Rebirth of Zendikar is an awaited return for fans of Magic The Gathering, in this article I will give you the first impressions of this new Set.
Journey to Zendikar, first impressions and first impact.
Well you would have liked that there could be a complete resurrection of the entire crew, Ertai, Master Wizard included, right? But no, landing on Zendikar poses a significant number of difficulties, given the difficult past due to the Eldrazi. But a company like that made up of Gerrard Capashen, Mirri, Crovax, the intrepid Captain Sisay, the excellent navigator Hanna, the fiery Tangarth, the hub Squee, would serve just for a shaken plan like Zendikar.
He knows something Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients, the planeswalker of this dimensional plane, the background setting of this Zendikar Rising, the newest expansion of Magic The Gathering. Wizards Of The Coast was particularly keen to return to what was one of the most sensational, loved and hated sets in Magic history.
So what to do but go to ours LGS (Local Game Store, the playroom / comic shop under the house, to be clear) and participate in the Pre-Release of the expansion? You go there in good company of course. No, there weren't any friends from Weatherlight, but we always need good company to play and have a good evening.
The use of the word company is not accidental. Because one of the new mechanics is precisely Party (Company), but we'll get back to it shortly.
With this I will take you directly to the game tables and tell you that those who have not had the opportunity to participate in the Pre-Release, have lost a unique opportunity to get a taste of how this new visit to Zendikar requires a very nice group to bring back the leather. at home. Since Zendikar is a plane where lands count slightly more than other expansions, the mechanics are back landfall (Terraferma), which every time a land comes into play will grant you advantages as in the powerful one Felidar Retreat (Felidar Refuge), then the mechanics were also revived Kicker (Strengthening), which allows you to pay an extra mana cost during casting for more powerful spells and the card that impressed me most in this sense is Sea Gate Stormcaller.
In short, the first impressions are that WOTC wants us to return to consider Magic The Gathering a game to spend time with friends and go on trips, Zendikar Cruises reopens its doors and recommends a good Company for a good one Party in honor of the old days of Dominaria.
An expansion for the best of Party based games and innovations
Mechanics Company is actually the most interesting mechanic in the set. It is a mechanic that of interaction between four classes of characters to have greater advantages. Character classes? But what is it, Dungeons & Dragons? - NDR: here we explain it to you - you will ask me and I can only tell you that WOTC has finally started a real crossover between two of the most famous and so far apparently distant games ever, in fact Magic The Gathering e Dungeons & Dragons.
For the first time, you will be the Masters of your own destiny with your little gang of wizards, warriors, clerics and thieves… er, scoundrels, they are scoundrels. Everything in Zendikar is scalable, interacts and depends on each other. This is the true nature of Zendikar.
A plan devastated by the Eldrazi, with a vengeful Nahiri obsessed with wanting to protect her Dimensional Plane to the point of moving on to the next (as revealed in one of the narrative samples that enrich the Lore of Magic).
A world of dangerous adventures where businesses succeed if you cooperate.
Lands. The other side of the coin
A world that has undergone such a cataclysm that it changes or changes constantly and this is the other theme of Zendikar, linked to the lands. There are double-sided spells and lands, called Double-faced Modal Cards.
Some are lands, for example Clearwater Pathway/Murkwater Pathway, which is a special land that can enter and give blue mana, or if in the course of the game you need to have a different colored mana, play it face up and decide that you will have the side that produces black mana. Here, the trick is this.
Six of these Modal Land Cards have been printed. The cycle seems to end with the expansion Kaldheim, to be released in early 2021. Then there are Spell Cards that can be played as such or, if there is no other way, as Land Cards. Modal uncommons all come into play tapped. Modal Magic Cards are pure rare, while Modal Magic Cards of Mythic rarity can enter the game untapped for 3 life points. We know that Magic's gameplay has always been devoted to land use, a real blessing and joy, with a ton of special articles based on math and statistics to make sure you can always play magic X at the right time X.
The new modal cards will allow you to always have the right number of lands or to have a Magic Card with a useful effect to win. See if now we have to redo all the calculations?
Zendikar Rising - Gameplay in reality
Let's not hide, Magic The Gathering is the progenitor of collectible card games and the question of whether it is still able to give new ideas to players and revive the thick imagery that has been created around it is perfectly legitimate.
So what is this Zendikar like in the litmus test?
I will tell you that for me it was a fun experience.
The logic of play and construction of the deck in a Pre-Release tournament allows you to become familiar with the new set of 280 cards, choose according to the colors and the strongest cards what your strategy will be and then engage in challenges with the others players.
You will have the time you need to play and finally enjoy a game without going badly in no time.
So is it a slow expansion? At first glance, yes. The expected standard will probably be more reasoned, the medium-term strategies (Midrange) will once again be more widespread.
You can try to take advantage of the mechanics of Party to have a better impact in the challenges with friends, you can also decide that every now and then a good one Strengthening it will serve to liven up a game that has been a bit dull until then. The evening in our LGS was engaging, between masks, plexiglass barriers, improbable decks, plays and counter-plays that can only be seen in a Magic Pre-Release tournament. It felt like Carnival out of season.
A party in which the beautiful Full Art basic lands are back and this is already enough for me. The gameplay is such to declare Zendikar as one of the most balanced expansions of the last two troubled years of this game. There are sub-themes, interactions, combos, cards for EDH like never before (is it or isn't it the year of the Commander / EDH format?). All this suggests that the social idea of a game night with friends, at D&D therefore, is in the intentions of the WOTC the way to go, so much so that for next year, introduced by Zendikar Rising and mentioned in M21, there will be the first Magic expansion dedicated to D&D. Game nights, evenings with friends, storytelling evenings, social evenings, lockdowns and red zones permitting.
Between D&D sessions playing Magic and Duke Nukem, in Company on Terraferma in an inn between apple cider and cutthroats, er, scoundrels.
