For most of its lifespan, Magic: The Gathering Arena has only featured the Standard format, which uses cards from the most recent sets of the past two years. Given the vast catalog of cards that have been produced since Magic: The Gathering's inception, this is perhaps understandable as implementing all of them would be an incredibly challenging task.
However, the game has recently released two Historic Anthology sets, which include cards from throughout the game's existence. Let's now take a look at which cards from these expansions you should keep an eye on - and which ones are a bit less impressive.
10 Worst: Platinum Angel
First up is the Platinum Angel, which isn't necessarily a bad card, but definitely a fragile one. At a pricey seven mana, this Creature card has four power and toughness, and makes it so that you can't lose the game and your opponents can't win.
While this effect seems powerful at first, it is extremely susceptible to removal, either through kill spells, exile effects, or simple combat damage. While it can save your life sometimes, more often than not there are other, more powerful seven mana cards you could be playing instead.
9 Best: Cycling Lands
Historic Anthology 2 brought a cycle of, well, Cycling lands to the game. These are land cards that produce on color of mana and enter the battlefield tapped, but let you pay a mana and discard them while in your hand to draw a card.
Tapped lands that produce one color can be off-putting, but these cards are especially handy late game when you want to be drawing through your library. They can also be played as lands in a pinch for a slow beginning game, but the card draw is the main attraction here.
8 Worst: Darksteel Reactor
Darksteel Reactor is another tricky artifact card as it can actually win you the game in some situations. This four mana card is indestructible and gains a charge counter on your upkeep - then lets you win the game if it has twenty charge counters.
As an alternate win condition, Darksteel Reactor is very tempting, especially given the prevalence of proliferate effects currently available from the War of the Spark set. However, it will often not advance fast enough to actually win the game before your opponent eliminates you.
7 Best: Serra Ascendant
Serra Ascendant is a one power and toughness white Creature with lifelink costing one mana with a powerful second ability. If you have 30 or more life, it gains five power and toughness and flying, turning this one drop into a powerhouse.
Serra Ascendant fits right into life gain decks, being a useful turn one play that can easily get out of hand as your other cards pump your life total to ridiculous amounts. Coupled with the fact that it can sustain itself by gaining you six life every attack while active, and this creature is an auto-include.
6 Worst: Meddling Mage
Meddling Mage is a very situational card that can see incredible value, but more often than not is a bit of a dud. This blue and white Creature lets you name a nonland card when it enters the battlefield. That card can't be played as long as Meddling Mage lives.
While this card does have some use against combo reliant decks in best of three games, it struggles elsewhere as restricting a single card is often not the best play. On top of that, the effect can easily be removed simply by killing Meddling Mage.
5 Best: Burning-Tree Emissary
Burning-Tree Emissary is a two drop card that puts a two power and toughness Creature onto the battlefield. What makes this card truly powerful is that it adds a red and a green mana as it enters, enabling you to play other cards from your hand - potentially another Burning-Tree Emissary.
Given that the card is in Gruul colors, the ramping ability and the presence of a Creature on the battlefield both work extremely well with most of the archetypes in the colors. This makes it an excellent card sure to see a lot of play in aggressive decks.
4 Worst: Malestrom Pulse
Like Meddling Mage, the power of Maelstrom Pulse is largely dependent on circumstance, and has more potential in best of three. This spell, costing one generic, one black, and one green, lets you destroy a nonland permanent - then also destroys all other permanents with the same name.
Against token based decks, this card acts a pseudo-board wipe, clearing out your opponent's small army with ease. Against any other deck, it's just a three mana kill spell, and there are already plenty of those in the game - and also some that only cost two or even one mana.
3 Best: Knight Of The Reliquary
Knight of the Reliquary is a powerful Creature that can easily run away with the game if you're not careful. This card gets plus one power and toughness for each land in your graveyard - and taps to sacrifice a Forest or Plains to replace it with any card from your library.
This ability naturally empowers the Knight, but it also lets you fix your mana base, thin out your deck, and find powerful land cards like Field of the Dead. Combined with a bit of ramp and a bit of protection, Knight of the Reliquary can easily win a game on its own.
2 Worst: Hidetsugu's Second Rite
Our pick for the worst Historic Anthology card is Hidetsugu's Second Rite, which an unusual card to say the least. This card deals ten damage to a player - but only if that player has exactly ten life.
While it is effectively a win condition, it has such a narrow window of usability as to be nigh impossible to play consistently. Against a life gain or self damage deck, it becomes even harder to reliably meet its condition, making it a card that will likely only see play in rare, niche decks.
1 Best: Thalia, Guardian Of Thraben
At last, our choice for the best card from the Historic Anthologies is Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. This Legendary Creature cost only two mana, has first strike, and makes it so non-Creature spells cost one more to cast.
Thalia is an excellent card for a deck that wants to lock down its opponent, and given the presence of various other tax effects in the game, she will likely find an easy home among them. Whether it shuts down counterspells or slows an Izzet spell slinger deck, Thalia is just an all-around good card.