Wondering what to play after August bans? Here’s 18 new decks for you to try now that Teferi, Wilderness Reclamation, Growth Spiral and Cauldron Familiar are banned. Not all the decks are completely new, but they might get better now, that so many powerful cards don’t warp the format anymore.
You will find decks from streamers, MTGO league winners and a couple of our own. If you like a decklist from a certain streamer, you can click on their name (next to played by) and the link will take you to their channel, so you can check them out.
Each decklist opens in a separate tab, as we had some problems with the loading speed, when we put multiple decklists in one article. When you open a decklist, you can copy it by clicking the Arena icon in the top right corner. Then import it to Arena by going to Decks section and click Import.
Is Midrange Back?
Teferi, Time Raveler is gone. Both sacrifice and ramp decks are nerfed.
This means we might see the return of the midrange decks. We built a couple of our own, but if you’re having success with your brews, feel free to share them in the comments below.
Gruul Gargaroth
Played by: yours truly
Many players were very excited when Elder Gargaroth got previewed, however in the current Standard your five drops really need to have an immediate effect. That’s why this deck uses Rhythm of the Wild, so you get a hasty Gargaroth, and its effect on the very first turn.
Besides that, you’re looking at your classic Gruul Monsters deck. Everything benefits from Rhythms – even Questing Beast is better with a +1/+1 counters and GIlded Goose isn’t that bad, when you draw it in the late game.
The main reason for this deck’s viability is certainly Teferi, Time Raveler ban, so your three mana enchantment has a much bigger chance of staying in play.
Golgari Midrange feat. Visionary
Played by: yours truly
Golgari Midrange feat. Visionary: Decklist
Another deck that has fallen out of the Standard metagame is Golgari midrange. This version is trying to play a rock type deck, with discard in Agonizing Remorse and Murderous Rider as removal spell of choice. It also takes advantage of Llanowar Visionary, which might see some Standard play after bans.
The decks plays seven copies of the following three planeswalkers:
It’s still pretty much a work in the progress, but the decklist can serve you as a fine starting point. If you’re playing something similar, let us know.
Adventures
Even though they could possibly slot in the midrange part, Adventures are so synergistic that we decided to do a separate section for them.
Because they are so self-contained, the decks that are built around them are very rotation proof. Apart from a couple of cards, everything stays in Standard until September 2021.
Temur Adventures
Played by: el_gran_boa
If you’ve been around, you know this deck. It takes advantage of Lucky Clover to get some explosive turns. The deck can get lots of lands very quickly with Beanstalk Giant. The sideboard is full of silver bullets to get with Fae of Wishes.
Edgewall Innkeeper makes sure that you don’t run out of gas. Even if you manage to, Escape to the Wilds has you covered.
Winota Adventures
Played by: Crokeyz
Crokeyz is once again breaking the format as fast as possible. This adventure deck gets a whole another dimension with the addition of Winota, Joiner of Forces.
Everyone knows how good Edgewall Innkeeper is in Adventure decks. So even getting it from Winota is pretty strong. The creature you want to hit most of the time, though, is Basri’s Lieutenant.
But no matter which creatures you get, all work well with mythic artifacts. The Great Henge makes your creatures bigger and draws you cards, while Embercleave becomes cheaper and cheaper.
Make sure to give this deck a try, if you’d like to see a new spin on Adventure mechanic.
Ramp Decks Aren’t Dead
In case you’re a fan of ramp decks and you’re upset about Growth Spiral ban, worry not. Ramp is still a very good strategy. Here are a couple of ramp Standard decklists for you to try.
Sultai Ramp
Played by: Andrea Mengucci
Sultai Ramp After Bans: Decklist
Andrea Mengucci played this deck on his stream. Sultai Ramp (or as he calls it 45-55 Sultai) still has great ramp spells with Cultivate and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath.
However, it packs a lots of interaction as well, with cards like Thought Erasure and Eliminate. So it isn’t your all-in ramp deck, but more of a midrange-ramp deck. So if that suits your play style, you should definitely try this one.
Simic Ramp
Played by: yoman_5
Simic Ramp Post Bans: Decklist
This is a more traditional ramp decklist. However, it still has some significant changes. First, you only have two really big spells – 2 copies of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and a playset of Hydroid Krasis.
Nevertheless, you want to get to five mana quickly, since there you have both Nissa Who Shakes the World and Elder Gargaroth. You can get them as early as turn three, with a start of Arboreal Grazer into Cultivate. Now that’s quite powerful!
Weird New Standard Decks Post Bans
Maybe you just want to play some weird brews, now that the most powerful cards are banned in Standard. Here’s some decklist that are definitely unusual at least.
Nine Lives Dreadhorde Control
Played by: MTG Jeff
Nine Lives Dreadhorde Control: Decklist
If you’ve been looking for a deck that plays Nine Lives, here’s one for you. It’s essentially a black-white control deck, that takes advantage of the combo between Nine Lives and Command the Dreadhorde.
When you have this white enchantment in play, you can cast Command and you don’t lose any life, you just get one measly incarnation counter.
The rest of the deck includes mostly control tools like Shatter the Sky, Eliminate and Murderous Rider plus a spicy Mangara, the Diplomat and Kenrith, the Returned King.
Beware of Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, if it exiles your Nine Lives, you will lose the game!
Temur Good Stuff
Played by: Kristof Prinz
Kristof Prinz (latest Players Tour Finals winner) had some fun with this red-blue-green pile on his stream, one day after the bannings.
The deck features some of the best cards in these colors like:
It remains to be seen if wins were just a result of the high level of Kristof’s play, or if the deck could be a real deal. Anyways, it’s certainly looks fun either way.
Esper Planeswalkers (Who Even Needs Teferi)
Played by: Mystmin
Mystmin apparently doesn’t care if the best planeswalker to slot in Esper deck is banned. His deck includes 6 different planeswalker cards:
- Ashiok, Nightmare Muse
- Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor
- Kaya, Orzhov Usurper
- Liliana, Dreadhorde General
- Narset, Parter of Veils
- Teferi, Master of Time
Okay, so there is one Teferi here, but you get the gist. The biggest payoff for that many walkers is Oath of Kaya. Besides, your Elspeth Conquers Death will probably always have a great target for its third chapter.
If you enjoy control decks with a bunch of planeswalkers, look no further.
Rogue Tribal
Played by: Absurd Heroine
Absurd Heroine built this cool Rogue tribal deck around Thieves’ Guild Enforcer. Although it features just 3 different Rogues (Faerie Miscreant and Ghostly Pilferer, besides Enforcer), it can get them back with companion Lurrus, the Dream-Den.
Deck also has some cards that synergize with milling opponent like Drown in the Loch and Vantress Gargoyle.
While the deck probably won’t be winning tournaments any time soon, it certainly looks fun to play if you enjoy this play style.
Mono Colored (Budget) Standard Decks Post Bans
If you don’t want to spend too much wildcards before Standard rotation, that’s understandable. It can be especially hard to justify that if you’re a newer player.
Thankfully, plenty of mono colored decks are very playable. They were good even before the bans. Most of them run less rare and mythic rare cards then other competitive decks – if nothing else, you won’t play a ton of dual lands. So let’s take a look at some mono colored decks you can play after bans.
Mono Red
Played by: Joseph Buckley
The mono red was almost good enough before bans, but now it might become very good once again. There’s not much to say about this deck – you try to play lots of creatures quickly and slam Embercleave for the win.
The deck is relatively rotation-proof, which is always welcome. Lots of core cards won’t rotate for another year, like:
Of course, if they don’t get banned before that. By the way things have been going lately, that wouldn’t be too much of a surprise.
Mono White Lifegain
Played by: KristianOtto
Mono White Lifegain Post Bans: Decklist
If mono red decks become too prevalent, aggressive strategies with lifegain theme are usually great to keep them in check.
Almost every nonland card in the deck can either gain life or work well with this theme, some of them even do both. The deck takes advantage of Speaker of the Heavens, but the key cards in this deck are still Ajani’s Pridemate and Heliod, Sun-Crowned.
If you like lifegain shenanigans, you should give this deck a spin. On the other hand, if you prefer a more streamlined deck, check the next deck on our list of new Standard decks after bans.
Mono White Aggro
Played by: bolov0
Mono White Aggro Post Bans: Decklist
As we said this is a more streamlined version of the mono white deck. The deck was just gaining popularity in the last couple of weeks before bans, but now that some of the strongest cards are gone, it could become even better.
You have 16 one drops, which are usually followed by Raise the Alarm, this enables a big turn 3 with Venerated Loxodon. Besides the elephant, deck also uses Glorious Anthem to pump small cheap creatures.
The deck can fare well even against the wraths, thanks to cards like Seasoned Hallowblade and Selfless Savior.
Mono Black Aggro
Played by: hellkito
Mono Black Aggro Post Bans: Decklist
If you played MTG Arena ladder, you’ve surly encountered this deck. Rotting Regisaur can be responsible for a ton of damage with Demonic Embrace, if opponent doesn’t have a removal ready.
Even if they do, the deck still packs a lot of good threats like Spawn of Mayhem and Rankle, Master of Pranks. Even something smaller, like Kitesail Freebooter, can become a must-deal-with threat once you put Embrace on it.
This is a great choice, if you like aggressive disruptive decks.
Mono Green Stompy
Played by: _ruda_
Mono Green Stompy Post Bans: Decklist
Do you like big green creatures? If so, this is the perfect deck for you! Play your efficient green creatures, starting with Pelt Collector and finishing with Vivien, Arkbow Ranger on top of your curve, to make your creatures even better.
If this deck held its own against Teferis and Reclamations of the world, it can definitely be a contender in the post ban era.
Other Standard Decks to Try After Bans
Okay, let’s finish with three more decks that you might like.
Mardu Knights
Did you miss Knight tribal synergies? The deck quickly showed up a month or so ago and then quickly vanished. Nevertheless, now might be the right time for knights to shine once again.
Played by: AliasV
Mardu Knights After Bans: Decklist
Blue-White Control
Played by: Sol4r1s
Blue-White Control Post Bans: Decklist
Fans of counterspells, rejoice! Teferi, Time Raveler is gone, which means you can once again try to counter everything your opponents play and no pesky planeswalker is going to stop you.
This deck has 80 cards, to support Yorion, Sky Nomad as a companion. Even though you now have to pay 3 mana to get it into your hand, it’s still worth it. You get to blink many permanents for value such as:
Yorion is so good in the deck, that there are 2 additional copies in the main deck as well.
Arclight Phoenix
Played by: Keetsune
Another deck that’s happy with Teferi gone is this blue-red Phoenix deck, as you can once again cast Finale of Promise, which is an incredibly important card for the deck.
If you enjoyed the Phoenix decks before, you should certainly play with this one, as you probably have most of the cards to build it anyways.
However, you do still have to be wary of Scavenging Ooze, which is quite popular lately.
More Decks
That wasn’t enough decks for you? Okay, you can find 21 Core 2021 Standard decks here. Some had cards banned, but others will probably become better as a result.
Don’t forget to check our MTG Arena Codes page, if there are any codes for free stuff that you might’ve missed. If you want to keep updated with the new articles, spoilers and Magic memes, give us a follow on Instagram or Facebook. Here’s an example of the stuff we usually post there:
Anyways, that’s all for today. Until next time, have fun and enjoy the brand new Standard!