Hello everyone. With the announcement that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will soon be joining our beloved game, it has been made abundantly clear that the world of comic books and cartoons is ripe for the picking with characters and franchises to include in upcoming Universes Beyond releases. Whether you like them or not, Universes Beyond sets are here to stay, so I'd suggest trying to find something you can enjoy from these releases to focus, and just ignoring the things you don't like. I'm a huge Spider-Man fan, so I'm excited to play decks featuring cards from our newest release. I have a few of these decks to share with you this week. Let's get started.

Superior Grixis

Let's get things started off by taking a look at a deck that features one of my favorite villains, Doctor Octopus, when he had swapped minds with Peter Parker and was masquerading as a hero, Superior Spider-Man.

Superior Grixis | SPM Standard | Alis3a, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (26)
• 2 Ardyn, the Usurper
• 2 Tersa Lightshatter
• 3 Quantum Riddler
• 3 Steamcore Scholar
• 4 Bringer of the Last Gift
• 4 Fear of Missing Out
• 4 Marauding Mako
• 4 Superior Spider-Man

• Instants (7)
• 2 Bitter Triumph
• 2 Torch the Tower
• 3 Abrade

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Winternight Stories

• Lands (23)
• 2 Island
• 2 Mountain
• 1 Blazemire Verge
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 4 Riverpyre Verge
• 4 Spirebluff Canal
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Watery Grave

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When Superior Spider-Man enters the battlefield, you'll choose a creature card from either player's graveyard. Superior Spider-Man will enter play as a copy of that creature, with a few minor modifications. This not only allows you to choose the creature from either player's graveyard that has the best ability, but it also encourages you to put some amazing creatures into your own graveyard since you can't control what your opponent is playing.

Since you'll already be trying to discard certain creatures (with the help of things like Steamcore Scholar and Fear of Missing Out), you might as well get rewarded for doing it. Having a copy of Marauding Mako on the battlefield when you discard cards will give it a +1/+1 counter. By building up the Shark Pirate, you'll create a great blocker, incentivizing your opponent to not attack.

Bringer of the Last Gift is a great finisher for this deck. Make sure you'll benefit more from its ability to return creature cards from the graveyard than your opponent will. Using Ardyn, the Usurper's starscourge ability will help with this, plus you'll be able to build up an army of Demons with it. In fact, unless your opponent manages to get rid of your Demon horde, you might never have to even play (or copy) Bringer of the Last Gift in order to win.

Mardu Humans

Next, I have a Mardu deck that is focused around the Human creature type and is quite aggressive. Let's take a look at the deck.

Mardu Humans | SPM Standard | Capricorn, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (34)
• 1 Anim Pakal, Thousandth Moon
• 1 Cecil, Dark Knight // Cecil, Redeemed Paladin
• 1 Eddie Brock
• 1 Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant // Phoenix, Warden of Fire
• 1 Kellan, the Fae-Blooded
• 1 Spectacular Spider-Man
• 1 Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior
• 1 The Spot, Living Portal
• 3 Cathar Commando
• 3 Elegy Acolyte
• 4 Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate
• 4 Bulwark Ox
• 4 Syr Vondam, Sunstar Exemplar
• 4 Veteran Survivor
• 4 Zack Fair

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Sheltered by Ghosts

• Lands (22)
• 2 Multiversal Passage
• 3 Bleachbone Verge
• 3 Cavern of Souls
• 3 Sacred Foundry
• 3 Secluded Courtyard
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Sunbillow Verge

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Alesha, Who Laughs at Fate does a lot of heavy lifting in this deck. Each time they attack, you'll put a +1/+1 counter on Alesha. Then, at the beginning of your end step, as long as Alesha attacked, you'll be able to return a creature from your graveyard to the battlefield that has a mana value equal to or less than Alesha's power. Since most of the creatures in this deck have a mana value of 3 or less, you'll have a lot of good creatures to choose from.

Helping Alesha return creatures to the battlefield is Eddie Brock. When Eddie enters play, you'll get to return a creature with a mana value of 1 or less to the battlefield. If you transform Eddie Brock into Venom, Lethal Protector, every time Venom attacks, you'll have the opportunity to return a permanent from your graveyard to the battlefield.

One of my favorite new creatures plays a small role in this deck. Spider-Woman, Stunning Savior has a static ability that always causes artifacts and creatures your opponent plays to enter the battlefield tapped. This sort of effect can really slow down an aggressive deck, giving you the opportunity to get some defenses into place before they can make a hasty attack.

5-Color Spiders

The final deck I have for you this week features an absolute ton of creatures from Marvel's Spider-Man. It looks like a blast to play. Let's check it out.

5-Color Spiders - SPM Standard | Capricorn, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (34)
• 2 Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly
• 2 Spider-Man 2099
• 2 Spider-Punk
• 3 Cosmic Spider-Man
• 3 Gwen Stacy
• 3 Miles Morales
• 3 Spider-Ham, Peter Porker
• 4 Peter Parker
• 4 Radioactive Spider
• 4 Spinneret and Spiderling
• 4 Twitching Doll

• Enchantments (4)
• 4 Kellan Joins Up

• Lands (22)
• 1 Cavern of Souls
• 1 Sacred Foundry
• 4 Multiversal Passage
• 4 Secluded Courtyard
• 4 Starting Town
• 4 Stomping Ground
• 4 Urban Retreat

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Every creature in this deck is either a Spider or has the ability to become a Spider. This can be quite powerful when you have a copy of Cosmic Spider-Man in play. Not only does Cosmic Spider-Man have a handful of amazing keywords, but he also grants those keywords to other Spiders you control when combat begins. That grants you a huge advantage over your opponent.

Another key card for this deck is Kellan Joins Up. This enchantment allows you to plot a nonland card from your hand with a mana value of 3 or less when it enters play. It also provides an ongoing benefit whenever a legendary creature enters the battlefield under your control. When this happens, you'll put a +1/+1 counter on each creature you control.

To further take advantage of gaining +1/+1 counters with Kellan Joins Up, you can cast Scarlet Spider, Ben Reilly using its web-slinging ability. This allows you to return a creature to your hand to cast Scarlet Spider for just two mana instead of three. That will provide Scarlet Spider with a number of +1/+1 counters, plus you can then boost your entire team if you returned a legendary creature to your hand.

Wrapping Up

While I agree with the sentiment that some of the Universes Beyond sets don't always blend into the tapestry that is Magic as others, I'm in the group of players that isn't bothered by this. The mechanics remain generally the same throughout the game, regardless of the flavor of the cards, keeping the gameplay fun regardless of the setting.

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