The MTG Arena Plane-cation Chronicles event is already on its third week and this time we are making a journey to Amonkhet! The popular Singleton format returns, and we will look at the event details, rewards, tips, strategies, and various decklists.

Event Information

Duration : August 11 2019 to August 14 2019 Start : August 11 2019 8 AM PT (15:00 UTC) Sign up End : August 14 2019 8 AM PT (15:00 UTC) End : August 14 2019 11 AM PT (18:00 UTC) Note : Looks like Plane-cation Chronicles events have been extended by 24 hours. Enjoy!

: August 11 2019 to August 14 2019 Format : Singleton

: Singleton Cost : Free

: Free Match Structure : Single matches (BO1)

: Single matches (BO1) Rewards: New Basic Land Art that can be used in any of your decks for cumulative wins (up to 6) throughout the event duration as below:

3 Wins : Amonkhet Plains

4 Wins : Amonkhet Island

5 Wins : Amonkhet Swamp

1 Win : Amonkhet Mountain

2 Wins : Amonkhet Forest

6 Wins: Unhinged Swamp

Note: Even if you do happen to miss these Plane-cation events, developers have said that we will still be able to purchase these after the event ends, similar to how we can buy the ones from War of the Spark Chronicles.

What is Singleton?

Bring a deck with no more than one copy of any card (other than basic lands). The memories you make here will last you a lifetime. But who needs a lifetime, when you could have an eternity? If the gods deem you worthy, the opportunity could be yours! Immortal glory awaits you beneath the suns of Amonkhet!

Singleton is back for the Plane-cation Chronicles! It is a popular casual format in MTG Arena where players build and play against a deck of at least 60 cards (or more) with no more than a single copy of one card (except Basic Lands).

Once again, there are no other special rules for this event – you can build a deck with cards from all the available sets so far. However, please note that despite the name of the event, we are not getting any cards from Amonkhet to add to our decks (unfortunately).

This is also a perfect opportunity to preview what the Brawl format coming to MTG Arena might look like, which is also a Singleton format!

Building Your Singleton Deck – Tips and Strategies

1. The Fundamentals

The best Magic: The Gathering decks are consistent and have a clear strategy, synergy or combo in mind. This generally means having up to four copies of a card.

Singleton by nature, can be a creative challenge as building a deck that works consistently yet contains no duplicates often can mean scrounging your collection to look for cards that fit your deck. This is made more difficult by the limited card pool we have in MTG Arena so far. Do we just jam as much powerful cards that consist mainly of rares and mythic rares, or do we have a critical mass of different cards that work really well together?

On the other hand, this can also be the perfect format to take advantage of a small card collection that might not have multiple copies of rare cards. This can lead to games that are more varied (and random) and interesting as you see cards you may not normally see.

2. Core Cards with Similar Functions

Cards that are relevant in all situations are the best ones to include in your Singleton deck, rather than efficient but narrow spells. Let’s look at some examples below.

Llanowar Elves is a key component in many Green decks that allows you to cast spells a turn faster and leaves a body on the battlefield. There are no cards that do the same thing for just one mana, but there definitely are alternatives that are playable.

Removal and utility spells are important in Singleton, even more so as sometimes it can hit your opponent’s best creatures and they won’t have another copy to back it up! The more versatile the spell, the better. Efficiency matters a bit less, as it means nothing if it cannot be used at all.

Another good example of cards that have multiple variations are the White enchantments that exiles things.

Here are some other examples:

3. Choose a Strategy

It is important to pick your general strategy and direction when building your Singleton deck. Consider the points below:

Firstly, review your card collection and see the number of playable cards you have in each color (as well as Lands). Think about how many Wildcards you have and willing to spend to make a good deck for this event. One to two colored decks will be the easiest to build, while three or more colors will be more for players with a more complete collection.

Generally, a Singleton deck consists of your most powerful cards available in your chosen color – the more colors you want to play, the more Rares and Mythic Rares you will require to build a decent deck. The best decks therefore tend to be midrange to control consisting of higher mana cost spells. There may not be enough cards available to build a decent Mono Red Aggro deck, for example. This is especially true due to the limited card pool in MTG Arena.

On the other hand, decks are generally slower because of the above factor and synergy or aggro decks can still take advantage of this. You may need to spend less Wildcards this way as the deck will consist of more commons and uncommons, but also the deck strength and consistency may suffer as you may be using weaker cards.

The more redundant and consistent your deck can be, the better. Decks that rely on combos or strategies that are too shallow are not so good in singleton, as even a small disruption will render your plan useless. As a personal general rule, if I don’t have about 20 cards that share the synergy, the idea is scrapped.

4. Use Competitive Deck as a Template

One approach to building your own competitive Singleton deck is using a top Standard deck as the building block for the structure of your deck.

As an example, an Esper Hero deck may have 11 creatures, 11 Planeswalkers, 4 hand disruption spells, 8 removal spells, and 26 lands. Then you can replace multiples of a card with something that has a similar function, as shown on the first point above.

Don’t forget your deck will still need sufficient win conditions – and enough cards to back them up.

5. Tutor Effects

Cards that can look for specific cards are great in Singleton – above are some examples that can search your library for cards that swing the game in your favor, or even your sideboard so you can pinpoint what you exactly need at that given time.

6. What does Core Set 2020 Add?

Since the last time the event rolled around in War of the Spark Chronicles, Core Set 2020 was added. This set adds some excellent cards to the Singleton card pool, including:

7. Rat Colony and Persistent Petitioners

Last but not least, a deck can have any number of Rat Colony and Persistent Petitioners. In this case, the card text overrides the format rules. Building a deck with these cards provides the consistency that many Singleton decks cannot have, as well as being a cheap deck to craft. All you need are 4 copies of these cards in your collection to have as many copies as you want in your deck.

A Rat Colony and Persistent Petitioners deck is decent for new players with a small collection. If you are on the other side though, it may be wise to be prepared against them as they can be quite popular. Legion’s End or Ixalan’s Binding is easily the best card against them, so it might not be a bad idea to sneak a copy in your deck if possible.

Our Top Singleton Decklist Choices

Mono Green Stompy – Singleton

This deck has a sideboard for the new Planeswalker, Vivien, Arkbow Ranger – it allows us to search our sideboard for more narrow and specific cards against your opponent. Otherwise, this is a stock list from previous Singleton events that has a lot of big creatures and some card draw to refuel your hand.

Big Red – Singleton

Core Set 2020 adds some nice Red cards to the card pool, so we updated our Mono Red deck to have more Chandras. There is a healthy mix of burn spells to go to the face or opponent’s creatures or planeswalkers, and some bigger creatures on the upper range of the curve as well.

Azorius Flyers – Singleton

An aggressive deck that uses evasive flying creatures and spirits.

Golgari Midrange – Singleton

This deck is more solid than ever, preying on three color decks by cutting off their mana with land destruction!

Boros Aggro – Singleton

Another stock Boros list from previous events, with a slight twist to accommodate for Feather, the Redeemed.

Bant Vannifar – Singleton

This deck uses Neoform and Prime Speaker Vannifar to tutor out creatures in your deck, which is perfect for Singleton.

Mardu Aristocrats – Singleton

This is a bit of an experimental deck, as I believe we now have a good enough card base for this sort of deck in Singleton. The mana curve had to be a bit higher to fit in the more powerful cards that can win games on its own.

Esper Control – Singleton

This is a classic take on Esper, with all the good cards squashed in together. Milling your opponents with cards like Jace, Wielder of Mysteries and Enter the God-Eternals has a chance of getting rid of their best cards and them never being able to get it back. You can even get them back with Command the Dreadhorde and The Eldest Reborn! Depending on the meta, you can mix and match more specific removal cards such as The Elderspell if there are a lot of planeswalkers or adding Ritual of Soot if you need more mass removal.

Grixis Control – Singleton

Another similar control style deck, Grixis features the powerful Nicol Bolas in both of its forms. Like the Esper deck, your removal package should be tailored towards the event meta for optimal results.

Sultai Midrange – Singleton

Our personal favorite deck for the event gets a small upgrade in Core Set 2020 with the almighty Elementals.

Wrapping Up

We thought this week was going to be between Pauper, Landfall or the Standard Shake Up format as previously announced, but looks like one of them was changed to Singleton last minute. This was a pleasant surprise! As always, you can hit us up on our social channels on Discord or Twitter, or leave a comment below if you have any feedback, and share your decks.

The next Plane-cation event starts next week August 18 to August 20. We will keep everybody updated when we get more information – have a great weekend!