When I saw Oblivion Sower, I was immediately struck by its ability. Normally, I would expect it to put into play only the lands it exiles, but it turns out it can play all of the opponent's exiled lands. This makes me think it could be a theme for the Eldrazi, especially since playing with the exile zone is a mostly unexplored design space that isn't associated with any colour, and is definitely strange enough to fit with these equally strange colourless creatures.
For those who follow Maro, you know he doesn't like cards that come back from exile since it kinda turns the exile zone into a second graveyard (like in Yu-Gi-Oh...) But he is the lead designer of BFZ and still green lighted Oblivion Sower. Maybe the Eldrazi only care about the opponents' exiled cards (like this guy), in which case your card being exiled only helps your opponent, not you. Just a theory.
So do you think there is more to it? Or am I just looking too deep into a simple Delve hoser?
I think if that ability was going to be a theme they would be ability worded it. Much like Inspired or Heroic. Though if there is a much smaller number of Eldrazi I could see them not bothering if the ability only exists on less than 5 cards or so.
I think it possible that only a few eldrazi actually mess with exiled cards, but that a decent number exile. Or this card has no other eldrazi support, and is simply a way to punish delve as well as support a ramp strategy. A somewhat defensive creature that stabilizes and ramps into even bigger eldrazi could easily just be a stand-alone card
Maybe the more common Eldrazi will let you play only one of your opponent's lands from exile, and this letting you play any number of them is the mythic version that synergizes with the compound effect of the smaller spawn that lead up to it. It would make sense for Eldrazi cards to have a natural mana-ramp effect to support battle-ship style play, and the flavor of consuming your opponent's resources is perfect, not to mention mechanical synergy with landfall.
I guess the Eldrazi thing on this card is the "When you cast" part of it, not the "put things from exile on the battlefield under your control".
As you said, MaRo himself dislike messing with the exile zone, to have a major theme in a set where he is the lead design (or any set at all) seems unlikely.
That said, it does suit the alien and invasive nature of the Eldrazi very well. I could see MaRo relenting to some use of that design space with the caveat that it only appear as part of Eldrazi-flavored effects and only in limited ways that aren't too open-ended for shenanigans. The mechanic we see on Oblivion Sower fits into that framework, and the wording and scope of the effect, especially on a mythic preview card, lend themselves to being indicative of larger trends within the block rather than just a single, splashy design. Because honestly, without more effects like this to build on, the card is very underwhelming as a beefy vanilla body with some random upside.
It certainly gives the impression that the Eldrazi's theme this time around is to consume things and make them their own. I wonder if we might see other Eldrazi exile cards from other zones, like the hand or the battlefield?
Maybe something like:
Kozilek, Devourer of Thought 12
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
When you cast Kozilek, Devourer of Thought, exile all cards from target opponent's hand.
You may play cards exiled with Kozilek, and you may spend mana to cast spells this way as though it were mana of any color.
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
For what it's worth, I don't think we will see a lot of cards being played from exile, but we could see the Eldrazi cards doing a lot of exiling (to show that nothing remains after their wake) and that some will have abilities based on exiled cards like Warden of the Beyond or Oblivion Sower (to show that they become stronger as they consume the world).
This will most likely not be the only eldrazi that deals with exile. On its own Sower has a very lackluster ability, there must be other pieces of the puzzle yet revealed to justify it at mythic rare.
If you read carefully, Maro's complaints about exile are more about you reusing something you threw away / used up. That is quite different from this ability, which interacts with an opponent's cards in exile. Getting their stuff in exile is a task for you to do and relies on a fair bit of unknown information. Creating a "second graveyard" for yourself is quite different to whittling away your opponent's resources then using them against that opponent.
I find this quite funky design space, and it adds to the Eldrazi feeling alien. I also like that you don't know know what might happen, but if it's a big effect then it's HUGE!
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Another thing that is interesting is these Eldrazi are not getting shuffled back into the library like the old mythics. I wonder if this represents them actually being killable in the storyline? Maybe,Giddy Giddeon figured out how to kill one for good.
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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 really really like this idea for interacting with Exile. I hope this is a big thing for 'Neo-drazi'. It does avoid the 'second graveyard' problem and really works on flavor-basis with Eldrazi. Makes them incredibly unique and not nearly so OP as last time.
Seriously--BRAVO?
Assuming they do flesh this out significantly, seems to me white is the biggest beneficiary over the entire cardpool of MtG--it has the most exile effects, right? Imagine a White/Neo-drazi deck with a bunch of O Ring type cards--it could get out of hand quickly.
One other kinda-big thing: Cards like this also give people a new tool to combat annoying-assFlicker decks in Commander format.
Another thing that is interesting is these Eldrazi are not getting shuffled back into the library like the old mythics. I wonder if this represents them actually being killable in the storyline? Maybe,Giddy Giddeon figured out how to kill one for good.
That was the legendary Eldrazi though. All the others were still able to be killed and even the recent Uncharted Realms featuring Gideon on Zendikar and had some Eldrazi dying.
Since Oblivion Sower isn't legendary, we can't assume that some can't get shuffled back in.
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I personally would like them to make the exile zone much more prominent resource, much like the hand and graveyard have been. I've been waiting for cards that benefit from those in exile and allow you to bypass exile à la Misthollow Griffin, so we may finally get a way to do just that. Even if it's a sub-theme that would be fine too. There are a lot of interesting cards that requiring exiling for an effect, so this will make them more tolerable to use, and may render them somewhat playable.
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I think this "alien" flavored interacting with exile is already on point for Eldrazi flavor simply because of spawnsire of ulamog. I don't remember if the exile zone was introduced as "exile" during Zendikar or if it was still "removed from the game" and introduced after. Either way, spawnsire of ulamog appears to be similarly mechanically with exile zone interaction. The flavor is just a hair different in the point that spawnsire summons / releases the Eldrazi from their prisons, whereas Oblivion Sower appears to be consuming or corrupting your opponent's lands.
I also find it interesting that Ulamog is the titan left roaming Zendikar and the one featured in all the promo art. Maybe interacting with exile is one of Ulamog's lineage abilities / flavor, and they are planning on distinguishing different eldrazi lineages by mechanic.
I remember comments from the time saying that Spawnsire felt very mythic as well, and it was only the titans themselves that prevented it from being so in that environment.
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Tap, Exile #: Search library for land card that ... .
That actually seems like a pretty elegant concept - it allows for smoother and more diverse manabases (which WOTC seems to like) but doesn't have the raw power of the regular fetches via filling the GY. And if the eldrazi pull things out of opponents exile, it will have a sometimes-relevant downside that could lead to a fascinating standard format.
I'm kind of rooting for this.
All of the rules allow for your general to be moved to the command zone when he gets put into a place that would be tough to get him back from, GY, Exile, etc. I am sure one day the rules will change and include tuck effects.
I was also thinking this could be a theme. I'm guessing we won't be seeing a ton of cards that pull things out of exile, but there could be a mini-cycle. Maybe one that pulls out creature(s) and one that pulls out artifacts/enchantments. There could also be just a lot of cards that exile, maybe a keyword that involves exiling permanents.
If there were a few eldrazi that did the exile thing, it seems to me like the mythic would do something more exciting than lands. Sure there will probably be more exile cards and maybe even exile mill like maybe a new glimpse the unthinkable, but the eldrazi effect is most likely cast triggers. The whole stealing opponent's lands from exile is relatively safe compared to letting people steal other stuff. Often land from opponent's will just end up being effectively a bunch of colorless producing mana sources. That's not really dangerous most of the time and isn't usually any better than boundless realms. Cast triggers are pretty fun though and encourage people to actually cast the monstrosities. It's also not ripe for commander abuse, it gets around counterspells being the ideal answer, and it's certainly a possibility for giving colorless some more stuff since who cares by the time you're casting a 6+ mana dude? Maybe we'll even see a counterspell eldrazi, a tutor one, and who knows what else. I would be disappointed if we don't get at least a couple massive beatsticks and maybe even a 20/20 actual creature for once. I really doubt there's anything they're likely to print that would break it.
If there were a few eldrazi that did the exile thing, it seems to me like the mythic would do something more exciting than lands. Sure there will probably be more exile cards and maybe even exile mill like maybe a new glimpse the unthinkable, but the eldrazi effect is most likely cast triggers. The whole stealing opponent's lands from exile is relatively safe compared to letting people steal other stuff. Often land from opponent's will just end up being effectively a bunch of colorless producing mana sources. That's not really dangerous most of the time and isn't usually any better than boundless realms. Cast triggers are pretty fun though and encourage people to actually cast the monstrosities. It's also not ripe for commander abuse, it gets around counterspells being the ideal answer, and it's certainly a possibility for giving colorless some more stuff since who cares by the time you're casting a 6+ mana dude? Maybe we'll even see a counterspell eldrazi, a tutor one, and who knows what else. I would be disappointed if we don't get at least a couple massive beatsticks and maybe even a 20/20 actual creature for once. I really doubt there's anything they're likely to print that would break it. anymore than blightsteel who hasn't actually been good compared to other stuff you can combo with.
My guess is that, in lieu of Annihilator, the destruction of the Eldrazi will be mechanically represented by exiling things. I don't anticipate returning things from exile to be a widespread mechanic but it makes sense as a Mythic capstone to an exiling subtheme.
I highly doubt the exiling will get past simply getting back exiling lands for the most part (helping with ramp and such). There might be more exiling, but outright stealing exiled cards is something that's dangerous to do. Oblivion Sower itself is something I never thought would get past R&D, so can't say I really can say for sure. I don't think we want a repeat of yugioh, where exiling/banishing became nothing but a second graveyard.
Wow, unless Ingest scales (like, a card can have ingest X, which it doesn't look like is the case based on the revealed card) that is going to be a horrible, parasitic keyword that will never have any use outside of this set or on a card where they keyword is meaningless (for example, a card with ingest that lets you cast cards you exile from your opponent's deck - the exact same card could exist with the ability written out).
No bueno for a keyword IMO, but hopefully I'm proven wrong.
For those who follow Maro, you know he doesn't like cards that come back from exile since it kinda turns the exile zone into a second graveyard (like in Yu-Gi-Oh...) But he is the lead designer of BFZ and still green lighted Oblivion Sower. Maybe the Eldrazi only care about the opponents' exiled cards (like this guy), in which case your card being exiled only helps your opponent, not you. Just a theory.
So do you think there is more to it? Or am I just looking too deep into a simple Delve hoser?
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
As you said, MaRo himself dislike messing with the exile zone, to have a major theme in a set where he is the lead design (or any set at all) seems unlikely.
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R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
Maybe something like:
Kozilek, Devourer of Thought 12
Legendary Creature - Eldrazi
When you cast Kozilek, Devourer of Thought, exile all cards from target opponent's hand.
You may play cards exiled with Kozilek, and you may spend mana to cast spells this way as though it were mana of any color.
10/10
Also, Maro seems to have a lot to say about it, which makes me think it's not just about a single card:
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/125391051863/what-are-your-thoughts-on-oblivion-sower-being
I find this quite funky design space, and it adds to the Eldrazi feeling alien. I also like that you don't know know what might happen, but if it's a big effect then it's HUGE!
Custom Card / Set Reviewer
When reviewing custom cards / sets, I look for (a) flavour, (b) function, and (c) cohesiveness, generally through a risk focus.
RIP Batman guy. I hope somebody picks up the slack now that you are gone. Sick children need their Batman.
Seriously--BRAVO?
Assuming they do flesh this out significantly, seems to me white is the biggest beneficiary over the entire cardpool of MtG--it has the most exile effects, right? Imagine a White/Neo-drazi deck with a bunch of O Ring type cards--it could get out of hand quickly.
One other kinda-big thing: Cards like this also give people a new tool to combat annoying-ass Flicker decks in Commander format.
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That was the legendary Eldrazi though. All the others were still able to be killed and even the recent Uncharted Realms featuring Gideon on Zendikar and had some Eldrazi dying.
Since Oblivion Sower isn't legendary, we can't assume that some can't get shuffled back in.
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EDH Decks: Sliver Overlord WUBRG | Zur the Enchanter WUB | Sek'Kuar, Deathkeeper BRG
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'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
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I also find it interesting that Ulamog is the titan left roaming Zendikar and the one featured in all the promo art. Maybe interacting with exile is one of Ulamog's lineage abilities / flavor, and they are planning on distinguishing different eldrazi lineages by mechanic.
I remember comments from the time saying that Spawnsire felt very mythic as well, and it was only the titans themselves that prevented it from being so in that environment.
Dance, and bring forth the coil! It is an umbilical to Gaea herself, fattening us with the earth's rich bounty.
Decks Played:
GBWJunk ReanimatorGBW
GBRHydraGen BombGBR
UGWMaze's EndUGW
Eternal Formats:
GCurio ElvesG
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land
Tap, Exile #: Search library for land card that ... .
That actually seems like a pretty elegant concept - it allows for smoother and more diverse manabases (which WOTC seems to like) but doesn't have the raw power of the regular fetches via filling the GY. And if the eldrazi pull things out of opponents exile, it will have a sometimes-relevant downside that could lead to a fascinating standard format.
I'm kind of rooting for this.
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No bueno for a keyword IMO, but hopefully I'm proven wrong.
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