No one knows what Rise of the Eldrazi limited is going to look like.  Not even the designers, developers, and playtesters at Wizards of the Coast.  They have told us a lot about what they believe the format will look like, but the real test will come at the pre-release and MTGO release events.  We can, however, make some assumptions based on the cards that have been spoiled and draw some conclusions.

  1. This format will likely be a lot slower than previous formats. The main mechanics of the set (the Eldrazi and Level Up creatures) encourage slower play and less commitment to the board.  Add to that an

    Corpsehatch

    Expect removal like this and not more Hideous Ends

    extra emphasis on creatures with defender, and we can expect the average toughness of creatures at common to be a lot higher than the average power.  Creature stalls may only involve one or two creatures a side as both players pile resources into their early drops.

  2. WotC wants players to play with Level Up creatures. The main goal of WotC is to sell cards.  If the main mechanics of the set aren’t fun to play with and aren’t competitive, they won’t sell as many cards. Eldrazi are easy to sell.  They’re huge, if you attack with one, you probably win the game, and finding ways to cheat their costs will be a very strong draw to Johnny/combo players.  Level Up might not make the splash on constructed they might hope, but it’s a slam dunk that WotC has shaped this limited format in such a way that spending resources to level up one of your creatures won’t be immediately punished.  From that we can presume that…
  3. One-for-one removal in Rise of the Eldrazi will be less prevalent than past formats and it will more likely be sorcery speed. Spells like the spoiled Corpsehatch compare to spells like Brainspoil and Gloomlance.  But while you’d never turn Brainspoil away at the door, there were also Disembowels and Last Gasps that you’d grab over it.  In a world where you have Level Up creatures demanding greater investment in mana and time than a typical creature, having all that hard work undone at the last moment by a Doom Blade type card is going to be frustrating for players and lead them to play Level Up cards less.  So expect the removal to be sorcery speed so that players can get one good swing in with their maxed out creature before their investment is destroyed.  Cheap removal will be in the form of combat tricks and Auras like Guard Duty.  That’s not to say all the removal will be slow or expensive, but you won’t have a format with Hideous End and Disfigure and Burst Lightning and Searing Blaze and Tomb Hex AND Dead Reckoning AND Magma Rift at common, backed with Punishing Fire, Inferno Trap, Smother and Urge to Feed at uncommon.  It was pretty easy to kill a creature in Zendikar/Worldwake.  It’s going to be much harder to kill a creature in Rise of the Eldrazi.  With that said…
  4. Cards that give you incremental gains on the board are going to be much better in this format. Bigger creatures might lead you to think that pingers would be worse in Rise.  Really, though, a card like Cunning Sparkmage is going to be more valuable as the game is slower (more turns = more activations = more total damage), there’s less spot removal (why ping that 0/4 wall when you can just straight up kill it?), and having that extra damage can make combat that much more difficult for your opponent (all of a sudden my 2/3 kills your 2/3!).  Cards that provide small, repeatable effects will be powerful.

    Devolution Spray

    We're not at this point yet.

  5. Totem armors will be absurd. I don’t think I need to tell you this, but with less removal, Auras get better.  Totem armors will help protect your Level Up creatures and your utility creatures from the spot removal that is there.
  6. Magic won’t die because of Level Up. A lot of comments online have been lamenting the design of Level Up creatures, saying the game is moving more towards Pokemon and that this is the death of Magic.  Man, ifI had a dollar for every time Magic was going to die… I’d have several dollars.  Sixth Edition rules would kill Magic.  Eighth Edition card frames would kill Magic.  Futureshifted card frames would be the death of Magic.  Mythic rares, M10 rules, planeswalkers, etc.  Magic’s stronger than ever.  It won’t be ruined by Level Up.  I’m confident that WotC had done the playtesting needed to make sure playing with these cards is fun and will make you want to buy more of them.

I’ll be at the Seattle pre-release on April 17 and hope to see you all there, leveling guys up.