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Unsurprisingly, with Modern Horizons III leaks coming out of the woodworks, lots of players are excited to see how the which new cards will have the most impact on Modern. Modern Horizons I and II both brought immense change to the format. Cards like Wrenn and Six Wrenn and Six +1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.) and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer Whenever Ragavan deals combat damage to a player, create a Treasure token and exile the top card of that player's library. Until end of turn, you may cast that card.
Dash {1}{R} (You may cast this spell for its dash cost. If you do, it gains haste, and it's returned from the battlefield to its owner's hand at the beginning of the next end step.) have become format all-stars. Meanwhile, Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis Hogaak, Arisen Necropolis You can't spend mana to cast this spell.
Convoke, delve (Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color. Each card you exile from your graveyard pays for {1}.)
You may cast this card from your graveyard.
Trample and Fury Fury Double strike
When this creature enters, it deals 4 damage divided as you choose among any number of target creatures and/or planeswalkers.
Evoke—Exile a red card from your hand. proved to be too much for the format to handle.

If the first two Modern Horizons sets were any indication, Modern will surely be in for a shakeup when Modern Horizons III releases. Importantly, though, Modern won’t be the only format affected. Even beyond Eternal formats like Legacy, these cards will be coming to MTG Arena. This means that Historic and Timeless will be in for huge changes as well.

For fans of Historic, there’s a lot to look forward to. The format has become rather stale over time. While some cards from the new set are sure to follow recent patterns and get preemptively banned (I’m looking at you, Grief Grief Menace
When this creature enters, target opponent reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card.
Evoke—Exile a black card from your hand. ), there’s a lot of room for cards that cause metagame shifts without being inherently too broken. Timeless has, more or less, stolen Historic’s identity of being the most powerful format on Arena, leaving the format in a weird limbo.

Recently, there was a lot of discussion regarding what existing cards players most wanted to see implemented into the format that aren’t on Arena. Between Modern Horizons III and the inevitable bonus sheets alongside future premier sets, there are sure to be some cool reprints coming to Arena soon enough. Let’s take a look at some that might provide a nice jolt to the format.

Hedron Crab for Mill

Kicking things off, we have a card that fits into multiple different archetypes in Modern. Unlike Ruin Crab Ruin Crab Landfall — Whenever a land you control enters, each opponent mills three cards. (To mill a card, a player puts the top card of their library into their graveyard.) , Hedron Crab has the ability to target you or your opponent with its Mill ability. This opens the door for different decks to utilize Hedron Crab in different ways.

First, for players that like to use Milling the opponent as their win condition of choice, adding Hedron Crab to Arena could help make this strategy more viable. The reality is, most of the Instants and Sorceries that see play in Modern Mill are now on Arena. Glimpse the Unthinkable Glimpse the Unthinkable Target player mills ten cards. , Jace, the Perfected Mind Jace, the Perfected Mind Compleated ({U/P} can be paid with {U} or 2 life. If life was paid, this planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty counters.)
+1: Until your next turn, up to one target creature gets -3/-0.
−2: Target player mills three cards. Then if a graveyard has twenty or more cards in it, you draw three cards. Otherwise, you draw a card.
−X: Target player mills three times X cards. , and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter Tasha’s Hideous Laughter Each opponent exiles cards from the top of their library until that player has exiled cards with total mana value 20 or greater. had all been on Arena for a while.

Thanks to Outlaws of Thunder Junction, Archive Trap Archive Trap If an opponent searched their library this turn, you may pay {0} rather than pay this spell's mana cost.
Target opponent mills thirteen cards. and Surgical Extraction Surgical Extraction ({B/P} can be paid with either {B} or 2 life.)
Choose target card in a graveyard other than a basic land card. Search its owner's graveyard, hand, and library for any number of cards with the same name as that card and exile them. Then that player shuffles. joined the party as essential additions to a Mill deck in Historic. Fractured Sanity Fractured Sanity Each opponent mills fourteen cards.
Cycling {1}{U} ({1}{U}, Discard this card: Draw a card.)
When you cycle this card, each opponent mills four cards. is still missing, but adding extra copies of Jace or Tasha’s Hideous Laughter as a replacement is totally reasonable.

What this deck has really been missing is another turn one play. Having access to both Crabs makes Mill faster, more consistent, and helps enable Drown in the Loch Drown in the Loch Choose one —
• Counter target spell with mana value less than or equal to the number of cards in its controller's graveyard.
• Destroy target creature with mana value less than or equal to the number of cards in its controller's graveyard. more reliably. The Fetchlands may be banned, but Prismatic Vista Prismatic Vista {T}, Pay 1 life, Sacrifice this land: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. and Field of Ruin Field of Ruin {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this land: Destroy target nonbasic land an opponent controls. Each player searches their library for a basic land card, puts it onto the battlefield, then shuffles. can help pick up the slack.

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Adding Vengevine to the Mix

Of course, Hedron Crab’s ability to Mill cards from your own library is what distinguishes it from Ruin Crab. Thanks to cards like Prized Amalgam Prized Amalgam Whenever a creature enters, if it entered from your graveyard or you cast it from your graveyard, return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield tapped at the beginning of the next end step. , Narcomoeba Narcomoeba Flying
When this card is put into your graveyard from your library, you may put it onto the battlefield. , and Creeping Chill Creeping Chill Creeping Chill deals 3 damage to each opponent and you gain 3 life.
When Creeping Chill is put into your graveyard from your library, you may exile it. If you do, Creeping Chill deals 3 damage to each opponent and you gain 3 life. , milling yourself can be very rewarding if you build around it.

Interestingly, all of these payoffs are already on Arena. As for enablers, Stitcher’s Supplier Stitcher’s Supplier When this creature enters or dies, mill three cards. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.) and Merfolk Secretkeeper Merfolk Secretkeeper can provide some necessary redundancy on Arena if Hedron Crab joins in.

The one thing a deck like this is missing, though, is Vengevine Vengevine Haste
Whenever you cast a spell, if it's the second creature spell you cast this turn, you may return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. . Vengevine is a very powerful card that some players want added to Arena. It helps lead to explosive starts, but at the same time is a recursive threat. This makes it strong against typical removal spells. Vengevine is definitely on the stronger side, but given the deck’s natural vulnerability to graveyard hate, it probably wouldn’t be too pushed for the format.

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Aether Vial and Its Supporting Cast

One card that seemed to garner a lot of support was Aether Vial. Aether Vial is the type of card that, in my opinion, could actually do a lot of good for the Historic format. Over the years, general Creature decks have fallen out of favor in multiple formats. In Modern, cards like Orcish Bowmasters Orcish Bowmasters Flash
When this creature enters and whenever an opponent draws a card except the first one they draw in each of their draw steps, this creature deals 1 damage to any target. Then amass Orcs 1. and Wrenn and Six Wrenn and Six +1: Return up to one target land card from your graveyard to your hand.
−1: Wrenn and Six deals 1 damage to any target.
−7: You get an emblem with "Instant and sorcery cards in your graveyard have retrace." (You may cast instant and sorcery cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.) have made decks with lots of small Creatures significantly weaker.

At the same time, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Yawgmoth, Thran Physician Protection from Humans
Pay 1 life, Sacrifice another creature: Put a -1/-1 counter on up to one target creature and draw a card.
{B}{B}, Discard a card: Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) combo, one of the only top-tier decks with a very high density of Creatures, prays on other Creature-centric strategies that try to win through combat. Yawgmoth combo is elite in both Modern and Historic, and seeing other go-wide archetypes emerge would be a breath of fresh air.

In Historic, Orcish Bowmasters is nerfed while Wrenn and Six is not on Arena. Solitude Solitude Flash
Lifelink
When this creature enters, exile up to one other target creature. That creature's controller gains life equal to its power.
Evoke—Exile a white card from your hand. appears to be on its way shortly, but I’d be surprised if it doesn’t see an early ban along with some of the other Evoke Elementals. In this sense, there may be room for more Creature decks to flourish if the right tools are implemented on Arena.

For example, most pieces of five-color Humans (a deck that once dominated Modern but fell out of favor in the face of the cards mentioned above) are on Arena. Thalia’s Lieutenant Thalia’s Lieutenant When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Human you control.
Whenever another Human you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. , Thalia, Guardian of Thraben Thalia, Guardian of Thraben First strike
Noncreature spells cost {1} more to cast. , Meddling Mage Meddling Mage As this creature enters, choose a nonland card name.
Spells with the chosen name can't be cast. , and the requisite five-color Lands like Cavern of Souls Cavern of Souls As this land enters, choose a creature type.
{T}: Add {C}.
{T}: Add one mana of any color. Spend this mana only to cast a creature spell of the chosen type, and that spell can't be countered. are all available.

The problem is that the premier one-drops in Aether Vial, Noble Hierarch Noble Hierarch Exalted (Whenever a creature you control attacks alone, that creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
{T}: Add {G}, {W}, or {U}. , and Champion of the Parish Champion of the Parish Whenever another Human you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature. are all missing, which the deck can’t really function without. On a similar note, adding Lord of Atlantis Lord of Atlantis Other Merfolk get +1/+1 and have islandwalk. (They can't be blocked as long as defending player controls an Island.) or Tideshaper Tideshaper Kicker {1} (You may pay an additional {1} as you cast this spell.)
When this creature enters, if it was kicked, target land becomes an Island for as long as this creature remains on the battlefield.
This creature gets +1/+1 as long as an opponent controls an Island. to Arena along with Aether Vial could help take Merfolk to the next level. With members of the supporting cast like Master of the Pearl Trident Master of the Pearl Trident Other Merfolk creatures you control get +1/+1 and have islandwalk. (They can't be blocked as long as defending player controls an Island.) and Vodalian Hexcatcher Vodalian Hexcatcher Flash
Other Merfolk you control get +1/+1.
Sacrifice a Merfolk: Counter target noncreature spell unless its controller pays {1}. already on Arena, taking these small steps could help shake up the Historic metagame.

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Make Stoneforge Better

Personally, I’d love to see Stoneforge Mystic Stoneforge Mystic When this creature enters, you may search your library for an Equipment card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
{1}{W}, {T}: You may put an Equipment card from your hand onto the battlefield. get its time in the sun. Stoneforge Mystic was just recently added to MTG Arena as part of the Special Guest series in Outlaws of Thunder Junction. Stoneforge is undoubtedly an incredible card, but many of the best cards to pair with it aren’t on the client.

On raw power, both Kaldra Compleat Kaldra Compleat Living weapon
Indestructible
Equipped creature gets +5/+5 and has first strike, trample, indestructible, haste, and "Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a creature, exile that creature."
Equip {7} and Batterskull Batterskull Living weapon (When this Equipment enters, create a 0/0 black Phyrexian Germ creature token, then attach this to it.)
Equipped creature gets +4/+4 and has vigilance and lifelink.
{3}: Return this Equipment to its owner's hand.
Equip {5} would make Stoneforge a much bigger threat. Both of these cards are capable of taking over games on their own thanks to their Living Weapon abilities, making Stoneforge more of a must-kill threat.

Stoneforge is also a big piece of the puzzle towards making Colossus Hammer Colossus Hammer Equipped creature gets +10/+10 and loses flying.
Equip {8} ({8}: Attach to target creature you control. Equip only as a sorcery.) a reasonable option in Historic. Now, Stoneforge, Hammer, Sigarda’s Aid Sigarda’s Aid You may cast Aura and Equipment spells as though they had flash.
Whenever an Equipment you control enters, you may attach it to target creature you control. , Esper Sentinel Esper Sentinel Whenever an opponent casts their first noncreature spell each turn, draw a card unless that player pays {X}, where X is this creature's power. , and Ornithopter Ornithopter Flying are all on Arena. If Puresteel Paladin Puresteel Paladin Whenever an Equipment you control enters, you may draw a card.
Metalcraft — Equipment you control have equip {0} as long as you control three or more artifacts. were to finally get added, maybe Hammer Time could make some noise. Obviously, not having Urza’s Saga Urza’s Saga (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter. Sacrifice after III.)
I — This Saga gains "{T}: Add {C}."
II — This Saga gains "{2}, {T}: Create a 0/0 colorless Construct artifact creature token with 'This token gets +1/+1 for each artifact you control.'"
III — Search your library for an artifact card with mana cost {0} or {1}, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. makes the deck considerably worse, but putting Puresteel on Arena would come a long way.

Right now, Historic is in desperate need of some changes to make the format more exciting. Timeless is the new hotness, and Historic has grown stagnant. Perhaps throwing in some of these powerful options for underrepresented archetypes could provide the spark Historic needs to get back on track. With Modern Horizons III coming soon, make sure to keep your eyes peeled for any potential game-changing inclusions.

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