Bo3 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 Three (Bo3) 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

Here’s the Meta Report on MTGAzone Premium with all of the recent changes since the last round of rebalances, and the release of Tarkir: Dragonstorm as well as the Alchemy set, explaining tier placement for specific lists, plus any notable absences:

Best Historic Decks – Tarkir: Dragonstorm Meta Report – 21st May 2025

Historic Best of Three (Bo3) Meta Tier List

Tier	Deck Name
Tier 1	Jund Sorin
Tier 1	Mardu Auras
Tier 1	Lotus Field Combo
Tier 2	Abzan Sorin
Tier 2	4 Color Samwise
Tier 2	Esper Sorin
Tier 2	Jeskai Control
Tier 2	Temur Devotion
Tier 3	Mardu Sacrifice
Tier 3	Simic Eldrazi
Tier 3	Izzet Wizards

Tier 1 Decks

Jund Sorin

This is a combo midrange deck that runs two of the most potent 2 card combos in the format and still has room for good quality interaction, and great quality tools to help assemble your combos. The first combo is Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Saint Elenda which is a two card combo you can pull off on turn 3 with no setup required, and is great at almost every stage of the game even when you’re behind thanks to the flexibility of the spellbook, the lifegain, and the ability for Saint Elenda to often solo the game afterwards.

Secondly we also have Emperor of Bones + Ulamog, the Defiler where you can create a haste token copy of Ulamog, the Defiler that enters with 10 +1/+1 counters on it (since the Ulamog, the Defiler is already in exile once the token is created) with the adapt ability once Ulamog, the Defiler is in your graveyard, which almost always wins you the game thanks to annihilator 10.

Additionally we can always use Emperor of Bones to make a copy of Saint Elenda too, and it can be used to copy creatures from the opponent’s graveyard as well which makes it great across the board. In order to assemble these combos more consistently we have both Assemble the Teamand Malevolent Rumble which are great at finding missing combo pieces going into turn 3, and you also have Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion as a backup option to re-cast your interaction, and then re-cast your 2 drop the following turn to have another look.

Speaking of which Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion is the other main ‘engine’ card in the deck allowing you to rebuy Thoughtseize, Fatal Push, and Faithless Looting the turn it comes down (as well as extra sideboard cards like Break Expectations post-sideboard) and then snowballs card advantage after that, so the deck is decent at interacting early on which is huge in a number of matchups right now.

As a midrange deck you also get to pivot really well into post-board games with Break Expectations giving you more discard effects against combo and control, Surgical Extraction providing graveyard hate for the mirror and other graveyard combo decks like Shifting Woodland, Reanimator, and Kethis, A-Haywire Mitefor artifacts and enchantments against Goblin Bombardment and Affinity decks (as well as answering opposing graveyard hate and Pithing Needle style effects), Stone of Erech for sacrifice decks, Pithing Needle for activated abilities like Goblin Bombardment, Yawgmoth, Thran Physician, Shifting Woodland etc, and Toxic Deluge and Culling Ritual as board sweepers.

Mardu 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, as well as Thoughtseize and Juggernaut Peddler which can both be used to pre-emptively answer cheap removal to protect your 2 drops, but are also great at slowing down the opponent which massively improves your matchup against both combo and control compared to the older Boros variants at very little cost outside of a more painful manabase.

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.

Additionally 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.

Post-sideboard you gain access to Hushbringer which is really good against a number of top decks such as 4 Color Samwise, Mardu Sacrifice, Green Devotion etc., Fatal Push for the mirror and other creature-centric decks, and Containment Priest, Pithing Needle, and Tormod's Cryptwhich gives you more tools to fight against combo,.

Lotus Field Combo

As the name suggests, this is a combo deck largely built around Lotus Field with the goal being to assemble Lotus Field + Deserted Temple or 2 Lotus Field, and then storming off via cards like Hidden Strings and Pore Over the Pages that enable you to untap both lands to produce extra mana, and continue drawing through your deck.

Underworld Breach is another key card that enables you to turn the combo from non-deterministic to usually a guaranteed win since you can recycle your best combo enablers to ensure you don’t run out of gas and then you can win via casting Wish, and then usually winning with Tendrils of Agony.

Artist's Talentis another really key card that is great on combo turns to ensure you don’t run out of gas thanks to the repeated looting effect (plus this is great at filling the graveyard for Underworld Breach), and moving up to level 2 with spare mana if you’re not quite able to combo that turn makes going off on future turns a lot easier.

Since the entire deck is basically built around Lotus Field we have a few ways to find it more consistently such as Expedition Map (which you can cast on turn 1, activate on turn 2, and then play your Lotus Field on turn 3), as well as cantrips like Consider and Sleight of Hand which are great at finding Lotus Field and other pieces early on, and then is also useful to continue comboing once you have it set up.

Additionally we have Consign to Memory and Stifle which can be used against the opponent, but is largely here as a way to ‘scam’ Lotus Field into play without sacrificing lands since you can counter the sacrifice trigger before it resolves (it’s important to note that you have to go into full control mode to do this or the trigger will resolve automatically). This is particularly huge since it enables you to play Lotus Field on turn 2 without sacrificing lands leaving you with 5 mana going into turn 3 which is often enough to win if you already have Deserted Temple.

Tier 2 Decks

Abzan Sorin

This is another Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Saint Elenda variant however this version is also leveraging the Overlord of the Balemurk + Dedicated Dollmaker synergy which gives the deck a solid plan B which is also great at assembling the Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord combo itself since Overlord of the Balemurk can find both of your combo pieces going into your key turn 3, not to mention that turn 1 Oath of Nissa into turn 2 Dedicated Dollmaker also gives you two looks to find your other pieces too.

Since you have a lot of ways to dig for permanents off the top of your library in this variant it’s also running a couple of copies of Vein Ripper as another high impact card to cheat into play with Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord (which is especially good against 4 Color Samwise, Mardu Sacrifice, and Yawgmoth) so you’re more likely to assemble the turn 3 combo.

Outside of that you have Emperor of Bones as another win condition that’s great to find off Malevolent Rumble since it can allow you to cast and activate it on turn 3 assuming the eldrazi token survives and you have a target in the graveyard, Juggernaut Peddler which provides you with hand interaction which can be found off all of your ‘digging’ cards, and other efficient interaction in the form of Fatal Push, Thoughtseize, and Toxic Deluge.

This version also gets some extra white options in the sideboard like Fragment Reality, but I generally think the Jund build is stronger as its secondary gameplan is more game winning, plus they have the potential to pivot to a very interactive heavy build post-sideboard which is great in a number of matchups, whereas this version would struggle to do that since you need to keep your creature count high even post-sideboard for Overlord of the Balemurk to hit consistently.

4 Color Samwise

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 Familiarit drains the opponent for 1 and creates a food token, you can then sacrifice A-Cauldron Familiarto 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 Presidioso 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.

Additionally Birthing Ritual and Goblin Trapfinder are both great at finding your creature sideboard cards more consistently which is a big deal post-sideboard such as A-Haywire Miteagainst other Goblin Bombardment decks, Remorseful Cleric against Shifting Woodland decks, and Juggernaut Peddler against control and combo.

Esper Sorin

This is the final Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Saint Elenda variant to make the list, and this one also runs the Overlord of the Balemurk + Dedicated Dollmaker package as well as a smaller Emperor of Bones + Ulamog, the Defiler package and moves into blue for very powerful creatures in the form of Psychic Frog and Diviner of Fates that both work very well together too.

The overall card quality in this version is excellent and there’s a lot of great overlapping synergy between your engines too with Psycic Frog and Diviner of Fates working well with each other as well as Emperor of Bones and Overlord of the Balemurk, as well as helping to dig towards Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord + Saint Elenda.

Additionally Dedicated Dollmaker works well with Juggernaut Peddler, Diviner of Fates, and Saint Elenda in addition to Overlord of the Balemurk, plus Troll of Khazad-dûm works well with both Diviner of Fates and Emperor of Bones whilst helping to ensure you’re able to find lands off Overlord of the Balemurk if needed in addition to Witch Enchanter.

Overall this build has a lot of strengths of both the Jund and Abzan variants however it’s very creature-centric meaning it doesn’t have as much efficient interaction especially in the maindeck which can be an issue against a number of top decks right now leaving you forced to race.

Jeskai Control

This is a control deck that has a lot of cheap early interaction to slow the opponent down, and then has a lot of powerful top end threats that enable it to win the long game.

This particular variant also utilizes Stifle effects such as Strict Proctor, Consign to Memory and Stifle itself in order to cheat Lotus Field into play without sacrificing lands enabling you to ramp, and to cheat Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury and into play without sacrificing them to their own ability which can lead to some very powerful curves. On top of that Strict Proctor also shuts off your opponent’s ETB triggers which is very useful against decks like 4 Color Samwise, Mardu Sacrifice, and Devotion.

Traditionally the issue with control decks is they take a while to turn the corner and close games out which makes matchups difficult against resilient decks or archetypes with a lot of high impact draws, however this list having a lot of proactive starts flips that dynamic on its head and allows you to race against a lot of decks.

In terms of interaction the deck has a lot of spot removal to keep the opponent off the board early such as March of Otherworldly Light, Fragment Reality, Prismatic Ending, and Phlage, Titan of Fire's Fury (which also doubles up as a finisher), and some counterspells in the form of No More Lies and Consign to Memory.

Then post-sideboard you can pivot depending on the matchup by bringing in sweepers against the sacrifice decks and Auras, more counterspells for the mirror or combo decks, Surgical Extraction for graveyard decks like Shifting Woodland combo, and Tajic, Legion's Valor as an alternate threat that’s very difficult to answer.

Temur 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 Fanatic of Rhonas, 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 Scrapshooter which are great at stabilizing and also draw you a card off the Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and Outcaster Trailblazer passive.

The newest addition to the deck is Temur Battlecrier which does require two off color splashes but that’s relatively free in this list thanks to shock lands, Utopia Sprawl, Mana Confluence, Birds of Paradise, and Outcaster Trailblazer all helping us produce off colors without diluting card quality, and it provides a lot of huge benefits to the list.

Firstly it just works really well with the Devotion gameplan since it’s a 4 power creature itself meaning it turns ferocious on on Fanatic of Rhonas, and draws a card off Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and Outcaster Trailblazer, plus the ability to discount your other cards fits so perfectly since the deck already runs a bunch of 4 power creatures so the discount stacks very quickly meaning its another way to accelerate and enable ‘combo’ burst turns.

Additionally Temur Battlecrier enables a new infinite combo that’s way easier to assemble than Pestilent Cauldron loops of old since if you have a discount of 4 (either by having four creatures with power 4 or higher, or having 2 Temur Battlecrier ), Karn, the Great Creator and any other card in hand you can win with the following sequence:

1. Cast Karn, the Great Creator for free and -2 to fetch Ancestral Statue.
2. Cast Ancestral Statue for free and bounce it to its own ability 50 times (or x times where x is 51 minus your current life total if the opponent isn’t running any instant speed burn).
3. On the final Ancestral Statue cast bounce Karn, the Great Creator instead.
4. Cast Karn, the Great Creator again for free and -2 to fetch Aetherflux Reservoirand cast it for free.
5. Cast the other castable card in your hand which gains you 50 life off Aetherflux Reservoirallowing you to deal 50 damage directly to the opponent.

Devotion has always been a deck with very polarizing matchups where you really struggle against decks that demand early interaction like Auras and Wizards, as well as fast combo decks that can go off before you get Karn, the Great Creator and a hate card, and while the matchup against Auras and Wizards is still pretty awful with Temur, getting access to a fast infinite combo really helps improve your matchup against other combo decks and the mirror against Selesnya or Mono Green which really reduces its number of bad matchups.

Tier 3 Decks

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 Fragment Reality and Portable Hole post-sideboard 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.

Simic Eldrazi

This is a ramp deck that is looking to accelerate in the early turns, and then win the game with expensive game winning threats like Ugin, Eye of the Storms, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Nulldrifter, Devourer of Destiny, or a wishboard target from Karn, the Great Creator.

You have some really good quality mana acceleration most of which is difficult to interact with like Utopia Sprawl, Ugin's Labyrinth, Mind Stone, and Sowing Micospawn, with Malevolent Rumble and Kozilek's Command providing the only two cards that provide the opponent a chance to interact with creature removal but they’re both also 2 for 1s which still leaves the opponent down on that exchange.

Even though the main power of the deck is in the top end, you do have some very strong mid-game plays too such as Kozilek's Command and Ugin's Binding which can bounce the opponent’s entire board if it’s in the graveyard when you cast Nulldrifter for its evoke cost, which can often be single handedly set up by Malevolent Rumble.

Most of the sideboard is dedicated to Karn, the Great Creator wishboard targets but you do have space for Chalice of the Void which you can cast for x=1 on turn 1 via an imprinted Ugin's Labyrinth and is a really strong opening against Lurrus of the Dream-Den decks and Izzet Wizards.

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 Swiftspear's Teachings can boost the power of Dreadhorde Arcanist which allows it to recast more expensive spells like Expressive Iteration and Flame of Anor), not to mention the fairly recent addition of Cori-Steel Cutter which provides another sticky threat that both applies pressure fast, and takes over longer games whilst being difficult for a lot of decks to answer especially game 1.

With the recent nerfs to the chorus package which a lot of Wizards builds were running previously, the interaction suite has changed recently and I like running Into the Flood Maw as cheap interaction since its flexibility is huge in a number of matchups giving you maindeck answers to cards like Saint Elenda, Artist's Talent or Auras creatures after they’ve grown out of range of burn spells, and Expressive Iteration which is a solid swap for Hymn to the Ages.