| abstract
| - The Eldrazi are fearsome creatures indeed - so much so, in fact, that the races of Zendikar didn't dare name them for fear of bringing bad luck to themselves, which was already the Eldrazi incarnate. In the face of such power, the ordinary denizens of the plane could only refer to them in an almost religious, mysterious sense. All the Eldrazi names have three words, the first of which is always "That". The naming convention emphasizes the aloof grandeur of the Eldrazi and the near-speechless amazement with which the other nations viewed them. The Eldrazi in Alternate Rise, unlike in canon Rise, don't have 0/1 spawn. After all, the Eldrazi are all big and powerful, and it just wouldn't do to confuse them with something weak and pathetic like a 0/1 going to the sacrificial altar (although it does make for an interesting contrast). Also, I envision the Eldrazi to be somewhat lonesome creatures that rely on their own brute force rather than strength in numbers, and I envision them as avatars of obliteration and not of creature-spamming (that's white or green). With the use of hedrons for mana acceleration and for giving Eldrazi players something to do while waiting for their mana to pool up, Alternate Rise doesn't need Eldrazi Spawn, and nor does it need Eldrazi Drones. Therefore, even the weakest of the Eldrazi start at 6/6 - which, by the way, I made it a point that no non-Eldrazi creature in Alternate Rise would have even comparable power and toughness, to accentuate how the Eldrazi's and other creatures' strengths are worlds apart. All the Eldrazi have Annihilator. However, this mechanic is a bit different from canon Rise's Annihilator. Alternate Rise's mechanic states "When this deals damage, destroy X permanents controlled by defending player, of defending player's choice." The only difference, as you might notice, is that I've swapped "sacrifice" for "destroy" and reworded the rest of the ability to suit. The problem I have with canon Rise's Eldrazi is that they for some reason cause the enemy to sacrifice permanents, rather than just destroying permanents without caring about choice of targets, which is of course the flavor that the set was going for. Also, the sacrifice effect in canon Rise makes for some pretty lame defenses on the part of the colored defenders of Zendikar - what good is indestructibility if you wind up having to sacrifice it? Also, it just didn't make sense that the Eldrazi would smash through resistance with sheer power, then induce an opponent to sacrifice permanents. I suppose that Wizards choose their wording of the mechanic because otherwise the wording might get a bit difficult for either the card or for game rules, but this was just too big of a flavor problem to leave unattended. Trust me, the rules texts of quite a few other permanents elsewhere in the set make a big deal out of the difference between destroying and sacrificing, and for good flavor effects too. Without further ado, let's check out the first of the Eldrazi, which is not at all what you might have expected: Image:That Rises Early.png Your first response might be, "a 7/7 Annihilator 1 for just Image:6.gif"? Yes, indeed: Some of the Eldrazi cards seem particularly low-costed. This has to do with the difficulty of playing Eldrazi decks successfully if they cost even more mana, since there aren't any weak Eldrazi. Also, two cards (this and That Broke Chains) come with downsides. What's the downside? After the Eye of Ugin was broken, a great many Eldrazi were released back into the world. The hedrons scattered across the lands took notice and rose up in an attempt to bind the Eldrazi. The Hedron artifact tokens with Drain 1 are such pursuing hedrons - awakened by the release of the Eldrazi, they fled to the nearest towns and cities to aid the locals' defenses against the coming assault. Because an early-drop (at turn five or so) Eldrazi's initial attack could be quite devastating (after all, the Eldrazi are really powerful), use of this downside made for a much less surprising creature spell. The hedrons won't really do much against the Eldrazi other than slightly weakening it at the beginning (legitimizing its lower mana cost) and getting destroyed when the Eldrazi's Annihilator affect activates - especially important since That Rises Early has Haste. Image:That Broke Chains.png That Broke Chains exemplifies the Eldrazi's resistance to being imprisoned once again after finally breaking free. This particular Eldrazi can't be removed from play in any way other than getting killed - which, for a 7/7, would be a great feat. Your hedrons can still slow him down, but don't expect a blue spell or two to get rid of him all that easily. Of course, when he first breaks free the hedrons are there watching and resisting too. These are the cheapest Eldrazi in Rise. The rest tend to cost considerably more, and the Eldrazi know that's one of the greater weaknesses, so one of them has the express purpose of collecting a lot of mana so that you can get your more powerful creatures into play. That Bottomless Pit has a good mana-gathering ability and good power and toughness, but of course that doesn't come cheap, at eight mana: Image:That Bottomless Pit.png This guy loves to swallow up the mounds of corpses left on the battlefield after the Eldrazi have come through. Much as you'd expect from Eldrazi in general, they revel in destruction and suck up mana from everything around it - whether they be living or dead. Nothing escapes the gargantuan maw that is the Eldrazi. As you see, That Bottomless Pit takes advantage of the set's tendency to have more than its fair share of wanton destruction by giving you an advantage every time something gets destroyed - be it creature, artifact, or land. Coupled with it's Annihilator mechanic and its high power, That Bottomless Pit can gather quite a lot of mana pretty quickly. Then it just becomes a matter of deciding which cool Eldrazi powerhouse you want to summon first.
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