Ny database with versioning (column based) built in

CAP is basically a continuum along which BASE and ACID are on opposite ends.

CAP is Consistency, Availability, and Partition tolerance. Basically you can pick 2 of those but you can't do all 3.

ACID focuses on Consistency and availability.

BASE focuses on Partition tolerance and availability and throws consistency out the window.

I'll answer your question in an orthodox manner, with a twist of heresy:

Orthodoxy: You shouldn't store data in a column in a relational database that isn't "atomic."

Heresy: In your specific situation, you could -- maybe -- consider this blob of JSON to be an atomic object.

Years ago, Chris Date said it like this:

"A relation is said to be in first normal form (abbreviated 1NF) if and only if it satisfies the condition that it contains scalar values only"

^{Date, C.J. An Introduction to Database Systems, 6th edition (Addison-Wesley, 1995)}

Later, he took a somewhat softer stance:

"1NF just means each tuple in the relation contains exactly one value, of the appropriate type, for each attribute. Observe in particular that 1NF places no limitations on what those attribute types are allowed to be."

^{Date, C. J. Database Design and Relational Theory: Normal Forms and All That Jazz (OReilly Media, 2012)}

The "exactly one value" I'm arguing for here is "exactly one JSON object" (which could, in turn contain a JSON array).

Storing things in JSON in a column is a bad idea if you need to the DBMS to manipulate it in any way, since, of course, it can't be properly indexed like properly normalized data can be... but, arguably, if you really really really don't intend for the DBMS to do anything with what you're storing other than write and read it, the case could be made to store a chunk of JSON in a single column, claiming the JSON array of values to be a single atomic value.

The big objection, I think, to doing this, is when it's done out of a lack of familiarity with the relational model or out of laziness or naivete. Obviously, there are a lot of ways it could be done wrong, but I'd suggest that there's nothing inherently wrong about storing a chunk of JSON in a database, As Long As You Know What You're Doing.™

And, of course, you could use a MySQL FULLTEXT index on it, now that those are supported in InnoDB as of (MySQL 5.6).