Magic: The Gathering’s newest expansion Oath of the Gatewatch is right around the corner, and Paste was able to get three new super flavorful preview cards from that set to show off. Three awesome cards at the common and uncommon level that are all going to be exciting things for people to play with. Click through the gallery above to see the three cards and read our resident Magic expert’s thoughts.
1 of 3
![]()
The first card is Bone Saw, a reprint from Conflux in the Shards of Alara block.
The choice to reprint this card is sort of beautiful. It's the smallest addition to the arsenal of the Allies against the Eldrazi, but it's at least something. The card gives a strong sense that any advantage, even a single point of attack power, might be the rivulet that turns the tide of battle. I'm not sure why it's cutting a tree trunk in the art instead of doing some sweet Eldrazi Spawn attacking, but it's good to know that Bone Saw can saw anything it comes into contact with. (If this is confusing, check out my article on Battle for Zendikar!)
2 of 3
![]()
The second card is a brand new Enchantment called Pyromancer's Assault.
It seems that Oath of the Gatewatch is doubling down on some of the themes of Battle for Zendikar when it comes to how the Allies versus Eldrazi theme works. In Battle we saw some of the most powerful effects for those united against the Eldrazi Titans centered in the color White, with cards like Gideon's Reproach and Smite the Monstrous doing quite a bit of work in the limited environment. In the world of non-Ally creatures, Red was mostly left with weird animals like the Geopede.
In Oath, it seems like some of that steadfast, unified core might be giving way to emotive rage, and Pyromancer's Assault is right in the middle of that. It's a card that shows what happens when you back those allied for the defense of Zendikar into a corner. They're going to give you everything they've got, and that might be some powerful pinging on the part of a pyromancer.
3 of 3
![]()
Finally, our third card is Boulder Salvo.
Like the previous card, this is another example of what Zendikar will do when its back is against the wall, although this time it isn't the people but the land itself. Battle for Zendikar gave us a world that was literally waking up to do battle with enemies that would destroy it, but in that case they mostly stood up in order to give those enemies a right hook to the jaw. As the flavor text suggests, the land is now heaving itself as a weapon of war.