5 powerful Standard MTG decks to play in Outlaws of Thunder Junction meta

With MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction now available, it’s time to look at some powerful Standard decks! We’ll revisit this topic again in May, to see what the meta looks like. Today, I want to take a look at decks that I simply think are going to be powerful, or at least fun to play, as the Standard meta begins to take shape around this new expansion. However, there is one thing readers might notice in these decks.

They aren’t primarily Outlaws of Thunder Junction cards in the Standard MTG meta but are still powerful. I’m not one of those Magic players who thinks that just because a new set is out, decks must be filled with new cards. Sometimes, what was working continues to work - and does so for a reason.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective.

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Powerful Standard decks to play in MTG’s Outlaws of Thunder Junction

1) Mono-Red Aggro

One of the key cards in Mono-Red Aggro (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Mono-Red Aggro is always going to work as a powerful MTG Standard deck, and Outlaws of Thunder Junction is no exception. It’s one of the easiest decks in the game to pilot - it features a ton of creatures with low-cost, high-value, and plenty of spells. In particular, one of the new cards is Slickshot Show-off, which has a new Plot mechanic.

Since that card has Haste, Flying, and gains +2/+0 until end of turn when you cast a non-creature spell, you can use it as your game-winning card. Plot it early, and late in the game when you have enough instants to buff him up, you put him into play, blow up the field, and win the game! Easy.

Deck

4 Slickshot Show-Off
4 Magebane Lizard
3 Play with Fire
4 Kumano Faces Kakkazan
3 Lightning Strike
4 Monastery Swiftspear
3 Phoenix Chick
3 Monstrous Rage
2 Feldon, Ronom Excavator
2 Shock
3 Frantic Scapegoat
16 Mountain
1 Field of Ruin
1 Demolition Field
1 Mirrex
2 Mishra's Foundry
2 Scorching Shot
2 Chandra, Dressed to Kill

2) Azorious Control

Three Steps Ahead is a solid counterspell (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

If anyone has read one of my MTG articles in the past, I think the most powerful decks are control - and Outlaws of Thunder Junction has some pretty great spells to help make that happen. Three Steps Ahead is a solid counterspell, and Bovine Intervention destroys a powerful creature or artifact and grants the controller an Ox instead.

This deck is built around letting Jace, the Perfected Mind ramp up and use his ultimate with enough force to just win the game. His -X makes a player mill three times X cards. The deck has more than enough board wipes to keep the game nice and slow until it’s time for you to win.

Deck

2 Depopulate
4 Deserted Beach
3 Three Steps Ahead
1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
1 Farewell
4 Field of Ruin
4 Restless Anchorage
2 Island
4 Deduce
2 Jace, the Perfected Mind
4 March of Otherworldly Light
4 Memory Deluge
3 Meticulous Archive
2 Mirrex
3 No More Lies
1 Otawara, Soaring City
2 Plains
2 Temporary Lockdown
2 Get Lost
4 Adarkar Wastes
2 Witness the Future
2 The Celestus
2 Bovine Intervention

3) Orzhov Tokens

Kambal is such an interesting MTG card (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

So, fun fact for you, when I took part in the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Standard MTG event, this was the deck I thought was the most powerful. At the very least, it was the most fun for me to play. I’m such a huge fan of Kambal, Profiteering Mayor as a card. You create token copies of whatever your opponent puts into play, and when you put tokens into play, your opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life. You don’t actually have to attack to win.

It also uses the new Aven Interruptor, which can be used to Exile/Plot one of your spells. It also makes spells your opponents want to cast from Exile/Graveyard cost more! There are plenty of ways to make tokens, and with tokens being popular right now, this deck should be a fun bit of counterplay.

Deck

1 Concealed Courtyard
4 Restless Fortress
2 Shadowy Backstreet
2 Shattered Sanctum
2 Caves of Koilos
1 Takenuma, Abandoned Mire
1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
3 Spiteful Hexmage
5 Swamp
6 Plains
4 Invasion of Gobakhan
1 Kambal, Profiteering Mayor
3 Deep-Cavern Bat
2 Kaya, Spirits' Justice
2 Jerren, Corrupted Bishop
3 Devouring Sugarmaw
4 Resolute Reinforcements
4 Aven Interrupter
4 Wedding Announcement
2 Delney, Streetwise Lookout
4 Soul Partition

4) Selesnya Counters

Bristly Bill makes your creatures so much bigger in MTG (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

Sometimes, having lots of little creatures isn’t what you want. Instead, why not make your creatures as big as you humanly can? Say hello to Selesnya Counters! I think this is going to be a top-meta pick as one of the most powerful MTG decks for Standard Outlaws of Thunder Junction. It focuses on the new card Bristly Bill, Spine Sower. Whenever a land enters play for you, you can give a creature a +1/+1 counter. Then, you can pay 5 mana (GG3) to double the number of +1/+1 counters on each creature you control.

Thanks to The Wandering Emperor, Elspeth Resplendent, Archangel Elspeth, and Botanical Brawler, you’re going to be swimming in absolutely massive creatures. You also have Ozolith, the Shattered Spire to increase the overall count that gets added to each creature. Maybe I should play this instead of Orzhov.

Deck

6 Forest
6 Plains
4 Brushland
4 Razorverge Thicket
2 Overgrown Farmland
2 The Wandering Emperor
4 Iron Apprentice
1 Boseiju, Who Endures
1 Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire
1 Elspeth Resplendent
1 Archangel Elspeth
4 Dusk Legion Duelist
4 Enduring Bondwarden
4 Ozolith, the Shattered Spire
4 Botanical Brawler
2 Cenote Scout
1 Sovereign Okinec Ahau
3 Bristly Bill, Spine Sower
4 Ornery Tumblewagg
2 Collector's Cage

5) Mono-Black Skeletons

Gisa, the Hellraiser makes Skeletons fun again in MTG (Image via Wizards of the Coast)

I was really torn when it came to what the most powerful Mono-Black deck would be for Standard MTG Outlaws of Thunder Junction. My immediate thought was either Jank OTK combo, or Discard. Both are my preferred way to play the color, but instead, I chose a deck that absolutely stomped me silly in the preview event: Skeletons.

Gisa, the Hellraiser is such an incredible card. Do not underestimate giving Skeletons/Zombies +1/+1 and Menace. I did, and suddenly, I had no blockers. You can play as aggressively as you want thanks to Forsaken Miner, and Persistent Specimen. You can also give your Skeletons Haste, thanks to Corpses of the Lost, which also grants +1/+0. This is a pretty fast-moving, low-cost deck that has decent value all around. I’m a huge fan and am curious to see how the deck evolves.