WotC Reveals TWO Format-Changing Anthologies For MTG Arena

Last updated on August 19, 2025

Sword of Truth and Justice (Modern Horizons) – art by Chris Rahn

Two new “Arena Anthologies” go live on MTG Arena today, Tuesday, August 19, 2025. Wizards made the announcement yesterday in their MTG Arena Announcement from August 18, framing it as a way to expand Arena's card-pool in general.

“These are designed not so much to target a specific format but rather to build out MTG Arena‘s card pool in interesting and useful ways,” WotC's Arena Announcement reads. “These cards will be legal in Historic, Timeless, and Brawl, save for one pre-banned card.”

The exception they mention is Mox Opal, which is pre-banned in Historic (even though it was unbanned in Modern by the end of last year). It will be legal only in Timeless and Brawl.

Arena Anthology 1 is an artifact-heavy bundle. Arena Anthology 2 is the spicier mix with Magic staples like Wrenn and Six, Mother of Runes, Eternal Witness, Grist, the Hunger Tide, Fiery Confluence, Mana Leak, and the very first Reserved List card you can put in your Arena deck: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary.

Arena Anthology 1

Sword of Feast and Famine – Illustration by Chris Rahn

Arena Anthology 1 is an artifact-heavy package, with a major focus on mana rocks: The Signets like Azorius Signet and Boros Signet …

… and a spread of Talismans (like Talisman of Conviction, Talisman of Creativity), which are a fairly big deal for Historic.

There's also protective gear like Champion's Helm and Darksteel Plate…

… and a quartet of Swords: Sword of Feast and Famine, Sword of Light and Shadow, Sword of Truth and Justice, Sword of War and Peace.

The Reserved List Is Coming!

Oracle of the Alpha Avatar – Illustration by Nino Vecia

Arena Anthology 2 will bring a lot of Commander staples to Arena – and also one card that it's literally unplayable in the multiplayer format, since it's banned there: Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary. This will make Rofellos the first Reserved List card you can put in your Arena deck!

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary

Technically speaking, on Arena you can already play with some of the most powerful cards in the Reserved List, the infamous Power Nine, but you can only do so thanks to cards that (digitally) conjure those cards out of thin air, like Oracle of the Alpha:

Rofellos, Llanowar Emissary will be the first Reserved List card you can put in your deck for real, and it's banned in Commander for good reason: It's one of the best Elves and best Druids in the game, Rofellos is an obscene mono-green ramp that scales off Forests.

Mox Opal

Hello, zero-mana rock that turns on early and often in artifact shells! Mox Opal‘s hands down the best metalcraft payoff in the game, and still a great fast-mana option everywhere. It's a cEDH staple, competitive in Legacy, and a staple of Affinity decks in Modern ever since it was unbanned in that Magic format last year.

Too good for Historic, though, and perhaps even too strong for Brawl, where it will be legal.

“The format has been taken over by fast mana SO quickly,” laments u/literallythebestguy in a comment with lots of upvotes. “I really hope changes are made fast.”

Mother of Runes

Mother of Runes is one of the best protection spells in the game, and one of the best white creatures overall. And it looks like she'll arrive to Arena with Scott Fischer's original art, which lots of players seem to prefer.

Wrenn and Six

“The Arena devs really want me to Strip lock people, and who am I to say no at this point,” jokes u/LagoriaTheLewdstress about Wrenn and Six, one of Magic's best planeswalkers, “and who am I to say no at this point?”

Strong enough to be banned in Legacy, Wrenn and Six is custom-built to recur lands… like, yeah, Strip Mine, another card recently inducted into MTG Arena thanks to Edge of Eternities' Stellar Sights, and which is giving Magic old-timers a really good time on Arena.

Damn

Damn, this card's flexible! Cheap spot removal early,  board wipe later: A very elegant design, one of the best sweepers in the game, and a fan favorite.

Regeneration doesn't really come up much these days, but it's also a nice nod to older cards.

Eternal Witness

“Eternal Witness might be the best recursive spell in the game,” notes Andy, who ranks this human shaman as one of the best ETB creatures in Magic, “at least if you exclude reanimation spells that put creatures right into play.”

Grist, the Hunger Tide

There's a rule quirk that allows this planeswalker to lead a Commander deck (because Grist, the Hunger Tide‘s an insect in any zone other than the battlefield, and that includes your command zone). At quick glance, that doesn't matter much for Brawl since planeswalkers can already be your commanders in that format… but it did matter for the Arena developers, who had a really “fun” time implementing Grist into the digital client.

“In general, Arena is only doing rules processing (where we care what the words on the cards say) during gameplay”, wrote WotC's Jay on Reddit. “But Grist doesn't work like that. So we had to add a bunch of caveats in several places to specifically look for our buggy little friend.”

And thankfully they did, because Grist, the Hunger Tide is a truly excellent tokens/sacrifice commander and a long-time player favorite that is now playable on Arena.