Welcome to Flavor Face Off, a cutthroat competition in which I pit two Magic: The Gathering blocks against each other in an entirely artificial battle for flavor supremacy. In this edition, I’ll examine how the setting, storyline, mechanics, and artwork contribute to the creative flavor of the Zendikar and Scars of Mirrodin blocks and decide which is tastier. Now that I’ve whet your appetite, let’s dig in.

Setting

Zendikar Block

The world of Zendikar is ideal for a big-budget action adventure movie that you must see in stunning 3D. Zendikar comes complete with all the usual ingredients: rare and priceless treasures . . .

. . . deadly terrain, beasts, and threats to life and limb . . .

. . . strange and mysterious artifacts of a long departed civilization . . .

. . . and a powerful and unpredictable force of nature known as the roil.

The adventuring elite of Zendikar enjoy the unparalleled challenges and rewards of this world, but they are not the only ones. It has become something of a planeswalker’s theme park: Adventure Land for those with unrivaled power and daring in the multiverse. The main attraction is the mana. Spells often behave unpredictably when cast with Zendikar’s mana, but its power is obvious, unsettling, and irresistible to many planeswalkers.

Scars of Mirrodin Block

In Scars of Mirrodin, we return to an artificial world made of metal by a planeswalker named Karn.

Mirrodin is still populated by Mirrans, beings both made of metal and augmented by it.

Mirrans have adapted to their landscape and resources of their metal world and construct and command complex machinery powered by arcane magic to aid them. The original Mirrodin block explores this world and focuses on a conflict between the Mirrans and Memnarch, a golem driven mad by a mysterious oily substance.

Scars of Mirrodin returns us to this world on the cusp of war, the metallic design of the world, its inhabitants, and their tools provided the perfect habitat for an old threat to marshal its strength, plan its return, and rebuild itself in secret: the Phyrexians.

The Phyrexians are the big bad of the Magic multiverse. They conquer through corruption—by unleashing a vile and toxic substance known as Phyrexian oil upon a world and people they wish to control. This oil corrupts all that it touches, turning creatures into Phyrexians through a process known as compleation. Traces of Phyrexian oil were unwittingly seeded by Karn deep in the world’s core, and from there, it spread.

By the time the full threat facing Mirrodin was understood, it was too late to stop it. A war for survival had come.

Point Goes To: Zendikar block. The world mixes rugged and untamed environments, fantastic beasts, priceless treasures, and an underlying feeling of mysteries unsolved to create a very intriguing setting where it feels like anything could happen.

Story

Zendikar Block

In Zendikar, we are introduced to the world of adventure. It’s a harsh world and full of risks but not without its fair share of rewards. In Worldwake, it becomes clear that something is wrong. Zendikar has seemingly come alive, and the very face of the planet is changing with great urgency and upheaval.

Plants, beasts, and the earth itself have come alive to attack with a vengeful vigor.

Something has changed to make Zendikar lash out in fear and self-defense, and in Rise of the Eldrazi, we find out what.

The Eldrazi are gargantuan and horrific monsters that feed on the energy of living creatures and entire worlds. Millennia ago, they were drawn to the powerful mana and primal power of Zendikar. They attacked and began consuming the once-beautiful world.

A powerful coalition, including the planeswalkers Sorin and Ugin, came to Zendikar’s aid out of fear of what the Eldrazi might do to the multiverse. They were far too powerful to defeat outright, but Sorin and crew were able to contain them in a magical prison buried deep beneath the planet’s surface.

The Eldrazi remained in this subterranean prison for thousands of years as Zendikar recovered and evolved into a fierce and thriving land until the wards of their secret prison were unintentionally damaged during a battle between Jace, the Mind Sculptor and Chandra Ablaze. Fearing the worst, Sorin Markov returned to Zendikar to strengthen the imprisoning magic and keep the Eldrazi trapped. He enlisted the aid of Zendikar native and fellow planeswalker Nissa Revane.

Instead of helping Sorin, however, Nissa shattered the protective spell and released the Eldrazi titans: Emrakul, the Aeons Torn, Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre, and Kozilek, Butcher of Truth. Nissa naively thought that once free, the Eldrazi would leave Zendikar. Instead, they went back to bleeding it dry of life and mana.

Disgusted, Sorin left Nissa and her world to its fate. Nissa pursued him to try to change his mind and garner his help to re-imprison the Eldrazi. As the camera fades out on Zendikar, the future looks grim.

Scars of Mirrodin Block

Scars of Mirrodin returned the multiverse’s focus back to the metallic world of Mirrodin and showed the Phyrexian threat just beginning to surface.

In Mirrodin Besieged, the Phyrexian invasion has begun, and the war is quickly taking its toll on the world and the Mirrans who defend it. As defenders fall, they rise again in support of the Phyrexian machine, swelling its ranks.

The Mirrans find heroes to lead them, but they are too few, and the Phyrexian grip is too strong.

The final set of the block brings an end to the war and an end to the world of Mirrodin. The Phyrexian victory is compleat, and Mirrodin becomes New Phyrexia. The Phyrexians use of mana of all colors to win the war causes an internal divide into five factions, one for each color. Each faction has a leader called a Praetor as well as a preferred means of Phyrexian domination aligned with that color. As the planet is pacified, tension steadily increases between the factions.

The Mirran resistance fights on in the hopes of purifying Mirrodin and one day reclaiming their home. The best hope for the future lies with a legendary creature, the last of his kind . . .

. . . and an infant girl he finds in the New Phyrexian jungle, a girl with a special gift.

Point Goes To: Scars of Mirrodin. In the third set of both blocks, the bad guys win. The Phyrexians are both more interesting and more important to the overall history—and probably the future—of Magic than the Eldrazi. Their return to power is a big deal in the multiverse.

Mechanics, Keywords, and Abilities

Zendikar Block

The feeling of adventure and daring of the block comes to life through three different mechanics: Allies, Quests, and Traps. Allies represent the quintessential adventuring group that has banded together to pursue treasure. Whenever a new ally is added to the party, he enhances the abilities of his cohorts.

Lands matter in the wild world of Zendikar, where it pays to move with caution. The terrain can be treacherous or advantageous depending on where you stand. Landfall and the animated lands known as man lands bring the very earth to life in a game of Magic.

Scars of Mirrodin Block

The goal of the Phyrexians isn’t just to defeat you; it is to master you and then to turn you into what you once fought so hard to defeat. They are a plague for which there is no cure, and Phyrexian oil is their primary weapon. Infect and proliferate epitomize this threat perfectly in game play.

The mechanics of the Mirran resistance are far less intriguing. Battle cry is logical but somewhat generic. Any people fighting almost anything could employ a battle cry to motivate and improve morale. Metalcraft is more fittingly Mirrodin. It conjures images of the natives of the great metal world combining their knowledge and technological prowess to construct a machine that is much greater than the sum of its parts.

Point Goes To: Zendikar block. The mechanics, abilities, and keywords of the block fit perfectly with the adventure setting and story. They also draw easy parallels to other games and stories in popular culture, making them very easy to visualize and understand.

Art

Zendikar Block

The art of the Zendikar block focuses on the world’s plants and animals . . .

. . . as well as its savage beasts and monsters.

A great deal of attention is also given showing the fierce, unique, and natural beauty of the terrain on Zendikar.

The artwork of Rise of the Eldrazi provides a stark contrast between the Eldrazi and their tools of war against the formerly picturesque backdrops of Zendikar. This really drives home the feeling that a foreign presence has invaded and is unwelcome.

Scars of Mirrodin Block

The art of the Scars of Mirrodin block shows us what the metallic planet, the Mirrans, and their constructs look like.

We get a front-row seat to view the war between the Phyrexian invaders and the Mirran resistance . . .

. . . and a good look at the victors and terrifying new overlords of New Phyrexia.

Point Goes To: Zendikar block. The full-art lands lead the way to a decisive victory for Zendikar.

The Winner

Zendikar defeats Scars of Mirrodin by a score of 3–1. Both stories left room for a sequel, so a rematch is certainly possible. Do you agree with the final score, or did Scars of Mirrodin get robbed? Let me know in the comments, and thanks for reading!

Nick Vigabool

@MrVigabool