MTG Challenger Decks 2020 are perhaps the best ones so far. Every single one of them will give you at least a fighting chance at the tournaments. Some of them are only a few cards off a World Championship deck. Today we’ll take a look at the decklists and figure out which Challenger Deck is the best one for you.
Release date for Challenger Decks was April 3rd, 2020, but you can still order them on Amazon. You can also click on the deck picture to order that specific deck.
UPDATE: If you’re looking for the newest versions, you can find Challenger decks 2022 here.
Allied Fires
| Creature (3) 2 Fae of Wishes 1 Kenrith, the Returned King Planeswalker (13) 4 Narset, Parter of Veils 2 Saheeli, Sublime Artificer 3 Kasmina, Enigmatic Mentor 3 Sarkhan the Masterless 1 Ugin, the Ineffable Sorcery (7) 3 Deafening Clarion 2 Drawn from Dreams 2 Time Wipe Enchantment (10) 4 Omen of the Sea 2 Banishing Light 4 Fires of Invention Land (27) 1 Steam Vents 1 Temple of Enlightenment 1 Temple of Epiphany 1 Temple of Triumph 4 Interplanar Beacon 3 Swiftwater Cliffs 3 Tranquil Cove 4 Wind-Scarred Crag 5 Island 2 Mountain 2 Plains | Sideboard (15) 1 Dovin’s Veto 2 Fry 2 Revoke Existence 2 Devout Decree 1 Ashiok, Dream Render 1 Dovin, Hand of Control 3 Thirst for Meaning 1 Mass Manipulation 1 Sarkhan the Masterless 1 Time Wipe |
Allied Fires Game Plan
Fires of Invention is the key card of the deck. It allows you to cheat on mana and cast two powerful spells each turn. You can cast another spell on the same turn you played Fires.
Fae of Whishes is a perfect card to play alongside this red enchantment. You can first get the perfect card from your sideboard and them immediately cast it.
Deck also has a super-friends theme, playing 5 different planeswalkers. Sarkhan the Masterless takes advantage of this by turning them into dragons. This usually finishes the game in a turn or two.
If you like playing decks that work in unusual ways, this seems like a perfect choice for you. You can learn how to upgrade it here.
Pros
- possible upgrade into a better deck
- 5 different planeswalkers provide interesting gameplay
Cons
- strategy is unfocused
- some planeswalkers are weak
- some key cards missing
- horrible mana base
Final Adventure
| Creature (28) 2 Knight of the Ebon Legion 4 Edgewall Innkeeper 4 Foulmire Knight 2 Blacklance Paragon 4 Order of Midnight 4 Smitten Swordmaster 4 Lovestruck Beast 2 Midnight Reaper 2 Murderous Rider Planeswalker (1) 1 Vraska, Golgari Queen Sorcery (2) 2 Find // Finality Instant (2) 2 Disfigure Artifact (4) 4 Lucky Clover Land (23) 2 Castle Locthwain 1 Fabled Passage 2 Temple of Malady 3 Jungle Hollow 7 Forest 8 Swamp | Sideboard (15) 4 Duress 1 Cling to Dust 2 Kraul Harpooner 4 Noxious Grasp 2 Thrashing Brontodon 2 Massacre Girl |
Final Adventure Game Plan
The Final Adventure deck is all about – you guessed it – Adventures. Deck contains 18 creatures with adventures. All of them take advantage of both Lucky Clover and Edgewall Innkeeper.
Your plan is to draw a bunch of cards with the Innkeeper while maintaining pressure with your efficient creatures. You also have a small knight sub-theme and can quickly finish the game of the Clover and Curry Favor.
This deck is perfectly suited for all player who love midrange – playing powerful creatures and gaining value while doing so. Click here for Final Adventure Upgrade Guide.
Pros
- offers a lot of game play
- deck has most of its key cards
- most of the deck remains Standard legal until September 2021
Cons
- no more adventure cards in future sets
- not a Tier 1 deck
Cavalcade Charge
| Creature (27) 4 Fervent Champion 4 Scorch Spitter 3 Tin Street Dodger 4 Rimrock Knight 4 Runaway Steam-Kin 4 Bonecrusher Giant 4 Torbran, Thane of Red Fell Planeswalker (3) 3 Chandra, Acolyte of Flame Sorcery (4) 4 Light Up the Stage Artifact (1) 1 Embercleave Enchantment (4) 4 Cavalcade of Calamity Land (21) 3 Castle Embereth 18 Mountain | Sideboard (15) 3 Satyr’s Cunning 4 Shock 3 Slaying Fire 2 Tibalt, Rakish Instigator 3 Experimental Frenzy |
Cavalcade Charge Game Plan
ATTACK!
That’s it. That’s the plan of the mono red Challenger Deck. Like attacking? Look no further.
Jokes aside, you’ll play your one-powered one drops, cast Cavalcade of Calamity and start dealing a bunch of damage. Especially once you play Torbran, Thane of Red Fell. Each of your Calvacade triggers now deals 3 damage. You’ll probably win the game on the spot.
You can check upgraded Cavalcade Charge here.
Pros
- very powerful out of the box
- easily upgraded into the deck from World Championship
- adaptable after rotation in September 2020
Cons
- one-dimensional, might get boring after a while
- not great if you like slower games
Flash of Ferocity
| Creature (22) 4 Spectral Sailor 4 Brineborn Cutthroat 4 Wildborn Preserver 1 Brazen Borrower 1 Wavebreak Hippocamp 4 Frilled Mystic 4 Nightpack Ambusher Instant (14) 4 Opt 2 Unsummon 4 Quench 2 Thassa’s Intervention 2 Sinister Sabotage Land (24) 2 Castle Vantress 1 Fabled Passage 2 Temple of Mystery 3 Thornwood Falls 8 Forest 8 Island | Sideboard (15) 3 Aether Gust 2 Disdainful Stroke 2 Negate 3 Threnody Singer 2 Mystical Dispute 3 Shifting Ceratops |
Flash of Ferocity Game Plan
You won’t play any cards on your turn. You’ll leave your opponents guessing, not knowing what card they should play around.
All cards in your deck either have Flash or are Instants. (one exception being Wavebreak Hippocamp). You have an exceptional turn 4 play in Nightpack Ambusher. The big wolf will give you a token every turn and you’ll be able to protect him with counterspells.
Flash of Ferocity is superb choice for anyone who like to play mind games with their opponents. You can check the deck’s price here.
The upgraded version can be found here.
Pros
- interesting deck, offers a lot of decision making
- doesn’t need many upgrades to stay on theme
- contains the most valuable card from all decks – Brazen Borrower
Cons
- not Tier 1 anymore
- key cards rotating in September 2020
Which Challenger Deck 2020 to Buy?
The answer really depends on what you want. First things first – no deck is totally unplayable or worthless. So if a deck seems fun to you, you should just get that one.
Afterwards, it depends on a multiple criteria. We ordered them based on:
- win rate out of the box
- ability to become Tier 1
- value of the cards
- amount of cards that survive Standard rotation
So let’s check the rankings for MTG Challenger Decks 2020.
Which Challenger Deck Will Win the Most?
- Cavalcade Charge
- Flash of Ferocity
- Final Adventure
- Allied Fires
Cavalcade Charge is charged up and ready to go to the red zone immediately. Similarly prepared is the Flash of Ferocity, although a bit lower on the power level. Final Adventure is close in the third place.
However, Allied Fires deck is a bit unfocused and the weakest of the four.
Which Challenger Deck Is Easiest to Upgrade to Tier 1?
- Cavalcade Charge
- Flash of Ferocity
- Allied Fires
- Final Adventure
Cavalcade Charge is the easy winner here. It’s actually very similar to the deck that Seth Manfield took to the third place at World Championship.
As for the others, Simic Flash used to be Tier 1 deck, but had recently fallen out of the best tier. Flash of Ferocity won’t be the best, but takes only a couple of changes to get to very competitive deck.
Allied Fires could theoretically become a very good deck – Jeskai Fires finished second at Magic World Championship. However the deck would have to be completely reworked and would only use a couple of cards it has now.
Final Adventure finished last here. GB Adventures was a deck for a couple of weeks back in autumn of 2019. Since then it was never a Tier 1 deck. It can still be solid deck, but you probably won’t see it winning any major tournaments soon. One reason for that is that we won’t get cards with Adventure any time soon.
Which Challenger Deck is the Most Valuable?
Here are our rankings based on the amount of valuable cards. We listed some of the most noteworthy cards included.
- Final Adventure (Fabled Passage, Vraska, Golgari Queen, Murderous Rider, Castle Locthwain)
- Cavalcade Charge (Embercleave, Bonecrusher Giant, Torbran, Thane of Red Fell)
- Flash of Ferocity (Brazen Borrower, Fabled Passage, Castle Vantress)
- Allied Fires (Steam Vents, Kenrith, the Returned King, Ugin, the Ineffable)
This year all of the Challenger Decks have a lot of valuable cards. Some of them are also Pioneer playable which will help them hold their value long-term (Fabled Passage, Steam Vents, Castle Locthwain, etc.)
First three deck are fairly close in value, Allied Fires once again staggering behind, but the deck still has some pretty valuable cards. Besides the ones mention above, it also has a playset of Narset, Parter of Veils, great planeswalker playable in powerful formats like Vintage and Legacy.
Which Challenger Deck is Standard Legal the Longest?
All MTG Challenger Decks 2020 are Standard legal until the release of Zendikar Rising in September 2020. Let’s check how many cards will remain legal after that:
- Final Adventure (47 cards remain – 62.7%)
- Cavalcade Charge (44 cards remain – 58.7%)
- Flash of Ferocity (36 cards remain – 48.0%)
- Allied Fires (28 cards remain – 37.3%)
Cards remaining are out of whole 75 (sideboard included). The numbers don’t include possible reprints we might get in Ikoria and Core 2021, such as Duress, Negate and Shock.
Final Adventure is the winner in this category, especially once you consider that out of 28 cards rotating, 14 belong to the sideboard. That means a whooping 76.7% of the main deck stay legal until September 2021. No key cards are rotating.
Cavalcade Charge will lose Cavalcade of Calamity along with few others. However, the card was already replaced in the best preforming mono red lists. Mono red deck is usually viable in Standard, so with some changes you’ll be able to play it.
Flash of Ferocity loses Nightpack Ambusher and Frilled Mystic. This will probably be to much for the deck to recover. Theros Beyond Death has some cards that care about playing on your opponent’s turn (like Wavebreak Hippocamp). This might suggest that there will be some help in the future sets, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Allied Fires keeps its key card Fires of Invention, but loses pretty much everything else. Certainly a deck will be built around the powerful enchantment, but the rest of the deck will be completely different and rely on Fae of Wishes
MTG Challenger Decks 2020 – Overall Rankings
All in all, the first three deck are all pretty close together. If you just want to win games, our number one pick is Cavalcade Charge. Both Final Adventures and Flash of Ferocity are solid decks and you’ll be happy with both of them.
Allied Fires will definitely need extra help if you want to compete. If you’re just playing at home it’s still a perfectly fine choice.
You can preorder you favorite on Amazon.
Get Ready, Challenger!
Hopefully, we helped you choose the right deck for you. If you want to upgrade the decks by yourself, our deck building guide might come in handy.
We’ll be adding upgrade articles for the MTG Challenger Decks 2020 later this week, so make sure to follow us on Facebook or Instagram, to not miss those and other articles.
Until next time, may you win a lot of games with your new Challenger Deck!