Hello everyone! This past week has been crazy at work, so I'm feeling a little strapped for time as I write this article. As such, we should get started because I have a few new decks courtesy of aetherhub.com to show you this week that look pretty cool.

Mirari Fire

The first deck I have for you comes from a user named Syrokko. It's a Jeskai control/combo deck that can win from a few different angles. Let's take a look at the deck:

Mirari Fire | Allegiance Standard | Syrokko, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (2)
• 2 Niv-Mizzet, Parun

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Teferi, Hero of Dominaria

• Instants (17)
• 1 Settle the Wreckage
• 2 Chemister's Insight
• 2 Expansion // Explosion
• 2 Negate
• 3 Absorb
• 3 Syncopate
• 4 Opt

• Sorceries (9)
• 1 Fight with Fire
• 2 Banefire
• 2 Cleansing Nova
• 4 Deafening Clarion

• Enchantments (4)
• 1 Search for Azcanta
• 1 The Mirari Conjecture
• 2 Seal Away

• Lands (25)
• 4 Island
• 3 Clifftop Retreat
• 3 Sacred Foundry
• 3 Sulfur Falls
• 4 Glacial Fortress
• 4 Hallowed Fountain
• 4 Steam Vents

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Devious Cover-Up
• 3 Disdainful Stroke
• 3 Ixalan's Binding
• 3 Legion Warboss
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 1 Mass Manipulation
• 1 Settle the Wreckage

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To win the game, you can go the normal route and attack with Niv-Mizzet, Parun (while also pinging your opponent whenever you draw a card), or you can take the longer route to victory via Teferi, Hero of Dominaria. However, this deck is set up with another way to win. Thanks to The Mirari Conjecture, you can cast either a kicked Fight with Fire or a Banefire to deal a large amount of damage to your opponent. Plus, if you are able to benefit from the third chapter of The Mirari Conjecture, you can copy those spells to double up on the damage and potentially win out of the blue. As an aggro player at heart, if I'm going to try out a control deck, it's going to be one like this one that can deal copious amounts of damage unexpectedly.

Etrata Control

The next deck I have for you comes from user Roninn. This deck is a Dimir Control deck that wants to win with Etrata, the Silencer's ability. Let's take a look at it:

Etrata Control | Allegiance Standard | Roninn, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (14)
• 1 Dream Eater
• 3 Doom Whisperer
• 3 Lazav, the Multifarious
• 3 Twilight Prophet
• 4 Etrata, the Silencer

• Instants (10)
• 2 Moment of Craving
• 4 Sinister Sabotage
• 4 Vraska's Contempt

• Sorceries (8)
• 2 Cry of the Carnarium
• 2 Ritual of Soot
• 4 Thought Erasure

• Enchantments (4)
• 2 Disinformation Campaign
• 2 Search for Azcanta

• Lands (24)
• 7 Swamp
• 8 Island
• 1 Memorial to Folly
• 4 Drowned Catacomb
• 4 Watery Grave

• Sideboard (15)
• 4 Disdainful Stroke
• 2 Duress
• 1 Helm of the Host
• 2 Moment of Craving
• 3 Thief of Sanity
• 3 Unmoored Ego

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With Etrata, the Silencer, in order to be able to win with her special ability, you need to be able to leave a few creatures on your opponent's side of the battlefield. There might be times that this is impossible. In those times, you'll want to rely on attacking with your other creatures in order to finish out the game. Doom Whisperer is the main heavy-hitter in this deck, but Lazav, the Multifarious makes for a nice stand-in when your Doom Whisperer has already died.

Captive Audience Control

The final deck I have for you this week is from a user named Lutre. Their deck looks to take advantage of a Mythic Rare from Ravnica Allegiance, Captive Audience. Let's take a look at the deck:

Captive Audience Control | Allegiance Standard | Lutre, aetherhub.com user

• Creatures (10)
• 3 Forbidding Spirit
• 3 Tithe Taker
• 4 Basilica Bell-Haunt

• Planeswalkers (3)
• 3 Angrath, the Flame-Chained

• Instants (4)
• 1 Consecrate // Consume
• 3 Mortify

• Sorceries (7)
• 2 Banefire
• 2 Deafening Clarion
• 3 Kaya's Wrath

• Enchantments (8)
• 1 Profane Procession
• 2 Captive Audience
• 2 Dawn of Hope
• 3 The Eldest Reborn

• Artifacts (3)
• 3 Fountain of Renewal

• Lands (25)
• 1 Swamp
• 2 Plains
• 1 Detection Tower
• 1 Field of Ruin
• 4 Blood Crypt
• 4 Dragonskull Summit
• 4 Godless Shrine
• 4 Isolated Chapel
• 4 Sacred Foundry

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Amulet of Safekeeping
• 1 Banefire
• 2 Bedevil
• 4 Duress
• 1 Ethereal Absolution
• 2 Lyra Dawnbringer
• 2 Sorcerous Spyglass
• 1 Thaumatic Compass

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Once you're able to play it, Captive Audience should do a good job of stripping away your opponent's resources (lowering their life total, stripping their hand, and negating any battlefield advantage they might have). If they can't remove Captive Audience the turn after you play it, you're likely to win that game. If you happen to have Angrath, the Flame-Chained in play after your opponent chooses to have their life total become 4 with Captive Audience, it only takes two activations of Angrath's +1 loyalty ability to finish them off, assuming you don't have any faster way to do it.

An Aside Regarding the Nexus of Fate Banning on Magic Arena

Before I go this week, I wanted to take a moment to air my feelings on the recent Magic Arena banning of Nexus of Fate in Best of One matches. While I do feel it was necessary for this banning to take place, I'm not thrilled with the fact that the ban is only in Best of One matches and doesn't apply to Best of Three matches. With the influx of new Magic players thanks to Magic Arena, I feel that Nexus of Fate should have been banned in all Magic Arena formats, if only for simplicity. New players that are used to Best of One matches and then dip their toe into the waters of Best of Three might not understand why Nexus of Fate is allowed in one type of game and not the other, especially since both are under the Standard format.

I'm also not happy with the reparations that were made for the people that already owned copies of Nexus of Fate. They were given a Mythic Rare Wildcard for each copy of Nexus of Fate in their collection. Wouldn't a better replacement have been an amount of gems equal to acquiring a duplicate Mythic Rare card from a set that you already have all of the Mythic Rares from? Why are we rewarding these players with additional Mythic Rares when the card is still usable on Magic Arena? If the card had been banned from all formats, I could understand the Wildcards being given out, but as it is, the people that already had Nexus of Fate got to keep their cards (that they can still use) and also got additional cards as well.

While it's too late to fix the problems I have with this 'solution' currently, in the future when issues happen that require a banning of cards, hopefully Wizards of the Coast will make better decisions.

Wrapping Up

While control decks aren't for everyone, the decks I've shown you today aren't exactly your typical control decks. Each of them has a special victory condition that gives them a unique feel to play.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below or you can reply to me directly on Twitter (@mikelikesmtg) or email me directly at mikelikesmtg@gmail.com. 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