|
| Click to enlarge |
Magic the Gathering MTG Rise of the Eldrazi booster box contains 36 booster packs with 15 cards each. Released on April 23, 2010, Rise of the Eldrazi is the third set in the Zendikar block. Its tagline is "And Carnage Shall Follow." The set, while part of the Zendikar block creatively and for the sake of constructed tournament rules, is unique mechanically and is designed to be drafted on its own. Drafts in the Zendikar block are either ZEN-ZEN-WWK or ROE-ROE-ROE.The set contains 248 black-bordered cards (15 mythic rare, 53 rare, 60 uncommon, 101 common, and 20 lands). The mythic cards have a red symbol and were introduced for the first time in Shards of Alara.
The set's storyline revolves around the awakening of the eponymous Eldrazi: ancient, powerful beings who travel the multiverse and gain sustenance by consuming entire planes for mana. Their home realm is the "Blind Eternities," a space between planes where they transcended the colors of mana as known to the planeswalkers of the Multiverse. Many ages ago they were trapped in Zendikar, but the events of the Worldwake set accidentally released them. Now altruistic planeswalkers must team up with the denizens of Zendikar to stop them. According to Mark Rosewater, the concept of the Eldrazi is inspired by both the Cthulhu mythos and the Marvel Comics character Galactus. After following Chandra to Zendikar, Gideon Jura found the plane besieged by the awakened Eldrazi. Abandoning his mission to find Chandra, Gideon fights the powerful Eldrazi to protect the inhabitants of Zendikar.
Rise of the Eldrazi is themed around "battlecruiser magic": slow games in which players gradually accumulate resources until they can win with enormous creatures. The most prominent of these "battlecruisers" are the Eldrazi, all of whom are colorless because they (in game-universe terms) have transcended the colors of mana. The smallest Eldrazi creature is Hand of Emrakul, a common 7/7 for 9 mana; the largest is Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, a mythic rare 15/15 for 15 mana. To help get these enormous creatures into play quickly, the set features many alternate sources of mana (particularly the "Eldrazi spawn," which can be sacrificed for colorless mana) and a dearth of cheap creature removal. The set features new cards called levelers which gain new abilities when you level them up by paying mana.
Below is the list of mechanics introduced by Rise of the Eldrazi:
Level Up - Creatures with the new level up keyword can become larger or acquire new abilities for a small investment of mana. The number of level counters on a creature tells you its current level, and its current level tells you its power, toughness, and extra abilities. Leveling a creature up can only be played as a sorcery.
Rebound - Spells with Rebound are exiled after being cast, and can be cast again during your next upkeep for free. After the rebound has triggered, the spell enters the graveyard as normal.
Totem Armor - Totem Armor is a mechanic only for Aura Enchantments. If the enchanted creature were to be destroyed (by lethal damage or effects saying Destroy), the enchantment would go to the graveyard instead of the creature.
Annihilator - Annihilator is a mechanic only for the Eldrazi. When a creature with Annihilator attacks, defending player sacrifices that many permanents as written after the Annihilator-keyword. (For example, a creature with Annihilator 3 forces the defending player to sacrifice three permanents.)
Furthermore, Rise of the Eldrazi utilizes the Defender subtheme far more than seen previously. |
