June 27, 2016, marks the official start to “spoiler season” for players of Magic: The Gathering. Wizards of the Coast made several announcements concerning Magic: The Gathering’s upcoming set “Eldritch Moon” and revealed a handful of interesting cards.
Eldritch Moon is a follow-up to the Lovecraftian-themed Shadows over Innistrad which released April 8, 2016. It introduces three brand new card mechanics as well as new Eldrazi horrors to defeat. The three new card mechanics as described by Matt Tabak, senior game designer for Wizards of the Coast, are Meld, Emerge and Escalate.
Meld allows two appropriate cards to be combined in order to unleash a powerful threat, as seen with Hanweir Battlements and Hanweir Garrison that, when melded, enable Hanweir, The Writhing Township to be played. When a creature has Emerge, it may be cast for its emerge cost instead of its converted mana cost. A creature must be sacrificed in addition, but that creature’s converted mana cost reduces the total emerge cost. This allows beefy emerge cards to be a little earlier in the game than they normally would, once again reminding everyone of that infamous eldrazi ramp. Its an interesting ability mechanically, but is very flavorful as well. As seen on previewed cards such as Wretched Griff, the emerge mechanic reflects the brutal, unpredictable nature of the cosmic horrors known as the eldrazi. The escalate ability allows players to cast cards with multiple effects, and paying an escalate cost allows players to choose an addition effect. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the Kicker ability, which gives a creature additional power and toughness, except instead of counters, escalate grants additional card effects.
Madness and Delirium are confirmed to reappear in “Eldritch Moon,” although it appears that the Investigate mechanic will not be resurfacing for this set. “Eldritch Moon” is slated to release on July 22, 2016, with pre-release events slated for the July 16-17. You can read Matt Tabak’s full article about “Eldritch Moon’s” new mechanics here. While you’re at it, why not check out the new Emrakul as well?
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