Sets [KHM] Kaldheim Official Previews

Well we got a ton of spoilers today so I'll let those trickle in, but the two I wanted to talk about is
valkigodoflies.jpg
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Valki is interesting and perfectly playable, but is Tibalt Jank? A really fun to play around Jank?
It's a very intriguing spot for a double-faced card. Where one is "yeah that's playable and probably won't break my cube" whereas the other is like "it probably will almost never see play but I want it to break my cube"
It reminds me of Nicol Bolas, the Ravager
I dunno if I even really want them that bad based on those merits, but together it's a very tempting card cuz it fills two roles. Glue and Fun
Edit: Oh I just realized that when Valki becomes a copy of the exiled card that means the opponent doesn't get it back, interesting
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
That's a good kicker to have on your mesmeic fiend, and a great ability for a mesmeric fiend to have.

Also for those wondering: the phyrexians and snow are indeed real:
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This got leaked earlier and confirmed today:

Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider
4GG
Legendary Creature - Phyrexian Praetor
Trample, haste
If you would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put twice that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead.
If an opponent would put one or more counters on a permanent or player, put half that many of each of those kinds of counters on that permanent or player instead, rounded down.


From the comments this stops your opponents sagas from advancing, and turbos yours (multiple chapters do trigger if you get multiple counters at once).
As well: Doubling season specifies that the counters must result from an effect, while loyalty changes are a cost. In the fine print, costs are not considered "an effect". Vorinclex here has no such caveat.
When your opponent activates a +1, the counter doesn't appear.
When your Oko makes a food, that's a +4.

frostbite.jpg
 
Tibalt is good because he's gravy. You are playing the card for Valki, which is a Brain Maggot with better stats and worse disruption. Then, if the game goes long and you topdeck Tibalt on turn 9 suddenly you have a beast of a card.

The card I want to talk about is
Niko-Aris-KHM-265.jpg


This is basically the perfect UW walker for a Riptide cube. It's kinda like a Sphinx's Rev for control. It has enchantment and blink synergies. It's even got some splash draw cards triggers for those of you running Improbable Alliance and company.
 
I'm not going to lie - I love the look of the Snow lands. Hopefully this means that they'll be cheap for a little while.

I kinda want to see how this plays:

oldgrowthtroll.jpg


It looks like a fun midrange-y threat that probably won't be GRBS. Anyone running a Green Devotion theme just got a new toy.
 
I LOVE the snow duals! They're almost as gorgeous as the showcase cards this time around! They even make me want to buid a frosty winter cube. Man, if I didn't have to work and still would've money for it, I'd have at least 5 cubes probably.

I'm not going to lie - I love the look of the Snow lands. Hopefully this means that they'll be cheap for a little while.

I kinda want to see how this plays:

oldgrowthtroll.jpg


It looks like a fun midrange-y threat that probably won't be GRBS. Anyone running a Green Devotion theme just got a new toy.


Cute idea. Just a bit too wordy for my tastes. Guess I'll stick with Llanowar Tribe.
 
glimpsethecosmos.jpg


One of my favorite semi-casual decks is a Snake-themed Eternal Command deck with a lot of early cantrips/TOL manipulation to get away with being a control-y deck with only 20 lands. This, alongside the Izzet Saga, make me wonder whether or not I should make an Izzet version of that deck once Kaldheim drops.

I will say that this set is looking pretty wordy so far. Most of the cards that I'm actively interested in have 8+ lines of text on them.
 
About the spoiler video:
Amazing we get to have these long streams with a large amount of spoilers. No doubt Wizards a few years ago decided to wanted to do what Blizzard did with their spoiler streams. We could all probably do without the childish humour and content but it’s really nice to have a large experience to kick of spoiler season.

About the plane:
Wow Kaldheim is really ambitious! Ten realms and some of them have several factions fighting each other. Plenty of tribal races. Snow. Modal cards. And perhaps the beginning of a Phyrexian invasion. I really like the vibe here.

About the cards:
So Phyrexia is here. I really like the way it got spoiled in a Marvel-like post-credit scene. It was kind of a horrible surprise had we not already known about it. Niko Aris and Shards are super cool.

This I really like
E70335A8-FF36-42BB-82B6-6BA7366403C5.png



I will say that this set is looking pretty wordy so far. Most of the cards that I'm actively interested in have 8+ lines of text on them.

I wrote this a few pages back

Wizards use simpler new mechanics when they want:
1. More new mechanics than the average,
or
2. More complex cards in the set.
 
glacialfloodplain.jpg


Good lord, they finally did it! A common cycle (of all 10!) taplands with basic land types! Now print them without the snow supertype so I don't have to look at that weird frame!
I've mentioned before that I was upset they didn't give us snow lands in MH1. These are a great addition that feels long overdue, despite the fact we almost never get snow cards AND we get basic land types!

I will say that this set is looking pretty wordy so far. Most of the cards that I'm actively interested in have 8+ lines of text on them.

A lot of that is tribal design, unforunately. "Effect A. Have a giant? Here's more text for Effect B." That said, there's definitely several cards that have some effects tacked on that didn't really need to be. I miss the times before that wordiness thread when I didn't think about this...

maskedvandal.jpg

This is kind of cool. Frequently won't have a creature to exile when this ETBs and the body is less significant than a lot of similar, stronger ETB value cards. Not as potent of a spell-creature when the spell is conditional and the creature is measly without a 2/1 to block.

The snow basics look great to me. The slightly different border adds good flavor without changing too much visually.
 
Seriously, Niko Aris looks pretty interesting for a planeswalker! I usually hate the card-type, they printed some in WAR that weren't too bad, but most of them are just game-warping powerhouses in environments that don't like broken/swingy stuff to go on. This one has some real cost attached to it, but you also gain something for it, and if you play cards that synergize (etb) it gets even better.

But wtf clue token powercreep


So far, Kaldheim looks pretty cool flavourwise. I like the art (especially the lands, but snow already was great on a lot of land art) but I'm still waiting for cards that make me think 'yes, I really want to test that one in my cube!' I have to say that Foretell looks like the most promising (3/3 cantrip wolf and scry 2, draw 2). Would have liked the wolf better if it had flash and was a bear instead (2/2, not the type, wolf is fine, support it in my cube).

Also, the 2/3 flier for 2B that selfmills 4 and gives you 4 life if an angel is milled was VERY close, but there certainly aren't enough angels for my cube so I fear the card's a bit lackluster. Mire Triton is a great card.
 
Huh.

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I kinda hope that WotC will eventually go whole-hog and start printing stuff with "Copy target permanent".

It's interesting that this works with tribal...
 
reflectionsoflittjara1.jpg


I kinda hope that WotC will eventually go whole-hog and start printing stuff with "Copy target permanent".

You mean “Create a token that’s a copy of target permanent.”? Because copies can’t be on the battlefield since they are not a card type and not permanents. That’s why they have tokens.

And they already made that. Behold the card that copies target permanent!








Edit: Although... in the future they could rework ‘copy’ to mean new things. Just like we got ‘create’ in Kaladesh we could also get a new meaning for ‘copy’ in a set where it makes sense. This is just baseless speculation: Copy could mean two different things for spells and permanents. For spells it would mean what it does now except they would include that you may choose a new target for the copy and for permanents it could mean to create a token that’s a copy of the permanent. In this way they could simplify the sentence to “Copy target permanent.” and “Copy target spell.” or even go crazy and say “Copy target card.” I know that’s a little too crazy :p
 
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