During the 1990s Michael Jordan was the best basketball player on the planet.  He won six NBA championships in 8 years, and only missed winning the other two because he 'retired' to play baseball on a whim.  He was the best for so long that people, fans and media members alike, had begun to get bored with his greatness.  This led to some very odd behavior, like deciding, with no real evidence, that other players were as good or better than MJ.  In 1993 Charles Barkley won the MVP Award as the best player in the league, even though everyone knew exactly who the best player was: Michael Jordan.  Again in 1997 the same situation played itself out, this time with Karl Malone being gift-wrapped the MVP.  Voters had simply gotten tired of picking Jordan every year.  So tired in fact, that against better judgment, they picked against him.

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What exactly does all of this have to do with Rise of the Eldrazi and MTG?  Jund has become Michael Jordan.  It's the best deck, it places four or five times in every Top 8 and usually wins the event.  Every new card is valued for only two things: can it beat Jund, or can it work within Jund?  Unfortunately that makes it very boring to follow Magic.  For this reason writers and fans have begun clinging to anything outside the Jund spectrum.  For example, Rise of the Eldrazi is an awesome set, and it needs to be discussed in a forum outside it's contribution to Jundard.  There are some very cool aspects of RoE that have nothing to do with whether it can stop Jund.  We here at Gathering Magic are sick of talking about Michael Jordan.

The best thing about Rise is also the most obvious - fatties galore!  Unlike Johnny and Spike, there is a bit of Timmy in all of us and he is going nuts right now.  There are Common 8/8s and uncommon 10/9s as uncomplicated as they are devastating.  These cards are fun to play with in any format, but especially casual.  It has been said before, and co-signed by thousands, RoE is the best thing to happen to EDH maybe ever.  Not only is there a true glut of muscle, but the rare and mythic spells are almost all useful in a straight forward sort of way.  No Lichs Mirror or Selective Memory or Quest for Ulas Temple.  Everything is playable in-and-of itself.   With shard-colored rares in Alara, and Quest or Ally rares in Zendikar, it is a refreshing change of pace to no longer suffer mixed feelings while opening a booster.  This is a very good thing, but it's not the only great thing about Rise.

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The next best aspect behind the cards themselves, is the sub-theme of lots of stuff happening.  During a game of Magic, the most fun players can be having cumulatively is if there are many things going on every turn.  This is the root of many fans hatred of stifling control decks, the element of gaming is removed.  WotC made a valiant, and seemingly successful, attempt to ensure games have more action, without simply moving more quickly.  Level up creatures are one key to this success.  Levelers can be terrible and we all know this, but levelers can also be very good.  They are good because they provide a space to dump extra mana.  Mana that might otherwise go to waste.  The chance to level up creates one more benefit to the game, it creates more options!  Players now get to decide if they are going to level up their Transcendent Master, or cast Artisan of Kozilek.  The Invoker cycle also gets a nod in the 'stuff to do during your turn besides cast spells' pool.  The other big mechanic that keeps each game action packed is Rebound.  Doubling a spell or effect means more going on which, as many would agree, means a more enjoyable game of Magic.

Along the same line as creating more effects during the game, WotC has also tried to create a more interactive battlefield post-RoE.  Two separate sub-themes come together to help make this possible.  First, walls are back with a vengeance!  The defender mechanic has not been so thoroughly explored perhaps in MTG history.  Such strong barriers mean attacking takes a bit more brain power than it did before, and declaring blockers can actually be interesting instead of a chore.  Of course before you believe the pendulum has shifted too far in favor of defense, remember that no Wall in RoE is a match for even the smallest Eldrazi.  Unless of course you set up your walls with Totem armor enchantments.  Another group of combat altering permanents that WotC threw in just for kicks. Auras with amazing powers like Bear Umbra, as close to taking an extra turn as green will ever get.

All these walls and Auras come in every color, which brings us to one last great attribute of RoE - mana is no problem.  Duelists looking to create a Defender deck that ramps up to giant Eldrazi can do it in any color they choose.  With Eldrazi Spawn tokens and colorless creatures, Rise provides the opportunity to play with any color(s) you like.  Another fresh change from the more tribal Lorwyn/Shadowmoor/Zendikar and the color crazy Alara.  Mana fixing is so simple that WotC included only two special lands in a stand-alone set: Evolving Wilds and Eldrazi Temple.  The color-pie remains in tact because each color still does what it did before, only now everyone can participate in the expansion's more enjoyable aspects.  The added bonus here, to the not so rich, is that money earmarked for rare lands can now be spent on something a little less practical or saved all together.

Some critics are already calling RoE a bust, and that assessment often stems from the lack of obvious tournament viable cards.  But Rise offers players more than simply a chance to beat Jund or modify Naya.  It gives players a game that is more fun, and more strategic.  Nit-pickers will point to huge mana costs, and awful Levelers, instead of outlining the positive aspects.  Not all expansions are only for Standard format competitive play.  We love Rise of the Eldrazi for everything it is, even if that means we're voting for Karl Malone.

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