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Main » Articles » Kaldheim Tribes in Standard

Kaldheim Tribes in Standard

Mike Likes
Posted on February 4, 2021
 Reddit

Hello everyone. Kaldheim is officially here and it's time to start brewing decks with these new cards. For me, the best place to start brewing is with tribal decks, since these decks will typically be a little more linear and straightforward. However, that doesn't mean these decks are simple decks. They have just as much play and interaction as many other decks. Let's get started.

Izzet Giants

We get started this week with a deck that's sure to cause Giant problems for your opponent. Let's take a look at the deck.

Izzet Giants | KHM Standard | davius, deckstats.net user

With the exception of Glasspool Mimic, every creature spell in this deck is a Giant. That means two things; your creatures are all big and expensive. This is by no means an aggro deck, with zero 1-drops in sight. This is a midrange deck, and as long as you're able to survive the first few turns, you should end up in a place of dominance. The smallest creature you have is Aegar, the Freezing Flame, coming in at a meager 3/3. I use the term meager in jest, as a 3/3 is generally big enough to stop the onrush of an aggressive deck. With your largest creature, Cyclone Summoner, coming in at a 7/7, you'll be able to hold your own with many of the Green stompy decks as well.

The difficult thing about playing this deck is having enough mana each turn to play the cards you need to play. Luckily, this deck offers some solutions for this problem. Invasion of the Giants is a saga that only costs two mana to cast. Once you've added its third lore counter, you'll be able to cast a Giant spell for two less mana this turn. Open the Omenpaths is an instant that provides you with a net result of one extra mana that you can use to cast creature or enchantment spell. Finally, for those really expensive spells, Thryx, the Sudden Storm reduces by one the cost of spells that cost five or more mana, plus it makes those spells unable to be countered. That uncounterability can be especially important, as you don't want your expensive Giant spells to be countered turn after turn.

Golgari Elves

The next deck I have for you features the Elves from the realm of Skemfar. Let's take a look at the deck.

Golgari Elves | KHM Standard | Kridal, deckstats.net user

Thanks to Tyvar Kell's static ability, all of your Elves will be able to tap for a Black mana. That, combined with the mana ramping that Sculptor of Winter can provide, makes it possible for you to ramp your forces onto the battlefield very quickly. Since Tyvar Kell costs four mana, though, this deck is more of a midrange deck than an aggro one. Another means of ramping up the amount of creatures you control is with Elvish Warmaster. Once per turn, this Elf Warrior will create an Elf Warrior creature token whenever another Elf enters the battlefield. With multiple copies of Elvish Warmaster in play, you'll be adding multiple Elves to your ranks very often. That extra mana can also be used to help you finish the game. By using Elvish Warmaster's activated ability, all of your Elves gain a +2/+2 bonus plus deathtouch for the rest of the turn. This can be a great way to finish off your opponent.

The only creature in the main deck that's not an Elf is Vorinclex, Monstrous Raider. This Phyrexian Praetor works wonders next to the two planeswalkers in this deck. Since Vorinclex doubles the amount of counters that would be placed on a permanent you control, you'll be able to have a planeswalker you've cast after Vorinclex is on the battlefield come into play with double its starting loyalty. This works especially well with Garruk, Cursed Huntsman, as you can immediately get an emblem that gives all of your creatures +3/+3 and trample. If you were to cast Tyvar Kell with Vorinclex in play, you could immediately get his emblem as well, giving all of your newly cast Elves haste and drawing you two additional cards. However, doing so would take all of Tyvar's loyalty, sending him to the discard pile, so normally you'll want to wait a turn for this. There will be times, though, when you will want him to be discarded so you can replay him for free with Harald Unites the Elves.

Orzhov Angels

Next up, I have a deck for you that's sent from above. Let's look at Orzhov Angels.

Orzhov Angels | KHM Standard | skeelnully, deckstats.net user

This deck looks like a good starting point for an Angel-based deck. You'll start off by playing the only non-Angel creature in this deck, Speaker of the Heavens. This Human Cleric has an ability that you can use to create Angel creature tokens, but it can only be activated once you're at 27 points of life. Since Speaker of the Heavens is the only creature in this deck with lifelink, you'll need to find some other means of gaining additional life. There are two other ways in this deck. The most important is Righteous Valkyrie. With a copy of Righteous Valkyrie in play, whenever you another Angel or Cleric comes into play under your control, you'll gain life equal to that creature's toughness. Since every creature in this deck is either an Angel or a Cleric, it's important to get Righteous Valkyrie into play quickly. Renegade Reaper can also gain you life, if you happen to mill an Angel card from your top four cards.

Most of the time, milling cards isn't good, since those cards will no longer be able to be played, but this deck has ways of getting around that negative point. The final chapter of Elspeth Conquers Death allows you to put a creature from your graveyard onto the battlefield with a +1/+1 counter on it (there are no planeswalkers in this deck). Resplendent Marshal has an ability that you can use when it enters the battlefield as well as when it dies. This ability allows you to exile a creature card from your graveyard in order to put a +1/+1 counter on each creature other than Resplendent Marshal that shares a creature type with that exiled creature. This allows you to grow the majority of your flying threats, making them even more dangerous.

Azorius Spirits

The final deck I have for you focuses on Spirits in its attempt to dominate the opponent. Let's check it out.

Azorius Spirits | KHM Standard | obfn, deckstats.net user

This is another deck that looks to be a good starting point for a Spirit deck, but some of the numbers of cards might need fine-tuning. If possible, you'll want to start on turn one by playing Ascendant Spirit. This will allow you to activate its abilities on future turns, eventually turning it into a 6/6 flying Spirit Warrior Angel. Keep in mind that these abilities can all be activated on your opponent's turn, so you'll be able to leave up mana for Lofty Denial.

While Lofty Denial can be used to straight-up counter an opponent's spell, this deck has other ways of dealing with an opponent's annoying permanents. Ever since the release of Zendikar Rising, Skyclave Apparition has been a go-to spell for White decks, having the ability to exile any nonland, nontoken permanent costing four mana or less. The fact that Skyclave Apparition can remove artifacts and enchantments means that you can use Shacklegeist to tap down your opponent's creatures, giving you the potential to make a massive alpha strike attack.

Wrapping Up

I don't know about you, but I'm very excited to try out decks featuring new cards from Kaldheim. Standard is about to be shaken up with this new expansion.

What do you think of these decks? Do you have any suggestions for improvements? Let me know by leaving a comment below. Also, feel free to share this article with your friends anywhere on social media. And be sure to join me here again next week as I continue my search for innovative decks in Standard. I'll see you then!

-Mike Likes

TAGS articles, standard, constructed, analysis, decklist, tribal, mike likes, khm standard, 02042021

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