Explorer vs. Historic on MTGA: The Key Differences Explained

Last updated on February 28, 2024

Crucias, Titan of the Waves | Illustration by Filipe Pagliuso

Of all the Constructed formats in MTG Arena, two of its exclusives are Historic and Explorer. These formats both have their differences and similarities, and today we’re going to discuss them in great detail.

What format should I play then? The answer isn’t so simple and comes to your decision and available cards in MTG Arena. Both formats have their fun aspects and fan bases, and if possible you should play both.

As we’ll see, some decks even share most of the cards, so it’ll help you play both and get a feel for each format. Arena Tutor helps you big time no matter which direction you go. Without further ado let’s dive into this big MTG Arena Constructed format showoff!

What’s the Difference Between Explorer and Historic?

Oreskos Explorer | Illustration by Winona Nelson

Between the two non-rotating formats available on MTG Arena (MTGA), we have Historic and Explorer. Both are 60-card formats that you can play separately in MTGA, and both have their specific events.

Explorer Format

Explorer is a format composed of all cards that are or were Standard-legal on MTG Arena. That includes cards that are legal in Standard right now, from sets like March of the Machine and Innistrad: Midnight Hunt, but also cards from previous Standard formats, like Ixalan, Guilds of Ravnica, and Theros Beyond Death.

Explorer is also known as Pioneer-Lite, and Pioneer is composed from all MTG Standard legal sets released from Return to Ravnica (October, 2012) onwards. Another way to describe Explorer is that it’s a format where you can play all cards currently on MTGA that would be legal in Pioneer. Cards like Abhorrent Overlord are legal in Pioneer but aren’t legal in Explorer because Arena doesn’t have them in the client yet.

Historic Format

Historic is a different beast entirely, and it’s way easier to describe. Historic is a format where you can play every single card that has been released on Arena, and that comes from three main sources: Standard-legal sets, Alchemy sets and Explorer Anthologies.

Since Historic also considers digital-only cards, it contains all the rebalanced cards of Standard-legal sets. Historic contains Explorer legal cards, plus the digital ones, rebalanced ones, and cards that were released straight from Historic anthologies, like Maelstrom Pulse and Platinum Angel.

Another important source of cards for Historic are things like Strixhaven’s Mystical Archive, or Wilds of Eldraine’s Enchanting Tales. These are powerful cards and reprints that aren’t legal in Explorer but most of them are in Historic. MTGA received cards from powerful sets like Modern Horizons 2 and Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth, and these contribute to increasing the format’s overall power level and diversity.

Intention of Both Formats

We know for a fact that Explorer mirrors Pioneer, and come 2024 all the Pioneer relevant cards will be on MTGA, so Explorer will merge into Pioneer. However, it’s not clear what is the intent from WotC for the Historic format.

Some people argue that the idea is to have a larger Eternal format in MTGA similar to Modern – also called pseudo Modern by some players. Others will say that it’s the place to play wackier MTG with digital-only cards. Let’s get WotC’s definition of Historic: “It is the place to play with all of your cards on MTG Arena and with a plan to use curated additions of cards to create a unique digital format with its own feel, decks, and metagame”.

Average Percentage of Play From Both Formats

The graph below shows the amount of play each format currently has on MTG Arena. While Standard is by far the most popular format, Historic has its fine share of play in the 25% range. Explorer is a little bit on the lower side, accounting for 5% of games on MTGA.

Source: WotC

An interesting argument is that Explorer is the more stale format and it doesn’t match Pioneer tabletop play, while Historic is a more dynamic and unique format to the client. According to this argument, Explorer queues should improve once more cards are released into the format. Historic gets more play because MTG Arena players want to play with newer stuff more frequently.

Deckbuilding Differences

The biggest gap in power level from both formats comes from sets that were released in MTG Arena that weren’t designed to be Standard legal. These sets impacted Modern in a big way, so it’s only natural that these sets will impact a MTG Arena Constructed format likewise. These are sets like Modern Horizons 2, and Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.

Historic also has cards that are tier 1-1,5 in Modern like Reprieve, Archmage's Charm, and Snapcaster Mage thrown into MTGA, and those impact the format as well. Finally, cards like Lurrus of the Dream-Den are legal in the format, and we know the format-warping power the card has.

On the other hand, WotC’s been keen on nerfing key strong cards. That’s why cards like Dragon's Rage Channeler and Unholy Heat got rebalanced to be much weaker than their tabletop designs. Similarly, cards like Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring are similarly weaker since they quickly became the best thing to do in the format. Cards that came from Alchemy sets are also receiving digital balances, with the best example being Crucias, Titan of the Waves.

WotC’s attempts to make weaker cards be stronger in Historic usually don’t have a big impact on the format, with the exception of Symmetry Sage, a card that went from a 0/2 to a 0/3, and can make a creature have base power 3 instead of 2 with its magecraft ability. This can’t be done in Explorer except by banning cards, and WotC hasn’t been so keen on doing that, leading to a more stale metagame.

Sideboarding Strategies

Both formats have similar effective sideboard cards. Cards like Unlicensed Hearse are very good at hating sideboards, while you have cards like Rending Volley, Mystical Dispute, and Aether Gust that are adept at hating a specific color. Cards like Duress and Thoughtseize can add interaction against combo or control decks. Other sideboard staples are the companions – technically not sideboard cards but that’s where they sit in a given deck list – mainly Jegantha, the Wellspring in both formats and Lurrus of the Dream-Den in Historic. Jegantha in particular asks so little in the decks it goes in, since you’re already fine playing cards with single colored mana costs anyway.

Gameplay Differences

Overall, the biggest difference between both formats is that Explorer comes from a period of MTG design when threats are clearly stronger than answers. We’re talking about expensive removal spells or counterspells, while the threats are better than ever. We’re fighting threats in the level of Oko, Thief of Crowns and Teferi, Time Raveler with 3-4 mana catch-all answers, basically.

In Historic however, answers have somewhat caught up with the threats, with good examples being Reprieve and Fragment Reality. Adding to the fact that MTGA has a strong Best-of-One play, and you have typically decks that are very aggro oriented in Explorer, while in Historic they have a better capacity to grind out games.

Historic has powerful cards that impacted Eternal tabletop formats, so you can have Lurrus of the Dream-Den + cheap threats, a strong Reanimator deck with Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite or Sheoldred, Whispering One, and Faithless Looting + Arclight Phoenix is legal there.

Meanwhile, Explorer has fewer diversity as it’s dominated by red aggro decks, decks exploiting Karn, the Great Creator or the interaction between Parhelion II and Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

Explorer Decks

Now let’s see some decks to see how the formats differ from one another. Consider that all Eternal formats have dozens of viable decks across most color combinations, so I’m showing you only a tiny part of the format. By using Arena Tutor you’ve got free, quick access to the best decks in the meta, sorted any way you want. Maybe you’ll want to check what deck is winning more, or what deck is a bigger part of the meta. Arena Tutor even lets you see which of the top decks are easier to build on MTGA given your current card collection.

These are some of the top decks by metagame share in Explorer right now. Note that a bigger share of the meta doesn’t correlate to win percentages(%), as they’re the most played. Sometimes brews get a few games and wins, and the win % spikes. Either way, here’s the big picture so let’s highlight some Explorer decks.

Rakdos Sacrifice

Bloodtithe Harvester | Illustration by Lucas Graciano

This deck relies on the synergies between Cauldron Familiar, Witch's Oven and Mayhem Devil to create a sacrifice loop that slowly drains your opponents out. It’s mostly the deck as it was legal in Standard, with some additions in interaction. Fable of the Mirror-Breaker and Bloodtithe Harvester are multiformat staples, allowing you to have removal, card filtering with blood tokens, and mana ramp with treasures, which also triggers your sacrifice synergies and more.

Abzan Greasefang

Greasefang, Okiba Boss | Illustration by Victor Adame Minguez

Here’s the biggest villain of the format. The combo of discarding or milling Parhelion II and reanimating it with Greasefang, Okiba Boss on turn 3 is very close to unbeatable if all goes right. Of course, as with all combo decks, this one can fail to find one of the key parts of the combo, but even in these situations the deck can grind very well thanks to its other threats like Esika's Chariot and Skysovereign, Consul Flagship. Cards like Raffine's Informant and Can't Stay Away add redundancy to the deck’s main combo.

Boros Heroic

Monastery Swiftspear | Illustration by Gabor Szikszai

This deck is very fast. Thanks to Illuminator Virtuoso, you can pile on some spells on it while conniving to find more gas and hit with a big, trample, double strike creature. Other creatures like Tenth District Legionnaire and Favored Hoplite help diversify your attacks, and both have the heroic mechanic as well.

Historic Decks

We can use Arena Tutor here as well, following the same process to get the explorer meta. Here’s a big picture for the Historic Format.

IMG: Historic meta big picture

This format is even more diverse and in constant evolution than Explorer, so we’re covering a tiny bit of it here.

Rakdos Midrange

Sheoldred, the Apocalypse | Illustration by Chris Rahn

Like in Explorer, this is the midrange basis of the format. Cards like Crucias, Titan of the Waves are exclusive to the Historic format, and some of these decklists play Orcish Bowmasters and The One Ring too. This deck is very similar to Rakdos Midrange decks in Explorer, and sideboarding plays a crucial aspect, whether adding more graveyard hate, disruption in Duress, or a combo in Peer into the Abyss together with Sheoldred, the Apocalypse. This decklist in particular plays another sideboard Alchemy card in Will, Pact-Bound Duelist, as a way to Threaten a key card, either Sheoldred the Apocalypse or The One Ring.

Izzet Wizards

Balmor, Battlemage Captain | Illustration by Bram Sels

This is a very fast spellslinger deck. It relies on cards like Soul-Scar Mage and Symmetry Sage to attack, and they get stronger as you cast spells, hitting your opponent for a ton. Balmor, Battlemage Captain is a strong finisher, providing all your creatures with power buffs and trample damage. All your creatures are wizards so Wizard's Lightning is a Lightning Bolt most of the time, a card that’s not even in the format.

Kethis Combo

Kethis, the Hidden Hand | Illustration by Yongjae Choi

Kethis Combo is a legendary-matters deck that aims to mill your opponent’s deck via Jace, the Perfected Mind. Each time you cast Jace, you’ll mill some of your opponents’ cards via the -X ability, and Kethis, the Hidden Hand allows you to cast it again from your graveyard. Emry, Lurker of the Loch mill you so that you get more and more fuel to keep casting Jace from our graveyard until you win.

Explorer and Historic Communities

Draftsim Discord

Our very own Draftsim Discord server has plenty of different communities, whether to discuss the current state of Constructed decks, to talk Limited, Draftsim’s Draft Simulator and more. 

MTG Arena Subreddit

This is the main MTG Arena subreddit. All things MTG Arena are discussed. From Arena store sales, to Draft and Sealed tips and constructed talk. It may be difficult to find a specific theme though.

Explorer Subreddit

In the MTG Arena Explorer subreddit, you’ll find discussion on deck brews, the state of the meta, sideboard discussions and more.

Historic Subreddit

Finally, the enthusiasts of MTG Historic will find their suitable discussions here. As for the Explorer format, here you’ll find discussions on the format, people hating on alchemy here and there, and players asking for digital nerfs. The usual good stuff!

Wrap Up

Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger | Illustration by Vincent Proce

There’s no shortage of formats available on MTG Arena. You can draft Standard-legal sets, play some Standard matches, and for Eternal formats we have Historic and Explorer, which are two different formats with different card pools and gameplay experiences. In the end, it’s up to you to find your favorite format and play.

What are your favorite formats? Are you #teamExplorer or #teamHistoric? Let me know in the comments below, or leave us a message at our Draftsim Discord community on either format.

Thanks for reading guys, and see you next time!