3 Potential Archetypes That Could Feature Tarmogoyf in Historic

For those who have been playing Modern for years, there is one creature that has always remained relevant regardless of meta. The two-mana menace has been a staple for decks like Jund, The Rock and even some Death’s Shadow’s variants. So when Wizards made the sudden announcement earlier this week about a couple of  new Anthology sets,  it’s no surprise people were excited to see that lovable face once again. Tarmogoyf is making its way to Magic: Arena as it joins the digital realm through the Historic Anthologies set.

[Related: Historic Anthology 6, Explorer Anthology 1 Announced for MTGA]

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Tarmogoyf is a card that very quietly takes over a game. At a glance, it’s a boring creature by today’s standards. It doesn’t draw cards or tax the opponent or even generate treasures. It is a simple threat that quickly grows frighteningly big as players trade resources throughout the game. After a couple of Thoughtseizes, a few Fatal Pushes, and one Fabled Passage, Tarmogoyf is suddenly a threatening looking 4/5.

However Historic is a very weird format at the moment. It is a format that has accidentally been greatly affected by Alchemy and rebalancing changes. It can be tricky to find the best shell for Tarmogoyf, but it never too early to start thinking about the best ways to play around the familiar Llhurgoyf.

Abzan Big Midrange

Though it is missing some important pieces from its Modern version, Abzan could come back in a big way with an early game threat to hold down the board. Tarmogoyf and Scavenging Ooze could serve as the important 1-2 punch for this list, as they are two cards that play very important roles. Cards like Tenacious Underdog and Vanishing Verse are great new tools to help find answers and deal with the opponent’s threats. Though Historic doesn’t have Siege Rhino (at least not yet), the list can look towards The Wandering Emperor or even Workshop Chieftain as the list’s top end threats.

Thoughtseize, Fatal Push and Ranger’s Class are key support cards that should help grow Tarmogoyf while disrupting the opposition’s game plan. In a spell heavy meta, cards like Elite Spellbinder could be great additions as well in order to slow down the pace of the game.

Gameplan Variety

Overall Abza decks want to be insanely grindy and play slow. The goal of this list is to halt the game to a crawl by removing resources from the opponent and swinging in with gigantic Goyfs and Scoozes. The list wants to be recursive, and having cards that can come back from the graveyard is important. For those who truly hate playing blue cards, Abzan could be a path for Tarmogoyf players to pursue.

If players wanted to get truly spicy, they could look towards options like Touch of the Spirit Realm or The Restoration of Eiganjo to add some enchantments to the list of card types in the graveyard. RoE actually has some interesting benefits with the “reanimator” option as it can recur your dead Goyfs.

Or if players wanted to go in a completely different direction, they could throw Goyf right into the Fight Rigging shell and play alongside Rotting Regisaur and Shakedown Heavy. This gives the list a bit more explosiveness as well as better opening hands that won’t rely on always finding a Llanowar Elves or Golden Goose. Plus you get to play The Great Henge, which is just objectively the right call at all times.

Boomer Jund

While players can’t actually play the Modern version of Jund, they can come somewhat close. The main reason to play Jund is to cast discard spells and play Fable of the Mirror Breaker. This saga is probably the most busted card to come out in past 6 months, and ultimately is pairs insanely well with Tarmogoyf. The discard/draw enables pilots to find more relevant spells and doubling up on Goyfs can lead to some quick victories.

Jund just comes packed with all the premier removal spells in the format. The list is pretty flexible in how many a player wants to add, and it can always be adjusted based on meta. Hell people can even run The Meathook Massacre if they are worried about creature based strategies. Tarmogoyf should be large enough to make TMM be a one-sided boardwipe.

Ob Nixilis, The Adversary is an interesting add to the list as it does serve as a threat itself, especially if it is able to trigger its cruelty ability off of Tenacious Underdog. There are several other more expensive cards that could make a home in a Jund list like Citystalker Connoisseur or Henrika Domnathi. The best thing about Jund lists are their ability to constantly adapt and change. If something doesn’t feel like it is holding its own, swap it out for something that does start putting on pressure to the opponent.

The Companion Route

Gotta keep playing Lurrus of the Dream-Den while you can. Historic is one of the few places where the companion cat is still legal, which is just great news for Tarmogoyf. In Modern there was a hot-second where the best shell for Death’s Shadow was actually the Jund variant. The deck is missing heavy hitters like Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer but there is certainly some merit to playing a 2-cmc and under version of Jund in Historic.

Lurrus and Death’s Shadow play perfectly into the overall Goyf-strategy. When each threat is enough to take over a game, that’s where the Llhurgoyf shines. Lurrus also enables unique deck building options where pilots can recur non-creature permanents. Any artifact or enchantment that hits the graveyard isn’t truly gone in this list.

Temur Midrange/Tempo

Time for the list that personally I will be crafting first. What looks absolutely nuts in Historic is the pairing of Tarmogoyf and Ledger Shredder. Players have already jokingly mentioned that Ledger Shredder is just the new Tarmogoyf, but it is far more accurate than people let on. It is almost shockingly easy to trigger the ability on Ledger Shredder, and in turn, it suddenly becomes a massive flying threat. Of course at the same time you get to sift through your deck to continually find action.

The other key card in this list will be Dragon’s Rage Channeler. Conniving and surveiling every turn is an excellent way to ensure the Tarmogoyf is gigantic. Using spells like Consider and Expressive Iteration just means that this deck will probably mill itself once in a while. And that’s fine, sometimes it’s about sending a message.

Closing Thoughts

Ultimately there’s no telling which shell is the best fit for Goyf. At the moment we don’t have the entire list of cards for Historic Anthology 6, making it difficult to make a perfectly informed decision. Until the full spoiler is revealed, playesr can only speculate as to which deck is the perfect fit for Tarmogoyf in Historic.

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