Rise of the Eldrazi

Rise of the Eldrazi is the fifty-second Magic expansion released in April 2010 as the third set in the Zendikar block. Prerelease events were held April 17–18, 2010. Launch parties were held April 23–25, 2010.

Set details
Rise of the Eldrazi is set like its predecessors Zendikar and Worldwake on the plane of Zendikar and continues the story line from those sets. However, unlike other third sets in a block, Rise of the Eldrazi is a large expansion. The set contains 248 cards (100 Common, 60 Uncommon, 53 Rare, 15 Mythic, 20 Basic Lands). That's one common less than Zendikar and including basic lands which usually are not reprinted in the third expansion of a block. The free space on the print sheets was used for Hand of Emrakul and Ulamog's Crusher, which are more common than the other commons. Each set of basic lands (i.e. all Plains, all Islands ...) forms a collage when put together. The expansion symbol of the set is an opened hedron. The set is a complete "mechanical reboot" of the block; unlike the two preceding sets it is not Land-themed and mechanics from the preceding sets did not return but focuses on a race of colorless creatures called the Eldrazi. For this, the limited environment was slowed down, players were helped to speed up their ability to cast larger spells and R&D found a way to make instants and sorceries matter.

The colorless spells featured in the set have translucent boxes through which larger artwork can be seen. These colorless cards are put in front of colored cards in the numbering, despite Colorless artifacts being placed behind colored cards in normal sets.

Rise of the Eldrazi is the first non-first set in a block to have basic land cards. It is also a set which has an uncommonly low count of cycles. While regular Magic sets often have 10 or more cycles, particularly large sets, Rise of the Eldrazi only has two cycles that are not basic lands.

Flavor
And Carnage Shall Follow For thousands of years, Zendikar has had a reputation as a deathtrap. It's been a world of deadly perils to planeswalkers and native explorers, punishing any who seek to loot its hidden treasures and exploit its potent mana. But unknown to the plane's denizens, there's a sinister reason for Zendikar's danger: for millennia, the plane has served as a prison for the Eldrazi, astral monstrosities native to the Blind Eternities, the space between planes. Now, the perils facing adventurers on the plane of Zendikar have taken an even deadlier turn. The Eldrazi have been released.

The Eldrazi have transcended the colors of mana as we know them. As a result, the Eldrazi progenitors themselves and those closest to them are colorless. But don't let the mana cost fool you—these Eldrazi are not artifacts. Each of the colossal Eldrazi spawns its own "brood lineage." The three brood lineages are composed of Eldrazi Drones and other subordinate beings, each reflecting the image of its progenitor.

Marketing


Rise of the Eldrazi was sold in 16-card booster packs, 6-card boosters, 5 intro packs and a fat pack. The regular boosters featured art from Gideon Jura, Sarkhan the Mad, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, Kozilek, Butcher of Truth, and Kargan Dragonlord. The 6-card booster featured the art from Induce Despair.

The promotional card given to participants at the Prerelease tournaments was Emrakul, the Aeons Torn</c>, one of the colorless Eldrazi creatures. At the Launch party event, Lord of Shatterskull Pass</c> was given away, which highlights Level up. The promotional cards given to Game Day Event participants was a full-art Staggershock</c>, winners received a foil full-art Deathless Angel</c>. The Buy-a-Box card was Guul Draz Assassin</c>. Visitors to PAX East received a personalized “Eldrazi Death Hug”.

Regular boosters of Rise of Eldrazi come with a bonus sixteenth card that is either a “tips & tricks card” or a creature token from Rise of Eldrazi. One face of the Rise of Eldrazi bonus card has one of five different rules tips or is one of six different creature tokens. The other face has one of 13 advertisements for organized play programs, Rise of the Eldrazi, Duels of the Planeswalkers for Xbox Live, Magic Online, fat packs, Zendikar: In the Teeth of Akoum and Ultra Pro products for Magic.

Tips & Tricks
The tips & tricks cards are


 * Rules Tip: “Levelers”
 * Rules Tip: Eldrazi
 * Rules Tip: Eldrazi Abilities
 * Rules Tip: Rebound
 * Rules Tip: Totem armor

Tokens
The Rise of Eldrazi tokens in numerical order are:


 * 1)  0/1 Eldrazi Spawn creature produced by Awakening Zone</c>, Brood Birthing</c>, Corpsehatch</c>, Dread Drone</c>, Emrakul's Hatcher</c>, Essence Feed</c>, Growth Spasm</c>, Kozilek's Predator</c>, Nest Invader</c>, Pawn of Ulamog</c>, Rapacious One</c>, <c>Skittering Invasion</c>, <c>Spawning Breath</c>, <c>Spawnsire of Ulamog</c>; there are three different artworks for this token, labeled 1a, 1b, and 1c.
 * 2)  X/X Elemental creature produced by <c>Devastating Summons</c>
 * 3)  4/4 Hellion creature produced by <c>Hellion Eruption</c>
 * 4)  X/X Ooze creature produced by <c>Gelatinous Genesis</c>
 * 5)  5/5 Legendary Goblin Golem artifact creature named <c>Tuktuk the Returned</c> produced by <c>Tuktuk the Explorer</c>

Misprints

 * <c>Kozilek, Butcher of Truth</c> lists collector number #6, should be #7.
 * <c>It That Betrays</c> lists collector number #7, should be #6.

Mechanics
The set features a number of large colorless creatures called Eldrazi which were previewed with <c>Eye of Ugin</c> from the previous set, Worldwake. The first creature to be shown was <c>Kozilek, Butcher of Truth</c> which also features the mechanic Annihilator which forces the defending player to sacrifice a number of permanents when the creature with Annihilator attacks. The set also contains the first Instant and Sorcery spells without colored mana in their casting cost. For this purpose the set also brings back Tribal cards. There are four tribal colorless cards in the set, all with the creature type Eldrazi and a converted mana cost of 7 or greater. The four tribal cards in the set are <c>Not of this World</c>, <c>Skittering Invasion</c>, <c>Eldrazi Conscription</c>, and <c>All is Dust</c>. The Eldrazi Theme is further enhanced by the use of a mechanic nicknamed "Brood lineage" which produces 0/1 colorless Eldrazi Spawn creature tokens that can be sacrificed to add. All colorless Eldrazi have transparent card frames.

One of the set's major themes is growth. Level up is a new mechanic which allows creatures to gain benefits permanently in exchange for a mana investment. The set also contains creatures that grow using other means - <c>Tuktuk the Explorer</c> is a 1/1 Goblin legend that turns into a 5/5 Goblin Golem when sent to the graveyard, whilst <c>Sphinx of Magosi</c> grows using +1/+1 counters. Growth is also shown through temporary power/toughness benefits, as seen on creatures like <c>Bloodthrone Vampire</c>, <c>Nirkana Revenant</c> and <c>Wildheart Invoker</c>.

Another subtheme of the set is the heavy use of efficient Walls and other creatures with defender, including a wall (<c>Overgrown Battlement</c>) that benefits more based on the number of creatures with defender. These stop smaller creatures from attacking effectively, meaning that larger creatures, like Eldrazi and levelers, are needed to win games. The set also contains a number of "Casting Cost" matters cards, which scale an effect to another card in play, in the graveyard or revealed from hand.

Totem armor on the other hand is a mechanic on Auras which replaces the destruction of the enchanted permanent with the destruction of the aura. Rebound is another mechanic to get more use out of Instants and Sorceries. When an Instant or Sorcery with Rebound is cast from hand, the card is exiled as it resolves and its controller may cast it again at the beginning of his or her next upkeep.

The set features Gideon Jura Gideon Jura</c> and Sarkhan Vol made a return appearance as <c>Sarkhan the Mad</c>. Sarkhan the Mad is the first Planeswalker card to be printed without an ability that increases the number of loyalty counters on it. Meanwhile, Gideon does not have an ability colloquially referred to as an "Ultimate", a big effect costing a lot of loyalty counters, but instead can turn himself into a creature. Both cards also mark a change in templating as they use pronouns such as "him" and "himself" which were previously exclusively used to refer to players but not to cards or characters.

Many of the smaller Eldrazi Drones that are aligned with colored mana, as well as some spells, produce Eldrazi Spawn creature tokens. These 0/1 colorless creatures can be sacrificed to add one colorless mana—perfect for casting those enormous Eldrazi.
 * Sacrificing an Eldrazi Spawn token to add is a mana ability. No player may respond to it. You may activate the ability while you're casting a spell, you're activating an ability, or a resolving spell or ability requires a mana payment from you, for example.
 * Some abilities affect Eldrazi Spawn. Such abilities affect these tokens, of course. Such abilities also affect <c>Mistform Ultimus</c> and creatures with changeling, since they have the creature types Eldrazi and Spawn.
 * Not all creatures with creature types Eldrazi and Spawn have "Sacrifice this creature: Add ." These tokens do only because the effects that create them say that they have that ability. Mistform Ultimus doesn't have that ability, for example. If an Eldrazi Spawn token loses its abilities, you'll no longer be able to sacrifice it for mana.
 * Some of the instants and sorceries that create Eldrazi Spawn tokens have targets. If all the spell's targets are illegal by the time it resolves, the entire spell is countered. You won't get any Eldrazi Spawn tokens.

Cycles
Rise of the Eldrazi is unusual in having only a very small number of cycles. There are two cycles in Rise of the Eldrazi:

Pairs
Rise of the Eldrazi has one matched pair.

Reprinted cards
The following cards have been reprinted from previous sets and included in Rise of the Eldrazi:
 * <c>Battle Rampart</c> was last seen in Mercadian Masques.
 * <c>Demystify</c>, first printed in Onslaught, was last seen in Tenth Edition.
 * <c>Glory Seeker</c>, first printed in Onslaught, was last seen in Ninth Edition.
 * <c>Heat Ray</c> first printed in Urza's Saga, was last seen in the Battle Royale box set.
 * <c>Naturalize</c>, first printed in Onslaught, was last seen in Magic 2010.
 * <c>Regress</c> was last seen in Mirrodin.
 * <c>Smite</c> was last seen in Stronghold.
 * <c>Vendetta</c> was last seen in Mercadian Masques.

Functional reprints
Rise of the Eldrazi has 7 functional reprints:
 * <c>Gloomhunter</c> is a functional reprint of, , and , save for creature type.
 * <c>Jwari Scuttler</c> is a functional reprint of, save for creature type.
 * <c>Lagac Lizard</c> is a functional reprint of, , , , and , save for creature type.
 * <c>Last Kiss</c> is a functional reprint of.
 * <c>Nema Siltlurker</c> is a functional reprint of, save for creature type.
 * <c>Shrivel</c> is a functional reprint of.
 * <c>Evolving Wilds</c> is a functional reprint of.
 * <c>Soul's Attendant</c> is almost a functional reprint of, only the triggered ability is optional and not mandatory.

Colorshifted

 * <c>Wall of Omens</c> is a colorshifted version of.
 * <c>Makindi Griffin</c> is a colorshifted version of.

Strictly better

 * <c>Boar Umbra</c> is strictly better than <c>Oakenform</c>.
 * <c>Distortion Strike</c> is strictly better than <c>Infiltrate</c> and <c>Teleport</c>.
 * <c>Hyena Umbra</c> is strictly better than <c>Lance</c>.
 * <c>Overgrown Battlement</c> is strictly better than <c>Vine Trellis</c>.
 * <c>Soul's Attendant</c> is strictly better than <c>Soul Warden</c>.
 * <c>Nirkana Cutthroat</c> is strictly better than <c>Warpath Ghoul</c>.

Strictly worse

 * <c>Domestication</c> is strictly worse than <c>Control Magic</c>.
 * <c>Nema Siltlurker</c> is strictly worse than <c>Blanchwood Treefolk</c>, <c>Everbark Shaman</c>, <c>Meng Huo's Horde</c>, <c>Plated Wurm</c>, <c>Redwood Treefolk</c> and <c>Timber Protector</c>.
 * <c>Shared Discovery</c> is strictly worse than <c>Ancestral Recall</c>.

Notable cards

 * <c>Coralhelm Commander</c>, a staple in Extended and Legacy merfolk decks.
 * <c>Emrakul, the Aeons Torn</c> used to be tied with <c>Worldspine Wurm</c> as the biggest nontoken creature in Magic history, and had the second-highest converted mana cost of any spell, after <c>Draco</c> from Planeshift, this distinction has since been broken due to the reveal of <c>Impervious Greatwurm</c> in Guilds of Ravnica, it being a creature with both 16 power and toughness. Emrakul is banned in Commander and has seen extensive constructed play in multiple formats, such as Through the Breach and Tron in Modern, Show and Tell in Legacy, and Oath of Druids in Vintage.
 * <c>Khalni Hydra</c>, to date the card with largest number of mana symbols of a single color in its cost, excluding Unglued's <c>B.F.M. (Big Furry Monster)</c>.
 * <c>Realms Uncharted</c>, which heavily references <c>Gifts Ungiven</c>
 * <c>Vengevine</c>, an effective creature, notorious mostly from its powerful interaction with <c>Survival of the Fittest</c> in Legacy.
 * <c>Inquisition of Kozilek</c> is comparable to <c>Thoughtseize</c> in terms of powerful hand attack spells, and is better in situations where paying life to Thoughtseize is detrimental. Inquisition sees lots of play in Modern and Legacy, both formats where most spells cost less than 3 CMC.
 * <c>Splinter Twin</c> is a powerful and flavorful creature aura that is the main moving part of Splinter Twin combo decks, which was paired with <c>Deceiver Exarch</c> from New Phyrexia in Standard. Splinter Twin was a major archetype in Modern, being the winning deck of two Modern Pro Tours, but was banned in 2016.

Intro packs
The intro packs are: