Historic Format – From Zero to Hero

There are 3 ways for cards to enter the Historic format:

1. They appeared in a Standard set on Magic Arena, which started with Ixalan.

2. They are added via Historic Anthologies. Here you can find a list of all the added cards: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Historic_Anthology

3. They appear in a supplement set on MTG Arena. For example, Amonkhet Remastered or the newest set Kaladesh Remastered.

Which cards are banned?

In Historic Wizards of the Coast tried something new. Additional to the normal bannings, cards can also be “suspended” – that means, they are removed from the card pool but may return after seeing how the format develops.

Currently, there is only 1 card suspended: Omnath, Locus of Creation

Here you can find the complete Banned list: https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/Historic_(format)

The Rising Star

Historic is the upcoming format of 2020.  In December alone, you have the Zendikar Rising Championship (Top 8 Historic), the Arena Open and the Kaldheim Qualifier Weekend. All these events are played in the Historic format.

Additionally, you can play the SCG Tour Online, where they weekly switch between Standard and Historic.

As you can see, Historic is really the format of choice, if you want to play some competitive Magic.

While it is true that we at Three for One Trading buy/sell/trade a lot of cards, we are also still love the game and play in our spare time.

One of our CEO’s  Wenzel Krautmann finished 3rd  in the last Kaldheim 5k Championship @ SCG Tour Online playing Azorius Aura. But what are the relevant decks in this format?

Here are 4 of the best decks in Historic:

Rakdos Sacrifice

It is Basically the same deck as in Standard with the addition of Scrapheap Scrounger and Woe Strider. One of the best decks in the format. Strong game plan and good SB options like Thoughtseize and Abrade vs hate.

There is also the Jund version with Trail of Crumbs or Collected Company.

Azorius Aura

This deck is relatively new. It wins with Kor Spiritdancer or Sram, Senior Edificer together with cheap auras like Curious Obsessions.  As soon as one creature is buffed, it has a lot of protection spells like Alseid of Life’s Bounty and Selfless Savior to keep it alive.

Wenzel played 3 Hushbringer main in his list, because he expected a lot of Goblins, and he was right. 😊

Goblins

Goblins is maybe the strongest deck in the format. You have the normal Goblin game plan with Goblin Chieftain/Goblin King + other Goblins.

But you also have a literally one-card combo with Muxus, Goblin Grandee. If you hit one of your 8 lords, you can easily swing for 15-30 damage, depending on what else you hit.

Sultai Control

This is pretty much the same deck as in Standard. You win with Nissa, Who Shakes the World together with Hydroid Krasis and Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. In addition, you now have Thoughtseize as a strong update.

There is also the 4-color-version featuring Yasharn, Implacable Earth. This version won the last SCG-Tour Qualifier.

This is it for today. We hope you now have a better understanding what Historic is and where you can play it. If you never tried it, give it a shot. It is still a new format with a lot of uncharted territory for you to explore.

Stay healthy and safe.

Your ThreeforOne Team.