Template:Featured article/July 2016
July 2016
Featured article
Eldritch Moon is the 71st Magic expansion, and the second in the Shadows over Innistrad block. It was released on July 22, 2016 and is a small expansion.
The last protections over Innistrad have faded with the death of Avacyn. Nahiri has summoned Emrakul to the plane, to take revenge on Sorin Markov. The Titan of Corruption and Warper of Biology twists all things living, be it plants, animals, or sentient beings, into Eldrazi Horrors. Now Innistrad's fate rests in the hands of unlikely allies. Jace Beleren brings the Gatewatch, and Liliana Vess brings hordes of undead immune to Emrakul's influence.
Eldritch Moon is sold in 16-card boosters (one card being a marketing card), five intro packs, and a fat pack. It is the last to feature intro packs, which will be replaced by Planeswalker decks in the next expansion. Madness, Transform, and Delirium are carried over from the previous set. Creatures that transform into colorless Eldrazi have an 
indicator for the front side and an 
indicator for the back side, showing this creature has joined Emrakul's brood.
There are three new named mechanics:
- Meld, a keyword action that changes the card with meld and a specific other card into one oversized card. That single card only exists on the backs of the two other cards. Whenever the melded card leaves the battlefield, both cards go, and they each turn front face up again.
- Emerge [cost] (You may cast this spell by sacrificing a creature and paying the emerge cost reduced by that creature's converted mana cost).
- Escalate, a keyword ability appearing on modal instants and sorceries. By paying the escalate cost, additional modes may be activated.