Players rejoice, as the eternal formats on Magic: Arena are getting some much needed upgrades. On Wednesday July 20, Magic: Arena announced the upcoming release of Historic Anthology 6 and the first Explorer Anthology. The Anthology series are Wizard’s solution to bringing non-Standard cards to the eternal formats on Arena. Inside each series are cards that are typically staples in other formats, whether that be Modern or Commander. The anthologies serve as the best vessel to usher in these cards without breaking Standard. Historic Anthology 6 is the latest set to shake up an already volatile Historic format.
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It has been quite some time since the previous Historic Anthology set. Historic Anthology 5 was released last year late July, and it drastically changed the landscape of the format. The addition of cards like Dragonstorm, Stifle and Vault Skirge created brand new lists that warped the best-of-one ladder. Other cards, like Silumgar’s Command and Whirler Rogue on the other hand, left almost no impact at all. In fact, sometimes people forget they even exist in Historic.
The entrance of Historic Anthology 6 should be another set that has a few powerful cards, surrounded by a handful of cool yet less meaningful additions. The small preview offered by Wizards gave a glimpse of what is to come. Two very powerful Brawl cards flank one of the most iconic creatures in Magic. With Tarmogofy entering the format, players familiar with the powerful two drop will most certainly do everything they can to play this card.
Alongside Historic is the Explorer format – Arena’s version of the increasingly popular Pioneer format. Explorer is essentially Pioneer-lite at the moment but Wizards has noted their intentions to eventually add cards to Arena so that Explorer will simply become Pioneer.
For it’s first step to evolving into Pioneer, Explorer finally receives it’s own Anthology set. The early preview shows that Wizards is looking to add several key cards for top Pioneer decks. Apologies to creature based strategies, UW Control is making a comeback soon.
Overall the Anthology sets are massive boosts to these formats, and players are always looking to try out new lists when new cards are added to the cardpool. With spoilers rolling out slowly but surely, Arena players will get an idea of what they might want to play.
Featured image courtesy of Wizards of the Coast
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