Introduction
Discover the best Magic: The Gathering Arena Historic decks and archetypes that the players are using to climb the ranked ladder and win tournaments. Our MTG Arena (BO1) Historic metagame regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in a tier list, as we also follow up with our comprehensive analysis and review from data available.
- Click here to view the separate analysis and tier list for Traditional Historic (BO3).
- On the tier list table, click on the deck archetype name to find the latest decklists representing it from Mythic ladder, events, and tournaments. Each deck will be ranked in numerical order as well as tier order. The higher something is within the tier, the better it is than other decks.
- The tier list is updated weekly, every Wednesday along with a metagame snapshot article.
- You will also find the latest decklist in rank order, along with a brief description.
Tier List and Rankings
- Tier 1: The best of the best. The most consistent decks that sport the highest win rates and generally, the highest play rates.
- Tier 2: Very solid decks that are slightly lacking in some capacity, whether it’s consistency or power compared to the Tier One archetypes. These can still be strong choices for ladder or for tournaments if you are highly skilled with the archetype or play them during the right metas.
- Tier 3: Either these decks are poorly positioned or have a lot of power/consistency issues. These are decks that see play, but are generally worse choices than your other options.
- Tier 4: Off-meta or decks that are not in the rankings, but we have coverage on.
Rank | Archetype | Tier | Guide | Premium | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | ![]() | Lifegain Combo | 1 | Guide | |
2 | ![]() | Mono Red Aggro | 1 | ||
3 | ![]() | Dragonstorm | 1 | Guide | |
4 | ![]() | Auras | 1 | Guide | |
5 | ![]() | Izzet Wizards | 1 | Guide | |
6 | ![]() | Selesnya Enchantress | 1 | Guide | |
7 | ![]() | Reanimator | 1 | ||
8 | ![]() | Elves | 2 | Guide | |
9 | ![]() | Artifacts | 2 | Guide | |
10 | ![]() | Mardu Greasefang | 2 | Guide | |
11 | ![]() | Azorius Lotus Field | 2 | ||
12 | ![]() | Jeskai Creativity | 2 | Guide | |
13 | ![]() | Rakdos Goblins | 2 | Guide | |
14 | ![]() | Mardu Sacrifice | 2 | Guide | |
15 | ![]() | Burn | 2 | ||
16 | ![]() | Merfolk | 2 | Guide | |
17 | ![]() | Izzet Phoenix | 2 | Guide | |
18 | ![]() | Golgari Food | 2 | Guide | |
19 | ![]() | Rakdos Arcanist | 2 | Guide | |
20 | ![]() | Colorless Ramp | 2 | ||
21 | ![]() | Neostorm | 3 | Guide | |
22 | ![]() | Rakdos Sacrifice | 3 | Guide | |
23 | ![]() | Rogues | 3 | ||
24 | ![]() | Five-Color Niv-Mizzet | 3 | Guide | |
25 | ![]() | Angels | 3 | Guide |
Metagame Snapshot
Our weekly metagame snapshot provide analysis on the standout decks, whether they stand out for their strength, weaknesses, or they have a large change in positioning.
Tier 1
Selesnya Lifegain Combo



Creatures (32)
Instants (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$368.06
Between aggressive starts and a combo kill, Selesnya Company has an awesome blend of grindy and aggressive elements to tackle the metagame.
Mono Red Aggro



Creatures (32)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$99.88
Looking to play cheap and efficient threats, Mono Red can overwhelm the opponent before they have any chance to stabilize.
Dragonstorm



Instants (12)
Sorceries (21)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (19)
60 Cards
$377.58
One of the coolest combo decks in Historic, similar to Neostorm, this deck can also kill consistently on turn 4 with putting a Dragonstorm in the graveyard and getting it back with Mizzix's Mastery.
Auras



Companion
Creatures (16)
Enchantments (23)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$174.86
Sideboard
1 Cards
$4.99
Azorius Auras has an unbelievable ability to kill quickly but also grind extremely well with the Aura creatures and draw enchantments.
Selesnya Enchantress



Enchantments (19)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$265.34
With plenty of support from Jumpstart, Enchantress has a lot of grindy elements with a lot of ways to churn through your deck and a game ending combo.
Esper Reanimator



Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (16)
Instants (4)
Sorceries (14)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$513.4
Looking to cheat in an expensive permanent, Esper Reanimator has many different threats to absolutely crush their particularly matchup.
Tier 2
Elves



Creatures (32)
Instants (4)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$529.42
Using a large swath of mana producers and insanely broken starts, Elves is by far the fastest deck in Historic being able to kill as soon as turn 3.
Azorius Affinity



Planeswalkers (2)
Creatures (14)
Instants (4)
Artifacts (22)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$442.24
With good artifacts backed up by insanely powerful synergy pieces, Azorius Affinity has an ability to be both explosive and grindy depending on their draw.
Mardu Greasefang



Creatures (16)
Sorceries (14)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$401.9
This combo deck looks to put a Parhelion II in the graveyard and cheat it in for free with Grasefang, Okiba Boss.
Azorius Lotus Field



Instants (15)
Enchantments (4)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$590.35
With a classic Control shell combined with the speed of cheating in a Lotus Field, this is a new take on Control that looks to overwhelm the opponent in value from an earlier point.
Jeskai Creativity



Creatures (3)
Instants (17)
Sorceries (16)
Lands (24)
60 Cards
$523.68
Creativity has the classic elements of a Control deck with a strong prison combo by getting out multiple Serra's Emissary to lock out the opponent from winning.
Rakdos Goblins



Creatures (36)
Sorceries (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$219.04
Goblins is all about working towards Muxus and destroying the opponent with a huge swing. It has a strong ability to grind as one Muxus can easily turn the game around.
Gruul Transmogrify



Planeswalkers (3)
Creatures (4)
Instants (4)
Enchantments (12)
Lands (25)
60 Cards
$238.38
Gruul Transmogrify looks to ramp as quickly as possible and put a Serra's Emissary onto the board that will lock out a good majority of Historic decks from winning.
Boros Burn



Instants (16)
Lands (21)
60 Cards
$227.94
With an extremely punishing curve and efficient burn, Boros Burn will mostly play like an aggro deck, but can also be rather controlling in the creature matchups.
Merfolk



Creatures (34)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$339.86
With a boatload of synergistic creatures, Merfolk looks to build massive board states to decimate the opponent.
Izzet Phoenix



Creatures (16)
Sorceries (12)
Lands (20)
60 Cards
$459.14
Phoenix is a classic archetype that is filled to the brim with cheap spells and threats to tempo out the opponent.
Golgari Sacrifice



Sorceries (4)
Artifacts (4)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$736.54
Sideboard
1 Cards
$4.99
Nixing the normal Red from the Jund deck, Golgari leans way down and leverages Ravenous Squirrel, Trail of Crumbs, and Lurrus of the Dream-Den to grind through any opposition.
Rakdos Arcanist



Creatures (14)
Artifacts (2)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$676.96
Utilizing a litany of cheap spells and cheap creatures, Arcanist is designed to dismantle creature decks while still being great in attrition matchups.
Colorless Ramp



Planeswalkers (10)
Artifacts (22)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$470.38
Sideboard
7 Cards
$33.29
Using the full twelve 2 mana accelerants, Colorless Ramp looks to get on board quickly and ramp up to devastating bombs as fast as possible.
Tier 3
Neostorm



Creatures (26)
Lands (18)
60 Cards
$433.14
While a bit fragile, Neostorm can consistently kill on turn 4 making it an extremely potent weapon against non-interactive decks and still reasonable against reactive decks.
Rakdos Sacrifice



Companion
Sorceries (4)
Enchantments (2)
Lands (22)
60 Cards
$584.64
Sideboard
1 Cards
$4.99
Using both Cat/Oven and Oni-Cult Anvil, this deck looks to play a longer game while methodically draining the opponent to death.
Dimir Rogues



Companion
Creatures (16)
Instants (16)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$251.24
Sideboard
1 Cards
$4.99
With a good mill package, a lot of interaction, and strong synergy, Rogues is an absolute nightmare against slow decks while still being strong against faster decks.
Five-Color Niv-Mizzet



Companion
Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (10)
Sorceries (15)
Lands (26)
60 Cards
$649.35
Sideboard
1 Cards
$2.79
Utilizing the power of Niv-Mizzet Reborn and an overabundance of wildcards, 5 Color Niv plays an extremely grindy game plan looking to abuse Niv to draw a bunch of strong cards every cast!
Angels



Planeswalkers (1)
Creatures (28)
Enchantments (1)
Lands (23)
60 Cards
$497.54
The veritable creature crusher of Historic, Angels is excellent against all the decks looking to attack you but not the best against most Control decks.