Four Wild Standard Arena Decks for War of the Spark’s Release

Of the four decks, this one is the simplest. With the printing of Huatli, the Sun’s Heart, we now have three distinct cards that allow creatures to deal damage with their butts and attack if they’re defenders. We don’t need a full twelve copies, and as Arcades is the most expensive and easiest to interact with, we’re on a 4/4/2 split, with the Elder Dragon getting shaved.

Bant Walls

4 Suspicious Bookcase (M19) 246
4 Tetsuko Umezawa, Fugitive (DAR) 69
4 Wall of Runes (WAR) 75
2 Arcades, the Strategist (M19) 212
4 Gleaming Barrier (RIX) 178
4 Portcullis Vine (GRN) 142

4 High Alert (RNA) 182
4 Huatli, the Sun's Heart (WAR) 230

3 Tower Defense (RNA) 147
4 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81

1 Sunpetal Grove (XLN) 257
2 Hallowed Fountain (RNA) 251
2 Island (WAR) 253
2 Temple Garden (GRN) 258
3 Forest (WAR) 262
3 Glacial Fortress (XLN) 255
3 Hinterland Harbor (DAR) 240
3 Plains (WAR) 250
4 Breeding Pool (RNA) 246

The deck’s gameplan is to stick as many defenders as possible, then play a cards that suddenly allows them to attack for massive amounts of damage. Spell Pierce can protect your “toughness matters” cards as you try to kill them. Tetsuko Umezawa makes all your creatures unblockable, likely just killing them on the spot, and Tower Defense acts as an effective +5/+5 to your entire team for just two mana! This is a straightforward deck that will nevertheless just get people sometimes as early as Turn three or four.

Kefnet Turns

By now, everyone knows that you can loop Nexus of Fate and take infinite turns, but that’s too easy. With the printing of Kefnet, there’s a new, much more difficult, but much more satisfying infinite turns combo to pull off! If you’re not familiar with Riverwise Augur, it is a four-mana creature that Brainstorms upon entering the battlefield. This means that with ten mana and a Kefnet on board, you can do the following:

3 God-Eternal Kefnet (WAR) 53
3 Riverwise Augur (RIX) 48

3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer (WAR) 234
3 Karn's Temporal Sundering (DAR) 55

4 Chart a Course (XLN) 48
4 Opt (XLN) 65
1 Negate (RIX) 44
4 Lightning Strike (M19) 152
4 Shock (M19) 156
4 Chemister's Insight (GRN) 32
2 Spell Pierce (XLN) 81
4 Discovery // Dispersal (GRN) 223

4 Steam Vents (GRN) 257
4 Sulfur Falls (DAR) 247
8 Island (WAR) 253
5 Mountain (WAR) 259

1) Use Riverwise Augur to put Karn’s Temporal Sundering on top of your deck.

2) On the following turn, reveal Sundering and cast the copy with Kefnet, returning Augur to your hand.

3) Return to Step 1.

4) …Profit???

Thanks to Riverwise Augur, you’ll actually net a card every turn in addition to Karn’s Temporal Sundering, so you’ll slowly be able to draw your deck, clear any blockers, and kill them with Kefnet and Saheeli. Because the combo takes a while to assemble, Saheeli generates chump blockers, the red spells clear troublesome aggro threats, and Kefnet generates value from many cards in your deck, with Chemister’s Insight being the best non-Sundering hit.

Grixis Superfriends

2 Hostage Taker (XLN) 223

2 Search for Azcanta (XLN) 74
3 Karn, Scion of Urza (DAR) 1
3 Narset, Parter of Veils (WAR) 61
3 Dovin, Hand of Control (WAR) 229
2 Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God (WAR) 207
3 Jace, Cunning Castaway (XLN) 60

2 Ritual of Soot (GRN) 84
4 Thought Erasure (GRN) 206
2 Yawgmoth's Vile Offering (DAR) 114
2 Vraska's Contempt (XLN) 129
2 Cry of the Carnarium (RNA) 70
2 The Elderspell (WAR) 89

3 Dragonskull Summit (XLN) 252
4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253
3 Steam Vents (GRN) 257
4 Watery Grave (GRN) 259
4 Interplanar Beacon (WAR) 247
3 Island (WAR) 253
4 Swamp (WAR) 256

How can you not try a superfriends deck in the planeswalkers-matter set? This deck is mostly a UB tapout control deck that utilizes a huge number of planeswalkers to generate advantage. Once Search for Azcanta flips, we can find any walker we need off the Sunken Ruin. Our high number of walkers also lets us play the powerful Legendary Sorcery, Yawgmoth’s Vile Offering.

If you thought The Eldest Reborn was strong, but just a tad too slow, you’ll love Vile Offering! Also pay attention to the synergy between Bolas and Jace; once Bolas has five loyalty, it can use Jace’s copying ability to double itself! Watch and cackle with delight as the number of Bolas’s on-board grows exponentially every other turn. And it wouldn’t be a truly Wonky Deck^TM if there weren’t a combo finish! You can use The Elderspell to kill off all your planeswalkers in addition to your opponent’s, throw the loyalty onto Bolas, and win the game in one fell swoop, just like how the War of the Spark story should’ve ended.

Artifact Combo

3 Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain (DAR) 197
3 Sai, Master Thopterist (M19) 69

2 Karn, the Great Creator (WAR) 1
3 Ugin, the Ineffable (WAR) 2
3 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer (WAR) 234
2 Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge (WAR) 275

4 Guild Globe (WAR) 239
4 Chromatic Lantern (GRN) 233
4 Treasure Map (XLN) 250
4 Powerstone Shard (DAR) 227

4 Steam Vents (GRN) 257
2 Blast Zone (WAR) 244
4 Mobilized District (WAR) 249
5 Island (WAR) 253
3 Mountain (WAR) 259
4 Sulfur Falls (DAR) 247
2 Zhalfirin Void (DAR) 249

There’s a lot going on in this deck, which is fundamentally trying to take advantage of the cost reduction provided by both Tezzeret, Master of the Bridge and Ugin, the Ineffable. The primary gameplan of the deck is to kill with an activation or two of Tezzeret, which is easy in combination with Sai and/or Saheeli and/or Ugin and/or Karn (you have a lot of options!) With an Ugin and a token generator, you can get a bunch of free artifact creatures, and with a Jhoira, you can get even more, drawing a good chunk of your deck in the process. If you only have a Tezzeret and a Karn, you can use Karn to pull a Guardians of Koilos from your sideboard, play it for (hopefully) free, and bounce Karn to your hand. You can then replay Karn, grab another Guardians, and repeat, generating a set of four 4/4’s for free, in addition to any tokens generated off Saheeli/Sai and any cards drawn off Jhoira. From this point, it should once again be straightforward to kill with Tezzeret.

The rest of the deck is focused on setting up the combo. Treasure Map helps you find your pieces at first, later generating both mana and artifacts for Tezzeret’s Affinity. Guild Globe is a classic egg that can fix your colors later if you desperately need it, and is a free cantrip with either Tezz or Ugin in play. Powerstone Shard and Chromatic Lantern ramp you up to your big planeswalkers and ensure that you can cast multiple spells in a turn. Thanks to the deck’s light mana requirements, you also get to play colorless utility lands like Mobilized District, Blast Zone, and Zhalfirin Void.

It’s an exciting time to be playing Magic, and War of the Spark is sure to provide a brewer’s paradise upon its release! Which decks are you excited to try out?

Ryan Normandin is a grinder from Boston who has lost at the Pro Tour, in GP & SCG Top 8's, and to 7-year-olds at FNM. Despite being described as "not funny" by his best friend and "the worst Magic player ever" by Twitch chat, he cheerfully decided to blend his lack of talents together to write funny articles about Magic.