The going rate for drawing two cards in Magic: The Gathering is generally three mana. Divination isn’t particularly playable, but attach some other effects, and this can become more exciting. Flame of Anor or Archmage’s Charm, for example, have been, or remain, exceptionally playable.
Cards rarely get printed that, essentially, draw two cards for two mana and provide additional card selection, but they are consistently very powerful. Expressive Iteration is an example of this. Provided you can play the card you exile, this card offers some card filtering and raw card advantage. The spell was so powerful that it ended up getting banned in Pioneer and Legacy.
Hymn of the Faller doesn’t look quite that good, but this is an above-rate MTG card compared to most of the draw spells we see nowadays.
Hymn of the Faller
For two mana, provided you’ve triggered Void, Hymn of the Faller Surveils 1, draws two cards, and loses you a life. This checks all the boxes in terms of card advantage and card filtering that Expressive Iteration did. The mana value of the card is also less restrictive, allowing it to be splashed more easily in various black-colored decks. As long as you can get the full effect of Hymn of the Faller, we have a strictly better Night’s Whisper on our hands, which still sees heavy Duel Commander play, and occasionally appears in Legacy.
So, how do we get the full effect of Hymn of the Faller? To trigger Void, we need to either Warp a card, or have a nonland card leave the battlefield from your control. This might be a bit difficult to trigger in formats like Standard, but in Modern and beyond, it’s a breeze. Mishra’s Bauble and other common Urza’s Saga targets can leave play for free/cheap, allowing you to trigger Void with ease. This pairs exceptionally well with Malevolent Rumble, another card selection spell that creates an Eldrazi Scion on resolution. That can trigger Void, turning on Hymn of the Faller to its fullest.
This can also do a lot of work in the few decks that still run Evoke Elementals in Modern and Legacy. Those will easily trigger Void themselves since they disappear as quickly as they enter play.
So, while Hymn of the Faller has plenty of Modern potential, how does it stack up in younger formats? Void is much more difficult to trigger in Standard, which could ruin Hymn’s potential there, but it does work in some new potential shells supported by Edge of Eternities, like Aristocrats.
Edge Rover
Edge Rover may not look particularly exciting, but it’s a great addition to the new Mono Green Landfall-based aggro deck. The little scout is already above rate for one mana, but the Lander token it creates when dying fuels all of your other creatures. Tifa Lockhart, Sazh’s Chocobo, and Mossborn Hydra all get significant buffs from an extra land. This could also support a larger creature in your sideboard. Notably, this new Mono-Green archetype is basically rotation-proof, ensuring that Edge Rover has a chance of seeing play in this as a potential upgrade.
In addition to supporting Mono-Green Aggro, Edge Rover could be an interesting speed bump for Standard ramp decks. Taking down a creature and ramping a land for just one mana is an amazing deal. Throw in some potential artifact shenanigans, and Reach to take out some pesky fliers, and Edge Rover certainly looks like it could see Standard play post Edge of Eternities.
Requiem Monolith
Requiem Monolith, on the other hand, might not be a constructed card, but it’s exciting for Commander. At worst, this card acts as an optional Phyrexian Arena, as long as you have a creature to target with it, which is already good enough for the format. Combo that with cards that want to be damaged, like Dinosaurs with Enrage effects, and you’ve got a great niche for Requiem Monolith.
While the floor is already interesting, the ceiling for Requiem Monolith is ridiculous. At best, this card can partner with Dawnsire, Sunstar Dreadnought in Limited for an instant kill combo. Activate Requiem Monolith targeting your opponent’s creature, and use Dawnsire’s combat trigger to make your opponent lose 100 life and draw 100 cards. Pain for All, another new Edge of Eternities card, can create a similar combo. That said, this still requires Stationing 10 power into Dawnsire, which is a big ask.
A reasonable middle ground is using Requiem Monolith in combination with larger damage effects to draw a decent amount of cards. Repurposing Witchstalker Frenzy into a draw five cards and lose five life spell is really interesting, and can be equally as interesting when trying to burn out an opponent with a combo. This card already creates combos with Screaming Nemesis and could be an interesting addition for a Standard Midrange deck.
Requiem Monolith is a decent card in the right deck at worst, and a crazy combo piece in situations that really suit it. This card will certainly see Commander play, seems interesting in Limited, and could even see some constructed play.
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