While there’s a ton to be excited about for Secrets of Strixhaven, the return of the Mystical Archive Bonus Sheet is the clear highlight. With tons of incredibly expensive reprints on their way, MTG players can find some insane high-demand multi-format staples inside packs.
Notably, because Secrets of Strixhaven will be a Draftable set on MTG Arena, all of the Mystical Archive cards are also coming to the client. Many of these aren’t available in Arena’s various digital formats right now, creating the opportunity for some serious shakeups. In many cases, for Historic in particular, these cards will prove far too powerful, leading to numerous prebans.
Predicted Pre-Bans
Among the potential Mystical Archive cards that could be prebanned on MTG Arena, Force of Will and Daze seem the most obvious. While Timeless desperately needs these cards to stave off combo decks, these Vintage and Legacy format pillars will almost certainly break Historic if thrown in. Things are relatively balanced as-is, and giving blue two free counterspell tools will almost certainly push every non-blue deck out of the format.
Vampiric Tutor, the other chase card in the Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive, is almost certainly to be prebanned in Historic, as well. While many of the one-mana tutor cycle is legal in the format, Mystical Tutor, in particular, is banned. Vampiric Tutor can essentially do the same thing while being even more flexible, making its preban seem inevitable.
Thanks to existing bans in Historic, some of the fast mana coming on the Secrets of Strixhaven Mystical Archive bonus sheet also has a decent chance of being prebanned. Considering this, Pyretic Ritual and Jeska’s Will are likely to follow suit, as they could make Storm too consistent. Notably, Sacrifice is legal in Historic, which could mean Culling the Weak gets a pass, but this is undeniably a massive and risky upgrade.
Unlike Historic, Brawl doesn’t really have an issue with fast mana or free countermagic, instead focusing bans on problematic win conditions. For that reason, Ad Nauseum may be the only Mystical Archive card that sees a ban in the format. In focused strategies, this Instant can draw upwards of 40 cards rather consistently, making a combo-style win trivial.
Risky Cards
While not outright obvious prebans, Armageddon also feels like it might be too strong for Historic, given how suddenly it ends the game. The sorcery would give aggressive white decks a ton of strength by providing a tool that effectively ends the game when they’re ahead on the board. That said, unlike the previously discussed cards, Historic does have the tools to keep up with this Sorcery in the form of removal, hand disruption, and countermagic.
Living End could create a similar issue by creating an instant and generally unassailable board as early as turn three. Using Cycling creatures and the Lorwyn Eclipsed Elementals, Living End decks focus on getting powerful bodies with disruptive abilities into the graveyard before reanimating them. The card needs Cascade effects to do this, but Violent Outburst, an instant-speed enabler, is legal in Historic. Considering that this card got banned in Modern due to Living End, it could prove to be a power outlier here, too.
Adding to the combo chaos, both Angel’s Grace and Ad Nauseum are coming to the client at the same time, which combine to draw your entire deck at instant speed. While this has some players worried, thanks to its competitive history, I would be surprised if either of these cards were prebanned in Historic. Between hand disruption and counterspells, the format is more than capable of dealing with a six-mana two-card combo.
Fun, New Cards
In addition to a fair few cards that may be a bit too good for MTG Arena’s digital formats, a bunch of other cards also show signs of being surprisingly powerful. Glimpse of Nature, Berserk, Brain Freeze, and Pongify will likely have an impact on Historic, but they may not need to be banned. Glimpse of Nature is probably the most powerful card among these, easily enabling broken starts to Badgermole Cub decks, but that archetype isn’t really an issue in Historic at the moment.
With a ton of powerful new cards coming to MTG Arena, it would be surprising if we didn’t see a power outlier wreak havoc on one format or another. Food Chain, for example, ran rampant in Historic for a month before being banned for its turn-two combo potential. Fortunately, should this happen, players won’t have to wait long for the next MTG ban announcement. Scheduled for May 18th, players will only need to wait a month for fixes to occur. Considering the recent problems, like Vivi Cauldron, that persisted for half a year, it’s a major improvement.
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