Welcome back to Battle for Zendikar mechanics week! Today we’re covering one of the Eldrazi’s mechanics: Devoid. While there’s a fair few truly colorless Eldrazi in this set (such as Ulamog, the Ceaseless Hunger or Void Winnower), the majority of the “smaller” ones you’ll encounter in a Limited environment have colored mana costs, just like the original ones from Rise of the Eldrazi. However, being all alien and eldritch and otherworldly, the Eldrazi have to be weird and have this neat keyword called “Devoid”. Anything that has Devoid is considered colorless, even if it has colored mana symbols in its cost! Nettle Drone requires red mana to cast, but it’s a colorless card. It won’t be a legal target for Ultimate Price or Blue Elemental Blast, because it simply isn’t red. Unlike most abilities, which ONLY work on the battlefield, Devoid works everywhere- your Nettle Drones and Blisterpods are colorless in your hand, in your library, on the stack, in your graveyard, in exile- everywhere! Note that Devoid only mucks up their COLOR, though- color IDENTITY for Commander is still determined by mana cost (among other things). You won’t be able to play Blisterpod in a non-green Commander deck, no matter how much you’d like to!

Today’s Rules Tip was written by Trevor Nunez