[Top 25] MTG Arena Most OP Red Cards!

Updated:

05 Mar 2021

Aggressiveness. The marriage of power and speed. Red is known for its aggressive nature in the attacking front. Cards with low mana cost as well as creatures that can immediately impact the game are among the staples for any red deck. This overwhelming pressure is infallible in terms of winning games. Red has never been left out of the meta decks ever since MTG Arena started. That’s how you know red is truly a major force to be reckoned with.

25. Akoum Hellhound

What is great about this card?

Very cheap creature that can deal crucial extra damage in the early turns
- With its landfall ability, you can accelerate your damage early, allowing you to deal a lot of pressure in the opening stages of the game
- This card is great in aggro decks but it is not placed that high up because it may be a dead card when you draw it in the mid- to late- stages of the game

24. Chandra, Acolyte of Flame

What is great about this card?

Cheap planeswalker that can enable other planeswalkers
- It can generate tokens that can pressure the opponent but it can use its other ability to add more loyalty points to other planeswalkers
- This makes it a good addition to Chandra tribal decks as well as Superfriends decks

23. Experimental Frenzy

What is great about this card?

A very awesome combo piece that will let you do a lot of interactions by letting you cast a lot of things
- When combined with Runaway Steam-Kin, you can deal crazy amounts of damage to your opponent
- This is a great card to have because you usually only have a few cards in hand so it will help you deal with card advantage

22. Hazoret the Fervent

What is great about this card?

Huge creature on turn four with a pretty decent mana sink of an ability
- Getting to play Hazoret on curve usually means you already probably emptied out your hand so you can start swinging with Hazoret immediately
- Aside from that, you can use your excess mana to activate Hazoret’s ability, dealing damage to the opponent and enabling Hazoret to attack

21. Fiery Emancipation

What is great about this card?

A good combo piece and a decent one-of in some decks
Its playability is the reason why it dropped down to this spot but having this in your burn decks can help you deal with late-game burnout (pun intended)
Aside from burn decks, you can also place this in Gruul aggro and ramp decks as it will amplify your creature’s damage

20.Mirror March

What is great about this card?

A jank type of card that can catch your opponents off guard
- This card is great to have in decks that run pretty cheap creatures or creatures with high power as you can get lucky with your coin flips and deal a lot of damage in just one swing

19. Ox of Agonas

What is great about this card?

This card utilizes your graveyard to keep coming back for more damage
- With just two-mana for its Escape cost, you can easily re-cast this card as long as you have many cards in your graveyard
- Since you will often see this card in mono-red aggro decks, it is almost guaranteed that the graveyard is filled with cards so replaying it will be pretty easy

18. Risk Factor

What is great about this card?

A three-mana card draw that can leverage damage to allow you card advantage
- Whether you get to draw your three cards or you deal 4 damage to your opponent, three-mana is already well spent
- This is great when you are looking for that one final blow to your opponent’s health as they will be forced to let you draw the three cards. Most likely you will get the card you are looking for to end the game.

17. Krenko, Tin Street Kingpin

What is great about this card?

Not only is this card great in Goblins decks, but you can also run this in token decks
- Place Krenko on a deck with Divine Visitation and you will get a lot of Angel tokens while at the same time pumping Krenko for more firepower

16. Arclight Phoenix

What is great about this card?

Storm decks are a really good fit for Arclight Phoenix
- While you are casting spells to deal damage to your opponent or draw cards for yourself, you are also able to bring Arclight Phoenix from your graveyard to the battlefield

15. Sarkhan the Masterless

What is great about this card?

High value in Dragon tribal decks or Superfriends decks
- With its passive ability revolving around having dragons on the board, playing with a dragon tribal deck will be advantageous
- Aside from that, having other planeswalkers on the board will be great for Sarkan’s +1 ability. This can create a lethal attack from out of nowhere.

14. Storm’s Wrath

What is great about this card?

A good board wipe that targets not only creatures but also planeswalkers
- For four-mana, you can wipe the board especially against decks that run cheaper creatures
- This card is great to have in control decks as it can also provide an answer against planeswalkers

13. Chandra, Awakened Inferno

What is great about this card?

An uncounterable threat that can come in handy in longer games
- Placing even just one copy of Chandra, Awakened Inferno can help you deal with a bunch of late-game issues that may arise in your games
- The emblems can rack up a lot of damage and since they cannot be removed, you are already guaranteed to ping your opponent
- Aside from that, you can also use its -3 or -X ability to deal with your opponent’s creatures

12. Dreadhorde Arcanist

What is great about this card?

Getting access to the spells in your graveyard is a huge advantage you can utilize
You can generate tons of value especially when you combine this card with cheap cards like Thoughtseize, Village RItes, and Claim the Firstborn. It can act as a doubler of these spells as you can cast them again from your graveyard

11. Runaway Steam-Kin

What is great about this card?

Perfect for red decks that aim to cast multiple spells each turn
- Each red spell that you cast will put a +1/+1 counter on Runaway Steam-Kin, making it a good attacker/defender
- Not only that but it can be a source of mana to allow you to cast more spells during each turn
- This card is great when you combine it with Experimental Frenzy as you can cast nearly everything you get from the Frenzy

10. Chandra, Torch of Defiance

What is great about this card?

Combination of card advantage, mana advantage, and burn in one card
- Her +1 abilities can give you either card or mana advantage while her minus abilities can surely come in handy when dealing with creatures
- Getting Chandra, Torch of Defiance to her ultimate ability will almost guarantee you winning the game

9. Robber of the Rich

What is great about this card?

A cheap creature that generates a decent amount of value
- Robber of the Rich can be a very annoying card at the start of the game as it capitalizes on you having fewer cards on hand than the opponent
- This can help you gain card advantage especially against opponents that need specific cards for their combo
- The exiled cards from Robber of the Rich may also come in handy depending on the situation you are in

8. Light Up the Stage

What is great about this card?

Provides card advantage in red decks
- Usually, red decks struggle with card draw and it is the reason why most decks run out of gas in the later stages
- With Light Up the Stage, you can have the card advantage that you need in order to get your land drops or dig for a specific card that you need in the current situation

7. Quakebringer

What is great about this card?

Counter life-gain decks
- Lifegain decks are once again becoming rampant and with this addition from Kaldheim, you can easily deal with those decks
- As long as you have Quakebringer on the battlefield or in your graveyard, it can deal damage to your opponent every upkeep
- Another good thing is that this is not a legendary creature so you can possibly deal 8 damage per upkeep

6. Muxus, Goblin Grandee

What is great about this card?

This card single-handedly shifted the meta, allowing goblins to rise back up to the ranks of powerful decks
- Goblins are thriving because of this very powerful card. It can put together a really dynamic turn that often ends in you swinging at the opponent for lethal
- Combining it with Skirk Prospector, you can cast this at a very early stage. Being able to do so will mean that you already have a very large advantage against your opponent (most of the time they will just concede if they know that there is no longer any way to bounce back from this massive value you have)

5. Terror of the Peaks

What is great about this card?

Great in creature-heavy decks like Gruul
- With its high toughness, it would take stronger removal to deal with this creature. It will also tax the opponent with three damage so that is already pretty decent value
- Since you will be casting a lot of creature spells in Gruul, this will do a lot of work as it will deal damage to your opponent every time you cast a creature spell

4. Anax, Hardened in the Forge

What is great about this card?

Mono-red aggro staple as it generates a decent amount of value
- You can use this in Gruul decks or other decks that aren’t mono-red but in my opinion, it fits perfectly in mono-red
- Since its power relies on your devotion to red, you will surely have lots of devotion ready so having this on board as early as possible can help deal massive amounts of damage
- Even if it gets removed, you will still get chumps from it so there is still value from that

3. Bonecrusher Giant

What is great about this card?

It serves as a tremendous2-in-1 card
- You can use Stomp to deal damage either to your opponent or their creatures or you can just cast Bonecrusher Giant immediately
- Placing a huge creature on turn three will already give you a lot of value especially since the opponent will take damage if they try to target Bonecrusher Giant

2. Embercleave

What is great about this card?

Good at dealing with the last few points of damage you need
Whether you need a few more ticks of damage to remove a creature, planeswalker, or even flat out win the game, Embercleave will help solve that
This card will not be a dead card no matter what part of the game you draw it

1. Torbran, Thane of Red Fell

What is great about this card?

Great in any red deck
- Very useful in mono-red decks but can also be placed as a one- or two- of in other decks that have red
- This can greatly turn stalemates towards your favor as it will help you deal more damage
- As a creature, it can serve as a decent blocker with its relatively high toughness

You may also be interested in: