The new The Embalmed card is super cool, I am excited to abuse this particular mechanic. At a glance it looks different than all other creature cards, but despite appearances it is still an Undead Creature, which means that you can summon it from a Graveyard or Libro Mortuos, and it interacts with everything as a normal creature would.
I believe it warrants it's own clarification thread, it is a tricky card because we have a Necromancer mage in Arena that can interact with it in a cool way, discussed heavily in the recent stream. I think they did hit on the accurate interpretation of the card at the end, and when I read the card it makes sense, so am going to write it out here in detail. Other interpretations could be made but I feel confident that this is what the card would do in RAW.
The card:
https://imgur.com/YjZ9deKThe image was shamelessly ripped from the stream.
When you play the card you are supposed to remove a living non-epic creature in any discard pile from the game. I would recommend that you keep the cards together to avoid confusion. For all intents and purposes, however, The Embalmed card is now switched with a card identical to the creature selected and summoned to the board, with a few exceptions. The summoned creature gains the subtypes: Undead and Mummy, and it gains the trait: Nonliving.
Example for clarity: A Feral Bobcat is in any discard pile and Egyptians likes cats, so you want to embalm it and add it to your horde. Feral Bobcat for reference:
https://imgur.com/5JvGeW2Now we remove the Bobcat from the discard pile (effectively obliterating it but for some reason this terminology is not used, this may be intentional). The caster pays 7 mana, and for all intents and purposes "The Embalmed" card is also removed from the game and is then replaced with this homemade updated Feral Bobcat card:
https://imgur.com/A0OngEBIf Mage Wars was a digital game, I believe that, for clarity, the "The Embalmed" card would simply morph into the updated Feral Bobcat card above. Again, when playing with cardboard we have to keep the two cards together to keep track, though neither of them effectively exist in the game anymore. When the embalmed cat dies, we put the updated Feral Bobcat in the discard pile (this means our two cards, still attached together (and only for reference), should move together to the discard pile). In the discard pile there is nothing you can do with a Nonliving creature, but understanding this mechanic is important because:
When summoning The Embalmed and following the procedure above, creating our updated mummy cat, the Necromancer can place his Eternal Servant marker on it, thus making sure he will never lose his new pet. When the creature is killed, he may reanimate it just as he normally would any other Undead, paying 5 mana to do so (the cost on the updated Feral Bobcat card). If he does so, you still keep the two cards together and reanimate the Feral Bobcat again as a Nonliving Undead Mummy. This means that, in effect, you are not reanimating the "The Embalmed" card and choosing a new creature for it every time you reanimate, which is a very important distinction.
Anyways, this is pretty cool! I'm looking forward to seeing what kinds of creatures will be embalmed, effectively it means that almost every creature can now be reanimated forever. I'm thinking creatures like Combustion Demon, Messenger of Bim-Shalla or maybe even a Dragonclaw Wolverine, give me your best ideas! And hey, you can have 4 copies of The Embalmed in your book, if you're worried that someone manages to obliterate your first Eternal Servant.
And let me know if you think I missed something or have other interpretations of the mechanics.
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