Battle for Zendikar

Battle for Zendikar is a Magic: The Gathering expansion block consisting of the sets Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch. It sees the return of full-art basic lands, last seen in Zendikar.^[4] It is also the first block in Magic to use the new Two-Block Paradigm, wherein each block has two sets instead of the three that were previously used.^[5]

Story

Battle for Zendikar tells of the Eldrazi, large monsters that are bent on destroying the entire plane of Zendikar, within which they were once imprisoned, and their fight against the Allies defending their home plane. The creature cards are split along these lines, with most being either on the Eldrazi side or the Ally side. Eldrazi cards are generally very powerful or aid in playing them, while Ally cards give bonuses to each other whenever one comes into play.^[1]

As the Eldrazi are decimating the plane, six Planeswalkers each have their own role in the resistance. Jace Beleren, a logical mage, and Ugin, an ancient dragon, are working together to find a way to defeat the Eldrazi; Gideon, a human who fights for justice and honor, is rounding up the survivors; Ob Nixilis, a demon who lost his powers as a Planeswalker, is trying to regain his abilities; Kiora, a merfolk native to Zendikar, is eager to use her new discoveries on other planes to help her home plane, and Nissa Revane, an elf from Zendikar, who lost her connection to the land and regains it in as surprisingly powerful manner. In the original Zendikar block, there were three chief Eldrazi, but most now are of Ulamog's lineage.^[4]

As the block's story line proceeds, Jace disagrees with Ugin on how to handle the rampage of Ulamog and his brood: Ugin advises against destroying the titan, as the ineffable nature of the Eldrazi means it is unclear if killing their physical form will destroy them entirely, or merely free them to roam across the Blind Eternities, devouring planes unchecked.^[6] Jace, Gideon and Nissa settle on a plan with the survivors of the army that retook Sea Gate to channel the natural leylines on Zendikar in tandem with the Hedrons to encircle Ulamog, trapping the Eldrazi again. As the battle rages around the ruined city, the plan appears to initially succeed.^[7]

However, the demon Ob Nixilis, having survived an apparently fatal encounter with Nissa earlier, returns to face the Planeswalkers again, interrupting the hedron alignment and subverting the power involved for his own purpose - regenerating his "spark", the essential power that resides within all Planeswalkers. As the hedron circle crumbles, Ob Nixilis uses his newly refound powers to raise the second of the three Eldrazi Titans - Kozilek.^[8]

Mechanics

• Battle for Zendikar features a number of new mechanics as well as a returning mechanic in Landfall:^[9]
• Devoid: Devoid is a characteristic-defining keyword which sets the card's colour to colourless, regardless of the mana required to cast them. While functionally colourless, these cards were numbered in the set according to the colours of mana required in their casting cost. This is unique to Eldrazi-themed cards in the set.
• Ingest: Ingest is a new keyword appearing on creatures in Battle for Zendikar. It is a triggered ability that exiles the top card of the opponent's library whenever a creature with ingest deals combat damage to him or her. Similarly to devoid, this is unique to the Eldrazi in the set.
• Awaken: Awaken is a keyword found on instants and sorceries in the set, which allows the player to cast them for an alternate cost which in addition to other effects of the spell, turns a land into a creature with haste with a number of +1/+1 counters on it as defined by the card. This mechanic is unique to cards themed around the Zendikari natives.
• Rally: Rally is a keyword found solely on creatures with the card type Ally in the set. Whenever an Ally creature enters the battlefield, it triggers its own Rally ability, along with those of any other Allies currently on the battlefield.
• Converge: Converge is a keyword found on instants, sorceries, creatures and enchantments, and again is found solely on Zendikari-themed cards. Cards with this keyword gain additional effects, or have their effect become strong, based on how many colours of mana are used to cast them.
• Landfall: Landfall is a triggered ability returning from Zendikar and Worldwake, which triggers whenever a land enters the battlefield.

Zendikar Expeditions

Zendikar Expeditions is a set of 45 (25 in Battle for Zendikar, 20 in Oath of the Gatewatch) premium cards printed as part of the Battle for Zendikar block, consisting of rare land cards that were previously printed in other sets. The majority of these cards were highly sought-after when they were new, and now have a foil, full-art face, with new art and a special hedron-themed frame, which led to Battle for Zendikar being one of the most highly anticipated sets in recent memory.^[10] While the majority of the cards' original printings were at Rare, the Expeditions were distributed at roughly the same level as foil Mythic Rares.^[11]

References