[Top 10] Best MTG Arena Bo1 Decks That Wreck Hard! (Feb 2021)

Updated:

02 Feb 2021

The Standard meta-game has pretty much settled down this last month in anticipation of Kaldheim release. During this transition period, meta decks will not be easy to determine as many people will still experiment on both the usual suspects while also looking for sleeper decks. With these things in mind, take a look at the best decks to give you the push you need before we get to the Kaldheim series.

10. Mono-black Ugin

What’s good about this deck?

Same Ugin concept but more balanced with creature removal
- This deck provides a decent answer to the lack of control in other Ugin decks as it employs a lot of spot removal and board wipes
- Against creature decks, you can even win with a single casting of Massacre Wurm on a board filled with a lot of small creatures
It provides a good answer to decks that are reliant on their graveyards

How to play this deck effectively

Your main goal in the early game is to provide crowd control/damage control
- You don’t have heavy-hitters in the early stages of the match so you need to rely on picking off your opponent’s threats until you can finally deploy your bombs
- Use your removal spells well as these can save you loads of resources
The whole deck is based simply on getting Ugin out as fast as possible so that’s what you need to focus on
- Use board wipes whenever you need to but try and absorb as much damage as you can to get more value out of your board wipes

Decklist

4 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
4 Solemn Simulacrum
2 Massacre Wurm
2 Skyclave Relic
2 Forsaken Monument
4 Mazemind Tome
1 Soul Shatter
2 Eliminate
2 Cling to Dust
2 Hagra Mauling
2 Heartless Act
2 Elspeth’s Nightmare
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
2 Pelakka Predation
4 Extinction Event
2 Elspeth’s Nightmare
1 Castle Locthwain
4 Crawling Barrens
2 Field of Ruin
4 Radiant Fountain
10 Swamp

9. Mono-white Midrange

What’s good about this deck?

Lots of lifegain
- Lifegain is very useful especially against aggro decks as you can pad your life total while assembling your win conditions
- The lifegain concept of this deck also provides a very solid synergy between the cards
Board wipes and removals that can target really strong pieces
- Whether it is a huge army of 1/1 creatures threatening to chip away your life total or maybe a huge planeswalker threatening to shut down your strategy, this deck has all the answers to them

How to play this deck effectively

Keep swinging on the first few turns to start your lifegain
- This is also great if you have Speaker of the Heavens ready so you can start generating tokens
- If you also have Linden, on board then you need to attack as much as possible as it is another way of generating more life
The deck is basically built to gain life so you won’t have to worry too much about early aggression by your opponent
- If things get too aggressive, you can use board wipes or cards like Banishing Light to help relieve some of the pressure

Decklist

4 Lurrus of the Dream-Den
4 Speaker of the Heavens
3 Linden, Steadfast Queen
3 Daxos, Blessed by the Sun
3 Luminous Broodmoth
2 Archon of Sun’s Grace
4 Charming Prince
2 Shatter the Sky
1 Emeria’s Call
3 Trapped in the Tower
3 Elspeth Conquers Death
4 Banishing Light
3 Birth of Meletis
4 Castle Ardenvale
15 Plains

8. Azorius Control

What’s good about this deck?

Great against the current creature-heavy meta
- With a lot of removals as well as board wipes, this control deck can hold its own against the creature-heavy meta even in Bo1 games
- Your spells cover a wide range of threats so you have the answer to almost every problem you may encounter
If you don’t have the exact card that you need in the situation, don’t worry because you have access to your sideboard cards
- With Fae of Wishes, you have a very customizable sideboard where you can place any card that you think is relevant in today’s meta

How to play this deck effectively

Use your life total as a resource
- Your early plays will revolve around card advantage and counterspells so you will most likely take lots of damage if you’re up against aggressive decks
- Hold out on your board wipes and absorb more damage to extract more creatures from your opponent then clear the board once they have become complacent
You can fully customize your wish board depending on your playstyle
- Add in Ugin to provide another threat that you can use in the later stages of the game
- You can also put in card draw engines to amplify your advantage

Decklist

2 Brazen Borrower
4 Skyclave Apparition
4 Dream Trawler
3 Fae of Wishes
2 Midnight Clock
4 Glass Casket
3 Neutralize
1 Jwari Disruption
2 Emeria’s Call
4 Shatter the Sky
2 The Birth of Meletis
4 Omen of the Sea
4 Elspeth Conquers Death
3 Temple of Enlightenment
2 Crawling Barrens
4 Fabled Passage
6 Island
6 Plains

7. Golgari Midrange/Adventures

What’s good about this deck?

A good midrange deck is something that is comprised of early game development that will eventually lead to late-game threats
- This deck features cards like Edgewall Innkeeper, which by itself is not much of a threat but when combined with your other spells, can generate more value
This deck has a lot of cards that generate value
- Whether you are getting counters and drawing cards with The Great Henge, or exiling your opponent’s graveyard with Scavenging Ooze, this deck is never short on value

How to play this deck effectively

Pressure your opponent with early attacks using Scavenging Ooze and your other cheap creatures
- Scavenging Ooze can also be great at shutting down your opponent’s graveyard by exiling the important cards there
This deck is pretty slow and grindy so be patient with your plays
- The beauty of this deck is that it gets stronger the longer you play
- You will start with small creatures and as you progress towards the latter stages of the game, you will get access to bigger creatures that will definitely hit for more

Decklist

1 Polukranos, Unchained
2 Rankle, Master of Pranks
2 Gemrazer
3 Scavenging Ooze
3 Foulmire Knight
3 Kazandu Mammoth
3 Lovestruck Beast
4 Edgewall Innkeeper
4 Murderous Rider
3 The Great Henge
3 Extinction Event
2 Agadeem’s Awakening
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
2 Garruk, Cursed Huntsman
1 Castle Locthwain
4 Temple of Malady
4 Fabled Passage
6 Swamp
8 Forest

6. Esper Doom Foretold

What’s good about this deck?

Tried and tested in this format
- Although it is a pretty slow deck compared to other decks in this list, it still boasts a very formidable mid- to late-game strategy
- Your early game is composed mostly of card draw and removal spells that will help you in the later stages of the game
Archon of Sun’s Grace paired with Yorion is a great token generating machine
- You can beatdown your opponent on the air with this specific engine

How to play this deck effectively

Make sure that you get Yorion to your hand as early as possible
- This will almost guarantee that you get to bounce your important spells before they get sacrificed
- Turn three is the best time to get Yorion unless you are under pressure and need to fire off a Skyclave Apparition
Focus on getting Omens on the board early on
- This will give you all the early advantage that you will need as well as give your Yorion decent targets once you cast it

Decklist

Yorion, Sky Nomad - companion

4 Skyclave Apparition
3 Archon of Sun’s Grace
2 Yorion, Sky Nomad
2 Dance of the Manse
2 Eliminate
3 Heartless Act
2 Negate
3 Neutralize
4 Extinction Event
1 Hagra Mauling
4 Emeria’s Call
4 Omen of the Sea
3 Omen of the Sun
3 Elspeth’s Nightmare
2 Treacherous Blessing
4 Doom Foretold
4 Elspeth Conquers Death
4 Brightclimb Pathway
4 Clearwater Pathway
1 Crawling Barrens
2 Temple of Deceit
2 Temple of Silence
4 Temple of Enlightenment
1 Castle Vantress
1 Castle Locthwain
1 Castle Ardenvale
2 Island
2 Plains
2 Swamp

5. Mono-green Ramp

What’s good about this deck?

Green is filled with lots of heavy-hitting creatures
- Aside from ways to ramp, green is also known to have huge creatures that swing for loads of damage
- With this deck, these creatures are easier to cast. Also, the Food mechanic also brings in a new flavor to the classic mono-green ramp

How to play this deck effectively

Use the early game to draw out aggression from the opponent
- Most creatures you have in the early game will be important for ramping which will be prime targets of your opponent’s removals
- This won’t be a problem because they can simply exhaust their removals on your smaller creatures that they won’t have enough firepower to stop your bigger creatures
Stock up on food supplies
- This deck is built around food. Having food tokens can help you ramp up your aggression or simply give you card advantage. Both of these are very important to achieve a win

Decklist

4 Gilded Goose
4 Tangled Florahedron
4 Kazandu Mammoth
4 Lovestruck Beast
2 Thrashing Brontodon
4 Wicked Wolf
4 Feasting Troll King
1 Kogla, the Titan Ape
2 Vivien, Monster’s Advocate
1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
2 Witch’s Oven
3 The Great Henge
3 Trail of Crumbs
3 Bonders’ Enclave
4 Castle Garenbrig
15 Forest

4. Mono-red Aggro

What’s good about this deck?

It’s no longer a question of whether Mono-red will be a meta deck but more of a ‘how strong will mono-red be in this meta?’
- Mono-red never goes out of style, whatever format you play, you will always have an iteration of mono-red
- That said, it is a tried and tested format as it brings a solid, aggressive style that many players surely love

How to play this deck effectively

Attack, attack, attack
- The current meta does not feature cards like Settle the Wreckage and somecards that you just need to dodge are probably Omen of the Sun and Shark Typhoon
- So if you are up against decks that do not use these cards, always turn your creatures sideways to inflict maximum damage
Torbran is useful here even without the usual Shocks and Skewer the Critics
- With Spikefield Hazard, you can turn a one-mana instant into a Lightning Bolt
- Embercleave also becomes scarier with Torbran on the board as it can present a very lethal attack

Decklist

3 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell
4 Robber of the Rich
4 Rimrock Knight
4 Fireblade Charger
4 Fervent Champion
4 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Anax, Hardened in the Forge
4 Embercleave
4 Spikefield Hazard
4 Light Up the Stage
4 Shatterskull Smashing
3 Castle Embereth
15 Mountain

3. Temur Ramp

What’s good about this deck?

Time and time again we always say that ramp is a very powerful tool in any format
- Knowing that you have a significant mana advantage over your opponent is already a huge deal
- Having the ability to play spells earlier than usual always keeps your opponent’s on their heels, often disrupting how they play the game
Obosh as a companion is great as you can deal double the damage with your spells, resulting in the game ending faster

How to play this deck effectively

Just like with other ramp decks in this list, it does not matter if you don’t have heavy hitters in the early game
- Ramp is all about getting your mana advantage early so that you can then cast your huge spells faster
- So if you don’t have a Genesis Ultimatum on your hand, you don’t have to worry about it as long as you are ramping

Decklist

Obosh, the Preypiercer - companion

4 Edgewall Innkeeper
4 Bonecrusher Giant
3 Brazen Borrower
3 Kazandu Mammoth
4 Lovestruck Beast
4 Terror of the Peaks
4 Beanstalk Giant
3 Cultivate
4 Genesis Ultimatum
2 The Great Henge
4 Cragcrown Pathway
4 Riverglide Pathway
4 Temple of Mystery
2 Ketria Triome
2 Fabled Passage
4 Island
3 Forest
2 Mountain

2. Rogues

What’s good about this deck?

Mill is still a viable archetype
- Mill was once thought of as a jank deck because of its unusual way of winning the game. However, with Rogues, mill has become a very powerful archetype
- You can already start disrupting your opponent’s game plan even on turn one

How to play this deck effectively

This deck is basically an aggro deck mixed with mill and control
- With that in mind, you will get to do most of your damage by turning your creatures sideways
You can also turn this into more of a mill-centric deck by adding copies of Teferi’s Tutelage
- The good thing about this deck is that it is versatile. It can be a complete beatdown deck while still maintaining the integrity of its mill roots
- Even if you lose gas at the latter part of the game, the number of cards you milled on your opponent’s deck may prove to be lethal

Decklist

3 Merfolk Windrobber
4 Ruin Crab
4 Thieves’ Guild Enforcer
4 Soaring Thought-Thief
1 Didn’t Say Please
1 Essence Scatter
2 Heartless Act
4 Drown in the Loch
4 Into the Story
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
3 Agadeem’s Awakening
3 Of One Mind
3 Lullmage’s Domination
4 Temple of Deceit
4 Clearwater Pathway
2 Zagoth Triome
4 Fabled Passage
1 Castle Locthwain
2 Swamp
5 Island

1. Gruul Aggro

What’s good about this deck?

A mix of small creatures that you can utilize in the early game to bring in your big creatures before you enter the late-game
- This deck is focused on getting small creatures that will eventually turn your attack into a lethal one
- Combining these small creatures with your usual heavy-hitters is why this deck sits in our number one spot
Fairly consistent deck
- The number of cards that can turn into threats make this deck a very consistent one

How to play this deck effectively

You reap what you sow in the early game
- Think of the early game as an investment phase where you put cards like Edgewall Innkeeper and Scavenging Ooze into play
- On their own, they won’t apply much pressure to the opponent but as the game progresses, you will a lot from these two cards
Unlike other green decks, this specific deck does not have any ramp which means you get more threats
- Having no ramp can be a good thing as you get to fit more heavy-hitters in this deck
- Keep swinging with these creatures as that is what this deck is really meant to do

Decklist