Historic is one of the few ways in Magic: The Gathering Arena to play whatever cards you want. With the release of Shadows over Innistrad Remastered and the companion release of Shadows of the Past, many powerful cards not yet released on Arena have made their transition digitally.

Related: MTG Arena: The Best Cards From Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered For Explorer

Unlike most sets released on Arena, Shadows over Innistrad Remastered will not be playable in Standard, instead released straight to Historic and Explorer. With such a huge influx of cards, you’ll want to know which ones you’ll want to hunt down in packs or craft with wildcards.

10 Eldritch Evolution

Image of the Eldritch Evolution card in Magic: The Gathering, with art Jason Rainville

Pod spells are extremely powerful, and Eldritch Evolution fills a very niche spot in the archetype. Eldritch Evolution lets you upgrade your creature by a factor of two mana instead of the usual one mana.

This means you can go from a one-mana creature to a three-mana or a two-mana to a five-mana creature. You can only go up in increments of two; you can’t get anything in between, so you have to be careful in your deck construction.

9 Past In Flames

Image of the Past in Flames card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Anthony Jones

Being able to recast your instants and sorceries from the graveyard is a great feeling, and being able to bring them all back is amazing. Past in Flames gives you the opportunity to bring them all back, provided you have enough mana.

While most of the Past in Flames shenanigans aren’t yet on Arena, don’t be surprised if it is one of those cards that grow in power as more cards are released on Arena. All it would take is a few spells that add mana to your mana pool, and you’ll be able to quickly combo off.

8 Falkenrath Aristocrat

Falkenrath Aristocrat

An extremely lethal creature, Falkenrath Aristocrat is a difficult creature to deal with. With flying and haste, it can swing over and deal four damage the turn it comes out.

Related: MTG Arena - The Best Creatures From Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered

It even acts as a fee sacrifice outlet for your creatures, gaining indestructible when sacrificing something to it and gaining +1/+1 if it was a Human creature. As a valuable piece to the earliest Aristocrat deck archetype, don’t be surprised to see an influx of Aristocrat decks in Historic featuring Falkenrath Aristocrat at the top.

7 Geist Of Saint Traft

Image of the Geist of Saint Traft card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Igor Kierluk

If a creature has hexproof, it can be extremely difficult to deal with for your opponent. Geist of Saint Traft puts his hexproof to good use by being an incredibly powerful attacker that must be removed through a board wipe or combat.

If you want to keep Geist of Saint Traft around a little longer, equip it with a cheap enchantment to give it some type of protection, like Angelic Gift to give it flying or Aether Tunnel to make it unblockable, so you can keep swinging for an impressive six damage each turn.

6 Thing In The Ice - Awoken Horror

Image of the Thing in the Ice card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Svetlin Velinov

Spellslinging decks are getting a huge upgrade with Thing in the Ice. Though it starts out as a 0/4 that can’t attack, once you cast four instants or sorceries, it transforms into Awoken Horror, a massive 7/8 creature that bounces all your opponent’s non-Horror creatures back to their hand.

Since it can come down as early as turn two, Thing in the Ice will often transform on turn four with enough support in hand. If you’re running a good burn and draw spell package, you’ll quickly put a short clock on your opponent if they don’t have a way to remove it.

5 Liliana, The Last Hope

Image of the Liliana the Last Hope card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Anna Steinbauer

One of the best planeswalkers in the game, Liliana, the Last Hope does everything you want from a planeswalker, all for just three mana. Her plus ability protects herself, giving a creature -2/-1 until your next turn, sometimes removing a creature from combat, sometimes straight-up destroying it.

Related: MTG Arena – Every Planeswalker From Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered, Ranked

Liliana’s second ability brings back a creature from your graveyard to your hand, which is good in a pinch but might not be relevant often. Her ultimate is an inexorable tide of zombies, slowly growing with every turn, much like the zombie invasion she brought against Emrakul from the story.

4 Thalia, Heretic Cathar

Image of the Thalia Heretic Cathar card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Magali Villenueve

Stax effects are always good, and Thalia, Heretic Cathar is a great one. For just three mana, Thalia makes it so your opponent’s nonbasic lands and creatures all enter the battlefield tapped as long as she’s in play.

Even though she is often overshadowed by her cheaper counterpart, Thalia, Heretic Cathar can still disrupt your opponent's plans. Often times you’ll find yourself slowing them down at least a turn, sometimes too, since any creature they cast will enter tapped. Even better, you can have both Thalias in play at the same time to really slow the game down.

3 Griselbrand

Image of the Griselbrand card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Igor Kieryluk

The demonlord himself, Griselbrand has arrived at Arena. This eight-mana demon is a popular reanimation target in many formats, quickly taking over games with the immense amount of card advantage it provides.

You can pay seven life to draw seven cards, and you can do this at any time or in response to any spell. Even if your opponent moves to destroy Griselbrand, you’ll still get a full seven cards back in your hand. Don’t be surprised to see Griselbrand pop up in Reanimation decks as a powerful target.

2 Snapcaster Mage

Image of the Snapcaster Mage card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Volkan Baga

One of the most powerful creatures ever printed has made its way to Arena. Snapcaster Mage, the premiere blue creature across multiple formats, is here to bring back spells at instant speed.

Snapcaster Mage can be used to flashback removal spells from your graveyard, counterspells in response to an opponent’s play, and draw spells to dig deeper into your deck. There are all sorts of wild plays that are available to you with Snapcaster Mage, so you can expect to find it in all sorts of decks.

1 Emrakul, The Promised End

Image of the Emrakul the Promised End card in Magic: The Gathering, with art by Jamie Jones

There is so much going on with Emrakul, The Promised End that it is almost too much to cover. The powerful Eldrazi costs 13 mana, except it doesn’t since that cost is reduced for each card type in your graveyard. Emrakul will often only cost eight or nine mana, which is still a lot, but much more manageable than 13.

Then there is the game-warping ability to take control of your opponent’s next turn, giving you the chance to cast spells and activate abilities however you want, oftentimes completely disrupting their plans. Also, don’t forget that it can’t be targeted by instant spells, so your opponent will have to have either a board wipe or sorcery speed removal spell to stop it.

Next: MTG Arena – The Best Artifacts From Shadows Over Innistrad Remastered