Howdy folks, and welcome back to Daily Arena!

Today I’m going to introduce the first installment of a potential series I call “Magic Arean Pro Tips”. These will include a series of tips on common questions people ask about Arena, as well as common gameplay issues that come up in Arena.

Here’s the tips in video format, and I’ll also go over them below for you old folks like me who like to read.

2-Color Deck Quests

One of the daily quests that you will sometimes see in Arena requires you to win two games with a deck of two specific colors. For example, “Win 2 Games with a Blue/Red deck.”

Here are a couple of things you need to know about this quest:

You can’t complete this quest with a 3-color deck.

You can complete this quest with a mono-color deck if you add a card of the second color to your sideboard.

Basically, the Pro Tip here is that you can “cheese” the “Win 2 Games with a Blue/Red deck” quest and complete it with your Red Deck Wins by throwing a blue card in the sideboard.

Importing a Deck List

To import a deck list into Magic Arena, you need to get it into your computer’s clipboard in a specific format, the click the “Import” button on the “Decks” screen.

The format looks like this:

4 Drowned Catacomb (XLN) 253

3 Field of Ruin (XLN) 254

2 Arguel’s Blood Fast (XLN) 90

4 Vraska’s Contempt (XLN) 129

4 The Scarab God (HOU) 145

4 Champion of Wits (HOU) 31

2 Supreme Will (HOU) 49

4 Essence Scatter (AKH) 52

2 Hieroglyphic Illumination (AKH) 57

2 Censor (AKH) 46

2 Liliana, Death’s Majesty (AKH) 97

4 Fetid Pools (AKH) 243

1 Commit /// Memory (AKH) 211

2 Moment of Craving (RIX) 79

6 Island (RIX) 193

9 Swamp (RIX) 194

2 Ravenous Chupacabra (RIX) 82

3 Dusk Legion Zealot (RIX) 70

It has the card count, followed by the card name, followed by the set code in parentheses, followed by the card’s collector number.

You can export a deck to tour clipboard from AetherHub.com by following these steps:

Go to AetherHub.com

Browse to Deck Hub->MTG Arena and select a deck

Click the “wrench” icon and click “Export to MTG Arena”

Click the “Export to MTG Arena” button

Nezahal, Primal Tide

Nezahal, Primal Tide is a card that frequently gets misplayed in Magic Arena, especially by newer players that aren’t used to how things resolve in the game.





One common misplay I’ve seen has to do with enchantment-based removal, such as Ixalan’s Binding. The sequence of events that happens when you opponent plays one of these enchantments, and they plan to target your Nezahal, Primal Tide goes like this:





The enchantment is cast

The enchantment resolves and a triggered ability goes on the stack, targeting Nezahal, Primal Tide

The triggered ability resolves, exiling the target

Your opponent chooses the target of the enchantment’s triggered ability after the enchantment enters the battlefield. The misplay is to think “Oh, crap, my Nezahal!” and activate Nezahal’s bounce ability before anything is targeting it. If you bounce Nezahal before it is actually targeted, your opponent will be free to exile something else with the enchantment’s ability instead. If you wait and bounce Nezahal after the ability targets it, then the ability will fizzle and your opponent’s enchantment will be on the battlefield exiling nothing.

A common misplay I’ve seen on the other side of the board is an attempt to counter Nezahal, Primal Tide using something like Essence Scatter, an interaction that many new players seem to think is buggy. The issue here is that even though Nezahal “can’t be countered”, it is still a legal target for counterspells, so if you attempt to counter it, you just lose your counterspell for no value. TL;DR: Don’t try to counter Nezahal, Primal Tide, you will be sad that you did.





The third misplay is a little less egregious than the previous two, but I’ve seen it and want to mention it. This is specifically how you handle the case when your opponent casts Unburden (in the video I accidentally used Mind Rot as the example, but it’s the same, so…) when you have Nezahal, Primal Tide on the battlefield and three cards in hand.

When this happens, you should always (if only to get in the habit) wait for the card draw from Nezahal’s third ability to resolve before you activate Nezahal’s bounce ability. Some percentage of the time, you’re going to be able to respond to Unburden on the stack with your new card and might be able to save yourself from having to bounce Nezahal at all.

Bouncing Instead of Attacking

The final misplay I’ve seen, which is more of a game issue than an actual play issue, is probably the most annoying and rage-quit-inducing.

If you have exactly three cards in hand and click on Nezahal, Primal Tide when the Combat button is available, you will discard your hand and bounce Nezahal to exile. If what you really want to do is attack with Nezahal, don’t click on it until the Attacker(s) button is available.

And that’s everything for Pro Tips #1! As always, if you have any questions, comments or criticisms, feel free to contact me here, on Reddit, through Twitter via @DailyArena, or on Facebook via the @DailyArenaMTG page.

Peace.

Joseph Eddy is a Father, Husband, Son, Brother, Software Developer, and Gamer. Magic is his favorite hobby, and he’s looking forward to seeing you all on Arena. He streams Magic Arena on a weekly basis (or more), but currently is unable to keep to a set schedule.