"Oblivion Sower:Mana Siphoning like a boss!"

"Oblivion Sower: Mana Siphoning like a boss!"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.

Since Battle for Zendikar has been announced a couple of months back there have been much speculation as to who will represent the deadly Eldrazi brood in the upcoming Zendikar Vs. Eldrazi duel deck that will come out less than a month from now.August 28 , 2015 to be exact.

Many have theorized that it might be a reprint of the Eldrazi It that Betrays since the Big 3(Emrakul , Kozilek and Ulamog) has already been reprinted in Modern Masters and further printings would certainly lessen the prices of these particular hot cards. Though I honestly wished that It the Betrays would be reprinted I kind of hoped that I would be seeing a new card and I was happy when Wizards of the Coast decided to show this new card.

Oblivion Sower. A new kind of Eldrazi and it seems that the new line of these monstrosities are not content in annihilating just your permanents. They now also target your library and what is even worse is that they get to exploit the Lands that are sent to exile by anything.

Most magic players know that Zendikar is a mana rich plane and it would make sense that there would be a lot of ways to ramp up in the lands department but this is the first time that an Eldrazi creature would be able to manipulate a library and then manipulate the aether by siphoning off any land cards that happen to be there.

This mythic rare cost 6 colorless mana which makes it available to any of the magic colors and their different strategies. Having a 5/8 frame means that it will be sticking around for awhile and could handle the worst of attackers or could be a mean attacker by itself. Just exactly how I like my Eldrazi.

Now going to the Enters the Battlefield ability of this new Eldrazi , When you cast Oblivion Sower , you get to choose an opponent and he or she exiles the top 4 cards of his or her library.Then you may put any number of Land Cards that player owns from exile onto the battlefield under your control.

Wow is all I could say about this card. Let us dissect the text on the card for a moment. When you cast Oblivion Sower... All this means is that you need to have used mana in order to put this creature onto the battlefield. This negates reanimation shenanigans or it being cheated into play via Aether vial or Elvish Piper. You could still use those cards but it would not trigger it's ETB ability. Insert giant frown here.

Not to worry though since there are a lot of ways to ramp up in the current EDH scene and 6 mana seems like nothing even in the Standard setting. So when you are able to cast it , you choose an opponent who then exiles the top 4 cards of his or her library.

Now comes the fun part. You get to put those exiled lands in play under your control. Since the wording is that you may put any number of Land cards that player owns from exile onto the battlefield under your control it means that there might be an ability or spells in Battle for Zendikar that exiles Land Cards. Another thing is that you could potentially exile 4 Land cards and get 4 land cards that you could use readily. Notice that it did not say comes into play tapped and you potentially could use those 4 particular mana! Plus any other lands that would be in that specific players Exile zone! Talk about a Land Vacuum! It makes me wonder how things would turn out but this card might be a great fit for cards that love exiling things from the graveyard like decks with Hedonistic Trove,Tormods Crypt or Leyline of the Void!.

Sadistic Sacrament is also one card that would help in exiling 15 land cards if it is kicked.(Would we see a reprint in Battle of Znedikar?) Nightveil Spectre or Circu , Dimir Lobotomist would also love to help in the exiling department. This card would also make a lot of Delve players uneasy since their advantage comes from exiling things from the graveyard and yes that involves lands.Lands that would be available for the Oblivion Sower to siphon off from the Exile zone and be used to ramp mana to power out even nastier creatures from the new Eldrazi line.

I can't wait to see this in action! I can't wait to see what other kinds of Eldrazi would be creeping their way out of Zendikar. Would we see the return of the Annihilator mechanic or would it be replaced by a far more deadlier one. For now the speculation continues.And in Magic even the speculating is fun.