I also hate that they don't put reminder text on showcase cards. That was the final nail in the coffin for mutate in my cube, despite the incredible look of the cards.
Sets [KHM] Kaldheim Official Previews
- Thread starter TrainmasterGT
- Start date
I also hate that they don't put reminder text on showcase cards. That was the final nail in the coffin for mutate in my cube, despite the incredible look of the cards.
I'd hate to see how bad a common one is.
After MH1, M20, ELD, IKO, M21, ZNR and CMR bringing lots of cool new cards for me personally, I really like that Kaldheim is definitely NOT a set for me.
It looks terrible for Limited (personal taste) and has nearly nothing I'd want to try in cube. I even might quit Historic again because of snow-shit, but I'll obv wait and see how meta changes.
That being said, I actually find the whole program 2021 has to offer to sound very exciting. Although Strixhaven won't be going to catch the flavour of the mage schools in Urza block (just like Kaldheim didn't catch the flavour of Ice Age block incl Coldsnap - and I know that this all happens at different planes, but still) I'm really looking forward to it, as the concept mage school is something I loved since childhood. Time Spiral Remastered is something I'm looking forward to also, as I LOVE the old cardframe (Mirage-Scourge), while I really hope that the DnD set (which gets me hyped the most) will add some new cards with the Party mechanic. We'll also see if MH2 is going to be as great as MH1, definitely my favourite over the last two years and if it wasn't for DOM, over a few years more.
It looks terrible for Limited (personal taste) and has nearly nothing I'd want to try in cube. I even might quit Historic again because of snow-shit, but I'll obv wait and see how meta changes.
That being said, I actually find the whole program 2021 has to offer to sound very exciting. Although Strixhaven won't be going to catch the flavour of the mage schools in Urza block (just like Kaldheim didn't catch the flavour of Ice Age block incl Coldsnap - and I know that this all happens at different planes, but still) I'm really looking forward to it, as the concept mage school is something I loved since childhood. Time Spiral Remastered is something I'm looking forward to also, as I LOVE the old cardframe (Mirage-Scourge), while I really hope that the DnD set (which gets me hyped the most) will add some new cards with the Party mechanic. We'll also see if MH2 is going to be as great as MH1, definitely my favourite over the last two years and if it wasn't for DOM, over a few years more.
The weird thing to me is that so many cards in Kaldheim are tempting for Afternoon Delight, purely because of how I think Foretell interacts with the CMC constraints. I could take or leave the rest of the set (I'm not a fan of how they used Changeling), but I'm going to be jamming as many foretell cards in as I can fit.
I'd agree with Mondschwein and LadyMapi on not wanting to test most of this set with the notable exception of the spell lands. (And the Blue Made-For-Commander changeling, because I feel like you can do some Dumb Stuff with that.) This cycle seems like a great option for land-based strategies or in fleshing out a utility land section. Here's my power ranking of them, with an asterisk in from of each one I'm hoping to test. Anyone else interested in these?
*Bretagard Stronghold--Lifelink AND vigilance AND 2 +1/+1 counters?! Travel Preparations, eat your heart out. Yeah, you can't play it earlier than T4 and yeah, it's not great in aggro due to the tap clause, but if Zendikar Rising has taught us anything it's that cheap spells strapped to tap lands are pretty great for aggro. I'm pretty high on this one.
*Port of Karfell--the best critter in your GY is hopefully better than a 4/4 trampler (see the Slumbermound).
*Gates of Istfell--Baby Sphinx's Revelation for only 1 more?! A+. Great for refilling in the late game, which is when you'd want to cash this in.
*Gnottvold Slumbermound--great colors for lands, and making a 4/4 is really good on its own. One of the stronger ones.
*Immerstrum Skullcairn--discard and a bolt is really solid, especially in the late game. Only loses points for the sorcery-speed clause, but anything else would be busted.
Great Hall of Starnheim--I think this one will play better than it looks, as it provides a way to upgrade a creature of yours to Serra Angel, which is a very attractive prospect in a board stall. When you're ahead, it's still good, but ultimately it doesn't change how much removal your opponent is looking for, so it seems fairly self-balancing to me.
*Skemfar Elderhall--small removal and a couple of elves is nice, but it's pretty mediocre for small sorcery-speed removal. Probably better in a combat-heavy deck as you can leverage dealing damage in combat, but you're likely losing a creature in a trade at best, so I can't be too high on this one.
Surtland Frostpyre--the sweep and scry is nice, but it comes down really late for a 2-damage wrath. Sure, it can clear out a clogged board, but it's not going to take out the stuff you care about. Again, it's the reoccurring theme of it being really hurt by being sorcery speed.
Axgard Armory--pretty specific, fairly costly tutor. Would generally want this in an aggro deck.
Littjara Mirrorlake--only copying your own creature is fairly below-rate, and any deck that would want this likely wants Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore instead. If Glasspool Mimic didn't exist, however, I would. . . probably still rate this one at the bottom if only for power reasons. Great in EDH, though.
Sorry for the huge images!
*Bretagard Stronghold--Lifelink AND vigilance AND 2 +1/+1 counters?! Travel Preparations, eat your heart out. Yeah, you can't play it earlier than T4 and yeah, it's not great in aggro due to the tap clause, but if Zendikar Rising has taught us anything it's that cheap spells strapped to tap lands are pretty great for aggro. I'm pretty high on this one.
*Port of Karfell--the best critter in your GY is hopefully better than a 4/4 trampler (see the Slumbermound).
*Gates of Istfell--Baby Sphinx's Revelation for only 1 more?! A+. Great for refilling in the late game, which is when you'd want to cash this in.
*Gnottvold Slumbermound--great colors for lands, and making a 4/4 is really good on its own. One of the stronger ones.
*Immerstrum Skullcairn--discard and a bolt is really solid, especially in the late game. Only loses points for the sorcery-speed clause, but anything else would be busted.
Great Hall of Starnheim--I think this one will play better than it looks, as it provides a way to upgrade a creature of yours to Serra Angel, which is a very attractive prospect in a board stall. When you're ahead, it's still good, but ultimately it doesn't change how much removal your opponent is looking for, so it seems fairly self-balancing to me.
*Skemfar Elderhall--small removal and a couple of elves is nice, but it's pretty mediocre for small sorcery-speed removal. Probably better in a combat-heavy deck as you can leverage dealing damage in combat, but you're likely losing a creature in a trade at best, so I can't be too high on this one.
Surtland Frostpyre--the sweep and scry is nice, but it comes down really late for a 2-damage wrath. Sure, it can clear out a clogged board, but it's not going to take out the stuff you care about. Again, it's the reoccurring theme of it being really hurt by being sorcery speed.
Axgard Armory--pretty specific, fairly costly tutor. Would generally want this in an aggro deck.
Littjara Mirrorlake--only copying your own creature is fairly below-rate, and any deck that would want this likely wants Glasspool Mimic // Glasspool Shore instead. If Glasspool Mimic didn't exist, however, I would. . . probably still rate this one at the bottom if only for power reasons. Great in EDH, though.
Sorry for the huge images!
I've been tinkering with a snow-themed (more than MH1, somewhere between deserts in AKH and 'artifacts' in MIR - where all 5 colors get involved and/or as much as half the cube is snow/snow matters) mostly custom cube for awhile in the background of other stuff, and I was lowkey hoping to see some really splashy stuff for that in KLD.
But at least so far what I've seen seems to point in the general direction of CSP - with maybe a few exceptions that are borderline GRBS (Jorn, god of winter) or retreads of already known good effects when density is high enough (Sculptor of Winter, Avalanche Caller) there isn't a lot that really jumps out at me here.
I wanted to *love* this set, but so far not actually that impressed with the direction. Maybe I'll feel differently once the full spoiler is out.
But at least so far what I've seen seems to point in the general direction of CSP - with maybe a few exceptions that are borderline GRBS (Jorn, god of winter) or retreads of already known good effects when density is high enough (Sculptor of Winter, Avalanche Caller) there isn't a lot that really jumps out at me here.
I wanted to *love* this set, but so far not actually that impressed with the direction. Maybe I'll feel differently once the full spoiler is out.
I think we pretty frequently over estimate how many nice playables a set needs to have to be sweet for cube. I'm at least seeing a couple of cards in this set I'm eager to try out on MTG Arena.
You can always count on your pal Velrun!
The tokens of Kaldheim:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/tokens-kaldheim-2021-01-20
The tokens of Kaldheim:
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/card-preview/tokens-kaldheim-2021-01-20
Chris Taylor
Contributor
God that cat is so damn cute
A Foretell deck? Probably not. A bunch of Foretell cards to smooth out the curve even further? Yes.
OK, so, Kaldheim has a tribal ramp spell. In the set, Trolls are the tribe that really want to have a ton of lands (just look at the big RG Saga and their spell land). So you know what tribe that ramp spell belongs to?
Elves. If you want to ramp out lands in limited, you'd better also run a bunch of elves! I'm not bitter you're bitter.
But let's talk about nicer things:
Tales of the Ancestors is a cute way to refill your hand that should fit well in any kind of Foretell deck (since they empty their hands pretty easily).
Ethereal Valkyrie, on the other hand, offers some pretty horrifying card advantage/hand protection.
OK, so, Kaldheim has a tribal ramp spell. In the set, Trolls are the tribe that really want to have a ton of lands (just look at the big RG Saga and their spell land). So you know what tribe that ramp spell belongs to?
Elves. If you want to ramp out lands in limited, you'd better also run a bunch of elves! I'm not bitter you're bitter.
But let's talk about nicer things:
Tales of the Ancestors is a cute way to refill your hand that should fit well in any kind of Foretell deck (since they empty their hands pretty easily).
Ethereal Valkyrie, on the other hand, offers some pretty horrifying card advantage/hand protection.
God that cat is so damn cute
That cat token is an excellent flavor match for this set!
No, I'm still going to make a dedicated testing thread when I have a chance. It's not fair to make future people read 19 pages of random chatter before they can see what cards people wanted to include.
EDIT: Here is the Testing Thread
Not as an explicit deck archetype, but I'm interested in adding Foretell cards to spice up UW Control with some more options. I also like adding the pre-con commander in my UW section as it also synergizes with my blink archetype.
Chris Taylor
Contributor
Onderzeeboot
Ecstatic Orb
Insert "I'ld tap that" joke here
I'dInsert "I'ld tap that" joke here
that.