Long Forgotten Monsters Return for Kaldheim

Many of the most popular sets in Magic’s recent history have seen players return to familiar planes. In Kaldheim, we journey to a plane only previously hinted at in the storied history of the game, a top-down design inspired by Norse mythology. For years, players have asked to see what a world with Vikings might look like. At last, we get to find out!

The first Kaldheim mechanic to be discussed is one shared with all the premier Magic sets this Magic ‘year’ - Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim and the upcoming Strixhaven - modal double-faced cards. In Zendikar Rising, this meant cards that could be played as lands or spells depending on your need at the time. Kaldheim takes this one step further with cards that are Legendary Gods on one side and Legendary Equipment on the other. 

Tribal returns as a heavily supported theme in the newest set with spirits, zombies, berserkers, trolls, humans, angels, giants, elves, dwarves and shapeshifters, each in their own distinct colour pair. The glue that will hold these tribes together, particularly in limited decks, will be another returning mechanic, Changelings - creatures that are all creature types while on the battlefield.

Magic has seen many variants of the ‘pay in installments’ mechanic with Morph, Suspend and Echo all springing to mind. The latest variant in Kaldheim is Foretell. Foretell allows the player to exile a card from their hand for two mana and then pay the remainder later, essentially breaking down the cost of casting the card over two turns. While this means you will likely pay more mana for the spell overall, this allows the option of getting a creature in play more quickly and using your mana more efficiently. And let’s not forget the wonderful psychology of an opponent seeing a card lying face down and being completely unaware of what is coming…

For the more aggressively-minded player, they will be excited about the new ability Boast. Tacked onto creatures, Boast is a powerful activated ability which can be activated once per turn if that creature has attacked this turn already. Combat can be complex enough without having to wonder if an opponent is simply bluff-attacking to obtain a Boast activation or whether they do have that pump or removal spell waiting in hand…

Sagas return in Kaldheim and this time they are multicoloured! Powerful enchantments affecting the board over multiple turns, Sagas will be powerful additions to many decks who can meet their strict mana requirements.

Originally seen in Ice Age and returning in Coldsnap, which Norse-themed environment would be complete without Snow? Every Kaldheim draft booster will contain a Snow basic land with a chance of it being foil or indeed one of the all-new Snow dual lands. And for the first time, non-permanent spells reference Snow.

All of this and we haven’t even discussed two all-new Planeswalkers in Tyvar Kell and Niko Aris…

...and the return of a Phyrexian-monster long since thought forgotten to the annals of Magic history!

What could the return of Vorniclex mean for Kaldheim? Could we see the other Praetor’s return in future Magic sets? Not only does Kaldheim seem like an incredibly powerful set, it has the potential to impact the game’s narrative for years to come. Get your pre-orders in now here at Chaos Cards before the set releases on 5th February!