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Affinity for Numbers: Battle for Zendikar Rotation

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Magic is a game of numbers: sixty cards, 20 life, draw two cards, take 7 damage, and add three counters. There are even more numbers surrounding the game—facts and figures, prices and trivia, they are everywhere. In Affinity for Numbers, I uncover and highlight some of the more interesting numbers in Magic.


4 Copies per Deck

Battle for Zendikar is shiny, new, and ready for action, but for all that newness, an old favorite is poised to pick up where it left off:

Siege Rhino

The Abzan Rhino was played in 27% of the top Standard decks last season, and a full four copies were included every time it appeared. There is little reason to shelve this super-efficient creature going into the new Standard, so get ready for some more 6-point life swings when it enters the battlefield.


6 New Commanders

Battle for Zendikar is offering up six new potential commanders, and two in particular are pretty intriguing. Omnath, Locus of Rage puts your land to work by building an Elemental army. There are hordes of Elementals in Magic and plenty of potential to explore.

Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper awakens land with every instant or sorcery. I'm pretty sure white and blue have a few good instants and sorceries, so this could work out well for Noyan on the Commander scene.

Omnath, Locus of Rage
Noyan Dar, Roil Shaper


6uuu

Want to take an extra turn and awaken a 6/6 land creature? It'll cost you 9 mana, three of which must be blue, to get the full value out of Part the Waterveil. That's spendy, but the art sure is pretty . . . 

Part the Waterveil


14 Reprints

Battle for Zendikar includes fourteen reprints, including five from Zendikar or Worldwake. Two of the reprints are mythic rares (Dragonmaster Outcast and Felidar Sovereign), one is uncommon (Sylvan Scrying), and the rest are common: Altar's Reap, Anticipate, Bone Splinters, Dispel, Dutiful Return, Giant Mantis, Goblin War Paint, Inspired Charge, Plummet, Smite the Monstrous, and Territorial Baloth.


28% of Top Standard Decks

Just over a quarter of the decks that finished in the Top 32 of a major Standard tournament or earned 21 or more points in a Pro Tour played Abzan colors (white, black, and green). This included nine different archetypes—most prominently Abzan Aggro, Midrange, and Control—but also including Megamorph, Reanimator, and Constellation variants.


28 Creatures

Everybody's brewing with Battle for Zendikar. Kyle Boggemes is betting the mana is pretty close to perfect and put together this Five-color Aggro deck:

Kyle's deck brings together a slew of last season's most aggressive creatures including Siege Rhino, Hangarback Walker, and Mantis Rider. It's hard to argue with that trio. Check out more on the deck here.


51 Eldrazi

The Eldrazi are out in force. Fifty-one Eldrazi creatures are active in the Battle for Zendikar, compared to a mere fifteen during the Rise of the Eldrazi. The Zendikari, meanwhile, have fielded 37 Allies.


$113.17 per Box

Opening a box of Battle for Zendikar on release weekend has an expected value (EV) of just over $113 based on pre-order pricing, according to this article. Lands tend to drive EV up, and BFZ has new duals, creature lands, and the super-ultra-rare Expeditions lands, all of which contribute to a higher-than-normal EV and the chance to roughly break even for a box.


153 Points

The Community team defeated the Wizards team in the Community Cup yet again by a score of 153 to 137. This victory gave everybody who logged into Magic Online during the tournament, or shortly thereafter, both foil and nonfoil sets of the special Teresa Nielsen full-art basic lands as well as an alternate-art Thalia, Guardian of Thraben. Thanks team!


4,096 Trades

Tasigur, the Golden Fang is the top-traded card on Puca Trade in 2015 at over four thousand trades and counting. Tasigur has the dominance of Abzan-colored decks in Standard, as well as his inclusion in Jund and Abzan Modern decks, to thank for his desirability.


Those are all the numbers I have for you today. If you also have an affinity for numbers and have one you think I should share, let me know on Twitter @MrVigabool.


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