Welcome to another set of First Impressions! This time around we're looking at Eventide. Now there seems to be a bit of discussion on how bad Eventide is, and how little hope there seems to be with the set. Some are holding out until every last card just to be sure, and some have already packed their stuff and left! Maybe they're making a big deal out of it, we'll find out today!

Eventide is the second set of the Shadowmoor block, and is expanding on the multi-color theme that we saw in Shadowmoor. With new creature types, and odd mechanics, what's to be expected of Eventide?

Lets find out by taking a look at the First Impressions Schedule for Eventide.

As you can see, a few mono-colors are paired, and hybrids have their own article. Why is this? As I said earlier, Eventide is expanding the multi-color themes, so there are a considerate amount of hybrids this time. To compensate the change in numbers we switched around the colors.

If you don't know, the lead-in usually focuses on Lands, Gold, and Artifacts, but this time around it'll just be Lands and Gold. Lets start off with lands, our resources for mana.

Eventide has brought us the rest of the new dual lands, and I must say the only real thing to comment on is the art. I mean, they are the same card with different colors, are they not? These lands greatly help, if you need UU you can get it with R. If you need RR you can get it with U. Same goes for every other combination. Of course some dual lands will be wanted more than others, I'll leave it to you to figure out which ones. I'll grade each of them, art-wise though.

Cascade Bluffs
Land
T Add 1 to your mana pool.
(u/r), T Add UU, UR, or RR to your mana pool.

A- - The mixture of Red and Blue in the picture seems really refreshing, it is a pretty land one that collectors will love to have.

Fetid Heath
Land
T Add 1 to your mana pool.
(w/b), T Add WW, WB, or BB to your mana pool.

Very surreal, and realistic. It keeps a balance of light and dark you could easily feel calm and a bit scared at the same time.

A+ - Some of the best art I've ever seen to grace a land card.

Flooded Grove
Land
T Add 1 to your mana pool.
(g/u), T Add GG, GU, or UU to your mana pool.

Twisting trees in a Blue swamp? Not as pretty as some other lands, but it's not ugly.

B - It still looks good.

Rugged Prairie
Land
T Add 1 to your mana pool.
(r/w), T Add RR, RW, or WW to your mana pool.

It is definitely a prairie, the stones are a nice touch though. It feels a bit tame, and the backround there seems to be some giant wall? It does seem to set off the art, the sun does make it look nicer to even it out.

B+ - Not bad, but that giant wall ruins the prairie aspect for me.

Twilight Mire
Land
T Add 1 to your mana pool.
(b/g), T Add BB, BG, or GG to your mana pool.

The dual land with the worst art, it doesn't seem much different from Flooded grove, except it doesn't look as good. I wish they did better on this one.

C - The worst art of all the recent dual lands.

Springjack Pasture
Land
T Add 1 to your mana pool.
4, T Put a 0/1 white Goat creature token into play.
T, Sacrifice X Goats: Add X mana of any one color to your mana pool. You gain X life.

What do we have here? It makes chump blockers just like Kher Keep, except they're White Goats, not Red Kobolds. It even lets you sacrifice the Goats (Changelings included of course) for some mana. I guess this is more of a Farming land. Gives you the basic mana, and you can invest in it for later use.

C+ - Four mana is a lot for a chump blocker, Kher Keep only took two mana. Even if you can turn them into mana later, the investment seems to take a lot out of you, and it seems a bit slow. I expect this to stay in Sealed.

Now because of the odd numbers of Hybrids, I will finish the rest of the article giving you my First Impressions of the two new mechanics, instead of the usual Artifacts and Gold.

Two new mechanics have been given to us from Eventide. Chroma, and Retrace. Are they good or trash? Well lets find out, using a card sponsoring each mechanic, I'll give a review of it.

Chroma at first feels a bit boring, and unoriginal. Magic does have math involved, but who likes to re-count every mana symbol they have everytime they do something that has Chroma? It might not be that bad, but it seems it might be a bit frustrating. Now this is the new Anthem for white weenie replacing Glorious Anthem, and you can tell it's a little better. Now it lets each creature get a boost same as Glorious, however each one gets a separate boost relying on how White they really are. Say you have a simple Eager Cadet. It gets a +1/+1 for having just the one White mana symbol in it's mana cost. Now the more White mana symbols, the stronger a creature will be, so I see some potential in Chroma, but I don't think it'll be anything to worry about. It still feels a bit dull, but I'm sure we'll find out soon how it stacks up.

Now I have to be honest in comparison to Chroma, Retrace seemed like a sight for sore eyes.

Now this is a mechanic!!!

It lets you replay cards from your graveyard! All you have to do is discard a land card and you're allowed to play it again in addition that you pay it's other costs too. You know when you draw a land you think to yourself, "Crap, I really needed a spell this time." Well Retrace tries to help! Discard that useless land card and have the chance to replay another card from your graveyard. It's a nice surprise if your opponent(s) forget you had it sitting there, and it makes use out of what would seem like an extra superfluous land. I am not sure if Retrace is game-breaking either, but I think it's really interesting, and has a lot of potential.

Watch out for those spells coming to hit the stack over and over, as long as you have lands. Late-game will be a happy place for you as anything you draw will most likely help you, and that's an advantage you'll want.

Well, that's all for this article, be ready for the next ones to start hitting next week!

L out.

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