Standard: Mardu Legends - Deck Tech & Sideboard Guide

With nearly a hundred legendaries in the main set, Final Fantasy is also the last Standard set before rotation takes the sets from Dominaria United to March of the Machine: Aftermath out of the format, taking away some of the main interactions with legends present today, such as Plaza of Heroes or Relic of Legends.

Other notable omissions from the Metagame will be Skrelv, Defector Mite and Jirina, Dauntless General, both of which interact well with the base of legendary cards to build a deck around them — and with the majority of Final Fantasy's legendary creatures being Human, it's a good time to revisit Plaza of Heroes and give the Legend archetypes one last chance before Edge of Eternities.

This is the decklist I've been using for the past few days in ranked play on Magic Arena. The plan here is pretty straightforward: we have a dozen Mardu-colored legends, all of which have a relevant ability, so we put them all together to create a deck that has both value and synergy.

We have cards like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant for card advantage, Lightning, Army of One and Skrelv, Defector Mite to connect damage to the opponent and double the damage of our other creatures, Jirina, Dauntless General to protect most of our threats.

In essence, we're an Aggro deck that relies on Plaza of Heroes for protection and consistency, allowing us to have an efficient late-game combined with an aggressive clock.

Maindeck

Joshua, Phoenix’s Dominant is partly the glue of this strategy: we don’t want too many of the same legendaries in our hand, so it’s common for him to discard two cards to draw two, which triggers Inti, Seneschal of the Sun while also securing more resources. He can also transform to bring back the main threats that the opponent interacted with in the late game, or even the creatures we discarded.

Cecil, Dark Knight has become a potential staple for black midranges in Standard as an aggressive drop that, for a format with so many Aggro, can hold them off masterfully once it transforms into a 4/4 with Lifelink.

Tinybones, the Pickpocket provides virtual card advantage every time it attacks the opponent, and its Deathtouch body provides an efficient blocker at any stage of the game. We can add four of them if we cut Zack Fair.

Skrelv, Defector Mite protects our creatures from spot removal and gets blockers out of the way for pieces like Lightning, Army of One. Zack Fair complements Skrelv in the protection package. Its +1/+1 counter also matters with Lightning, Army of One.

Jirina, Dauntless General has a decent body for its cost, works as a graveyard hate in the maindeck against Omniscience and Abhorrent Oculus, and protects most of our creatures from sweepers.

Dark Confidant is our only non-legendary creature in the list. Since we have relatively low costs, using it to draw cards seems like a more assertive option than Unholy Annex, especially since we don't run any demons in the list, and it is more consistent with our aggressive game plan. Confidant also interacts with Cecil, Dark Knight to transform it earlier.

Inti, Seneschal of the Sun grants evasion and card advantage in a single card while interacting with Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant and Tersa Lightshatter, whose immediate impact makes a difference when we are ahead in the game. With Inti in play, Tersa becomes, on the same turn she enters, a 4/4 with Trample and Haste.

Loran of the Third Path is our maindeck answer to Cori-Steel Cutter, Astrologian’s Planisphere, Temporary Lockdown and Unholy Annex, in addition to resolving the enchantment creatures present in the format today, such as the Overlords cycle or Fear of Missing Out.

Lightning, Army of One can win games if her damage passes through the opponent at least once. This task is made easier by Skrelv, Defector Mite, and with the right amount of attacking creatures, having all the damage for the turn doubled means a quick path to victory. Since she doesn’t have an ETB or immediate impact, two copies seem ideal.

Sheltered by Ghosts offers three functions in one slot: protection for our most important creatures, board removal in Game 1, and lifelink. It might seem counterintuitive with Cecil, but the current Metagame requires a way to gain life constantly to hold off red aggro, and Sheltered by Ghosts gets that slot.

Plaza of Heroes can be treated both as a land and as a protection tool for our creatures. It's as good as an untapped Triome in most games.

Another land that doubles as a role on the list is Midgar, City of Mako, which we can use late-game to draw cards by sacrificing a less important creature.

The mana base is mainly focused on the first three turns, so we have sixteen Fast Lands between the traditional cycles and the new Starting Town. Pain Lands tend to fix color issues we might have in the first turns without compromising the ability to play two spells in the same turn.

Like Jirina, Dauntless General, Cavern of Souls for Humans protects most of our creatures against Counterspells. One copy seems to be enough, but we can go up to two if necessary.

Sideboard

Abrade and Get Lost are extra removals that come into more interactive games while resolving Planeswalkers like Kaito, Bane of Nightmares, enchantments like Temporary Lockdown, or artifacts like Cori-Steel Cutter. If the Metagame eventually shifts towards small creatures, it’s possible to add Cut Down or Torch the Tower in these slots.

Brotherhood’s End is a creature sweeper, but its main function is to respond to lists running both Cori-Steel Cutter and Astrologian’s Planisphere. Remember that any creature sweeper can be played with Jirina, Dauntless General to protect your humans while clearing the opponent's board, leading to lethal attacks with Lightning and other creatures.

Gix's Command also clears the board of small creatures, and its other modes are essential for longer games where we need to rely on our creatures while dealing with the biggest threat on the board.

Duress is our go-to answer against a dozen or so troublesome cards in the current Metagame, or our way of playing around removal and counterspells.

Ghost Vacuum deals with graveyard-based decks such as Omniscience and Abhorrent Oculus. Rest in Peace is an option in this slot and preferable if you don't mind losing the interactions with Joshua, Phoenix's Dominant, but I think we're good with exiling one card per turn.

High Noon also works in Omniscience games — or at least delays the combo — and prevents Prowess decks from sequencing too many spells in the same turn. It has an interaction with Lightning, Army of One where, if we manage to attack with her unblocked, we can sacrifice the enchantment to deal 10 damage to the opponent.

Both Beza, the Bounding Spring and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse enter in games where we need to resort to attrition. Either because we are not as fast as other Aggro decks, or because the opponent can respond to our threats efficiently.

Izzet Prowess

IN

OUT

Dimir Midrange

IN

OUT

Mono Red Aggro

IN

OUT

Jeskai Control

IN

OUT

Orzhov Bounce

IN

OUT

Domain Overlords

IN

OUT

Azorius Omniscience

IN

OUT

That's all for today!

If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment!

Thanks for reading!