In a surprise announcement, two new Arena Anthology collections are coming to MTG Arena. These groups of cards release on August 19th, and there are some strong additions in the mix.
This even includes a powerful Reserved List card printed 26 years ago that could easily be a Brawl all-star. Let’s take a closer look at some of the best reprints these products have to offer.
Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary
The Reserved List card coming to Arena is none other than Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. This Elf is a ramp machine in any green deck with a high density of basic lands.
Given its efficiency and ability to double your mana with ease, the two-drop is banned in Commander. Yet, it will be legal in Brawl to start, and players will surely flock to it. It demands a removal spell when you cast it, and it’s trivial to recast it multiple times, given how cheap it is.
There’s a chance it’ll make a splash in mono-green Devotion in Historic, too, though that’s a bit more of a stretch. The difference between a one-mana dork and a two-mana one that dies to removal is huge. Nonetheless, the upside of getting to untap with Rofellos is huge, especially in games where you don’t draw Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx.
This card could also appear in Elves decks in various competitive formats. Considering that these decks have been fringe competitive for a long time, they could certainly use some help. Whether or not Rofellos will impact constructed in any way is a bit tough to predict, but rather exciting nontheless.
Wrenn and Six
Next, we have another two-mana card that makes for a pretty good value engine. Unfortunately, in Historic, Fetchlands are banned, making it a bit tougher to maximize the potent Planeswalker. Prismatic Vista is legal, though, and it may be worth jumping through some hoops to play this card. After all, the -1 ability comes in clutch against Boros Energy.
Meanwhile, in Timeless, setting up the brutal combination of Wrenn and Six plus Strip Mine can spell doom for your opponent rather quickly. Wrenn and Six is banned in Legacy in part for promoting similar shenanigans with Wasteland, so don’t be surprised if Strip Mine’s stock goes up even further following the release of Arena Anthology 2.
This doesn’t even factor in Wrenn and Six’s insane potential in Brawl. As a two-mana play, it’ll be tough for your opponent to keep your Planeswalker in check early, and it’s immune to typical removal.
Mother of Runes
Another card that could easily be a staple of Historic and Brawl is Mother of Runes. Mother of Runes is a lightning rod like no other. You have one turn to kill it. Otherwise, it gets to untap and protect any threat that gets targeted by removal, including itself. On top of that, Mother of Runes can help your attackers get through burly blockers of the same color.
The protection comes in clutch both in Death and Taxes shells utilizing creatures with pesky abilities such as Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, as well as creature combo decks. For instance, pairing Mother of Runes with Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice seems like a great starting point. The deck often already plays Giver of Runes, and Mother of Runes is a nice upgrade in most scenarios.
Grist, the Hunger Tide
Another Planeswalker makes an appearance on this list, and that’s Grist, the Hunger Tide. Grist is a solid midrange Planeswalker that serves as a way to kill opposing threats and flood the board with tokens. It is a little slow, but once again, facing down Grist is a nuisance in Brawl. Attacking it down is very difficult.
In Historic, Grist could make its presence felt in Yawgmoth, Thran Physician shells or Jund midrange. Accelerating the Planeswalker out with Delighted Halfling is a great way to pull ahead. In Yawgmoth decks, the Insect production fuels Chord of Calling, and exiling Grist under Agatha’s Soul Cauldron is a nasty way to cement your advantage.
Fiery Confluence
Fiery Confluence is a rather intriguing addition to Arena that should see a decent amount of play. Arena Anthology 1 is bringing a ton of mana rocks to Brawl, including Talismans and Signets. Arena Anthology 2 is introducing the artifact lands and Mox Opal. Fiery Confluence gives you a way to punish your opponents that overextend with artifacts.
This is a huge deal following the release of Edge of Eternities and Alchemy: Edge of Eternities, too. Pinnacle Emissary gave Historic Affinity decks a boost, and having a card that can answer artifacts and clean up tokens is nice.
Given its flexibility, Fiery Confluence also shines against small creature decks. If you are an assertive deck yourself, using Fiery Confluence as a six-damage burn spell isn’t off the table, either. This is just a solid catch-all card with a lot of utility, making it a welcome inclusion.
Barrowgoyf
Barrowgoyf is another midrange card that’s solid on its own. As long as you can fill your graveyard in any capacity, it won’t be long before this creature rules the battlefield. Thanks to Deathtouch and Lifelink, blocking down or racing Barrowgoyf is a pain. If you don’t block it, though, your opponent gets to Mill cards and return a creature from their graveyard to their hand.
The competition for three-drops is high in Historic, and Barrowgoyf doesn’t actually provide any value in the event that it eats a removal spell. Still, it’ll often outsize most damage-based removal when it lands, making it a solid option.
Pyrogoyf
Pyrogoyf is yet another Lhurgoyf on its way to Arena that’s a strong midrange inclusion. In this case, the creature is a little less efficient and doesn’t dominate the board the same way. What you get instead is the ability to send a wave of damage at any target when it enters. This includes your opponent.
Pyrogoyf feels like a reasonable piece of top-end for an aggressively slanted midrange deck. Alongside removal, discard spells, and cards like Fear of Missing Out that fuel your graveyard and build up your card types, Pyrogoyf can easily pull its weight.
Ignoble Hierarch
To help accelerate out these three-drops and four-drops, Ignoble Hierarch is making its way onto Arena as well. There are already a multitude of mana dorks on the client, including Delighted Halfling and Birds of Paradise, which may make it a bit harder for Ignoble to be a Historic all-star.
That being said, Exalted is an underrated ability, so Ignoble should at minimum be in consideration if you’re looking for acceleration. At minimum, this mana dork should be a staple in Brawl, where you can never have too many turn-one mana producers.
Empty the Warrens
The last spoiler we wanted to discuss is Empty the Warrens. This sorcery with Storm has a lot of upside. It isn’t as strong of a kill condition as Tendrils of Agony, which is already on Arena, but it’s much stronger in the event you can’t build up your Storm count high enough. Sometimes, simply making six or eight Goblins can be enough to end games.
Commonly, Empty the Warrens has made an appearance in Storm shells as a sideboard card to help win through hate and counter magic. Perhaps Timeless Storm decks will implement this strategy.
Empty the Warrens also synergizes well with Skirk Prospector in Historic. It doesn’t pair nicely with Muxus, Goblin Grandee, so it might not ultimately earn a slot. Regardless, it does a good job rebuilding your board in the face of interaction, which can come in handy.
Not Everything is Incredible
This isn’t everything that the new Arena Anthologies have to offer. While a lot of it is quite interesting, there are some cards coming that don’t seem particularly useful. For the most part, however, a lot of the new cards are quite powerful.
Mana Leak and Thought Scour are powerful new tools for Dimir Midrange decks in Historic. Oust, Life/Death, Eternal Witness, Damn and Flame Slash certainly have their uses, as well, but a few odd cards seem to be included in this Anthology series.
Darksteel Plate, Trinket Mage, Champion’s Helm and Control Magic are some notable outliers here. None of these seem to have a particularly attractive use. Some of the Swords, while strong in Brawl, aren’t too impressive, either.
All of that said, almost all of the cards in these Anthologies have some sort of use, meaning that MTG Arena might be in for a massive shakeup out of nowhere.
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