Arena of the Planeswalkers, Hasbro’s tabletop strategy take on the world of Magic: The Gathering, is usually all about pitting Planeswalkers against each other in magical battles—but now they’re going to have to team up to take on a new threat: the game’s first colorless hero character, and a major part of the game’s new expansion.


Battle for Zendikar, the first expansion for Arena of the Planeswalkers, introduces the land of Zendikar to the game, along with a whole new bunch of spells and minions to summon. You’re going to need them, too—because the main focus of the expansion is teaming up with your friends to take on the monstrous Eldrazi Ruiner that’s attempting to gobble up the world.


Arena of the Planeswalkers’ first hero to not have one of the five colors of mana associated with it (Blue, Black, Red, Green, or White), and given its nature as a ginormous, world-ending threat, the figurine itself dwarfs anything else on the table. Backing up the Ruiner are three minion counters, Eldrazi Scions, which can either harass your foes or be eaten by the Ruiner to get extra speed and strength.

The Eldrazi is definitely no easy foe, as you can see by its stats above, so Battle for Zendikar’s new scenario will see players and their Planeswalker heroes—including newcomers Kiora and Ob Nixilis—to take on a player controlling the Ruiner and its minions. Sounds like you’ll need all the help you can get! Once you’re done with the scenario, the Ruiner and its rules can be adapted for use in the base version of Arena of the Planeswalkers to boot, making it a great addition to the overall game.


Battle for Zendikar will release in January 2016 for $19.99, but if you’re attending Spiel 2015 in Essen, Germany, you can check out playable demos of the expansion Thursday to Saturday at 10:00, 12:00, 14:00 and 16:00 at Hasbro’s booth.


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