Welcome all to the Daily Dose of Kaldheim. Today I’ll be travelling to the land of Giants to talk about what is sure to be some of the key cards needed to build an upcoming Izzet Giant Standard deck. Giants are all over Kaldheim, but their importance in building a solid deck goes far beyond large creatures that will tower over your battlefield. There are enchantments that will help take your Giant deck to the next level and maybe even become a Giant killer (of the Standard format). We have already seen the uncommon Saga Invasion of the Giants be a powerful two-drop tool to help fill the early curve in a Giants deck. Today I’ll be talking about a Berserker, a Legendary creature and a powerful Saga to help you cast spells in the latter part of your mana curve.
First off is a three-mana Legendary creature that wants all your spells and Giants (and Wizards) to go over and above the damage threshold of pain. Here is Aegar, the Freezing Flame.
Aegar, the Freezing Flame
This is one of my favourite Legendary uncommons from the new set as it does everything you are looking for in your new Giant Deck. You get a solid 3/3 creature for three mana which curves out well. It’s a Giant and a Wizard which helps with synergies including the one on this card. It helps you with card advantage turning all your damage spells into potential cantrips. That would have been good, but with this ability excess combat damage by Giants and Wizards also draws you a card. I think this will replace itself most every time and will make it difficult for your opponent to chump block your large Giants you cast onto the battlefield.
Next up is a Saga that’s going to help you clear off the battlefield of anything that isn’t a Giant. Here is the new Saga, Battle of Frost and Fire.
Battle of Frost and Fire
Multicoloured Sagas seems much more powerful than monocoloured ones and Kaldheim has a ton of them. Luckily, there are a few suited to go directly into an Izzet Giants deck. First off was Invasion of the Giants which helps you ramp into larger Giants, and now Battle of Frost and Fire to help you clear off the battlefield of those pesky non-Giants. A one-sided sweeper is rare and is nice that it also damages planeswalkers as well. Its Chapter II ability will help you set up future turns including what you are able to cast during Chapter III. There are a few Giants that will have a casting cost of five or greater, so there’s a good chance you will be able to gain some card advantage during this Chapter. I expect this to be a one or two of in Giants deck but could be sideboarded in for more copies against certain matchups.
Finally, I have a Giant that is looking to deal damage to you no matter where it is. Here is Quakebringer.
Quakebringer
What… a … card! This card has a lot to take in, so let’s enjoy it every step of the way. This 5/4 for five mana is good and powerful, but it can get even better once you foretell it out on turn four! Your Giant deck often won’t have any plays on turn two due to the large casting costs of Giants, so putting this into exile seems like the right thing to do. You still can life, so this is a higher upside than something similar we’ve seen in the past on a card like Rampaging Ferocidon. Finally, whenever it is on the battlefield or in your graveyard, it will deal two damage a turn to your opponent. Getting other Giants on the battlefield if necessary, won’t be that much of an issue. Using a self-mill strategy for this and cards like Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger means some major hurts for your opponent if they can’t deal with your graveyard. I think this is a powerful card and I look forward to having four of them in my graveyard dealing eight damage a turn.
As you can see, we are just living in a world where Giants roam free and take control of everything and I’m okay with that. Thanks again for reading the Daily Dose of Kaldheim. Join me again next week for another week of analysis and previews of all the new cards from Kaldheim.
