Four Colour Cycling is a lower-tier strategy in the new post-ban Standard but is definitely one of the most fun decks. From going big with Flourishing Fox or wide with Valiant Rescuer, and to hitting your opponent with a massive Zenith Flare. Four Color Cycling has been my deck of choice on Arena and is able to be made on the cheap with mostly common and uncommon wild cards. Today we will look at both the budget version that lacks the four-color capabilities of a complete mana base and then the full-powered version for those who lack a financial conscience.

Budget Version

As you can see, it doesn't require many rare or mythic wild cards to put this deck together at the most basic level. A Temple of Triumph is given to us in the Company of Knights free intro deck and adds an extra dual land and the scry works well with cycling. This makes the Lurrus of the Dream-Den and the two copies of Drannith Magistrate the only costs. Also, Lurrus is optional and the Magistrates are irrelevant if you are only playing best of one. The overall function of the deck is identical with the only real difference is speed, as the budget deck has dual lands that enter the battlefield tapped while the non budget deck doesn't.

Full Deck

Zenith Flare

For the weeks of playing this deck, Zenith Flare has been the most reliable path to victory. It gets better the longer the games go as more cycling cards enter the graveyard, but it also has lots of utility. It gains life against aggressive decks and can take out both creatures and planeswalkers when the opponent isn't an option yet. Zenith Flare is also insane in Mill match ups. If you have one in your opening hand it is possible to hit the opponent for 17 damage. Keep this card in mind when you face down a Ruin Crab or Teferi's Tutelage, or Dimir Rogues that these are just fuel for this Lightning Helix on steroids.

Threats and Payoffs

Besides Zenith Flare, the deck has plenty of threats and payoffs centered around cycling cards. Flourishing Fox is our cheapest and most efficient threat that comes down on turn one. It gaining +1/+1 counters every time we cycle makes it massive very quickly. Valiant Rescuer gives us the ability to go wide by making a 1/1 token once per turn if we cycle. Rescuer is a dynamic threat that has interesting play patterns. Firstly by being able to make a token on our turn and the opponent's if we cycle on each turn. We can play it on turn three so that we can cycle for the token right away if the opponent has a Shock. It also helps us stall by making multiple chump blockers when we need them. Drannith Stinger is a removal magnet as the opponent is worried about that extra damage every turn. Pinging the opponent helps get them into Zenith Flare range. Drannith Healer is very relevant in aggro matches but is just another cycler in most other matches.

Cycling Cards

These one mana cycle cost cards are the bread and butter of the deck. Most of them are here to facilitate the cycling plan but some offer utility that we unlock with Pathway lands from Zendikar Rising. Startling Development can turn a 1/1 token from Valiant Rescuer into a 4/4 beater to punish the opponent if they don't develop their board. Turning a token into a 4/4 in combat can be huge when the opponent swings in. Frostveil Ambush can rarely be there to tap down the opposing threats when we need a turn to breathe or can end the game by eliminating blockers. Memory Leak gives is occasional hand disruption on a critical turn when we need to get something out of the opponent's hand. These subtle flexibilities are what you get unlocked when you have all of the Pathway lands and truly adds that four-color function to the deck. We also have Go for Blood that can be bad removal when we are in a pinch and Shredded Sails is our way of sneaking in an answer to The Great Henge and Terror of the Peaks into the main deck.

Companion

Standard become a midrange fest post bans with decks like Rakdos Midrange and Golgari Adventures becoming popular. We also have Dimir Control and Azorius Blink decks having success as well. Lurrus helps us out by giving the deck a midrange tool to help in this grind meta. Getting back a creature every turn helps us from falling behind as you enter the late game.

Utility

The module lands from Zendikar Rising add some more main deck utility. Sejiri Shelter gives some protection against the Standard, but we have to know where removal is actually good. Smashing has been useful in aggro matches, being able to kill an Edgewall Innkeeper and another creature out of the Adventures deck is huge. Spikefield Hazard is a nice hidden piece of interaction for Innkeeper and other cheap threats from Mono-Red.

Sideboard

Fight as One, Selfless Savior, and an additional copy of Sejiri Shelter are protection from removal. Selfless Savior and Lurrus make this awesome resilience in the late game by bringing the dog back every turn. Fight as One is a nice at countering two for ones by saving potentially two creatures at once. Redcap Melee is for specialized removal like Bonecrusher Giant and Anax, Hardened in the Forge. Drannith Magistrate is what helps us in the troubling Golgari Adventures match up. Magistrate is fantastic at stopping any adventure shenanigans and has three toughness to avoid Stomp. The Great Henge and Embercleave are some of the most powerful cards in this new format so having a way to answer them on the spot is crucial. The other mode adds a cheap way to remove Terror of the Peaks or a Soaring Thought-Thief. Blitz of the Thunder-Raptor is a powerful removal spell and can take out creatures and planeswalkers and we also have Thundering Rebuke. Fire Prophecy is our other removal of cheap creatures and helps us push through our deck.

Standard become its best self with the bans from Monday. Now is the perfect time to pick up something fun and maybe now you will give Four Color Cycling a try. This deck is tons of fun and has even matchups against most of the meta. Golgari Adventures and the Yorion decks running Doom Foretold stand out as the worst matches. Edgewall Innkeeper is a problem and Murderous Rider is very good against us. Our deck does rely on our graveyard to turn on Zenith Flare and to make Lurrus good so Scavenging Ooze is very good against us. The life gain from Scavenging Ooze shuts down a Drannith Stinger that we have on board. The Great Henge is a complete blow out if we've already fallen behind and is very difficult to out value. Doom Foretold is very good against us especially if we have a Valiant Rescuer and a bunch of tokens. Elspeth's Nightmare is insane against us because all three modes are good against us. It comes down and removes our Flourishing Fox and then hits us with a Duress, and then it exiles our graveyard to turn off Zenith Flare and stop Lurrus. It completely ruins our late-game plan and completely swings the game.

I hope you enjoyed the deck and perhaps give it a try yourself. If you're interested in talking Magic or even want to play Among Us then pop into to our Discord and say hi! Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with all of our content or subscribe to our newsletter. Give us a subscribe on our Youtube Channel where right now we have Pokemon Go vlogs but we will be adding Magic content very soon and we'll be streaming on Twtich as well. Thanks for reading and joining the fellowship!