Unsubstantiate can be used on your own spells or creatures. In this set, as well as in last block, we have several impressive cast triggers (which was not the case during Remand's time in Standard). While returning your creature could already be done at instant speed with Just the Wind, returning the spell is new. Let's say I've played Thought-Knot Seer, so I know my opponent has Anguished Unmaking that they're saving for my Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger which I just grabbed with From Beyond. Then I can cast Ulamog, exile two permanents, and return him to my hand without him ever being in a place where Anguished Unmaking can touch him.
I'm not saying this is even close to the best use for Unsubstantiate, since often you could bounce your opponent's spell to achieve similar effects. I'm just saying that this let's you do something weird: replaying your cards without them touching the battlefield. And yes, Remand does a better job, but it isn't in Standard. It's probably nothing huge, but it's a strange enough to at least notice.
Replenish for lands seems very potent. Enchantments do have mana costs, therefore you can't use this to circumvent mana payments, so the most broken part of reanimation isn't here. As a ramp spell though, this could easily trump Explosive Vegetation with minimal preparation and could outclass Boundless Realms in a more focused deck.
It's kinda like the Bone Splinters version of Banishing Light, though unable to lock away planeswalkers. But instead of cost reduction for sac'ing something, you ensure the permanency of the removal, which makes this card probably worse than Banishing Light for the 3rd-5th turn (unless you played something early that you WANT to sac), but is probably better than it on any later turns.
A common that is arguably better than a very useful uncommon staple = Good times.
Tireless Tracker is very similar in function to Seer's Sundial, but at a lower cost with a more flexible payment schedule, in addition to being a 3+ point presence on the board. But if your opponent is more likely to play Shock instead of Smelt, which they probably are, this is more vulnerable.
It requires an answer quickly or will pull you ahead in the long game in both card advantage and battlefield presence, which is a lot to say for a 3-mana creature. That's the mana cost where you don't mind drawing out removal too much, and if you play it post turn 3 with a land in hand, the removal needs to be instant speed to keep you from at least cantripping (when you get around to sacrificing the Clue).
I don't get why this is an enchantment rather than a red artifact, based on the name and the art. It's not like artifacts have to be colorless anymore.
I agree. Other than the card type, I hope this heralds the return of red rituals (Dragonrage isn't very versatile in that you have to use the mana at a time other than a main phase). It vaguely reminds me of Basalt Monolith, but as a one-shot instead of being able to "recharge" it. It's probably most like Generator Servant, but less easily removed. It also allows fast mana in a way that doesn't increase the Storm count, or play with become busted with Pyromancer Ascension or similar copying effects, which makes it a little safer to print than previous rituals.
You say "Gimme five creatures" Ormendahl? Betcha want some happy little lamb that just wants to munch some grass, don'tcha? Well, sorry buddy, we're doing this the hard moral way: Elemental Uprising + Runed Stalactite + Moonmist
Odric, Lunarch Marshal makes any deck act like a Sliver deck (the M14 Sliver style anyway). It encourages a certain type of deck, but lets you take it many different directions.
In CMDR, he seems more versatile as part of the 99 than as the leader.
what gets me about heartless summoning is that the benefit is amplified by playing more creatures, while the detriment is amplified by playing more creatures. and then there's the whole consistency thing (semblance anvil is not nearly as appealing as HS).
I'm sure it has a place, but it isn't readily apparent to me. Heaven forbid that there's a good card that its uses aren't obvious.
I have to say that when Spawnsire was spoiled, my irrational affinity for the Eldrazi (which has something to do with feeling they are similar to me in nature, as bizarre as that sounds) was kicked up to 11 (on a 10-point scale). I immediately set to creating an only colorless Eldrazi deck, and I decided on the format of Legacy, though the mana base wouldn't be too hindered by switching to Extended.
This is by no means a sure thing. I am not a very skilled deckbuilder. However, I do think this at least demonstrates some of the raw power that the Eldrazi may possess.
This deck reliably gets to 30 mana by about turn 8, so you can cast and activate the spawnsire in the same turn, minimizing the chance of your opponent answering it.
Once you do activate Spawnsire, if your opponent will lose all colored permanents and 14 colorless ones, in addition to losing 37 life as they will not likely have any blockers at that point.
It usually sweeps the board on the 5th or 6th turn, which is really its only means of defense.
Any aggressive strategy that seeks to win the game in the first four turns may as well be goldfishing against this deck, as it will do nothing to stop them.
I realize that this is unacceptable for competitive Legacy, but as it is the closest format to Casual I could see a deck like this being used to teach players, as in: If you can't beat this deck with yours, you shouldn't even try it out at a Legacy tournament.
I cannot shirk the notion that Spawnsire will rise to prominence someday even within the Eternal Formats, as it breaks several rules: letting you play cards outside your deck, letting you play cards without their mana cost, "floating" half of your colorless mana, and possibly more. I understand that these are not entirely new concepts, but this is the first time they've all been on one card.
Musings, Refinements anyone? But please, do not reiterate a statement I have already made as a retraction to this project. I am aware of where it stands in Constructed viability, so there's no need to "kick the dog while it is down."
I wouldn't have expected kicker to be without multicolor. But I believe there is a wealth of space to be explored with it. We've seen variable costs even without kicker in the form of traps. Perhaps a theme of Zendikar's is adaptable spells that you can usually wring more power out of for more mana.
Also, the presence of a few cards from the past (Invasion & Time Spiral) that are mono-color with kicker adds to the argument that kicker without multicolor could be what Mark censored. He said the concept had lived on some cards but was not yet a theme, and a gander at these previous iterations would not suggest a strong theme.
Can anyone make out the card number for each of these? It's pretty blurry. I think that Jenara is 126, but I'm not sure.
How do these mythic rares fit into the numbering scheme as well?
Btw, both made my jaw drop.
Also, for Jenara:
T1: Forest, Noble Hierarch.
T2: Either Island or Plains, Jenara.
T3: Another land (at least one Plains by this point), 2 counters on Jenara, attack for 6.
T4: Rafiq of the Many, attack for 14. Good game.
I think these 15 will follow the following pattern:
1.) Never banned in its Block format.
2.) Once banned in Standard, Extended, Legacy, or Vintage but not presently.
3.) Currently unrestricted in Vintage.
I've seen several guesses that do not meet these criteria. Would anyone contest a card would not meet all three of these?
It seems that many people are taking these 5 as a sign that they'll be only what the set has to offer. We'll get less than 1/5 of the set's rares in these (with perhaps a mythic or two thrown in). This number will increase with uncommons and rares, but it won't get near 100%. These decks can be focused two-color allied with many new spells and have plenty of room for two-colored enemy, all 10 three colors, and plenty of 4 or 5 at uncommon/rare/mythic in Alara Reborn proper.
I think the five intros here were chosen because, being an amalgam of at least two shards, they can go in many existing decks if you aren't buying it just for itself (which I think would increase with the 3rd set of a block). The move, in my mind, is not to sell Alara Reborn but instead just sell themselves.
But speaking of, I'm fairly curious about the following dilemma. Any two color pair in the first two sets could at most come from 1 to 3 shards (for instance, W/B could only come from Bant, Esper, and Grixis [though not Bant+Grixis] in Conflux and ONLY Esper in SoA). But take the following card:
This could have: 1.) Primary Jund with Bant Influence.
2.) Primary Jund with Esper Influence.
3.) Primary Jund with Naya Influence.
4.) Primary Bant with Jund Influence.
5.) Primary Bant with Grixis Influence.
6.) Primary Bant with Naya Influence.
7.) Just Naya.
8.) Naya with Jund Influence.
9.) Naya with Grixis Influence.
10.) Naya with Bant Influence.
11.) Naya with Esper Influence.
Ad Nauseam.
The point is, that with all of the shards converging, any color combo could be concepted in a multitude of ways. I'm not saying this would stop them, but I think WotC'd come up with a consistent strategy so that shards don't get over-represented, and hopefully that system would be intuitive and not arbitrary.
Proper two colour allied themed decks for the first time in god knows how long makes me incredibly happy. Now just make the next block themed around monocolour and I might actually start playing magic as much as I was during TPF again.
I assure you that I'm not god, but I do know how long it's been: One Year.
Shadowmoor was released at about the same time as Alara Reborn last year, with 5 allied-color precons.
Regardless of what they particularly pick out, it needs to follow these criteria:
1.) Needs to contain a swath of cards they'd like to see available but would not reprint in any given set nearly all these cards at once, or would not want them being Standard-legal though Legacy-legal is fine.
2.) Needs to not be a very linear theme (one would not play all 15 FtV: Dragons in the same deck most likely).
3.) Needs to have multiple types of cards to attract different possible buyers.
They haven't done it this way in the past few blocks and the only time that I know that they did it before was with the Odyssey block.
They also did it in Ravnica block, since the guilds came out in uneven ways. For instance, there were less red cards in Guildpact because there were two guilds that had red in them (Izzet and Gruul). Though I believe they became equal in distribution when the block is viewed as a whole.
Unsubstantiate can be used on your own spells or creatures. In this set, as well as in last block, we have several impressive cast triggers (which was not the case during Remand's time in Standard). While returning your creature could already be done at instant speed with Just the Wind, returning the spell is new. Let's say I've played Thought-Knot Seer, so I know my opponent has Anguished Unmaking that they're saving for my Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger which I just grabbed with From Beyond. Then I can cast Ulamog, exile two permanents, and return him to my hand without him ever being in a place where Anguished Unmaking can touch him.
I'm not saying this is even close to the best use for Unsubstantiate, since often you could bounce your opponent's spell to achieve similar effects. I'm just saying that this let's you do something weird: replaying your cards without them touching the battlefield. And yes, Remand does a better job, but it isn't in Standard. It's probably nothing huge, but it's a strange enough to at least notice.
A common that is arguably better than a very useful uncommon staple = Good times.
It requires an answer quickly or will pull you ahead in the long game in both card advantage and battlefield presence, which is a lot to say for a 3-mana creature. That's the mana cost where you don't mind drawing out removal too much, and if you play it post turn 3 with a land in hand, the removal needs to be instant speed to keep you from at least cantripping (when you get around to sacrificing the Clue).
Good to see Landfall continues for the fifth straight set: Zendikar's Roil, Retreat to Kazandu, Seer's Sundial (reprinted in CMDR15), Embodiment of Insight, and now Tireless Tracker. I hope that other good ability words are treated this way in the future.
I agree. Other than the card type, I hope this heralds the return of red rituals (Dragonrage isn't very versatile in that you have to use the mana at a time other than a main phase). It vaguely reminds me of Basalt Monolith, but as a one-shot instead of being able to "recharge" it. It's probably most like Generator Servant, but less easily removed. It also allows fast mana in a way that doesn't increase the Storm count, or
play withbecome busted with Pyromancer Ascension or similar copying effects, which makes it a little safer to print than previous rituals.hardmoral way: Elemental Uprising + Runed Stalactite + MoonmistIn CMDR, he seems more versatile as part of the 99 than as the leader.
It's so great to get another in the tradition of Escaped Shapeshifter, Cairn Wanderer, and Soulflayer.
I'm sure it has a place, but it isn't readily apparent to me. Heaven forbid that there's a good card that its uses aren't obvious.
Behold the Awakened Titans:
1 eye of ugin
3 ancient tomb
4 eldrazi temple*
4 vesuva
4 urza's mine
4 urza's power plant
4 urza's tower
4 cloudpost
9 creatures
2 walking atlas
3 composite golem
4 spawnsire of ulamog*
4 expedition map
4 doubling cube
4 font of mythos
4 nevinyrral's disk
2 thran dynamo
2 planar portal
3 all is dust*
4 sphere of resistance
4 not of this world*
3 Null Brooch
1 all is dust*
1 emrakul, the aeons torn*
1 ulamog, the infinite gyre*
1 kozilek, butcher of truth*
This is by no means a sure thing. I am not a very skilled deckbuilder. However, I do think this at least demonstrates some of the raw power that the Eldrazi may possess.
- This deck reliably gets to 30 mana by about turn 8, so you can cast and activate the spawnsire in the same turn, minimizing the chance of your opponent answering it.
- Once you do activate Spawnsire, if your opponent will lose all colored permanents and 14 colorless ones, in addition to losing 37 life as they will not likely have any blockers at that point.
- It usually sweeps the board on the 5th or 6th turn, which is really its only means of defense.
- Anything like Counterspell, Path to Exile or Thoughtseize destroys this deck utterly.
- Any aggressive strategy that seeks to win the game in the first four turns may as well be goldfishing against this deck, as it will do nothing to stop them.
I realize that this is unacceptable for competitive Legacy, but as it is the closest format to Casual I could see a deck like this being used to teach players, as in: If you can't beat this deck with yours, you shouldn't even try it out at a Legacy tournament.I cannot shirk the notion that Spawnsire will rise to prominence someday even within the Eternal Formats, as it breaks several rules: letting you play cards outside your deck, letting you play cards without their mana cost, "floating" half of your colorless mana, and possibly more. I understand that these are not entirely new concepts, but this is the first time they've all been on one card.
Musings, Refinements anyone? But please, do not reiterate a statement I have already made as a retraction to this project. I am aware of where it stands in Constructed viability, so there's no need to "kick the dog while it is down."
I wouldn't have expected kicker to be without multicolor. But I believe there is a wealth of space to be explored with it. We've seen variable costs even without kicker in the form of traps. Perhaps a theme of Zendikar's is adaptable spells that you can usually wring more power out of for more mana.
Also, the presence of a few cards from the past (Invasion & Time Spiral) that are mono-color with kicker adds to the argument that kicker without multicolor could be what Mark censored. He said the concept had lived on some cards but was not yet a theme, and a gander at these previous iterations would not suggest a strong theme.
How do these mythic rares fit into the numbering scheme as well?
Btw, both made my jaw drop.
Also, for Jenara:
T1: Forest, Noble Hierarch.
T2: Either Island or Plains, Jenara.
T3: Another land (at least one Plains by this point), 2 counters on Jenara, attack for 6.
T4: Rafiq of the Many, attack for 14. Good game.
1.) Never banned in its Block format.
2.) Once banned in Standard, Extended, Legacy, or Vintage but not presently.
3.) Currently unrestricted in Vintage.
I've seen several guesses that do not meet these criteria. Would anyone contest a card would not meet all three of these?
I think the five intros here were chosen because, being an amalgam of at least two shards, they can go in many existing decks if you aren't buying it just for itself (which I think would increase with the 3rd set of a block). The move, in my mind, is not to sell Alara Reborn but instead just sell themselves.
But speaking of, I'm fairly curious about the following dilemma. Any two color pair in the first two sets could at most come from 1 to 3 shards (for instance, W/B could only come from Bant, Esper, and Grixis [though not Bant+Grixis] in Conflux and ONLY Esper in SoA). But take the following card:
This could have: 1.) Primary Jund with Bant Influence.
2.) Primary Jund with Esper Influence.
3.) Primary Jund with Naya Influence.
4.) Primary Bant with Jund Influence.
5.) Primary Bant with Grixis Influence.
6.) Primary Bant with Naya Influence.
7.) Just Naya.
8.) Naya with Jund Influence.
9.) Naya with Grixis Influence.
10.) Naya with Bant Influence.
11.) Naya with Esper Influence.
Ad Nauseam.
The point is, that with all of the shards converging, any color combo could be concepted in a multitude of ways. I'm not saying this would stop them, but I think WotC'd come up with a consistent strategy so that shards don't get over-represented, and hopefully that system would be intuitive and not arbitrary.
I assure you that I'm not god, but I do know how long it's been: One Year.
Shadowmoor was released at about the same time as Alara Reborn last year, with 5 allied-color precons.
1.) Needs to contain a swath of cards they'd like to see available but would not reprint in any given set nearly all these cards at once, or would not want them being Standard-legal though Legacy-legal is fine.
2.) Needs to not be a very linear theme (one would not play all 15 FtV: Dragons in the same deck most likely).
3.) Needs to have multiple types of cards to attract different possible buyers.
My guess is FtV: Enchantments, where they could remake something like Stasis, Necropotence, cadaverous bloom, astral slide, sylvan library, and transcendence. These are just some possibilities that I believe would fit the criteria I've laid out above. It would also allow them to slip in a card from next block as Hellkite Overlord was.
They also did it in Ravnica block, since the guilds came out in uneven ways. For instance, there were less red cards in Guildpact because there were two guilds that had red in them (Izzet and Gruul). Though I believe they became equal in distribution when the block is viewed as a whole.