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Standard Build-Around Brews

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Hello everyone. With The Brothers' War recent release, nearly 300 new cards were added to the Standard pool providing us with more options for decks. This week I've got three decks for you that all incorporate some of these new cards. Let's get started.

Mechanized Mono-Red Aggro

We'll start this week with a deck I'll be building on Magic Arena, Mono-Red. Let's take a look at the deck.


Mechanized Warfare
It's no secret, I love playing Mono-Red decks. They're fast, aggressive, and I can finish one game quickly, so I can start the next right away. This deck checks all of those boxes for me. It is named after one of the new cards from The Brothers' War, Mechanized Warfare. This enchantment adds an extra point of damage whenever an artifact or Red source of yours would deal damage to your opponent or their creatures. It's reminiscent of one of my favorite creatures to play from Throne of Eldraine, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell. That extra damage will certainly add up throughout the game, helping you achieve victory quickly.

Helping you deal even more incidental damage to your opponent, you have Kessig Flamebreather. This Human Shaman will deal a point of damage to your opponent whenever you cast a noncreature spell. With 26 noncreature spells in this deck, if you can get Kessig Flamebreather onto the battlefield early, it will deal a ton of extra damage.

Monastery Swiftspear has been one of my favorite 1-drops since it came out in Khans of Tarkir. You can usually get this Human Monk's power up to three or four each turn when you attack simply by casting spells that deal direct damage. Monastery Swiftspear and Kessig Flamebreather work well together, because they both encourage you to do the same thing, which will result in extra damage being dealt.

Selesnya Counters

Next, I have a Selesnya deck for you that can quickly grow in size. Let's check it out.


Clay Champion
If you enjoy +1/+1 counters, you'll want to give this deck a try. Most of the creatures in this deck are able to either give themselves +1/+1 counters, or are able to give them to others. Clay Champion is able to do both. While it is expensive to cast, you can build up a supply of Treasure tokens with Gala Greeters that can help. You can then buff Clay Champion itself with three +1/+1 counters for each pair of Green mana used to cast it, plus buff other creatures with +1/+1 counters for each pair of White mana used.

Getting these Treasure tokens with Gala Greeters ability will also help trigger Yotian Dissident's ability. This allows you to put a +1/+1 counter on one of your creatures whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control. Those Treasure tokens also help boost up Teething Wurmlet. With at least three artifacts in play, Teething Wurmlet will have deathtouch. It also gains +1/+1 counters, as well as additional life, whenever an artifact enters the battlefield under your control.

The big payoff for getting +1/+1 counters on all your creatures happens when you have Kodama of the West Tree in play. This legendary Spirit allows all of your modified creatures to gain trample. That makes all of your big creatures more difficult to block effectively, as chump blocking will still allow a lot of damage to spill over. That allows you to quickly close out games.

Mardu Angels

The final deck I have for you this week focuses on the Angel tribe. Let's take a look at the deck.


Steel Seraph
The Brothers' War may have only brought us a single Angel creature, but what an Angel it is! Steel Seraph is an artifact creature that will give one creature your choice of either flying, vigilance, or lifelink at the beginning of combat on your turn. Since many of the creatures in this deck already have flying, you'll likely choose vigilance, in the event that you want to make sure to have a blocker, or lifelink, if your life total is nearing its end. The fact that you can cast it for three mana instead of six, also helps you gain this benefit throughout the game instead of just toward the end.

As with most of the Angel tribal decks currently in Standard, this deck utilizes a full playset of Giada, Font of Hope. Costing only two mana makes this legendary Angel an extremely important part of this deck. While Giada is in play, any Angel that enters the battlefield will come into play with an additional +1/+1 counter for each Angel you already control. That can make your Angels huge when they enter play, and allow you to attack for large chunks of damage with evasion. Giada also can be tapped to provide additional mana to cast Angel spells.

In order to make sure that the skies are clear of blockers, this deck has a pair of great creature removal spells. Infernal Grasp has been most players' choice for targeted removal, as it can destroy any creature for only two mana. The Brothers' War has provided us with another two mana option. Go for the Throat is nearly as versatile as Infernal Grasp, with its only drawback being that it cannot destroy an artifact creature. While that can be a drawback, if you make sure to use Go for the Throat before Infernal Grasp whenever possible, you shouldn't have any problems.

Wrapping Up

The Brothers' War has added a ton of new cards to Standard, and these decks have used just a few. Be sure to come back next week to see what other new cards are featured in the decks I'll have for you then.

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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