The MTG SNC Historic summary is going to be a lot shorter than the Standard summary, simply because there isn’t a lot to cover. Historic has been stuck in a similar state for the past few championships where it has been featured. Even the big takeaway from this championship isn’t a new revelation. Its simply a deck that got hard targeted a few set championships ago that people forgot about over time.
Meta Breakdown
The top five archetypes on this list have been the thing to do in Historic for a really long time now. Rakdos Arcanist lessened in popularity between this championship and the last one. This is likely due to how poor the Golgari Food matchup is.
Hidetsugu Consumes All
Hidetsugu Consumes All
(As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Destroy each nonland permanent with mana value 1 or less.
II — Exile all graveyards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control.
is being used as an equalizer, but it usually isn’t enough. Most Arcanist players are playing Hidetsugu as a sideboard card, making it very difficult to win game one. If you don’t find it game two, or it gets
Thoughtseize
Thoughtseize
Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life.
d away, your chances of winning plummet.
Azorius Affinity saw a huge uptick in representation. A lot of the members from Andrea Mengucci’s open team registered the deck and found success with it. This deck popped up on Historic’s radar once again after @J-EDepraz dominated the Historic portion of the Neon Dynasty Championship with Affinity.
The real story comes from the success of two Selesnya archetypes throughout the tournament. Both WG Humans and WG Enchantress had a fantastic performance at the SNC Champs.
New Cards
As we all know,
Ledger Shredder
Ledger Shredder
Flying
Whenever a player casts their second spell each turn, this creature connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
has a huge story of its own. It was an incredibly undervalued card at release that exploded in popularity after people realized how good it was.
Ledger Shredder
Ledger Shredder
Flying
Whenever a player casts their second spell each turn, this creature connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
is at home in Historic Phoenix. Its no surprise to see that this card got a ton of representation in the championship.
Unlicensed Hearse
Unlicensed Hearse
{T}: Exile up to two target cards from a single graveyard.
Unlicensed Hearse's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards exiled with it.
Crew 2
also saw a lot of representation. This is a consistent graveyard hate piece that, unlike most competitors for its slot, sticks around after exiling things. The Hearse is capable of exiling phoenixes, cats, Escape creatures, and turning off Delirium, all while growing as a threat. If you’re looking to speculate on a card from the championships, this would be my pick. Not only did it see a lot of representation, but it performed incredibly as well.
Strangle
Strangle
Strangle deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker.
saw a little bit of play, but enough for it to stand out as a relevant new introduction to Historic. The card offers a good rate for removal. We don’t have Lightning Bolt, so this is the next best thing.
Archetype Performance
Here is another chart from @mtgmetaio that roughly breaks down how each of the more popular Historic archetypes performed throughout swiss of the tournament. Because the top eight was Standard only, this does take into account all Historic games played throughout the tournament.
You’ll notice that I said that Selesnya Enchantress performed really well throughout the tournament, yet its not on this sheet. This is because it wasn’t a very popular option. Regardless, it should continue to be a deck that you watch out for if you plan to play Historic in the near future.
Selesnya Humans
Selesnya Humans saw a major resurgence in SNC Historic during and after the championship. This deck had a huge rise in popularity after
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.
was released on MTG Arena. Because of its sheer popularity, it had a major target on its back a few set championships ago. After some time has passed, the deck was forgotten about and rose again.
Golgari Food seems like it would be a difficult matchup with this deck, yet it went even with Food in swiss. Personally, I would be more comfortable bringing more hate for the food matchup if you’re planning on playing this on ladder. What better hate card is there than
Yasharn, Implacable Earth
Yasharn, Implacable Earth
When Yasharn enters, search your library for a basic Forest card and a basic Plains card, reveal those cards, put them into your hand, then shuffle.
Players can't pay life or sacrifice nonland permanents to cast spells or activate abilities.
? This card stops any food synergies in their tracks. Use the time to overwhelm them with the rest of your game plan.
Sideboard-wise, this deck has some interesting options. Kraul Harpooner is definitely meant to target the phoenix matchup, but should not be used on phoenixes themselves unless absolutely necessary. Use the Harpooner to deal with a
Ledger Shredder
Ledger Shredder
Flying
Whenever a player casts their second spell each turn, this creature connives. (Draw a card, then discard a card. If you discarded a nonland card, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
or a Sprite Dragon before they get too big. Crackling Drake can run away with the game on its own, so having an out to that is also very valuable.
Playing
Tormod’s Crypt
Tormod’s Crypt
{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile target player's graveyard.
in higher numbers than
Unlicensed Hearse
Unlicensed Hearse
{T}: Exile up to two target cards from a single graveyard.
Unlicensed Hearse's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards exiled with it.
Crew 2
is an interesting decision. This may simply be due to a lack of testing. There isn’t really a scenario where you need to have graveyard hate before turn two, even if your opponent goes first. Being able to run out
Tormod’s Crypt
Tormod’s Crypt
{T}, Sacrifice this artifact: Exile target player's graveyard.
and a creature may be better for tempo purposes. I personally would be interested in trying out two Hearse and one Crypt going forward.
For any who are interested in trying this deck in a paper environment, note that Inquisitor Captain is an Arena-only card. This effectively gives the deck eight
Collected Company
Collected Company
Look at the top six cards of your library. Put up to two creature cards with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
-like effects, with a ninth in the sideboard in the form of
Elspeth Resplendent
Elspeth Resplendent
+1: Choose up to one target creature. Put a +1/+1 counter and a counter from among flying, first strike, lifelink, or vigilance on it.
−3: Look at the top seven cards of your library. You may put a permanent card with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield with a shield counter on it. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
−7: Create five 3/3 white Angel creature tokens with flying.
. A good counter to this deck, as a result, may be Grafdiggar’s Cage.
Rakdos Arcanist
As discussed in a previous article, Hisamichi Yoshigoe managed a top four finish with primarly brews. Rakdos Arcanist is a known archetype, unlike the other decks he used to get this far, but even his Arcanist deck is very unique in its card choices.
Two maindeck
Unlicensed Hearse
Unlicensed Hearse
{T}: Exile up to two target cards from a single graveyard.
Unlicensed Hearse's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards exiled with it.
Crew 2
is brave, but probably correct. This wasn’t an incredibly unique decision, as it saw a lot of main deck play in the tournament. The card did a ton of work throughout the tournament and is probably among the best graveyard hate in the format.
Historic Arcanist typically doesn’t run Young Pyromancer at all, yet Yoshigoe has four of them in the main deck. Even now, I’m not sure why he decided to do this. It does line up well with Golgari Food and Selesnya Humans, but besides the Humans deck, (and maybe the Affinity matchup) I’m not sure this card does enough work. Regardless, his decision seems to be the right one.
Sarkhan, Wanderer of Shiv and
By Force
By Force
Destroy X target artifacts.
are some other unusual choices considering the common contents of this archetype.
By Force
By Force
Destroy X target artifacts.
makes a lot of sense. It can destroy a mass amount of artifacts in the Food matchup, and can wipe an Affinity board. Regardless, this is a new take on Arcanist that will have an impact on the Historic metagame at some level.
Everything Else is the Same
I did say that this article would be significantly shorter than the Standard Summary. The Historic meta has gotten rather stale, and the other archetypes that did well aren’t doing anything revolutionary. Azorius Affinity did get a huge representation boost from the last championship, but besides
Unlicensed Hearse
Unlicensed Hearse
{T}: Exile up to two target cards from a single graveyard.
Unlicensed Hearse's power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards exiled with it.
Crew 2
, its also running familiar cards. I hope Wizards of the Coast does something soon to shake the format up. Otherwise, it may just be forgotten about as Explorer continues to get pushed.