Grab your favorite legendary creature or Planeswalker because Brawl is returning to Magic: The Gathering Arena’s Midweek Magic rotation! The mini-Commander format lets players experiment with weird and powerful legendary cards to try and win three rewards in this limited-time event.
Midweek Magic events are free, fun little tournaments that have players competing to earn three rewards. The first two tiers of rewards are random Rare Individual Cards, giving you a chance to get any rare or mythic rare cards from all available cards on Arena. The third reward you can earn is a Mystery Cosmetic pack, a little bundle that comes with a wide range of goodies inside. You have the chance to earn a unique card style, a new avatar, or even a pet, though card styles are the most common drop from the available prizes.
Midweek Magic events are totally free to join and, unlike many events on Arena, are pretty new player friendly. If you’re looking to jump in, the Brawl event starts at 2 p.m. PT this Tuesday and will run until 2 p.m. on Thursday. You can join and play matches on either the Arena game client from your PC or on your phone or tablet on the Arena app.
Brawl Rules
Much like Commander on Arena, Brawl has you pick a single legendary creature or planeswalker to be your Commander, and then you must build a deck around them. Deck sizes are restricted to just 60 cards, like a regular constructed deck, but cannot be more than 60. Decks are restricted to using just one copy of any card, except basic lands. Life totals are boosted a little in Brawl games, with both players starting at 25 life.
The main thing to keep in mind with Brawl matches is that you are restricted to only using sets currently legal in Standard to build your decks, including your choice of Commander. Currently, the Standard legal sets are:
- March of the Machine
- Phyrexia: All Will Be One
- The Brothers’ War
- Dominaria United
- Streets of New Capenna
- Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty
- Innistrad: Crimson Vow
- Innistrad: Midnight Hunt
Sample Brawl Deck: Jodah, the Unifier
Since you’re playing a variant of Commander, why not play all the legendary creatures you can? That’s where Jodah, the Unifier shines. This five-mana Commander brings one of each color to your deck, letting you play any card you want. Jodah also gives your legendary creatures +X/+X, with X being equal to each legendary creature you control, quickly letting your legendary creatures spiral out of control.
Jodah’s other incredibly powerful ability is what is effectively cascade for all your legendary spells, letting you exile the top card of your deck until you find another legendary card with less mana, giving you the choice to cast it for free.
The rest of the deck is filled with legendary creatures with tons of value, like Zimone and Dina or Thalia and the Gitrog Monster. There’s a healthy amount of control in the deck too, with cards like Wash Away to counter your opponent’s Commander for just one mana, and Leyline Binding for a one-mana exile spell.
Feel free to swap out any legendary creatures with your favorites, especially more limited cards like Lagrella, the Magpie, or Drana and Linvala, which are both good but are a bit of a flex spot in the deck. Lands can be particularly wildcard intensive in five-color decks, so don’t feel bad about swapping some rare multicolor lands with other variants, rare or otherwise.
