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Collected Company MtG Art from Secret Lair by Rudy Siswanto

Bo1 Explorer Metagame Tier List and Rankings

Our Arena Best of One Explorer (Bo1) metagame tier list in MTG Arena comes with the latest up to date decklists and descriptions, their weaknesses, and when it is good to play.

Introduction

Discover the best Magic: The Gathering Arena Explorer decks and archetypes that the players are using to climb the ranked ladder and win tournaments. Our MTG Arena Best of One (Bo1) Explorer Meta Tier List regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in the format, curated by our expert Altheriax. We also follow up our choices based on a variety of factors and sources, with comprehensive analysis from the data available.

Meta Overview and Changes

Hey everyone! I’m really excited to bring you our first major Bo1 Explorer tier list update of 2024 since the release of Khans of Tarkir and the Banned and Restricted Announcement affecting Karn, the Great Creator and Geological Appraiser. Smuggler's Copter will be added to MTG Arena with Murders at Karlov Manor on February 6, 2024 (along with other The List cards) so expect some changes after that. In the meantime, you can check out our Premium article for an overview of the current meta.

Explorer Best of One (Bo1) Meta Tier List

TierDeck NameGuide
Tier 1Abzan Amalia Combo
Tier 1Mono Red Aggro
Tier 1Azorius Spirits
Tier 1Izzet PhoenixGuide
Tier 2Abzan GreasefangGuide
Tier 2Azorius Control
Tier 2Boros HeroicGuide
Tier 2Boros ConvokeGuide
Tier 2Gruul StompyGuide
Tier 2Rakdos SacrificeGuide
Tier 2Mono White HumansGuide
Tier 2Selesnya AngelsGuide
Tier 3Izzet CreativityGuide
Tier 3Golgari ElvesGuide
Tier 3Rakdos MidrangeGuide

Tier 1 Decks

Abzan Amalia Combo

Abzan Amalia Combo
by Altheriax
Buy on TCGplayer $165.95
Explorer
best of 1
2 mythic
42 rare
12 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (12)
4
Fatal Push
$7.96
4
Chord of Calling
$23.96
Sorceries (3)
Lands (21)
1
Forest
$0.35
1
Caves of Koilos
$1.29
2
Mana Confluence
$85.98
4
Blooming Marsh
$33.96
4
Temple Garden
$59.96
1
Godless Shrine
$13.99
3
Overgrown Tomb
$41.97
60 Cards
$441.84

This is a creature-based combo that is looking to assemble Wildgrowth Walker alongside Amalia Benavides Aguirre and a way to gain life such as Lunarch Veteran or Prosperous Innkeeper, or a way to explore such as Cenote Scout. When you gain life it will trigger Amalia Benavides Aguirre to explore, which then triggers Wildgrowth Walker to explore, triggering Amalia Benavides Aguirre again and this loops repeatedly until Amalia Benavides Aguirre reaches 20 power which then wipes the rest of the board. You can also start off this loop by exploring with Cenote Scout which triggers the Wildgrowth Walker.

Sweeping the opponent’s board is often enough to win the game on its own against a number of decks, especially since you’re left with a 20/20 creature as the only creature in play which can kill the opponent in one shot. This is why Collected Company is so powerful in this list (even though it’s running no 3 drops) since it’s not only great at assembling the combo, but also comboing off at the end of the opponent’s turn which lets you untap and then attack with a 20/20 which will usually win you the game. You also have access to Dina, Soul Steeper off Chord of Calling as another way to win with the combo.

This particular build is tuned especially for best of 1 with 4 Fatal Push in the maindeck as a way to slow the opponent down which is a concession to the more linear nature of the format, since linear aggro decks are more popular, as are mirror matches.

The deck is very resilient compared to a lot of other creature-based combo decks since you can protect your combo pieces from removal at instant speed with Chord of Calling being able to fetch cards like Selfless Savior, and you have a lot of powerful ways to refuel or pull ahead on card advantage such as Collected Company and Return to the Ranks, which makes life difficult for interactive heavy decks that would otherwise be a bad matchup.

Weaknesses: The biggest weakness of this deck is that it is full of cards that are weak on their own which means that if your opponent can keep Amalia Benavides Aguirre off the board with either discard spells or cheap removal, the rest of your deck does very little. Additionally there are hate cards that can shut your combo off such as Rampaging Ferocidon that prevents lifegain, and Tishana's Tidebinderwhich shuts off the ability on Amalia Benavides Aguirre.

When is it good to play? Amalia is generally a good choice as long as control and hate cards aren’t too popular.

Mono Red Aggro

Mono Red Aggro
by Altheriax
Buy on TCGplayer $112.36
Explorer
best of 1
6 mythic
13 rare
26 uncommon
15 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (10)
2
Play with Fire
$8.98
4
Monstrous Rage
$3.96
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (2)
2
Embercleave
$14.98
Enchantments (4)
Lands (20)
11
Mountain
$3.85
2
Castle Embereth
$1.18
4
Ramunap Ruins
$3.96
60 Cards
$108.24

This is a very streamlined aggressive deck that is looking to go underneath the opponent, force through a bunch of damage early, that also has access to good ways to close the game out once the opponent commits to the board like Embercleave, Monstrous Rage, and burn spells. You have a good selection of early creatures to apply pressure such as Monastery Swiftspear and Robber of the Rich, and Burning-Tree Emissary can lead to some incredibly fast starts where you swam the battlefield very quickly.

This list is also running 4 Rampaging Ferocidon which is a strong card in the mono red shell anyway, but is particularly well positioned right now since it hoses the Amalia Combo deck which is a tricky matchup without it due to the amount of lifegain they have access to. As a pure aggro deck the opponent blocking your creatures is a big roadblock, but this list has 4 Monstrous Rage and 2 Embercleave as great ways to force damage through and blow the opponent out in combat.

You also have a burn package and some card advantage off Light Up the Stage which provides you with ways to grind into longer games. Traditionally running interaction in best of 1 is risky since there will usually be matchups where that interaction is dead, but burn spells don’t suffer from that issue since they can always go face if they can’t be used to kill creatures. Because of this you can safely run cards like Play with Fire, Bonecrusher Giant, and Lightning Strike in relatively high numbers without them ever being dead, and this gives you an edge against other creature decks which account for a big portion of the best of 1 metagame.

Weaknesses: Even with a burn package and some card advantage off Light Up the Stage, the deck is still fairly one dimensional which means that it’s very difficult to win from behind if the opponent stabilizes against you. This makes matchups like Azorius Control where they have access to a lot of removal, sweepers, and incidental lifegain very tricky without access to your sideboard.

Additionally you’re entirely reliant on damage to win which means you’re vulnerable to decks that pick a lot of incidental lifegain like Angels and Amalia Combo unless you draw Rampaging Ferocidon. Finally as a mono red deck you’re reliant on damage based removal to interact which means you struggle to deal with creatures with high toughness.

When is it good to play? Overall this should be a good choice as long as decks packing a lot of interaction aren’t very common.

Azorius Spirits

Azorius Spirits
by Altheriax
Buy on TCGplayer $119.54
Explorer
best of 1
1 mythic
37 rare
16 uncommon
6 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (24)
4
Spectral Sailor
$1.40
4
Rattlechains
$1.96
4
Supreme Phantom
$1.96
2
Shacklegeist
$0.98
4
Spell Queller
$7.16
Instants (6)
2
Lofty Denial
$0.98
Artifacts (4)
4
Portable Hole
$3.96
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
4
Island
$1.40
1
Mutavault
$10.99
1
Adarkar Wastes
$8.49
4
Seachrome Coast
$19.96
1
Cavern of Souls
$42.99
1
Deserted Beach
$5.49
60 Cards
$259.72

This is a tempo deck that is capable of some very fast aggressive starts and also has good disruption in the form of counterspells, bounce spells, exile based removal and the ability to tap down the opponent’s creatures.

The Spirits tribal theme gives the deck access to strong creatures that also pack disruptive abilities like Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller that can counter spells, Rattlechains which can protect your other creatures from removal and then allow you to play almost entirely at instant-speed, Shacklegeist that can tap down opposing creatures, and Skyclave Apparition which gives the deck more interaction if the opponent can sneak threats past your early disruption.

Creature heavy draws alongside Supreme Phantom enable some very fast starts that are even capable of outracing other aggro decks, but other draws with fewer creatures allow you to play games where you suit up a single creature with a Curious Obsession, protect it with counterspells, and then win on card advantage. In addition to Skyclave Apparition you also have Portable Hole as early interaction which is very important against the other creature decks in the format which can sometimes outpace your other interaction.

A lot of the most popular best of 1 decks are very linear and focused on pulling off their gameplan as fast and consistently as possible and so having cheap interaction to cut the opponent off their gameplan paired with a fast clock of your own, and a lot of potential card advantage off cards like Curious Obsession enables you to outrace a lot of other linear decks.

Weaknesses: Like a lot of tempo decks, Spirits can struggle against very fast low to the ground aggressive decks, since it generally prefers to play against slower decks where it can leverage counterspells and bounce spells to prevent the opponent from stabilizing. It can also struggle against decks with a lot of cheap interaction like Fatal Push, especially with hands where you’re trying to suit up a single creature with Curious Obsession.

When is it good to play? Spirits is a good choice as long as decks packing a lot of interaction, and other low to the ground creature decks aren’t a big portion of the metagame.

Izzet Phoenix

Izzet Phoenix
by Altheriax
Buy on TCGplayer $191.38
Explorer
best of 1
4 mythic
21 rare
11 uncommon
24 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (12)
4
Ledger Shredder
$67.96
4
Arclight Phoenix
$11.96
Instants (22)
4
Lightning Axe
$1.40
4
Opt
$1.56
2
Spell Pierce
$1.58
4
Fiery Impulse
$1.96
2
Fading Hope
$2.98
4
Consider
$3.16
Sorceries (8)
4
Sleight of Hand
$1.40
4
Treasure Cruise
$1.96
Lands (18)
2
Island
$0.70
4
Spirebluff Canal
$55.96
4
Steam Vents
$67.96
60 Cards
$305.6
Sideboard
1 Cards
$1.29

This is a deck that is looking to chain a bunch of instants and sorceries together in order to bring back Arclight Phoenix from the graveyard either on offence to apply a lot of pressure, or potentially on defence if you need repeated blockers.

This list runs a very high number of instants and sorceries to enable its gameplan which also works well with your other threats in Ledger Shredder, which can be triggered to provide filtering and pitch Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard, and Picklock Prankster which mill Arclight Phoenix directly into the graveyard, help dig to any instant or sorcery, fuel the graveyard for Treasure Cruise, and doubles up as a threat itself.

Speaking of which, Treasure Cruise is an enormous recent addition to the archetype providing you with incredible card advantage and allowing you to grind into longer games, and the deck is very good at fueling it meaning you can get it online in the first few turns which is incredibly strong. The rest of the list is essentially made up of removal spells to slow the opponent down, cantrips to fuel your engines and dig towards whatever you need, and a small number of Spell Pierce to help against control and other powerful non-creature threats.

This list has access to some very explosive starts whilst also having access to a good amount of interaction meaning you’re capable of both applying pressure and slowing down the opponent which is a great combination in best of 1.

Weaknesses: Aside from incredible draws where you can bin multiple Arclight Phoenix in the first few turns and then bring them back on turn 3 or 4, you don’t close the games out as fast as a lot of other decks such as Amalia or Mono Red, and so you rely on your interaction lining up in those matchups to buy you time which won’t always happen.

Additionally Amalia Combo specifically is quite resilient due to Collected Company and Return to the Ranks, both of which tend to outscale your single-target removal, and the incidental lifegain the deck has access to makes it difficult to race too.

On top of that, cards that tax your ability to play multiple spells in a turn like Thalia, Guardian of Thrabenand Archon of Emeria can pose real problems for you if you don’t have an immediate removal spell. Finally with only 2 Spell Pierce in the deck, you can also struggle against non-creature based combos such as Indomitable Creativity.

When is it good to play? Phoenix is generally a good choice in most metagames, as long as fast non-creature combo isn’t a big presence.

Tier 2 Decks

Abzan Greasefang

Abzan Greasefang
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $98.46
Explorer
best of 1
7 mythic
40 rare
0 uncommon
13 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (12)
4
Satyr Wayfinder
$1.96
Instants (4)
4
Grisly Salvage
$1.40
Sorceries (12)
4
Thoughtseize
$67.96
Artifacts (9)
4
Parhelion II
$3.16
Lands (21)
1
Swamp
$0.35
4
Blooming Marsh
$33.96
4
Temple Garden
$59.96
1
Godless Shrine
$13.99
2
Overgrown Tomb
$27.98
60 Cards
$304.44

This is a combo deck that is trying to pitch a vehicle into the graveyard, and then bring it back with haste using Greasefang, Okiba Boss as early as turn three! This is especially powerful in Best of 1 since the two main ways of stopping the combo (graveyard hate and instant-speed creature removal) are both much less common in Best of 1 which increases your odds of being able to combo off.

The deck can set up vehicles in the graveyard very consistently using mill spells like Grisly Salvage and Stitcher's Supplier, or discarded from your hand with cards like Liliana of the Veil and Raffine's Informant. With graveyard hate being less common in Best of 1, the mill spells are even more potent since the deck runs four Can't Stay Away which also allows you to reanimate Greasefang, Okiba Boss if you mill it over, so it’s very easy to find both parts of your combo. Even if the opponent is able to stop the combo or you take a little longer to find Greasefang, Okiba Boss, the deck is still capable of playing a reasonable fair game off the back of cards like Liliana of the Veil and Esika's Chariot too.

Weaknesses: The combo is weak to graveyard hate and insant-speed interaction, so if the opponent has either of those, you’re often forced to rely on your ‘fair’ game plan which won’t be good enough in certain matchups. Additionally, most of the Best of 1 Greasefang, Okiba Boss lists are very focused on setting up the combo and don’t tend to run much interaction themselves outside of Thoughtseize, so if you’re against a fast aggressive deck, and you have a slower start, or the opponent has a way to stop your combo then you can sometimes get overrun.

When is it good to play? Abzan Greasefang is generally a great choice in most situations in Best of 1 since your linear game plan is so strong and the deck has a good amount of resilience too. Having said that, it can be risky if people start running more graveyard hate or instant-speed interaction since that will shut off the most powerful part of your deck.

Azorius Control

Azorius Control
by Altheriax
Buy on TCGplayer $346.46
Explorer
best of 1
6 mythic
42 rare
5 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (6)
Instants (19)
3
Dovin’s Veto
$13.47
2
Make Disappear
$1.98
2
Get Lost
$15.98
2
Absorb
$0.98
4
Memory Deluge
$3.96
Sorceries (3)
2
Supreme Verdict
$4.58
1
Farewell
$6.99
Enchantments (5)
2
Shark Typhoon
$18.98
60 Cards
$425.72

This is a traditional control deck full of early interaction to try and slow the opponent down, make the game go long, and then win the lategame through card advantage engines like Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Memory Deluge.

This list is running a decent selection of early creature removal in the form of Get Lost and March of Otherworldly Light that can also remove other permanent types such as planeswalkers and enchantments, counterspells at both the 2 and 3 mana slot (the 2 mana ones are particularly important on the draw), and sweepers such as Supreme Verdict, Farewell, and Temporary Lockdown (which is particularly important against low to the ground decks like Boros Convoke).

As mentioned once you make it out of the early game you tend to pull ahead on card advantage fairly quickly thanks to cards like Memory Deluge, and then you can close out the game off the back of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and The Wandering Emperor(both of which also double up as more interaction), and have access to creaturelands like Hall of Storm Giants and Restless Anchorage as alternate ways to close out the game.

A lot of the best of 1 metagame is very linear, focused on committing to the board and setting up their proactive gameplan as fast as possible and are therefore usually very weak to board sweepers and early interaction in general (especially if they’re a creature-based combo like Amalia or Greasefang). Control decks can really take advantage of this, especially because the majority of these decks’ tools to fight against control are usually in the sideboard which they obviously don’t have access to in best of 1.

Weaknesses: The biggest weakness of running an interactive deck like this in best of 1 is that you need your interaction to line up well in the early game which won’t always happen, especially on the draw.

Additionally the tempo aggro decks such as Humans and Spirits are naturally bad matchups since they either have ways to tax your interaction like Thalia, Guardian of Thrabenor their own cheap counterspells like Geistlight Snare.

Finally there are a few other commonly played cards that are difficult for you to deal with such as Thoughtseize that can get rid of your key interaction, or instant speed spells like Collected Company and Chord of Calling from the Amalia deck.

When is it good to play? Control is generally a good choice as long as tempo decks, and aggressive decks paired with disruption like Spirits and Humans aren’t popular.

Boros Heroic

Boros Heroic
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $91.95
Explorer
best of 1
0 mythic
20 rare
23 uncommon
17 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Instants (16)
4
Gods Willing
$1.40
4
Defiant Strike
$1.40
4
Reckless Rage
$5.16
2
Sejiri Shelter
$2.98
Sorceries (8)
4
Ancestral Anger
$1.96
Lands (18)
1
Plains
$0.35
4
Sacred Foundry
$87.96
60 Cards
$194.88
Sideboard
1 Cards
$1.29

A powerful hybrid between an aggro and combo deck, Boros Heroic leverages the Heroic and Prowess mechanic to apply colossal pressure in a very short time frame. Since each creature (beside Dreadhorde Arcanist) gets larger with spells cast, this deck looks to get a creature or two on board, and then kill the opponent with a flurry of spells.

While this will mostly function as a “solitaire” deck, it has a lot of options as you’ll generally have the ability to cast multiple spells per turn and you have some interaction in the form of Reckless Rage to deal with opposing creatures. Furthermore, many of its spells have multiple purposes like Gods Willing or Sejiri Shelter being both an offensive or defensive tools.

Weaknesses: Decks that lean heavily on creature interaction can be tough for this deck as you’re trying to build up one creature to kill the opponent with, so something like Rakdos Midrange or Sacrifice can pose real issues as it’ll be very tough to keep a creature on board long enough to build it into a sizable threat.

When is it good to play? This is a powerful and proactive strategy so its a strong fit for the Bo1 environment barring there aren’t too many interactive decks.

Boros Convoke

Boros Convoke Bo1
by Bohe
Buy on TCGplayer $138.63
Explorer
best of 3
1 mythic
28 rare
18 uncommon
13 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (32)
4
Ornithopter
$1.96
2
Giant Killer
$0.98
4
Regal Leosaur
$1.40
4
Clarion Spirit
$1.40
Sorceries (8)
Enchantments (1)
60 Cards
$278.88
Sideboard
1 Cards
$1.29

This is an incredibly fast aggro deck that is looking to go wide as fast as possible in order to enable the convoke payoffs in Venerated Loxodon (which provides a huge amount of stats), and Knight-Errant of Eos (which provides card advantage to help you refuel, and can be used to dig for your other payoffs like Regal Leosaur once you already have a big board).

On top of that you also have Regal Leosaur as a payoff which provides a big buff to your whole board – it is much more vulnerable to interaction than its Pioneer counterpart Reckless Bushwhacker (however interaction is generally less common in Best of 1 so that’s less of an issue), and costs one extra mana (which can be an issue in a low land deck), but the buff it provides is often game winning when it does resolve.

You have some great enablers in the deck, especially Gleeful Demolition which can be used on Ornithopter, and tokens from Thraben Inspector and Voldaren Epicure to put three 1/1s into play which can enable you to convoke as early as turn 2!

Weaknesses: Outside of Giant Killer the deck has basically no interaction which means that other decks like Spirits or Greasefang can potentially race you, especially when you’re going second. You’re also very reliant on your top end cards to not run out of gas which can mean you’re soft to counterspells or discard in certain spots, and you’re very weak to sweepers meaning you tend to struggle a lot against decks like Azorius Control.

When is it good to play? Convoke will generally be a good option since it’s very generically powerful, and also resilient to single-target removal which is the most common interaction in Best of 1, so as long as counterspells and board sweepers aren’t very popular then it should be a good pick.

Gruul Stompy

Gruul Stompy
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $181.65
Explorer
best of 1
4 mythic
47 rare
1 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (26)
4
Llanowar Elves
$2.76
4
Elvish Mystic
$3.16
2
Scavenging Ooze
$0.98
2
Elder Gargaroth
$41.98
Instants (2)
Artifacts (6)
Enchantments (2)
2
The Akroan War
$0.98
60 Cards
$301.22

Looking to play an aggressive, yet fair game plan, Gruul Vehicles ports over the Pioneer version over into Explorer.

Like Mono Green Stompy, the deck utilizes the full eight turn one mana creatures in Elvish Mystic and Llanowar Elves to get way ahead on curve, and to follow up with a myriad of excellent three drops afterwards. However, unlike Stompy which is mostly reliant on Collected Company and The Great Henge Gruul opts for insanely powerful permanents such as Esika's Chariot for pressure, Skysovereign, Consul Flagship for pressure and interaction, and The Akroan Warto make this a nightmare for other creature matchups.

Since the deck is both fast and plays exclusively strong cards, you have a very consistent game plan that can win quickly or be surprisingly grindy.

Weaknesses: While the deck is powerful, you are only playing on a very fair axis. Decks like Mono Blue Spirits can simply interact with your high impact cards or Abzan Greasefang can go over you very quickly, so while you have a consistent game plan, that may not work in the face of decks looking to not play fair.

When is it good to play? Since it is just a solid deck, there really isn’t a metagame this would be particularly bad in, however, it would excel in metagames where there are a lot of other creature strategies.

Rakdos Sacrifice

Rakdos Sacrifice
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $226.26
Explorer
best of 1
0 mythic
28 rare
24 uncommon
8 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (16)
4
Unlucky Witness
$1.40
4
Mayhem Devil
$3.16
Instants (10)
4
Fatal Push
$7.96
2
Village Rites
$1.38
4
Deadly Dispute
$5.96
Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
4
Witch’s Oven
$7.16
Enchantments (4)
60 Cards
$294.4
Sideboard
1 Cards
$1.29

This is a high synergy sacrifice deck that is looking to take advantage of the high amount of creature decks in Best of 1. Cauldron Familiar + Witch's Oven paired with cheap efficient removal like Claim the Firstborn, Fatal Push, and Bloodtithe Harvester gives Rakdos Sacrifice a naturally good matchup against the creature decks in the format. The deck also has very good reach in the lategame due to the direct damage off cards like Cauldron Familiar, and Mayhem Devil so it’s very capable of winning games without even needing to attack.

Additionally, Fable of the Mirror-Breaker really helps to filter your draws off the second chapter, and provides great lategame engines if Reflection of Kiki-Jiki survives since it can copy Bloodtithe Harvest to act as a removal spell every turn, or copy Mayhem Devil to deal a bunch of direct damage, and Unlucky Witness and Deadly Dispute also give you good card advantage to grind if the game goes long.

Weaknesses: This particular build is very focused on beating creature decks (which makes sense considering that makes up a big portion of the Best of 1 metagame) but not running any cards for the slower decks like Thoughtseize or Ob Nixilis, the Adversary means that you’ll have a pretty rough time against slower decks like Azorius Control and 4/5C Enigmatic Incarnation.

When is it good to play? As long as there are a high number of creature-based decks in the format, Rakdos Sacrifice will be a great choice. If the meta shifts to more slower, late game decks like Azorius Control or Emergent Ultimatum for example, then it might not be the best choice but I don’t see that happening any time soon.

Mono White Humans

Mono White Humans
by Altheriax
Buy on TCGplayer $151.55
Explorer
best of 1
0 mythic
28 rare
18 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (4)
Lands (22)
14
Plains
$4.90
4
Mutavault
$43.96
2
Shefet Dunes
$1.58
60 Cards
$159.28

Decklist Updates: Coppercoat Vanguard from Aftermath is a great addition to the archetype providing you with extra redundancy for your 2 mana lord effect alongside Thalia's Lieutenant that also provides some extra protection for your other creatures.

A purely aggressive deck, Mono White Humans looks to flood the board quickly and beat the opponent down before they have a chance to set up defenses. Rather than just a straight-forward aggressive deck like Mono Red, Mono White leans much more heavily on creature synergies including playing only Humans so we can maximize the potential of Thalia's Lieutenant.

Furthermore, many of the creatures played are not only aggressive, but have other abilities as well, which makes them flexible threats. Thalia, Guardian of Thraben will slow down decks reliant on spells, Dauntless Bodyguard and Extraction Specialist insulate our threats, and Brutal Cathar acts as removal for the deck. To top it off, Brave the Elements is an extremely flexible card that can be anything from a counter to a removal spell to giving our entire board unblockable.

Weaknesses: Humans can struggle against wrath heavy decks like Azorius Control or decks that can enact their game plan quicker like Abzan Greasefang.

When is it good to play? Mono White Humans is a generically good deck so it should be good to play in functionally any metagame.

Selesnya Angels

Selesnya Angels
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $222.3
Explorer
best of 1
5 mythic
39 rare
4 uncommon
12 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (1)
Instants (4)
60 Cards
$366.94

This is a tribal deck built around life gain synergies that has a lot of flying creatures and creatures with high toughness that are solid blockers. Packing creatures that are great on defense alongside a ton of life gain makes this naturally very well positioned against aggro decks which make up a big portion of the Best of 1 metagame. It’s also one of the best Collected Company decks in the format since it has a bunch of great 2 and 3 mana creatures with good synergy, so a good Collected Company hit can single-handedly win you a lot of games.

Additionally, the deck is very good at turning the corner and closing out the game once it’s stabilized because most of your threats are flyers, especially if you’ve gotten a bunch of +1/+1 counters from Giada, Font of Hope, or you’ve managed to hit the 27 life threshold for Righteous Valkyrie, or the 5 life threshold for Resplendent Angel.

Weaknesses: Although Angels is very strong against aggressive, creature-based decks, it has a really big weakness to slower, more interactive decks like control which makes it a risky choice if those are a big part of the format. Thankfully in Best of 1, aggressive creature decks make up a much bigger portion of the meta and the slower, more interactive decks like Azorius Control and Rakdos Midrange are generally less popular than in Best of 3, so this isn’t as much of an issue in Best of 1.

When is it good to play? As long as the meta is made up of a lot of aggressive or creature-based strategies then Angels is a great choice.

Tier 3 Decks

Izzet Creativity

Izzet Creativity Best of One
by Skura
Buy on TCGplayer $226.09
Explorer
best of 3
6 mythic
28 rare
3 uncommon
23 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (2)
1
Worldspine Wurm
$7.49
Instants (23)
4
Fiery Impulse
$1.96
2
Spell Pierce
$1.58
4
Impulse
$1.56
2
Make Disappear
$1.98
4
Volcanic Spite
$1.40
4
Big Score
$11.16
Sorceries (6)
2
Strangle
$0.70
Enchantments (6)
2
Shark Typhoon
$18.98
Lands (23)
1
Mountain
$0.35
2
Shivan Reef
$2.98
3
Spirebluff Canal
$41.97
4
Steam Vents
$67.96
2
Mirrex
$19.98
60 Cards
$395.82

An extremely scary combo/control deck, Izzet Creativity looks to control the board early with plentiful interaction, deploy a few tokens, and then suddenly win out of nowhere utilizing Indomitable Creativity to get Worldspine Wurm and Xenagos, God of Revels for an instant win. The deck is supported by a controlling shell packing a lot of interaction in the form of both counterspells and creature removal in order to buy you time to pull the combo off.

Weaknesses: If you don’t happen to have the right interaction at the right time or the opponent can interact with your combo, you can definitely struggle to win. Decks like Mono Blue Spirits can be especially problematic as they apply pressure and have cheap countermagic making it difficult for you to combo.

When is it good to play? If there aren’t too many decks that can easily race you or consistently stop your ability to combo off, Creativity seems like an excellent choice in the field.

Golgari Elves

Golgari Elves
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $204.5
Explorer
best of 1
0 mythic
38 rare
12 uncommon
10 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Instants (4)
Lands (20)
2
Forest
$0.70
2
Llanowar Wastes
$5.58
4
Blooming Marsh
$33.96
4
Overgrown Tomb
$55.96
60 Cards
$360.4

This is a go wide aggro deck that is trying to capitalize on a lack of sweepers in the Best of 1 format. The idea with this deck is to go wide fast and pump your whole board with lord effects on cards like Elvish Clancaller and Leaf-Crowned Visionary. Once you have a lot of mana, you can then pump into Elvish Warmaster to boost your whole board, produce a ton of card advantage off Leaf-Crowned Visionary, or just kill them outright with a huge Shaman of the Pack trigger.

The vast majority of creature removal run in Best of 1 is single-target which this deck is fairly resilient to because it’s able to swarm the battlefield so fast, and since it’s a creature deck with some combo elements, it’s often capable of going over the top of other creature decks in the format.

Weaknesses: The single biggest weakness of Elves is to board sweepers which means your matchup against a deck like Azorius Control will be really bad. It also doesn’t run any interaction which means it can often be outraced by other linear decks like Abzan Greasefang or Selesnya Angels.

When is it good to play? Elves is generally a good choice as long as board sweepers and combo decks like Abzan Greasefang or Temur Ignus aren’t very popular.

Rakdos Midrange

Rakdos Midrange
by DoggertQBones
Buy on TCGplayer $502.01
Explorer
best of 1
9 mythic
42 rare
6 uncommon
3 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (2)
Instants (6)
4
Fatal Push
$7.96
2
Power Word Kill
$0.70
Sorceries (4)
4
Thoughtseize
$67.96
Artifacts (1)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
3
Swamp
$1.05
2
Mutavault
$21.98
4
Haunted Ridge
$37.96
4
Blood Crypt
$75.96
60 Cards
$708.9

This is a deck that is packing a lot of very cheap, efficient removal and generically powerful threats. Discard spells like Thoughtseize and Liliana of the Veil are very effective against combo decks like Abzan Greasefang and control decks like Azorius Control, cheap removal like Fatal Push, Bonecrusher Giant, and Infernal Grasp are great against the variety of creature decks in the format, and generically powerful threats like Chandra, Torch of Defiance, Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker allow you to cement your position in the game and get ahead. Graveyard Trespasser also acts as a generically powerful threat that doubles up as graveyard hate which can be particularly useful against a deck like Abzan Greasefang to stop them from comboing off.

Weaknesses: Unlike Best of 3 where this is one of the best decks in the format, Rakdos Midrange tends to struggle a lot more in Best of 1 because it’s a deck that really leverages it’s sideboard to pivot it’s game plan depending on what it’s against. Obviously you don’t have access to your sideboard in Best of 1, so you lose the ability to cut your worse cards and adapt to the matchup you’re against, and you have to just hope you draw the right ‘half’ of your deck: for example if you’re against an aggro deck you have to hope to hit your creature removal and not your discard spells and planeswalkers, and against control, you have to hope to not draw a bunch of creature removal.

Additionally, since most creature decks are much more linear and generally faster in Best of 1, a lot of them are capable of outracing your single-target removal which means they can sometimes outrace you, even if you do draw creature removal against them.

When is it good to play? Rakdos Midrange is always going to be a fine choice in Best of 1 as long as the aggro decks aren’t going very wide (which makes your single-target removal less effective), but you’ll always be plagued with the issue of hoping to draw the right interaction for the particular matchup which isn’t always going to happen.

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Altheriax
Altheriax

Alth is an MTG Arena grinder who has been #1 on the ladder multiple times and is always looking to bring new ideas and archetypes to the format and push them to the top spots on the ladder. You can follow him on Twitter and YouTube.

Articles: 120