It goes without saying that Jumpstart: Historic Horizons is expected to make a big impact on the Historic format on Magic Arena. With the shear number of cards of the set, combined with the power level of the cards from Modern Horizons 1 and 2, it’s safe to say that some new decks are going to come up. With today’s previews, we have a deck that was a contender in the Modern format, but hasn’t quite gotten it’s legs in Historic. Can Mono Red Hollow One become a viable deck in Historic?
Modern Hollow One
Hollow One as a deck started out as a strong Mono Red was really focused around discarding to pump out Hollow Ones really quickly. The deck has since evolved into a Vengevine and [tootlips]Asmoranomardicadaistinaculdacar deck, where its a bit less all in on Hollow One.
Historic Hollow One
While there’s some really important pieces in the Modern version that we don’t have in Historic, we have really solid replacements. In place of Burning Inquiry we have Faithless Looting. With this, we trade speed for consistency and control over which cards we discard. This is important since we’re also playing Dragon’s Rage Channeler, Blazing Rootwalla, and Fiery Tempery, so this allows us to plan our turns out a bit more.
One card that is definitely a consideration for this deck as well is the new Arena only card, Managorger Phoenix. This recursive threat that is in line with our plan. We don’t mind discarding it to the graveyard for Faithless Looting, and we also do end up casting some spells as well so getting this back isn’t too big of a task. I’m not sure where this would fit in and in what numbers if at all, but it’s definitely in the conversation.\
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At the end of the day, we really won’t know if the deck has any new found legs until we know what else is in the set and what the metagame shakes up to be when Historic Horizons releases. The list looks really solid. There is some pitfalls in this kind of deck, but it’s something that hopefully a sideboard can help with. What are your thoughts on this deck idea? Did you play Hollow One in Modern, and will you give it a try now that we have more critical support in Historic? Let us know in the comments!
Jumpstart: Historic Horizons is a Magic Arena only set. The set will be only legal for the Historic Format. It releases on August 12, 2021 on Magic Arena and contains 782 cards, comprised of 31 new Arena Only cards, and 751 reprints from Modern Horizons, Modern Horizons 2 and more. You can check out our preview gallery to stay up to date with all the cards!