Fifty Decklists for Zendikar Rising
I have built fifty decks based heavily on the new cards from Zendikar Rising! Instead of a cacophonous and unpleasant preamble, I'll just ask you to please follow me on Twitter @Teskeract, share with whoever you please, and enjoy my creations! Let's get to it!
Standard
1. Dimir Rogues - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/bbce9f82-559e-497d-b613-c6fef8000b75
Simple and effective, Rogues are the party-member I am most excited about on their own. Soaring Thought-Thief is a hell of a payoff for running a bunch of rogues, and every creature in the deck has flash, making Slitherwisp pretty ridiculous. In fact, Bloodchief's Thirst is the only nonland spell that you can only cast at sorcery speed; but I think it's going to be a necessity in a format with so many good one and two-mana creatures. Drown in the Loch is going to shine more than it ever has with so many enablers, and is one of the few multiple-mode cards staying in standard that I don't think is just outclassed by the various land-spells (another being the adventure mechanic in general). Lofty Denial is another good include here, though I have
opted for Jwari Disruption here for the extra mana base flexibility (due to
needing UU and BB for Slitherwisp and Brazen Borrower). I may be wrong, though.
2. Dimir Party - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/536a58b1-8c86-43fd-a55a-bbd596d496e9
The one-drop enablers + Drown in the Loch package could be used here, too. Instead of the rogue tribal stuff, as my suspicion is that a heavy tribal-themed deck in the new standard loses out a little due to the likely ubiquity of Bloodchief's Thirst, I've opted to maximise Acquisitions Expert (a card I am slowly getting more and more excited about) and Sea Gate Stormcaller. The wizard is the perfect pairing with the party-themed Burglar Rat allegory - and combining it with so many cheap spells with kicker that scale well into the late-game means Lurrus gets to be our companion, which I think is something we are going to see a lot of. For most party-themed decks, I want at least three party members present when possible, and Archfiend's Vessel is a great Cleric to round out the deck, working well with Call of the Death Dweller and Lurrus, as well as the two spell lands in the deck (Agadeem's Awakening and the wildly underrated Malakir Rebirth).
3. Mono-Black Lurrus Aggro - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/3e7a9de6-3567-4909-b492-4d171ef00134
Now
we're talking. Iterating more on the Lurrus + Vessel + Spell Lands package in
the previous decklist, this deck has the closest to perfect mana that I think
one can find in this Standard. Not only are you mono-coloured, but you get to
simultaneously be a 20-land aggro deck AND a 28-land midrange deck, with
sixteen swamps to support Castle Locthwain and eight excellent spell-lands to
give you more agency over your land drops. Agadeem's Awakening stands out here as for X=3 it can get Lurrus, Archfiend's Vessel and any 2-drop.
On top of the impeccable mana, the Fiend Artisan-Serrated Scorpion package saw some play in early Ikoria standard, and all the various mono-black tools to go with those cards from Core Set 2021 and Zendikar Rising make this look like one of the most promising places to start in the new standard. Skyclave Shade is a fine card that I'm not overly excited about, but I'd like to find a better way to fill those four slots, if possible.
4. Rakdos Lurrus - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/8948a597-b1ea-4172-b8d3-d648fd19e877
If, like me, you're unconvinced by the mediocre Scrapheap Scrounger wannabe known as Skyclave Shade, then finding a good replacement to go in the mono-black Lurrus list above is a top priority. I have failed to find anything meaningful in just black, and if I wasn't so worried about the mana I would likely be splashing for Kroxa in the black list anyway, so I think Rakdos is the way to go here. It's a shame we don't have the Rakdos flipland yet, but the mana just about gets there to let us slot Kroxa into our mono-black deck. The red fliplands being able to cast Lurrus and Fiend Artisan in a pinch is a helpful little boon, and Agadeem's Awakening hitting Archfiend's Vessel, Kroxa and Lurrus is a play pattern that makes me excited for this deck on its own.
5. Selesnya Counters - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/8208aba6-a792-4990-833f-1ecb084cd090
This might be me overthinking things, but this deck feels too obviously good to be good. The counters-synergy theme was seeded very well in M21 with Conclave Mentor, Scavenging Ooze and Basri and his Lieutenant, but the real gains here are Swarm Shambler and Luminarch Aspirant. This deck feels like it -has- to be good, despite being pretty easy to build, and shouldn't differ too much from this (I'm not 100% convinced on Basri himself but he can't be too bad) with further iterations, making this a great Day 1 deck.
6. Naya Counters - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/d8f396b3-455b-4597-bafb-9bcc3742f21a
Another take on the over-supported +1/+1 counters strategy, this is one of the few decks I will be building with no spell lands - and it might even be wrong to be doing that here - it's just that access to Jegantha is particularly powerful with Kenrith and Tazri. However, Winota has proven herself time and time again in multiple formats since her release and I expect her to shine even more with all the absurd white and red cards in Zendikar Rising. Here is just a small red splash for Winota (which is basically free due to the Naya mana base being the only one with three flip duals) to maximise the raw power of the deck. Sadly, there aren't that many good humans for her to put in to play, but there's enough enablers that just hitting a Basri's Lieutenant or two should shut the door on the opponent, especially with Conclave Mentor in play.
7. Naya Winota - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/53167a9f-55ed-4c24-85cd-69ad9c34b608
I'm fairly sure there are an obscene number of different Winota-based strategies to be built in Zendikar Rising Standard, and this one leans into the Party mechanic without making many concessions. The green splash gives the deck two "multiclass" creatures in the forms of Tajuru Paragon and Veteran Adventurer. Although Veteran adventurer is probably the weakest card in the list, it not only gives the deck another passable turn 4 play to continue pressuring the opponent and help turn on Archpriest of Iona's second ability, but can be put into play for free with Winota.
8. Winota Dogs - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/942e188e-f563-4ad4-91e2-16e71325253e
If you can resist building/playing Dog Tribal when it's this good, then I take my proverbial hat off to you. It's possible a build with Embercleave is better (see: "Pawblade" from the last few months of Standard) but the creature density of this, plus the neat Jegantha + Kenrith/Tazri interaction, makes me want to start here. Akoum Hellhound is a nice get for the dog tribe, just a shame he didn't go to doggy university and get a medical degree.
9. Boros Winota Equipment - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/98eea07b-e675-4785-83a8-1f308bf57024
The Nahiri + Embercleave + Winota + Warriors deckbuilding space is huge and this is probably way off the mark - but this is a decent beta version of said deck. There's not enough equipment I'm excited about to lean more heavily into the equipment theme with the new Akiri (only really Embercleave and the hammer in boros colours, and I'm not very high on the hammer), but if someone was really convinced by that type of strategy then this would be a good skeleton to build upon. I also have "Fling Haktos with Kazuul's Fury" on my standard bucket list after building this deck.
10. Mardu Wi-Knight-a - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/53ae9ac6-4823-4e15-a9f9-2dd1c2957490
I promise that I didn't just make this one because I thought of the name. Rakdos Knights was a very good deck throughout the last year of Standard, but the loss of Knight of the Ebon legion and the Rotting Regisaur/Embercleave combo powers down the deck a lot post-rotation. Though there are no Knights in Zendikar Rising (presumably meaning Zendikar is a plane of eternal daytime), the deck still has reasonable mana with two white flip lands, and Winota supplements the Knights plan nicely. The deck might be a little non-human light, but that is a solvable problem if that turns out to be the case.
Speaking of decks that are non-human light, the only non-human in this deck is Tajuru Paragon, and that's mainly to enable party for the partying humans. This deck has excellent mana and is full of reasonably-powered cards (I am still really high on Mythos of Nethroi six months later, possibly to my own fault) - the main reason I can see this one failing is the format's decks being of higher average power. I considered Coveted Prize in this deck (since it's about as close as a three-colour deck can get to utilising that card) but don't think it's quite worth it, with few exceptional tutor targets.
12. White Weenie Party - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/b15f5364-e4b7-457d-b188-3e74bd8b0da3
The package of Archpriest of Iona + Selfless Savior + Seasoned Hallowblade + other good party-centric creatures is one I expect to see a lot of, and this deck is another application of it. Sadly, Leonin of the Lost Pride is not a very good card, but it's roughly the best non-cleric party member to curve the Archpriest into after Seasoned Hallowblade, and as such is a necessary include. The one-of Legion Angel is an experiment, but I wouldn't be surprised if lots of decks adopt the 1/3 main/side split I have put in this deck. Glorious Anthem is also in standard, which is something that I learned while researching for this deck. Huh.
(I'll admit, I spent a non-zero amount of time looking for a rock-based reference in this deck to name it Party Rock Anthem, and for this I am sorry.)
13. Mono-White Devotion - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/e95dcb0d-1139-4f43-bafa-667caf07fed6
Continuing on the mono-white plan (and building another Glorious Anthem deck within the same hour of me learning it's in standard), Heliod and a bunch of life gain synergies was almost a good deck when Theros: Beyond Death came out. Though I am not a fan of life gain strategies in the abstract, this one has a lot going for it - and can main deck 4 Skyclave Apparition - a feat that tempts me greatly. The 1/3 Legion Angel split is better here than most places - if it will shine anywhere, it'll be with Heliod.
14. Abzan Nethroi Combo - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/1452d429-3507-420e-8ba8-2396947db57a
I'm sure Nethroi isn't the first thing that comes to mind when you think "cards good with Heliod", but please hear me out. Heliod + Basri's Lieutenant + Daxos, Blessed by the Sun + Woe Strider is an infinite life/counters/scry 1 triggers combo (by repeatedly sacrificing the Lieutenant). All of those creatures have a total power of 13, most of which can be reanimated with Nethroi's mutate trigger. Scourge of the Skyclaves, however, has a neat interaction with Nethroi in that when the highest life total among players is above 20 (not unheard of in a Heliod deck), the Scourge is treated as a negative-powered creature for Nethroi calculations, allowing you to bring back the full combo in one go.
On top of all that, more lifegain is needed, which is where Mire Triton, Tymaret Calls the Dead, and Nighthawk Scavenger come in, all excellent sources of lifegain (and the former two help fill the graveyard for Nethroi shenanigans). And going even deeper into the Standard card pool, Hooded Blightfang benefits from multiple deathtouch creatures - Mire Triton, Nighthawk Scavenger and Nethroi - and even gains life! This deck is a complicated machine that I am super excited to fiddle with. Oh, and the one Legion Angel is an experiment, as I have previously mentioned.
15. Black Nethroi Devotion - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/21157c68-7a1a-4c1e-bfd4-125b6396935b
Exploring Nethroi further, Gray Merchant of Asphodel is another great card to bring back with it. Both of these cards were already in standard, but with the addition of Scourge of the Skyclaves (for the Nethroi interaction and just as a beater), Nighthawk Scavenger (unfortunately sometimes harder to bring back with Nethroi) and Agadeem's Awakening, I think this could be a real contender in the new format.
16. Jeskai Cycling Party - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/059071a8-b798-4bd4-bac9-f942bc65d5b3
Here's a non-Nethroi combo deck for you! The boros cycling deck based on Zenith Flare and friends in Ikoria has been a reasonable pick up since that set came out, and it might be sensible to just run those lists back with a new manabase in Zendikar Rising Standard - but I have another idea. Ardent Electromancer is a card I am going to think about with every spoiled card until this set rotates, looking for complicated mana generation combos. Here, you can't go infinite, but Escape Protocol lets you flicker Ardent Electromancer on each cycle for one extra mana, which, if you control another party member (perhaps Drannith Healer?), you can go mana-neutral. It's possible this is worth exploring with a third party member to go mana-positive, but here I'm relying on cycling through my deck for 0 mana to fill my graveyard and cast some massive Zenith Flares. You even get Jegantha for free in this deck!
17. Mono-Red Party - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/e785a919-67d5-4f53-9b10-5b9dd8979287
I'm fairly high on Ardent Electromancer, so much so that I think there's potential for it in pure mono-red as a pseudo 1-mana 3/2 creature. You only need one other party member to achieve that, and a second makes the card effectively free - which reminds me of a (significantly weaker) Burning-Tree Emissary, a card that is proven to be outstanding. Mono-red decks like this one get such good mana bases with three good double-faced land cards, and the Fervent Champion-Robber of the Rich-Bonecrusher Giant-Anax-Embercleave-Lands package is one I expect to see a lot of.
18. Mono-Red Spell Lands - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/85df4bbe-cbcb-4f94-8096-98d4734450fd
This is another version of mono-red, this time focusing on a different mechanic from Zendikar Rising - the spell lands. Kazuul's Fury, Shatterskull Smashing and Spikefield Hazard let this deck be both an 18-land and a 30-land deck simultaneously, which is frankly absurd from a consistency perspective. Red keeps so many good cards from rotation (and loses barely anything - just a few replaceable creatures) and gains so many powerful tools (some of which I haven't even included in this list) so I'm going to explore this space a lot.
19. Classic Mono-Red - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/286c07a1-1951-4a9f-b76b-b195c5956c94
This mono-red list is a lot more of a straightforward "count-to-twenty" deck. That said, a lot of these cards are tried-and-tested, and the new ones are at worst going to deal some damage, which is all this deck wants. Fireblade Charger is another one-drop that is very good with Embercleave, and you can do some neat tricks with Boulder Rush in response to it dying. I'm really excited to see what version of mono-red aggro ends up being the correct one (and if there is one correct list - I'm hoping it becomes a metagame choice as to how to build it, like all the most interesting aggro decks).
20. Mono-Red Leyline Tyrant - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/15a93d4d-e355-4c98-863c-7a3f49b69f14
How many mono-red lists am I going to build? The answer is four - this is the last one, but there are so many different ways to play just mountains and red flip lands that I can't help myself! Leyline Tyrant is such a cool card, and though it does very little if you cast it turn four and have it be removed before you untap, it has a unique abusable ability in the form of its mana retention clause. If you're not aware, the text is worded the same as the original Omnath card; meaning you keep the mana you don't spend between turns. Irencrag Feat only lets you cast one more spell that turn, but if it's Leyline Tyrant, you get to keep three red mana to funnel into the dragon or use in a future turn on a big spell (like Shatterskull Smashing, perhaps?). Purphoros is another way to utilise the dragon well as a neat mana sink, and the dragon dies at the end of the turn if you use purphoros' ability to put it in to play, making the two cards fit nicely together.
Moraug is quite good, but is a little ineffective without something like Purphoros. It's worth nothing that Deathbellow War-Cry and Akoum Warrior both exist, and if we get two more Minotaur in the next three sets (perhaps in the D&D set) then there could be an explosive Irencrag Minotaur combo deck there.
21. Izzet Mutate Tempo - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/361c8024-1f6b-42f9-8dca-010a3664e051?as=list&with=usd
Since the printing of Sprite Dragon, Izzet Tempo decks have been almost there while feeling like they are missing something. I have a feeling Sea Gate Stormcaller might have been that something. Though you can't mutate onto it (and I'll get on to mutate in a minute), everything else about the card makes it perfect for a deck like this - providing both tempo and value as you go later into the game.
Mutate decks haven't really gotten anywhere in Ikoria or Core Set 2021 Standard, but until Teferi, Time Raveler was banned, they didn't really have a chance - and he hasn't been banned for very long. Now with rotation, a new outlook on the format, and better spells to return with Lore Drakkis (like Roil Eruption), I could see mutate being a mechanic worth revisiting in a big way, possibly even softly splashing for Vadrok, Apex of Thunder and adding some planeswalkers - perhaps The Royal Scions or Jace, Mirror Mage.
22. Jace Nyx Lotus - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/f45102ad-e03a-4e73-b911-932d946c0a4c?as=list&with=usd
I was not high on Jace, Mirror Mage when he was spoiled. Since then, I've been looking for a place for him in Standard where he won't just feel like a worse Narset, Parter of Veils. When I realised that kicking Jace gives you four blue devotion, I knew that I had to go in that direction, and based this list on the Nyx Lotus Devotion lists that showed up during Core Set 2021 Standard (which I believe were created by Michael Majors, to give credit where credit is absolutely due).
Though Leyline of Anticipation rotates, and that card was absolutely a big deal for the deck, the deck doesn't lose anything else and gains so many options that I couldn't even include them all. Repeatedly untapping Nyx Lotus with lots of blue pips on the battlefield lets you draw your deck with Gadwick's help and win the game with a large devotion Thassa's Oracle. The deck gains Jace, Glasspool Mimic, and Sea Gate Restoration - two of which slot freely in the manabase. I think, with Glasspool Mimic, this combo deck might just have the redundancy to be properly competitive.
23. Mardu Party Reanimator - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/952a87f5-47fe-4474-9611-bc9700bc7292
Zagras for 2 mana sounds good - and Zagras + another creature with Thwart the Grave sounds even better. Not a lot to say about this one, but Squad Commander and Ardent Electromancer do a lot of work to make this relatively high average-cmc deck function and do things on par with other decks.
24. Azorius Yorion Control - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/00c92aaf-c41f-4c64-9451-314f95e7de31
This 80-card deck contains 40 lands, which should be enough to ensure this deck is never short on mana. Fortunately, this won't lead to flooding, since a whopping 18 of these are spell lands. This kind of consistency is what I think most decks should be striving for in Zendikar Rising Standard, and piles of spells and lands won't likely cut it anymore.
The combination of counterspells, answers, and high power win conditions here should cover all bases - I especially like how free Emeria's Call is to run. Honestly, this deck is a little scary, and I wouldn't be surprised to see something like this be a huge contender in the coming months.
25. Omnath Ultimatum - https://scryfall.com/@Teskeract/decks/a4ba96c4-0937-4b57-8b48-37286349bef3
A whopping 37/60 of the cards in this deck act as lands, which should maximise both Uro and Omnath. The plan here is to accelerate into a big Genesis Ultimatum and either trigger Omnath or Terror of the Peaks a few times, which should lead to a win. The mana is a little sketchy but it just about functions. Beanstalk Giant was made for this deck, acting as both an accelerant and a big creature to help slam the door with Terror of the Peaks. I must give some credit to yoman_5 (follow him on twitter if you haven't already, my goodness) for the concept of this deck a while back!
Stay tuned for my second post containing decks 26-50, which will include goodies such as "Azorius Crab Auras" in Standard and a few Pioneer and Modern decks, including "Abzan 12-Scales" in Pioneer and "Kiki-Party" in Modern!
Edit: I removed images from this blogpost to reduce the loading time!
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