Historic Cards, Spells, and Permanents in MTG: Rules, History, and Best Cards

Last updated on January 28, 2025

Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle | Illustration by Even Amundsen

As a game that’s been around for more than 30 years, Magic has plenty of historic moments. Sets that rose in infamy for being utterly broken (looking at you, Mirrodin), or moments between players that have gone down in history like when Craig Jones topdecked Lightning Helix in a game-winning draw at Pro Tour Honolulu in 2006.

There’s plenty of history to celebrate within the game. Magic’s planes often have rich histories and stories connected to them. This is especially true of Dominaria, Magic’s home plane that many early sets took place on. Dominaria gave us an appropriate mechanic: historic! But how does it work? What are the best cards that use it? What if you're here for Arena's Historic format? The format discussion is other articles, otherwise, I'll go over all of the mechanic today.

What Counts as a Historic Spell or Permanent?

Rona, Disciple of Gix | Illustration by Tommy Arnold

Three card types count as historic spells or permanents: cards with the legendary supertype, cards with the artifact type, and enchantments with the saga subtype. Any cards with one or more of these types in their type lines count as historic cards.

Historic spells can only trigger a card that cares about historic spells once regardless of how many types it has that make it historic. For example, let’s say you have Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain in play and cast Karn, Legacy Reforged. Karn has both the legendary supertype and artifact type, qualifying as a historic card in two ways. But you only draw one card because Karn is one historic spell.

The History of Historic Cards in MTG

The historic mechanic debuted in 2019 with Dominaria. It was one of that set’s core mechanics. We’ve only seen it return sporadically since then, with large chapters of historic cards in Assassin's Creed, Doctor Who, and Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth.

The mechanic was a flavorful and mechanical success. Dominaria was the game’s first set on Magic’s home plane in 12 years, since the Time Spiral block that concluded in 2007. It was a mechanic that celebrated the history of one of Magic’s most iconic locations while we revisited old characters like Jhoira and Jodah.

The mechanical design is one of my favorites because of its sheer elegance. The types seem random as this mechanic cares about a supertype, regular type, and subtype. It draws them together by looking at how they connect through history: artifacts, especially on Dominaria, are often relics of the past enduring to the present; sagas tell the greatest events of a plane’s history, passed down through the ages as myths or folklore; and the legends of the present are those who will write the sagas future generations tell.

It’s simply brilliant storytelling through in-game mechanics.

Is Historic Technically a Card Type?

Historic isn’t a card type. It’s a mechanic that cares about certain card types, similar to how cards like Dragon's Claw and Aether Gust care about cards with a particular color.

Are Legendary Creatures Historic?

Yes, all legendary creatures are historic. Thus if you declare a nonlegendary as your ring bearer upon temptation, you gain a new historic permanent.

Do Historic Spells Include Artifact Creatures?

Yes, historic spells include artifact creatures. Any card with the artifact type triggers historic cards. This means cards like Mycosynth Lattice and Encroaching Mycosynth make all your spells historic.

Are Planeswalkers Historic?

Yes, the iconic red planeswalker Chandra as Chandra Ablaze was among the first generation of planeswalkers, and has errata to include the legendary supertype.

What is a Nonland Historic Permanent?

A nonland historic permanent is basically not an artifact land or a legendary land. The exceptions are Urza's Saga (a saga land), and Welcome to . . ./Jurassic Park as the splashy Jurassic World Collection saga turned into a land.

What Counts as a Historic Land in MTG?

Historic lands are lands that are either legendary or artifacts, plus the exceptions above.

Are Token Artifacts Historic Permanents?

Yes! Artifact tokens count as historic permanents and are an excellent way to boost your numbers. Academy Manufactor staples itself into many commander decks and makes a lot of token artifacts for you to use.

Are Artifact Lands Historic Spells? What About Historic Permanents?

Yes, artifact lands are historic permanents. Otherwise, Lands aren’t spells. They don’t use the stack, so artifact lands aren’t historic spells. Cards like Artificer's Assistant and Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain that care about casting historic spells won’t trigger with artifact lands, while cards like Board the Weatherlight and Lost to Legend that interact with historic cards or permanents can interact with artifact lands. 

This is also true beyond Ancient Den and its bretheren for lands with the saga subtype like Urza's Saga.

Best Historic Cards

#7. Basim Ibn Ishaq

Basim Ibn Ishaq improves with unblockability in combat where Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain laid historic groundwork, the biggest difference in that you can only draw one extra card per turn.

#6. Jhoira's Familiar

Jhoira's Familiar is so helpful as a cost reducer and opens up lots of combos. The simplest I found gives you as many cards as you like thanks to Mystic Forge plus Sensei's Divining Top.

#5. Samwise Gamgee

Samwise Gamgee does not need to tap to eat three foods and do some gravedigging. The halfling's role as a food/historic permanent producer is solid.

#4. Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain

One of the most impactful historic cards in Commander, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain is a one-card storm engine. Decks with this excellent Izzet commander use their commander to power a cheerios-style game plan with tons of cantripping artifacts.

#3. Diligent Excavator

Diligent Excavator is unassuming but saw a decent amount of Pioneer play as a win condition for the combo decks using Retraction Helix, Rona, Herald of Invasion, and Mox Amber to create an infinite loop. Artifacts are fantastic at generating infinite loops like this, so the Excavator is always a useful card to consider as a win condition for such decks.

#2. Teshar, Ancestor’s Apostle

An excellent historic commander, Teshar, Ancestor's Apostle is one of white’s best combo commanders. Teshar decks use infinite loops with artifacts like Blasting Station or Ashnod's Altar to end the game in one fell swoop.

#1. Excalibur, Sword of Eden

Excalibur, Sword of Eden is a huge payoff for playing historic cards and counts for your other historic-matters cards. The power is immense, and there's few commanders that can wield it like Marvel‘s Captain America, First Avenger.

Decklist: Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain in Commander

Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain | Illustration by Brad Rigney

This high-powered EDH deck uses Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain as a combo engine to win by casting cheaper artifacts and drawing its deck. The main win condition is Aetherflux Reservoir, with Thassa's Oracle as a backup wincon.

Get Jhoira down, then cast tons of cheap artifacts. You have a bunch of effects that make your artifacts cheaper, like Etherium Sculptor and Herald of Kozilek to make your artifacts cost 0. You’ve also got ways to bounce them all to your hand, like Retract and Hurkyl's Recall to cast them all multiple times a turn.

You can win a “fair” game by casting Reservoir and following it up with tons of spells, but you also have a couple of infinite combos I’d like to outline quickly. There’s the classic Isochron Scepter and Dramatic Reversal. Imprint Reversal with Scepter, then copy Reversal. With enough mana rocks to generate three or more mana, you can untap them for infinite mana, generate an infinite storm count and easily win through Reservoir or Urza, Lord High Artificer.

Sensei's Divining Top, Mystic Forge, and any cost reducers that make Top cost 0 like the Herald or Sculptor, let you draw your entire deck by continually putting Top on top of your library and recasting it with Forge’s ability. This generates plenty of storm to win with Reservoir, and drawing your deck lets you win with Oracle.

Having Jhoira, Sol Ring, Words of Wind, and any artifact that costs 0 lets you loop casting Sol Ring, tapping for it for mana, and bouncing the other artifact with Words of Wind to generate infinite mana, infinite storm, and return all your opponents’ permanents to hand.

Historical Conclusion

Sanctum Spirit | Ilustration by Nils Hamm

I love the historic mechanic and how it combines the form and function of Magic cards to tell an intricate story while being easily digestible. The mechanic only gets stronger with time as Wizards prints more and more legendary creatures.

This is an incredible mechanic I want to see more of in future sets. Hopefully we’re not too far away from a set where historic is a primary mechanic once more, though I won't complain if historic cards are also sprinkled throughout a couple of Commander precons.

Do you want to see more historic cards? How do you feel about the mechanic? Let me know in the comments below, or over in Draftsim's official Discord.

Stay safe, and write your own saga!