Bo1 Historic Metagame Tier List and Rankings

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 Best of One (Bo1) Historic Meta Tier List regularly reviews and ranks the top decks in the format, carefully curated by our expert Altheriax. We also follow up our choices based on a variety of factors and sources, with comprehensive analysis from the data available.

Meta Overview and Changes

The new Meta report detailing all of the recent changes since the rebalance and the release of Duskmourn will be out soon!

Historic Best of One (Bo1) Meta Tier List

Tier	Deck Name
Tier 1	4 Color Samwise Combo
Tier 1	Mardu Sacrifice
Tier 1	Gruul Woodlands Combo
Tier 1	Izzet Wizards
Tier 2	Izzet Belcher
Tier 2	Boros Auras
Tier 2	Persist Combo
Tier 3	Selesnya Devotion
Tier 3	Abzan Yawgmoth
Tier 3	Azorius Artifacts

Tier 1 Decks

4 Color Samwise Combo

This is a 4 color sacrifice combo deck that gets to leverage Ajani, Nacatl Pariah + Goblin Bombardment better than most decks which is arguably the best ‘fair’ synergy in Historic right now, and has access to an infinite combo so the deck attacks from a lot of different angles and has a variety of very strong starts.

The combo here involves Samwise Gamgee, A-Cauldron Familiar, and a free sacrifice outlet such as Goblin Bombardment or Bartolomé del Presidio. With Samwise Gamgee in play if you cast A-Cauldron Familiar it drains the opponent for 1 and creates a food token, you can then sacrifice A-Cauldron Familiar to your sacrifice outlet causing it to go to the graveyard, you can then bring it back from the graveyard with the food token draining the opponent for 1 and creating a food token again thanks to the Samwise Gamgee passive ability and you’re back to square one, so this combo provides infinite drain and sacrifice triggers.

Running this combo enables you to win on the spot as early as turn 3 and works well with a lot of cards you want to be running with Ajani, Nacatl Pariah & Goblin Bombardment anyway such as sacrifice fodder for Goblin Bombardment like Unlucky Witness and Goblin Trapfinder, and other sacrifice outlets to make use of the sacrifice fodder such as Birthing Ritual and Bartolomé del Presidio so there’s a lot of crossover synergy.

Speaking of which Birthing Ritual is one of the strongest cards in the deck which enables you to assemble the combo a lot more consistently since it can find all three pieces, and it can find Ajani, Nacatl Pariah more consistently to assemble your powerful Goblin Bombardment synergies.

Weaknesses: Opposing Goblin Bombardment can be tricky to play through since it’s great at keeping you off the combo since it can kill Samwise Gamgee at instant speed, and can prevent Ajani, Nacatl Pariah from flipping at instant speed as well so it’s an effective way to stop both sides of your deck. Also without access to sideboard cards the Izzet Wizards matchup can be tricky since they’re good at keeping you off the combo whilst applying pressure at the same time.

Additionally there are some other hate cards that are capable of shutting off big parts of your deck such as Hushbringer and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines which can be difficult to beat if the opponent gets them down early.

Mardu Sacrifice

This is a high synergy sacrifice deck that also gets to run a lot of the most generically powerful threats in the format such as Guide of Souls, Amped Raptor, and the Ajani, Nacatl Pariah + Goblin Bombardment package. Goblin Bombardment specifically is incredibly strong in this list enabling you to flip and trigger the damage mode on Ajani, Nacatl Pariah at will, enabling you to keep the opponent’s creatures off the board, and giving you great reach to close out games especially when alongside Marionette Apprentice.

Additionally you also have Claim the Firstborn as very efficient spot removal which is really helpful against decks like Boros Auras and Izzet Wizards. Outside of that the deck has a lot of cheap sacrifice fodder like Unlucky Witness and Goblin Trapfinder alongside other sacrifice outlets such as Village Rites and Chthonian Nightmare which means the deck is able to grind well into longer games but also has very fast starts thanks to the more generically strong threats such as Guide of Souls and Amped Raptor.

Weaknesses: Even though you do have access to fast starts that can race, you’re typically a bit slower than most other decks at closing the game out which can leave you vulnerable to decks that go bigger than you such as Shifting Woodland and Persist combos, as well as combo decks like 4 Color Samwise if you don’t find Goblin Bombardment early on. Additionally you get hit by the same hate as the 4 Color Samwise deck such as Hushbringer and Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines which can cause you problems if you can’t find an answer quickly.

Gruul Woodlands Combo

This is a graveyard-based combo deck built around Shifting Woodland that is aiming to fill the graveyard quickly to get delirium online and find its namesake card in order to copy a game winning permanent like Omniscience or God-Pharaoh's Gift as early as turn 3.

You have a variety of win conditions which makes you more resilient to single-use graveyard hate, and the rest of the deck is largely setup cards that enable your combo, and also ensure you can win once you have Omniscience in play like Faithless Looting and Malevolent Rumble (which also enables the turn 3 win thanks to the spawn token). Even your interaction like Cathartic Pyre and Vampires' Vengeance can also help your proactive gameplan thanks to the looting effects they provide.

The last cards in the deck are Satyr Wayfinder which can block against aggressive decks, fills the graveyard and digs towards Shifting Woodland, and Traverse the Ulvenwald which fixes your mana early on, and can then be used to tutor Shifting Woodland once you’ve got delirium online, and tutor cards like Atraxa, Grand Unifierto help you continue comboing under Omniscience.

Weaknesses: Being very reliant on the graveyard does leave you weak to any graveyard hate – thankfully that’s not very common in best of 1 but Devotion can tutor for Tormod's Crypt and some lists are choosing to hedge against sacrifice with maindeck Stone of Erech which happens to hit you as well.

Additionally even you’re completely reliant on Shifting Woodland to win which means that it can be difficult to race if all of your copies are deep in your deck, and even though you do have some interaction, it’s all damage-based meaning you’ll struggle to answer bigger creatures.

Izzet Wizards

This is one of the fastest aggressive deck in the format that leverages cheap creatures, pump spells, and burn spells to force through a ton of damage often out of nowhere. This deck really punishes slower decks or decks that don’t have early removal, and it also has a decent ability to grind due to Dreadhorde Arcanist and card advantage spells like Expressive Iteration and Flame of Anor (especially since A-Symmetry Sageand Reckless Charge can boost the power of Dreadhorde Arcanist which allows it to recast more expensive spells like Expressive Iteration and Flame of Anor).

Burn spells also give you good reach which enables you to finish off the opponent from a low life total, even if they manage to take out all of your creatures. Reckless Charge and Slickshot Show-Off gives the deck a huge amount of speed since you can force a lot of damage through even if you started the turn with no creatures in play which makes it very risky for the opponent to ever tap out against you.

Weaknesses: The deck is very weak to decks packing a lot of interaction since the deck grinds to a halt if the opponent is able to answer all of your creatures. This is especially problematic in best of 1 since it’s very easy for cards like Reckless Charge to get blown out by an instant-speed removal spell. Additionally you can struggle to race against non-creature combo decks like Shifting Woodland, Persist, and Belcher combo if you don’t draw Spell Pierce which typically isn’t run in very high numbers.

Tier 2 Decks

Izzet Belcher

This is a combo deck that is looking to find and activate Goblin Charbelcher which will almost always kill the opponent on the spot (unless the opponent has an insanely high life total) since the deck runs no actual lands.

In order to make mana, this deck uses the modal double faced lands from Zendikar and Modern Horizons 3 (which don’t count as lands in the deck so they still work with Goblin Charbelcher), and mana accelerants like Strike It Rich, Magma Opus, and Irencrag Feat (which provides exactly enough mana to cast Goblin Charbelcher and activate it the same turn).

You also have Plunderer's Prize which can tutor for Goblin Charbelcher and March of Reckless Joy which can help dig for it, and you can run counterspells like Pact of Negation and An Offer You Can't Refuse to protect your combo. Additionally it gets to completely blank creature removal which is a big advantage in Best of 1.

Weaknesses: Having to run the modal double faced lands means all of your lands will either enter tapped, or deal you 3 damage to enter untapped which can lead to slow or painful starts, both of which can often get punished by fast aggressive decks especially on the draw. Additionally the deck is pretty vulnerable to both discard spells and counterspells, and cards like Pithing Needle and Karn, the Great Creator that prevent you from activating the Goblin Charbelcher.

Boros Auras

This is a deck built around suiting up your creatures with Auras and growing them very quickly to be able to race and close out the game whilst also dominating the battlefield and making it difficult for the opponent to attack past. Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice and Kor Spiritdancer are the two key threats in this list which turn all of your auras into card advantage whilst also growing incredibly quickly.

The deck runs a decent threat density alongside this to ensure you’re not really soft to early discard spells or spot removal with Esper Sentinel providing psuedo-protection against the opponent’s early removal and being a good creature to suit up with auras since its tax effect scales with its power, Giver of Runes which is great at protecting your big creature such as Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice and Kor Spiritdancer and can be used offensively to attack past blockers via protection, and Hushbringer which really improves your matchup against the sacrifice decks, and shuts off ETBs like Scholar of the Lost Trove.

Recent additions from Duskmourn in Shardmage's Rescue and Sheltered by Ghosts have been a huge boost to the power of the deck providing you with a maindeck protection aura which can also be used offensively, and a piece of very flexible maindeck interaction that also provides two very valuable keywords in lifelink and ward 2.

Another reasonably recent addition in Demonic Ruckus provides trample which is very useful to attack past chump blockers and also ensures you have a strong turn 1 play if you don’t draw Esper Sentinel or Giver of Runes, and increases your range of powerful openings since turn 1 plot into turn 2 Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice or Kor Spiritdancer is a very strong start especially because you can tutor Sheltered by Ghosts with Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice.Speaking of which the deck also runs a number of 1 ofs which we can tutor for with Light-Paws, Emperor's Voice in specific situations and are reasonable to draw as well.

Weaknesses: Since your whole gameplan revolves around loading a bunch of auras on a creature you’re vulnerable to both instant speed removal and early discard spells since if the opponent can keep all of your creatures off the board you’re just left with a bunch of unplayable auras – this list is reasonably threat dense and always having access to Lurrus of the Dream-Den can helps in a lot in situations like that but it can often slow you down enough where the opponent can race you.

Additionally being in Boros you don’t have great counterplay to board sweepers – Loran's Escape gives you some counterplay to destruction based sweepers and Fragment Reality can help against Temporary Lockdown, but Divine Purge specifically is very tricky to deal with.

Persist Combo

This is another graveyard-based combo deck that is looking to pitch Scholar of the Lost Trove and another big game winning sorcery into the graveyard such as Emergent Ultimatum, Breach the Multiverse, or Expropriate, then use Persist to reanimate Scholar of the Lost Trove which can then cast the big sorcery enabling you to win as early as turn 2!

The rest of the list is largely comprised of setup cards such as Faithless Looting, Otherworldly Gaze, Taigam's Scheming, and Thrilling Discovery, as well as Spark Double and Conspiracy Unraveler that help convert Breach the Multiverse into a win more consistenly, and Mizzix's Mastery to give you a backup way to win.

Weaknesses: This list is pretty reliant on Scholar of the Lost Trove to be able to win quickly which can be an issue if all copies are deep into the library, and you’re also weak to graveyard hate, and ETB hate such as Hushbringer and Strict Proctor.

Tier 3 Decks

Selesnya Devotion

This is a ramp deck that is largely built around Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx and is looking to generate absurd amounts of mana as fast as possible, and then pull cards from the sideboard off Karn, the Great Creator. This is one of the most generically powerful decks in the format that is capable of very fast starts off the back of Utopia Sprawl and manadorks like Delighted Halfling, and Storm the Festival allows for some crazy combo-esque turns where you can produce huge amounts of mana by untapping Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx with Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner.

You also have big creatures that can act as a roadblock against aggro decks like Cavalier of Thorns and Polukranos Reborn which are great at stabilizing and also draw you a card off the Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and Outcaster Trailblazer passive.

Recent additions over the past few months have really boosted the power and consistency of the deck such as Fanatic of Rhonas which enables some incredibly explosive turn 3 lines whilst also being resilient to interaction thanks to eternalize, and Outcaster Trailblazer which can be used as a ramp spell via the plot ability, produces a ton of card advantage especially if you have it in multiples or alongside Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner, and is also a good hit off Storm the Festival often providing you with the extra mana required to keep ‘comboing’.

This version is splashing white (which is relatively free thanks to Temple Garden, Utopia Sprawl, Delighted Halfling and Birds of Paradise) which gives you access to Elesh Norn, Mother of Machines (which shuts off combos that can often race you like Samwise Gamgee and Primal Prayers as well as shutting off a lot of cards in the mirror and generically strong cards like Amped Raptor and Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, and also doubles up all of your Outcaster Trailblazer, Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner, Cavalier of Thorns, and Portal to Phyrexia triggers) and Portable Hole (which gives you cheap interaction you can fetch with Karn, the Great Creator which is useful in a lot of matchups but especially important against Auras).

Weaknesses: Since the deck is very slow to interact and best of 1 is full of a lot more decks that are just trying to race for turn 2-4 wins as fast as possible, devotion is definitely worse in best of 1 than it is in best of 3 since there are more decks like Persist combo, as well as more prominence of fast aggro decks like Izzet Wizards that can often race you.

Additionally creatures that stop ETBs such as Hushbringer and Doorkeeper Thrull can be effective against you since they shut off the triggers on Outcaster Trailblazer, Cavalier of Thorns, and Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner which can limit your explosiveness.

Abzan Yawgmoth

This is a sacrifice-based combo deck that is largely built around Yawgmoth, Thran Physician which can draw infinite cards when combined with Prosperous Innkeeper, and either 2 Young Wolf or a Young Wolf and a Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons, and can deal infinite damage if you replace Prosperous Innkeeper with a damage effect like Marionette Apprentice.

Even though the deck has access to an infinite damage combo, you can very consistently win without it due to the sheer amount of card advantage that Yawgmoth, Thran Physician produces either by building a wide board and then casting Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, or with combinations such as Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons which is able to kill all of your opponent’s creatures will drawing a ton of cards.

It can find its key combo pieces incredibly consistently thanks to cards like Chord of Calling and Birthing Ritual, and Chord of Calling also give you access to silver bullet tutor targets such as A-Haywire Mite and Hapatra, Vizier of Poisons. This list is also splashing white to lean harder into the go-wide convoke angle running one of the best go-wide enablers in Rope Line Attendant alongside Knight-Errant of Eos which gives the deck a secondary angle of attack and helps you find Yawgmoth, Thran Physician more consistently. The convoke enablers also provide you with more bodies to sacrifice to Yawgmoth, Thran Physician.

Weaknesses: Being a creature based high synergy deck means that there’s very little room in the maindeck for interaction so the matchup against very fast linear aggressive decks that demand early interaction such as Izzet Wizards and Boros Auras is difficult.

Azorius Artifacts

This is an artifact synergy deck that is looking to get a bunch of cheap artifacts into play which quickly reduces the cost of Thought Monitor and Kappa Cannoneer which is your biggest finisher. You also have Retrofitter Foundry + Ornithopter that allows you to create a 4/4 on turn 1, and Emperium Thopterist that can produce Ornithopter every turn to either feed into Retrofitter Foundry, or attack as a flyer thanks to the bugg from Emperium Thopterist.

You also get some decent interactive tools that synergize well with your primary gameplan such as Portable Hole and Metallic Rebuke, and can afford to run maindeck graveyard hate in Tormod's Crypt which really helps against Shifting Woodland and Persist combo whilst also increasing the speed with which you can cast Thought Monitor and Kappa Cannoneer. Then to round the deck out you have Esper Sentinel as a generically powerful 1 drop, and Ingenious Smith which can dig towards your artifacts, including lands thanks to Darksteel Citadel.

Weaknesses: Your deck is inherently fair compared to the rest of the format meaning you’re often reliant on your early interaction lining up well in order to race decks like 4 Color Samwise, Izzet Wizards or Shifting Woodland combo for example, plus you can end up with some awkward hands where you draw multiple non-artifacts like Metallic Rebuke and Fragment Reality alongside Thought Monitor and Kappa Cannoneer which will often get stuck in your hand.