Blue finds itself with multiple powerful strategies in Kaldheim Limited. With synergies around snow, changelings, and the new mechanic Foretell, blue has all the tools to control the game. Blue is all about drawing cards, controlling the battlefield, and winning with powerful late-game finishers.
Each color pair containing blue has a different flavor. U/B looks to take advantage of snow synergies to play creatures supported by card draw and removal. U/G can use a variety of tribal synergies because changelings have all creature types. U/R looks to play two spells in a turn and swing in with large giants.
Blue is a color that slots into several different archetypes from aggro to control. Here are the best common and uncommon blue cards for Kaldheim Limited.
Avalanche Caller
- CMC: 1U
- Type: Snow Creature Human Wizard
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 1/3
- First ability: Pay two mana: Target snow land you control becomes a 4/4 Elemental creature with hexproof and haste until end of turn. It’s still a land.
Prioritizing snow permanents early is the key for most blue decks to win the game. Avalanche Caller is one of the best uncommon finishers in the snow archetype. After establishing healthy card advantage and control over the battlefield, Avalanche Caller’s activated ability provides a steady flow of large, hexproof attackers. The activated ability is also repeatable. Animating two or three lands should be enough power to close things out in the late game. Don’t count out dropping Avalanche Caller as an early blocker against low-to-the-ground aggro decks.
Behold the Multiverse
- CMC: 3U
- Type: Instant
- Rarity: Common
- First ability: Scry two, then draw two cards.
- Second ability: Foretell 1U
This common instant is a nice example of Foretell’s strengths. Four mana to scry two then draw a couple of cards is fine, but not something you’d want to pick highly. The foretell discount pushes Behold the Multiverse into the world of solid playable cards. Being able to get this effect for two mana at a later turn is excellent. The cheap Foretell cost allows you to play a threat on your turn and still keep up mana to either cast Behold the Multiverse or spend their mana elsewhere. Blue decks are going to rely on a piece like Behold the Multiverse to keep the hand stocked with answers.
Frost Augur
- CMC: U
- Type: Snow Creature Human Wizard
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Stats: 1/2
- First ability: Pay one snow mana and tap: Look at the top card of your library. If it’s a snow card, you may reveal it and put it into your hand.
Frost Augur is another cheap blue uncommon that helps snow decks find value at all stages of the game. Frost Augur does have a high deck building cost. To make this card good, most of your cards should be snow. Whiffing on the activated ability hurts, but if you manage to draft a deck with over half of the cards being snow cards Frost Augur is an extra source of conditional card draw.
Icebind Pillar
- CMC: 2U
- Type: Snow Artifact
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: Pay one snow mana and tap: Tap target artifact or creature.
This is a snow Icy Manipulator. The card is downright good. Icy Manipulator is an effective piece in a blue control deck. The added relevance of Icebind Pillar being a snow permanent gives the card extra value by fueling bigger snow payoffs. This is a simple card, but a crucial uncommon piece for decks looking to drag its opponent into the late game.
Littjara Kinseekers
- CMC: 3U
- Type: Creature Shapeshifter
- Rarity: Common
- Stats: 2/4 Changeling
- First ability: When Littjara Kinseekers enters the battlefield, if you control three or more creatures that share a creature type, put a +1/+1 counter on Littjara Kinseekers, then scry one.
Littjara Kinseekers plays well with the changeling subtheme found in blue. With changeling and Giants in U/X decks, Littjara Kinseekers should enter the battlefield with the counter more often than not. A 2/4 body isn’t bad, but the buff to 3/5 makes this creature difficult to remove. The relevant creature type combined with the sturdy body makes Littjara Kinseekers a decent playable.
Mistwalker
- CMC: 2U
- Type: Creature Shapeshifter
- Rarity: Common
- Stats: 1/4 Flying Changeling
- First ability: Pay 1U: Mistwalker gets +1/-1 until end of turn.
Mistwalker is a card that will put in some solid work at the common rarity. The flying creature comes in on turn three, after you’ve Foretold a card on turn two, and is a strong blocker that can become an effective attacker. If Mistwalker didn’t have flying it’d be significantly worse. The evasive ability helps this become a viable attacking threat when your opponent’s defenses are down.
Pilfering Hawk
- CMC: 1U
- Type: Snow Creature Bird
- Rarity: Common
- Stats: 1/2 Flying
- First ability: Pay one snow mana and tap: Draw a card, then discard a card.
For blue decks learning into the snow archetype, Pilfering Hawk is a decent way to find your answers. The body isn’t great, but in common Pilfering Hawk is a repeatable card draw. The snow synergies help this become playable. U/B Snow decks can take advantage of reanimating creatures and Pilfering Hawk helps stack your graveyard.
Rune of Flight
- CMC: 1U
- Type: Enchantment Aura Rune
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: Enchant permanent. When Rune of Flight enters the battlefield, draw a card.
- Second ability: As long as enchanted permanent is a creature, it has flying.
- Third ability: As long as enchanted permanent is an equipment, it has “Equipped creature has flying.”
The rune cycle in Kaldheim is interesting. This two-mana enchantment draws a card, then gives a creature flying. That’s a pair of solid effects for two mana. What sets Rune of Flight apart from other enchantments is the ability to put it on an equipment. This limits the two-for-one potential inherent with auras because equipment sticks around if the creature it’s attached to dies. Rune of Flight is a good spell that can help a key threat get in for damage.
Glimpse the Cosmos
- CMC: 1U
- Type: Sorcery
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: Look at the top three cards of your library. Put one of them into your hand and the rest on the bottom of your library in any order.
- Second ability: As long as you control a Giant, you may cast Glimpse the Cosmos from your graveyard by paying one blue mana rather than paying its mana cost. If you cast Glimpse the Cosmos this way and it would be put into your graveyard, exile it instead.
Glimpse the Cosmos is a strong sorcery that should be played in U/R Giants decks. The core card is already a decent playable. Digging three deep and getting one of those cards is solid. Repeating this effect in later turns for one mana with the second ability helps you find answers and get a little extra value out of what’s normally a one-shot effect.
Giant’s Amulet
- CMC: U
- Type: Artifact Equipment
- Rarity: Uncommon
- First ability: When Giant’s Amulet enters the battlefield, you may pay 3U. If you do, create a 4/4 blue Giant Wizard creature token, then attach Giant’s Amulet to it.
- Second ability: Equipped creature gets +0/+1 and has “This creature has hexproof as long as it’s untapped.”
- Third ability: Equip for two generic mana.
Giant’s Amulet can enter the battlefield with a strong 4/4 creature that becomes a 4/5 with conditional hexproof when the equipment is attached to it. That’s good. It synergizes with Giant payoffs and is hard to remove. Giant’s Amulet can also be used as a way to protect a key non-attacking creature like Jorn, God of Winter or Calamity Bearer.
Kaldheim releases digitally on Magic Arena and Magic Online on Jan. 28.
Published: Jan 26, 2021 09:27 pm