, Genius Geneticist
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Ouroboroid
• 4 Pawpatch Recruit
• 4 Sentinel of the Nameless City

• Instants (6)
• 2 Shore Up
• 4 Into the Flood Maw

• Sorceries (2)
• 2 Hard-Hitting Question

• Enchantments (2)
• 2 Innkeeper's Talent

• Lands (22)
• 3 Island
• 6 Forest
• 1 Urban Retreat
• 4 Botanical Sanctum
• 4 Breeding Pool
• 4 Willowrush Verge

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Jackal, Genius Geneticist is the namesake for this deck. While he's in play, you'll be able to copy a creature spell you cast if that creature spell has a mana value equal to Jackal's power. You'll then put a +1/+1 counter on Jackal, giving him a little more oomph, but also making it more and more difficult to use his ability.

You'll be able to gain additional +1/+1 counters for your team when you play Ouroboroid. This Plant Wurm has become a staple for many Green-based decks due to the number of +1/+1 counters it can distribute to your entire team throughout the game. You can get even more +1/+1 counters with each copy of Innkeeper's Talent you have in play.

Those +1/+1 counters are terrific for creating huge creatures for both offense and defense, however, you'll want to get as many +1/+1 counters onto Surrak, Elusive Hunter as you can. Since Surrak has trample, you'll often be able to attack with him and still deal damage to your opponent. I find it's best to send the entire team when attacking with Surrak, as your opponent will often be forced to chump block your creatures that don't have trample, letting Surrak deal a ton of damage, or gang up on Surrak so that trample damage doesn't go through and Surrak can be destroyed, allowing your other creatures to deal their full damage.

Wrapping Up

For a set that's only 'officially' been out for a week, I'd say Marvel's Spider-Man is doing okay when it comes to infiltrating Standard. I think the cards in this set compliment a lot of the decks that were previously seen in Standard, without upending things too much.

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