Magic: The Gathering Arena – Best decks in 2023

Magic: The Gathering Arena offers countless deck-building options and picking the one that suits you best can be a long and confusing process. To help you progress efficiently, here’s a list of the best decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena.

Card games like Marvel Snap, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Magic: The Gathering Arena have risen to prominence lately because of their complex yet rewarding mechanics. Many of these digital titles started as physical games and already had a ton of fans before they were released for consoles, PC, and mobile devices.

Regardless of the platform you’re playing on, games like Magic: The Gathering Arena have always been competitive and your deck plays a major role in making your experience stressful or delightful.

If you want to climb the ranks with ease, check out this list of the best decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena.

• Most powerful Magic: The Gathering Arena decks in 2023
  • Simic Poison
  • Gruul Werewolves
  • Mono-red Aggro
  • Selesnya green-white aggro
  • Grixis Midrange

Most powerful Magic: The Gathering Arena decks in 2023

Simic Poison

We’re starting this list with one of the best budget decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena with just 15 rare cards. As the name suggests, this deck is about poison counters that you get from Venerated Rotpriest. This will help deal damage constantly, and stacking up ten Poison counters will automatically defeat the opponent.

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The Venerated Rotpriest, when combined with the Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief, makes a broken strategy. Another card that adds to the power of the Simic Poison deck is Distorted Curiosity which costs less when the opponent has three or more Poison counters.

The cards you’ll need to make the Simic Poison deck in Magic: The Gathering Arena are:

• 4x Combat Research
• 2x Fading Hope
• 4x Shore Up
• 4x Slip Out the Back
• 4x Tamiyo’s Safekeeping
• 4x Venerated Rotpriest
• 3x March of Burgeoning Life
• 2x Tyvar’s Stand
• 4x Stormchaser Drake
• 2x Ivy, Gleeful Spellthief
• 2x Distorted Curiosity
• 3x Croaking Counterpart
• 8x Island
• 4x Forest
• 4x Dreamroot Castle
• 4x Yavimaya Coast
• Otawara, Soaring City
• Boseiju, Who Endures

Gruul Werewolves

Gruul Werewolves is one of the most aggressive decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena. Luckily, if you’ve been playing the game for a decent amount of time, you should already have the cards to make this deck because it only runs old cards.

The highlights of Gruul Werewolves are its rare creature cards such as Halana and Alena, Howlpack Piper, Wildsong Howler, Tovolar, Rockless Stormseeker, Packsong Pup, and Human Werewolf. These cards and their transformations should carry you to victory.

The cards you’ll need to make a dominant Gruul Werewolves deck in Magic: The Gathering Arena are:

• 2x Play with Fire
• 3x Snarling Wolf
• 2x Lunar Frenzy
• Abrade
• 2x Hungry Ridgewolf
• 2x Outland Liberator
• 2x Packsong Pup
• 4x Kessig Naturalist
• 2x Reckless Stormseeker
• 2x Howling Moon
• 2x Wolf Strike
• 2x Tovolar, Dire Overlord
• Fangblade Brigand
• 2x Howlpack Piper
• 2x Arlinn, the Pack’s Hope
• 2x Halana and Alena
• Burly Breaker
• 8x Mountain
• 8x Forest
• 4x Racer’s Ring
• 4x Rugged Highlands

Mono-Red Aggro

It is hard to compile a list of the best Magic: The Gathering Arena decks without mentioning Mono-Red. These decks have evolved significantly in the past few years. There are one drops and creatures that can grow, and cards like Kami’s Flair ensure that you’re consistently dealing damage.

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With 25 creatures, you should be prepared for an aggressive approach with this deck. This doesn’t mean that your games will be quick as the strategy is to survive and be prepared for the late game.

The idea here is to play the cheap creatures before your opponent and use the removal spells. If you’re a beginner or someone who’s just stepped back in Magic: The Gathering Arena, the Mono-Red Aggro is the ideal pick.

The cards required to make a strong Mono-Red Aggro deck are:

• 1x Eater of Value
• 2x Mishra’s Foundry
• 1x Sokenzan
• 2x Forest
• 4x Mountain
• 4x Rockfall Vale
• 4x Copperlin Gorge
• 4x Karplusan Forest
• 4x Kami’s Flare
• 4x Monastery Swiftspear
• 4x Thundering Raiju
• 4x Phoenix Chick
• 1x Shivan Devastator
• 1x Squee, Dubious Monarch
• 4x Yavimaya Iconoclast
• 3x Feldon
• 4x Evolving Adaptive
• 4x Kumano Faces Kakkazan
• 4x Audacity

Selesnya green-white aggro

Magic: The Gathering Arena has a balanced meta but only until you face the Selesnya green-white aggro deck. For starters, you’ll pair Luminarch Aspirant with Kami of Transience and their synergy is just too good to miss out on.

On top of that, this deck has Jukai Naturalist that can be used after you drop the Generous Visitor. The naturalist reduces the cost of casting spells and adds to the overall synergy we mentioned before. As a two-drop, Portrait of Michiko also brings a lot of utility to the table.

These are the cards you’ll need to build a solid Selesnya green-white aggro deck:

• 4x Generous Visitor
• 4x Kami of Transience
• 4x Jukai Naturalist
• 4x Weaver of Harmony
• 4x Spirited Companion
• 4x Michiko’s Reign of Truth
• 4x Wedding Announcement
• 4x Jugan Defends the Temple
• 2x Hallowed Haunting
• 2x Sigarda’s Splendor
• Eiganjo
• 6x Plains
• Boseiju, Who Endures
• 5x Forest
• 4x Branchloft Pathway
• 4x Overgrown Farmland
• 3x Forsaken Crossroads

Grixis Midrange

Grixis Midrange is one of the most consistent decks in Magic: The Gathering Arena. This deck naturally shines in midrange fights which makes hitting land drops very essential. You’ll have the option to play all cards separately for their own powers or synergize them to make unstoppable plays.

From Mono-Red to Esper Legends, the Grixis Midrange can survive any competition if you how to play the cards. Things, like not exposing the Reckoner Bankbuster to an Abrade and slow rolling with Brotherhood’s End, can decide if you’ll dominate with this deck.

The cards required to make a strong Grixis Midrange deck in Magic: The Gathering Arena include:

• 4x Bloodtithe Harvester
• 4x Corpse Appraiser
• 2x Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
• 1x Bladecoil Serpent
• 3x Arbade
• 3x Go for the Throat
• 3x Make Disappear
• 2x Negate
• 1x Brootherhood’s End
• 4x Invoke Despair
• 3x Reckoner Bankbuster
• 4x Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
• 3x Blackcleave Cliffs
• 3x Darkslick Shores
• 3x Haunted Ridge
• 4x Shipwreck Marsh
• 3x Shivan Reef
• 4x Sulfurous Springs
• Swamp
• Takenuma
• 4x Xander’s Longue

It is worth noting that the five teams mentioned above include budget-friendly as well as expensive options. Having said that, Magic: The Gathering Arena is not a pay-to-win title which means that the majority of cards have decent alternatives that are easier to obtain.

Hence, feel free to swap cards from the decks and you won’t witness a drastic downfall in their performance. Instead, focus on picking a playstyle that intrigues you the most and master it.

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For similar deck-building guides, check out the best Clash Royale decks, best Electro Giant decks, best pool 1 decks in Marvel Snap, and best Patriot decks in Marvel Snap.

Image Credits: Wizards of the Coast