Locations
Eventide came out on July 25th, 2008, and introduced new denizens of Shadowmoor, from the underrespected Hags to the cult favorite Noggles. Where Shadowmoor dealt with ally color pairs, Eventide dealt with enemy colors.
As it was a smaller set - 180 cards versus Shadowmoor's 281 cards - this meant that enemy colors got a bit of shorter shrift, but it was still exciting, as a Golgari afficionado, to get new Green-Black cards like Deity of Scars and utility cards like Twilight Mire.
For whatever reason, though, these enemy-colored spells were unimpressive compared to Shadowmoor's allied spells - contrast Limited-only Cankerous Thirst to sweeper Firespout or Fire at Will to Fracturing Gust. Talara's Battalion was an extremely hyped card before release - it was seen as combo'ing with Manamorphose for an early beater - but that turned out to be worse than simply playing Tarmogoyf.
The filterlands were great, especially in conjunction with Reflecting Pool, and Figure of Destiny was a huge get for Boros creature decks, but most of the rarer Eventide cards remained casual hits.
They were absolutely hits, though - the Liege cycle and the hybrid "God" cycle, as in Shadowmoor, were commonly seen in the early days of Commander. Merfolk players got Cold-Eyed Selkie and Wake Thrasher, while Bloom Tender has only improved as more relevant multicolored cards have been printed. Like many Magic sets in this era, Eventide has taken on new relevance as it's aged and been adopted by Commander players.
Like Shadowmoor before it, the playable cards from Eventide came from across the rarity spectrum. Raven's Crime, Flame Jab, Slippery Bogle, Duergar Hedge-Mage, Flickerwisp, Inside Out, Quillspike - all have seen significant play in the decades since Eventide's printing.
Banishing Knack is an interesting combo piece, while Batwing Brume is one of Commander's funnier Fog effects. Wickerbough Elder, always a decent card, is worth a second look now that Blight rewards you for stacking -1/-1 counters on a creature. More than anything, with years of design perspective, Eventide's real failing is that it was full of extremely cool designs with undesirable stats.
Hateflayer is fascinating, but 
for a 5/5 kills it. Crackleburr is a puzzle that could be broken, but not at three mana for a 2/2. Needle Specter is a cool Hypnotic Specter riff, but a 1/1 for 
is not going anywhere without Dark Ritual.
The one truly broken card from Eventide was an unassuming common - Nettle Sentinel, which teamed up with Heritage Druid to form the potent Legacy Elves deck.
In general, Eventide felt like a downgrade from Shadowmoor, at a time when Magic had to prove itself. Still, the fact that we've returned to the hybrid plane in Lorwyn Eclipsed means that we have an opportunity to review the set again and see what has lasted and what has gone under respected. To that end, let's take a look at some of the underplayed cards from Eventide.
Wake Thrasher
As mentioned, the reveal of this card had players extremely excited for Merfolk decks. There was an expectation that Wake Thrasher would be a hit in a Draw-Go-style deck where you tapped out to counter your opponent's play, untapped with a now-4/4 Wake Thrasher and repeat as needed. In practice, the three-mana 1/1 ate a Peppersmoke or was tapped down by a Pestermite.
Now, though, with two more decades of Merfolk - including the just-printed Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom // Sygg, Wanderbrine Shield and Hakbal of the Surging Soul, Merfolk have surfaced as a powerful archetype. Note that at a combo-friendly table, Wake Thrasher becomes infinitely large with a Basalt Monolith untapping itself. You still have to connect with your 345,000/345,000 Merfolk Soldier, but I'm sure a Blue deck can find a way to make that happen.
Who Wants It?
- Sygg, Wanderwine Wisdom // Sygg, Wanderbrine Shield
- Hakbal of the Surging Soul
- Phenax, God of Deception (Basalt Monolith combo goes well here - for a given definition of "well")
- Kumena, Tyrant of Orazca (Where Skyshroud Ranger serves as a backup Basalt Monolith)
Endless Horizons
Land Tax is a long-time staple, but for three mana more than Land Tax, you can strip your deck of Plains instantly. Be smart about doing so, as a simple Disenchant can wreck your plans, but do note that Horizons says nothing about basic Plains.
While Endless Horizons grows less useful the more colors you include in your deck, Wizards is more willing to print nonbasic lands with basic land types in recent years, from Shadowy Backstreet to Canopy Vista to Snowfield Sinkhole.
In a mostly White deck, this can play the role of either a quasi-Phyrexian Arena or, more interestingly, a Mana Severance - if there's one thing your table won't expect, it's Goblin Charbelcher out of a mono-White deck.
Who Wants It?
Any Mono-White Commander, from Anti-Venom, Horrifying Healer to Giada, Font of Hope, would benefit from Endless Horizons. In addition, this can power up Ketramose, the New Dawn instantly for more benefit than, say, Serum Powder.
Deity of Scars
A difficult-to-cast 7/7 that plays as a 5/5 was never terrifically exciting until this month; now, Blight lets you load up the Deity with -1/-1 counters that you can remove for a benefit. Grim Poppet is a better Blight reservoir, to be sure, but you don't always draw the Poppet and you don't always have seven mana. Deity is faster, more resilient, and frankly cooler. The hybrid demigods from Shadowmoor and Eventide are some of the more interesting designs from the block.
Who Wants It?
Syphon Life
In Commander, draining for two life isn't worth a card unless it's Tendrils of Agony. But Syphon Life is more of a Life from the Loam than a Touch of Death - the effect of the card is tangential to what the card allows you to do, specifically discard a land and commit a crime.
It's also repeatable, letting you turn late-game lands into a relevant effect. Two life is nothing in Commander, but casting a spell from your graveyard every turn (or even multiple times in a turn) is a much bigger game. I rarely see Syphon Life cast in Commander, but when it is, it's feeding something truly exploitative.
Who Wants It?
Hallowed Burial
One of my least favorite cards in Magic's history is Farewell. It's iconic, but as a player who loves his graveyard and his indestructible creatures - and who prefers shorter, more frequent games - Farewell kneecaps me specifically most times it's cast.
Eventide gave us a gentler, more interesting (and less game-extending) sweeper in Hallowed Burial, which was later eclipsed by Terminus. Sometimes, you need another Terminus, and Hallowed Burial is there for you in those situations. Hallowed Burial feels more diplomatic than more permanent options like Farewell, but it also deals with reanimating creatures, indestructible creatures, and other recurring threats.
Who Wants It?
Again, any base-White deck can use Hallowed Burial, but part of what I love about the card is that few decks can exploit it, beyond Lin Sivvi, Defiant Hero; I haven't ever seen a Lin-Sivvi deck in the wild, but it would theoretically break the symmetry of Hallowed Burial. Hallowed Burial is a card to pay attention to should any bottom-of-library Legendary Creatures get printed in the future.
Wrapping Up
Eventide came out at an inflection point in Magic's history. It was a nadir of sales for the game, per Mark Rosewater, at the end of a year of softening sales for Magic. The American economy was in the process of collapsing, although the full shock hadn't hit yet, and "nerd culture," catalyzed by social media and defined by "extended universe" cross-promotion marketing strategies, was poised to become the new monoculture.
With this context, Eventide looks even more heterodox. It's a strange, ugly set, full of lumpy little guys like the Mimics and Noggles and grim and gnarly art. The Limited format was a train wreck, with the winning strategy proving to be drafting as many Mimics and hybrid spells as you could or slapping Edge of the Divinity on a Nip Gwyllion, and players were exhausted after a year of Faeries.
At the time, Eventide was viewed as a flop (as supported by the fact that Crumbling Ashes, an uncommon, spiked up to $50 recently). Still, Eventide gave enemy-color advocates brand-new tools, and a selection of cards that have aged quite well, from Stigma Lasher to Bloom Tender.
Eighteen years later, with Lorwyn Eclipsed fresh in our minds with all its glories and Glister Bairns, the set finally looks vindicated, even if Unmake isn't quite Vindicate.
