Worldwake's Raging Ravine and Omnath, Locus of Mana

Raging Ravine
© Wizards of the Coast

Spoilers from Magic: the Gathering's upcoming set Worldwake are flying in from around the internet.  From Chain Reaction to  Dragonmaster Outcast and other recently spoiled Magic: the Gathering cards today's Daily Magic Articles bring us Raging Ravine and Omnath, Locus of Mana, along with Stone Idol Trap, Harabaz Druid, and Tideforce Elemental.

Raging Ravine was revealed in Mark Rosewater's And the Land Played On.  It reads:

Raging Ravine
Land
Raging Ravine enters the battlefield tapped.
Tap: Add R or G to your mana pool
2RG: Until end of turn, Raging Ravine becomes a 3/3 red and green Elemental creature with "Whenever this creature attacks, put a +1/+1  counter on it."  It's still a land.

Raging Ravine blows Celestial Colonnade out of the water.  The first turn that Raging Ravine attacks, it is effectively a 4/4 creature.  Every deck in Standard that runs both red and green will want to run Raging Ravine becuase it does two things: fix mana, and is a threat.  New England Magic: the Gathering players are notorious for playing blue based control decks, and Boston's Magic players are some of the country's best.  Worldwake's Raging Ravine is a great tool to use against control decks, as land cannot be countered.  Expect Raging Ravine to appear in Jund decklists.

In Extended, expect Treetop Village to still shine.  While Raging Ravine may be a bigger body, it's high activation cost and lack of trample make it slow and inefficient.  Raging Ravine will find a nice home in singleton based formats.

Omnath, Locus of Mana
© Wizards of the Coast

The second Worldwake card spoiled today is Omnath, Locus of Mana from Doug Beyer's Worldwake: A Plane in Revolt.  It reads:

Omnath, Locus of Mana - 2G
Legendary Creature - Elemental
Green mana doesn't empty from your mana pool as steps and phases end.
Omnath, Locus of Mana gets +1/+1 for each green mana in your mana pool.
1/1

Worldwake's Omnath, Locus of Mana has an interesting ability that has two uses.  Floating mana between turns will let you play a bigger spell, and it also pumps the Elemental until the mana is used or it is destroyed.

In Legacy, Omnath, Locus of Mana can grow quite large rather quickly in an elf deck utilizing Priest of Titania and Gaea's Cradle.  However there are better cards to play in elf decks than Omnath, Locus of Mana.  Although great in any Limited format, expect to see this card in the junk rare bin, and relegated to casual decks - making it great trade fodder.

Stone Idol Trap, Harabaz Druid, and Tideforce Elemental round out the rest of the Worldwake cards revealed so far today.  Stone Idol Trap is great in limited as a two for one.  Harabaz Druid is an auto include in Ally decks, speeding them up.  Tideforce Elemental will have some neat tricks when paired with other creatures in any limited pool.

Worldwake is the highly anticipated next Magic: the Gathering expansion, and is the second set in the Zendikar block. Magic: the Gathering players around Boston can attend the Worldwake Pre-release on January 31st at TJ Collectibles, located at 160 Main St, in Milford, Ma.  View their website for more details or call them for more information at: (508) 473-5874.

Don't want to drive to Milford?  Contact other places to play Magic in Boston for Worldwake release events.

Recent Articles:
Worldwake's Chain Reaction can blow up casual games
Worldwake's Dragonmaster Outcast
Worldwake Magic: the Gathering preview - Kitesail Apprentice
Announcing Archenemy, a new Magic: the Gathering multiplayer variant
Path of the Planeswalker, a Magic: the Gathering graphic novel

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Sources:
Mark Rosewater "And the Land Played On", Wizards.com 1/18/2010.  Retrieved January 18th, 2010 from http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/74

Doug Beyer "Worldwake: A Plane in Revolt", Wizards.com 1/18/2010.  Retrieved January 18th, 2010 from http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/74

urzassedatives "[WWK] Visual Spoiler cards we missed...", MtgSalvation.com 1/18/2010.  Retrieved January 18th, 2010 from http://forums.mtgsalvation.com/showthread.php?t=213722