Back in mid-August, two collections of reprints were added to MTG Arena. Dubbed Arena Anthologies 1 and 2, these sets featured a multitude of powerful additions to Historic, Timeless, and Brawl.
Now, in an unexpected turn of events, it appears a ton of extra reprints have just been added to the client. Cards from Arena Anthology 3 and Arena Anthology 4 appeared following today’s update. There is now an official announcement about the arrival of these cards that are sure to bring a massive shakeup to various Arena formats.
Strongest Inclusions
Arena Anthology 3 looks like the most powerful of the bunch as a whole. A few cards stand out among the group as incredible tools for Historic or Brawl play. Broadside Bombardiers and Gut, True Soul Zealot have been pre-banned already, but there are plenty of absurd cards that are legal.
Crop Rotation is a great example. Crop Rotation is a wild design to bring to Arena, especially considering that Strip Mine is already in Timeless and Brawl. Strip Mine isn’t Historic legal at least, but the sheer efficiency and flexibility of this tutor makes it impossible to count it out. It adds a ton of consistency to lands decks in Brawl and helps maximize cards like Icetill Explorer in Timeless that let you resurrect lands on command.
From there, we have a multitude of cards that are banned in various Constructed formats yet are free to see in Historic, Timeless, or Brawl. Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is banned in Commander, but is legal in Brawl. On top of that, Emrakul should prove to be a monstrous addition to Show and Tell decks in Timeless.
Memory Jar is banned in Legacy for its broken potential. Perhaps pairing it with Orcish Bowmasters in Timeless could prove to be an effective strategy.
Umezawa’s Jitte is banned in Modern due in part to its brutal play patterns in creature mirrors. Stoneforge Mystic and Cloud, Midgar Mercenary are on Arena, so it’s safe to assume it’ll be a strong tutor target for equipment-themed Historic and Brawl decks.
Chain Lightning is another card that has major implications. It’s obviously not as strong as Lightning Bolt, which is banned in Historic. Regardless, its efficiency makes it a prime inclusion in Izzet Wizards, which is already a tier on archetype.
Other Impactful Additions
The cards listed above may be out top picks to have the highest impact, but they’re far from the only good additions to Arena from Arena Anthology 3. Necromancy is a fantastic reanimation spell for big bombs like Atraxa, Grand Unifier. Necromancy often gets overlooked because of how cheap Reanimate is. Nonetheless, Necromancy should be a strong addition to Brawl and Historic alike.
Dauthi Voidwalker is another black powerhouse that should garner some attention early. It pairs perfectly with discard spells, attacks past blockers, and messes with opposing graveyards. What more could you want?
Flickerwisp is one particular card that has a lot of exciting applications. It has emerged as a Modern staple due to its synergy with Overlord of the Balemurk. Overlord and Phelia, Exuberant Shepherd are both legal in Historic, opening the door for some fun value-based strategies to flourish.
Staff of the Storyteller is a card advantage machine and solid blink target in its own right. Alongside other token makers like Ajani, Staff has plenty of potential. The card sees some fringe Legacy play already, so it appearing in Historic is a distinct possibility.
Force Spike and Miscalculation are decent pieces of counter magic that could easily see some play. Mana Leak may prove to be better than Miscalculation in the long run in Historic, though.
Exploration is a serious ramp enabler. At minimum, this will be a Brawl staple. From there, Noble Hierarch finally gets its time to shine on Arena alongside Ignoble Hierarch, which was added in the previous Arena Anthology.
Arena Anthology 4
Arena Anthology 4 offers a ton of cards that were only available in the Momir format up to this point. These cards are more geared towards Brawl than anything else. There are a couple strong reanimation targets for other formats, however, such as Tidespout Tyrant and Iona, Shield of Emeria. The majority of cards, however, are too expensive and too narrow to see much play outside of Brawl.
There are at least some sweet cards for Brawl enthusiasts, though. The full cycle of Bringers (like Bringer of the White Dawn) is here, and the blue and green ones provide excellent inevitability in a five-color shell. Regal Force is a decent card to ramp into in a deck with lots of green mana dorks.
Unfortunately, most of the other cards are outdated and overly expensive designs that seem out of place to be featured in the first place. Cards like Crash of Rhinos or Thing from the Deep are amusing designs; they just have no shot of showing up in any semi-competitive environment.
The Full Picture
Overall, Arena Anthology 3 is much more impactful than Arena Anthology 4. Above, you can see all of the cards from Arena Anthology 3 that are available on the client. For the full list of cards available in the Arena Anthology 4 bundle, you can take a look here.
Additionally, Crumbling Vestige was finally added to Arena. It wasn’t part of either Anthology. Crumbling Vestige is a staple of Pioneer Scapeshift combo. As one of the only competitive Pioneer-legal cards not on the client, this was long overdue.
Finally, it’s worth mentioning that the bundles that feature these cards won’t be coming to Arena until September 23. Despite that, many of the cards are already available and craftable on MTG Arena, playable in any format that they’re legal in. The official article for these new Arena Anthologies suggests that this is intentional, which means that playing them in their legal formats should be perfectly viable.
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