Wizards of the Coast is releasing a top-down Norse-inspired set for Magic: The Gathering named Kaldheim. A handful of spoilers have already arrived, and they promise all kinds of powerful and mighty warriors, berserkers and shamans. The set also promises the first-ever legendary Squirrel creature, Toski.
Squirrel is a rather notorious creature type in the game. Mark Rosewater is personally fond of the creature type and has often pushed to have it included in more sets and products. Only a few Squirrels are in the game outside of Un-sets, but by now, it's time for a standout Squirrel to burst into the scene.
What Toski Can Do
So far, Kaldheim's green cards are focused on tribes, such as the black-green Elf tribe or the Shapeshifter tribe, but there is room for a Squirrel too. Most expansion sets set aside a few cards that are clearly meant for other formats, and it's not just Commander Legends that's printing head-turning legends to fuel the Commander format. Kaldheim promises to have a distinct "legends matter" theme like the Dominaria set did, and Toski is an example of that.
Toski, Bearer of Secrets is a tiny 1/1 for {3}G, but it cannot be countered. It even has indestructible, a common effect among white and green creatures. Toski is also aggressive, as it must attack each turn, and it can start drawing cards when the fur flies. Anytime a fellow creature (including Toski) deals combat damage to a player, Toski's controller may draw a card.
That may seem like a rather blue effect at first, but while Green doesn't typically have pure card-advantage effects such as Divination or Sphinx's Revelation, green mana does have a "natural wisdom" theme that manifests as card draw here and there. Green cards may draw extra cards if green-themed conditions are met, such as casting large creature spells or attacking the opponent with those creatures. Toski takes the latter router, rewarding the player with extra cards when the green army goes on the offensive. Toski is no ordinary Squirrel; it's a legend, and it no doubt steals secrets from the enemy as it races through the tree branches.
Using Toski in Commander Games
The Commander format is huge and diverse, with 100-card decks being designed for multiplayer games. It is not yet clear how Toski the legendary Squirrel will fit into the Kaldheim set, but players may find ways to make a casual, aggressive deck for it in Commander. For example, Toski can be the commander itself, and take charge of a mono-green deck that can create evasion to push damage.
Green is known for its "lure" effects, where an attacking creature forces all of the opponent's blockers to block it at once (such as Unicorns). This means all the other creatures can hit the opponent and draw a lot of cards off of Toski. Green even has enchantments or instants/sorceries that can put the lure effect on a single creature.
A player could also slot Toski into an existing Commander deck, a multicolored deck that can use its other color(s) to push damage with its green creatures. A blue/green deck will have all kinds of Auras, abilities or even Equipment cards to grant flying to creatures, and when Toksi is around, all that evasive damage will translate into extra cards. Color-independent cards such as Kitesail, Whispersilk Cloak and Rogue's Passageway can also grant evasion to Toski or an ally, making for a highly evasive attacker.