You know that feeling. You’ve just opened a sweet Mythic Rare, maybe a flashy new Atraxa or a niche combo piece, and your brain immediately starts firing. You want to build. You open the mtg arena deck builder, and then… you just sort of stare at the screen. It’s a love-hate relationship, honestly. Wizards of the Coast has built a tool that is simultaneously incredibly powerful and, at times, bafflingly clunky.
It works. Mostly. But if you’re trying to move beyond just clicking "suggest lands" and hoping for the best, there is a massive learning curve that the game doesn’t really explain.
The reality is that Magic: The Gathering is the most complex game in the world. Translating that into a digital interface where you have to manage a collection of thousands of cards—ranging from Standard-legal draft chaff to high-power Timeless staples—is a logistical nightmare. The builder has to handle card styles, alchemy rebalances, sideboards, and a mana calculator that sometimes thinks playing fifteen Swamps in a three-color deck is a "good idea." It’s a lot.
The Filter System is Your Best Friend (If You Can Find It)
Most people just type the name of a card into the search bar. That’s fine if you know what you’re looking for. But the real magic of the mtg arena deck builder is in the advanced filters. See that little icon next to the search bar that looks like a series of sliders? That’s your command center.
If you aren't using the "Not Collected" filter, you’re missing out on half the fun of theory-crafting. You can build an entire deck using cards you don’t even own yet, which is basically the digital version of window shopping. It lets you see exactly how many Rare or Mythic wildcards you’re going to have to burn before you hit that "Craft All" button. It’s a dangerous game for your wallet, but a necessary one for competitive play.
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Then there are the text commands. Not everyone knows this, but you can actually type specific strings into the search bar to find exactly what you need. Want to find every creature with an "enters the battlefield" effect that costs three mana? There’s a string for that. Typing t:creature o:"when ~ enters" cmc=3 saves you ten minutes of scrolling through the entire red collection. It feels a bit like coding, sure, but in a game where efficiency is everything, these shortcuts are life-savers.
Why the "Suggest Lands" Button is a Trap
Let’s talk about the mana base. This is where most newer players get tripped up. The mtg arena deck builder has an auto-fill feature for lands. It’s convenient. It’s also frequently wrong.
The algorithm is pretty basic. It looks at the pips (the mana symbols) on your cards and tries to match the ratio. If you have 20 green pips and 10 blue pips, it’s going to give you more Forests than Islands. Simple, right? Except Magic isn't that simple. The builder doesn't always account for your "mana curve"—the literal timing of when you need certain colors. If you need double-black on turn two for a Gifted Aetherborn but you don't need green until turn five for a Thrun, a simple ratio won't help you. You'll end up with a hand full of Forests and a black creature you can't cast.
Also, it loves basic lands. Like, it really loves them. If you have Rare dual lands like the "Fast Lands" (e.g., Copperline Gorge) or "Shock Lands" (Steam Vents), the auto-builder might not prioritize them correctly unless you manually intervene. You’ve spent the wildcards on those lands. Use them. Turn off the "Auto-fill Lands" toggle in the deck settings and take the five minutes to build the mana base yourself. Your win rate will thank you.
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The Secret World of Deck Imports
Nobody builds in a vacuum anymore. Websites like MTGGoldfish or Untapped.gg are basically mandatory reading for anyone trying to climb the ladder. The "Import" button at the bottom of the Decks screen is probably the most used feature in the entire game.
But it’s finicky.
If a decklist has a single typo, or if it uses a specific card art variant that isn't currently in your "collection" (even if you own the base card), the import can fail. It’s annoying. You get that little "Invalid Deck" warning and you have to go hunting for the culprit. Usually, it's a split card or a card from an Alchemy set that has a slightly different name. Pro tip: if an import fails, check the sideboard. Frequently, decklists from external sites include "Commander" or "Brawl" specific cards that don't translate well to a 60-card Standard format.
Organizing the Chaos
Once you have fifty decks, the interface becomes a mess. WotC finally added folders, which was a godsend, but most people don't use them. Organize by format. Please. Keep your "Standard" decks away from your "Historic" jank.
There’s also the issue of "Vertical vs. Horizontal" view. In the mtg arena deck builder, you can toggle how you see your decklist. The horizontal view—where cards are stacked in columns by mana cost—is much better for visualizing your curve. The vertical view is just a list. Lists are for groceries. Columns are for winning Magic games. When you see a huge spike in the 3-drop slot, you know you’re going to have a clunky mid-game. That visual feedback is vital.
Handling the Wildcard Anxiety
The economy is the elephant in the room. Every time you're in the builder and you see that little "flower" icon indicating you need a wildcard, your heart sinks a little.
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Here is the thing: don't craft "replacement" cards. If a pro deck calls for four copies of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse, don't try to build the deck with two Sheoldreds and two random five-mana demons you found in your collection. The deck's math is built around those specific power spikes. If you can't afford the deck, it’s better to build a cheaper "budget" archetype like Mono-Blue Tempo or Red Deck Wins than to build a "bad" version of a Tier 1 deck. The mtg arena deck builder makes it tempting to just "fill in the gaps," but that’s how you lose gold and gems.
Practical Steps for Better Deck Building
Don't just jump in and start clicking. Have a plan. Magic is a game of resources, and the deck builder is your primary resource management tool.
- Toggle "Advanced Filters" immediately. Check the boxes for the sets currently in Standard if you're building for that format to avoid accidental Historic inclusions.
- Search by "Rarity" to find your bombs. Sometimes you forget you own a powerful Rare because it’s tucked away in a set you didn't draft much.
- Watch your mana curve on the right-hand side. If it looks like a mountain peak at 4-mana, your deck is too slow. Aim for a "bell curve" that leans toward the left (cheaper cards).
- Use the "Craft All" button with caution. Review the list of cards it's about to make. Make sure you aren't crafting a card that has a slightly different version already in your collection (like a different art style of Duress).
- Export your decks for backup. Every now and then, Arena has a bug. Or you might accidentally delete a deck. Copy the decklist to a simple Notepad file or a cloud doc. It takes two seconds.
The builder isn't perfect. It's a bit heavy on the RAM, the search can be literal-minded, and the "suggest lands" feature is a prank played by the developers. But once you stop fighting the interface and start using the advanced search strings and manual land counts, the game opens up. You stop being a pilot of someone else's deck and start being an actual brewer.
Stop letting the auto-fill dictate your mana base. Go into the settings, uncheck the "Auto-tap" and "Auto-land" boxes, and take control of the deck. The more time you spend in the builder understanding why a deck works—not just what cards are in it—the better you'll play when the match actually starts. Building is half the game; you might as well get good at it.