Our MTG Arena Historic metagame tier list ranks and reviews the top decks in the format regularly. For each archetype, there will be:

A brief description of the archetype, and if any, a link to the full deck guide with a more detailed overview.

How it matches up against the other decks in respect to its ranking on the tier list.

Link to the archetype page, where you can find the best and latest decklists representing them.

Historic Tier List – September, 2020

Here is a summary of the best decks representing Historic below, which you can also find this at our metagame page. We base the ranking based on various sources such as tournament results, data from third-party applications, ladder experience and in curated by the following expert players with commentary below:

Sorquixe Happy September! I am back with another tier list update, because you guys love them so much! I will take another look at the Historic power rankings right before the Mythic Invitational kicks off on September 10th, which is also the same weekend as the Mythic Invitational Qualifier for the next Invitational. This way, you guys can know what to play, expect, and what to change if you want to adapt. Don’t forget that how strong or weak really is depends on the eye of the beholder. So if you think I under/overrate a deck definitely let me know, but never forget that I can be wrong too! With that in mind, have fun reading!

Tier 1

Historic is an ever changing format and every deck has its fair share of bad matchups, so any Tier 1 deck could easily slot into Tier 2 and vice versa on any day of the week, depending on the popularity of their bad matchups. I will evaluate this based on my ladder experience and my overall understanding of the power levels of the Decks.

Overview

People assumed that this was just a deck that was good as long as people were not prepared for it, and that the miracle would stop when people just packed in more removal, sweepers, Grafdigger’s Cage and Thoughtseize. Goblins have shown time and time again that they are way more resilient as it seems at first: You need to keep the board state clean, win the value game against Goblin Ringleader, Goblin Matron and Conspicuous Snoop, try to survive against a topdecked Muxus, Goblin Grandee and a Krenko, Mob Boss with haste.

This deck got revitalized by the idea of splashing black for some sideboard cards like Leyline of the Void and Thoughtseize, as these cards really fill some holes in the bad matchups that were really tough to beat otherwise. On top of all the powers, it’s also a proactive deck, which is always good in a wide open format like Historic. The power level ceiling and resiliency of this Deck pushes this to Tier 1 in the current meta.

How to play

Game 1 you want to be as proactive as possible, as your opponents won’t be able to stop you from achieving your goals as effectively as the post-boarded games, as they will practically never have a Grafdigger’s Cage or multiple sweepers. Try to be a combo Deck, that tries to find Muxus with the help of Conspicuous Snoop, Goblin Ringleader and Goblin Matron and play him as early as possible with the help of Skirk Prospector and Phyrexian Tower. Post-board you always need to decide if it’s too risky to go all-in for Muxus or if you need to react to what your opponent is doing. People say that this Deck is brainless, but I truly believe that it’s one of the hardest Decks to play right now, so take your time and practice if you want to register this for a tournament.

How to adapt

If you face a lot of grindy Decks, play more Goblin Ringleaders as this is tough to beat. Against a flood of aggressive strategies you can always play more Gempalm Incinerator and Goblin Chainwhirler. If you play against a lot of Mayhem Devils and Aura Decks, you should probably not play Goblins, as those matchups are always tough and not fixable by sideboarding.

Overview

Another format, another Tier 1 deck that plays Uro, Titan of Nature’s Wrath. This card is arguably the strongest Constructed playable card we have available on MTG Arena and it’s not really a surprise that building decks around them sounds like a solid idea. Bant tries to have counterspells as a form of interaction, while Sultai tries to interact via discard and removal spells. Bant uses Teferi, Hero of Dominaria and Sultai Nissa, Who Shakes the World plus Hydroid Krasis as top-ends. Overall they are still pretty close to each other as they both play around Uro and make use of him the best, and just try to outgrind the other decks. I think that most current lists struggle against Goblins a lot, but both Bant and Sultai have shown in the past that they are very flexible and just need to find the right configuration to have a game against everything. While they will probably still often lose against Goblins, they are both very strong decks and are just a great choice if you want to explore Historic. Uro really is that good.

How to play

This is your typical grindy Deck: Survive the early game with sweepers or removals, or spend your early turns by putting additional lands onto the battlefield with Growth Spiral and Uro. Hydroid Krasis, Uro and/or Teferi, Hero of Dominaria are some of the strongest grindy cards in the format, so try to find good windows for them, as this is where most of your advantage will come from. Use your counterspells and removals aggressively, as they will help to fill your graveyard for Uro. You should usually find yourself in this situation where you trade blows with your opponent and once the dust settles, Uro will ride you to victory.

How to adapt

The hardest part for me personally is to find the perfect well-balanced list in the meta. Decks like this usually have the problem of losing the first game to unanswered threats. Because of this, your read on the meta has to be on point. Against a lot of creatures, play more Baffling End, Heartless Act, Eliminate, Seal Away or Cast Out; against a lot of grindy decks or mirrors play more counterspells and Shark Typhoon. If you hit the spot and get the Decks that you are prepared to play against, it’s really tough to lose for these types of decks.

Overview

Yes, this deck is not the most popular but I still think that it’s one of the best Decks in the format. Call me biased because I wrote an article about it, but people highly underrate this Deck. People assume that playing Control with Uro just has to be better; and if you want to find out why this is not necessarily true, check out my article, as I mentioned this topic there.

Bant and Sultai are the best Uro Decks, but Azoris is by far the best Teferi Deck. You play on instant speed way more than Bant does, which fits Teferi better, as his +1 ability can be used to perfection here. It’s really just that – Teferi is an absolute powerhouse and will carry a lot of games. Counterspells are also pretty strong right now, as most Decks have some key cards that they need to resolve (Collected Company, Muxus, Bolas’s Citadel, Nissa, Teferi) in order to win, and that just shuts it down.

The matchup against Goblins is still tough, but overall it still doesn’t really have too many bad matchups and Teferi is strong enough to win most games regardless of any matchup.

How to play

Survive the early game with Censor and Wrath of God, conquer the late game with Teferi, Shark Typhoon and Castle Ardenvale. It’s a very simple game plan that will work most of the time as Azorius is probably the most consistent Deck in the format. Censor, Cast out and Search for Azcanta makes it almost impossible to screw in the early game, while Castle Ardenvale, Shark Typhoon, Narset, Parter of Veils and a flipped Azcanta makes it practically impossible to run out of cards later. Try to find enough cards to kill with Wrath of God, as this is one of your only tap-out cards and you will have to keep your shields down for a turn. Don’t try to win the game too fast, as you will win most of the late games anyway.

How to adapt

If you face a lot of graveyard Decks, play more Rest in Peace. You can always swap around with the numbers of Baffling End if you face more creatures, and get some Disdainful Stroke or Dovin’s Veto in against more slower Decks. If you face only Goblins, you can try and play more copies of Grafdigger’s Cage, but generally this matchup will never be too good for you.

Tier 2

Overview

This is basically an upgraded version of the Standard Mono Green deck. Llanowar Elves and Rhonas the Indomitable are huge additions to this deck, and it really did not need much more to be good. Interacting with the opponent’s graveyard is pretty strong right now, so having the ability to play 4 Scavenging Ooze main deck is pretty valuable. Some decks include Collected Company and forgo the higher costed creatures such as Questing Beast.

What I really appreciate in this deck is the fact that you have a fast clock. Historic is like this: You either play the broken cards, or you interact with your opponent and slow him down before they are able to play theirs. This includes finishing your opponent quickly, and this deck curving out really does that.

I just feel like this deck lacks a tiny bit of power. If you do not have a Llanowar Elves in your starter it’s easy to be too slow for your opponent, and your lack of removal will result in Priest of Forgotten Gods running over you a lot of the time. I am always in for some beatings, so I really hope to be wrong this time!

Overview

Thoughtseize is one of the strongest cards in Historic, and Rakdos Arcanist (more commonly known as Pyromancer but decks are starting to cut the Young Pyromancer) is capable of using this card the best (see a pattern here about the strongest cards in historic?). Dreadhorde Arcanist is a powerhouse and is able to recast all your cheap spells like Thoughtseize and Claim the Firstborn. If you want to have a synergy-driven graveyard Deck, this is your Deck to go.

I don’t like that this Deck is very weak to Grafdigger’s Cage or Rest in Peace (as you can never get rid of enchantments effectively in these colors – though in Zendikar Rising that may change with Feed the Swarm!). As with most synergy-based Decks, it’s easy to find your one half of the deck with Young Pyromancer, Dreadhorde Arcanist and Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger without any spells to make the best use of them, making this deck a bit flippy at times.

How to play

Ideally you want to fill your graveyard with Stitcher’s Supplier and other cheap spells like Thoughtseize or Village Rites, so you can use it as another form of card advantage. Kroxa, Dreadhorde Arcanist, Lurrus of the Dream-Den and Claim//Fame really only shine once your grave has some gas in it, so try to focus on that primarily. Use your Thoughtseize efficiently – even if you can recast it with Dreadhorde Arcanist, it’s still important to find the right timings to hit the opponent’s important spells.

How to adapt

If you play against a lot of creatures, this is where you shine. Pack in more cheap spells like Shock or Redcap Melee to keep the board clean. People will bring in graveyard hate to attack you – so you should try to have a Plan B for that. Try out post-board strategies that don’t fold to Rest in Peace like Pack Rat or some Planeswalkers – you really need to get creative, as grave hate is tough to beat for this Deck.

Overview

This Deck is for anyone that tries to delete your opponent’s life total before they can set up reasonable defenses. It’s also probably the most proactive strategy that you can play in Historic, which is always great in wide open formats. Burn has proven itself to be always a Deck that you should be prepared for and it keeps all the decks honest, as it will just overrun you if you are not prepared. One thing that Burn has got going for it is its good matchup against Goblins, as it is able to shoot down all the important early threats while also having a fast clock to kill you before they set up big Muxus turns.

The reason why I place this in Tier 2 is that it loses to itself most of the time, as drawing 1 or 2 too many lands often leads to a loss. Because of that, even your good matchups can be lost easily. The popularity of Uro is also not great, even if these matchups are good for you generally. Uro makes it so that if you stumble a bit as Burn, it leads to losing games really quickly, as your best cards deal 3 damage while Uro completely mitigates that. The result of that is: Your good matchups are not as good as you want them to be.

How to play

You need to use your mana as efficiently as possible and try to maximize your damage as much as you can. Most lategames are not in your favor, so you should really think twice if you want to play around certain cards or not, as this can lead to you missing some crucial points of damage. You don’t really have a plan B, so your plan A really needs to work. Only use your burn spells on creatures if it results in your creatures dealing more damage as a result, or if you really have no other choice. The same is true for Planeswalkers – most of the time it’s not worth it to go after them.

Do not use Light up the Stage if you don’t have to. It’s one of the only card advantage tools that you have, and wasting it loses games a lot, even if you might not be aware of this at first glance. Always ask yourself if you are able to play the cards that you exile with Light up the Stage so you don’t miss your value. If you already have enough playables in your hand, just hold onto it until you run out of steam.

Burn always gets the reputation of being a brainless Aggro Deck, which always makes me wonder why I see so many people doing mistakes then. It’s easy to lose games if you miss even 1 damage with this Deck, so try to focus a lot while playing this.

How to adapt

Being mono-colored does not give you the best flexibility, and especially red does not have the best sideboard cards. Rampaging Ferocidon is already in most lists against lifegain, and I don’t think that Tibalt, Rakish Instigator makes the cut. If you’re playing against big creatures, you can try out Chandra’s Incinerator, as this is just a huge threat that they usually don’t expect.

Quite frankly though you also do not need to have too many sideboard options – if this deck performs, it’s really tough to spot, you just need to find your good land/spells ratio. If you play against tons of creatures you can always play more Abrade, Soul Sear, Goblin Chainwhirler and such – but against grindy decks, our options aren’t too great, and even Hazoret the Fervent has proven (at least for me, I won’t stop you) to not be strong enough for Historic.

Overview

This is the Aristocrat-style Deck of Historic. If you’re looking for sacrifice-synergy, this is the right place to start. Bolas’s Citadel is much like Muxus – it’s usually a 1-card-combo that wins by itself. Like Goblins, a lot of your game plan revolves around that one busted finisher. This deck also gets to play Collected Company, which is a powerhouse and just needs to find the right deck to slot in – and it surely does in this one.

I like this deck right now because it is good against Goblins (as all Mayhem Devil Decks are) while being proactive enough which will result in you having a solid game plan against mostly everything. One weakness this deck has is that people pack in a lot of Grafdigger’s Cage or Leyline of the Void, which hurts this Deck a lot, and a lot of decks right now have the opportunity to play these cards. Also, as with every other creature based synergy deck, stacking removal will be good against this, and so is Thoughtseize.

Still, the power of Bolas’s Citadel is undeniable, so I am confident in putting this deck into Tier 2 for now, while keeping my eyes open if it’s possible to go one step further and let this become Tier 1. Players are even experimenting with going back to the straight old fashioned Sacrifice route without the Citadel, and we will have to see how it pans out from here.

How to play

You typically want to get a lot of mana early into the game so you can ramp out your key spells in Bolas’s citadel and Collected Company. Based on your list you should be able to play 8-12 mana-producing creatures on top of having Phyrexian Tower. You got Priest of Forgotten Gods, Midnight Reaper and Woe Strider to get through your Deck and find your key spells. Really just try to go for the value rather than your opponent’s life total primarily, as they will lose against a resolved Citadel most of the time anyway. If you play against aggressive strategies, go for board control instead, as Citadel might be hard to use with a low life total. This Deck will teach you how to count triggers properly, as the Citadel’s activated ability + either Mayhem Devil or Blood Artist kill most opponents on the spot, so always count or you might miss it!

If you’re playing in the mirror and you both have Mayhem Devil out, remember that the triggers by the non-active player resolve first – so if you’re looking to use your Mayhem Devil, try to do it in your opponent’s turn.

How to adapt

Your biggest weakness is Grafdigger’s cage and graveyard hate – find ways around it. You can play Reclamation Sage to get rid of both enchantments like Leyline of the Void/Rest in Peace and also Grafdigger’s Cage. If you play against tons of removal Decks, you could always try and go back to the good old Cauldron Familiar + Witch’s Oven + Trail of Crumbs game plan. Against tons of creatures, just stack Claim the Firstborn.

Jund really is flexible in all it’s card choices, so I doubt that there is a “perfect” list, which gives you a lot of wiggle room while building the Deck and adjusting to your preferences.

Overview

If you like building your own battle tank and ride that to victory, this is the Deck for you. You take some cheap creatures, stack some Auras like All That Glitters and Staggering Insight onto them and protect them with the help of Alseid of Life’s Bounty, Selfless Savior and potentially Karametra’s Blessing. Some swings will usually be enough, and Kor Spiritdancer and Lurrus of the Dream-Den make sure that you never run out of steam.

This deck got significantly weaker when Thoughtseize got added, because Kor Spiritdancer is crucial to most of the Deck’s game plan, and some hands just fold when this gets taken away. It also doesn’t match well against Priest of Forgotten Gods and Decks that stack removal (Sultai for example plays Heartless Act, Eliminate, and most importantly Extinction Event which goes around protection and indestructible).

Why do I still think that it’s Tier 2 and not Tier 3? Well, this Deck eats Goblins for breakfast, which is really popular right now, and it is really easy to win games when your opponent just stumbles for even a little bit. Kor Spiritdancer is seriously messed up, and I believe that this Deck is stronger than a lot of people give it credit for.

How to play

Don’t keep slow hands. Wait, what are the slow hands with this Deck? Look for either Kor Spiritdancer, All That Glitters or an evasive threat with Curious Obsession/Staggering Insight. Take aggressive mulligans if you don’t have any of these going, as you will lose most of the time if your early turns aren’t impactful enough. It is possible to out grind your opponents, but only if you get some traction going on early. Try to play your Kor Spiritdancer in spots where you can always protect it with one of your protective spells or creatures, or when you can get immediate value in the same turn when you cast it, as this is your most important creature. Don’t keep 5 lands, this Deck does not use excess mana too well.

How to adapt

You are one of the Decks that can play Hushbringer effectively, as you can at least have a strong flying lifelinker if the static ability is not enough to win the game (which is usually enough to win against Goblins). Other than that, you really aren’t too flexible, as every form of interaction means that you will have to play less creatures or auras, which is of course always bad for a Deck that needs a fairly high density of these. Burn and Mayhem Devil Decks can be a bit tough sometimes – playing Cerulean Drake can be very helpful if you want to combat that. If you play against a lot of spot removal, playing more Karametra’s Blessing or Dive Down can never hurt.

Tier 3

Historic is quite special because of its large card pool – and my point is that the Tier 3 Decks are not necessarily weak decks, because they all play strong cards. Me slotting decks into Tier 3 only means that I believe that they do not line up well against the Tier 2 or Tier 1 Decks, or that they are strong, but not strong enough for an upper tier. Any of these decks is still able to have good results so this should not shy you away from playing one of these if that’s your jam.

Overview

This Deck tries to ramp a lot of mana into the game early and top it all off with Ulamog, Ceaseless Hunger, Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and most notably Karn, the Great Creator. You try to use your Sideboard as a sort of extended deck, since Karn will give you a lot of flexibility and just fish for some silver bullets if you’re in need of some extra spells. It is quite mana intensive, which is why you play Llanowar Elves, Gilded Goose, Llanowar Visionary, Mind Stone and Explore. Playing Karn means that you can use him as the primary source of card advantage and stay mono-colored, since you don’t need Uro or Hydroid Krasis.

Overall for me it just feels like this deck lacks power in comparison to other decks. Even if you curve out well this is sometimes not enough to win the game, and Ugin is not nearly as strong as Collected Company, Bolas’s Citadel or Muxus. If the power level of your Deck does not match your opponent’s Deck, you at least need to be able to interact in very meaningful ways, and mono-green is not really the best at doing that. Another issue is also that your “Karn board” is not good enough to sacrifice all your sideboard slots for. We just need some more strong payoff artifact cards to convince me that this Deck is the real deal.

How to play

While you have a lot of decisions to make when curving out and what cards to choose with your Karn, the game plan is quite simple: Play some mana dorks and mana rocks, and play bigger spells. It’s really just that! Your planeswalkers are the backbone of your closing game plan, so play accordingly and try to protect them.

How to improve

You don’t have much flexibility when most of your sideboard slots are dedicated to make your Karn better. Main Deck though you can always try and slot more Voracious Hydra in, as this is actually a creature that is able to interact with your opponent, which is really important right now.

It might also be possible that you want to narrow down your sideboard artifact choices and play some cards that you put in after game 1 if you really need them (like Ram Through or Primal Might), but I am not sure if this is what you want to be doing. Be creative!

Overview

This Deck sort of popped off lately as it seems to be the only viable Deck in which you can play God-Pharaoh’s Gift, which is certainly a strong card. It’s sort of Mono-Black reanimator, sort of Mono-Black Aggro, and also sort of Mono-Black Sacrifice – and this sort of flexibility is why people started picking up on it. It’s also hella fun to play while not being one-dimensional, so you should definitely check this out if you got the Wildcards.

I personally think that this deck is overrated and just has this phenomenon of doing well because it is quite new. It’s a bit clunky at times and also has this problem of sometimes just not drawing the right pieces together, making it a weaker version of streamlined strategies sometimes. If you can somehow get rid of their God-Pharaoh’s Gift recursion with Rest in Peace or Leyline of the Void, they still have their beatdown plan, but I just think that this is quite mediocre. Maybe I underrate it though, and I am excited to see new versions of this Deck, as it’s possible that the right 75 have not been found yet.

How to play

Fill your graveyard early with Stitcher’s Supplier, Mire Triton and Cryptbreaker so you can make use of God-Pharaoh’s Gift. Priest of Forgotten Gods and Phyrexian Tower both help you to get it out earlier, but that obviously only makes sense if you got something in your graveyard already. If you don’t have Gate to the Afterlife or the Gift in your hand, look for them with Woe Strider, Castle Locthwain and Priest of Forgotten Gods.

How to improve

Improving this Deck basically means to change the fundamentals: Maybe you want to play more aggressive creatures like Dread Wanderer to pressure your opponent faster should you not draw your artifacts? Maybe you want to play a bit more removal (or ravenous Chupacabra) because your opponent’s Mayhem Devil is too strong? You can also try and branch out to make some sort of Devotion Deck with Gray Merchant of Asphodel and Ayara, First of Locthwain. Because this Deck is fairly new and the right version might not have been found yet, it’s not easy for me to say how to improve it. Don’t let that stop you from trying new crazy payoffs out though!

Overview

A deck as old as the Historic Format itself, this deck is able to punish slower ones without giving them the opportunity to resolve a single spell. If you want to keep slow decks honest and lock your opponent from playing spells, this is your go-to Deck.

Sadly I think this deck does not have too many good matchups. Most of the decks right now play smaller problematic creatures – just think of Priest of Forgotten Gods, Skirk Prospector, Llanowar Elf, Conspicuous Snoop and many more. Mono Blue does not line well against cheap threats because the counterspells are somewhat expensive, and as a result even being on the draw is even more brutal than usual. Thoughtseize is also really good against this deck, as losing important counters and giving information about your hand is just backbreaking. I also think that Mono Blue is just a weaker version of Azorius Auras, as this is also a tempo-style deck with much higher card quality.

How to play

Play some cheap threats, staple Curiosity or Curious Obsession onto them and protect them with countermagic. It is really important that you do this, as this Deck does not have any comeback mechanics so losing your few threats because you let some removal slip through just decides most of the games. It is really important to evaluate the board state: Do you need one more creature on the battlefield, or is it enough to have one creature and keep more mana open for counterspells instead? Do I really have to counter their ground creature or do I just not care about it because I kill them in the air? Those are the questions you have to ask yourself – wasting spells is insanely punishing and it makes this Deck tough to play. Knowing when and when not to tap out is the alpha and omega of this deck.

How to improve

If you face a lot of creatures, you can always play some Merfolk Tricksters, as those make combat really tough for your opponent. It is possible that you want some numbers of Negates or Essence Scatters main Deck depending on your experience. As with Mono Red and Mono Green, your sideboard options are heavily limited, so there really is not much to do; and your changes need to be mostly for Game 1 when you try to read the meta.

End Step

This tier list was really tough to pull off this time as Historic is the wild, wild West right now. New decks pop off left and right, and without huge tournaments with big prize pools it’s not easy to tell which deck is the best and which is not. I still hope I was able to cover most of the decks that are popular in the metagame, and if I missed some, let me know in the comments as always.

May you never have to mulligan a hand and stay safe everyone!