Phyrexian Arena is great. I am a big fan of pairing them with Venser's Journal.

  -- By Jim from Madison, WI on March 01, 2011

1 Life is nothing if you can draw one more card each turn! If your opponent just draw 1 card and you can draw two cards each turn, your game speed will increase by one each turn and leave your opponent far behind.... be sure to have some "Drain" spells or Lifelink creatures... they will help you a lot.

  -- By Gabriel Celesta from Holy Nest of Angel on February 07, 2011

I love the art and flavor... I prefer this over Dark Confidant because 1) It's always 1 lose of life each upkeep for 1 card. 2) You don't reveal it before you draw it. Yes, it's 1 more B-CMC and no body, but that's a small price to pay for a stable card engine early on. Besides, Dark Confidant has killed me far more often then the Arena ever has, and I've been playing these much longer.

  -- By Jay from Minneapolis, MN USA on January 09, 2011

eaahhhhhhhhhhh? not in too many QUALITY tourny decks.......doesn't KILL or even hurt your opp't like Dark confidant ... and it costs 2 black. NOT splashable, NOT great, NOT a blocker either during emergency situations

  -- By JB from NJ on August 07, 2010

I like this better than Dark Confidant. Most of the time, this will cost you less life over the course of a game.

  -- By You know who from You know where on April 30, 2010

Every player who has ever considered Howling Mine to be a good card should be able to see why Phyrexian Arena is good. It keeps the removal spells and creatures coming, and it can even be cast on your 1st turn without spilling any mana with Dark Ritual. That the Arena doesn't draw me cards at once is no big deal - think about the investment: you've paid 3 mana and get to draw a whole 5 extra cards during the next 5 turns. Sure, Phyrexian Arena can prove dangerous to you over the course of many turns, but if your deck is the least bit playable, all of that extra card draw would normally give you a really big advantage and loads of chances to win the game before time runs out. Also, looking at just the Arena without considering your opponent's actions, at the time you've lost 20 life, you've drawn 40 cards from your library while your opponent has drawn only 20. Basically, the longer the game takes, the more advantage you've got over your opponent, simply because of this one card. 4.5/5

  -- By Jens N from Denmark on April 08, 2010

Good deck accelerator if you have the black mana to foot the double black casting cost and don't want the risk that goes along with playing Dark Confidant.

  -- By Andrew from Kansas City, MO on December 19, 2006

i don't want to wait till my upkeep to draw my card(s). i want to draw them NOW. but if i DO have to wait, i want to draw more than one card on my upkeep. playing a spell and waiting 'til next turn for it to do anything is a dicy proposition at best. at least in 1.5, which is what i pretty much play exclusively. i remember trying to play with this card when it came out and it was good.....if you could afford to sit around and wait a turn or two or three. and there's the rub of it folks. sorry to burst any balloons out there and if you can make it work i'll shake your hand and tell you "good going mate!" in conclusion, for the advanced player(if at all)...................

  -- By Anonymous from gainesville, FL USA on March 06, 2005

I won a game starting with a Dark Ritual and Phyrexian Arena in hand and no land cards. That's how good this card is! 4 Wall of Souls, 4 Drain Life, 4 Corrupt, 4 Bubbling Muck, 4 Mutilate and maybe 4 Plague Dogs and you're solid, and yes a little lame, too. Oh, don't forget those Cabal Coffers.

  -- By Wally from Olympia, WA on March 19, 2002

Phyrexian Arena is a great card. Many people call it the new Necropotence, but it has a different strategy. Necro was used for drawing as many cards as passible at once, in order to get some combos done etc. The Arena though, has a different purpose: you draw an additional card each turn so that you have a great advantage. I f a player has more cards in his hands, he has more chances to get what he needs, he has more ways to respond to his opponents actions and he is always one step ahead in the game. Phyrexian Arena is a very useful card in both limited and constructed. I always include it in my decks and I have won a lot of games with it. The only reason I didn't rate it perfect is because sometimes the life loss is big and having the Arena in play can be risky I once had to Vindicate my Arena, because I would loose the game. I don't recommend it vs burn or fires unless it is used very carefully. Anyway, Phyrexian Arena is one of the best cards in T2 right now.

  -- By Thucydides Koukoulios from Pefki, Attiki, Greece on June 29, 2001