We already know Emrakul is card 006. So there's at least 5 other colorless-mana-cost nonartifact nonland cards numbered 1 to 5. And given how early E is in the alphabet, I'd guess at least 6 or 7 more after (likely more). Oath had 12.
That is quite a few. I'm hoping Emrakul somehow stopped associating itself with the rest of the Eldrazi, and instead is aligned with new, more Lovecraftian abominations. Seeing as it's under Nahiri's control, something like that doesn't seem too unreasonable...
Echoing Ingulit, I really highly doubt Emrakul is "under Nahiri's control." Nahiri didn't do much more than roll out the red carpet and ask Emrakul really nicely to swing by Innistrad.
Just based on what we've seen so far, Emrakul is way more powerful than any modern day planeswalker.
I'm thinking there will be several Eldrazi in the set. Perhaps (as said above) Eldrazi Human and Eldrazi Wolf, that sort of thing. Look at the full artwork for Emrakul, the fight is half human and half corrupted people/creatures.
Based on the collector's number (130/205) the front side of the card is probably red, most likely crazy mutant humans. The back side of the card has no color indicator and is colorless.
Based on the collector's number (130/205) the front side of the card is probably red, most likely crazy mutant humans. The back side of the card has no color indicator and is colorless.
The new squid-shaped Back Face indicator is also interesting. The past three Innistrad sets with DFCs used Sun and Moon symbols to indicate the front and back faces respectively, and Ulrich still has them.
Since the back face is fairly strong (swinging in for 13 power of course), the front must either be expensive or have some hoops to jump through. On top of that, the fact that it has haste means it does not have an upkeep/end step transformation trigger a la Avacyn and Werewolves, which means that the ability must either flip it the turn it is played (like with Westvale Abbey) or have the card enter the battlefield transformed. I'm leaning toward the latter, due to Hanweir being a sentient location.
Of course, most of my predictions have been wrong so far, including the vague ones.
We already know Emrakul is card 006. So there's at least 5 other colorless-mana-cost nonartifact nonland cards numbered 1 to 5. And given how early E is in the alphabet, I'd guess at least 6 or 7 more after (likely more). Oath had 12.
Cosmic Horror could lose the upkeep and still be common nowdays. A 7/7 first striker for 3BBB wouldn't even be an amazing pick since first strike is near useless on a body that big.
They said nothing of horror mutations caused by an Eldrazi...
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Modern GB Rock U Flooding Merfolk RUG Delver Midrange WU Monks UW Tempo Geist GW Bogle GW Liege UR Tron B Vampires
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Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity EDH W Akroma GBW Ghave BRU Thrax GR Ruric I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
To be fair though, weren't they (R&D) doing a 3-set "Battle for Zendikar" block when the decision to make the two-set paradigm was made? So, technically EMN is "Set 3" of BFZ while SOI was "M17/Origins2". Emrakul was doomed to be on the intermittent "between paradigm" plane, regardless of what plane they did in the end, which would explain why they chose to do another "Return" block instead (they simply had no time) and honestly Innistrad as a generic horror plane is one easier to do relatively speaking.
I just don't get why they brought emrakul there. There was no need for that. We just had an eldrazi block, and everyone was glad when it finished. They could easily have made cosmic horror without eldrazi.
So yeah, I'm glad that eldrazi will not be the focus. Still disappointed that they're there at all.
Emrakul had a contract for appearing together with her fellow Eldrazis. But when BFZ block was changed from three sets to two, they had nowhere to put it. If they breached the contract, Emrakul would annihilate Wizards of the Coast and maybe even Hasbro if they wouldn't give in to her demands to produce a cute plush toy in her likeness, and so they did the next best thing and put her in the next block. Notice that they reduced her power and toughness; this is a part of their master plan to weaken her and make her less of a threat. Let's just hope that she didn't notice what they are doing...
To be fair though, weren't they (R&D) doing a 3-set "Battle for Zendikar" block when the decision to make the two-set paradigm was made? So, technically EMN is "Set 3" of BFZ while SOI was "M17/Origins2". Emrakul was doomed to be on the intermittent "between paradigm" plane, regardless of what plane they did in the end, which would explain why they chose to do another "Return" block instead (they simply had no time) and honestly Innistrad as a generic horror plane is one easier to do relatively speaking.
Well, yeah, that's exactly what I'm criticizing, that it's basically 3rd BFZ set when it shouldn't be. If they already made too much work for the emrakul set to scrap it completely, they should either have put it aside for use at a later time, or not make the switch to 2 set structure at that time, maybe have a little more planning before. It's not like they didn't have any control over when that would happen.
From New Phyrexia/Mirrodin Pure it is already established they barely have time to make their regular sets on time, let alone have the time to build hypothetical ones to be shelved at a further time.
This is going to make me sound like a "mindless WotC Supporter", but I really suspect they don't have that much control. A paradigm shift probably required a full discussion between R&D first, then between the "middle management" (which probably includes MaRo and his immediate superiors) before submitting it to their higher-ups for approval. They don't make the final decisions there and probably couldn't exactly estimate when it took for the higher-ups to approve and return the change. For all we know, they estimated BFZ to be the last "3-set block" and when they got it during BFZ R&D along with a note "Great Idea, bosses say execute now" while they were already doing "Oath of the Gatewatch 2" and "M17/Origins2", that's a lot of logistic issues involving a lot of people at work. For all we know they might have estimated that change since KTK and would have the time-travel plan scrapped and DTK be another plane completely (along with Origins) but the memo never came when R&D was doing KTK block.
It's not like they can say "Magic will be taking a break for 2 sets and will return to Kaladesh in September/October 2016", the higher-ups will make the entire R&D resign instantly.
I just don't get why they brought emrakul there. There was no need for that. We just had an eldrazi block, and everyone was glad when it finished. They could easily have made cosmic horror without eldrazi.
So yeah, I'm glad that eldrazi will not be the focus. Still disappointed that they're there at all.
I am not sure about that. Look at it in this way:
When Eldrazi were first introduced, they were advertised as eldritch, lovecraftian style horrors. In RoE, there was not enough exposition of the Titans themselves, and fighting the spawn and drones was just Phyrexian invasion repeated. So these expectations were kind of not met and we were disappointed.
In BFZ, they were reduced to plane-eating hordes (especially Ulamog and his spawn), with a precious little moments as "The Blight We Were Born For", where Kozilek demonstrated the tidbits of lovecraftian madness atmosphere. But it was the worldwide invasion over again, with all the features including great losses, snatching victory by last-ditch effort by recognizing the power of unity and companionship.
Now, in EMN, six years after introduction, and after two/three if you count SoI/ sets, they are finally making them justice. This is what the Eldrazi were meant to embody, were expected to be. What Emrakul does here is Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Abhoth and Yog-Sothoth rolled into one. They had to retcon Emrakul into warping and corrupting the living matter, but well, everything comes at price.
Moreover, there was hardly a world at hand better suited than Innistrad for easy transformation of gothic horror into cosmic horror.
I hated the idea of Emrakul being the big bad one of this block, but the execution of the theme seen so far redeemed it for me in just a couple of days.
@Yatsufusa: What I said wasn't a critique of R&D specificially or any of its members. I'm convinced they all do the best they can to make magic a game worth playing. But I don't care if the decision came from the higher ups, I am a customer, I care for the product that is presented to me, and if the decision to switch to 2 set block structure without the proper planning time, in the end it doesn't matter to me who made the decision, it matters that it was made.
I'm not deniying that it's possible that they made a wonderful set, I'm saying I think it would be better without eldrazi again. I'm fed up with eldrazi, and I'm sure there are a lot of other people who think the same.
I guess I'm a tad too empathetic for them at times, but R&D reminds me of customer services stuck between the customer and their bosses, although their case is not because of having bad bosses, but more of being part of a corporate chain so large that it's impossible to plan around the time properly. It'll be a lot easier for a lot people in the world if their bosses' interests were in line with the customers, but unfortunately this is not the case a lot of times. As customers its easy for us to say the bosses should also listen to us so that we can get what we want, but in reality they have their own views/interests and put their employees as a buffer so they don't have to outright do so and have said employees find a mix for both, which honestly isn't the easiest job to do.
Also bluntly put, they planned out 3 sets of Eldrazi to begin with, the bosses' decision to approve of the block structure change just had them shifting the 3rd set to the 4th instead (aka Eventide to the Lorwyn storyline) and they couldn't have anticipated that we'll be sick of Eldrazi after 2 sets either (I doubt they went "We did a terrible job at BFZ, let's scrap Emrakul" 2 years ago when they were done with BFZ/OGW/EMN and moved on to SOI).
To be fair though, weren't they (R&D) doing a 3-set "Battle for Zendikar" block when the decision to make the two-set paradigm was made? So, technically EMN is "Set 3" of BFZ while SOI was "M17/Origins2". Emrakul was doomed to be on the intermittent "between paradigm" plane, regardless of what plane they did in the end, which would explain why they chose to do another "Return" block instead (they simply had no time) and honestly Innistrad as a generic horror plane is one easier to do relatively speaking.
Well, yeah, that's exactly what I'm criticizing, that it's basically 3rd BFZ set when it shouldn't be. If they already made too much work for the emrakul set to scrap it completely, they should either have put it aside for use at a later time, or not make the switch to 2 set structure at that time, maybe have a little more planning before. It's not like they didn't have any control over when that would happen.
I do not agree at all. You may be annoyed by seeing Emrakul invade Innistrad, but I am not, and its a perfect fit for cosmic horror. You suggested that maybe they could have done cosmic horror with something else, but whats the point of that? Make up a different tentacled eldritch horror creature, call it "totally not Emrakul, this is something else", and its fine?
I was sad when eldrazi world ended and didn't get enough fat tentacle monsters or the greatest eldrazi. I'm disappointed they didn't give me emrakul 2 or 3 sets ago.I guess giving it a whole set is ok though. Of course it deserved the big set, not ulamog.
I do not agree at all. You may be annoyed by seeing Emrakul invade Innistrad, but I am not, and its a perfect fit for cosmic horror. You suggested that maybe they could have done cosmic horror with something else, but whats the point of that? Make up a different tentacled eldritch horror creature, call it "totally not Emrakul, this is something else", and its fine?
To be fair, Marit Lage already exists. When they made Emrakul the first time they were making up a different tentacled edritch horror creature that was totally not Marit Lage. And it was fine.
I do not agree at all. You may be annoyed by seeing Emrakul invade Innistrad, but I am not, and its a perfect fit for cosmic horror. You suggested that maybe they could have done cosmic horror with something else, but whats the point of that? Make up a different tentacled eldritch horror creature, call it "totally not Emrakul, this is something else", and its fine?
To be fair, Marit Lage already exists. When they made Emrakul the first time they were making up a different tentacled edritch horror creature that was totally not Marit Lage. And it was fine.
In this case though, they just showed Ulamog and Kozilek, so people are going to want to see the cycle completed. You can't do cosmic horror in the very next block and not have it feature Emrakul.
This sucks, I wanted Innistrad to be overrun by Eldrazi and their brood :p. But oh well, I really hope that Innistrad gets destroyed and Emrakul disappears only to reveal herself in another plane, 5 years from now. Or well, at least anything but another "power of friendship saves the day" story again.
This sucks, I wanted Innistrad to be overrun by Eldrazi and their brood :p. But oh well, I really hope that Innistrad gets destroyed and Emrakul disappears only to reveal herself in another plane, 5 years from now. Or well, at least anything but another "power of friendship saves the day" story again.
There's still going to be a few eldrazis like the ones in BFZ block just not focused (well pure breed is a better term.)
Just going to focus more on horror in this.
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Echoing Ingulit, I really highly doubt Emrakul is "under Nahiri's control." Nahiri didn't do much more than roll out the red carpet and ask Emrakul really nicely to swing by Innistrad.
Just based on what we've seen so far, Emrakul is way more powerful than any modern day planeswalker.
That not colorless though
Atleast 5 or just barely more will be similar to the ones in In BFZ and OGW
But the main subject
Yep I knew it flip eldrazi cards confirmed is a better definition.
I made a cube. It's called 'babe cube' because all the cards have babes on them. http://www.cubetutor.com/draft/58369
The new squid-shaped Back Face indicator is also interesting. The past three Innistrad sets with DFCs used Sun and Moon symbols to indicate the front and back faces respectively, and Ulrich still has them.
Since the back face is fairly strong (swinging in for 13 power of course), the front must either be expensive or have some hoops to jump through. On top of that, the fact that it has haste means it does not have an upkeep/end step transformation trigger a la Avacyn and Werewolves, which means that the ability must either flip it the turn it is played (like with Westvale Abbey) or have the card enter the battlefield transformed. I'm leaning toward the latter, due to Hanweir being a sentient location.
Of course, most of my predictions have been wrong so far, including the vague ones.
Ima gonna go with 13 of these colorless guys... yup, that sounds about right...
It is possible that most of the Eldrazi will be rare or mythic rare, so the as-fan of Eldrazi could be low.
GB Rock
U Flooding Merfolk
RUG Delver Midrange
WU Monks
UW Tempo Geist
GW Bogle
GW Liege
UR Tron
B Vampires
Affinity
Legacy
Fish
Goblins
Burn
Reanimator
Dredge
Affinity
EDH
W Akroma
GBW Ghave
BRU Thrax
GR Ruric
I advocate for the elimination of the combo archetype in Modern. I believe it is degenerate and unfun by its very nature and will always limit design space and cause unnecessary bans.
Emrakul had a contract for appearing together with her fellow Eldrazis. But when BFZ block was changed from three sets to two, they had nowhere to put it. If they breached the contract, Emrakul would annihilate Wizards of the Coast and maybe even Hasbro if they wouldn't give in to her demands to produce a cute plush toy in her likeness, and so they did the next best thing and put her in the next block. Notice that they reduced her power and toughness; this is a part of their master plan to weaken her and make her less of a threat. Let's just hope that she didn't notice what they are doing...
From New Phyrexia/Mirrodin Pure it is already established they barely have time to make their regular sets on time, let alone have the time to build hypothetical ones to be shelved at a further time.
This is going to make me sound like a "mindless WotC Supporter", but I really suspect they don't have that much control. A paradigm shift probably required a full discussion between R&D first, then between the "middle management" (which probably includes MaRo and his immediate superiors) before submitting it to their higher-ups for approval. They don't make the final decisions there and probably couldn't exactly estimate when it took for the higher-ups to approve and return the change. For all we know, they estimated BFZ to be the last "3-set block" and when they got it during BFZ R&D along with a note "Great Idea, bosses say execute now" while they were already doing "Oath of the Gatewatch 2" and "M17/Origins2", that's a lot of logistic issues involving a lot of people at work. For all we know they might have estimated that change since KTK and would have the time-travel plan scrapped and DTK be another plane completely (along with Origins) but the memo never came when R&D was doing KTK block.
It's not like they can say "Magic will be taking a break for 2 sets and will return to Kaladesh in September/October 2016", the higher-ups will make the entire R&D resign instantly.
I am not sure about that. Look at it in this way:
When Eldrazi were first introduced, they were advertised as eldritch, lovecraftian style horrors. In RoE, there was not enough exposition of the Titans themselves, and fighting the spawn and drones was just Phyrexian invasion repeated. So these expectations were kind of not met and we were disappointed.
In BFZ, they were reduced to plane-eating hordes (especially Ulamog and his spawn), with a precious little moments as "The Blight We Were Born For", where Kozilek demonstrated the tidbits of lovecraftian madness atmosphere. But it was the worldwide invasion over again, with all the features including great losses, snatching victory by last-ditch effort by recognizing the power of unity and companionship.
Now, in EMN, six years after introduction, and after two/three if you count SoI/ sets, they are finally making them justice. This is what the Eldrazi were meant to embody, were expected to be. What Emrakul does here is Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, Abhoth and Yog-Sothoth rolled into one. They had to retcon Emrakul into warping and corrupting the living matter, but well, everything comes at price.
Moreover, there was hardly a world at hand better suited than Innistrad for easy transformation of gothic horror into cosmic horror.
I hated the idea of Emrakul being the big bad one of this block, but the execution of the theme seen so far redeemed it for me in just a couple of days.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I guess I'm a tad too empathetic for them at times, but R&D reminds me of customer services stuck between the customer and their bosses, although their case is not because of having bad bosses, but more of being part of a corporate chain so large that it's impossible to plan around the time properly. It'll be a lot easier for a lot people in the world if their bosses' interests were in line with the customers, but unfortunately this is not the case a lot of times. As customers its easy for us to say the bosses should also listen to us so that we can get what we want, but in reality they have their own views/interests and put their employees as a buffer so they don't have to outright do so and have said employees find a mix for both, which honestly isn't the easiest job to do.
Also bluntly put, they planned out 3 sets of Eldrazi to begin with, the bosses' decision to approve of the block structure change just had them shifting the 3rd set to the 4th instead (aka Eventide to the Lorwyn storyline) and they couldn't have anticipated that we'll be sick of Eldrazi after 2 sets either (I doubt they went "We did a terrible job at BFZ, let's scrap Emrakul" 2 years ago when they were done with BFZ/OGW/EMN and moved on to SOI).
But we're they talking about pure breed eldrazi's?
Or both the pure breed and mutated with other creatures?
(But overall not as many as BFZ block and OGW.)
I do not agree at all. You may be annoyed by seeing Emrakul invade Innistrad, but I am not, and its a perfect fit for cosmic horror. You suggested that maybe they could have done cosmic horror with something else, but whats the point of that? Make up a different tentacled eldritch horror creature, call it "totally not Emrakul, this is something else", and its fine?
To be fair, Marit Lage already exists. When they made Emrakul the first time they were making up a different tentacled edritch horror creature that was totally not Marit Lage. And it was fine.
In this case though, they just showed Ulamog and Kozilek, so people are going to want to see the cycle completed. You can't do cosmic horror in the very next block and not have it feature Emrakul.
There's still going to be a few eldrazis like the ones in BFZ block just not focused (well pure breed is a better term.)
Just going to focus more on horror in this.