In total, 349 Standard decklists were submitted for Pro Tour Aetherdrift, but some stand out more than others. The spiciest ones use innovative combinations of cards, represent a novel archetype, or do something that no one else saw coming. In this article, I'll take a look at nine of the most intriguing Standard decks that caught my eye. Each one makes clever use of new cards from Aetherdrift and has the potential to win the Pro Tour.

Esper Paragon

4 Serra Paragon 4 Nurturing Pixie 4 Fabled Passage 2 Plains 2 Island 2 Swamp 2 Jace, the Perfected Mind 3 Overlord of the Balemurk 2 Grim Bauble 3 Helpful Hunter 2 Nowhere to Run 3 Momentum Breaker 2 This Town Ain't Big Enough 2 Scrollshift 1 Loran of the Third Path 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring 1 Get Lost 1 Temporary Lockdown 1 Legions to Ashes 1 Sheoldred's Edict 2 Day of Judgment 3 Restless Anchorage 4 Concealed Courtyard 2 Bleachbone Verge 1 Caves of Koilos 1 Shadowy Backstreet 1 Darkslick Shores 2 Floodfarm Verge 1 Underground River 1 Anoint with Affliction 2 Duress 1 Temporary Lockdown 1 Loran of the Third Path 1 Get Lost 3 Pest Control 1 Jace, the Perfected Mind 1 Urza's Sylex 2 Ghost Vacuum 1 Beza, the Bounding Spring 1 Grim Bauble

After decklists are in, the first thing I—and many other players—look for is what Team Sanctum of All has brought to the table. Known for pushing the boundaries of Standard with inventive strategies like Four-Color Legends and Temur Otters, they never fail to shake up the metagame. This time, their roster is split across a variety of archetypes, but seven of their members (Alex Smith, Newton Cheng, Camden Garofalo, Gareth Antle, Jason Ye, Claire Rianhard, and Helena Brake) have unveiled an entirely new strategy: Esper Paragon.

574512 Grim Bauble Momentum Breaker

"Nurturing Pixie is one of the highest rated cards in Standard right now," Jason Ye explained, "but we thought going into the tournament with the normal, aggressive Pixie builds would put a huge target on our backs. As such, we wanted to explore a radically different controlling strategy that could still make use of the same powerful cards without being weak to a lot of the tools people would bring to prepare for Pixie."

Esper Paragon does indeed leverage the same powerful core as Esper Pixie, but it eschews staples like Hopeless Nightmare, Fear of Isolation, Stormchaser's Talent, and Optimistic Scavenger. As a result, it dodges popular anti-Pixie cards like Pest Control and Obstinate Baloth. Rather than leaning on early aggression, the deck prioritizes sweepers and removal while using Serra Paragon as its linchpin. The synergy with Momentum Breaker and Grim Bauble, both fresh out of Aetherdrift, is particularly potent. These permanents can sacrifice themselves, setting up Serra Paragon to recast them for a final burst of value.

And if you haven't found Momentum Breaker or Grim Bauble yet, Overlord of the Balemurk and Jace, the Perfected Mind offer self-mill to stock the graveyard with cheap interaction. Overlord of the Balemurk also enables one of the deck's most surprising tricks: blinking it with Scrollshift to bring it back without time counters as early as turn three. Once the graveyard recursion engine starts revving, there's little an opponent can do to pump the brakes.

Esper Paragon is a fresh, unexpected addition to Standard, seamlessly blending synergy and inevitability. As Jason Ye put it: "We think we settled on a deck that is an extremely strong metagame choice, as it attacks all of the most popular decks quite well."

Golgari Obliterator

4 Phyrexian Obliterator 4 Restless Cottage 4 Blooming Marsh 4 Wastewood Verge 4 Llanowar Wastes 1 Obstinate Baloth 4 Mosswood Dreadknight 2 Preacher of the Schism 3 Duress 4 Sentinel of the Nameless City 4 Bushwhack 3 Go for the Throat 4 Cut Down 2 Anoint with Affliction 3 Maelstrom Pulse 1 Gix's Command 7 Swamp 1 Caustic Bronco 1 Harvester of Misery 1 Duress 2 Tear Asunder 1 Tranquil Frillback 1 Obstinate Baloth 1 Gix's Command 1 Choking Miasma 2 Archfiend of the Dross 2 The Stone Brain 4 Unholy Annex // Ritual Chamber

After checking in with Team Sanctum of All, let's turn our attention to the reigning Magic World Champion and reigning Player of the Year, Javier Dominguez. Back in October 2024, he claimed both titles with a black midrange deck featuring the devastating, game-winning combination of Jace, the Perfected Mind and Archfiend of the Dross. This weekend, he's once again piloting a black midrange strategy—but with an entirely different knockout punch: Phyrexian Obliterator plus Bushwhack.

Joining the Fervent Champion are Christoffer Larsen, Thierry Ramboa, and Alexander Hayne—three fellow members of the newly formed Team Cosmos Heavy Play, all of whom have registered this innovative deck. "Christoffer cooked up the idea for us," Dominguez explained, "and we tried it out just to make him happy. Eventually, it became our Pro Tour deck!"

Wastewood Verge 602635 Bushwhack

The deck's signature combo revolves around Phyrexian Obliterator and Bushwhack. If your opponent controls, say, a 4/4 creature, you can force it to fight Phyrexian Obliterator, triggering its ability and making your opponent sacrifice four permanents. That kind of brutal exchange is enough to derail most opponents. Against an even larger creature, like Overlord of the Hauntwoods, the effect becomes even more devastating. The Obliterator might fall in battle, but your opponent will be left sacrificing six permanents, likely wiping out their entire board.

While this combo existed in Standard before, now is the perfect moment for it to shine. First, hard removal spells like Go for the Throat have been on the decline as Esper Pixie players have gravitated towards Nowhere to Run as a more synergistic effect. This metagame shift makes committing four mana to a 5/5 creature without an enters ability far less risky. Second, the printing of Wastewood Verge allows a black-green mana base to support the quadruple-black casting cost of Phyrexian Obliterator without having to resort to awkward dual lands. With its rock-solid mana and a punishingly efficient game plan, this deck looks primed to leave a serious mark on the tournament.

Simic Merfolk

1 Oko, the Ringleader 5 Forest 4 Forensic Researcher 2 Deepfathom Echo 2 Island 4 Cenote Scout 3 Kiora, the Rising Tide 3 Floodpits Drowner 4 Deeproot Pilgrimage 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Vodalian Hexcatcher 4 Yavimaya Coast 4 Botanical Sanctum 2 Agatha's Soul Cauldron 3 Cache Grab 2 Cavern of Souls 4 Willowrush Verge 1 Mindspring Merfolk 1 Mirrex 1 Tishana's Tidebinder 2 Subterranean Schooner 1 Ghost Vacuum 1 Negate 1 Unable to Scream 2 Spell Pierce 2 Into the Flood Maw 1 Pawpatch Formation 1 Tishana's Tidebinder 1 Oko, the Ringleader 1 Cankerbloom 1 Floodpits Drowner 1 Change the Equation 1 Keen-Eyed Curator 1 Haywire Mite

Bram Meulders, who earned his spot through the direct Pro Tour Qualifier at MagicCon: Amsterdam, stands alone as the only player to bring Simic Merfolk to Pro Tour Aetherdrift. Or, as he prefers to call it, Fish Stew. Much like Golgari Obliterator, the core pieces of the deck were already available, but the addition of the blue-green Verge land has dramatically improved its mana consistency.

"While waiting for Aetherdrift to release," Meulders told me, "I was just looking for a fun deck to play some games with. And while going over the cards in Standard, the infinite combo of Forensic Researcher and Deeproot Pilgrimage caught my eye. What surprised me was that the deck was actually winning!"

Forensic Researcher 636749 629743

At its heart, Meulders' Simic Merfolk is a kindred deck that can apply pressure by curving Cenote Scout into Floodpits Drowner, then amplifying its board with Vodalian Hexcatcher. Aetherdrift's new Mindspring Merfolk further fuels a wide battlefield of Merfolk. However, the deck's true showstopper is its infinite combo.

If you control two copies of Forensic Researcher, one can untap the other, which can be repeated indefinitely. When combined with Deeproot Pilgrimage, this loop generates an infinite army of Merfolk tokens! While the combo might seem a little fishy, the deck is far from fragile. Agatha's Soul Cauldron provides redundancy by exiling Forensic Researcher, while Kiora, the Rising Tide and Cache Grab help dig for the necessary pieces. "I'm flying solo for this Pro Tour, so I wouldn't be surprised if the list could be improved," Meulders admitted. But every bold innovation has to start somewhere, and he's proudly carrying the torch for the lone-wolf players at this tournament.

Boros Goblins

4 Rundvelt Hordemaster 9 Mountain 1 Goblin Surprise 3 Searslicer Goblin 2 Torch the Tower 4 Howlsquad Heavy 4 Fanatical Firebrand 4 Burnout Bashtronaut 3 Draconautics Engineer 3 Greasewrench Goblin 2 Soulstone Sanctuary 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Sunbillow Verge 4 Inspiring Vantage 2 Lifecraft Engine 2 Get Lost 1 Squee, Dubious Monarch 2 Volley Veteran 2 Burst Lightning 2 Tectonic Hazard 1 Abrade 1 Surge of Salvation 1 Requisition Raid 2 Torch the Tower 1 Tocasia's Welcome 2 Destroy Evil 2 Chandra, Spark Hunter [6dHGwcnADYEOsRtlVcM0EQ] 1 Dewdrop Cure 2 Rest in Peace

Szu-Yuan Chen, the reigning Regional Champion for Chinese Taipei, has arrived at this Pro Tour in style. As the sole pilot of Goblins at Pro Tour Aetherdrift, he's putting the set's newest tools to work in a fresh take on the archetype.

In Aetherdrift set, many new Goblins were added," he said, "which made me see the potential of Goblins. After testing, I chose this deck, and I really like it. I hope to prove my ideas true."

Burnout Bashtronaut Howlsquad Heavy Lifecraft Engine

After starting his engines with Burnout Bashtronaut, Chen's Goblins will chip away at the opponent's life total every turn, setting the pace for Howlsquad Heavy to hit max speed. The deck can funnel excess mana into Draconautics Engineer tokens or a timely activation of Soulstone Sanctuary—both of which, conveniently, are Goblins themselves.

This is a classic go-wide strategy, with Searslicer Goblin and Howlsquad Heavy rapidly flooding the board with Goblin tokens. Rundvelt Hordemaster and the newly introduced Lifecraft Engine provide the finishing touch, buffing the team and keeping the attacks relentless. While Chen's list is primarily mono-red, a minor white splash enables efficient removal spells like Get Lost and key sideboard tools like Rest in Peace. Thanks to Sunbillow Verge, the mana requirements are a breeze. With a streamlined curve, strong typal synergies, and an emphasis on raw speed, Boros Goblins has carved out an awesome niche in Standard.

Izzet Artifacts

4 Repurposing Bay 4 Simulacrum Synthesizer 4 Legion Extruder 4 The Enigma Jewel 4 Memory Guardian 2 Chainsaw 2 Boommobile 1 Radiant Lotus 2 Mazemind Tome 2 Collector's Vault 3 Thran Spider 4 Torch the Tower 4 Spirebluff Canal 4 Riverpyre Verge 4 Shivan Reef 1 Fomori Vault 6 Island 5 Mountain 2 Akal Pakal, First Among Equals 2 Mazemind Tome 2 Pyroclasm 1 The Stone Brain 3 Lithomantic Barrage 2 Spectral Interference 2 Ghost Vacuum 1 Scorching Shot

Rémi Roudier and Jaime Gonzalo are the only Pro Tour Aetherdrift players bringing Izzet Artifacts or, as they call it, BoomMobile Pod. Roudier initially set out to break Radiant Lotus, but when he came across this combo-midrange shell designed by Mateo Ferreira, he knew he had found his deck. "It's more of a The Enigma Jewel deck than a Radiant Lotus deck, really," Roudier admitted, "but it does truly unique things in the format with little artifact hate."

Radiant Lotus Boommobile Repurposing Bay

The deck's backbone is Repurposing Bay, a modern-day throwback to the once-dominant Birthing Pod. Its two-mana activation cost may be steep, but The Enigma Jewel smooths things out, imitating Sol Ring. The artifact chain begins with Legion Extruder at two mana, Thran Spider at three, Boommobile at four, Memory Guardian at five, and ultimately peaking with Radiant Lotus at six. Those first three offer a valuable effect when they enter, ensuring the deck keeps up on the battlefield while setting up for its explosive endgame.

Radiant Lotus can sacrifice itself and two other artifacts to add nine mana, allowing you to activate the craft ability of The Enigma Jewel. By exiling Radiant Lotus, Boommobile, and two other nonlands from the graveyard, it will transform it into Locus of Enlightenment. This artifact now has the activated ability of Radiant Lotus, which gets copied (It targets and is therefore not a mana ability). So when you sacrifice three other artifacts, you'll suddenly generate 18 mana. From there, the final step is activating Boommobile's exhaust ability for X=15, which also gets copied, delivering a lethal duo of Fireballs at your opponent to close out the game.

Mardu Monument

4 Monument to Endurance 4 Guardian of New Benalia 4 Phyrexian Dragon Engine 2 Helping Hand 4 Battlefield Forge 4 Inspiring Vantage 3 Zoraline, Cosmos Caller 2 Burst Lightning 3 Bitter Triumph 4 The Mycosynth Gardens 4 Recommission 4 Concealed Courtyard 4 Fear of Missing Out 4 Blackcleave Cliffs 2 Inti, Seneschal of the Sun 3 Torch the Tower 1 Mountain 1 Sulfurous Springs 1 Caves of Koilos 2 Voldaren Thrillseeker 2 Ghost Vacuum 3 Sheltered by Ghosts 3 Pest Control 2 Voldaren Thrillseeker 3 Loran of the Third Path 2 Destroy Evil

Cory Lack, who won the Regional Championship in Washington DC with Rakdos Tree, is one of seven players at Pro Tour Aetherdrift who brought a spicy deck built around Monument to Endurance. While four of them opted for a Jeskai shell, Lack and his Seedcore teammates, Jesse Piland and Warren Woodward, steered toward a Mardu variant that could take full advantage of Pest Control from the sideboard. "I wanted to leverage a bunch of powerful interactions that seemed unexplored, Lack explained. "It's all tied together by Monument. I think, even at the Pro level, there's a lot about the deck that will catch my opponents by surprise."

Monument to Endurance Phyrexian Dragon Engine 673541

If you're regularly discarding cards, Monument to Endurance turns that into devastating sequence of card draw, Treasure generation, and life loss for the opponent. The more copies of Monument you have in play, the better, and The Mycosynth Gardens ensures its triggers stack up quickly. The deck fuels its engine with discard outlets like Guardian of New Benalia and Fear of Missing Out, but the real star is Phyrexian Dragon Engine.

When Phyrexian Dragon Engine is unearthed with exactly three cards in hand, its ability forces you to discard them all before drawing three new ones. With two Monuments in play, that sequence alone nets two cards, two Treasures, and a six-point life swing. On your opponent's turn, you can then discard most of those fresh cards to Guardian of New Benalia, triggering the Monuments again and stacking up even more triggers. And while Phyrexian Dragon Engine's ability requires it to return from the graveyard, unearthing it for five mana isn't the only option—Recommission, Helping Hand, or even Zoraline, Cosmos Caller can all bring it back for another round.

Temur Exhaust

4 Afterburner Expert 4 Agatha's Soul Cauldron 3 Botanical Sanctum 4 Copperline Gorge 4 Draconautics Engineer 3 Dredger's Insight 2 Fauna Shaman 4 Fear of Missing Out 4 Forest 4 Karplusan Forest 4 Llanowar Elves 3 Loot, the Pathfinder 3 Molt Tender 4 Seed of Hope 3 Thornspire Verge 4 Torch the Tower 1 Voldaren Thrillseeker 2 Yavimaya Coast 3 Cankerbloom 1 Dredger's Insight 1 Fauna Shaman 1 Haywire Mite 2 Lithomantic Barrage 1 Negate 2 Obstinate Baloth 2 Pyroclasm 2 Scavenging Ooze

Jelmer Koopmans, who secured his Pro Tour invite via the direct Pro Tour Qualifier at MagicCon: Amsterdam, is one of three players in the field embracing Aetherdrift's new Exhaust mechanic with Afterburner Expert. But among them, his list stands out the most because he's the only competitor who registered Loot, the Pathfinder.

Afterburner Expert Draconautics Engineer Loot, the Pathfinder

The dream curve for this deck kicks off with Dredger's Insight on turn two, ideally milling Afterburner Expert while putting Draconautics Engineer into your hand. Then, on turn three, the deck explodes onto the battlefield: You play and exhaust Draconautics Engineer, immediately reviving Afterburner Expert with haste for a burst of damage. Given a bit more setup time, the deck can take things even further: repeatedly discarding Afterburner Expert to Fauna Shaman, loading the graveyard with all four copies, and then returning them all in one devastating swing.

Another awesome interaction for this deck comes from Loot, the Pathfinder. A powerhouse on its own, it reaches absurd heights when exiled with Agatha's Soul Cauldron. Suddenly, any creature with a +1/+1 counter can tap for the abilities of three of Magic's most iconic spells: Lightning Bolt, Ancestral Recall, and, for just one green mana, Black Lotus. With synergy firing on all cylinders, Koopmans' deck looks like an absolute blast to play.

Abzan Roots

3 Agatha's Soul Cauldron 4 Blooming Marsh 4 Cache Grab 1 Concealed Courtyard 3 Forest 1 Hushwood Verge 4 Insidious Roots 3 Ketramose, the New Dawn 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Llanowar Wastes 4 Molt Tender 4 Overlord of the Balemurk 3 Razorverge Thicket 3 Rubblebelt Maverick 3 Scavenging Ooze 1 Shadowy Backstreet 3 Snarling Gorehound 1 Swamp 4 Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler 1 Voldaren Thrillseeker 2 Wastewood Verge 2 Anoint with Affliction 3 Cut Down 2 Glissa Sunslayer 4 Haywire Mite 2 Skyfisher Spider 2 Tranquil Frillback

At Pro Tour Aetherdrift, four players registered printed copies of Ketramose, the New Dawn, and five players sleeved up Insidious Roots. But only one player combined both into a formidable Abzan shell: John Ryan Hamilton. A Legacy player at heart, Hamilton earned his Pro Tour invitation via the Magic Online Champions Showcase.

He picked up this Standard deck at the last minute after watching Caleb Durward go 5-1 in the Magic Online Creator Showdown last weekend. "The deck has a really strong matchup vs a lot of the slower decks in the format," Hamilton explained. "and Ketramose and Insidious Roots both really play to the sorts of style of decks I enjoy, with grindy insurmountable levels of card advantage and a lot of fiddly creatures onboard."

Ketramose, the New Dawn 646764 Molt Tender

This deck simply wouldn't exist without Aetherdrift. One of the most crucial new additions is Molt Tender. Every time you exile a creature card from your graveyard to generate mana, Insidious Roots creates a Plant, then buffs all of your Plants with +1/+1 counters. Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler pushes this synergy even further, allowing the freshly sprouted Plants to tap for mana immediately, fueling explosive turns. And if you manage to exile Molt Tender via Agatha's Soul Cauldron, the deck goes nearly infinite—every Plant can now tap to exile another creature card, creating another Plant and repeating the process. With this setup, you can generate a number of Plant tokens equal to the number of creatures in your graveyard, with enough +1/+1 counters to overwhelm the opponent on the next turn.

The white splash for Ketramose, the New Dawn ties everything together. In a deck exiling so many cards, it becomes an aggressively costed 4/4 that wins damage races, dodges removal with indestructibility, and fuels the card advantage engine. Every Molt Tender activation on your turn? That's a card. Every Agatha's Soul Cauldron activation? Another card. Even Scavenging Ooze starts giving you draws. Ketramose is a powerhouse, and this deck makes every part of it shine.

Bant Gearhulk

4 Brightglass Gearhulk 4 Novice Inspector 4 Warden of the Inner Sky 3 Mockingbird 3 Spyglass Siren 4 Dusk Rose Reliquary 1 Basilisk Collar 1 Shardmage's Rescue 1 Spell Pierce 1 Haywire Mite 4 Sentinel of the Nameless City 4 Regal Bunnicorn 1 The Huntsman's Redemption 1 Virtue of Loyalty 4 Seachrome Coast 4 Razorverge Thicket 1 Restless Anchorage 2 Restless Prairie 3 Botanical Sanctum 1 Forest 2 Plains 4 Brushland 3 Adarkar Wastes 2 Haywire Mite 2 Split Up 1 Destroy Evil 2 Disdainful Stroke 1 Rest in Peace 2 Ghost Vacuum 3 Sheltered by Ghosts 1 Spell Pierce 1 Elspeth's Smite

The ninth and final spicy deck I want to highlight comes from Brad Robinson. Although he wasn't the only player to register Brightglass Gearhulk, he was one of the few to do so without Collector's Cage. Even more impressively, he was the only one to incorporate it into a Regal Bunnicorn shell, which I think is a clever and unique combination.

Brightglass Gearhulk 668975 629526

"I tried the Selesnya Cage deck and liked it," Robinson explained, "but felt it was too clunky in the draws without Llanowar Elves. I wanted to try a more aggressive version, and this is where I ended up." The addition of blue gives him access to countermagic and the fetchable Mockingbird, which can set up a nearly endless chain of Brightglass Gearhulks—with flying!

Compared to Selesnya Cage or Bant Cage builds, Robinson's list forgoes Sandstorm Salvager, Overlord of the Mistmoors, and Collector's Cage in favor of a lower curve. He leans on token-generating creatures like Novice Inspector, Spyglass Siren, and Sentinel of the Nameless City, which fuel Regal Bunnicorn's size and enable Warden of the Inner Sky's activated ability. Clue or Map tokens can also be sacrificed to one of the four copies of Dusk Rose Reliquary, a one-mana removal spell that Brightglass Gearhulk can conveniently fetch as well. This deck might just be the most formidable home for Brightglass Gearhulk I've seen so far, and I'm excited to see it in action.

Conclusion

If you're on the lookout for an exciting new Standard deck to experiment with, any of these nine innovative builds could be the perfect choice. They could very well hold the key to victory at Pro Tour Aetherdrift. and should they perform well, you'll undoubtedly have the chance to watch them in action during this weekend's livestream!