Yesterday we went over the Blue cards from Kaldheim, make sure to check that out if you have not. Today we will be going over the Black and multicolored cards, but before we begin, let us go over my grading scale.

I will not be going over cards that I believe will not see play in Standard and I will not be going over the Commander cards that will not see Standard play. For example, cards like Goldmaw Champion and Master Skald will be omitted since they are just Limited cards and saying, "This is just a Limited card" repeatedly gets old rather fast. Do not worry though, I will be covering all the rare and mythic cards in the actual Kaldheim set. So, if you like a certain rare or mythic, it will be mentioned in the review.

Keep in mind I'm rating all these cards for Standard playability. I will mention Modern applications if I believe the card has some.

Each card will be listed by color, then alphabetically by name.

Each card will be given a rating of 1-5. If a card would receive a 0, meaning it will see no play in that format ever, its rating is left off the list.

Rating | Explanation | Standard Examples

0 - Will never see play in this format (0 ratings are not listed).

1 - Unlikely to see play. (Divine Gambit)

2 - Could see fringe play, or occasional sideboard card. (Disdainful Stroke, Annul, Erebos's Intervention, Shadow's Verdict)

3 - Commonly played, staple in a single deck, or frequent play in several decks. (Righteous Valkyrie, Behold the Multiverse, Solemn Simulacrum)

4 - Format staples. Sees play in multiple decks, one of the best cards in the format. (Saw it Coming, Fabled Passage, Bonecrusher Giant)

5 - Format warping. If you are in these colors, you play that card or keep that card in mind when building decks. (Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, Embercleave, The Great Henge)

Now that we have that out of the way, let's begin!

Black

	Blood on the Snow - 3 - Blood on the Snow is such a sweet wrath. Who doesn't want to kill all creatures then reanimate a creature or planeswalker? I just want to cast this in Historic and bring back Nicol Bolas, God-Pharaoh.
	Burning-Rune Demon - 2.5 - Burning-Rune Demon is a sweet card. You can use it as a value card at face value or you can give your opponent the illusion of choice. By grabbing any creature and Nullpriest of Oblivion. Grabbing a card like Kroxa or any card with escape guarantees that you will get both cards. This demon also plays well with Gyruda, Doom of Depths.
	Crippling Fear - 2 - Pretty terrible board wipe for anything except a tribal deck. Even in tribal decks it will only be a Sideboard card. Control decks need a stronger or faster way to clear the battlefield.
	Draugr Necromancer - 2 - Four mana for a 4/4, then you must kill a creature, then most likely wait yet another turn to cast that creature. You are dead to Embercleave or The Great Henge by that point. It also has no enter the battlefield ability making it a terrible card to play if your opponent is playing Elspeth Conquers Death or Binding the Old Gods.
	Dream Devourer - 3 - Dream Devourer giving everything Foretell is super neat. It helps cast big things like Ugin, the Spirit Dragon two turns earlier and lets you do fun things with cards like See the Truth. I would want to look at cards with converted mana cost six as you will be able to cast those on turn four if you Dream Devourer on two. Dream Devourer is a Black ramp creature, keep that in mind when building your decks!
	Egon, God of Death - 3.5 - Egon is a solid card. 3 mana for a 6/6 without much of a drawback since you draw a card when you must sacrifice him. In that way he is a different Rotting Regisaur. I think his Throne of Death is what is even more powerful though. It is a cheap turn one play and self-mill card that can be used as card advantage mid to late game. Fueling your Escape cards like Kroxa makes this card extremely valuable.
	Eradicator Valkyrie - 1 - This card is not good. 3 toughness is terrible and having hexproof from planeswalkers does not matter when the most relevant planeswalker is Ugin, the Spirit Dragon and he does not care about this Valkyrie.
	Haunting Voyage - 2 - Ever After saw some fringe play but was not an amazing card and Haunting Voyage is a worse Ever After if you're not Foretelling it. Could be a nice finisher though in an elf deck if you are bringing back one or two Skemfar Shadowsages.
	Poison the Cup - 2 - This card is okay, and I could see it as a one off in control or midrange decks but control decks really want cards like this to hit both planeswalkers and creatures. Making this hard to play over something like Murderous Rider.
	Rise of the Dread Marn - 2.5 - Love that you can use this in a control deck. Imagine killing a few creatures with Doomskar then making two or three zombie tokens. While that is fun, this card will be better in a sacrifice deck or as an anti-wrath card. Not as good as Midnight Reaper but still a decent sideboard option.
	Skemfar Avenger - 3 - While Skemfar Avenger does not replace itself like Midnight Reaper, it is only 2 mana. If Elves or Berserker is a good tribe, you better believe those decks are playing four of these.
	Skemfar Shadowsage - 3 - The Gray Merchant of Asphodel for Elves. This card copied or recurred will kill the opponent extremely quickly. Great finisher and also a great stabilizer against burn since you can pick the life gain option.
	Tergrid, God of Fright - 2.5 - Tergrid costs a lot of mana and she has no enter the battlefield ability making her another prime target for removal spells, especially Binding the Old Gods and Elspeth Conquers Death. Her Lantern is okay but the fact that they have so many ways to not lose three life makes it a little lackluster until you can activate it two or three times a turn.
	Tergrid's Shadow - 3 - Instant speed Barter in Blood is rather good at killing haste creatures, flash creatures, hexproof, creature lands, and indestructible creatures. Great card for a midrange or a control deck if the metagame shapes up right. Love this option for control decks as things like Faceless Haven can pose to be a problem.
	Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire - 2 - This card is cool but in reality, it just costs too much mana for an aggressive deck. And a control deck does not want this creature to tutor for cards when it can just draw a bunch of cards with things like Graven Lore or Behold the Multiverse.
	Valki, God of Lies - 4 - Vaki is an excellent card, especially since it can grab free wins if Valki can nab a Kroxa, Titan of Death's Hunger. Great early to slow down the opponent and late game, Tibalt will just end the game. Valki can also be played in Lurrus decks giving them a late game threat in Tibalt.

Top 5 Black Cards

1. Valki, God of Lies
2. Egon, God of Death
3. Dream Devourer
4. Blood on the Snow
5. Skemfar Avenger

Black got a nice boost from Kaldheim. I am particularly keen on Dream Devourer as I really want to see how a Black ramp creature plays out.

Next up, we have the multicolored cards!

Multicolor

	Aegar, the Freezing Flame - 2.5 - 3 mana for a 3/3 that might draw cards isn't very exciting, especially since you will have to untap with it or wait until you can play it and kill a creature with excess damage. Would rather just play Bonecrusher Giant or the included value or Tectonic Giant.
	Arni Slays the Troll - 2 - Solid sideboard card for midrange creature decks. As it kills a creature, pays for itself later, grows a creature, and gains you some life thus buying you time.
	Battle for Bretagard - 2.5 - It's no History of Benalia but it is cool that this curves into Esika's Chariot or better yet, Mythos of Illuna. I do not like how your opponent will have so any turns to find a board wipe before you double everything and even after you double, they will still have a chance to find a board wipe.
	Battle of Frost and Fire - 2.5 - This card really needed to deal five damage to be great. Because it does not kill Lovestruck Beast or Yorion makes it a liability. The other chapters are okay but since you really want that first chapter to kill everything and when it cannot, you are going to lose the game against Gruul. Especially if they deploy The Great Henge afterwards because their Lovestruck Beast did not die.
	The Bears of Littjara - 2.5 - You do not need many changelings to make this card work. In fact, if you can just get the one token to stick around you should be fine. The problem lies in that we live in a world of Bonecrusher Giant and Claim the Firstborn. So, if your changeling token dies, this card does not accomplish anything.
	Binding the Old Gods - 4.5 - The best saga in the set in my opinion. It is extremely versatile in that it can answer anything and then ramps you. The fact that you can reset it with Yorion really pushes it over the top.
	The Bloodsky Massacre - 3 - If Berserkers are a thing then the The Bloodsky Massacre should slide easily into that deck. Especially since it gives you a decent creature, can replace itself or more, and refunds you on mana. Powerful card but we will need to see how Berserker tribe shapes up.
	Fall of the Impostor - 2 - Just way too slow for what is going on here. Much better card in Limited. This card would need the first and third chapter switched to be great in Standard.
	Firja, Judge of Valor - 2 - Too much mana for a 2/4. Seems fine for Limited, but Baneslayer Angel is better than this card in Standard and that angel doesn't even see much play.
	Firja's Retribution - 4 - Amazing Saga in that it gives you a Serra Angel for 4 mana, then it is a removal spell, and then it will just kill your opponent if you have two or three angels out. Again, being able to be reset by Yorion is massive here.
	Forging the Tyrite Sword - 2.5 - Dwarves seems to care a lot about treasure, so I could see this card seeing play there. It's also a ramp spell in Boros colors allowing you to play a 7-drop on turn five. If only we had an equipment like Batterskull then this card would be nuts. I'd still keep an eye on this one and future equipment.
	Harald, King of Skemfar - 3 - Solid elf that replaces itself and can even find a planeswalker? Sign me up! 3 mana is also the perfect number for Collected Company in Historic.
	Harald Unites the Elves - 2.5 - While you cannot play too many of these in your Standard elf deck since it is slow, it can be backbreaking if you're ahead, quickly closing the game out.
	Immersturm Predator - 4 - If Falkenrath Aristocrat has taught me anything, it is to not underestimate cards like this. Immersturm Predator is an amazing threat that is hard to deal with and that will keep your opponent's graveyard in check.
	Invasion of the Giants - 3 - Any saga that generates value and then gives you the mana back is good in my book, especially one that costs 2 mana. I think giants is the most likely viable tribe in Standard and if I'm correct, then this card should see plenty of play.
	Kardur's Vicious Return - 3.5 - Another amazing Rakdos card. I do not think sacrifice decks needed anymore help but Kardur's Vicious Return helps them immensely. It is also just a great reanimation spell since the second chapter fuels the third. Sacrifice that Stitcher's Supplier and reanimate that Drakuseth!
	Kaya the Inexorable - 4 - What makes Kaya great is her minus ability and being able to answer almost anything. She will be great even in decks that cannot fully utilize her plus ability. However, midrange decks that can use her plus ability will make Kaya a Planeswalker to reckon with.
	King Narfi's Betrayal - 2 - Not an exceptionally reliable saga depending on your opponent's deck and it honestly does not do much outside of maybe drawing you two cards. Unreliable and the fact that you could possibly miss on this makes me not like it. If you could exile any card and play it, then I would be a fan. You are extremely limited when it is just planeswalkers and creatures as you really want to hit enchantments against Yorion.
	Koll, the Forgemaster - 2 - No idea where Koll will see play in Standard, but he does have a cool ability. I expect he'll get more use in Commander than Standard.
	Koma, Cosmos Serpent - 3.5 - Now this is a Simic finisher I can get behind. It is uncounterable, does not draw cards or gain life but is extremely difficult to deal with outside of Elspeth Conquers Death. Also, it's worth noting that Koma can act like Rishdan Port by tapping your opponent's lands down during their upkeep or end step.
	Narfi, Betrayer King - 3.5 - Narfi pairs perfectly with Teferi, Master of Time in a snow control deck. The fact that you can return Narfi at instant speed and that it can block, and you can keep recurring it makes it a hard for your opponent to deal with. And you will grind them out if they cannot.
	Niko Aris - 2 - Niko is just not a good card, the only place I can envision it is in an enchantment themed deck or the sidebard of control decks for it to act like a Tireless Tracker. The minus ability only being able to hit tapped creatures is what really hurts this card.
	Niko Defies Destiny - 3.5 - Great control card since it ramps you, gains you life, and gets you card advantage. Extremely powerful in a foretell deck and an easy four of in those decks.
	The Raven's Warning - 3 - New Fae of Wishes is sweet. I love that you gain life, buying you a little time so that you can get to the later chapters. The card draw is nice in the second chapter but being able to see their hand is massive. Peek is great when attached to more stuff.
	Sarulf, Realm Eater - 2 - If you are removing things to put counters on Sarulf then you make the Pernicious Deed effect less good. Sarulf is just in a fight with itself since you need to remove things too. Also, because you must wait for your upkeep to blow everything up it gets a no from me. Maybe in your sideboard for sacrifice decks but even then, Binding the Old Gods should be enough.
	Showdown of the Skalds - 4 - Escape to the Wilds is banned in Standard and Showdown is not too far off from Escape. Just make sure you play it in a deck that has a bunch of cheaply costed cards so you can fully abuse it. Another great card for Yorion to boot.
	The Three Seasons - 2 - Seems like a decent way to hit land drops in your snow deck or to recur other snow permanents. It's just not doing much else besides that and I'd rather play Cultivate over this card in my Green decks. Snow or no snow.
	Waking the Trolls - 2 - Super sweet and fun card but 6 mana for Mwonvuli-Acid Moss is too much. Especially against aggressive decks. Still a card I will play because blowing up lands is fun with cards like this and Haphazard Bombardment but ultimately not great for competitive Standard.

Top 5 Multicolored Cards

1. Binding the Old Gods
2. Showdown of the Skalds
3. Immersturm Predator
4. Kaya the Inexorable
5. Firja's Retribution

So many great multicolored cards in Kaldheim! It is extremely exciting, especially since a lot of them are sagas and sagas have been historically a great and enjoyable card type. The only thing I am worried about is Binding the Old Gods being looped over and over as that will get annoying quickly.

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Tomorrow we will be going over the Red and Artifacts cards, make sure to tune in!

As always, thanks for reading,

Ali Aintrazi

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