Grand Arena is back and there are four new Champions joining four that are returning. Which Champion will be the strongest? The most fun? The dark horse? Has the best pre-con? Read on and find out!
Things to Remember about Grand Arena
Games in Grand Arena still last the normal 6 turns and you win by having more power in 2 out of the 3 locations, but the mode differs from ladder matches in a few key ways. Your Champion and their associated Skill start in your opening hand, which is a massive boost to consistency and allows more linear game planning. None of the regular versions of the Champions can be used in other decks, so you can't use Carnage aside from the Champion version.
You start with 2 Energy instead of 1 and go up to 7, which dramatically changes which cards and play lines are the most powerful. There are a lot of banned cards including all of the ones from last time, aside from Kang, and a bunch of new ones, largely tech cards.
The ticket cap will be 9 this time around, but the rewards seem in-line with the recent philosophy of more generous LTGMs. You'll start with 6 tickets and 4 more will regenerate every 8 hours up to the cap of 9. Wins give you your entry ticket back plus 10 Glory for the Glory Shop and 10 XP for the rewards track, while losses or ties still give you 5 Glory and 5 XP.
New Contenders!
Thundering Hammer!
Shuffling another Mjolnir into your deck might not be as good as it seems at first glance, despite the fact that Thundering Hammer immediately draws a card. One of the issues that Thor has always had is the way Mjolnir muddies your draws in addition to the card taking up a valuable board space with a 0-Power object.
There are a few ways we can deal with this. First, we could utilize cards like Lockjaw and Blink to trade low-power draws for beefier ones. Second, we can magnify the effect of the hammers by transforming them or repeating them with cards like Polymorph, Sersi, Grandmaster, Absorbing Man, and Odin. Werewolf by Night could slide right into a deck taking this path. Third, and the strategy is suited best to Grand Arena, we can destroy the hammers to get additional benefit. Firehair can act as a multiplier when the Hammers are destroyed.
We don't have access to Carnage since he is a Champion in another deck, but cards like Nico Minoru and Misery can help us clear space and get additional instances of Mjolnir’s On Reveal with Firehair. Could this be the perfect excuse to use Zombie Captain Marvel?! Thor will have to contend with Shadow King, but won't have to worry about Shang Chi, so I expect this to be one of the best archetypes.
GA Oct - Thor
Hulk Smash!
The Hulk deck immediately jumps out as a contender in this format with extra starting energy and Mobius M Mobius and Shang Chi banned (Armor is in the list below solely as a tech against Destroy). You can play your Skill, which starts in your hand, remember, on turn 2 and slam big Hulks from then on. Hulk Smash will affect the costs of Hulk, She-Hulk, Red-Hulk, and Hulkling, making those no-brainer inclusions in the deck.
Notably, it will NOT affect Skaar, but we can still get him heavily discounted. We've also confirmed that High Evolutionary will NOT transform your champion Hulk, so we will have to leverage our characters in other ways like Moon Girl, Surtur, or Warlock.
GA Oct - Hulks R
GA Oct - Hulk
Master of Magnetism!
Upon first glance, Magneto seems like the weakest of the new champions. Still, there are some tricky things you can do with him. Clogging and manipulating your opponent's board is massively underrated in Grand Arena. Near the end of the last run of Grand Arena l was playing a ton of clog cards like Debrii, Viper, Titania, and Kate Bishop for her Acid Arrow. Those first two got banned (which is an indication they had high win rates), but we still have access to Green Goblin, which can be played as early as turn 2 and be manipulated by Magneto, and Polaris, one of my top underrated Grand Arena cards.
Sadly, Scream is banned, so Magneto is missing out on one of his best synergies, though Kingpin is available. Being able to mess with the board position of Mr. Fantastic decks is going to be crucial this time around and that is what might give Magneto the crack he needs to break into this format.
GA Oct - Magneto
Arachnid Acrobratics!
With Scream and Mercury banned, Move could be one of the better decks in Grand Arena. Building a giant Human Torch with only Shadow King to worry about is an appealing strategy, but don't sleep on general Batroc, Stomper stuff either. I always take advantage of LTGMs to play Spider-Man 2099, but if you're not quite feeling that frisky, you can include cards like Hercules, Sparky, Cloak, or Heimdall instead. Whichever route you choose, making 20+ power Ghost Spiders will be possible a lot of the time.
GA Oct - Ghost-Spider
GA Oct - Ghost Spider Torch
Returning Champions
Carnage was already one of the better Champions last time, but this deck has gotten a ton of new toys since the summer. Moira X and Headpool will both be immediate upgrades to the deck. I favor a strategy that combines a bunch of 1-Costs with both Knull and Zola to take advantage of the 7-Energy final turn.
The ideal play line would be to Zola your Knull on turn 7 alongside a big Deadpool. Uncle Ben may seem like a strange inclusion, especially considering Killmonger is banned, but he might mean the difference between a win and a loss against a Mr. Fantastic deck. Wolverine is a consideration, as is Agony, and even Sabretooth might be fine, given the additional energy in this format. For the same reason as Uncle Ben, I've included Lady Deathstrike, who is one of the more powerful remaining interaction cards.
GA Oct - Carnage
H.E.R.B.I.E. was pretty easily the strongest deck last time, even after Helpful Assistance was given a cost increase. However, the main way H.E.R.B.I.E. functioned last time was to make a single, giant robot and play a ton of tech cards that could be played more easily thanks to the extra energy our Champion generates.
With the new banlist being a tech card massacre, H.E.R.B.I.E. will have to find a new strategy. We now have Jocasta as a force multiplier and the extra energy still means H.E.R.B.I.E. is well-positioned as a power plus tech deck heading back into the Arena.
GA Oct - Herbie
The only thing holding Mr. Fantastic back last time was tech. Enchantress is banned! Mr. Fantastic is set to run wild! Tech isn't gone completely, though, and I expect Cosmic Ghost Rider to be one of the most important cards in the format, so play accordingly and pack Cosmo.
You'll also have Red Guardian and Magneto’s shuffling to contend with, but I expect greedy Ongoing packages to be extremely popular. The following deck is built in anticipation of facing opposing Ongoing (Super Skrull), Destroy (Armor and Cosmo) and a bunch of Hulks (USAgent and Goose), but it can easily be tweaked for whatever metagame develops.
Oct GA - Mr Fantastic
H.E.R.B.I.E. may have been the strongest deck, but the deck I was playing the most of by the end of the format was a greedy Mole Man deck that took advantage of the fact that Subterranean Summons will not target cards that already cost 0 for a cost reduction, meaning you would go into the final turn with an absurd amount of heavily buffed 0-Cost Demons and Rocks thanks to Joaquin Torres.
Unfortunately, the deck loses Wong to the banlist, but I'm still going to try to make it work. As a deck that plays its buffed power late, it can afford to play Shadow King, which will be one of the most important tech cards in the format.
GA Oct - Mole Man
General Strategies and Important Cards
The banlist more than doubled, which is going to turn the format on its head. The remaining interaction is going to see additional play because of that, so expect plenty of Cosmic Ghost Rider, Lady Deathstrike, Red Guardian, and Shadow King. Cosmo is back for protection and because Shang Chi is gone doesn't mean you should forget about Armor, which could become a majorly important card to combat Destroy and all of its new tools.
Because we are now living in a post-Shang, low-tech world, combo strategies that build giants are in a good position, with only Shadow King to worry about. This means growers we haven't mentioned yet like Daken, Phoenix Force, Beta Ray Bill, Black Panther, Zombie Giant-Man, First Steps Thing, and First Steps Galactus are going to be hard to slow down.
Pre-constructed Decks
Maybe just grabbing a Pre-Con and snagging some quick rewards is more your speed. The precons are all generally better than last time, with Ghost-Spider being clearly the best and Magneto likely the worst. Ghost-Spider is playable right out of the box, though I’d swap the Hulkbuster out. There's not a ton of separation in the middle, though, and I could probably be talked into almost any order 4-7.
I would happily bump Mr. Fantastic up if it had a Cosmo over Punisher or Mojo, but Carnage pips it despite missing all of the new Destroy toys and X-23. There are some other easy swaps that make a big difference like pulling Caiera out from the H.E.R.B.I.E. list and getting Hood and Misery into the Mole Man deck.
Here is my ranking of the precons, followed by the complete lists.
1) Ghost-Spider
2) Carnage
3) Mister Fantastic
4) Hulk
5) Thor
6) Herbie
7) Mole Man
8) Magneto
Complete Banlist
- Gorgon
- Spider-Ham
- Galactus
- Mister Negative
- Black Bolt
- Nimrod
- Living Tribunal
- Mobius M. Mobius
- Professor X
- Wiccan
- Agatha Harkness
- Sera
- Cannonball
- Alioth
- Storm
- Juggernaut
- Viper
- Wong
- Shang-Chi
- Enchantress
- Mercury
- Negasonic Teenage Warhead
- Scream
- Debrii
- Killmonger
Final Thoughts
Grand Arena is a great mode that new and experienced players can both enjoy and it was a massive success last time around. The new Champions look fun and dynamic and I expect the same success this time around. Last time, Second Dinner came out with some emergency bans and changes, so I expect them to do the same if one strategy or Champion shows too much immediate dominance.
Enjoy the mode and share your experiences with me as well as what champion you are excited to use in the comments and on social media, where I'll be sharing more deck lists once the mode launches.