Before the recent Magic: the Gathering Standard rotation, we all remember that the Naya deck archetype focused on Eldraine’s Adventures mechanic which made it one of the top tier decks in the format. That is based on how popular that deck was and its finishes in major MTG tournaments.

For the Innisrad: Midnight Hunt Update, the deck adapted to Red-Green core cards which are composed of Goldspan Dragons, Esika’s Chariot, and Shatterskull Smashing. It retained however some White cards from the previous build, specifically Elite Spellbinder and Reidane, God of the Worthy. The new set then provided a few card arsenals (Brutal Cathar, Outland Liberator) to work with.

I found an updated decklist of the Naya Aggro deck which I am sharing below.

Maindeck
23 LANDS (27)
4 Branchloft Pathway
4 Cragcrown Pathway
2 Den of the Bugbear
2 Forest
2 Lair of the Hydra
4 Needleverge Pathway
4 Overgrown Farmland
1 Rockfall Vale

21 CREATURES
4 Brutal Cathar
4 Elite Spellbinder
4 Goldspan Dragon
4 Lotus Cobra
2 Moonveil Regent
1 Outland Liberator
2 Reidane, God of the Worthy

8 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Dragon’s Fire
4 Shatterskull Smashing
8 OTHER SPELLS
4 Esika’s Chariot
4 Ranger Class

SIDEBOARD
4 Brushfire Elemental
4 Burning Hands
1 Reidane, God of the Worthy
4 Tajuru Blightblade
2 Toski, Bearer of Secrets

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=32598&d=450250&f=ST

I think I already had several posts of this deck archetype in my blog, continuously updating the build after each new Magic: the Gathering set is released. The excitement is always present as each new card components offerinteresting functions and interactions and it is the same with Coreset 2021.

Here below is the Big Red decklist:

Creatures
4 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
3 Legion Warboss
2 Meteor Golem
4 Terror of the Peaks

Spells
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
3 Fire Prophecy
2 Sarkhan the Masterless
1 Scorching Dragonfire
3 Soul Sear
3 Storm’s Wrath
3 Thrill of Possibility
1 Ugin, the Ineffable
2 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon

Lands
3 Castle Embereth
2 Dwarven Mine
20 Mountain

Terror of the Peaks is probably the card highlight of this deck in the terms of card value and its trigger ability. Given that he is already a threat with 5/4 & Flying, its ETB ability makes your other creatures more deadly even by just creating a token with Sarkhan or that of the Legion Warboss.

Drakuseth, Maw of Flames is still the top curve & finisher of the deck and the given spot removal whenever it attacks, it can get rid of the remaining creatures that might have survived your Storm’s Wrath.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon is a new addition in the deck and another source of your sweeper and win condition, all in one card. Be careful though not to run him into cheap counterspells.

The other cards on the list are pretty much basic in their given functions, but I would like to highlight the two copies of Meteor Golem as your color basically has no way to deal with Enchantments, aside from Ugin himself. The nonland destroy will get its many uses in various situations and at the least, it is seven-mana spot removal.

That is a wrap for now on this Standard M21 Deck feature on the Big Red midrange build. I do hope to try this soon on my local game store but I guess it will still be a few months of waiting until the crisis stabilizes.

Until then, thanks for reading.

I have been considering Big Red as one of my favorite archetypes in the recent Standard format and has been building versions and list ever since. I have mentioned on my previous blog post regarding the build-around deck on Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded. However, that one was not complete without a decklist and so I am sharing it today.

Here below is my recent take of the Big Red midrange deck in Theros Beyond Death Standard:

Creatures
4 Bonecrusher Giant
1 Cavalier of Flame
2 Drakuseth, Maw of Flames
4 Phoenix of Ash
2 Purphoros, Bronze-Blooded
4 Runaway Steam-Kin
3 Tectonic Giant
2 Skarrgan Hellkite

Spells
1 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
3 Lava Coil
4 Omen of the Forge
2 Slaying Fire
2 Storm’s Wrath
1 Ugin, the Ineffable

Lands
19 Mountain
2 Labyrinth of Skophos
4 Temple of Malice

I have explored the aggro and control deck archetypes in the current Ravnica Allegiance Standard format with my previous blog posts and this time, I have decided to check on some updated decks under the Combo tab. We all know and familiar with the Nexus of Fate and Wilderness Reclamation combo deck that currently exists in the metagame. Well, Nexus is not the only available combo piece. Presenting the 5-Color Electrodominance Standard deck:

24 LANDS
1 Blood Crypt
2 Breeding Pool
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Forest
1 Glacial Fortress
1 Hallowed Fountain
1 Hinterland Harbor
1 Island
1 Mountain
1 Overgrown Tomb
1 Rootbound Crag
1 Sacred Foundry
4 Steam Vents
2 Stomping Ground
1 Sunpetal Grove
1 Temple Garden
1 Watery Grave
1 Woodland Cemetery

25 INSTANTS and SORC.
1 Cleansing Nova
3 Deafening Clarion
3 Discovery / Dispersal
3 Electrodominance
3 Expansion / Explosion
4 Growth Spiral
3 Mastermind’s Acquisition
3 Revitalize
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 Star of Extinction

11 OTHER SPELLS
4 Gift of Paradise
1 The Mirari Conjecture
2 Thousand-Year Storm
4 Wilderness Reclamation

SIDEBOARD
1 Chaos Wand
1 Electrodominance
1 Emergency Powers
2 Lava Coil
1 Lich’s Mastery
1 Lightning Strike
1 Nexus of Fate
1 Niv-Mizzet, Parun
1 Omniscience
1 Sanguine Sacrament
1 Settle the Wreckage
1 The Immortal Sun
1 The Mirari Conjecture
1 Unmoored Ego

It isn’t that obvious that the pilot has provided a whole lot of options with all of these one-of cards in the deck. It also has the means to search for the right answer in the situation with tutor cards like Mastermind’s Acquisition.

The basic strategy here is to ramp to enough mana and resolve a Wilderness Reclamation. You can then have a huge mana dump in spells like Expansion / Explosion and Electrodominance. There is a long list of possibilities here in order to win, given that you can access your sideboard with the acquisition.

I would personally suggest that you should try this in your next FNM tourney but just avoid a Mono-Blue Tempo field meta.

Until the next blog post.

Source: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=21264&d=342101&f=ST

I recently found another interesting Standard deck build despite the usual Ravnica Guild-based archetypes in the format. The deck is Five-Color Control and was created by well-known Pro Ali Aintrazi and he finished in first place in the SCG Standard Classic Charlotte last October 28th. Here below is his creation:

Lands (26)
1 Island
1 Plains
1 Swamp
1 Dragonskull Summit
1 Drowned Catacomb
1 Gateway Plaza
2 Hinterland Harbor
4 Isolated Chapel
3 Overgrown Tomb
1 Sacred Foundry
1 Steam Vents
1 Sulfur Falls
2 Sunpetal Grove
3 Temple Garden
2 Watery Grave
1 Woodland Cemetery

Spells (34)
4 Gift of Paradise
3 The Mirari Conjecture
2 Chance for Glory
1 Chemister’s Insight
1 Expansion
4 Revitalize
3 Settle the Wreckage
3 Vraska’s Contempt
3 Lich’s Mastery
1 Search for Azcanta
2 Cleansing Nova
4 Discovery
1 Divination
2 Mastermind’s Acquisition

Sideboard
3 Carnage Tyrant
2 Knight of Autumn
3 Thief of Sanity
1 The Immortal Sun
1 Lyra Dawnbringer
1 Banefire
1 Deafening Clarion
2 Duress
1 Nature’s Spiral

Here is another update I made for the deck tech I have posted last time about the Big Red archetype. The rotation of Amonkhet and Hour of Devastation has majorly affected our list especially the massive removals which is needed in the matchup against the current Selesnya tokens decks. The options we have is Fiery Cannonade which only affects non-Pirates and the splash with White to access Deafening Clarion. We stick with the mono color for now and here below is the deck list which I think would be its possible look.

Lands
1 Field of Ruin
20 Mountain
4 Memorial to War

Creatures
3 Rekindling Phoenix
4 Siege-Gang Commander
4 Legion Warboss

Spells
2 Tormenting Voice
4 Fight with Fire
1 Jaya Ballard
2 Shock
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
4 Lava Coil
2 Banefire
2 Thaumatic Compass/Spires of Orazca
3 Treasure Map/Treasure Cove

Here is a deck archetype wherein I still got my interest in the Standard format. Its core components are mostly from Kaladesh but with the help of some M19 cards, in particular, Sai, Master Thopterist, it was able to pull off a desirable performance.

The deck is called Mono Blue Reservoir and here below is the decklist:

20 LANDS
3 Arch of Orazca
2 Inventors’ Fair
11 Island
4 Zhalfirin Void

12 CREATURES
4 Glint-Nest Crane
4 Metalwork Colossus
4 Sai, Master Thopterist

5 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Baral’s Expertise
1 One with the Machine

23 OTHER SPELLS
3 Aetherflux Reservoir
3 Cultivator’s Caravan
1 Gilded Lotus
2 Metalspinner’s Puzzleknot
2 Paradox Engine
4 Powerstone Shard
4 Prophetic Prism
4 Renegade Map

SIDEBOARD
3 Aether Meltdown
3 Karn, Scion of Urza
3 Metallic Rebuke
2 Negate
2 Sorcerous Spyglass
2 Walking Ballista

Source: http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=19725&d=326847&f=ST

I have read in a website on the Standard deck strategy of copying discounted burn spells with Baral, Chief of Compliance and Primal Amulet. These two cards are your vital component in getting a kicked Fight with Fire or a huge Banefire. My idea on this build though is to utilize the M19 Buy-a-box card, Nexus of Fate, which can be chained in the late game given the discounted cost. Here below is the decklist:

Lands
6 Mountain
7 Island
1 Field of Ruin
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Memorial to Genius
2 Highland Lake
4 Sulfur Falls

Creatures
3 Baral, Chief of Compliance

Spells
3 Anticipate
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance
4 Disallow
3 Glimmer of Genius
4 Lightning Strike
4 Fight with Fire
1 Tormenting Voice
4 Nexus of Fate
1 Jaya Ballard
1 Sift
3 Primal Amulet/Primal Wellspring
1 Search for Azcanta/Azcanta, the Sunken Ruin
1 Wizard’s Lightning
1 Wizard’s Retort

Chaining the Nexus in these turns, you would have your Chandra, Torch of Defiance upped with options for casting extra cards or adding mana to cast your Nexus. You can then control the board with Lightning Strikes and Disallow for major threats while adding charge counters to the Amulet. Inlow-costn are the low cost card drawers like Anticipate to get your next Nexus or Fight with Fire if you are mana ready for the kicker cost. Search for Azcanta is also another route to get to your goal.

What do you think of this build? It may look sub par but any suggestions is highly appreciated.

Here is one deck list I have made on the spot while having a fever, body pains and asthma attack. Anointed Procession decks are usually made White with Black or White with Green but this time I have decided to explore a third color which is Red. This gives me access to Siege-Gang Commander which is the deck’s main late game plan and is more powered with the AP effect, giving you 6 Goblin tokens for Shock-fodder. I would not detail much on the card-by-card setup and so I will just give you below the decklist:

Lands
4 Clifftop Retreat
2 Mountain
4 Stone Quarry
4 Plains
4 Inspiring Vantage
4 Shefet Dunes
2 Memorial to Glory

Creatures
4 Anointer Priest
4 Benalish Marshal
4 Leonin Warleader
2 Lena, Selfless Champion
4 Siege-Gang Commander

Spells
4 Anointed Procession
4 Legion’s Landing/Adanto, the First Fort
2 Ixalan’s Binding
2 Abrade
2 Radiant Destiny
3 Heroic Reinforcements
1 Sigiled Sword of Valeron

While I am back to a hectic schedule with my spare time used for doing my paper works for the graduate school, I decided to do a quick visit at the Standard decks page in MTG Top 8, looking for a possible deck update from the Pirates build that I did previously. What I am looking for is an updated Grixis-based build basing on the tribal land Unclaimed Territory which does the fixing of the tribal colors. Rivals of Ixalan have provided new components for the deck to play on.

Upon checking the cards on the new set, the new decklist would look like this one:

Creatures
3 Admiral Beckett Brass
1 Captain Lannery Storm
1 Deadeye Tracker
2 Dire Fleet Poisoner
4 Dire Fleet Captain
1 Dreamcaller Siren
4 Fathom Fleet Captain
3 Kitesail Freebooter
3 Kari Zev, Skyship Raider
4 Siren Stormtamer
2 Hostage Taker

Spells
3 Abrade
3 Fatal Push
1 Vraska’s Contempt
1 Chart a Course

Lands
4 Unclaimed Territory
3 Drowned Catacomb
4 Dragonskull Summit
1 Fetid Pools
3 Canyon Slough
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Island
2 Mountain
2 Swamp

One of the interesting Standard deck builds i have found from the PPTQ results last week was this version of a Grixis Aggro. The deck was piloted by Caio Amaral and he took down the tournament with the metagame of Temur Energy and Ramunap Red decks. How about a build with solid removals, efficient creatures and planeswalker with good counter and discard backup? Check out the decklist below.

Grixis Aggro
Maindeck
26 LANDS
4 Aether Hub
3 Canyon Slough
4 Dragonskull Summit
4 Drowned Catacomb
3 Fetid Pools
1 Island
2 Mountain
4 Spirebluff Canal
1 Swamp

17 CREATURES
4 Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
3 Glorybringer
2 Hostage Taker
2 The Scarab God
2 Torrential Gearhulk
4 Whirler Virtuoso
14 INSTANTS and SORC.
2 Abrade
1 Essence Scatter
3 Fatal Push
4 Harnessed Lightning
2 Supreme Will
2 Vraska’s Contempt

3 OTHER SPELLS
3 Chandra, Torch of Defiance

SIDEBOARD
1 Abrade
2 Chandra’s Defeat
1 Doomfall
2 Dreamstealer
2 Duress
2 Glimmer of Genius
2 Hour of Devastation
2 Negate
1 Vraska’s Contempt

One of the Standard deck techs that was featured at the Pro Tour Ixalan last weekend was the Mono White version of Vampires. We knew that the tribe had returned in the plane of Ixalan which looked like wearing some Spaniard uniforms and this time with White

as the other color. The featured deck, however, went for a Mono White version utilizing Oketra’s Monument to lessen the tribe’s creature cost. Here below is the full decklist:

Maindeck
2 Duskborne Skymarcher
4 Aviary Mechanic
4 Adanto Vanguard
4 Metallic Mimic
4 Legion Conquistador
3 Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
3 Angel of Invention

4 Oketra’s Monument
4 Legion’s Landing
1 Thopter Arrest
2 Cast Out
3 Ixalan’s Binding

4 Shefet Dunes
3 Scavenger Grounds
15 Plains

Sideboard
2 Thopter Arrest
2 Fragmentize
4 Glory-Bound Initiate
1 Aethersphere Harvester
4 Dusk // Dawn
1 Gideon’s Intervention
1 Angel of Sanctions