Returning $80 Strategy Dominates Massive MTG Event!

Recently, we discussed how expensive the current Standard environment is on MTG Arena. Unfortunately, most Standard decks in paper are quite pricey, too. The manabase for the five-color ramp deck is worth a lot on its own, while any deck with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Sheoldred, the Apocalypse Deathtouch
Whenever you draw a card, you gain 2 life.
Whenever an opponent draws a card, they lose 2 life. is bound to be extremely expensive. The only strategy under $100 that’s been at least decently positioned in the metagame is mono-red aggro. Mono-red aggro is a solid archetype, but if that’s not your cup of tea, it can be tough to build a competitive Standard deck on a budget.

Fortunately, another budget-friendly Standard deck had a breakout performance in one of the first MTG events of 2024. In a recent Magic Online Standard Qualifier, a mono-white deck built around Poison counters made it all the way to the top 4. Up to this point, almost every Poison-style deck has been Bant, so seeing a mono-white version pop up is rather unusual. This variant certainly has some upsides over the Bant versions, so let’s dive in and see what this deck has to offer.

Toxic Threats

The goal with this strategy is to get the opponent to obtain 10 poison counters. Unlike Infect decks of the past, though, this Standard deck is built around the Toxic mechanic associated with Phyrexia: All Will be One. Toxic, unlike Infect, doesn’t work as favorably with pump spells (the opponent won’t get extra Poison counters if you pump your Toxic threats), so you’re going to have to connect in combat a bunch of times. As such, this deck utilizes a ton of cheap Creatures with Toxic.

Crawling Chorus Crawling Chorus Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
When this creature dies, create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature token with toxic 1 and "This token can't block." and Skrelv, Defector Mite Skrelv, Defector Mite Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
Skrelv can't block.
{W/P}, {T}: Choose a color. Another target creature you control gains toxic 1 and hexproof from that color until end of turn. It can't be blocked by creatures of that color this turn. ({W/P} can be paid with either {W} or 2 life.) are both excellent one-drop threats for the archetype. Both cards are decent against removal spells, and Skrelv can help protect your more potent threats, such as Annex Sentry Annex Sentry Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
When this creature enters, exile target artifact or creature an opponent controls with mana value 3 or less until this creature leaves the battlefield. from removal and help your Creatures get through blockers in combat. Skrelv also pairs nicely with Jawbone Duelist Jawbone Duelist Double strike
Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.) . As a Creature with Double Strike, if you can connect in combat, the opponent will get two poison counters, not just one.

Because most of the Creatures in the deck have Toxic 1, the best way to win is to go wide with Toxic Creatures, and the poison counters will add up quickly. No card does a better job of this than Skrelv’s Hive Skrelv’s Hive At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature token with toxic 1 and "This token can't block."
Corrupted — As long as an opponent has three or more poison counters, creatures you control with toxic have lifelink. . This card does a great Bitterblossom Bitterblossom At the beginning of your upkeep, you lose 1 life and create a 1/1 black Faerie Rogue creature token with flying. impression, keeping the pressure up even through removal or board wipes.

In addition, this deck plays Charge of Mites and even White Sun’s Twilight White Sun’s Twilight You gain X life. Create X 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature tokens with toxic 1 and "This token can't block." If X is 5 or more, destroy all other creatures. (Players dealt combat damage by a creature with toxic 1 also get a poison counter.) as ways to make Toxic threats at Instant speed. This can help you cross the finish line against cards like Sunfall Sunfall Exile all creatures. Incubate X, where X is the number of creatures exiled this way. (Create an Incubator token with X +1/+1 counters on it and "{2}: Transform this token." It transforms into a 0/0 Phyrexian artifact creature.) that would otherwise be problematic.

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Benefits to Staying Mono-White

Unsurprisingly, by staying mono-white and not branching out to other colors, there are a handful of cards that you are bound to miss out on. For instance, cards like Venerated Rotpriest Venerated Rotpriest Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
Whenever a creature you control becomes the target of a spell, target opponent gets a poison counter. and Bloated Contaminator Bloated Contaminator Trample
Toxic 1 (Players dealt combat damage by this creature also get a poison counter.)
Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) are solid Creatures with Toxic that would help add some depth to the deck. What this deck lacks in individual raw power, though, it gains in consistency.

This deck has a much more consistent manabase than other multi-color Poison variants, which helps make it easy to maximize on utility Lands. Mirrex Mirrex {T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Activate only if this land entered this turn.
{3}, {T}: Create a 1/1 colorless Phyrexian Mite artifact creature token with toxic 1 and "This token can't block." (Players dealt combat damage by it also get a poison counter.) , for instance, is an excellent late-game card that can keep your Creature count flowing. While Mirrex does help you cast your colored spells for a turn, it fails to produce colored mana on subsequent turns, which can be quite awkward for a deck that needs to cast one-drops of different colors reliably.

Besides playsets of Mirrex and The Seedcore The Seedcore {T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast Phyrexian creature spells.
Corrupted — {T}: Target 1/1 creature gets +2/+1 until end of turn. Activate only if an opponent has three or more poison counters. , which can provide a buff to your Toxic attackers to help them rumble in combat, the rest of the manabase is built of a bunch of basic Plains. While there may be more room for other utility Lands, this high volume of basic Lands allows this deck to make use of two other important cards: Lay Down Arms Lay Down Arms Exile target creature with mana value less than or equal to the number of Plains you control. Its controller gains 3 life. and Ossification Ossification Enchant basic land you control
When this Aura enters, exile target creature or planeswalker an opponent controls until this Aura leaves the battlefield. .

These two inclusions are perhaps the biggest reasons to stay mono-white. A huge issue Poison decks have had since the release of Phyrexia: All Will be One is that most of the Toxic threats themselves have relatively mediocre stats. This makes things problematic if your opponent has high-toughness blockers. Considering how popular cards like Raffine, Scheming Seer Raffine, Scheming Seer Flying, ward {1}
Whenever you attack, target attacking creature connives X, where X is the number of attacking creatures. (Draw X cards, then discard X cards. Put a +1/+1 counter on that creature for each nonland card discarded this way.) and Preacher of the Schism Preacher of the Schism Deathtouch
Whenever this creature attacks the player with the most life or tied for most life, create a 1/1 white Vampire creature token with lifelink.
Whenever this creature attacks while you have the most life or are tied for most life, you draw a card and you lose 1 life. are, having efficient interaction to keep the pressure on is of vital importance.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

Thanks to Lay Down Arms, Ossification, and Destroy Evil Destroy Evil Choose one —
• Destroy target creature with toughness 4 or greater.
• Destroy target enchantment. , this deck does a pretty good job containing the potent threats from Esper and Dimir midrange. From there, Skrelv’s Hive and Tocasia’s Welcome Tocasia’s Welcome Whenever one or more creatures you control with mana value 3 or less enter, draw a card. This ability triggers only once each turn. combine to give this deck a surprising flow of card advantage that can help you win grindy matchups against these decks as well as Rakdos midrange and Esper control.

Between Skrelv’s Hive and Mirrex, you rarely run out of Creatures, making Tocasia’s Welcome an incredible card in this deck. As a go-wide Creature deck with built-in card advantage, fighting through board wipes out of five-color ramp is also not super tough. Where things get a lot more difficult is when your opponent can play a slew of Creatures in short order.

Decks like Azorius Soldiers, for instance, can flood the battlefield quickly thanks to cards like Resolute Reinforcements Resolute Reinforcements Flash (You may cast this spell any time you could cast an instant.)
When this creature enters, create a 1/1 white Soldier creature token. . Not only does this make it tough to connect in combat with small Creatures, but it can even make Skrelv’s Hive a liability. After all, the tokens created can’t block, and you are forced to lose a life every turn with Hive out. This means that if your opponent has a quick start with Knight-Errant of Eos Knight-Errant of Eos Convoke
When this creature enters, look at the top six cards of your library. You may reveal up to two creature cards with mana value X or less from among them, where X is the number of creatures that convoked this creature. Put the revealed cards into your hand, then shuffle. in the mix, things can look bleak rather quickly.

Still, this archetype has game against most decks in the format. As a deck built mostly around 1/1 Creatures, sometimes you can even steal games with Expel the Interlopers Expel the Interlopers Choose a number between 0 and 10. Destroy all creatures with power greater than or equal to the chosen number. that would otherwise be unwinnable. Expel the Inerlopers has the potential to act just like Plague Wind Plague Wind Destroy all creatures you don't control. They can't be regenerated. against an opponent with big blockers, which is a nice way to bail you out of tough situations.

If you can avoid fast decks with lots of blockers, this deck seems like a solid metagame call in a format dominated by ramp and midrange strategies. Plus, the deck is relatively cheap to boot! If you’re tired of mono-red aggro and are looking for a solid, budget-friendly deck to pick up, this seems like a great choice.

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