A Deck for Every Kaldheim Mythic!
Kaldheim is finally here, which means it's time to do the best thing in all of Magic: brew new decks! Today, we have a deck for every single mythic in Kaldheim, with a focus on Standard but also a few brews for Historic and Modern as well. Of course, Kaldheim isn't even out yet, so these decks should be considered first drafts and / or fun ideas to take advantage of some of the sweetest new cards from Kaldheim, rather than finished products. While some of the lists are more competitive than others, the main goal for the article was to put a bunch of fun ideas out into the wild for people to mess around with on Magic Arena and Magic Online. Because we have a massive 17 lists to cover today (technically, there are 20 mythics in the set, but a few decks contain multiple new mythics), rather than doing a full in-depth write up for each, I'll be going over the primary plan of the deck briefly before moving to the next list. If you have any questions about the decks (or ideas for how to improve them), make sure to let me know in the comments.
Standard
Orvar Twin
While probably not a top-tier competitive option, Orvar Twin might be the deck I'm most excited to try out. The main goal of the deck is to get Orvar, the All-Form on the battlefield along with Shipwreck Dowser and then use either Defiant Strike or Chilling Trap to make copies of Shipwreck Dowser (returning the Defiant Strike / Chilling Trap to our hand with Shipwreck Dowser's enters-the-battlefield trigger) on our opponent's end step, untap with a bunch of Shipwreck Dowsers, do it again on our pre-combat main phase to trigger prowess on all of our Dowsers, and win with one big attack. Technically, the combo isn't infinite because it is limited by the amount of mana we have to cast Defiant Strike / Chilling Trap, but making something like six Shipwreck Dowsers on our opponent's end step (while drawing six cards) and then six or seven more when we untap (drawing six or seven more cards) should be enough to win most games. The rest of the deck is designed to keep us alive long enough to assemble our combo and to protect our combo pieces.
Orzhov Angels
Orzhov Angels is basically a solid midrange list looking to take advantage of some angelic synergies, with Youthful Valkyrie growing as Angels enter the battlefield, Righteous Valkyrie gaining us a ton of life and eventually doubling-antheming our team, and Resplendent Marshal to pump our team (which actually seems sort of medium in our deck since some of our best Angel cards make Angel tokens, rather than creatures we can exile from the graveyard, although a 3/3 on-tribe flier for three is still a solid card, even if its enters-the-battlefield / death trigger might be somewhat inconsistent). While our real Angels are great, Starnheim Unleashed is likely our best way to finish off our opponent in the late game, and we even get some Angel tokens for free in our mana base, thanks to Emeria's Call. Apart from the Angels, we're playing as much good removal and interaction as we can to clear the way for our Angel beatdown and to keep us alive until we can foretell Starnheim Unleashed for a bunch of mana to (hopefully) win the game.
Izzet Giants
Giants are a weird tribe. Their biggest weakness is that they don't really have tribe members that cost one or two mana, which can make our tribal curve a bit slow, although if we can survive the early game without falling too far behind, we have a lot of power to catch up in the mid-game. Thanks to the clunky Giant curve, finding things to do on Turn 2 is essential, which is where the Stomp half of Bonecrusher Giant, Fire Prophecy, Invasion of the Giants, and even Glimpse the Cosmos come into play. The other concern for Giants is that they tend to have four toughness, which means even our best Giants, like Quakebringer, Tectonic Giant, and Calamity Bearer trade down with Lovestruck Beast and Bonecrusher Giant (two super-popular cards in Standard), which makes Soul Sear essentially to clearing the way of five-toughness creatures. Don't sleep on the power of the Giant-themed Sagas in the deck. As a slow Preordain plus ramp, Invasion of the Giants will often be our best turn-two play. And while it doesn't hit Lovestruck Beast, in some matchups, Battle of Frost and Fire offers a one-sided sweeper that should clear the way for a gigantic alpha strike.
Big Red Burn
Big Red Burn is a deck influenced by a Budget Magic deck we played a couple of months ago but with some powerful Kaldheim additions. The biggest is Toralf, God of Fury, which interacts extremely well with Chandra's Incinerator, allowing us to create a weird (non-infinite but still powerful) damage loop by throwing excess damage at an opposing creature with something like Soul Sear, Shatterskull Smashing, or Slaying Fire, which Toralf, God of Fury can throw at our opponent's face, triggering Chandra's Incinerator to damage another creature, which, if we hit the creature with excess damage, can go back to our opponent's face again thanks to Toralf, God of Fury. If we happen to have Fiery Emancipation on the battlefield, then the damage will keep increasing exponentially, and our opponent almost certainly will just die, along with their board of creatures and planeswalkers!
Mono-Green Five-Color Legends
While probably not better than Mono-Green Food, Mono-Green Five-Color Legends certainly looks more fun! The primary goal is to embrace the power of Esika, God of the Tree (for ramp and mana fixing) and Kolvori, God of Kinship (as a weird, Standard-legal Captain Sisay for card advantage). Outside of a couple of mana dorks, every single creature in our deck is a legend, and even though our mana base is mono-green, we can easily cast the The Prismatic Bridge side of Eskia thanks to The World Tree (along with our mana dorks and Esika herself). Oh yeah, and if we happen to find Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider and then cast either Garruk, Unleashed or Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, we can ultimate the planeswalker immediately, which should just win the game, with Garruk, Unleashed giving us a free creature from our deck each turn and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon dumping a handful of permanents onto the battlefield.
Golgari Elves
Not a whole lot to say about this one. It's all of the best Elves in Standard, with the idea being to flood the board with tribe members and then use either Harald Unites the Elves or Tyvar Kell to close out the game. While Elves have some solid, synergistic tribe members, one of the strangest aspects of Kaldheim is that tribes didn't get lords. This is especially problematic for Elves, which tend to be small, go-wide creatures, making the buff from a lord or two essential to closing out the game. While Harald Unites the Elves can do a good approximation, and we should win the game if we can ultimate [[Tyvar Kell], something like Elvish Archdruid or even a watered-down version like Elvish Clancaller would go a long, long way toward making Elves a real deck in Standard. For now, Standard Elves look fun, but if a lord comes along in Strixhaven or, more likely, the D&D set this summer, this might end up being pretty good too.
Mono-White Halvar
In all honesty, Halvar, God of Battle isn't a card I'm especially excited about for Standard. That said, it does open up some interesting one-shot potential in the right deck by giving all of our equipped and enchanted creatures double strike. The goal of Mono-White Halvar is to grow a big, evasive creature in the early game with Maul of the Skyclaves, Sword of the Realms, All That Glitters, and various other auras; stick a Halvar, God of Battle on Turn 4; and hopefully kill our opponent in one or two attacks with a big, double-striking Stonecoil Serpent, Gingerbrute, or Hushbringer. The deck shares a lot in common with some Mono-White Auras decks we've seen on the fringes of Standard in the past, with the addition of an equipment theme thanks to Halvar, God of Battle. Perhaps the biggest issue with Halvar, God of Battle itself is that it (and some of the equipment we're playing to support it) costs us the chance to play Lurrus of the Dream-Den as a companion. Is it worth giving up the long-game grind of Lurrus for the one-shot potential of Halvar? Only time will tell, but if you like auras and equipment and getting aggressive, Mono-White Halvar seems like it should be worth testing, at least.
Alrund Foretell Control
I'm honestly not sure how good Alrund, God of the Cosmos will be (on its face, it looks like one of the least powerful Gods from Kaldheim), but if there were ever a deck that could take advantage of Alrund, it would be this one, with a massive 23 foretell cards. The main goal is to play a fairly typical UW draw-go control game by countering and killing things in the early game with various foretell spells until we eventually stick a big Alrund, God of the Cosmos for more card advantage and then flip up a Starnheim Unleashed to make a lethal board of Angels to pick up the win.
Temur Koma Ramp
Koma, Cosmos Serpent doesn't really feel like a build-around card to me. It's just a big, uncounterable threat for finishing games. As such, the most likely home for Koma, Cosmos Serpent in Standard is probably in small numbers (either in the main deck or in the sideboard) in a deck like Temur Ramp, as a way to fight through counterspells against control. While beating counterspells is Koma's main power, it's also cute with Terror of the Peaks, with the Koma's Coil we make on each upkeep essentially giving us a free Lightning Bolt each turn, along with a 3/3 body! My guess is that Koma, Cosmos Serpent likely should start out in the sideboard, but depending on how counterspell-heavy the Kaldheim Standard meta ends up being, it could easily find its way into the main deck as well. For now, we have a 1/1 split between the main deck and sideboard, mostly because it feels weird to not have the card we're building around in the main deck.
Five-Color Sultai Emergent Ultimatum
A few weeks ago, we played an Emergent Ultimatum deck on Meme or Dream? and it was surprisingly solid. Burning-Rune Demon seems like the perfect addition to the strategy on two levels. First, if we don't have our namesake Emergent Ultimatum, we can cast Burning-Rune Demon, search for Bala Ged Recovery and Emergent Ultimatum, and, no matter what our opponent chooses, know that we'll end up with an Emergent Ultimatum in hand over the next turn or two. Second, Burning-Rune Demon seems like the perfect third card to tutor up with Emergent Ultimatum. Let's say we cast Emergent Ultimatum and grab something like Alrund's Epiphany, Nyxbloom Ancient, and Burning-Rune Demon. If our opponent gives us the non-Demon cards, we get an extra turn with near-infinite mana, which should win us the game. If they give us Burning-Rune Demon, we can tutor up our package of Emergent Ultimatum and Bala Ged Recovery and run it back during our extra turn if our opponent gives us Alrund's Epiphany, or possibly right away if we end up with triple mana from Nyxbloom Ancient!
Mammoth Gruul
Battle Mammoth is another Kaldheim mythic that I don't see as a build-around. It's a solid midrange threat, but my guess is you just throw it into something like Gruul Midrange or Mono-Green Stompy and reap the rewards of its solid stats and protection ability. That said, if you're looking for a big, semi-resilient green five-drop, Battle Mammoth is likely one of the best options in Standard and might clearly be the best option once Elder Gargaroth rotates next fall.
Uw Niko Devotion
Niko Aris was one of the most challenging cards to build around, just because there are so many possibilities. Fueling a UW Tempo deck by picking up things like Skyclave Apparition and Glorious Protector with the +1 seems like a solid possibility. A Bant Constellation shell with cards like Setessan Champion and Archon of Sun's Grace designed to take advantage of the fact that the Shards Niko Aris makes are enchantments could also be solid. Finally, I settled on an updated version of an old favorite: Mono-Blue Devotion, splashing white for Niko Aris. Niko seems perfect for the deck. The X casting cost makes it a weird, backup version of Gadwick, the Wizened with more delayed results. The +1 can return things like Corridor Monitor to hand to untap Nyx Lotus another time, Brazen Borrower for more removal, or Gadwick, the Wizened for even more card draw. The minus ability offers some removal, which Mono-Blue decks can always use (even with Bind the Monster being another sweet Kaldheim addition to the deck)—you can never have too much removal, especially when it comes attached to a planeswalker that does multiple things. Basically, while I think Niko Aris can have multiple homes in Standard and possibly all the way back to Modern, it's hard to pass up the value it can generate in a devotion shell.
Historic
Mono-Red Treasure Ramp
Goldspan Dragon is 100% a playable (and likely very good) Standard card, but in Standard, you'll likely just run it as a solid, evasive midrange threat rather than as a build-around because Standard is a bit light on playable Treasure-token producers. However, in Historic, we have the pieces to go all-in on Goldspan Dragon's Treasure-mana-doubling ability. The idea of Mono-Red Treasure Ramp is twofold. First, we can use cards like Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Wily Goblin, Captain Lannery Storm, Pirate's Pillage, and Treasure Map to make a bunch of Treasure tokens and then play Goldspan Dragon to double the mana they produce to hard cast massive game-enders like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon on Turn 4 or 5. Second, we can make a bunch of Treasure tokens (perhaps with the help of Goldspan Dragon) and then use Magda, Brazen Outlaw to sacrifice five of them to tutor up Drakuseth, Maw of Flames, Platinum Angel, Akroma's Memorial, or even just Leyline Tyrant to close out the game. The end result is a deck that has a solid midrange-y aggro plan but sort of incidentally can end up with a seven- or eight-drop on the battlefield super early in the game, which seems like a powerful combination!
Five-Color Vorinclex Legends
While I'm not expecting Five-Color Vorinclex Legends to be super competitive, it's also the Kaldheim-based Historic deck that I'm most looking forward to playing. The deck has a few plans. The most straightforward is to use Kolvori, God of Kinship or Captain Sisay to find Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider and then play any of our planeswalkers after we get down Vorinclex, which we can immediately ultimate and which should win us the game. Jace, Cunning Castaway makes infinite Jaces and infinite tokens, Teferi, Hero of Dominaria allows us to start exiling our opponent's permanents, Liliana, Dreadhorde General offers a one-sided Cataclysm, Vraska, Relic Seeker makes a single point of damage lethal, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon likely dumps a bunch of other planeswalkers onto the battlefield. Plan B is to ultimate Kaya the Inexorable, either with the help of Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider or naturally, and then take infinite turns with Karn's Temporal Sundering being cast for free from exile. We can also play The Prismatic Bridge with the help of our ample ramp and The World Tree and start slamming huge legends and planeswalkers into play for free each turn until we outvalue our opponent. Can the deck hold up to fast aggro and combo? That remains to be seen, but it looks like an absolute blast to play!
Janky Nexus Reanimator
Janky Nexus Reanimator is—as its name suggests—one of the jankiest decks on our list today. The idea is to self-mill aggressively, get a Maskwood Nexus on the battlefield (either naturally or by casting it from our graveyard with Emry, Lurker of the Loch or Scholar of the Lost Trove), and then hopefully foretell Haunting Voyage to reanimate our entire graveyard, with all of our creatures getting haste thanks to Samut, Voice of Dissent and massive and trample thanks to Craterhoof Behemoth, which should end the game immediately. The problem is that foretelling Haunting Voyage costs seven mana, which, combined with the fact that our plan gets destroyed by graveyard hate like Grafdigger's Cage, probably means Janky Nexus Reanimator is more of an Against the Odds deck than something that will truly be competitive. That said, when everything comes together, the results should be spectacular!
Modern
Valki's End
Valki, God of Lies / Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor is one of the Kaldheim cards I'm most excited about for Modern, and while I think there are a few ways to take advantage of the MDFC God / planeswalker, the most competitive of the bunch might be as a transformational sideboard plan for tradtitional (i.e., cascade-based) builds of Living End. If you've ever played with or against Living End, you'll know that game one usually goes well since most decks don't have graveyard hate, but then things become a lot harder in games two and three since most opponents will take out targeted removal and overload on things to interact with the graveyard /reanimator plan. Valki, God of Lies seems to offer the perfect transformational plan to punish opponents for taking out removal and focusing on the graveyard. We can swap out Living End for Valki, God of Lies and know that whenever we cast Demonic Dread or Violent Outburst, the end of the cascade will be Valki, but since cascade lets us cast the spell we hit, we can choose to cast Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor instead. In theory, a Tibalt on Turn 2 or 3 should be enough to win most games, and if our opponent has something like Assassin's Trophy (which is less likely after sideboarding), we can always cascade into another Tibalt until we eventually win with the +2 or even the ultimate. The same plan could work with Valki, God of Lies in the main deck, but I really like the transformational-sideboard plan since it will likely force the opponent to have a bunch of dead cards in their hand (graveyard hate) and decrease the odds that the opponent will have a targeted removal spell that can answer Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor.
Conclusion
Anyway, that's all for today! As I mentioned in the intro, if you have any questions or suggestions about any of the decks we looked at today, make sure to let me know in the comments, and if you have your own Kaldheim list you'd like to show off, I'd love to take a look! As always, you can reach me on Twitter @SaffronOlive or at SaffronOlive@MTGGoldfish.com.
