What Was Written – Midweek Magic Event Guide and Decklists

This week’s Midweek Magic event is What Was Written! This is an event that’s the closest to Pioneer that Arena can get with the same ban list and same concept: all cards from Return to Ravnica forward are allowed!

This is an extremely unique opportunity to try Historic in it’s purest form as a non-rotating Standard plus format! In addition, this could be a possible testing ground for the bridging format leading to Pioneer, as mentioned briefly in the MTG Arena economy update stream by Wizards of the Coast. We’ve tried a format from Ixalan forward in the previous Midweek Magic event, and this time we’re going a bit deeper into the timeline.

WotC Addresses the Arena Economy – Wild Card Bundles, Mythic Packs coming to MTGA

Players can enter the event for free, win some free Rare Individual Card Rewards (ICRs) and a random cosmetic item on the third win. Below is everything you need to know about the event as well as the list of decks you can use for this event. Updated with the new event details and banned card list.

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Event Details

• Duration: April 19, 2022 @ 8:00 AM PST to April 21, 2022 @ 8:00 AM PST
• Format: What Was Written
• Entry Fee: Free
• Ends After: You can play as much as you like for the duration of the event.
• Match Structure: Best-of-one matches (BO1)

Banned Cards

This event uses the current Pioneer banned card list, which means notable Historic banned cards such as Agent of Treachery, Tibalt's Trickery, Winota, Joiner of Forces, and Omnath, Locus of Creation are all allowed! You can also find decks built around these powerful cards below.

• Field of the Dead
• Kethis, the Hidden Hand
• Leyline of Abundance
• Lurrus of the Dream-Den
• Nexus of Fate
• Oko, Thief of Crowns
• Once Upon a Time
• Teferi, Time Raveler
• Underworld Breach
• Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
• Veil of Summer
• Wilderness Reclamation

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Event Rewards

Wins	Reward
1 Win	Rare Individual Card Reward (ICR)
2 Wins	Rare Individual Card Reward (ICR)
3 Wins	One Random Cosmetic Item

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What Was Written Decklists (April 2022)

MTG Arena is closer to Pioneer than you think, thanks to all the supplementary sets (such as Kaladesh Remastered). There is a surprising amount of competitive Pioneer legal decks you can try for this event, with minimal substitutions! You can find all decklists for this event in our database as we add more throughout this event.

This event can be pretty pricey especially if you are a new player and have not been around for previous Standard formats, but it doesn’t have to be! Mono White Aggro can be quite effective even on a budget!

Don’t worry, there’s more than one good budget option for this event! Mono Red Aggro is another solid option for the event using only commons and uncommons.

For everyone who wants to get those wins in quickly, Mono White Aggro is a very strong deck that can consistently kill opponents on turn 4!

If you want to completely dictate what your opponent can and can’t play, Mono Blue Tempo is the deck for you!

Sorin, Imperious Bloodlord is one of the strongest Planeswalkers ever so building around it is a no brainer! With most of the pieces from the Pioneer present, this deck seems like an excellent blend of aggression and interaction.

Mono Red Aggro is the most iconic aggro deck ever so you can play a buffed up version of it here!

Although Mono White and Mono Red are more iconic decks, Mono Green is extremely strong as well! With huge creatures and great payoffs, it’s a great option for this event.

Gruul Aggro has always been a solid deck in Historic and we can play it without inhibitions here!

Rogues was one of the strongest Standard decks in the past few years and it was left completely intact for this event!

Azorius Control is a super classic archetype that can take full advantage of the huge card pool, even if you don’t have Teferi, Hero of Dominaria.

If you want to be the villain for the event, you can’t do better than Simic Flash! Play exclusively on the opponent’s turn as you tempo them out, counter everything, and eventually overwhelm them!

Rakdos Arcanist is one of the coolest decks in Historic and the larger card pool helps the deck play great interaction!

One of the best decks in Pioneer right now is Rakdos Midrange so this is a version that ports over most of the powerful pieces from that deck here!

Despite it not being as strong as it is in Historic, Izzet Phoenix is still a powerhouse in Pioneeer and will be quite strong here as well!

Not every popular Historic deck is out of the picture in this event! Jund Citadel is a terrifying deck that gets to keep most of it’s tools!

Jeskai Fires was one of the scariest decks in Eldraine Standard so take the opportunity to play it in all it’s former glory!

Jeskai Lukka was one of the most powerful Standard decks ever so being able to play a beefed up version in this event can only yield good results!

If you want deck strength, why not the best deck before the previous Standard rotation! Sultai Ultimatum was a Yorion deck before, but we’re focusing on the ramp aspect this time looking to get to Emergent Ultimatum as fast as possible!

Naya Winota is a powerhouse in Pioneer and you can play with most of the same pieces in this event!

If you want to play a previously banned deck, 4C Omnath is a great choice! Play huge spells and get tons of mana to destroy your opponents!

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Decklists in this Article