Ahoy planeswalkers!
Hour of Devastation looms, and Wizards has given us a double-dose of reasons to get hyped, with the return of Magic Story and the Amonkhet-themed schemes of Archenemy: Nicol Bolas! It’s possible that I should be combing Archenemy for hints about Hour of Devastation, but Jay Annelli has already done a stellar job of that, so instead I’m looking to another treasured tradition for how Wizards hypes a new set: the set trailer.
Now, Wizards doesn’t always give us a trailer for small sets—they skipped Fate Reforged and Oath of the Gatewatch before making trailers for Eldritch Moon and Aether Revolt—but with a showdown against beloved villain Nicol Bolas looming and with the story team promising that Hour of Devastation is a major inflection point for the story, let’s just say I’m feeling bullish about our chances of getting a trailer for Hour of Devastation. So, while we await the return of the God-Pharaoh (may he return quickly and may we be found worthy), I thought I’d take a look at my five favorite set trailers and try to articulate why I find them so effective. And maybe, just maybe, Hour of Devastation’s trailer will soon take a place on this list.
#5—New Phyrexia
As far as I can find, Scars of Mirrodin block was the first to feature trailers, with a pair of earlier trailers playing up the question of how the block would end (Mirrodin Pure versus New Phyrexia) followed by this trailer for New Phyrexia. And boy this is a heck of a way to start the tradition of Magic trailers. This is one of very few set trailers to be double-voiced (Avacyn Restored and Aether Revolt being the other two), and the way the narration bounces back and forth between the resistance and the gibbering language of the Phyrexians evokes the struggle for Mirrodin. It also introduces us to some of the most exciting cards in the set along the way, as characters like Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite and Sheoldred, Whispering One pop up in the trailer.
What really puts this over for me, however, is its ending: art of Karn as the corrupted father of machines, called first “savior” by the resistance and then “destroyer” by the Phyrexians, followed by the art of a still-corrupted Karn lunging forward. This trailer came out some six weeks before prerelease, so folks would still have been a couple weeks away from seeing Karn Liberated—both teasing the return of a beloved Weatherlight character and casting doubt over whether they would be redeemed (especially by giving the Phyrexians the last word in the trailer) is a brilliant way to build both anticipation and suspense.
#4—Born of the Gods
Some folks are hoping that Hour of Devastation is going to come with a trailer voiced by Nicol Bolas, and boy are trailers from the villain’s point of view fun. See the last time we got one: Born of the Gods.
The Born of the Gods trailer riffs on the trailer for Theros, in which Heliod introduced the first five gods in a fairly straightforward manner. By putting the introduction of the gods for the second set into the mouth of one who despises them in Xenagos, Born of the Gods twists the form in a meaningful way. Meanwhile, the revelation of Xenagos, God of Revels exploding out of the top of a mountain gives the trailer an exciting conclusion.
The trailer also benefits from a particularly good vocal performance, as Xenagos cycles through envy, bemusement, disdain, laughter, and rage. The way he speaks that last line? “Darkness approaches . . . May the fates aid any who venture into the night . . . alone.” Chills.
#3—Amonkhet
I know some folks (The Professor among them) found this trailer unexciting, but I really like it. The driving rhythm of the chant captures the zeitgeist of Amonkhet perfectly, where everyone trains with single-mindedness for the trials to earn their place in the afterlife, and the way the chant cycles back through three times—first somewhat indistinct, then more clearly, then with a sacred solemnity in Djeru’s voice—hammers that home really effectively.
I’m also a sucker for a good stinger. The Shadows Over Innistrad trailer has a pretty good one, with the stained-glass image of Avacyn, the Purifier, which really captures the creeping madness of that set. This one, though? Dropping the cliffhanger of the fifth story spotlight (Gideon’s Intervention) in the trailer, in a flash-like glimpse that disrupts the cyclical chant? Now that’s a way to get me revved up for the story, both to see how it gets there and to see where it goes from there.
#2—Eldritch Moon
“You fear the dark. But here, [small laugh] it’s inescapable. Remember where you are. This is Innistrad, where light only exists to cast shadow.”
Liliana has to be one of the best trailer narrators in Magic’s multiverse. She’s a fan favorite. Her sardonic sense of humor, her ambitiousness, and her wry disdain for others makes her fun to read, fun to listen to, and I assume fun to write. It also helps her deliver a wonderful sense of how Innistrad feels (better than in the Jace-led trailer that introduced the block) while making it fun and amusing.
This trailer might also have the best interplay between text and image out of all of the trailers to date. “Those shadows are twisting,” and the picture flashes from a normal-looking werewolf to an Eldrazified werewolf. “Survival is for the . . . uninspired” as we see Gideon, Chandra, and Nissa struggle, wrapped in Eldrazi tentacles. This is thoughtful, high-quality construction.
And then there’s the ending, with the camera panning around Liliana as she raises her zombies to reveal the looming mass of Emrakul, the Promised End, followed by her gently mocking line, “Darkness is your only hope,” set against the horror-movie-out-of-key-music-box sounds at the end. It’s a brilliant reveal followed by a finale that’s hopeful, dreadful, and creepy all at once. From a technical standpoint, this might be the best trailer of all time; however, there’s another that simply has a greater hold upon my heart.
#1—Journey Into Nyx
Yes, yes, I double-dipped on Theros block. I just couldn’t help myself. Boy oh boy. This trailer.
The kindly, time-worn voice of Erebos. The philosophical musing upon what it means to be a hero. The memory of a young Elspeth, chained up and cringing before her Phyrexian captor. The images of Ajani coming and reuniting with Elspeth.
And then our narrator turns sinister: “The sun rises, the sun sets. But we all have to cross the river someday. Even her.” The zoom through Erebos’s eyes, revealing the tormented souls of the underworld, with Elspeth among them. “Resign yourself to your glorious fate. I am coming to claim my prize.”
Journey Into Nyx doesn’t necessarily excite me about cards in its set the way that the other trailers in this list do. In terms of chase cards, we see that Ajani is coming, and we get glimpses of Iroas and Kruphix—not quite the wealth of the first two Theros block trailers, which introduced all five gods. Its elegiac quality leading into the death of the block’s protagonist, however, more than makes up for that. It is the most purely story-focused of the trailers on my list, but it’s a heck of a story, and does a lot to help give Elspeth’s death the weight it deserves.
Honorable Mention—Magic 2012
This one’s a weird one. It’s a combo trailer for Magic 2012 and Duels of the Planeswalkers, and it is among the earliest official Magic set trailers. There’s been some retconning (for instance, Gideon says that his world has been destroyed and it’s at least partially his fault), and the images of the other planeswalkers have a cardboard cut-out quality, which makes them look weird when they appear at the end. This wouldn’t even be in my top ten on its own merits, but it has one heck of a relevant first line:
“My name is Gideon. And I’m about to die.”
And that image: Gideon in a crater, with the shadow of Nicol Bolas looming over him? Gideon summoning popular planeswalkers to his side to help turn the tide of a lost battle? This trailer basically foreshadows the Gatewatch going into battle with Bolas. One wonders if this was lurking in the minds of some of Wizards’s leaders in developing the Amonkhet block and its story.
And it begs the question: is Gideon really about to die? I still think it’s too early, but let’s just say Wizards is doing a great job of making me nervous.
So that’s it: my five favorite set trailers, plus a weird older one that’s become strangely timely! Did I snub any of your favorites? Shout at me on Twitter—I’d love to hear about which trailers you like best and why!
Beck Holden is a Ph.D. student in theater who lives in the greater Boston area. He enjoys drafting, brewing for standard, and playing 8-Rack in modern. He also writes intermittently about actually playing Magic at beholdplaneswalker.wordpress.com.