The newest expansion set for Magic: The Gathering is going to be released in a few days and for those of you who play the game I wanted to share some of the information and spoiler cards that WotC has released. The set is called Rise of the Eldrazi, and is the third set of the Zendikar block and looks like it comes with some new rules and mechanics that set it apart from everything else that’s out there right now.
Here is some of the back story and general information about the set:
For thousands of years, Zendikar has had a reputation as a deathtrap. It’s been a world of deadly perils to Planeswalkers and native explorers, punishing any who seek to loot its hidden treasures and exploit its potent mana.
But unknown to the plane’s denizens, there’s a sinister reason for Zendikar’s danger: for millennia, the plane has served as a prison for the Eldrazi, astral monstrosities native to the Blind Eternities. Now, the perils facing adventurers on the plane of Zendikar have taken an even deadlier turn. The Eldrazi have been released.
Hailing from the Blind Eternities, the space between planes, the Eldrazi have transcended the colors of mana as we know them. As a result, the Eldrazi progenitors themselves and those closest to them are colorless. But don’t let the mana cost fool you—these Eldrazi are not artifacts.
Each of the colossal Eldrazi spawns its own “brood lineage.” The three brood lineages are composed of Eldrazi Drones and other subordinate beings, each reflecting the image of its progenitor. The smaller Eldrazi Drones that are aligned with colored mana and many of these drones, as well as some spells, produce Eldrazi Spawn creature tokens. These 0/1 colorless creatures can be sacrificed to add one colorless mana to your mana pool—perfect for casting those enormous Eldrazi.
The Rise of the Eldrazi set also marks the debut of colorless instants and sorceries. Like their Eldrazi creators, these versatile spells can be put into almost any deck.
As a long-time lapsed Magic player that has in the last year gotten back into playing with pre-constructed and theme decks I really enjoy seeing the new content that’s produced for this game. Compared to what existed back in the 4th Edition, Ice Age, and Alliances days when I originally played the game a lot of what’s released now has a much larger scale to it which takes things to a whole new level of cool. Back in the day one of my favorite aspects of the game was definitely the artwork on each card, and I am happy to say that the overall quality of artwork in M:tG has improved quite a bit over the general high quality that existed before.
That said, here’s a look at some preview cards from the new set:
Glad you like what we’ve come out with recently. On the subject of art, I personally love what we’ve done with Planeswalkers and the Eldrazi giving them full frame art.
Personally i’m an off again on again magic player. I’ll go through a phase of playing incessently and then stop for six months. I haven’t played in about three months but this expansion looks like it is going to suck me back in. looking forward to it.
@WotC_Eric, i to love the Eldrazi artwork. It gives the impression that the Eldrazi are to big and powerful to be contained and controlled like the normal spells and monsters just by simply looking at it. Excellent design idea.
Scott
.-= Scott Wallace´s last blog ..From Different Walks =-.
I remember the day that I walked into a hobby store and saw Magic cards for the first time. I asked what they were and the clerk replied, “Oh, you must not be a gamer.”
Man, I was insulted!
-Tourq
.-= Tourq´s last blog ..Gaming Tools, #4 =-.
I saw a bunch of decks at the prerelease that cranked out ridiculous amounts of Eldrazi Spawn tokens to help cast the big daddy Eldrazi. One of those had a Ulamog’s Crusher out on turn 4 or 5! (I lost that game.)
Makes me wonder how fast we’ll be seeing Eldrazis on the board in Constructed. Probably pretty damn fast!
.-= adamjford´s last blog ..adamjford: .@mvccontrib What’s the latest release that’s for MVC 1? Having trouble figuring it out from the releases page. =-.
WotC Eric: Thanks for stopping by and commenting, I agree the artwork for the Eldrazi specifically is really good. Then again I’m going to love most pieces by Chippy anyway (on one Eldrazi specifically, that is). 😀
Scott: As I said in the post, I lapsed for a solid 8 years or so, but am enjoying not rampantly collecting but just playing with theme decks. It’s become much more of a casual hobby for me, but still gives me some of the same old emotions I had back in high school when I started playing the game!
Tourq: Don’t even get me started on game store clerks and situations like that. Seriously. I could go on for way too long about it.
adamjford: from the looks of it the Eldrazi will be coming out pretty quick, and lots of colorless tokens all over the place too. I haven’t had a chance to play it yet, but looking at the cards I’ve seen it could be kind of ridiculous.