Edge of Eternities is Stacked with Good Uncommons

Edge of Eternities is a set that has me as excited for Commons and Uncommons as I usually am for a Modern Horizons set. Let’s look at the cheap pickups that have me hyped to open a booster pack. 

EDGE OF ETERNITIES HAS SOME REALLY GOOD UNCOMMONS

Emergency Eject looks a little like Generous Gift or Stroke of Midnight, right? The main difference is it doesn’t give them a blocker in exchange, but a Lander token. While ramping your opponents is not always where you want to be – there are decks I won’t play Path to Exile and choose other removal instead – making them pay two mana for the honor of getting a basic tapped is a downside I’m more than happy to accept. 

There are decks I have where I don’t play Generous Gift or Stroke of Midnight because it gives my opponent a blocker – decks like go-wide builds, or my Nahiri build that uses Living Weapon/For Mirrodin! tokens that you really don’t want people to trade with. This is ideal if you have a low curve and need to push damage through to enact your gameplan. 

Honor is kinda fun, and though Feather decks and other adjacent strategies much prefer instants, getting a permanent counter and drawing a card is a strong effect for a single mana. Is it me, or does the Drix in that art have major Garrus Vakarian vibes?

This thing is actually more interesting than it looks. It can tutor Skullclamp, and provides two targets for it. Early game it gives two bodies to wear equipment. It allows you to use the mana from Feast and Famine or Reaver Cleaver effectively. It can also tutor a wincon like Helm of the Host into play around Counter magic. I like Honored Knight-Captain quite a bit.

Rescue Skiff is pretty huge for white decks. We don’t usually see unconditional creature recursion very often, and we see unconditional enchantment removal even less often. While this one is less easy to loop with (not being a creature until Stationed), don’t forget that Touch the Spirit Realm and Teleportation Circle can both reset this when it’s still just an artifact.

Up to three creatures with MV 3 or less has been done at this mana cost, but putting a +1/+1 counter on each of them is pretty huge all said. This makes a handy upgrade to previous cards in this slot.

WHATEVER YOU NEED YOU PAY YOUR MANA YOU MAKE YOUR CHOICE

Cerebral Download is a potentially huge Surveil action, and when you can Surveil 10 or more cards, you’re going to be essentially doing the world’s biggest Dig Through Time. If you squint, it’s almost a triple tutor. But what makes this even stronger is the ability to stack your graveyard, too. For everything this spell does, and the fact you’re probably getting a one mana discount from your various support pieces, it’s a home run design. 

Speaking of tutoring, though – how about fishing out an artifact from your library and from your graveyard? Yes, Scour for Scrap is that powerful. Truly an incredible value tutor. It’ll fish out the combo piece someone already destroyed.

Steelswarm Operator is a fine mana dork. When it’s not on mana-producing duty, it’s perfectly statted to fly in there and create treasures or draw you cards. 

MONO BLACK TREATS

I really like Beamsaw Prospector. Mono black decks don’t really get to ramp very often, and one of their primary ways is sacrificing creatures – but they need mana producing Altars, or a creature like Pitiless Plunderer in play to really pull it off. This two drop can be sacrificed to your effects, and then grab you a Swamp out when you have spare mana. Swamps are great. 

Another way to get a little extra ramp in mono black, Scrounge for Eternity is pretty efficiently costed if your curve remains lower like in a Clerics deck, for instance. 

Aristocrats arguably have more than enough Blood Artist effects, but Susurian Voidborn makes a strong argument for inclusion. Warping it for one mana helps you deploy maximum creatures for a big turn, which is helpful when you also need to play sacrifice outlets and as many bodies as possible.

Umbral Collar Zealot is a huge upgrade over Viscera Seer if you ask me. Surveil is waaaay better than Scry, you get to sacrifice artifacts as well, and you can set up the graveyard. What’s not to love? This is the kind of outlet Living Death decks dream of.

SPACE OPERA DISCO INFERNO

Cut Propulsion is really nice removal in mono-red, actually. Most mono red removal needs to have mana pumped in, or will randomize something else to replace whatever you’re shuffling away. A cut-off of three red to get rid of a large amount of creatures seems pretty reasonable.

Melded Moxite is the latest in a series of “effects you want that are usually on an instant or sorcery, but that leave behind value for you by dint of being a permanent”. Obvious use in Sami, Wildcap Captain aside, there are plenty of decks from Osgir to Daretti that want cheap equipment in play to weld away or to recur from the yard. 

Ruinous Rampage is a sweet pickup for those Gruul and Naya decks that care about burn damage – think Shalai and Hallar, or Ruric Thar, the Unbowed. Being able to either send three to each opponent (or more, with damage doublers!) or instead sweep away mana rocks and equipment is right what these decks want.

Weftstalker Ardent is a fun one, giving tokens decks a pinger but letting your artifact tokens get in on the fun. This one is better than Arbaaz Mir in many decks, with the option to Warp being pretty nice too.

DUNE THE TOWN

Glacier Godmaw might seem unassuming, but a mini overrun effect that isn’t the typical Craterhoof et al can be perfect for a slower environment. 

Getting to draw off of creatures with counters on them dying is excellent. The latest Jenova deck from Final Fantasy obviously likes that you can add a little sauce to your main course of refill draw, but really you have to look at this as a flexible draw engine for archetypes outside of Humans that usually get this tech. 

Get a Weft of that! It’s serious value in the Uncommon slot. Ramping two lands from the yard and getting two nonland permanents to hand is excellent for five mana. I’m in. 

Seedship Impact is a Disenchant for two that can sometimes ramp you. I’d enjoy this where the Lander can be tapped – like in Meria, Scholar of Antiquity.

NOT ALL THAT GLITTERS IS GOLD. I MEAN, SILVER GLITTERS TOO?

Haliya, Ascendant Cadet is sweet for Pauper EDH. This Uncommon Commander helps you build a decent counters strategy with or without Human typal theme. 

Tannuk, Memorial Ensign is better than many of the rares in the set. As a landfall card, he matches up burn and card draw, which is exactly where you want to be. For just three mana he’s also  somehow a 2/4? What the hell. 

All-Fates Scroll is one of the few three mana rocks I want to experiment with. If I’m already on Field of the Dead, and ramping a lot, I want to play this. 

Finally, Virulent Silencer is the poison counter synergy card I did not expect to see in this set. Three mana to let any non-token creature deal out poison, color agnostic? This card is sweet. 

END STEP

Edge of Eternities makes it fun to open a booster not just because of Booster Fun cards and bonus sheets, but also due to having so many amazing Uncommons and Commons. That makes it a really great set to crack open and enjoy, which is always a nice bonus when a set is already so damned cool.