[Official] What is Historic?

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ktkenshinx
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Post by ktkenshinx » 4 years ago

Historic is a nonrotating constructed format that is currently (as of 11/2019) unique to the MTG Arena software. Historic allows you to play Arena cards that were previously Standard-legal. Amonkhet and Kaladesh block cards are not currently (as of 11/2019) legal in Historic play. In addition to these cards, Wizards intends to add individual cards from previous Magic sets to the Historic card pool. To quote Wizards, this means any card: "No restrictions on set, types, or rarities, no-holds-barred new." Here are the sets/cards that are legal in Historic:

Historic-legal sets (updated 11/10/2019):
  • Ixalan
  • Rivals of Ixalan
  • Dominaria
  • Core Set 2019
  • Guilds of Ravnica
  • Ravnica Allegiance
  • War of the Spark
  • Core Set 2020
  • Throne of Eldraine
Unique Historic card additions (updated 11/10/2019)
  • None yet
Historic banlist (updated 11/10/2019)
  • None yet
Historic has had a few controversies since its creation. One of the biggest was Wizards' initial decision to require 2-for-1 wildcard redemption to create Historic cards. Another is the conflict between the Pioneer format (a nonrotating format in paper and MTGO from Return to Ravnica forward) and Historic, with the former being totally unavailable on Arena and the latter being totally unavailable in paper and MTGO. As of 11/2019, Historic is still a very young format that is still finding its identity, and both digital and paper players will need to pay attention to its growth. For more information on the Historic format, check out the articles and reading below:
Over-Extended/Modern Since 2010

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