Part 26

Unlock Alara, explore Garruk's deck, and conquer the challenges of Part 26 in Magic: The Gathering Arena with this comprehensive guide.

Part 26 of the guide covers the Alara expansion for Magic: The Gathering Arena. Alara is unlocked by purchasing the Garruk's Revenge expansion for $4.99 on Steam. It was previously given away free with booster packs after the game's initial release, but this offer may no longer be available.

The Alara expansion features a shattered plane with four battles, an explorable node for new cards, and the ability to play as Garruk Wildspeaker. Players must play as Garruk for the first playthrough of the campaign, though any deck can be used afterward, and the option to continue playing as Garruk in story battles remains.

Garruk Wildspeaker's Deck

This deck is a hybrid of Garruk's initial speedy beatdown deck and his second battle's U/G Worldslayer deck. It contains 22 Creatures, 11 Sorceries, 3 Instants, and 24 Lands.

Creatures [22]

• 3 Dreg Mangler
• 3 Festerhide Boar
• 4 Garruk's Companion
• 3 Garruk's Packleader
• 2 Gravetiller Wurm
• 3 Hollowhenge Beast
• 4 Runeclaw Bear

Instants [3]

• 3 Consume Strength

Sorceries [11]

• 3 Harmonize
• 4 Prey Upon
• 4 Rampant Growth

Lands [24]

• 4 Bayou
• 12 Forest
• 4 Golgari Guildgate
• 4 Swamp

The deck features a small number of black mana cards, with the Bayous not significantly slowing down gameplay. Key cards include Harmonize for draw power, Rampant Growth for fast land acquisition, and Dreg Mangler for its Scavenge ability. Some cards have the Morbid keyword, granting extra +1/+1 counters if creatures died that turn, making Gravetiller Wurm an 8/8 and Festerhide Boar a 5/5.

On Planeswalker difficulty, the final duel uses Garruk's Worldspeaker deck, which is more destructive with cards like Dark Hatchling, Putrefy, and In Garruk's Wake, and includes creatures like Putrid Leech and Spiritmonger, at the cost of reduced draw power (Harmonize is absent). Child of Night offers the deck's only life-gain, though its lifelink has been noted as not working correctly. Putrefy is particularly useful against the expansion boss.

Expansion Duel 1: The Hunt Begins

This duel features Kento the Spiritcrafter using a green tree spirit deck. The deck includes low-cost beatsticks like Gnarled Mass and Phantom Tiger, Strangleroot Geist with Undying & Haste, and higher-cost beatsticks like Kodama of the North Tree (trample and shroud) and Kodama of the South Tree (grants +1/+1 and trample to allies when a Spirit/Arcane spell is played).

Kento's Deck: Creatures [27]

• 3 Child of Thorns
• 3 Gnarled Mass
• 2 Kodama of the North Tree
• 3 Kodama of the South Tree
• 4 Nightsoil Kami
• 3 Orchard Spirit
• 3 Phantom Tiger
• 4 Strangleroot Geist
• 2 Yew Spirit

Instants [6]

• 3 Fog
• 3 Unchecked Growth

Sorceries [3]

• 3 Bountiful Harvest

Lands [24]

• 24 Forest

Deck Analysis:
CONTROL: poor (Fog)
DRAWPOWER: none
SPEED: average
STAYPOWER: mediocre (Phantom Tiger, Strangleroot Geist)
STRENGTH: good
SYNERGY: great
RETRIEVAL: mediocre (Nightsoil Kami)
P.CHANGES: [+3] Kodama's Reach [-2] Nightsoil Kami, [+2] Jugan, the Rising Star [-3] Orchard Spirit, [+3] Kami of the Hunt [-3] Fog

On Planeswalker difficulty, Kento's deck loses some cards and two Nightsoil Kamis to gain Cultivate-like Kodama's Reach, a low-cost attacker Kami of the Hunt, and a flying beatstick Jugan, the Rising Star that distributes +1/+1 counters upon death.

The deck has strong synergy and decent speed but can be countered by a single large creature. Cards like Unchecked Growth provide necessary power.