The release of MTG Arena’s latest Historic and Explorer Anthologies is just a few days away. Despite this, the promised spoilers that Wizards of the Coast hyped up are nowhere to be found. Since the reveal of the first cards from the new MTG Arena Anthology sets, we’ve seen plenty about Dominaria United and Unfinity, but nothing about Historic or Explorer. Thankfully, while Wizards has not officially revealed any new Explorer cards, we have at least seen some sneak peeks.
Temur Battle Rage
Thanks to a new marketing image from WotC, it now appears that Temur Battle Rage is headed to MTG Arena. First appearing in Fate Reforged, Temur Battle Rage likely isn’t the Pioneer staple people hoped for. Nevertheless, Temur Battle Rage has plenty of potential to be a finisher in aggressive Explorer decks.
With the ability to give a creature double strike until the end of the turn, as well as Trample if you control a creature with power four or greater, there’s no doubting Temur Battle Rage’s effectiveness. Unfortunately, however, in Pioneer, Temur Battle Rage’s power is often eclipsed by cards such as Invigorated Rampage. Sadly for Temur Battle Rage’s chance of being played in Pioneer, Invigorated Rampage is already part of MTG Arena. Luckily, however, Temur Battle Rage may see some play in Historic thanks to synergizing with Death’s Shadow.
While Temur Battle Rage may not be worth getting excited about, its implications are. Alongside Favored Hoplite, Temur Battle Rage is the second Explorer Anthology 1 card suited for aggressive Boros decks. Because of this, we’re desperately hoping we may also see Monastery Swiftspear in this Anthology. As an incredibly powerful Pioneer and Pauper staple, Monastery Swiftspear is one of the most requested cards for Explorer Anthology 1.
Chalice of the Void
Alongside Temur Battle Rage, Wizards of the Coast also revealed Chalice of the Void in another marketing post. First appearing in Mirrodin, Chalice of the Void is a popular Modern tool to stifle your opponent’s decks and combos. Due to its potency, Chalice of the Void is even found in Legacy decks, so it’ll certainly have a home in Historic.
If you’ve not heard of it before, Chalice of the Void enters the battlefield with X charge counters on it. Similar to Walking Ballista, which we would also like to see in Historic Anthology 6, Chalice of the Void has an XX casting cost. You’ll need to pay twice X for that number of charge counters. Once in play, Chalice of the Void will counter any spell with a mana value equal to the number of charge counters.
Unfortunately, unlike Temur Battle Rage, Chalice of the Void doesn’t give us many clues about what might be in the rest of Historic Anthology 6. As a scattershot collection of cards from throughout Magic’s history, Historic Anthology 6 could include anything. So far, the inclusion of Tarmogoyf leads us to believe there could be more graveyard support with cards like Lord of Extinction. It’s equally possible, however, that we’ll merely be seeing a selection of powerful modern staples like Urza, Lord High Artificer. Until more spoilers get unveiled, I’ll still be hoping for discount Tron.
Where Are the Rest of the Spoilers?
Unfortunately, Wizards of the Coast appears to be keeping the latest MTG Arena Anthology cards under wraps for now. The complete card list for both Anthologies is set to be unveiled on Wednesday the 27th of July, so hopefully, we shouldn’t have to wait long to find out more.
While we would have liked to see a steady drip feed of spoilers, much as we’ll see for Dominaria United, maybe it’s for the better Wizards are taking things slow. Over the past few months, let alone the past week, Wizards has been nonstop with announcements. This has made keeping up with MTG almost impossible. While we’re here to tell you what you need to know, keeping up with all the dates and details can be challenging for players.
Until tomorrow, we’ll just have to sit and wait patiently until we see the complete card list. After that, we’ll only have to wait another day before playing with these cards. Historic Anthology 6 and Explorer Anthology 1 launch together on the 28th of June 2022, after all. Each MTG Arena Anthology will contain 20 cards and cost 4,000 gems or 25,000 gold.
Read More: Dominaria United May Be the Most Legendary Magic Set
