Magic is a beautiful game.

You can have a card or archetype that has always been a joke or a meme across various formats one day, all of the sudden turn into something crazy and exciting another, and all it takes is the printing of a few new cards.

Maze's End has usually been nothing more than a fun build around card that lacked competitive pedigree. This makes a lot of sense, as for a long time there were only 10 total gates, the original Ravnica Guildgates. Having one of each one of these in play felt like a pipedream, so Maze's End was relegated to "silly alternate win condition" and nothing more.

However... what if you add a few more high powered gates into a format that already has some great tools for making extra land drops?

Time Stamps:

06:45 - Match 1

19:28 - Match 2

42:17 - Match 3

Maze's End Gates | Historic | Jim Davis

• Companion (1)
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring

• Creatures (11)
• 3 Hydroid Krasis
• 4 Arboreal Grazer
• 4 Gatebreaker Ram

• Instants (4)
• 4 Growth Spiral

• Sorceries (12)
• 4 Circuitous Route
• 4 Explore
• 4 Gates Ablaze

• Enchantments (3)
• 3 Guild Summit

• Lands (30)
• 2 Forest
• 1 Baldur's Gate
• 1 Barkchannel Pathway
• 1 Boros Guildgate
• 1 Dimir Guildgate
• 1 Gate to Manorborn
• 1 Gate to Seatower
• 1 Gate to the Citadel
• 1 Gate to Tumbledown
• 1 Golgari Guildgate
• 1 Rakdos Guildgate
• 1 Selesnya Guildgate
• 2 Azorius Guildgate
• 2 Maze's End
• 3 Gruul Guildgate
• 3 Izzet Guildgate
• 3 Simic Guildgate
• 4 Plaza of Harmony

• Sideboard (15)
• 1 Ugin, the Spirit Dragon
• 3 Deafening Clarion
• 2 Chandra, Awakened Inferno
• 1 Jegantha, the Wellspring
• 2 Negate
• 2 Relic of Progenitus
• 2 Archway Angel
• 2 Mystical Dispute

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While Gates did see some play in Standard back in the early days of MTG Arena, it's always had two major problems; too many taplands and not enough power from the gates beyond turning on synergies.

Enter Baldur's Gate.

Like, literally Baldur's Gate, but also the new set on MTG Arena Alchemy Horizons: Baldur's Gate.

Baldur's Gate is a Cabal Coffers for gates, but also a new uniquely named, enters the battlefield untapped gate which is a huge gain for a deck that can search up gates so easily. Add to this the excellent Gate of Manorborn cycle which can turn extra mana into spells and the deck is up to 14 uniquely named gates with tons of utility.

Add this to a trio of cards that allow you to play extra lands and help circumvent the natural slowness that gates have, as well as a double Demonic Tutor/Sol Ring in Circuitous Route (which can go find Baldur's Gate) and you've got a ramp deck with a very major top end. It's not unreasonable to activate a lethal Maze's End on turn six or seven, and realistically that's the plan B.

You're plenty capable of just being a big ramp/control deck that can draw a ton of cards, sweep the board, and deploy huge Gatebreaker Rams and powered out Hydroid Krasis. If your opponent's deck is fast you can mop up with Gates Ablaze and Gatebreaker Ramp on defense, and if they're slow Maze's End will get them. And if they're combo? Board in some counterspells!

When I built this deck last week on my Freshly Brewed show I expected to have some laughs and maybe get lucky with one Maze's End kill; what I didn't expect was to have created a monster. This deck is extremely impressive and attacks the metagame from a very different angle, and there's no Blood Moon style effect in Historic to slow us down! At about 8 Mythics and 8 Rares, it's really easy on the wildcards too.

The only downside to the deck is no awesome animation when you with the game with Maze's End, but hey, winnings good enough right?