RoE Spoiler Analysis

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KrazyCaley

15 March 2010

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We have our first few Eldrazi spoilers, folks! Let's have a look:

Thoughts- Mnemonic Wall seems about average, power-curve-wise. It's a nice spell to pull in limited, probably won't see too much constructed play, and will probably not appear at all in wider formats. At the cost of 5 mana, you get what is most likely a very ineffectual wall (what good is an 0/4 wall with no abilities by turn 5?) The money of this card is of course the retrieval ability. This spell can get back a key piece; most likely a control piece like Cancel, a wrath effect, or spot removal. No small trick in limited, to be sure, but redundant and wasteful in a well-crafted constructed deck; why have something that picks up a useful piece when you can just include a different useful piece in its stead?

An interesting item for RDW decks and their ilk; this guy can also be a solid defender (not that that likely matters for any deck that runs him). His most interesting use is that of being a constant Elemental Appeal sans trample. Therein lies the problem with this card, of course; not only does it die to any damage spell, like an Elemental Appeal token, Ball Lightning, etc., but it ALSO fails to do any damage if the opponent has a 1-power blocker; it doesn't have trample. Plus, it actually costs significantly more than these RDW staples. Not sure this card will be of much constructed use; even in limited it's probably far from your top pick.

The most interesting thing about this card is the new keyword it introduces- you get a free copy of the spell during your next upkeep. While we observe a moment of mourning for all those Firestorm decks that could have used this effect, let's ponder this new keyword. First off, assuming that similar effects will be printed in every color, this is, like cascade, quite useful in terms of card advantage, though certainly not as powerful as cascade was/is. The card itself suggests that rebound might only apply to very "basic" effects, like a temporary creature boost, perhaps -x/-x counters for a black rebound card, and so on down the line. It is possible that rebound might be tacked on to more powerful effects, though, so stay tuned.

Giant world-ending dude that must be killed ASAP, as the Eldrazi all seem to be. What I find most fascinating about this card is that it is an uncommon; Eldrazi will apparently not all be rares. Perhaps we might see the first common cards that are high-costed with big effects, which would certainly make for a fascinating limited environment, if nothing else. ("Oh, ho hum, another 15/15 dude that costs 20 and makes your opponent mill for 50 every time he attacks") Of course, interestingly, he sucks compared to this guy:

This guy is better than the last guy. He costs one less, adds one more annihilator, and lets you draw FOUR CARDS when you CAST him, plus he's an avatar that is also a convenient Gaea's Blessing to defeat mill decks. I am fairly confident that this is better than not being able to be blocked by less than three creatures. Of course, this guy is also a mythic rare, while our last guy is an uncommon, so fair's fair.

This is my favorite new spoiled card so far. Aura enchantments just don't get much love in constructed play, most of the time. The last time I saw them used much at all in standard was back in Lor/Sha when the Steel of the Godhead, Clout of the Dominus, etc. cycle was around. And then, of course, Shield of the Oversoul was basically the most popular one by far. What Shield of the Oversoul has in common with this new card is that it protects your guy. The primary drawback of all creature enchantments has always been that if you kill the creature, you kill the enchantment, thus accomplishing a very efficient play. That's why enchanted creatures always either have to protect themselves, i.e. Slippery Bogle or Uril, the Miststalker, or the enchantment has to protect them, as with Shield of the Oversoul or this new mechanic of totem armor. I think giving a creature an extra life/power up is a neat idea, and a clever way to dodge the most common problem with auras.

It's 5 for a "kill a nonblack creature" black kill spell, but the kill spell is just a free bonus to a card whose primary purpose seems to be to ramp up to Eldrazi cards using those 0/1 tokens. You go from 5 to 7 mana with this card, no small feat given that the two spoiled Eldrazi are 10 and 11. One wonders if this "do a ordinary color mechanic and get mana tokens" is a cycle of cards, or something that just this card alone does....