Water is wet, cows go moo, andMagic: The Gatheringhas another set appearing on the horizon. What is surprising is I’m actually quite excited for this one, as it’s Edge of Eternities – a ‘space opera’ set inspired by things like Star Wars, Star Trek, and everyone’s favourite sci-fi classic, Blake’s 7.
From the moment it was revealed in 2023, the community has had reservations about Edge of Eternities. Now that we’ve seen its first card, though, what I’m most disappointed at is how slept on it’s going to be.
Revealed at MagicCon Vegas ahead of its sneak preview panel later on, Tezzeret, Cruel Captain is the heavy-hitting mythic rare planeswalker of Edge of Eternities. While not as oppressive a card as the last colourless planeswalker, Ugin, I still can’t wait to get my hands on it.
It’s curious that Tezzeret is colourless this time around, after always being blue or blue/black in the past.
Tezzeret, My Beloved
Costing three mana, Tezzeret gains loyalty whenever artifacts enter under your control. It has two abilities I don’t particularly care about: one untaps artifacts or creatures, and the ultimate turns artifacts into creatures and puts three +1/+1 counters on them. That’s all well and good, but it’s the middle ability that really matters: for three loyalty, you’re able to search your deck for an artifact that costs one or less and put it into your hand.
Some people like Elves, some like spellslinging. Me? I love artifacts. Every time I try to build a Commander deck, it usually ends up becoming something revolving around artifacts. I’ve built Equipment with Eivor, Battle-Ready and sacrifice with Daretti, Rocketeer Engineer, but my absolute favourite pet deck is Karn, Legacy Reforged,a colourless artifact deckpumped to the gills with Ancient Tomb, Mana Vault, and The One Ring.
It’s no wonder why I’m so excited to put Tezzeret into that deck. With the right hand I could be getting it out on turn one and then using its -3 ability to search for a Mana Vault, Commander’s Plate, or, if you want the real big-brain play, grabbing a Clown Car and casting it to make enough artifacts to fill Tezzeret’s loyalty right back up.
Does Edge Of Eternities Stand A Chance?
This is a totally wild card almost purpose-built for my favourite deck, which is why it makes me a little sad that people are sleeping so hard on Edge of Eternities.
It has the unenviable position of launching between two of the most hotly anticipated sets of the year: Final Fantasy andSpider-Man. Those who threw all their money at Moogles andChocoboaren’t going to want to drop more cash on Edge of Eternities, and neither are those holding on for Spidey and his fellow webslingers. I don’t want to constantly rag on Universes Beyond, but having two big crossover sets squeezing out your experimental setting nobody is fully convinced of yet feels like a recipe for disaster.
But ignoring the ceaseless pull of Universes Beyond, Edge of Eternities still has way too much working against it. Before we’d even seen anything of the set, people were lambasting it for being another ‘hat set’ – a release based on shallow references to pop culture, like Murders at Karlov Manor, Outlaws of Thunder Junction, and Aetherdrift before it. Without even a single card being shown off, people wrote Edge of Eternities off as being ‘the Star Wars set’.
With Universes Beyond lovers not wanting to spend their money on it, and in-Universe stalwarts already turning their noses up at it, it’s almost impossible for Edge of Eternities to be the success Tarkir: Dragonstorm and Final Fantasy were before it.
I’ll Be Having Fun, At Least
Despite everything, Edge of Eternities is the set this year I’m most excited to see, and the reveal of Tezzeret has only heightened that. My darling artifacts are getting some love, and rumours of the Eldrazi returning in the set could mean I get a lot of colourless toys for my Karn deck too.
Even if we don’t get that, the art we’ve already seen for the set looks stunning. Glowing Angels, cyborg Samurai, space-faring Kavu, and gorgeous planetary lands are certainly different to Magic’s usual fantasy fare, but also not so on-the-nose that it could be called a ‘hat set’.
I’ll eat my spacesuit if I’m wrong, but there’s a flicker of hope in me that I can’t quite extinguish that this is going to be less of an Aetherdrift, and more of a Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty. Edge of Eternities has always had my interest, but with Tezzeret looking so perfectly tuned specifically for me, it now has my undivided attention.
