New Strategy Makes Underappreciated Planeswalker Viable

Introduction

Koth, Fire of Resistance Koth, Fire of Resistance +2: Search your library for a basic Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Koth deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a Mountain you control enters, this emblem deals 4 damage to any target." is one of the ten new Planeswalkers introduced in Phyrexia: All Will Be One. Many of these Planeswalkers are regarded as very powerful cards. Nissa, Ascended Animist Nissa, Ascended Animist Compleated ({G/P} can be paid with {G} or 2 life. For each {G/P} paid with life, this planeswalker enters with two fewer loyalty counters.)
+1: Create an X/X green Phyrexian Horror creature token, where X is Nissa's loyalty.
−1: Destroy target artifact or enchantment.
−7: Until end of turn, creatures you control get +1/+1 for each Forest you control and gain trample. has been seen as a menacing threat from the moment she was revealed. The Eternal Wanderer The Eternal Wanderer No more than one creature can attack The Eternal Wanderer each combat.
+1: Exile up to one target artifact or creature. Return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of that player's next end step.
0: Create a 2/2 white Samurai creature token with double strike.
−4: For each player, choose a creature that player controls. Each player sacrifices all creatures they control not chosen this way. and Kaya, Intangible Slayer Kaya, Intangible Slayer Hexproof
+2: Each opponent loses 3 life and you gain 3 life.
0: You draw two cards. Then each opponent may scry 1.
−3: Exile target creature or enchantment. If it wasn't an Aura, create a token that's a copy of it, except it's a 1/1 white Spirit creature with flying in addition to its other types. are seen as absolute all-stars in ONE’s limited format. Unlike these other Planeswalkers, however, the reaction to Koth, Fire of Resistance Koth, Fire of Resistance +2: Search your library for a basic Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Koth deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a Mountain you control enters, this emblem deals 4 damage to any target." has been decidedly lukewarm. Koth, Fire of Resistance Koth, Fire of Resistance +2: Search your library for a basic Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Koth deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a Mountain you control enters, this emblem deals 4 damage to any target." has a value of less than $1.00, and he has been broadly dismissed as a bulk rare by many. A new deck focussed on this underappreciated Red walker may be able to reignite the passion of the MTG community for this Vulshok revolutionary.

What Does Koth Do?

For four mana, Koth, Fire of Resistance Koth, Fire of Resistance +2: Search your library for a basic Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Koth deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a Mountain you control enters, this emblem deals 4 damage to any target." enters play with four loyalty counters. Koth’s +2 ability adds a basic Mountain from your deck to your hand. Koth’s -3 deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control. Finally, Koth’s ultimate, which costs seven loyalty, creates an emblem that allows its controller to deal four damage to any target whenever a Mountain enters play under their control.

Comparisons have been drawn between this version of Koth and Liliana of the Dark Realms Liliana of the Dark Realms +1: Search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Target creature gets +X/+X or -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Swamps you control.
−6: You get an emblem with "Swamps you control have '{T}: Add {B}{B}{B}{B}.'" a Planeswalker originally printed in Core Set 2013. The cards are very similar, although while Koth cares about Mountains, Liliana of the Dark Realms Liliana of the Dark Realms +1: Search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Target creature gets +X/+X or -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Swamps you control.
−6: You get an emblem with "Swamps you control have '{T}: Add {B}{B}{B}{B}.'" cares about Swamps. Typically comparisons between the two cards are unfavorable towards Koth. Liliana of the Dark Realms’s first loyalty ability can fetch any kind of Swamp, not just basic Swamps, this means that she can fetch Shock Lands and Triomes, which Koth cannot. Liliana’s -3 ability is also more useful than Koth’s, as she has the option of either buffing a creature or giving it -X/-X, whilst Koth can only deal damage. Not only is Koth’s ability less versatile, but dealing damage is typically worse than giving a card -X/-X as damage cannot destroy an Indestructible target.

Koth does have a few advantages over Liliana of the Dark Realms Liliana of the Dark Realms +1: Search your library for a Swamp card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Target creature gets +X/+X or -X/-X until end of turn, where X is the number of Swamps you control.
−6: You get an emblem with "Swamps you control have '{T}: Add {B}{B}{B}{B}.'" , primarily the fact that he enters play with an additional loyalty counter means that he is able to use his second loyalty ability immediately without dying. In Addition, Koth’s first loyalty ability also grants an extra loyalty counter compared to Liliana’s. Attempting to contrast the ultimates of these two Planeswalkers results in a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. Both effects are powerful, and it’s hard to say that one is decisively better than the other. All the same, a new card being comparable to a Planeswalker which is more than 10 years old is not a recipe for success, and Koth, Fire of Resistance Koth, Fire of Resistance +2: Search your library for a basic Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Koth deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a Mountain you control enters, this emblem deals 4 damage to any target." has been left largely ignored by the MTG Community. At least until recently…

The New Deck

SaffronOlive is an MTG content creator who regularly creates unconventional decks and pilots them publicly in his “Much Abrew About Nothing” series. His latest creation, Mono-Red Proliferate, is a Standard deck designed to emphasize the strengths of Koth, Fire of Resistance Koth, Fire of Resistance +2: Search your library for a basic Mountain card, reveal it, put it into your hand, then shuffle.
−3: Koth deals damage to target creature equal to the number of Mountains you control.
−7: You get an emblem with "Whenever a Mountain you control enters, this emblem deals 4 damage to any target." .

To describe the deck in its creator’s own words: “During Phyrexia: All Will Be One spoiler season, I was pretty harsh on Koth, Fire of Resistance. Well, we’re going all-in on building around Koth today, with the goal being to ultimate it in a single turn (with the help of a proliferate spell like Volt Charge Volt Charge Volt Charge deals 3 damage to any target. Proliferate. (Choose any number of permanents and/or players, then give each another counter of each kind already there.) or Staff of Compleation Staff of Compleation {T}, Pay 1 life: Destroy target permanent you own.
{T}, Pay 2 life: Add one mana of any color.
{T}, Pay 3 life: Proliferate.
{T}, Pay 4 life: Draw a card.
{5}: Untap this artifact. ) and then burn our opponent out of the game as we play some Mountains. If Koth isn’t enough, we can also use proliferate to rush the ultimate on Jaya, Fiery Negotiator Jaya, Fiery Negotiator +1: Create a 1/1 red Monk creature token with prowess.
−1: Exile the top two cards of your library. Choose one of them. You may play that card this turn.
−2: Choose target creature an opponent controls. Whenever you attack this turn, Jaya deals damage equal to the number of attacking creatures to that creature.
−8: You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a red instant or sorcery spell, copy it twice. You may choose new targets for the copies." or Chandra, Dressed to Kill Chandra, Dressed to Kill +1: Add {R}. Chandra deals 1 damage to up to one target player or planeswalker.
+1: Exile the top card of your library. If it's red, you may cast it this turn.
−7: Exile the top five cards of your library. You may cast red spells from among them this turn. You get an emblem with "Whenever you cast a red spell, this emblem deals X damage to any target, where X is the amount of mana spent to cast that spell." , or just play an All Will Be One All Will Be One Whenever you put one or more counters on a permanent or player, this enchantment deals that much damage to target opponent, creature an opponent controls, or planeswalker an opponent controls. and burn our opponent out as we add counters to our permanents!”

In other words, This is a Superfriends deck, focussed on using Proliferate to either charge up Koth’s ultimate and win using that, or to finish opponents off via incremental damage from All Will Be One All Will Be One Whenever you put one or more counters on a permanent or player, this enchantment deals that much damage to target opponent, creature an opponent controls, or planeswalker an opponent controls. .

The deck seemed to capture the imagination of the MTG Community, with many fans suggesting cards to add to the deck. A user on Twitter suggested adding Sardian Clifstomper a two-drop that gets stronger the more Mountains are in play, synergizing with Koth’s ability to fetch Mountains and the deck’s Mono-Red nature. A comment on YouTube, meanwhile, suggested adding The Filigree Sylex The Filigree Sylex {T}: Put an oil counter on The Filigree Sylex.
{T}, Sacrifice The Filigree Sylex: Destroy each nonland permanent with mana value equal to the number of oil counters on The Filigree Sylex.
{T}, Remove ten oil counters from among permanents you control and sacrifice The Filigree Sylex: It deals 10 damage to any target. a card that can utilize all of the Proliferate effects in this deck to charge up 10 Oil Counters in order to deal 10 damage, or can be used to destroy all of the permanents with a certain mana value in play.

Conclusion

The Mono-Red Proliferate deck went 5-3 in the eight matches which SaffronOlive played with it. There are certainly no imminent signs that Mono-Red Proliferate decks featuring Koth are going to rise up and become meta dominating tier one decks, or that Koth’s value will rise. All the same, it is always nice to see cards that were previously dismissed by the MTG Community get a moment in the sun.

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