The main set for Edge of Eternities may have been out for a couple of weeks now, but we’ve not seen everything just yet. This week, Wizards will be unveiling a bunch of new cards as part of Alchemy: Edge of Eternities. As always, this extra set will include a plethora of new cards that are exclusive to MTG Arena.
Scheduled for release on August 18th, 2025, it won’t be long before Alchemy: Edge of Eternities is in our hands. Before then, this set will have its very own spoiler season, with cards steadily being revealed throughout this week. To kick off this mini spoiler season, Wizards has revealed a pair of the set’s new legendaries, both of which seem honestly pretty strong.
Thendar, the Overminer
Like most Alchemy-exclusive cards nowadays, Thendar, the Overminer is only barely Alchemy exclusive. Swap out Conjure for “create a token,” and you’d have a paper playable card. That said, Commander players might be happy that Thendar isn’t playable in the format without Rule Zero discussions.
To put it lightly, Thendar is a very mean MTG card. For four mana, you get an on-rate body with Menace, and an utterly degenerate, albeit symmetrical, ability. Essentially, so long as you have at least two tapped creatures, Thendar can destroy a nonbasic land each turn. Thankfully, this land is replaced by a Conjured Wastes, so it’s not completely barbaric.
That said, obviously, if you get Thendar out early enough, you can really ruin an opponent’s day. Against multi-colored decks, you can potentially completely shut down an opponent, forcing them to play with one hand behind their back. Should you take your time, however, replacing nonbasic lands might not do much, since colorless mana is still mana.
Notably, while Thendar’s land destruction ability is definitely spicy, it’s not this Kavu’s only use. Since Thendar only cares about nonbasic lands hitting the graveyard, he’ll let you turn Fetch Lands into ramp. Sadly, this ability is best used when Thendar, the Overminer is your Commander, but then you’re forced into playing mono red.
To make matters slightly worse, this effect is symmetrical. Due to this, you may end up giving an opponent using Fetch Lands an inadvertent boost. While this could be a fairly hefty downside, Thendar definitely has potential and could be a real menace to play against.
Val, Marooned Surveyor
While Thendar is a little bit situational, Val, Marooned Surveyor is just a powerful MTG card, through and through. Once again, this new legend could theoretically be paper playable, so long as you ignore the bit about Seeking cards. Should you do this, you’d be left with a very powerful, rather unique Commander, or a compelling threat in the 99.
On MTG Arena, Val is even better, although her color identity does make things rather difficult. If she offered access to blue and black, there would be no shortage of Scry and Surveil effects to use. Thankfully, there are still a fair few of these effects in Naya colors, so building a deck around Val is entirely possible.
Beyond being a fairly strong Commander in her own right, Val, Marooned Surveyor should also work well in the 99 of many existing decks. While she doesn’t fit the typical Aristocrats mould or colour identity, plenty of decks can gain from life-draining effects like these. As if that wasn’t enough, Val could also put in work in competitive formats.
Without needing to adhere to strict color identity rules, Val could see play within Temur or Jeskai decks in Alchemy. While potentially not the best outright wincon, Val could steadily chip away at opponents while you search for answers. In theory, this sounds like a pretty powerful effect, especially over longer games, but we’ll have to see how she performs.
Plenty More Coming Soon
Thankfully, while they are exciting, these two aren’t the only new legendaries we’ll be getting in Alchemy: Edge of Eternities. Back in July, Wizards revealed the art for the set’s six main legendary creatures. Out of this selection, Sliver Weftwinder is arguably the most interesting, but we’re yet to see them so far.
With the release of Alchemy: Edge of Eternities only one week away at this point, it won’t be long until we see more. Don’t be surprised if spoilers pop up across social media this week before the usual big reveal this time next week.
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