Kaldheim is not an overpowered set. I am inclined to add "fortunately" to this statement because Legacy has been on a wild ride since 2019. A little change of pace does us good. So let's take a relaxed stroll through the snowy scenery and take a look at the candidates that might find a place in Legacy …
Weathered Runestone
works very similarly to , and sometimes two mana is simply better than one, especially if you run .
It is a great weapon against Reanimator, Dredge, Storm, and , and could see play in Eldrazi and in various flavors of other Stompy decks. Traditionally, those decks had problems casting potent graveyard hate cards because their taxing artifacts make casting spells for zero and one mana quite problematic. has been used widely for a number of years, but the Runestone could fight it, because it is still powerful even when drawn later in the game.
Valki // Tibalt
At first glance, not very impressive, the two-drop here has a decent enter-the-battlefield trigger, but that is not what makes exciting. It is the combination with the planeswalker that allows for a neat trick using the cascade mechanic. Basically, one can cast the back side of the card when cascading into it, for example with or . You can check out why this works in this video. To sum it up, Tibalt is a cast option of the card, and whenever you're allowed to cast it without paying its mana cost, you can pick either side.
Tibalt then provides the player with a solid emblem from the beginning. His abilities are not shabby either, if not exactly mind blowing.
Do you remember the old four-color deck that went all in on cascading? Maybe it's time to revisit it. It would certainly be a refreshing sight in a format overrun by and . On the other hand, who can say for sure that both cards would not find their way into that deck as well? If that is too crazy for you, Valki and Tibalt are also a nice fit for classic Shardless BUG lists that got pushed out of the format. But it remains to be seen if cascading into , , or is not the better option still.
If you want to read more about Tibalt, especially in other formats—Rodrigo has dedicated a full article to the card!
Ravenform
Apart from being a Pauper playable, provides monoblue with an answer to problematic permanents and does not just return them to their owner's hand. Does anyone remember Sea Stompy, a deck that paired old school classics like and with modern Magic cards such as and ? A revival of this deck seems highly unlikely, but Ravenform would make for a solid addition to this kind of card pool. Nowadays, it also cleanly answers Uro.
In Search of Greatness
Faintly resembling and in some ways, but totally different in others, is an interesting two-mana enchantment that could theoretically add speed to decks with many expensive permanents. Monogreen Stompy, also known as Sylvan Plug, comes to mind, some build or ramp … or maybe it should spark a new deck. While the odds of that happening look far better in other formats, I would not write it off entirely for Legacy either.
After all, we could quickly unlock some high-cost permanent with an early , , , or even . I'm not sure that any of these ideas will be powerful enough, or work reliably enough, to be worth the effort. We may forever remain in search of greatness.
Here's a comparatively tame Stompy list. It can use to search up a creature of the appropriate cost for whatever we want to cast for free with In Search of Greatness, which is neat in theory at least. In practice, the enchantment will often just provide a free scry.
| In Search of Greatness Stompy |
|---|
| Main Deck | Sideboard |
|---|
- 4
- 4
- 1
- 4
- 3
- 3
- 1
- 2
- 1
- 1
-
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
- 1
| | |
Even More Cards
: The blue seems to be too weak for current Legacy strategies. On the other hand, it is a great mana sink and potent win option at the same time. Though there may be problems producing this much snow mana consistently.
: Turning planeswalkers into creatures and creating some spectacular board states? Well, look no further than Mystic Reflection. It also works with opponents' creatures and renders them more or less useless if there is a token or another irrelevant creature on the battlefield.
: To be honest, I do not really think that this card is good enough for Legacy. But it screams and there might be a world where having a blocker is useful; or it being a creature spell dodging counterspells like and ; or getting around .
: Likely too cute for Legacy but works well with flashback. A blue 2/2 flier for three mana is not that bad, but if it finds play in Legacy, then surely not in any kind of control build. I could see this being part of a draw engine of some kind of spell-taxing deck.
: I had to read this card a couple of times before I fully understood its effect. As a counter for opponents' spells it seems like a high-risk move, but countering your own spell can lead to some crazy interaction. Nonetheless, Tibalt's Trickery simply asks too much, and the randomness poses a greater obstacle than a possible merit. I am sure it is easier to bring into play via than trying to be tricky with Tibalt's spell. But I might be missing something here; maybe there is a combo deck out there that can survive the harsh Legacy environment. What I've seen so far doesn't bode well though.
Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily Cardmarket.
