Grand Arena is back from Oct 14-Oct 21!

It's been awhile since we've had Grand Arena with deck-building open and there are a bunch of recently released cards that will make an impact! I'll run through each Champion, Skill, and Pre-Con, as well as give you direction on which new cards to pair with each of them.

You can earn Zombie Nova and this cool new Vampire America Chavez emote!

Be sure to check out Lauren’s guide covering the economy side of the event.

Grand Arena Economy Guide - Oct ’26

Everything there is to know about the Grand Arena economy in October 2026!

Fourth LocationLaurenWhatevs

Refresher Course

Grand Arena starts you off with one extra Energy, which really changes the dynamic of the mode. It also means you don't even need ramp to get enough Energy for a Fin Fang Foom or a Zombie Galacti! There is also no Snapping, so there's no need to hold back or retreat. Remember, your Champion and Skill start in hand, so you don't need to add any first turn plays to the Herbie deck or any 3-Costs to the Hulk deck. Most tech is still banned in this mode, so the combos you can safely pull off are totally different. Giant combos are better than on ladder. Ongoing is usually great, but this is a rare Grand Arena run without any of the Ongoing champs. We've also gotten a bunch of impactful new cards since the mode last allowed deck-building, like Thanos FF, Anti-Polar Magneto, Sinister Six, Vampire Killmonger, and a bunch more that could have a major impact.

The Eight Champs

The champions this time around are Annihilus, Carnage, Ghost Rider, Herbie, Hulk, Human Torch First Steps, Rocket Raccoon, and Sentinel. Hulk, Carnage and Herbie have appeared a lot and you'll probably feel comfortable playing and building with those. Don't sleep on my personal picks like Sentinel, Rocket, and Torch, who reward learning their play patterns and thinking outside the box.

Annihilus

Annihilus hasn't shown up as a Champion a ton and will feel more fresh than some of the others because of that. His effect is reasonably strong, but he is expensive enough that he has felt a bit slow and expensive in past runs. The Skill has been reduced from 3-Cost to 2, which should make a huge difference in how this champ plays.

New Best Friends

Annihilus has typically focused more on Clog, but with all the new Affliction toys, he could take a more Affliction-focused path this time around!

This pre-con looks largely ready to go out of the box and I expect it to be one of the better pre-con choices.

Carnage

Carnage always does well because it has a familiar play pattern and the Skill and Carnage starting in hand makes this deck super reliable.

New Best Friends

Tombstone provided another cheap Destroy trigger, though he's probably unnecessary. If you want to race to unlock Zombie Nova, I think there's definitely a Destroy deck with a Horde sub-theme that will do well in this mode. Death FF is a solid shenanigans card for this combo-heavy mode.

The pre-con will be fully functional for you. Sabretooth isn't the best choice on ladder, but this mode having more Energy makes him less of a liability.

Ghost Rider

Ghost Rider has been a disaster since he was introduced as a Champion. The Skill has been buffed – it now adds 5 Power instead of 4 and is targeted. It's better, but I would still anticipate this being the worst Champion.

New Best Friend

Compounding my pessimism, Ghost Rider doesn't get as much as most of the other cards and Discard is a flailing archetype. Hela, Khonshi, and Weapon H are solid considerations for how to build this deck. I do think Anti-Polar Magneto can help with some of what holds this deck back by putting some cards on the board for free, often by Turn 5.

The pre-con doesn't look too bad as I do think Black Knight is probably the best direction to take this deck. The Skill just feels to expensive and kind of backwards in a deck that wouldn't mind playing its champ on the final turn otherwise.

Herbie

Herbie is often the class of the mode and has been an over-powered menace in some past runs. The Skill was made more expensive a few runs ago and he has more competition this time. The extra Energy heading into the last turn and his ability to double his own Power are the key selling points, so he's often paired with tech and interaction or things like Arnim Zola that help further duplicate Power.

New Best Friends

Herbie pairs very well with Thanos' red Reality Stone that can give you another big Herbie as well as powerful meta staples Jane Foster and Venus in a variety of ways. Herbie decks are also able to afford a card like Rogue Scion of Division, which may feel too expensive for other cards in this mode, but can really do some damage in this format.

This Herbie deck does look undeniably powerful and certainly pushed out a lot of points, but it's one of the pre-cons that's furthest from what I would bring as a custom deck.

Hulk

Hulk is always a terror in this mode. It doesn't rely on learning any new play patterns or sequencing and, like a lot of successful LTGM decks, relies on winning with straightforward, giant Power in a low-tech setting. Just play your Skill on Turn 2 and cruise. Plan B is to play two Hulks on Turn 6 with 8 Energy, but that has historically been less successful than the simpler on-curve plan.

New Best Friends

The story is more about what is not included as datamines indicate the Skill will not target Kluh or Red Hulk Fractured Frontier. Is this an example of Second Dinner neglecting LTGMs or an attempt to keep one of the Champions that's already powerful in check? The latter is a bit generous of a reading, in my opinion.

This deck historically makes solid use out of powerful 5-Cost cards since it can weave them in quite effectively on Turn 4 or 5 while saving Hulks for 3 and 6.

Remember what this deck has, because you can expect this to be one of the pre-cons you face the most. It is definitely sub-optimal, despite about half the cards being mapped out for you by the skill. You'll see plenty of Hulk decks that are trickier to beat than this pre-con though.

 Human Torch First Steps

Torch is one of the "fun" Champions that ends up underrated by those who just stick to Hulks, Destroy, or Ongoing, but rewards those who are willing to spend the time to learn the best play patterns and tinker with the custom deck.

New Best Friends

Rather than too much direct synergy, HTFS gets help more in the form of "crossover synergies" and card that can benefit from the same cards that boost him. The hot Werewolf/Queen of Chaos decks could easily fold into this deck and Superior Iron Man is an exciting target for our Skill. Triton, seriously? Honestly, it's not that bad as one of the few decks that can leverage those extra points of Power far more than the opponent.

I'm not a huge fan of this pre-con as it misses what makes Torch function best – making a giant one in hand rather than on board. It might feel counter-intuitive, but that's the lesson First Steps Human Torch mains have learned over several runs with him.

Rocket Raccoon

Though he definitely had his fans, especially those able to rely on their own game skill, Rocket has often come in as one of the weaker Champions – but he could definitely be due for a breakout!

New Best Friends

If this looks like a disgusting and degenerate list group of new friends, then you're starting to see why I think Rocket could be primed for a major breakout. The Werewolf/Queen of Chaos decks, with or without Horde can definitely work with this champ and Skill. The Skill counts as 2 towards Gambit HoD and goes right back to your hand. Sinister Six is going to love this Champion!

The pre-con isn't bad, but there are some clear ways to upgrade this. Bounce and WWBN are definitely in the right direction, though!

Sentinel

Sentinel is yet another card that doesn't usually have the best stats, but has a devoted following. Sentinel was firmly underrated, but is one of the Champions that is getting the clearest and most exciting help.

New Best Friend

Yes, every Skill you play from the Queen of Chaos will mean more Power on your Sentinel – for free! The major hurdle for this deck has always been how to afford the created cards while still being able to actually play out enough Sentinel. The Queen of Chaos solves that problem nicely. Plus, tossing in a jumping Werewolf will let Prowler generate free Skills too! Sentinel decks may look quite different from before, but much more powerful and reliable.

Zombie Mr. F is a cool addition to buff your Sentinels, but this isn't going to be the Sentinel deck you see, for all of the reasons listed above.

The Ban List 

Wow! Cosmo has been added to the ban list... which is honestly insane for Rocket, First Steps Torch, Sentinel, and Ghost Rider – a.k.a. the decks that look the weakest going in. Perhaps the door is open to bringing more tech like Valkyrie. More likely, this will mean higher and crazier combos in this already high-flying mode.

The other banned cards are:

Banned Cards: Grand Arena

Final Thoughts

This run is shaping up to be exciting and fresh. It does feel a little weird not to have Champions like Captain America, Doctor Doom, Thor, and Mr. Fantastic... that does sound like a cast we might see in a Grand Arena run around the time of the Avengers Doomsday movie!

Special thanks to SnapComplete for providing our blue-border card art.

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