[Top 10] Best MTG Arena Decks That Wreck Hard! (June 2020)
Ever wonder what beasts are growling, clawing, and fighting each other in Magic The Gathering Arena? Curious about what cards top the tower of greatness? I am the right gal for that. I assure you that Magic The Gathering Arena and the traditional card game differ in certain aspects like what cards are available and what types of decks rank out others but for competitive play, they are nearly identical.
Today, we will see what decks are fighting for the throne of the top dog. What decks and cards are outplaying the meta today?
While the meta only shifted slightly after Ikoria came out in May, our top tier decks do NOT have any Companions as they are marginally weaker now. ( In case you didn’t know.) For our list today we will go from Least to Greatest decks that wreck hard in the meta today.
10. Lilianna’s Mutated Zombies
I'm a sucker for a good Lilianna deck. I hope you are too as this takes the cake at number 10 for top pro deck plays in MTG Arena. Lilianna is always good but with zombies, it's even better. On a good note, this deck is only 87.55 dollars for if you want to replicate it for real play.
Lilianna will always find herself topping charts even if it is by the skin of her hair this time. This deck is all about her and Zombies. What she can do for them, and what they can do for her. A deck like this is all about synergy between cards, and don’t you forget it because it will punish you in gameplay.
Pros for this deck:
Mono Black
Zombies and Lifelink, go get it
Continous token Creation
Capabilities for combinations are open from drawing, token creation, and graveyard control
How to Play this deck Effectively?
ALWAYS GO FOR A ZOMBIE. The first zombie on the board should either be a token by Lilianna or Lazotap Reaver.
Lillianna has to reach the mainboard before turn 8. Kayla’s ghost form will come in handy for keeping her out on the mainboard while utilizing your creatures mutate ability
Always have creatures
Card List
4 Lilianna, Dreadhorde general
1 Chittering Harvester
4 Insatiable Hemophage
2 Dirge bat
4 Tyramet calls the dead
2 Murderous Rider
2 embodiment of Agonies
2 Mire Triton
3 Lazotap Reaver
2 Heartless Act
2 Aid the Fallen
4 Zagoth Mamba
3 Kaya's Ghostform
20 Swamps
4 castle lockwain
9. Mono-red Calvcade
I hear the word burn and my heart skips a beat. I always love seeing a mono-red deck take the charts because it is not only an easy standard deck to understand but it is also the deck that I grew up with as a kid. Call it sheer attraction, but I had to list it.
Unlike Lilianna, this will a pure damage deck. The job here is to kill the opponent swiftly. Play creatures with haste and swing, swing, and swing even if the opponent has a creature.
Pros for this deck
Kill things quick. It’s like having the ultimate weapon in any game.
Play cards rapidly
Easy to understand
How to Play this deck Effectively?
I would suggest trying to get Chandra out quickly as a way to reuse your spells in the graveyard. But if you are looking for a quick successful game, I would say utilize your instances with your creatures.
Tibalt, Rakish Investigator is also another great source of stalling an opponent because it stops life gain on them. Ever want to trigger an opponent?
Fervent Champion shouldn’t be that bad to cast for a turn one banger.
All burn red decks require you to beat the opponent and not dilly dally. Its harder to kill an opponent during the late game with a red deck.
Card List:
3 Tibalt, Rakish Investigator
3 Scorching Dragonfire
2 fry
3 Embreth Shieldbreaker
2 Redcap Mele
4 Blazing Volley
4 Torban, Thane of Redfell
4 Chandra, Acolyte of flame
4 heartfire
4 Forbidden friendship
4 Calvcade of calamity
4 tin street dodger
4 scorch spitter
4 Grim Initiate
4 Fervent Champion
19 Mountain
3 Castle Embereth
On a side note, 53% of the community is running this deck hard in Arena. A huge possibility that it is wrecking hard because the burn is always great.
8.Rakdos Sacrifice
I have a friend whose gamer tag remains Rakdos Lord because he absolutely loves a good Rakdos deck. I decided to nudge into his deck creation skills and check out what he built in Magic The Gathering Arena. This deck is played by 55% of the community which means people might tweak it a bit. However, for me, I think his 80% win streak in Arena is a good enough reason to use his tweaked deck as well.
A Rakdos Sacrifice deck is similar to a good old Jund deck in the fact that it
It is essentially doing small but intricate plays to win the game. Mayhem Devil is the top threat in this deck, and for a good reason. Mayhem Devil is a 3/3 and whenever a player sacrifices a permanent it deals one damage. Who doesn’t like the power of Mayhem?
Pros for this deck
Red and Black
Counter against mono-blue
Who doesn't like to sacrifice and hurt the enemy at the same time? Win/Win
How to play this deck and actually utilize its win con?
Sacrifice whenever you can. Rakdos is similar to a Jund deck in the fact that it is familiar in terms of how it functions. However, it is weaker by a small margin.
Rakdos does use the graveyard and exile function
Remember that sacrifice is the name of the game
Cards:
3 Act of Treason
1 Pharika’s Libation
2 Call of the Death-Dweller
2 Scorching Dragonfire
2 Embereth Shieldbreaker
2 Noxious Grasp
3 Agonizing Remorse
4 Mayhem Devil
4 Woe Strider
4 Midnight Reaper
2 Deathorde butcher
4 Robber of the Rich
4 Priest of the forgotten gods
4 Witch’s Oven
4 Claim the first borne
3 Gutterbones
4 Cauldron familiar
4 Fabled passage
6 Mountain
4 Bloddcrypt
7 Swamp
2 Castle Lockwain
7.Jund Sacrifice
You can't just talk about Rakdos without bringing up Jund. Awkwardly enough, Jund is played at a fifty-six percentile which is only marginally more popular than Rakdos because it does sacrifice better. They both wreck hard but they tend to differ in popularity in terms of playability. This is why I placed them so close together this month because not only is Core set 2021 stalled we now have a slight lull before new cards are out physically because of Covid-19.
I think it is best to say that Jund without companions makes my number seven fairly because it uses food tokens.
Pros for this deck
Red, White, Black
Food token Creations and damage
Steal other peoples creatures is the name of the game
How to play this deck and actually utilize its win con?
The whole point of sacrifice is that you get rid of one permanent in exchange for doing some damage, or hurting the enemy.
You are going to steal creatures. This is a fact. Do it. Don’t shy away from this.
Use the power of food tokens to beef up your guys.
When going up against a counter deck be sure to use the cards you don’t need first and keep the ones you do for the right moment.
The win-con here is Mayhem Devil, claim the firstborn, and Gilded Goose all being used.
Card List:
3 Bolas Citidel
4 Mayhem Devil
4 Woe Strider
4 Trail of crumbs
4 Priest of Forgotten Gods
4 Witch’s Oven
4 Gilded Goose
4 Claim the firstborn
4 Cauldron Familiar
4 Fabled Passage
2 Temple of Abandon
4 Stomping Ground
3 Overgrown Tomb
3 Forest
3 Mountain
3 Bloodcrypt
3 Swamp
6.MW Lifegain
Lifegain is always great and it tends to outperform a lot of decks aside from graveyard control and mill decks. If there is one kind of deck I am special with it is life gain. I’m also a sucker for a good cat in any deck. ( Hello cat fans out there.) What makes NW lifegain special in the meta is that it has fostered a thorn for creatures and life gain by allowing them to also exile your opponent’s cards.
Not only do you have the power for life gain but you have the ability to exile cards which makes it difficult to battle. Most control decks will run out of spells before you lose a life. I think this is why I prefer to run this deck in MTG Arena myself. ( Be aware this deck does have a companion in it which is Lurrus of the dream den.) You can replace it with a simple fix like a platinum angel or a cat with lifelink and lifegain. This is a choice call.
Pros for this deck
Ability to exile your opponent. Sending cards out of the playing field is the biggest lockdown you can do against a heavy creature deck. Typically, control decks won’t be as bothered by it.
You can potentially protect yourself against any color in the game with Alseid of Life’s Bounty. ( The best stalemate is to protect yourself from your opponents target color. It's effective and strong.)
Options for days. By having more ways than one to effectively defend and fight against another deck, you become a force to reckon with.
How to play this deck like there is nothing the opponent can do to you?
Gain Life. Don’t ever leave a chance to gain life to pass. Use it, abuse it, and make it happen.
Make tokens or beef up your creatures
Stomp, swing, fly away to victory.
Card List:
1 Elspeth Conquers Death
2 Luminous Broodmoth
4 Gideon's Company
3 Ajani, strength of pride
2 Lurrus of the dream den
3 Heliod, Sun-Crowned
3 Banishing Light
3 Impassioned Orator
3 Daxos,Blessed by the Sun
4 Ajani's pride mate
2 The Ozolith
4 Alsied of Life's bounty
23 plains
5.Boros Winota
Win is in the title of this deck. How can you not expect to beat out the rest if you aren’t playing deck ready to win like this one? Winota is a new deck that recently got popular in the meta right after Ikoria got released. Winota is a weaker version of Kalia. It can bring out its friends only if its friends are in the top six cards of your library. However, it is still a contender in the meta.
In an EDH deck, Kalia was my queen. When it comes to seeing a single card that can pull a similar move I am a sucker. Then with Tajic, you can stop combat damage. Anyways, my personal opinion is that Winota deserves to be above life gain in the way that it can just manhandle its way through nearly any situation.
Pros for this deck
It can reflect damage back to a creature using Truefire captain. ( I get a feeling it will be banned later.)
You can also protect yourself from other colors using this deck
Let’s talk wreckage using your own creature friends
How to play this deck and actually utilize its win con?
Make sure you can protect yourself from the enemies strongest color
Then burn and fight the enemy till they fall
If you can’t use sheer will power to overpower the enemy, start protecting yourself against color and use Winona
Cards List:
2 Kenrith, the returned King
4 Winota, Joiner of forces
3 Truefire Captain
2 Haktos the Unscarred
2 Taijic, Legions Edge
3 Legion Warboss
4 Chandra, Acolyte of flame
3 Lavabrink Venturer
4 Raise the Alarm
4 Charming Prince
3 Gods willing
4 Alseid of Life’s Bounty
4 Fabled Passage
4 Sacred Foundry
7 Mountain
8 Plains
4.Orzhov, Aristocats
Cats? Did I hear cats are coming in swinging for number four? I know all of the above decks tend to be killer in their utilization skills but bring me a good multifaceted deck that has been all the rage over the last few weeks. I can’t explain how much popularity this deck is gathering but I can say that it has a high-win rate because of Gray Merchant of Aspho.
Pros for this deck
It is called friendly fire for a reason. All is fair in the game of love and war. You take damage, I take damage, the other guy takes damage...we all get hurt.
Devotion to black is easy to achieve when you are using only a black deck.
Come on kitty cat Ayara is enough said here
How to make a pro play with this deck?
Cats, cats, and cats. Do a lot of damage and don’t stop.
Devote to black
Utilize your creatures
Swing babby swing
Card List:
3 Gray Merchants of Aspho
4 Spawn of Mayhem
2 Rankle, Master of Pranks
2 Nightmare Shephard
4 Drag to the underworld
2 Rotting Regisaur
4 Drill bit
2 Ayara, first of lockthwain
4 cruel celebrant
4 Corpse Knight
1 Tyramet, chosen from death
3 Witch’s Oven
2 Cauldron familiar
3 Indatha Triome
2 temple of silence
11 swamp
4 Godless Shrine
3 castle Lockthwain
3.Mono-green Stompy
I have a personal love-hate with green decks. I love playing the decks but I hate battling against them. This is why a solid green deck makes my number three for top wreckage decks. Overall, it is not only competitive but strong in the playing field. The harder creatures hit the rougher it is to block, and the more beat down occurs.
Again, I play a cat deck in EDH which is a combination of white and green. I use it by utilizing equipment and powering up my cats. I think the reason that many of us turn to mono-green is that we remember the days of overgrowth where we could power our creatures and just swing without caring about our enemy.
The true pros to green
Overrun the field with your fancy beasts and beat those darn zombies up
Green is always good for being a slow build into a scary and hard to deal with deck
If you can play it, you should play it. Decks like these are all about keeping creatures on the field. ( I am a sucker for rapid-firing creatures.
Is there really a bad way to play this deck?
Buff, buff, and keep buffing your creatures till you can’t anymore.
You can gain life but focus more on attacking and keeping your creatures alive
Ensure you have land
Have fun bashing in your opponents
Card List:
4 Shifting ceratops
3 Oakhame Adversary
3 Band together
3 Kraul Harpooner
2 soul-guide Lantern
3 Vivian-Arkbow ranger
3 Questing beasts
4 gemrazer
3 Yorvo, Lord of Garenbrig
4 lovestruck beast
4 wildbourne preserver
4 ram through
4 barkhide troll
4 pelt collector
4 stonecoil serpent
19 Forest
4 castle Garenbirg
2. Mutate Removal
They say this card is busted and soon to be on a ban list. But then mutate is an odd trigger that works better than devotion in some areas. Come on, Exiling cards just to automatically put them in the field is nearly busted. However, the cost of mutation is what sets this bad boy apart. Yes, it will stomp. Yes, it can win. But a good burn or counter deck can really set this to fail. However, it still has the power to plow through its opponents.
Anyways, I am discovering a lot about mutate and what it does. I think that it deserves its place at second.
Pros for this deck
Mutate allows you to play permanents with no mana cost after exiling them
Creatures are fun but flying is better
Ability to create tokens, and scry using mutate
How to do it as the pros do?
I am fairly new at Mutate. My suggestion would be to use mutate as much as possible
Get as many lands as possible out
Destroy your enemy
Due to its newness, All I can say is experiment with the mutate option.
Card List:
8 Island
4 Swiftwater cliff
11 forest
1 temple of mystery
4 Thornwood falls
1 opt
4 unsummon
4 Arboreal Grazer
2 collision/ colossus
3 glowstone recluse
4 trumpeting Gnarr
4 Migratory Greathorn
4 parcelbeast
4 Dreamtail Heron
2 puncing shoreshark
1 Auspicous starrix
2 Illuna, Apex of Wishes
1 Genesis Ultimatum
1.Abzan Wolfs
Wolves are newly introduced archetype into the world of magic. Wolves act as a strange mix of being pack animals and life gainers with strong strength. The more of them you have the better off you are. This deck reigns number one to me because it is new, innovative, and difficult to trample over or counter. I find it to be a mysteriously great deck.
Pros for this deck
Wolves are pack animals by nature
You can never go wrong with stronger token creation skills
Creatures will always be invaluable but this is a supreme deck above normal creature decks because you can return your wolves from the graveyard to the battlefield without any cost. ( It may get banned...maybe.)
How do you Play my number one pick as the pros do?
Creatures are fun. Wolves are like cats but they do not need equipment
When it comes to wolves you want many so use tokens to your advantage
You can always place in an elemental fox into this deck in exchange for a Ferocious pup but those are choice options
I think this will be the deck on top tier till it gets banned
Card List:
1 Plains
3 Godless Shrine
1 Swamp
2 Temple of Silence
2 Forest
3 Indatha triome
3 Temple Garden
2 Temple of Malady
2 Temple of Plenty
2 Fabled Passage
3 Gilded Goose
4 Wolfwillow Heaven
3 Mythos of Nethroi
2 Arlin’s wolf
2 Ferocious pup
2 Icon of ancestry
1 Mantle of the wolf
4 Nightpack Ambusher
4 Wicked Wolf
1 Nethroi, Apex of Death
2 Arlin, the voice of the pack
3 Garruk, cursed huntsman
2 Eerie Ultrimatu
