Part 62

Part 62 of the Magic: The Gathering Arena guide covers the Archaeomancer, Zendikar: All-Out Sprint, and Zendikar: Nissa decks. Learn strategies and card changes.

Archaeomancer Deck Changes:

• +4 Thought Scour
• +4 Sleep
• -4 Paragon of Gathering Mists
• -4 Sage's Row Denizen

This blue mill deck focuses on destroying the opponent's library while using Azure Mage/Archivist for hand advantage. Archaeomancer retrieves spent sorceries, and Æther Adepts bounce high-priority targets. On Planeswalker difficulty, Paragon of Gathering Mists and Sage's Row Denizen are replaced with Thought Scour and Sleep.

Flyers are effective as the opponent has no way to block them, except for Paragon of Gathering Mists' activated ability which lasts until the end of the turn. The milling is very fast due to Sage's Row Denizen and multiple Mind Sculpts and Tome Scours. Always include Elixirs of Immortality, with backup retrieval methods like Treasured Find or Rune-Scarred Demon.

Zendikar: All-Out Sprint

Difficulty: 2 of 5

Creatures [16]: 4 Caravan Hurda, 4 Felidar Sovereign, 4 Lightkeeper of Emeria, 4 Lone Missionary

Enchantments [4]: 4 Sunspring Expedition

Instants [8]: 4 Narrow Escape, 4 Rest for the Weary

Sorceries [6]: 2 Oust, 4 Survival Cache

Lands [26]: 26 Plains

Deck Type: White life gain deck, built around Felidar Sovereign's instant win condition (having 40+ life during upkeep).

Planeswalker Difficulty Changes:

• +4 Emeria, the Sky Ruin
• -4 Plains

On Planeswalker difficulty, Emeria, the Sky Ruin is added. If you control 7+ Plains during upkeep, Emeria allows you to return a creature from your graveyard to play for free. This prevents strategies focused on destroying all Felidar Sovereigns, as that will be the opponent's primary target. Recycling land destruction (Charmbreaker Devils + Demolish, Tectonic Rift) or exiling Sovereigns becomes a useful tactic.

Winning strategies involve noncombat damage, beatsticks, or a combination. Aura-themed weenie decks can also perform well, with minimal threats besides Oust's put-atop-deck effect and Lightkeeper of Emeria's flying. Keep the opponent's life below 40 or mill all Felidar Sovereigns to manage the fight.

• The opponent lacks noncombat damage sources, leaving only Oust to deal with threats. This allows tactics like stealing the opponent's Felidar Sovereign (via Switcheroo or Roil Elemental) to win.

Zendikar: Nissa

Difficulty: 3 of 5

Creatures [24]: 4 Civic Wayfinder, 4 Elvish Pioneer, 4 Elvish Visionary, 2 Imperious Perfect, 4 Nissa's Chosen, 2 Oracle of Mul Daya, 4 Sylvan Ranger

Sorceries [8]: 2 Bountiful Harvest, 2 Feral Incarnation, 2 Nissa's Expedition, 2 Overwhelm

Instants [4]: 2 Groundswell, 2 Primal Bellow

Lands [24]: 24 Forest

Deck Type: Green elf weenie deck with strong draw power and land-grabbing ability.

Planeswalker Difficulty Changes:

• +2 Elvish Champion
• +2 Feral Incarnation
• +2 Joraga Warcaller
• +2 Overwhelm
• -2 Bountiful Harvest
• -2 Civic Wayfinder
• -2 Oracle of Mul Daya
• -2 Nissa's Expedition

On Planeswalker difficulty, the deck becomes highly aggressive, replacing land-grab cards with more Overwhelms and Feral Incarnations. Elvish Champion buffs other elves, and Joraga Warcaller provides a similar buff with its multikicker ability. The goal is to spam the field and win with Overwhelm.

Strategies against this deck often involve noncombat damage. Mass destruction spells like Planar Cleansing or Anger of the Gods are effective against the weenie spam. Anger of the Gods is also useful for exiling Nissa's Chosen to prevent them from returning to the deck. As long as the weenie spam is stifled, the general annoyances like Feral Incarnation are manageable. The deck lacks graveyard retrieval.