Edge of Eternities spoilers have been chock-full of ridiculous abilities, but a lot of them are hidden behind monstrous costs. That said, some are a bit easier to access than you might expect, making them potentially competitively viable.
One Edge of Eternities spoiler adds yet another piece to a well-known two-card death combo in Standard, potentially making it even more consistent than it historically has been. Mono Black Standard players have a lot to look forward to.
Alpharael, Stonechosen
By providing another way to force an opponent to lose half their life, Alpharael has some interesting potential. Five mana is a bit expensive for an understatted creature with an effect like this, but Alpharael, Stonechosen certainly has a few points in his favor. The biggest of which is the bizarre Ward effect that he has.
Discarding a random card to deal with Alpharael can have some very dire consequences. Due to this, the fear of dealing with it might give the card more survivability. The Ward cost can randomly win games of Standard by discarding crucial cards and is a major detractor in Commander, where so many other choices are available. Unlike Unstoppable Slasher, Alpharael doesn’t need to connect with an opponent to cause life loss. It just needs to turn sideways after Void is triggered.
On that note, Alpharael, Stonechosen introduces yet another way to pull off an already existing combo in Standard. Unstoppable Slasher, when used with Bloodletter of Aclazotz will kill an opponent from any even-numbered life total. Alpharael, Stonechosen can now play the same role as Unstoppable Slasher.
This could help create a consistent mono-black midrange deck that thrives in Standard post-rotation. That said, between this combo and lots of Demon-related options bolstered with Unholy Annex, it might be the smaller options that decide whether this deck ends up being viable or not. Regardless, Alpharael, Stonechosen is an interesting take on a lot of existing ideas to make something different, but scary.
Systems Override
Act of Treason effects aren’t the most interesting things in the world, but Systems Override doubles as a potential combo piece for Spacecraft decks. There are a lot of ludicrous abilities hidden behind monstrous Station costs, and Systems Override might be the key you need to turn them on way ahead of time.
Besides being a funny piece of sideboard tech against Extinguisher Battleship decks, should those even exist, you can use Systems Override to turn on your own Spacecraft, potentially using a combo to win the game.
Your prime target for an effect like this is The Eternity Elevator. Because Systems Override untaps what it targets, you can use the initial mana from The Eternity Elevator as a reduction to casting Systems Override. Even with all this in mind, you need two Systems Override to fully activate The Eternity Elevator, but it technically only costs two red mana to do so.
Unlocking The Eternity Elevator grants 20 mana to do with what you wish. Winning the game from this position is trivial, but how effective the rest of the deck is will largely determine whether or not this combo will work.
For reference, you can use a freshly cast Boommobile to throw 20 damage at your opponent. Combine this with the existing artifact package using Repurposing Bay and Simulacrum Synthesizer, and this might be more viable than some think. All of that said, because these combo pieces are individually clunky, they might serve better in a more dedicated shell, if it’s viable at all.
We won’t know quite how good Systems Override is until all of the Edge of Eternities Spacecraft are revealed. If there’s a cheaper Spacecraft that has a powerful ability behind a Station cost of 10, this could become a massive wombo combo piece in Standard.
Bioengineered Future
Bioengineered Future doesn’t seem likely to impact constructed formats, but it’s certainly interesting in Commander. These do-nothing enchantments need a lot of time to create appropriate value, something that Standard doesn’t exactly give.
In Commander, however, Bioengineered Future is an interesting effect for both Landfall and Counters Matter decks. Whether you want to create massive threats or just have your creatures enter with counters so you can magnify them, Bioengineered Future offers both.
Scute Swarm, as well as other landfall effects that create creatures when lands enter play, are the best cards to combo with Bioengineered Future. Those will be fueled by both sides of this benefit, creating scaling value that can’t be matched by using this card in other situations.
This ultimately means that landfall decks will be the ultimate benefactor for Bioengineered Future. The Lander token is a nice touch in slower formats, ramping you towards larger plays.
It’s clear that many Edge of Eternities cards have combo potential. The viability of these combos is a different question altogether, but someone is going to have a lot of fun with all three of these cards.