MTG Salvation

The first week of spoilers has drawn to a close, delivering a large chunk of spoilers. So far, ten out of the fifteen mythic rares have been revealed, as have 38 of the 53 rares. Among these, we have seen two new planeswalker cards revealed, as well as the revelation that Worldwake-style enemy pair manlands are in the set. Complementing these are a slew of exciting Eldrazi and Allies.

Kiora returns, after her expedition to Theros, bearing Thassa's Bident and a powerful new planeswalker card, ready to challenge the Eldrazi.
Her +1 ability untaps both a creature and a land, which can allow you to ramp while also granting a creature pseudo-vigilance to help protect her, or ramping further if used on a creature that can tap for mana. Additionally, in Standard, it allows you to untap both a Hangarback Walker and the mana used to activate it.
Her -2 ability provides a strong source of card advantage while also filling your graveyard. Similar to the formerly Standard-popular Jace, Architect of Thought, it frequently allows you to get two cards from the top of your library into your hand, and almost always at least one. Unlike Jace, however, she digs one card deeper, and the cards you don't keep end up in your graveyard, where they can help fuel delve spells like Tasigur, the Golden Fang, Dig through Time, Treasure Cruise, and Gurmag Angler. At four mana, there's even a slight possibility she could even see Modern play for this ability.
Her ultimate, like most planeswalkers', is difficult to access, but provides a powerful and immediate benefit, with both an emblem that provides long-term dominance of a game by allowing all of your creatures to fight on entry, and also three enormous Octopus tokens to take immediate advantage of it and overwhelm the board.


Ob Nixilis also returns. After the events of Magic 2015, when his hedron was removed and implanted into Garruk, Ob Nixlis' spark reignited, allowing him to reclaim his mantle as a planeswalker.
Ob Nixilis' +1 provides immediate card draw, which is usually a good place to start on a planeswalker. The closest comparison is Phyrexian Arena, but it can be used to draw a card immediately, providing an easier return of card advantage.
His -3 gives a Murder effect. If used immediately, it's effectively a Murder that leaves behind a Phyrexian Arena. It can also be interwoven with his +1, for when you'd rather guarantee that you "draw" a kill spell.
Ob Nixlis' ultimate, like Kiora's, is difficult to achieve, but provides powerful inevitability, dooming your opponent to the constant tick of damage on every card draw.


After the revelation of full-art basic land, new dual lands with basic types, and the Zendikar Expeditions set of premium extended art lands, few believed that there would be more exciting land news in Battle for Zendikar. However, the hits keep coming: there are enemy manlands to parallel the allied ones in Worldwake. The five lands will be split between Battle for Zendikar and the second set in the block, Oath of the Gatewatch. Two of the three in this set have been revealed so far, [c]Lumbering Falls[/o] and [c]Shambling Vent[/o].
Lumbering Falls, the U/G land, turns into a 3/3 creature with hexproof. This has Modern potential for Temur decks, which currently only has the Lightning Bolt-vulnerable Raging Ravine available to it in terms of manland options.
Shambling Vent, the W/B land, turns into a 2/3 creature with lifelink. While it does not have as obvious of a home, there are several fringe Orzhov decks in Modern that would consider using this, like Soul Sisters or Tokens, or it could be used in Abzan.
It goes without saying that these lands will be obviously Standard-playable as well.
There have been rumors that the third manland in the set is the B/G one, and that it turns into a 3/3 that can regenerate, but that has not been confirmed as of yet.


The big-hitter Eldrazi keep coming. Desolation Twin puts a staggering 20 power onto the board for ten mana, while Deathless Behemoth is "merely" an efficient 6/6 vigilance for six mana with built-in recursion. Void Winnower shows the weirder side of Eldrazi, making it so your opponent can't even begin to even. Conduit of Ruin provides a powerful cost-reduction mechanic coupled with a tutor.
All together, these Eldrazi paint a picture of what Battle for Zendikar limited might look like, with "battlecruiser" decks akin to Rise of the Eldrazi draft being a distinct possibility.


Smaller, colored Eldrazi cards also populate the set, and their lower costs make them potentially exciting for older formats, and more able to slot into existing Standard decks.
Fathom Feeder is a cheap beater with deathtouch that could have a place in controlling decks. Deathtouch makes it difficult to block or attack into. Ingest allows it to fuel various Eldrazi Processors, and it also provides a late-game mana sink that draws cards and further exiles cards from your opponent's library.
Ulamog's Nullifier provides a powerful Processor. If you can reliably exile opposing cards, it provides Mystic Snake on a flying, 2/3 body. While there is no obvious place in Modern for this, it certainly has the potential.
Herald of Kozilek is another card with some obvious potential. With a reasonably efficient 2/4 body for three and a cost reduction ability, there are several decks that might consider it. Eggs, for example, is a currently seldom-seen Modern deck that often runs the significantly more fragile Etherium Sculptor as a way to reduce the cost of its artifacts.
From Beyond is a redux of Awakening Zone. For one additional mana, it makes 1/1 Eldrazi Scions instead of 0/1 Eldrazi Spawn, which makes it more threatening. Additionally, once a critical mass of Scions have been acquired, it can trade itself in to tutor for an Eldrazi. While four mana is a touch slow, a deck like Urztron might consider it as a way to both gum up the ground and tutor for its Eldrazi win conditions.
Brutal Expulsion is one of the most exciting cards with devoid. It offers Command-like flexibility, with two abilities that provide two modes. The first ability allows you to bounce either a creature or a spell, akin to Venser, Shaper Savant, while the second provides a Magma Spray that can also target planeswalkers, providing the first planeswalker-targeting burn spell that can also exile them, which is especially-relevant for the Origins Planeswalkers that have an easily-recurred creature side.


Zendikar fights back with some tools of its own.
Akoum Firebird provides a hasty, evasive beater that recurs with landfall. The recursion cost is rather high, but it can definitely complement or replace Ashcloud Phoenix, who bears similar mana requirements.
Greenwarden of Murasa is an automatic Commander staple. While its body is not fantastic for the mana cost, Eternal Witness's enter the battlefield trigger is one of the very strongest available in the format, and Greenwarden provides that along with an optional second trigger on death, at the cost of exiling. The fact that the death trigger is optional means that it is purely icing. When you have an engine set up to recur the Greenwarden, you can pass on it, making it exactly as abusable as Witness, but when you really need that second Regrowth, it's available to use.
Tajuru Warcaller is one of the more interesting Allies with rally to be revealed. As an Elf with an Overrun effect, he has obvious implications in Elf decks, particularly in Standard, where there are few other options.
Undergrowth Champion is another interesting mythic rare with landfall. It combines Vinelasher Kudzu's landfall growth with the Phantom ability, which can make it extremely difficult for decks with only damage-based removal to deal with them. While it is certainly not strong enough to make a splash in Modern, it has definite potential in Standard decks.
Planar Outburst is one of the more powerful cards with awaken yet revealed. It fits the standard niche of five-mana Wrath of God effect, and later in the game, it provides a win condition as well. Again, while it is too slow for Modern, it provides a powerful tool for Standard control decks to utilize.


Those are the highlights of the spoilers from the first week. Join us in the Rumor Mill every day as we compile the spoilers from around the web, and visit the Name and Number Crunch to see what's left to be revealed.