Spoiler Highlight: Kitsa, Otterball Elite, from Bloomburrow!

Hello, dear Legacy friends! Let's head straight into another highlight from M… (wait, it's not Modern Horizons 3? It's Bloomburrow? Already? But hasn't MH3 just come out? Ok, ok) … Bloomburrow! Jokes aside, we're in another spoiler/spotlight season, and this one is for the set that will bring a true zoo of fluffy creatures to Magic: The Gathering. Let's see a card I believe has a lot of potential in Legacy.

But before we discuss a potential home for Kitsa, we need to briefly discuss this format's history and current context.

The archetype that probably has been the longest at the top of this format revolves around Brainstorm + Ponder + Daze + Force of Will + Wasteland + low-cost creatures to punish your opponent. With these cards, your opponent can't possibly pierce through your Tempo threshold. It was first known as the Canadian Threshold in the beginning, and the most popular duo to crush your opponent was Nimble Mongoose and Werebear.

Later on, Tarmogoyf became the main aggressor, but only when Innistrad came along that this archetype got the name it is known by to this day: Delver of Secrets, or Delver, for short.

I commented in previous articles that this deck has been through many iterations throughout the years, but the structure above remained: at the peak of the Simic version, we had Deathrite Shaman. Then, when the Esper version was dominant, we had Lurrus of the Dream-Den, and when the Temur version was on top, it had Wrenn and Six and later on Oko, Thief of Crowns. The Izzet version had Dreadhorde Arcanist, Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer, and Expressive Iteration. Curiously (and definitely not a coincidence at all), all the cards I listed above are currently banned in Legacy.

However, for some time now, this deck has abandoned "solid" creatures for a good balance between mana value and stats - creatures like Tarmogoyf have lost space, and even Delver of Secrets, to a point, became less relevant. Instead, it now uses creatures that not only put on pressure, but also create value, like Dragon's Rage Channeler, Questing Druid, and, more recently, Psychic Frog.

If we look to the past, we'll notice that this type of card is a strong candidate for bans when its archetype spins out of control. And, to see play in this archetype, any new card has to have, for a low cost, this combination between pressure and value.

So, let's see how Kitsa does in these decks.

In Legacy, nowadays, it's difficult to compete with Psychic Frog, but Kitsa, Otterball Elite offers an alternative to lists that can't access black mana. The first thing that (always) comes to mind is that it is a blue card, and thus it opens another option for you: paying for Force of Will's alternative cost.

Then, because it has prowess in a deck full of low-cost spells (many of which also draw more cards), Kitsa puts on a lot of pressure for not much effort. And, because it has vigilance, it can both be defensive and offensive while you use its activated abilities.

Its first ability lets you get rid of dead cards in your hand, like lands, and look for more proactive cards. As for the second, it can give you both another copy of Brainstorm and boost your Lightning Bolt. It works better alongside instant spells, as you can activate it after you attacked and resolved the triggered abilities from its prowess to then raise Kitsa's power, but before the copied spell itself resolved.

Example: with Kitsa already in play, you can summon Mishra's Bauble in the main phase (prowess triggers; it'll have 2 power). Then attack, play Lightning Bolt (prowess triggers; it'll have 3 power). With Bolt still on the stack, you get to activate Kitsa and copy it. Then you'll have 2 Lightning Bolt's!

The first deck we should consider adding this new card to is the good, old Izzet Delver.

In this list, Kitsa plays a role that opened up after Dreadhorde Arcanist was banned. On one side, you lost the free recursion from Arcanist, but, on the other, Kitsa is way more powerful in terms of stats and cuts down the time your opponent has to find answers.

Please note that, considering how many Scaminators and Dimir/Grixis Aggro (with or without Delver) see play in the format nowadays, we had to include Pyroblast in the main deck.

This deck could also play more prowess options, like Monastery Swiftspear and Slickshot Show-Off, if you want a more damage-focused approach. It would be a Delver/Burn hybrid.

The third list that comes to my mind is Temur Delver, which lost space because it doesn't have a 2-mana creature that can put on pressure, create cards, and be exiled with Force of Will. Well, you should just make do with what you have, so if you don't have a Psychic Frog, this Otter is your pal. Otherwise, this list is the same as the other ones.

It might not be the perfect time for Kitsa to shine. Though Grief will definitely leave this format in August, as implied by WotC, Psychic Frog will most likely become even more dominant in this format, and it will be difficult to compete with it. However, as I mentioned before, this type of creature doesn't last long when it becomes too dominant in this format - and Dreadhorde Arcanist and Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer can certainly attest to that.

In this case, whenever one of these cards is banned, there's always a vacuum left in the decks they saw play in, which then have to find a viable replacement. And Kitsa might as well be next in line.

Thank you for reading, and see you next time!