Imagine this card. A middle-to-top part of the curve that can stem the bleeding when you're being attacked or can threaten an opponent's life total. It's good power and toughness rate spread out over two bodies to fight against targeted removal. At the very worst, it's two 2/2 bodies that trades with opposing attackers, but has the potential for a lot more. There are a lot of tricks you can do with it to gain a bunch of value if given the opportunity, so not only is your opponent in a bad spot if they try to use removal on it, they almost kind of have to because it can run away with the game if they don't. You can build around it to really maximize it, but you also don't have to. By playing a deck that is both looking for a one-card threat that can win the game by itself and also is a huge defensive roadblock, you've already built your deck to maximize it.
Which card am I talking about?
So far Esika's Chariot is my favorite card from Kaldheim. It's too early to say if it's the best card I've played with for Historic Jund out of Kaldheim, but I wouldn't be surprised if I came to that conclusion a few weeks from now. Maybe that's just because I love Huntmaster so much, but Chariot has been impressive in ways I didn't plan on.
Similarly to Huntmaster, you don't need a lot of extra help to make it work. If you're on the fence about a card and one of them helps Chariot, then maybe choose that one, but if you totally put combos with the Chariot out of your mind, you'd be fine too. If you're trying to decide between Abrade and Bonecrusher Giant in the main, then maybe go for the Bonecrusher because it crews Chariot. But you also don't have to if you don't want, Chariot is fine without it.
The reason is that if you cast a Chariot and you trade off your 2/2 creatures or have them Wrath'd or Doom Bladed, then Chariot has kind of already done its job. You will have a permanent left over that you may or may not be able to utilize, but the card has been fine and you're closer to winning because of it.
Unanswered, Chariot turns the corner fast. You're attacking for four a turn, but it turns into six and then eight quickly. But more than that, it basically gives creatures in your hand haste, so any other creatures you draw turn the heat on quick.
Defensively, you can't really attack into the thing. If you swing in with a Questing Beast, we trade my Vehicle for your best creature and I'm left with two extra blockers. If you attack with lots of smaller creatures, I trade off the cats and and I've completed a two for one and have the Chariot left over.
One thing real quick is how Gnottvold Slumbermound (Benedict Cumbermound) and Jegantha fit with Chariot. Both of these cards and the Chariot itself are cards that are just going to be lying around waiting for you to use them, and they just instantly win topdeck wars without even having to be drawn. Slumbermound starts to look real good when instead of a 4/4 it's creating it's actually two 4/4s and one of them has haste. The same is true with Jegantha, sometimes on an empty board you get to just play a 5/5 that can attack for four with haste, and all of a sudden, you're not in a topdeck war, your opponent is topdecking for their life. Baking in extra late game value to your deck like this makes deckbuilding much easier, because you can afford to play cheaper and more efficient cards and not lose if you draw them late.
I should also mention that Esika's Chariot gets around the legend rule interestingly in that when you have a Chariot in play, two 2/2 tokens is about the best thing you can cast. So, I don't think that there's a maximum number of these you should play due to the legend rule. Historic is a fast format so I'm not sure you want to slam four copies, but don't let the legendary status sway your decision too much.
Kaldheim just was released two days ago, so clearly it's too early to tell what it's going to do to Historic. But Chariot has all the parts of a perfect midrange card recipe. Great defensively, attacks the life total, gives you tangible value, and is impossible to deal with effectively. Again, it's early, and maybe I'm jumping the gun, but I suggest giving it a spin and seeing how it does for you. Thanks for reading.
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