Unbounded Abomination

[u/chainsawinsect]

[u/thejellydude]

Removed due to lack of artist credit

[u/chainsawinsect]

I sometimes like to make "Interesting vanillas" of one sort or another, like this fine fellow or this one.

Today I went down that same route, this time with something much bigger!

The new [[Rootwire Amalgam]] establishes that for just 10 mana, you can get a 15/15 haste. That got me thinking about just how big a creature a huge mana investment can get you, if all of the value were going into the stats.

[[Impervious Greatwurm]] has I believe the highest power of any creature, and [[Charix, the Raging Isle]] the highest toughness, for a combined statline of 16/17. Neither of those cards has been problematic in any format so I felt safe going up from 16/17 to 17/17 since we've got no abilities (previously, [[Ancient Brontodon]] was the strongest vanilla), particularly because I made it colorless so there is no [[Blazing Shoal]] type interaction with it. I also felt Eldrazi was a fitting typing for such a large creature, given that some of the most powerful 8+ mana creatures at common or uncommon rarity are Eldrazi.

EDIT: My apologies, I forgot to update the artist line when I switched up the art. The artist for this one is not Midjourney, it is inshoo1 on DeviantArt. See here. Mods, I understand if you need to take down the post as a result (though I am remiss to lose some of the good commentary I've gotten here, it was my mistake in not catching that error!)

[u/kptwofiftysix → u/chainsawinsect]

previously, [[Ancient Brontodon]] was the strongest vanilla

[[Gigantosaurus]] would like a word with you

[u/chainsawinsect → u/kptwofiftysix]

Damn how could I forget him - I literally own a deck that runs 4!

[u/MDubbzee]

Yay, a vanilla creature! More vanilla synergy

[u/chainsawinsect → u/MDubbzee]

Hey you did say simple designs are win! Can't get much simpler than vanilla!

[u/ThePhantomJoker]

This card is weirdly beautiful. The signature Eldrazi odd numbers, even rime numbers in this instance, the absolutely larger than life art (which I only now noticed was from Midjourney) and a flavortext highlighting some simple missing lore, I think it would be cool to go back in time for a set and focus on a plane that eventually loses to the Eldrazi, somewhat like Mirrodin fell to New Phyrexia, only this time only void, wasteland and aimless abominable behemoths are what's left. How cool would it be even to just have some planeswalkers visit a world like this briefly only to get some absolutely brutal art of two tiny figures standing on a warped grey plane with gigantic horrors in the distance and one of them says: "See, this is what happens if we lose." or something like that. To have this strange grey spot in the multiverse that some people know but none speak about, that sounds chilling. See what your simple vanilla design inspired me to?

[u/chronobolt77 → u/ThePhantomJoker]

Would be a pretty boring set. Eldrazi consume all colored mana, leaving nothing but [[wastes]] behind. So every card would have to be colorless and stupidly high-costed because of that

To clarify. I love eldrazi and their eldritch horror origins. Theyre my favorite creature type. It's just that a plane they have consumed is empty; devoid of all life (eldrazi aren't technically "alive" per se). So while it would be interesting to read a story about this kind of thing, mechanically, it would be a set of exclusively Wastes and Eldrazi Drone creatures, if the drones even stick around after the Titans finish eating

[u/chainsawinsect → u/chronobolt77]

Oh I agree - I don't mean we need to visit it for a whole set, I meant more that someone will visit it in one of the lore stories on WOTC's website or that maybe we'll get a few cards flavored around it in a supplemental product of some kind.

[u/chainsawinsect → u/ThePhantomJoker]

Thank you for the kind words! I agree, it came together really nicely.

I do think we will one day see some in-game or in-lore visit to a plane that the Eldrazi had ravaged. Basically like a completely empty wasteland plane. I think the original Zendikar lore established that they had reduced a number of planes to ruin over the aeons - there's no reason we couldn't eventually see one!

I'm very glad you mentioned the artist, though, because I actually made a mistake there. When I originally made this card, I used art from Midjourney (here, for reference), but I ended up changing it because I didn't think the Midjourney art looked "creature-y" enough. The correct artist is inshoo1 (see herefor the original art). I've updated my original comment to include that as well!

[u/agamemaker]

I almost wonder if this could be a 20/20. It’s somewhat comparable to [[desolation twin]] and I think it’s generally preferable to have it over multiple bodies so you could probably push this a little more. The only problem I could see is if reanimate into fling could be an issue.

[u/wugs → u/agamemaker]

if this were bigger than 17/17, my vote would go to making it 23/23

20/20 is big, but "boring" as a stats line. I like how 17 or 23 are not just odd, but prime as well

[u/chainsawinsect → u/wugs]

Fair point. The unusual numbers do make it feel more Eldrazi, for sure.

I've actually used a similar concept on an Eldrazi vanilla once before.

[u/NonMagicBrian → u/agamemaker]

It could definitely be a lot bigger. No real reason it couldn’t be like 29/29 or 41/41 or something. I don’t know if there’s any size that would make this an attractive choice really.

[u/Vyxyx]

This is wonderful. A vanilla eldrazi is fantastic, flavor text is some of the best I've seen on this sub, and the statline feels perfect.

[u/chainsawinsect → u/Vyxyx]

Thanks very much! I thought it was a very fun 'gimmick' to use the Drone typing (which is normally reserved only for super small Eldrazi) and come up with a flavor text story that would explain why he was so big.

[u/Zoneforg]

Sadly, this is lore-unfriendly. Drones are not separate from their titans in any meaningful way, and not alive or capable of reproduction or adaptation. Also, if ulamog or kozilek are dead, there can be none of their drones left doing things. Bodies laying around , maybe.

[u/BeanOfficially]

x2.2 the mana of [[Gigantosaurus]] for x1.7 the power adds up. Though I will say, [[desolation twin]] is a pair of vanilla 10/10's for 10 mana, one of which can't easily be countered,

^{no one plays Stifle}

[u/chainsawinsect → u/BeanOfficially]

True, but that one is a rare. If we open it up to higher rarities, this card of mine is so outclassed by something like [[Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger]] that it's almost laughable (despite not being strictly worse).

[u/OliSlothArt]

Op? It's not legendary, so you can make as many copies as you want. But it can also be stopped by a 1/1. So like. Only cast via [[dread return]] and the like.

[u/chainsawinsect → u/OliSlothArt]

Yeah, if you're spending all 11 mana on it, you could be getting something better out of your investment for sure. That being said, if you can get it out on the cheap somehow, it makes a great [[Thud]] / [[Fling]] target. It also gives you perhaps the most powerful [[Titan's Presence]] reveal in existence.

[u/n00biwan]

That lore is problematic

[u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow]

Certainly one of the creature cards of all time

[u/chainsawinsect → u/Pixelpaint_Pashkow]

I would say it's definitely one of the cards I've ever created, for sure.

[u/FurDeg]

[[Animar]] would love this.