Unexpected New Anthology Drop Brings Absurd Power to MTG Arena

Last updated on September 17, 2025

Necromancy | Illustration by Pete Venters

It’s been a colossal couple of months for MTG Arena, between the reveal of Through the Omenpaths and the new Arena Anthologies bringing classic Magic cards to the platform. It’s been less than a month since the first pair of anthologies released, and there’s already another set on the way. Cards from the new anthologies are somehow already craftable and playable, despite the actual anthologies officially releasing later this month.

More Anthologies, So Soon?

Memory Jar | Illustration by Donato Giancola

Arena Anthologies 1 and 2 just released mid-August, so it comes as a major surprise that the next two are releasing so soon after. Players discovered the new anthologies on MTG Arena early Tuesday morning, before the official reveal article went live. While it was initially thought to be a mistake, the article makes it seem like this was all intentional. The official release of the two anthologies isn’t until September 23rd, the same day Through the Omenpaths releases, but most of the cards can be crafted and played right now.

Arena Anthology 3

Arena Anthology 3 is a hodgepodge of historically powerful cards. Among the 25 cards in this collection you’ll find all-timer equipment like Umezawa’s Jitte, Batterskull, and Kaldra Compleat, Eldrazi titans like Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, and staple lands-matter cards like Crop Rotation and Exploration.

Gut, True Soul Zealot and Broadside Bombardiers are such powerful cards that they’ve even been pre-banned in Historic. Funnily enough, Gut uses its alternate Dungeons & Dragons art here, since the original art already appears on the digital-only Gut, Fanatical Priestess.

Classics like Flickerwisp, Miscalculation, and Chain Lightning are rounded out with modern-day powerhouses like Dauthi Voidwalker and Fallen Shinobi, too.

There are only a handful of throwaways, including Assault Strobe, Ambush Viper, Peek, and Oxidda Scrapmelter, which yes, was our first time seeing the card too. Not that any of these are truly unplayable either; they’ll have a home somewhere, but they’re not the reason anyone would buy this anthology. They were likely only included since the cards already existed on Arena, but weren’t yet craftable.

While cards can be individually crafted, you’ll be able to pick up the whole anthology for 4,000 gems or 25,000 gold. Purchasing the set will add four copies of each card to your collection. The full 25-card anthology includes:

Arena Anthology 4

The best way to introduce Arena Anthology 4 is to list out the cards. Pat yourself on the back for each card name you recognize without looking it up:

Arena Anthology 4 is… not good. But it’s not as random as it seems. These 28 cards were all already coded on MTG Arena, and were possible random hits you could get while playing the Momir Midweek Magic event that comes around about once every set cycle.

These cards are all craftable now, but you obviously should not buy this anthology. It’s priced exactly the same as Arena Anthology 3, but has almost unanimously terrible cards. The ones that are good can be crafted individually, and Iona, Shield of Emeria‘s even pre-banned in Brawl.

They’re My Cards and I Want Them Now

Noble Hierarch | Illustration by Mark Zug

You can craft and play all of the cards from Arena Anthology 3, though Anthology 4 seems to be less reliable right now. To find the AA3 cards, enter your deckbuilder or collection on Arena, and type “set=aa3” in the search bar. Make sure you’ve set your filters to include “Collected” and “Not Collected”, and if you’re in the deckbuilder, make sure your deck’s format matches a format where the cards you want to craft are actually playable. Brawl and Timeless should have access to everything from AA3, though there seems to be some finnickiness getting everything to show up right now for certain formats.

You might have to check back in a few days, or at the latest September 23rd to access everything without bugs, but the anthologies are a welcome addition to the client either way, and hopefully a sign of more awesome cards coming to Arena in the future.

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Timothy Zaccagnino

Timothy has been a Magic enthusiast since picking up the game in 2012, with a love of Limited and Commander. He’s the co-creator of Jank Diver Gaming and co-host of The Deep Dive podcast. These days you can find him at the draft table, brewing his 20th EDH deck or cubing with friends on Arena.