New MTG Previews Introduce Banned Powerhouses and Terrible Filler

Recently announced for MTG Arena, two more Anthologies will be appearing on July 18. Historic Anthology Seven features cards legal only in Historic formats, whereas Explorer Anthology Three showcases cards legal in Explorer as well as Historic. Three cards were previewed about a week ago for each Anthology, and the reviews were not all positive. While the Historic cards that were previewed seem decent for Arena players, especially those who enjoy Historic Brawl, the Explorer cards that were previewed received mostly critical reviews.

Explorer is deisgned to roughly shadow the Pioneer format, and there are a multitude of cards missing from Arena that are Pioneer staples. Cards like Hidden Strings Hidden Strings You may tap or untap target permanent, then you may tap or untap another target permanent.
Cipher (Then you may exile this spell card encoded on a creature you control. Whenever that creature deals combat damage to a player, its controller may cast a copy of the encoded card without paying its mana cost.) and Treasure Cruise Treasure Cruise Delve (Each card you exile from your graveyard while casting this spell pays for {1}.)
Draw three cards. being missing from Arena makes it difficult for Explorer to mimic Pioneer as closely. Today, we have had a plethora of additional cards for Historic and Explorer previewed, and unfortunately, this trend has seemingly continued thus far. The Historic spoilers seem very strong both for traditional Historic and Historic Brawl, so let’s begin on a positive note.

Iconic Creatures Enter Arena

One of the biggest additions to Arena in a while is a super iconic Creature that still dominates Modern to this day. For anyone who enjoys big ramp strategies, get ready, because Primeval Titan has entered the fray.

Primeval Titan is extremely powerful, allowing you to search for two Lands whenever it enters the battlefield or attacks. No, there’s no restriction on the Lands you can get. In fact, the card is banned in EDH because of its ability to get extremely powerful non-basic Land combinations, such as Thespian’s Stage Thespian’s Stage {T}: Add {C}.
{2}, {T}: This land becomes a copy of target land, except it has this ability. and Dark Depths Dark Depths Dark Depths enters with ten ice counters on it.
{3}: Remove an ice counter from Dark Depths.
When Dark Depths has no ice counters on it, sacrifice it. If you do, create Marit Lage, a legendary 20/20 black Avatar creature token with flying and indestructible. that can make a 20-power Indestructible Flying Monster in short order.

In Modern, Primeval Titan is most commonly paired with Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle Valakut, the Molten Pinnacle This land enters tapped.
Whenever a Mountain you control enters, if you control at least five other Mountains, you may have this land deal 3 damage to any target.
{T}: Add {R}. , either alongside Scapeshift Scapeshift Sacrifice any number of lands. Search your library for up to that many land cards, put them onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle. or Amulet of Vigor Amulet of Vigor Whenever a permanent you control enters tapped, untap it. . With Valakut not on Arena, it may take more creativity to abuse this card to its full potential. Regardless, the card is extremely powerful and should be a welcome addition to Arena.

Another great addition to Historic is Bloodbraid Elf Bloodbraid Elf Haste (This creature can attack and {T} as soon as it comes under your control.)
Cascade (When you cast this spell, exile cards from the top of your library until you exile a nonland card that costs less. You may cast it without paying its mana cost. Put the exiled cards on the bottom in a random order.) , another iconic Modern card. Bloodbraid Elf was very strong in Modern Jund, resulting in the card being banned in Modern for a few years. The card was then later unbanned as more and more powerful cards entered the Modern format. Blodbraid Elf is a great value engine. As a reasonable threat on its own, it also Cascades, providing an easy two-for-one and the potential to hit other powerful cards. Primeval Titan and Bloodbraid aren’t the only Creatures featured in Historic Anthology Seven, however.

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Extra Additions

Alongside these iconic Creatures, Historic also will get access to Sunbaked Canyon and Echoing Decay Echoing Decay Target creature and all other creatures with the same name as that creature get -2/-2 until end of turn. . Sunbaked Canyon is a nice addition for many red or white aggressive decks. While these types of Lands can be painful, the ability to cash them in for a fresh card later in the game is a big deal, especially for decks with burn spells that can be top-decked.

Finally, we have a nice piece of removal in the form of Echoing Decay. Decay is not necessarily the most efficient removal spell, but it works super well on Creature tokens with the same name. The card often sees play in Pauper as a strong way to clean up tokens from Battle Screech Battle Screech Create two 1/1 white Bird creature tokens with flying.
Flashback—Tap three untapped white creatures you control. (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.) or Kuldotha Rebirth Kuldotha Rebirth As an additional cost to cast this spell, sacrifice an artifact.
Create three 1/1 red Goblin creature tokens. . The card isn’t super powerful, but it fills its role nicely.

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Explorer Cards with Potential

While Explorer Anthology Three still has not featured any of the biggest Pioneer staples missing on Arena, there are some decent niche options that have been previewed. First, we have Xenagos, God of Revels. Xenagos on its own is a little too inefficient for Pioneer or Explorer. However, the card works extremely well with Indomitable Creativity Indomitable Creativity Destroy X target artifacts and/or creatures. For each permanent destroyed this way, its controller reveals cards from the top of their library until an artifact or creature card is revealed and exiles that card. Those players put the exiled cards onto the battlefield, then shuffle. and Worldspine Wurm Worldspine Wurm Trample
When this creature dies, create three 5/5 green Wurm creature tokens with trample.
When Worldspine Wurm is put into a graveyard from anywhere, shuffle it into its owner's library. . By casting Creativity with two targets, you can search for Worldspine Wurm and Xenagos, and attack for 30 damage on a body with Trample and Haste. With Xenagos being previewed, it’s a reasonable assumption that Worldspine Wurm will be previewed soon as well.

Second, we have Chord of Calling Chord of Calling Convoke (Your creatures can help cast this spell. Each creature you tap while casting this spell pays for {1} or one mana of that creature's color.)
Search your library for a creature card with mana value X or less, put it onto the battlefield, then shuffle. . Chord of Calling, despite being in Explorer Anthology, is a notable inclusion for Historic. Given the popularity of various Samwise Gamgee Samwise Gamgee Whenever another nontoken creature you control enters, create a Food token. (It's an artifact with "{2}, {T}, Sacrifice this token: You gain 3 life.")
Sacrifice three Foods: Return target historic card from your graveyard to your hand. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.) combo decks, Chord may be a natural fit for Historic. As for Explorer, the card does see play in Elves. While Elves is a niche archetype, Chord is important for the deck, so it’s nice to see it being added to Arena.

Third, we have Voice of Resurgence Voice of Resurgence Whenever an opponent casts a spell during your turn and when this creature dies, create a green and white Elemental creature token with "This token's power and toughness are each equal to the number of creatures you control." , a decent two-drop option that unfortunately lacks a solid home right now in Pioneer. The card was a strong option for Winota, Joiner of Forces Winota, Joiner of Forces Whenever a non-Human creature you control attacks, look at the top six cards of your library. You may put a Human creature card from among them onto the battlefield tapped and attacking. It gains indestructible until end of turn. Put the rest of the cards on the bottom of your library in a random order. decks before Winota’s banning and has popped up in various Selesnya deck focused around Collected Company Collected Company Look at the top six cards of your library. Put up to two creature cards with mana value 3 or less from among them onto the battlefield. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order. . Still, the card struggles to find a home in current Pioneer, especially given its color combination. While these are reasonable additions, none of them are heavy hitters in Pioneer, and this thread continues for the last group of cards previewed.

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Explorer Additions with Minimal Upside

As mentioned, Explorer is designed to shadow Pioneer relatively closely. With initial previews showcasing cards such as Cyclonic Rift Cyclonic Rift Return target nonland permanent you don't control to its owner's hand.
Overload {6}{U} (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change "target" in its text to "each.") and Deathrite Shaman Deathrite Shaman {T}: Exile target land card from a graveyard. Add one mana of any color. (Activate only as an instant.)
{B}, {T}: Exile target instant or sorcery card from a graveyard. Each opponent loses 2 life.
{G}, {T}: Exile target creature card from a graveyard. You gain 2 life. that see little to no Pioneer play, it’s reasonable that some people would be disappointed. Unfortunately, some of the most important cards missing, like important Delve spells, Oath of Nissa Oath of Nissa When Oath of Nissa enters, look at the top three cards of your library. You may reveal a creature, land, or planeswalker card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
You may spend mana as though it were mana of any color to cast planeswalker spells. , and Hidden Strings still have not been previewed.

For the last few cards announced, we have two cards that are part of a cycle of lands from Battle for Zendikar block: Cinder Glade and Canopy Vista Canopy Vista ({T}: Add {G} or {W}.)
This land enters tapped unless you control two or more basic lands. . Most of the lands in this cycle see almost no play, especially since Fastlands such as Copperline Gorge Copperline Gorge This land enters tapped unless you control two or fewer other lands.
{T}: Add {R} or {G}. were printed into Pioneer, thanks to Phyrexia: All will Be One. Assuming the cycle is put on Arena in full, the one decent addition should be Praire Stream, which sees some play in UW Control alongside Lay Down Arms Lay Down Arms Exile target creature with mana value less than or equal to the number of Plains you control. Its controller gains 3 life. , thanks to the Lands having the necessary basic Land types.

Finally, we have Abbot of Keral Keep Abbot of Keral Keep Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
When this creature enters, exile the top card of your library. Until end of turn, you may play that card. . While the card is reasonably strong, it fights with a lot of competition as a red two-drop Creature. Cards like Eidolon of the Great Revel Eidolon of the Great Revel Whenever a player casts a spell with mana value 3 or less, this creature deals 2 damage to that player. or Kari Zev, Skyship Raider Kari Zev, Skyship Raider First strike, menace
Whenever Kari Zev attacks, create Ragavan, a legendary 2/1 red Monkey creature token. Ragavan enters tapped and attacking. Exile that token at end of combat. often beat out the Prowess Creature for slots, making it hard to find a home. While Historic and Historic Brawl seem to be adding a lot of cool and useful additions, Explorer previews are struggling a bit thus far. There’s still plenty more spoilers to keep an eye out for, so perhaps the best are being saved for last!

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