When Wizards of the Coast announced that they would be pausing work on Pioneer Masters for Magic Arena, they stated that they wanted to really focus on developing and growing Historic. Historic was very successful and they wanted to keep their resources dedicated to that format. This hopefully means that we’ll be getting more frequent Historic releases, namely Historic Anthologies. The last Historic Anthology released in May 27th, 2021. We’re in a period of time where there’s a lot of standard products coming out so it’d be ideal to get another release soon. These are 15 cards that absolutely NEED to be in Historic Anthology 6. These are in no particular order of power.
15 – 11. The Titan Cycle
Usually in each Historic Anthology there is a cycle of cards that are released. We had the Praetor cycle in the last one, and I think that the Historic Format could do with the Original Titan Cycle. Now I know you’re going to say, “those are way too powerful to be introduced to Historic”. I beg to differ. The only one that really needs watching is Primeval Titan, but in a world filled with Brainstorm and Memory Lapse, I think that Prime Time and the other Titans are just fine. There aren’t really abusable lands in Historic that Primeval Titan can fetch up, so ultimately it’s another ramp spell. Not to mention, the other titans would be great additions to Historic Brawl.
10. Aether Vial
We’ve talked about Aether Vial in the past and if it’d be too good in Historic. Our answer to that question was ultimately that the card would be a great addition to the format. It’d give tribal synergies some play against counter decks, and since it’s an artifact, it can be easily dealt with. Even though this does let us cheat on mana a bit, it’s incremental, and not a huge game ending barrage of free spells. Others have also expressed their desire to see this in the format and I think that this is a very easy include.
9. Monastery Swiftspear
As much as I’m not a Mono Red Aggro player, I think that Monastery Swiftspear definitely deserves to be in the Historic Format. Mono Red has fallen pretty far down the totem pole of viability, so adding this card in would be a great way to bring a boost of power to the deck. This card also opens up the possibilities of a few other aggressive archetypes coming into the format as well such as Boros Aggro or Izzet Blitz. Generally a healthy format has a variety of options of decks to play, and right now we really only have 1 true aggro strategy in Gruul Aggro, and I don’t think that this card would even slot in to that deck. This is another fan favorite that should definitely make it’s way to Historic.
8. Tarmygoyf
Once one of the most powerful creatures in all of Modern, Tarmogoyf has now been relegated to the realm of pretty fair. With the graveyard hate tools that we have in the format, and the lack of fetch lands, Tarmogoyf often comes down early as a rather small creature, but can turn into a sizeable threat later in the game. We also do have some removal to deal with it, but it’s good enough of a creature that it’d fit in nicely to the format.
7. Giver of Runes
White has been a color in Magic that has traditionally struggled without being paired with another color. Giver of Runes provides the format with a nice way to help creature decks protect themselves from spot removal, which can often be a difficult thing to do when you are tapping out to play to the board. This is definitely a pretty fair card, as if it’s removed early, it doesn’t do anything for the rest of your board, but it can really help the mono white deck, or green white decks in a pinch.
6. Bloodghast
Bloodghast is a really strange one, but I think that it’s one that could help push up Mono Black, as well as maybe help spawn a hollow one archetype. Being a 1 toughness creature that can’t block doesn’t scream broken to me, but the Landfall ability is good enough to definitely make it playable in the format.
5. Liliana of the Veil
While Liliana of the Veil is one of the strongest planeswalkers of all time, I feel that the meta of Historic is reasonably well positioned to deal with a planeswalker like this. There’s enough consistent creature strategies that this can be attacked early on, and there’s enough planeswalker removal in the format that this often times will get 1 activation off before it gets killed. But in the event that this sticks around it’s a great control piece and should be fine in Historic.
4. Diregraf Captain
Zombies is a beloved archetype in Magic and Diregraf Captain is arguably one of the best lords for the archetype. The benefit to running this lord is that it makes our opponents lose a life when one of our zombies dies. Since zombies generally are recursive threats, we can utilize this to great effect.
READ MORE: Wizards of the Coast Issues Surprise Banning For Standard 2022
3. Bloodbraid Elf
READ MORE: The Lack of Pushed Sets Leads to a Healthy Standard Meta
2. Stoneforge Mystic
Up until now, I’ve mostly been giving love to the Aggro or Midrange creature decks. I only do this because right now, blue decks are incredibly powerful in the Historic format. So in an effort to be somewhat fair, I think that Stoneforge Mystic could be ok in the format for the time being. Arena doesn’t really have any crazy powerful equipment that can easily be equipped, and with the equipment support that we just got in Adventures in the Forgotten Realms, this feels in line with some of the cards we have in the format already. My only reservations with adding this is that it will limit what equipment Wizards will introduce to the format in the future.
READ MORE: Magic: The Gathering Companion App Adds New Dice-Rolling Feature
1. Glimpse of Tomorrow
This last one is a personal pick. While I’m unsure if this would have a massive impact on the format, Warp World is one of my favorite cards of all time, and this is a more fair version of the card. With this one, I can only hope that resolving this spell multiple times in the same turn doesn’t crash the client, like it does on Magic Online.
READ MORE: Would You Pay For An MTG Arena Subscription?
I can’t wait for the next Historic Anthology release, or even the next supplemental set that makes its way to Historic. I think that Wizards can and should add cards to the format that help bring the non-blue power level up to match. What cards would you want to have enter the Historic format? Let us know in the comments!
