Locations
While you may have noticed I covered some of the best Eldrazi in two previous articles, those weren't necessarily my favorite Eldrazi. Those were just some of the Eldrazi that were the most powerful or most popular.
This time, however, I want to go over some of my favorite cosmic monsters. (Are Eldrazi cosmic?) I have a long history with the Eldrazi creature type. While I knew many on this list off the top of my head, when I went to go over all of the existing Eldrazi creatures I was kind of shocked to see that there are now 193 of them! That's actually a lot more representation than many other creature types have. A creature type like Pirates, for example, only has 173. I guess the Eldrazi have been slowly creeping up on us for the past 12 years...wow, how time flies.
Let's begin!
Blight Herder
I really loved the "processor" Eldrazi. Cards like Wasteland Strangler and Blight Herder that had really powerful effects so long as your opponent had some cards in exile that you could pull back into their graveyard, or "process." Blight Herder was a card that produced seven power and eight toughness over four bodies if you could fulfill its requirement. It also put what was basically a colorless Dark Ritual on the board that you could use at your leisure in the form of three Eldrazi Scion. I'm also apparently the only player to ever introduce Blight Herder to the Top 8 of a Pro Tour, so that's a cool fact.
Brisela, Voice of Nightmares
Brisela, Voice of Nightmares is interesting because it's only an Eldrazi when you're successfully able to meld two Angel Horrors: Bruna, the Fading Light and Gisela, the Broken Blade. Thankfully, both of those cards are fun all on their own. Once melded, you get an awesome reward in Brisela, which is a card that very frequently just wins the game on its own; which is nice, because you're giving up two solid creatures to get it! Preventing your opponents from casting any spell that costs three or less just so happens to shut off a good deal of potential removal.
Darksteel Monolith
Okay, Darksteel Monolith isn't technically an Eldrazi, but it feels like it really wants to be, and it was in Commander Masters which was basically an Eldrazi set. Even if you only use the Monolith's ability once, if you're putting an Eldrazi into play that costs ten or more mana, you're basically just turning it into a ritual and paying eight mana for an 11- or 12-mana card, which isn't the worst.
But then you get to keep putting colorless cards into play for free, each turn, turn after turn! Just imagine if you had Skittering Cicada in play, then you could put an Eldrazi into play for free every turn! I upgraded my Cube to have Eldrazi in it last year, and both of these cards were easy additions.
Drowner of Hope
Drowner of Hope is basically the big brother of Blight Herder. It's a little bigger, and you always get the tokens, but it costs more and you're not required to process anything, which allowed Drowner of Hope a significantly higher number of Top 8 appearances. Drowner of Hope also has a pretty useful ability that allows you to tap any creature that you need out of the way, which lead the way for his nickname, Dr. Owner.
Mutated Cultist
Man, I couldn't wait to pick up a playset of Mutated Cultists, thinking they would be amazing in Dark Depths. I mean, you not only get to remove all of the Dark Depths counters, you get your next spell reduced by ten mana?! That seems like such a good deal from a three-mana creature, but I think in the end, the Cultist just ended up being too cute and working as a Vampire Hexmage that costs an extra mana and can't be activated at the end of the opponent's turn.
Rise of the Eldrazi
See, I told you Commander Masters was an Eldrazi set, but it still absolutely puzzles me that Rise of the Eldrazi isn't a Sorcery - Eldrazi. Sure, it costs 12 mana, but it combines all of the abilities of each of the Eldrazi titans: it destroys a permanent like Ulamog, it lets you draw four cards like Kozilek, and it lets you take an extra turn like Emrakul. Unfortunately, you do have to exile it after you cast it, but it can't be countered (also similar to Emrakul, the Aeons Torn), which is absolutely the last thing you want to happen to your 12-mana spell.
Sire of Stagnation
I was super high on Sire of Stagnation when it was revealed in Battle for Zendikar, but unfortunately...it was pretty stagnant.
...I'll see myself out.
But seriously, every time your opponent has a land enter play, you draw two cards and they exile two cards, that you can later process?! Sign me up! This sounded amazing, and I just assumed it could be the next coming of Consecrated Sphinx. For some reason, it was not. Unfortunately the Sire never really took off. I think six mana was a little too much to ask for to then start drawing cards off of opponent land drops.
Ulamog's Nullifier
I mean, what can I say? I love four mana creatures that counter spells. Okay, basically I just love Mystic Snake, and that sometimes extends to Mystic Snake-adjacent creatures. Unfortunately the Nullifier never really took off either, despite having better stats than Mystic Snake and flying. Having to "process" cards is a bit of an ask for most normal decks without completely tweaking your strategy.
Zhulodok, Void Gorger
As a huge fan of Apex Devastator, Zhulodok, Void Gorger was a really exciting Eldrazi to see spoiled. Also, he doesn't only give double cascade to your Eldrazi, but rather to all of your colorless spells that cost more than six mana. Your Myr Battlespheres, your Meteor Golems, your Ugins! Double cascade!
Also, you may have noticed that Darksteel Monolith allows you to cast the colorless spells you're playing for free, because of course it does, being from the Eldrazi set, Commander Masters. Therefore...still cascading!
Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll catch ya next time!
Frank Lepore
