MORANA Deckbuilding Guide
A MORANA deck is small, legal, and entirely your own: one Warden, twenty cards, no filler. Because the whole card pool is fixed and public, a good deck is not a matter of luck at the pack. It is a matter of choosing well. Here is how.
New to the game? Read How to Play first, then the Strategy Guide for in-match tactics. This page is about what to do before the duel begins.
The rules of a legal deck
| Deck size | 20 cards, plus 1 Warden that starts face-up. |
| Copy limit | At most 2 copies of any card. |
| Legendary limit | Only 1 copy of a Legendary card. |
| Warden | Public all game: a passive Vigil ability and one Invocation X you may fire once. |
| Reborn | At most 2 Spirits returned per turn, minimum cost 1. |
Step 1: your Warden is your deck
Pick the Warden first. It sits face-up from the opening and never leaves, so its passive Vigil and its once-per-game Invocation set the entire plan before a single card is drawn. Everything else is chosen to make the Warden's plan happen more reliably. Do not build twenty good cards and bolt a Warden on afterward; build twenty cards that serve one Warden. Study the four Wardens in the Grimoire.
Step 2: shape the Ember curve
On turn N you have exactly N Embers and none carry over, so a deck that only comes online late will lose the early Sites for free. A healthy curve leans low with a few decisive finishers:
- Cheap (1 to 3 Embers): the backbone. You want a play on turns one through three every game.
- Mid (4 to 5): the swing cards and your first Reborn loops.
- Top (6 plus): a small number of finishers that close two Sites at once or lock the game by Turn 8.
Step 3: pick one of three archetypes
New here and not sure which faction fits you first? The faction guide covers Hearth, Wild, and Neutral as identities. An archetype is the plan you build on top of one.
Tempo
Flood cheap Spirits, use Clash to clear blockers, and build an early Slava lead you defend to the Turn 8 count. Tempo wants the game to end while it is ahead, so it spreads across all three Sites and wins several by a hair rather than one by a mile. Weakness: it can run out of gas, so include a couple of mid-cost threats to refuel.
Reborn value
Load the deck with Spirits whose Nav (Reborn) effect is stronger than their first cast, then feed them into Clashes on purpose and bring them back. This is the engine deck: it trades down early, then grinds two Reborns a turn into an inevitability. Respect the Reborn cap (two per turn, minimum cost 1) when choosing curve. Weakness: slow starts, so it leans on Site control to survive to the payoff.
Site control
Anchor with Rooted walls and park untouchable threats behind Ward. This deck does not race; it holds two Sites forever and wins the Turn 8 tiebreak on most Sites, then most Power. It also loves being behind, because the trailing player resolves first. Weakness: soft to a fast Tempo start, so it wants cheap early blockers.
Step 4: add a synergy package
Reserve four to six of your twenty slots for a tight package that reinforces one idea: a Clash suite for Tempo, a sacrifice-and-return chain for Reborn, or a Rooted-and-Ward shell for Site control. A card is worth more when it makes your other cards better, so favour two-ofs of your key synergy pieces to draw them consistently. Browse keywords and effects in the Grimoire to spot the packages.
Step 5: cut for consistency
Twenty cards is small, so every off-plan card hurts. Before you lock the list, cut anything that does not advance the Warden's plan or the archetype, and prefer the second copy of a core card over a flashy one-of. The reward for consistency is that your good draws stop being luck.
Five deckbuilding mistakes
- Choosing cards first and the Warden last.
- A top-heavy curve with no turn-two play.
- Splashing three archetypes and committing to none.
- Overloading Nav with Spirits you cannot afford to Reborn.
- Too many one-ofs, so the deck never does the same thing twice.
Deckbuilding FAQ
How many cards are in a MORANA deck?
How do I choose a Warden?
What are the main archetypes?
Deck rules summarized from the official MORANA Rules Reference (First Turning set). Specific card text is printed on the cards; see the Grimoire. Details may change before the campaign.