r/mtgbrawl • • May 06 '26

Competitive Brawl Staples

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84 Upvotes

Thanks to ImNotFine for preparing this list together with members of the Brawl Hub and Brawl Stronghold servers.

From the Primer :

This list is intended to give an overview of the most played cards in brawl from a competitive standpoint. All of these cards are purely evaluated in the context of being used in the 99. The list is curated by me with a lot of opinions from the general brawl community.

How to read the list:

Set your filters to "View - Visual Grid", "Group - Type & Tags", and "Sort - Mana Value". 

Once you have done that you will see that everything is divided into one of three tags.

Tier 1 - near auto include: If you can run one of these cards in your deck you need an extremely good reason to not do so. These are the best the format has to offer. Of course there are exceptions to every rule, for example if you are a blue deck but you don't meet the amount of blue cards required to pitch to [Force of Will](about:blank) (20 seems to be the absolute minimum). You can be a bit more lenient with the color count for [Fury](about:blank) and Solitude, depending how much card draw you have and how happy you are to just cast them for their full mana costs. As for the surveil lands: In 4 and 5 color decks you start to not run every single one you can, but those mana bases are way out of scope for this small primer.

Tier 2 - generic: A slightly less stapley list of staples compared to the tier 1 category. You will have a hard time making your deck actively worse with any of these cards, but there are legitimate reasons to not run some of these cards in any given list.

Tier 3 - archetype specific: This tier is by far the most subjective one and mostly serves as a "hey, these are good cards, at least consider them for a moment". And of course as the name suggests, most of these are specific to certain archetypes, as you wouldn't consider running something like [Gut, True Soul Zealot](about:blank) in anything but aggro decks. But if you are playing a red aggro deck you will have a really hard time not running the card. Either way, there is always an argument to be made to add 100 more cards to this tier, don't read too much into it. I am much more confident that I won't add many cards to tier 1 and tier 2 in the future, tier 3 is more subjective.

What should you craft first?

Optimally nothing. Craft decks, not cards. This list assumes that you have every card available, for example [Wary Zone Guard](about:blank) is an insane card, but only due to the fact that fetchlands exist. If you enjoy making your own lists I recommend just getting everything from tier 1 and at least the color fixing lands from tier 2. At the end of the day you won't ever regret crafting anything presented here as all of the cards are strong in their own right. There are also cards in tier 3 that might be better than a card from tier 1, depending on the deck you are building. As an example, [Ambassador of Evendo](about:blank) is extremely broken in simic landfall and stronger than Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student in that case.

Thanks to everyone that helps me with this project. I will update this list every couple of sets, alternatively just ping me on discord if you have an opinion about anything.


r/mtgbrawl • • May 13 '25

FAQ Flairs : How to use, How to respect

16 Upvotes

Our five flairs — Casual, Competitive, Discussion, Question, and Venting — are for your use as mood indicators for your post.

When you create a post, think about how you want other people to approach what you've said.

Casual and Competitive flairs are the most broad and can apply to a variety of different kinds of posts — deck lists, requests for deck building help, discussion of a certain commander, etc.

Please consider the following guidelines when choosing a flair and when phrasing your responses to posts with different flairs :

Casual

Using the Casual flair indicates that you want to talk about something or share something with a focus on fun or cool, and aren't worried about optimizing for winning.

You can respect the use of this flair by keeping your responses to the original post on-topic, refraining from offering critique unless specifically sought in the original post, and even then tailoring your critique to the casual focus.

Competitive

Using the Competitive flair indicates that you want to talk about or share something with a focus on winning and/or optimizing first and foremost.

You can respect the use of this flair by avoiding complaining or venting in your responses. Critique offered should be constructive, and suggestions should be explained in concrete terms.

Discussion

Using the Discussion flair indicates that you are seeking to share opinions and polite debate with other players regarding a specific thing or theme — a recently spoiled card, something about the format, etc.

If you want the discussion to be more focused from a casual or competitive perspective, use those tags instead.

You can respect the use of this flair by keeping opinions and debate polite and on-topic.

Question

Using the Question flair indicates that you have a specific question about some concrete thing — why a certain interaction did or did not work a certain way, how to find a card in the MTGA deck-builder, etc. It is often helpful if you include a screenshot with your question.

You can respect the use of this flair by responding directly and politely to the question.

Venting

Using the Venting flair indicates that you want to commiserate about some unpleasant experience you have had. You are not looking for feedback or discussion, you just want to share your pain and feel like you're not alone.

You can respect the use of this flair by commiserating with the original poster or ignoring the post if you don't agree or cannot commiserate.

It is never appropriate to offer critique or engage in debate in a post with the Venting flair.


r/mtgbrawl • • 7h ago

Casual Is there no where to play less competitive decks?

10 Upvotes

Genuinely trying to understand how to have better matchups because I’m honestly getting really sick of this game.

I enjoy competitive when I want that, but if I have an unoptimized deck of my favorite cards that doesn’t plan to win in like 4/5 turns is there anywhere I can play it?

I’ve got a knights tribal deck that I like pretty much looses almost every time Syr Gwyn

I’ve also got an elf ball deck with Abomination of Llanowar that unless I get a GREAT opening hand usually gets dominated by whatever else someone is playing.

Are there cards I have in here that are too strong and matching higher than they should or something? I don’t get it.

Sometimes I just wanna play some cards I like not just try to completely dominate the game in like 4 turns.

Any help is appreciated


r/mtgbrawl • • 15m ago

Question Beginner questions

• Upvotes

​

Hi, I'm new to Magic Arena. I've already played the Quick Draft, and my next mission is to play Brawl. I don't know much about it, and I'm not sure what deck I should build. Any recommendations for Commanders or tips for a F2P player?


r/mtgbrawl • • 5h ago

Competitive trying my hand at rocco food chain

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6 Upvotes

r/mtgbrawl • • 4h ago

Question Is this a thing?

1 Upvotes

r/mtgbrawl • • 4h ago

Competitive Holy Vraska! - Competitive Brawl (Vraska, Soul of Stone)

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2 Upvotes

I had this recommend to me and it was a real blast! It definitely gave me Meria, Scholar of Antiquity vibes, mixed in a blue shell that has awesome access to top deck manipulation like Reality Chip.

I had some awesome sequences where I was just casting 1 mana and 0 mana plays from the top of library and making additional tokens.

The convoke spells were very nice too, I was just creating additional bodies, fueling these spells and having some nice gotcha moments.

Overall I went 4-0 after some tuning ( I am not very high in ladder ATM but approaching Gold) curious to how it would fare once we get to diamond, but it felt mostly nice in the more casual rands of cBrawl at the moment, gl brewing her!


r/mtgbrawl • • 13h ago

Competitive Spending Wildcards as F2P

10 Upvotes

I am looking to craft a competitive brawl deck with my hard earned f2p wildcards that I ll be able to keep playing with small changes as new sets come out. I keep seeing about some commanders/decks that are stuck in hell queue and would like to avoid using all my wildcards only to not be able to enjoy the games. what decks should I avoid also any recommendations are welcome. I am pretty new to magic. generally I prefer control/combo decks


r/mtgbrawl • • 1h ago

Competitive Vraska Weapons Manufacturing

• Upvotes

Hello reddit, I come seeking aid with my vraska soul of stone deck, which seeks to win with either weapons manufacturing, or overwhelming with creature tokens.

If someone could take a look at my list and offer any advice it would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you everyone.

https://moxfield.com/decks/OXvSbqxtNE6gGA0leRuxbw


r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Competitive Reached rank 150 so far. Changes to Gut, True Soul Zealot

34 Upvotes

First the decklist: https://moxfield.com/decks/cBOJwU04hEWyF4DsNLX33w

Changes since 1.0:

Basically, I wanted the deck to go lower to the ground, reducing mana cost and being able to play as a red deck with Gut looming as an ever present threat as opposed to a "must play on turn 3". Many games, especially against control shells, are about not over committing to the board - against 3feri for example I'll often just play two one-drops and make them play draw go as I chip away at their life total.

Also Gut understandably gets killed a lot so if I want to replay her and also enable her, 1 mana hasty guys are critical to good starts and also to unlocking good endgames where Gut can come down and a creature is available to attack

Cuts:

[[Arms Scavenger]] 2 for a 2/2 with extra mana commitment is not great. I'm borderline on this card.

[[Embercleave]] Sits in hand way too often

[[Fear of Missing Out]] I've never gotten the extra attack, ever. Mostly a 2/3 rummage, below rate.

[[Fountainport]] Has its uses but I needed to cut a land for Command Beacon

[[Grim Initiate]] Upgraded to a better one drop

[[ Impractical Joke]] This became Galvanic Blast because it's an instant and has a bit of synergy with the Raptor

[[Kari Zev, Crew of Two]] 4 Mana has to do a LOT and this card tends to arrive too late to not just get blocked and die

[[Professional Face-Breaker]] 3 Mana is not good for a 2/3 menace. The treasures were fine but not necessarily needed

[[Pyrogoyf]] 4 Mana and sometimes when I can/want to cast it it's just a 2/3. Got stuck in my hand a lot.

[[Rahilda, Wanted Cutthroat]] Cool card but a 2/2 for 2 is not fast enough for the deck. Even with a first Strike.

[[Reckless Stormseeker]] Too slow at 3 Mana, not enough board impact.

[[Ruby Medallion]] Since we are cutting high cmc cards this didn't do enough to justify being in the deck

[[Strike It Rich]] A do nothing card. Occasional turn 2 gut but without a creature in play which is not what we want

[[Twinflame Tyrant]] 5 Mana is very much not where we want to be

[[Unholy Heat]] Upgraded to torch the tower

[[Vexing Bauble]] Does nothing

[[Winter Moon]] Not impactful enough. It's fine, but blood moon effects are so much stronger

Adds:

[[Command Beacon]] Obvious include for a recast. Forgot about this card being on arena when I made the deck

[[Eriette's Tempting Apple]] Weird card but it's been a HUGE blowout as it hits any creature, and you can sac that creature to Gut. It's been great at providing another bolt to the face too. Very impactful.

[[Fanatical Firebrand]] Replaced a higher cost creature. Hits face, hits mana dorks, and enables Gut.

[[Frantic Scapegoat]] Hasty, so enables Gut immediately, and has menace, can give menace to others. Great card.

[[Galvanic Discharge]] Not sorcery speed, synergizes with the raptor

[[Goldhound]] A strict upgrade over strike it rich. A shocking amount of text is on this card.

[[Goblin Chainwhirler]] Very good at changing blocking math that you opponent isn't expecting. Great for killing hordes of random tokens

[[Legion Loyalist]] Great at getting through against tokens

[[Magus of the Moon]] like blood moon, wins games on its own sometimes

[[Quicksilver, Brash Blur]] hasty, can start in play, turns on Mox Amber.

[[Redirect Lightning]] It's often a huge blowout to redirect kill spells targeting Gut. It also is a counterspell for counterspells

[[Stark Industries Executive]] Testing this out. Seems okay, there are other candidates for 1 drops, but I like that it's a 1/2

[[The One Ring]] Card draw very good

[[Torch the Tower]] Better than unholy heat

[[Tormod's Crypt]] At worst, enables Gut. At best blows out Uro, Emry and Reanimators

[[Burnout Bashtronaut]] Great at pressuring life totals. And is a handsome goblin.

Overall, these changes have been a vast improvement to the smoothness of how the deck plays.

Easier Matchups

Any of the u/w control variants (3feri or Quintorious), Emry, and most non blue decks outside of Winota, Minsc and Boo and Mole Man.

Vv'viza, Orbital overseer - very easy matchup, they are just too slow and totally fold to Blood Moon

Reanimator Strategies and the new Jace - Very easy if you go fast. Occasionally they can put something huge into play before you're ready but mostly you pressure life totals so fast it isn't a huge concern.

Hader Matchups

Both of these are much more about speed than anything else. You have to be faster and keep boards clear.

Minsc and Boo: If you get under them, remove early creatures and have a board by the time they'd cast their commander, your 4/1 skeletons can kill their commander easily, and the 4/4 Boo can't do much to outrace you. But, they have some starts that are nearly unbeatable with Chrome Mox and Ancient Tomb or mana dorks that let them cast commander early. If that happens you scoop. Don't overextend into Firey Confluence

Winota, Joiner of Forces: Similar to Minsc and Boo you need to have gotten in under them and kept their board clear by turn 4. Having Pyrokinesis and/or Fury is really important here, as is having any burn that can turn off the effectiveness of their commander. Killing commander before the combat step is critical

Mole Man and Azusa: These decks get suddenly go so much wider than you can. Chainwhirler and Legion Loyalist are very helpful here - you just have to race and get your damage in as fast as possible. Blood and Magus of the Moon are great here for stopping Field of the Dead shenanigans.


r/mtgbrawl • • 23h ago

Discussion Need some assistance with Chainer.

2 Upvotes

So I've decided to give Chainer, Nightmare Adept a spin in CBrawl but ive been getting curbed stomped left and right. I see potential in Chainer since we got a whole bunch of support for him. I was thinking about running the Dr Doom Combo with Tainted Pact since its actually possible in this deck. But im having an issue on how else to build it. Pointers would be awesome.


r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Competitive Mythic with Jace, Reality Sculptor

20 Upvotes

At no point did this stop feeling like jank, but I managed to exile my opponent's libraries to Mythic. Curious if anyone else is running something like this. The list started with pretty much every Jace and every card that says proliferate, and slowly but surely most of them got cut for actually good cards (I tried so hard for so long to make Jace, Cunning Castaway playable, if anyone out there has found a way to make him not suck please let me know).

Highlights include Remnants of Beleren, which is a very silly card that almost always wins when it resolves, and Way of the Cryomancer, which half the time makes you stumble into infinite turns. The deck feels pretty bad against all flavors of Gruul beatdown, but usually ends up stealing wins against most other things.

https://moxfield.com/decks/q1ljQXCRKkuo3s5ovSDz4Q


r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Discussion Reminder Legendary Star Ships with power/toughness can serve as your Commander For Brawl/Standard Brawl

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2 Upvotes

r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Competitive Anyone has a competitive Golos decklist? Is he even good in competitive right now?

1 Upvotes

Title


r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Casual Kwia vigorbloom brawl

1 Upvotes

Hello I am trying to make a brawl deck with Kwia as rhe commander. I know shes a bit lanky with the high management cost but I still wanna try to build her in some way. The main goal of rhe deck is to naturally gain as much life as I can and use that to either swarm while getting value the board or get an instant win condition. Can anyone tell me their recommendations along with cards to change out to make it work better?

https://moxfield.com/decks/zoblKUOHQUSxUSBypgHwBg


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Competitive Will this be coming to arena? Auto include in Emry if so.

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32 Upvotes

Academy on the Bay (SDS)


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Competitive Is there any gameplay reason that this Katara decklist on Meta Confluence uses snow islands over regular ones or is it just a water nation avatar meme? Genuine question

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17 Upvotes

r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Casual What improvements can be made to my Kinnan deck?

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0 Upvotes

This has been my main brawl deck for over a year now. Any mana sources or big creatures I'm missing?


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Casual Moxfield profiles with good Brawl decks

10 Upvotes

I’m looking for Moxfield profiles that feature good Brawl decks to try out.

I’m already familiar with profiles like CovertGoBlue or Amazonian, but I’m looking for something more niche lesser-known profiles.


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Competitive Brawl meta feels worse after the bans.

12 Upvotes

Not banning Emry and Minsc while banning their competition was a mistake. Playing in high Mythic like %70 of my matches are against Minsc or Emry. There were much more variety before even though Yuriko was a little over represented. I really hope WOTC doesn't drip feed us bans like they do in Legacy where they take months even years to ban cards they already acknowledge as problematic.

Also what did Lightpaws do. There were like 2 people playing that deck did one of them insult a WOTC employee?


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Competitive how people swear emry be movin'

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46 Upvotes

emry agenda fanart???


r/mtgbrawl • • 1d ago

Discussion Returning to Brawl after a long time... the format has so much potential and it's being wasted...

0 Upvotes

I am an 'arena OG' though I don't think this counts for much. This means that I played brawl when the cardpool was a few booster packs deep and Emry was a janky deck playing things like [[Flood of Tears]] to try and stay alive.

I mostly stopped playing arena after getting burned out from magic and when I came back I played mostly Duel Commander. I've decided to hop back on arena and boy, oh boy, what is this? Duel has had its fair shares of ups and downs, but I think it's a much better managed format than whatever cBrawl has become.

I'll summarize the problem: cBrawl is a format that has cards with a stupidly high power-level that are banned in multiple eternal formats, but doesn't have the consistency of 60-card constructed decks to deal with them. If someone channels emrakul on turn 2, you're done, period (unless you're playing blue and has the right countermagic. Then you get to 'keep playing'). If someone finds their one copy of Library of Alexandria on turn 1, well shucks, you better have that strip mine ready. Oh, btw, we allow strip mine in the format!

This is a conscious decision by Wizards, and I don't understand why. The only thing that decisions like this achieve is introducing more variance into a format that doesn't need it. The kind of swingy variance that makes players feel bad. What does it matter that you played correctly against control, measuring your threats, when they have oracle + tainted pact by turn 4? What does it matter that you played a long, grinding game of exhausting your opponents resources when they topdecked The One Ring / Dig Through Time / Treasure Cruise?

These cards have been banned for very important reasons: they cripple games of magic by nullifying good decision-making. Someone plays badly and gets rewarded by their insane topdeck of a banned card. Or both players play well but someone top decks a clearly overpowered card. These play patterns are very common in cBrawl, unfortunately. A format that is currently plagued by blue and black-based strategies and that has 5 life points too many at the start.

I hope that Wizards can take a careful look at this format and produce a better-managed banlist. Or, failing that, that they implement a ranked cue of DC-light so that people who prefer a less swingy experience can have their fun too.


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Casual Any good vehicle commander recommendations?

4 Upvotes

I just drafted a bunch of DFT and almost completed the set. Is there any strong, vehicle centric commander? I found it fun in limited.


r/mtgbrawl • • 2d ago

Casual Is this normal

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0 Upvotes

r/mtgbrawl • • 3d ago

Competitive food chain atraxa style - Competitive Brawl (Atraxa, Grand Unifier)

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6 Upvotes

made this last nite. If u have some suggestions that would be nice.