How Do We Build Historic Living End?: Fun & Jank Episode 75

Hello again! Plum here.

We’re getting Living End in Historic, and I’m so freakin’ excited I might explode. Living End was my first ever Modern deck and I put in countless hours playing it at FNM’s when I was younger.

If you’re not familiar the deck, it originally had pretty straight forward plan of cycling a bunch of big creatures into your graveyard, and then resolving a Living End to bring them all back. The deck has evolved quite a lot since that OG version from Travis Woo, but it’s still competitive and sees quite a bit of play in 2026 Modern as well.

Now, we don’t have the exact tools that the deck does in Modern, but Historic does have access to a variety of fun ways to get a Living End going. I’ve spent the last week on stream (come hang out!) trying to figure out the best way to break this card in Historic. Turns out, there isn’t just one way to do it. Cascaders, Discover, As Foretold and Kari Zev’s Expertise are just a few of the ways to get the deck ticking, and we’re going to try all of them.

So for today, I’d like to show off the first few iterations we’ve brewed, notable cards and enablers, and then we’ll talk a bit about each one’s strengths and weakness as we search for the best build. Just as reminder, this is Fun & Jank, I want to find a solid competitive list, but I also love testing a variety of strategies and builds even if they seem a little out of the box.

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Initial Brewing

Living End has been around for over 15 years now, and the Modern version has been putting up decent results for quite some time. For this episode I wanted to focus mainly on the engine of the deck, aka the “enablers.” We have almost every card for a direct-to-Historic port of the Modern version (no Shardless Agent), but we also have some other options that work with Living End too.

As Foretold, Beseech the Mirror, Electrodominance, Finale of Promise, etc. I wanted to see if they offered something the standard cascade package doesn’t. Instead of just going straight to the traditional build, I decided to jam the Living End combo into a bunch of different shells just to see what happened and ended up with 5-6 different shells. Because I’m basically mixing and matching these ideas to see what works, you’re going to notice some weirdness. You’ll probably see some obvious staples missing from certain lists, or some weird inclusions. That’s intentional. I’m just trying to figure out which cards play well together and which shells actually have legs.

Let’s take a look at what I’ve been working with so far.

#1: Modern Living End

This first list is definitely the closest we can get to that traditional Modern Cascade version even though we don’t have Shardless Agent. Since we don’t have Shardless, Violent Outburst is doing all the heavy lifting for the instant-speed combo. Our secondary enabler is As Foretold. It’s a classic pivo piecet that lets us cast Living End from our hand if we happen to draw them, and it rewards us for sticking around in a grindier game.

Points of Interest:

Formidable Speaker: This is a cool inclusion. Discarding a big cycler to tutor up exactly the creature you need (like an Endurance to clear a yard or a Wistfulness to remove hate) has been very nice to have. In addition to that, there’s also a sweet line where if you have a Living End in hand, you can discard it to Speaker to go find Halo Forager which allows you to cast the Living End you just got rid of from the graveyard.

Wistfulness & Deceit: These new Elemental Incarnations are became automatic inclusions in the Modern version. Evoking Wistfulness for some early card selection or Deceit to pluck a threat out of their hand is still strong in Historic. They fill the yard and give us interaction that doesn’t mess with our Cascade mana values.

Overlord of the Balemurk: Overlord is very strong in every version I’ve tested so far. It fills the yard, buys us back a creature, and notably doesn’t die to our own Living End wipes until it turns into a creature.

You’ll also notice full playset of both Endurance and Force of Negation. Free interaction feels like a must in these decks. Endurance is both hate and a way to recycle your own Living Ends. It’s always nice to fire one off before we go off to clear out the opponent’s graveyard and make our combo one sided.

Overall this list feels solid as a starting point even in Historic. I loved Endurance and Violent Outburst, but As Foretold felt a little lacking.

#2: UR Electro-End

While the first list was trying to be Modern Living End as much as possible, this version is leaning into a much slower, more controlling game plan. We’re moving away from the green mana and the cascade-only restriction, which lets us play actual, honest-to-god spells like Ponder and Cryptic Command.

Points of Interest:

As Foretold & Electrodominance: Since we aren’t cascading, these are our enablers for casting Living End. As Foretold has the same role as above, but we can get some extra use out of it since we’re playing some actual spells like Cryptic Command. Electrodominance is our other enabler (x=0). Being able to fire off a board wipe and reanimate a fleet of flyers at instant speed on the opponent’s end step is strong. It also doubles as a way to pick off a pesky creature or planeswalker if we’re just short on interaction.

Cryptic Command: We get to play Cryptic Command. I cannot stress how much better it feels to have a real counter-suite. We can tap down their board to buy a turn, bounce a Leyline of the Void that’s ruining our day, or just cycle through the deck. It’s been especially strong after resolving a Living End to tap down opposing creatures so they can’t block.

Cantrips: Ponder, Thought Scour, and even Search for Azcanta feel pretty solid here, filling the yard and helping us assemble Living End + Enabler pretty consistently. Also quite helpful in finding our sideboard cards more often in games two and three.

As for this version, its felt pretty middle of the road. The cantrips and Cryptic Command are strong, but still having to find Living End and an Enabler every time makes it feels a bit slower than the other shells. This was just a rough draft so I’m sure we can change around our choice of counterspells and what not, but so far I wasn’t as impressed as I was with the Modern ported version.

#3: Temur Bloodbraid

This version is more “all-in” on the Cascade mechanic. It features both Violent Outburst and Bloodbraid Marauder in order to always (kind of) hit into a Living End when you cast them. It’s actually quite similar to our first list, but we now have the obstacle of enabling Delirium.

Points of Interest:

Bloodbraid Marauder: This is the big experiment here. Since it’s a 2-mana cascade spell, it’s functionally the same as Outburst at sorcery speed, but it comes with the Delirium tax. In a deck full of cyclers that are creatures, enchantments (like Colossal Skyturtle), and artifacts (Twinshot Sniper), hitting four card types in the yard is actually surprisingly easy.

Twinshot Sniper & Colossal Skyturtle: I wanted to test more interaction that actually sits in the graveyard. Twinshot Sniper is great for picking off a Hydroponic Architect or an early aggressive threat, and since it’s an Artifact Creature, it’s a huge boost for Marauder’s delirium. Skyturtle is just a Swiss Army knife, bouncing a problematic permanent or regrowing a piece we lost, all while being a massive 6/5 flyer once Living End resolves.

Vibrance: This is another Incarnation from Lorwyn Eclipsed that I’m really liking. We’re mainly using it as removal and a little extra reach, but having more ways to interact in the early game has felt great.

This is probably the fastest feeling list out of the bunch, even if we have to jump through the Delirium hoop to get there. It’s a bit more susceptible to graveyard hate than the UR version since our main enabler (Marauder) requires a full yard to even function, but the explosive starts can be worth it.

This list is also why I started testing other forms of interaction that you’ll see in other lists. Twinshot Sniper, Harvester of Misery and Skyturtle feel like the best options.

#4: Rakdos Living End

We’re moving away from the blue/green shells entirely to see if a Rakdos Midrange shell can provide the tools we need. Instead of relying on the top of our deck with Cascade, this version is all about digging with classic spells like Faithless Looting and Faithless Salvaging.

Points of Interest:

Finale & Secrets: These our the main enablers (along with Electrodominace) that I was testing.. Finale of Promise is an incredible late-game top-deck; for just three mana, it can grab a Faithless Looting and a Living End from the yard and cast them both. Mausoleum Secrets is another interesting inclusion, you don’t even need to ahve creature in the yard, it’s just a 2-mana instant-speed tutor for Living End.

Interaction: Like the UR list above, we’re not playing any Cascaders here, which means we can run some actualy interaction in the form of a discard suite. Thoughtseize and Break Expectations (notably exiles things) let us strip the opponent’s hand of counterspells or hate pieces before we go off. Deceit fits perfectly here too, acting as both a discard spell and a body for the graveyard.

Bigger Targets: Since we’re running Faithless Looting and Faithless Salvaging, we can afford to run cards that are normally too clunky to cast. Sire of Insanity and Dragonlord Kolaghan are absolute game-enders. Bringing back a Sire of Insanity with a Living End usually means the opponent never gets to play another spell, and Kolaghan gives our entire board haste for an immediate lethal swing. You could basically play whatever you wanted in these slots like Atraxa, Ulamog, or Ardynn.

With this version I definitely enjoyed having access to discard and real sideboard of spells. Break Expectations was better than Thoughtseize in most cases, and the 3x Deceit to back it up was great. I’m also definitely going to try a list that leans into Mausoleum Secrets in the future as I was always happy to draw it.

#5: Beseech Living End

For the final list, I wanted to try Beseech the Mirror as another way to cheat out Living End from your library. In a deck where the card you want to cast technically costs zero mana, Beseech acts as copies 5 through 8 of Living End, but with the added benefit of being a tutor.

Points of Interest:

The Bargain Package: To make Beseech work, you need fodder, and this shell is built to provide it without losing card advantage. Vault of Whispers is a free land to sacrifice, and Overlord of the Balemurk works out well too. You can play it, bargain it away, and then it comes back as a creature once you cast Living End. Fable is kind of an all-in-on option here too, provided both a token and an enchantment for Beseech to bargain.

Interaction: I’m really valuing the “interact while filling the yard” suite here. Twinshot Sniper and Harvester of Misery are great because they act as removal spells that put themselves directly into the graveyard. Vibrance continues to be the glue to help bridge from the early to mid game.

Formidable Speaker: We’re keeping a small Formidable Speaker package and a single Halo Forager. It gives the deck a lot of play in the mid-game—if you draw your Living End, you can just discard it to Speaker, go find the Forager, and cast it anyway. Also great for finding the interactive creatures above or any silver bullets we might bring in from the sideboard.

This is probably the next best list I’ve tested to deck #1. You have to be much more conscious of your board state to ensure you have a bargain target for Beseech, but the payoff is total consistency. It’s nice to have 8 spells that immediately fire off Living End without having to jump through additional hoops.

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Gameplay

Gameplay for list #1

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Closing Thoughts

So, after jamming these 5-6 different builds, what did we actually learn?

First off, the free interaction, mainly Endurance or Force of Negation, feel like a necessity no matter what enablers you’re using. You need to be doing something while you cycle and have some way of either protecting it or making it one sided.

Secondly, I’m not sure we have enough reps for me to tell you what the best enabler is, but I’m most certainly leaning towards Bloodbraid Marauder, Violent Outburst, and Beseech the Mirror. You don’t want to spend time digging for two cards when you can just cast one and guarantee a Living End will be hit.

We’re still a ways off from a solve” Historic list, but that’s the best part of brewing. I think we have some frontrunners so far, butI’m going to keep tweaking these on stream, so come hang out and tell me which version you’re liking the most.

That’s it for me!

Thanks for reading!

As always, feel free to comment and leave any questions you have below. And make sure to come back next week for even more Fun & Jank!

If you want to help me brew, come hang out with me on stream where we test, refine, and have a ton of fun together.

Happy Brewin’!