Last updated on November 30, 2023

Karn, Jhoira, and Teferi - Dominaria Key Art by Tyler Jacobson

Karn, Jhoira, and Teferi | Dominaria Key Art by Tyler Jacobson

The Historic Brawl meta is always in flux. With each set released on MTG Arena we have more options to build decks and more powerful cards, mana rocks, legendary creatures, and mana fixing options.

5-color decks have plenty of mana fixing available to them thanks to the tri-lands and Triomes, the shock and check lands, and artifacts like Chromatic Lantern. As such lots of 5-color commanders are at the top of the meta.

Today we’re going to take a look at the Historic Brawl format on MTG Arena and the decks that are at the top tier. Ready? Let's get into it!

What Is Historic Brawl?

If you’re not familiar with this other format, Historic is a Constructed, non-rotating game format introduced for MTG Arena in late 2019 that includes sets that have rotated out of Standard. It’s fair to say that players really enjoy the format as it’s become a pretty popular play mode in Arena.

As for Historic Brawl, as the name suggests, it’s a variant of Brawl format. It was first introduced during the Festival: Erebos’s Memoir of Death event in March. It was even extended for an extra day because of how popular it was!

MTG Arena Festival Erebos's Memoir of Death event

Basically, Historic Brawl is just what you would expect: the Brawl format (which otherwise uses only Standard-legal sets) with the added Historic card pool. That is to say, sets that are no longer Standard-legal due to rotation.

Historic Brawl was added to the regular game modes on Arena due to popular demand. It also switched from a 60-card format to a 100-card format meaning you now have more options to brew your decks, making it more similar to Commander.

It's best-of-one and does not have a sideboard.

How to Play Historic Brawl

Originally there weren't many events where you could test your beloved Historic Brawl brews. But it's now available indefinitely in the Arena queue! You can also directly challenge your friends by going to Challenge Match (crossed swords icon) and selecting “Deck Type: Friendly Brawl”.

friendly brawl

Top Tier Historic Brawl Decks

5-Color The First Sliver

The First Sliver - Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

The First Sliver | Illustration by Svetlin Velinov

Commander (1)

The First Sliver

Planeswalker (6)

Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh
Liliana, Dreadhorde General
A-Teferi, Time Raveler
Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God
Chandra, Awakened Inferno
Tasha, Unholy Archmage

Creature (15)

Golos, Tireless Pilgrim
Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
Oracle of Mul Daya
Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Paradise Druid
Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
Selvala, Heart of the Wilds
Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
Scholar of the Lost Trove
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath
Ornithopter of Paradise
Displacer Kitten
Zacama, Primal Calamity
Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger

Sorcery (17)

Solve the Equation
Time Warp
Ruinous Ultimatum
Final Parting
Karn's Temporal Sundering
Mastermind's Acquisition
Supreme Verdict
Farewell
Cartographer's Survey
Settle the Wilds
Day of Judgment
A-Alrund's Epiphany
Verdant Rejuvenation
Cultivate
Genesis Ultimatum
Casualties of War
Emergent Ultimatum

Enchantment (8)

Black Market Connections
The Cruelty of Gix
Fight Rigging
Omniscience
The Kami War
Binding the Old Gods
The World Spell
Overwhelming Splendor

Artifact (11)

Key to the Archive
Firemind Vessel
Arcane Signet
Coldsteel Heart
Skyclave Relic
Relic of Legends
The Celestus
Chromatic Lantern
Chromatic Orrery
A-Lantern of Revealing
Portal to Phyrexia

Land (42)

The World Tree
Zagoth Triome
Raugrin Triome
Indatha Triome
Ketria Triome
Savai Triome
Spara's Headquarters
Jetmir's Garden
Xander's Lounge
Raffine's Tower
Sulfurous Springs
Plains
Yavimaya Coast
Forest
Dreamroot Cascade
Command Tower
Shattered Sanctum
Mountain
Caves of Koilos
Island
Godless Shrine
Deserted Beach
Ziatora's Proving Ground
Breeding Pool
Overgrown Farmland
Temple Garden
Sundown Pass
Sacred Foundry
Stomping Ground
Rockfall Vale
Karplusan Forest
Shivan Reef
Hallowed Fountain
Overgrown Tomb
Deathcap Glade
Haunted Ridge
Blood Crypt
Stormcarved Coast
Steam Vents
Swamp
Shipwreck Marsh
Watery Grave

A go-to deck in the Historic Brawl format since you can play all colors, mana fixing is good and The First Sliver will always give you an extra card when it’s cast. All you need is big haymakers in all colors as win conditions.

5-Color Go-Shintai of Life’s Origin

Go-Shintai of Life's Origin - Illustration by Alexander Mokhov

Go-Shintai of Life's Origin | Illustration by Alexander Mokhov

Commander (1)

Go-Shintai of Life's Origin

Creature (30)

Go-Shintai of Ancient Wars
Kumano Faces Kakkazan
Go-Shintai of Lost Wisdom
Go-Shintai of Boundless Vigor
Sky-Blessed Samurai
Go-Shintai of Hidden Cruelty
Jukai Naturalist
Go-Shintai of Shared Purpose
Michiko's Reign of Truth
Hopeful Initiate
Kessig Wolfrider
Deathbonnet Sprout
Crashing Drawbridge
Spectrum Sentinel
Coastal Bulwark
Monastery Swiftspear
Jodah, the Unifier
Rootcoil Creeper
Zur, Eternal Schemer
Llanowar Loamspeaker
Evolved Sleeper
Goldhound
Suspicious Bookcase
Unlucky Witness
Gala Greeters
Falkenrath Pit Fighter
Llanowar Elves
Druid of the Cowl
Wall of Runes
Moon-Blessed Cleric

Instant (16)

Mystic Reflection
Village Rites
Soul Shatter
Tamiyo's Safekeeping
Brokers Charm
Fateful Absence
Soul Partition
Thrill of Possibility
Boon of Safety
Tainted Indulgence
Opt
Revitalize
Rite of Harmony
Consider
Defiant Strike
Swords to Plowshares

Sorcery (4)

Farewell
Sunset Revelry
Multiple Choice
Abundant Harvest

Enchantment (11)

Honden of Cleansing Fire
Honden of Seeing Winds
Honden of Night's Reach
Honden of Life's Web
Honden of Infinite Rage
Sanctum of Shattered Heights
Sanctum of Stone Fangs
Sanctum of Fruitful Harvest
Sanctum of Tranquil Light
Sanctum of All
Sanctum of Calm Waters

Artifact (1)

Mox Amber

Land (37)

Xander's Lounge
Ziatora's Proving Ground
Jetmir's Garden
Roadside Reliquary
Dreamroot Cascade
Caves of Koilos
Llanowar Wastes
Plaza of Heroes
Shivan Reef
Karplusan Forest
Needleverge Pathway
Cragcrown Pathway
Brightclimb Pathway
Branchloft Pathway
Evolving Wilds
Shipwreck Marsh
Rockfall Vale
Haunted Ridge
Deserted Beach
Overgrown Farmland
Riverglide Pathway
Darkbore Pathway
Barkchannel Pathway
Hengegate Pathway
Blightstep Pathway
Clearwater Pathway
Skyclave Cleric
Forest x2
Island x2
Mountain x2
Plains x2
Swamp x2

Go-Shintai of Life's Origin is a 5-color commander that‘s also a shrine and a card that encourages you to play shrines. Shrines are a subtheme present in Kamigawa sets with the main characteristic that you’ll gain something the more shrines you control.

This deck will play the Hondens from old Kamigawa and the shrines from Neon Dynasty along with some new cards like Zur, Eternal Schemer, Spectrum Sentinel, and Jodah, the Unifier. You’ll slowly build an engine that will let you gain lots of life, make lots of tokens, draw a bunch of cards, and deal damage to your opponents if things go the right way.

Simic Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy - Illustration by Jason Rainville

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy | Illustration by Jason Rainville

Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy is still a nice choice for the format. The combination of a cheap commander and a mana sink that can win you the game is strong, and blue and green are already good choices for the late game, providing ramp, counterspells and expensive cards.

New cards for this deck include Tranquil Frillback, Delighted Halfling, Tyrranax Rex and The Irencrag.

Dimir Rusko, Clockmaker

Rusko, Clockmaker - Illustration by Samuel Perin

Rusko, Clockmaker | Illustration by Samuel Perin

Rusko, Clockmaker is a Dimir Midrange/Control deck based on our commander’s ETB effect. Each time Rusko ETBs, we’ll conjure a Midnight Clock card for free. That in itself gives us a mana advantage and an insurance, because we’ll have a blue mana to protect our commander and it'll be easier to cast it next time, assuming it gets removed. The way this deck wins is to control the board with counterspells or cheap removal, and drawing 7 cards once one of our many Midnight Clocks goes off. This deck can also be built leaning more heavily on the blink aspect and playing good ETB creatures.

New cards for this build are: The Irencrag, Staff of Compleation, Bind to Secrecy and Blot Out.

Etali, Primal Conqueror

Etali, Primal Conqueror - Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Etali, Primal Conqueror | Illustration by Ryan Pancoast

Etali, Primal Conqueror will give you two cards when cast, one from your deck and one from your opponent's. It's not hard to cast it reliably on turn 5-6, and your deck should have plenty of expensive haymakers to make sure it'll be a bang each time you cast Etali. Also, you can just flip it into Etali, Primal Sickness and win via toxic/poison damage.

New cards for this build include Invasion of Zendikar, Nissa, Ascended Animist, and Portal to Phyrexia.

Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Atraxa, Grand Unifier - Illustration by Marta Nael

Atraxa, Grand Unifier | Illustration by Marta Nael

Commander (1)

Atraxa, Grand Unifier

Planeswalker (4)

Kaya, Intangible Slayer
Narset, Parter of Veils
Teferi, Hero of Dominaria
The Eternal Wanderer

Creature (6)

Dryad of the Ilysian Grove
Esper Sentinel
Oracle of Mul Daya
Sheoldred, the Apocalypse
Solemn Simulacrum
Uro, Titan of Nature's Wrath

Enchantment (6)

Binding the Old Gods
Black Market Connections
Curse of Silence
Elspeth Conquers Death
Leyline Binding
Witness Protection

Artifact (5)

Arcane Signet
Coldsteel Heart
Key to the Archive
Skyclave Relic
The Celestus

Instant (15)

Brainstorm
Dark Ritual
Dovin's Veto
Fateful Absence
Go for the Throat
Growth Spiral
Infernal Grasp
Memory Lapse
Mystical Dispute
Sheoldred's Edict
Swan Song
Swords to Plowshares
Tear Asunder
Void Rend
Wash Away

Sorcery (17)

A-Alrund's Epiphany
Assemble the Team
Cartographer's Survey
Casualties of War
Cultivate
Day of Judgment
Duress
Emergent Ultimatum
Explore
Farewell
Inquisition of Kozilek
Karn's Temporal Sundering
Sunfall
Supreme Verdict
Thoughtseize
Time Warp
Wrath of God

Land (46)

Adarkar Wastes
Blooming Marsh
Boseiju, Who Endures
Botanical Sanctum
Breeding Pool
Brushland
Caves of Koilos
Command Tower
Concealed Courtyard
Darkslick Shores
Deathcap Glade
Deserted Beach
Dreamroot Cascade
Drowned Catacomb
Fabled Passage
Forest x2
Glacial Fortress
Godless Shrine
Hall of Storm Giants
Hallowed Fountain
Hinterland Harbor
Indatha Triome
Island
Isolated Chapel
Llanowar Wastes
Mana Confluence
Overgrown Farmland
Overgrown Tomb
Plains x2
Raffine's Tower
Razorverge Thicket
Seachrome Coast
Shattered Sanctum
Shipwreck Marsh
Spara's Headquarters
Sunpetal Grove
Swamp x2
Temple Garden
Underground River
Watery Grave
Woodland Cemetery
Yavimaya Coast
Zagoth Triome

Atraxa, Grand Unifier is a 4-color control Historic Brawl deck that is mainly interested in resolving its commander and drawing a bunch of cards. Unlike Etali, Primal Conqueror, you can’t simply put the cards you drew into play, so you’ll rely more on Esper ’s abilities to keep the board clean and play a few sweepers. Once you resolve Atraxa two or three times the games should be on your hand. 

New cards in this build are Kaya, Intangible Slayer, Sunfall and The Eternal Wanderer.

Building a Historic Brawl Deck

Slimefoot, the Stowaway MTG card art by Alex Konstad

Slimefoot, the Stowaway | Illustration by Alex Konstad

Historic Brawl decks mostly follow the same ruleset as Brawl decks, except you can use cards from the Historic card pool including the Anthologies and any other cards released during Brawl events.

When it comes to Brawl’s general deck-building rules, you choose a legendary creature or planeswalker as your commander and pick 99 other cards within your color identity to build your deck. It's a singleton format, which means each card in your deck must have a different name, aside from basic lands

Your commander defines your color identity, which means that you can only use cards that have the same colors as your chosen commander. You don’t need to draw your commander since it waits patiently in the command zone looking over the battleground, and its cost rises by each time you cast it.

Banned Cards

The Historic Brawl banlist, as of Dec 2023:

Wrap Up

Torgaar, Famine Incarnate MTG card art by Lius Lasahido

Torgaar, Famine Incarnate | Illustration by Lius Lasahido

Historic Brawl is a diverse format and far from being stale since new cards and legendary spells affect the format immensely, bringing new deck and gameplay possibilities. A player can succeed by playing monocolored decks, but seeing the format’s big picture maybe there are enough sweepers and mana fixing that the rainbow decks can be good without dominating.

Historic Brawl is a fun and casual format so pro players haven't broken it yet, and the decks I mentioned here are sure to be competitive. What do you think about these lists? Let me know in the comments below or in the Draftsim Discord, where we discuss all kinds of things MTG-related.

See you around, folks, and have a good time!

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2 Comments

  • Avatar
    Lee June 13, 2020 5:36 am

    “since the format is now supported in-game as a separate deck building format” — not in my client as of the time/date of my comment post. I think ‘friendly brawl’ is the only format you can make this deck with.

    • Ender Orçun Çetiner
      Ender Orçun Çetiner June 13, 2020 6:11 am

      Yep, sorry about the confusion. I mentioned “friendly brawl” is used for building historic brawl later in the article but it should be moved, I’ll fix it. Thanks for pointing that out!

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