Digital-only or rebalanced cards are not played in large numbers. In terms of rebalances, it can be useful to know that A-Haywire Mite is a 1/2 that gains 3 life, that A-Symmetry Sage is an 0/3 that grants base power 3, that A-Cauldron Familiar can't block, and that A-Blood Artist can only target opponents. However, the vast majority of competitive cards are equivalent to their original paper versions.

The most-played digital-only card is Bind to Secrecy, with 12 copies in total across all 32 decklists. If you are also familiar with Crucias, Titan of the Waves; Hollowhenge Wrangler; Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion; Goblin Trapfinder; and Rope Line Attendant, then that will cover almost all of the digital-only cards you'll see this weekend.

Historic Deck Summaries

To explain deck compositions in more detail, let me to briefly summarize and introduce all the archetypes one-by-one.

Mono-Green Devotion (6 players): Mono-Green Devotion is the premier ramp deck in Historic, using mana accelerants and Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx to flood the battlefield with permanents early. The deck is similar to its Pioneer counterpart, although Delighted Halfling and Utopia Sprawl are available in Historic, enabling a small white splash with ease in some lists, while Oath of Nissa and The Chain Veil are not. Most players can still grab Pestilent Cauldron // Restorative Burst from the sideboard to set up infinite loops involving multiple copies of Kiora, Behemoth Beckoner and Karn, the Great Creator.

Dimir Control (6 players): Dimir Control tries to play a reactive flash game, using cards like Fatal Push, Change the Equation, and Archmage's Charm to answer opposing threats. The win conditions are Orcish Bowmasters and Snapcaster Mage, which can also be played at instant speed. Historic is one of the few remaining formats where Lurrus of the Dream-Den remains legal, and this deck makes good use of the companion. All six Dimir Control players at Arena Championship 4 favor Lurrus over The One Ring.

Golgari Yawgmoth (5 players): Golgari Yawgmoth, similar to its Modern counterpart, combines undying creatures and Yawgmoth, Thran Physician to generate card advantage and achieve infinite combos. One such combo can be achieved with Yawgmoth, Thran Physician and two copies of Young Wolf, one with a +1/+1 counter and another without. When Yawgmoth sacrifices the counterless creature, it returns with a +1/+1 counter. The other receives a -1/-1 counter, which cancels out against its +1/+1 counter. This can be repeated to draw lots of cards, and A-Blood Artist wins the game on the spot.

Izzet Wizards (4 players): Izzet Wizards supports Soul-Scar Mage, A-Symmetry Sage, Dreadhorde Arcanist, and Balmor, Battlemage Captain with a smattering of cheap instant and sorcery spells. The suite of instants and sorceries includes Wizard's Lightning, which is basically Lightning Bolt in this deck, and Reckless Charge, which can set up fast kills.

Kethis Combo (3 players): Kethis Combo uses legends like Rona, Herald of Invasion and Emry, Lurker of the Loch to fill the graveyard for Kethis, the Hidden Hand, allowing legends to recast from the graveyard. These legends can include Kinnan, Bonder Prodigy and Mox Amber, which combine to fuel big combo turns. With all pieces in place, every Jace, the Perfected Mind represents a 15-card mill, which you can first use on yourself to enable future Kethis activations and eventually on your opponent to win the game.

Rakdos Midrange (2 players): Rakdos Midrange puts together the most efficient interactive spells, creatures, and value engines available in black and red. A typical curve involves Fatal Push or Thoughtseize on turn one; Bloodtithe Harvester or Orcish Bowmasters on turn two; Fable of the Mirror-Breaker on turn three; and Sheoldred, the Apocalypse or The One Ring on turn four.

Samwise Gamgee Combo (2 players): Samwise Gamgee combo aims to combine Samwise Gamgee, A-Cauldron Familiar, Woe Strider, and a Food. With these cards on the battlefield, you can sacrifice the Familiar, bring it back, create a Food, and loop for infinite drains. It's basically breakfast, second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper!

Rakdos Burn (1 player): Rakdos Burn aims to take the opponent down to zero life as quickly as possible. It uses creatures like Monastery Swiftspear and Eidolon of the Great Revel for early pressure, and it exploits burn spells like Bump in the Night or Static Discharge to deal the final points of damage.

Jund Goblins (1 player): Jund Goblins can not only go the distance with an aggressive horde of Goblins but also has the potential for infinite combos with Putrid Goblin. When you sacrifice it to Skirk Prospector, it returns with a -1/-1 counter, but this cancels out against the +1/+1 counter provided by Metallic Mimic or First Day of Class. The result is infinite mana, and then Goblin Matron can fetch Pashalik Mons for the win.

Belcher (1 player): Belcher's mana base features zero actual land cards. Instead, it's comprised of only modal double-faced cards, such as Shatterskull Smashing or Spikefield Hazard. As a result, a single activation of Goblin Charbelcher will deal an amount of damage equal to the size of your library. Irencrag Feat provides enough mana to cast and activate Goblin Charbelcher, and Indomitable Creativity acts as a tutor for the namesake artifact.

Jund Midrange (1 player): Jund Midrange puts together the most efficient interactive spells and value creatures available in black, red, and green. It will punch a hole in your strategy with Thoughtseize, destroy your early drops with Fatal Push, and then do it all over again with Jarsyl, Dark Age Scion. Like most black decks, Orcish Bowmasters is an important inclusion. In fact, Orcish Bowmasters is the most-played main deck card overall at Arena Championship 4.

On the whole, Historic at Arena Championship 4 looks fun and diverse, as the metagame features aggro, midrange, control, ramp, and various combo strategies. Don't miss the livestream, which begins 9 a.m. PT each day, October 7–8, at twitch.tv/magic! More details can be found in the viewers guide.