Kaldheim: Top 10 Green Cards

Kaldheim has been one of the most exciting sets for me in quite a while, and I’m excited to dig into this set’s Top 10s for Oathbreaker. To be more specific, I’ll be doing a Top 10 article for cards of each color, as well as one for multicolor cards. The last pair of Top 10s for this set will be one covering the colorless/land/theme booster exclusive cards and one covering all the new cards from the Commander precons (plus my overall Top 10 cards from Kaldheim, of course). My Top 10s are based on 1) how strong I think a card will be in Oathbreaker, and 2) how many different types of Oathbreaker decks I expect the card to see play in. While I do try to be as objective as I can, these are ultimately just my own thoughts/opinions.

In regards to Kaldheim, I’d also like to reiterate one important factor at the beginning of each of these articles: no, foretell does not work the way you want it to with Signature Spells. Your Signature Spell can only exist either 1) in the command zone, or 2) on the stack. It cannot go to exile—or anywhere else—for any reason, meaning you can not foretell a Signature Spell.

With all that out of the way, let’s keep things moving with my Top 10 Green cards from Kaldheim!

#10: Blizzard Brawl

Wow, becoming a snow sorcery and getting upshifted to uncommon sure did a number on Prey Upon. I’m evaluating Blizzard Brawl under the assumption that the decks running this card will always have at least three snow permanents in play, since snow basics and snow dual lands are both things that exist. A one-mana fight effect on its own isn’t very noteworthy, but the added indestructibility is a fairly significant perk for a few reasons; 1) it (almost) guarantees that your creature won’t die in the fight, and 2) your creature will be indestructible for the rest of the turn, making it even better on offense. I wouldn’t call this card a new green staple by any measure, but Blizzard Brawl is about as efficient and effective as literal fight effects come.

#9: Fynn, the Fangbearer

This next card on the list is one of the more surprising cards out of Kaldheim, to say the least. It has been years since we’ve seen poison counters mentioned on a new card and, for whatever reason, WOTC saw fit to print this particular poison card in a set without any other poison support—a sign that we may be seeing poison counters show up again in the near future, perhaps? As far Oathbreaker, specifically, is concerned, there is one obvious home for this two-drop legend; deathtouch tribal with Vraska, Swarm’s Eminence has been a known—if fairly janky—archetype since War of the Spark, and Fynn is clearly designed with such a deck style in mind. This type of triggered ability is pretty powerful when paired with a board full of deathtouch-ers, especially in a format where lifegain tends to be so strong. Until poison receives further support, I doubt Fynn will see much play outside of deathtouch tribal lists, but I’m sure he’ll prove to be a fairly powerful addition to that Oathbreaker archetype.

#8: Elvish Warmaster

Elf tribal decks already have more than their fair share of tribal support, but Elvish Warmaster is a fairly interesting addition to the pile. The triggered ability does admittedly feel a lot like a watered-down Lys Alana Huntmaster, but it is nice that this ability will 1) trigger on any player’s turn, and 2) trigger off of an elf entering the battlefield under your control for any reason (casting, token production, etc.). Even still, the activated ability on Elvish Warmaster is definitely the more exciting part of the card for me. Elf decks are known for having an abundance of mana acceleration, so this type of mana sink is always welcome. The deathtouch stapled to this particular ability will also guarantee combat will be abysmal for your opponents, no matter how they block. I’d still say that Elvish Warmaster is a fairly tame new piece of tribal support, but I don’t think elves need much help as far as “competitiveness” is concerned.

#7: Blessing of Frost

Blessing of Frost isn’t the flashiest new snow card out of Kaldheim, but I still think it deserves a bit of attention. Four mana for (usually) three or four power/toughness, along with one or more cards, is a pretty fair rate. Even more interestingly, the templating of this card coincidentally works very well with commander tax. For example; if you play Blessing of Frost with one layer of commander tax and use six snow mana to pay the cost, you’ll receive six +1/+1 counters from the spell. I don’t think this factor makes this card a particularly powerful Signature Spell—especially since most Signature Spells aren’t cast more than a couple of times per game—but I still thought it was worth pointing out. I’d say +1/+1 counter strategies is the most likely home in Oathbreaker for this sort of card, though I’m curious to see how many players will choose to make use of this chilly sorcery in other types of decks.

#6: Old-Growth Troll

Huh. Flavorfully speaking, this card is an interesting take on representing trolls being difficult to kill. Mechanically speaking, Old-Growth Troll seems like a pretty solid addition to green stompy lists everywhere. Even considering the restrictiveness of this card’s mana-cost, the rate here is pretty decent—three mana for a 4/4 trampler and the chance for a second 4/4 trampler later in the game. Three-drop threats like Old-Growth Troll also pair especially well with one-drop mana dorks like Birds of Paradise and Llanowar Elves. I suspect splashing this card in three-colored decks will prove to be pretty difficult, but I could see it making an appearance in certain two-colored lists—along with the typical mono-green stompy decks, of course. I always like to see stompy/aggressive creatures come with a little bit of insurance stapled to them, and Old-Growth Troll is no exception.

#5: Esika’s Chariot

“Cat chariot” was not on my checklist of things to expect to see in Kaldheim, but I’m not complaining! Esika’s Chariot is actually the first green vehicle ever printed, and it seems like a pleasantly powerful card to boot. Creating four power/toughness upon hitting the field alone makes this card especially-efficient as far as vehicles go, but the strength of the attack trigger can’t be ignored either. Although token strategies seem like the most obvious home for this card, I could see Esika’s Chariot popping up alongside certain Oathbreakers that create strong tokens on their own—Garruk, Unleashed and Sarkhan Unbroken immediately come to mind for me, though I’m sure there are others. This vehicle also seems like a very cute addition to the already-adorable cat tribal archetype, and I look forward to playing with and against Esika’s Chariot in the near future.

#4: Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider

Well, I see Vorinclex’s designs have continued their trend of doubling one’s own fun while halving all your opponents’ fun. Although Vorniclex 2.0 doesn’t appear to be quite as miserable a card as the first edition, there are still some explosive possibilities with these abilities. If I understand the rules surrounding this card correctly—feel free to correct me if I’m not—then I believe this Vorinclex functions similarly to Doubling Season in regards to doubling the loyalty counters of planeswalkers as they hit the field. What Doubling Season does not do, however, is act as a 6/6 trampler with haste for six mana. That kind of rate on its own would normally be enough to earn this card a spot in quite a number of stompy/ramp shells, and the triggered abilities only open even more possibilities. I don’t expect to see many players go off with Vorinclex doubling up loyalty values simply due to the card’s mana-cost, but I’m sure this monstrosity—oh, I’m sorry, this phyrexian praetor—will carve out a home for himself in Oathbreaker.

#3: Realmwalker

Everyone, say hello to the new staple in just about every green tribal deck from now until the end of time. In all seriousness, Realmwalker is a very strong new piece of card advantage for tribal decks. Playing cards from the top of the library isn’t quite as strong as literal card draw, but this type of ability is helpful nonetheless. Although I can see why some players may want to compare this card to Courser of Kruphix, I personally prefer to think of it as a tribal version of the static ability stapled to Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate. Realmwalker isn’t what I’d call a blatantly powerful card, but its strength is both simple and universal enough that there really isn’t much of a reason to not run it in a tribal list whenever possible. This shapeshifter is only #3 here simply because it really only shines in dedicated tribal decks, but I still expect to be seeing plenty of this card in the coming months.

#2: Battle Mammoth

Speaking of card advantage! Battle Mammoth doesn’t technically guarantee you any extra cards, but it does give you quite a bit of insurance against opposing spot removal. I especially enjoy how this ability triggers off of any of your permanents becoming targeted by an opposing spell or ability, making this effect about as flexible as it could possibly be. Whether you’re being hit by a Ghost Quarter, a Path to Exile, or the -3 ability on Nicol Bolas, Dragon-God, this tusky boy has you covered. Five mana for a 6/5 is also a pretty fine rate on its own, and trample will make this fella excellent for pressuring opposing Oathbreakers and life totals alike. Oh, and Battle Mammoth comes with a foretell cost, because why not, I guess? A generic “goodstuff” creature like Battle Mammoth can fit into a pretty wide variety of decks, though I suspect its most popular home in Oathbreaker will end up being ramp/stompy decks.

#1: Toski, Bearer of Secrets

You know, I’ve gotta admit; when I first heard a legendary squirrel creature would be showing up in Kaldheim, I wasn’t quite expecting that card to look like this. Toski is a tiny card-drawing machine that’s the definition of “can’t-stop won’t-stop”. This little guy is so excited to get his squirrelly hands on more cards,  he can’t help but attack every turn he can—but he’ll net you some card advantage as long as any on of your creatures connect with your opponent’s face. Oh, and he’s indestructible and uncounterable, because we can’t let anything bad happen to our little squirrel friend. The only real “downside” I can really pick out on this card is that it doesn’t trigger off of dealing combat damage to planeswalkers, but that will hardly be a barrier-to-entry for Toski in Oathbreaker. Decks that are looking to go wide and/or use a lot of evasion can most easily make use of Toski, but honestly, I could see this card showing up in almost any creature-based deck looking to get frisky in combat.