6 Standard Decks Using Adventures from Wilds of Eldraine

Wilds of Eldraine is soon releasing and with it, we’re getting back one of the best and most beloved mechanics in Magic’s history – Adventure.

Having looked through various deck ideas, I’ve found that Adventures will certainly have a big impact on Standard. Interestingly, I think there will be just a handful of full Adventure decks but plenty of them will slot here and there into other archetypes.

Today, I want to present a full scope of the potential that Adventures might have.

Fasten your seatbelts and prepare a glass of water, because it’s going to be spicy!

Temur Adventures

Let’s start off with a full-on adventure deck that is on most people’s radar. One of the first cards spoiled in the expansion was Beluna Grandsquall which telegraphed a possibility of a Temur adventure strategy. Now that we have the full set I can confidently say that not only do we have such an option but there are multiple possibilities within the archetype! There are so many adventure cards to choose from that you can take your own spin on the archetype.

The main premise is that your deck is almost 100% adventures so Seek Thrills ability of Beluna hits 3-5 adventures. 5 mana draw 3+ is a very strong ability in the long game. In the early game though, Beluna can just be cast for three mana as an above-rate threat that discounts 30 cards in the deck.

Furthermore, every card in the deck is a 2-for-1 in some capacity. It means that very few decks will be able to go toe-to-toe with us. Opponents cannot profitably trade and if the game goes long we can unleash the power of Beluna.

I also included some 1 and 2-ofs since we will get a bit of card selection in the deck.

I am really excited to play this strategy but I am scared of the mirror match. Prepare for 50-minute matches.

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Temur Prowess

Let us stay in the Temur territory for a bit longer. Elusive Otter can be utilised much better as an individual card in a shell that’s not strictly adventure-oriented. A one-drop with Prowess cannot be underestimated. Putting the pressure on from the very beginning of the game can be back-breaking for the opponent. In tandem with Monastery Swiftspear it amounts to 8 copies of such a powerful early-game threat.

There were already multiple prowess creatures in the format but there is a new creature that doesn’t strictly say ‘prowess’ but is actually even stronger.

Questing Druid has a permanent prowess of sorts, since it gets +1/+1 counters. In this deck, the vast majority of spells will trigger it, so it might actually be also better on that front compared to prowess requiring non-creature spells specifically.

The whole strategy aims to close the game as soon as possible. Ever-growing creatures alongside a flurry of spells will be putting immense pressure. The curve ends at two mana so you will be able to multispell as soon as turn two.

With such a low curve you want to avoid getting flooded but there are a few mechanisms to prevent it. Consider and Seek the Beast provide card selection.

On top of that, the newly printed creature land Restless Spire ensures that we always have something to do with our mana. Crucially, it’s not legendary, so you can play out and activate a few of them.

Jund Adventures

Jund was a less obvious adventure combination coming in, but when you browse through the cards available the pieces of the puzzle together very nicely.

Red and Black were already decently supported in the Standard format so you can copy paste a few card choices like the infamous Bloodtithe Harvester or black decks’ favourite Sheoldred, the Apocalypse.

Similarly to the previously mentioned strategies, Questing Druid is such a well-rounded powerful card that it will find a home in most green decks. Here, the adventure part is an efficient late-game Reckless Impulse that can be cast instant speed and the creature is a scalable threat.

One of my favourite adventures from the entire set is Mosswood Dreadknight. It’s virtually unkillable much to the opponent’s demise. At some point your main limitation is going to be the life total rather than raw cards. It also incentivises you to keep trading it in combat, depriving the opponent off resources whilst bolstering your own.

Four-mana 4/4 flying trampler with a minor upside is okay but nothing to write home about. It blocks decently well and the ramp it provides you with helps multi-spell. However, the adventure part is where the power lies. It can act as a card advantage spell that later turns into a Dragon. I can imagine scenarios where you’re flooded on turn ten, top deck and a single Decadent Dragon pulls you completely ahead.

Furthermore, we can see here a classic and powerful scenario where the creature can be played on curve after the adventure like it was with Bonecrusher Giant. This smooth curve built into a card makes it even stronger.

All in all, Jund has got a lot of new toys. I could fully imagine going straight Red Black as well though.

Boros Pia

In Pioneer, there is a deck called Boros Pia where you play a ton of cards from the exile zone, creating Thopter tokens. It allows you to get evasive threats and close games but also play long games, since you go through your deck so much.

Contrary to what I would have thought some time ago, I think such a deck can be built in Standard and it’s easily the most exciting deck on the list for me.

The key piece of intel is that creatures played from adventure count as ‘played from exile’. With 12 adventure cards you can really trigger Pia often.

On top of that, Experimental Synthesizer naturally allows you to play cards from exile, further adding interaction to our Pia angle. Thankfully, Synthesizer also allows lands to be played.

When I went digging for ‘from exile’ cards I stumbled upon this mono red classic. Feldon, Ronom Excavator favourably interacts with Pia even though it was always found in completely different types of decks.

This deck has a lot of potential and plays on a completely different axis from what we’re used to. Can’t wait to try it out!

Dimir Faeries

Faeries just beg to be built with Eldraine. There is a sheer ton of new Faerie and Faerie-related cards that should be explored.

There is also one adventure Faerie in Picklock Prankster that fits very nicely. It’s a creature Fearie with okay stats but can be used as a very strong card selection effect. There are 36 hits in the deck so you’re likely not only to hit something but also be able to choose what you actually need. When topdecked, it can refill your hand immediately. On top of that, you can find another Prankster with Prankster! Keep the chain going.

Ego Drain might be the most powerful discard spell in the game when played in this deck. Since there are 20 Faeries in the deck, including 6 one-mana ones, it will frequently be a straight-up better Thougthseize. No more Duress for us, cute flying creatures.

Another very strong reason to play the deck is Faerie Fencing. If you’ve met the condition, which you should, it’s essentially one-mana -3/-3 effect. It will kill even some three-drops.

When you combine Fencing and Drain, you get a suite of 8 one-mana super efficient and effective interaction pieces, allowing you to play a true tempo game.

The main question that stands before us is whether creature Faeries and their power level is high enough. The power of interaction might justify the lower power of creatures though.

Sultai Self-Mill

Self-Mill is not a popular archetype but pops up here and there in Magic. With Eldraine, we might be able to have such a unique deck in the format.

We had Goyf already but it wasn’t powerful or consistent enough to play. It was also challenging to build a deck around it. However!

Cruel Somnophage might be called a better Lhurgoyf. It counts creature cards in *all* graveyards making it much bigger overall. It is weaker early though since on an empty board (and graveyard) it’s a 0/0.

Similarly to Goyf, it has a way to set itself up – Can’t Wake Up mills four cards and in this deck you can target yourself with the ability. Since it counts both players you *could* target the opponent but this use will be much more marginal.

The deck overall has a lot of graveyard interactions.

With a full graveyard, we can play the black Tolarian Terror that hasn’t seen much competitive play. In this deck, we can easily jam a ton of Necromasses on the same turn.

Alongside the creature graveyard theme, we play interaction as a black deck should in this format. However, it is needed to find the perfect lowest amount of noncreature spells that the deck should run to maximise the number of creatures that can be milled over. That, though, can only be achieved through extensive playtesting.

It’s an interesting take on a black midrange deck that will catch a lot of people off guard.

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