10 Best Cards to Craft From Jumpstart: Historic Horizons

With preview season wrapping up for Jumpstart: Historic Horizons, we now have a full look at the set and can start to make some educated guesses around what cards are going to make an impact on the Historic format. But with over 700 cards being added to the game, and about half of them being “new to Magic Arena“, for someone who is just getting into the set may be overwhelmed with the sheer number of cards and knowing which ones to craft. Here’s our top 10 Best cards to craft from Historic Horizons.

10. Goblin Dark-Dwellers

Goblin Dark-Dwellers J21 — *Wizards of the Coast*

This one came in today on the last day of previews, but Goblin Dark-Dwellers is a great addition to the format. Currently it’s being used in Modern to cast free suspend spells like Glimpse of Tomorrow, but since we don’t have those cards, this card will be utilized more fairly. Some prime targets for this card are Prismari Command, Kolaghan’s Command, Maelstrom Pulse and more.

9. Blade Splicer

blade splicer j21 — *Wizards of the Coast*

was an old fan favorite card from back in the day and it’s great to see it included here. It’s a cheap creature that leaves behind a 3/3 body, which can be first striking. There’s plenty of blink synergies in the set and so I expect this card to get a lot of use in the coming weeks.

8. Davriel’s Withering

is the only “Digital Only” card to make our list. This is a new powerful 1 mana removal spell that has one of the new digital only keywords, Perpetually. This mechanic permanently alters the target card for the remainder of the game. In this case, it can be a very powerful tool against some specific strategies in the format. While the instances where perpetually can really come in handy, it’s cheap, and can deal with a lot of aggro in the format, which makes this a slam dunk of a new removal spell

7. Restoration Angel

is another fan favorite card from around the same era of standard that Blade Splicer was in, in fact they often saw play together. This card just add another powerful blink effect to go along with Blade Splicer and the rest of the blink synergies in the format. This also goes great alongside any creature with an enter the battlefield ability, whether it’s in control, midrange, or even combo decks. This is a welcome addition and I can’t wait to play with this one.

6. Ranger-Captain of Eos

Next up is Ranger-Captain of Eos. This is a great power boost to the Selesnya Collected Company decks, Mono White Aggro, or maybe even a Boros Aggro deck. We have great targets to search up with this, and there will definitely be times where we sacrifice this in our opponent’s upkeep to prevent a sweeper or removal spell when we have lethal on board. Since it’s also a human, I expect that it will see play in some matter of Humans deck.

5. Thought Monitor

has risen as an all star card in Modern in the Affinity style lists, and I expect that it’ll be the same here. We have the makings of a few very powerful artifact based decks, and this card adds some much needed card draw and board presence to those decks.

4. Archmage’s Charm

archmages charm J21 — *Wizards of the Coast*

Another final day preview, Archmages Charm is one of the most versatile control spells to ever be printed. Don’t let the triple blue mana casting cost put you off, control decks absolutely love this card, and I expect that we will see a resurgence in 2 color control decks in Historic with the addition of this card. Each of these modes is actually relevant in Historic and so this should see a great amount of play.

READ MORE: The Best Discard Commanders

3. Seasoned Pyromancer

One of the more powerful and popular cards from Modern Horizons, Seasoned Pyromancer is definitely a card to pick up early. This card does it all, it provides some board presence with it’s tokens, and also some card draw. Not to mention, that it can also make tokens from the graveyard as well. This sees play in a huge variety of Modern decks, and I expect that it will see plenty of play in Historic as well.

2. Dragon’s Rage Channeler

dragon rage channeler — *Wizards of the Coast*

was one of the break out uncommons from Modern Horizons 2, opening up many different archetypes in Modern. The ability for this to be a 1 mana 3/3 Flyer in the early game with very little effort brings this card into contention for the best creatures in the set, and potentially in the Historic Format. There’s quite a few decks that can look to play this card, from Izzet Blitz / Madness, Rakdos Lurrus, and even Hollow One. You best have some removal up for this because it can get out of hand very quickly if left unchecked.

1. Esper Sentinel

Our number 1 pick is Esper Sentinel. This card has a lot going for it. It’s likened to that of Rhystic Study but on a 1 mana creature in white. It’s a must kill creature, otherwise your opponents will be drowned in value and card advantage. Since we don’t have many very good 1 mana removal spells in the format, there’s a good chance that this card will stick around for a couple turns and draw you some much needed cards. It also slots into many different decks due to its typing, being a human, and an artifact. If you craft 4 copies of any card in the set right away, this is definitely at the top of the list.

Jumpstart: Historic Horizons is a Magic Arena only set. The set will be only legal for the Historic Format. It releases on August 12, 2021 on Magic Arena and contains 782 cards, comprised of 31 new Arena Only cards, and 751 reprints from Modern Horizons, Modern Horizons 2 and more. You can check out our preview gallery to stay up to date with all the cards!