Card Spotlight
Lorehold, the Historian
A 5-mana Elder Dragon from Secrets of Strixhaven with flying haste that gives every instant and sorcery in hand miracle {2}, and lets you loot during each opponent's upkeep.
Commander Spotlight
Lorehold, the Historian ↗
A 5-mana Elder Dragon from Secrets of Strixhaven with flying haste that gives every instant and sorcery in hand miracle {2}, and lets you loot during each opponent's upkeep.
See Lorehold, the Historian's full stats and printings →
Strategies it goes well with
- Spellslinger decks. Every instant and sorcery in hand becomes a two-mana miracle the moment it's drawn first in a turn, which is a huge discount on an expensive spell.
- Card-selection engines. The repeated loot trigger on every opponent's upkeep is a real way to dig toward the best spell to miracle out, on top of simply filtering the hand.
- Aggressive Boros tempo. Flying haste means it applies pressure the turn it's cast, on top of whatever card-selection value it generates afterward.
How it does in Commander
As the commander
As the commander it rewards a spellslinger deck built around a hand of instants and sorceries specifically, since guaranteed access to the effect from the command zone turns every relevant spell drawn first in a turn into a potential bargain.
In the 99
A strong include in any Boros spells-matter deck even without leading it, doing real work both as an evasive threat and as a card-advantage engine.
Formats it's strong in
- Spellslinger decks. The miracle discount rewards a deck already running a hand full of instants and sorceries, which is exactly the plan those decks want anyway.
- Decks with expensive top-end spells. The bigger the spell being drawn first, the bigger the discount from miracle {2} relative to its normal cost.
Formats it's weak in
- Creature-heavy or low-spell-count decks. With few instants and sorceries in hand, the miracle effect has little to work with.
- Decks that dislike discarding. The upkeep trigger requires a discard to draw, which is a real cost for a deck with a tight, carefully sequenced hand.
Synergistic cards
Austere Command ↗
A six-mana sorcery sweeper that costs {2} under Lorehold when it's the first card you draw in a turn, including on an opponent's turn through the upkeep loot.
Fireball ↗
A scalable X spell that's still strong even cast for two mana under miracle, if drawn at the right moment.
Faithless Looting ↗
Stacks its own looting with the repeated upkeep trigger to dig even faster toward the best miracle target.
Any big top-end instant or sorcery ↗
Miracle {2} turns an expensive spell into a two-mana play when you draw it first in a turn.
Is it worth the price?
As a recent-set card, Lorehold, the Historian is affordable and a reasonable pickup for a Boros spellslinger deck, with little financial risk.
Frequently asked questions
How does Lorehold, the Historian's miracle ability work?
Every instant and sorcery card in your hand gains miracle {2}. If you draw one as the first card of your turn, you may cast it for two mana instead of its normal cost. Unlike the original miracle cards, this applies to your entire hand of instants and sorceries at once, not one specific printed card.
What does the upkeep trigger on Lorehold, the Historian do?
At the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, you may discard a card to draw a card. That loot happens on every opponent's turn, so you can dig toward the spell you most want to miracle out or smooth your draws over a turn cycle.
What deck wants Lorehold, the Historian?
A Boros spellslinger deck running a lot of instants and sorceries. The miracle discount rewards drawing into those cards, and the looting from the upkeep trigger helps find them faster.