Hit-Monkey - MTG Arena Brawl Play Guide

Intro

Hit-Monkey is a mono-green voltron deck that I have built to make use of equipment. I made it a goal to include all of the "Sword of X and Y" cards, as it is very satisfying to equip multiple to Hit-Monkey and make it virtually untouchable. Since Hit-Monkey has so many good voltron keywords already, the other equipment in the deck prioritizes giving trample and first strike as a great compliment to the vigilance and deathtouch that is already there. Since Hit-Monkey also is uncounterable and hexproof, it's very hard for the opponent to stop or remove Hit-Monkey. The main removal strategy is to use fight spells that add indescructible and bite spells, since deathtouch means it will always kill anything.

Here's a video showing how this deck plays on Arena.

The decklist I use on MTG Arena can be found on Moxfield.

Starting hand

It is critical to start with at least one way to get extra mana, either through ramping to search for more lands or using mana dorks. Since the commander costs 4 mana and the equipment has both a casting cost and an equip cost, you'll need a lot of mana early in order to not fall behind. I've found that having a bunch of ramp and no equipment is sometimes better, as you can make sure you have a lot of mana for when you draw an equipment.

Early game

The first few turns are likely going to be ramping up to have more mana in order to get Hit-Monkey out on the battlefield as fast as possible. The next few turns after Hit-Monkey is on the board can be used to either play an equipment and pay the equip cost, or use some fight or bite spells to destroy some of the opponent's creatures. Once Hit-Monkey is on the board, it's very hard for the opponent to get rid of, so you can control the game a little bit better.

Late game

The last few turns are all about getting damage in with Hit-Monkey. This is often done by putting the opponent in a position to make some very bad blocks and have very bad attacks. Getting additional keywords on Hit-Monkey like first strike, trample, and protection can make it so Hit-Monkey lives and grows bigger while the opponent's board is smaller and useless.

Win-cons

Winning is almost always done by making Hit-Monkey evasive and bigger to do repeated combat damage. There are a few other creatures in the deck that can serve as a backup if Hit-Monkey costs too much to recast.

Bad matchups

The worst matchups are aggainst black-based decks that can use sacrifice effects or board wipes repeatedly. Some decks that rely on heavy value to go wide fast can also be hard to deal with if they grow faster than you can remove.