New Archetype Heralded as The Best MTG Arena Deck Ever!?

As we all know, MTG Arena formats aren’t always the most popular things going around. Online-only formats like Historic and Alchemy only tend to get a lot of attention when a tournament with massive prizing is on the line, like the past weekend’s qualifier. Well, one archetype was presented as the deck to “break the format” that weekend, and some evolution, thanks to a The Brothers’ War and a particular MTG streamer, may make it the most powerful MTG deck that Arena has ever seen.

Mystmin’s Historic Rakdos Storm Combo Deck

This is the most powerful deck I have ever ever played, and I was the first to build it. I just reached #1 on the Historic ladder going 93-8. Read about the deck's cards on https://t.co/bvvNm3qE4k pic.twitter.com/ksrvTPZ3b6
— Mystmin (@Mystmin) November 28, 2022

MTG personality Mystmin posted this list on his Twitter page after hitting Mythic Rank 1 with the deck. Mystmin takes credit for being “the first to build it,” showcasing a 93-8 record on his way to taking the highest rank on MTG Arena – about a 93-94% win rate. In Mystmin’s words, this is a tier zero deck in the Historic format, meaning it has no bad matchups, and, at the time of writing, it is unarguably the best deck in the format. Basically, if you’re not playing this deck in Historic, you’re playing the format with the intention of losing.

I broke historic I think

I played terribly on day 1 and lost, but 3/6 people who played the deck got there and everyone who made day 2 converted. S/o to @terribadmtg for convincing me I was not scamming everyone

never sure how to approach testing for these with limited time https://t.co/vUwPYvMAQt
— Tristan Wylde-LaRue (@Tristan_MTG_) November 13, 2022

While I am not personally sure if this stands up to those incredibly high accolades, I’m also not a Historic expert. This deck is a variant of the Trapfinder combo previously showcased by MTG World Championship competitor Tristan Wylde-LaRue as the breakout deck in the Historic Qualifier Weekend that occurred earlier this month.

How Does the Deck Work?

Because the win condition to Mystmin’s Storm deck is a combo, it may be difficult to pick this up without understanding what you’re supposed to be doing. Mystmin actually has a fantastic website where he breaks down the reasoning for each card in his list. Because of that, I will simply explain how the combo works on a macro level so that you can pick this up or know how your opponent is killing you.

The whole point of this deck is to kill off a Goblin Trapfinder to find an Ominous Traveler. Goblin Trapfinder is an Alchemy card that will perpetually reduce the searched card’s mana value by two while causing it to self-destruct on your endstep. Ominous Traveler, another Alchemy card, has its mana value reduced to zero if found by Goblin Trapfinder.

Ominous Traveler as a card is a bit complicated. Basically, when it enters the battlefield, you get to take a gander in its spellbook. This allows you to pick from one of three randomly generated options of the following cards:

Dominating Vampire Dominating Vampire When this creature enters, gain control of target creature with mana value less than or equal to the number of Vampires you control until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn.
Vampire Socialite Vampire Socialite Menace (This creature can't be blocked except by two or more creatures.)
When this creature enters, if an opponent lost life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Vampire you control.
As long as an opponent lost life this turn, each other Vampire you control enters with an additional +1/+1 counter on it.
Stromkirk Bloodthief Stromkirk Bloodthief At the beginning of your end step, if an opponent lost life this turn, put a +1/+1 counter on target Vampire you control.
Falkenrath Pit Fighter Falkenrath Pit Fighter {1}{R}, Discard a card, Sacrifice a Vampire: Draw two cards. Activate only if an opponent lost life this turn.
Wolfkin Outcast Wolfkin Outcast This spell costs {2} less to cast if you control a Wolf or Werewolf.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
Howlpack Piper Howlpack Piper This spell can't be countered.
{1}{G}, {T}: You may put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. If it's a Wolf or Werewolf, untap this creature. Activate only as a sorcery.
Daybound (If a player casts no spells during their own turn, it becomes night next turn.)
Tovolar, Dire Overlord Tovolar, Dire Overlord Whenever a Wolf or Werewolf you control deals combat damage to a player, draw a card.
At the beginning of your upkeep, if you control three or more Wolves and/or Werewolves, it becomes night. Then transform any number of Human Werewolves you control.
Daybound
Patrician Geist Patrician Geist Flying
Other Spirits you control get +1/+1.
Spells you cast from your graveyard cost {1} less to cast.
Shipwreck Sifters Shipwreck Sifters When this creature enters, draw a card, then discard a card.
Whenever you discard a Spirit card or a card with disturb, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Steelclad Spirit Steelclad Spirit Defender
Whenever an enchantment you control enters, this creature can attack this turn as though it didn't have defender.
Heron-Blessed Geist Heron-Blessed Geist Flying
{3}{W}, Exile this card from your graveyard: Create two 1/1 white Spirit creature tokens with flying. Activate only if you control an enchantment and only as a sorcery.
Archghoul of Thraben Archghoul of Thraben Whenever this creature or another Zombie you control dies, look at the top card of your library. If it's a Zombie card, you may reveal it and put it into your hand. If you don't put the card into your hand, you may put it into your graveyard.
Champion of the Perished Champion of the Perished Whenever another Zombie you control enters, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.
Headless Rider Headless Rider Whenever this creature or another nontoken Zombie you control dies, create a 2/2 black Zombie creature token.
Bladestitched Skaab Bladestitched Skaab Other Zombies you control get +1/+0.

Two notable changes occur when casting these cards: they return your Ominous Traveler to your hand when they get cast, and you don’t need to spend colored mana to cast them. Both of these changes are incredibly important.

Ashnod’s Altar

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Ashnod’s Altar is the new addition to this archetype from The Brothers’ War. This allows you to convert the creatures you are casting off of Ominous Traveler into mana, while your free Ominous Traveler keeps returning to your hand and producing more creatures to sacrifice.

The idea here is to set up multiple Headless Riders (obtained from Ominous Traveler’s Spellbook) to continually net mana off of the tokens it creates when other Ominous Traveler Zombie cards are sacrificed. You can also use multiple flipped Fable of the Mirror-Breaker Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control. to access infinite mana in a similar fashion.

As far as the combo goes, this is all you need. Things get a lot simpler when you have Karn, the Great Creator to find Aetherflux Reservoir Aetherflux Reservoir Whenever you cast a spell, you gain 1 life for each spell you've cast this turn.
Pay 50 life: This artifact deals 50 damage to any target. as a win condition, but you can win without Karn by swinging in with a lethal Champion of the Perished (found off the Spellbook). You can give Haste to your Champion by targeting it with Dominating Vampire (also found in the Spellbook). Through this, you can continually grow your Champion by sacrificing cards to the Altar and making tokens with your Headless Riders.

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While Karn, the Great Creator makes winning with Ominous Traveler a lot easier, according to the deck’s creator, the card you’ll be fetching the most often with Karn is Wurmcoil Engine Wurmcoil Engine Deathtouch, lifelink
When this creature dies, create a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Wurm artifact creature token with deathtouch and a 3/3 colorless Phyrexian Wurm artifact creature token with lifelink. . This card is some disgusting synergies with Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, leaving behind Wurmcoil Engine’s tokens after the copy is sacrificed.

Diabolic Intent Finally Finds a Home

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Diabolic Intent is the card used to tie this combo all together. This gives another high-impact way to sacrifice your Goblin Trapfinder that, according to Mystmin, is most commonly used to find the Ashnod’s Altar that you’re missing. Notably, all four Altars are played in the main deck, so Karn cannot tutor it up.

If you’re mid-combo, you could also use this card to find Karn. A big problem with this combo on MTG Arena is, depending on your random discovers with Ominous Traveler’s Spellbook, there’s a real possibility that the client could time you out while you’re frantically trying to assemble the Champion of the Perished kill. Karn can find Aetherflux Reservoir and alleviate your time issues.

Either way, this much-anticipated reprint truly shows its prowess in what may be MTG Arena’s most powerful deck ever.

The Other Cards

The rest of the deck features a commonly seen Rakdos Midrange shell, using various cards that see a ton of play in Pioneer, Historic, Modern, Explorer, and more. Fatal Push Fatal Push Destroy target creature if it has mana value 2 or less.
Revolt — Destroy that creature if it has mana value 4 or less instead if a permanent left the battlefield under your control this turn. is a premier option used to deal with small creatures. Thoughtseize Thoughtseize Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it. That player discards that card. You lose 2 life. can help tear your opponent’s hands apart, slowing them down immensely or dealing with cards that would otherwise stop your combo. Inquisition of Kozilek Inquisition of Kozilek Target player reveals their hand. You choose a nonland card from it with mana value 3 or less. That player discards that card. pushes this gameplan further, and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker Fable of the Mirror-Breaker (As this Saga enters and after your draw step, add a lore counter.)
I — Create a 2/2 red Goblin Shaman creature token with "Whenever this token attacks, create a Treasure token."
II — You may discard up to two cards. If you do, draw that many cards.
III — Exile this Saga, then return it to the battlefield transformed under your control. offers some redundancy alongside also standing as a win condition. Claim the Firstborn Claim the Firstborn Gain control of target creature with mana value 3 or less until end of turn. Untap that creature. It gains haste until end of turn. , finally, provides a ton of flexibility as well. Sure, you don’t have the standard Witch’s Oven Witch’s Oven {T}, Sacrifice a creature: Create a Food token. If the sacrificed creature's toughness was 4 or greater, create two Food tokens instead. (They're artifacts with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.") sacrifice outlet, but you can still use Phyrexian Tower Phyrexian Tower {T}: Add {C}.
{T}, Sacrifice a creature: Add {B}{B}. , Ashnod’s Altar, or Demonic Intent to turn this into a removal spell with upside.