In just a couple of days, the preview season for Edge of Eternities will come to an end, and the full set will stretch out before us like the endless cosmos. For the most part, this is looking like one of the more reasonable recent Magic: The Gathering releases. Most rares and mythics feel, if anything, a bit underpowered compared to what we’re used to. There are still plenty of powerful new pieces in Edge of Eternities, mind you, some even in the uncommon slot.
From a one-card reanimation powerhouse to a number of new toys for aggressive blue lists, the awkward middle child of Magic rarity is eating well this set. Having so much juice further down the totem pole should make for some exciting games of Limited. If these cards are as good as they look, that excitement could easily carry over into other formats, too.
Seedship Broodtender
- Mana Value: BG
- Type: Creature – Insect Citizen
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: When this creature enters, mill three cards. (Put the top three cards of your library into your graveyard.)
3BG, Sacrifice this creature: Return target creature or Spacecraft card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.- Stats: 2/3
Seedship Broodtender is a concise summary of modern Magic: The Gathering design in one card. In the past, Reanimator decks required both setup and payoff cards to function. You’d need something like Cache Grab to put your big creature in the graveyard, then Zombify to bring it back. Broodtender cuts out the middle man, however, giving you everything you need on a well-statted body for good measure.
For Reanimator decks in Standard, this is an easy inclusion. The reanimation effect here isn’t super-efficient, and it’s only sorcery speed, but the fact that it exists essentially ‘draws’ you a card in such strategies. Much weaker self-mill pieces like Say Its Name already see some play in the format, so swapping them out for Broodtender should be a no-brainer.
Commander is going to love this, too. Whether you’re running Meren or Karador, any Golgari deck that plays in the graveyard is going to appreciate what Broodtender has to offer. There’s an argument to be made that streamlined designs like this are bad for the game as a whole. At the same time, it’s hard not to love a card so perfectly-suited for an underdog archetype as this one.
Meltstrider Eulogist
- Mana Value: 2G
- Type: Creature – Insect Soldier
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: Whenever a creature you control with a +1/+1 counter on it dies, draw a card.
- Stats: 3/3
While not as obviously pushed as Broodtender, Meltstrider Eulogist remains a very accomplished Edge of Eternities uncommon. Any card that can draw you multiple cards in a turn is worth looking at carefully. Eulogist can do just that, provided your deck runs enough +1/+1 counter synergies.
What’s surprising about Eulogist is the lack of safety valves on it. As we’ve seen with the Station lands, Wizards is playing things pretty safe with this set. You’d expect a nontoken restriction, or a once-per-turn limiter, but neither shows up. This can draw you as many cards as you have countered creatures to sacrifice.
Naturally, this plays just fine in a +1/+1 counter theme deck, but its real strength lies in the realm of Aristocrats. When you can sacrifice your creatures on demand, this suddenly becomes much more exciting. Sure you need to run specific pieces, Undying creatures like Young Wolf, perhaps, but the end result is a three-mana draw engine that outclasses the usual options like Morbid Opportunist. This card is likely too specific for Standard, but with Collector’s Cage on the up again never say never.
Uthros Psionicist
- Mana Value: 2U
- Type: Creature – Jellyfish Scientist
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: The second spell you cast each turn costs 2 less to cast.
- Stats: 2/4
From an uncommon with fairly narrow applications, we come to one that can do pretty much anything you need it to. Uthros Psionicist is one of many cards in Edge of Eternities that continues the idea introduced with Tarkir: Dragonstorm’s Flurry mechanic. If you’re consistently casting two spells a turn with this Jellyfish Scientist out, you’ll get a two-mana discount on the second one each time.
This is a pretty massive deal, for both Standard and Commander. Mana cheating is one of the most powerful things you can do in a game of Magic: The Gathering, and Psionicist makes it trivial. It even works the turn you play it, provided you can follow it up with another spell right away. In Commander, you can easily chain a mana rock after this to double-ramp in Mono-Blue.
In Standard there are less opportunities to cast a totally free spell with this immediately, but it can still provide a ton of value over time. Chaining one Psionicist into another on turn four seems pretty powerful, especially in an artifact-heavy deck with high colorless costs. Maybe some underplayed colorless pieces like The Aetherspark will finally see breakouts thanks to this card.
Station Monitor
- Mana Value: WU
- Type: Creature – Lizard Artificer
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: Whenever you cast your second spell each turn, create a 1/1 colorless Drone artifact creature token with Flying and “This token can block only creatures with Flying.”
- Stats: 2/2
Speaking of casting two spells a turn, Station Monitor is another Edge of Eternities uncommon that rewards you for doing just that. In this case, double-spelling nets you a 1/1 Flier, which is actually pretty huge for aggressive decks. It’s no Cori-Steel Cutter, and thank God for that, but I could really see this seeing play in some of the newer Prowess decks in Standard.
Some players have been experimenting with an Azorius take on Prowess lately, and Monitor slots in there perfectly. A single card that can build you a swarm of pesky 1/1 Fliers is exactly the kind of card that deck wants. These tokens are great on their own, but they also make great Equip targets for Astrologian’s Planisphere, the de facto best Prowess Equipment piece after Steel Cutter caught the ban hammer.
Azorius aside, I can also see Monitor doing work in the various Jeskai decks in the format right now. Jeskai Oculus could use some extra aggression, and Jeskai versions of Prowess will likely become much more common soon, even if the white splash is for this card and Cosmogrand Zenith alone. Monitor may look like a Limited signpost at first, but it has serious competitive potential too.
Desculpting Blast
- Mana Value: 1U
- Type: Instant
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Card Text: Return target nonland permanent to its owner’s hand. If it was attacking, create a 1/1 colorless Drone artifact creature token with Flying and “This token can block only creatures with Flying.”
Turns out blue Tempo decks are getting a lot of love in the Edge of Eternities uncommon slot. Desculpting Blast is a pretty outrageous card, offering such lists the reversal power they need to cement wins in the early game.
Right now, Izzet Cauldron, Izzet Prowess, and Jeskai Oculus are all loving Into the Flood Maw, and who can blame them. It’s hard to deny the power of a one-mana instant speed universal bounce effect, after all. Desculpting Blast may dethrone this fan-favorite trick, however, thanks to its lack of downside. Sure, you’re spending one extra mana, but you’re also getting a creature on your side, not providing your opponent with a free Fish. With Monstrous Rage out of the format, Aggro decks can no longer afford to simply ignore free chump blockers like that.
Desculpting Blast also retains all the flexibility of Into the Flood Maw. You’ll only get the token if you bounce an attacking creature, but in a pinch any nonland permanent is fair game. This is exactly the kind of powerhouse tempo trick that some of the best decks in Standard are crying out for. I’d be very surprised if this didn’t see a ton of play, moreso than any other card in this roundup.
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