Ajani, Nacatl Avenger | Illustration by Chris Rallis
Brawl reads like MTG Arena‘s answer to Commander since you have, well, a commander, but the format has many nuances that separate it from Magic's most popular format, mostly because it's a 1v1 format.
These differences mean Brawl staples and Commander staples are quite different, and I want to dig into that difference today by highlighting some of the best cards to stick in your Brawl deck—which include some of the best cards on Arena.
What Is a Brawl Card in MTG?
Arcane Signet | Illustration by Dan Scott
Brawl is an Eternal format on MTG Arena, so every card on the platform is legal in the format—assuming they aren’t banned.
Brawl has many powerful cards and much lower life totals than Commander, which makes the opening turns crucial both to deploy threats and to interact with your opponent. Many of these Brawl staples are either efficient threats or cheap interaction, and the latter are especially important: Interaction and disruption are king in Brawl.
I'm evaluating these cards as inclusions in the 99; while some legendary creatures and planeswalkers are on the list, I'm not ranking them as a commander.
How Do I Know a Card Is Brawl Legal?
The easiest way to check whether a card is Brawl-legal is to filter your Arena collection to Format: Brawl. Thankfully, the deckbuilder‘s pretty good about this; once you set your deck's format to Brawl and select a commander, it automatically filters out any cards that aren't Brawl-legal or within your commander's color identity.
Dishonorable Mentions: Rhystic Study + Smothering Tithe
Rhystic Study and Smothering Tithe are two of Commander's strongest cards because you have three opponents to trigger them and time to play 3- and 4-mana enchantments that don't impact the board. These suck in Brawl because you only have one opponent and good Brawl decks play to the board fast enough to punish you for not doing anything on these critical turns. Players play these all the time, and they shouldn't.
#52. Phyrexian Tower
If you have sacrifice fodder lying around, Phyrexian Tower becomes one of the best lands in the format. You get ramp and a sacrifice outlet for 0 mana—what's not to love?
#51. Curse of Silence
Most cards that prevent your opponents from casting or using their commanders like Drannith Magistrate and Pithing Needle are banned in Brawl, but Curse of Silence slipped through the cracks. Next to Wash Away and Tale's End, it's one of the best ways to punish commanders specifically.
#50. Tithe Taker
Tithe Taker is a fine disruptive creature. Afterlife makes it resilient to removal, and the tax throws your opponent's curve off pretty well; if you cast this on the play, you can stop them from Mana Draining your 3-mana play, and so on.
#49. Lazav, Wearer of Faces
Lazav, Wearer of Faces bundles card advantage, pressure, and graveyard hate into a compact package. Even if you never transform it by sacrificing Clue tokens, it pulls a lot of weight—but you almost always find a good target.
#48. Patriar's Humiliation
Patriar's Humiliation doesn't hit every threat, but it kills most things. Making creatures perpetually lose all text (which means it doesn't get it back, even if bounced to hand or sent to the graveyard) nullifies a threat; removing the text from, say, Mother of Runes or Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer is plenty.
#47. Arcane Signet
Arcane Signet is the best non-green ramp spell in Brawl. Not every deck wants it—it shouldn't go in your Adeline, Resplendent Cathar white weenie deck, for example—but it's excellent in the right shell.
#46. Bitter Triumph
Bitter Triumph has niche synergies when you discard a reanimation target or simply fill up the graveyard for cards like Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. It’s a lovely removal spell and just a bit better than the similar Infernal Grasp—though many decks simply run both.
#45. Naktamun Shines Again
Naktamun Shines Again is laughably powerful. The first chapter is one of the strongest anthems because your opponents can't remove it and it buffs all the creatures in your deck, and then you get a cheap creature for free! It won't win the game outright, but it does a ton of work for little mana.
#44. Time Warp
All of Brawl's extra turn spells are decent, but Time Warp stands out as a cheap option that doesn't exile itself, so you can recur it and even set up infinite turn combos with cards like Displacer Kitten and Tamiyo, Collector of Tales.
#43. Skyclave Apparition
Skyclave Apparition hits anything, which makes it one of the best disruptive threats in Brawl. Your opponent eventually gets a token from the deal, but it's almost always less scary than whichever threat you exiled.
#42. Inti, Seneschal of the Sun
I love Inti, Seneschal of the Sun. A common theme with red's best cards is the graveyard, or discarding spells, or both, which makes this a highly synergistic threat.
#41. Fear of Missing Out
Fear of Missing Out has become a staple in many formats. A 2/3 that rummages is a reasonable playable, and you often win within a turn or two of achieving delirium since you get extra attacks with your best creatures. Red has plenty of ways to rummage and loot through their deck, so it comes online quite easily.
#40. Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger
Between tons of cheap interaction, cantrips, and fetch lands, you'll have no trouble getting enough cards in the graveyard to escape Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. Pressuring your opponent's life total and cards in hand at the same time gets you far ahead, even if your opponent kills it.
#39. Elite Spellbinder
White thrives in Brawl thanks to its many disruptive creatures, like Elite Spellbinder. Some cards become unplayable with an additional 2 mana tacked onto them, and buying two turns before a sweeper or something comes down can be enough to steal the game.
#38. Nissa, Ascended Animist
The more I play with Nissa, Ascended Animist, the closer I come to dubbing it Brawl's best planeswalker (in the 99, at least). It's just great at 5 mana or 7. That flexibility means it's virtually always available due to green's deep ramp package.
#37. Toxic Deluge
Board wipes don't get much better than Toxic Deluge. It's cheap and gets around indestructible, and you have lots of control over what lives and what dies.
#36. Guide of Souls
An Alchemy adjustment wasn't enough to make Guide of Souls unplayable. It takes extra time to make an angelic threat, but it still goes hard.
#35. Cultivate
Green ramp decks are quite strong in Brawl, and Cultivate is one their best tools. There are plenty of 1-mana accelerants to cast it on turn 2, and it ensures you have 5 mana the turn after you cast it. Most ramp decks need these.
#34. Brazen Borrower
I love flash threats in Brawl because you can hold them up alongside interaction for maximum control. Brazen Borrower takes that to the next level as a flash threat that doubles as a bounce spell. I need a reason not to run this in blue tempo decks.
#33. Cut Down
Cut Down kills pretty much everything you can spend 3 or less mana on. Many of Brawl's best threats come out on turn 1 or 2, so this is a perfect riposte.
#32. Growth Spiral + Planar Genesis
Growth Spiral and Planar Genesis are some of the stronger ramp spells in Brawl thanks to their card advantage. Genesis makes you choose between drawing a card and ramping, but it's still worth running both as instant-speed Explores that go well with your countermagic.
#31. Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd
Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd is yet another exceptional threat from Modern Horizons 3. Flash lets you hold it up alongside countermagic and other interaction, and the attack trigger can kill tokens, clear away blockers, or retrigger valuable enters abilities. Cards really do everything these days.
#30. Shifting Woodland
I haven't built a green deck without Shifting Woodland since MH3 dropped. At worst, it's a tapped land; at best, it becomes a significant threat that copies the best creature or other permanent in your graveyard. You have no reason not to run this since it often enters untapped.
#29. Pyrogoyf
Pyrogoyf power creeps Flametongue Kavu to modern standards: It’s a massive threat that often kills a creature and sometimes your opponent. Many of red's best cards in Brawl involve discard or mill, like Inti, Seneschal of the Sun or Dragon's Rage Channeler, so you have no shortage of fuel for the ‘goyf.
#28. Memory Lapse
Memory Lapse is an easily-splashable counterspell with great upside. It's incredible in a counter war since your threat resolves, and making your opponent redraw the same card often gives you the tempo you need to close a game.
#27. Abrade
Abrade always has a target. In many games, if your opponent doesn't play a creature in the opening turns, they probably drop Arcane Signet or other artifact ramp. Either way, this handles it.
#26. Cyclonic Rift + River's Rebuke
Cyclonic Rift and River's Rebuke are exceptional board wipes that often result in a concession when they resolve. You might have time to rebuild in Commander, but not Brawl. I run Rift in every blue deck due to its modality, and generally only run Rebuke in my ramp decks.
#25. Voice of Victory
In a format with so much cheap interaction and countermagic, Voice of Victory provides invaluable protection on your turn—and exceptional pressure. With its greater impact and less color intensive mana cost, this is far better than Grand Abolisher in Brawl, and a must-run in white.
#24. Get Lost + Fateful Absence
Get Lost and Fateful Absence are excellent, flexible removal spells. Most threats in Brawl are creatures, but I appreciate the flexibility of catching planeswalkers or enchantments.
#23. Flame Slash
Cheap red removal typically caps out at 3 damage, which makes Flame Slash punch above its weight class. It kills most creatures that cost 4 or less mana, and many more expensive ones, as well.
#22. Counterspell
Many threats in Brawl are high-impact cards you'd rather didn't resolve, so Counterspell makes it into pretty much every blue deck with fewer than four colors. It's just so efficient.
#21. Esper Sentinel
Esper Sentinel puts your opponents between a rock and a hard place. And before you come at me for decrying Rhystic Study and exalting this, Sentinel costs a fraction of the mana and impacts the board, however slightly. You feel like you've won any time your 1-mana threat draws you a card.
#20. Crucias, Titan of the Waves
One of Alchemy‘s strongest cards, Crucias, Titan of the Waves received a nerf and still shines as a busted card. The end step trigger is like a super rummage because you have so much control over what you seek for. This might be the peak of what seek can achieve before it becomes a tutor.
#19. Dark Ritual
You risk a 2-for-1 if your opponents answer your threat, so make sure you're doing something powerful. Dark Ritual plays best with 3-mana black commanders like Liliana of the Veil and Ayara, First of Locthwain.
#18. Fatal Push
Brawl has plenty of fetch lands to make Fatal Push one of the strongest interactive spells in the format, capable of dealing with virtually all the must-kill threats outside of green.
#17. Neon Dynasty Channel Lands
All of the Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty channel lands are worth playing in any deck with fewer than four colors; even with four or more, make room for Otawara, Soaring City and Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire. Adding these impactful cards to your mana base mitigates flood and maximizes your interaction suite.
#16. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker
It turns out one of the best enchantments in Magic is pretty good in Brawl! Fable of the Mirror-Breaker is ramp, and pressure, and card selection. It’s also fuel for delirium and escape, and a game-winning threat once it transforms. A rap sheet like that makes it great in most formats.
#15. Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer
Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer just does everything: It pressures your opponents, draws cards, and ramps. Paired with cheap interaction, it often gets through. It punishes slow decks filled with tap lands or less than ideal strategies.
#14. Ajani, Nacatl Pariah / Ajani, Nacatl Avenger
Ajani, Nacatl Pariah pushes the limits of what a 2-mana card can do. You get two bodies, with one that can become the powerful Ajani, Nacatl Avenger. Even if your opponent just spend two 1-mana removal spells on this, you got an incredible deal. If it does anything more, you might win.
#13. Lightning Bolt
Lightning Bolt‘s flexibility makes it the perfect removal spell. You can kill a mana dork or similar threat on turn 1, but it also kills lots of mid-cost threats, and it can finish off planeswalkers and even your opponent. Despite its simple text box, it's one of Magic's best red cards because of how much it does.
Swords to Plowshares and Path to Exile deserve slots in your Brawl deck. Path can be awkward since it doesn't remove commanders very well, but you can't beat exiling any threat for 1 mana. They're on-rate to deal with dorks, Ragavan, and the like while handling 3+ mana threats at an excellent rate. Just don't fire of Path to Exile in the early turns of a game.
#11. Wash Away
Wash Away is Brawl's cleanest answer to commanders. This would probably see play if it didn't have the flexibility of Cancel, and you should always respect it when your opponent has available.
#10. Mother of Runes + Giver of Runes + Skrelv, Defector Mite
Mother of Runes, Giver of Runes, and Skrelv, Defector Mite are the best protection spells in Brawl. Consistent protection that comes down turn 1 and that doesn't require a mana investment is exceptional in this removal-rich format. The two Runes cards take that even further since you can disrupt your opponent's combat step with protection, and all three even let you attack freely.
#9. Psychic Frog
Threats don't get much more efficient than Psychic Frog. The combination of pressure, card advantage, and evasion lets this frog solo games if your opponents don't remove it—a tall order since it grows beyond Lightning Bolt and Cut Down.
#8. Brainstorm
Brainstorm is one of the best cards in any format it's legal in. It gives you incredible control over your hand with shuffle effects, and Brawl has plenty of shuffle effects between fetch lands and landcyclers and the like.
#7. Dig Through Time + Treasure Cruise
Dig Through Time is much stronger than Treasure Cruise, but these are both similar cards: extremely cheap sources of card advantage that have been banned in multiple formats. We have all 10 fetch lands and plenty of cheap interaction in Brawl to pay for delve, so you can easily run both.
#6. The One Ring
Even with the Alchemy adjustment that makes The One Ring cost mana to activate, this isn't a fair card. You can rarely die the turn you cast it, and nothing else in the format keeps up with its card advantage.
#5. 1-Mana Discard Spells
Targeted discard gives you absurd control over the game—you get to remove a key card from your opponent's hand and gain information over their first two or three turns. Some hands can't bounce back from stealing setup pieces like ramp or fixing. Thoughtseize is king here, but lesser variants—Duress, Mind Spike, Thought Partition, and so on—are worth playing as well.
#4. Mana Drain
Check out any Brawl- or Arena-related subreddit, and you'll see endless posts that clamor for a Mana Drain ban. It's one of the swingiest cards in the format; you can salvage a game that looks lost with its mana generation. A counterspell and ritual on one card is a must-pick in Vintage Cube, let alone Brawl.
#3. Ancient Tomb
One of the most powerful cards on Edge of Eternities‘ Stellar Sights bonus sheet, Ancient Tomb offers an exceptional mana advantage. It simply violates the basic rule that lands tap for 1 mana, which gives you a major edge in nearly any game.
#2. 1-Mana Accelerants
Green has a ton of 1-mana accelerants, all of which are playable. The strongest are Birds of Paradise, Utopia Sprawl, and Delighted Halfling, but you want all of them—there are enough 1-mana accelerants to reliably start with one because of the free mulligan. Playing one of these on turn 1 might be the best thing you can do in Brawl—so many games go to the player who wins the die roll and drops a BoP.
#1. Strip Mine
Another ludicrous card, Strip Mine is one of Brawl's strongest build-around cards; pair it with a Crucible of Worlds effect and a way to play additional land drops—often Azusa, Lost but Seeking from the command zone—and your opponent stops playing Magic.
Even outside those locks, any deck can (and should) play it to punish value lands like Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx or 5-color mana bases that rely on Triomes to fix their colors. Of all the cards legal in Brawl, this feels closest to deserving a ban due to strength and its colorless identity.
Why Are They Called Brawl Staples?
These cards are called Brawl staples because they frequently appear in decks with their color identity. Think of them like milk, bread, or eggs; most of you have them in your pantry, just like most Brawl decks want at least a few staples to keep up with the competition. Each of these cards are must-run in their colors; at the very least, you can't go wrong with adding them.
What Sets Have Lots of Brawl Staples?
Modern Horizons 3
Modern Horizons 3 has the most staples, hands down. In addition to all the cards that made the list, it has fetch lands and way more playable cards like Malevolent Rumble, Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury, and Emperor of Bones (which only didn't make the list because of space limitations).
Wrap Up
Wash Away | Illustration by Brian Valeza
These are some of the best cards in Brawl, and often some of the stronger cards in Magic. The format has come a long way thanks to Arena Anthologies and non-Standard products that add powerful cards to Arena. Though based on Commander, Brawl offers a rewarding play experience all its own.
I only scratched the surface of playable Brawl cards on this list; which cards do you consider must-run staples? Do you like this format more or less than Commander? Let me know in the comments below or on the Draftsim Discord!
Stay safe, and thanks for reading!
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