Table of Contents
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 Three (Bo3) 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
Our new Explorer Meta Report goes over all of the new additions from Murders at Karlov Manor that have seen play in Explorer, the decks they’re seeing play in and how the metagame as a whole has shifted as a result.
Explorer Best of Three (Bo3) Meta Tier List
| Tier | Deck Name |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Rakdos Vampires |
| Tier 1 | Azorius Control |
| Tier 1 | Izzet Phoenix |
| Tier 1 | Abzan Amalia Combo |
| Tier 2 | Boros Heroic |
| Tier 2 | Rakdos Midrange |
| Tier 2 | Quintorius Combo |
| Tier 2 | Keruga Fires |
| Tier 2 | Rakdos Sacrifice |
| Tier 2 | Gruul Vehicles |
| Tier 2 | Abzan Greasefang |
| Tier 2 | Azorius Spirits |
| Tier 2 | Izzet Creativity |
| Tier 3 | Mono White Humans |
| Tier 3 | Selesnya Angels |
| Tier 3 | Golgari Elves |
| Tier 3 | Mono Red Aggro |
Tier 1 Decks
Rakdos Vampires
Rakdos Vampires
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
16 mythic
33 rare
5 uncommon
6 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (14)
Artifacts (2)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$818.8
Sideboard
15 Cards
$73.57
This is a new take on the Rakdos Midrange shell but with the addition of vampire synergies largely built around Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord. This deck won the Murders at Karlov Manor Pioneer Pro Tour in the hands of Seth Manfield, and this list is a very slightly modified version of his, replacing the sideboard hate for Lotus Field decks that aren’t a factor in Explorer with other interaction.
This deck gets access to all of the efficient interaction that have seen play in conventional Rakdos Midrange such as Thoughtseize and Fatal Push, as well as generically strong threats that help smooth your draws such as Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Smuggler's Copter, and as a midrange deck you can pivot well into post-sideboard games better than a lot of the more high synergy decks by bringing in more interaction that’s relevant in the matchup such as more discard spells against control and combo, and more cheap removal against aggro.
Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord alongside Vein Ripper also gives the deck a very powerful proactive tool that is great at both stabilizing and closing the game out fast, since you can cheat Vein Ripper into play using Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord ‘s -3 ability as early as turn 3. Vein Ripper is really strong in basically every matchup – against aggro decks it’s a huge creature that passively gains you life as the opponent’s creatures die in combat or to your removal, and if the Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord survives, you can then turn it into a 7/6 creature with flying and lifelink which will almost always be able to stabilize you if it connects.
Then against the slower decks, the ward provides great protection from single-target removal since these decks tend to run fewer creatures (and you can kill the opponent’s creature in response to the ward trigger fizzling their removal spell if they do have one), and the big body enables you to close the game out fast which really reduces the opponent’s ability to topdeck out of the situation or assemble their combo.
To ensure that Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord isn’t dead without Vein Ripper the deck also runs some other vampires such as Bloodtithe Harvester and Preacher of the Schism (which are already great midrange cards run in non-vampire builds), and Dusk Legion Zealot which replaces itself, can crew Smuggler's Copter, and is a great card to sacrifice to Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord ‘s Lightning Helix ability. Additionally running a number of vampires also enables you to leverage Cavern of Souls against control decks, and combined with your access to discard spells you have very good tools to fight that matchup.
Weaknesses: Even though Vein Ripper does help improve matchups which are usually difficult for conventional Rakdos Midrange to beat such as Phoenix or Rakdos Sacrifice, the deck is still weak to decks that are capable of overwhelming your spot removal such as Amalia Combo, or go way bigger than you like Keruga Fires or Enigmatic Incarnation. Additionally you still suffer from the same issues that regular midrange decks struggle with in that you usually need your early interaction to line up well for your fair gameplan to win which won’t always happen, although the more powerful proactive gameplan via Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord helps to mitigate this.
When is it good to play? This will be a great choice as long as decks like Amalia Combo and Fires of Invention aren’t very popular.
Azorius Control
Azorius Control by Shota Yasooka
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
5 mythic
38 rare
11 uncommon
6 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (22)
Sorceries (3)
Enchantments (3)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$382.9
Sideboard
15 Cards
$55.55
This is a fairly typical 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 good balance of creature removal like Get Lost and March of Otherworldly Light, counterspells like Make Disappear and No More Lies, and board sweepers like Supreme Verdict and Temporary Lockdown. You can then close out the game off the back of Teferi, Hero of Dominaria, The Wandering Emperor, Shark Typhoon, and creaturelands like Hall of Storm Giants and Restless Anchorage.
Control as an archetype attacks the format from a very different angle and requires different answers from a lot of other decks which means you naturally have a good game 1 against a lot of archetypes. Having access to board sweepers also means that you naturally have good matchups against go-wide creature decks like Boros Convoke and Amalia, having cheap efficient counterspells like No More Lies means you have good tools to fight against combo and bigger midrange decks like Keruga Fires, and you have great card advantage in the form of Memory Deluge and Dig Through Time which help ensure you pull ahead against decks that can play the longer game like Izzet Phoenix.
Overall, even though people most decks will be prepared for control especially post-sideboard, you have very efficient interaction and card advantage tools which give you a good chance against any deck.
Weaknesses: The deck is quite vulnerable to discard spells since the opponent can leverage them to get rid of your key pieces of interaction which can often clear the way for them to resolve problematic threats. This is especially an issue against Rakdos Midrange because they pair early discard spells with generically strong threats such as Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Graveyard Trespasser that usually require you to trade down on resources to answer, leaving you on the back foot very early on. All other black decks like Abzan Greasefang or Rakdos Sacrifice have access to discard out of the sideboard which gives them good tools to fight against you.
Additionally Izzet Phoenix is a tough matchup unless you can resolve Rest in Peace due to the recursive nature of Arclight Phoenix paired with the fact that counterspells are relatively low impact against them, and them having cheap counterspells themselves post-sideboard. Speaking of which, control also has a tough time against low to the ground decks that have access to their own cheap counterspells like Azorius Spirits, and Humans can also be a tough matchup due to taxing effects like Thalia, Guardian of Thrabenthat slow down your ability to sweep the board and stabilize.
When is it good to play? Control is generally a good choice assuming discard spells, and aggressive tempo decks aren’t a big portion of the metagame.
Izzet Phoenix
Izzet Phoenix by tabananga
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
5 mythic
19 rare
12 uncommon
24 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (13)
Instants (21)
Lands (17)
60 Cards
$264.96
Sideboard
15 Cards
$68.87
This is a deck that is looking to chain multiple instants and sorceries together in order to bring back Arclight Phoenix from the graveyard, either on offence to apply pressure or on defence to block repeatedly.
This list runs a high density of instants and sorceries to enable its gameplan which also works well with your other threats such as Ledger Shredder, whose connive effect provides filtering and can pitch Arclight Phoenix into the graveyard, and Picklock Prankster which can mill Arclight Phoenix directly into the graveyard, provides you with card selection for your instants and sorceries, fuels the graveyard for Treasure Cruise, and doubles up as a threat itself, completely surpassing Pieces of the Puzzle from older builds.
Treasure Cruise is a recent huge addition to the archetype in Explorer providing you with incredible card advantage which enables you to grind into longer games, and the deck is very good at fueling it quickly meaning you can often get it online in the first few turns. The rest of the list is comprised of cantrips to enable your Arclight Phoenix gameplan whilst digging towards whatever you need, burn spells for interaction to slow the opponent down, and a few counterspells in Spell Pierce and Jwari Disruption to hedge against control and other powerful non-creature spells like Collected Company and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker.
The recursive nature of Arclight Phoenix itself means you naturally have a good matchup against any deck that relies on single target non-exile based removal. The deck is also capable of very fast starts via binning and returning multiple Arclight Phoenix on turn 3 or 4, but can also play longer games very effectively as well due to the recursive nature of Arclight Phoenix, and the quality of cantrips and card advantage like Treasure Cruise, which is a very scary combination.
Weaknesses: Graveyard hate is effective against you since it stops both Arclight Phoenix and Treasure Cruise which are your two strongest cards. Rest in Peace in particular is a very big issue because you don’t have any ways to answer it once it’s resolved outside of bouncing it with Brazen Borrower and then countering it, so Azorius Control can be difficult to race if they can get down an early Rest in Peace.
Additionally even though you do have access to some very fast starts, you don’t get them that regularly and therefore won’t close the game out faster than decks like Amalia Combo a lot of the time for example – you do have a decent amount of interaction to keep them off the combo but it can be difficult to stop cards like Collected Company, Chord of Calling, and Return to the Ranks especially game 1.
On top of that there are some other specific cards that are good against your gameplan such as Thalia, Guardian of Thrabenfrom Humans and Archon of Emeria from Keruga Fires, both of which really limit your ability to chain spells together.
When is it good to play? Phoenix is generally a good choice when graveyard hate and fast combo decks aren’t very common.
Abzan Amalia Combo
Abzan Amalia Combo
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
5 mythic
38 rare
12 uncommon
5 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (26)
Sorceries (3)
Artifacts (1)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$512.58
Sideboard
15 Cards
$50.25
This is a creature-based combo that is looking to set up Amalia Benavides Aguirre alongside Wildgrowth Walker and either 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. Alternatively, you can start off the loop by exploring with Cenote Scout which triggers the Wildgrowth Walker.
Sweeping the opponent’s board and leaving behind a 20/20 as the only threat remaining is often good enough to win the game on its own against a lot of decks, but you can also assemble the combo at instant speed during the opponent’s end step via Collected Company or Chord of Calling. The big difference there is that you can then untap and immediately attack with the 20/20 Amalia Benavides Aguirre which will win you the game assuming the opponent doesn’t have removal (which they’re unlikely to or they would have used it to try and stop the combo) whereas the opponent will have an extra turn to find an out if you do it at sorcery speed.
All three of your top end speed spells in Collected Company, Chord of Calling, and Return to the Ranks not only massively improve the consistency of assembling your combo, but they also give the deck an added layer of resilience – Collected Company and Return to the Ranks in particular make life very difficult for decks that rely on single-target removal since they not only pull you ahead on raw resources, but also allow you to select the individual creatures making it easier to assemble the combo, or select other utility creatures if they’re good in a particular spot.
Chord of Calling on the other hand not only increases the consistency of assembling the combo, but also provides you with access to a number of silver bullet tutor targets such as Selfless Savior to protect a combo piece from removal, Deep-Cavern Bat to snipe a key card from the opponent’s hand, Skyclave Apparition as removal, and Dina, Soul Steeper as an alternate way to win. Additionally you can more easily find your sideboard cards via Chord of Calling allowing you to run a number of 1 ofs and freeing up sideboard slots for other cards.
Weaknesses: The biggest weakness of this deck is that it’s largely comprised of creatures that are bad on their own, meaning that if the opponent can keep you off your key card (namely Amalia Benavides Aguirre), you can be left with a bunch of individually weak creatures. Control is also a very tricky matchup since they have a lot of creature removal and are good at keeping you off the combo, especially with cards like Temporary Lockdown.
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.
Tier 2 Decks
Boros Heroic
Boros Heroic by Simon Nielsen
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
1 mythic
16 rare
25 uncommon
18 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (16)
Instants (18)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$201.12
Sideboard
15 Cards
$31.83
This is an aggressive deck that is looking to use cheap instant speed buff and protection spells to grow your creatures and force through a huge amount of damage very quickly. This list isn’t running as high a density of creatures as most other aggro lists since it’s more focused on getting down one or two creatures and buffing them with cheap spells like Monstrous Rage, Ancestral Anger, and Defiant Strike, and protecting them from removal with spells like Loran's Escape and God’s Willing.
The creatures all play into this gameplan very well with all of them naturally buffing themselves whenver you cast your instants and sorceries on them, and Illuminator Virtuoso and Tenth District Legionnairealso providing you with card selection too. This is one of the fastest decks in the format which really punishes decks that don’t have much interaction, and you do have reasonable counterplay to decks that do run interaction via the aforementioned protection spells.
The sideboard provides you with additional tools including cheap interaction like Rending Volley and additional copies of Reckless Rage against opposing creature decks to slow them down, and Showdown of the Skalds which is great against the slower, more interactive decks as a way to grind into longer games.
You also have some solid counterplay to the Amalia Combo deck which is usually a nightmare for other aggro decks such as Boros Convoke and Humans since you can use your protection spells such as Loran's Escape to give Wildgrowth Walker indestructible, or Monstrous Rage to make Amalia Benavides Aguirre skip hitting 20 power which results in the game ending in a draw since it results in an uncontrolled loop.
Weaknesses: Even with the protection spells, the matchup against decks packing a lot of cheap interaction like Rakdos Vampires is very difficult since they do a very good job of keeping your creatures off the board. Additionally Azorius Control can be a tricky matchup for the same reason, although their removal tends to be more expensive and they take much longer to turn the corner so the matchup there isn’t as bad as against the Rakdos decks.
When is it good to play? Heroic will be at its best when there’s less cheap removal being run.
Rakdos Midrange
Rakdos Midrange
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
8 mythic
42 rare
6 uncommon
4 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (15)
Artifacts (3)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$595.6
Sideboard
15 Cards
$47.91
This is a traditional midrange deck full of very efficient early interaction to slow down the opponent’s early gameplan, and generically strong threats that cement your position once you’re ahead. Due to the nature of being a pure midrange deck and not having as much synergy, the deck is very flexible going into games two and three where you can pivot your game plan depending on the deck you’re up against.
Black provides excellent options for early interaction in the form of discard spells like Thoughtseize that are generically good across the board game 1 (but are particularly effective against control and combo), and cheap spot removal like Fatal Push and Heartless Act that are great at slowing creature decks down.
In terms of your threats you have Fable of the Mirror-Breaker which provides an insane amount of value for 3 mana, Bloodtithe Harvester which can apply pressure or be used as removal (and pairs very nicely with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki), Bonecrusher Giant which provides you additional early interaction and a big body that can apply pressure, Graveyard Trespasser which is difficult to interact with, and provides incidental graveyard hate and lifegain, and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse which applies enormous pressure, often winning the game on its own if left unanswered, and really punishes decks that draw a lot like Izzet Phoenix.
Your ability to pivot as a midrange deck gives the deck a relatively flat matchup spread compared to most decks, meaning you’ve got a decent chance against most decks which really rewards both tight play, and good card selection especially in the sideboard. The deck being low synergy means you can afford to make more changes going into games 2 and 3 meaning you tend to get a lot more mileage out of your sideboard cards.
Weaknesses: As is the case with a lot of midrange decks, this is a deck that you can tune to beat anything, but not everything, and so tweaking your deck to improve one specific matchup will generally make you less well equipped for another matchup. You’re also a deck that usually relies on interacting to get a foothold in the game, and so if your interaction doesn’t line up well, especially against a faster deck, you can often get punished.
In terms of specific matchups, you really tend to struggle against decks that are good at generating a lot of value such as Keruga Fires, decks that have a lot of good topdecks like Quintorius Combo, and decks that are good at producing multiple x for 1s like Amalia Combo (although this particular build does have a lot of sideboard cards specifically for that matchup).
When is it good to play? Generally, Rakdos Midrange will always be a decent option if your deck is built well for the current meta since you can adapt your game plan and interaction suite depending on what you’re up against. Having said that you are naturally weak to decks with strong engines that can repeatedly produce value such as Keruga Fires, or decks that have a lot of good topdecks like Quintorius combo so if those decks are very popular it may not be the best choice.
Quintorius Combo
Quintorius Combo by taku123
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
8 mythic
35 rare
4 uncommon
13 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Planeswalkers (4)
Creatures (25)
Sorceries (4)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$277.52
Sideboard
15 Cards
$114.99
This is a slightly modified version of taku123’s list who recently got top 8 in a Pioneer Challenge with it, along with multiple 5-0 leagues (their version is running 4 Dragonlord Dromoka in the sideboard which isn’t legal in Explorer yet so I’ve replaced those with 4 Thrun, Breaker of Silencefor the control matchup).
If you cast Quintorius Kand and Discover 4, you’re guaranteed to either hit a Spark Double or a Clever Impersonator. Both of these clones can make a copy of Quintorius Kand which also drains the opponent for 2 when a card is cast from discover, and Spark Double allows you to make non-legendary copies of Quintorius Kand which means the passive drain 2 ability starts stacking in multiples meaning you usually just drain the opponent for over 20 damage in one turn, assuming you haven’t drawn multiples of the clones.
This works similarly with Trumpeting Carnosaur whereby you’re guaranteed to either hit Quintorius Kand which sets up the combo I just talked about, or hit the clones which can make copies of the Trumpeting Carnosaur to go again.
The big innovation in this build is that it’s running Gyruda, Doom of Depths which works really nicely here since it can hit Trumpeting Carnosaur to combo off, the clones can make copies of Gyruda, Doom of Depths to go again, or at worst you can hit one of your other big creatures like Horned Loch-Whale or Beanstalk Giant This is a big addition since it gives the deck more redundancy for comboing, and more payoffs for ramping which makes cards that I was previously less high on like Beanstalk Giantand Greater Tanuki much more effective enablers.
Being a deck that has access to 12 cards that can often win you the game on the spot even if you have no board presence whatsoever is incredibly strong and makes it very risky for the opponent to ever tap out against you. It also makes discard spells much less effective since you have a number of incredibly high impact draws off the top, and it goes way over the top of any other deck that doesn’t end the game quickly, or run counterspells which accounts for a good number of decks.
Weaknesses: By far the biggest weakness of this deck is to counterspells since your whole gameplan revolves around resolving a 5 or 6 mana spell. You do have some counterplay to this through Cavern of Souls, and Thrun, Breaker of Silenceand Reduce from the sideboard, but counterspell heavy decks like Control and Spirits are still difficult matchups.
Additionally, not running much interaction means that you can struggle against other decks that can race you such as Amalia Combo that can win as early as turn 3, so you can struggle against other decks on faster draws, especially if you’re reliant on using Trumpeting Carnosaur or Gyruda, Doom of Depths since they’re a turn slower than Quintorius Kand.
When is it good to play? This is generally a good choice as long as counterspells and tempo decks aren’t very popular.
Keruga Fires
Keruga Fires by Arne Huschenbeth
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
10 mythic
47 rare
2 uncommon
1 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (13)
Enchantments (20)
Lands (27)
60 Cards
$640.86
Sideboard
15 Cards
$48.81
This is a very powerful deck largely built around Fires of Invention and Enigmatic Incarnation that is also running Keruga, the Macrosage as its companion to provide additional card advantage in the midgame and ensure you can grind against other slower decks like Rakdos Midrange and Rakdos Sacrifice. Running Keruga, the Macrosage does mean you can’t run any cheap spells but you can get around this with cards like Bonecrusher Giant and Leyline Binding that allow you to interact on turn 2 while still meeting the companion requirements.
Even though you are a relatively slow deck you do have good ways to recover from behind such as Temporary Lockdown and the toolbox that Enigmatic Incarnation provides allows you to interact with whatever problematic permanents the opponent might have with Cavalier of Dawn or generically powerful cards like Omnath, Locus of Creation or Kenrith, the Returned King if you’re at parity. On top of that you can also sacrifice Leyline Binding to Enigmatic Incarnation allowing you to cheat incredibly powerful 7 drops like Atraxa, Grand Unifier or Koma, Cosmos Serpent as early as turn 4.
Weaknesses: Even with Bonecrusher Giant and Leyline Binding you are still relatively slow to interact in the earlygame which can leave you vulnerable to fast disruptive aggro like Spirits or Humans, although you do have tools to win these matchups especially post-sideboard so they’re definitely still winnable. On top of that you are also quite vulnerable to Azorius Control since you’re typically only casting one spell per turn until you land a Fires of Invention which makes playing through counterspells quite difficult.
When is it good to play? When the metagame is a bit slower and players are trying to out value each other, this is an excellent option.
Rakdos Sacrifice
Rakdos Sacrifice by Logan Nettles
by Vertyx
Explorer
best of 3
5 mythic
26 rare
22 uncommon
7 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Companion
Creatures (15)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$313.84
Sideboard
15 Cards
$24.35
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: You’re very strong against creature decks but you do usually take a while to close the game out which means you’re naturally weak to a deck like Azorius Control that is capable of stabilizing against you given time through sweepers that can reset most of your board like Farewell and Temporary Lockdown Additionally with fewer discard spells than a deck like Rakdos Midrange, you can also struggle against non-creature combos such as Quintorius Combo, or decks that go over the top if you like Keruga Fires.
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.
Gruul Vehicles
Gruul Vehicles by adrik
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
2 mythic
53 rare
0 uncommon
5 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (30)
Artifacts (4)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$275.76
Sideboard
15 Cards
$39.83
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 War to 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.
Abzan Greasefang
Abzan Greasefang
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
10 mythic
36 rare
3 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Instants (4)
Sorceries (12)
Enchantments (3)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$379.22
Sideboard
15 Cards
$69.29
This is a combo deck that is trying to pitch one of it’s powerful vehicles into the graveyard to bring back with haste using Greasefang, Okiba Boss as early as turn three! Even if you can’t pull off the combo early in the game, bringing back something like Parhelion II later in the game is still usually good enough to win since it represents 13 hasty damage in the air, produces two 4/4 flyers, and then threatens to do it again the following turn if you can pitch Parhelion II back into the graveyard.
The deck has great ways of filling the graveyard in the early game to enable the fastest starts off cards like Grisly Salvage (which can pitch vehicles into the graveyard at the end of the opponent’s turn two often allowing you to combo off out of nowhere which punishes the opponent for tapping out), Witherbloom Command (which is also very useful since it kills most of the commonly played graveyard hate like Unlicensed Hearse and Rest in Peace), Vessel of Nascency, and creatures like Raffine's Informant.
A real strength of this deck is that it can also play a reasonable fair game plan if the opponent can stop the Greasefang, Okiba Boss combo off the back of cards like Esika's Chariot and Liliana of the Veil. To round it all off, you also get access to Thoughtseize which improves matchups against control and combo, and often allows you to clear the way to combo off.
Weaknesses: The combo itself is weak to both graveyard hate, and instant-speed creature removal which are both fairly common in the format, so certain decks which have a high density of those sorts of effects will often force you to win off your ‘fair’ game plan, which sometimes won’t be good enough. There is also sometimes a disparity in the speed and quality of your hands with some hands allowing you to combo on turn three, and other hands being slower and more reliant on getting good mills.
When is it good to play? Abzan Greasefang is a very strong generically powerful deck that is going to be good to play assuming the format isn’t full of decks packing a high density of instant-speed removal and graveyard hate.
Azorius Spirits
Azorius Spirits by remf_mtgo
by Vertyx
Explorer
best of 3
0 mythic
41 rare
14 uncommon
5 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (24)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$226.78
Sideboard
15 Cards
$72.51
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.
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 will generally be a good choice against the slower decks looking to cast expensive spells like Azorius Control, Quintorius Combo, and Keruga Fires, and struggles the most against decks packing a lot of cheap interaction like Rakdos Midrange and Rakdos Sacrifice.
Izzet Creativity
Izzet Gearhulk Creativity by levunga21
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
12 mythic
27 rare
1 uncommon
20 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (4)
Instants (26)
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$279.96
Sideboard
15 Cards
$18.01
This is a control combo deck that is looking to use Indomitable Creativity targeting your own creature or artifact tokens to cheat big game-winning creatures into play. There are a number of viable builds of Creativity including versions that cheat Atraxa, Grand Unifierinto play, and versions that try and set up x=2 to cheat Worldspine Wurm and Xenagos, God of Revels into play for a combo finish, but I prefer the versions that use Creativity to cheat Torrential Gearhulk into play since they’re more low to the ground, faster, have less clunky draws, and can pack a lot of interaction which I feel is very important right now.
As mentioned this is a control deck at its core with a lot of cheap creature removal such as Fiery Impulse and Torch the Tower, and counterspells like Make Disappear and Spell Pierce. You also have cantrips that help enable Indomitable Creativity such as Deduce and Stern Lesson which provide you with card advantage and artifact tokens so your Indomitable Creativity is live.
This build also runs some cards that are very high impact with Torrential Gearhulk such as Magma Opus and Sublime Epiphany, with Magma Opus also working as another Creativity enabler, and a tool to ramp you into a potential hardcast Torrential Gearhulk. Speaking of which, one of the big upsides of this build is that your Indomitable Creativity targets are actually castable meaning you have less clunky draws, and don’t have to dedicate slots to cards like Volcanic Spite to put your Creativity targets back in the deck if you happen to draw them.
As a control deck you also have solid tools in the sideboard to enable you to pivot depending on the matchup in the form of additional interaction against creature decks like Rending Volley and Anger of the Gods, and additional counterspells against control and combo such as Mystical Dispute and Disdainful Stroke.
Weaknesses: As a combo control deck you have less interaction compared to a regular control deck which can definitely matter against decks that require a high density of removal such as Amalia Combo, and it also means you’re generally unfavored against pure control decks since they’ll likely have more counterspells than you. Additionally being reliant on red damage-based removal means you can struggle to take out bigger creatures like Vein Ripper and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, and you can also struggle against tempo decks like Humans and Spirits (although neither of those are particularly popular right now).
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.
Tier 3 Decks
Mono White Humans
Mono White Humans
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
0 mythic
29 rare
17 uncommon
14 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (32)
Instants (2)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$174.86
Sideboard
15 Cards
$83.25
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 struggles a lot against creature-based combo decks which cards like Thalia, Guardian of Thraben can’t slow down such as Amalia Combo and Abzan Greasefang. Additionally the deck can also struggle against decks packing a lot of interaction such as Rakdos Sacrifice.
When is it good to play? Mono White Humans is a generically good deck if the format is full of slower decks built around non-creature cards.
Selesnya Angels
Selesnya Angels
by Altheriax
Explorer
best of 3
5 mythic
44 rare
0 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (30)
Instants (4)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$301.28
Sideboard
15 Cards
$36.25
This is a tribal creature deck that is focused around life gain synergies, flyers and creatures with high toughness which make them great on defense. This deck is amazing against aggressive and creature decks because the Angels are very good at blocking, and the amount of incidental life gain the deck has can undo even the fastest starts from aggro decks.
This is also one of the best Collected Company decks in the format since the deck has a lot of very powerful and synergistic two and three mana creatures that can suddenly win the game out of nowhere if you get a good hit (usually involving some combination of Righteous Valkyrie, Resplendent Angel, Giada, Font of Hope, or Bishop of Wings). The deck is also good at turning the corner once you’ve stabilized, especially if you can hit the 27 life threshold for Righteous Valkyrie, or the 5 life threshold for Resplendent Angel since most of your creatures have flying which can get in for a lot of damage in the air.
Weaknesses: By far the biggest weakness of angels is that it’s matchup spread is pretty disparate. It’s really strong against aggro, sacrifice, and creature-based decks in general, but has an awful matchup against decks packing a lot of interaction or sweepers, especially Azorius Control which makes it a risky deck to run while the more interactive decks are a big part of the metagame.
When is it good to play? If the meta is largely made up of aggro, sacrifice, and other creature decks then angels is a great choice, but if Control or other more interactive decks are a part of the meta, it can be a risky choice.
Golgari Elves
Golgari Elves
by DoggertQBones
Explorer
best of 3
1 mythic
40 rare
8 uncommon
11 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (35)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (1)
Lands (19)
60 Cards
$287.46
Sideboard
15 Cards
$85.85
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.
Mono Red Aggro
Mono Red Aggro
by MTG Arena Zone
Explorer
best of 3
7 mythic
18 rare
15 uncommon
20 common
0
1
2
3
4
5
6+
Creatures (26)
Artifacts (3)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$93.04
Sideboard
15 Cards
$35.17
This is a very ‘pure’ aggro deck that is just looking to get creatures into play fast and kill the opponent before they get a chance to stabilize. Mono red has access to a lot of haste creatures and burn spells which are great at forcing the last few points of damage through, especially if the opponent doesn’t play carefully and leave back blockers. Embercleave and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell are also both great top end cards that allow you to force lethal through even if the opponent is doing a good job defending against you.
This deck is great at punishing slow decks, especially if they’re not running a lot of early interaction, and it has access to some great sideboard cards like Rampaging Ferocidon (that goes a long way to solve bad matchups against a deck like Selesnya Angels and Cat/Oven sacrifice decks), Goblin Chainwhirler (which is great against other low to the ground creature decks, especially with a Torbran, Thane of Red Fell in play since it will deal 3 damage to everything instead), and efficient targeted removal for certain matchups like Redcap Melee and Fry.
Weaknesses: The deck is very one dimensional so will tend to struggle against decks with a lot of interaction or sweepers that can stabilize against your early aggression. It can also struggle against creature decks that go ‘bigger’ than you like Mono Green (which has bigger creatures that can stonewall you if you don’t have Embercleave or Torbran, Thane of Red Fell), or Selesnya Angels (which is a really rough matchup due to the creatures with high toughness paired with a ton of life gain, although Rampaging Ferocidon does help a lot if you draw it).
When is it good to play? Mono red aggro is always a pretty decent option especially if you like faster matches, assuming that bigger creature decks like Selesnya Angels, or decks with a lot of interaction like Azorius Control aren’t very popular.
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Altheriax
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