Best MTG: Arena Decks Right Now
Magic the Gathering: Arena is the new digital product from Wizards of the Coast based on their flagship card game. Announced as Magic Digital Next in it the earliest stages of development, it is a product designed to be as fun as playing with your friends at your kitchen table. Arena is currently in closed beta and has a nascent metagame forming from the limited card pool. We have a rare opportunity to study a format coming together, starting with the best decks.
Below is a breakdown of the metagame into a top ten, featuring the decks to beat in the meta. If you are deciding on a deck or looking to tune one, this is the list for you.
10. Mono-Green Aggro/stompy
An extra forest for turn two on turn one is a deal for one mana. The body is relevant too as it fuels Galta and can gum up the board.
Mono-Green Stompy Decklist on AetherHub
A new brew on the scene, Green Aggro decks exist because of Dominaria (DOM). DOM brought in deck staple Llanowar Elves, consistency in the form of Adventurous Impulse and a top-tier three-drop in Steel Leaf Champion. Some of the biggest creatures from Amonkhet and Ixalan form the core of the deck's threats. Every build uses massive creatures you can cast for between three and six mana, curving out with Galta, Primal Hunger. The deck is removal lite, although the high-powered threats can often clear the way themselves.
The deck is threat dense, with some lists running as many as 32 creatures. If you sequence your plays well and don’t overextend, control decks will have trouble going answer-for-answer with your threats. The earliest the deck can play out its ultimate threat is turn four, although being able to play six drops as early is huge. Rhonas and the few fight effects you play easily answer most of the problem cards in the format. All of your threats come with spell-like abilities, allowing you to play a versatile game-plan.
9. Green/Black Rock
Ascending is easy with saprolings. You can quickly work up an army of 3/3s that your opponent won't be able to deal with.
G/B Saprolings Decklist on Aetherhub
While not precisely a rock deck, there are many builds that explore the same strategies as the classic midrange deck. There are a number of Jund and other G/B/x decks designed to win games of attrition. In the current Arena meta, one standout is the G/B saprolings deck. The engine of the deck is saproling production. G/B Saprolings goes wide with an army of tokens and uses them to fuel a range of effects.
The deck runs five ways to make saprolings, including a few repeatable effects. You can sacrifice saprolings for life with Thallid Omnivore or removal through Vicious Offering. Sporecrown Thallid gives your field extra strength for attack and defense. Slimefoot, the Stowaway, Tendershoot Dryad and Song of Freyalise all serve as formidable ways to end the game. This deck’s explosive potential could turn it into a real threat.
8. Blue/Green Merfolk
Merfolk will get in for damage. A few successful hits are all you would need to close out the game.
The merfolk of Ixalan are alive and well in a post-Dominaria landscape. This format all-star is a tribal deck relying on merfolk synergies for increased power. An aggro-control deck at heart, this deck tries to play a glut of threats while protecting them. It runs many lords and creature-tricks to affect the field.
U/G Merfolk draws a lot of cards from its creatures. Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca, Seafloor Oracle, and Silvergil Adept all give you different avenues to draw cards. This allows you to flood the board with Merfolk Mistbinder and defend with Swift Warden. Win the game by swinging in with enough lorded-up creatures, possibly after playing a game-winning Tempest Caller. This deck is diverse, flexible and resilient.
7. Blue/White Midrange/Tokens
Two damage for two mana is average. Once you trade with him you are rewarded with a formidable five mana 4/4 doublestrike.
These token strategies have been around since Amonkhet and have benefited from Dominaria. The deck doesn’t go as wide as traditional token strategies, although it can go wider than most with cards like Anointed Procession. It uses the Embalm and Eternalize mechanics to get more creatures out of every card. White gives the deck top-tier removal in Cast Out and ways to refill your hand from blue.
The deck has two centerpieces, Vizier of the Anointed and Anointed Procession. Vizier allows you to grab silver bullets while Anointed Procession serves as a doubling effect. Sunscourge Champion and Anointer Priest are both ways to gain substantial life in a pinch. Champion of Wits filters your hand early and refuels it late. Legion’s Landing and History of New Banalia let you expand your board and easily protect Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.
6. White Weenie
Buffing your team is essential to the deck's strategy.
White Weenie Decklist on Wikia
White Weenies are swarms of small, synergistic creatures that amass into an army. While the archetype has always been in Magic, only recently has the strategy become viable in Arena. These weenie strategies developed from the earlier white tribal strategies of Ixalan. Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle is a legend from Dominaria that serves as the perfect top end, giving you a resilience you would not otherwise have.
The low-end of the curve is occupied by efficiently costed threats and ways to protect your creatures. You slowly empty your hand onto the field to develop your board and swing. Between turns four and five you are likely to be either killing creatures or transitioning into a wider, deeper field. The goal is to alpha strike as quickly as possible utilizing anthems to pump up. An Eternalized Adorned Pouncer can close the game out if it runs late.
5. Green/Red/x Midrange
This is a threat that is hard to deal with short of a boardwipe that also presents a short clock. Most decks will have a hard time removing it before they lose.
A holdover from the old format, all G/R got was Llanowar Elves. This archetype also expands into Jund and Naya strategies that have a G/R base. There are a variety of reliable creatures in these colors, with a lot of effects and keywords. You can sit back and defend as you one or two of your strong monsters attack. You can splash white for cards like Lyra, Dawnbringer or black for cards like Tetzimoc, Primal Death.
A number of your threats have trample or flying, and cards like Rhonas can give evasion to those that don't have it. Glorybringer deals significant damage and clears the way. Rekindling Phoenix and Carnage Tyrant are resilient, evasive threats that cover a lot of matchups. Jadelight Ranger and Resilient Khenras help you accelerate your game plan. Thrashing Brontadon gives you a response to pesky artifacts and enchantments mainboard.
4. White/Black Midrange
Your vigilant knights will slowly gain greater control of the board for as long as she remains out.
W/B Midrange is a combination of the Vampires and Knights archetypes. Both decks share a common core of supports cards, although a lot of pilots favor Knights as the meta shifts. Vampires got very little from Dominaria. Knights got enough to be viable, although there are some who would argue it was viable before. Both strategies overwhelm you with a wide net of threatening foes. Each deck has a token plan underlying it.
Both decks run an overlapping suite of removal and support spells. Both decks benefit from Radiant Destiny, turning any field into an army. Cast Down, Cast Out, Seal Away, and Vraska’s Contempt are all excellent options for removal. Vampires has more cheap threats like Legion’s Landing and Champion of Dusk. Knights is slower, relying on Aryle, Knight of Windgrace and Benalish Marshall.
3. Blue/Black Control
Golden Demise is great for a control deck with few creatures, esecially when it can get ascend with so few. It's fast enough to deal with aggro.
U/B Control decklist on Aetherhub
This season’s U/B Control deck is a classic example of draw-go. It runs very few threats, with the Scarab God and Champion of Wits as the only creatures in most lists. Instead, you rely on countermagic from blue and removal from black to control the game until your opponent is low on options. Then you draw and play one of your superior threats.
The first line of defense in U/B Control is countermagic. You have unconditional counters in Wizard’s Retort, and excellent backup in Supreme Will and Syncopate. Essence Scatter and Negate round out your options nicely, leaving less pressure for your removal spells. Golden Demise is a pseudo-boardwipe that you should consider in a meta dominated by tokens. Scarab God, Liliana, Death’s Majesty and Glyph Keeper are each more than enough to handle a weakened opponent.
2. Blue/White Control
Teferi protects himself, helps you stabilze and presents a game winning ultimate in a deck full of answers. He is a powerhouse.
U/W Control decklist on Aetherhub
A control deck of the most exceptional caliber, U/W doesn’t need creatures to win. Instead, you dedicate your game plan towards handling your opponent’s questions and drawing card. When you are well-positioned you cast a game-winning sorcery. The great removal options available in DOM, as well as Teferi, have propelled this deck to the forefront of the meta.
You run zero creatures for mostly lands and instants. Utilizing some counters like Cancel with unconditional removal like Cast Out you can handle anything your opponent throws at you. Your endgame is late, so protecting yourself from early damage with cards like Essence Scatter is crucial. You need to buy enough time to cast Approach of the Second Sun twice or protect Teferi, Hero of Dominaria until ultimate. With these tools, it’s hard to imagine playing a different deck.
1. Mono-Red Aggro/Red Deck Wins
You can get through blockers again and again with a playset of Khenras. If you need the 4/4 you can use it to win in short order.
Fittingly, the only deck that could give U/W a clear run for its money is an even older archetype: Red Deck Wins. Your only plan is to turn things sideways until your opponent’s life total is zero. This most recent iteration of the deck is mostly creatures with burn spells for removal and reach. In this strategy, most cards are interchangeable allowing you to deal with setbacks consistently. More so than any other deck on here, you are all-in and function best in the early game.
RDW wants to drop the clock to zero as quickly as possible. While you’re swinging in with your one drops, you have a number of efficient threats like Earthshaker Kenra to control the board and keep swinging. Your three-drop creatures, like Ahn-crop Crasher, are there to enable a burnout or alpha strike. Hazoret the Fervent is formidable and can turn late game draws into direct damage. If you need a little help along the way, you can cast Lightning Strike, Magma Spray and Wizard’s Lightning for reach.
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