With every new Magic: The Gathering set comes new Magic: The Gathering synergies. Decks that weren’t previously possible emerge, and innovative interactions propel them to victory. Aetherdrift has already enabled its fair share of new strategies, and this week a particularly unusual one has risen to the surface. A Mono-Blue Discard list, making great use of one of Aetherdrift’s most popular cards, has been taking names on MTG Arena.
Discard strategies are typically the domain of red or black, so seeing a Mono-Blue take on the concept is novel in itself. On top of that, this deck also incorporates a number of overlooked cards from the past. If you have a lot of blue bulk gathering dust in your binder, it may just be time to dig it out. While it’s early days, this deck has a lot of the elements needed to succeed in Standard right now.
Mono-Blue Discard In MTG Standard
The Mono-Blue Discard list in question comes to us via MBrewLab, who has so far achieved a 13-4 record with it on MTG Arena. Arena stats aren’t always indicative of a deck’s true power level, but it’s worth noting that these were taken from games played at the Mythic tier. In other words, MBrewLab was facing serious competition.
As for the deck itself, it revolves around two new Aetherdrift cards: Scrounging Skyray and Monument to Endurance. Both are early plays that reward you for discarding a lot of cards. Skyray gives you a big Flying threat, while Monument gives you card draw, ramp, and direct damage. With one or both of these cards out, your discard effects become very potent.
While sticking to Mono-Blue may sound limiting at first, there are actually a ton of great discard effects in the color right now. Kiora, the Rising Tide and Steamcore Scholar can both discard two cards on entry. This can let you swing with a 3/4 Flying Skyray on turn three, or draw and make a Treasure with Monument. Both of these creatures are solid threats in themselves, too, which helps keep the tempo up.
The other big discard outlet in the deck is Duelist of the Mind. As another cheap flier, this fits perfectly alongside Skyray and Scholar. It also lets you loot the first time you commit a crime each turn. Thanks to the extensive counterspell and disruption suite in the deck, you should be able to do this regularly. Spell Pierce and Bounce Off from Aetherdrift do serious work here, as do classics like Three Steps Ahead and Phantom Interference.
A Well-Deserved Second Chance
So that’s the core of MBrewLab’s innovative Mono-Blue Discard MTG deck. You land an early Skyray or Monument, then ride the tempo wave generated by your discard effects to victory. With cheap counterspells and disruption to smooth the way, it’s easy to sneak in quick wins if all goes well.
It’s a simple strategy all told, as you’d expect from a mono-colored deck. What makes it really special, at least in my eyes, is the way in which it includes a number of mostly forgotten blue cards from the past. Take Kaito, Cunning Infiltrator, for example, who was released in Foundations last year and has largely gone unplayed since. Here, it’s a great discard outlet that can feasibly reach its ultimate ability due to all the fliers in the deck. On Twitter, MBrewLabs notes that he did actually manage to pull off the ultimate against Domain during his 13-4 run.
There are other hidden gems here too. Proft’s Eidetic Memory is a solid cantrip that also buffs up your fliers as you loot through your deck. Ingenious Prodigy is a one-drop with evasion which you can sink more mana into to draw cards later. It also plays very nicely with the counters from Memory, which is a nice synergy given you can curve one into the other.
Since this deck only uses one color, MBrewLabs was also able to add some spice to the mana base. Both Demolition Field and Blast Zone appear here, with two copies each. The former lets you punish color-hungry decks like Domain, while the latter is essentially a free board wipe against the likes of Gruul Aggro. Even in its lands, this deck subverts the typical Standard expectations.
Here To Stay?
MBrewLab’s Mono-Blue Discard deck is a breath of fresh air, especially given how stale the top MTG decks in Standard have become lately. It takes a bunch of Magic: The Gathering cards that most players haven’t looked at twice, and builds a coherent strategy with them. Based on MBrewLab’s admittedly limited data, it’s fairly well-positioned in the current meta too.
During their 13-4 run at Mythic on MTG Arena, they had great success against the common Selesnya and Azorius lists. While no archetypes are specified in the data, these are most likely Selesnya Cage and Azorius Control. More surprisingly, it also did well against Mono-Red and Boros. These are two of the premier Aggro decks in the format right now, so the fact that this can hold its own against them is a great start.
Of course, there are weaker matchups in there too. Both Dimir and Rakdos were less than ideal for the deck, likely down to black’s access to cheap hard removal. Without Skyray and the deck’s other fliers, Mono-Blue Discard can easily find itself floundering. Dimir also plays plenty of its own disruption, which can make sticking a Monument difficult.
Despite these weaknesses, Mono-Blue Discard makes a very strong first impression here. It’s also worth noting that this is a budget deck by most standards. Sure Monument and Three Steps Ahead are pricey, but the rest is all pretty much bulk right now. Overall, it shouldn’t be difficult to put this deck together for less than $100 on paper.
It probably won’t win the next Pro Tour, but I think MBrewLab’s Mono-Blue Discard list deserves respect regardless. It’s an innovative concept, executed well, with solid results under its belt already. What’s not to love?
