Brawl Bash: Decklists!
With Brawl quickly approaching Arena, I figured I'd share a few lists I've been working on. At the time of writing this, not all spoilers have gone up yet so maybe there will be more cards to add but for right now these will be the decks I'll be playing with from week 1!
For those that want to learn more about how to play Brawl, read this!
https://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/formats/brawl
Naturally, the first deck I had to try would be centered around Nicol-Bolas. I think Bolas' power level is worth the mana cost. This deck is going to play like the Grixis Control deck that we all know and love. Murderous Rider will be quite the versatile answer. Our only downside is that our board wipes aren't as good as something in Blue and White as all of our sweepers will have a drawback or restriction. Our trade-off is that we get a commander that is a complete house and access to cards like The Elderspell and Bedevil, which are absurdly powerful spells. Grixis will still have issues with Enchantments so I feel like Ugin, the Ineffable is a must. Definitely take this deck for a spin if you're looking for a control deck.
We also have an Esper list with a slightly upgraded version of Alela, Artful Provocateur
This deck will follow the game plan of the precon in trying to play a ton of artifacts and enchantments to give us a bunch of faeries to swarm the board. If the deck ever untaps with Alela, we can really run away with the game. I'm debating on adding cards like Command the Dreadhorde as that card can just automatically put us back in the game when we fall behind. Its also nice that we have lifegain in our commander and Sephara, Sky's Blade which means we can potentially be generous with our health. I wasn't sure how many counterspells to put in this deck as we have limited slots so I only went with Dovin's Veto. If the format calls for it, we could definitely add Absorb and Sinister Sabotage and play more into the tempo fliers play style.
There's also a Roalesk, Apex Hybrid deck we could try that focuses a bit on the ability to Proliferate!
I really want to see if Roalesk could work so I made this list. It's a superfriends deck with a ton of proliferate so we can try to see if we can expedite our planeswalkers to their ultimates while also growing our creatures on board. This list is pretty rough but I think something with Roalesk could be sweet when we have so many things with counters that we could grow to monstrous levels of power.
Lastly, I know I'm not Ali Aintrazi but here's an attempt to make Golos, the Tireless Pilgrim work!
This deck is a five-color good stuff deck. I'm not sure how good Golos is over something like Niv-Mizzet Reborn but activating Golos' ability at least once is backbreaking for the opponent. I feel like after two or three activations you'll have pulled too far ahead barring something crazy happening. Plus, its pretty fun playing Solemn Simulacrum's older sibling!
Conclusion
The Brawl format may be exactly what Arena needs for those who don't want to play exclusively standard. Singleton is really popular. As more #MTGELD gets spoiled, numbers will be moved around in these lists but ELD has brought some crazy powerful cards I can't wait to try. Brawl is only 1v1 right now and it's already a blast. I can't wait to see what happens when we get a multiplayer version to play on Arena. What commanders are you going to make at Brawl's launch? Let me know in the comments!
See you at the next one!
-Your Friendly Neighborhood AsianAvenger
Twitter: @TheAsianAvenger || Twitch: twitch.tv/TheAsianAvenger || Email: theasianavenger@mtggoldfish.com
