Historic

Historic
Mechanic
Introduced	Dominaria
Last used	Doctor Who
Reminder Text	(Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
Storm Scale	5
Statistics	42 cards 4.8% 31% 14.3% 4.8% 2.4% 4.8% 4.8% 2.4% 2.4% 2.4% 2.4% 4.8% 2.4% 16.7%
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fulloracle:"Historic"

This page is about the game term. For the format, see Historic (format).

Historic is a batching term introduced in Dominaria. It is a way to collectively refer to artifacts, anything with the legendary supertype, and Sagas.

Description

Taking various game (preexisting) components and then connecting them into a larger group with a new word is a feature in Magic, with historic being the first example of this. Mark Rosewater refers to this as "batching". Historic is a mechanic unique to Dominaria, and not meant to be evergreen.

Historic was planned to return in Dominaria United but it was removed in Set Design because it was too efficient with the artifact theme of the following set The Brothers' War. After a single cameo in the March of the Machine/Commander decks, it was reused in The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-earth as a small theme, and was the main theme of one of the Doctor Who Commander decks.

Historic matters

Cards can interact in several ways with historic cards. Most of them refer to them as cards or spells:

• Trigger abilities "whenever you cast a historic spell." These don't trigger if a historic card is put onto the battlefield without being cast. Note that Legendary Lands are never cast, because they aren't spells.
• Uses historic cards in the graveyard, hand or library (Rona, Disciple of Gix, Sanctum Spirit, Board the Weatherlight)
• Modify attributes of historic spells (Raff Capashen, Ship's Mage, Jhoira's Familiar), incoming historic permanents (Displaced Dinosaurs), or historic cards in hand (Jo Grant)

Out of 39 historic-referring cards, eight refer to them as permanents:

• Trigger when enchanted historic permanent leaves the battlefield (Curator's Ward)
• Target a historic permanent, yours (Guardians of Koilos, Sentinel of the Pearl Trident) or an opponent's (Lost to Legend)
• Counts historic permanents (Alistair, the Brigadier, Banish to Another Universe)
• Determines the mana value of the most expensive historic permanent (<c>Traverse Eternity)
• Pumps attacking historic creatures (Tegan Jovanka)

Rules

From the glossary of the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

Historic

An object is historic if it has the legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga subtype. See rule 700.6.

From the Comprehensive Rules (April 12, 2024—Outlaws of Thunder Junction)

• 700.6. The term historic refers to an object that has the legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga subtype.

Rulings

• A card, spell, or permanent is historic if it has the legendary supertype, the artifact card type, or the Saga subtype. Having two of those qualities doesn't make an object more historic than another or provide an additional bonus — an object either is historic or it isn't.
• Some abilities trigger "whenever you cast a historic spell." Such an ability resolves before the spell that caused it to trigger. It resolves even if that spell is countered.
• An ability that triggers "whenever you cast a historic spell" doesn't trigger if a historic card is put onto the battlefield without being cast.
• Lands are never cast, so abilities that trigger "whenever you cast a historic spell" won't trigger if you play a legendary land. They also won't trigger if a card on the battlefield transforms into a legendary land, as the Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan double-faced cards do.

Examples

Example

Jhoira's Familiar
Artifact Creature — Bird
Flying
Historic spells you cast cost less to cast. (Artifacts, legendaries, and Sagas are historic.)
2/2