The Impact of Historic Anthology 5

Historic has been changing faster than ever, with the most recent shakeup being the Strixhaven Mystical Archive cards. Just when people were starting to debate whether Tainted Pact should receive a ban, Historic Anthology 5 was announced, showcasing 25 brand new cards catered specifically towards Historic. While the decision to buy the next Historic Anthology will be entirely based on if you can afford it or not, this article will discuss the possible benefits and nuisances the next Historic Anthology will add into the format.

The Dragons of Tarkir Commands

In terms of power, flavor, and playability, this cycle is a Modern and Pioneer player's dream addition into the format.

Kolaghan's Command was an all-star in Modern and was an auto-include in almost every version of Death's Shadow when the deck first rose the ranks. Every mode besides “Destroy Target Artifact” is fantastic in Historic, and I for one cannot wait to draw-step force people to discard while picking up my own Death's Shadow from the graveyard.

Dromoka's Command and Atarka's Command are going to be instant all-stars in both GW Company and GR Monsters respectively. When Dromoka's Command was first printed it saw incredible amounts of play in Standard as just an incredibly powerful removal spell against other creature decks. However, with the high amount of Sagas now available in the format, this card provides both cheap removal against enchantments while also offering a way to protect against sweepers such as Deafening Clarion, while STILL being an amazing form of removal in creature-based matchups.

Atarka's Command does very similar things in GR Monsters, offering to be a Skullcrack against those still playing lifegain decks such as GW Angel Company, or those playing Timely Reinforcements. However, with how wide the GR Monsters deck can go, giving your entire team +1/+1 AND dealing 3 damage directly to your opponent can be a backbreaking amount of damage for only 2 mana.

Silumgar's Command is a cube all-star with the only thing holding it back is it's high mana cost. The premier control deck in Historic is currently Jeskai as it can both interact with graveyard strategies and aggressive strategies with cards like Rest in Peace and Wrath of God. While Silumgar's Command does not offer UB or Grixis Control decks any similar forms of interaction, it offers one of the best 2 for 1's at 5 mana. Unfortunately, the format is moving in a way that you need to have answers for most decks before you get to 5 mana, and with answers like Elite Spellbinder and Reidane, God of the Worthy, Silumgar's Command may just be too expensive to cast in Historic.

Ojutai's Command is in a very similar boat to Silumgar's Command as it's a control spell that is just too expensive to cast that does just too little in a format as fast as Historic. However, I expect Ojutai's Command to have more tinkering with it then Silumgar's Command due to its ability to bring back almost any creature in Rogues, a deck that is just waiting to break out in the format. Rogues may not be in White right now, but Ojutai's Command may be worth the splash, or at least testing it.

Stifle

I was originally confused with the addition of Stifle into the format. In legacy this card is used as another form of Wasteland by counter opponents fetchlands. Historic only has Fabled Passage, so what is this doing on the Anthology? I think the answer to that goes back to some of the earlier Historic Anthology inclusions such as Virulent Plague and Ratchet Bomb. Both were included in earlier Anthologies as a way to introduce cards specifically targeting Field of the Dead so that Wizards could avoid banning Field of the Dead. The experiment ultimately failed and Field of the Dead continued to run rampant until its eventual ban. I have a feeling Wizards is trying something similar here with Stifle by introducing it into the format to help stop Tainted Pact/Thassa's Oracle decks. Unfortunately, many blue decks have access to an ability similar to Stifle in cards like Disallow, and I do not expect Stifle to have the impact that Wizards may expect it to have. However, fringe decks like Mono-Blue Tempo may pick this up as a unique tool in their sideboard regardless of what happens to Tainted Pact decks.

The Rest of the Sideboard Cards

Ancient Grudge, Ray of Revelation, and Relic of Progenitus are all amazing and efficient sideboard cards that are self-explanatory as to when and why you should play them. Ancient Grudge and Relic are both more played than Ray of Revelation, but with the increase of the B/W Aura's deck, I expect Ray to get its time in sun… no pun intended.

The Artifact Package

Court Homunculus, Whirler Rogue, Ichor Wellspring, Vault Skirge, Reverse Engineer, and Trash for Treasure are all inclusions to give artifact decks some extra fighting power. The Strixhaven Mystical Archives were incredibly light on power for artifact decks, and it seems like Wizards wants them to be a competitive force in the format. Consequently, most of these cards appear to be all-star's all in different decks. Court Homunculus, Whirler Rogue, and Vault Skirge want to be part of an aggressive strategy, whereas Reverse Engineer and Ichor Wellspring want to be used in a combo deck. Trash for Treasure wants to be best used to reanimate a large artifact, in which none are present in Historic. While these cards are all individually powerful, I don't expect them to find a home quite yet, but one day these will all see play.

The Throw-Ins

Dragonstorm, Grisly Salvage, Intangible Virtue, Into the North, Merfolk Looter are all very powerful cards, but either don't have a home yet or are missing some other key cards to work around. Looking at them individually, their inclusion seems more for flavor and deck tinkering than anything else. Dragonstorm, for example, is a powerful finisher in storm decks, but is it really better than many of the same storm cards we have now? Grisly Salvage and Merfolk Looter are great for reanimator decks as they both offer incredible assistance in card selection and filling up a graveyard. These cards may find a home next to decks already running Faithless Looting and Unburial Rites. Into the North probably should have been included in the previous Historic Anthology along with Marit Lage's Slumber. Although it is powerful, its inclusion is probably too late to make any type of snow deck work in the format despite, its ability to grab Faceless Haven from your deck. Intangible Virtue is the most powerful card in this list, offering up an incredibly important piece to the would-be token deck. The only thing holding a token deck back from being a real competitor in the format is spells like Lingering Souls, which would really help take it to the next level.

The Praetors

I was tempted to put all five of these cards into the previous section because I honestly just don't think any of these are powerful enough to see huge play in competitive Historic. In terms of reanimation targets, Scholar of the Lost Troves offers up instant-wins after entering the battlefield, something which is only true against certain decks with the most powerful Praetor, Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite. Torrential Gearhulk offers up more synergy in current blue decks and is arguably more powerful than Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur when a Magma Opus is in the graveyard. Embercleave and Torbran, Thane of Red Fell are both more powerful and cheaper than Urabrask, but I don't think that will stop Urabrask from showing up in patenting GR Monster sideboards. The ability to prevent a main phase Collected Company from dumping 6-mana worth of haste creatures is powerful, and I do expect this to be at least tested in many aggressive strategies as a sideboard plan in the mirror. Finally, both Vorinclex, Voice of Hunger and Sheoldred, Whispering One offer lackluster ramp-targets when compared to the rest of Historic. As neither provide value when hitting the battlefield immediately, the chances that either of these get hit by Cast Out or Heartless Act without providing any value at all is incredibly high. In terms of mana-doublers, Nissa, Who Shakes the World already offers a cheaper way of doing so, making the original Vorinclex all but obsolete. In terms of continued reanimation, while there is nothing that can be compared to Sheoldred, it's an ability that is more suited to cube than a constructive format since there are already ways to win the game after reanimating just one creature.

Conclusion

In terms of value, if you want even one play-set of a rares or mythics in the Historic Anthology, it's economical to pick up the entire set for gems or coins. While there aren't a whole lot of competitive staples in this set, potential answers such as Stifle, as well as the Tarkir Commands offer up enough incentive for me to buy the Anthology day 1. I myself cannot wait for these to drop May 27, and I hope to hear from everyone for their most anticipated card from the newest Anthology. ‘Till next time!