Welcome to the Daily Dose of Eldritch Moon, where today I’ll be talking about the continuing arrival of Eldrazi in Innistrad. So far, we have seen the return of the powerful Emrakul, the Promised End. Then we have seen two creatures get Melded into Eldrazi like Brisela, Voice of Nightmares. Then we have seen lots of creatures turn into Eldrazi like Lone Rider. Now we are seeing the emergence of more Eldrazi. On top of all of the transforming Eldrazi, now we are seeing creatures being enveloped by Eldrazi and turning into their evil Eldrazi self.
In Eldritch Moon, we get a new mechanic called Emerge. Emerge goes as follows:
You may cast this spell by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by that creature's converted mana cost.
Let’s check it out in card form with Distended Mindbender!
For eight mana, you get a 5/5 creature that allows you to look into your opponent’s hand with the chance to make them discard two cards. This is a pretty big ability to put on a creature, but for eight mana, this is quite expensive to get into play. Thanks to Emerge though, there is a good chance that you’ll be able to cast it on turn four. On turn three, you can cast a three mana creature, and than next turn you can sacrifice it and pay four mana to have a 5/5 creature that has made your opponent discard two cards. Now that is much better value than eight mana. Just imagine playing a Matter Reshaper on turn three followed by Distended Mindbender on turn four. You will than get value off both the Matter Reshaper trigger and the Distended Mindbender trigger.
Now let’s check out another creature from Eldritch Moon with the Emerge mechanic. Let’s check out Decimator of Provinces. Although not as powerful as Craterhoof Behemoth at ten mana compared to eight mana, but once again there is a chance to cast this 7/7 creature for just five mana.
This creature has a very strong resemblance to a past creature from the Innistrad plane, Craterhoof Behemoth. Picture Decimator of Provinces in a green ramp deck. If you are able to play Deathcap Cultivator, it will allow you to cast a four mana creature on turn three. This will then allow you cast Decimator of Provinces on turn four! Attacking with a 9/9 Trample, Haste creature on turn four is quite impressive. You can definitely see the potential with this card whether you play it on turn four or later in the game.
The last Emerge card we will be looking into is Wretched Gryff, a Flying creature with an upside.
A 3/4 Flying creature that allows you to draw a card is a good card by itself, but for seven colourless mana, it is quite expensive by itself. Once you throw in its Emerge cost of six mana or less, it becomes a bit more of a better value. Using creatures with enter the battlefield abilities to sacrifice will add extra value to them once they’ve already hit the battlefield. Picture casting Reflector Mage to bounce a creature on turn three, then you can remove the 2/3 Reflector Mage to change it for a 3/4 Wretched Gryff, while also being able to replace the Reflector Mage by drawing a card.
Thanks for joining me in talking about the emergence of the new mechanic for Eldritch Moon. What Emerge creature do you think will see the most impact? I’m looking forward to seeing the impact of Emerge creatures and if they will turn out to be as powerful as I think they’ll be.
