How to Spend Your MTG Arena Wildcards for Phyrexia: All Will Be One

If you’re an Arena player with a limited budget, here’s the list of cards you can craft with your wildcards on day one – guilt free – without feeling like you’re wasting any value. If you’re more interested in strategy than finances, then consider this to be the list of cards that I think will be most widely played from Phyrexia: All Will Be One in Standard and the other Magic Arena Constructed formats. 

There’s no need to follow this power ranking completely. The most expensive thing to do on Arena is to switch frequently between decks and colors. On the other hand, if you can hone in on a smaller number of color combinations or strategies that appeal to you, all the better. Craft the cards that fit your preferences and ignore the ones that are likely to idle in your collection.

Mythics

You don’t need as many Mythic wildcards as rare wildcards, since staple four-ofs (like dual lands) tend to be normal rares. Nonetheless, your Mythics are often the most powerful cards in your deck, and it can be stressful to run out of wilds, particularly as a new player. Here are my picks for the most useful ONE Mythics.

5. Nissa, Ascended Animist

Consider this #5 position to be the “generically good card” slot. I considered Vraska, Betrayal’s Sting, Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines and a variety of other sweet-looking options. But in the end, I guess I have a soft spot for green planeswalkers. 

Nissa is scalable, which is nice in a color that sometimes finds itself with a lot of mana. She can play the “value planeswalker” role well by ticking up for giant tokens. On the other hand, if you cast her for full price, you can cash her in immediately for a “super Overrun” and win the game. Note that you’ll want a high Forest count if you plan on using this option. 

4. Tyrranax Rex

Every format needs a big, uncounterable card to punish folks who want to sit behind a wall of permission spells doing nothing. Tyrranax Rex is the best Standard has to offer for that, and has a massive ward cost to protect it from removal spells and stuff like The Wandering Emperor. It kills extremely quickly if the opponent is stuck with the wrong set of answers – which they usually will be. 

3. Phyrexian Vindicator

Phyrexian Vindicator makes my list while Phyrexian Obliterator does not. Both creatures are powerful, and are particularly devastating in metagames where red and green creature decks are popular. Vindicator gets the nod for two reasons. First, Mono-White is already one of the best decks in pre-Phyrexia Standard, which gives it a natural home. Second, Obliterator competes for a spot with the existing Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. 

Still, if you’re a black mage who mostly plays Explorer and Historic, the Obliterator might be right up your alley. 

2. Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Atraxa isn’t one of those “toss it in any old deck” type of cards. However, there’s a lot of buzz about cheating this onto the battlefield via reanimation, Enigmatic Incarnation, Indomitable Creativity and the like. Atraxa will be one of the most powerful creatures available on Magic Arena, which means that finding a way to use it will be highly profitable. 

1. Sword of Forge and Frontier

Sword of Forge and Frontier hits a sweet spot between being a generically strong card, but also a stone cold killer of particular colors and strategies. Especially with some good support for Equipment being available, I expect this to see play across a variety of formats. 

Rares

10. Thrun, Breaker of Silence

You can consider Thrun to be a junior version of Tyrranax Rex. He’s very punishing to players with lots of permission spells and spot removal, and he’s even immune to The Wandering Emperor. 

9. Koth, Fire of Resistance

Phyrexia: All Will Be One features planeswalkers at both Mythic and regular Rare, and in some cases, the Rares are stronger. Koth is a cool card that can fire up Mono-Red strategies across a range of formats. He’s not purely aggressive, but can be nice for a “Big Red” strategy or to diversify your threats against board sweepers and creature removal. 

8. Blue Sun’s Twilight

Blue Sun’s Twilight is one of the most powerful Control Magic abilities ever printed. For two mana you can take control of a token like the Goblin Shaman from Fable of the Mirror-Breaker. For seven mana, you get an effect that should be powerful enough to swing the game in your favor in virtually any matchup, under virtually any circumstances. 

7. White Sun’s Twilight

White Sun’s Twilight has less utility at lower mana costs, but might be even more powerful when you get to seven. This is similar to an old card called Martial Coup, which was good enough that many players dropped all other concerns and started ramping straight to seven mana. They were rewarded with a single card that won games all on its own. 

6. Bloated Contaminator

I’ve already been brewing with Bloated Contaminator in Explorer and Pioneer. Three mana for a 4/4 trample is already an awesome rate, and with just a few other +1/+1 counters kicking around, Contaminator can easily earn its spot. It could be even better in Standard, where toxic has a stronger supporting cast. 

5. Kemba, Kha Enduring

As a standalone, Kemba is a nice weenie creature with a mana sink ability for games that can go long. With just a few Equipment in your deck (like my #1 Mythic, Sword of Forge and Frontier), she readily earns her spot. There’s also been buzz around using Kemba to facilitate Colossus Hammer decks in Explorer and Historic!

4. Migloz, Maze Crusher

Similar to Bloated Contaminator, Migloz, Maze Crusher doesn’t need any help to slot naturally into a Gruul beatdown deck. I like building enchantment and artifact removal into the structure of my deck without needing to play narrow spells to get that job done. I also like how quickly Migloz gets the game over with, particularly if you’re able to pair it with an Embercleave in older formats!

3. Skrelv, Defector Mite

High-value one-drops are always at a premium in competitive Constructed, and Skrelv really does a lot. It can protect your bigger creatures from removal spells and can also help you force damage past opposing blockers. 

2. Skrelv’s Hive

Skrelv’s Hive excites me even more than Skrelv himself. This is such a powerful and unique effect, and at two mana, is definitely priced to move. It will give you a huge advantage in long games. Pair it with Wedding Announcement for a go-wide strategy or simply sideboard it in against opponents going a little too heavy on spot removal. 

1. Fast Lands

Let me know which cards I missed, that you’re excited to play with on Arena!