Eternal Masters Spoiler Thread
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Feb. 15, 2016, 11:26 a.m. by FAMOUSWATERMELON
Set Name: Eternal Masters
Number of Cards: 249
Release Date: June 10, 2016
Official Three Letter Code: EMA
MSRP: $9.99
Including:
It's worth noting that NOTHING ON THE RESERVED LIST WILL BE REPRINTED. So no ABUR duals and the like.
Additional Information:
TheAnnihilator, it would have been cool to be printed here, but they probably had most of the set planned before they internally announced the unbanning
That said, MM2017 maybe?
May 28, 2016 12:29 a.m.
Can't think of a reason not to be excited by this set. Eternal has me by the heart strings..
May 28, 2016 1:29 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #4
JohnnyBaggins, Green Sun's Zenith can find only a green creature, and requires more mana for a creature with a higher converted mana cost, while Worldly Tutor can find any creature at all and does not require additional mana for a more powerful creature. While it is true that the zenith puts the creature directly onto the battlefield, I would gladly wait for an extra turn to do so to have the greater versatility and lower mana cost of the tutor over the zenith.
Also, I rather dislike the printing of Control Magic in this set, as I find that card to have too low of a cost for its effect, with Mind Control being a much more fairly-costed version of it, although I suppose that I can accept it, as this is not a modern-legal set. As long as control magic is never brought into modern format, I shall be content.
May 28, 2016 1:31 a.m.
Green Sun's Zenith and Worldly Tutor both have the same cost in the long run, being Creatures CMC + 
That said, Worldly Tutor does get any colour creature, and let's you pull it from your library at the end of your opponents turn, AND let's you get an X cost creature and pay what you want into X
May 28, 2016 2:20 a.m.
Yeah they should have had Worldly Tutor, because they did after all have Mystical Tutor and Enlightened Tutor already.
May 28, 2016 10:27 a.m.
JohnnyBaggins says... #8
But Worldly Tutor is card disadvantage. You give up a draw step to get the card and then cast it. Elves plays Green Sun's Zenith for a reason. You put your Craterhoof Behemoth into play immediately and win. Worldly can't do that.
May 28, 2016 10:43 a.m.
I canceled my order on my second box. Too much bulk for it to realistically make up for what I'm spending. In the end they did the same thing as every normal set. The cards worth getting are mostly mythics with a couple decent $10-$20 rares, there are only 2/3 the number of packs of an ordinary set at 3 times the price. It's not just about the price of cards either. Most of the set is just jank. There are a couple decent uncommon but almost everything remotely good is at rare or higher, so you won't even likely pull a whole lot of good cards out of a box. If wizards actually cared about making legacy/vintage easier to get into, they'd have printed more than a small amount of legacy playable cards. In the end this set is only slightly higher quality than other sets and you'll be left with mostly unplayable crap.
May 28, 2016 11:10 a.m.
iBleedPunk says... #10
acronix I second your last statement. Most of the set is jank sadly. Control Magic at Rare with a bunch of other Rare and Mythic spots filled with dumb shit makes me not even want to look at a booster, let alone open 1-2 booster boxes. As it has been stated previously I too shall only be buying singles and shit :/
May 28, 2016 11:16 a.m.
GeminiSpartanX says... #11
I'm going to say this, but this is likely the best set you're ever going to get as far as reprint sets will go. The vast majority of cards may not be incredibly valuable, but most of this set is incredibly playable. There are plenty of commons and uncommons that I wouldn't be sad to open, and you can tell the developers were thinking of pauper and EDH in addition to reprinted some pricey legacy mainstays. I for one think that this set at least equals the quality of the first modern masters set as far as including playable, good cards.
May 28, 2016 12:29 p.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #12
I don't understand all the hate. As someone who doesn't play Legacy or Vintage this set looks freaking awesome!
May 28, 2016 12:58 p.m.
If this is the best WOTC can do, they're screwed. The game has been in steady decline for some time now. There's barely any community where I live anymore because the game became to expensive to play the way they enjoyed it. The only surefire way to ensure the survival of their game is to reprint cards often enough so they don't become too inaccessible. Not doing so is a disservice to their customers. Then they finally reprint things, but at rarities that make them still hard to come by, while also limiting the print run. It'd be acceptable if the whole set were great, but most of the commons and uncommons, and even many of the rares, are unplayable in anything but limited. I understand it's a draft format, but they still print things at rare that should be uncommon just because they're highly sought after. I understand that you can make budget decks, but people shouldn't be forced to play on a low budget just because Wizards neglects the demands of their customers. I love the game, I really do, but unless they change how they do things, it's not going to last much longer.
May 28, 2016 12:59 p.m.
I don't share that opinion. I enjoy this game and I see it being played for a long time, and theajority of people I play with and hang with agree.
May 28, 2016 1:17 p.m.
ZeGinger I think the majority of players feel the same as you do. I started playing in the middle of tempest and (even though I took a loooong break) have watched this game grow beyond what anyone probably ever imagined. All of a sudden some cards that people wanted don't get reprinted in a unique set or it didn't live up to unrealistic expectations (before it's even released mind you) and it's in trouble.. Ha!
May 28, 2016 1:30 p.m.
readerrw07 says... #16
With the boxes being over $300 each, you'll have to get god-level pulls in order for it to be worth it with only 24 packs. I'll be buying a few packs on release since my LGS isnt joining in the markups, but after that I'll buy a few singles for EDH and thats it. Even for Legacy play, not enough cards that go togethr got reprinted for any of my possible decks to get much more affordable.
May 28, 2016 1:46 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #17
There was a user on Reddit who calculated the EV of the set. The EV of a pack of Eternal Masters, not including foils, was just shy of $10. Seems pretty fine.
Of course, a more "official" calculation will probably be done by an actual content creator, but it looks like pack values will be pretty damn close to MSRP.
May 28, 2016 2:15 p.m.
What I said about magic slowly dying isn't something I'm pulling out of my ass. I've watched the area I live in go from a thriving community of magic players to maybe 20 or 30 and that's across all formats. The majority of people around me have quit because it's just too expensive. I say it's dying because I've watched it do so. My expectations were only unrealistic because Wizards refuses to give people what they want for as long as they can.
May 28, 2016 2:25 p.m.
Daaamn, $300 for a box?! That's some crazy mark up. I just preordered one yesterday for $220 which I think is pretty good.
May 28, 2016 2:28 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #20
Yeah I find the anger over this set rather perplexing. Seems like WotC did a pretty decent job on this.
May 28, 2016 3:15 p.m.
I would say the anger is because this is too similar to modern masters 2015, the value in a pack will too often be a dollar or even less and paying premium for the epicness of Eternal Masters and getting super trash is horrible. Plus the boxes and packs will be gouged so alot of people can't even pay MSRP making the experience even worse. I like alot of the cards in here, and have no complaints, (barring no Worldly Tutor) but thats because I buy singles rather than playing the lottery for value. Foil Gamble here we go!
May 28, 2016 3:24 p.m.
zyphermage says... #22
The most disappointing thing to me is the color fixing lands. I highly expected a rainbow land here.
May 28, 2016 3:27 p.m.
SwaggyMcSwagglepants says... #23
@APPLE01DOJ Yeeeeaaaahhhh, welcome to my side.
Another great part about this set: Some of the more pricey manaless dredge staples, like ichorid and cabal therapy, were reprinted. I'm smiling inside, just thinking of possibly buying into Manaless dredge.
May 28, 2016 5:55 p.m.
zyphermage says... #24
Don't bother imho. Dredge with led's and lands is infinitely better and still incredibly cheap compared to other legacy decks. Plus with led's you can swap to storm pretty easy too.
May 28, 2016 6:06 p.m.
iBleedPunk says... #25
So n00by question here but, with Winter Orb being reprinted, mean it's Modern legal?
May 28, 2016 6:31 p.m.
TheFoilAjani says... #26
Pokemaster325 Only cards printed in Standard legal sets are Modern Legal. So no.
May 28, 2016 6:34 p.m. Edited.
iBleedPunk says... #27
Well that chaps my bum
Thanks for the speedy answer TheFoilAjani
May 28, 2016 6:36 p.m.
Rabid_Wombat says... #28
acronix you make a lot of good points.
Imho Wizards are right now primarily concerned with catering to a hardcore player base (that is prepared to pay top dollar for Limited sets) rather than getting noobs into the game...which is sad for gaming communities worldwide :(
May 28, 2016 9:08 p.m.
GeminiSpartanX says... #29
Wizards makes different product for different players. Newer players don't want to get locked out in a draft with Winter Orb or lose to turn 2 reanimated Inkwell Leviathan. They will likely appreciate getting the new premade Planeswalker decks instead of E.masters. I'll go out on a limb and say that this set is more geared towards established players who want more access to older cards to improve existing legacy & EDH decks (along with maybe getting some pauper staples). Make no mistake, Wizards will still release product geared towards newer players, as they've announced. This particular product isn't one of them imho though, and that's ok.
May 28, 2016 9:31 p.m.
ducttapedeckbox says... #30
Let's take a look at what's coming out this year:
- Four standard-legal sets - easily accessible
- New Commander decks - easily accessible, geared towards getting newer players into EDH
- New Conspiracy set - easily accessible to draft
- Duel Decks: Nissa v Ob Nixilis - easily accessible, geared towards newer players
- Bundle and Planeswalker Deck - easily accessible, specifically designed for new players
- Eternal Masters - not easily accessible
There is an abundance of products that are coming out that are easily accessible, some of which are specifically designed to help newer players enter particular formats. There is only one product geared towards the experienced and dedicated players. As GeminiSpartanX said, not everything is for newer players, and that's perfectly fine.
May 28, 2016 9:36 p.m. Edited.
zyphermage says... #31
Well you also forget that mass printing money cards will also piss people off. Having your 50$ card turn into a 5$ card definitely would worry me, especially if it happened to hundreds of my cards.
May 28, 2016 10:03 p.m.
Nightdragon779 says... #32
Well I'm poor and I have little amounts of old cards so I'm hyped for the set :))
May 28, 2016 10:40 p.m.
readerrw07 says... #33
To back up my $300 price tag earlier, tcgplayer has the average price of a box at $318, with the packs averaging $15. Imo, simply not worth buying more than my addictive personality demands, in this case the five packs my LGS can promise to hold for me. Here's hoping for a Mana Crypt. My main disappointments are that none of the legacy decks I have considered got more than one reprint or two. Death and Taxes is missing the Rishadan Port I was really hoping to see here, and both that deck and Merfolk were begging for AEther Vial. Overall, they pretty much just fed us nice stuff over 5 days, then dumped mostly bulk in the 200-ish cards at the end. That being said however, there are stil reprints I'm happy to see, mainly old cards getting new artworks, and Winter Orb's rule-changing errata.
May 28, 2016 11:14 p.m.
I half quit during Oath to gatewatch. I felt like they were playing us with the Expeditions and was a little pissed. I still attend prereleases but I stopped FNM's and modern. This set does look ridiculously fun to draft but committing to a box is a nice gamble that I will significantly debate.
May 29, 2016 3:31 a.m.
Rabid_Wombat says... #35
Dan_moud my LGS has a "Sealed Box Draft" so I'm also debating hard....so tempted!
May 29, 2016 4:51 a.m.
Go for it because it'll be fun. It seems prices on packs will be hiked due to hype so it won't be worth paying extra only to pull garbage.
Have some fun or get singles.
May 29, 2016 5:29 a.m.
I will say I was personally disappointed in the last 200 spoilers as well but I think they did a good job on the set overall I was just reallly surprised Dark Depths didnt get a reprint but I was super glad Rishadan Port didnt I would hate to go through all the trouble of getting them to see them tank in price like my wastelands
May 29, 2016 6:05 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #38
I can understand the appeal of Green Sun's Zenith, but why could WotC not have reprinted Wargate instead of it? Wargate does have a higher mana cost, but it can find any permanent of any color, which is well worth the additional mana cost, in my mind.
May 29, 2016 10:52 p.m.
DemonDragonJ because they were looking for a 
tutor to finish the cycle. Imagine how strange it'd be to see:
May 29, 2016 11:30 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #40
saj0219, Vampiric Tutor can find any type of card, so it is not very different from wargate in that regard, and I still say that the zenith makes less sense than does Worldly Tutor, because the other four tutors all put cards into a player's hand, while the zenith puts it directly onto the battlefield.
On a more positive subject, I am very pleased by the reprint of Havoc Demon, an amazing creature that definitely deserved a reprint! I do miss the original artwork by the very talented Thomas M. Baxa, but the new artwork is very nice, as well.
May 30, 2016 1:03 a.m.
zyphermage says... #41
Because it is eternal masters not commander masters. Green sun sees much more eternal play than wargate, actually I'd be surprised if it saw any. I think people would be happier with a different card over Havoc Demon also.
May 30, 2016 2:13 a.m. Edited.
Matt_The_OGRE says... #42
With the exception of Gamble, the other tutors put the cards on top of the library. Albeit at instant speed, so you draw it after you use it on the opponents end step but still, not directly to the hand.
May 30, 2016 4:24 a.m.
If you look at Legacy deck lists you'll see a number of copies of Green Sun's Zenith in several archetypes because it can fetch Dryad Arbor. But Worldly Tutor? Completely absent. That's why GSZ is in.
May 30, 2016 8 a.m.
To clarify for those who don't know the play or are thinking "But WT can get Arbor, too!" --
The play is a turn 1 GSZ for X=0 so you start turn 2 with two lands, one of which is a creature as well. Among other things, this leads to very explosive starts for Elves.
May 30, 2016 8:01 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #45
I can understand the appeal of Green Sun's Zenith, but it can find only green creatures and is a sorcery; does that not limit its usefulness?
The reprint of Llanowar Elves in this set is very nice, but I am disappointed that Birds of Paradise was not included in this set; perhaps it may be in this year's Conspiracy set.
May 30, 2016 10:51 a.m.
Vortexflame says... #46
Does anyone think we'll see a Demonic Tutor reprint in one of the upcoming sets?
May 30, 2016 10:58 a.m.
Vortexflame - I don't think it's likely to see a reprint soon.
It's banned in Legacy and restricted in Vintage, while also being too powerful for something like Conspiracy or 'speciality' decks. EMA was the only 'likely' set for it to be printed in, and it was either it or Vampiric Tutor.
It probably won't see another reprint until EMA2. Perhaps, there's a small chance of a "FTV:Tutors", but with so many tutors in EMA, that's also quite unlikely.
Note: It was in "Duel Decks: Divine vs. Demonic", but that has already seen a reprint in Anthologies, and I wouldn't expect any type of re-anthologies.
May 30, 2016 11:50 a.m. Edited.
SwaggyMcSwagglepants says... #48
@zyphermage yeah, but manaless is cheaper AND sweeter!
Also, can we talk about this draft format? It looks like the most nutty format I've seen. All the archetypes are pretty sweet.
flyers, 
flashback/spells, 
aristocrats, 
elves, 
bogles/enchantments, 
tokens, 
stompy, 
/
reanimator (kinda rare/uncommon heavy deck, but whatevs), control, 
midrange (?), and 
tempo/threshold
May 30, 2016 12:15 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #49
zyphermage, Omeros, why is GSZ more popular than Wargate? Does wargate's higher mana cost really make that much of a difference?
Since worldly tutor was not reprinted in this set, I shall remain hopeful that WotC shall eventually reprint it, perhaps in either Conspiracy or the next Eternal Masters set.
With that having been said, is it too early at the present time to predict if there shall be a second Eternal Masters, as there was a second Modern Masters?
May 30, 2016 4:25 p.m.
Why is GSZ more popular than Wargate?
- Lower CMC
- Doesn't require being in Bant colors to cast
Both of those are huge considerations in Legacy, and the example I gave above of GSZ fetching a Dryad Arbor on turn 1 isn't something you should ignore lightly in the format. That play is the primary reason the card is even in that deck. Actually fetching up an elf, or even your Craterhoof, is much rarer and a sign of either desperation or win-more.
TheAnnihilator says... #1
Not sure if this stands out to anyone else, but I'm a little surprised that Ancestral Visions wasn't in this set after the Modern unbanning causing a price hike. Not that it's a huge issue, but I thought it might see a reprint.
May 27, 2016 11:55 p.m.