Taking a Break: Enjoy Fun and Casual Play in Historic MTG

Taking a Break from Competitive Paper Formats to Have Some Fun in Historic!

Step away from competitive paper formats and dive into the fun of Historic MTG. Discover casual decks and strategies for an exciting gameplay experience.

Many who are familiar with my channel remember the good old times when Alchemy first came out and one of the coolest cards ever printed allowed us to play a really cool mono black deck for a long time. We took it into the top numbers in mythic, and played plenty of qualifier weekends with the list. It was an easy mythic every season when you were allowed to play cards like Sanguinestroke and Invoke Despair in the same deck. Another card that worked out really well when Alchemy first came out was Citystalker Connoisseur. We just amassed so much value, and drew so many cards that it was almost impossible for the opponent gain an advantage. Hell, they even nerfed the Alchemy cards we were using, and it didn't matter much. Well, those days are over now of after multiple rotations, and with the news coming out that Sanguine Brushstroke was going to be printed into the new Mystery Booster packs, I wanted to try my hand at playing that card again in a deck. I figured it might not be quite powerful enough for Timeless, so I figured we would try it in Historic. One of the benefits there is that we would still have access to the MH3 cards, and there are some pretty strong spells from that set that can be used in the deck. I don't view Historic as a terribly competitive format - more so just a place where you can do fun things and maybe pull off some ridiculous combos. Also, you know this deck wouldn't be complete without running a playset of our favorite finisher, Invoke Despair. Let's check out how the Historic version of our beloved Alchemy deck from two years ago!

Total Cards:

This deck will have a lot of familiarity to people who were watching my stream about two years ago. This deck put all kinds of work for us on the ladder, and really helped us get things going on the competitive front.

Relevant Alchemy Cards

I remember the first time I saw this card, and I was ecstatic. You mean to tell me that I get a three for one upon, my blood tokens are gain and drain, and I get a Blood Artist for three mana? Give me as many of those as you can. This card is an instant value engine that provides as much residual value for as much blood as you can give it. The Blood Artist is also really good right now because some of the best in the format run a lot of creatures. If you get a couple of these on the board at a time, and have some blood tokens, it becomes pretty difficult for the opponent recover.

This is another one that is simply ridiculous amounts of value. It is another three for one that gives you a good body, a blood token and forces the opponent to discard their biggest spell. It ends up being a bomb, and is a great card to play on curve, where we might not want to play Sheoldred, our other four mana spell, on curve due to the fact that she simply is better when the opponent has little to no cards in hand. The fact that this creature has deathtouch basically means it is also effectively a removal spell.

The deck doesn't really run any other Alchemy Cards, but it does run some new spells from MH3. Let's take a look at those next.

Modern Horizons 3 Cards

Magic the Gathering Card - Sorin of House Markov - MTG Circle

Sorin is just a nice early value creature that is a good body and also demands removal. We will gain enough life to flip him in the deck, and he basically acts as a second Vito, Thorn of Dusk Rose in our list. This starts to stack up the drain to make it insurmountable. We don't mind if they remove a Sorin, because we have plenty of other creatures that are also win conditions.

This is something that I am trying out in the early stages of this list and I think it is working out pretty well. We gain a bunch of life with this deck, so we don't mind too much if we have pay even up to ten life to remove all creatures from the board. If a Blood Artist was on the board when this spell resolves, we will gain back most of that life anyhow. It is incredibly effective once again due to the heavy creatures meta that we currently see.

Old Friends that We Can't Forget

Lolth is awesome, and she was a great addition to the original Alchemy list. I didn't want to clog up the deck with too many five drops because Historic is a bit of a quicker format- especially in best of one, so there is only one of her in the list, but she still packs a punch every time.

We all know the deal here. We run plenty of removal and board wipes to keep the board clear so that this card effectively turns into a lose six life, draw three cards spell. It synergizes well with the rest of the deck, and I simply can't leave out my favorite card.

This is one that many don't realize how good the value. We have a ton of artifacts being made in the deck, and we are also keen to sacrifice creatures when needed. We have enough death triggers that make up for losing permanents on the board. Drawing two cards with this is great, and the fact that it replaces what was sacrificed with another permanent basically means that it is a one mana draw two cards spell, which is pretty insane value.

Final Thoughts

I think this deck actually pairs up well against the Boros Energy decks, and it does not allow the cats to get too out of control. If we were to make a sideboard, we would probably have a few more board wipes, and maybe even add Meathook Massacre. Aside from that, we have enough spot removal to deal with almost any threat, while our deck is also still working towards winning in its own regard. I think there is also an argument to be made that we should play Consuming Corruption from MH3, and I believe that will be a card that I try out, especially if I ever move this deck to best of three.

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I am a Magic The Gathering competitive player, and streamer. I specialize in homebrew decks. My favorite formats are: Standard, Pioneer (Explorer on Arena), and EDH. I first started playing MTG in 2001, and have played on and off since then.

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Check out more content by Numbskull

Explore the power of Rakdos Dragons in this midrange Magic: The Gathering deck. Unleash combos, removal, and ramp for competitive edge in Standard.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!

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It's Time to Mobilize the Aristocrats with Mardu Combo!

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Demons Are Getting New Toys, and This Deck is ROTTEN

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Free Dragons = Turn 4 Wins!

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I See a Monument and I want it Painted Black

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We've had a Couple of Weeks to Try Achievements on MTG Arena, and I have Opinions

The economy on MTG Arena has always been a pain point, and a grand debate over how far a digital version of a card game should go to ensure players feel as if they are getting proper value for their time. Wizards has two different versions of its beloved game on the internet, and they both seem to have their benefits and drawbacks. On February 11, Arena launched the Achievement System to reward players for hitting milestones in-game, and completing specific tasks. While it is always fun to do these kinds of things in each game, something that gamers always do is assess whether the reward for doing so in-game is worth putting forth the extra effort for the task. While there are some things in the achievement tab that I believe to be kind of fun, and certain things that I know people will want, I view the entire thing as largely a waste of time. Today we will look at why the new feature on Arena simply isn't enough for what the game should have, and what it could be. The Good and The Bad There are plenty of things that we love about Arena, with how it is the easiest way to play our favorite decks from Standard, and not spend thousands of dollars in doing so. It is probably the most efficient way to try out decks. We also love the wildcard system. Although it is not the easiest to obtain them, it is great that a rare/mythic wildcard could buy a rare/mythic card that is of any value and it still just costs one wildcard. This was especially helpful in getting a play set of Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. I still don't have a play set in paper simply because I don't want to spend that much money on it, but on Arena it was easy. I had the wildcards to do what I needed. The only part where this may be lacking is the economy itself. What if we could earn wildcards for hitting certain achievements (I.E. the achievement tab giving us wildcards instead of sleeves, etc.)? I believe that the rewards from this new feature being solely cosmetic underscores the ongoing issue of the economy on Arena simply not being enough for us.

This Deck is Sneaky Good! Get Ready for RAKDOS Dragons!