Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian | Art by Joshua Raphael

Do you like playing big, splashy spells - the sort of game-ending upsets that could make a casual Commander player blush? Well then, do I have a commander for you - a creature that puts the words "Elder Dragon" back in Elder Dragon Highlander.

So, what is Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian, and what can it do in cEDH? Let's take a look.

What Does Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian Do?

For , Lorehold is legendary 5/5 Elder Dragon creature with flying and haste that grants all instant and sorcery cards in your hand miracle . Additionally, at the beginning of each opponent's upkeep, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card.

So, first, a refresher on the miracle mechanic. Miracle is an alternative cost, with the rules of the ability allowing you to cast the card with miracle for that special cost when you draw it if it's the first card you've drawn this turn. It doesn't matter when you draw it, and miracle bypasses normal timing restrictions. This means that you can cast a sorcery for its miracle cost on an opponent's upkeep if you drew it then and there, an important distinction that's going to matter for this deck a whole lot.

Moving back to Lorehold, this card does both of the things that any real miracle-powering engine needs to do: not only does it provide you with plenty of miracle spells to cast (in this case, literally granting the ability), but it also provides a guaranteed opportunity for the miracle cost to trigger on each and every turn.

All Lorehold asks is, can you make it to , and, once you do, what miraculous bombs are you going to cast?

Key Cards for Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian

Top Deck Setup

First up, additional support.

Lorehold does an excellent job of allowing you to cast miracles when you draw them, and it gives you plenty of opportunities to draw cards, but - on its own - Lorehold can't guarantee that the cards you'll be drawing each turn are going to be meaningful. These three cards, meanwhile, all provide much more control over the card's you'll be drawing.

Both Sensei's Divining TopSensei's Divining Top and Scroll RackScroll Rack are staples of the many sixty-card constructed decks which have been built around the miracles mechanic over the years, and they'll each be performing a very similar role here. Sensei's Divining Top, for the low price of , allows you to rearrange the top three cards of your library, providing both foresight and control over the order in which you draw cards.

Scroll Rack, meanwhile, allows you to take any cards already in your hand and put them back on top of your deck, setting up future miracles later down the line.

Library of LengLibrary of Leng, meanwhile, is a card wholly unique to Lorehold. For , this artifact lets you take any cards you discard and place them back on top of your deck. Thanks to this ability being a replacement effect, this means that Lorehold's triggered ability can be replaced with "put a card on top of your deck, then draw a card," which is awfully close to the same power of Scroll Rack.

Splashy Spells

These are the kind of mana values that would make an Ad NauseamAd Nauseam player squirm.

When you have the option to cast 12-drops for just , why would you play anything else? These cards don't necessarily win the game the turn you cast them (save for your second go-around with Approach of the Second SunApproach of the Second Sun), but when you're able to cast them turn after turn for such a steep discount, they do readily add up to the kind of insurmountable value that will outclass the rest of the table.

How Does Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian Win?

Approach of the Second SunApproach of the Second Sun

This is the deck's main win condition that comes straight out of the miracle synergies: Approach of the Second SunApproach of the Second Sun. Simply cast it once as a miracle, wait a few turns as you dig through your Lorehold rummage triggers, then cast it as a miracle again. That's a whole lot better than paying the twice.

Plus, it can be paired with Sensei's Divining TopSensei's Divining Top or Scroll RackScroll Rack to speed up the game plan by at least a turn.

Mono-Red Breach

Next up is a classic of any-and-every red deck, Underworld BreachUnderworld Breach, which can be paired with either Lion's Eye DiamondLion's Eye Diamond and Wheel of FortuneWheel of Fortune to churn through your deck, or Grinding StationGrinding Station and any mana-neutral (or mana-positive) rock to similarly mill through your deck.

The Wheel package risks drawing your opponents into interaction (since they draw off of each Wheel), while the Grinding Station line provides for tighter margins as each instance of mill only churns through three cards.

Either way, you'll wind up in a position to close out the game by eventually finding the requisite cards to cast our next combo.

Dualcaster Combo

Another classic of red decks (particularly low-color red lists), the Dualcaster MageDualcaster Mage combo works as follows:

1. Cast any TwinflameTwinflame-esque card, targeting any creature. Suitable replacements for Twinflame include Heat ShimmerHeat Shimmer and Molten DuplicationMolten Duplication, as these instants/sorceries cards create temporary copies of a creature with haste.
2. Before Twinflame resolves, cast Dualcaster Mage. Once the Dualcaster resolves, have its enters trigger target the Twinflame, creating a copy of it.
3. Have the Twinflame copy target the newly-resolved Dualcaster Mage, then let the Twinflame resolve. Once it does, you'll get a new Dualcaster Mage copy with its own enters trigger. Have the enters trigger target the still-unresolved original Twinflame.
4. Rinse and repeat.

All in all, this will end up with an arbitrarily large number of cloned Dualcaster Mages in play with haste, allowing you to close out the game through good ol' fashioned combat damage.

Lorehold, the HistorianLorehold, the Historian cEDH Deck List

Wrap Up

Despite not making a Gaea's CradleGaea's Cradle-worth of mana every turn, Lorehold easily takes the cake for casting some of the highest mana-value spells in all of cEDH. If that sounds like an experiment worth testing, then give this deck a try!