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Kaldheim

Facts
Placement
Plane
Kaldheim
Other
Symbol description
Double-headed axe
Design
Ethan Fleischer (lead) ; Mark Globus ; Jenna Helland ; Noah Millrod ; Dave Humpherys ; Ari Nieh ; Mark Rosewater ; Yoni Skolnik
Development
Dave Humphries (lead) ; Corey Bowen ; Melissa DeTora ; Mark Gottlieb ; Bryan Hawley ; Michael Majors ; Donald Smith ; Jenna Helland ; Yoni Skolnik
Themes and mechanics
Modal double-faced cards , tribal , Sagas , snow
Keywords/​ability words
Boast , changeling , foretell
Zendikar Rising
Zendikar Rising Kaldheim Strixhaven: School of Mages
Commander Collection: Green
Commander Collection: Green Kaldheim Kaldheim ; Commander Decks

Kaldheim is the 86th Magic expansion. It is set on the plane of the same name. It was released on February 5, 2021.

Set details

This set is a top-down Norse mythology-inspired set; Magic's take on what a world inspired by Vikings might look like. This set contains 285 regular cards (121 commons, 80 uncommons, 64 rares, 20 mythic rares, 10 basic lands) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. The number of regular cards include snow basic lands (#276-285). Each type has two different pieces of art. Alternate card frames have another card number than the original version. Borderless planeswalkers are numbered #286-289, borderless pathways are #290-293, borderless Foretell mythics are #294-298, Viking showcase cards are numbered #299-332, the showcase Vorinclex with Phyrexian text is #333 and extended artwork cards are numbered #334-373. Unique cards in Set- and Theme Boosters are numbered #374–393 (15 uncommons, 5 rares). The basic land cards from the Bundle are numbered #394-398. The Buy-a-Box card is #399 and the Bundle promo is #400. The FNM-treatment cards from the Universal promo pack are numbered #401-405. The "Concept Praetor" art of Vorinclex, released with Phyrexia: All Will Be One, is #406.

The Showcase cards are all Legendary Vikings. Their card frame features geometric patterns reminiscent of chiseled stone Viking art with "metal" artwork.

Storyline

The planeswalker Kaya visits a world of prophecy and legend, mortals and monsters. A world of many realms, epic sagas, bound by one truth. Viking or Valkyrie, Elf or Dwarf, all belong to the World Tree, all are supplicant to the gods. Gods who travel between the realms to do their bidding for peace, for bloodshed, or for their own amusement. But what if there was a way to harness this power? A weapon with the ability to protect all. A weapon of pure strength. Forged for a god. Or... in more creative hands, a weapon of unimaginable chaos.

The World Tree is the origin of all life on Kaldheim, and you can see the branches in the sky in all ten realms. However, they look different in each realm. The Ten Realms are constantly shifting and moving around the World Tree and can even collide. Such an epic event is called a "doomskar" and causes earthquakes, destabilization, and total chaos.

The cards that represent the Story Spotlights in Kaldheim are:

MagicStory

Marketing

Kaldheim is sold in regular 16-card Draft Boosters (one card being a marketing card), Theme Boosters, Collector Boosters, Set Boosters, the Kaldheim Bundle, and two Commander decks. For Kaldheim, the production of Welcome Boosters was put on hold for North America and Europe. The Draft Boosters feature artwork from Niko, Kaya, Tibalt and Tyvar. The Theme Boosters feature art from Fynn, The Fangbearer (Vikings), Starnheim Aspirant ({W}), Littjara Kinseekers ({U}), Thornmantle Striker ({B}), Surtland Flinger ({R}), and Canopy Tactician ({G}). The Collector Boosters feature art of Toralf's Hammer. The Set Boosters feature unique art.

The marketing had a "Viking metal" theme, with cards spoiled by Heavy metal bands, and the Collector Booster sporting a metal inspired logo.

With the release of Kaldheim, 48 cards were rotated into The List, many of which were thematically or mechanically linked to the set.

Events

Promotional cards

Tokens, emblems and markers

The sixteenth card in the boosters is a token creature card, an emblem or a marker, with advertisements on the back side. It can also be a helper card with a standard card back. There are a total of 23 tokens and emblems:

  1. {C} Shard, for Niko Aris.
  2. {W} 4/4 Angel Warrior creature with flying and vigilance, for Great Hall of Starnheim, Firja's Retribution, Starnheim Unleashed, and Valkyrie's Sword.
  3. {W} 1/1 Human Warrior creature, for Battle for Bretagard, Beskir Shieldmate, Maja, Bretagard Protector, and Usher of the Fallen.
  4. {W} 1/1 Spirit creature with flying, for Clarion Spirit, Kaya the Inexorable, and Valor of the Worthy.
  5. {U} 1/1 Bird creature with flying, for Alrund's Epiphany, Ravenform and The Raven's Warning.
  6. {U} 4/4 Giant Wizard creature, for Giant's Amulet.
  7. {U} Koma's Coil, a 3/3 Serpent creature, for Koma, Cosmos Serpent.
  8. {U} 2/2 Shapeshifter creature with changeling, for Maskwood Nexus and The Bears of Littjara.
  9. {B} 2/2 Zombie Berserker creature, for Deathknell Berserker, Draugr's Helm, and Rise of the Dread Marn.
  10. {R} 2/3 Demon Berserker creature with menace, for The Bloodsky Massacre.
  11. {R} 5/5 Dragon creature with flying, for Dragonkin Berserker.
  12. {R} 2/1 Dwarf Berserker creature, for Dwarven Hammer, Dwarven Reinforcements, Fearless Liberator, Reckless Crew and Warchanter Skald.
  13. {G} 2/2 Bear creature, for Path to the World Tree.
  14. {G} 2/2 Cat creature, for Esika's Chariot.
  15. {G} 1/1 Elf Warrior creature, for Battle for Bretagard, Elderleaf Mentor, Elven Ambush, Elven Bow, Elvish Warmaster, Return Upon the Tide, Skemfar Elderhall, and Tyvar Kell.
  16. {G} 4/4 Troll Warrior creature with trample, for Gnottvold Slumbermound, Old-Growth Troll, and Waking the Trolls.
  17. {C} Icy Manalith, a snow artifact with "{T}: Add one mana of any color.", for Svella, Ice Shaper.
  18. {C} Replicated Ring, a snow artifact with "{T}: Add one mana of any color.", for Replicating Ring.
  19. {C} Treasure, for Forging the Tyrite Sword, Goldspan Dragon, Magda, Brazen Outlaw, Seize the Spoils, Smashing Success, and Vault Robber.
  20. Emblem for Kaya the Inexorable.
  21. Emblem for Tibalt, Cosmic Impostor.
  22. Emblem for Tyvar Kell.
  23. Foretell marker.

Themes and mechanics

Kaldheim has a typal theme. Each Realm is associated with two colors of magic and one creature type, with a particular strategy associated:

In lieu of the abandoned block model, R&D has found a new way to tie together the three non-core premier sets in a single Magic "year" (aka the fall, winter, and spring sets—using northern hemisphere seasons): they share a common mechanic. For Zendikar Rising, Kaldheim and Strixhaven: School of Mages that is modal double-faced cards. Modal double-faced cards have two faces, one on each side. When you play a modal double-faced card, you choose the face you're playing. The nonland MDFC's of Kaldheim all feature a legendary God creature on one side and a legendary permanent on the other.

A returning mechanic is changeling, which is used to make a cohesive set (like it was used in Lorwyn and Modern Horizons previously). Changeling is a characteristic-defining ability that grants the object it’s on every creature type. The mechanic is again tied to shapeshifters.

A new mechanic is foretell. During your turn, you may pay {2} and exile a card with foretell from your hand face down. You may cast it on a later turn for its foretell cost. Each card with foretell has a raven watermark, alluding to Hakka.

Another new mechanic is boast. Boast adds a drawback to an activated ability which is referred as the boast ability. The drawback is as follows: a player can only activate the boast ability after the creature with the ability attacks and at most once each turn.

Poison counters appear for the first time since the Scars of Mirrodin block as a one-off, on Fynn, the Fangbearer. Similarly, keyword counters reappear since their introduction in Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths, specifically flying counters (Ascendant Spirit, Ascent of the Worthy) and indestructible counters (Tyrite Sanctum).

An unnamed mechanic, dubbed "Cremate", uses creature cards in the graveyard as a resource. Another theme is that several cards have triggered abilities that trigger whenever you cast your second spell in a turn.

Card types

Kaldheim sees the second return of the Saga enchantment subtype, after appearances in Dominaria and Theros Beyond Death. They are multicolored for the first time.

The supertype Snow also returns, and this time on non-permanents. Snow doesn't really do anything by itself, but it can be referred to by other cards in various ways. Snow cards now have their own recognizable snow frame. Each Draft Booster will include a Snow basic land slot and has a chance to be foil. There is a chance for one of the dual snow lands to take the Snow land slot.

The set introduces the Rune and Shard enchantment types.

Additionally, the set introduces the Niko and Tyvar planeswalker types, and the Phyrexian creature type on a surprise appearance of Vorinclex.

Coward finally appears as a creature type on the card, Craven Hulk.

Viking was considered as a creature type, but R&D decided against it. Instead, Viking-esque creatures have the creature type Warrior or Berserker. Supporting party from the previous set, classes represented are either Berserker or one of the party, and appear more on usually classless races like Angels, Demons, Zombies and Trolls.

Cycles

Modal double-faced cycles

Double cycles

Mega cycles

Pairs

Reprinted cards

Functional reprints

Misprints

Preconstructed decks

Kaldheim features two Commander decks that are released as a regular part of a set's product line.

Notable cards

Banned and restricted cards

  • Tibalt's Trickery, while intended as a high-risk high-reward counterspell for red, proved highly exploitable — players would counter their own spells in order to cheat expensive cards into play. Modern was the most vulnerable format for this exploit, thanks to cascade guaranteeing a hit, and thus a ban quickly ensued. The impact on Historic was minimal at first, but with the introduction of cascade to Arena via Jumpstart: Historic Horizons, Tibalt's Trickery decks came to dominate the Historic metagame. After several months, the card was banned from Historic. Months later, Explorer banned the card within weeks of the format's introduction; it proved powerful enough that Timeless restricted the card from the very start of the format.
  • Alrund's Epiphany is similar to Nexus of Fate as an extra-turn spell that impacted Standard. It released to moderate success, due to the highly aggressive, tempo-based meta of the time that made a 6-7 mana spell a risky investment. This changed with the fall 2021 rotation knocking the tempo decks out of the meta, followed by the release of Galvanic Iteration in Innistrad: Midnight Hunt. The second half of 2021 saw a large share of blue/red control decks that sought to outlast the opponent long enough to cast and copy many Epiphanies, then kill them with the bird tokens. Despite similar decks comprising a majority of contenders at the 2021 World Championship, Wizards of the Coast declined to take action to diversify the metagame, stating that they would wait to see Innistrad: Crimson Vow's impact on the meta. Unfortunately, Crimson Vow only made things worse, augmenting extra-turns decks with Alchemist's Gambit and Hullbreaker Horror. With the creation of Alchemy, the card was nerfed in that format to A-Alrund's Epiphany, but the original card's tyranny over Standard remained until its ban on January 25, 2022.
  • Faceless Haven was well-received for the first half of Kaldheim's lifetime in Standard. In the Standard 2022 preview queue, it combined with The Book of Exalted Deeds to allow players to control a land that prevented them from losing, resulting in that card's temporary ban until rotation. As Alrund's Epiphany decks came to dominate the meta, monocolored aggro decks rose to oppose them, decks in which Faceless Haven proved problematic as a creature resistant to removal with a low opportunity cost. Faceless Haven was banned alongside Alrund's Epiphany in January 2022.

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