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Beyond the Ban

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Hello, everyone! Now that the dust has settled after the banning of Field of the Dead, it's time to look for some new, fun decks that can compete with decks featuring our new overlord, Oko, Thief of Crowns. This week, I have a few decks to share that I'm hoping to try out on Magic Arena in my quest to achieve a ranking higher than Gold. Let's get started.

Electrostatic Izzet

The first deck I have for you this week combines the additional damage Torbran, Thane of Red Fell provides with the benefits you can get from drawing an additional card on your turn. Let's take a look at the deck:


Electrostatic Field
Electrostatic Field hasn't seen much play lately, but in this deck, it can be an all-star. With its 4 toughness, removing it from the battlefield can be difficult for many opponents. It can also stop an opponent from attacking, but beware that many opponents might bluff that they have a pump spell in their hand and attack anyway. If you block and they don't have the pump spell to allow them to deal enough damage to destroy Electrostatic Field, they likely won't continue the ruse on future turns. This is especially true once you start playing creatures that you can use to attack them.

Having played with Electrostatic Field in the past, I know how quickly the incidental damage it can deal adds up. When you combine that with Torbran, Thane of Red Fell, the damage potential goes from being an annoyance for your opponent to being game ending. In addition, since Electrostatic Field deals damage every time you cast an instant or sorcery spell, cards like Opt and Chemister's Insight can serve a dual purpose.

By having Improbable Alliance or Irencrag Pyromancer on the battlefield, you have the possibility to deal extra damage to your opponent with Electrostatic Field while also triggering the abilities that happen when you draw your second card for the turn. Extra damage, extra cards, and extra creatures quickly add up to you having an advantage that your opponent can't come back from. This deck looks incredibly synergistic and a lot of fun to play.

Orzhov Prison Control

The next deck I have for you can make it impossible for your opponent to be able to win. Let's take a look at it:


Doom Foretold
When playing against this deck, it can feel impossible to keep any threats on the battlefield. Prison Realm exiles any planeswalker or creature threat, no matter their size, likely for the remainder of the game. It's great targeted removal for nearly anything your opponent has in play. Oath of Kaya is also targeted removal you'll have at your disposal. It also acts as a deterrent to your opponent when you have Ugin, the Ineffable in play. Speaking of Ugin, he's also another source of targeted removal.

If you'd rather wipe out a whole swath of your opponent's creatures in one fell swoop, Kaya's Wrath is here to help. You can also make it so that your opponent isn't capable of keeping any of their creatures on the battlefield if you manage to get multiple copies of Ethereal Absolution in play. You might even be able to force your opponent to sacrifice a creature that you can't deal with (because it has either hexproof or a high toughness) by casting Doom Foretold.

If you're not able to lock things up tight enough that your opponent isn't able to play any creatures, you can always play a copy or two of Revenge of Ravens. By doing so, you'll be able to gain a point of life for each creature that your opponent attacks with. In addition, your opponent will lose a point of life for each of those creatures. This can make it impossible for them to reduce your life total to zero before theirs is depleted.

Selesnya Enchantments

The final deck I have for you utilizes a couple of Green sources to gain card advantage as it attempts to get a victory. Let's take a look at the deck:


Season of Growth
The main game plan for this deck is to get out some amount of copies of Season of Growth. Then you'll be able to play spells that target your own creatures in order to draw additional cards. You shouldn't have a problem keeping a full hand with this deck. Use those additional cards and the bonuses they grant your creatures to swing in for a ton of damage. Whenever possible, pile those bonuses on your creatures that have evasion in order to maximize the damage output.

Venerated Loxodon is a great way to increase the size of this deck's usually small creatures. One thing to remember, though, is that if you're hoping to be able to use Lovestruck Beast as an attacker, you'll need to keep a minimum of one of your creatures as a 1/1. Also, remember that this deck has built-in ways to create 1/1's, such as Emmara, Soul of the Accord and March of the Multitudes, which both can be used relatively easily to create 1/1 Soldier creature tokens that have lifelink.

Because of the relative ease that this deck has with drawing cards, it should be pretty easy to get things running smoothly again in the event that your opponent plays a board wipe. For that reason, it's often best to hold onto one or two creature cards, rather than play everything in your hand as quickly as possible. While rushing everything out might allow you to get a quick victory if your opponent stumbles, it can be better to be cautious and hold something back. In the event that your opponent clears out all of the creatures on the battlefield, doing so can allow you the opportunity to recover and deal out the remaining damage needed to finish off your opponent in another turn or two.

Wrapping Up

While decks running Oko, Thief of Crowns might be running amok at all of the major events, there are still plenty of decks you can play that don't feature this overpowered planeswalker. If you give one of these decks a try, be sure to let me know in the comments below how you did.

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

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