Part 58 of the Magic: The Gathering Arena guide covers Chandra's deck and Golgari Depths, detailing strategies and card lists.
Chandra's Deck (Ravnica: Chandra)
Difficulty: 2 of 5
Chandra's Decklist:
- Creatures [21]: [×2] Cinder Elemental, [×1] Firewing Phoenix, [×4] Flamewave Invoker, [×2] Hellfire Mongrel, [×2] Lavaborn Muse, [×3] Pilgrim's Eye, [×3] Young Pyromancer, [×4] Regathan Firecat
- Artifacts [1]: [×1] Staff of the Flame Magus
- Enchantments [3]: [×3] Seal of Fire
- Instants [9]: [×2] Annihilating Fire, [×3] Searing Spear, [×4] Volcanic Geyser
- Sorceries [1]: [×1] Cone of Flame
- Lands [25]: [25] Mountain
Chandra's Deck Stats: CONTROL: great, DRAWPOWER: poor, SPEED: good, STAYPOWER: poor, STRENGTH: average, SYNERGY: good, RETRIEVAL: poor (Firewing Phoenix)
Chandra's Deck Changes (Planeswalker Difficulty): [+4] Chandra's Phoenix, [+2] Flametongue Kavu, [+1] Pyromancer's Gauntlet | [-4] Regathan Firecat, [-2] Cinder Elemental, [-1] Staff of the Flame Magus
Chandra's primary goal in Magic: The Gathering Arena is to defeat opponents through noncombat damage. Her enchantments, instants, and sorceries, along with creatures like Lavaborn Muse, Cinder Elemental, Hellfire Mongrel, and Flamewave Invoker, all contribute to this strategy. Cinder Elemental and Volcanic Geyser deal damage based on the number of lands she controls, and she may use these effects to destroy problematic creatures instead of targeting players.
On Planeswalker difficulty, Regathan Firecat is replaced by Chandra's Phoenix, a 2/2 flyer with haste that can return to hand after her owner casts a red instant or sorcery. Flametongue Kavu is a 4/2 creature that deals 4 damage to a target creature upon entering the battlefield. Pyromancer's Gauntlet adds 2 extra damage to all noncombat damage dealt by its controller.
- Life gain is the most effective strategy. Chandra aims to reduce your health while removing your creatures. Most of her creatures have low toughness (1-2), and her deck lacks strong hand advantage or graveyard retrieval.
- Milling can put Firewing Phoenix and Chandra's Phoenix into the graveyard for easier retrieval, while also removing sources of noncombat damage. Spells like Tome Scour or Chill of Forboding can be effective.
- Flametongue Kavu's damage effect is mandatory. If Chandra summons it when you control no creatures, it may target itself or an ally. You can exploit this by bouncing your only creature(s) to your hand, forcing Kavu to destroy itself or another creature.
Golgari Depths (Ravnica: Golgari Depths)
Difficulty: 2 of 5
Golgari Depths Decklist:
- Creatures [22]: [×4] Corpse Blockade, [×4] Gutter Skulk, [×4] Sewer Shambler, [×4] Slitherhead, [×4] Terrus Wurm, [×2] Zanikev Locust
- Instants [6]: [×2] Fatal Fumes, [×4] Grisly Salvage
- Sorceries [4]: [×4] Drown in Filth
- Lands [28]: [×6] Forest, [×4] Golgari Guildgate, [×18] Swamp
Golgari Depths Deck Stats: CONTROL: average, DRAWPOWER: none, SPEED: average, STAYPOWER: average, STRENGTH: good, SYNERGY: good, RETRIEVAL: poor (Grisly Salvage)
Golgari Depths Deck Changes (Planeswalker Difficulty): [+4] Rot Farm Skeleton, [+2] Vigor Mortis | [-4] Swamp, [-2] Terrus Wurm
This is a Golgari (Green/Black) Scavenge-themed deck in Magic: The Gathering Arena. Many of its creatures can be exiled from the graveyard for their Scavenge cost to add counters to other creatures, quickly creating powerful attackers. Golgari Depths uses Drown in Filth for milling to remove creatures and then leverages graveyard retrieval with Grisly Salvage.
On Planeswalker difficulty, Golgari Depths exchanges some lands for Rot Farm Skeleton, a 4/1 creature that can mill its deck to return itself to the battlefield. This enhances synergy with Drown in Filth and Grisly Salvage. Vigor Mortis is a low-cost spell that returns a creature from Golgari Depths' graveyard to the field, often with a +1/+1 counter. These changes generally favor the player.
- Spot removal is highly effective. Milling can also be beneficial by removing cards like Drown in Filth and Fatal Fumes from the opponent's deck, and it provides fodder for graveyard exiling.
- The opponent tends to play opportunistically, often using Scavenge costs on weaker creatures like Gutter Skulk if many Scavenge targets are available.
- Take advantage of the opponent's focus on Scavenge by killing creatures after they pay the Scavenge costs, or by bouncing them to hand, which removes their counters.
- Remember Corpse Blockade's effect.
100% Human-Written. AI Fact-Checked. Community Verified. Learn how AntMag verifies content