Secrets of Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive Bonus Sheet is one of the most powerful collections of reprints released in a long while. While these cards are just valuable reprints for paper players, they’re extremely powerful new cards for MTG Arena. Thanks to this, we saw five MTG Arena pre-bans this week; however, these might not have gone far enough.
Shockingly, Wizards of the Coast decided not to take any prebans against the fast mana on the Mystical Archive bonus sheet. With Ruby Storm being near-viable in Historic already, the addition of multiple powerful rituals has the risk of putting the archetype over the top. After trying it out for ourselves, it seems that might just be the case.
Storm is Broken
Going 21-3 to #71 Mythic on the MTG Arena ladder, Historic Ruby Storm looks absolutely bonkers. The additions of Pyretic Ritual and Jeska’s Will make this deck nightmarishly consistent, allowing it to consistently present turn-three wins. Flashback, a new Secrets of Strixhaven card, helps boost this consistency further, giving your rituals a second cast. Thanks to all this, untapping with a Ral, Monsoon Mage or a Ruby Medallion is essentially game over.
While removal and hate pieces slow this plan down, Historic’s Alchemy cards add a few pieces that make things worse. Tend to the Kiln also functions as both an enabler and a win condition, granting a constant flow of mana through temporary hasty creatures. On top of this, Fragment Reality, another Alchemy card, is the most problematic card in the entire deck. Offering insane flexibility, this card can get rid of any hate piece your opponents pack for just one mana.
Thanks to all this, stopping Storm for a normal Historic deck is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Similar to other problematic archetypes in the past, like Cori-Steel Cutter Prowess or Vivi Cauldron, having just one thing isn’t enough to stop this deck. Racing the deck is impossible, since Storm can adjust to set up wins as early as turn two. Sadly, delaying things momentarily with removal isn’t effective either, since the deck’s Impulse draw makes it an inevitability machine.
Because of this, to truly stop Storm, you need to cater a large portion of your deck to beating it. Whether it’s packing tons of hate and hand disruption, or High Noons backed by counterspells, the required packages will warp entire archetypes. Thanks to this, there’s a very real chance that Storm could knock all other non-blue decks out of the format.
Bans Needed
Right now, Storm is already starting to cause a shift in MTG Historic, but only at the top tables. A majority of my games against players in the top 1000 were Storm mirrors, suggesting that the deck is starting to become quite popular. Considering how successful the deck is, it won’t take long for the archetype to trickle down across the ladder.
With Storm looking this good, the healthiest way of dealing with the archetype might just be bans. In the interest of keeping a healthy metagame, Wizards of the Coast should ban Pyretic Ritual and Jeska’s Will. Without it, Storm will condense the metagame significantly, beating any deck that isn’t built to shut it down.
While things may look grim, there is some good news. Thanks to Wizards of the Coast’s ban overhaul, the next window isn’t too far away. Thanks to being scheduled for May 18th, Ruby Storm could be dealt with in less than a month.
This should also give enough time for the Historic format to adjust, if that’s even a possibility. Considering the strength of other new Mystical Archive cards on MTG Arena, it’s very possible the metagame isn’t done shifting. Should things not settle before the next ban announcement, then Wizards might end up not taking action as to not disrupt things.
For now, only time will tell whether Storm becomes a metagame issue. From early impressions, however, it certainly appears to be the case.
Stick with us here at mtgrocks.com: the best site for Magic: The Gathering coverage. Be sure to check out our deckbuilder for your next big brew, and our brand new MTG Rocks Podcast!