The 20 Hardest Achievements to Unlock on MTG Arena

Arena of Glory | Illustration by Jorge Jacinto

While achievements are still a fairly new feature in MTG Arena, they add that extra layer of fun that the game needed. After all, who doesn’t like to share their accomplishments with friends? With that in mind, let’s go over the hardest achievements to pull off on Arena. I’ll give you tips—along with some sculpted decklists—that can help make some of them easier to unlock.

Intrigued? Let’s dive into them!

What Are Achievements on Magic Arena?

Hour of Victory | Illustration by Aaron Miller

Achievements on Magic Arena are special goals built into the game that track the way you play and reward you for hitting certain milestones. Think of them like badges or challenges you unlock over time. Some are straightforward, like casting a certain number of spells or winning weekly events, while others are long-term grinds like playing thousands of games or reaching Mythic rank.

When you complete an achievement, you usually get cosmetic rewards like titles, emotes, card sleeves, or avatars. They don’t change gameplay, but they give you bragging rights and a way to show off your progress. Arena also runs limited-time achievements during special events—like Yargle Day—that let you earn unique rewards if you play during that window.

What Makes an Achievement Hard?

An achievement’s difficulty usually comes down to time, skill, and luck. Some require a long grind, where steady play over weeks or months is the only way to move forward. Others test your skill: They push you to stay consistent and to make sharp decisions under pressure. And some are tough simply because you can’t control everything—like how a match plays out or what your opponent chooses to do (like concede before you accomplish the achievement). When these challenges overlap, that’s when achievements feel the most difficult.

#20. Turbo Mana

Requirement: Pay 6 or more mana for a spell while you have 3 or fewer lands in play.

This one used to be pretty tough, since most decks naturally play more than three lands before they drop big spells. But with cards like Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary, it’s become much easier. It can produce absurd amounts of green mana quickly, which lets you cast a massive spell way earlier than you should. The trick here isn’t just to have a big spell, but actually pay the cost while your battlefield only has three lands or fewer. Think ramp creatures or artifacts that get around normal land drops.

#19. Leader of the Pack III

Requirement: Open 500 Packs in the Packs screen.

Reward: “Pack Leader” Title

This one is less about skill and more about your resources. If you’re big into Limited, you’ll naturally chip away at it since each Draft or Sealed event gives you packs to open. Otherwise, it comes down to how much gold or gems you’re willing to put into buying packs directly. Drafting is the smart way here—it counts toward opening packs and actually gives you a chance to win back currency. That said, 500 packs is still a tall order, so it’s both a grind and, for many players, a wallet check.

#18. Test of Endurance

Requirement: Reach a life total of 50 or greater.

At first glance, this seems simple—after all, decks built around lifegain are common in formats like Historic or Pioneer. The problem is that you’re usually playing from behind by a few points, so it isn’t as easy as it looks to get all the way to 50. One way is to use Aetherflux Reservoir in a deck that chains a ton of spells in a single turn—the Reservoir will push you well over the line.

How to Unlock This Achievement

A neat shortcut is in Brawl, since you start at 25 life instead of 20. Commanders like Amalia Benavides Aguirre can snowball off lifegain and push you past 50 pretty quickly.

#17. Rare Drafter

Requirement: Finish a Draft with 10 or more Rares and/or Mythics in your card pool.

At first, this sounds pretty reasonable—after all, Play boosters give you more chances to open rares. But it's still tricky in practice. Even when you “rare draft”, you’ll often end up one or two short, and the deck you’re left with can be weak. This means you might burn through gems to chase the achievement without many wins to show for it. The hardest part isn’t to draft rares—it’s to draft enough of them in one event without tanking your deck quality.

#16. Going Wide

Requirement: Attack with 15 or more creatures in a single combat step.

Token decks shine here, but the challenge isn’t just to make that many creatures—it’s to keep opponents from conceding before you swing. That’s why surprise is your best friend.

How to Unlock This Achievement

A typal deck like goblins can pull this off easily, especially with Krenko, Mob Boss. Add a haste enabler, and suddenly you attack with an army before your opponent knows what hit them.

#15. The Only Point That Matters

Requirement: Win a game with a life total of 1 or less.

This is super situational—you can’t really force it reliably. The best way is to use strategies that deliberately lower your life, like Channel-style effects, so you can manipulate your total. Otherwise, it usually just happens when you barely scrape through a game at 1 life and manage to win before the next point of damage hits you.

#14. Taking You With Me

Requirement: Win a game on the same turn you sacrifice 6 or more permanents.

Sacrifice decks make this much easier. Rakdos Sacrifice in Pioneer already sets you up for it, but my favorite method is with Chatterfang, Squirrel General and Warren Soultrader. Together, they let you sacrifice creatures and churn out tokens or Treasures in a single explosive turn. You can also mix Warren Soultrader with Forsaken Miner for endless fodder. Even goblin typal with Skirk Prospector works—you can dump goblins into the graveyard for mana to push lethal damage.

#13. Surprise Attack

Requirement: Attack with 5 or more creatures the turn they entered the battlefield during a single combat step.

This one can happen by accident—I got it in an Aetherdrift draft after I brought back a pile of vehicles like Clamorous Ironclad with haste thanks to Push the Limit.

How to Unlock This Achievement

In Constructed, it’s easier with typal decks like goblins. Krenko, Mob Boss or Muxus, Goblin Grandee can flood the board with hasty creatures, so you can swing out with five or more newbies all at once.

#12. No, Bigger Than That!

Requirement: Attack with a creature with 21 or greater power.

The challenge isn’t to build a creature that big—it’s actually to attack before opponents scoop. You can go the slow route with a natural grower like Mythweaver Poq, as it often gets chump-blocked and opponents won't concede even if it's big. A better plan, though, is surprise combos. You can use Tooth and Nail to fetch Xenagos, God of Revels plus Emrakul, the Aeons Torn to get a creature with 30+ power out of nowhere—and it usually just ends the game on the spot.

#11. Compleat Victory

Requirement: Have an opponent lose a game by having 10 or more Poison Counters.

Poison decks have always been polarizing, and here’s the problem: If opponents see what’s happening, they’ll often concede before you can actually deliver the 10th counter.

How to Unlock This Achievement

The best way to sneak it in is to use Fynn, the Fangbearer in Brawl. By attacking with deathtouch creatures and using proliferate effects, you can set up a surprise kill before your opponent realizes that they’re one counter away from losing.

#10. Admirably Artisan

Requirement: Win 10 Historic Ranked matches with a deck containing no Rare or Mythic Rare cards.

This sounds like a nightmare—winning in ranked with no rares? But decks exist that can do it.

How to Unlock This Achievement

The best example is “8-Wack”, a goblin aggro list built around Kuldotha Rebirth, Gleeful Demolition, and finishers like Reckless Bushwhacker and Goblin Bushwhacker. It’s cheap and fast, and it can steal wins before control decks stabilize. Just make sure you’re playing in Historic Ranked, not Timeless—I know someone who made that mistake and had to grind it all over again!

#9. Your Go

Requirement: Win a game where you only cast spells on an opponent’s turn.

This is as difficult (and weird) as it sounds. You can’t cast a single spell on your own turn—you need to play completely at instant speed. Control decks like Azorius () with Shark Typhoon can get there, since they win with surprise token attacks. The catch is Arena can bug out—if your opponent concedes while you only cast things on their turn, it sometimes doesn’t count. To be safe, you’ll actually need to close out the game with combat damage from a surprise Shark token.

#8. All According to My Calculations

Requirement: Win a game with no cards in your library.

This one forces you into self-mill or combo territory. In Historic, Thassa's Oracle plus Tainted Pact is the cleanest option, though the Pact's banned in Brawl.

How to Unlock This Achievement

Another route is the Spy Combo deck in Timeless, where Balustrade Spy dumps your library. The tricky part is to make sure you can actually survive the turn—people often use Progenitus to reshuffle, which buys just enough time to attack for the win.

That said, this deck list bypasses that by winning in the same turn thanks to Lotleth Giant. No need to wait!

#7. A Party of None

Requirement: Win a game without casting a single creature spell.

By normal standards, this is hard—you’ll have to rely on combos or control decks. Things like storm-style builds or blue-white control can technically get it done, but they take work.

How to Unlock This Achievement

The easiest option is in Timeless, where decks like Goblin Charbelcher can win in a single turn without ever touching creatures. Belcher lists are perfect for this—they’re fast and explosive, and they don’t even bother to cast creatures.

#6. The One-Shot

Requirement: In a matchmade game, deal 20 or more noncombat damage to a player in a single turn.

In theory, you could fire off a huge Banefire or similar spell to do it, but opponents tend to concede before you get there. That’s why Goblin Charbelcher is so good here—it can easily blast someone for 20+ damage in one go. Not only does it secure the achievement, but it also wins the game outright. It’s the cleanest way to check this one off.

#5. Mythic Champion

Requirement: Reach Mythic Rank in Constructed and in Limited simultaneously.

It isn’t easy to get to Mythic in one format, but it’s doable with practice. To do it in both at the same time is a true grind.

How to Unlock This Achievement

The smart way is to push one first—often Limited, since it can be faster if you’re skilled at drafting. Once you’re there, switch focus to Constructed and climb with a strong deck you know inside out. You can also “cheat” this by playing in less competitive formats like Alchemy, where the ladder isn’t as tough. Either way, it’s a mix of skill, time, and endurance.

#4. Visit the Shores of Imagination III

Requirement: Play 5,000 games.

Reward: “Seasoned” Title

This one is a pure grind. No tricks, no shortcuts—it’s all about how much time you’re willing to invest. To put it in perspective, if each game takes about five minutes, that’s around 420 hours of play.

How to Unlock This Achievement

The best way to get there is to use a fast, aggressive deck in Best-of-One queues so you can crank through games quickly, whether you’re winning or losing. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the most efficient path. And yeah, it’s definitely a badge of endurance more than anything else.

#3. Limitless Limited III

Requirement: Complete 100 Limited events.

Reward: “Dauntless Drafter” Title

Draft lovers, this one’s for you—but it’s a steep climb. A single draft takes around 30 minutes just for the draft portion, and then you still have to play the matches. On top of the time, you’ll need a ton of in-game currency to enter. Quick Draft is the cheapest option, but the payouts aren’t great, so you’re looking at somewhere around 75,000 gems or half a million gold overall. You’ll get some winnings back here and there, but the barrier is real. It’s a test of both patience and economy.

#2. Undefeated

Requirement: Reach the maximum number of wins in a Best-of-1 Limited event without losing a single game.

Limited is tough on its own, but it takes both skill and luck to go undefeated in Best-of-One. Drafting well matters, but so does running into the right opponents.

How to Unlock This Achievement

If you’re really trying to knock this out, the best trick is to time it right. Play near the end of a season when your Limited rank is lower, like Bronze or Silver. At those levels, the competition isn’t as brutal, so you’ll have a better shot at a clean 7–0 run compared to facing top players in Mythic.

#1. Vanquish the Week III

Requirement: Complete 52 Midweek Magic events.

Reward: “Weekly Warrior” Title

This one isn’t about skill—it’s about showing up every week. Midweek Magic events happen once per week, so you can’t rush through them. Miss a few weeks, and suddenly you’re way behind. Some of the formats are really fun, like Brawl or Artisan, while others can be a bit tedious, like Momir, where games drag out with lots of randomness. Personally, I’ve fallen behind on this one because some weeks just aren’t appealing. At this rate, I’ll probably be finishing this around 2030.

Can You Use Direct Challenge to Unlock Achievements

Generally speaking, Direct Challenge can't be used to unlock achievements in Magic Arena. Achievements only track progress in matchmade games like Play, Ranked, Drafts, Events, or Midweek Magic. Direct Challenge is considered a “custom” mode, so Arena disables achievements there to prevent players from farming them with friends.

If you want your progress to count, make sure you’re playing in official queues or event formats. Anything outside of matchmaking—like Direct Challenge or playing against Sparky—won’t move your achievements forward.

This is not true of format-specific challenges (playing 25 games of Historic, etc.), which will track direct Tournament matches made through custom matchmaking.

What Do I Do If My Opponents Keep Conceding?

If your opponents keep conceding before you can finish, it makes it pretty frustrating to unlock achievements. The good news is there are a few ways to work around it.

First, try to play in casual queues like Play or Midweek Magic. Players there usually aren’t as focused on protecting their rank, so they’re less likely to scoop early. Ranked players often concede the moment they see they can’t win, which makes progress on certain achievements much harder.

Second, remember that many achievements track progress across multiple matches. Even if someone concedes, you often still get credit for what already happened—whether it’s spells cast, damage dealt, or life gained. That means you don’t always have to finish the perfect game in one shot.

For the achievements that need a single big setup, it helps to keep your plan hidden until the last possible moment. Using cards that give creatures haste or trigger a combo all at once lets you surprise your opponent before they have a chance to quit. The less telegraphed your play is, the more likely you are to land it.

Wrap Up

Voice of Victory | Illustration by Joshua Cairos

In the end, the hardest achievements in Magic Arena aren’t just about earning a new title or emote—they’re about the journey you take to get there. Whether it’s grinding through countless drafts, pulling off a perfect Limited run, or landing a wild combo at just the right time, each achievement tells a story of patience and determination. Note that most of the lists I shared can overlap with multiple achievements, so they're worth considering if you are after them.

What do you think is the hardest achievement of all? Do you have a list to make them even easier? Let us know in the comments or on the Draftsim Discord! And don’t forget that Draftsim’s Arena Tutor is your best add-on tool for Magic: The Gathering Arena to support your drafting decisions, track your card collection, and more!

As always, take care, and see you next time.