MTG Duel Decks Zendikar vs Eldrazi: New Cards from Battle for Zendikar

by ElspethFTW, Old School Duelist

Yesterday the deck lists for the Duel Decks: Zendikar vs Eldrazi were revealed. Also revealed were several new cards from Battle of Zendikar, and from what we’re seeing of these few preview cards, there are some sweet new mechanics coming our way. Before we get into the Duel Decks themselves, which are jam-packed with value, we will take a look at the new cards.

Oblivion Sower we already knew about, and I’m personally a huge fan of this guy, especially for Commander. The Sower has solid stats at 5 / 8 for 6 colorless mana. Being able to exile a bunch of cards, then play any lands from exile, is really sweet. From what we can tell, apparently Eldrazi and their drones are going to get to exile a bunch of stuff from opponent’s decks. Let’s take a look at those drones now.

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The first of these is Dominator Drone. While it costs 2B to cast, it has the new Devoid mechanic, meaning that despite having a colored mana cost, the card itself is colorless. This Devoid mechanic has some precedent with the card Ghostfire from Future Sight, which cost 2R but had no color. This Drone has two cool abilities. The first is a new keyworded mechanic: Ingest. Whenever a creature with Ingest deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of his or her deck. This obviously has excellent synergy with the Sower, but who knows what other crazy abilities other Eldrazi will get to play cards from exile. The other ability is another triggered one: whenever it enters the battlefield, if you control another colorless creature, each opponent loses 2 life. At common, this card is super playable, and I really like it.

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The second Drone costs Red/Black to cast, but also is Devoid of color. It doesn’t have Ingest, but it does have an activated ability for 1 colorless mana to give a colorless creature (including itself) haste until end of turn. It’s also a 3/2 for only 2 mana, which is super good. If it gives itself Haste when it enters, it’s 1BR for a 3/2 with haste - perfectly good value. At uncommon, this is a great value. I could see decks easily running four copies of this and the Dominator Drone.

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Next we have the return of Landfall, in this instance on a new Enchantment called Retreat to Kazandu. It gives you two options: either put a +1/+1 counter on a target creature or gain 2 life. Usually you’d want to get the counter, but if you for whatever reason have no creatures on board, you will happily take the free 2 life. At 2G it’s hard to say if it will be Constructed playable, but it would be good in a Hardened Scales deck, in which you’d be getting 2 counters instead of one. I like it a lot, and it will definitely see Commander play.

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Sheer Drop is our introduction to the Awaken mechanic. Personally, I’m not crazy about Sheer Drop itself, although 2W for an Assassinate effect in white is definitely fine in Limited. But for the alternate cost of 5W, you get that effect plus you can turn one of your lands into a 0/0 that gains 3 +1/+1 counters. It is, indeed, still a land. This is one way to turn any of your lands into a man-land, which is definitely cool. We’ll be looking forward to more Constructed-playable cards with Awaken X on them.

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The rare Veteran Warleader is our first glimpse into the new Allies. The Ally Tribe had potential in the original Zendikar block, but outside of some funky 5-color brews and some successes in Commander, there haven’t been enough Allies that were Constructed-playable. This one certainly is: at 1GW, its power and toughness are equal to the number of creatures you control. But this is much more than just a Crusader of Odric: you also get to tap another untapped Ally you control to give the Warleader first strike, vigilance, or trample until end of turn. I really like this guy, especially with Collected Company. It will be interesting to see how much support these Allies get, because this is a great start.

Now that we’ve taken a look at the new cards, look forward to our upcoming Duel Decks: Zendikar vs Eldrazi deck reviews!

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