It's official, Worldwake should be renamed EDH-wake! Saturday I was scorekeeper for the Phoenix Games regional prerelease in Orlando, FL, and Sunday I judged a local prerelease at Wizards Cupboard in Seminole, FL. During two long days of prereleases, I had the opportunity to speak with a lot of folks about the best new cards for EDH. There are a ton! So many in fact, I'm going to split this article into two articles. This week we'll look at the best creatures and creatureesque cards, and everything else next week. Yes, I made up the word creatureesque, sue me. [Ed. Note - ManaNation takes no responsibility for the creation of words by our writers. :)]

It certainly would seem those guys at WOTC have been playing some EDH. From huge fatties to great utility creatures, Worldwake has something for everyone. Let's dive right in and find out what rocks for EDH in Worldwake.

Abyssal Persecutor is a 6/6 flying trampler for 4. Drawback, what drawback? I'm sure you can find a way to get rid of this guy when the time is right! The worst part about this guy is that he will almost certainly be playable in every constructed format, so his price will almost certainly be outrageous.

Persecutor presents an interesting challenge to determining who eliminated a player. What if Joe takes Mike below 0 life, but Mike does not lose because Sam has an Abyssal Persecutor? Then Rick destroys the Abyssal Persecutor after doing even more damage to Mike! We'll let your playgroup work this one out for itself.

Admonition Angel is a 6/6 flier for 6. The Landfall ability may or may not even be relevant. Leaving a fetch on the board ready for that Darksteel that definitely won't be attacking you could be a good idea though.

Arbor Elf is a Llanowar Elf, right? Or better. He untaps dual lands, Dryad Arbor, Murmoring Bosk, even Sapseep Forest. Now if we only had a Forest that tapped for more than one mana. Overgrowth anyone?

Archon of Redemption is a 3/4 flier for 5. That seems good, the life gain is just icing on the cake.

Avenger of Zendikar is a 5/5 for 7 that can give you a lot of 0/1 tokens. Don't we just love tokens? It can also pump those tokens for every land you play, along with all your other plant creatures. I'm looking at you Chameleon Colossus.

Butcher of Malakir is a 5/4 flier for 7. Butcher makes your opponents think twice before killing your dudes!

Dragonmaster Outcast is a 1/1 for 1 that can give you a 5/5 flying dragon every upkeep when you have 6 or more lands. 6 or more lands is a snap in EDH, keeping a 1/1 alive until your next turn is not, however.

Kalastria Highborn is a 2/2 Vampire for 2 that allows you to Drain Life an opponent for {b} when a vampire goes to the yard.

Loam Lion is a 1/1 for 1 that gets +1/+2 when you control a Forest. Yes, it's the new white Kird Ape. Seems good.

Lodestone Golem is an 5/3 Artifact Creature for 4. As if that wasn't good enough, it makes nonartifact spells cost 1 more to cast. Sharuum and other artifact decks everywhere rejoice.

Mordant Dragon is a 5/5 flying dragon for 6 with firebreathing for 1{R} that has creature removal when you damage a player. This is one mean dragon! 5 stars, should be in every deck that packs red, OMGWTF YAY!

Novablast Wurm is a 7/7 for 7 that destroys all other creatures when it attacks. Wow. What else can I say, Wow.

Stoneforge Mystic is a 1/2 for 2 that lets you search for an equipment card when it comes into play, then lets you put an equipment card into play for 2 and a tap at instant speed. Jitte's best friend is a good tutor and great surprise factor.

Terastodon is a 9/9 for 8 that lets you destroy three noncreature permanents when it comes into play, but allows each permanent's controller to put a 3/3 token into play. This gives green a way to get rid of problem permanents like Planeswalkers and/or a way to turn your extra lands into 3/3 elephants, not to mention giving you a 9/9 beater!

Multikicker Creatures

EDH loves X spells. Multikick is a bigger better X spell. Most of these guys are good early game, and even better late game. Multikick creatures really fit EDH well since they are almost always a good play.

Apex Hawks is a 2/2 flier for 3 that has Multikicker 1{W} for +1/+1 counters. Flying really makes this Multikick creature hot.

Bloodhusk Ritualist is a 2/2 for 3 with Multikicker {B} that forces an opponent to discard a card for each time it was kicked. Mind Shatter for 1 more, that leaves you with a 2/2!

Enclave Elite is a 2/2 Merfolk for 3 with Multikicker 1{U} to give it +1/+1 counters. While Islandwalk is not as good as flying, in EDH it's pretty darn good. While being a Merfolk certainly has its advantages in the right deck, I still like Apex Hawks over this guy.

Gnarlid Pack is a 2/2 for 2 with Multikicker 1{G} for +1/+1 counters. This Multikickable Grizzly Bears is not terribly exciting, but still not a bad card. In Green you can find ways to generate maximum mana, making this guy huge.

Joraga Warcaller is a 1/1 Elf Warrior for 1 with Multikicker 1{G} for +1/+1 counters that also pumps other Elfs for each +1/+1 counter. Believe it or not, this is one of the cards I am most excited about in this set. I am a big fan of the Elf. This guy is going in my Rhys, the Redeemed deck immediately if not sooner. He's the release promo card, so pick up a nice foily Joraga Warcaller at your local release this weekend!

Lightkeeper of Emeria is a 2/4 flier with Multikicker {W} to gain 2 life for each time it is kicked. Gaining 2 life for each {w} and getting a 2/4 flier out of the deal is pretty good bargain. I can see this going in every deck I have with white in it!

Quag Vampires is a 1/1 Swampwalk Vampire for 2 with Multikicker 1{B} for +1/+1 counters. The "least good" +1/+1 counter Multikicker creature, but still decent.

Skitter of Lizards is a hasty 1/1 for 1 with Multikicker 1{R} for +1/+1 counters. Having haste makes this Lizard a Beast! Soon to be taking those last few life points away from an opponent near you!

Wolfbriar Elemental is a 4/4 Elemental for 4 with Multikicker {G} that puts a 2/2 Wolf token into play for each time it was kicked. This one gets another great big Wow from me! Token decks everywhere are scrounging up a Wolfbriar Elemental. Rhys, the Redeemed is very happy!

Man Lands

They're almost creatures, right? Worldwake will have the first set of man lands that produce multiple colors, and a very nice colorless man land. Rather than go through each land, suffice to say these guys should be showing up in every deck that supports the colors.

New Generals

With so many great EDH cards in this set, it makes sense that Worldwake should have some great new generals. We still don't have a second Blue Black Green general I'm hoping for, but we get 4 awesome mono color generals and one very nice Gold general. Build decks from the 4 mono color Generals in Worldwake and throw in a Iona, Shield of Emeria deck for White and have a mono EDH from each color for a great Pentagram game!

Anowon, the Ruin Sage is a 4/3 Vampire Shaman for 5 that forces all players to sacrifice a non Vampire creature at the beginning of your upkeep. With all of the great Vampires we have now I can definitely see an all Vampire EDH deck with Anowon as their leader. An Abyss for everyone except you sounds good.

Kazuul, Tyrant of the Cliffs is a 5/4 Ogre Warrior for 5 with a Ghostly Prison +1 that beats like a Wooly Thoctar.

Omnath, Locus of Mana is a 1/1 Elemental for 3 that lets you leave green mana in your pool between steps and phases, and get +1/+1 for each green mana in your pool. This guy is Vines of Vastwood's best friend. I'm busy working on my Omnath deck right now!

Thada Adel, Acquisitor is a 2/2 Islandwalk Merfolk Rogue for 3 that lets you Bribery an Artifact from a player when you do combat damage to them. This may be the least interesting Legendary card from Worldwake, but I can still see a Thada Adel deck springing up.

Wrexial, the Risen Deep is a 5/8 Islandwalk Swampwalk Kraken for 8 that lets you cast an Instant or Sorcery card from a players graveyard when you deal combat damage to them. The only Multicolor General from Worldwake may also be the most interesting of the bunch. The colors are great for EDH giving you plenty of tutors, removal, counters et. Al.

Well, these are some of the best creatures in Worldwake for EDH. This set is looking really really good for EDH players. Most of the awesome Worldwake creatures will see little play in Standard, and hence should be affordable. Run, don't walk, to your local store to pick up some Worldwake when it becomes available this Friday!

Next week we'll finish up the Worldwake EDH review with everything else in Worldwake. Yes, the rest of Worldwake is very good as well. See you then!