Magic: The Gathering‘s final standard expansion of the year is just weeks away from release and Wizards of the Coast isn’t wasting any time in teasing the cards fans will be able to find in packs. As of writing, the collectable card game’s creator has already showcased several incredibly powerful Mythic Rares for multiple colors as well as a handful of common and uncommon cards that’ll make up the bulk of newly-restructured decks once rotation occurs on September 17th.
On that date, cards from Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, War of the Spark and Core Set 2020 will no longer be standard legal, drastically reducing the pool of available creatures and sorceries available in the format. Thanks to last week’s reveal stream, of course, we now know the names of each set that will be arriving over the next 12 months or so to replace those but for now, all eyes are on the upcoming return to a popular plane in the Magic Multiverse.
Two more cards for Zendikar Rising have been revealed today, this time with a particular emphasis on artifacts, and you can check them out in the gallery below.
While artifact-only decks are something of a rarity in the current standard ecosystem, colorless decks – which traditionally contain heavy support from the former – are commonplace, thanks in large part to Ugin, The Spirit Dragon’s reprint in Core 2021. Forsaken Monument’s blanket buff to all artifact creatures and mana ramp ability makes it a perfect fit into existing Ugin decklists, then, and it’s a powerful inclusion for Commander decks to boot.
Lithoform Engine, on the other hand, is more suited for broader play, with its flexible and equally powerful trio of abilities making likely to prove popular for all manner of mono or dual-color archetypes. We can certainly see this one being abused by combo strategies and, for that matter, being a potential candidate for nerfs down the road.
But what do you think? Let us know how you’ll be utilizing the abilities of both when Zendikar Rising launches for Magic: The Gathering on September 25th in the usual place below!
