Blink, and you’ll miss it: Aetherdrift continues to speed through formats across Magic: The Gathering and Magic: Arena, leaving skid marks on everything from standard to modern – and beyond! How will this exciting new set leave its mark on the eternal formats of Magic: Arena? While the jury may still be out on Pioneer (perhaps a Greasefang revival?), there are preliminary reports that the format-defining Chrome Mox has left the Timeless format of yesterday in the dust. Historic has been spared from the likes of Chrome Mox, but what IS new in the oldest digital-only eternal format in Magic? Let’s check out the top 8 decklists from the February 2025 Historic Open and get a closer look!

Taking the crown at first place, we have MrAmazon piloting a deck they are referring to as ‘8acles’ – centered around the combination of Psychic Frog, the digital-only card Diviner of Fates, Abhorrent Oculus, Tamiyo, Inquisitive Student, and the newly released Ketramose, the New Dawn. Note that Ketramose and Psychic Frog’s abilities synergize for a really powerful drawing engine that also grows and creates evasive, hard-to-deal-with threats on the board. Ketramose slots very nicely into this already-existing strong, control-oriented archetype with frog, Tamiyo, and classically strong cards such as Fatal Push, Unearth, Lorien Revealed, Prismatic Ending, and Tainted Indulgence. Make sure to check out this list, as the Frog-Ketramose synergies are sure to continue making waves across eternal formats!

Our strong second-place finish goes to Tom_the_Mime piloting a sweet Naya Birthing Ritual list that is one of the more recent takes on energy variants currently popular in Historic. Centered on the namesake card Birthing Ritual, MH3 classics like Ajani, Nacatl Pariah, Amped-Raptor, Static Prison, and Phlage, Titan of Nature’s Fury synergize will with alchemy favorites Impetuous Lootmonger and Goblin Trapfinder and digitally-altered A-Guide of Souls plus older cards Goblin Bombardment, Renegade Rallier, and Extraction Specialist for a resilient list. A toolbox sideboard rounds out the list with interesting inclusions such as A-Haywire Mite, Magebane Lizard, Soulless Jailer, and Split Up. If you’re looking for a fresh variant on Energy that can still get the job done despite its digital-only nerfs, try this out!

In third, we’ve got DropThePoptart cleaning things up with a 4-color Sam Cat Ritualdeck. This is a combo deck with a lot of different lines and built-in resilience; the main interaction is centered around Samwise Gamgee and A-Cauldron Familiar with a sac outlet such as Goblin Bombardment or Bartolome del Presidio. In another Birthing Ritual Deck, we also feature Unlucky Witness and Cartel Aristocrat as the last sac outlet. An interactive sideboard featuring Kraul Harpooner and Juggernaut Peddler rounds out this list that stretches mana requirements to the max to combo out opponents seemingly out of nowhere. Very similar to our second-place list, this time with a more combo-oriented finish!

Rounding out our top 4 we have Freeyoumind with their unique High Noon flash-control list. From recent additions to Magic like High Noon, Aven Interruptor, digital-only card Tallion’s Throneguard, Three Steps Ahead, and the new-to-arena Remand alongside well-known powerhouses like Archon of Emeria, Esper Sentinel, Reprieve, Spell Queller, and Jace, the Mindsculptor, this extremely unique list aims to control the tempo of the game with permission spells and then dominate the skies with flying beaters to kill opponents quickly. Notable sideboard inclusions are Cyclonic Rift, Grand Abolisher, three Divine Purges, Spectral Adversary, and Brazen Borrowers 2 and 3. Permission gamers, check this one out!

For our next section of our top 8, we start with a favorite of the content creator, Arena grinder, and fifth-place finisher JohnRamosMTG: UW Affinity! In recent months, John has taken U and UW affinity lists to mythic very consistently and convincingly, leveraging the most recent Jumpstart addition to Arena in Seat of the Synod. A cool Aetherdrift card also made it into his 75 as a two of: Mendicant, Core Guidelight, a nice two-drop whose power grows as your board of artifacts grows. This list features many of the usual affinity suspects in Emry, Lurker of the Loch, a three-drop with Affinity that can frequently be played turn 1; Thought Monitor; and Kappa Cannoneer, a card that almost has hexproof that grows terrifyingly fast in this list. Retrofitter Foundry and four Ornithopters round out the main deck, with interaction such as Metallic Rebuke, Aether Spellbomb, Stone of Erech, Damping Sphere, and others to make sure that the game continues to go according to plan. Don’t let this fifth-place finish fool you, especially if you are newer to this kind of deck! Affinity is a word that has inspired fear and awe in magic players for two decades now, and seeing John’s stream of his matches on Twitch was a stark reminder of why. Be sure to take these artifacts for a spin!

In sixth-place, we are blessed with SirHamilton1’s take on Boros auras, a deck popularized by content creator Altheriax known for its fast-paced, Voltron-style gameplay that keeps a lot of historic players scrambling to defend themselves. Two major subvariants of this Lurrus of the Dream-Den deck exist, with the primary differences being the choice to have Amped Raptor or Hushbringer main deck to hedge against mono green decks (dependent on enter-the-battlefield/dying effects) or something like the Samcat archetype that took 4th. Recent inclusions in this archetype are Demonic Ruckus, allowing for explosive turns with Light-Paws, Emperor’s Voice, Shardmage’s Rescue to hinder opponents’ interaction, and Sheltered by Ghosts, an extremely strong 2-drop aura that grants lifelink, +1/+0, Ward 2, AND exiles a nonland permanent. This archetype has a long and storied history, especially in Historic, and this current Boros variant is a known menace on the arena ladder. If you like fast and aggressive decks with built-in resilience to interaction, check it out!

At seventh, Fanver AKA Toxtrokbrings her specialty in Izzet Wizards to our tourney. Anyone who’s played Historic consistently at all for the past couple of years needs no introduction to this deck, with aggressive one and two-drop wizard creatures packing a heavy punch with backup in archetype favorites like Flame of Anor and Wizard’s Lightning. The most recent addition to this format heavyweight in terms of creatures is Slickshot Showoff, another card with the Plot mechanic that makes for explosive, knock-out turns, but it also takes advantage of the recently buffed Hymn to the Ages and Ribald Shanty, alchemy cards exemplary of the digital-only chorus mechanic that have brewers and grinders across Alchemy, Historic, and even Timeless revisiting them and their potential. Fanver is undoubtedly one of the most skilled pilots of the deck and with her great numbers and a finish like this, she convincingly demonstrates that the sun hasn’t fully set on the days of this hyper-aggressive, spell-slinging deck.

Finishing our top 8 at 8th place we have CKY piloting Dimir Lurrus, featuring Psychic Frog, Tamiyo, Nethergoyf, and Snapcaster Mage. This more control/tempo-oriented build seems fairly difficult to pilot, with the only 4-of interactive pieces being Thoughtseize and Fatal Push main deck and then a whole host of one and two copies of various interactive pieces – you’ll have to check in with CKY about their deckbuilding choices because I’m definitely not qualified enough to elaborate on them! Some other notable inclusions are four Gloomlake Verges providing an upgrade to the mana base and a single copy of Restless Reef main deck for further power to close out games. While not the first frog list in this top 8 and also not the first control-oriented list in our top 8, this archetype still has a lot of power here and across other formats. If you’ve been following Chestheir’s Lurrus Frog decks for a while, this list is sure to be right up your alley and is a great way to explore the different options available to this archetype!

That concludes our top 8! Make sure you check out the full list of decks and players, and please feel free to join us in the MTG Eternal Discord to talk shop with participants, hash out spikier lists, brew with other brewers, and otherwise engage with our lovely community centered on all the eternal formats available on MTG Arena: Historic, Timeless, and Explorer. 

Lastly – recently, one of our beloved community members, Plum, aka the Jank Tank, recently experienced a deeply profound loss within his family. To help ease the unimaginable burden on Plum and his family, tournament organizers donated half of the community-contributed prize pool to the family. While this won’t undo this tragic loss, we hope that in some small way, it makes this difficult situation a little less difficult. We mention this to acknowledge all of the love that Plum has shared with our community and the Magic community at large over the years, and we hope that this action reciprocates some of that love and care in a trying time like this. We would like to say thank you to Plum, thank you to all who contributed to the prize pool, thank you to all participants of this and previous tourneys, and thank you to all who make this community great by being a part of it and making tourneys and community gifts like this possible. May everyone have a blessed February, and we hope to see you at our next event!

-alfalfa1/Jamonde