Welcome to a crazy edition of the Daily Dose of Eternal Masters! We have started the official start of spoiler season for Eldritch Moon, and boy did they not disappoint! For many years, the design of most Magic sets has not changed: we haven't seen very many changes in what cards do or what card types there are. In the Lorwyn set, they introduced a new card type called Planeswalkers. In Innistrad, they first introduced us to Double-Faced Cards or DFCs, which opened up a whole new design space. During the original Innistrad set, most of the DFCs were Werewolves, with the odd other DFC thrown in. When it came to Shadows Over Innistrad, they started to use this design space even more and come with great ideas for DFCs, including the amazing Startled Awake. Now with Eldrtich Moon, they have taken this even further with cards that can Meld together. What is Meld you ask? Well, let me start by showing you two cards that are great on their own. Welcome back, Bruna and Gisela!
Let's start with Gisela, the Broken Blade. Wow, is this an amazing card just by itself? Yes, it is. For just four mana, you get a 4/3 Flying Creature with Flying, First Strike, and Lifelink. Some comparisons that come to mind are Baneslayer Angel, but that was a highly costed five mana! We will get to the second half of Gisela's text shortly, but please do marvel on how great this is going to be whether or not you decide to play it's other Meld half of not. This will be able to block and kill most other large flyers and help you gain life quickly as well.
Now let's talk about Bruna, the Fading Light. You get a 5/7 Flying and Vigilance creature whose main advantage is that when cast she is able to get back Angel and Humans from your graveyard directly onto the battlefield. This means that not only does it have great synergy with Gisela, you can also bring back Thalia, Heretic Cathar so that all of your opponents creatures and non-basic lands come into play tapped. You can also bring back cards like Sigarda, Heron's Grace, or Thalia's Lieutenant on a board filled with Humans.
Now, let's look at what happens when you Meld these two great creatures together. In this case, you can Meld them if you control both at the beginning of your end step. They meld into Brisela, Voice of Nightmares!
First off, that is an awesome name! Secondly, you will notice that you they have taken the DFC design and turned it on its side, by making it so the two halves of Brisela, Voice of Nightmares are on different cards. How crazy is this melded creature! It is a 9/10 Flying, First STrike, VIgilance, Lifelink that prevents most of the removal cards out there that are able to kill it. This is a great use of DFC cards, and I believe that players will love the new Meld mechanic. The fact that Gisela is mythic, and Bruna is Rare will mean that Bruna will be a more sought after Rare than usual.
Let's have a look at a second Meld card by looking first at the two cards used in it.
Let's start off with the land Hanweir Battlements. By itself it provides colourless mana and it's abilities are both red, so it will definitely limit the number of decks that you will be able to play it in. It's first ability will allow you to give any creature you control haste by using up two of your lands, not bad for just one mana.
Now let's have a look at a red creature called Hanweir Garrison. It is a 2/3 for three mana, which isn't that great by itself. When it does attack though, you are able to add two 1/1 Humans tapped an attacking on the battlefield giving it basically four power of attack on its first attack.
On Hanweir Battlements you are able to spend five mana and tap it to meld into Hanweir, the Writhing Township.
Now you have a 7/4 Trample, Haste creature that also give you six more power on the board when it attacks in the form of two 3/2 colourless Eldrazi creatures. That is thirteen power (not a coincidence) to wreak havoc on your opponents.
Some interesting things to note about the Meld mechanic and having half of a melded card on two different cards is that it will make drafting interesting. You will see that a particular drafter has picked up half of the melded cards, and how you draft could prevent them from drafting the other half that they need. Here's hoping in my prerelease sealed that I get both halves of one.
Thanks for reading the start of a great week on the Daily Dose of Eldritch Moon and I'm looking forward to seeing what will be coming out next this week! Let me know what you think of the Meld mechanic and if you think it will have an impact.
