MTG Foundations is, in many ways, the herald of a bold new era for Magic. It’s the longest-lasting Standard set of all time, and it’s packed with interesting new cards. In other ways the set is a full-on nostalgia trip, full of reprints and retro references. For example, Arcanis the Omnipotent makes a comeback here, becoming Standard-legal again for the first time in 17 years.
On the surface, this addition may look little more than a fun throwback, but the card is actually seeing some play already in surprisingly effective decks. The tides of the MTG metagame really are unknowable.
Arcanis The Omnipotent In MTG Standard?
- Mana Value: 3UUU
- Rarity: Rare
- Card Type: Legendary Creature – Wizard
- Stats: 3/4
- Card Text: Tap: Draw three cards. 2UU: Return Arcanis the Omnipotent to its owner’s hand.
If you don’t recognize Arcanis the Omnipotent, that’s totally understandable. The last time the card was relevant was its Tenth Edition printing back in 2007. “Relevant” may be stretching things a bit too as the card was never exactly a Standard powerhouse. Arcanis has mostly seen play in Commander over the years since his high mana cost isn’t as problematic in that format.
Thanks to MTG Foundations the card is now back in Standard, specifically within the Starter Collection. Foundations product confusion aside, this is a great move. It brings back a classic legend that many older players will recognize, for a whole new generation to appreciate.
Granted, Arcanis very much looks like a card of its time in the context of modern Magic. Six mana is a ton for a 3/4 body, particularly one that needs to wait a turn to do anything. Built-in protection is great, but only really useful in Control matchups. The current Standard format isn’t exactly Control-friendly, so this ability will likely be largely irrelevant.
So if Arcanis is an overpriced card with weak abilities, what am I doing writing about it? Well, it turns out his “Tap to draw three cards” ability is more relevant now than ever before. In a vacuum, drawing three cards for no mana each turn is an absolutely insane rate. The price you have to pay for it is casting Arcanis and having him stick around for a turn. Thanks to Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, however, you can skip the squeeze and get straight to the juice. As a result, Arcanis has started cropping up in multiple Standard lists.
Fuel For The Cauldron
If you manage to exile an Arcanis the Omnipotent with Agatha’s Soul Cauldron, you gain access to a free Ancestral Recall every single turn in Standard. To set this up you first need to get Arcanis into the graveyard, so most decks running the card also run ways of looting and filtering their cards.
Kiora, the Rising Tide and Rona, Herald of Invasion are both popular options in this regard. The former is one of the more exciting new cards in Foundations. Here, it puts Arcanis into your ‘yard while also presenting a very real threat in its own right. Rona is more of a standard looter, but it can use its ability multiple times a turn if you build legend-heavy. Some variants of the deck, such as the Mono-Blue one showcased by YouTuber SBMTG, even include Steamcore Scholar as extra redundancy for this effect. Getting Arcanis into the graveyard is really that important.
Once he’s in there, you can exile him with Cauldron and turn any one of your creatures into a terrifying draw engine. Rona works particularly well here. Rather than just getting another loot each time you play a legend, now you get another draw three. From here, you can bury your opponent in card advantage. The Mono-Blue version runs Proft’s Eidetic Memory as a win condition alongside cheap fliers. Others, like KingHairy’s Dimir list above, simply use the engine to churn out constant threats like Sheoldred and various Duskmourn Overlords.
This new synergy is proving good enough to carry decks on its own. The Dimir list linked above went 5-0 in yesterday’s MTGO Standard League, after all. You can also slot Arcanis into the existing Cauldron Combo decks as a one or two-of, to help you dig for your key pieces faster.
One To Remember?
So Arcanis the Omnipotent isn’t just Standard-legal; he’s also delivering solid results at this early stage of the format. This doesn’t automatically make him a new meta player, however, especially given the state of Standard.
While Arcanis decks can be powerful, they also take a while to get going. You need to spend your early turns filtering and setting up your Soul Cauldron, which gives aggressive opponents plenty of time to apply pressure. Problematically, Gruul Prowess was already one of the best decks coming into Foundations Standard. It has since been joined by new Mono-Red and Boros Burn decks, all of which are capable of wiping you out before you really get going.
The deck’s other weaknesses are more foundational. Arcanis decks rely on two things: getting Arcanis into the graveyard and exiling him with Soul Cauldron. That means there are two weak points your opponent can attack to cripple the strategy. They can exile Arcanis before you can, or they can destroy your Soul Cauldron. In Standard, there are plenty of ways to do both.
Graveyard hate like Ghost Vacuum and Rest in Peace is very common right now. This makes it risky to pitch Arcanis without Cauldron out, especially post-sideboard. There’s also plenty of artifact hate, like Abrade and Pick Your Poison. Tranquil Frillback actually covers both bases here on one card and regularly sees main deck play in the likes of Golgari Midrange.
Basically, there are many ways to counter this deck in Standard without going too far out of your way. This may hamper its chances of success, but it won’t hamper its innovative nature. Seeing Arcanis finally get his day in the sun far outweighs such petty concerns.
