Magic: The Gathering’sBrawl format is arguably the most powerful format on all ofMagic Arena, outside of perhaps Timeless. Brawl features some of the most consistently powerful cards and gameplay you’re able to muster out of the Arena cardpool. The December 2023 addition of fan-favorite set Khans of Tarkir further bolstered the format’s options.
Khans is generally viewed as a low-power set by today’s standards, but includes some all-timer cards, between thefetch lands, delves spells, and altogether pushed three-color cards. In fact, Brawl’s something of a playground where cards that have long been forgotten for Constructed formats get to shine once again.
10Ugin’s Nexus
Extra Turns For Artifact Decks
Ugin’s Nexus is an absolute dud in Khans of Tarkir Limited, but Brawl gives it a newfound purpose in artifact decks. Namely, you want to be a deck that either destroys or sacrifices artifacts regularly with cards like Deadly Dispute or Red Sun’s Twilight.
Extra turnsaren’t something you expect from a non-blue deck, but Nexus makes that possible. In fact, you even get some ‘splash damage’ by shutting off your opponent’s access to extra turns from cards like Nexus of Fate. Nexus stops Nexus? What a twist!
9Hardened Scales
A +1/+1 Counter Essential
Hardened Scales wasn’t new to the Arena client with the release of Khans of Tarkir, but the original printing’s as good an excuse as any to craft a copy. It’s a+1/+1 counter stapleand even has applications with the wildly popular Sythis, Harvest’s Hand.
It’s also a fine investment if you dabble with other formats, since Hardened Scales often defines entire Constructed archetypes. Those decks aren’t top-tier in any current Arena metas, but with enough back-logging of cards on the platform, a good Scales deck is bound to pop up eventually.
8Bloodsoaked Champion
For The Aggro Lovers
The Arena cardpool has no shortage of recurrable aggressive threats between cards like Gutterbones, Dread Wanderer and Skyclave Shade, to name a few. Bloodsoaked Champion is in the running with the rest of them, and might even be the best 1-drop version of this effect.
Champion enables its own return condition by simply attacking, something most other one-drop recursive threats can’t do. It also plays double-duty for aggro decks,sacrifice decks, or hybrids of the two, making it just as ideal for Gix, Yawgmoth Praetor as it is for Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.
7Temur Ascendancy
The Perfect Temur Tool
Thegreen-red-blue ‘Temur’ color comboisn’t the most popular or well-represented in Brawl, at least not in the higher power-level pairings. That’s fine though, since it means the lower-tier, creature-heavy Temur decks have a better chance of being paired against decks on roughly the same footing.
If your deck is full of large creatures and supports these colors, Temur Ascendancy is your new best friend. Garruk’s Uprising and Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner have less restrictive color requirements and therefore see more play, but picking up a blankethaste effectfor all creatures is perfect for Temur decks.
6See The Unwritten
Cheat Your Best Creatures Into Play
See the Unwritten falls into the same vein as Thunderous Debut and Tooth and Nail, cards that already exist on the client but cost significantly more mana. Of course, more mana means a more explosive effect, but See the Unwritten can pull off powerful plays earlier in the game.
That’s predicated on your ability to turn on the ferocious ability, as hitting only a single creature should be considered a desperation move. Limit See the Unwritten to decks that already have a commander with four power or greater to ensure there’s always something to make ferocious work.
5Villainous Wealth
Share The Wealth. Specifically, Your Opponent’s
Villainous Wealth is just good, clean fun… maybe it’s a little bit dirty or underhanded, but all’s fair in love and Brawl. It’s perfect for players lacking an expansive collection; if you can’t have all the nice, shiny toys, why not ‘borrow’ a few from your opponents instead?
This mana-intensive card is certainly more fun than necessary, but stealing a large chunk of an opponent’s deck is such a gratifying way to close out a game. This is Brawl folks, your opponent’s going to have some powerful cards worth casting.
4Stubborn Denial
Stubborn As A Four-Power Mule
Countermagic’s huge in Brawl, and a well-timedcounterspellmight give you thetempoyou need to tip a game in your favor. If your deck blends large creatures and blue interaction, Stubborn Denial is likely a premium addition for you.
If you can set yourself up with a large enough creature, Stubborn Denial becomes a cheaper Negate, fantastic for the price of anuncommonwildcard. You might be surprised by just how often the non-ferocious mode snaps off a spell, either snagging an earlymana rockor punking an X-spell your opponent dumped all their mana into.
3Jeskai Ascendancy
Who Has Two Thumbs And Love Spells? Jeskai!
The Jeskai (blue/red/white) color trio’s all about casting spells, sometimes forgoing creatures altogether, but often relying on cheap aggressive threats and spell payoffs to claim victory. Jeskai Ascendancy plays into both of these strengths, rewarding you for casting spells and playing creatures.
If you extend your colors to include green, perhaps with afive-color commanderor Aragorn, the Uniter, you can set up some pseudo-infinite combos with Ascendancy. This usually involves a fewcreatures that tap for mana, which cast your non-creature spells, trigger Ascendancy, and untap to pay for your next spell, growing larger in the process.
2Dig Through Time
Honorary Mention: Treasure Cruise
The infamy of the delve mechanic really only applies to Dig Through Time and Treasure Cruise. These two blue all-starts often come up in conversations together, and co-exist on the Modern and Legacy banlists together too.
Dig is substantially better for Brawl. Cruise is still a fantastic way to refuel your hand late-game, it’s just that Dig gives you more card selection and plays at instant speed, which is significantly more important in a high-power format like Brawl. Cruise is a common, so it’s basically free to craft anyway.
1Fetch Lands
Magic’s Most Important Lands
Crafting the five fetch lands (Windswept Heath & co.) is easily the best wildcard investment you can make from Khans of Tarkir. These are the best mana-fixing lands in all of Magic, let alone Arena, and combine beautifully withTriomes and Shock landsif you already own them.
Not only will you improve the manabase of all your multicolored decks, but the fetches are big players in the Timeless format and likely any other new formats that get added to Arena in the future, should you ever wander over to the Constructed side of the platform.
