Commander Review: Kaldheim | Part 1 | White, Blue, Black, Red
Kaldheim has been released so now it's time for me to go over the entire set and highlight the cards that I think are most noteworthy for us Commander players! Let's get started!
WHITE
Colossal Plow
Colossal Plow is a sweet new addition for Depala, Pilot Exemplar: it's low cmc, hits hard, and is ... a ritual in White? Did we -- did we just get a color pie break?? IN WHITE?!
I love that Plow exists. I have no idea why they decided to color break here, but it's White so who cares? As long as White isn't allowed to draw cards it doesn't really matter what it does.
Doomskar
Doomskar is a sweet board wipe. Cast normally it's a slightly overcosted Day of Judgment, which is totally fine since 5cmc wipes are still playable at most tables. But the flexibility of foretell makes it a lot more interesting -- something I anticipate I'll be saying a lot of times in this review. But yeah, being able to foretell it when you have 2 extra mana, then cast it later for just 3 mana, is really good.
Doomskar is solid in any White deck. It's obviously best in Foretell decks like Ranar the Ever-Watchful and any deck running a bunch of wheels like Windfall and stuff, but you don't need those extra synergies to make it worth considering.
Glorious Protector
Glorious Protector doubles as a great way to protect your creatures from board wipes while also re-using powerful enter the battlefield and leave the battlefield triggers. This makes it a slam-dunk in Blink decks to protect your board of Mulldrifters and Cloudblazers while generating more value out of them. It also helps with silly Yorion, Sky Nomad loops when paired with another blinker like Felidar Guardian
Protector is great in any Blink deck, like Brago, King Eternal and perfect in any version of Foretell deck under Ranar the Ever-Watchful. It's also a Cleric so it can serve as protection for Cleric Tribal decks like Orah, Skyclave Hierophant. Angel Tribal enthusiasts are probably sad at the lack of synergy but since the tribe is kinda jank it's still a fine creature with pretty art so why not?
Halvar, God of Battle
Halvar, God of Battle may not be the most mana-efficient at anything he does, but he does so much and brings so much flexibility to an Equipment / Aura deck that it's hard not to love him. His front side gives enchanted/equipped creature double strike which you basically can get for half-price on Reyav, Master Smith plus lets you move around auras/equipments like a watered down verion of Ardenn, Intrepid Archaeologist. Neither ability is impressive on its own, but combined together is solid for a 4 mana 4/4. The back side, Sword of the Realms, is actually better-costed for its effects, which both pumps the equipped creature and protects it from removal.
The real power is this card's flexibility: need an equipment that pumps and protects? Cast it as Sword of the Realms. Already got equipped creatures and need some extra oomph? Cast it as Halvar, God of Battle. I love how it's always a great card to see in your hand in both an Aura or Equipment deck.
For those that want a sword as your commander, Halvar, God of Battle will do a good job pulling that off. Personally I'm jamming him into the 99 of my Akiri, Fearless Voyager aka Kaldra deck!
Reidane, God of the Worthy
Reidane is an interesting hatebear: take Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, bump its cmc by 1, beef up its noncreature tax and only affect opponents but also restrict it so it only affects 4+ cmc spells. It also hates on snow lands a tad, but (hopefully) that won't come up regularly in Commander games.
Reidane also has some extra versatility since you can cast it for its back side, Valkmira, Protector's Shield. I doubt it will be cast very often, but if you're up against Toshiro Umezawa or something similar where its narrow abilities are actually relevant then you'll be glad you have this option.
Is Reidane good? I think so. The noncreature hate tax is big, and 4+cmc noncreature spells are common enough that it's bound to annoy opponents. Is it good enough to be popular in Commander? Certainly not. It's too meta-dependent to be consistently good and unlike my favorite recent hateboar, Yasharn, Implacable Earth, Reidane doesn't offer any value if its main schtick isn't relevant or it's unceremoniously removed by a Swords to Plowshares.
I think Reidane, God of the Worthy is a solid inclusion in a dedicated Hatebear deck. Despite looking like an Angel it does not have the subtype but if you really want to keep an Angelic theme then maybe it also makes the cut in Angel Tribal due to art alone.
Resplendent Marshal
Resplendent Marshal is a solid mana-efficient anthem effect: giving your creatures two sets of +1/+1 counters along with being a 3/3 flyer is pretty nuts at just 3cmc. This ability works best in Go Wide decks and +1/+1 Counter decks to get the most out of its counters: it's the perfect card for Hamza, Guardian of Arashin, for example. It's also an Angel so it's a fine inclusion in Angel Tribal like Lyra Dawnbringer, and it's a Warrior so it wouldn't be out of place in Najeela, the Blade-Blossom or if your a big ol' hipster maybe Daghatar the Adamant.
Righteous Valkyrie
Righteous Valkyrie is a super-efficient life gain engine and anthem for Angel / Cleric Tribal decks. Both tribes have strong Lifegain subthemes, with notable inclusions being Speaker of the Heavens, Angelic Accord, and most recently Valkyrie Harbinger in the same set, so this Valkyrie slots perfectly into either archetype. I'm honestly shocked that you get this much value at just 3cmc! It seems super pushed to me, but I'm not complaining.
Righteous Valkyrie is an auto-include in Angel Tribal like Lyra Dawnbringer and Cleric Tribal like Ayli, Eternal Pilgrim.
Runeforge Champion
Runeforge Champion is a theoretically great card, being an efficient tutor and ramp engine for Rune cards. Unfortunately, we only have five Rune cards so far and none of them are exciting for Commander. So Champion isn't good yet, but it's probably worth picking up a copy in hopes that they expand the Rune card pool in the future.
Search for Glory
Search for Glory is a super flexible tutor in a color not known for getting them. Commander is the format of legendaries, so being able to tutor any of them is a solid rate for 3cmc. Being able to tutor for snow cards and sagas is a nice bonus too. The lifegain aspect is neat but thankfully won't often matter so no worries about replacing your basics for it.
Pretty much any deck that runs 10+ legendary cards should consider Search for Glory. It's really strong and being slept on.
Sigrid, God-Favored
Sigrid is, at the very least, an interesting card: it's a newer, better version of Hixus, Prison Warden, a card I don't think I've ever seen played. Being just temporary exile on a fragile creature doesn't strike me as a powerful or popular effect; people aren't scrambling to put Banisher Priest in all their decks. I suppose Sigrid might be neat in a Blink deck as you could even exile your own attacking / blocking creatures to potentially set up blink loops but probably not.
Spectral Steel
Spectral Steel is a sweet design. Giving a creature +2/+2 isn't exciting for 2cmc but I love its unique recursion ability. It's a fine addition in Equipment decks, but I'm more excited for it in Aura decks where aura support cards makes casting it a little more desirable. I'd be happy to jam it in basically Aura deck like Wyleth, Soul of Steel, Siona, Captain of the Pyleas, but my favorite is probably Bruna, Light of Alabaster, a deck that usually incorporates a lot of self-mill; I could see Steel being milled and then using its recursion to get back something tasty.
Starnheim Courser
White has had creatures with cost reductions to enchantments (Starfield Mystic) and auras / equipments (Danitha Capashen, Paragon), but never to all artifacts, so this is a first. It's like a more flexible white version of Foundry Inspector except it's not itself an artifact.
Is Starnheim Courser good? Eh, not really. It would've been great at 2cmc for either Enchantment or Artifact decks, but ramping both isn't worth 3cmc since most decks focus on either one or the other.
Starnheim Unleashed
Starnheim Unleashed costs too much mana for too little impact. Sure, it creates angel tokens arguably better than Decree of Justice, but the beauty of Decree is that you can cycle it to make an uncounterable army at instant speed, surprising your opponents with an instant attacking army on your turn. And both are way worse at making angels than Entreat the Angels anyway.
I would sing this card's praises if it was instant. But as a sorcery that costs this much mana, you're begging to tap out for just a handful of tokens that'll get promptly board wiped if they're threatening. The tokens are beefy so it might make the cut in a Trostani, Selesnya's Voice deck, but honestly, I wouldn't recommend it even there. The mana cost is just too high.
BLUE
Alrund, God of the Cosmos
Alrund, God of the Cosmos is a sweet card advantage engine plus finisher wrapped in one. Alrund can draw up to two cards per turn and you can drastically increase its hit rate with scry cards like Serum Visions and Inga Rune-Eyes or other effects like Brainstorm and Future Sight. Drawing cards and foretelling beefs up Alrund, which can then lay the smackdown on opponents.
The back side, Hakka, Whispering Raven is kinda meh, but it's an okay early play and it bounces itself so you can recast it as the front side and put that scry to good use. It's more of an added bonus.
I think Alrund is a solid commander for people who want to play Mono-Blue Voltron with an emphasis on card draw. It's basically a way superior/interesting Syr Elenora, the Discerning, loading your deck with card draw, library manipulation, and some choice evasion like Aqueous Form to get lethal commander damage through. It's also a fine choice in the 99 of any draw-heavy deck. It's decent enough in a Foretell deck like Ranar the Ever-Watchful, though having an absurd amount of cards in hand is much easier than having a ton of foretell cards in exile.
Alrund's Epiphany
While Alrund's Epiphany is one of the worst extra turn spells available in Commander, bad Time Warps are still good in decks with an insatiable demand for extra turn spells: it's an auto-include in Narset, Enlightened Master, and it might just be good enough for Edric, Spymaster of Trest for example. Any deck that doesn't care about cmc's and just wants to jam super expensive stuff to cast for free like Golos, Tireless Pilgrim is fine running this as well.
Behold the Multiverse
A random 4cmc common instant that does scry 2 and draw 2 with a minor upside is actually pretty solid in Commander. I'd consider it worse overall than Chemister's Insight in most decks, but I think many of the same decks running Insight could also run Behold the Multiverse. It's a solid inclusion in Spellslinger like Talrand, Sky Summoner, it gets better in decks that care about scry like Alrund, God of the Cosmos, and it's a great foretell card in Ranar the Ever-Watchful.
Cosima, God of the Voyage
Cosima, God of the Voyage is a card jam-packed with cool abilities that are worth building around, with the real struggle being figuring out where to put her. The front side sees Cosima exiling herself as she explores distant lands which is basically a landfall ability that draws you a card and give her a +1/+1 counter each time a land enters the battlefield. So if you wanted to draw 4 cards off her you'd need to exile her on your upkeep, then play five lands, with the fifth land being used to bring her back to the battlefield. This is ... slow, especially when compared to simic versions like Tatyova, Benthic Druid and Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, but honestly? GOOD! I'm happy to see some less busted versions of fun effects.
The backside is even more intriguing to me: The Omenkeel is a sweet card advantage anthem for all your Vehicles. Supporting Vehicles has been a Boros thing, so having a Vehicle support card in Blue is a welcome surprise.
Both sides are sweet, but the question is: where do you run Cosima? If you like unique commanders that require you to dig deep through niche cards to make the deck come together then Cosima is an excellent challenge as a commander, as both her Landfall front side and Vehicle backside are neither things Mono Blue is known to support. However, if you're looking to maximize Cosima's potential then she's probably best in the 99 of a Simic style deck like Aesi, Tyrant of Gyre Strait, which can effortlessly pile on those voyage counters.
Cosmos Charger
Cosmos Charger is one of the best cards in the Foretell archetype and helps make the deck tick. Being able to foretell at instant speed allows you to play a more Draw-Go style of deck, plus the mana discount it offers quickly adds up. Charger gets even better when paired with the Foretell commander, Ranar the Ever-Watchful, as now you can foretell once on each person's turn for free.
Cyclone Summoner
Cyclone Summoner is a tribal board bounce that costs a whopping 7 mana. Compared to a similar tribal bounce, Whelming Wave, Summoner costs more, but you at least get a 7/7 on the battlefield which is something. It also bounces noncreature permanents too except for lands, which could be good if your ramp is mostly land-based, but considering Giant Tribal support in Kaldheim is Izzet, odds are you're bouncing most of your artifact ramp in the process which can be awkward.
Overall I think Cyclone Summoner is one of the better cards in Izzet Giant Tribal but the bar isn't too high there since the card pool is so small. It probably doesn't make the cut in most Wizard decks as there's simply way better options for that popular archetype; heck, there's even a better 7cmc Giant for bouncing in Wizard Tribal, Galecaster Colossus! But yeah, jam it in Aegar, the Freezing Flame.
Depart the Realm
Depart the Realm is the latest variant of "Disperse, but a little better" to add to the pile. The most competitive of these is Chain of Vapor, but beyond that most people settle on Blink of an Eye / Into the Roil. I like Depart a bit more than the kicker ones: you don't get to dump extra mana to draw a card, but the idea of sometimes foretelling this when I have extra mana so I can cast it for just U on a future turn seems great to me. It's much easier to have U up for when you need it than 1U, after all.
Depart the Realm is a solid budget inclusion in a bunch of Blue decks, such as Spellslinger like Talrand, Sky Summoner, or Bounce like Barrin, Tolarian Archmage. It's best in the Foretell deck under Ranar the Ever-Watchful.
Frost Augur
Frost Augur is a neat incremental card draw engine in a Snow Tribal deck, essentially a Scrying Sheets on a stick. It's an innocent-looking but powerful engine in Jorn, God of Winter, which can even activate twice per turn thanks to Jorn's untap trigger.
Glimpse the Cosmos
Glimpse the Cosmos is a neat little card in Giant Tribal. By itself it's a bad Shimmer of Possibility, but in Giant Tribal you can "flashback" it for just U, which is sweet. Nothing crazy here but it's cool. Put it in Aegar, the Freezing Flame.
Graven Lore
Graven Lore is one of the strongest Snow payoffs in the set. In a snow deck this is Scry 5 Draw 3, which is basically like an instant-speed Ugin's Insight, kinda bananas! It's not busted but it's very very good, especially in a Draw-Go style deck. It's solid in any Snow Tribal deck like Jorn, God of Winter and it's good enough that I'd swap out regular basics for snow lands to maximize its value in Draw-Go decks like Talrand, Sky Summoner and Ephara, God of the Polis as well.
Icebreaker Kraken
I'm a little conflicted with this card: on the one hand, it's a good snow card, and I hate the snow mechanic thanks to existence of snow basics. But on the other hand, I love big dumb Sea Monsters, and this is a good big dumb Sea Monster! Despite its 12cmc, Icebreaker Kraken can be easily cast for just six mana if you have six snow lands, which is on the cheap end for a Kraken. It also comes with a solid ETB trigger and can even protect itself while potentially setting up additional landfall triggers and whatnot with the lands you bounce. Oh and it's an 8/8!
I guess I'll settle for hating myself for liking this card. It's great in Sea Monster Tribal like Arixmethes, Slumbering Isle but you gotta run snow basics. It's a staple in Snow Tribal aka Jorn, God of Winter. You can leverage its high CMC in certain decks like Imoti, Celebrant of Bounty as well.
Inga Rune-Eyes
Inga Rune-Eyes is jam-packed with value in a Sacrifice deck: for 4 mana you get to scry 3, draw 3, and get a sacrificial body for extra value! That's kinda insane. While I'm not too hot on it being a commander since Mono Blue ain't great at supporting Sacrifice, Inga is great in the 99 for Kels, Fight Fixer or Araumi of the Dead Tide for that sac value. ETB Scry 3 is also tasty for Eligeth, Crossroads Augur.
Mystic Reflection
Mystic Reflection is my pick for the strongest Commander card in the entire set. This incredibly versatile card can be used to set up insane boards to benefit for you or absolutely ruin your opponents. You could cast this to have all your tokens as enter as copies of Eternal Witness, for example. Or heck maybe you target Master of Waves in response to its ETB trigger and make a hilarious number of merfolks on the battlefield?
Or what if your opponents have their deck built around their commanders, and when they go to cast them you use Reflection so they enter as a 1/1 Soldier token instead? Kinda brutal for 1-2 mana, isn't it?
So yeah, Mystic Reflection is a very good card. It's both powerful and flexible. It's hard to imagine many games where it's not a high-impact card. I'd recommend it for just about any deck, but it has particular synergy in Spellslinger, Draw-Go, and Foretell.
Orvar, the All-Form
Orvar, the All-Form is super unique, super fun commander that encourages you to run a bunch of cards you normally would never play, which is always my favorite kind of commander.
Orvar has a passing resemblance to Zada, Hedron Grinder: both want you to target your own stuff with instants and sorceries. In the case of Zada, it's an all-in Combo deck that makes a bunch of tokens, plays Zada, then uses cards like Battle Hymn and Expedite to draw tons of cards, generate tons of mana, and immediately win the game with a lethal swing.
Orvar also wants you to target your own permanents with the lowest cmc instants/sorceries possible for maximum trigger efficiency but goes about it differently. You're copying any permanent you want for one blue mana with Thermal Flux, copying Archaeomancer to get an instant/sorcery back to the hand, or even making a token copy of an Island, for example. This is powerful and can get out of control fast, especially if you're protecting Orvar with countermagic.
I think Orvar will end up being a cool gimmick deck. It does something very unique and makes obscure cards look good. It will also fail hilariously if Orvar gets removed and you're stuck with a bunch of Thermal Flux type cards in hand. I definitely want to play it!
Ravenform
To my knowledge, Ravenform is the first time Blue has a way to specifically deal with artifacts, which is ... well, it's something. I guess if Black is allowed to deal with enchantments now with Feed the Swarm effects then now Blue is allowed to deal with artifacts? Not really happy with it to be honest.
Ravenform isn't an insane card or anything. It's flexible and it exiles, but it is sorcery-speed at least. I think it's good enough for most Blue decks that don't have access to permanent artifact removal, but it's not a new staple. It's more just the fact that WOTC makes a big stink about the color pie as a justification on why White isn't allowed fun things and then casually breaks the pie for literally all other colors.
Reflections of Littjara
Reflections of Littjara is an awesome new inclusion in any Tribal deck. Being able to copy all of your tribal cards will get silly fast. Also note that tribal instants/sorceries can be copied with this as well, so if you cast Notorious Throng for its prowl cost you will get double the tokens and two extra turns!
I honestly can't think of any Tribal deck where I wouldn't at least consider running Reflection in. It's kinda like Kindred Discovery; you're a Tribal deck in Blue, so why not? Have some fun! I'm also super excited to try it in my Tribal Tribal deck!
BLACK
Blood on the Snow
Blood on the Snow seems to me like a better Necromantic Selection: you can only get stuff from your graveyard, but it can hit planeswalkers as well, the target didn't have to die from the spell, and most notably it costs 6 instead of 7 mana.
Is Blood strong enough for me to swap my basics to snow? Thankfully not. It's good in a lot of Black decks but it's not a generic staple. It's definitely a sweet pickup in Snow Tribal like Jorn, God of Winter.
Burning-Rune Demon
Burning-Rune Demon feels like a throwback to the old classic Commander card, Rune-Scarred Demon: they're both big beefy runed demons that tutor up cards when they ETB. While the original straight-up tutored a card into your hand, this new demon actually tutors up two cards, letting an opponent choose which goes into your hand and which into your graveyard. Now the power ceiling on Burning-Rune is definitely higher as at its best it's both a Demonic Tutor and Entomb on a stick. For example, you can get both Karmic Guide & Reveillark, so whichever card goes to hand can reanimate the other. Or you can politic with an opponent to choose according to what you want.
I think this card will show up in a lot of Reanimator decks. I'm itching to play it in Araumi of the Dead Tide and Meren of Clan Nel Toth, for example. It's also a Demon so it's a solid inclusion in Demon Tribal under Rakdos, the Showstopper.
Crippling Fear
Crippling Fear is a sweet asymmetrical mini-wipe for tribal decks: you won't kill the big stuff, but you'll probably kill a few stuff, and all your stuff is safe! It's a nice option for basically any tribal deck.
Draugr Necromancer
Draugr Necromancer aka Mr. Steal Yo Creatures is a nasty theft effect indeed! I always felt Grave Betrayal cost way too much mana, but getting a similar effect stapled on to a 4cmc creature is way better: yeah, you need to pay the mana cost to get the creature, but it's much easier to get Necromancer on the battlefield, and being a Zombie Cleric creature means it's easier to tutor up and reanimate plus it benefits from a ton of tribal synergies. Even if you don't cast any of the creatures, the exile replacement effect denies your opponents from getting any beneficial death triggers and prevents any future recursion of their own.
I think Draugr Necromancer is a strong candidate for any Cleric or Zombie deck. Both tribes love killing opposing creatures with Grave Pact and similar effects, and then you just yoink whatever good creature you exile!
Dream Devourer
Dream Devourer is a sweet card with unique applications. It's a boon in Foretell decks that aren't led by Ranar the Ever-Watchful as it lets all your non-foretell cards benefit from foretell synergies, but what I'm really excited for is using Devourer to quickly empty your hand for profit, letting you get the maximum benefit of wheels like Windfall or -- far more nefarious! -- use it to set up savage mass discard spells like Mindslicer! Just foretell away your hand, then hit everyone with the mass discard, making everyone lose their cards while yours are safe in exile. Evil!
Eradicator Valkyrie
Eradicator Valkyrie is sweet repeatable removal in a Sacrifice deck. It fulfills a similar role to another card I love, Priest of Forgotten Gods, except now you're smacking with a 4/3 flying lifelink in the process! I can see the Valkyrie showing up in any type of Sacrifice / Aristocrats deck like Teysa Karlov, Meren of Clan Nel Toth, and many others.
Haunting Voyage
Haunting Voyage is a new twist on the Tribal staple Patriarch's Bidding: this one's significantly more expensive, with the upside being only you can benefit from its effect. Does that make it better than Bidding? No, I much prefer the cheaper cmc, but it is a safer option. Bidding is also a $27 card though so if you're looking for a cheaper option then Voyage works in a pinch!
Poison the Cup
Honestly for generic removal, Poison the Cup ain't bad at all. There's no restriction on what it targets like Doom Blade and similar stuff and you get to scry 2 if you foretold it. It's basically Murder with upside. For a budget option you could do a lot worse, though my top budget choice is still Price of Fame due to how often the creature you want to remove is legendary in this format. Worth trying in Toshiro Umezawa!
Priest of the Haunted Edge
In a deck full of snow lands, Priest of the Haunted Edge is a 2cmc removal on a stick, basically another Shriekmaw except this one needs to tap so you need to either wait a turn or give it haste (Lightning Greaves). Either way that's a good deal. And unlike Shriekmaw, Priest's two creature types -- Zombie and Cleric -- both have heavy Sacrifice / Aristocrats themes so killing itself ends up synergizing really well in those decks.
I think Priest is a solid inclusion in Snow Tribal and makes a good case on why Zombie and Cleric Tribal decks should have snow lands as well.
Rise of the Dread Marn
Rise of the Dread Marn can give you an instant army the turn a board wipe happens. It's similar to cards Fresh Meat and Caller of the Claw, cards I never liked because it's too awkward for most decks to hold up 3+ mana on the chance of a board wipe. However I like Rise a whole lot better thanks to foretell, requiring you to only keep up B, which is way easier for most decks to pull off. I'm personally excited to try this in my Toshiro Umezawa list, but creature-heavy decks like Zombie Tribal will like it as resiliency against board wipes and you can even make a truckload of tokens in Sacrifice decks!
Skemfar Avenger
Skemfar Avenger provides yet another reason why Golgari Elfball is really sweet: this card provides the tribe resiliency against board wipes which is especially important in Elves since they tend to vomit out their hand quickly. It can also be used bolster Sacrifice strategies if you're sacrificing elves for value to Priest of Forgotten Gods and the like. It's a new staple in Golgari Elfball such as Lathril, Blade of the Elves.
Tergrid, God of Fright
Tergrid, God of Fright is the most powerful and saltiest god of the set. The front side's ability to yoink all creatures your opponent sacrifice or discard is utterly bananas, like a roided up It That Betrays for less than half the mana cost. The moment Tergrid comes down, a simple Tergrid's Shadow can turn into an instant army on your side, a Dark Deal can flood your board with discarded permanents, but the meanest, most effective cards are the poxes: Smallpox, Pox, and Death Cloud. Those are gonna end games!
Tergrid honestly doesn't even need a back side to be one of the strongest cards in the set, but just to rub it in, Tergrid's Lantern is also a game-ender if your deck generates infinite black mana, draining all your opponents to death. Heck you don't even need infinite mana, just whenever you have a ton of mana from Cabal Coffers and friends it should be enough.
Tergrid lives up to her title: your opponents will be terrified the moment they see her. An unanswered Tergrid will almost assuredly end games with a spell or two. She is a kill on sight creature that will paint a target on your head for the rest of the game, so just be aware of the archenemy status she brings with her. She's a powerful commander or as part of the 99 of Wheel decks like Nekusar, the Mindrazer, Sacrifice decks, Discard decks, it's all good.
Varragoth, Bloodksy Sire
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire's boast is a repeatable Vampiric Tutor, which is certainly powerful. Being just a 2/3 with deathtouch though means you'll either need to give it evasion to survive (Whispersilk Cloak) or by using the ability politically, like letting the defending player tutor for something mutually beneficial in order to avoid blockers. Either way, this card is powerful.
I've heard people brewing with Varragoth as a commander, both for CEDH as a turbo Ad Nauseam deck and as a Group Hug deck that helps other people tutor. Personally, though I want to play Varragoth in the 99 of Rogue decks like Anowon, the Ruin Thief or Demon decks like Rakdos, the Showstopper.
RED
Basalt Ravager
Is a Giant Flametongue Kavu good enough for Giant Tribal? Yup! Our creatures are tall, but our standards are low! Into Aegar, the Freezing Flame you go!
Birgi, God of Storytelling
Birgi, God of Storytelling is a powerful combo god that does powerful combo things. She generates infinite mana with Cloudstone Curio loops, using 2 kobolds like Crimson Kobolds and Crookshank Kobolds to bounce each other while generating mana each time you cast one. Pair her with Future Sight and Sensei's Divining Top to cast top infinite times for infinite storm count and then boom, Grapeshot or whatever. There are combos with her is what I'm saying.
Oh, and Birgi is good for Boast decks but you can ignore that part. Combo with her either as the commander or as part of the 99 of Kykar, Wind's Fury, maybe Zada, Hedron Grinder. Whatever works.
Calamity Bearer
Calamity Bearer is one of the best Giant support cards ever printed. It's a one-sided Furnace of Rath on a Giant stick. That's really good. It's one of the best cards you can have in Aegar, the Freezing Flame.
Dragonkin Berserker
Dragonkin Berserker is a cool card but I'm so blah on the boast mechanic. It may be good enough for some Dragon Tribal decks but only if you can get this poor 2/2 creature to survive combat and, I mean, why? You're a Dragon deck. You're better than this.
Goldspan Dragon
Goldspan Dragon is an absurd card. WOTC has been going hard on strong treasure producers lately: Dockside Extortionist, Smothering Tithe, Malcolm, Keen-Eyed Navigator, Magda, Brazen Outlaw, etc. They love them treasures. I love them too! And Dragon loves them most of all, giving you double the mana out of them while being a nice treasure generator itself. It even has haste! It gets right to it!
I expect this Dragon to just keep getting better and better as more treasure generators are printed. It's already fantastic in any Dragon Tribal deck like The Ur-Dragon and any deck that makes treasures like Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Really solid card.
Magda, Brazen Outlaw
Magda, Brazen Outlaw is a crazy pushed card if I ever saw one. For 2 mana you've got three abilities:
- An anthem pumping your Dwarves, which is especially useful to crew vehicles
- A crazy efficient treasure token generator, again works great with crewing vehicles
- A super-efficient tutor that puts ANY artifact or Dragon directly into play, hello Blightsteel Colossus
All that for 2 mana! Wowzers! To be fair this is all in service of propping up Dwarf tribal, a poor tribe that comes up short in terms of card pool and general support, so it's kinda fine but still. Wow.
Magda can lead her own deck and do degenerate things like take infinite combat steps with five Dwarves and Aggravated Assault. You can also probably speed out Blightsteel Colossus, I don't judge. But personally, I'm more excited putting her in the 99 of Depala, Pilot Exemplar, one of my favorite pet decks, and best of all Tribal Tribal where she's a bananas ramp + tutor!
Quakebringer
Oh my how the power hath crept: Quakebringer is a one-sided Sulfuric Vortex that also is stapled on a 5/4 Giant, and its ping ability even works from the graveyard if you control a Giant! Absolutely bonkers! One of the best Giant Tribal cards and it ain't even close.
Reckless Crew
Reckless Crew is a curious card. You probably get the most tokens using it in an Equipment deck, but I'm not sure those decks would want them. It's probably best in Depala, Pilot Exemplar, but how many Vehicles will you have out at a time? Hopefully like 3? I guess that's good enough. They can crew immediately and they're Dwarves, so that's good. Seems solid.
Shackles of Treachery
If you ever use this to destroy Kaldra I will hold that grudge against you until Ragnarok.
Tibalt's Trickery
Judging from early Standard decks it seems that people have already figured out that Trickery is a really good card. It's a unique design space to be sure and leads to some really cool game moments. It's true in Standard and it's just as true in Commander. Trickery can be used to cheat out huge spells from your own deck or turn your opponents' game-winning spell into a (hopefully) not game-winning one. I hear rumblings that it's good enough for CEDH. Will it see play at most tables? Probably not, but it's a very cool card nonetheless.
Toralf, God of Fury
Toralf, God of Fury is a blessing to Burn decks everywhere. Toralf pairs nicely with a big ol' mass damage wipe like Blasphemous Act or Star of Extinction. For extra fun give Toralf a way to survive the damage like Sword of Fire and Ice.
But the best pairing with Toralf is his interaction with damage amplifiers like Fiery Emancipation, which triples the damage each time Toralf triggers. So let's say you're up against a Token deck with a bunch of 1/1's on the battlefield and you Lightning Bolt a 1/1: that's 2 excess damage, which you can redirect at another 1/1 with Toralf. Emancipation triples that so it's 6 damage at the poor 1/1, so 5 excess, Toralf triggers and now it's 15 excess at another target. Rinse repeat until you have a lethal bolt that you send at an opponents' face!
Toralf's Hammer is less crazy but it's such a flavor win: you throw the hammer (unequip) and it smashes someone's face for Lightning Bolt damage. Then the hammer returns to you (owner's hand). And only a worthy person can use the hammer's power (legendary). Love it.
Toralf is great both as a commander or as part of the 99 of basically any Burn deck.
Part 2 Coming Soon! Green, Multicolor, Colorless, and Lands!
Let me know if there are any cards I missed that you think are worth talking about, or if you have different takes on cards, or if there are any sweet interactions I may have missed! Thanks for reading!
