Fans have wanted another four-set megablock for a while now and with the Two-Block paradigm starting this fall a new Large/small/Large/small megablock seems more likely than ever. And what theme more perfect for a year-round block than one themed around the four seasons? Like KTK, a theme of change should permeate the block. But whereas KTK used change to represent divergent timelines, "Season Block" demonstrates change through different versions of cards that correspond to each season, from Basic land seasonal variants to legendary creatures whose character development spans the block, as well as the addition or removal of certain elements on a -by-season basis like different creature types and of course mechanics.
Designing around the seasons requires that we look at what each season is about:
Spring is the season of new life and new beginnings, when creatures awaken from their winter-long hibernation and seek mates, farmers plant seeds in fertile soil, rain and melting snow flood rivers and lakes with fresh water, and flowers sprout and trees regrow their leaves.
Summer is the season of growth and activity, when newborn animals grow into adolesence and eventually adulthood, farmers toil away to keep their growing crops healthy, temperatures grow warmer, and storms become fierce.
Fall is the season of decay and harvesting, when animals seek to store food and fat for the coming winter, farmers harvest their crops, hunters and trappers seek fur and meat, trees change color and lose their leaves, and mushrooms grow out of deadfall.
Winter is the season of cold and rest, when water freezes into ice, snow blankets the ground, most animals sleep, and people feast and celebrate.
With those themes in mind, we're left to decide the order of seasons and the mechanics for each set. Ideally Spring and Autumn would be the large sets while Summer and Winter are the small sets as those are the seasons when sets of those sizes would be released. Also ideally the megablock would begin with the Spring set as Spring is the season of beginnings after all.
Next we focus on the mechanics and themes for each season. We don't have to finalize anything yet but we should establish some guidelines. For starters, we should make sure the mechanics of each season play well with the themes of adjacent seasons, particularly Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. We can also incorporate some holiday influences like Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, not in name but in festive spirit.
Spring - With the focus on new life, a mechanic that cares about creatures entering the battlefield seems like an appropriate option. Populate could return.
Summer - As the season most associated with growth, the summer set wants at least one mechanic that represents growth, like with +1/+1 counters. As the season of activity, this will also have the most focus on speedy combat.
Fall - As the harvest season, a sacrifice mechanic seems appropriate. A graveyard mechanic, like Unearth, Scavenge, or Delve, might also fit here. Wither could return as part of the decay theme, but that will lock +1/+1 counters out of the Fall/Winter block.
Winter - Snow is an obvious mechanic to revisit for the winter set, perhaps this time including some colorless Snow spells. As this is the time when many creatures hibernate, some form of bounce or exile mechanic might also be in order. The winter set should probably be slower paced in contrast to the summer set.
I'm thinking of creature types that could play a key role in conveying the seasonal theme:
Birds - Birds are often known to fly south for the winter and return in spring.
Bugs - Ants diligently patrol their territories for food during spring, summer, and especially fall. Bees buzz around flowers in spring and summer to gather nectar for their hive. Mosquitos thrive in summer heat. Caterpillars munch on plants in the fall before forming a chrysalis to protect them during the winter, emerging as butterflies in spring to feed on nectar and find mates. Fireflies light up ponds during lazy summer evenings. Suffice to say, there's a lot of different bugs we can use for a seasonal megablock. Like Plants, Insects should be much scarcer in winter, even more so.
Elementals - One of the best catch-all tribes for representing each season's natural phenomena, but especially important for winter as Snow elementals.
Fungi - Mushrooms are particularly common in Autumn when dead biomatter is commonplace and temperatures are still warm enough to facilitate fungal growth. There could be some Fungi in Summer as well thanks to the combination of moisture and heat.
Scarecrows - A staple of fall symbology as well as a common sight on farm fields.
Spirits - Ghosts are commonly associated with fall and somewhat less so winter. You also have the non-ghostly variants that describe living aspects of nature, similar to Elementals.
Treefolk - As trees are the most common symbol of seasonal progression, it makes sense to include anthropomorphic, talking trees. Some are deciduous and some are evergreen.
Plants - In addition to treefolk, you have other types of seasonal plants such as flowers and pumpkins which can receive creature characterization. These should be scarcest in winter.
Furry critters - Bears, Wolves, Elk, Rabbits, and so forth are all part of the seasonal experience, many of them hibernating for winter while some resort to scavenging or hunting winter game. Oh, and what if Squirrels made a return?
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
While certain seasons might have more influence from certain colors, there is no way color imbalance is happening. Torment and Judgment were mistakes that should not be repeated. The whole megablock actually has a very green influence on its mechanics as the four seasons are a major aspect of nature. Just see Bow of Nylea, Sakiko, Mother of Summer, Shizuko, Caller of Autumn, Shaman of Spring, and Heartbeat of Spring.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I would be interested in exploring snow further in the winter season. Last time, we saw snow mana only used as ability costs, but this time I'm thinking colorless snow spells alongside colored snow cards.
Double-faced cards could work well as a means of demonstrating seasonal changes, but which seasons should get such cards? My inkling would be summer and winter in the form of late spring and autumn cards changing into summer and winter versions.
I'm also interested in mega cycles that demonstrate a particular concept changing over the course of the megablock. Some examples of cards that demonstrate this idea:
These cards from Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are mirrored counterparts in both color and function. They also help demonstrate the differences between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor.
These examples are a little more unusual as at least two cards in each group are alternate counterparts rather than direct evolutions. Fate Reforged almost had a younger, less developed Towershell that would become either the Towershell seen in KTK or the Tombshell seen in DTK, but it didn't make it all the way through.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
How does Eventide represent Winter? If anything, Lorwyn and Morningtide represent Summer while Shadowmoor and Eventide represent Fall. I'm not seeing a lot of Winter or Spring in there. At any rate, they were built around tribal and hybrid, not seasonal themes.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Llorwyn and SHadowmoor were more day/night than seasons (noticeable by the fact that Llorwyn only knows day while it's always night on Shadowmoor, which is the reason why the Shadowmoor Kithkin are always blind).
Llorwyn and SHadowmoor were more day/night than seasons (noticeable by the fact that Llorwyn only knows day while it's always night on Shadowmoor, which is the reason why the Shadowmoor Kithkin are always blind).
Yep. And think about it Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Even[ing]tide.
So a double duo block based on seasons would be unique.
Designing around the seasons requires that we look at what each season is about:
With those themes in mind, we're left to decide the order of seasons and the mechanics for each set. Ideally Spring and Autumn would be the large sets while Summer and Winter are the small sets as those are the seasons when sets of those sizes would be released. Also ideally the megablock would begin with the Spring set as Spring is the season of beginnings after all.
Next we focus on the mechanics and themes for each season. We don't have to finalize anything yet but we should establish some guidelines. For starters, we should make sure the mechanics of each season play well with the themes of adjacent seasons, particularly Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter. We can also incorporate some holiday influences like Easter, Halloween, and Christmas, not in name but in festive spirit.
I'm thinking of creature types that could play a key role in conveying the seasonal theme:
Bugs - Ants diligently patrol their territories for food during spring, summer, and especially fall. Bees buzz around flowers in spring and summer to gather nectar for their hive. Mosquitos thrive in summer heat. Caterpillars munch on plants in the fall before forming a chrysalis to protect them during the winter, emerging as butterflies in spring to feed on nectar and find mates. Fireflies light up ponds during lazy summer evenings. Suffice to say, there's a lot of different bugs we can use for a seasonal megablock. Like Plants, Insects should be much scarcer in winter, even more so.
Elementals - One of the best catch-all tribes for representing each season's natural phenomena, but especially important for winter as Snow elementals.
Fungi - Mushrooms are particularly common in Autumn when dead biomatter is commonplace and temperatures are still warm enough to facilitate fungal growth. There could be some Fungi in Summer as well thanks to the combination of moisture and heat.
Scarecrows - A staple of fall symbology as well as a common sight on farm fields.
Spirits - Ghosts are commonly associated with fall and somewhat less so winter. You also have the non-ghostly variants that describe living aspects of nature, similar to Elementals.
Treefolk - As trees are the most common symbol of seasonal progression, it makes sense to include anthropomorphic, talking trees. Some are deciduous and some are evergreen.
Plants - In addition to treefolk, you have other types of seasonal plants such as flowers and pumpkins which can receive creature characterization. These should be scarcest in winter.
Furry critters - Bears, Wolves, Elk, Rabbits, and so forth are all part of the seasonal experience, many of them hibernating for winter while some resort to scavenging or hunting winter game. Oh, and what if Squirrels made a return?
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
........................
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Also have you considered using double faced cards in a "seasonal change" kind of fashion? I think that could be interesting.
Double-faced cards could work well as a means of demonstrating seasonal changes, but which seasons should get such cards? My inkling would be summer and winter in the form of late spring and autumn cards changing into summer and winter versions.
I'm also interested in mega cycles that demonstrate a particular concept changing over the course of the megablock. Some examples of cards that demonstrate this idea:
Kinsbaile Balloonist Kinscaer Harpoonist
Fallowsage Hollowsage
Boggart Loggers Boggart Arsonists
Kithkin Daggerdare Kithkin Shielddare
These cards from Lorwyn and Shadowmoor are mirrored counterparts in both color and function. They also help demonstrate the differences between Lorwyn and Shadowmoor.
Meandering Towershell Wandering Tombshell
Witness of the Ages Pilgrim of the Fires Custodian of the Trove
These examples are a little more unusual as at least two cards in each group are alternate counterparts rather than direct evolutions. Fate Reforged almost had a younger, less developed Towershell that would become either the Towershell seen in KTK or the Tombshell seen in DTK, but it didn't make it all the way through.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Yep. And think about it Morningtide, Shadowmoor, Even[ing]tide.
So a double duo block based on seasons would be unique.