Historic Anthology 4 is here, the fourth in a line of 25ish card supplemental sets for MTG Arena play. Historic is MTG Arena's non-rotating format, a place to play all of the cards on the platform that have rotated out of Standard - think of it as MTG Arena's Legacy or Modern.

Like the previous three anthologies, Historic Anthology 4 looks to add an interesting spread of Magic's history to the format to expand deck-building beyond just the last few years of Magic. Unfortunately, the set is a bit underwhelming as a whole, an odd collection of a few impactful cards sprinkled among draft commons and rejected cards from Amonkhet and Kaladesh Remastered.

But what's done is done and today I want to lay out some cards that I would love to see in a future Historic Anthology!

Before we start it is important to note what the baseline power level for these anthologies has been. There's certainly a mixture of fun meme and casual cards like Waste Not and Inexorable Tide, but the tournament cards have all been impactful but not completely format warping. Powerful enablers like Goblin Matron and Burning-Tree Emissary play key roles in tier 1 decks, while there are also some major payoffs and archetype staples like Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger.

The goal here seems to be to add power to certain decks without being all encompassing, so today we're going to look at five potential adds to the next anthology today, with a "bombshell" choice and a "playing it safe" choice for each.

With that being said, let's get started!

Bombshell - Lightning Bolt

One of the most asked for cards, Lightning Bolt is certainly one of the most iconic Magic cards of all time. An absolute staple in every format it is legal in, adding Lightning Bolt would be a huge change to the fabric of the Historic format. However, at present this doesn't really feel like a good idea.

So far, no one card from an Anthology has been an ever-present monster in Historic. There have been some major players in major archetypes, but Lightning Bolt is a format transcendent card. It is routinely the most played card in Modern, an extremely powerful format, and even sees consistent play in Legacy.

Furthermore, Red is currently one of the best colors in Historic. Jund and Rakdos Sacrifice, Gruul Aggro, Goblins, Rakdos Arcanist, Mono Red Aggro... the list goes on and on. Adding what would be undoubtedly one of the best cards in the format to perhaps the best color in the format isn't a very good idea. This could change, but now does not feel like the time.

So, what about an alternative?

Playing It Safe - Galvanic Blast

One of the cool things about the Historic Anthologies is how focused they are on giving different synergy decks new tools. Cards like Cryptbreaker, Thraben Inspector, and Knight of the Reliquary aren't for every deck, but are really powerful in the decks they are good in. That's great design.

As such, Galvanic Blast feels like an awesome burn spell to add to the format. Shock is already borderline playable, so giving a strict upgrade that still isn't on the power level of Lightning Bolt feels good, and helping to prop up various artifact strategies that didn't quite get there with Kaladesh Remastered is another great goal.

I like it!

Bombshell - Path To Exile

Take basically everything I said about Lightning Bolt and reiterate it slightly toned down for Path to Exile.

While I do think that Path to Exile is a much worse card than Lightning Bolt, and overrated in general in formats where mana curves go past three, it would still almost instantly become the best removal spell in the format. This would be a huge boon to control decks, but also to any deck playing White and looking for cheap removal. There's a good chance that Path to Exile would be one of the most played cards in the format and I'm not sure if that's what Wizards of the Coast has in mind for these anthologies.

It's much closer than Lightning Bolt and I think it wouldn't be unreasonable to add to the format, but let's look at a more reasonable option.

Playing it Safe - Oust

Unlike Galvanic Blast, Oust is a bit more versatile in that it doesn't need any specific cards around it for it to be good. However, it does have deck-building restrictions in that it's not going to be very good in aggressive decks. In more midrange or control decks however, it's a very fun and interesting removal option that is powerful but quite balanced.

Oust is underrated in Modern for its ability to be a great defensive White removal spell that can be cast on turn one (unlike Path to Exile), and would be an amazing addition to Historic.

Bombshell - Careful Study

Faithless Looting is of course banned in Modern, while Careful Study has been a major player during its times in Standard, Extended, and even Legacy. While technically card disadvantage, when a card pool gets large enough to support powerful graveyard themes there's no doubt that Careful Study/Faithless Looting can end up as one of the most powerful cards in the format.

So why Careful Study over Faithless Looting, even in the "Bombshell" category? Faithless Looting is Red, and as we said earlier Red is one of the best colors in the format. Furthermore, with cards like Dreadhorde Arcanist and Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger already, Faithless Looting would have immediate homes helping to power up the already best decks in the format.

Careful Study would help open up Blue as more of a graveyard color, helping to spread the love and hopefully spring new archetypes. While Careful Study does feel reasonably safe, there is an even more safe option that is still very appealing.

Playing It Safe - Thought Scour

There's no doubt that good cantrips need to be watched with a close eye. We see this in Legacy, as every Blue deck starts with 4 Brainstorm and 4 Ponder, as well as in Modern where Ponder and Preordain are banned. Historic currently has the mostly middling Opt, so adding Thought Scour would be a very interesting addition.

Thought Scour has a nice record of being a simple but effective graveyard enabler in Standard and Modern, while also just providing the benefits that a one mana instant that draws a card does. It could help push for cool graveyard stuff outside of Rakdos with a nice low opportunity cost. Blue is also probably the worst color in Historic right now and could use the boost.

Bombshell - Tarmogoyf

It's funny to think how far Tarmogoyf has fallen in the last few years, but for a long time Tarmogoyf was the creature in Magic. It dominated every single format it was legal in, seeing play in everything from aggro, to midrange, to control decks. What felt like opportunity cost ending up being just playing Magic, as the card required very little to be a two-mana 4/5.

While Historic doesn't have fetchlands, so Tarmogoyf will have to work a little harder than usual, it would still be a huge player in the format. Again, this would be an extremely exciting add, but one that would have wide and far reaching effect across many different decks that would likely alter the landscape of the format significantly.

Playing It Safe - Satyr Wayfinder

In a lot of ways, Satyr Wayfinder is the perfect Magic card. It offers a very simple effect at a very reasonable cost that does a lot of things well. It's a cheap, fodder value creature that you can sacrifice for effects. It mana fixes to an extent. But most importantly, it fills your graveyard very efficiently and without card disadvantage. And it does all of this while being a 1/1 for two mana.

Is Satyr Wayfinder directly comparable to Tarmogoyf? Aside from them both being Green 2-drops, not really, but they both care about the graveyard and have been powerful cards in their respective formats. The major difference is that Satyr Wayfinder seems to fit much more cleanly into the philosophy of Historic Anthologies; it's a good enabler piece that some decks will want and some decks aren't interested in.

Satyr Wayfinder would be an awesome addition to the format.

Bombshell - Lightning Rift

Historic Anthology 2, probably the best of the bunch, had the full cycle of Onslaught cycling lands (Barren Moor and friends), and with Amonkhet Remastered bringing a whole host of cycling cards and payoffs into the fray it would be awesome to dip into that well a little deeper. Cycling hasn't paid off in Historic just yet, but that's mostly because cards like Drake Haven are just a little too weak.

Enter Lightning Rift, one of the most powerful cycling enablers that defined entire formats in its time.

Lightning Rift is everything from board control to a win condition, turning every one-mana cycling card into a two-mana cantrip Shock, and would be an extremely powerful addition to the format. If you wanted to tone it down a little bit though there is another option.

Playing It Safe - Astral Drift

Astral Drift is an awesome card that has never really gotten a chance. An updated version of Astral Slide, once Lightning Rift's best friend back in the day, Astral Drift just isn't powerful enough to really make the cut in Modern. There are too many Modern decks that just don't care enough about creatures, which makes Astral Drift woefully ineffective in some matchups.

However, Historic could finally be the home that Astral Drift has always wanted. It's a super fun but also powerful build around card, and with all of Amonkhet Remastered, Ikoria, and the cycling lands available it could do some really cool stuff.

Give Astral Drift a fair shake!

There are certainly an absolute ton of great cards we'd love to see in future Anthologies, as frankly we all love Modern and older formats that aren't available on MTG Arena. One of the best things about the Anthologies is that we get to see cards under a new light and in a new context, one where they might be much more playable than they are in the formats they are presently in.

We've seen this with cards like Phyrexian Tower, Phyrexian Obliterator, Burning-Tree Emissary, and more, and it's great seeing classic cards find new life.

Just please... take it easy on the draft commons!