We’re on the eve of the Innistrad Championship, and the Standard format is rumored to be solved, with only a few variable decks in the metagame.
Today, I’m here to shatter that notion. If you’re looking to climb the Mythic ladder, there are still plenty of decks that will help you get there. Here are three Standard decks that are a little off the beaten path.
Slug Reanimator
Let’s start off with the wildest deck on the list. The goal here is to use Blood tokens to discard a big threat like Toxrill, the Corrosive, then use Diregraf Rebirth to bring it back to the battlefield. The deck is grindy, but still aggressive; it looks to put the opponent on the back foot early, then slam the door with one of the larger threats, preferably ahead of schedule.
This deck has a lot of moving parts, which can make the first couple of games with it a little awkward. But eventually, you’ll get to a point where your opponent won’t be able to block unless they want a Toxrill coming down and completely taking over the board. This deck does fairly well against creature decks, so decks like Mono-White will end up being great match-ups for you — which is no easy feat in this format.
The Slug life doesn’t choose you, but you can definitely choose it, and have a blast crushing all the white aggressive decks!
Blue-Black Control
Blue-Black Control is a Standard classic. Whenever the format starts to narrow down to one or two decks, control decks pop up to target a few match-ups, and this deck is no different.
Right now, we’re seeing Mono-White and Blue-Red establish themselves as the decks to beat in Standard. All Blue-Black’s card choices have those decks in mind. A great example of this is Wash Away — it does a fine job as a Cancel, but is super powerful at stopping Alrund’s Epiphany decks. Blue-Black still has game against the metagame at large, but it’s built to target Mono-White and Blue-Red specifically.
Sorin is one of the standout cards in this deck, and it’s really impressed the more I’ve played with it. I don’t think it’s an all-star or eternal format card per se, but in Standard (and maybe even some Historic decks), it should definitely see more play. It’s a great way to punish decks that sit around and do nothing while still being totally reasonable against aggro decks.
If you’re a fan of more tap-out control decks like the Esper Dragons decks of old, this is the deck for you.
Black-White Sacrifice
This is one of the cooler decks in the format right now. Black-White Sacrifice looks to get on the board early, then churn through its deck and flood the board with creatures until it takes over the game.
This deck is much better than it looks at first glance. Once your engine starts going, it’s very hard for your opponents to overcome a steady stream of cards and bodies on the board. Henrika really helps — her sacrifice effect helps establish board control, her card draw mode helps the draws come together early, and her backside lets you win with the tokens you’ve generated with Clarion Spirit.
Altogether, this deck is a love letter to old grindy Magic that looks to establish an insurmountable board presence. If you were a fan of the Black-Green Food decks from a few years back, this might be up your alley.
That’s all for this week’s article! I hope you enjoy these Standard decks and prevent your Blue-Red opponents from taking all the turns! Make sure to follow me on Twitter at @masoneclark for more spicy decks.
Mason Clark is a grinder in every corner of the game who has played at the pro level and on the SCG Tour with Team Nova. Whether he’s competing in Standard, Historic or Modern, Mason plays with one goal in mind: to be a better player than he was the day before. Check out his podcast, Constructed Criticism, and catch his streams on Twitch.