Kaladesh Remastered is Finally here! Kaladesh is considered to be one of the most broken sets designed in recent Standard history, despite the best efforts of Throne of Eldraine. Today we'll be looking at our top picks for Kaladesh Remastered in Historic, so get in your vehicles and head over to the Inventor's fair to see what is worth spending some wild cards on. Just as long as that Vehicle isn't Smuggler's Copter because we're just going to pretend that never happened. In our traditional list fashion, we'll be counting down from 10 to 1. Let's get into it!
#10 Energy Cards
I doubt we'll see super competitive decks using an energy core but this was a fascinating mechanic that we haven't seen the likes of since. Rogue Refiner gives Kitchen Finks levels of value, while Whirler Virtuoso spits out Thopters for days. With these three drops, it's easy to keep your hand and board full. Attune with Aether is the powerful foundation of these decks, so much so that it was banned in Standard. It may be fun to spin the wheel with Aetherworks Marvel. After all, we have Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger, and Emrakul, the Promised End in Historic to put out on turn four. I doubt this archetype will dominate Historic like it did in Standard's past but these cards are a solid foundation for a fun deck. Who knows, if you throw in some Uros this deck might be good enough to get you some wins.
#9 Refurbish
Back when this card was in Standard it was paired with God Pharaoh's Gift which is a strategy already viable in Historic, and we also have the Gearhulks as possible reanimation targets. Another powerful artifact in Historic is Bolas's Citadel. Perhaps we could see an Abzan list that can use Refurbish to bring back Citadel on turn four to start popping off.
#8 Winding Constrictor
Winding Constrictor is very powerful in a +1/+1 counter decks and is realistically an insane "lord" effect for those decks. Thankfully Historic has some powerful creatures like Pelt Collector and Scavenging Ooze that support this plan. Tireless Tracker could potentially enter Arena in a Shadows over Innistrad Remastered in the future to give the deck some draw power. We have Verdurous Gearhulk as well an explosive top end for the deck. I definitely wouldn't be surprised to see a Golgari Counters deck pop up or even Abzan with Conclave Mentor.
#7 Bomat Courier
Bomat Courier is an interesting Aggro card that could see play in a variety of decks. It offers card draw for Mono-Red and synergizes well with Hazoret by discarding your hand. Being an artifact puts it in any Affinity style decks that could appear in Historic. I also like Bomat Courier in Aggro decks that use Lurrus. Being able to bring it back after using it to refuel has potential to be very powerful. It can also generate a card every turn in the late game if you're top decking. Imagine you draw your card for the turn and play it, now you can cast Bomat Courier off of Lurrus and attack right away with haste to tuck a card under it. At the end of combat or even during the opponents turn you can sac it to draw that card. I also like how with Burning-Tree Emissary you can use the green mana to cast the Courier.
#6 Metallic Mimic
Metallic Mimic is the M.V.P of lower-tier tribal decks. Something like Cats is a perfect example and is a deck we wrote about in an earlier article. It will by no means be a meta defining card but now every tribal deck has access to this two mana "lord".
#5 Scrapheap Scrounger + Gifted Aetherborn
I put these two creatures together because they will be staple two drops in their respective Mono-Black decks. Scrapheap Scrounger has proven its worth in the Mono Black Aggro decks of Pioneer as a recursive threat and will be no different in Historic. Any deck centered around devotion will auto-include Gifted Aetherborn. It could see play across both shells because of its ability to punish aggro decks by having three toughness and lifelink.
#4 Gearhulks
I expect that these three Gearhulks will see serious play in Historic. Verdurous Gearhulk has a home in the Mono Green Aggro decks as a powerful top end or in a Golgari Counters deck with Winding Constrictor. Torrential Gearhulk will see play in Control decks or something like Bant Control as a big-bodied Snapcaster Mage to Flashback a counterspell and close out the game. Noxious Gearhulk seems likely to fit into the Mono-Black God-Pharaoh's Gift decks as something worth reanimating.
#3 Sram, Senior Edificer
Azorius Aura decks already see play in Historic and Sram, Senior Edificer will be the best card in those decks alongside Kor Spiritdancer. Orzhov Auras is one of the top decks in Pioneer thanks to Sram and could now exist in Historic. Sram offers these decks insane card draw to help them recover from bad situations and have resources to overcome the late game.
#2 Fast Lands
This could easily be the number one slot as these lands will have a huge impact on Historic, but lands aren't the spiciest cards to put on a list. Fast Lands are a huge win for Aggro decks and will be staples of those enemy colored decks. Not too much to say really, the power of these lands is well documented in formats like Modern and Pioneer. So make sure you have those Rare Wild Cards because you're going to want these lands in your collection.
#1 Fatal Push
No fetchlands to trigger Revolt? No problem! Fatal Push has been one of, if not the most played card in Pioneer despite the absence of fetchlands. The cheap instant speed creature removal is good enough and will see massive play in Historic. With Scrapheap Scrounger and now Fatal Push perhaps we could see a Push for Mono-Black Aggro in Historic as we see in Pioneer.
I hope you enjoyed our list for cards from Kaladesh Remastered and that it made a fun read. I fully expected them not to even bother printing Felidar Guardian but I was a bit surprised that they didn't even try Smuggler's Copter. Historic is wild and crazy already so I think a little Copter smuggling around would have been fine. Let us know what cards you think we missed and join our Discord if you're looking to talk some Magic. Follow us on Instagram to stay up to date with our streaming schedule for MTG Arena and subscribe to us on YouTube for some Magic content that is coming soon and join The Fellowship!
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