Eldritch Moon

Eldritch Moon is the 71st Magic expansion, and the second in the Shadows over Innistrad block. It was released on July 22, 2016, and is a small expansion.

Set details
Take On the Darkness Eldritch Moon continues where Shadows over Innistrad left off. It expands its horror theme into Lovecraftian Cosmic Horror. The expansion symbol of the set is a stylized silhouette of Emrakul, but also resembles Liliana's headdress. The set contains 205 cards (74 commons, 70 uncommons, 47 rares, 14 mythic rares), including 15 double-faced cards, 6 meld cards (3 pairs), and randomly inserted premium versions of all cards. A checklist card replaces the basic land in some boosters.

The set is peculiar in its distribution of colors. Counting cards by their casting cost gives a wildly varying number of cards per color, with white having the most cards (36) followed by Red (35), Black (34), Blue (32) and Green (31). When adding in multicolor cards, Eldrazi using the Emerge mechanic with a colored cost as well as the land Hanweir Battlements which has multiple abilities requiring red mana, the totals even out more: White, Blue and Black have 39 cards each that can be cast using those colors, while Red and Green have 38 each (note that these totals count multicolor cards for each of their colors).

Storyline
With the death of Avacyn, the last protections over Innistrad have faded. Nahiri has summoned Emrakul to the plane, to take revenge on Sorin Markov. The Titan of Corruption and Warper of Biology twists all things living, be it plants, animals, or sentient beings, into Eldrazi Horrors. Mutations frequently gain Emrakul's fibrous lattice motif, often including tentacles, extra eyes and limbs and her bizarre colorations. The mutations include five increasing levels of corruption: distorted, disfigured, deformed, misshapen and monstrous. Some of the affected creatures meld together into new organisms. The few unaffected survivors, humans and native monsters alike, fight a losing battle against their mentally and physically twisted former peers. Now Innistrad's fate rests in the hands of unlikely allies: Jace Beleren brings the Gatewatch, and Liliana Vess brings hordes of undead immune to Emrakul's influence.

The cards that represent the pivotal moments in the storyline are: Coax from the Blind Eternities, Campaign of Vengeance, Nahiri's Wrath, Emrakul's Influence, Dark Salvation and Imprisoned in the Moon.

Marketing
Eldritch Moon is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), five intro packs, and a fat pack. It is the last to feature intro packs, which will be replaced by Planeswalker decks in the next expansion. The fat pack is the last to be marketed as such (to be replaced by bundle). The boosters feature artwork from the cards Lunar Force and Smoldering Werewolf</c>, and non-card artwork of Liliana.

Prerelease
Prerelease Events took place on July 16–17, 2016.

Promotional cards

 * Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare from the set and a foil double-sided Zombie token.
 * Launch promo: Identity Thief</c>
 * Game Day: full-art Unsubstantiate</c>
 * Game Day (Top 8): Heron's Grace Champion</c>
 * Buy-a-Box: Thalia, Heretic Cathar</c>

Tokens and emblems
Eldritch Moon features 8 tokens and 2 emblems.


 * 1)  3/2 Eldrazi Horror for Desperate Sentry</c>, Extricator of Flesh</c>, Extricator of Sin</c>, Enlightened Maniac</c>, Emrakul's Evangel</c>, Foul Emissary</c>, Hanweir, the Writhing Township</c>, Howling Chorus</c>, Otherworldly Outburst</c> and Wharf Infiltrator</c>
 * 2)  1/1 Human Wizard for Docent of Perfection</c> and <c>Final Iteration</c>
 * 3)  2/2 Zombie for <c>Cryptbreaker</c>, <c>Dark Salvation</c>, <c>Graf Harvest</c>, <c>Liliana, the Last Hope</c>, <c>Noosegraf Mob</c>, and <c>Oath of Liliana</c>
 * 4)  2/2 Zombie
 * 5)  2/2 Zombie
 * 6)  */* Zombie for <c>Soul Separator</c>
 * 7)  1/1 Human for <c>Hanweir Garrison</c>
 * 8)  1/2 Spider with reach for <c>Ishkanah, Grafwidow</c>

Tokens from Shadows over Innistrad, named on Eldritch Moon cards:


 * 1)  1/1 Human Soldier for <c>Thraben Standard Bearer</c>
 * 2)  1/1 Spirit with flying for <c>Sanctifier of Souls</c> and <c>Spectral Reserves</c>
 * 3)  1/1 Devil with “When this creature dies, it deals 1 damage to target creature or player.” for <c>Make Mischief</c>
 * 4)  1/1 Insect for <c>It of the Horrid Swarm</c>
 * 5)  2/2 Wolf for <c>Wolfkin Bond</c>

Themes and mechanics


Madness, Transform, Skulk, and Delirium are carried over from the previous set. Creatures that transform into colorless Eldrazi have an  indicator for the front side and an  indicator for the back side, showing this creature has joined Emrakul's brood. This symbolizes one transformation step further from that shown in Innistrad, Dark Ascension, and Shadows over Innistrad, where cards transformed from on their front sides to  on their back sides.

There are three new named mechanics:


 * Meld, a keyword action that changes the card with meld and a specific other card into one oversized card. That single card only exists on the backs of the two other cards. Whenever the melded card leaves the battlefield, both cards go, and they each turn front face up again.
 * Emerge [cost] (You may cast this spell by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by that creature's converted mana cost).
 * Escalate, a keyword ability appearing on modal instants and sorceries. By paying the escalate cost, additional modes may be chosen.

Card types

 * Reflection is featured for the first time as a non-token creature type.

Cycles
Eldritch Moon has two cycles:

Mega-Mega cycles
Eldritch Moon completes three mega-mega cycles:

Escalation cycles
The Escalate keyword exists on Mardu colored modal spells, resulting in three partial cycles, two triplets and a pair:

Pairs
Eldritch Moon has one mirrored pair and three meld pairs:

Reprinted cards

 * <c>Convolute</c>, first printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds.
 * <c>Hamlet Captain</c>, first printed in Innistrad.
 * <c>Peace of Mind</c>, first printed in Exodus, last seen in Ninth Edition.
 * <c>Prey Upon</c>, first printed in Innistrad, last seen in Magic 2013.
 * <c>Ride Down</c>, first printed in Khans of Tarkir.
 * <c>Rise from the Grave</c>, first printed in Magic 2010, last seen in Commander 2015, and for the first time in an expert-level expansion..
 * <c>Terrarion</c>, first printed in Ravnica: City of Guilds.
 * <c>Turn Aside</c>, first printed in Scars of Mirrodin.

Common to Uncommon

 * <c>Murder</c>, first printed in Magic 2013.

Functional reprints

 * <c>Cathar’s Shield</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Accorder's Shield</c>.
 * <c>Contingency Plan</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Taigam's Scheming</c>.
 * <c>Bold Impaler</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Lavastep Raider</c> (save for creature types).
 * <c>Dawn Gryff</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Avian Changeling</c>, <c>Shadow Glider</c>, and <c>Wild Griffin</c> (save for creature types).
 * <c>Drag Under</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Symbol of Unsummoning</c>.
 * <c>Field Creeper</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Bronze Sable</c> and <c>Alpha Myr</c> (save for creature types).
 * <c>Guardian of Pilgrims</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Kinsbaile Skirmisher</c> (save for creature types).
 * <c>Long Road Home</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Otherworldly Journey</c> (save for Arcane).
 * <c>Sigardian Priest</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Avacynian Priest</c>.
 * <c>Tattered Haunter</c> is a functional reprint of <c>Vaporkin</c> and <c>Welkin Tern</c> (save for creature types).

Colorshifted

 * <c>Harmless Offering</c> is a colorshifted version of <c>Donate</c> (blue to red), which targets opponents instead of players.

Notable cards

 * <c>Ulrich of the Krallenhorde</c>/<c>Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha</c> is the only card in the set using the and  symbols to indicate transformation.
 * <c>Docent of Perfection</c> has the same stats, abilities, and creature subtypes as <c>Perfected Form</c> (the back side of <c>Aberrant Researcher</c>). He creates <c>Delver of Secrets</c> tokens, then transforms them into <c title="Insectile Aberrations">Insectile Aberration</c>.
 * <c>Grapple with the Past</c> is a throwback in art and mechanic to <c>Make a Wish</c>.
 * <c>Emrakul, the Promised End</c> was a powerful card that became easily castable as quickly as turn 4-5 in standard Aether Marvel and BG Delirium decks. Its mindslaver effect warped standard tournament play forcing Wizards of the Coast to ban the card alongside <c>Smuggler's Copter</c> (from Kaladesh) and <c>Reflector Mage</c>. This was the first standard ban since June 2011 where <c>Jace, the Mind Sculptor</c> and <c>Stoneforge Mystic</c> were banned.

Preconstructed decks
Eldritch Moon has five intro packs: