[Premium Article] Rise of Eldrazi Set Review

[Smmenen]

http://www.starcitygames.com/magic/s...et_Review.html

Editor's Blurb:

Monday, April 26th - Legacy, it seems, has never been so popular. With events such as the StarCityGames.com Legacy Open events occurring throughout the year, interest in this Eternal format is at an all-time high. Today, Stephen Menendian examines the Rise of the Eldrazi cards that are likely to make a splash in Legacy, before updating his comprehensive Legacy Playable cardlist.

Enjoy!

[Aggro_zombies]

Just for the record, the Polymorph/Show and Tell deck won't run Birds or Hierarch. Polymorphing your Hierarch into a Birds seems so bad it hurts.

I'm not sure what you'd cut for the Pathrazer. I mean, there's nothing it's clearly better than, and almost no situations where you'd want it over something else. It also doesn't do much to help against aggro races, and I'm not sure it's better against combo than Iona is.

The big Eldrazi just aren't going to make the cut. Polymorph and Proteus Staff both suffer from heavy deck design restrictions in order to work - you need cards that make creatures but aren't actually creatures themselves so that you guarantee hitting your Emrakul. However, this also leaves you extremely vulnerable in the early game and makes you weak to tempo strategies that can take advantage of how slow you are.

Sneak Attack suffers from being both expensive and activated, and requiring you to have drawn the creature you want to cheat in. It also doesn't win in the same way Natural Order does; NO leaves the dude in play, whereas you need to find a second one with Sneak Attack to actually seal the deal. Granted, attacking once with Emrakul pretty much wins, and may force concessions in a lot of cases. However, you need to run more copies of Emrakul to make sure you hit it often enough, or else you waste tons of time trying to set up both SA and finding your fatty - all to not actually, officially win the game when you swing. The number of moving parts required to make it function may simply be too much for it to actually be better than other cheat-big-fat-into-play strategies already in the format.

The instant-speed reanimation thing seems weak, but it's probably better than the Hulk reanimation decks running around using the same reanimation spells.

Overall, this set has basically nothing for the format. Gideon might be good in control, sure, but he doesn't fix any of that deck's problems and is too expensive elsewhere; none of the other cards mentioned are anything more than role-players in specific decks, imo.

Thanks for the work, though.

[SpikeyMikey]

Zombies: I think there are at least 2 cards with Legacy applications in this set. I would agree that Sneak Attack is a horrible engine for Emrakul, but that doesn't mean that he's not the core of a competitive deck. I'm working on something utilizing him right now, I just have to finish testing and tweaking it, but I think it has the capability of being tier 1.5 (maybe better, but solidly 1.5). I also see Kiln Fiend becoming a part of 'goyf sligh. It will certainly boost that deck's performance. If your opponent doesn't have removal (say he just used it on a goyf), Kiln Fiend can act as a pseudo Furance of Rath. The amount of damage you could pump out with him is ridiculous. I don't think he makes the cut in Zoo, as he's functionally just a bad removal spell for them (poor topdeck, but more or less has to be blocked and will trade with anything lacking first strike), but in a more burn heavy red deck, he's good. I have not given up hope for Surakkar Spellblade yet. He seems too good not to see play.

Will RoE redefine the format? Probably not. But I wouldn't go so far as to say it has basically nothing for Legacy.

[Aggro_zombies]

Zombies: I think there are at least 2 cards with Legacy applications in this set. I would agree that Sneak Attack is a horrible engine for Emrakul, but that doesn't mean that he's not the core of a competitive deck. I'm working on something utilizing him right now, I just have to finish testing and tweaking it, but I think it has the capability of being tier 1.5 (maybe better, but solidly 1.5). I also see Kiln Fiend becoming a part of 'goyf sligh. It will certainly boost that deck's performance. If your opponent doesn't have removal (say he just used it on a goyf), Kiln Fiend can act as a pseudo Furance of Rath. The amount of damage you could pump out with him is ridiculous. I don't think he makes the cut in Zoo, as he's functionally just a bad removal spell for them (poor topdeck, but more or less has to be blocked and will trade with anything lacking first strike), but in a more burn heavy red deck, he's good. I have not given up hope for Surakkar Spellblade yet. He seems too good not to see play.

Will RoE redefine the format? Probably not. But I wouldn't go so far as to say it has basically nothing for Legacy.

Historically, the vast majority of "might be good enough" cards end up not being quite good enough, and end up seeing no play.

I don't think Goyf Sligh is on anyone's radar. The deck has more explosive power than Zoo but has less staying power against decks capable of stabilizing through life gain and denial (I'm thinking of NO Counterbalance, for example) and all of the same other bad matchups (combo). Relative to Zoo, that deck is barely played anyway, so it's kind of a moot point.

I'm not dismissing Emrakul out of hand - personally, I really want it to be good because of how devastating the effects are. I just don't see anything short of the unbanning of Oath being good enough to get there.

One option Menendian didn't mention is Food Chain. Emrakul is your apex predator here, but you can play Kozilek and Ulamog as well and then chain them into Emrakul. Not good at all, but super fun.

[BreathWeapon]

Emrakul is borderline, but Shoe&Tell and Lim Dul's Vault is easily Tier 1.5 and Polymorph looks pretty strong in Landstill if you consider Elspeth, Bitterblossom and Manlands give you targets aplenty. The only problem tho' is Polymorph + Manlands is a turn 5 play, at best, vs. aggro and it's probably too late to swing the game. I'd argue for Defense of the Heart, but that's just going to be worse than Natural Order (tho 2x Eldrazi is kind of hilarious).

[DrJones]

The only problem tho' is Polymorph + Manlands is a turn 5 play, at best, vs. aggro and it's probably too late to swing the game.

If the manland is Dryad arbor it can be done as soon as turn two, but I guess the deck has more to lose than gain if it takes the speedy route.

[Jak]

If the manland is Dryad arbor it can be done as soon as turn two, but I guess the deck has more to lose than gain if it takes the speedy route.

Polymorph hits Drad Arbor.

[Aggro_zombies]

Polymorph hits Drad Arbor.

You run one, and get it with a fetchland. It's better in many ways than using Factories because of the basic land type making it easy to find.

[Mark Sun]

Some thoughts:

Goryo's Vengeance is an instant-speed reanimation answer for Eldrazi. They are gone at the end step, but who cares? With Emrakul, a 15/15 flying Annihilator 6 with protection from Swords, Path, etc is pretty good.

Flame Slash is playable because of Rhox War Monk, but still sucks against Counterbalance. Lightmine Field has good synergy with Humility, but I doubt that's enough to make it playable. I don't think anyone is making the cut in their Survival Lists for 4 Basking Rootwalla and X Vengevine.

[xsockmonkeyx]

Counters StP/Path and Qasali Pridemade for 0.

[Vacrix]

Counters StP/Path and Qasali Pridemade for 0.

But to be fair, its pretty much a dead slot against anything but that situation. I don't think it will see play.

[dahcmai]

I'm quite happy with the printing of See Beyond. I can tell you I will be playing it. Then again, I still get a kick out of playing Strategic Planning.

[xsockmonkeyx]

But to be fair, its pretty much a dead slot against anything but that situation. I don't think it will see play.

You cant underestimate how huge that situation is and how often it comes up. NotW is an excellent card against the most common problems facing the Dreadnought strategy. The card is a huge boon to Dreadstill sideboards.

[DragoFireheart]

Can Not of this World counter the triggered ability that PhD has when he comes into play?

[Aggro_zombies]

Can Not of this World counter the triggered ability that PhD has when he comes into play?

No, since the ability doesn't target anything.

[Julian23]

Counters StP/Path and Qasali Pridemade for 0.

Still:

[Arrowni]

But Hanna's Custody still beats Krosan Grip!


(Unless they have two)

[EssKay]

Would also have potential with Hexmage/Depths decks.

[jrsthethird]

Counters StP/Path and Qasali Pridemade for 0.

I XD'd when I saw that...was completely not obvious to me.

I'm quite happy with the printing of See Beyond. I can tell you I will be playing it. Then again, I still get a kick out of playing Strategic Planning.

I would love to play $50 uncommons all day! See Beyond doesn't have that 'look at my wallet' appeal.