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Jump to Conspiracy: Take the Crown
(version with captions)
Trailer
Official page
Eldritch Moon information
Previous topic: Shadows over Innistrad OT (OT7)
Next set: Kaladesh
Welcome to the Multiverse! Multiple worlds exist side by side in different dimensions, known as planes, and they are as different as night and day. All of them, however, have a form of magical energy known as mana, which can be channeled into powerful spells. Residents of these planes are usually unaware of other worlds, but there are some special beings with the ability to safely travel between them, known as Planeswalkers.
Magic: the Gathering is a Trading Card Game, the first of its kind, developed by Richard Garfield and his playtesters for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game quickly became a hit, and it is currently bigger than it has ever been. In the standard game, you and your opponent play the role of dueling Planeswalkers, using customized 60-card decks made up of your spells, the creatures you can summon, your mana bonds with lands, and even other Planeswalkers you can call in to help out. Whoever can get his or her opponent down from 20 to 0 life, wins.
Shadows over Innistrad brought us back to the world of Innistrad, where the graveyard reigns and gothic horror is the name of the game. There, we learned that some dark force is warping the minds and flesh of the denizens, and now Eldritch Moon has revealed what it was:
The powerful Eldrazi known as Emrakul has made its presence known, and thus, a flavor of Lovecraftian horror has been added to Innistrad. The heroes must find a way to stop it, or else this will be the fate of them all:
This topic will cover the two weeks before all cards in the Eldritch Moon set are fully revealed, known as the spoiler weeks, where cards are slowly unveiled every weekday, up through the set release itself. Some cards have already been revealed, but this is when they are rolled out at a consistent pace. The main website updates at 8 AM PST / 11 AM EST, but Wizards also provides card previews to other sites that will unveil them throughout the day, including non-English sites.
GETTING STARTED
If you're a beginner, feel free to come in--that's why this is in OT, after all. Spoiler season is one of the most exciting times for a Magic player, and it would be great for more to join in. Us regulars can get a bit technical with card evaluations and use a lot of jargon, and many of us will loudly proclaim that a cool-looking card is junk, or say that a lame-looking card is really powerful, but feel free to ask us if you want an explanation.
To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series, where Day[9] battles various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.
To get started, check out the official page. Basically:
* It's recommended that new players play Magic Duels (thread). It's a great way to learn the game on your own, and it's free!
* For your first deck, you can buy an Intro Pack, a simple prebuilt deck that comes with a few booster packs. For each new set, five Intro Packs used to be released, but this will be the last set to do so. Starting with Kaladesh, there will instead be Planeswalker Decks, which are expected to be a worthy replacement. There are also Duel Decks that provide two decks for a game right out of the box, but are a bit more complicated.
* To get your physical collection started, buy a Deck Builder's Toolkit, which includes not just a starting collection of cards (including a lot of lands), but also has some booster packs and is a good place to store cards. You could also buy a Holiday Gift Box to get an even larger starting collection and better storage.
* To learn about the theories behind deckbuilding and gameplay, check out Level One.
* Once your skill advances, another popular way to play Magic casually is Commander. Each player chooses a legendary creature to act as commander and then chooses 99 additional cards, one of each card that isn't a basic land (of which you can have any number) and only of the colors of the commander, to make up the deck. In games, each player starts at 40 life and there are typically four or more players. Wizards provides prebuilt decks for this format too.
* While game stores will often hold Magic events at other times, every store that has Magic events will have Friday Night Magic. There, you will be able to find other players in your area to both have matches with and trade with. Find game stores here. And to get started participating in your local game store (LGS) scene, attend a prerelease!
PRERELEASE
Eldritch Moon prerelease primer
Channel Fireball Limited set review
While the set won't officially be sold until the release date, that isn't the first time you can get your hands on the new cards. Game stores hold prerelease events for every set, and in this set's event, every player is given a box with six booster packs and a random additional rare card. From this pool of cards, all of which you keep, each player builds a deck of 40 cards and participates in a Swiss-system tournament. This is a fun and casual event, where everyone is still trying to figure out the set, so don't worry about messing up. In addition to normal duels, there are also Two-Headed Giant events, where you pair up with another player and face off against another team.
Prerelease events will be held on July 16-17, 2016. Call your local game store a few days ahead of time to register, or they might just run out of room. Find local game stores here.
CHANGES
Shadows over Innistrad having released in spring and Eldritch Moon releasing in summer demonstrates a major change to how Magic sets are handled, with an in-depth explanation for why here. In short, the two-set block model means:
* No more core sets. Eldritch Moon will release in the previous core set slot.
* Blocks will have two sets instead of three. Yes, that means Shadows over Innistrad block will only have two sets.
* Without any core sets, there will now be two blocks a year.
* Standard (a rotating format that only includes the latest sets) rotates with each block, so it will now rotate twice a year. Three blocks will be in Standard at a time. Sets will be in Standard for a max of 18 months. Note that Standard rotation is kind of odd this time. For the final three-set block, Khans of Tarkir, only the first two sets have rotated out. Dragons of Tarkir and the final core set, Magic Origins, will remain in Standard until fall.
STORY
Trailer
Lore introduction
Guide to Innistrad
Catch-up guide for Eldritch Moon story
Overall History of Magic
Innistrad was always a world of monsters, but when a Planeswalker named Jace arrived there, he found that it was somehow getting worse. Some sort of madness was spreading through the land, and not even the angels were spared. Their wings had become soaked in blood and they were slaughtering humans, forcing the humans to fight both monsters and their former protectors. After helping fellow Planeswalker Tamiyo investigate, they discovered an ancient grudge.
Long ago, three Planeswalkers--dragon Ugin, vampire noble Sorin, and kor lithomancer Nahiri--sealed away ancient horrors known as the Eldrazi in the plane of Zendikar. A native of Zendikar, Nahiri vowed to stay behind and watch over the prison, on the condition that the others would come to her aid when she called. She remained vigilant for hundreds of years, until one day the seal loosened and she sent out her distress signal. Although she was able to fix the seal herself, she was dismayed to find that no one responded. Nahiri left to confront Sorin on his home plane of Innistrad. He informed her that he had constructed a special barrier to protect his plane, and that must have stopped her signal. She's appalled that he would do this without considering his promise to respond to her signal. Long story short, they both acted like punk-ass bitches, got into a fight, and Sorin sealed Nahiri into the Helvault, one of two pieces of the barrier and a prison that's impossible to break out of.
Nahiri remained in there for over a thousand years, accompanied only by the demons that were also placed there, until the Helvault was destroyed during the events of the original Innistrad story. She quickly returned to Zendikar, only to find out that Sorin hadn't watched over the Eldrazi, allowing them to break out and lay waste to the plane. She vowed to make Sorin suffer the way she did.
On Innistrad, she spent a year constructing monoliths to draw the Eldrazi known as Emrakul. It couldn't enter the plane, but the remaining source of the barrier, the archangel Avacyn, was driven mad by this, which is what led to the angels going crazy. Eventually, Sorin was forced to kill Avacyn, and the barrier fell. Emrakul has broken into Innistrad, and her presence is causing those weak of mind to transform in horrific ways.
Now, Jace has called for the aid of his friends in the Gatewatch. They defeated two Eldrazi before, but can they defeat the most powerful one of them all?
Eldritch Moon story
Story archive - Scroll to the bottom for chronological order; the layout of this archive is trash.
My Battle for Zendikar story ratings
CHARACTERS
(Note, the linked biographies are often super outdated)
Main:
Jace Beleren - Blue - A psychic human Planeswalker driven by a thirst for knowledge, and a member of the Gatewatch. Jace comes from Vryn. He came to Innistrad to seek out Sorin, but he found himself drawn in by the mystery of what was happening to the plane. Jace is the most popular character in Magic, and is thus the most hated.
Tamiyo - Green/White/Blue (Bant) - A moonfolk researcher Planeswalker who prefers not to get involved. Tamiyo comes from Kamigawa. She came to Innistrad in order to research its unusual moon, and was studying the spread of madness in Innistrad well before Jace, but purely for academic purposes. She can summon magic by reading stories from special scrolls.
Sorin Markov - White/Black - An ancient vampire Planeswalker from a noble lineage on Innistrad. Long ago, he helped seal away the Eldrazi. He created the Helvault and the archangel Avacyn to protect Innistrad. While viewing things in the long term, he gives little regard to individuals, which is part of what led to him sealing Nahiri in the Helvault.
Nahiri - Red/White - A kor lithomancer (stone magic) Planeswalker who is really angry about being sealed away for a thousand years. Nahiri comes from Zendikar. Long ago, she helped seal away the Eldrazi, and later Sorin sealed her in the Helvault. When her prison was destroyed, she decided to get revenge on Sorin by summoning Emrakul.
Liliana Vess - Black - A ruthless human necromancer Planeswalker who only looks out for herself. Liliana comes from Dominaria, but she feels at home on Innistrad. Despite her youthful appearance, she is hundreds of years old; she made a deal with four demons to stop aging. She later discovered a powerful artifact called the Chain Veil, and used it to start killing her demon creditors, but the Veil could be a worse master than even them. She isn't a hero by nature, but she intends to fight Emrakul to protect her home.
Avacyn - Red/White - The guardian archangel of Innistrad who channeled the faith of humans into powerful magic. Sorin created her long ago to guard Innistrad from extraplanar threats. Without the Helvault supporting the barrier around Innistrad, Emrakul's attempts to break in caused her to go crazy, forcing Sorin to kill her. Now, Innistrad has no defense.
Emrakul - Colorless - A horror born in the space between planes before magic had developed into five colors. Emrakul is the strongest of all Eldrazi and its only purpose is to travel to different planes and convert everything there into itself. Emrakul was mistakenly remembered as a goddess by the Zendikari, and thus it is often addressed with female pronouns.
The Gatewatch is a group of Planeswalkers devoted to helping people whenever they can, and Jace has called for their aid.
Members besides Jace:
Chandra Nalaar - Red - A chaotic human pyromancer Planeswalker who does what she wants, damn the consequences. Chandra comes from Kaladesh, and for a while, was in the uncomfortable position of being the only representative of a plane based on India while being a white woman with red hair.
Gideon Jura - White - A human Planeswalker with shirtlessly rippling muscles (mandatory wording) who can't help but intervene when something bad is happening. Gideon comes from Theros. He uses magic to harden his skin and fights physically instead of with spells.
Nissa Revane - Green - A spiritual elf druid Planeswalker. She used to be a racist elf supremacist, but Wizards of the Coast wants you to forget that. Her magic allows her to control plants, summon nature elementals, and channel mana. By far the worst written of the Gatewatch, and that's saying something.
Supporting:
Arlinn Kord - Red/Green - A werewolf Planeswalker who protects her pack. Arlinn comes from Innistrad. Unlike most werewolves, she can retain her human intelligence in wolf form, which she learned on another plane.
Thalia and Odric - White - When the angels started going crazy, many in the Church of Avacyn started executing heretics to appease them. Thalia and Odric left the Church and formed the Order of St. Traft to protect humanity.
Sigarda - Green/White - The one angel who was able to resist Emrakul's madness. She still fights to protect humans.
Olivia Voldaren - Black/Red - Head of the Voldaren family of vampires, she has been convinced by Sorin that killing Nahiri will stop Emrakul, and is leading an army to confront her.
CARD THEMES
Official card list (alternate, includes leaks)
Official mechanics list
Prerelease primer
Channel Fireball Limited set review
Eldritch Moon carries over some mechanics from Shadows over Innistrad and has some new ones. The returning mechanics are:
Transform - With cards that have two faces, this ability switches the side that's face-up.
Madness - When you discard a card with madness, you discard it into exile and have the opportunity to cast it for its madness cost. Otherwise, it's put into your graveyard.
Delirium - When you have four or more card types (creature, instant, sorcery, etc.) in your graveyard, spells with delirium become stronger.
Skulk - Creatures with skulk can't be blocked by creatures with greater power. So a 1/1 can't be blocked by a 3/3 or a 2/1. People thought this would become evergreen and appear in every set, but it didn't work out.
Moons over my Emmy
Emerge
->
With Emrakul's arrival on Innistrad come her brood. In truth, all of them are projections of the extra-dimensional being into the third dimension, so they are actually just parts of Emrakul itself. The Eldrazi are all colorless (no devoid to worry about in this set), but Emrakul's warping of nature can transform otherwise normal creatures into parts of it. This can be seen by the emerge ability. You can summon a creature with emerge the hard way, or you can instead sacrifice a creature and pay the emerge cost, reduced by the converted mana cost of the sacrificed creature. For extra flavor points, you can sacrifice a creature of the type that was corrupted to form the emerge creature, as seen above.
B.F.F.s
Meld
+
=
When Emrakul's corruption affects you enough, it becomes easy for you to just sort of blend together with another corrupted being, to form a bigger one. When you meld two cards, you exile them, turn them over, and return them to the battlefield as a single creature made up of two cards. If any one of those cards would leave the battlefield, both of them leave in the same way, turning face-up again. This means if the creature is destroyed, both cards go to the graveyard. This mechanic is inspired by the card B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster) from Unglued. Unusually, there are only three pairs of meld creatures in the entire set. What you see above is the only pair at common.
There's also a non-Eldrazi thing
Escalate
While many are giving in, some are fighting back with greater effort than ever. Spells with escalate have multiple options for what to do, but by paying the escalate cost, you can choose an additional option for each time you pay it. This applies not just to spells with two choices, but also three choices. This is similar to entwine, which allows you to choose both of two options on a spell, but this is much more flexible.
RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Recommended columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo);Uncharted Realms Magic Story, which tells the story, written by various authors; and Latest Developments, written by various Magic developers. The other articles generally discuss deck building. For older articles before the site changed, go here.
Official card list - Best way to see all of the spoiled cards together, but only updates once a day.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Salvation's Rumor Mill - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Mythic Spoiler - A good way to see what cards have been spoiled, updates throughout the day.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards. Has an autocomplete.
magiccards.info - The better search engine for cards, with bigger pictures and more details. But it doesn't have an autocomplete.
Eldritch Moon prerelease primer
Channel Fireball Limited set review
Game store locator
PREVIOUS THREADS
Shadows over Innistrad (OT7)
Oath of the Gatewatch OT (OT6)
Battle for Zendikar OT (OT5)
OT4
OT3
OT2
OT1
(version with captions)
Trailer
Official page
Eldritch Moon information
Previous topic: Shadows over Innistrad OT (OT7)
Next set: Kaladesh
Welcome to the Multiverse! Multiple worlds exist side by side in different dimensions, known as planes, and they are as different as night and day. All of them, however, have a form of magical energy known as mana, which can be channeled into powerful spells. Residents of these planes are usually unaware of other worlds, but there are some special beings with the ability to safely travel between them, known as Planeswalkers.
Magic: the Gathering is a Trading Card Game, the first of its kind, developed by Richard Garfield and his playtesters for the gaming company Wizards of the Coast in 1993. The game quickly became a hit, and it is currently bigger than it has ever been. In the standard game, you and your opponent play the role of dueling Planeswalkers, using customized 60-card decks made up of your spells, the creatures you can summon, your mana bonds with lands, and even other Planeswalkers you can call in to help out. Whoever can get his or her opponent down from 20 to 0 life, wins.
Shadows over Innistrad brought us back to the world of Innistrad, where the graveyard reigns and gothic horror is the name of the game. There, we learned that some dark force is warping the minds and flesh of the denizens, and now Eldritch Moon has revealed what it was:
The powerful Eldrazi known as Emrakul has made its presence known, and thus, a flavor of Lovecraftian horror has been added to Innistrad. The heroes must find a way to stop it, or else this will be the fate of them all:
GETTING STARTED
If you're a beginner, feel free to come in--that's why this is in OT, after all. Spoiler season is one of the most exciting times for a Magic player, and it would be great for more to join in. Us regulars can get a bit technical with card evaluations and use a lot of jargon, and many of us will loudly proclaim that a cool-looking card is junk, or say that a lame-looking card is really powerful, but feel free to ask us if you want an explanation.
To see what a game is like, check out Geek and Sundry's Spellslinger series, where Day[9] battles various geek celebrities, often losing, using simple and easy to follow decks.
To get started, check out the official page. Basically:
* It's recommended that new players play Magic Duels (thread). It's a great way to learn the game on your own, and it's free!
* For your first deck, you can buy an Intro Pack, a simple prebuilt deck that comes with a few booster packs. For each new set, five Intro Packs used to be released, but this will be the last set to do so. Starting with Kaladesh, there will instead be Planeswalker Decks, which are expected to be a worthy replacement. There are also Duel Decks that provide two decks for a game right out of the box, but are a bit more complicated.
* To get your physical collection started, buy a Deck Builder's Toolkit, which includes not just a starting collection of cards (including a lot of lands), but also has some booster packs and is a good place to store cards. You could also buy a Holiday Gift Box to get an even larger starting collection and better storage.
* To learn about the theories behind deckbuilding and gameplay, check out Level One.
* Once your skill advances, another popular way to play Magic casually is Commander. Each player chooses a legendary creature to act as commander and then chooses 99 additional cards, one of each card that isn't a basic land (of which you can have any number) and only of the colors of the commander, to make up the deck. In games, each player starts at 40 life and there are typically four or more players. Wizards provides prebuilt decks for this format too.
* While game stores will often hold Magic events at other times, every store that has Magic events will have Friday Night Magic. There, you will be able to find other players in your area to both have matches with and trade with. Find game stores here. And to get started participating in your local game store (LGS) scene, attend a prerelease!
PRERELEASE
Eldritch Moon prerelease primer
Channel Fireball Limited set review
While the set won't officially be sold until the release date, that isn't the first time you can get your hands on the new cards. Game stores hold prerelease events for every set, and in this set's event, every player is given a box with six booster packs and a random additional rare card. From this pool of cards, all of which you keep, each player builds a deck of 40 cards and participates in a Swiss-system tournament. This is a fun and casual event, where everyone is still trying to figure out the set, so don't worry about messing up. In addition to normal duels, there are also Two-Headed Giant events, where you pair up with another player and face off against another team.
Prerelease events will be held on July 16-17, 2016. Call your local game store a few days ahead of time to register, or they might just run out of room. Find local game stores here.
CHANGES
Shadows over Innistrad having released in spring and Eldritch Moon releasing in summer demonstrates a major change to how Magic sets are handled, with an in-depth explanation for why here. In short, the two-set block model means:
* No more core sets. Eldritch Moon will release in the previous core set slot.
* Blocks will have two sets instead of three. Yes, that means Shadows over Innistrad block will only have two sets.
* Without any core sets, there will now be two blocks a year.
* Standard (a rotating format that only includes the latest sets) rotates with each block, so it will now rotate twice a year. Three blocks will be in Standard at a time. Sets will be in Standard for a max of 18 months. Note that Standard rotation is kind of odd this time. For the final three-set block, Khans of Tarkir, only the first two sets have rotated out. Dragons of Tarkir and the final core set, Magic Origins, will remain in Standard until fall.
STORY
Trailer
Lore introduction
Guide to Innistrad
Catch-up guide for Eldritch Moon story
Overall History of Magic
Innistrad was always a world of monsters, but when a Planeswalker named Jace arrived there, he found that it was somehow getting worse. Some sort of madness was spreading through the land, and not even the angels were spared. Their wings had become soaked in blood and they were slaughtering humans, forcing the humans to fight both monsters and their former protectors. After helping fellow Planeswalker Tamiyo investigate, they discovered an ancient grudge.
Long ago, three Planeswalkers--dragon Ugin, vampire noble Sorin, and kor lithomancer Nahiri--sealed away ancient horrors known as the Eldrazi in the plane of Zendikar. A native of Zendikar, Nahiri vowed to stay behind and watch over the prison, on the condition that the others would come to her aid when she called. She remained vigilant for hundreds of years, until one day the seal loosened and she sent out her distress signal. Although she was able to fix the seal herself, she was dismayed to find that no one responded. Nahiri left to confront Sorin on his home plane of Innistrad. He informed her that he had constructed a special barrier to protect his plane, and that must have stopped her signal. She's appalled that he would do this without considering his promise to respond to her signal. Long story short, they both acted like punk-ass bitches, got into a fight, and Sorin sealed Nahiri into the Helvault, one of two pieces of the barrier and a prison that's impossible to break out of.
Nahiri remained in there for over a thousand years, accompanied only by the demons that were also placed there, until the Helvault was destroyed during the events of the original Innistrad story. She quickly returned to Zendikar, only to find out that Sorin hadn't watched over the Eldrazi, allowing them to break out and lay waste to the plane. She vowed to make Sorin suffer the way she did.
On Innistrad, she spent a year constructing monoliths to draw the Eldrazi known as Emrakul. It couldn't enter the plane, but the remaining source of the barrier, the archangel Avacyn, was driven mad by this, which is what led to the angels going crazy. Eventually, Sorin was forced to kill Avacyn, and the barrier fell. Emrakul has broken into Innistrad, and her presence is causing those weak of mind to transform in horrific ways.
Now, Jace has called for the aid of his friends in the Gatewatch. They defeated two Eldrazi before, but can they defeat the most powerful one of them all?
Eldritch Moon story
Story archive - Scroll to the bottom for chronological order; the layout of this archive is trash.
My Battle for Zendikar story ratings
CHARACTERS
(Note, the linked biographies are often super outdated)
Main:
Jace Beleren - Blue - A psychic human Planeswalker driven by a thirst for knowledge, and a member of the Gatewatch. Jace comes from Vryn. He came to Innistrad to seek out Sorin, but he found himself drawn in by the mystery of what was happening to the plane. Jace is the most popular character in Magic, and is thus the most hated.
Tamiyo - Green/White/Blue (Bant) - A moonfolk researcher Planeswalker who prefers not to get involved. Tamiyo comes from Kamigawa. She came to Innistrad in order to research its unusual moon, and was studying the spread of madness in Innistrad well before Jace, but purely for academic purposes. She can summon magic by reading stories from special scrolls.
Sorin Markov - White/Black - An ancient vampire Planeswalker from a noble lineage on Innistrad. Long ago, he helped seal away the Eldrazi. He created the Helvault and the archangel Avacyn to protect Innistrad. While viewing things in the long term, he gives little regard to individuals, which is part of what led to him sealing Nahiri in the Helvault.
Nahiri - Red/White - A kor lithomancer (stone magic) Planeswalker who is really angry about being sealed away for a thousand years. Nahiri comes from Zendikar. Long ago, she helped seal away the Eldrazi, and later Sorin sealed her in the Helvault. When her prison was destroyed, she decided to get revenge on Sorin by summoning Emrakul.
Liliana Vess - Black - A ruthless human necromancer Planeswalker who only looks out for herself. Liliana comes from Dominaria, but she feels at home on Innistrad. Despite her youthful appearance, she is hundreds of years old; she made a deal with four demons to stop aging. She later discovered a powerful artifact called the Chain Veil, and used it to start killing her demon creditors, but the Veil could be a worse master than even them. She isn't a hero by nature, but she intends to fight Emrakul to protect her home.
Avacyn - Red/White - The guardian archangel of Innistrad who channeled the faith of humans into powerful magic. Sorin created her long ago to guard Innistrad from extraplanar threats. Without the Helvault supporting the barrier around Innistrad, Emrakul's attempts to break in caused her to go crazy, forcing Sorin to kill her. Now, Innistrad has no defense.
Emrakul - Colorless - A horror born in the space between planes before magic had developed into five colors. Emrakul is the strongest of all Eldrazi and its only purpose is to travel to different planes and convert everything there into itself. Emrakul was mistakenly remembered as a goddess by the Zendikari, and thus it is often addressed with female pronouns.
The Gatewatch is a group of Planeswalkers devoted to helping people whenever they can, and Jace has called for their aid.
Members besides Jace:
Chandra Nalaar - Red - A chaotic human pyromancer Planeswalker who does what she wants, damn the consequences. Chandra comes from Kaladesh, and for a while, was in the uncomfortable position of being the only representative of a plane based on India while being a white woman with red hair.
Gideon Jura - White - A human Planeswalker with shirtlessly rippling muscles (mandatory wording) who can't help but intervene when something bad is happening. Gideon comes from Theros. He uses magic to harden his skin and fights physically instead of with spells.
Nissa Revane - Green - A spiritual elf druid Planeswalker. She used to be a racist elf supremacist, but Wizards of the Coast wants you to forget that. Her magic allows her to control plants, summon nature elementals, and channel mana. By far the worst written of the Gatewatch, and that's saying something.
Probably sexually attracted to dirt.
Supporting:
Arlinn Kord - Red/Green - A werewolf Planeswalker who protects her pack. Arlinn comes from Innistrad. Unlike most werewolves, she can retain her human intelligence in wolf form, which she learned on another plane.
Thalia and Odric - White - When the angels started going crazy, many in the Church of Avacyn started executing heretics to appease them. Thalia and Odric left the Church and formed the Order of St. Traft to protect humanity.
Sigarda - Green/White - The one angel who was able to resist Emrakul's madness. She still fights to protect humans.
Olivia Voldaren - Black/Red - Head of the Voldaren family of vampires, she has been convinced by Sorin that killing Nahiri will stop Emrakul, and is leading an army to confront her.
CARD THEMES
Official card list (alternate, includes leaks)
Official mechanics list
Prerelease primer
Channel Fireball Limited set review
Eldritch Moon carries over some mechanics from Shadows over Innistrad and has some new ones. The returning mechanics are:
Transform - With cards that have two faces, this ability switches the side that's face-up.
Madness - When you discard a card with madness, you discard it into exile and have the opportunity to cast it for its madness cost. Otherwise, it's put into your graveyard.
Delirium - When you have four or more card types (creature, instant, sorcery, etc.) in your graveyard, spells with delirium become stronger.
Skulk - Creatures with skulk can't be blocked by creatures with greater power. So a 1/1 can't be blocked by a 3/3 or a 2/1. People thought this would become evergreen and appear in every set, but it didn't work out.
Moons over my Emmy
Emerge
With Emrakul's arrival on Innistrad come her brood. In truth, all of them are projections of the extra-dimensional being into the third dimension, so they are actually just parts of Emrakul itself. The Eldrazi are all colorless (no devoid to worry about in this set), but Emrakul's warping of nature can transform otherwise normal creatures into parts of it. This can be seen by the emerge ability. You can summon a creature with emerge the hard way, or you can instead sacrifice a creature and pay the emerge cost, reduced by the converted mana cost of the sacrificed creature. For extra flavor points, you can sacrifice a creature of the type that was corrupted to form the emerge creature, as seen above.
B.F.F.s
Meld
When Emrakul's corruption affects you enough, it becomes easy for you to just sort of blend together with another corrupted being, to form a bigger one. When you meld two cards, you exile them, turn them over, and return them to the battlefield as a single creature made up of two cards. If any one of those cards would leave the battlefield, both of them leave in the same way, turning face-up again. This means if the creature is destroyed, both cards go to the graveyard. This mechanic is inspired by the card B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster) from Unglued. Unusually, there are only three pairs of meld creatures in the entire set. What you see above is the only pair at common.
There's also a non-Eldrazi thing
Escalate
While many are giving in, some are fighting back with greater effort than ever. Spells with escalate have multiple options for what to do, but by paying the escalate cost, you can choose an additional option for each time you pay it. This applies not just to spells with two choices, but also three choices. This is similar to entwine, which allows you to choose both of two options on a spell, but this is much more flexible.
RESOURCES
Official articles - Nicknamed the Mothership, these articles are the primary source of news. Recommended columns are Making Magic, written by the head designer, Mark Rosewater (aka MaRo);
Official card list - Best way to see all of the spoiled cards together, but only updates once a day.
Blogatog - Tumblr ran by Mark Rosewater where he answers questions, updates very frequently.
Drive to Work - Mark Rosewater's weekly podcast about Magic that he literally records as he drives to work. Two episodes are released every Friday.
MTG Salvation's Rumor Mill - The best place to get new card information. The community sucks, though.
Mythic Spoiler - A good way to see what cards have been spoiled, updates throughout the day.
Gatherer - The official method of searching through released cards. Has an autocomplete.
magiccards.info - The better search engine for cards, with bigger pictures and more details. But it doesn't have an autocomplete.
Eldritch Moon prerelease primer
Channel Fireball Limited set review
Game store locator
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