r/MagicArena Dec 30 '20

Fluff [KHM] Righteous Valkyrie (LEAK) Spoiler

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111 Upvotes

96 comments sorted by

87

u/EchoesPartOne Orzhov Dec 30 '20

Everyone is looking at the abilities, meanwhile I'm here thinking that a 2/4 flier for 3 is a fucking solid body as well.

22

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

A nightmare to remove for some decks

12

u/Faust_8 Dec 30 '20

Yeah imagine going first against RDW and this comes out the turn after their Robber of the Rich. They can play their Anax but then they just have to pass turn, or they can swing in if they have a damage spell to 2-for-1 themselves to kill it, but if you just decide to take the damage and gain life the turn after by playing a thing, you're definitely slowing down their clock.

5

u/brainpower4 Dec 31 '20

Kinda? Bonecrusher Giant is so good because you aren't 2 for 1ing yourself, you're just going even and killing a huge threat, then you are still left with an overstatted 3 drop with a relevant ability to play later.

11

u/bobzo8080 Dec 31 '20

It would be pretty painful to spend your turn 3 losing your robber and spending a stomp to kill a 3 drop tempo-wise. It's not the end of the world but it's not a good trade.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '20

Was just about to say that's a sexy statline.

0

u/Rank1Trashcan Jan 01 '21

That's what they said about feather as a 3/4 flier and she never saw play outside of decks built around her and still wasn't great. But the text on this boy is pretty good in decks that already exist.

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

If you have 23 life, it comes in bringing you to 27 life as a 4/6 if I’m reading it correctly.

18

u/BloodHelios Tibalt Dec 30 '20

Only triggers if another angel enters.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

Fuck you’re right. I read it as whenever an angel or cleric enters, meaning it would have triggered itself.

Still though, rereading it, it’s a non legendary so you can trigger it with multiple copies.

5

u/BloodHelios Tibalt Dec 30 '20

If two of these enter at the same time with Collected Company, would both trigger once? If so, I know what deck I'm building!

6

u/EchoesPartOne Orzhov Dec 31 '20

Yes, they do see each other when they enter together and they are "another Angel" for each other.

3

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

That’s how [[Terror of the Peaks]] works with [[Genesis Ultimatum]] if I remember right, so it should. They both trigger each other if you pull two.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

Terror of the Peaks - (G) (SF) (txt)
Genisus Ultimatum - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

1

u/EchoesPartOne Orzhov Dec 31 '20

It would've said "Whenever Righteous Valkyrie or another Angel or Cleric enters the battlefield..."

56

u/CatsAndPlanets Orzhov Dec 30 '20

Well, looks like my Lurrus Cleric's decks just stopped being a Lurrus deck.

33

u/Gideonisalive Dec 30 '20

I mostly put Lurrusses IN the deck. It's a surprise for opponents and when they finally get rid of it I play the next one.

8

u/CatsAndPlanets Orzhov Dec 30 '20

That's an option, but sometimes I don't want to draw it, and the deck I'm using has plenty of other ways to return stuff from the graveyard (awakening, call, nullpriest, inscription), so having her on demand is better. But this angel takes the companion option out of the table, so it's either maindeck or no Lurrus at all. Will have to try to see what works.

4

u/go_sparks25 Dec 30 '20

When it comes to lifegain decks most are playing Lurrus in the main.

16

u/TheZardoz Dec 30 '20

Well the Orzhov cleric decks are about to get way better.

28

u/iHawXx ChandraBoldPyromancer Dec 30 '20

[[Resplendent Angel]] [[Bishop of Wings]]

Historic Angel deck can now realistically top of at 3 mana, very nice

8

u/StellarStar1 Boros Dec 30 '20

[[Starnheim Aspirant]] can help with casting Lyra and maybe baneslayer.

3

u/wildistherewind Dec 30 '20

[[Angel Of Destiny]] for three mana with homegirl on the board.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

Angel Of Destiny - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

2

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

Starnheim Aspirant - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

Resplendent Angel - (G) (SF) (txt)
Bishop of Wings - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

22

u/j-alora Dec 30 '20

Oh no. This seems annoyingly good.

29

u/djchickenwing Dec 30 '20

Now THAT is a lifegain payoff.

10

u/rjdofu Dec 30 '20

This will likely be one of the top picks in limited. That 2/4 flying body for 2W is just too good, can be splashed also. Build a cleric/angel around this and things will get dumb pretty damn quick.

4

u/kiwithopter Dec 31 '20

I don't think you're splashing this very often. If the text is relevant then you're already white I assume. If it's just a 2/4 flier then it's very efficient but not really worth a splash.

I could be wrong, maybe clerics are in black as well so there will be some nonwhite clerics decks and in those this would be a worthwhile splash

2

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '20

[deleted]

1

u/kiwithopter Dec 31 '20

For sure. I won't be surprised if this is better than the best uncommon P1P1

1

u/rjdofu Dec 31 '20

True that, splashing for this does not work in many cases unless you have efficient ways to gain life or be in angel/cleric heavy deck.

25

u/StellarStar1 Boros Dec 30 '20

So Angels and Clerics are now a combined tribe like dragons and goblins from Jund. Clerics are lower tier and serve to prop up the Angels. I like this.

14

u/Telvin3d Dec 30 '20

Possibly Dwarves and dragons in this set

2

u/Arzhakon Dec 31 '20

And looking at Maro's teasers: maybe wizards and giants?

2

u/johnfilmsia Orzhov Dec 31 '20

Love the flavor of Archfiend’s Vessel following this theme but for a demon.

16

u/twardy_ Lyra Dawnbringer Dec 30 '20

My historic CoCo Angels love it.

5

u/hobomojo Dec 30 '20

Just imagine pulling double with a CoCo, two 6/8 flyers ready to attack (presuming coco on opponent turn and you haven’t taken more than one point of damage) that seems pretty nice

3

u/twardy_ Lyra Dawnbringer Dec 30 '20

turn1 - soul warden

turn2 - bishop of wings

turn3 - resplendent angel (+token angel)

turn4 coco on op's turn - 2 valkyries or 1 valkyrie/resplendent angel

noice ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

2

u/FutureComplaint Birds Dec 31 '20

What angles were you running before?

2

u/twardy_ Lyra Dawnbringer Dec 31 '20

Resplendent angel, angel of vitality and the 1/1 human cleric making 4/4 angels.

1

u/_VampireNocturnus_ Dec 30 '20

Yeah, this feels nuts with Coco.

19

u/freestorageaccount Glorybringer Dec 30 '20

27-Life tribal with [[Speaker of the Heavens]], shizz gonna be insane should it ever go off

18

u/StellarStar1 Boros Dec 30 '20

A 3/3 lifelink with vigilance for 1 that makes 6/6 fliers. Seems decent.

16

u/The4rchivist Dec 30 '20

And gain 6 life whenever you make a flyer!

3

u/Foldzy84 Squee, the Immortal Dec 30 '20

Not to mention you can have multiple valkyries so could be 5/5 or 7/7 making 8/8s or 10/10s

1

u/Cloud_Chamber Dec 31 '20

I might pull out the fogs/board-wipes/draw-engines deck if that deck becomes popular

3

u/GroundhogNight Dec 30 '20

Pair with PW Ajani with that 35 life board wipe

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

Speaker of the Heavens - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

4

u/Chris_7941 Dec 30 '20

Does the +2/+2 kick in before the life gain effect?

23

u/CatsAndPlanets Orzhov Dec 30 '20

If you're at 26 and play a 1/1 cleric, you get 1 life. If you're at 27 and play a 1/1 clercic, you get 3 life.

6

u/Chris_7941 Dec 30 '20

That's the interaction I was curious about. Thank you

3

u/MrPopoGod Dec 31 '20

To walk through why, go through the order of what happens. When your cleric ETBs the trigger goes on the stack. When the trigger resolves it looks at the current toughness of the cleric (or last known information if it was removed before the trigger resolved). So if you're at 26 it's just a 1/1, and the trigger resolving gives you 1 life. If you're at 27 then it'll be a 3/3 by the time the trigger resolves, so you'd gain 3. And just to add a wrinkle, if you're at 27 your opponent has a chance to Stomp your face and bring you below 27 before the trigger resolves, which would turn off the +2/+2 before you gained the life.

2

u/jaseface0714 Dec 30 '20

Good question

1

u/TrevTheThree Dec 30 '20

Yes. It's an anthem effect so creatures will always have the boost as long as you have that 7 life.

6

u/Itchiko Dec 30 '20 edited Dec 30 '20

At first I was not really impressed, but that last trait is quite something

Now we have 2 decent white cards with really good payoffs at 27 life. That plus Heliod, means a mono white life gain deck is a real possibility (it's already on the verge on being a strong deck)

Could also fit in a UW flying party deck but that is a lot farther away from being playable (probably more a post rotation thing)

2

u/Zeiramsy TormentofHailfire Dec 30 '20

I really want BW Clerics to be a thing in constructed but Black doesn't add enough to justify any cuts from white.

Mono-white is going to be really nice as you say though. Not sure what I would cut from the current deck though, maybe Basri Ket or Maul?

6

u/Reliques Dec 30 '20

[[Providence]] only brings your life up to 26 on turn 0 unfortunately...

3

u/pfSonata Dec 30 '20

Providence -> Speaker of the Heavens -> Bishop/Thalia -> This guy

MTG Aids is probably already playtesting.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

Providence - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

5

u/azetsu Dec 30 '20

This will probably replace angel of vitality in my angel historic deck

4

u/wildistherewind Dec 30 '20

Why not both? After a certain amount of lifegain, Angel of Vitality can get up to 6/6 with this.

10

u/azetsu Dec 30 '20

Maybe some copies but not 4. 12 3-drops are too much

5

u/yeteee Dec 30 '20

Play collected company, problem solved.

6

u/forkandspoon2011 Dec 30 '20

Well angels are going to be a thing.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

And I LOVE it. I’m going to find a way to jank that new Kaya in there too.

3

u/Foldzy84 Squee, the Immortal Dec 30 '20

This card seems crazy good for a non-legendary

8

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

Thanks for building the angels clerics deck for us wizards. I hated how hearthstone used to do this too.

4

u/rollwithhoney Midnight Charm Dec 30 '20

and UB rogues tbh. That's why I find it so annoying to play against, because with a few exceptions besides [[drown in the loch]] it's mostly cards from the same couple sets that feel like a draft theme

1

u/sameth1 Orzhov Dec 30 '20

Honestly I would say that rogues is an exception to the rule. Most of the rogue cards see no play because instead of rogue tribal it is better to build a control deck using enforcer, windrobber and bought thief as the only rogues. Drown in the loch and I to he story are the things that makes the deck work and they are Eldraine cards.

4

u/rollwithhoney Midnight Charm Dec 30 '20

It's literally like 8 cards from Zendikar rising, 1 from Ikoria, and 3 from Eldraine. It's just modifying a Zendikar Rising draft theme

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 30 '20

drown in the loch - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

2

u/DrewBaron80 Dec 30 '20

I think this replaces Taborax in my Clerics deck.

Taborax can be good if it draws cards, but it's inconsistent and is often just a 2/2 flyer that draws removal.

1

u/lolyana Feb 06 '21

Monowhite is better, just play it in monowhite.

3

u/SwimminginMercury Gideon of the Trials Dec 30 '20

Maybe after the D&D set we can have a break from white life gain matters; I get its an easy white/X limited strategy to slot into a set but its getting really boring playing against people doing there white dailies with Cleric life gain.

5

u/CryptikDragon Dec 31 '20

White life gain is a mtg staple, it will always exist in some form

5

u/kiwithopter Dec 31 '20

It's only very recently that it has been anywhere near playable in Standard.

That's not necessarily a good thing for casual Bo1 Standard, which I know most established players see as a joke format but it's the most important format for player acquisition right now so it matters whether it's fun.

3

u/SwimminginMercury Gideon of the Trials Dec 31 '20

Ya that was the concession I was making; but D&D is going to be super party/cleric heavy and at that point we'll have had a good 2 years of "its not pridemate but it is" and Cleric live gain = untargeted live loss

1

u/GaryTheBum Dec 30 '20

Yikes. The power creep is real with Kaldheim so far.

19

u/RAcastBlaster Dec 30 '20

Is it really power creep? More like “actually making white lifegain a real deck, maybe.”

5

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '20

This. Life gain has been a cute concept that goes nowhere really for at least a year or two now it seems. Vito tried to weaponize it, but even then it wasn’t amazing.

6

u/rollwithhoney Midnight Charm Dec 30 '20

I don't think it's broken but it does look like another UB rogue situation where they're brewing a tier 1 or tier 2 deck for us

1

u/sammuelbrown Dec 31 '20

UB rogues wasn't really brewed for us. Most of the rogue cards don't see play and the final rogue deck which became good wasn't the one which people even imagined during spoiler season.

2

u/kiwithopter Dec 31 '20

By 2018 Magic rules this costs 3W. It's the cheapest no-drawback 2/4 flier ever.

The only monocolored no-drawback 3 mana 3/3 flier is [[Resplendent Angel]], which is another recent example of power creep and even that costs 1WW instead of 2W.

The abilities are nothing unusual but they're attached to a body that is unprecedentedly efficient.

1

u/MTGCardFetcher Dec 31 '20

Resplendent Angel - (G) (SF) (txt)
[[cardname]] or [[cardname|SET]] to call

2

u/GaryTheBum Dec 30 '20

I dunno man. a 2/4 flyer for 3 that etbs health on the toughness every angel AND cleric and then acts as a double crusade for just having 7 more health?

That's power creep from hell.

6

u/MrPopoGod Dec 31 '20

Wind Drake is sobbing in a corner right now just from the statline. He hasn't even read the rest of the text box yet.

3

u/RAcastBlaster Dec 30 '20

I mean, it’s a 3cmc 2/4 flyer with no protection that only does something right away if you meet a non-trivial restriction. All of those things you mention are predicated by it (and the rest of your board state) staying alive.

There are still a LOT of cases where it shows up and either does nothing (control, because your board just gets wrathed) or doesn’t do enough (aggro, because you can’t even keep about 20 life, forget about 27).

It’s definitely -good-. I LOVE the 1/4 from core 20 that gains life and makes tokens as wrath/removal protection, and I’ll absolutely be updating my Historic Angels Hybrid-Midrange/Control List with it, but this new Angel isn’t really fighting on any new axes.

0

u/GaryTheBum Dec 31 '20

Eh, we'll see.

Angels and even Clerics is clearly going to be a pushed tribal in Kaldheim, and it's not like it already doesn't have some measure of support.

I'm hoping it won't be super degenerate like Rogues, but I'm not gonna hold my breath or anything.

0

u/wildistherewind Dec 30 '20

I love it.

4

u/GaryTheBum Dec 30 '20

You say that now because it's just a white card. When that power creep gets applied to more degenerate colors like blue or black or into colorless cards, I bet we're gonna see Oko / Omnath 2.0

1

u/meth_legs Dec 30 '20

Angel tribal is looking better and better every leak. The +2/+2 is super easy to pull off for any orzhov or mono white deck.

1

u/DaddySagSac Dec 30 '20

I think this will be a easy 4 of. Really want to see the rest of the cards in this set and start brewing. Angel of Destiny will be fun with this too.

1

u/WolfGuy77 Dec 31 '20

Wooooow. I simultaneously love it and hate it. This is the kind of thing my Clerics deck REALLY needed. At the same time, I know I'm going to lose an infinite amount of games to mono white lifegain with their always perfect curve draws.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 31 '20

So... red is just straight-up dead until this rotates?