Rise of Eldrazi Set Review - White

    This is fifth of a 6 part review series on Rise of Eldrazi, the 3rd set of the Zendikar Block.

   White

    Affa Guard Hound – In limited there appears to be room for a “weenie” strategy and this melon farmer fits it like a glove. A 3 mana 2/2 is not the stat god we all want to play with, but having flash and a “butt pump” (tehehe) makes him a great defensive player or a surprise savior to one of your guys late in the game. Thumbs up for 40 card decks with this dude in them.

    Caravan Escort – in essence a 2/2 haste for 3 mana that you can have ready to go with only 2 lands and on turn 2. Fine in limited, and not getting there in constructed.

    Rise of Eldrazi Set Review - Red

    This is fifth of a 6 part review series on Rise of Eldrazi, the 3rd set of the Zendikar Block.

  Red

    Akoum Borderfoot – Pretty big body but its come into play effect is not special. 1 damage... I mean Raging Goblin much????

    Battle Rampart – Nothing special here like I enjoy hasty stuff and this guy can block some stuff but really it isn't particularly good or WOW!

    Rise of Eldrazi Set Review - Green

    This is forth of a 6 part review series on Rise of Eldrazi, the 3rd set of the Zendikar Block.

 Green

   Ancient Stirrings – a pretty nice tool kit kind of card in the right deck. This can search you out an Eldrazi or Land or Artifact. It's pretty powerful.

    Aura Gnarlid – If you stick a “totem aura” on this dude hes is kinda out of control kinda quick. In limited he is a potentially serious threat early in games that figure to take a while in most cases. In theory, on turn 4 you could have a 5/5 that is very difficult to block and untaps all of your land (that is of course if you throw Bear Umbra onto it) just saying a 2/2 for 3 isn't great but the next turn could be bad if an opponent is caught naked of instant speed removal. Plus, this dude goes right into the Enchantress deck I am def going to build.

Rise of Eldrazi Set Review - Multi, Colorless and Non-Basic Lands

    This is third of a 6 part review series on Rise of Eldrazi, the 3rd set of the Zendikar Block.

    Colorless

    All Is Dust – At 7 mana ordinarily a card like this has a range of play that is fairly low, however with no colored mana involved this card is splashable in a way that something equivalent, like Akroma's Vengeance (which costs 6 with 2 white that saw a lot of play) or Planar Cleansing (which costs 6 with 3 white which is not seeing play) wouldn't. Any deck that needs a “Wrath” this could be a viable answer for them. I personally do not like the card because a deck in need of a mass removal spell (like Planeswalker Control for instance which would probably be playing Day of Judgment anyway) because this also destroys your Jace or Sorin or Ajani Vengeant which sucks and not in the totally awesome way, but there is room to look at this card, even if it turns out you're just going to dismiss it in the end.

    Artisan of Kozilek – 10/9 that gets a buddy back and does the Eldrazi “I'm big and if I attack you this game might actually be over before I deal damage” a.k.a. Annihilator. The giant monsters in this set are going to make the world slightly more interesting as far as standard is concerned, I say slightly because Jund is still playable and still good. Which isn't to say that they don't make a dent because I think they do, I suspect there will be a deck that abuses the more powerful Eldrazi, which I will talk about later. But this guy is Uncommon so in limited he is probably a first pick or close and the giant stuff makes for a wholly different format than ZZZ or ZZW which could be lightning fast.

Rise of Eldrazi Set Review - Blue

    This is second of a 6 part review series on Rise of Eldrazi, the 3rd set of the Zendikar Block.

 Rise of Eldrazi Set Review - Blue

    Aura Finesse – This pseudo equips an Aura to a different creature at instant speed and replaces itself in your hand. I can get behind this, in as much as there are some good auras in this set and there is an “enchantress” and “rabid wombat” (that is the same card) and this could prove useful if that theoretical deck that I would absolutely love were to materialize.

    Cast Through Time – I've tried my best not to disregard any card in this set as too expensive, because if I didn't the entire “colorless” section would be: “F___ Me that's expensive” and “It's big...” The difference here is, those Eldrazi can end the game all by their lonesome. This card needs a deck built around it in order to be a close approximation of what sticking a giant Eldrazi is. And like Warp Word and Maelstrom Nexus it's probably just not going to get there because Cast Through Time is very very very very very very expensive for a card that doesn't do anything on its own.