Block Discussion: Zendikar

Post your impressions of the newest card set here,or take the poll, or do both!

Too many junk rares. It seems the rares are either big money or nothing kind of like REBORN.

There are a LOT of janky rares in the set, but new fetches (got my sets ) completely offset any bad things. Yay for extended cards

I liked the idea of allies and the rare lands (not the dual lands i think those are way over priced). I agree there are too many junk rares though.

Check out the new "Arcana announces..." topic for some interesting news regarding the block.


I'm liking Zendikar so far. Allies can get broken at times, but from a collectors standpoint it's really good looking.

I love that this set actually made drawing a land and playing it a good thing, you get rewarded for doing something almost every turn.

I'm hoping they make the other 5 color combinations of the fetch lands (White/green to say the least would help a lot of decks).

I sure hope they DON'T release more fetchlands. Too expensive to build a deck if you need 12-16 for every deck you build.

Why would you want that many in any deck? You'd be losing be losing 12-16 life!

To make it seem like a big deal let's put that in percentages: Um... That's 60-80% of your life!

But... if you want to die really fast who am I to argue.

Just because you have 16 fetches in your deck doesn't mean you are gonna draw all 16. Activating landfall, fixing your mana, and thinning your deck are why you want to play as many fetchlands as possible. Boros builds are starting to include terramorphics the fetch mechanic is so powerful.

To make my point in the other direction, I use 8 and the only reason is because I have lifelink in my deck, so I can get that life back fairly quickly.

Also my current deck cycles through and plays land like it's nobodys buisness, (can have up to 6 land and maybe more on turn 3 on a good day, and this doesn't include bonus mana from lotus cobras landfall in which you pay 1 life and get 2 mana but MAY include small guys like Birds of Paradise)

So if you have an instance like that, then maybe it's worth it because against a Red or Jund deck you could pull out a big creature that may be hard for them to kill that early, but I still can't warrant having more than 8... especially against a Red or Jund deck youd die too quickly from life loss alone.

Kalonian Behemoth would work nicely then. Now just give it trample. Heheh. Overrun should work nicely.

Sam wrote:

Just because you have 16 fetches in your deck doesn't mean you are gonna draw all 16. Activating landfall, fixing your mana, and thinning your deck are why you want to play as many fetchlands as possible. Boros builds are starting to include terramorphics the fetch mechanic is so powerful.

Someone posted elsewhere about this very thing, and if the deck thining is worth it. There was varying opinions as well.

Fetch Lands: Deck Thinning

Oh if you wanted to know and actually read this: RDW means Red Deck Wins.

Maybe it'll work better in a Boros build (Which if I remember correctly is a Red/White aggro type deck), it's ultimately all how you construct and change your deck as well as your playing style. Right?

And yes, unless you need the land right away, you can always use a Terramorphic Expanse, I found them to work but got the fetch lands and figured, why not pay 1 life and get to use the land right away + possible landfall.

So yeah again, it's all in what you like and what your play style is.

I read the first few pages of that deck thinning thread.

I agree that the deck thinning effect is so small it's not likely to have any effect. But, deck thinning is not the reason you need to play fetches.

If you play more than two colours, you need fetches to fix your mana. Jund needs fetches, G/W/x needs fetches, and U/W/R needs fetches to have any chance at a stable manabase. Decks that utilize the landfall mechanic need fetches. Boros needs fetches, Mono white needs fetches, RDW needs fetches, and G/W/x needs fetches to activate their lynxes, geopedes, angels, and demons.

To give an example I am familiar with, I am using a mono white deck that uses both Steppe Lynx and Emeria Angel along with 4 Marsh Flats and 4 Arid Mesas. Each fetch I sacrifice is an extra 2 damage from a lynx or an extra bird token from an angel. The effect can be much more than that if the lynx pump saves it from a leech or a bolt, and the token becomes a 2/2 or 3/3 depending on Honor of the Pures and Ajani Goldmanes.

If U/W and G/W Fetches existed, I would probably end up running 12-14 fetches in total in my deck. With 8 in my current decklist I usually draw between 1-3 per game, I don't think I've ever drawn more than 4.

They better make a G/W fetch in the next set. *shakes fist*

And yes there are obvious landfall and other abilities with the fetch lands.

For example if your sure your opponent is gonna summon a monster next turn but have no idea what it will be then you can have two options:

Assuming you have a Path to Exile you could fetch out the white mana and exile it.
Maybe it's a 3 toughness or less? Fetch out a red mana and blast it with a Lightning Bolt.

There's obviously lots of options but as a deck thinner it's not really super feasible.
I would just use them for when you need the right mana at the right time, and especially for landfall and instant mana.

I mean who wouldn't want a 5/5 bird out every turn just for playing a land? (Assuming you have 4 Honour of the Pures )

Did someone say white landfall?

Spoiler:

damn that angle looks sweet! You definitely need some way of keeping it alive though otherwise its gone and your opponent gets all their good stuff back.

Indestructibility and Shroud are pretty good protection combos.

And yes I would love to put that in my deck, the downside would be that it'll likely be at least an 8 cost... >_<