Katilda, Dawnhart Martyr – Crimson Vow
Date Reviewed: January 3, 2022
Ratings:
Constructed: 2.67
Casual: 3.67
Limited: 3.92
Multiplayer: 3.33
Commander [EDH]: 3.33
Ratings are based on a 1 to 5 scale. 1 is bad. 3 is average. 5 is great.
Reviews Below:
The number of Spirits you control . . . now what does that remind me of? Before we go down that rabbit hole, the first thing we should probably think about is Innistrad’s past blocks – Spirits were a significant part of both, and they had some top-quality cards in the likes of Moorland Haunt and Spell Queller. That kind of tempo deck is where you will probably be looking at using Katilda in constructed and casual, though you may find that this tribe’s three-cost slot is a little crowded. Protection from vampires is huge in draft or any other environment that’s heavy on, well, Innistrad. That might make the difference one way or the other, however your local metagame goes. And if you do ever get the Rising Dawn on her reverse side, whatever it enchants is probably going to straight-up win the game for you.
Constructed: 3/5
Casual: 4/5
Limited: 4/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3/5
Shortly after meeting with an unfortunate death experience in Midnight Hunt, Katilda returns as a spirit in Crimson Vow, and she’s an interesting sort of payoff card for decks that will have her. Flying and lifelink are already nice keywords (and protection from Vampires is far cuter than it is “good”, but never knock it), but she can scale well if you have a surfeit of spirits and/or enchantments. Even if you’ve just one other, she’s entering as a 2/2, which is actually pretty okay for a flier that costs only three mana. Of course, she does a bit more than that, returning as an Aura that does the same thing to another creature for five mana, and she well could enable an alpha strike that turn if circumstances line up and you give it to a creature with, say, double strike.
She’s not flashy, but she’s an efficient workhorse of a creature that’ll do the job. In a block like this, where it’s not too hard to have a lot of Spirits, she’ll come in rather large and in-charge, and she scales well. She’s not likely to be a star, but she may well have a home both now and after the next set comes out.
Constructed: 3.5
Casual: 4
Limited: 4.25 (excellent early, and can close games out in either form)
Multiplayer: 3
Commander: 3.5 (she does offer Enchantress decks a more direct threat, though the question remains if those decks want her)
A very good limited build around but generally weak outside of spirit tribal, Katilda is a good and cheap card that can pack a series punch. Flying and lifelink are great and the protection from vampires just screams “use me in limited”. Outside of that spirits still are not a strong enough tribe outside of commander and maybe modern but that is still pretty niche and not ironed out. This card would fit in well with the Kaldheim commander deck that came out earlier this year which was very spirit focused featuring Ranar the Ever-Watchful. The icing on this cake is the disturb ability which allows you to cast this card from your graveyard as a legendary enchant creature with the same abilities as Katilda. It is still not worth throwing into a mono white, UW control, or any deck in standard that isn’t trying to win with spirit tribal. A fun card that was designed for limited with an added bonus of being a great addition to some commander decks!
Constructed: 1.5/5 (Due to the weakness of spirit tribal)
Casual: 3/5
Limited: 3.5/5
Multiplayer: 3/5
Commander: 3.5/5
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