Another week, another Midweek Magic event is coming to give out all sorts of free rewards for Magic: The Gathering Arena players. This time around, players can compete in an Explorer Constructed event encompassing most sets that have been released on Arena so far.
This event will have you take your Explorer deck up against opponents for a chance to win up to three random rewards. The first two prizes are Rare Individual Card Rewards, which are randomly chosen from across all rare and mythic rare cards on Arena. The third prize is a Mystery Cosmetic pack, containing anything from a new card style to a rare avatar or pet. Card styles are the most common drop from a Mystery Cosmetic pack so don’t be too surprised if you don’t get a fancy new pet to show off.
This Explorer event is free to enter and is available on both the Magic: The Gathering Arena app or game client. Players can join starting Tuesday at 2 p.m. PT and can compete against other players until Thursday at 2 p.m. PT.
Explorer Rules
Playing in Explorer requires players to build a 60-minimum card deck from the main Magic sets that have released on Arena and is very similar to the paper format Pioneer. Decks can include cards from sets ranging from March of the Machine all the way back to Ixalan. There are cards that have been released on Arena from previous sets but unless they were printed in a digital-specific set like Jumpstart or one of the Historic Anthology sets, it is not included in Explorer.
Mono-Green Devotion is a popular deck in the format and is relatively easy to craft if you’re missing any pieces.
Explorer Mono-Green Devotion
| Creatures (19) 4 Llanowar Elves 4 Elvish Mystic 4 Old-Growth Troll 3 Polukranos Reborn 4 Cavalier of Thorns Artifacts (1) 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship Enchantment (4) 4 Wolfwillow Haven Planeswalkers (8) 4 Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner 4 Karn, the Great Creator Sorcery (4) 4 Storm the Festival | Lands (24) 15 Forest 4 Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx 3 Lair of the Hydra 2 Boseiju, Who Endures Sideboard (14) 1 Pithing Needle 1 Ratchet Bomb 1 Darksteel Citadel 1 Skysovereign, Consul Flagship 1 Damping Sphere 1 Transmogrifying Wand 1 Voracious Hydra 1 Tormod’s Crypt 1 Esika’s Chariot 1 Pestilent Cauldron 1 Haywire Mite 1 Cityscape Leveler 1 The Mightstone and Weakstone 1 The Stone Brain |
There’s tons of card draw in the deck thanks to Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and a plethora of creatures with four or more power. You can pretty easily cast multiple Storm the Festivals in a single turn by chaining Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx activations after cheating them into play with either Storm the Festival or Cavalier of Thorns.
Even though the games are best-of-one matches, you need a full sideboard to pull cards for Karn, the Great Creator. You’ll only have access to seven of them so make sure you cull the list a bit to give you the best options.
Banned Cards
There are 15 banned cards in Explorer, many because they provide powerful combos or synergies that give your opponent very few opportunities to interact with them or they are simply too good at what they do.
The banned cards are:
- Expressive Iteration
- Field of the Dead
- Kethis, the Hidden Hand
- Leyline of Abundance
- Lurrus of the Dream-Den
- Nexus of Fate
- Oko, Thief of Crowns
- Once Upon a Time
- Teferi, Time Raveler
- Tibalt’s Trickery
- Underworld Breach
- Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath
- Veil of Summer
- Wilderness Reclamation
- Winota, Joiner of Forces