Combining themes and casting costs from several black removal spells throughout the history of Magic: The Gathering, Murderous Rider in the Throne of Eldraine set looks like a bomb.
With over 20 spoilers from Throne of Eldraine (ELD) dropping today, only a few cards stand out from the pack. It might be a tad early to definitively call Murderous Rider a bomb, but there’s no mistaking its power and potential.
Murderous Rider is a Rare showcase style card with a creature on one side and an Adventure mechanic on the other. Swift End (the Instant Adventure spell) is essentially a reprint of Hero’s Downfall (destroy target creature or planeswalker). The only difference between the two is that with Swift End, casting the spell also costs two life points.
To make up for the loss of life points, Murderous Rider is a 2/3 zombie with lifelink. As an added bonus, Rider is returned to the bottom of a players library when it dies.
When compared to cards like Ravenous Chupacabra (rotating out of Standard) and Murder, Murderous Rider has the added benefit of hitting a planeswalker and returning to the library upon death.
Since the showcase cards are considered a creature (unlike typical split cards), players can use planeswalkers like Narset or Tamiyo to search for Murderous Rider in their libraries after it has died. There are also black cards like Scheming Symmetry and Mausoleum Secrets that’ll locate it too.
Murderous Rider and the Throne of Eldraine set releases on Oct. 4.
