With the banning / suspension of
Tibalt’s Trickery
Tibalt’s Trickery
Counter target spell. Choose 1, 2, or 3 at random. Its controller mills that many cards, then exiles cards from the top of their library until they exile a nonland card with a different name than that spell. They may cast that card without paying its mana cost. Then they put the exiled cards on the bottom of their library in a random order.
,
Brainstorm
Brainstorm
Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.
and
Memory Lapse
Memory Lapse
Counter target spell. If that spell is countered this way, put it on top of its owner's library instead of into that player's graveyard.
in Historic, the format has seen a renaissance of sorts. The ability to play virtually any deck in the format without the looming sense of dread that was Jeskai Control is a refreshing feeling for a format that is as diverse as Historic. We’re seeing a lot of awesome decks pop up in viability, so today I want to highlight a few of the sweet ones that I’ve seen.
CoCo Shamans
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The first deck, and one that’s honestly pretty poweful, is CoCo Shamans. This deck aims to get down some a few different Shaman creatures, a
Harmonic Prodigy
Harmonic Prodigy
Prowess (Whenever you cast a noncreature spell, this creature gets +1/+1 until end of turn.)
If a triggered ability of a Shaman or another Wizard you control triggers, that ability triggers an additional time.
or 2, and finish it off with a
Rage Forger
Rage Forger
When this creature enters, put a +1/+1 counter on each other Shaman creature you control.
Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it attacks, you may have that creature deal 1 damage to target player or planeswalker.
to get in for BIG damage. The deck utilizes Collected Comapny as a tempo swing that can help them push for a wider board, or recover from removal. This version is a version by Ali Eldrazi, who took it into top 200 Mythic, with an impressive 76% win rate.
Ultimatum Rites
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The next deck is really more of a best of 1 deck, in Ultimatum Rites. You definitely could add a sideboard to tailor to best of 3, but this version is only for best of 1. The goal of this deck is to use self milling cards like
Grisly Salvage
Grisly Salvage
Reveal the top five cards of your library. You may put a creature or land card from among them into your hand. Put the rest into your graveyard.
,
Stitcher’s Supplier
Stitcher’s Supplier
When this creature enters or dies, mill three cards. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.)
, and discard cards like
Faithless Looting
Faithless Looting
Draw two cards, then discard two cards.
Flashback {2}{R} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
to load up our graveyard with some of our beefy creature threats. Then we can utilize
Unburial Rites
Unburial Rites
Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Flashback {3}{W} (You may cast this card from your graveyard for its flashback cost. Then exile it.)
or a combination of
Mizzix’s Mastery
Mizzix’s Mastery
Exile target card that's an instant or sorcery from your graveyard. For each card exiled this way, copy it, and you may cast the copy without paying its mana cost. Exile Mizzix's Mastery.
Overload {5}{R}{R}{R} (You may cast this spell for its overload cost. If you do, change "target" in its text to "each.")
and
Rise of the Dark Realms
Rise of the Dark Realms
Put all creature cards from all graveyards onto the battlefield under your control.
to reanimate those threats to win the game.
Emergent Ultimatum
Emergent Ultimatum
Search your library for up to three monocolored cards with different names and exile them. An opponent chooses one of those cards. Shuffle that card into your library. You may cast the other cards without paying their mana costs. Exile Emergent Ultimatum.
has some great combos here as well. We can pick
Elesh Norn
Elesh Norn
Vigilance
Whenever a source an opponent controls deals damage to you or a permanent you control, that source's controller loses 2 life unless they pay {1}.
{2}{W}, Sacrifice three other creatures: Exile Elesh Norn, then return it to the battlefield transformed under its owner's control. Activate only as a sorcery.
,
Overwhelming Splendor
Overwhelming Splendor
Enchant player
Creatures enchanted player controls lose all abilities and have base power and toughness 1/1.
Enchanted player can't activate abilities that aren't mana abilities or loyalty abilities.
and any other bomb, and if our opponent gives us the first 2, it’s a consistent board wipe. Also depending on the game state, if we have a lot of creatures and a Rise of the Dark Realms in our Graveyard, we can pick
Scholar of the Lost Trove
Scholar of the Lost Trove
Flying
When this creature enters, you may cast target instant, sorcery, or artifact card from your graveyard without paying its mana cost. If an instant or sorcery spell cast this way would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead.
, Mizzix’s Mastery, and any other card and guarantee a full reanimation of our bin.
READ MORE: Best Cards to Buy For Vadrik, Astral Archmage in Commander
Black White Zombies
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Our last deck is a Zombies deck, but one that’s a bit different than one you’d expect. This one is splashing white, for a few key cards, such as
Corpse Knight
Corpse Knight
Whenever another creature you control enters, each opponent loses 1 life.
,
Wayward Servant
Wayward Servant
Whenever another Zombie you control enters, each opponent loses 1 life and you gain 1 life.
, and most importantly,
Return to the Ranks
Return to the Ranks
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.)
Return X target creature cards with mana value 2 or less from your graveyard to the battlefield.
. This is a lesser explored tribal synergy that does have some powerful tools, and with control taking a back seat, we have a deck that can find it’s legs and can be a contender for a strong Aggro deck in our format.
READ MORE: Ten Most Expensive MTG Cards From Strixhaven: School of Mages
While these are only a few decks, there’s a wide open field to play with. With previews for Innistrad: Crimson Vow right around the corner, and hopefully some more Historic Anthology or Remastered sets on the horizons, we can expect there’s a lot of cool things coming up in the format. What decks are you excited to play now that the format is a bit more open? Let us know in the comments!