Sorry about the text issues here; I'm working on it.

yeah, those card links in between paragraphs are supposed to be center-aligned card images... also, let's make the title "Tearing Through Emrakul, The Aeons Torn," and have the article summary text be "Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is kind of a big deal"

Very nice article Matt :D! I'll be less scared to face it now :). Would Meddling Mage be good to deal with it too? I think any Vamp deck running Anowon, the Ruin Sage might be okay if they can take the first hit (well if the opponent doesn't have other creatures either...)

Matt- I understood what you wanted, but I couldn't get the card images to work like you wanted. The image:card thing isn't working, I think. I put up normal card links as placeholders for now.

Fixing title/summary now, though.

yep, Meddling Mage will work - actually, there's not much it won't work against, right?

and something like royal-assasin could do it, or even Giltspire Avenger if he survives the annihilation.

if emrakul has protection from colored spells, won't nighthawks damage be prevented, thus negating deathtouch?

coloured spells means non-permanent. So you can still block with creatures (that are technically summon spells) and you can still use activated abilities on him but you can't target him with sorceries, auras, or instants that are coloured.

@tapanmeister, Emrakul has protection from colored spells, not colored permanents. :D

It's funny how people can complain about the Eldrazi being rigged. :)

Something like Aven Mimeomancer can shrink them quite effectively, while Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer renders them nearly useless. Gomazoa is pretty nice too. Hell, Novablast Wurm can get some of them out of your way. And a kicked Oran-Rief Recluse works nicely against Emrakul.

Oops, Tama explained it. I'm just slow. haha.

deathtouch would not be a problem for him because he wont take damage from those creatures and journey cant touch him scour glass is the only answer on that list

@quiller - deathtouch will totally kill him - read the comments above for the explanation. As for Journey to Nowhere , it targets once it comes into play, which means that it's already a permanent, and therefore something Emrakul is susceptible to. Oblivion Ring works the same way.

One thing Ethersworn Adjudicator is Conflux which I believe will be leaving with Eldrazi entering.

nope, Eldrazi is the third set of the Zendikar block, and cards rotate out of standard as a block. So Shards block won't leave until Scars of Mirrodin (the first set of the next block) is released in October.

also, protip - standard rotation only happens once a year, and magic 2011 will be released in July, so both core sets (m10 and 2011) will be standard-legal simultaneously, until Scars comes out.

@Tofu Novablast Wurm actually wouldn't work, because the text says 'destroy' and if I'm correct in assuming, most if not all Eldrazi are 'indestructible.' But I certainly like the idea of using the Aven Mimeomancer to drop a 15/15 flyer into a 3/1. Would that actually cause Aeon-man to be vulnerable to colored spells such as Lightning Bolt or Windstorm ?

@Jimmer dude, read the card, no need to assume: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is uncounterable, but not indestructible.

ALSO keep in mind that Emrakul keeps all his abilities when he's bird-ified - so he'll be a 3/1 bird that forces the defender to sacrifice permanents when he attacks... but he GAINS flying!

I should like to pose the Emrakul won't see any standard play before or after the shards rotation. There are too many decks that can kill on turn 4, and by fooling around with these silly Eldrazi you're just making their life easier.

You know, you could be right, but come on, give Wizards some credit - you don't think they've been paying attention to the standard meta? Remember what happened when fairies were doing too well in Lorwyn/Shadowmoor? Faerie-hoser cards. Last time I checked, only 100 cards had been revealed - that's 2/5 of the set. Why wouldn't wizards include some things to even out stuff like Jund or Boros Bushwhacker?

There are a LOT of cheap defenders in place in the upcoming set...

And remember that control was always lurking around to kill Jund. Grixis Control always gave it problems; so did Luminarch/Turbofog on occasion. These Eldrazi decks ARE going to be in standard.

Almost lost this in Caley's sea of x/7.5 out of 13 articles...

Regardless, I'm with kabrazell on his note - mostly and in theory. I'm sure we'll all find ways to exploit the Eldrazi in standard, but I'd be surprised to find too many, if any of the dreaded Eldrazi horrors in the competitive arena.

I think drewskig has been filling your mind with the fear of the Eldrazi, quite frankly. All his mindless chatter of "...how ridiculous they are..." and "...OMG, ridiculous!" as well as his classic "...that's insane!" - Nonsense I say. Maybe he should try splashing a color that can deal with creature threats, instead of watch them approach!

I'll give you this... weve never had summon spells of this caliber before, yet they are still mere summoned creatures after all; the bulk of these terrors I've seen and/or heard of thus far require "enabler" spells and/or permanents to spawn their timely existence. Take my own attempt with Conscription Monumentous as one example. It's a deck full of enablers serving one purpose!! That requirement alone should keep most of these things out of competitive play.

"House" cards dont require enablers, after all.

I'm sure there will be a staple Eldrazi or two who've not yet made their existence known that make it into standard/competitive; I'm sure that Emrakul, the Aeons Torn won't be one of them; I'm sure that the Eldrazi will draw a lot of attention for the meta-games where these abominations are sure to coalesce; but I'm also sure of one thing... if you manage to find 15 mana in a match, you deserve to win.

"...if it bleeds, we can kill it." - Dutch (you name the show)

ah, but to be fair, dear reader, the point of this article is that the Eldrazi aren't quite as unassailable as they might appear - they're flashy, and they'll sell the set, it's good marketing, but ultimately when they make an appearance in standard constructed play, it'll just be a matter of finding the right answers. It's always a matter of finding the right answers... unless of course the 'answer' is just to field a bunch of extremely cheaply-costed threats.

"...dear reader..." - really?!

If we're clarifying points, than understand I'm largely backing yours. I merely see some truth in kabrazell's krafty analogues as to why standard could easily become preoccupied with a large sucking sound (that is your mana pool and various other sources) when employing the Lovecraftesk Eldrazi awful's; assailable or no, I view them as a distraction... currently.

@matt, thanks, I saw most all eldrazi have indestructible and instantly imagined them all being that way. and thanks for answering my question about making emrakul a 3/1.

@sitromis Hey. Hey. I have the monopoly on starting inappropriate words with the letter k around here.

Also, here's why I think Eldrazi are a workable standard idea.

1- The control pieces to make them work ALREADY existed. Day of Judgment and planar-cleaning will both be around to sweep up even after the Alara rotation. Lower-end removal is plentiful in the current standard metagame; you've got your Path to Exile , your Terminate , your black kill spells for non-black creatures, the all-purpose Oblivion Ring , and of course a host of red damage spells. Killing creatures is pretty easy nowadays. When you add in yet ANOTHER wrath effect in All Is Dust , and what amounts to an INSTANT-speed wrath against decks like Jund (Cull the Meek), then you're talking more than enough control to get to the nasty Timmy Eldrazi.

2- Eldrazi decks have severe ramping tools. LOTS of things are going to create Eldrazi spawn. That most recently-revealed Eldrazi costs nine, but can be alt-cast by sacking a mere FOUR Eldrazi spawn. It's not going to be significantly harder to get these guys out than it is to get Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker out or to cast Cruel Ultimatum , and I know that you can do those with regularity against even the most insane aggro decks.

3- Eldrazi decks automatically win against all mill decks. Every Emrakul, Kozilek, and Ulamog is also a damned card:Gaea's Blessing. In a hundred matches of any standard (or even extended) mill deck vs. an Eldrazi deck with three or four of these guys in it, my money would be on the Eldrazi deck to win at least 99. Unless something overcomes the auto-card:Gaea's Blessing effect, mill decks won't be viable in standard for a very long time.

4- The legendary Eldrazi themselves are the most powerful creatures in the history of magic. Even Progenitus isn't as good as Emrakul, the Aeons Torn . Before you even GET your dude, take an extra turn for putting him on the stack! Also Annihilator 6. And unless you have an card:Executioner's Capsule, you're gonna get hit with that Annihilator 6. Because you can't kill him with colored spells. And did I mention he's also a card:Gaea's Blessing? Oh. And he's a 15/15. So he's got that going for him. Which is good. I mean, I play some pretty nasty stuff as finishers in my standard control decks- Bolas, Iona, Thraximundar, Cruel Ultimatum. None of these is as scary as an Eldrazi. And like I said, it's going to be only slightly harder to get there. And who cares? By the time a control deck lives to turn 7, the aggro deck has basically already lost. Eldrazi decks just guarantee doom with even greater certainty.

Also, if Eldrazi become super-popular and dominate the metagame, here's how you can kill them.

1- Make sure you have Volcanic Fallout and Infest . No Eldrazi Spawn = no Eldrazi.

2- Make the deck mostly a land destruction deck. These decks need to get a pretty healthy number of lands out before they start ramping up to Eldrazi-curve-land; until then they're just going to try and tread water and kill your stuff so they can stay alive. There are a surprisingly good number of decent LD tools in standard right now. Problem is they're all a bit expensive, but you could still make it work, especially given the non-basics that an Eldrazi deck will likely run.

3- Concentrate your win condition into as few cards ON THE BOARD as possible. There's going to be a lot of wrath, so you want to be able to win WITHOUT emptying your hand of cards. That means you want cards that win on their own, but are still much faster than Eldrazi- Planeswalkers with game-ending ultimates come to mind. Bolas is too expensive, but jace, the mind sculptor works since he EXILES the cards. Since we're talking Volcanic Fallout and LD, so does Chandra Nalaar or Ajani Vengeant .

If Eldrazi start becoming annoyingly popular, I'm sure I'll start packing something like this. I've been curious to see how land destruction would fare against the metagame anyway.

I also doubt we'll see many Emrakul outside of janky Polymorph decks (that said, they're getting a lot of token generators for their janky selves). Kozilek at 10 or Ulamog at 11 however are extremely easy to cast for decks already around. Ramping to ten in U/W control is inevitable in almost any game it doesn't get early roflstomped.

Deathtouch sucks major donkey nut against Eldrazi with the exception of Cunning Sparkmage Basilisk Collar combo. Either way unless they're indeed just bad ramp decks the only threat on your board will likely die, and if not, you just had to sacrifice SIX permanents to that emrakul against a deck with board position to put him out in the first place? Good luck winning with that = /

I agree with a few of Caley's points, mainly having Tectonic Edge to nuke Eye of Ugin (No one in their right mind would play 4 15 mana cost cards in their deck when you can tutor for it) or Eldrazi Temple . I wish you'd stop spooging about Emrakul though. He costs 15 mana; when you can cast a 15 mana cost creature you deserve to win the game.

Can someone point me to the rule, or explain:

Use the 'legend' rule- Clone will work (Rite of Replication won't.)

I assume the difference is that RoR creates tokens, but Clone is a permanent.

Clone will be a creature targeting Emrakul, the I Win Lols. RoR is a spell.

Now, the issue is, you guys are looking at the wrong Eldrazi to fear. Sure, emrakul,-the-i-win-lols (http://image3.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID21272/images/emrakul_the_aeons_torn.jpg) is a big nasty dude, but he costs fifteen mana, so you need to trick him out (Summoning Trap )

The ones that are really going to be an issue are card:Ulamog's Crusher and Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre are the ones to look out for. Sure, the Crusher isn't as flashy as others, but he only costs 8 mana, something a control deck can easily do. And Ulamog, while costing 11, will be more doable with RoE than before, and he is indestructible.

Do you want to know what the two best answer cards to Emrakul are? Seismic Shudder and Spreading Seas .

I'm going to agree with everything Caley wrote because of the exceptional wisdom and grace he displayed making a reference to Caddyshack.

I think the Eldrazi are marketing gimmicks more than anything else. Sure, they'll get used in a few decks. But their primary purpose is to capture the imagination of that 15 year-old Vorthos who desperately wants to be a Spike. It's no coincidence Emrakul is a 15/15 for 15. :)

I think meddling mage deserves mention :)

I'm just going to restate that IMO Emrakul is never going to see serious play in standard outside of Polymorph .

Emrakul isn't going to cost 15 for anyone trying to run a competitive Eldrazi deck. They're going to have a playset of temples and at least one Eye of Ugin. Realistically on average it'll probably only cost them 9 or 10 and that's not even taking spawns into consideration. I don't think traps or Piper effects are going to be the main staple into getting Eldrazi out. It'll be board nuke while fishing for special lands.

I think they'll be hitting the table much faster than people suspect.

I agree. You're going to be seeing Legendary Eldrazi hard cast at about the same time that you see Cruel Ultimatum from Grixis Control. There are LOTS of ways for an Eldrazi deck to ramp.

It doesn't matter, it's not seeing standard play. I'm not trying to stamp my foot here, I'm just saying. The hate is too easy: Pyroclasm and Spreading Seas . The reason jund is so dominant is there's no one card you can play to shut it down. There are plenty you can play to shut down 'Eldrazi Ramp'. Yeah one dude might do well with it at a tournament once in a while but only because the meta-game warranted it, and then shortly thereafter everyone will SB a little hate and shut it out again. It'll be tier 2 just like polymorph.

"oh ye of little faith." you don't think that there could be some utility cards at common and uncommon in the remaining 120 cards or so that might shake things up? I'm just saying, "It doesn't matter, it's not seeing standard play." is a pretty definitive statement to make without having all the cards in front of you.

and who knows, maybe you're right... but I'm going to be a little disappointed if you're right.

Better save your volcanic fallouts, I see blue decks running control with polymorph/djinn/ponder/halimar depths combos, with buttloads of counters to protect the spawnlings. Maybe UG even to have alternates to crapping it out. mrenglish is half-right about clone and RoR. RoR is targetting, Clone however works differently then he implied. It doesn't say "As Clone enters." It says "You may have it enter", the reason why it does work though is because it doesn't ask you to target (creature), it says as a copy of any creature in play. Meaning it's not a targetted effect(technically it kind of is, but it doesn't say "target"). Sorry if that's confusing. The big thing is it doesn't say target.

MtG card rulings are so damn tricky. Amazingly in depth, but tricky.

Oh wow. Who here has seen the recently spoiled Spawnsire of Ulamog?

Spawnsire of Ulamog 10 Creature - Eldrazi Rare

Annihilator 1 4: Put 2 Eldrazi Spawn tokens onto the battlefield. 20: Cast any number of Eldrazi cards you own from outside the game without paying their mana costs. 7/11

If an eldrazi deck CAN actually whip up that kind of mana (and 20 is a damn big if), we can say hello to every legendary Eldrazi from someone's sideboard AT ONCE. You don't even need the Eldrazi in your deck for them to devastate!

If 15 mana is enough to deserve to win the game, does that mean 20 mana gives you the right to utterly trample your opponent and take joy from their shock-riddled pain and terror?

Eldrazi won't be a mainstream deck till all the alara removal cycle out. Most of the answers people offer are from alara. Wait till Timmy Eldrazi goes to a PTQ. All Is Dust makes aggro Eldrazi playable and Not of This World makes Eldrazi Control just as playable.

Re: Clone , note Wizards' errata:

10/4/2004 Clone is not targeted, so it can copy an untargetable creature or a creature with Protection.

images now show in the article. =)

sweet! I added some more formatting too. lookin' good!

Ignoring the actual Eldrazi has anyone noticed the synergy between the spawn and the Monument?

If you can pump enough Spawn out, and you don't intend to use them for mana. Mind you, they have now spoiled the card that drops a Spawn every upkeep...

has anyone mentioned Sadistic Sacrament as a good removal tool against a fatty of this type

@r1ngo yep - in the article, ha ha.

I still stand by my previous statements: The ELdrazi that will be played the most, based on the ones we have seen, are going to be Ulamog and his Crusher. The Crusher is an 8-drop, a cost that many control decks don't mind, and Ulamog is the most difficult to get rid of once in play (and I know he's going in my GRb ramp deck, replacing Violent Ultimatum ). But, I would like to add Hand of Emrakul looks like it has quite a bit of potential, with the possibility of being turn five (or earlier) thanks to two card:Kozilek's Predator, or Growth Spasm . Awakening Zone (the one that makes a Spawn each upkeep) is going to be a very good card, and I'm sure it will find a home in mono-green monument decks, along with a ton of other decks that just want to buy some precious turns chump blocking.

With death touch what about Turntimber Basilisk and its landfall ability?

"With death touch what about Turntimber Basilisk and its landfall ability?"

That works if he doesn't get annihilated. But what are the odds he's not one of the 6?

You'd need to line up the Basilisk + landfall + haste in order to make it plausible. That's just not easy to do.

And to throw another log on this fire, M11 is just around the corner.

Wonder what WOTC will do with the core set.

This should be an interesting summer for deck building!

That reminds me, did anyone else read the early spoiler messaging from WOTC?

I could have sworn I saw something that referenced the return of the Eldrazi, and how different tribes/creatures would have to unite and fight together or be destroyed. Like, Sorin and Nissa getting the vamps and elves together to fight a common foe.

At the time I thought it meant there would be bonuses for multi-colored attacks versus the colorless Eldrazi.

Was I mistaken? Based on the spoilers so far I haven't seen anything about clans teaming up.

In case everyone doesn't know they have spoiled the entire set.

I sawwwww that. I've been trying really hard not to look at it 'cause I'm at work, and it hasn't been working. :

Is it just me or did they rip spawnsire of Ulamog straight out of Clovefield?

the sheer number of token generation, 15 mana (colorless no less) is not so hard to obtain anymore.. Drafted saturday, i'm in love with this set, and FINALY Meddling Mage gets recognized... too bad it rotates in a few months... Meddling Mirror FTW :)

anyone else dying to get the special wizards foil meddling mage???!!! because i am

I'd like to note that if you Google 'Emrakul the i win lols', this page is #1.

nice, without quotes or anything!

I'm guessing Kederekt Parasite should be Kederekt Leviathan ?

ha ha, yes, right. I'll fix that.

I finally got to do something fun in one of my games =D Emrakul finally came out and yep they got rid of him, but next turn i Artisan of Kozilek'd him back XD it was pretty late game and we were pretty much topdecking at that point but i did it!

1st How did they get rid of him? Secondly when he goes to grave he shuffles everything back in so you can't Artisan him back.

Alright i now have some guy that i am mad at XD I am a newb obviously XD And in the game the guy took advantage of this, he told me that because Emrakul goes in fresh he doesn't go into the library. I guess me drawing the Artisan next turn was the deities balancing out his lie XD

How did he get rid of Ol' Torn Aeons?

I think it was deathtouch

Hey i'm new here. I noticed that one trick that my friend used isn't shown here. He runs a vampire deck and when he used Captivating Vampire 's effect he got control of the Eldrazi.

Because it is an ability not a targeting spell he ended up winning the game with it.

Hope i could help (:

if m11 had been out when I wrote this, I'd probably have made a note - using Captivating Vampire like that is hilarious. wish I could've seen it.

I dispiese the eldrazi but i respect the way my friend uses his deck to cast them, he uses overgrown battlement and runs a defender deck. 2 battlements with 7 other defenders =18 mana for two creatures. enought to cast an eldrazi and have enough mana left over to counter spells http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/eldrazi-defender-1/

So, if you are the one attacking and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn blocks, does the annihilator ability still trigger?

Hey there to all you milling types. Another great way is to use Leyline of the Void or possibly even Avatar of Woe if you can get her out for the 2 black cost after some milling. Just a thought. :)

A friend of mine have an eldrazi deck and my favorite (and unique, for me) way to deal with Emrakul, the Aeons Torn is using Sudden Spoiling and another remotion like Murder or simply defend this if attacking and if I have a creature with power grater than 2.

I don't know if I am missing something, but Emrakul, the Aeons Torn has protection from all colored spells. That means that he is unblockable, and colored creatures with deathtouch can't do anything.. Only creature I can think of that kills him is Baleful Strix