Since its full release in 2019, MTG Arena has enabled fans of Magic: The Gathering to play the world’s biggest trading card game online. The physical version of Magic: The Gathering is said to have around 27,000 cards (not counting variants), though only a fraction of these have made it into MTG Arena. It’s mainly the recent, most popular cards that you can choose for your decks in the digital game.
Since 2019, MTG: Arena has been a popular esport, with tournaments hosting top players from around the world and many fans watching the action at home. Some followers who like to bet on esports would place wagers on their favorite players, hoping to earn some money from their bets.
The top competitive players put a lot of effort into building decks that can effectively compete against as many other decks as possible. If you’re not sure where to start with your own competitive deck, here are 10 key cards that should give your Constructed deck a competitive edge and help you beat your opponents.
If you’re running a green deck, Cultivate is a great card to have as it can help you get hold of land cards quickly. When you play Cultivate, you get to search your library for up to two basic land cards and reveal them to your opponent. After doing this, you put one onto the battlefield tapped, while the other goes into hand. When you’ve done both of these actions, you shuffle your deck.
A great card that should be considered for any green deck is Titan of Industry. First of all, it has both the reach and trample keywords. What makes it stand out is that when it enters the battlefield, you get to choose two of four effects. These are:
The fact that you can choose two of four effects means that Titan of Industry is a very versatile card that can be useful in many different situations. When you have this card enter the battlefield, think carefully about which of its effects you’ll choose.
This is a powerful black card whose effect is particularly beneficial for you, but not so good for your opponent. Sheoldred, The Apocalypse lets you gain 2 life whenever you draw a card; should your opponent draw a card, they lose 2 life. The card is particularly useful in aggro decks where you’re trying to cause chaos for your opponent as early in the game as possible.
Another black card that’s well worth adding to your deck is Infernal Grasp. When you play this card, you get to destroy a target creature, though at a cost of 2 life. It’s a great card to play that can be featured in many different combos to surprise, slow down, and handicap your opponent, thwarting their strategy in the process.
The blue creature card Haughty Djinn has the potential to be a big threat and cause a lot of upset on your opponent’s side. Its power is equal to the total number of sorcery and instant cards that are in your graveyard. If you’re strategic enough, Haughty Djinn could be very threatening indeed when it comes into play. What’s more is that Haughty Djinn reduces the cost of casting sorcery and instant spells by 1.
This is another blue card that can give you a competitive edge. It lets you draw three cards and discard any two cards or a single basic land card. If you’ve got some cards in your hand you don’t need, playing Thirst for Discovery can improve your hand and help you find the cards you need faster. Getting hold of the right cards early on can boost your chances of winning, so having Thirst for Discover in your deck can give you a great advantage.
The Slickshot Show-Off card is a staple for red decks thanks to its ability, which gives it +2/+0 whenever you cast a noncreature spell. What’s more is that it comes with the Flying and Haste keywords. It also has Plot, which lets you pay 1 mana to exile it and cast it as a sorcery on another turn without paying its mana cost, giving it even more purpose.
A very powerful card that features in many red decks, Turn Inside Out is sure to cause your opponent a lot of grief! First, the card gives a target creature +3/+0 until the end of the turn and if that creature dies this turn, you get to manifest dread. This is where you look at the top two cards of your library. You then put one onto the battlefield face-down as a 2/2 creature; the other card goes into your graveyard; if it’s a creature card, you can turn it face-up at any time for its mana cost.
If you’re thinking of building a deck with white cards, Final Showdown is a must-have. This card has three abilities that can be game-changing, though each one comes with a cost, of course. You can pay 1 to have all creatures lose their abilities until the end of the turn; another 1-cost effect gives a creature of yours indestructible until the end of the turn; finally, the 3-cost effect allows you to destroy all creatures.
This is another white card that can work very well for you. When it enters the battlefield, you can pay to put a valor token on it and can do this any number of times (so long as you can afford to do so). For each valor token Intrepid Adversary has, your other creatures gain +1/+1, making them tougher and more resilient. Play this card right and it can be very useful indeed.