For anyone who’s suffered through the grind of Magic: The Gathering Arena’s ranked Standard play, it’s easy to lose faith in your strategy and look for help to start stacking up the wins. In the current meta a large number of competitive decks are viable for Standard, and can be ridden all the way to Mythic.
In MTG Arena, the meta is constantly moving. Fresh brews appear week by week, and the best MTG Arena deck of the moment may soon be surpassed by a new variant. It’s not easy to keep up, but don’t worry. Here we’ll take you through some of the best MTG Arena decks available, as well as what makes them so strong to play with, and difficult to play against.
It doesn’t matter whether you play these decks according to specific guides, or make personal tweaks to suit your own playstyle – it’s the overall synergy and strategies available that make these decks feel indestructible, and has seen them played at the highest level of the game.
However, we’ve watched and waited while the dust begins to settle, and we’re now confident we can bring you a list of the very best MTGA standard decks.
These are best MTG Arena decks in Standard right now:
- Best MTG Arena Decks – Naya Runes
- Best MTG Arena Decks – Jeskai Hinata
- Best MTG Arena Decks – Mono-Green Stompy
- Best MTG Arena Decks – Orzhov (or Esper) Midrange
- Best MTG Arena Decks – Boros Aggro
Best MTG Arena Decks – Naya Runes
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty’s enchantments kicked up a storm when the set first launched on MTG Arena, with enchantment decks popping up all over the place in a kaleidoscope of colours. The Naya (that’s White, Red, and Green) deck is the spiciest of the lot, however.
It relies on rune cards from Kaldheim and a neat interaction between two creatures: Jukai Naturalist and Runeforge Champion. If you’re able to get both of those down on the battlefield, then all your runes can be played for free, which often leads to you throwing down five or six free cards in a single turn. And best of all, each rune spell cantrips, meaning it draws a card when you play it, ensuring you never run out of gas.
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It’s not a problem if you can’t quite manage to make the most of the combo though, as Naya Runes decks can easily finish a game without it. They’re filled with efficiently costed creatures and effortless ways to buff them up, so most games will end with you piling on the +1/+1 counters and then barrelling down on your foe with a ginormous Kami of Transience. Free spells and mammoth creatures, what’s not to love?
You can also drop the red from this deck quite easily. Selesnya Enchantments is another top deck right now, and keeps things simple in only two colours.
Best MTG Arena Decks – Jeskai Hinata
The Izzet archetype is looking healthy nonetheless and may still be one of the best MTG Arena decks you can use. However, adding a splash of White into the mix creates an even nastier concoction, a spell-slinging deck that’s as much a blast to play as it is a nightmare to face.
With Jeskai Hinata you’re relying on Hinata Dawn-Crowned to make all your spells cheaper and your opponent’s interaction more costly. You’ve also got the treasure-making and damage-dealing capabilities of Goldspan Dragon on your side – one of the best creatures in Standard.
As far as creatures go, that’s basically your lot. The entire rest of the deck is just Instants and Sorceries. Jeskai Hinata uses a grab bag of irritating tricks: counterspells, removal, and protection spells. It’s super flexible, with lots of interaction and threats. An enormously costly spell, Magma Opus, can then be cheated out ahead of time to close out the game.
Another fun combo deck variant in the same colours uses Lier, Disciple of the Drowned, whose inclusion gives all the spells in your deck Flashback, letting you play every single one of them from the graveyard. And with this deck that’s a lot of spells.
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Once you’ve got enough treasures, you’re able to play an astounding number of these in one turn. Then, after you’re done faffing around, and once your opponent’s looking listless, you simply cast a Show of Confidence and wake them up by smacking them in the face with your Goldspan Dragon, who’s now the size of a house. At least you finish them by doing something flashy!
BEST MTG ARENA DECKS – MONO-Green STOMPY
Okay, that’s enough clever stuff. Here’s a deck that’s been killing it in Standard for ages now and seems to have held its position as one of the best decks on MTG Arena by simply doing exactly what it’s always done: attack, attack, attacking with a load of top quality Green creatures. Your aim with Mono-Green Stompy decks is to hit your opponent hard and fast, pulling into a commanding lead before they can muster a proper defence or – your worst nightmare – find a board wipe spell.
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Stompy by name and stompy by nature, this deck starts aggressive right out the gate, and quickly snowballs out of control with value-generating cards: from the buffing capabilities of Ranger Class to the card draw of Werewolf Packleader. Some variants also use Green’s mana-ramping abilities as a way to stay ahead and get crucial creatures down on the field a turn early.
Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty hasn’t given Mono Green Stompy many new upgrades to try – the main exception being Invoke the Ancients – but its card quality has been enough for it to maintain its place as one of MTG Arena’s best decks.
Best MTG Arena Decks – Orzhov (or Esper) Midrange
Another top MTG deck that’s stayed afloat amidst the rising tide of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, Orzhov (Black-White) Midrange ranked among the best MTG Arena decks for a long time, buoyed by its flexible removal spells; arsenal of powerful planeswalkers like Lolth, Spider Queen; and unmatchable token makers such as Edgar, Charmed Groom.
The colour-pair’s trajectory has only been maintained with recent sets. The Wandering Emperor, for instance, is a frankly broken planeswalker. Its Flash ability makes it just a real pain to try and deal with and therefore a great inclusion for the deck.
Orzhov Midrange remains one of the best MTG Arena Standard decks because it can quickly establish its board presence and easily rebuild after suffering setbacks. It brings hard-to-remove threats such as Wedding Announcement to the table and on the flipside has all the tools it needs to nullify anything an opponent plays.
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This is one of those decks that has a lot of different variants. Some lean hard into the token making side of things, while others pack in the planeswalkers. And with Streets of New Capenna, many players are throwing in Blue mana too, in order to play the card-drawing threat, Raffine Scheming Seer. These Esper players are also slotting in counterspells, naturally.
Boros Aggro
A stupidly simple MTG deck that is nonetheless picking up steam in Standard right now, Boros Aggro, like every aggro deck, is looking to hit hard and hit fast. You’re aiming to end the game before your opponent even has a chance to open their mouth to complain.
Boros Aggro looks much the way you’d expect it to. Little creatures with haste and damage dealing spells make up the bulk of the deck. It’s less flexible than many decks on the list, but in BO1, you can really catch opponents’ unawares with a good list.
These, of course, are only five of the many viable decks in play, but they cover a broad range of strategies and of course pack a whole lot of power. Try one of them out – your win rate will thank you for it.
Yet to dive into Magic’s expansive digital version? You can play Magic The Gathering: Arena for free right now. If you’re looking for more basic advice on building decks for different MTG formats, check out our beginner’s guide on how to build a Magic: The Gathering deck, or our specialist guide on building a commander deck.
