I thought I would jump in front of EDHREC and give out my own personal ranking of the new legends of Kaldheim, based on predicted frequency of play. Just a disclaimer that this is my own opinion, I’m open to hear conflicting opinions of my viewpoints, but I won’t be changing this list unless I happen to have forgotten a legend... and yes I apologize in advance if I did forget one there are a lot of these suckers in this set. And yes I bet there is a grammatical issue somewhere, I’m just reallly lazy and I’ll clarify if it makes zero sense.
All right, no more excuses, let’s get into it.
cEDH Worthy
Orvar, the All-Form
- Infinite combos for days, incredibly potent ramp potential, all around extremely powerful card. Need I say more? And yes, sorry Mistform Ultimas, you did good. Birgi, God of Storytelling
- This card is downright busted. Essentially every card you play has a reduced mana cost of one. Free Lightning Bolt? Why not. Pyroblast? Sure. This is the true god of storm, sorry Keranos.
Frequent play
Valki, God of Lies
- Even without Tibalt on the other side, Valki is still a very exciting card, and while the table may not like stolen cards, well sucks, they should be playing Valki. Oh and yes, that Tibalt is pretty nasty in multiplayer. Esika, God of the Tree
- I can feel the hate coming, but Esika isn’t cEDH material. Yes it’s polymorph that triggers on your upkeep, but the moment you get close to being able to cast, every blue player and their mother is holding mana to counter it, and realistically, when’s the last time an Ulamog took out all 3 other players in a game? Still, this card is going to be at a ton of tables. Vorinclex, Monstrous Rider
- The big man is back and as infamous as before, and instead of doubling mana you’re doubling counters... while clearly the design was to favor infect, planeswalkers are his best superfriends. Jorn, God of Winter
- Blizzards of the coast did it, finally a snow legend that...is actually quite strong. With the new dual snow lands, this legend is great to ramp like crazy and get out Marit Lage like it’s nobody’s business. Even the other side of this card is strong. Overall, the flavor and power of this card to me puts him on the table. Toksi, Bearer of Secrets
- Toksi is the hero everybody asked for and nobody thought they’d need. Being the first squirrel legend to be playable, I have no doubt in my mind for the sheer love of squirrels that he’ll see frequent play, and possibly the reason he’s a great shell for voltron or group slug strategies. Fynn, the Fangbearer
- Oh boy is Fynn one heck of a package. 2 mana deathtouch on a commander isn’t half bad, but giving deathtouch creatures infect 2.0? It doesn’t matter that he’s only mino green, for being uncommon this card is uncannily good. Koma, Cosmos Serpent
- I had a lot of trouble deciding where Koma should end up. Yes, he’s an incredibly powerful card, but he’s just another simic beater realistically. What saves him, like Toksi, is the flavor of a giant serpent and the army it creates. Sarulf, Realm Eater
- Sarulf is essentially a time bomb in any game. For 3 mana it creates hesitant sacrifices, reluctant blocks, and a whole lot of targeting towards the controller. Regardless, his viability is tremendous with token doublers making this puppy bark with a whole lotta bite. Narfi, Betrayer King
- Here we go our first uncommon mythic, Narfi is a brilliantly broken card that has potential to go infinite in games and all around brings an icy flavor to zombie tribal. Although not spending much time in the command zone, he will spend a lot on the table. Svella, Ice Shaper
- Uncommon mythic number 2. A mini Golos that creates manaliths? Yes please, with token doublers this card is quite the killer, and I’m sure it has the ability to go infinite one way or another. I’m so glad GR finally got good ramp. Aegar, the Freezing Flame
- This card is the epitome of an oxymoron. A 3/3 giant for 3, it’s in the name, he’s a mythic in an uncommon shell, this guy is the whole package. And man oh man does he pack a punch, there’s a lot of damage doubling or tripling effects plus multi target spells that will make this card draw cards like a curious Niv-Mizzet.
Infrequent play
Egon, God of Death
- 3 mana, 6/6, Deathtouch. This card screams voltron, and Yargle players rejoice because this card is quite the powerhouse. Sadly, compared to the other cards in this set, he’s not appealing enough to see play over some other legends. Reidane, God of the Worthy
- Well I’m not excited about this card, but it’s not strictly bad. It’s a good commander if you want the table to groan as hour 5 hits and the pillow fort has turned to concrete. Cosima, God of the Voyage
- This card isn’t entirely fantastic, the god side isn’t that great, but the thing that saves this card is... and I quote... BOAT GOD, BOAT GOD, BOAT GOD, BO-O-OAT GOD. Tergrid, God of Fright
- This card is a serious sleeper. Thoughtseize and other discard effects make this card ruthless, along with other targeted sacrifice options. This is a great card, that I sadly think won’t see a ton of play, even if it is incredibly potent. Magda, Brazen Outlaw
- This card is weird, not from a design point, but simply because there is only one dragon in this set. Besides the strange design Magda is a really interesting take on a dual tribal legend, that may not see a ton of play, but it will see some. Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
- Varragoth is really interesting, and very problematic. He has a ton of synergy with library manipulation on not only your side but the opponents, yet his best upsides have the downside of only one combat step. Varragoth is going to make a home in RB aggro in the 99 without a doubt, and probably will see a little bit of play piloting 99. Vega, the Watcher
- Another story of an extremely strong card that just flies under the radar of some of the other power levels of legends in this set. Vega is a great all around card, but it just can’t compete with some of the other’s in frequent play. Kardur, Doomscourge
- Sure this card is fun, but the issue is once he hits the battlefield, attacks are going to slow until that one guy drops the craterhoof and none of his creatures can be killed. If his second ability involved defending creatures as well, he’d see more play. Maja, Bretagard Protector
- It pains me to rank Maja here, but I know she won’t see tons of play. Yes, she has the potential to go polyraptor and soft-lock the game with infinite tokens, but I don’t think enough players will see that potential. Definitely an incredibly strong uncommon when scute swarm is a rare. Koll, the Forgemaster
- Koll is competing with Reyav to lead boros artifacts, and while he probably is the better option, the two are interchangeable in a deck that’s being dominated by the partner legends. The dwarves will eventually be strong, I hope.
Little/No play
Alrund, God of the Cosmos
- While I believe that he’s significantly better than Halvar, there are better draw options as a commander, and Hakka is a little underwhelming as he can’t effectively be buffed each turn. Toralf, God of Fury
- If it were combat damage instead of non-combat, I’d rank him much higher, but he’s competing against 2 other spellslinger legends for a slot that should’ve been no contest against an uncommon* Even still, I feel a few niche warstorm surge lovers want him leading the 99. Inga Rune-Eyes
- Decent ETB ability with a reasonable death trigger, good in the 99, but not extremely powerful as a commander. Blink has more than enough options. Sigrid, God-Favored
- Mono-white with a really specific ability that isn’t too viable as a commander, but might see okay in the 99. Very underwhelming unless you happen to be going against the mighty morophon god rangers. Halvar, God of Battle
- If it weren’t for the double face I don’t think he’d be seeing any play as a commander, but in the 99 he’s viable in equipment decks. Kolvori, God of Kinship
- Disclaimer, this is not a 4 mana 6/6. This belongs in the 99 for a superfriends deck, and works fantastic there, but sadly being limited to green limits the selection of legends. Arni Brokenbrow
- We already have one great voltron commander in this set, and Arni is underwhelming to say the least. We get you head butted a troll and won, but the amount of brain cells lost amounts to how many players won’t be playing him. Firja, Judge of Valor
- Yeah no, this card is not very good. Second spell matters in BW is really gimmicky, and with that high mana cost is it really worth to run her over another commander in either a better identity for 2nd spell matters or realistically any other BW legend? Not really. Harald, King of Skemfar
- With the elf Previn legend being so strong, Harald just looks like a pitiful version of Muxus for elf tribal. Without the flavor, this card is about as bland as it gets. At least Wizards gave him abs, because they didn’t give him many opportunities to lead 99. Moritte of the Frost
- Until the reveal of it’s mono blue brother, I was excited for this card. But even then, it’s not super strong, and lord knows I’m not paying 5 mana for a land when I can copy one for just 1 mana.
Final Thoughts
God power creep is getting absurd, but honestly it doesn’t matter because the variety of the powerful cards makes edh fun. Overall this set has very strong legends, and I hope that Wizards continues to cater towards the edh players, but then again we don’t need this many legends in a set.
A few questions I think will be asked:
Why did you rank some of the MDFC mythic gods so low?
- I really don’t think people are going to want to buy them to be honest. When you have good odds of pulling a much better legend from a pack that costs less than the mythic might be, plus a few other goodies inside the pack, why would you buy these?
What’s with the humor? It’s super childish.
- Yes, it is... because there are way too many legends in this set and this post is extremely long and hard to read.
Why are there no card tags?
- I apologize, I reference a few cards here and there and don’t tag them, but that’s because I did this on mobile which really wasn’t the smartest choice and I’m really tired of typing.
Why do you hate my favorite legend in this set?
- I’m so sorry snowflake, but just because King Harald had a great body doesn’t mean he’s any good.
Anyways that’s my opinion, hope you found it somewhat interesting or infuriating or whatever. I’m just glad you got to this point after reading MTG’s War and Peace.
MTG's War and Peace? Lol my Phelddagrif guide was like 70 pages when I was editing it in MSWord...
The ones I'm pretty sure you're wrong about:
Birgi, God of Storytelling - This just looks like a worse Kykar to me (a MUCH worse kykar - lose 2 colors including blue, lose the ability to bank mana, lose a decent body, lose the ability to generate board presence). "Free" lightning bolt? That's your huge payoff for cEDH? Mmkay.
Valki - not sure about the Tybalt side, but the Valki side looks meh to me. A lot of strong decks don't play many creatures, and a lot of the most popular creatures have strong ETBs and whatnot. To me this looks like a ravenous rats in a CZ...fine but not super exciting.
Narfi - I'm sure he CAN go infinite, but realistically how's that going to happen? And while he's on the board...well, +1/+1 doesn't really blow me away TBH. Can't imagine running him over something with more potential for a tribal deck.
Tergrid - she's got a lot of hype. She's strong and will see play for sure. Only thing holding her back is being mono-color. Look at her price tag on TCGplayer - that's probably almost entirely commander hype.
Cosima - I think you're hugely underrating this (yet somehow overrating the boat side). Cosima is almost completely uninteractible-with once she's stuck for a turn, can draw a ton of cards (especially with fetches...despite being mono-blue there are a LOT of fetch lands that can be run), and can one-shot people without any real support. You just set her up, keep a fetch available to throw her into play if necessary, and you've got a massive stealth hand with a huge free flash creature on tap. It's a control deck's wet dream, imo. The boat side just doesn't have the payoff, I can't see any way to abuse it that wouldn't be much more effective with, say, Lu Xun who provides his own evasion, doesn't need crewing, and draws instead of only getting stolen lands.
Magda - I think she'll end up being pretty good. Speaking as a Zirilan player. She does require a lot more setup, but she also only costs 2 and there's more opportunity both to keep dragons on board (for the more casual version) or to go for huge OTKs by setting up a bunch of treasures at once (for the more competitive-minded).
Varragoth - doesn't look very fun, but any commander that can win on turn 2-5 off Adnaus every game deserves a higher tier.
Maja - just curious, what's your infinite combo here? Perilous Forays is pretty far from infinite so I hope it's not that. She's certainly a far cry from Scute, as scute grows exponentially while she just grows linearly. Still the placement seems fine.
Koll - it's weird to me that you mention infinite combos in Maja but ignore them in Koll, who is just loaded with them. Any free creature (there are 8, not including X-cost which will die without an anthem or something) and any free equip (I think there's 4? plus decent tutors in these colors) gives you infinite sac fodder. With an altar, you can expand equipment into things like skullclamp, or just gain infinite mana depending on the specifics. Honestly it bums me that he's going to be used probably primarily as a combo commander because the ability could be fun otherwise. Idk wtf that second line of text is for though, lol. Niche limited decks?
Toralf - how you've slept on this one baffles me. Blasphemous act is going to be a 1-Hit KO in a lot of games. As will star of extinction. It also goes pretty ham with any kind of damage doubler, chaining from creature to creature and then killing someone starting from a simple lightning bolt. Potential infinites with indestructibles too. Very scary card.
MDFC gods in general - Idk why you think cost is going to be a major factor for these cards. They're probably mostly going to be $5 or less. That's not going to scare off anyone except the most extreme budget-conscious. How much sticking power they have I'm not sure, but imo by FAR the biggest thing holding them back is that a lot of players don't like playing mono-color commanders.
If you have Furnace out, Toralf starts murdering people. Let's say an opponent has 3 1/1 goblins out. You lightning bolt one, doubled, for 6 damage. 5 excess means Toralf doubles to 10 damage to the next. That leaves 9 excess, doubling to 18 on the third. Finally, that 17 excess damage can now go to anyone's face for 34 damage.
This is not going to be a super consistent combo... nor high amounts of play; but this is not relegated to simply being a spellslinger commander.
I see what y’all mean about Toralf, but from a threat analysis the moment he hits the board a response is going to be looked for, or if the doubling effects hit the field a response is going to be sought. My own personal opinion on playability puts threat level quite high, which is why I put Toralf low. Should he be higher? Probably so.
Regarding Birgi, compared to Kykar, this card is stronger solely for the fact that creatures work as well for her ability. Plus, this card promotes effects like Mindmoil to cycle through a deck, essentially pulling 1 cost instants or 0 cost creatures to grapeshot for lethal or Aetherflux Reservoir. And I wanted to keep it brief and left out a bunch of info which is me being a beginner to card reviews.
For Cosima, she’s still not that good. Sure you draw a bunch of cards, but she doesn’t have haste, you have to run multiple fetches, for a payout that works really well... chancing that you pull lands. There are a bunch of other mono blue commanders that do that job better, and the boat god part was solely for comedy and the select few people that like dolphins.
I ranked Narfi high because you’re not going to expect an infinite from him if you aren’t careful, plus you’ve got good odds to combo off infinite or not with graveyard recursion.
Koll was the last card I did for the list at like 12 AM and I just looked at him compared to Reyev without regarding combos, which was again an error on my part.
Regarding the flip gods, when I first read the spoilers I wasn't around my friends to discuss, so my mistaken assumption that these could all "transform" by paying the mana cost in the bottom left side made me assume they were all very good. I was most excited about the 5color polymorph guessing that she could help pay for her own activation to flip into the enchantment side at the end of an opponents turn.
After like a week or two later I actually talked about these cards with my friends and realized my mistake. I immediately lost all interest in each and every one.
I have a minor interest in Birgi, but only from nostalgic plays of my old mono-red storm deck using chandra, fire of kaladesh as enabler with things like umbral mantle or dual casting. Birgi has potential fun with buy-back spells in combination with other cost-reduction. But this isn't anything that hasn't been seen before or can be done better with other colors.
Your analysis of Toralf sure doesn't read as "Toralf isn't good because his threat assessment will be too high", it reads as "he's not very strong", which is incorrect. As far as popularity, so far he's pretty high on EDHrec, though ofc it's too early to say anything definitive.
But I'm a bit confused by your ranking in general, now that I think about it - is it how popular you expect them to be, or how powerful? "cEDH worthy" implies power level, but "frequent play" implies popularity. Especially confusing since cEDH commanders often aren't popular among the general commander public.
Birgi is currently among the least-played commanders from the set and I doubt that'll change. Compared to Kykar she's waaaaay weaker. Saying she's stronger because she works with creatures is pretty ridiculous imo - creatures rarely lend themselves well to storm (maybe in green if you count elves, but not in red afaik). The only creatures I'm aware of seeing much play in modern storm lists, despite not needing to build around Kykar's ability, are ones like Baral and Goblin Electromancer that reduce costs for the instants and sorceries that are doing the real work - and those creatures are (afaik) all blue. That's not to say she won't see play in cEDH, she likely will...in the 99 of existing storm lists with more powerful 2+ color commanders which let you run crucial blue enablers.
Cosima - she doesn't need haste, she has flash. EoT crack a fetch, throw her into play, untap and get killing. Best of all, after she returns there's not even a window for anyone to kill her before you draw a ton of cards and have shields up. "You have to run multiple fetches"...not really seeing a meaningful downside there (I mean, I guess from a budget POV, but there are also a lot of cheap fetches that get the job done like the panoramas). "chancing that you pull lands"...again not sure what you mean. You're probably running a decent number of lands in a Cosima deck, and crucible of worlds will keep you in the money practically forever. Worse comes to worse, you pop Cosima early, draw a bunch of cards, re-exile her on upkeep and start ticking her up again with all those lands you just drew. Saying "there are other mono-blue commanders that do that job better" ignores the fact that no other commander can do what she can in terms of uninteractibility. After that one-turn setup window, she is almost completely uninteractive. Sure, Azami can draw you lots of cards, but if people start killing her she gets priced off the field quickly. For a similar level of protection, you'd have to look at something like Nezahal that costs SEVEN - not exactly ideal for a draw-go strategy. And even Nezahal can get forced off the field by repeated removal. Cosima is the card advantage commander that * poof * was never there. And she's a potentially massive beater to boot, 1 hit KO is a lot spicier than 3. I don't think she'll be very popular (and so far she's not) because I don't think how she plays is going to appeal to most players, but from a power level POV I think she's quite strong.
Maja - cute "combo", but given that it's a 3-card forced-infinite I don't think it really moves the needle anywhere (from a power-level POV or a popularity one).
How are you going infinite with Narfi? Tbh I still haven't figured that one out. Best I can figure you're Thermal Fluxing an Ashnod's Altar or something, but that doesn't even break even, let alone pay you off for it. It seems REALLY hard to generate three snow mana per creature loop, unless I'm missing something big.
@BobTheFunny - I did mention the damage doubling potential too. But yeah, scary card.
Yes my initial toralf analysis does not read well. I’ll agree with you there.
But I still think Cosima is not as strong as you’re making her out to be.
Say perfect game scenario:
Turn 1 - Jeweled Lotus into Cosima, fetchland, Spellbook,Mana crypt => Contagion Clasp
Turn 2 - Exile Cosima, fetchland, Sol Ring, crack both fetches, proliferate with the clasp. (4 counters)
Turn 3 - play fetch, crack, proliferate with clasp, cast Throne of Geth, cast a 0 mana artifact of some type, then sac with the throne to proliferate (8 counters).
Turn 4 - play fetch, proliferate twice by sacrificing the throne (11 counters), crack => let Cosima etb => draw 11 for a 13/15 with no keywords, to smack a player?
Sure, you draw a tenth of your deck with the perfect hand and you have a meaty creature but you’re not killing anybody yet and Cosima will get blasted after the first attack, even if you have the mana open. For the absolute most perfect hand I can think of there are better options for turn 4.
Huh? I said Cosima was strong, I never said she was fast. She's slow but steady all the way. No idea why you're trying to concoct T4 wins with her, that's not how she plays at all. She's a grindy draw-go commander, probably aiming to win around turn 12 at the absolute earliest.
Also proliferate cannot choose exiled cards.
The actual gameplan would be to have a deck packed with removal and counters. Get her exiled, then just use interaction to prevent anyone else getting too out of control while ticking her up. When enemy shields look relatively down and Cosima is ideally at 19+ counters, EOT flash her in, using either something like rogue's passage or something like cyc rift/evac/etc to clear away blockers and kill whoever poses the biggest threat to you, with multiple counter backup. Now you're either fully or mostly untapped, with an enormous hand of answers and a 1-hit-KO commander on the board and a shrinking pool of opponents. If anything goes wrong, just flash her into play with a fetchland to refill your hand, then either go for a multi-turn kill or throw her back into exile on upkeep to start accumulating cards again.
And I still wanna know how the hell you're going infinite with Narfi...
Birgi is currently among the least-played commanders from the set and I doubt that'll change. Compared to Kykar she's waaaaay weaker. Saying she's stronger because she works with creatures is pretty ridiculous imo - creatures rarely lend themselves well to storm (maybe in green if you count elves, but not in red afaik). The only creatures I'm aware of seeing much play in modern storm lists, despite not needing to build around Kykar's ability, are ones like Baral and Goblin Electromancer that reduce costs for the instants and sorceries that are doing the real work - and those creatures are (afaik) all blue. That's not to say she won't see play in cEDH, she likely will...in the 99 of existing storm lists with more powerful 2+ color commanders which let you run crucial blue enablers.
Comparing birgi to kykar is a little awkward. There are different routes and styles of building a storm decks, and having one that can work with creature casting is good news.
Adding colors (specifically blue) almost always yields a spell slinger style, but creature based storm strategies already exist. Past the obvious empty the warrens+purphoros, once people see what older cards like grinning ignus, leering emblem, scroll of masters, storm entity, and haze of rage can do with Birgi I'm hopeful that it will open up ideas for future cards.
She very well can work as a commander. With the sheer amount of filtering in wild guess variants and reds recursion with mizzix's mastery/past in flames/recoup/shred sanity/etc, it's a very simple shell to build and will only get better as new cards come out.
Is it high powered? Not currently. But it's a new option that wasn't there before.
I'm not saying Birgi doesn't open some new options, but I doubt it's going to make much of a splash a commander in cEDH, and she's certainly not "stronger than kykar". I do think she'll get played a lot in the 99 though. Her flip side isn't bad either.
lol, ok that does work, but you can’t honestly think it makes him remotely powerful? It’s more a lulz combo than anything actually worth doing. Definitely not "brilliantly broken". He's a very mediocre lord, which is only somewhat interesting because he's hard to kill. But know who else is hard to kill? Scarab God.
Regarding Birgi, compared to Kykar, this card is stronger solely for the fact that creatures work as well for her ability. Plus, this card promotes effects like Mindmoil to cycle through a deck, essentially pulling 1 cost instants or 0 cost creatures to grapeshot for lethal or Aetherflux Reservoir. And I wanted to keep it brief and left out a bunch of info which is me being a beginner to card reviews.
For Cosima, she’s still not that good. Sure you draw a bunch of cards, but she doesn’t have haste, you have to run multiple fetches, for a payout that works really well... chancing that you pull lands. There are a bunch of other mono blue commanders that do that job better, and the boat god part was solely for comedy and the select few people that like dolphins.
Regarding Birgi, God of Storytelling vs Kykar, Wind's Fury, I think there are enough differences that they don't preculde each other from being played - that said, there's a lot of overlap between them. As far as storm combos go, I think the advantage has to go to Kykar - both have the ability to essentially "refund" 1 mana from spells, but aside from the extra colors, the ability to stockpile spirits in prior turns can give Kykar a significant head start on preparing a combo turn. This can also be achieved with other sources of spirit generation prior to dropping Kykar, as well as the creatures being a threat in their own right, offering more win conditions. Creatures also offer alternate use cases with other sac outlets or value engines. Overall there's just a lot more flexibility.
Where Birgi, God of Storytelling really shines though is her back face. Having both options of mana 'reduction' OR card draw in the command zone lets her fill either half of the equation depending on what's missing. That is insanely powerful as an ability.
Honestly though, considering that any UR commander is storm-viable, and how much Birgi adds to any such deck, I expect to see Birgi in the 99 considerably more than in the Command Zone.
===
For Cosima, God of the Voyage, I think both faces are great. Early in the game she can ensure you hit early land drops. You can drop the boat on turn 2, then a 2 drop creature on 3 (such as Ghostly Pilferer), crew and attack, even if you didn't have a third land.
As far as her main face with the card draw, Tireless Tracker is a highly popular card. Part of this is that he gives green some extra card draw, especially some that is not tied to creatures (other than the tracker himself being one). Green also ramps more, so can make more clues...
However... it still costs 2 mana per clue that you crack for card draw. Cosima is a similar effect - Land = Draw, except that she's free.
Again though, as with Birgi, being able to fix early lands, or late game draw, is a powerful ability to have in the Command Zone. I think that flexibility is what will really make Cosima interesting.
===
I hope you have a sac outlet out or some other way to interrupt that Maja, Bretagard Protector combo, otherwise you just drew the game... =D
All right, no more excuses, let’s get into it.
cEDH Worthy
Orvar, the All-Form
- Infinite combos for days, incredibly potent ramp potential, all around extremely powerful card. Need I say more? And yes, sorry Mistform Ultimas, you did good.
Birgi, God of Storytelling
- This card is downright busted. Essentially every card you play has a reduced mana cost of one. Free Lightning Bolt? Why not. Pyroblast? Sure. This is the true god of storm, sorry Keranos.
Frequent play
Valki, God of Lies
- Even without Tibalt on the other side, Valki is still a very exciting card, and while the table may not like stolen cards, well sucks, they should be playing Valki. Oh and yes, that Tibalt is pretty nasty in multiplayer.
Esika, God of the Tree
- I can feel the hate coming, but Esika isn’t cEDH material. Yes it’s polymorph that triggers on your upkeep, but the moment you get close to being able to cast, every blue player and their mother is holding mana to counter it, and realistically, when’s the last time an Ulamog took out all 3 other players in a game? Still, this card is going to be at a ton of tables.
Vorinclex, Monstrous Rider
- The big man is back and as infamous as before, and instead of doubling mana you’re doubling counters... while clearly the design was to favor infect, planeswalkers are his best superfriends.
Jorn, God of Winter
- Blizzards of the coast did it, finally a snow legend that...is actually quite strong. With the new dual snow lands, this legend is great to ramp like crazy and get out Marit Lage like it’s nobody’s business. Even the other side of this card is strong. Overall, the flavor and power of this card to me puts him on the table.
Toksi, Bearer of Secrets
- Toksi is the hero everybody asked for and nobody thought they’d need. Being the first squirrel legend to be playable, I have no doubt in my mind for the sheer love of squirrels that he’ll see frequent play, and possibly the reason he’s a great shell for voltron or group slug strategies.
Fynn, the Fangbearer
- Oh boy is Fynn one heck of a package. 2 mana deathtouch on a commander isn’t half bad, but giving deathtouch creatures infect 2.0? It doesn’t matter that he’s only mino green, for being uncommon this card is uncannily good.
Koma, Cosmos Serpent
- I had a lot of trouble deciding where Koma should end up. Yes, he’s an incredibly powerful card, but he’s just another simic beater realistically. What saves him, like Toksi, is the flavor of a giant serpent and the army it creates.
Sarulf, Realm Eater
- Sarulf is essentially a time bomb in any game. For 3 mana it creates hesitant sacrifices, reluctant blocks, and a whole lot of targeting towards the controller. Regardless, his viability is tremendous with token doublers making this puppy bark with a whole lotta bite.
Narfi, Betrayer King
- Here we go our first uncommon mythic, Narfi is a brilliantly broken card that has potential to go infinite in games and all around brings an icy flavor to zombie tribal. Although not spending much time in the command zone, he will spend a lot on the table.
Svella, Ice Shaper
- Uncommon mythic number 2. A mini Golos that creates manaliths? Yes please, with token doublers this card is quite the killer, and I’m sure it has the ability to go infinite one way or another. I’m so glad GR finally got good ramp.
Aegar, the Freezing Flame
- This card is the epitome of an oxymoron. A 3/3 giant for 3, it’s in the name, he’s a mythic in an uncommon shell, this guy is the whole package. And man oh man does he pack a punch, there’s a lot of damage doubling or tripling effects plus multi target spells that will make this card draw cards like a curious Niv-Mizzet.
Infrequent play
Egon, God of Death
- 3 mana, 6/6, Deathtouch. This card screams voltron, and Yargle players rejoice because this card is quite the powerhouse. Sadly, compared to the other cards in this set, he’s not appealing enough to see play over some other legends.
Reidane, God of the Worthy
- Well I’m not excited about this card, but it’s not strictly bad. It’s a good commander if you want the table to groan as hour 5 hits and the pillow fort has turned to concrete.
Cosima, God of the Voyage
- This card isn’t entirely fantastic, the god side isn’t that great, but the thing that saves this card is... and I quote... BOAT GOD, BOAT GOD, BOAT GOD, BO-O-OAT GOD.
Tergrid, God of Fright
- This card is a serious sleeper. Thoughtseize and other discard effects make this card ruthless, along with other targeted sacrifice options. This is a great card, that I sadly think won’t see a ton of play, even if it is incredibly potent.
Magda, Brazen Outlaw
- This card is weird, not from a design point, but simply because there is only one dragon in this set. Besides the strange design Magda is a really interesting take on a dual tribal legend, that may not see a ton of play, but it will see some.
Varragoth, Bloodsky Sire
- Varragoth is really interesting, and very problematic. He has a ton of synergy with library manipulation on not only your side but the opponents, yet his best upsides have the downside of only one combat step. Varragoth is going to make a home in RB aggro in the 99 without a doubt, and probably will see a little bit of play piloting 99.
Vega, the Watcher
- Another story of an extremely strong card that just flies under the radar of some of the other power levels of legends in this set. Vega is a great all around card, but it just can’t compete with some of the other’s in frequent play.
Kardur, Doomscourge
- Sure this card is fun, but the issue is once he hits the battlefield, attacks are going to slow until that one guy drops the craterhoof and none of his creatures can be killed. If his second ability involved defending creatures as well, he’d see more play.
Maja, Bretagard Protector
- It pains me to rank Maja here, but I know she won’t see tons of play. Yes, she has the potential to go polyraptor and soft-lock the game with infinite tokens, but I don’t think enough players will see that potential. Definitely an incredibly strong uncommon when scute swarm is a rare.
Koll, the Forgemaster
- Koll is competing with Reyav to lead boros artifacts, and while he probably is the better option, the two are interchangeable in a deck that’s being dominated by the partner legends. The dwarves will eventually be strong, I hope.
Little/No play
Alrund, God of the Cosmos
- While I believe that he’s significantly better than Halvar, there are better draw options as a commander, and Hakka is a little underwhelming as he can’t effectively be buffed each turn.
Toralf, God of Fury
- If it were combat damage instead of non-combat, I’d rank him much higher, but he’s competing against 2 other spellslinger legends for a slot that should’ve been no contest against an uncommon* Even still, I feel a few niche warstorm surge lovers want him leading the 99.
Inga Rune-Eyes
- Decent ETB ability with a reasonable death trigger, good in the 99, but not extremely powerful as a commander. Blink has more than enough options.
Sigrid, God-Favored
- Mono-white with a really specific ability that isn’t too viable as a commander, but might see okay in the 99. Very underwhelming unless you happen to be going against the mighty morophon god rangers.
Halvar, God of Battle
- If it weren’t for the double face I don’t think he’d be seeing any play as a commander, but in the 99 he’s viable in equipment decks.
Kolvori, God of Kinship
- Disclaimer, this is not a 4 mana 6/6. This belongs in the 99 for a superfriends deck, and works fantastic there, but sadly being limited to green limits the selection of legends.
Arni Brokenbrow
- We already have one great voltron commander in this set, and Arni is underwhelming to say the least. We get you head butted a troll and won, but the amount of brain cells lost amounts to how many players won’t be playing him.
Firja, Judge of Valor
- Yeah no, this card is not very good. Second spell matters in BW is really gimmicky, and with that high mana cost is it really worth to run her over another commander in either a better identity for 2nd spell matters or realistically any other BW legend? Not really.
Harald, King of Skemfar
- With the elf Previn legend being so strong, Harald just looks like a pitiful version of Muxus for elf tribal. Without the flavor, this card is about as bland as it gets. At least Wizards gave him abs, because they didn’t give him many opportunities to lead 99.
Moritte of the Frost
- Until the reveal of it’s mono blue brother, I was excited for this card. But even then, it’s not super strong, and lord knows I’m not paying 5 mana for a land when I can copy one for just 1 mana.
Final Thoughts
God power creep is getting absurd, but honestly it doesn’t matter because the variety of the powerful cards makes edh fun. Overall this set has very strong legends, and I hope that Wizards continues to cater towards the edh players, but then again we don’t need this many legends in a set.
A few questions I think will be asked:
Why did you rank some of the MDFC mythic gods so low?
- I really don’t think people are going to want to buy them to be honest. When you have good odds of pulling a much better legend from a pack that costs less than the mythic might be, plus a few other goodies inside the pack, why would you buy these?
What’s with the humor? It’s super childish.
- Yes, it is... because there are way too many legends in this set and this post is extremely long and hard to read.
Why are there no card tags?
- I apologize, I reference a few cards here and there and don’t tag them, but that’s because I did this on mobile which really wasn’t the smartest choice and I’m really tired of typing.
Why do you hate my favorite legend in this set?
- I’m so sorry snowflake, but just because King Harald had a great body doesn’t mean he’s any good.
Anyways that’s my opinion, hope you found it somewhat interesting or infuriating or whatever. I’m just glad you got to this point after reading MTG’s War and Peace.
The ones I'm pretty sure you're wrong about:
Birgi, God of Storytelling - This just looks like a worse Kykar to me (a MUCH worse kykar - lose 2 colors including blue, lose the ability to bank mana, lose a decent body, lose the ability to generate board presence). "Free" lightning bolt? That's your huge payoff for cEDH? Mmkay.
Valki - not sure about the Tybalt side, but the Valki side looks meh to me. A lot of strong decks don't play many creatures, and a lot of the most popular creatures have strong ETBs and whatnot. To me this looks like a ravenous rats in a CZ...fine but not super exciting.
Narfi - I'm sure he CAN go infinite, but realistically how's that going to happen? And while he's on the board...well, +1/+1 doesn't really blow me away TBH. Can't imagine running him over something with more potential for a tribal deck.
Tergrid - she's got a lot of hype. She's strong and will see play for sure. Only thing holding her back is being mono-color. Look at her price tag on TCGplayer - that's probably almost entirely commander hype.
Cosima - I think you're hugely underrating this (yet somehow overrating the boat side). Cosima is almost completely uninteractible-with once she's stuck for a turn, can draw a ton of cards (especially with fetches...despite being mono-blue there are a LOT of fetch lands that can be run), and can one-shot people without any real support. You just set her up, keep a fetch available to throw her into play if necessary, and you've got a massive stealth hand with a huge free flash creature on tap. It's a control deck's wet dream, imo. The boat side just doesn't have the payoff, I can't see any way to abuse it that wouldn't be much more effective with, say, Lu Xun who provides his own evasion, doesn't need crewing, and draws instead of only getting stolen lands.
Magda - I think she'll end up being pretty good. Speaking as a Zirilan player. She does require a lot more setup, but she also only costs 2 and there's more opportunity both to keep dragons on board (for the more casual version) or to go for huge OTKs by setting up a bunch of treasures at once (for the more competitive-minded).
Varragoth - doesn't look very fun, but any commander that can win on turn 2-5 off Adnaus every game deserves a higher tier.
Maja - just curious, what's your infinite combo here? Perilous Forays is pretty far from infinite so I hope it's not that. She's certainly a far cry from Scute, as scute grows exponentially while she just grows linearly. Still the placement seems fine.
Koll - it's weird to me that you mention infinite combos in Maja but ignore them in Koll, who is just loaded with them. Any free creature (there are 8, not including X-cost which will die without an anthem or something) and any free equip (I think there's 4? plus decent tutors in these colors) gives you infinite sac fodder. With an altar, you can expand equipment into things like skullclamp, or just gain infinite mana depending on the specifics. Honestly it bums me that he's going to be used probably primarily as a combo commander because the ability could be fun otherwise. Idk wtf that second line of text is for though, lol. Niche limited decks?
Toralf - how you've slept on this one baffles me. Blasphemous act is going to be a 1-Hit KO in a lot of games. As will star of extinction. It also goes pretty ham with any kind of damage doubler, chaining from creature to creature and then killing someone starting from a simple lightning bolt. Potential infinites with indestructibles too. Very scary card.
MDFC gods in general - Idk why you think cost is going to be a major factor for these cards. They're probably mostly going to be $5 or less. That's not going to scare off anyone except the most extreme budget-conscious. How much sticking power they have I'm not sure, but imo by FAR the biggest thing holding them back is that a lot of players don't like playing mono-color commanders.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Aside from just Blasphemous Act and Chain Reaction shenanigans, you're overlooking another Red signature: Furnace of Rath effects.
If you have Furnace out, Toralf starts murdering people. Let's say an opponent has 3 1/1 goblins out. You lightning bolt one, doubled, for 6 damage. 5 excess means Toralf doubles to 10 damage to the next. That leaves 9 excess, doubling to 18 on the third. Finally, that 17 excess damage can now go to anyone's face for 34 damage.
This is not going to be a super consistent combo... nor high amounts of play; but this is not relegated to simply being a spellslinger commander.
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek
Regarding Birgi, compared to Kykar, this card is stronger solely for the fact that creatures work as well for her ability. Plus, this card promotes effects like Mindmoil to cycle through a deck, essentially pulling 1 cost instants or 0 cost creatures to grapeshot for lethal or Aetherflux Reservoir. And I wanted to keep it brief and left out a bunch of info which is me being a beginner to card reviews.
For Cosima, she’s still not that good. Sure you draw a bunch of cards, but she doesn’t have haste, you have to run multiple fetches, for a payout that works really well... chancing that you pull lands. There are a bunch of other mono blue commanders that do that job better, and the boat god part was solely for comedy and the select few people that like dolphins.
Regarding Maja, the infinite is Life and Limb and Maskwood Nexus.
I ranked Narfi high because you’re not going to expect an infinite from him if you aren’t careful, plus you’ve got good odds to combo off infinite or not with graveyard recursion.
Koll was the last card I did for the list at like 12 AM and I just looked at him compared to Reyev without regarding combos, which was again an error on my part.
After like a week or two later I actually talked about these cards with my friends and realized my mistake. I immediately lost all interest in each and every one.
I have a minor interest in Birgi, but only from nostalgic plays of my old mono-red storm deck using chandra, fire of kaladesh as enabler with things like umbral mantle or dual casting. Birgi has potential fun with buy-back spells in combination with other cost-reduction. But this isn't anything that hasn't been seen before or can be done better with other colors.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
But I'm a bit confused by your ranking in general, now that I think about it - is it how popular you expect them to be, or how powerful? "cEDH worthy" implies power level, but "frequent play" implies popularity. Especially confusing since cEDH commanders often aren't popular among the general commander public.
Birgi is currently among the least-played commanders from the set and I doubt that'll change. Compared to Kykar she's waaaaay weaker. Saying she's stronger because she works with creatures is pretty ridiculous imo - creatures rarely lend themselves well to storm (maybe in green if you count elves, but not in red afaik). The only creatures I'm aware of seeing much play in modern storm lists, despite not needing to build around Kykar's ability, are ones like Baral and Goblin Electromancer that reduce costs for the instants and sorceries that are doing the real work - and those creatures are (afaik) all blue. That's not to say she won't see play in cEDH, she likely will...in the 99 of existing storm lists with more powerful 2+ color commanders which let you run crucial blue enablers.
Cosima - she doesn't need haste, she has flash. EoT crack a fetch, throw her into play, untap and get killing. Best of all, after she returns there's not even a window for anyone to kill her before you draw a ton of cards and have shields up. "You have to run multiple fetches"...not really seeing a meaningful downside there (I mean, I guess from a budget POV, but there are also a lot of cheap fetches that get the job done like the panoramas). "chancing that you pull lands"...again not sure what you mean. You're probably running a decent number of lands in a Cosima deck, and crucible of worlds will keep you in the money practically forever. Worse comes to worse, you pop Cosima early, draw a bunch of cards, re-exile her on upkeep and start ticking her up again with all those lands you just drew. Saying "there are other mono-blue commanders that do that job better" ignores the fact that no other commander can do what she can in terms of uninteractibility. After that one-turn setup window, she is almost completely uninteractive. Sure, Azami can draw you lots of cards, but if people start killing her she gets priced off the field quickly. For a similar level of protection, you'd have to look at something like Nezahal that costs SEVEN - not exactly ideal for a draw-go strategy. And even Nezahal can get forced off the field by repeated removal. Cosima is the card advantage commander that * poof * was never there. And she's a potentially massive beater to boot, 1 hit KO is a lot spicier than 3. I don't think she'll be very popular (and so far she's not) because I don't think how she plays is going to appeal to most players, but from a power level POV I think she's quite strong.
Maja - cute "combo", but given that it's a 3-card forced-infinite I don't think it really moves the needle anywhere (from a power-level POV or a popularity one).
How are you going infinite with Narfi? Tbh I still haven't figured that one out. Best I can figure you're Thermal Fluxing an Ashnod's Altar or something, but that doesn't even break even, let alone pay you off for it. It seems REALLY hard to generate three snow mana per creature loop, unless I'm missing something big.
@BobTheFunny - I did mention the damage doubling potential too. But yeah, scary card.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
But I still think Cosima is not as strong as you’re making her out to be.
Say perfect game scenario:
Turn 1 - Jeweled Lotus into Cosima, fetchland, Spellbook,Mana crypt => Contagion Clasp
Turn 2 - Exile Cosima, fetchland, Sol Ring, crack both fetches, proliferate with the clasp. (4 counters)
Turn 3 - play fetch, crack, proliferate with clasp, cast Throne of Geth, cast a 0 mana artifact of some type, then sac with the throne to proliferate (8 counters).
Turn 4 - play fetch, proliferate twice by sacrificing the throne (11 counters), crack => let Cosima etb => draw 11 for a 13/15 with no keywords, to smack a player?
Sure, you draw a tenth of your deck with the perfect hand and you have a meaty creature but you’re not killing anybody yet and Cosima will get blasted after the first attack, even if you have the mana open. For the absolute most perfect hand I can think of there are better options for turn 4.
Also proliferate cannot choose exiled cards.
The actual gameplan would be to have a deck packed with removal and counters. Get her exiled, then just use interaction to prevent anyone else getting too out of control while ticking her up. When enemy shields look relatively down and Cosima is ideally at 19+ counters, EOT flash her in, using either something like rogue's passage or something like cyc rift/evac/etc to clear away blockers and kill whoever poses the biggest threat to you, with multiple counter backup. Now you're either fully or mostly untapped, with an enormous hand of answers and a 1-hit-KO commander on the board and a shrinking pool of opponents. If anything goes wrong, just flash her into play with a fetchland to refill your hand, then either go for a multi-turn kill or throw her back into exile on upkeep to start accumulating cards again.
And I still wanna know how the hell you're going infinite with Narfi...
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Comparing birgi to kykar is a little awkward. There are different routes and styles of building a storm decks, and having one that can work with creature casting is good news.
Adding colors (specifically blue) almost always yields a spell slinger style, but creature based storm strategies already exist. Past the obvious empty the warrens+purphoros, once people see what older cards like grinning ignus, leering emblem, scroll of masters, storm entity, and haze of rage can do with Birgi I'm hopeful that it will open up ideas for future cards.
She very well can work as a commander. With the sheer amount of filtering in wild guess variants and reds recursion with mizzix's mastery/past in flames/recoup/shred sanity/etc, it's a very simple shell to build and will only get better as new cards come out.
Is it high powered? Not currently. But it's a new option that wasn't there before.
Links to my most current deck lists;
Primary EDH; Rakka Mar Token Perfection, Crosis Mnemonic Betrayal, Cromat Villainous, Judith Gravestorm, Rakdos Empty Storm, Exava Artifacts, Bant Trash, & Fumiko Voltron!
EDH kept at home; Ruzzian Isset & Rakdos LoR!
EDH (nostalgic/pimp/retired) in storage;
Latulla Burns, Akroma Smash, Jeska Voltron, Rakdos Storm, Bladewing Darghans, Lyzolda Worldgorger, Xantcha Steals your Heart, Jori Storm, Wydwen Permission, Gwendlyn Paradox, Jeleva Warps, & Sigarda Brick!
Legacy Showanimator and High Tide!
lol, ok that does work, but you can’t honestly think it makes him remotely powerful? It’s more a lulz combo than anything actually worth doing. Definitely not "brilliantly broken". He's a very mediocre lord, which is only somewhat interesting because he's hard to kill. But know who else is hard to kill? Scarab God.
EDH Primers
Phelddagrif - Zirilan
EDH
Thrasios+Bruse - Pang - Sasaya - Wydwen - Feather - Rona - Toshiro - Sylvia+Khorvath - Geth - QMarchesa - Firesong - Athreos - Arixmethes - Isperia - Etali - Silas+Sidar - Saskia - Virtus+Gorm - Kynaios - Naban - Aryel - Mizzix - Kazuul - Tymna+Kraum - Sidar+Tymna - Ayli - Gwendlyn - Phelddagrif 4 - Liliana - Kaervek - Phelddagrif 3 - Mairsil - Scarab - Child - Phenax - Shirei - Thada - Depala - Circu - Kytheon - GrenzoHR - Phelddagrif - Reyhan+Kraum - Toshiro - Varolz - Nin - Ojutai - Tasigur - Zedruu - Uril - Edric - Wort - Zurgo - Nahiri - Grenzo - Kozilek - Yisan - Ink-Treader - Yisan - Brago - Sidisi - Toshiro - Alexi - Sygg - Brimaz - Sek'Kuar - Marchesa - Vish Kal - Iroas - Phelddagrif - Ephara - Derevi - Glissa - Wanderer - Saffi - Melek - Xiahou Dun - Lazav - Lin Sivvi - Zirilan - Glissa
PDH - Drake - Graverobber - Izzet GM - Tallowisp - Symbiote Brawl - Feather - Ugin - Jace - Scarab - Angrath - Vraska - Kumena Oathbreaker - Wrenn&6
Regarding Birgi, God of Storytelling vs Kykar, Wind's Fury, I think there are enough differences that they don't preculde each other from being played - that said, there's a lot of overlap between them. As far as storm combos go, I think the advantage has to go to Kykar - both have the ability to essentially "refund" 1 mana from spells, but aside from the extra colors, the ability to stockpile spirits in prior turns can give Kykar a significant head start on preparing a combo turn. This can also be achieved with other sources of spirit generation prior to dropping Kykar, as well as the creatures being a threat in their own right, offering more win conditions. Creatures also offer alternate use cases with other sac outlets or value engines. Overall there's just a lot more flexibility.
Where Birgi, God of Storytelling really shines though is her back face. Having both options of mana 'reduction' OR card draw in the command zone lets her fill either half of the equation depending on what's missing. That is insanely powerful as an ability.
Honestly though, considering that any UR commander is storm-viable, and how much Birgi adds to any such deck, I expect to see Birgi in the 99 considerably more than in the Command Zone.
===
For Cosima, God of the Voyage, I think both faces are great. Early in the game she can ensure you hit early land drops. You can drop the boat on turn 2, then a 2 drop creature on 3 (such as Ghostly Pilferer), crew and attack, even if you didn't have a third land.
As far as her main face with the card draw, Tireless Tracker is a highly popular card. Part of this is that he gives green some extra card draw, especially some that is not tied to creatures (other than the tracker himself being one). Green also ramps more, so can make more clues...
However... it still costs 2 mana per clue that you crack for card draw. Cosima is a similar effect - Land = Draw, except that she's free.
Again though, as with Birgi, being able to fix early lands, or late game draw, is a powerful ability to have in the Command Zone. I think that flexibility is what will really make Cosima interesting.
===
I hope you have a sac outlet out or some other way to interrupt that Maja, Bretagard Protector combo, otherwise you just drew the game... =D
Retired EDH - Tibor and Lumia | [PR]Nemata |Ramirez dePietro | [C]Edric | Riku | Jenara | Lazav | Heliod | Daxos | Roon | Kozilek