Exclusive Rise of the Eldrazi Preview Card: Skittering Invasion

Exclusive Rise of the Eldrazi Preview Card: Skittering Invasion

Exclusive Rise of the Eldrazi Preview Card: Skittering Invasion

This card makes perfect sense, given what we know about Rise of the Eldrazi so far. I mean, if we are expected to cast 15 mana spells, we will need some sort of acceleration! Without further ado, here is Skittering Invasion!

Seven mana is usually the high end of the curve, but with all sorts of enormous Eldrazi monsters running around, this “accelerant” will help jump you from seven or eight mana all the way to thirteen. Plus, you can chump with some of the tokens, so if you just need to hit ten, a few of the spawn are expendable. Skittering Invasion is not the sort of card that is normally playable, but any format where it is sounds good to me, and I suspect it will be solid in Limited. That is going to be quite a change of pace from Zendikar, and I have high hopes!

LSV

78 Comments Leave a comment

Pasteur says: March 25, 2010 @ 9:44 pm

I get the feeling there’s something mind-numbingly recursive about this card.

shadowsketched says: March 25, 2010 @ 9:51 pm

I like it. Although no cards scream out “Use this with me!” yet, Mnemonic Wall looks nice with this.

Although the cards released so far have been using Spawn as mana fodder, I’m starting to wonder if there’s going to be an Anthem effect exclusive to Spawn creatures.

Jordy says: March 25, 2010 @ 9:57 pm

Maybe playable in limited, Probably horrible in constructed. Meh.

Zturchan says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:00 pm

I like now there are noncreature spells which benefit from Eye of Ugin. Seems cool, like affinity, but 5 times more expensive.

Jim Varney says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:02 pm

This is pretty bad. I guess it gains you a whole bunch of life in limited, but still unexciting unless this is a really, really weird format.

Nick says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:18 pm

turn 1- land
turn 2- Eldrazi temple, chalice
turn 3- Eldrazi temple, double chalice
turn 4- eye of ugin, skittering invasion
turn 5- Mountain,Sac your spawn, cast Emrakul, cast burst of speed, attack
turn 5.1- Attack with Emrakul, win.

People will try this deck, and it might even work.

Kamisaki says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:20 pm

“still unexciting unless this is a really, really weird format.”

I think that’s the key here. Everything we’ve seen about Rise of the Eldrazi leads me to believe it is going to be a radically different format than anything we’ve seen before. I have as hard a time as anyone believing that 10+ mana creatures will be seen anywhere near a Jund deck in standard, but when Wizards wants to push something, they often find a way to do it.

Block is going to be really weird, too. Zendikar super aggro combined with huge frickin Eldrazi monsters? Don’t know how that’s going to work out.

Fritz says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:31 pm

Wizards did say there will be a focus on creatures with defend. I think it will be quite possible and plausible to gum up the board early with crazy walls in order to buy time to cast game enders.

-Fritz Jaeger

yi sheng says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:41 pm

i’m Really looking forward to a limited where my main plan is to actually plop down a 10 mana creature

just awesome, casual-like mass-destruction fun!

Kevin says: March 25, 2010 @ 10:57 pm

The art on this card is horrible. It looks like something a 12 yr old could do with pencil crayons.

Brady says: March 25, 2010 @ 11:02 pm

I find it bothersome that there is no scale in the artwork. Are they really big because they’re Eldrazi, or really small because they’re 0/1?

Blind Fremen says: March 25, 2010 @ 11:16 pm

The Eldrazi look like strikingly similar to Evangelions/Angels

jeff says: March 25, 2010 @ 11:41 pm

tribal! more stuff for bigger goyfs…well not in standard…but still cool

Tylon says: March 25, 2010 @ 11:45 pm

I’m actually super excited for this new set. Tooth and Nail was one of my favorite decks of all time, and I feel like all these new lands and mana ramp spells are like the new Cloudposts and Urzatron. I am determined to cast a 15cmc creature in standard in the next few months, haha.

I know that Jund is still going to be around, but this set is genuinely making me feel like I used to when I first played Magic 15 years ago. I’ve always been a competitive player, but there is a little Timmy in all of us wanting to windmill slam huge game winning fatties.

tony says: March 25, 2010 @ 11:45 pm

7 mana seems pricey for what essentially is a mana acceleration spell… Is anything from this set actually going to work outside of block? I guess I will be playing jund in standard for the foreseeable future, Timmy block looks fun as a self contained set but how is 7 mana crap gonna put up a fight against bloodbraid and friends?

Jesus says: March 25, 2010 @ 11:54 pm

i dont think ROE will affect Standard right away maybe after Shard block rotates out.

Daiches says: March 26, 2010 @ 12:08 am

Coat of Arms. Just sayin’
If you can get these Eldrazi tokens cheap and attached to other spells like Corpsehatch, this might even work.

kbo says: March 26, 2010 @ 12:20 am

Am i the only person here that notices LSV’s distaste at this new mechanic? i wholeheartedly agree. It looks terrible I want to slit my wrists.

Riley says: March 26, 2010 @ 12:38 am

I have no problem with the scale comment, but Kevin, dude, the art for this set so far looks sweet. Sure, these guys are kind of like purple blobs with tentacles, but there’s plenty of detail, and check out the cropping and perspective- its way better than than the portrait style crop on a lot of cards; these things actually feel like they’re moving.

I don’t think that walls are going to justify playing any of the cards we’ve seen so far without some significant differences. I mean, sure, stall to 10 and play a fattie….uh, Terminate? Maybe summoner’s trap will get good….blah. Well, like LSV said, I’m excited for a set that makes cards like this playable, but I’m still waiting so see if there’s anything more than some sweet EDH additions.

Holos says: March 26, 2010 @ 1:06 am

@Kamisaki

Try the huge eldrazi with the recent polymorph decks in standard?

Cody says: March 26, 2010 @ 1:07 am

If people are playing 15/15s for 15 in RoE limited with regularity, I think I’ll just stick to TSE drafting for a while.

wescoe says: March 26, 2010 @ 1:20 am

OMG ITS A TRIBAL SORCERY BROKEN TARMOGOYF +2/+2 OMG OMG! Seriously though, these Eldrazi spells would be so much more fun if they could be cast off Mishra’s Workshop.

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Adam says: March 26, 2010 @ 1:53 am

Are wizards trying to make magic a totally brainless game? Zendikar has been pretty much play a creature and land a turn but if you mulligan or get a bad draw you will probably lose. With rise of the Eldrazi it looks like first to play an Eldrazi wins. I could be wrong but seems like you will either need to play control, with a ton of walls and counters while you get mana to play an Eldrazi, or play mana ramp to get out an Eldrazi. I get the feeling Wizards are dumbing the game down just to make it easy for new players.

Also what’s with the new ‘Level Up’ mechanic? Someone at Wizards has been playing too many RPG’s. My plan is to go to the pre-release but if the set plays out how I expect it to then I may (as a player who predominantly plays limited) drop out of magic until Wizards starts getting their game together. I got into magic because you had to use your brain and improvise different strategies. It’s becoming too much like paint by numbers. Can’t remember the last time I saw a non obvious limited deck do well. I hope I’m wrong about this set but only time will tell.

Rant over

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McBub says: March 26, 2010 @ 3:15 am

I totally agree with the different “rantings”.
Seeing these new cards and sets makes me sad.
I like magic because of the limited games: sealed, draft.
Zendikar isn’t my favourite , but this new set seems
even worse.
Ravnica and Alara block was fantastic with the multicolor
themes, Time spiral block was creative and lot of fun,
even the Lorwyn and Shadowmoor pair was ok for limited.
But these new stuffs are just not fun.

Online I played a few ZZZ/ZZW drafts, but they’re not
even close to Alara block fun, so I choose to play Alara
while I can.

Frein says: March 26, 2010 @ 3:50 am

I kind of like these Eldrazi monsters. Their flavour is completely different from anything we’ve had before. They’re like these enormous doomsday super organisms to which individual humans are as insignificant as bacteria are to us. How awestruck and scared would you be if you saw a creature with bizarre anatomy the size of a small city float at you from the distance? Like Blind Fremen mentioned, they really do remind me of Evangelion.

Adam says: March 26, 2010 @ 3:57 am

@McBub

Agree with you on those. Ravnica and Timespiral were both a lot of fun and I enjoyed Shards for the most part. Wasn’t a big fan of Lorwyn with the whole tribal thing though as fairies/merfolk became too dominant for my liking.

Wizards seem intent on reducing interaction in games. The Eldrazi cards look like ‘Play me and you win’ especially if you can attach some totem enchantmets to them. One is even a common! This leads to games being more about a lucky draw than any skill. For sealed if you are unlucky enough not to open even a common Eldrazi Monster I’m guessing it might be better to just go home as you will probably struggle. The new set seems to add to Magics downward spiral. It’s becoming more of a kids game with:

1) Giant Indestructible play me and you win monsters (at common).
2) MYTHIC rares.
3) ‘Level UP’ creatures (I never thought I’d see that on a magic card, made me laugh )
4) Also why do we get a basic land in every pack now? Admittedly the full art ones are nice but I still think it’s pointless and I’d rather have an extra card.

What do other people think? I’d be interested to know.

LSV – As a big player in the world of Magic what are your thoughts on its current direction? Do you think it’s becoming more and more mechanical and that Wizards are leaning towards making it a childrens game or am I way off?

Frantic says: March 26, 2010 @ 4:12 am

Decks with such expensive Spells will only work well if Wizards stopps printing “unfun” cards like LD Discard and Counter and a Format like this is way too close to YuGiOh for me ….

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CPX says: March 26, 2010 @ 4:43 am

Zerg Rush!

rayked says: March 26, 2010 @ 4:53 am

@ Nick, Eye of Ulgin doesn’t produce mana, so you cannot do what you planned to do.

@ “Jesus” You are an idiot. I hate to rage about magic, but How can you say that a 250 card set is not going to have an affect on standard when nationals all over the world will be using this set and you are basing your theory off 12 or so cards.

@ Frantic, I am not sure what you are talking about. Magic the Gathering is such a versatile game simply because of the endless possibilities it has. You want wizards to stop producing land destruction and counterspells? They have! Have you taken a look at standard recently? Your best LD cards are Tectonic Edge and Goblin Ruinblaster, which are terrible in a vacuum. As for counterspells, Flashfreeze is the best, but cannot be played in certain meta fields. Otherwise you have to either split Negates and Essence Scatters, or play Double Negative or Cancel, which are fairly tame.

@ Adam, Magic is actually gaining in popularity, due to the new things that Wizards is doing with the game. Bringing Planeswalkers, Mythic Rares, Treasure Cards, and now new artworks with Level Up and Eldrazi, is all apart of Hasbro’s new plan to make magic more popular. Zendikar had the Highest sales in magic history only after Mirrodin. Hasbro is planning on making a magic movie in the near future and is both warming up to it and using the movie to boost magic’s popularity.

As for luck in sealed, that is always how the format has run, some players will get better packs than others, that is why in professional tournaments, there will always be more than just one limited leg, there will usually be constructed and draft, or sealed and draft.

Also your comment about “Giant Indestructible play me and you win monsters (at common)” is exactly as you put it. I think you should think about how magic works before you make comments like this. Ok, so first you have to play these creatures to win, so there are three situations here. Either people will be playing a faster deck than you, and you will die before your eldrazi hits the table. Or you will face a counterspell or removal spell (Path, Day, and clearly more to come in RotE). Or you will simply be facing the same Eldrazi cards if they are as good as you say, and you won’t win because your opponent will be playing the same cards as you. As for being a common, this means that everyone has access to these cards in limited.

I apologise for the rant.

Please apologise for your stupid comments.

gairdt says: March 26, 2010 @ 5:02 am

i’m thinking soul wardens, in conjunction with conqueror’s pledges, martial coups. You can cast some pretty big spells in a mono white ramp deck. I’ve been playing a MonoWhiteControl deck with these cards to some good effect and this card fits nicely into it.

paths,
knights otWO,
Pilgrim’s eye/Kor Cartographer.
everflowing chalice
and now: skittering invasion!

rayked says: March 26, 2010 @ 5:05 am

Oh, and as for all of these players saying that magic is becoming a brain dead game. If it is so easy to play, how come I don’t see any of you at PTs? Stop being so negative about the game, and learn how to play around these new changes, or even just play with them, as I think that some of these new mechanics are cool.

It is obvious that creatures are dominating standard at the moment, but you have to realise that this actually makes the game a lot harder to play, as you have to establish board presence and maintain it. There are often very difficult decisions in playing 1 for 1′s in game and even blocking (who would have believe it!?). It is actually a change for magic to have a creature based format.

Truthfully I will be happy with a change, as I am personally a control or combo based player, but you just have to play the best decks if you want to win, and at the moment they are seeming like Jund, Boss Naya, Mana Denial, UW Control, RDW, and other forms of GW/X, WW, and Vampires possibly. All of these decks excluding UW control are creature based decks, but that’s just the way it is, so we have to nuckle up and just wait for the change, as it is coming. Wizards are aware that many people dislike Jund, but I am not even sure that they will necessarily do much about this problem in Rise. They may print a hate card, but I don’t think so. They just want to tame the number of players, not cripple the deck.

However, with Jund in standard at the moment it is actually easier to make a deck. Unfortunately you cannot play all the cards that you want to, but that is why it is easier. You have to play a deck that can beat Jund.

Sorry about the rant again, I just noticed how many people were hating on magic. I just hate on bad players. (let it be noted that I am cool with casual players, but if you are casual, please comment like one, and don’t refer to cards as being unfun, because you don’t have to allow them in your group).

rayked says: March 26, 2010 @ 5:10 am

I am sorry Nick, I wasn’t aware of this card Eldrazi Temple. I am sorry for my comment, I take it back.

Adam says: March 26, 2010 @ 5:20 am

@rayked

Normally I wouldn’t respond to someone as rude as yourself. In my comment I merely expressed my opinion on how I personally have found magic to have progressed recently and if you read my comment I invited people to express their own views, out of interest, whether they agree with mine or not. Because you disagree with my view it doesn’t make it stupid and it is very ignorant of you to think so. You made some valid points in your comments which would have been interesting had you not devalued them by insulting both myself and others posting. You must be a very egotistical person to believe that your view is the only valid one. Disagreeing with my comments or those of others is fine but insulting people you don’t know shows a character flaw. I’m sure you will respond with something equally as abusive (I’m guessing worse) but I doubt I can expect anymore. If anyone should apologise you need to look a bit closer to home. I don’t hold out much hope on that though.

With regards to my prior posting if anyone wishes to respond, whether you disagree with me or not, please feel free to do so as I can assure you that I will not be insulting you in response but am merely interested in others opinions. That is part of the fun of Magic. I am not naive enough to believe that my views on the set are necessarily correct and I hope they are not as I do enjoy playing Magic and wish to continue doing so.

For those of you who were also insulted for expressing your views please don’t feel reluctant to do so in the future.

reynad says: March 26, 2010 @ 5:28 am

I’m with rayked on all those points. Thanks a million for saving me the time. And @ the “play me and win” comment, you do realize that these cards exist, right? And suck? Iona is even resistant to removal, unlike these crap rares they’re spoiling, usually even game ending, and here’s the kicker: she’s cheaper. You can even cheat her out, but that’s still only good enough to be an occasional one-of in tier-two decks. I’m sure you were just referring to limited, but that was more of a general address to comments about the direction of the game.

Eldrazi are flavorful and a change of pace from Zendikar, not format defining omgzors everyone’s gotta run me or lose cards in constructed. In limited, I’m looking forward to a slower format. I’m a card advantage player at heart, not tempo. Zendikar’s been a bit fast for me, even though I’ve had the most success with it, and I’ve always felt that cards like vastwood gorger would otherwise be far higher in the pick order were the format more akin to older sets. Personally, I’m excited because for the first time I won’t be heading into a prerelease knowing what wins or how the format plays out. At all. 8+ drops are untread territory for me, and I can’t say for sure how many I’ll draft/run. I’m just glad wizards has decided to expand on a particular region of the game rather than exclusively creating new sell-point shenanigans.

JB says: March 26, 2010 @ 6:39 am

I like the prospect of a truly new limited format, in which these crazy expensive spells are viable. After playing the game for 15-ish years things tend to get pretty stale, so something that is completely outside of the box is very welcome.

Adam says: March 26, 2010 @ 6:46 am

@Reynad

I am aware that bomb ‘play me and win’ cards do exist as I have played many but my main concern was with having bombs like Uluamog’s Crusher at common. My concern was that, along with a lot of the previewed mana ramp, cards this could become a very commonplace win condition in limited. I personally have found a lack of variety in the decks I have played against in ZZZ/ZZW which is something I miss from many previous sets. However from other comments posted I can see that I may be overlooking several alternative strategies which I hope is indeed the case.

I also like the look of the artwork on the cards shown and, like yourself, am looking forward hopefully to a set with a slower change of pace.

We all love playing Magic so I hope, like everyone else that Rise of the Eldrazi ends up being a great set.

tomtom says: March 26, 2010 @ 6:55 am

Personally the flavor of the eldrazi cards shown so far is not that appealing to me..
Big and flashy but not very elegant.
I would like to see a new attempt at mirrodin though (without oversights like skullclamp and disciple of the vault) so hopefully it will still turn for the better

Also, am I the only person in the world who really likes zzw limited? Alara was fun too but zzw feels just less luck dependent and has a greater variety of viable archtypes..

EuroRunner says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:09 am

“Big Artifact Creatures! Meh, they’ll only be good if they give us a way to ramp into them.”
Well they’ve shown us the ramp, rest assured that many a Pathrazer will fall victim to an EoT Naturalize or Shatter. They’re not gonna make these houses without a way to deal with them either. Hell i wouldn’t be surpirsed if they show us some form of colorless removal/ mass removal

Marshall C says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:37 am

Alright guys, first of all, spoilers never define the set, they’re just meant to show off the new mechanics and get us talking about it. I was immensely impressed with Zendikar based on the pre-Zen judgments.

Second of all, if things like Ulamog’s Crusher are common, that doesn’t make it a “play me and win” card. What this is doing is just possibly raising the level of attacks. You’re just going to have to adapt to it by either using it, or finding an answer for it (which with the prevalence of Annihilate on the spoiler cards, I’m sure will be provided).

Think about how Planeswalkers looked when they were first released, total play me and win cards. Now all you have to do is sax a hexmage. Eldrazi is the new Planeswalker, powerful now, but will lose strength with other cards and in other sets.

Mostly, I like the new mechanics- but I’m very disappointed in the “Level Up” creatures. What is this, Yu-Gi-Oh? I mean, it may be fun, or it could turn out to be a one time flop. Either way, I’m not thrilled. But I do expect this set to change standard as we know it.

Joe S says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:47 am

Well, obviously RoE limited is going to be slow as all get out. Heavy emphasis on defender, commons that cost 8 mana, and the Level Up ability are all going to make people want to have massive amounts of landage. The focus is going to probably be on having massive monsters that you throw back and forth into masses of defenders until one finally breaks through or offsets the balance.

As for the bashing on “Level Up,” it is a huge area of design space that, if well received (I sure like the look of it, giving my creatures options at higher mana costs), is sure to be explored. If the keyword is popular enough, I expect a 1/1 with “Level Up X- CARDNAME gets +1/+1 for each level counter on it” and other interesting, open-ended interactions with your mana investment into a creature.

The only issue I have is that it is a sorcery speed thing, so it hurts blue a little. Maybe a blue card that can flash level up will come out one day?

Joe says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:51 am

This with Mnemonic wall will guarantee you a huge Eldrazi guy in turns 7 and 8. If you have Eye of Ugin, Everflowing Chalice, etc. you could easily power out a HUGE guy early on…

Joe S says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:54 am

And another thing, more directed to Marchall C. ‘s comment.

So what if you can sacrifice a Vampire Hexmage to kill a plainswalker? That doesn’t make plainswalkers bad cards. They are still amazing. That is like saying that creatures are bad cards because of terminate, or instants are bad because of Dispell. The truth is, there have been ways to get rid of plainswalkers in standard since they came out (Lorwyn had treefolk based spells that destroyed noncreature permanents- including plainswalkers).

On top of that, any player worth their salt will realize that the big mythic eldrazi have huge weaknesses. Any kill spell that says “Destroy target non-[color] creature” will kill an eldrazi. They are mythics at their best- big splashy creatures that catch our eyes and touch the timmy in us.

Joe S says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:57 am

And another (another) thing. Eldrazi ARE NOT ARTIFACTS. I wonder how many times I will have to slap people at the pre-release for that.

Also, its obvious that there are a ton of non-eldrazi ways to ramp, namely the now wall (G for each defender you control) and everflowing chalice.

Frank says: March 26, 2010 @ 8:47 am

Looks like Marsh Casualties just made the move from SB to Main Deck…..

Marc says: March 26, 2010 @ 8:49 am

Don’t like the flavor/direction a new set is taking? There’s a format for you called Legacy. It’s what I’ve been playing all along and I encourage you do try it…

As for Wizards doing different things (Level Up, etc.) it’s called “innovation”, and if you don’t do it as a for-profit company, someone else will. All I know is I can’t wait to get some of the better “level-up” guys in my Doubling Season deck…

Drew says: March 26, 2010 @ 9:07 am

@rayked: You kind of missed on your comment there… atleast half of the discussion of Magic becoming simpler (dumber, whatever) had to do with limited, and basically all your comments had to do with constructed. The fact of the matter is that Zendikar is a simpler, less-interactive format for limited (sure, Standard may be more interactive now, you could be right about that) where you just play creatures and attack, and this is one of the reasons countless pros have decried their dislike of the format.

To me, when I first started seeing how RotE was going to be for limited, I was excited. It was a breathe of fresh air compared to Zendikar. However, upon further inspection there really are two ways it could turn out (okay, that’s a little reductive, but it’s a basic theory): 1) it becomes a very threat-significant format with sufficient removal. Basically, between the level-up creatures and the Eldrazi, there are enough single threats that can win the game but also enough removal to stop them that it becomes a very skill-intensive situation where you have to make judgement calls all the time like “Do I kill this level up guy now before he becomes a serious problem, but then I might lose if he drops an Eldrazi, or… etc.” Something like this, where you make decisions all the time and there’s a fair amount of bluffing is very skill-intensive, I believe.

The problem however, is that it could turn out like this as well: 2) Walls are good and common enough that boards become stalled out until one person gets a max-leveled creature or Eldrazi that can’t be stopped, and the other person either has the removal or doesn’t. This is not a skill-intensive format because it basically comes down to “having it” or who ramps their mana faster, and this is the type of thing the people posting here have been complaining about because games like that have very limited actual interactions and are extremely linear.

marcus says: March 26, 2010 @ 9:33 am

I like them. I play legacy and EDH and love Progenitus. I cant help but think that these cards were made for me and not all of you. however, I really wish they were artifacts and I am not sure about the level up mechanic.

Chris says: March 26, 2010 @ 9:54 am

Reading some of these comments made my brain die a little bit, especially that Adam guy who was complaining about Zen limited being paint by numbers and how you just lose if you mulligan. Sounds to me like he’s just not very good at magic. I have been MILLED OUT in zendikar limited before. How stale is that? Which number was my opponent painting by?

Chris says: March 26, 2010 @ 10:06 am

And another thing… maybe I should wait until I’ve read all of Adam’s retarded posts before I respond, since each one of them has something in it for me to refute. Adam, Eldrazi are not indestructible. Emrakul may be hard to kill, but all the rest of them die to removal spells. And you know what? It’s not a luck based, draw dependant format when people are trying to cast 15 mana spells. Because you need to think about how many draw steps you are going to get, between when the game begins and when they actually cast that Eldrazi. Wizards is very good about keeping Magic healthy, it is in their best interest to do so. The format will NOT be all about “zomg I play my eldrazi I win”. MAYBE with Emrakul that is the case, that card is ridiculous, but not with the common and uncommon eldrazi spells. The limited format will evolve more toward a balance of aggro and control strategies, whereas right now it is all about aggro.

And another thing: There is nothing wrong with Zen limited as a format. I admit that I did not like it at first either, but now that I have gotten the hang of it I like it. You need to step outside your comfort zone and learn something new, rather than running back to the old set and saying it’s because “the new one isn’t fun”. Because the new one IS fun. I would know.

EuroRunner says: March 26, 2010 @ 10:20 am

@me- you fail

Deuce says: March 26, 2010 @ 10:21 am

There may have been a change, but last I checked, “Eldrazi Temple” was nothing but a supposedly Orb-based guess, though it’s the only reference I’ve heard of the Orb being up.

Drew says: March 26, 2010 @ 11:01 am

@ Chris: I really hate this response. There seems to be a small contingent of players that really feel this way. Like you guys have made some intuitive breakthrough with the format that the rest of us have yet to reach. News flash: any decent player has also figured it out by now – YOU OVERVALUE BEARS (or in this case, 2/1′s). Zoman, that was tough. And yes, I know I’m being overly reductive again, but you get the point. So I’ve stepped outside of my comfort zone now. I prefer to draft controlling decks, but I’m picking bears and bashing. Can I has fun format now?

Figuring out the format doesn’t make it any more fun, in fact it could possibly do the opposite, I’m not sure which is worse: trying to have fun and losing, or accepting that you wont really have fun and winning. This also isn’t coming from a bitter player, I’ve done pretty well with Zen as a limited format (my rating on MODO is the same as it was before Zen came out, which I consider to be good given that in the first month I dropped like 75 points).

So please, stop telling people that they just need to figure out the format and then they can enjoy it. That’s great if you enjoy it now, I understand that fun is subjective and some people may enjoy this kind of magic (apparently a lot of people based on sales, but I’m also not a new player so I guess I’m not a part of the sales-increasing target audience). So how about you go back to enjoying the format now, stop telling other people they’re bad because they don’t (saying someone hasn’t figured out the format by now would imply they must be bad), and I’ll sit around waiting until I can cast blue spells for profit again. Thanks.

PlatypusPlatoon says: March 26, 2010 @ 12:07 pm

Good lord, I don’t know what to make of this set.

PlatypusPlatoon says: March 26, 2010 @ 12:09 pm

And is it just me, or does anyone else get a Starcraft feel from the Eldrazi? Zerg broodlings, anyone?

Joe says: March 26, 2010 @ 1:40 pm

The level up mechanic seems very similar to Figure of Destiny.
So I see it as just a new name for an older idea/game mechanic.

Mark Conkle says: March 26, 2010 @ 3:07 pm

Reading all those comments just made me dumber.

Jack says: March 26, 2010 @ 3:24 pm

Grrr! Preview card bad! Magic sucks! No fun! Wizards evil!

Denog says: March 26, 2010 @ 5:14 pm

Haha, pumps up tarmogoyf by 2, gets reduced by eye of ugin, Sweet.

I could see this seeing play in polymorph/eldrazi deck.

Zack Smith says: March 26, 2010 @ 6:03 pm

already ready to quit this limited format

Eddie says: March 26, 2010 @ 6:05 pm

Aha, Eye of Ugin makes this cheaper.

Bob says: March 26, 2010 @ 7:06 pm

Adam wrote:
>>You must be a very egotistical person to believe that your view is the only valid one. Disagreeing …. is fine but insulting people you don't know shows a character flaw.

Am I the only one who sees irony here?

Nick says: March 26, 2010 @ 10:36 pm

guys. settle down. Let’s find something we call all agree on. everyone here can see the applications for vintage in RoE.

Turn 1: Swamp, dark ritual, dark ritual, dark ritual, dark ritual, ulamog’s crusher, unholy strength.

Let this be the common ground from which we can build a rainbow bridge of communication and understanding and harmony.

Amen.

Pingback Rise of the Eldrazi spoilers rumors visual spoilers faq leaks known info ROE preview - Page 2 - RarityGuide.com Forums says: March 27, 2010 @ 1:46 am

[...] Re: Rise of the Eldrazi spoilers rumors visual spoilers faq leaks known info ROE prev new spoiler from ROE Skittering Invasion 7 Tribal Sorcery – Eldrazi (Uncommon) Put five 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn tokens onto the battlefield. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool." Source: Exclusive Rise of the Eldrazi Preview Card: Skittering Invasion | ChannelFireball.com [...]

Pingback Skittering Invasion Rise of the Eldrazi - RarityGuide.com Forums says: March 27, 2010 @ 1:47 am

[...] Skittering Invasion Rise of the Eldrazi Discuss the card Skittering Invasion from Rise of the Eldrazi Skittering Invasion 7 Tribal Sorcery – Eldrazi (Uncommon) Put five 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn tokens onto the battlefield. They have "Sacrifice this creature: Add 1 to your mana pool." Source: Exclusive Rise of the Eldrazi Preview Card: Skittering Invasion | ChannelFireball.com [...]

Tim says: March 27, 2010 @ 2:37 am

Someone please make a Summoning Trap deck!!

Adam says: March 27, 2010 @ 6:49 am

@Bob

Fair enough. Although I didn’t like the comments from rayked would have been better to just ignore them.

@Nick

Wise words. Definitely time to move on from that discussion

ACP says: March 27, 2010 @ 8:00 am

Turn 3 Eldrazi for me. Screw stupid spells that make Spawn Tokens, I’ll turn my plant token into an Edrazi thank you very much. Oh you will play removal/counters for my polymorph, guess I’ll just have to wait for turn 5 and negate your spell or just play Jace and force you into action. Polymorph decks are for real and RoE is just making them stupid good. Sure you don’t get the “when you cast this card” ability but protection from colored spells might as well be shroud (So far). Sure my Emrakul will die to wraths, that’s fine since I play 6 wrath’s as well. But I also can get to 15 mana pretty fast off chalices, if I had to.

Odd post I know, but well polymorph will do that to you. I’m currently very very skeptical about RoE but as it stands its making my polymorph deck into something frightening. When Shards rotates I have a feeling we will see Vampires, Valakut Ramp, and Polymorph control decks, and U/W Control. As it stands it looks like It’ll be paper/rock/scissors with U/W Control/Polymorph/Valakut Ramp (Vampires will always suck, because I hate them)

ACP says: March 27, 2010 @ 8:02 am

Can’t wait to crack Tarmogoyf in packs and Mana Drain as a mythic. Mana Drain your Emrakul…. untap, cast my own.

SDK says: March 27, 2010 @ 8:23 am

@ACP
Protection from colored spells doesn’t mean shroud.
Oblivion ring, journey to nowhere, mind control, cunning sparkmage + basilisk collar and any other number of played cards can still target and wreck your creature.

JonathanW says: March 27, 2010 @ 2:10 pm

ACP – Remember that M10 rotates with Shards block – it may take both Vampire Nocturnus and Polymorph with it. That makes it hard to predict which decks will be played. (Baneslayer Angel may also go, but surely there will always be playable Blue/White fliers.)

Craig says: March 27, 2010 @ 3:09 pm

In the Orb of Insight, it gave me a spell with a mana cost of 20. Time to buy selective memory for my erratic explosion. Or simply erratic explosion + luck

Fox Murdoch says: March 29, 2010 @ 5:37 am

Stifle reprint pls!!

MichaelC says: April 5, 2010 @ 12:09 pm

More like
On play(7)
Turn 1: Temple(6), Chalice(5)
Turn 2: (7) Temple(6), Chalice for 2(5)
Turn 3: (7) Eye of Ugin(6), All is Dust(5) (to stop development on other side)
Turn 4: (7) Land(6), Skittering Invasion(5)
Turn 5: (7) 10/10 Draw 4 Cards guy(6). Draw 4 cards(10). Land(9). Discard 2 at eot (7)

People will TRY to build it but it will require some non Eldrazi backup to make it so it doesn’t fold to creature decks by the time Skittering hits on turn 4 (even with the nuts hand on the Eldrazi side.)

Reece says: April 12, 2010 @ 9:06 am

Just a thought but..

Elvish piper = Big Eldrazi early game?

Matthew says: May 26, 2010 @ 8:43 am

I personally LOVE these new Eldrazi cards. They truly open up a new thought process and way to play the game. The best combo I have found thus far is using a W/G deck. Get 4 Awakening Zones out, play a Skittering Invasion, and voila. You have enough mana after a few turns to summon a Hand of Emrakul. Quite possibly my favorite card. OR you can not sacrifice these 4 spawn you get every turn, stockpile them, and pull out an overrun. You will do CRAZY amounts of damage.

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Luis Scott-Vargas

LSV is the current record holder for most wins in the Swiss portion of a Pro Tour after his perfect 16-0 run at Pro Tour San Diego 2010, and has the highest lifetime match win percentage among all current pro-level players. His other accomplishments include a win at Pro Tour&hellip