Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to the stage, Magic Arena‘s newest Super Group band: Bard Storm! That’s right today we’re taking on Bard Storm in Historic. We got some new cards previewed in Jumpstart: Historic Horizons, and so we’ll be taking a look at the deck pre and post Historic Horizons release. Can we “storm off” with this band of legendary creatures?
How are we Storming?
Our main way that we are “storming off” is with the help of Bard Class. The main big effects of this card that we look to abuse are levels 2 and 3, which reduce the cost of our legendary spells that we cast, and also let us exile 2 cards from the top of our library that we can cast whenever we cast a legendary spell. Our deck is full of legendary spells and ones that take advantage of the mana reduction as well.
Our Legends
The main legends that we’re really looking to cast are the ones above. Gallia of the Endless Dance and Targ Nar, Demon-Fang Gnoll are free when we have a level 2 Bard Class. Domri, Anarch of Bolas gives us extra mana and protects our creatures from counter magic. Birgi, God of Storytelling also nets us 1 mana when we cast a spell, so our 3 mana legends become free as well. Radha, Heart of Keld is also a way for us to find mana from our library if we happen to be land light.
Grumgully, the Generous is one of the first creatures we want to play since that helps pump up our team even further. Mox Amber is a free legendary spell that helps us go mana positive when we play multiples of it, which can be very relevant in certain situations. Finally, we have Samut, Voice of Dissent to give all of our creatures haste, and lets us close out the game very quickly. You can play Samut, Tyrant Smasher in this spot to fill the haste enabler role, but the creatures Samut is a serious threat with double strike so having that extra fire power on board is preferred.
Jumpstart: Historic Horizons Upgrades
So what upgrades to we get from Jumpstart: Historic Horizons? The big one really is Aeve, Progenitor Ooze. This card really brings the “storm” to Bard Storm, and it fits in really well because it’s also a legendary creature. We don’t get the full extent of the mana cost reduction from Bard Class, but we should have plenty of mana to cast this and from there we can truly swarm the board. We’ll still play Samut to give everything haste, but sometimes our opponents have blockers and we just need that little extra oomph to close out the game. We can also look to play Chatterstorm as a finisher. It’s a lot less desirable but it’d work.
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Bard Storm was an awesome deck to play. It’s a really fast strategy, linear definitely, but it’s one that can catch opponents by surprise. If we don’t end up going for the storm kill, we can always just play a normal aggro style game and push through some insane damage with our legends. What do you think about this one? Have you played this deck before, whether it’s in Historic or Modern? Let us know in the comments!