They're returning in Battle for Zendikar. What do you think wizards will change about them? Obviously they were pretty strong the first time around, but as for a second time? Here are some of my thoughts. I think that they will still be large, colorless, and powerful, even at common rarities. I think they made for interesting ideas because they were so expensive but so game changing. As for annihilator, I heard it won't return, but I imagine there will be some new ability to replace it. Additionally, I imagine the Eldrazi Titans will return, probably boasting some new, scary cards. I also believe that the lesser Eldrazi will shift from black, red, and green to all five colors just to give us some interesting new cards and new Eldrazi spawn token cards.
What do you guys think?
EDIT - New Info
So after checking out some of the new Eldrazi, I look back on some of my speculation and confirm that we had some solid ideas. I'm also going to go out on a limb here, and make some predictions for what cards I think we will see to compliment our new Eldrazi brethren.
Predictions
- A land that will add 2 mana to your mana pool or any color to your mana pool, as long as you spend it on Eldrazi spells.
- A land that will make 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion tokens.
- An enchantment that will make Scion tokens.
- A colorless sorcery that will make Scion tokens.
From the speculation i have already heard, Ulamog is the only titan still on zendikar. The other two have gone back into the blind entities. (i don't have a source for this but i have seen it pop up in a couple of storyline/speculation threads)
I would be sad to see annihilator not return, but if it is replaced by an equally as powerful keyword then i guess i would be fine with it.
I think the obvious evolution of Eldrazi is for them to still be colorless, but start having colored mana in the cost. Of course, Wizards always finds a way to go the unexpected route that satisfies expectations. It's not always as simple as "give something color identity" and boom there's a set.
Wizards is good about giving blocks a specific identity. I'm excited to see what the twist is that won't make this simply the eldrazi 2.0 set.
Don't get your hopes up for anything ground breaking. Zendikar block was the peak of modern magic power and we've been in a decline ever since. Things will be toned down significantly. I partially don't want them to revisit things like man lands because they're going to be underpowered compared to their predecessor; rather wait until the power starts to upswing again back to Zendikar levels.
I'm hoping for a legendary land cycle. It's been some time now sence the legendary rule change and if there was a set to do it in I would think it would be in this one. Presuming landfall is gonna be as big of a theme as the last cycle.
"Battle cruiser magic" is back.
Eldrazi are still tiered into colorless Titans and colored Drones; probably also token-size Spawn.
There will be a mechanical split between Eldrazi and "Zendikar Freedom Fighters" - similar to Scars of Mirrodin; this means also two to three Eldrazi mechanics that will stand out from the beginning.
Ulamog is the "Infinite Gyre" - I expect the infiniteness indestructibility be played up more. In the past the impact of the Titans was achieved through "When you cast"-triggers, but a single Doom Blade still kills the Titan effectively - even if it disappears into the library.
I expect removal resilience of some kind i. e. e. g. undying.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Ulamog is the "Infinite Gyre" - I expect the infiniteness indestructibility be played up more. In the past the impact of the Titans was achieved through "When you cast"-triggers, but a single Doom Blade still kills the Titan effectively
What? Did you miss battle for Zendikar or are you just here to troll?
I would also like to see that link that said Emrakul and Ulamog left Zendikar.
There is no confirmation yet, but during an article a while back it was stated that Emrakul and Kozilek have not been seen on Zendikar lately and the promotional artwork for BFZ only shows eldrazi of the Ulamog brood. Thus it is not at all unreasonable to think that Emrakul and Kozilek have indeed left Zendikar and BFZ will only feature Ulamog.
An interesting thought you come up with: what happens with eldrazi spawn tokens? Will they be there again or is there a new way to ramp into big spells?
When I saw Virulent Plague in the DTK spoiler I thought it was a plant as a sideboard card against eldrazi tokens in standard once BFZ is out, but honestly a card that hoses an entire strategy for just 3 mana seems a bit overkill, so I'm not too sure, honestly.
I also do not expect annihhilator to return. I vaguely remember Maro saying once that he considers the mechanic unfun.
I could see Ulamog being just reprinted (while the other two titans are reprinted in MM2015ed), and us still getting spawn tokens the same, but other aspects of the Eldrazi would be different, with only Ulamog having Annihilator, but they'll have a new mechanic for the Eldrazi revolving around sacrificing your own stuff for benefits, as part of a theme involving Eldrazi worshipping mad cultists, and some other mechanic where both players sacrifice stuff when a lesser Eldrazi enters the battlefield, perhaps opponents having to sacrifice stuff that shares a type with what you sacrificed, so if you sacrifice a land, they have to do so as well, if you sacrifice an enchantment, they have to do so as well, etc.
Ulamog is the "Infinite Gyre" - I expect the infiniteness indestructibility be played up more. In the past the impact of the Titans was achieved through "When you cast"-triggers, but a single Doom Blade still kills the Titan effectively
Correct - my point is that the designers could expand being hard to remove to multiple Eldrazi rather than just this one. This might be especially valid if the ZFF face only Ulamog's brood and if the characteristic of resilience is a trait shared among the brood of "the Infinite Gyre".
Though obviously part of their solution is to make removal specific in such a way that it does not work against Eldrazi (Ultimate Price, Defeat, Reach of Shadows, many damage based examples).
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
WotC had 3 places to put popular, fun, Zendikar/Eldrazi stuff to satisfy the audience. In Magic Origins, I believe we will see vampires, kor, elves, and goblins. In MM15, I believe we will see landfall and annhilator. In BFZ, we will get a replacement for annhilator and some allies.
I think landfall will be in BFZ it was an extremely popular mechanic, was one of the main things to make Zendikar the "land set", has plenty more design space, and is easily balanced (unlike say, affinity, which didn't come back because it was broken the first time). An obvious example of where to expand landfall is to care about specific lands (plainsfall, mountainfall, etc.). It would certainly be a better expansion than megamorph.
Prediction (baseless of course): Annihilator is gone, to be replaced with a similar mechanic that bounces that many permanents instead of sacrificing them. So like:
Claw of Emrakul
10
Creature - Eldrazi
Enervate 5 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player returns five permanents to their owners' hands.)
9/7
This feels suitably alien to me, and at the same time is similar to Annihilator, and serves the purpose of being a weaker mechanic. The Enervate number could be slightly higher than comparable Annihilation cards.
Prediction (baseless of course): Annihilator is gone, to be replaced with a similar mechanic that bounces that many permanents instead of sacrificing them. So like:
Claw of Emrakul
10
Creature - Eldrazi
Enervate 5 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player returns five permanents to their owners' hands.)
9/7
This feels suitably alien to me, and at the same time is similar to Annihilator, and serves the purpose of being a weaker mechanic. The Enervate number could be slightly higher than comparable Annihilation cards.
I really hope that isn't what they do. It isn't very Eldrazi of them. The venture to a Plane and devour it's mana, it's essence. Bouncing permanents back to an owner's hand is not an act of devouring. I could see a mythical being doing something similar because it has in it's nature a return to how things were kinda feel. A reset being. If it didn't hit lands, then I would see it as a green creature. But that is beside the point. I personally couldn't see the flavor of Eldrazi bouncing things back to a player's hand.
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RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
I think they're going to replace Annihilator with something a little more "fun", but hopefully they don't just do a weaker version of it. There's a way to make a mechanic that's less awful to play against while still retaining that sense of foreboding and power that Annihilator conveyes.
I think they're going to replace Annihilator with something a little more "fun", but hopefully they don't just do a weaker version of it. There's a way to make a mechanic that's less awful to play against while still retaining that sense of foreboding and power that Annihilator conveyes.
Honestly, Annihilator would have been a lot better designed if it was a combat damage trigger instead of an attack trigger. Chump blocks would have at least been possible then.
I agree, although I have to commend them for risking a potentially unfun mechanic for the sake of establishing a real-world sense of dread and foreboding with the Eldrazi. To be fair, playing against Annihilator definitely made me feel overwhelmed and a little hopeless, much like the Eldrazi were supposed to. I think they were more successful in striking a balance between emotional response and fun gameplay with infect, though.
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What do you guys think?
EDIT - New Info
So after checking out some of the new Eldrazi, I look back on some of my speculation and confirm that we had some solid ideas. I'm also going to go out on a limb here, and make some predictions for what cards I think we will see to compliment our new Eldrazi brethren.
Predictions
- A land that will add 2 mana to your mana pool or any color to your mana pool, as long as you spend it on Eldrazi spells.
- A land that will make 1/1 colorless Eldrazi Scion tokens.
- An enchantment that will make Scion tokens.
- A colorless sorcery that will make Scion tokens.
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Innistrad - The Darkest Night
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Commander: Allies & Adversaries
I would be sad to see annihilator not return, but if it is replaced by an equally as powerful keyword then i guess i would be fine with it.
Wizards is good about giving blocks a specific identity. I'm excited to see what the twist is that won't make this simply the eldrazi 2.0 set.
Annihilator is gone.
"Battle cruiser magic" is back.
Eldrazi are still tiered into colorless Titans and colored Drones; probably also token-size Spawn.
There will be a mechanical split between Eldrazi and "Zendikar Freedom Fighters" - similar to Scars of Mirrodin; this means also two to three Eldrazi mechanics that will stand out from the beginning.
Ulamog is the "Infinite Gyre" - I expect the infiniteness indestructibility be played up more. In the past the impact of the Titans was achieved through "When you cast"-triggers, but a single Doom Blade still kills the Titan effectively - even if it disappears into the library.
I expect removal resilience of some kind i. e. e. g. undying.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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Ulamog is indestructible...
What? Did you miss battle for Zendikar or are you just here to troll?
I would also like to see that link that said Emrakul and Ulamog left Zendikar.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
There is no confirmation yet, but during an article a while back it was stated that Emrakul and Kozilek have not been seen on Zendikar lately and the promotional artwork for BFZ only shows eldrazi of the Ulamog brood. Thus it is not at all unreasonable to think that Emrakul and Kozilek have indeed left Zendikar and BFZ will only feature Ulamog.
When I saw Virulent Plague in the DTK spoiler I thought it was a plant as a sideboard card against eldrazi tokens in standard once BFZ is out, but honestly a card that hoses an entire strategy for just 3 mana seems a bit overkill, so I'm not too sure, honestly.
I also do not expect annihhilator to return. I vaguely remember Maro saying once that he considers the mechanic unfun.
"At least one of the three Eldrazi titans remains on Zendikar"
Also http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/checking-planeswalkers-2014-06-16
"The Eldrazi titans have made few appearances on Zendikar lately, and may actually have moved off into the Blind Eternities."
Correct - my point is that the designers could expand being hard to remove to multiple Eldrazi rather than just this one. This might be especially valid if the ZFF face only Ulamog's brood and if the characteristic of resilience is a trait shared among the brood of "the Infinite Gyre".
Though obviously part of their solution is to make removal specific in such a way that it does not work against Eldrazi (Ultimate Price, Defeat, Reach of Shadows, many damage based examples).
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
(He was doing Blogatog-Jeopardy yesterday, hence the answer-question juxtapositioning)
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Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
Claw of Emrakul
10
Creature - Eldrazi
Enervate 5 (Whenever this creature attacks, defending player returns five permanents to their owners' hands.)
9/7
This feels suitably alien to me, and at the same time is similar to Annihilator, and serves the purpose of being a weaker mechanic. The Enervate number could be slightly higher than comparable Annihilation cards.
I really hope that isn't what they do. It isn't very Eldrazi of them. The venture to a Plane and devour it's mana, it's essence. Bouncing permanents back to an owner's hand is not an act of devouring. I could see a mythical being doing something similar because it has in it's nature a return to how things were kinda feel. A reset being. If it didn't hit lands, then I would see it as a green creature. But that is beside the point. I personally couldn't see the flavor of Eldrazi bouncing things back to a player's hand.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
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Honestly, Annihilator would have been a lot better designed if it was a combat damage trigger instead of an attack trigger. Chump blocks would have at least been possible then.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Banding and/or Phasing. Both are 10 on the storm scale (Annihilator is 8).
Feels epic when you use it against your opponents, sucks epicly when used against you. Annihilator sucks mightily. It is a bad mechanic.
---
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Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
I agree, although I have to commend them for risking a potentially unfun mechanic for the sake of establishing a real-world sense of dread and foreboding with the Eldrazi. To be fair, playing against Annihilator definitely made me feel overwhelmed and a little hopeless, much like the Eldrazi were supposed to. I think they were more successful in striking a balance between emotional response and fun gameplay with infect, though.