Last weekend gave us the official first look at the next Magic: The Gathering set, Edge of Eternities. Full spoiler season won’t be with us until July 8th, however, so there’s just under two weeks to wait before we see more of its space-themed delights. Or at least there would be, were it not for today’s leaks. Early this morning, an MTG player took to Reddit to share several uncommon Edge of Eternities leaks, allegedly all pulled from Final Fantasy Play Boosters.
Whether this story is true or not is up for debate. The cards themselves look very real, however, especially given what we know about the set so far. This batch not only reveals a brand new mechanic and token type, but also the return of poison to Standard once again. This may just be a one-off inclusion, a la Fynn the Fangbearer. Alternatively, it could herald a full-on comeback that achieves what Phyrexia: All Will Be One never could. Either way, these leaks give us a much more rounded picture of Edge of Eternities as a whole.
Virulent Silencer
- Mana Value: 3
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact Creature – Robot Assassin
- Stats: 2/3
- Card Text: Whenever a nontoken artifact creature you control deals combat damage to a player, that player gets two poison counters. (A player with ten or more poison counters loses the game.)
All of the uncommon Edge of Eternities leaks we’ll be looking at today come from this r/MTGRumors post, by dusty_cupboards. As with all leaks, these should be taken with a pinch of salt and are not guaranteed to be genuine cards.
Virulent Silencer is probably the spiciest card of the bunch. Three mana for a 2/3 is underwhelming, but the ability for all your nontoken artifacts to inflict poison damage is huge. This is a similar ability to Fynn the Fangbearer’s, but with artifact creatures instead of Deathtouch creatures. The former is definitely more common than the latter, so this one has much wider potential.
With Silencer in play, you only need to land five hits with artifact creatures to end the game. Standard has some great cheap options in this category right now, including Clockwork Percussionist and Cogwork Wrestler. There are even some nice evasive artifact creatures, like Gingerbrute and Diversion Unit. A deck built like this would be heavily reliant on Silencer to function, of course, but with Repurposing Bay in Standard that may not be an issue.
While it’s possible that Silencer implies a full-on return for poison, I think it’s more likely a one-off. We’ve seen Wizards do this a few times before, with Fynn, Persuasive Interrogators, and Etali, Primal Conqueror. If we do get more poison cards, however, this will quickly become very scary indeed.
Close Encounter
- Mana Value: 1G
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Instant
- Card Text: As an additional cost to cast this spell, choose a creature you control or a warped creature card you own in exile.
Close Encounter deals damage equal to the power of the chosen creature or card to target creature.
Poison aside, the uncommon Edge of Eternities leaks also reveal a brand-new mechanic for the set. Close Encounter, pictured above, makes reference to ‘warped creatures.’ What this means exactly isn’t 100% clear, but from a sliver of another card (Susurian Voidb- something), we can hazard a guess.
Based on what we can see of this card, Warp appears to be a new alternate casting cost mechanic. Cards can be cast for their Warp costs, at which point they go into exile. You may then cast them properly at the beginning of something, possibly your next upkeep, like with Suspend. Alternatively, it could allow you to cast your spell during your opponent’s turn, thus ‘warping’ the regular timing restrictions. It’s impossible to tell for now, in any case.
We can tell what Close Encounter does, however. This is an instant-speed, two-mana bite spell, the kind that’s been serving green well in Limited for years. The big differences here are twofold, firstly, that it can use your warped creatures as well as those on board; second, that it makes you choose your creature on cast, not target it on resolution.
This means you can’t be blown out by removal in response to your bite spell, making this a significant upgrade over the norm. This may just be a necessary change to make the Warp synergy work, but it’d be nice to see this as a permanent shift for all bite spells going forward.
Biomechan Engineer
- Mana Value: GU
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Creature – Insect Artificer
- Stats: 2/2
- Card Text: When this creature enters, create a Lander token. (It’s an artifact with “2, Tap, Sacrifice this token: Search your library for a basic land card, put it onto the battlefield tapped, then shuffle.”)
8: Draw two cards and create a 2/2 colorless Robot artifact creature token.
The last big reveal from the uncommon Edge of Eternities leaks is a new artifact token type: the Lander token. These are perhaps the best incidental artifacts we’ve seen yet, essentially serving as colorless Rampant Growths that you can crack any time. There’s an argument that Clue tokens are still superior later in the game, but a lot more decks play Rampant Growth than play two-mana cantrips. In non-green decks in particular, these will be a great source of ramp.
The first card we’ve seen that produces these tokens is Biomechan Engineer. Two mana for a 2/2 and a Lander token seems like a very solid deal overall. This is a Simic card, so access to ramp isn’t as much of an issue. The fact that you can hold up your Lander alongside blue countermagic is a big deal, mind you. This card also gives you an outlet for your extra mana in its second ability, which is absurd in the late game.
Drawing two cards is already good, but throwing a 2/2 body into the mix is even better. While it’s likely too slow for Standard, this looks like a great addition to many Commander decks, and one of the best Limited cards of all time. From the leaks, we know there’s at least one more card that makes Lander tokens, some kind of artifact/enchantment removal spell, but we don’t have the full text on it at present.
Uthros Scanship
- Mana Value: 3U
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact – Spacecraft
- Stats: 4/4
- Card Text: When this Spacecraft enters, draw two cards, then discard a card.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It’s an artifact creature at 8+.)- STATION 8+
Flying.
The last two cards from today’s Edge of Eternities leaks are both uncommon Spacecraft. Neither is hugely exciting, but both give us more of an idea of what to expect from the type outside The Seriema.
Uthros Spaceship costs only four mana, and gives you some solid card selection when it comes down. The big problem here is the massive Station cost. Diverting eight power into this thing just to end up with a 4/4 Flier on the other side is not an attractive rate at all. This is doubly true in blue, a color not exactly known for fielding high-power creatures.
Ultimately, Uthros Spaceship is likely just a piece for the Limited Spacecraft deck. I’d be hugely surprised if anyone ended up playing this in Commander, let alone Standard.
Rescue Skiff
- Mana Value: 5W
- Rarity: Uncommon
- Type: Artifact – Spacecraft
- Stats: 5/6
- Card Text: When this Spacecraft enters, return target creature or enchantment card from your graveyard to the battlefield.
Station (Tap another creature you control: Put charge counters equal to its power on this Spacecraft. Station only as a sorcery. It’s an artifact creature at 10+.)- STATION 10+
Flying.
The other Spacecraft from the leaks is Rescue Skiff. This one is a bit more interesting, offering a flexible reanimation effect on a six-mana artifact. There are several creatures, Karmic Guide, Sister Hospitaller, etc., that offer a similar effect. Getting it on an artifact opens up new avenues; however, given how easy it can be to cheat artifacts into play.
In Commander, for example, you can switch an artifact in play with a Skiff in your graveyard via Goblin Welder, then get the original artifact right back. This is also a reanimation spell you can recur via Myr Retriever or Junk Diver. There are almost certainly new eternal format combo lines that are enabled by a card like this, so it’s one to watch for sure.
Unfortunately, this card fares even worse than Uthros Spaceship as a creature. You need to cram 10 power into this thing to Station it, at which point it’s just a 5/6 Flier. Late in a Limited game, this’ll be relevant, but in other format,s this is a reanimation spell and nothing more.
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