Experience the flavor and fun of casual Magic with these 60-card Theme Decks! These are thematic and ready-to-play Standard decks that feature cards from throughout the format, including a few sweet new cards from Lorwyn Eclipsed. Each deck is designed to be played against other 60-card Theme Decks. Battling with these decks makes for an exciting and welcoming Magic experience, no matter where you are on your Magic journey.
Our designers have written a short guide on how to play each of these decks, along with some suggestions for cards you can add to supercharge each deck's strategy. No matter how you choose to arm your Angels or prepare your Pirates, you can face off with these 60-card Theme Decks as is or add your own personal spin to keep games fresh and exciting.
Ahoy there! If you're scouring the map for information on the Pirates deck, you've found the right spot.
Pirates is built around rewarding you for discarding cards. Marauding Mako and Scrounging Skyray form the backbone of this strategy, but Inti, Seneschal of the Sun and Captain Howler can also contribute to some really explosive turns.
Your best openings are going to include Marauding Mako, which is particularly potent in combination with Inti. While much of what you're looking to do is straightforward, Inti is a tricky card to play. When you trigger Inti, try to think about what you're hoping to exile and how you can best leverage the greatest number of cards.
Many of your creatures become more valuable the longer they remain in play, so be cognizant of when to trade them off in combat and when they'll be big enough to dominate the board in a turn or two. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts!
I hope you enjoy playing with the Pirate deck right out of the box. There are multiple directions you can take it as you make it your own. If you're enjoying the discard-matters angle, you can go further down that path. On the other hand, if building a Pirate typal deck is what you're after, there are a lot of options in that direction as well.
Potential Additions for Pirates
Winternight Stories
0067_MTGTDM_Main: Winternight Stories
When combined with Marauding Mako and Scrounging Skyray, this will give you both card selection and the ability to grow your creatures very quickly. If you add mayhem cards to the deck, the ability to reduce the harmonize cost with your creatures can lead to some very explosive turns.
Glacial Dragonhunt
0188_MTGTDM_Main: Glacial Dragonhunt
A removal spell that doubles as an enabler for your discard theme could be just what you need, as it allows you to disrupt your opponent's game plan and further your own at the same time. The harmonize cost is steep, but your own scaling creatures make it easier to cast from your graveyard.
Kitesail Larcenist
0061_MTGLCI_Main: Kitesail Larcenist
If you're looking to take the deck in a more Pirate-heavy direction, Kitesail Larcenist does a great job of handling all kinds of problematic permanents while providing some evasion.
Breeches, Eager Pillager
0137_MTGLCI_Main: Breeches, Eager Pillager
Another great option for Pirate typal, Breeches rewards aggression with cards, sizing, and evasion. What more could you ask for?
Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider
0227_MTGLCI_Main: Captain Storm, Cosmium Raider
If you want to go in a more Treasure- and Vehicle-focused direction, Captain Storm can make combat extremely difficult for your opponents. If you're looking to include more cards like this, you should also consider Goblin Tomb Raider.
Steam Vents
0267_MTGECL_Main: Steam Vents
Increasing your ability to play early spells with a small number of lands will dramatically increase the number of hands you can keep. Also consider adding Starting Town or Riverpyre Verge.
What's better than a giant Marauding Mako? A giant Marauding Mako with flying! Rocket-Powered Goblin Glider does a great job of dramatically changing the calculus of what your opponent needs to play around.
Oscorp Industries
0182_MTGSPM_Main: Oscorp Industries
When you're drawing and discarding a lot of cards, some of the most-difficult decisions often revolve around whether to discard lands or spells. Oscorp Industries fixes your mana, but it also makes these decisions a lot easier and allows you to develop your mana to get to the late game.
Agna Qel'A
0264_MTGTLA_Main: Agna Qel'a
The ability to trigger Marauding Mako and Scrounging Skyray at instant speed with one of your lands is extremely powerful, and it's especially worth considering as the opportunity cost is low.
Angels
2 Lyra Dawnbringer [37kkiK4K0fjn4vwatru9Fl]
2 Lightstall Inquisitor [1LTF08li74Adg1BJuXMCPS]
1 Pawpatch Recruit [5Q4zJzIHKc2kcWAupFDrmG]
1 Get Lost [7aEXTNv36BEk87Z2VnHWlF]
4 Giada, Font of Hope [7AiPOErrUPiUijOqpGnuvh]
2 Split Up [3eLcU4OG5D3sVHbLbBsmjt]
3 Exemplar of Light [1QKlC52lqDQ5Yag7ZUhaPx]
4 Llanowar Elves [LVsjWTe26bTYkamfzvHJ3]
2 Personify
4 Youthful Valkyrie [3bjsnXOJIgkNnsEi98fUww]
4 Inspiring Overseer [4GmaUE4FhIm11iTSz1RaxS]
1 Chomping Changeling
2 Ride's End [SY0sI09mXZMkk1pnVdkIf]
4 Starfield Shepherd [3La54XpVfQWiY0ouclx8KG]
4 Blossoming Sands [3AP1Z18A5ebBl9c2j3N7Xb]
4 Secluded Courtyard [5hh5TYx7EBTWIjnE4wE1gE]
8 Plains
8 Forest
Tokens:
4x Map // Shapeshifter tokens
1x Pawpatch Recruit // Map token
If you enjoy unleashing the wrath of an angelic army, you've come to the right place!
Angels seeks to leverage mana-producing creatures like Llanowar Elves and Giada, Font of Hope to create an insurmountable board presence ahead of schedule. An ideal opening hand includes lands that produce both green and white mana, an accelerant of some sort, and a creature to ramp out. Having access to more mana than your opponent and being able to spend it effectively is one of the quickest ways to create an advantage—especially when the creatures you deploy are difficult to block and often draw you a card when they enter.
Keep in mind that Starfield Shepherd plays a key role in many of the deck's strongest hands. It can smooth out your mana in the early game or find you just the right creature as the game drags out. Additionally, its interactions with Giada are pretty cool! When you warp Starfield Shepherd and search for a one-mana Angel as soon as turn three, it can create some seriously explosive board states.
It's worth thinking about whether to block carefully with your smaller Angels, even when there's an opportunity to trade. Giada gets a lot stronger when she has some friends already hanging out.
While I hope enjoy playing with the Angels deck out of the box, there are a number of cards you might consider to increase the volume of your angelic chorus. You can find some of my favorite options below, but depending on what you enjoy, you could take the deck in a different direction, too. I could easily imagine a version of the deck that leans into life-gain synergies or a version that moves toward an all-flying rewards deck.
Potential Inclusions for Angels
Mutable Explorer
0186_MTGECL_Main: Mutable Explorer
Mutable Explorer is every creature type, including an Angel. This is another card that can help you ramp ahead and stay ahead of schedule, even when your opponent is flush with removal spells.
Winnowing
0043_MTGECL_Main: Winnowing
If your opponent is going too wide, this is a great option to remove everything that isn't an Angel. I'd be happy to play a couple of copies in my sideboard at any event.
Resplendent Angel
0032_MTGLCI_Main: Resplendent Angel
If you choose to push the deck in more of a life-gain direction, Resplendent Angel is perfectly on theme. Even without a strong life-gain theme, this is still a great late-game mana sink.
Figure of Fable
0224_MTGECL_Main: Figure of Fable
This is a great one-of in combination with Starfield Shepherd. This little Kithkin doesn't stay little for long and is at its best in long games.
Selfless Safewright
0193_MTGECL_Main: Selfless Safewright
This would be a great inclusion against opponents playing sweepers. I don't think it makes as much sense in the main deck, but it would be great in post-sideboard games.
Seam Rip
0034_MTGEOE_Main: Seam Rip
If you're playing against a lot of small creatures and noncreature permanents, this is a great addition. I wanted to lean toward broader removal spells in the main deck, but I could imagine wanting this for the most efficient removal possible.
Temple Garden
0268_MTGECL_Main: Temple Garden
Increasing the number of games where you can play Llanowar Elves on turn one followed by a white spell on turn two will really make things flow more smoothly. There are a number of other options for lands here, including Starting Town and Hushwood Verge.
Momo, Friendly Flier.
0029_MTGTLA_Main: Momo, Friendly Flier
Although Momo, Friendly Flier isn't an Angel, this card works well with its fellow fliers. It works especially well with Starfield Shepherd, as even a single copy could go a long way toward increasing explosive starts.
Abandoned Air Temple
0263_MTGTLA_Main: Abandoned Air Temple
With as wide as your boards can get, this is a low-opportunity-cost way to get in a lot of damage. Abandoned Air Temple is worth considering in any creature-focused deck with a focus on the color white.
