Multiverse Set Review: Historic Horizons
Jumping into cyberspace
august 07, 2021 - By Nicholas Fair
A few weeks ago, Wizards of the Coast announced a sequel to the vastly popular JumpStart series that would be coming to Magic Arena. Similar to the the previous JumpStart, which was aimed at getting new players into the game with an easy and unique play experience, the new JumpStart is designed to get new players into Arena with unique, fun, and splashy cards without the hassle of deck building. However, unlike the first JumpStart, this one is digital-only, and contains unique cards with mechanics that, by Wizards’ own admission, can only be done in a digital format. Being something different than the norm this roused up the usual online outrage in a matter of days, but it’s since died down. After all, this isn’t the first time Wizards of the Coast has made unique cards for a digital platform. It’s fair to say that as long as there is more than one platform to play Magic on, there will be more than one way to play. And in that spirit we’re here to take a look at what Historic Horizons has to offer.
Here on MtG-Multiverse, we include and catalogue all of the unique cards from Arena and Magic the Gathering Online in our planar pages for two key reasons. The first is because we know that many of our visitors love to see every card associated with a plane when they visit, and that getting a comprehensive view that showcases art and flavour is part of what this project is all about. The second reason is that including digital-only cards is an easy way to pre-empt and even predict what may get printed to paper next. Many MtGO-only reprints and artworks have made their way into Masters sets, for example. And although Historic Horizons won’t ever have paper printings (probably), it’s still well worth the work.
JumpStart: Historic Horizons introduces six new cards to each color, including one Planeswalker in each, and a single colorless card. Let’s check them out!
HISTORIC HORIZONS: WHITE
Ravnica
We first met the planeswalker Teyo Verada during the War of the Spark story, where he was one of the planeswalkers pulled to Ravnica by Nicol Bolas to fuel the Elder Spell. Teyo is a shieldmage, and his magic is primarily focused around the creation of geometric hard-light constructs and shields. In this art, his iconic shield magic is being deployed against what looks like a Gruul giant, probably during the lead-up to War of the Spark where the Domri Rade-led Gruul attacked the other guilds in the open.
Dominaria: New Benalia
New Benalia on Dominaria is known for its beautiful, enchanted stained glass. Even their weapons are made of colored glass, and they strike harder than stone and sharper than steel. You can see some of the designs over on the concept art page for Dominaria, but I’d like to draw attention to an additional bit of fun visual design in this card art: the “X” across the soldier’s chest. Initially the motif of the Dominarian hero Gerrard Capashen, a native of old Benalia, it has been worked into the world design of Dominaria as a nod to the past. Bravo!
Alara
Despite the breadth of fantasy and scifi motifs throughout Magic’s multiverse, very few span so far and wide as to include both non-maned leonin catfolk and fairly classical-looking knights. It’s far from a sure bet, but it’s highly likely that Lenonin Sanctifier is from Alara; possibly as a member of the Nacatl war-pride who now serves the paladins of Bant.
Ravnica
Because we’ve never had a chance to actually see Gobakhan, planeswalker Teyo Verada’s home plane, there’s no way to know if this lightshield could be placed there or not. It’s a plane with giant diamond dust storms, and sounds like it’s covered in large areas of desert (like Tarkir or Amonkhet), but that doesn’t mean there couldn’t be cities like what we see here. That being said, we do know that Teyo created light constructs during War of the Spark to protect Ravnican citizens, and this looks like it’s part of that same narrative.
Gobakhan (Probably)
MtG-Multiverse has a policy to not include Planeswalkers on plane pages without good reason precisely because they aren’t usually part of the plane depicted: they’re visitors. That being said, there are a few notable exceptions, primarily when the lore becomes obvious, or when a planeswalker is revealed on their home plane (ala Vivien Reid) and they can stand as a representative for that plane. We have no way of knowing, but this is likely our first glimpse at Teyo’s home plane. I hope we get to see more!
UNKNOWN
The phrase ‘Wingsteed’ has only been used once before, on the card Wingsteed Rider from the original Theros block. That being said, it’s probably a generic planar catch-all as the trainer here has a much more contemporary-looking collar shirt and fleece jacket that seems more modern fantasy than anything we’ve seen in Magic so far. Thanks to Redditor ultimate_frosbee for helping with this one!
Historic Horizons: Blue
UNKNOWN
Check out that artwork: Kiora is riding a giant sea turtle with a palm tree growing out of its back. Where? Why? These are questions that only fools would ask.
INNISTRAD
It’s a bit of a shot in the dark, but the flavour of being grabbed by a ghost is one that fits nicely in the narrative on Innistrad. Combined with the red autumn leaves that match our upcoming visit and the clothes of the figure in the foreground, I think this art takes place on Innistrad if it’s anywhere. Even if the malevolent blue ghasts often don’t have long and malicious fingers, it’ not unheard of.
SOMEWHERE WET
Obligatory: “Kiora, the Thighs Fury, am I right?”
…With that out of the way, I love what artist Magali Villeneuve has done with everyone’s favorite merfolk planeswalker here. It looks like she’s still got Thassa’s bident, although she, like most ‘walkers, could be anywhere in this artwork. It’s probably Theros, but just as likely to be Zendikar or Dominaria.
Theros
Merfolk the multiverse over have hundreds of different looks, but the shoreline scout here is rocking the iconic Triton headfin, making her a lock-in for being a Therosian native. Side note: she has a staff that’s made of some kind of anglerfish. That’s awesome. What other mysteries does the sea of Theros hide?
UNKNOWN
The book in this art by Joseph Meehan is so curiously detailed that I had to take a closer look. Upon inspection, it’s showing the cards Lightning Bolt and Ponder, two of the iconic spells the tome lets you cast. Flavourfully this is clearly meant to break the 4th wall a little bit, but I like the idea that this could appear in Strixhaven’s Biblioplex, at least thematically.
Historic Horizons: Black
UNKNOWN
Is nobody going to question why three human skeletons re-arranged to look like a dog actually get the creature type ‘dog’? No?
Oh, alright then.
There’s not much to go on with this card as it’s in a pretty nondescript graveyard, but wherever it is, it’s got a necromancer with a sense of humor.
Innistrad
Planeswalkers don’t normally get “planar homes” in normal reviews, but this is clearly Davriel in his home office, first seen on the cover of the fantastic story Children of the Nameless, a novella written by Brandon Sanderson. If you haven’t had a chance to read it I highly recommend it: it’s one of the best pieces of Magic fiction published in years.
Innistrad
It looks like our boy Davriel has put on his mask and is withering a Cathar for some unknown reason. Poor dude. Probably didn’t read the fine print.
Innistrad
It’s not a 100% sure thing, but Davriel is mentioned having demon servants and guards outside of his manor home on Innistrad. They’re essentially tricked into serving him via loopholes in demonic contracts. This looks like it directly fits the bill.
RAVNICA
How much more obvious can you get than a familiar for the card named ‘Plaguecrafter’?
DOMINARIA
This is an interesting callback card. When you choose to transform it, itbecomes either some kind of cleric that we haven’t seen before (but may resemble a Priest of Gix) or a Phyrexian Negator. Until we get the art in HD it’s going to be hard to tell where this card truly takes place, although despite what looks to be the phyrexian symbol on the acolyte’s chest we can be fairly certain it’s not Phyrexia. After all, I can’t imagine a plane of oil and living metal and flesh having areas with normal brick masonry.
Most likely this guy is one of the phyrexian sleeper agents from during the events of Urza’s Saga who appeared to be human until they…weren’t.
Historic Horizons: Red
UNKNOWN
Saying one phoenix looks like another is a path to nowhere, as there’s only so many ways to draw a bird on fire. Initially I wanted to compare this gal to Everquill Phoenix from Ikoria, then to Retriever Phoenix from Strixhaven, then… you get the idea.
RAVNICA
I’m taking another shot in the dark for Reckless Ringleader here. There’s only so many planes with goblins that have mohawks, green skin, and an appetite for mayhem. Sure, it could be Dominaria, pre-Mogg hybridization, along with other Ringleaders, but my money is on these guys being a part of Krenko’s crew. The mohawks of the Gruul clan are just too thematically relevant.
DOMINARIA: SHIV
Surprising no-one, Sarkhan is explicitly visiting the mountains of Shiv on Dominaria in his most recent incarnation. I can only assume this visit is because Shiv is full of awesome dragons and Sarkhan is the ultimate dragon fanboy.
UNKNOWN
Sarkhan loves wrecking stuff, but I’m not sure who has earned his scorn as of late. The last time he had his dragon hands burn a place down it was to get back at Nicol Bolas for driving him insane, but this time it just looks like he’s burning down a bar to avoid paying his tab.
DOMINARIA: SHIV
A mini-Shivan Dragon, except with use of the ‘perpetual’ mechanic, this is a pretty nifty card. It sits between the classic beefy dragons and ones like Dragon Whelp from Magic’s past. I am incredibly impressed it’s a common though.
UNKNOWN
Statis Discharge here has a pretty nondescript name and very generic ‘red magical energy artwork’, but I suppose anywhere with dry enough weather can have static discharge. Looks like the mystery remains open.
Historic Horizons: green
DOMINARIA: SKYSHROUD
Freyalise is everyone’s favorite eyepatched half-elf, and I’m glad she’s back for another round of butt-kicking. She’s been dead since The Great Mending, but she was one of the Nine Titans with Urza & Co. that destroyed old Phyrexia, and was worshipped as a god by the elves of Skyshroud. Weirdly, she summons a Regal Force with her third ability, which is a card only ever from Lorwyn/Shadowmoor. I suppose it could be reprinted anywhere though, with a general enough name as it has. Maybe we’ll see a reprint on a return to Dominaria.
KALADESH
Energy is back! Longtusk Stalker here is the smaller but older brother of Longtusk Cub from Kaladesh, an MVP of the energy decks at the time. It looks like the tigers have taken to the trees, for better or worse.
ravnica
That face reflected in the vat of goo is none other than the villain of the original Ravnica block Momir Vig! A fun reverse-perspective of the art on his original cart, this card is essentially a mechanical printing of the emblem used in the Magic the Gathering Online game type Momir.
dominaria: SKYSHROUD
Without question, this card showcases Freyalise utterly annihilating a Phyrexian construct as it invades the Skyshroud forest. This could take place during the initial Invasion or during the time-rift invasion of the snow phyrexians, but either way, it’s a fun nod to Magic’s past.
dominaria: SKYSHROUD
When you print both Freyalise and her sick moves, you need to print her posse’ in the same JumpStart pack: that’s just good game design. Fun theory: this card may be a nod to Skyshroud Sentinel, a much-beloved elf card for casual decks back in the day.
ravnica
With beautiful Selesnyan Temple Gardens behind her and the symbol of Selesnya on her shield, there’s no question who this veteran raises her spear for.
Historic Horizons: colorless
UNKNOWN
The amount I wish this was a real card is palpable. A colorless changeling that draws you the tribe of the deck you’re playing? It’s a tribal deckbuilding dream. With that said, this rather dystopian figure doesn’t look like it’s from any world we’ve seen so far: instead an image of mystery and mystique. It’s likely that this is meant to be just that, as the changelings of Littjara on Kaldheim have carved, wooden masks to hide their true nature, and other changelings we’ve seen are made of purple goo or look like little jelly people.
There we go! A much simpler update than the last mega-review for Modern Horizons II, I hope this was a fun little jaunt through some of the new Arena cards that will help flesh out the Magic multiverse. For those of you with themed decks on Arena, enjoy adding these cool and unique effects, and to the rest of the vorthos fans out there, don’t worry: there’s always a new product right around the corner.
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Until next time,
-Nick