An old time NYC-based Magic player, Seth Burn, sent this in to us on Friday. We hope you enjoy it!

Hello there. If you remember who I am The Sunset Squad will be arriving soon to take you away to the Near-Death Star. I feel like writing a set review of Rise of the Eldrazi, so please enjoy. I won’t be reviewing all the cards because I don’t have to, I’ll just be commenting on cards I feel are worth noting. Shall we (I) begin?

Colorless Eldrazi (AKA, not artifacts):

All Is Dust:

This card is exceedingly strong. It kills planeswalkers, enchantments, creatures, and some artifacts. All is Dust can cost as little as five mana with Eye of Ugin. I could see running this in a Green ramp deck, or a White based control deck, possibly splashing Blue or Black. It doesn’t win the game by itself (which is something you can reasonably ask of a seven mana spell), but it should put you in a good position to take control. Addendum: This card is nuts. Add Black control to the decks that can use this. Oblivion Ring just got worse, as has Journey to Nowhere. I know it costs seven, but we can painlessly play five lands main thateither make this two mana cheaper, or tap for two mana to cast it.

Emrakul, The Aeons Torn:

You get what you pay for. Possibly the best Summoning Trap target in both Type II and block. The immunity to spells isn’t quite all it appears to be as Day of Judgement and Journey to Nowhere can deal with Emrakul. I can’t imagine I’ll pay 15 for it too often, but I am excited to pay 4GG during my opponent’s end step for it. Polymorph is a cheaper option, and given the amount of token generators available it should be fairly consistent. Addendum: I’m glad this guy is the prerelease card, I have a lot of decklists right now with four Emrakuls.

Kozilek, Butcher of Truth:

Am I the only person waiting for Blarthmein Dragon, Accountant of Truth? Anyway, Kozilek is the one Eldrazi creature I am planning on casting as well as trapping. Between Eye of Ugin, Eldrazi Temple, and our ramping options I’m fairly confident Kozilek’s casting cost is reasonable. Unfortunately Kozilek doesn’t have any defenses against removal, but for only costing ten mana (only ten mana!), I’ll let that slide. Addendum: 10 mana is a lot less than it used to be. Green decks can have him online consistently on turn 6, and occasionally on turn 5.

It That Betrays:

Not that All Is Dust needed any help, but the combo is pretty sweet. Addendum: Which is not to say that It That Betrays is any good.

Not Of This World:

Pretty narrow but I could see sideboarding this. It can’t protect Emrakul, but Ulamog and Kozilek are both vulnerable to targeted spells.

Pathrazer of Ulamog:

I think this should have cost 10. Pathrazer of Ulamog costing as much as Ulamog itself feels pretty odd, particularly given the difference in power levels between the cards.

Ulamog, The Infinite Gyre

I’m not sure indestructible is all it is cracked up to be. White targeted removal doesn’t care. Neither does Blue bounce. Black is pretty good at making you sacrifice permanents. I had originally had Ulamog ranked first among the Eldrazi, but after a few games I’m confident Kozilek and Emrakul are a bit better. I’d rather Summoning Trap Emrakul, and the difference between 10 and 11 mana is pretty big. Addendum: Please stop sending me on a path to Exile.

White:

Emerge Unscathed:

What a weird rebound. I guess the first time it saves a guy and the second time it’s a mini Falter, but it strikes me as a bit strange.

Gideon Jura:

If I am going to pay 3WW I expect value in return. Gideon Jura is value. All three of his abilities are useful. He can generate card advantage and serve as a win condition. A legitimate bomb and one of the top cards in the set. Addendum: As good as I expected, Gideon can turn a losing position into a win fairly quickly.

Guard Duty:

I love the art on this card. In fact, I think they did a great job overall with the art for Rise of the Eldrazi. Addendum: Much more playable than I had expected.

Harmless Assault:

Obnoxious in limited, although I doubt that I’ll ever want to pay four for a Fog effect in constructed.

Knight of Cliffhaven:

I have spent 5 mana on him. Two to cast him and three to level him up. He should be 3/3. That is all.

Kor Spiritdancer:

Given the quality of creature removal currently available I can’t see aura decks being tier 1, but Spiritdancer is a strong card.

Lightmine Field:

Amusing. Might be useful against a weenie rush, although weenies are pretty big these days.

Linvala, Keeper of Silence:

3/4 flyer for four mana with a really annoying special ability? Check. Linvala should do an excellent job at keeping many of ROE’s most annoying creatures in check. I’m putting one Linvala in my White aggro decks for now. Addendum: I also am putting one Linvala in most of my White sideboards.

Oust:

It is a sorcery. It is weak against creatures with come into play abilities. It isn’t great against haste creatures. It doesn’t work well against manlands.

SO WHAT?!?!

Seriously, this card is excellent. White control decks need to avoid falling behind in the first few turns. This will make sure that you don’t. For 1 mana I get a lot of tempo. As a general rule White control decks don’t care about an opponent’s life total until the mid-to-late game. Remember, for 1 mana you are dealing with a creature your opponent spent resources putting into play. I like Oust a lot. It would have been broken as a one mana instant. As is it is very good. Addendum: I still like this card, but the three life matters more than I thought it would.

Puncturing Light:

Man it is tough to be a weenie creature against White these days.

Repel the Darkness:

A homeless man’s Cryptic Command. This might be sideboard worthy for some weenie matchups.

Smite:

You ran into my wall. For this insolence I will Smite you. Huzza!

Student of Warfare:

Talk about studying and growing strong. Great synergy with Ranger of Eos and Stoneforge Mystic. His only weakness is that he needs either seven mana or another card to beat past a four toughness creature. Addendum: Please stop Smothering my leveled up creatures.

Survival Cache:

Worst case scenario: 4 life for 2W. Best case scenario: 4 life and 2 cards for 2W. It is less consistent than Divination, but fits into mono-White. I’m going to test this and see how it plays. It could be sneaky good. Addendum: Does not play well with Oust.

Time of Heroes:

Whoa. Twenty-four level up creatures, four Time of Heroes, eight removal spells and/or Planewalkers. Another deck I am going to test. Probably not good enough for Type II, but maybe a potential block deck.

Transcendent Master:

Don’t miss the forest for the trees. This guy is a 3/3 for three a great upside. Yeah, it takes 6 mana for him to grow, but when he does he is pretty huge. I like this guy a lot.

Wall of Omens:

It breaks my heart to admit this but Wall of Omens is probably better than Wall of Blossoms. Wall of Omens is just tough enough to massively frustrate Jund. Addendum: It is starting to feel like this entire set kicks Jund in the balls.

Blue:

Cast Through Time:

OK, I have the basic plan. I power up Magosi, The Waterveil. I play Cast Through Time. I cast a spell and use Magosi to resolve the spell twice before my opponent gets a turn. What spell do I then cast to win the game? That’s the part I’m missing. Even if I skip the Magosi step, I’m still not sure what I want to cast. Is the plan to eventually grind them to death through gradual card advantage. That seems a bit off given I already spent seven mana on an enchantment that isn’t easily splashable. I guess in other formats people will use this to chain Time Walk effects. I don’t see people using it in Type II or block right now.

Champion’s Drake:

A 4/4 flyer for two mana is enough to get my attention. My biggest concern is synergy. Most of the Blue level up creatures seem more at home in a control deck. When you don’t have any level up creatures a 1/1 flyer for two is pretty weak, but not useless. Champion’s Drake would probably work best in a UW aggro deck. Let’s see if we can find him some friends.

Coralhelm Commander:

Well hello there! Would you and Champion’s Drake like to be friends? It starts as a bear, grows into a Phantom Monster, and eventually becomes an Air Elemental/Merfolk Lord. Not bad, but like Champion’s Drake his value will be determined by his synergy within a deck.

Deprive:

Thematically I would prefer to have to return an Island to my hand, but I understand that non-basic lands are being pushed right now. Early in the game the tempo hit is pretty bad but having a hard counter online early is often going to be worth the cost. Later in the game the drawback might prove actively helpful. I’m not sure if I like this more than Cancel. The decision will partly be based on the speed of the format. Addendum: I’m tapped out on turn two anyway, the difference between two and three mana is still pretty big, but it will only be huge when going second against decks that can go nuts on turn three.

Domestication:

This reminds me of Threads of Disloyalty. If you have a sacrifice effect you can use this to steal and kill a large man. Otherwise, there are enough good targets for this that it is a potential sideboard card. My biggest gripe with Domestication is that the creatures you most want to steal are hard to domesticate.

Dormant Gomazoa:

A 5/5 flyer for three mana is a great deal, even for a wall, so the key is getting that first untap. The jellyfish works well with Time Warp and Kiss of the Amesha. I don’t feel like we currently have the tools to abuse Dormant Gomazoa. Keep him in mind.

Guard Gomazoa:

I’m not certain this is good enough given our other options, but it does demand a removal spell if you want to kill it.

Lighthouse Chronologist:

Requires seven blue mana and one mana of any color. If you are tapping out to level him up he becomes a sitting duck. If you are protecting him it will take a long time to get him leveled up. I’m not sold on the Chronologist. Addendum: Well, he isn’t nuts but he does become very annoying in the late game. A nice role player, but not a star.

Regress:

A better card now than when it was first printed.

Renegade Doppelganger:

Sadly it does not play well with legends.

See Beyond:

This allows me to play “dead cards” in certain matchups maindeck. Of course, Jace already allowed me to do that. Also, both allow me to play cards that I can’t cast.

Shared Discovery:

How many tokens do I have?

Sphinx of the Magosi:

A fine card ten years ago. At this point Sphinx of the Magosi is probably a too vulnerable to removal and too slow.

Training Grounds:

The problem here is that decks that can abuse this will generally be pretty awful when you don’t draw it. Even if you do the deck probably is not degenerate.

Unified Will:

Maybe this works as a sideboard card in UW aggro against creature-light decks.

Venerated Teacher:

Good effort but I feel like the creatures that really benefit from him are otherwise unplayable.