Kaleb, Executioner is not a card that's going to help you win a game. It's awkward, expensive, triggers at a bad time, and too deep into Fire influence to splash for. It can't even do anything cool, like play itself from your deck when you're doing well like
Nahid, the Immortal when you're already probably winning. The best bet for this Kaleb is probably the deck it came in, which is disappointing; but the Skycrag Spells deck has so much more potential, so I've done my best to unlock it with this upgrade, including a silver bullet fast spell that may actually trigger Kaleb's awkwardly-timed ability. Let's have a look:
Spell Suite:
Chemical Rounds - It's not fast, but decay is relevant more often than not.
Lightning Storm - Staves off aggro nicely.
Piercing Shot - Pops aegis, which is nice. If there's no aegis, even better.
Rockslide - I'm a fan of versatility.
Sear - We have to, because Torch isn't fast anymore.
Biting Winds - The best offense is a good defense. This eliminates most attacking threats.
Wisdom of the Elders - We have to, because... well, we just have to.
Crystallize - Buys time, if nothing else.
Silver Bullet:
Solar Blast - Our ideal situation is to play this at the end of the opponent's turn with
Kaleb, Executioner already on the field. In most cases, he will be the sole survivor, and will hit your opponent for 8 easy damage at the start of your turn.
Units:
Jekk, Mercenary Hunter - We have to, because.... I dunno. We have to.
Tundra Explorer - Resistant to Lightning Storm, and draws spells when she attacks. Did I mention that 40% of this deck is spells? Good odds.
Acedonis, Untainted - Turns Rockslide into a powerhouse and Crystallize into a potential one-sided board wipe. Very deece.
Kenna, Uncontained - She's here for Killer. We don't have enough units to reliably trigger her ult, but it still might happen once every dozen games or so.
Ancient Serpent - Draw a spell from your void. Also flies, so that's not bad.
Kaleb, Executioner
It's not a great card. I'd have preferred a 5/5 for 5 that dealt 5 damage when it triggers. Even at its current statline and cost, it could have been at least workable if it triggered at the start of your opponent's turn. Being mono-faction means it's susceptible to Annihilate, and losing an 8 mana creature to a 2-mana removal spell just feels wrong. I want so much more from this card than what we got. Still, it's a neat effect if you can manage to pull it off.
This is the fourth deck I tried to make work with Kaleb. Being a Nightmare means he fits right in for Vox decks, maybe as a one-of, and big spells has enough unique removal to make his ability relevant. But in the end, he's just too awkward and expensive to be a major player in anything. Skycrag Spells, at least, has enough defense and card draw to get you to 8 mana, which is half the battle.