More Eldrazi in Battle for Zendikar

We've had our hands on the full spoiler for Battle for Zendikar for almost a week now, and with the official prerelease events happening this weekend, it's time for me to submit my full set review for Standard Pauper. But as that process gets started, I want to spend the next few posts offering a sneak preview of that content by finishing up my look at all of the Common Eldrazi, which I began during the previews.

There are 20 Eldrazi in the set altogether, represented not only as colorless creatures but also each of the five colors except White (although, thanks to the Devoid mechanic, they are technically still colorless in all respects save for their casting cost). Today, let's take a look at the three Eldrazi that contain Red in their mana cost.

1. Kozilek's Sentinel comes from a long line of Red creatures that can be pumped by casting certain kinds of spells, of which Kiln Fiend and Nivix Cyclops are perhaps the two best  known at Common. In this case though, it gains a mere plus one boost to Power for casting colorless spells, which is a pretty mediocre reward for a type of spell that isn't going to be cast all that often. Now granted, it is a 1/4 for 1R, which essentially makes it a cheaper Red Horned Turtle with upside. But Red typically isn't looking for defensive type creatures such as this. I am not optimistic that this will see much play.

2. Nettle Drone is an interesting variation of Goblin Fireslinger. On a clear board, it attacks for 3, and when that option isn't available, it can still ping your opponent for a point every turn. It also has the slight upside of being able to untap whenever you cast a colorless spell, allowing it to become a surprise blocker or even just tap for another point of damage. This isn't really a card that would play well in the sort of prolonged game that typically favor Eldrazi, but it might find a home in an aggressive archetype that contains enough colorless spells to get some value out of its untap ability.

3. Vestige of Emrakul is certainly efficiently costed, giving you an extra point of Toughness and Trample for a very reasonable 3/4 body for 3R. It certainly isn't flashy, but anytime you get Trample on a creature at Common it's worth paying attention to. Obviously this is an excellent target for Power-boosting combat tricks, and the extra point of Toughness means that it can not only survive combat against most other four-drops but also sidesteps a lot of Common removal. Still, this probably won't make the cut unless you've got an archetype that is looking to pack in as many reasonable colorless cards as possible.

I'm pretty excited about the way this set is shaping up. How about you?