Card Spotlight: Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler in Standard, Pioneer and Limited

Hey, guys, what's up? The spoiler season keeps going at full speed, and over here we follow through with our analysis of cards that might have some impact in the main formats.

In today's article, we'll discuss Skemfar's Elf Prince from the Kaldheim plane, Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler, who comes in ready to perform deeds which will be sung by all Skalds in all of Kaldheim.

Tyvar was introduced in Kaldheim as an elf with long auburn braids, a body full of muscles, wearing a series of amulets and a par of bracelets, one of which containing a bronze blade.

Traits

He appears youthful, way beyond his race's standards, and has an arrogant look about him, even to the point of introducing himself to Kaya as "the greatest hero of all kingdoms".

Besides his excellent combat skills, he can also transmute a material into another he is touching, being able to even alter the skin of other beings he touches, or even his own skin. Another detail of his ability is that when he transmutes another person, this person can't use their powers for as long as they remain transmuted.

A curious fact is that, due to the kingdoms' traits being ramifications of the plane's world-tree, this elf used to believe Zendikar was part of the ramifications. It was only when he planewalked without realizing it that he discovered it was another plane altogether, during his meeting with the Orzhov leader.

Now that we know a bit more about Kaldheim's Elf Prince, let's analyze his Phyrexia:All Will Be One version!

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler is a three-mana planeswalker, with two triggered abilities and a static one, besides not having an "ultimate". The card's design is about boosting strategies focused on triggered abilities with the cost of "tapping a creature", both due to it removing summoning sickness and also due to it untapping your creature.

It also allows you to speed up game plans focused on graveyard use, capable of even returning creatures with low mana costs to the board while it feeds it.

Card Analysis - Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler

His static ability can create immediate value to your board, and can surprise the enemy if they try to deal with your creatures a turn too late.

His first triggered ability allows you to reuse your creatures or even leave a blocker ready to protect your lifepoints. Finally, by removing counters, we can feed the graveyard and many times retrieve pieces which are important to our strategy. Reflection of Kiki-Jiki, Llanowar Elves, Katilda, Dawnhart Prime, Prime Speaker Vannifar are some examples of cards which are boosted by the presence of this planeswalker on board.

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler in Standard

In Standard's current metagame, only Jund could be a home for this planeswalker due to his color combination. Let's analyze if he could fit into that deck.

Jund Midrange and Combo

There are two versions of this deck; one which is more Midrange, focused on reanimating a decisive creature such as Titan of Industry, and another more "combo" one, which uses the spell Chaotic Transformation. In the combo version, there is no synergy with the planeswalker, and so, he doesn't fit with this line of play.

As the Midrange version uses the Reanimate tactic as a way of speeding up its win condition, Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler might not be the most efficient card for this game plan, as it competes with more versatile options such as Liliana of the Veil and Fable of the Mirror-Breaker, which are in that same mana curve.

Still, he can fit in with a more mill-focused tactic, using creatures such as Gnawing Vermin, Blanchwood Prowler and Undead Butler, which can be Reanimated, and this way feed the graveyard again.

However, with such a removal-filled metagame, some strategies might just be waiting for this planeswalker to come in, so they can find their step.

Abzan Toolbox

In this deck, we have the use of the card Fauna Shaman as a way to find what we look for in our "toolbox". In my opinion, this deck can find the value it needs to overcome the format's Midranges with the addition of Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler.

I obtained the basis of this list through André Manenti's channel, made a few changes to include the planeswalker, and added a sideboard to adapt it to the tournament matches.

As the deck's strategy is based on looking for the perfect creature for every situation, the possibility of Fauna Shaman coming in and creating instant value is extremely interesting, capable of even being activated more than once in the same round.

As a good portion of the deck's creatures cost 2 or less, by discarding one of them, we can bring them back with our planeswalker's second ability, as well as reanimate any Fauna Shaman that might have been removed, guaranteeing the deck's consistency.

Abzan Katilda Mana Dork

Another possible deck is based on Katilda, Dawnhart Prime and its ability of making all humans generate mana.

In this line of play, the goal is filling the battlefield in the shortest time possible. With this goal, the deck aims at combining Katilda and Tyvar, so it can fill the battlefield.

With this planeswalker static ability, the witch's ability, and the fact that all creatures are humans, it is possible to play

low-cost humans already enabled to generate mana and, this way, quickly grow the board to finish the game with one of the ways this deck offers to increase the board's power.

As the deck's mana curve is low, Tyvar can be used to grow the board, bringing some card from the graveyard back into play or even returning Katilda, providing resilience to the deck's plan.

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler in Pioneer

With a bigger card pool, Pioneer has a much wider potential when it comes to use this planeswalker. In that sense, two strategies can come up and surprise this format's metagame.

Vannifar Combo

The original Vannifar Combo required a setup to be done and finish the game.

It consists of playing Prime Speaker Vannifar, go a turn without losing it and starting the combo when it's your turn, in case you have the necessary pieces. The original list is from Joel Larsson, with my suggestion of including Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler.

With our planeswalker, this combo can start as soon as Prime Speaker Vannifar comes into play, allowing you to catch your opponent by surprise.

Besides optimizing your combo, the second ability also allows you to bring back Corridor Monitor to get the combo started in case it is in the graveyard, and you don't have any other available creatures, this way guaranteeing more consistency to the deck.

How the Combo Works

1 – Prime Speaker Vannifar with a 1 cost creature on board, activate Vannifar's ability sacrificing the 1 cost creature and look for Corridor Monitor.

2 – By going into play, Corridor Monitor untaps Vannifar who, in turn, sacrifices Corridor Monitor looking for Extraction Specialist, retrieving from the graveyard Corridor Monitor. This process is repeated until you get all Extraction Specialists.

3 – By searching the last card, we'll keep the loop, but look for Glasspool Mimic to copy Extraction Specialist and with that return Corridor Monitor and repeat like this from step 2 onward until all Glasspool Mimic are found.

4 – By closing the loop, the next step is to look for the card Keldon Strike Team, which will give all our creatures haste, and this way we'll be able to attack with everything that went into play this turn.

Golgari Elves

Another deck that has its potential boosted by Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler is BG Elves, which has as its strategy playing elves (mana dorks) and increasing our board with Elvish Warmaster, Dwynen’s Elite, refilling our hand with Leaf-Crowned Visionary and Elvish Visionary.

With a full board, it is possible to complement the rest of the damage with Shaman of the Pack. Down below there is a suggestion for this deck with the inclusion of this planeswalker. This list was adapted from W. Yidong's list.

In this type of deck, Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler can create a lot of value. The main mana creators can come into play and pay themselves regarding mana costs, this way being played for free and feeding the board for as long as this planeswalker remains on board.

It's also possible to bring back key-creatures which were removed, such as Leaf-Crowned Visionary and Elvish Warmaster, this way actively contributing to the deck's speed, fuel and stability. I believe this is the ideal home for the card.

Abzan Greasefang

Regarding the metagame's main decks, the Elf Prince doesn't seem to have as nice of a fit as in the previously prevented decks, but it can still be useful for Abzan Greasefang.

With a full-on mill strategy, in the first few turns this deck aims at playing vehicles, which will be reanimated, in the graveyard, and bringing them back with Greasefang, Okiba Boss.

Though just the mill ability has synergy in this deck, contributing with a recycling of the creatures used early game while you feed the graveyard, this way allowing a new stage for these creatures' effects, might be useful, specially against more aggro decks, when time is one of your enemies.

His first ability helps conserve the blocker which "drives" the vehicle, allowing it to suffer less damage.

I believe Greasefang might end up testing out one or two copies, at most, if they intend to understand if this contribution is more efficient than the pieces which will need to be taken out to open up space.

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler in Limited

In Limited, Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler doesn't impact much, but Reanimate archetypes, or archetypes that check the graveyard might find use for him as a way of keeping the graveyard fed.

Generally, he will depend on the synergies built in the decks. Creatures with effects that need tapping as their cost might be boosted, not allowing your opponent to remove them in time before their triggers.

And his first ability might work as vigilance, allowing creatures with evasion to attack in a locked board situation.

Tyvar, Jubilant Brawler offers a considerable potential for decks in the Constructed format, speeding up strategies to avoid key pieces from being removed before they create their value.

His abilities contribute to enhance already existing combos (Vannifar, for instance), opening up a great potential for other synergies to come up, and give life to new decks.

In my opinion, its best potential is found in decks with mana dorks, as a booster, enhancer and strategy stabilizer. I see a lot of potential with Golgari Elves in Pioneer.

I hope you enjoyed the article.

If you have any questions, use the comment section, and I'll be happy to answer.

Thank you for reading!

See you next time!