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

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 due to a Green bias in the multicolored rares and Emerge and Meld being colorless cards with a color identity. 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 counting in color identity, 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.

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.

Magic Story

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, 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
• Game Day: full-art Unsubstantiate
• Game Day (Top 8): Heron's Grace Champion
• Buy-a-Box: Thalia, Heretic Cathar

Tokens and emblems

Eldritch Moon features 8 tokens and 2 emblems.

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

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

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

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:

Horizontal cycles

3-Card 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:

Mirrored Pairs

Meld Pairs

Reprinted cards

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

Common to Uncommon

• Murder, first printed in Magic 2013.

Functional reprints

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

Colorshifted

• Harmless Offering is a colorshifted version of Donate (blue to red), which targets opponents instead of players.

Card comparisons

Notable cards

• Ulrich of the Krallenhorde/Ulrich, Uncontested Alpha is the only card in the set using the and symbols to indicate transformation.
• Docent of Perfection has the same stats, abilities, and creature subtypes as Perfected Form (the back side of Aberrant Researcher). He creates Delver of Secrets tokens, then transforms them into Insectile Aberrations.
• Grapple with the Past is a throwback in art and mechanics to Make a Wish.
• Eldritch Evolution is a key part of creature toolbox decks in Pioneer and Modern.
• Thermo-Alchemist is a staple creature for burn decks in Pauper.
• Liliana, the Last Hope is a powerful Planeswalker that has seen substantial play in midrange decks in every format.
• Mausoleum Wanderer and Spell Queller helped push the Spirit Aggro archetype in Modern and Pioneer to the top of those formats.
• Sigarda's Aid helped create the Hammer Time archetype in Pioneer and especially Modern, enabling the deck to equip Colossus Hammer for free at instant speed.
• Selfless Spirit is a staple in white decks in Standard and Pioneer as a protection piece for key creatures and a hedge against boardwipes.
• Thalia, Heretic Cathar sees play alongside her original card, Thalia, Guardian of Thraben, in white aggro decks with a hatebear theme from Pioneer to Legacy.
• Hanweir Battlements is often played as a haste enabler in Modern Amulet Titan decks, despite not including the other side of its meld pair.
• Eternal Scourge is one of only a few creatures that can always be cast from exile. While it is used for its good stats and recursive ability in aggro decks in Pioneer and Modern, and it is especially noteworthy for its combo with Food Chain that has made it a key part of combo decks in Legacy and competitive Commander.
• Ishkanah, Grafwidow, and Grim Flayer were common midrange threats in delirium-focused Standard decks and have transitioned to some success in other formats.
• Bedlam Reveler works well in Pioneer and Modern decks built around instants and sorceries which can be cast for cheap and refill their hand.
• Collective Brutality became a sideboard staple for years in Modern.
• Haunted Dead is a key payoff for Pioneer and Modern decks that can fill their graveyard quickly, such as Landless Spy and Dredge.
• Providence references with its effect and art the number 26 which is twice 13, the unlucky number that has been referenced in numerous other Innistrad cards as a sign of bad luck.

Banned and restricted

• Emrakul, the Promised End 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 Smuggler's Copter (from Kaladesh) and Reflector Mage. This was the first standard ban since June 2011 where Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Stoneforge Mystic were banned.

Preconstructed decks

Eldritch Moon has five intro packs:

References