The First Battle Card Is Revealed! Analyzing Invasion of Zendikar

Hello everyone!

Today the very first Battle card was previewed, so not only do we get a new card to look at, but a whole new mechanic! Let’s take a look at Invasion of Zendikar!

First let’s break down the mechanic. So the way Battle seems to work is that it’s kind of like a reverse Planeswalker – while you are the one casting it and getting the effect, the opponent has to defend it. Once you clear the amount of damage on the card, you get the backside of the Battle. Simple enough! It will be interesting to see what other designs will pop up or if combat damage is the only way to win a battle, but this is interesting to say the least! My fear for this mechanic is that it may only be viable in decks that are looking to deal damage in some ways, but until we have confirmation that damage is the only way to win battles, it’s hard to say.

Now for the card itself. This card is obviously extremely similar to Explosive Vegetation, and while those effects have been hit or miss in Standard, it is always a solid ability to have in a Standard environment. Then, if you’re able to deal three damage to it, you get a 4/4 Vigilance Haste that’s a land for your troubles! While decks that are looking to play this effect probably don’t need the body that badly, having the choice of giving the opponent some life in exchange for an additional resource is definitely a better deal than most of the other Explosive Vegetation variants. Will this see Standard play? It would entirely depend on the Ramp decks! Ramp decks have not been getting much love in most of these sets, so having a way to accumulate lands quickly is definitely a boon for the archetype.

While this particular battle is definitely borderline, the nice thing about it is this is just an uncommon! It’ll be extremely interesting to see what the Rare or even Mythic battles are going to look like and what crazy effects you can get from those!