A Red-Green (Gruul) Legends deck in MTG Arena’s Explorer format is an aggressive, midrange strategy that leverages powerful legendary creatures to dominate the board. The deck combines red’s explosive aggression with green’s ramp and resilience, allowing it to apply constant pressure.

There are currently a lot of Legends creatures of the Gruul colors that can synergize well in the aggro strategy. Key cards often include Halana and Alena, Partners to boost other creatures, Ruby, Daring Tracker, and Domri, Anarch of Bolas for mana acceleration. With access to legendary creatures that synergize well with each other, the deck can generate overwhelming board presence while maintaining efficient resource management.

The strength of the deck lies in its ability to curve out efficiently, using mana advantage provided by Green to accelerate into powerful threats ahead of schedule. Unlike traditional Gruul aggro decks, which rely on wide board states, the Legends build focuses on individual creatures with high impact, often making them difficult to remove effectively due to cards like Thrun, Breaker of Silence, or hard-hitters like Anzrag, the Quake-Mole.

The inclusion of Boseiju, Who Endures, and Sokenzan, Crucible of Defiance offers additional utility, ensuring the deck can interact with opposing threats while keeping up the tempo. By leveraging the natural synergy between legendary creatures and the aggressive efficiency of Gruul, the deck thrives in a format that rewards both aggression and resilience.

Check out the deck’s gameplay below as our card pool continues to explore its potential in the format.

Magic: The Gathering (MTG) is a complex and engaging card game that has captivated players for decades. For new players, diving into the world of MTG can be daunting. However, MTG Arena provides an excellent platform for beginners to learn the game. This guide will explore why MTG Arena is the best platform for new players, covering its user-friendly interface, comprehensive tutorials, accessibility, and community support.

1. User-Friendly Interface

Intuitive Design

MTG Arena’s interface is designed to be intuitive and easy to navigate. The layout is clean, with clearly labeled buttons and menus that guide new players through the various aspects of the game. The drag-and-drop mechanics for card play and the visual indicators for available actions help beginners understand the flow of the game.

Visual Cues and Feedback

The platform provides visual cues and feedback to assist new players in understanding game mechanics. For example, highlighted cards indicate potential plays and glowing effects show activated abilities. These visual aids help players learn by doing, reinforcing game concepts through practice.

2. Comprehensive Tutorials

Step-by-Step Guidance

MTG Arena offers a series of comprehensive tutorials that walk new players through the basics of the game. These tutorials cover essential topics such as deck building, mana management, and combat strategies. By breaking down complex mechanics into manageable lessons, MTG Arena makes it easier for beginners to grasp the fundamentals.

Interactive Learning

The tutorials are interactive, allowing players to practice what they have learned in real time. This hands-on approach helps reinforce learning and builds confidence. Players can replay tutorials as needed, ensuring they fully understand each concept before moving on.

3. Accessibility

Free-to-Play Model

MTG Arena operates on a free-to-play model, making it accessible to a wide audience. New players can start playing without any financial commitment, exploring the game at their own pace. The option to earn in-game currency and rewards through play further enhances accessibility.

Cross-Platform Availability

MTG Arena is available on multiple platforms, including PC, Mac, and mobile devices. This cross-platform availability ensures that players can access the game from their preferred device, making it easy to play anytime, anywhere.

4. Community Support

Active Online Community

MTG Arena boasts a vibrant and active online community. New players can join forums, social media groups, and Discord channels to connect with experienced players. These communities provide valuable advice, deck suggestions, and support, helping beginners navigate the game more effectively.

Regular Updates and Events

Wizards of the Coast, the company behind MTG Arena, regularly updates the platform with new content and events. These updates keep the game fresh and exciting, providing new challenges and opportunities for learning. Special events, such as draft weekends and themed tournaments, offer new players additional ways to engage with the game and improve their skills.

5. Learning at Your Own Pace

Self-Paced Progression

One of the significant advantages of MTG Arena is that it allows players to learn at their own pace. There is no pressure to keep up with others, and players can take the time they need to understand the game fully. This self-paced progression is ideal for beginners who may need extra time to grasp certain concepts.

Practice Modes

MTG Arena offers practice modes where new players can hone their skills without the pressure of competitive play. These modes provide a safe environment to experiment with different strategies and decks, allowing players to learn through trial and error.

Conclusion

MTG Arena stands out as the best platform for new players to learn Magic: The Gathering due to its user-friendly interface, comprehensive tutorials, accessibility, and strong community support. By providing an intuitive and supportive environment, MTG Arena makes it easier for beginners to dive into the world of MTG and develop their skills. Whether you’re just starting or looking to improve your game, MTG Arena offers the tools and resources needed to succeed.

The recent Magic: the Gathering Standard format tournaments under the BO1 category on Magic Arena showed the Top three Tier 1 decks were still Mono-White Aggro, Izzet Epiphany, and Mono-Green Aggro. The decklists made a few adjustments given the rise of other archetypes in the metagame, in particular, the Mono-Black Control and Orzhov Midrange decks. I am also looking for Mono-Black Zombies to rise in the ranks after this weekend’s Innistrad Championships.

Anywho, here are what the Tier 1 decklists build would look like.

Reference: https://mtgazone.com/standard-bo1-metagame-tier-list/

Last Saturday we saw finally an activity in our local Magic: the Gathering Iloilo community. That is because we were finally able to hold our tournament via the Magic Arena platform. I sense the local players were very eager to play Magic again but because of the several weeks of ECQ here in Iloilo City, even the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms Prerelease was moved to a later date.

Anywho, about 14 players signed up for a Saturday night schedule (from the initial 16 players) and we used Discord for the pairings, decklist, and rankings. That means four rounds of gameplay and the Standard deck archetypes expected were from the Top Tier list in the metagame currently. Examples are Sultai Control, Temur Adventures, and Mono-Red Aggro.

Here below is the final ranking after four rounds of Standard gameplay.

MTG Iloilo Arena Standard Tourney (August 14, 2021)

1st jimmy (1fabled passage + 1 foil afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
2nd speedy (1fabled passage + 1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
3th mark (1fabled passage + 1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
4th jd (1fabled passage + 1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
5th raymund (1fabled passage + 1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
6th floyd (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
7th aj (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
8th andrew (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
9th rei (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
10th ericson (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
11th erl (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
12th ace (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
13th jude (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)
14th dean (1 afr bakod pack + dnd binder)

The Magic: the Gathering strategy of having only one creature that can kill opponents out of nowhere exists in the Standard metagame. The deck archetype is Mono-White Magecraft. The term as introduced from the Strixhaven set is a stronger version of Prowess and it also benefits from each copy version of the spell.

Unfortunately, this archetype didn’t have the need to use cards from the Adventures in the Forgotten Realms set maybe because of maintaining the consistency though a few card tech won’t hurt. That is per my personal touch as I might consider some one-of essentials to be part of the list. Anyhow, here below is the version of the Mono-White Magecraft Deck for MTG Arena Standard BO1.

18 Plains

4 Defiant Strike
4 Fight as One
4 Light of Hope
4 Speaker of the Heavens
4 Sejiri Shelter
4 Clarion Spirit
4 Clever Lumimancer
4 Guiding Voice
4 Leonin Lightscribe
4 Mavinda, Students’ Advocate
2 Show of Confidence

Sideboard
1 Environmental Sciences
2 Expanded Anatomy
1 Mascot Exhibition
1 Academic Probation
1 Reduce to Memory
1 Inkling Summoning

Reference: https://mtga.untapped.gg/meta/archetypes/1217/mono-white-magecraft

In my days of watching reference Magic: the Gathering Arena gameplay, I have been following CovertGoBlue Youtube Channel where he features and playtests every Magic: the Gathering Arena deck whether it is a Top tier deck or a deck brew. Every video is very educational and fun at the same time as he discussed the deck strategy and play-by-play scenario.

In one of his recent videos, I saw an interesting deck with a theme of Izzet Sharks. He got the list from a fellow MTG Arena Youtuber which he then presented in that video. The list composed of the usual spells of the Izzet deck strategy: spot burn removals, counterspells, card draws, and the like. What is unique is that the top-end cards in Shark Typhoon and Voracious Greatshark.

You can check his MTG Arena gameplay video here below.

CovertGoBlue’s official Youtube channel here.

Yesterday I decided to grind again on MTG Arena and this time on the Quick Zendikar Booster draft format. I only played the Prerelease sealed format on this set last time at our local game store and that I wanted to get a feel more of deckbuilding with the card drafting method. I’ve read a few guides for the card picks and there is a variance of deck strategies that I can base my deck build. I still stick with my Pack 1, Pick 1 as to which my starting colors would be based upon.

I tried Red Green Landfall on my first Zendikar Rising booster draft, which I am quite unsatisfied with because of mediocre cards I’ve passed on and picked. The build was mostly Green with Red for spot removal spells and also some late-game creatures.

Anyways, I still get to optimized the build and after starting with a 2-2 record on the matches, I managed to win straight up to 7.

I faced nailbiting scenarios but I got lucky with the top decks and with optimized gameplay, I was able to survive and won the match. It is a learning experience to appreciate each card’s role and worth in the deck while also checking on the mana curve. That I need to remember for my next draft sessions.

As I am waiting for the equipment to arrive for my planned online game streaming, I am thinking already about what games to feature. Magic: the Gathering Arena is a given choice already in the list and I am also considering other games that I played such as Ragnarok M: Eternal Love. Mobile games are my other option.

The priority though is, of course, Magic Arena and with that, I am thinking about how I can grind my way into building my first Standard deck. I have already redeemed most of the freebie codes and other freebie cards in the game and that is my starting point.

I have read that when starting your first stream, you got to have a goal or objective with a touch of uniqueness. There is already a lot of online streamers nowadays, especially now that the new normal encourages social distancing thus making people stay more at home. This in turn resorted to online access to information and having more people connected and so game streaming has also become more popular.

Some of the popular Magic: the Gathering streaming ideas include card and deck tech, booster drafts, and playing older formats such as Modern. Magic Arena is a widely popular and probably the default platform for online streaming today and so I am also adapting to this one. The next question is: what will be my objective?

Can I make it unique and not the regular Magic Arena streamer guy? That is one of the factors to consider. Maybe I can achieve it via a Standard deck tech, or maybe by adding little spicy bits of information. What would then be my references? These and all other questions that I aim to answer in the coming days.

It has been weeks since I registered and started playing Magic: the Gathering Arena, thanks to the Beta key that JayR gave to me and so far I am enjoying it. The freebies decks and booster packs got me wearing my brewing tin hat again and do the edits of the current decks along with creating new ones out of the current card pool I have. As for this posting, I am sharing two of my favorite decks currently used for Free Play.

The first one is Mono Red Dragons and here below are the screen grabs of the decklist. I have cut out a few less functioning Commons and replaced them with Burn spells and cards from the Kaladesh set.

The second one is a scrapping of limited resource err rendition of a Blue Black Aggro deck coupled with a few Artifacts and cheap spot removals. See the list below.

You will notice the two decks utilized the Common duals aside from the basic lands. I only had those in the precon deck freebies so I might need to grind more in a daily basis in order to buy boosters for the wildcards. Note that these wildcards can be converted into any card that you would want depending on its rarity i.e. Uncommon Wildcards convert to regular Uncommons.

Friends had already made their Tier 1 decks in Standard such as Black Red Aggro and Blue White Approach Control and so I guess I needed to catch up. I will be busy with school again next week so that might need a little strict time management. We will see though.