The first couple of weeks of the new April Ranked Season on MTG Arena are now behind us, and it’s time for us to review all of the decks that we’ve added to our site since the season began. We like to compile all of the top-ranked decks shared with us and others across the MTG social media sphere each week in the interest of tracking the Arena metagame in close to real time as players find success with various archetypes across all of Arena’s formats.
This week, our focus will be on the decks that have helped bring players back up into Mythic in the early season following the rank reset – all of our features this time around achieved ranks in the Top 10, including four players who made it to rank #1 and another who came close in rank #2. The showcase includes decks from Standard, Historic, and Alchemy this time around, so there’s a little something for fans of all of Arena’s competitive constructed formats.
Additionally, you can find a full collection of many more Mythic ranked decks at the bottom of the page – now let’s see what archetypes have been powering the April Ranked Season so far!
Our first pick of the day comes to us from F. Lapiccirella, or @piccirko on Twitter. Piccirko has submitted many decks to us in the past and is often playing in the Mythic numbers. This month, Piccirko was able to reach #1 Mythic in the early season, and on April 1st no less.
Piccirko’s deck of choice for making the rush to #1 Mythic was a best-of-one Historic Mono Red deck fueled by the explosive potential of Burning-Tree Emissary and a suite of other powerful one and two drops such as Robber of the Rich and the new saga Kumano Faces Kakkazan. At the top end, four copies of Torbran, Thane of Red Fell to close out the game with a (hopefully) wide board.
Since it was printed in Neon Dynasty, Hinata, Dawn-Crowned has become well known for it’s powerful interaction with Magma Opus, which can be cast for a hilarious two mana with the legendary spirit on the battlefield. Our second #1 Mythic deck from the early season, submitted to us on the MTGA Zone Deck Builder by user Polipo86, is built around this very interaction.
Back in February, shortly after the Kamigawa set’s release, DoggertQBones wrote up an excellent guide detailing the deck’s function, strengths, and weaknesses. We encourage you to check it out if you’re thinking about playing this archetype:
Perhaps the real lesson to be learned from Jeskai Hinata and its impressive performance is that the primarily Izzet shell of Expressive Iteration, Unexpected Windfall, Goldspan Dragon, and friends that made up the now-banned Alrund's Epiphany deck is still very powerful even with a different top-end. Either way, Jeskai Hinata clearly has what it takes to compete in the highest levels of Mythic in the hands of a skilled player.
Next up we have two submissions of another archetype that has been very much on-the-radar in Standard since the printing of Neon Dynasty: Rakdos Anvil. Sacrifice-based decks were already a big part of Standard going back as far as rotation – although previous to Neon Dynasty they were usually Orzhov – and the printing of Oni-Cult Anvil gave the theme a powerful new engine.
Japanese V-tuber aihort and MTGA Zone contributor Omrithopter were both able to reach #1 Mythic this month playing the exact same 75 of Rakdos Sacrifice. Although the decklist has changed a little bit since February when the guide was written, who better to explain the deck than Omrithopter himself?
Sacrifice is clearly already good enough to compete at the top of the ladder, but with the Maestro family (aligned with the Grixis colors) in Streets of New Capenna appearing to be heavily centered on sacrifice-based effects, this archetype is likely to get even stronger after the set’s release. Sacrifice decks are definitely something to keep an eye on going forward.
Our first Alchemy deck for the week, coming to us from player FivePawns (@LuxMTG on Twitter), is also Rakdos – although this midrange deck has little in common with the Sacrifice package above. In Alchemy, the Neon Dynasty Championship had just proven the absurd power of Citystalker Connoisseur, especially when combined with the back side of Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.
Just a few days later, Alchemy: Kamigawa was released on MTG Arena, bringing a ton more power to black decks in the format with cards like Painful Bond and the oppressive Undercity Plunder. FivePawns’ deck includes all of these cards in a midrange shell that also packs four copies of Invoke Despair to grind the opponent to dust.
Although the #1 slot appears to have eluded him for now, FivePawns was able to take the deck all the way up to an impressive #2 Mythic with this deck powered by some of the strongest cards in Alchemy. If you’re looking for a deck to play in Arena’s digital-only rotating format, it’s hard to go wrong crafting Citystalker and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.
Ah, Mono White Aggro. A seemingly ever-present archetype in Standard over the last few years, Mono White is currently one of best, if not the best, low-to-the-ground aggro decks currently in the format. Cards like Hopeful Initiate – and of course Luminarch Aspirant – add up to a lot of damage in a short period of time. Skyclave Apparition and Brutal Cathar offer the deck outs to creatures that are too large or other problematic permanents, while a well-timed Reidane, God of the Worthy or Thalia, Guardian of Thraben can completely put a control opponent off of their game-plan or put that board wipe just out of reach.
Anybody who plays a lot of Arena, especially in best-of-one, is probably already quite familiar with this deck and its play patterns, but it’s popular for a reason. This example of the archetype, which was posted by MTGA YouTuber Hello Good Game, was taken up to the #9 slot in a sixteen game win streak documented by a video:
The five decks in our showcase above were the most highly-ranked decks we’ve seen over the first week or so of the season, but we’ve collected a ton more decks for you to browse. You can check out all of the decks below, where they can also be sorted by format for your convenience:
This column is our weekly roundup of Standard, Historic, and Alchemy decks players are using to climb the ranked ladder on MTG Arena. Our goal is to curate and post a variety of deck archetypes and interesting card choices at the end of each week to help you keep up to date with the latest trends in the metagame. If you have any decks you’d like to see featured, please tweet us at @mtgazone or give us a shout on our Discord.
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