Last Friday I discussed the big news to hit the Historic format on MTG Arena, the banning of Brainstorm. The exit of Brainstorm from the Historic format is a big deal for the many Blue decks in the format, hurting their consistency, their cantrip density for things like Arclight Phoenix, as well as ability to return combo pieces back into the deck that don't want to be drawn.

However, there's also another consequence that's a bit more format contextual.

With Brainstorm no longer in half the decks in the format to help hide your best cards on top of your library, Thoughtseize once again ascends to the likely title of "best card in Historic." The question then of course is, what's the best Thoughtseize deck?

Time Stamps:

00:04:58 - Match 1

00:18:24 - Match 2

00:29:33 - Match 3

00:54:43 - Match 4

01:03:42 - Match 5

Reggie Stompy | Historic | Jim Davis

• Creatures (29)
• 1 Old-Growth Troll
• 2 Werewolf Pack Leader
• 3 Scavenging Ooze
• 3 Scrapheap Scrounger
• 4 Kazandu Mammoth
• 4 Llanowar Elves
• 4 Pelt Collector
• 4 Rotting Regisaur
• 4 Steel Leaf Champion

• Instants (4)
• 4 Collected Company

• Sorceries (4)
• 4 Thoughtseize

• Artifacts (2)
• 2 The Great Henge

• Lands (21)
• 9 Forest
• 4 Blooming Marsh
• 4 Overgrown Tomb
• 4 Woodland Cemetery

• Sideboard (15)
• 2 Brain Maggot
• 2 Eliminate
• 1 Scavenging Ooze
• 2 Power Word Kill
• 1 Heart of Kiran
• 2 Reclamation Sage
• 2 Shifting Ceratops
• 1 Vivien, Arkbow Ranger
• 2 Callous Bloodmage

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There's something to be said for simply going fast and hard, especially when you're playing Thoughtseize. You can't ever Thoughtseize the top of your opponent's deck, so Thoughtseize is usually best used as a temporary disruptive measure while you close the game out.

Well not much closes the game out faster than Rotting Regisaur! Werewolf Pack Leader joins an impressive array of beatdown creatures in Steel Leaf Champion and friends, while the deck also sports two of the best 1-drops in the format in Llanowar Elves and Pelt Collector. Throw in some Scrapheap Scroungers to give you play against removal and Scavenging Ooze to give you play around graveyards and you've got a well-rounded attack force.

And of course, Collected Company is yet another one of the best cards in the format, often able to put 10+ power into play at instant speed. Oh, and did I mention that Rotting Regisaur essentially allows you to cast The Great Henge for free (because you get your two mana back immediately)?

This set of games was quite the wild one, but if you're looking to smash face in a format that is still finding its footing after the Brainstorm ban, this is a great way to do it!