Magic: The Gathering

Zendikar Rising Predictions

Magic: The Gathering’s brand new expansion, Zendikar Rising, is just around the corner. Wizards of the Coast will kick off preview season this coming Tuesday, September 1st. So it’s time for some predictions of what this set will bring.

Characters

I’d like to first take a look at what we know about the story of Zendikar Rising. While the plot is still a mystery, we do have confirmation of a few characters that will likely play a big role.

Jace Beleren

Jace is one of the most iconic planeswalkers in all of Magic: The Gathering (often referred to by fans as the franchise’s Mickey Mouse). Jace has appeared in the original Zendikar/Worldwake/Rise of the Eldrazi block & during the events of Battle for Zendikar/Oath of the Gatewatch. It’s cool to see him return once again.

After defeating the Eldrazi Titans, Ulamog & Kozilek, in the plot of Oath of the Gatewatch, Ugin warned him of the unknown side-effects of destroying otherworldly beings. We’ve already seen that Emrakul, the third Eldrazi titan (and last one that we know of), was lured by Nahiri to Innistrad and is now trapped in the moon of that plane. From what we know, it seems that Emrakul was aware of her brothers’ defeat on Zendikar and somewhat voluntarily concealed herself in the silver moon. I suspect Jace’s new mission on Zendikar will consist of him investigating the lasting impacts of the Eldrazi’s plight on the land. We may also see him helping Nissa to return the world to fruition, possibly through the connection and reestablishing of a hedron network.

Nissa Revane

Nissa, born on Zendikar, has made it her mission to rebuild her home world, now that it is free from the Eldrazi. I think it’s pretty easy to predict her role in this set, which will be to reawaken the land and nurture its regrowth. The Eldrazi are no longer consuming the plane, but the wastelands they left are still something Nissa would want to restore.

I don’t expect many twists to Nissa’s role in this set, other than possible disputes with nefarious creatures of Zendikar (such as demons), other planeswalkers who will be in the story but do not have planeswalker cards (such as Ob Nixilis), or Nahiri. Ob Nixilis didn’t seem to enjoy Zendikar, so I doubt he’s anxious for a return now that he has his spark again. And as far as I know, Nissa and Jace are on good terms, so I think they’d be more likely to work together.

Nahiri — The Lithomancer

Nahiri’s story is a bit more difficult to untangle, which is why I think it will be the most important in this set. In our last encounter with Nahiri, we saw her attempting revenge on Sorin Markov for abandoning her when she needed help in fighting the Eldrazi. Nahiri lured Emrakul to Innistrad (Sorin’s home plane) in an effort to destroy his world. At the end of that encounter, Nahiri had trapped Sorin in a wall of stone. We don’t know how he got out or what exactly happened next, but they were both featured in War of the Spark — still at each others’ throats. Many fans are eager to follow their battle. Hopefully Nahiri’s return to Zendikar will lead to some answers about her intentions for the future.

I expect she will help Nissa and Jace realign the hedron network, although I expect the hedrons to be used for strengthening the plane (like a splint or a cast for recovering bones), rather than trapping otherworldly entities. Although, maybe she will find a new use for the hedrons that would keep Zendikar protected from future invasions.

Omnath

Omnath has been featured on cards from both Zendikar blocks, as well as getting a new iteration in Core Set 2020. With each appearance of this Elemental, its color identity and mana cost has expanded. We’ve already got confirmation that in Zendikar Rising, Omnath will indeed get a new color. I doubt Omnath will have any huge impact on the story, but you never know!

Predictions:

• Jace’s card will be awesome. I believe it will be comparable to Jace, the Mind Sculptor, which first appeared in Worldwake, although maybe not in terms of power level. Something will be done to make this card unique. We’ve had some very medium level Jaces, but I have a feeling this will be his moment to shine.
• Nissa is going to be the main character and face of Zendikar Rising, so I expect to see something along the lines of Vivien, Monsters’ Advocate from Ikoria or Teferi, Master of Time from Core Set 2021. Her card will likely have a static ability like a Landfall trigger, and I predict she will be a very flavorful ramp card.
• Nahiri is difficult to evaluate. I expect her to return to her roots of forging Equipment in this set, or possibly artifacts more broadly. My prediction is the power level and design of her card will be similar to Narset, of the Ancient Ways from Ikoria.
• My guess is that Omnath will add White to his color identity, not black. I don’t have much to base that on other than a guess that Omnath will help restore order to Zendikar, which would seem to be a White character trait.
• I think it’s possible that we see Ugin or Sorin show up briefly in the story, although they will not receive Planeswalker cards. It’s already been confirmed that Jace, Nissa, and Nahiri will be the only 3 Planeswalker cards in the set. It would make sense for them to be a part of Nahiri and/or Jace’s storyline. The other Planeswalker I’d love to see make an appearance is The Wanderer, who seems to pop up everywhere, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if she were absent.

Other returning character predictions

There are many beloved legendary creatures who reside on Zendikar. Here are a few others, not listed above, who I would love to see make a return:

• Drana
• Kalitas
• General Tazri
• Linvala and/or Iona
• Jori En
• Tuktuk and/or Zada
• Mina and Denn
• Noyan Dar
• Lorthos
• Akiri

Mechanics

When I think of the mechanics of previous Zendikar sets, there’s a clear divide between ‘Eldrazi mechanics’ and everything else. These Eldrazi mechanics include Annihilate, Ingest (and Processors) & Devoid as well as Eldrazi Spawn & Eldrazi Scion creature tokens. I do not expect to see any of these ‘Eldrazi mechanics’ return. It’s been confirmed that we will not see any Eldrazi in the set.

As for everything else, here are the possibilities for returning mechanics in Zendikar Rising:

• Level Up
• Rebound
• Totem Armor
• Landfall
• Kicker/Multikicker
• Traps
• Allies
• “Man-Lands”
• Cohort
• Support
• Surge
• Awaken
• Rally
• Converge

I’d put it at 100% odds that we will see Landfall, Allies, and “Man-Lands” return, with Landfall being the only “named” mechanic. We have confirmation that there will only be one other returning mechanic in the set. I could see Traps, Awaken, and Kicker/Multikicker making an appearance, with Kicker/Multikicker being the most likely.

I do expect at least 2 new mechanics as well. Wizards of the Coast usually does a great job of adding fresh new experiences when revisiting an old world. Since this is the “lands set”, we’re going to need some cool things to do with those lands.

I’m hoping for a mechanic that uses lands in a new way, rather than simply adding mana. For example, a creature that costs 4 mana and says “if you control 6 or more lands, you get a benefit when the creature enters the battlefield” (it gets flying, destroy an artifact or enchantment, etc.). Something like this would make playing land cards more valuable, even if your creatures have lower converted mana costs.

It would also be interesting to see more Eye of Ugin type lands that don’t tap for mana at all, but have unique abilities. Not so much that they reduce the cost of other cards, like Eye of Ugin does (cause that’s broken). Maybe a land that gains you life at the beginning of each upkeep.

The last prediction I have about new cards and abilities is that we will see Zendikar repurposing remnants of the Eldrazi’s destruction. I’m hoping this will come in the form of colorless creatures and spells that are not artifacts. We got a peek at these in Ikoria, and in the past we got cards like Ghostfire. Whether we see some more of Ugin’s magic or something from the Eldrazi, it would be exciting to see more of this in Magic.

Fetchlands

Wizards of the Coast has specifically said that we will get a “meaningful” reprint of Fetchlands this year, but the number of possible sets for them to be printed in is dwindling down as the year comes to a close. This weekend, it was announced that they will not be appearing in Commander Legends, as many players speculated. This leaves only three options.

1. Fetchlands will be in a new set that is currently unannounced, which will release late this year (likely December 2020)
2. Fetchlands will be in the Zendikar Rising Collector Boosters
3. We will get a 2nd Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition with the other 5 Fetchlands, to complete the full cycle of 10.

I would honestly hope to see Option 1 the most. I think divorcing the Fetches from Zendikar would ultimately be a good thing, because we will inevitably return to Zendikar one day. I think it’s best to squash the assumption that this always means we’ll see Fetchlands. WotC clearly doesn’t want to put them in Standard sets anyway, so this might be a convenient way for them to distance the plane from the lands, while widening the range of possibility that these in-demand lands can appear in other places. Also, I love Magic and would be excited to have yet another set to look forward to.

Option 2 is the current word on the street. Many are convinced that this is happening. While I wouldn’t hate this option, it seems a bit unexciting. Those who call for a reprint because the price of Fetchlands are too high will be disappointed to know they have to buy Collector Boosters to get them. This would undoubtedly lower the price of singles, but people will still complain. I wouldn’t be upset to open a Collector Booster Box and get a few fetches though, so I could be okay with this.

Option 3 would be a move by WotC that would be universally despised. Not only would this not qualify as a “meaningful reprint” in the eyes of the players, but the price of the box would be very high. That goes against the cries for cheaper Fetchlands.

I think Option 2 is most likely. Not only because it makes the most sense, but because I think WotC saw the negativity towards the first Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition. They know that if all they do is release a 2nd version with the other 5 Fetchlands, they will cause a ton of anger in the Magic community. I would not be surprised if there was enough time for them to include these in Zendikar Rising Collector Boosters after all. In fact, I think it’s even more likely that we will get all 10 fetchlands in the Collector Boosters (possibly with a new awesome full art variant, or with their original art for sake of time and budget) and a 2nd Secret Lair: Ultimate Edition either at the end of this year or next year.

New Duals

Mark Rosewater said in his Comic-Con at Home panel that he’s included a new cycle of 6 dual lands in Zendikar Rising. When I first heard that, I thought I mis-heard it. 6? That is such a bizarre number and I’m really intrigued to figure out why there would be 6 instead of 5, and how that could possibly make sense. Purely my own speculation here, but I think this cycle is going to be on par in terms of playability with the Shocklands and Fetchlands. Zendikar is known for its amazing land cards and WotC doesn’t want to print Fetchlands in Standard (or possibly at all), so this would be the perfect opportunity for them to create a new type of highly sought after dual land that they are more comfortable with reprinting.

Ideally, these will come with an incredible art treatment variant (similar to the Ikoria Triomes). I’d expect those to appear at the same frequency as the Triomes in normal Draft and Set Boosters; and in Collectors Boosters. We will most likely see an “ancillary slot” which houses an assortment of these new lands with variant artwork, the Fetchlands with a similar art treatment, as well as cards from the Zendikar Rising Commander Decks. Or we’ll get a “special land” slot with variant art from the new duals or Fetchlands that are separate from the ancillary slot, which would only have the Commander cards.

Conclusion

Zendikar Rising is set to release worldwide on September, 25th 2020. Zendikar is a plane of adventure and I know this upcoming journey is gonna be a great one. With all the possibilities, and how much WotC has been packing into each new set this year, I can’t wait to see what is in Zendikar Rising!