Kaldheim spoiler season has continued through the weekend, breaking the usual trend of weekend downtime during the leadup to a Magic: The Gathering set’s release.
The weekend’s offerings emphasize tribal synergies, color fixing, and a showcase of the experimental card design space that Kaldheim is exploring. From a powerful Giant to the return of vehicles, here are the Kaldheim spoilers from day three of spoiler season.
Vega, the Watcher
- CMC: 1WU
- Type: Legendary Creature Bird Spirit
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 2/2 Flying
- First ability: Whenever you cast a spell from anywhere other than your hand, draw a card.
Vega is the signpost uncommon for the UW Foretell archetype in Limited. The on-rate evasive body is already worth playing. The upside of Foretell spells replacing themselves keeps its controller from running out of cards. There is some possibility that Vega could show up in Standard, too. The Bird Spirit synergizes well with Adventure creatures, which already are inherently two-for-one spells. Vega can play alongside Edgewall Innkeeper in a Bant Adventures shell. Spirit tribal is an established strategy in Historic and the fringes of Standard, so expect Vega to see some experimentation in those decks.
Esika’s Chariot
- CMC: 3G
- Type: Legendary Artifact Vehicle
- Rarity: Rare
- Stats: 4/4
- First ability: When Esika’s Chariot enters the battlefield, create two 2/2 green Cat creature tokens.
- Second ability: Whenever Esika’s Chariot attacks, create a token that’s a copy of target token you control.
- Third ability: Crew four
Esika’s Chariot will be a bomb in Limited. The key to Esika’s Chariot is the two Cat tokens that come with it. This gives its controller the creatures needed to crew the vehicle right away. This leaves other threats available to attack with Esika’s Chariot. In a dedicated token deck, the vehicle could get out of hand. The ability to create extra tokens on attack could be used on the 2/2 Cat tokens or 4/4 Angel tokens created by cards like Divine Visitation and Sigil of the Empty Throne. Esika’s Chariot is worth playing because it’s a self-sufficient vehicle that enters the battlefield with two extra bodies.
Quakebringer
- CMC: 3RR
- Type: Creature Giant Berserker
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 5/4
- First ability: Your opponents can’t gain life.
- Second ability: At the beginning of your upkeep, Quakebringer deals two damage to each opponent. This ability triggers only if Quakebringer is on the battlefield or if Quakebringer is in your graveyard and you control a Giant.
- Third ability: Foretell 2RR
Kaldheim continues to introduce interesting card designs. Quakebringer should end up being a staple in Standard Giants as a top-end finisher. The ability to Foretell the card for a small discount shouldn’t be overlooked. The notable aspect of Quakebringer is the upkeep trigger. It deals two damage to each opponent on your upkeep. This not only triggers while Quakebringer is on the battlefield but when it’s in the graveyard. Granted, you’ll need to control a Giant but when every creature in your deck is a Giant, that’s not a hard requirement to meet.
Quakebringer represents a dangerous clock. Even if your opponent manages to remove Quakebringer, they must deal with your other Giants to stop the constant flow of damage. If the card is milled by Rogues, the damage still comes. Another key is that it’s Quakebringer dealing the two damage. This means Calamity Bearer can double that damage.
Replicating Ring
- CMC: 3
- Type: Snow Artifact
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: Tap to add one mana of any color.
- Second ability: At the beginning of your upkeep, put a night counter on Replicating Ring. Then if it has eight or more night counters on it, remove all of them and create eight colorless snow artifact tokens named Replicating Ring with “Tap to add one mana of any color.”
Kaldheim is attempting to support a five-color archetype so it needs a significant amount of color fixing. Replicating Ring is similar to Midnight Clock where it sits on the battlefield, gains counters, then has an explosive effect later in the game. Both produce mana, but Replicating Ring makes any color. Replicating Ring is slower, only gaining counters on your upkeep, but cards that interact with counters can speed up the clock. Getting eight mana rocks when Replicating Ring goes off should provide enough mana for a game-winning sequence.
The Snow aspect of Replicating Ring is also relevant. While it’s sitting on the battlefield not doing much, it can empower other cards that are helped by controlling other Snow permanents.
Rally the Ranks
- CMC: 1W
- Type: Enchantment
- Rarity: Rare
- First ability: As Rally the Ranks enters the battlefield, choose a creature type. Creatures you control of the chosen type get +1/+1.
The two-drop slot in most Mono-White decks in Standard is usually occupied by Luminarch Aspirant. Rally the Ranks is a cheap, effective anthem that could find itself sharing the two-drop spot with Luminarch Aspirant or taking it over completely. Most decks don’t run main deck enchantment removal which makes Rally the Ranks more resilient in some cases than Aspirant. The tribal aspect of Rally the Ranks makes it less flexible than the Aspirant, limiting the decks that Rally the Ranks fits in. In dedicated tribal strategies like Angels, this anthem could make an appearance.
Kaldheim releases on Magic Arena and Magic Online on Jan. 28 with the full release on Feb. 5.
