Dwarfs have been around since the start of Magic: The Gathering. It is one of the original tribes and to me one of the most underserved of them all. There have been cards here and there and they have even been really showcased here and there, mainly Kaladesh. From the start they have focused on a few main themes, such as making it harder to block/ making you pay for blocking and +1/+1 counters. This has been shown time and time again with cards like Dwarven Armorer, Dwarven Berserker, Dwarven Warrior and so many more. But speaking of the latter we may as well start at the beginning.
In alpha there were two different Dwarf cards to have the creature type. There was Dwarven Warriors and Dwarven Demolition Team. One made it to where you couldn’t block certain creatures of power 2 or less and the other that could out right destroy walls (which was a bigger deal in the beginning) . These themes were carried into Revised with Dwarven Weaponsmith allowing you to sac artifacts to put +1/+1 counters on a target creature. This was the first time we saw artifact manipulation on a dwarf but certainly wouldn’t be the last. It would come to be a major theme on a beloved plane.
This was on full display in Kaladesh where they were featured a good bit as artificers and manipulating energy counters and artifacts for their benefit. This plane is where we got Sram, Senior Edificer, Toolcraft Exemplar, and so many more that gave benefits for playing or controlling artifacts. The next time we would see them have a prominent place in the story would really be Eldraine where they were one of the kingdoms that made up that realm. Torbran being the noble of that kingdom with cards like Seven Dwarfs and Rimrock Knight backing him up. All of these leaned more into damage buffs and +1/+1 (even if they weren’t counters this time around)
With Kaldheim right around the corner now, we have seen that they will be back in a major way. If they are actually following norse mythology like it seems they are then the Dwarfs may hold a big role in this set. That theory was shown to be more likely as one of the first cards previewed was Magda, Brazen Outlaw. Buffing all other Dwarves and creating treasure every time a Dwarf is taped is a great design for a Dwarf and really makes for a viable Mono Red Dwarf Commander Deck if you ask me. Using those abilities and the last, sacrificing 5 treasures to put an artifact or dragon directly onto the battlefield is amazing. Using Dragons like Hellkite Tyrant, Rapacious Dragon, and Gadrak to pump up the number of artifacts could be a really fun way to pull a lot of power from your deck from seemingly out of nowhere, oh and don’t forget the trusty Embercleave!
With more and more being previewed everyday I hope that Dwarfs are finally shown the love they need and they lean into the buffs and artifact themes. Tying them with dragons just make sense in this set and could lead to some really fun decks, standard with Eldraine still in standard and commander with so many more options available. I’m excited to see what else is coming for these OG’s of the magic world and vorthos! What would you like to see Kaldheim bring for the tribe? Let us know in the comments or come and find us on facebook with the link at the top right of the page!
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