Gavin Verhey used today’s episode of Good Morning Magic to unbox the two Kaldheim Commander Decks and give tidbits of information on all the contents.
Verhey broke down all the cards in the new decks, Elven Empire and Phantom Premonition, but highlighted the new cards special to the decks. While the decks include cards from the main Kaldheim set, each deck also has a handful of new cards set on Kaldheim special to the preconstructed decks. The reprints can be from any plane, but the new cards specifically had to be from Kaldheim.
Elven Empire
Verhey reiterated how green card drawing is now based around having creatures so this card rewards you for going wide, like the Elf deck is going to want to do. It also is a newer idea that design is working on that scales on the number of opponents you have. In a classic game, the most you can draw is three cards, but in larger games it gets better and later when opponents have been killed off, it scales down. This design also makes sure it doesn’t overly impact formats like Legacy, where you’ll only have one opponent.
Another card that provides card draw at a cost. You’ll often choose Elf for yourself to refuel, but it also has other applications. It can slot into any tribal deck someone can build from scratch, allowing non-supported tribes some payoffs. It can also be a backdoor win condition against opposing tribal decks if their battlefield gets out of control.
Another scaling card in a multiplayer game, it can get multiple triggers over a course of a turn cycle, punishing players not playing Elves. It can often turn into an Abyss, but Verhey stressed that this type of effect isn’t problematic in Commander because multiple players have chances to remove it or leverage it against you instead of a normal game against one player.
Colored artifacts allow the designers to make specific cards that don’t go in every deck. This artifact needs you to meet both requirements of being in black and playing Elves for it to do its thing. This is another card that gives players a reason to expand to another color, instead of playing Mono-Green Elves.
Ramp and card draw translates roughly to an Elf Cultivate variant that isn’t hard to consistently hit with a deck full of Elves and lands.
This card is from the Theme Booster product that was pulled into the Commander deck. A lord with a big mana boost lets you keep the Elves flowing onto the battlefield after you refilled your hand with all the card draw effects while making them larger at the same time.
Perfect for going wide and adding resiliency if you lose your battlefield of Elves with a cheap Regrowth effect.
Another scaling payoff, this one builds up your battlefield and gains you life instead of punishing other players like Ruthless Winnower.
Another reason to move to black from a green Elf deck. It sticks around by being an enchantment and gives your a drain effect that doesn’t show up on mono-green cards. Giving all Elves deathtouch doesn’t hurt either.
Phantom Premonition
The designers created this card and many others to make sure there were enough foretell cards, as there were only many cards with it in Kaldheim. Protect your stuff from sweepers while allowing you to do mean things with Armageddon.
A Commander-sized version of Figure of Destiny and a great reward if you can complete the quest.
For new cards, rarity symbols don’t necessarily match what rarity the card would be from a Standard legal set. It isn’t a simply worse version of Kor Cartographer, as it has foretell for the theme of the deck and the splitting of the mana cost gives it flexibility.
Can play well in all kinds of Commander decks, not just ones focusing on foretell.
Foretell + sweeper. What more to say?
Surtland Elementalist — From the Theme Booster like Canopy Tactician from Elven Empire.
More card drawing … but with foretell!
A great way to give cards foretell that weren’t designed with it. Leads to all kinds of wacky gameplay and gives you more options with your spells.
Verhey also included two other tidbits in the video:
- Don’t plan on seeing Tribal spells come back in a Standard legal set anytime soon. They are very hard to fit into the rules and create issues where players want older cards switched to Tribal.
- Arcane Signet was a bit of mistake that started with a noble cause to give brawl mana fixing at two mana. Now that it exists, they will make sure there are plenty of copies as most Commander decks need it.
Check out the full Kaldheim Commander decklists.