We’re only a couple of days out from the full release of Duskmourn: House of Horror, and players are starting to finalize their bets for what will be good in the new meta. As always, Standard will be hit the hardest. This set in particular has a lot of players of older formats excited too, however. Razorkin Needlehead is a potential pickup for both Modern and Pioneer, and today’s MTG card, Valgavoth, Terror Eater, may actually have a shot at breaking into Legacy. It’s rare that any card achieves such a feat, so it’s well worth watching this one in the weeks to come.
Valgavoth, Terror Eater MTG
- Mana Value: 6BBB
- Rarity: Mythic Rare
- Stats: 9/9
- Card Text: Flying, Lifelink. Ward—Sacrifice three nonland permanents. If a card you didn’t control would be put into an opponent’s graveyard from anywhere, exile it instead. During your turn, you may play cards exiled with Valgavoth. If you cast a spell this way, pay life equal to its mana value rather than pay its mana cost.
Valgavoth, Terror Eater is the new big bad for MTG Duskmourn. Appropriately enough, it’s also one of the biggest, baddest creatures we’ve seen in quite a while. Valgavoth combines a huge, well-statted body with incredible protection and a killer passive effect. It can swing for nine in the air and gain you nine life a turn, then use that life to pay for the cards it exiled from your opponents’ graveyards.
There’s a lot of nice internal synergy with these abilities. To pay for the Ward your opponent will need to sacrifice three permanents, which will then be exiled by Valgavoth’s passive before it’s removed. The ability to pay for the exiled cards with life is a nice way to offset the lack of immediate advantage here, too. Typically big-value creatures do something when they enter. Valgavoth is an exception in this regard. It does its best work over time, so the high tempo offered by the passive is great.
Nine mana is certainly a steep cost, especially when you consider the triple black. For that reason, Valgavoth is mostly being considered for decks that can circumvent the cost in some way. Decks that can reanimate Valgavoth, or otherwise cheat it into play, are looking like the best homes. We shouldn’t rule out ramping into it either, however. Players have been casting Atraxa this way in Standard for a while now, and nine isn’t far off of seven.
Legacy Of Darkness
So far, the most exciting prospective home for Valgavoth, by far, is Legacy Reanimator. You’d be forgiven for not knowing since it’s a fairly niche format, but Reanimator is one of the top decks in Legacy right now. The deck typically runs Dimir colors and leverages a Psychic Frog tempo package alongside chunky threats and cards that can revive them. The threat package is fairly consistent across builds. Four copies of Troll of Khazad-dûm work beautifully since they can Cycle themselves for cheap. Atraxa, Grand Unifier and Archon of Cruelty are just staples at this point. Both generate stupid amounts of value on entry, especially when cheated out.
At first, Valgavoth doesn’t look like a natural addition to this lineup. A complete lack of etb abilities means it’ll take time to get value from it. Time, of course, is a luxury you can rarely afford in Legacy. That said, it does have some uses that may make it an ideal sideboard option for the deck.
Serving as a much scarier Rest in Peace makes Valgavoth great in the Reanimator mirror. It also hoses other meta decks too, like Grixis Tempo and Cephalid Breakfast. For such strategies, It’s pretty difficult to progress once Valgavoth hits the table. It’s pretty hard to get it off the table too, thanks to that insane Ward cost. That said, I think it’s fairly unlikely that Valgavoth earns a main deck slot in the list. The existing power targets, Atraxa and Archon, are simply more useful in more situations. The fact that Valgavoth is even in the same conversation as these powerhouse creatures is pretty exciting, however.
The Top Of The Ramp
Legacy players aren’t the only ones who might get to take Duskmourn’s head honcho out for a spin soon. If Valgavoth is a good enough reanimator target for Legacy, you can bet it’s good enough for the likes of Standard. The issue there is a lack of cheap options for bringing it out. The earliest you can do so is probably turn four with a Rite of the Moth. You could also bring it out from your hand with Kona, Rescue Beastie at a similar time.
In a more balanced Standard, this might be a solid strategy. With how fast things are right now though I’m not sure it’ll be too viable. It’s worth noting that a turn four Valgavoth can completely turn the tides against Aggro since one block will gain you back a whopping nine life. Aggro decks won’t typically have an answer for Valgavoth either, and even if they do they’ll need to wipe their own board to pay the Ward cost.
Standard aside, Valgavoth is almost guaranteed to be a smash hit in Commander. It can play well either in the command zone or in the 99, especially if you can cheat it out early. Graveyard hate is always in hot demand in the format, and this provides it on a devastating threat. Whether you ramp into it or reanimate it, it’s not difficult to get a nine drop out in Commander. Once you do, you’ll be in a position to control the game and turn your opponents’ favorite cards against them. This may not always be the best move tactically, but it will always deal a huge chunk of psychic damage, so it’s worth doing when you can.
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