Battle for Zendikar

Battle for Zendikar

 

Card comparisons

 

Event deck

 

Intro packs

 

Battle for Zendikar
[[File:{{#setmainimage:BFZ logo.png}}|250px]]
Set Information
Set symbol
Symbol description	Broken Hedron
Design	Mark Rosewater (lead) Ian Duke Dan Emmons Ethan Fleischer Dave Guskin Ari Levitch
Development	Erik Lauer (lead) Tim Aten Kelly Digges Ian Duke Ben Hayes Shawn Main Yoni Skolnik with contributions from Matt Tabak
Art direction	Jeremy Jarvis
Release date	October 2, 2015
Plane	Zendikar
Themes and mechanics	Allies, Elementals, Colorless matters, Exile interaction.
Keywords/​ability words	Awaken, Converge, Devoid, Ingest, Landfall, Rally
Set size	274 cards (101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares, 25 basic lands) +25 full-art basic lands
Expansion code	BFZ
Development codename	Blood
Battle for Zendikar block
Battle for Zendikar Oath of the Gatewatch N/A
Magic: The Gathering Chronology
Duel Decks: Zendikar vs. Eldrazi Battle for Zendikar Zendikar Expeditions

Battle for Zendikar is the 68th Magic expansion, and the first in the Battle for Zendikar block. It was released October 2, 2015. Battle for Zendikar is a large expansion, and the Battle for Zendikar block is the first block of the Two-Block Paradigm.

Set details

The set contains 274 cards (25 basic lands, 101 commons, 80 uncommons, 53 rares, 15 mythic rares) and includes randomly inserted premium versions of all cards in the set. There are 25 basic lands, instead of the usual 20, and the set also features special full art versions similar to those that appeared in Zendikar. The full-art versions appear in booster packs and fat packs, but not in intro packs. The expansion symbol of the set is a broken hedron. While allies represented adventuring parties in the last Zendikar block, they now represent the united army against the Eldrazi. This is also a battle between the colored against the colorless faction. The Eldrazi interact with the exile zone.

Because of the demise of the core sets, R&D experimented with same art reprints in expansion sets (e.g. Felidar Sovereign). As a promotion to further the theme of the set, WotC randomly inserted Expedition cards into Battle for Zendikar boosters.

Storyline

Battle for Zendikar returns the storyline to Zendikar, a plane of adventure, many treasures, and potent mana supplies. The plane is littered with large, floating polyhedron-shaped stones called hedrons, which were created by Nahiri, the Kor Lithomancer. Together with Ugin and Sorin Markov she used them to trap the horrendous Eldrazi on the plane. Thousands of years later, the meeting of Sarkhan Vol, Chandra Nalaar and Jace Beleren in the Eye of Ugin chamber unintentionally loosened the bonds that kept the Eldrazi in torpor. The Eldrazi were finally released by the elf Nissa Revane, thinking that they would leave Zendikar far behind them. She was wrong. Two years after the initial destruction, at least Ulamog is still around.

Now, Gideon Jura takes the lead of a group of planeswalkers in facing the Eldrazi alongside the residents of Zendikar. Meanwhile, the trapped planeswalker-turned-demon Ob Nixilis is desperate for a way off of the plane. The five cards that represent the pivotal moments in the storyline are Gruesome Slaughter, Nissa's Renewal, Ugin's Insight, Outnumber and Aligned Hedron Network.

Magic Story

Prologue

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Nissa, Worldwaker	Kelly Digges	2014-06-25	Zendikar	Nissa Revane, Ulamog, Hamadi, Bahkut, Alira, Khali, Sha'heel
Dreams of the Damned	Nik Davidson	2014-08-06	Zendikar	Ob Nixilis, Nahiri, Jace Beleren
The Lithomancer	Kelly Digges	2014-10-29	Unknown destroyed plane, Zendikar	Nahiri, Sorin Markov, Lian, Ugin, Emrakul, Kozilek, Ulamog
Stirring From Slumber	James Wyatt	2015-05-13	Zendikar	Nahiri
Drop for Drop	Kelly Digges	2015-05-20	Theros	Kiora, Elspeth, Ajani, Thassa, Arixmethes
Project Lightning Bug	Doug Beyer	2015-05-27	Ravnica	Jace Beleren, Ral Zarek, Niv-Mizzet, Maree, Mizzix, Gideon Jura
Limits	Ari Levitch	2015-07-15	Zendikar and Ravnica	Gideon Jura, Munda, Dars Gostok, Shattergang Brothers, Krenko, Tazri, Vorik, Jori En, Kendrin
Catching Up	Kelly Digges	2015-07-22	Ravnica	Jace Beleren, Lavinia, Liliana Vess, Valko, Gideon Jura
Unkindness of Ravens	James Wyatt	2015-07-29	Ravnica	Liliana Vess, Raven Man
Offers to the Fire	Doug Beyer	2015-08-05	Regatha	Chandra Nalaar, Serenok, Mother Luti, Jace Beleren, Gideon Jura
For Zendikar	Kimberly J. Kreines	2015-08-12	Zendikar	Nissa Revane, Ashaya

Main story

Title	Author	Release Date	Setting (plane)	Featuring
Slaughter at the Refuge	James Wyatt	2015-08-19	Zendikar	Gideon Jura, Jace Beleren, Vorik, Tazri
The Silent Cry	Kimberly J. Kreines	2015-08-26	Zendikar	Nissa Revane, Ashaya, Jori En, Gideon Jura
The Believers' Pilgrimage	Doug Beyer	2015-09-02	Zendikar	Jace Beleren, Jori En, Kendrin, Gideon Jura, Nissa Revane, Ayli, Ulamog
The Survivors of Sky Rock	Kimberly J. Kreines	2015-09-09	Zendikar	Gideon Jura, Vorik, Abeena, Tazri, Seble, Tho, Zuri, Daye, Itri
Memories of Blood	Ken Troop	2015-09-16	Zendikar	Drana, Enkindi, Melindra, Kan
Nissa's Quest	Kimberly J. Kreines	2015-09-23	Zendikar	Nissa Revane, Pili, Munda, Leek
Home Waters	Kelly Digges	2015-09-30	Zendikar	Kiora, Turi, Misha, Yenai, Shen, Yesha, Tola, Inash, Runari
Nissa's Resolve	Kimberly J. Kreines	2015-10-07	Zendikar	Nissa Revane, Ob Nixilis, Ashaya
Revelation at the Eye	Kelly Digges	2015-10-14	Zendikar	Jace Beleren, Zada, Ugin
Shaping an Army	Ken Troop	2015-10-21	Zendikar	Noyan Dar, Gideon Jura
The Liberation of Sea Gate	James Wyatt	2015-10-28	Zendikar	Gideon Jura, Munda, Tazri, Drana, Noyan Dar, Kiora, Nissa Revane, Ashaya, Jori En
Hedron Alignment	Kimberly J. Kreines	2015-11-18	Zendikar	Kiora, Gideon Jura, Drana, Tazri, Nissa Revane, Munda, Jori En, Ebi, Jace Beleren, Ashaya, Seble, Ulamog, Ob Nixilis
At Any Cost	Nik Davidson	2015-11-25	Zendikar	Ob Nixilis, Ulamog, Ebi
Promises to Keep	Doug Beyer	2015-12-02	Regatha, Zendikar	Chandra Nalaar, Gideon Jura, Seble, Ulamog, Mother Luti, Ob Nixilis, Kozilek

Marketing

BFZ booster box, featuring Gideon Jura

Battle for Zendikar is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), five intro packs, one event deck and a fat pack. The boosters feature art from Ob Nixilis Reignited, Kiora, Master of the Depths, Ulamog's Despoiler, Veteran Warleader and Gideon, Ally of Zendikar.

Zendikar Expeditions

Zendikar Expeditions are all premium foil cards with a special Zendikari frame and a separate expansion symbol. Thus, they are not part of the set. Zendikar Expeditions include all new art set on Zendikar and appear slightly more often than premium mythic rares. These cards are playable in limited and formats where they're already legal. There are 25 Expedition cards appearing with Battle for Zendikar (the 5 new dual lands, 10 shock lands and 10 fetch lands) and 20 more cards in Oath of the Gatewatch.

Prerelease

BFZ themed prerelease deck box

At the prerelease (September 26–27, 2015) each player received a special hedron-themed Prerelease pack that they could use after the event as a take-home deck box. Inside each Prerelease box, there were six regular Battle for Zendikar Booster packs along with a randomized, date-stamped premium promo card, a spindown life counter, a deckbuilding guide and a story insert. Starting with this prerelease, seeded booster packs were no longer used. This prerelease was the first to use the "Vancouver" mulligan rule.

Instead of getting a specific set Prerelease card or one of a small subset of Prerelease cards, starting with Battle for Zendikar players receive a random Prerelease card in their boxes that can be one of any rare or mythic rare in the set.

Promotional cards

• Prerelease: a stamped card that can be any rare or mythic rare from the set.
• Launch promo: Blight Herder
• Game Day: full-art Stasis Snare
• Game Day (Top 8): full-art Radiant Flames
• Buy-a-Box: Ruinous Path

Tokens and emblems

For this set, the ratio between token cards and other marketing cards was shifted heavily in favor of tokens. The new ratio is approximately 9:10 for tokens. Tokens’ rarity is based upon the rarity of the cards that make them.

1. 10/10 Eldrazi for Desolation Twin
2. 1/1 Eldrazi Scion with "Sacrifice this creature: Add ." for Adverse Conditions, Blight Herder, Blisterpod, Brood Butcher, Brood Monitor, Call the Scions, Carrier Thrall, Catacomb Sifter, Drowner of Hope, Eldrazi Skyspawner, Eyeless Watcher, From Beyond, Grave Birthing, Incubator Drone, Spawning Bed and Void Attendant
3. 1/1 Eldrazi Scion with "Sacrifice this creature: Add ."
4. 1/1 Eldrazi Scion with "Sacrifice this creature: Add ."
5. 2/2 Knight Ally for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
6. 1/1 Kor Ally for Retreat to Emeria and Unified Front
7. 8/8 Octopus for Kiora, Master of the Depths
8. 5/5 Dragon with flying for Dragonmaster Outcast
9. 3/1 Elemental with trample and haste for Akoum Stonewaker
10. 1/1 Plant for Grovetender Druids
11. 5/5 Elemental for Omnath, Locus of Rage
12. Emblem for Gideon, Ally of Zendikar
13. Emblem for Ob Nixilis Reignited
14. Emblem for Kiora, Master of the Depths

Themes and mechanics

Eldrazi, Colorless matters, colorless instants, allies and landfall make a return from the Zendikar block. Landfall now sometimes is land specific.

There are at five new named mechanics:

• Devoid (This card has no color)
• Ingest (Whenever this creature deals combat damage to a player, that player exiles the top card of his or her library)
• Awaken N — (cost) (If you cast this card for (cost), also put N +1/+1 counters on target land you control and it becomes a 0/0 Elemental creature with haste. It's still a land)
• Rally, an ability word that gives an advantageous effect whenever an ally enters the battlefield. This is a tweak of the unnamed ally mechanic of the Zendikar block.
• Converge, an ability word that gives an advantageous effect for each color of mana used to cast the spell.

A remarkable mechanic is featured on Void Winnower, which cares about "even converted mana cost".

Card types

Battle for Zendikar introduces the creature types Scion and Processor.

• Eldrazi Scions are very similar to Eldrazi Spawn, but are 1/1 instead of 0/1. They're created by Eldrazi-themed spells in a variety of ways and all have the ability "Sacrifice this creature: Add ."
• Processor is an additional creature type for some Eldrazi. Each one has an ability that requires you to put your opponent's exiled cards into their graveyard for some effect.

Cycles

Battle for Zendikar has seven cycles:

Cycle name
Retreats	Retreat to Emeria	Retreat to Coralhelm	Retreat to Hagra	Retreat to Valakut	Retreat to Kazandu
	Five uncommon enchantments with a modal landfall triggered effect.
Color-specific landfall creatures	Emeria Shepherd	Guardian of Tazeem	Guul Draz Overseer	Akoum Hellkite	Oran-Rief Hydra
	Five rare creatures with landfall that have a magnified effect when a land of their respective basic land type enters the battlefield. Each is named after a location.
Pump landfall creatures	Ondu Greathorn	Wave-Wing Elemental	Geyserfield Stalker	Valakut Predator	Territorial Baloth
	Five common creatures with a landfall ability that gives them +2/+2.
Common feature lands	Sandstone Bridge	Skyline Cascade	Mortuary Mire	Looming Spires	Fertile Thicket
	Five common taplands that have additional effects when they enter the battlefield and can be tapped for M.
Blighted lands	Blighted Steppe	Blighted Cataract	Blighted Fen	Blighted Gorge	Blighted Woodland
	Five uncommon lands that tap for one colorless mana, and can be sacrificed to activate an ability with a mono-colored activation cost.
Cycle name
Allied color uncommons	Roil Spout	Ulamog's Nullifier	Forerunner of Slaughter	Grove Rumbler	Grovetender Druids
	Five allied colored uncommon spells.
Allied color battle lands	Prairie Stream	Sunken Hollow	Smoldering Marsh	Cinder Glade	Canopy Vista
	Five rare dual lands that enter the battlefield tapped unless the player controls two or more basic lands (reverse of the fast lands). As they all have basic land types, they can be fetched by fetch lands and are the third type of land to do so, after the original dual lands and shock lands.
Cycle name
Enemy color uncommons	Drana's Emissary	Herald of Kozilek	Catacomb Sifter	Resolute Blademaster	Skyrider Elf
	Five enemy colored uncommon spells.

Mega cycles

Cycle name
Enemy colored Tapland Manlands	Shambling Vent (Battle for Zendikar)	Wandering Fumarole (Oath of the Gatewatch)	Hissing Quagmire (Oath of the Gatewatch)	Needle Spires (Oath of the Gatewatch)	Lumbering Falls (Battle for Zendikar)
	Five lands that can turn into creatures until end of turn. One rare for each enemy color pair, able to produce either color and enters the Battlefield tapped. This cycle completes the enemy color megacycle of tapped manlands that started in Battle for Zendikar as well as the larger Mega-Mega Cycle stared in Worldwake.

Mega-Mega cycles

Cycle name
Eldrazi Titans	Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger (Battle for Zendikar)	Kozilek, the Great Distortion (Oath of the Gatewatch)	Emrakul, the Promised End (Eldritch Moon)
	Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger is the first card in the Eldrazi Titan triplet card cycle.

Pairs

Battle for Zendikar has a mirrored pair.

Mirrored Pairs		Description
Valakut Invoker ()	Oran-Rief Invoker ()	Invokers; common Human Shamans with an activated ability which cost .

Reprinted cards

• Altar's Reap, first printed in Innistrad
• Anticipate, first printed in Dragons of Tarkir
• Bone Splinters, first printed in Shards of Alara
• Dispel, first printed in Worldwake (last seen in Return to Ravnica).
• Dragonmaster Outcast, first printed in Worldwake
• Dutiful Return, first printed in Khans of Tarkir.
• Evolving Wilds, first printed in Rise of the Eldrazi (last seen in Magic Origins).
• Felidar Sovereign, first printed in Zendikar
• Giant Mantis, first printed in Mirage
• Goblin War Paint, first printed in Zendikar
• Inspired Charge, first printed in Magic 2011 (last seen in Magic 2015), for the first time in an expert-level expansion.
• Pilgrim's Eye, first printed in Worldwake (last seen in Commander 2014).
• Plummet, first printed in Magic 2011
• Rolling Thunder, first printed in Tempest (last seen in Planechase).
• Smite the Monstrous, first printed in Innistrad (last seen in Khans of Tarkir)
• Sylvan Scrying, first printed in Mirrodin (last seen in Tenth Edition).
• Territorial Baloth, first printed in Zendikar

Common to Uncommon

• Rolling Thunder, first printed in Tempest (last seen in Planechase).
• Pilgrim's Eye, first printed in Worldwake (last seen in Commander 2014).

Functional reprints

• Broodhunter Wurm is a functional reprint of Golden Bear from Portal Second Age, Nettle Swine from Avacyn Restored and Order of the Sacred Bell from Champions of Kamigawa, save for the creature type.
• Cloud Manta is a functional reprint of Moon Heron from Innistrad, Snapping Drake from Portal and Talas Air Ship from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.
• Dampening Pulse is an almost functional reprint of Cumber Stone from Conflux, it's an Enchantment instead of an Artifact.
• Expedition Envoy is a functional reprint of Elite Vanguard from Magic 2010 and Savannah Lions from Alpha, save for creature type.
• Felidar Cub is a functional reprint of Kami of Ancient Law from Champions of Kamigawa, Ronom Unicorn from Coldsnap and Keening Apparition from Return to Ravnica, save for creature type.
• Ghostly Sentinel is a functional reprint of Angel of Light from Starter 1999, save for creature type.
• Kitesail Scout is a functional reprint of Aven Skirmisher from Fate Reforged, Lantern Kami from Champions of Kamigawa and Suntail Hawk from Judgment, save for creature type.
• Reclaiming Vines is a functional reprint of Creeping Mold from Visions.
• Shadow Glider is a functional reprint of Wild Griffin from Portal Second Age, save for creature type.

Card comparisons

Many Battle for Zendikar cards are strictly better, and a handful are strictly worse than previous cards.

Notable cards

• Endless One is the simplest and most cost-efficient example of a design previously seen on more than 100 other cards.
• The battle lands cycle would go on to be heavily played in Standard, due to being in the format with the Khans of Tarkir fetchlands. However, outside of this, they are considered poor lands in all larger formats.
• Zulaport Cutthroat is one of the best versions of its effect and is played in most Aristocrats-style casual Commander decks.
• Painful Truths is a strong card advantage spell that has been used in Standard, Modern, Legacy and Vintage.
• Retreat to Coralhelm has numerous powerful combos and has been most famously combined with Knight of the Reliquary in Modern Bant decks.
• Bring to Light is a key card in numerous Pioneer and Modern decks from those built around Niv-Mizzet Reborn to those built around Retraction Helix to those built around Omnath, Locus of Creation, and has also seen significant play in Modern decks like Scapeshift decks. It is particularly strong in these decks built around individual cards because of its ability to find and cast key spells in the same turn.
• Radiant Flames is a strong and flexible sweeper that has seen significant sideboard play in Standard and Pioneer.
• Wasteland Strangler has seen play in numerous Modern decks that add an Eldrazi theme to the traditional Death & Taxes shell where it can function like a Flametongue Kavu.
• Strong colorless Eldrazi cards like Sanctum of Ugin and Oblivion Sower would be part of degenerate Modern Eldrazi decks once Oath of the Gatewatch brought even more cheap, powerful Eldrazi cards that could be abused with the previously printed Eldrazi Temple and Eye of Ugin.
• Dragonmaster Outcast is the first Mythic Rare to be reprinted in an expansion set.

Preconstructed decks

Intro packs

Battle for Zendikar has five intro packs (three bicolored and two colorless):

Intro pack name	Colors Included					Foil rare
Eldrazi Assault			B	R		Barrage Tyrant
Zendikar's Rage				R	G	Oran-Rief Hydra
Call of Blood	W		B			Defiant Bloodlord
Rallying Cry	W			R		Hero of Goma Fada
Swarming Instinct		U			G	Drowner of Hope

Event deck

Battle for Zendikar has one event deck.

Event deck name	Colors Included
Ultimate Sacrifice			B		G

External links

• Mark Rosewater (June 19, 2023). "Lessons Learned, Part 4". magicthegathering.com. Wizards of the Coast.