Rating all 21 Grand Arena Decks!

A very special run of Grand Arena starts today featuring a whopping 21 creator-made pre-constructed decks! From June 22-29, join in on the Grand Arena Massive Melee! Let's go through them all and find our favorites! I've rated them on how powerful they appear as well as how excited I am personally to try them out! These are just my personal opinions, all of the creators managed to do something interesting with their Champion!

Remember, you start with one extra Energy and your Champion and Skill start in your hand! Some Champions and Skills are clearly stronger and some are clearly weaker. I was pleased to see some of the best players and deck-builders on some of the weaker Champions. It's always interesting to see how top players can squeeze everything possible out of less obviously powerful cards!

First Steps Human Torch: First Steps by LaurenWhatevs - 9/10

You know I had to start with this one! Am I biased? I'm actually quite confident this deck will do really well, because Lauren spent a lot of time working on this deck during the last run of the mode. Not all of the other creators were as invested in this mode last time and that will pay huge dividends here. As long as you learn the play lines (hold Torch), you can win a ton of games with this deck. I do think there is a learning curve, but if you're reading this, you'll be way ahead of that curve compared to someone picking this up blind. This deck is going to crush in the right hands, including mine!

Annihilus by PixieChef - 7/10

Annihulus was one of the more awkward Champions and his Skill is often hard to extract full value from. However, PixieChef is one of the best Pixie players in the world (the name fits!), and this deck has massive high-roll potential. Being able to play a cheap Valkyrie out just before or after your Champion or Skill is huge. I love the inclusion of Anti-Venom.

Captain America by Dekkster - 6/10

Paying 3 Energy to pull an Ongoing from your deck is fine, but it's not an especially large discount, even if you hit a higher-Cost card. Shuffling it back in doesn't help with hitting your Aurora either. This is a steady deck that will do fine, but it just feels a little too fair among a pool of Mother Askani shenanigans and combos.

Carnage by Owi - 9/10

This is just a classic Destroy deck, but in this format that doesn't have as much tech, very little Cosmo, and no Armor, that will often be plenty. The Skill is one of the very best and one of the few that clearly makes the deck a lot stronger. This will be a very popular choice because of its familiar play patterns and will likely do especially well early.

H.E.R.B.I.E. by Fudge - 8/10

Herbie is traditionally a powerhouse in this mode, especially with decks that can add Power to the little guy. This deck is more reactive and tech-heavy, but and Askani'd Herbie will still do a lot of damage with two doubles. This deck will do well because of all its tech, but I would have like to see a deck that leans more into what makes Herbie so powerful in this mode (getting huge). This is one of the decks that feels like built by someone who hasn't as heavily invested into the mode.

Magento by Bynx - 6/10

I love the direction Bynx went here (Magento isn't a typo!), but Magneto has one of the most awkward and weakest Skills in the mode. It's really hard to get Magneto out, fulfill the Skill's condition, and play the Skill out all in the same game.

Hulk by Untapped - 8/10

In case you've forgotten how this deck works, you simply play your skill on Turn 2 and then slam 4-Cost hulks the rest of the game. I would rate this at a 9 if Untapped had put in any card over Monstro. Monstro will be a 4/8 most of the time after you play your Skill – not great! Still, this deck will win a ton of games by just slamming giant bodies onto the heads to more finesse oriented opponents. Kale is key as she lets you play two Hulks on the last Turn.

The Thing: First Steps by SafetyBlade - 8/10

SafetyBlade is a master with Aurora, having been iterating with her since she released. Aurora is also one of the top decks in the game right now. Safety doesn't really lean hard into the skill, relying Aurora and her familiar play patterns to win the day. Askani into two Things is the game-winning play to go for here, while Cosmo is our safety blanket to beat some of the crazier combos in this mode.

Thor by Sizer - 9/10

I'm really excited to play this deck. Thundering Hammer to put an extra Mjolnir into your deck, alongside a draw, isn't nearly as powerful as it seems. But with the right draws this deck will feel unstoppable thanks the perfect set of interaction in Shadow King and Valkyrie. They match up very well into what opponents are trying to do in this mode. This is a deck that interacts but still has it's own super-tall combo to rely on.

Thanos by ZombiesGoNomNom - 7/10

Thanos, and especially his Skill, were a total dud last time out, so Zombies had his work cut out for him with this Champion. Aurora as a points package with Cosmo and Cosmic Ghost Riders is probably the ideal path! I love the inclusion of First Steps Surfer for some serious high-roll potential. I'm assuming the creators submitted these decks before Venus came out, because she would be a killer in this deck.

Ghost Rider by King of Canada Jr. - 7/10

Ghost Rider didn't exactly light the world on fire last time out, but a combination of Gambit and Dragon Lord means that when variance is on your side, you'll blow people away with this deck.

Rocket Raccoon by CanadianAlfredo - 9/10

This deck looks fun as heck and is totally in my wheelhouse. Its very much like a powerful ladder Batroc deck, but I love the added potential of Mystique to get another Stomper or Super Skrull + Mystique to counter some of the big Ongoing decks. Don't sleep on double Cosmo or Movable Cosmo either. The Champion and Skill themselves are on the weaker side, but they tuck in well into this thoughtful deck.

Invisible Woman by 0Drag0n0 - 8/10

Invisible Woman was one of the Champions I was most hyped for, but her Skill, cheap as it is, just doesn't do as much as some of the other Champion Skills. She always felt like a much worse Herbie when I played with her. Plus, there's so much Shadow King that the Power from her Skill will often be wiped out. You'd better get use out of the extra Energy at least! 0Drag0n0 had a really tall task with this Champion, who doesn't match up into the meta all that well. Still, they were smart to put in Shadow King and CGR to give us a puncher's chance against some of the really tall decks. SK behind IW will win plenty of games in this format.

Mr. Fantastic by W - 9/10

Mr. Fantastic has always been one of the more powerful Champions and W made a really great deck with him that is a lot less of a glass cannon than other all Ongoing builds of Mr. Fantastic are. This deck can rain down a ton of Power on the last Turn in unpredictable shapes.

Mole Man by Coougarrr - 7/10

Mole Man was easily my most played Champion, but it was always more fun than good. Cougarr has managed to build this in a way that it can compete and includes some fun pieces. Still, I'll miss my old Joaquin Mole Man shenanigans.

Weapon X by Sanktanglia - 6/10

Weapon X is just awkward, even in this mode with more Energy. If you're hankering for Destroy, the Carnage deck will just feel a lot more consistent (and less susceptible to Shadow King).

Black Panther by SuperTechGod - 9/10

High-flying combo is often what works best in a limited environment like one with pre-cons only and Tech has given us a combo deck that can go way over the top of some of the other combo decks. I expect this deck to be quite popular. If only we could Snap and retreat!

Doctor Doom by ItsGuestGaming - 8/10

This is one of the more straightforward Skills. You can play it on Turn 1 to ramp into a 6-Cost right away on Turn 2, or you can play it later to fit 2 in on a later Turn. With Doom 2099 in the deck, we're generally going to go with the former. It will feel nice to play one of the few decks with location control too.

Ghost-Spider by Jeff Hoogland - 9/10

Like Lauren's, this is another deck clearly build by someone who engaged deeply with the mode. This, and versions like it, have been very successful in past runs of Champions Arena. The extra Energy in the mode makes a card like Spider-Man 2099 legitimately more powerful – he's not just there as cope or fun. This deck, too, will be harder to play out of the box, but if you played a lot of this Champion in past runs, you'll hit the ground running and run over opponents.

Iron Man by Braude - 8/10

If you can set your Skill off while winning two or three locations, this deck will be very formidable. A couple of boosted, heavily-discounted Iron Men sounds awfully powerful! The one worry I have with this deck is that so many of the other decks have come prepared for this deck. This deck will have to contend with Rogues, Skrulls, and Cosmic Ghost Riders. Cosmo will help a ton, but he's not a panacea. Position your Shield wisely to help combat the tech.

Sentinel by Interrobang - 8/10

The awkward thing about the Sentinel's Skill was always the tension between needing to play out other created cards while still playing out Sentinels. This deck kinda ignores all that to just try to be a nasty Horseman Gambit deck. This is one of the most matchup-dependent decks. Face low-cost cards and you'll wipe the floor with them... face a bunch of Hulks, not so much.

Final Thoughts

This is a unique run of this event and it should be a blast. As with any set of untested precon decks, there will be a few that quickly float to the top. There will inevitably be creator decks that are amazing and other that are underperforming. Personally, I'm planning to take all of them for a spin, rather than just rocking whichever one suits my style the best. Hop into the "current LTGM" channel on the Fourth Location Discord to share your approach! Which deck looks the most fun? Who really cooked something special? Are you going to just take a favorite and grind? And be sure to try Lauren's deck and follow here on Fourth Location and her on social media for tips and piloting strategies!