Matter Reshaper
The Eldrazi, historically, have been defined by
their colorlessness (or at least, their
interaction with colorless mana - Eldrazi Spawn
and Scions have become almost as iconic as
Emrakul, Kozilek, and Ulamog themselves). In the
context of Battle for Zendikar, though,
colorlessness acts like a color of its own, as
we'll see this week. It remains to be seen
whether these effects remain iconic of the new
colorless mana symbol in the long run, or if
they were selected for their particularly
Eldrazi-ish qualities.
In Matter Reshaper's case, committing to said
colorless mana symbol gives you a statistically
efficient creature with a powerful death effect
- it reminds me of the various cards with the
manifest ability word from Fate Reforged, but
potentially more powerful in the abstract.
Manifesting a Liliana of the Veil or Hero's
Downfall often feels like losing a card, but
there is no such worry with this guy. He gives
an impression of being a modern follow-up to
cards like Yavimaya Elder, which invariably died
fast but kept you ahead on resources in the long
run, and is an even better attacker than many of
those past cards.
Well this is an interesting pickle. I suggested
this week's cards as the so-far "cream of the
crop" of the new defined colorless (Read: <>)
....color, for lack of a better term. So, I
can't immediately crap all over these. Rats.
Anyway, Matter Reshaper. Remember how Bloodbraid
Elf ran crazy over Modern awhile back? Yeah,
this is kind of her goofy cousin. for the price
of admission, it guarantees to replace itself,
other by draw or a card hitting the field. The
only drawback to a card of this type is the pool
you're allotted in the format you're playing. if
you're curving out at 3-5, it's amazing. you
more or less promise yourself a replacement in
terms of field presence. otherwise, it's still
pretty good. I wouldn't wait to pick up a
playset before someone finds a way to break this
card.
