Kaldheim is rocking up over at the Magic the Gathering home page with early spoilers before Christmas. Today my article is going to be a lot of speculation on what I think may come to Pauper in the New Year. Clearly this article is going to contain spoilers so look away if you want to wait until a Pre-release to see new cards. However, I am not intending to discuss any cards that have been leaked or speculation based on leaked cards.

So after watching all three Marvel Thor films I find myself suitably inspired.

I’ll start with the opening statement from Wizards at the start of Spoiler season.

“Vikings. Gods. Myths. Legends. So many beards. Kaldheim is coming to #*$&ing melt your mind hole.”

Vikings

This looks interesting as to me this looks like a set that could be focused around creatures. My first thought was that we would have plenty of red human warriors. However, Vikings were also known for raiding villages so do we have potential carrying on from Commander Legends for more pirates to evade Fiery Cannonade.

Gods, Myths and Legends

Now clearly Gods themselves won’t appear in Pauper, flavour wise though they should get a mention or too. Pharika’s Libation is a prime example calling back to Pharika, God of Affliction. It will be interesting to see what the new Gods are and their Magic Story for what they could bring.

This sounds very much like a teaser, could Myths just be stories or will they have an impact on the game like Saga’s did in Dominaria. Saga’s have been spoiled already so it is unlikely to be a new mechanic but more Saga’s.

Putting on my Commander hat I think this is going to be amazing and the flavour alone will tempt me into using these cards. Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see any in Pauper.

Snow

Coldsnap brought us the Snow mechanic, Modern Horizons decided to let us have Arcum’s Astrolabe, well for a couple of months anyway. If we are going to see Snow in a Standard legal set hen this would make an obvious choice.

My first thoughts were around land and we had five dual lands at uncommon rarity in Coldsnap but some of their names are plane specific by using Tresserhorn Sinks and Boreal Shelf. An enemy colour cycle could be entirely possible. Could they be printed at common? Imagine an Izzet Snow dual combining with Skred!

There are plenty of opportunities to expand the Snow mechanic, imagine an Ice Hammer getting more powerful based on the Snow permanents in play. Hmmm, actually scrub that idea as another Cranial Plating would surely create ban chatter immediately.

Snow is a divisive mechanic, reminds me of Marmite, you either love it or hate it!

Equipment and Vehicles

It makes sense that we may well see new axes and hammers, with any luck Champion of the Flame will get some new toys to make a deck built around them viable.

The great news is that we have Dwarves actively constructing vehicles for use in Kaldheim. I’m looking forward for Viking Longships 😊

The issue I see is that artefact hate is common place in sideboards for Affinity builds which is highly relevant for any other strategy using artefacts.

Planewsalkers

Everyone tends to get excited about the Planewsalkers in a set, indeed I always look for a new Liliana. Now clearly, we won’t see a Planewalker at common but we should see signature spells to support each Planeswalker.

Our old favourites are Tibalt and Kaya but we also have two newcomers in Niko Aris, a hero from Theros and Tyvar Kell, an elven Planeswalker whose colour identity mirrors the elven tribes in Kaldheim.

Creature Feature

We have two tribes of Elves coming to Kaldheim and they are following on with recent times being Black and/or Green. I am hopeful enough pieces will come together to make a Golgari Elvish rock deck, I enjoyed playing Elves in Magic Origins Standard and my wife Rachel loves both her Modern and Pauper Elves.

We are getting Dwarves with Kaldheim, they were great in Kaladesh Standard but not sure how they can be relevant with Equipment or Vehicles.

We haven’t seen many playable Angels in Pauper which is a shame as they are really popular in the Magic community as a whole. I would be very receptive to making iconic tribes relevant in Pauper.

By far, the most interesting tribe is going to be Changeling which hasn’t been Standard legal since Lorwyn. In Pauper we’ve toyed with many changelings to enable strategies. A good friend put together an Orzhov Knights decks with Changing Outcast being a sneaky imposter making Curry Favor//Smitten Swordmaster better and Griffin Rider becomes a significant flyer. The deck was only a few cards short of being a true contender.

Conclusion

I’m quite looking forward to Kaldheim, one of my best Magicfest trips involved was a birthday trip for Grand Prix Stockholm. I’ve a keen interest in Norse Mythology and enjoyed looking at Swedish culture during our trip, even the visiting the Abba museum.

I’m hopeful of getting some fresh new cards for use in older formats.

I am really looking forward to 7^th January and spoiler season officially starting again.