Magic: The Gathering players who enjoy the Commander format or who follow the game’s deep, complicated lore will surely love two of the latest cards spoiled from Magic Core Set 2021. Among the new cards spoiled today are two Legendary Creatures with deep ties to Magic‘s story. One is an old villain back with a vengeance, and the other is a descendant of one of the game’s iconic heroes.
First up, the Magic Arcanum YouTube channel spoiled the new Kaervek, the Spiteful Legendary Creature card. Kaervek was a shaman from Magic‘s home plane of Dominaria and was the primary villain in the story of Mirage block. Kaervek and his allies from Urborg waged war on Teferi’s homeland of Zhalfir in Jamuraa and he was trapped in an amber prison meant for another character with a card in Core Set 2021, Mangara.
Before Kaervek got his first character card in Time Spiral, he was notable for having his name on various Black and Red spells with nasty damage or removal effects.
In his new card, Kaervek shows off his disdain for others with his static ability giving other creatures -1/-1. Notably, he doesn’t care whether you’re on his side or not. The debuff affects every other creature on the battlefield. Fortunately for players sitting across from Kaervek, his 3/2 stats make him fairly easy to deal with. In Constructed formats like Standard, he could see play in decks looking to deal with pesky 1/1 Creatures or Tokens.
The second Legendary Creature card spoiled today is Niambi, Esteemed Speaker. Niambi is Teferi’s daughter and she looks to be a well-respected leader in their homeland of Femeref in Jamuraa. Niambi first appeared on a card as Niambi, Faithful Healer, a Rare in the Dominaria Planeswalker Deck.
This time, Niambi packs a lot of power into a very cheap mana cost. Flash allows Niambi to come into play at any time, and her enter-the-battlefield ability can both save an allied creature targeted by removal and gain precious life against an aggressive deck. Finally, her activated ability offers card advantage and ties in effectively with her lore connecting her with Teferi and his legendary allies.
These two new Legendary Creatures offer a very cool look into Magic: The Gathering‘s lore, to be sure, but let us know how you plan on using them when they arrive with the upcoming Core 2021.
