IMPORTANT: by "future" I mean something totally new that DOES NOT exist/hasn't been flavor-referenced in MTG or the MTG books/lore in the past.
So, to explain what I mean "theme/setting", I'll use examples from sets of the past:
Ravnica is a huge-city theme
Mirrodin is a metallic-world/machines/robots theme
Theros is a Greek/Roman theme
Innistrad is a rural gothic-horror/villagers theme
Kaladesh is an Persian theme
Amonkhet is an Egyptian theme
So, if it was up to you, what type of future theme/setting do you hope they do some day?
Keep in mind:
It doesn't necessarily have to be based on some real life past civilization from Earth (the way Theros, Kaladesh and Amonkhet are). It could instead be a purely fictional theme/setting that you think would be cool. So, something like Mirrodin would be an example of what I mean by that. Like, that was a setting that wasn't based on some real life Earth culture like Greece or Persia or Egypt or whatever, but rather, was just based on the idea of a metallic/robotic-world type of setting. So, I just mean, don't feel obligated to only post themes that are based on ancient Earth cultures that haven't been MTG-alized yet. If you wish, you could also/instead post some theme that is totally weird/exotic that isn't based on anything, and just describe it yourself, if you see what I mean.
Alright, so what themes would you wish for, if it could be anything(s) you want?
Maybe one way they could still do it regardless of the religious aspects could be to just do what they always do, as in, don't make it such an exact match, but just "MTG-alize" it (like how with something like Theros or Khans or Kaladesh they didn't literally use the exact historical stuff, but did their own modified/skewed version of it, and even some just blatantly different/made up from scratch stuff that just vaguely happens to fit in with the overall theme for a lot of the cards).
So, for something like this one, I could imagine them doing it like:
Have some planet where roughly half of the people/creatures/etc live below the ground of the planet (down in the lava/magma (which would obviously be akin to "Hell" and would be where most of the black and red cards were located) and the other half would be up above in some enchanted cloud-palace in the sky, where they somehow figured out how to make physical structures out of clouds or some cloud-like substance (or if that's too similar to classical Heaven, then something of a similar but slightly different style than that, and obv a bunch of the white and blue cards would be located up there. I guess green could be split 50/50 between the two, or they could be on the ground (on top of the ground, not below it I mean) and be located in the rough equivalent of "Purgatory" (albeit in its MTG-altered version kinda).
And maybe it's like, initially all the creatures of the planet started off on the ground, but, one of the evil major-creatures or planeswalkers got in some big drama of some sort with one of the main good creatures or planeswalkers, so he/she/it fled down below the crust of the planet and created some bubble-shield type of thing to be able to live down there in spite of all the magma/lava, like an under-the-crust lair, and then over time, started grabbing lots of the creatures that were up on the ground, to bring them down below to work as slaves/turn some of them into demons/goblins/minions to create a powerful empire down there. Meanwhile, up above, in order to try to avoid getting captured by that whole thing, they went up into the cloud-palaces thingie that they created in the sky, to keep separated/further away/harder to grab by the thing(s) down below the ground. But maybe some stragglers got left on the ground for whatever reason, and, with all the constant fear/violence/families getting ripped apart/etc from individuals constantly getting captured by the below-the-ground empire, the on-the-ground place became kinda purgatory-ish (not as bad as the magma-empire below, but not as good as the cloud-palace empire up in the sky). Something like that maybe?
That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there would probably be better ways of doing it.
Anyway, yeah, that would probably be a pretty fun block. Nice concept!
Eh, I don't really see much of Mirrodin in Kaladesh. Yes, artifacts, but they're pretty much night and day in terms of coloring, the way they're designed, all of that. Kaladesh in general stood out a lot, very bright and colorful.
As far as planes I'd be interested in, mostly just other cultures. I'd be interested (though probably not happy) to see what they think a proper Japanese plane is. And a Celtic Mythology plane (Celtic Mythology isn't the same as Fairies so Lorwyn/Shadowmoor aren't it) would be nice as well. Norse Mythology is the big one, but I worry they won't be able to do it very well after Amonkhet, and to a lesser extent Theros.
Mechanical themes maybe a Wedge focused Plane? Tarkir has the Dragon-focus which I figure will be more important next time, would rather see just Wedges.
Edit: I'll add that Amonkhet and Theros are nice, but I'm not really pleased with Amonkhet being a top-down Bolas plane.
Edit: I'll add that Amonkhet and Theros are nice, but I'm not really pleased with Amonkhet being a top-down Bolas plane.
So far we haven't seen much of Bolas, though. It's a plane with a messed-up pyramid scheme (haha, almost literally) but few things about it are specifically Bolas. Remember, Amonkhet is the Egypt set. Hour of Devastation is the Bolas set.
I mean, the entire plane has Bolas at it's undercurrent currently. I'm not denying it has Egyptian coating, but the feeling is much more Bolas for me.
I would like to see a take on an environment similar to the Underdark from the Forgotten Realms. It would be refreshing to see different races of the iconic species we enjoy playing with, goblins, elves, dwarves and of course some nasty things that hide in the dark.
"Atlantis". A submerged civilization. My 2nd choice would probably be something Amazonian. Rainforests, Mayan temples, etc. Something similar to Mirage, but with a more cohesive theme
This. Traditional fantasy. Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, etc. Do that in the vein of the pre-Legions design philosophy, and WotC will get my dollars.
I want a Nordic theme, with Norse-feeling gods and a proper loss for the good guys, like Ragnarok, but retaining that incredible strength of heart that threw in its lot with the gods, despite knowing they were doomed to lose.
I want a Nordic theme, with Norse-feeling gods and a proper loss for the good guys, like Ragnarok, but retaining that incredible strength of heart that threw in its lot with the gods, despite knowing they were doomed to lose.
I mean, Amonkhet is probably going to be a loss. Innistrad was effectively kind of neutral instead of a win, and Theros was generally a bad ending. Would be nice if top-down planes weren't always bad endings. Granted it's fitting for a Norse block. I guess we'll need to see what happens with Amonkhet though. Personally I'm a bit more interested in seeing three "factions" of Gods for a Norse block. Hit up the Aesir, Vanir, Jotnar idea. I think it has potential to be interesting at least.
I want a Nordic theme, with Norse-feeling gods and a proper loss for the good guys, like Ragnarok, but retaining that incredible strength of heart that threw in its lot with the gods, despite knowing they were doomed to lose.
Yea, I would be a fan of this.
I think Ice Age was my favorite set so far, as far as flavors/themes go, so, I'd probably also enjoy a Nordic theme. Although it's close for me between that and Mirage and Innistrad as far as my favorite sets/blocks. I guess I also like Ravnica a lot, although something feels maybe just a little too modern about it for me (the fact that it has the modernized card-borders probably accounts for at least some of that vibe though, but even so, I kind of wished they could've somehow done a big Ravnica city with guilds and all that, but with slightly more of the art style and vibe of early/mid 1990's MTG. Not entirely, but like halfway in between that style and the current style, or somewhere in that range).
If they still used the 3-set block format, they could even do a thing where it's like the 1st set was Nordic/Vikings, and the 2nd set was a medieval-England flavor/setting, and then have the 3rd set be the stuff from the Viking-esque set invading/attacking the stuff from the England-esque set, lol. That would be awesome.
I'd love a cliche anime esque planeswalker tournament where we can have even more cheesy stuff going on and someone getting a wish granted. Let's get us a set with 20+ PWs in it. Maybe even rare PWs again that have only just ignited their spark with two abilities and maybe a static one.
For example a blue one that has flash with two abilities like "-2: Draw a card / -2: Return target permanent to its owners hand" with a loyalty of 4 or another blue one that does stuff with blues transmuting to turn things into other things, either momentarily or removing the creature/permanent outright.
The could just throw constant walkers at us and I would be okay with that.
I want a Nordic theme, with Norse-feeling gods and a proper loss for the good guys, like Ragnarok, but retaining that incredible strength of heart that threw in its lot with the gods, despite knowing they were doomed to lose.
Yea, I would be a fan of this.
I think Ice Age was my favorite set so far, as far as flavors/themes go, so, I'd probably also enjoy a Nordic theme. Although it's close for me between that and Mirage and Innistrad as far as my favorite sets/blocks. I guess I also like Ravnica a lot, although something feels maybe just a little too modern about it for me (the fact that it has the modernized card-borders probably accounts for at least some of that vibe though, but even so, I kind of wished they could've somehow done a big Ravnica city with guilds and all that, but with slightly more of the art style and vibe of early/mid 1990's MTG. Not entirely, but like halfway in between that style and the current style, or somewhere in that range).
If they still used the 3-set block format, they could even do a thing where it's like the 1st set was Nordic/Vikings, and the 2nd set was a medieval-England flavor/setting, and then have the 3rd set be the stuff from the Viking-esque set invading/attacking the stuff from the England-esque set, lol. That would be awesome.
Also would be the perfect chance to print a legendary squirrel. As in nordic myth there is Ratatoskr, a squirrel who served as messenger for Nidhogg and Vethrfolnir. Ratatoskr's home was on Yggdrasil.
Give me my fairy tale world! Not Lorwyn "faeries" nonsense, I want the tropes of the the Grimms/Perrault/Anderson (or even some of the original darker elements the Grimm Brothers and others cut out) mixed in with disney tropes.
I want a Nordic theme, with Norse-feeling gods and a proper loss for the good guys, like Ragnarok, but retaining that incredible strength of heart that threw in its lot with the gods, despite knowing they were doomed to lose.
I mean, Amonkhet is probably going to be a loss. Innistrad was effectively kind of neutral instead of a win, and Theros was generally a bad ending. Would be nice if top-down planes weren't always bad endings. Granted it's fitting for a Norse block. I guess we'll need to see what happens with Amonkhet though. Personally I'm a bit more interested in seeing three "factions" of Gods for a Norse block. Hit up the Aesir, Vanir, Jotnar idea. I think it has potential to be interesting at least.
Innistrad 1 had a happy ending.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Always was my exaggerating, I remember the original Innistrad. Though given that it led to Nahiri getting out even then it's kind of just a build up to something bad.
I should have been clearer, its nonsense in the sense that people think that Lorwyn was Wizards doing a "fairy tale" themed set when it was more of a "faerie"/Celtic mythology/storybook-look world.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Also would be the perfect chance to print a legendary squirrel. As in nordic myth there is Ratatoskr, a squirrel who served as messenger for Nidhogg and Vethrfolnir. Ratatoskr's home was on Yggdrasil.
The whole theme park world tour is getting rather boring. There is just no depth to these planes. I feel restricting themselves to "Pirate World" or "Krispy Kreme" world is limiting design space.
I would love to see a return to more generic fantasy: wizards, trolls, ogres, knights etc.
But all planes now are just mildly interesting backdrops for the Jacetice league to do there ***** on.
The whole theme park world tour is getting rather boring. There is just no depth to these planes. I feel restricting themselves to "Pirate World" or "Krispy Kreme" world is limiting design space.
I would love to see a return to more generic fantasy: wizards, trolls, ogres, knights etc.
But all planes now are just mildly interesting backdrops for the Jacetice league to do there ***** on.
My feelings exactly. You would think that the main draw to planeswalking would be to fully explore these new worlds but all we ever do is sight-see and leave.
Honestly, I just really wish they would stop forcing things into settings they don't belong in. There shouldn't have been elves, angels, demons, dragons or hydras on Kaladesh. There shouldn't be angels, hydras or dragons on Amonkhet. They should really stop using cultural settings as a new coat of paint for the same creature types over and over again. It homogenizes the planes when we know there's always going to be dragons on every plane. When we always know there are going to be angels and demons on every single plane, etc. Let's actually have unique creatures inhabit our planes to actually make them stand out from one another.
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"Pop in, find a dragon, roast a dragon."
-Chandra Nalaar
I don't want any nords, atlanteans and other pop culture pulpy tropes based on Hollywood's interpretations of reality. I mean, what is a world based on "Atlanteans". Atlantis is a single political philosophy account/tale told by Plato. No magic, no high-tech empire with flying people, time machines and all the other random nonsense that has piled up under the term.
Magic should do Magic's own brand of fantasy and occasional sci fi that has served them well. Thinking in tropes is how you get Amonkhet.
what does Plato have to do with how WotC would interpret a submerged society? I dont think anyone wants a literal interpretation of any of these. Yes Magic should do its own brand of fantasy....and I think they have pretty regularly, Amonkhet included.
I mean, what is a world based on "Atlanteans". Atlantis is a single political philosophy account/tale told by Plato. No magic, no high-tech empire with flying people, time machines and all the other random nonsense that has piled up under the term
Thats not what people want when they say Atlantis world. Most people want a world that is mostly or fully underwater.
It’s a list of ideas for new planes that are often requested and Wizards is aware of. They include, among others:
Egyptian World
Fairy Tale World
High fantasy/”Camelot” World
Indian World
Meso-American World
Murder Mystery/Noir World
Pirate World
Prehistoric World
Prison World
Roman World
Sky World
Steampunk World
Underground World
Viking/Norse World
Water World
Wild West-Inspired World
and
Return to Previous World
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
There is no insult in it, I was pointing why pop culture can't be the benchmark for everything and why it won't lead to great Magic worlds, compared to the standards set by the game in the past.
If the game started off as a travelling circus of fantasy tropes that can be summarized in two words it would be fine, but while there was always a lot of borrowed in Magic it definitely coalesced into its own thing.
However, this new type of design is the same approach as Hollywood. One year its Clash of the Titans, the other its The Great Wall - it literally amounts to palette swapping mediocrity. The idea of building "resonance" means leeching of the current or past pop culture trends for customers. It doesn't matter whether its ancient Greece, or Mongols, or Steampunk because the final product is a flavor of the month empty shell.
Like Amonkhet. It is basically a Hollywood summer blockbuster - Justice League in Ancient Egypt.
I mean, come on - is that really something memorable?
You could reasonably argue that NOTHING in magic is truly "original". Goblins, Orcs, Trolls, Angels, Humans, Vampires, etc etc have been a part of lore forever, But all of it flavorwise has still felt like Magic to me. Personally, I have no issue with the recent "flavor grabs". I do agree, however, that the accompanying storylines have been severely lacking for some time.
In regard to Mirrodin, while it may have been "original", I didnt care for the plane or the story. Just never did anything for me on any level.
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So, to explain what I mean "theme/setting", I'll use examples from sets of the past:
Ravnica is a huge-city theme
Mirrodin is a metallic-world/machines/robots theme
Theros is a Greek/Roman theme
Innistrad is a rural gothic-horror/villagers theme
Kaladesh is an Persian theme
Amonkhet is an Egyptian theme
So, if it was up to you, what type of future theme/setting do you hope they do some day?
Keep in mind:
It doesn't necessarily have to be based on some real life past civilization from Earth (the way Theros, Kaladesh and Amonkhet are). It could instead be a purely fictional theme/setting that you think would be cool. So, something like Mirrodin would be an example of what I mean by that. Like, that was a setting that wasn't based on some real life Earth culture like Greece or Persia or Egypt or whatever, but rather, was just based on the idea of a metallic/robotic-world type of setting. So, I just mean, don't feel obligated to only post themes that are based on ancient Earth cultures that haven't been MTG-alized yet. If you wish, you could also/instead post some theme that is totally weird/exotic that isn't based on anything, and just describe it yourself, if you see what I mean.
Alright, so what themes would you wish for, if it could be anything(s) you want?
Maybe one way they could still do it regardless of the religious aspects could be to just do what they always do, as in, don't make it such an exact match, but just "MTG-alize" it (like how with something like Theros or Khans or Kaladesh they didn't literally use the exact historical stuff, but did their own modified/skewed version of it, and even some just blatantly different/made up from scratch stuff that just vaguely happens to fit in with the overall theme for a lot of the cards).
So, for something like this one, I could imagine them doing it like:
Have some planet where roughly half of the people/creatures/etc live below the ground of the planet (down in the lava/magma (which would obviously be akin to "Hell" and would be where most of the black and red cards were located) and the other half would be up above in some enchanted cloud-palace in the sky, where they somehow figured out how to make physical structures out of clouds or some cloud-like substance (or if that's too similar to classical Heaven, then something of a similar but slightly different style than that, and obv a bunch of the white and blue cards would be located up there. I guess green could be split 50/50 between the two, or they could be on the ground (on top of the ground, not below it I mean) and be located in the rough equivalent of "Purgatory" (albeit in its MTG-altered version kinda).
And maybe it's like, initially all the creatures of the planet started off on the ground, but, one of the evil major-creatures or planeswalkers got in some big drama of some sort with one of the main good creatures or planeswalkers, so he/she/it fled down below the crust of the planet and created some bubble-shield type of thing to be able to live down there in spite of all the magma/lava, like an under-the-crust lair, and then over time, started grabbing lots of the creatures that were up on the ground, to bring them down below to work as slaves/turn some of them into demons/goblins/minions to create a powerful empire down there. Meanwhile, up above, in order to try to avoid getting captured by that whole thing, they went up into the cloud-palaces thingie that they created in the sky, to keep separated/further away/harder to grab by the thing(s) down below the ground. But maybe some stragglers got left on the ground for whatever reason, and, with all the constant fear/violence/families getting ripped apart/etc from individuals constantly getting captured by the below-the-ground empire, the on-the-ground place became kinda purgatory-ish (not as bad as the magma-empire below, but not as good as the cloud-palace empire up in the sky). Something like that maybe?
That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure there would probably be better ways of doing it.
Anyway, yeah, that would probably be a pretty fun block. Nice concept!
Modern: URW Madcap Experiment
Pauper: MonoU Tempo Delver
My EDH Commanders:
Aminatou, The Fateshifter UBW
Azami, Lady of Scrolls U
Mikaeus, the Unhallowed B
Edric, Spymaster of Trest UG
Glissa, the Traitor BG
Arcum Dagsson U
As far as planes I'd be interested in, mostly just other cultures. I'd be interested (though probably not happy) to see what they think a proper Japanese plane is. And a Celtic Mythology plane (Celtic Mythology isn't the same as Fairies so Lorwyn/Shadowmoor aren't it) would be nice as well. Norse Mythology is the big one, but I worry they won't be able to do it very well after Amonkhet, and to a lesser extent Theros.
Mechanical themes maybe a Wedge focused Plane? Tarkir has the Dragon-focus which I figure will be more important next time, would rather see just Wedges.
Edit: I'll add that Amonkhet and Theros are nice, but I'm not really pleased with Amonkhet being a top-down Bolas plane.
I mean, the entire plane has Bolas at it's undercurrent currently. I'm not denying it has Egyptian coating, but the feeling is much more Bolas for me.
This.
I would like to see a take on an environment similar to the Underdark from the Forgotten Realms. It would be refreshing to see different races of the iconic species we enjoy playing with, goblins, elves, dwarves and of course some nasty things that hide in the dark.
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
This. Traditional fantasy. Elves, Dark Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, etc. Do that in the vein of the pre-Legions design philosophy, and WotC will get my dollars.
I mean, Amonkhet is probably going to be a loss. Innistrad was effectively kind of neutral instead of a win, and Theros was generally a bad ending. Would be nice if top-down planes weren't always bad endings. Granted it's fitting for a Norse block. I guess we'll need to see what happens with Amonkhet though. Personally I'm a bit more interested in seeing three "factions" of Gods for a Norse block. Hit up the Aesir, Vanir, Jotnar idea. I think it has potential to be interesting at least.
Yea, I would be a fan of this.
I think Ice Age was my favorite set so far, as far as flavors/themes go, so, I'd probably also enjoy a Nordic theme. Although it's close for me between that and Mirage and Innistrad as far as my favorite sets/blocks. I guess I also like Ravnica a lot, although something feels maybe just a little too modern about it for me (the fact that it has the modernized card-borders probably accounts for at least some of that vibe though, but even so, I kind of wished they could've somehow done a big Ravnica city with guilds and all that, but with slightly more of the art style and vibe of early/mid 1990's MTG. Not entirely, but like halfway in between that style and the current style, or somewhere in that range).
If they still used the 3-set block format, they could even do a thing where it's like the 1st set was Nordic/Vikings, and the 2nd set was a medieval-England flavor/setting, and then have the 3rd set be the stuff from the Viking-esque set invading/attacking the stuff from the England-esque set, lol. That would be awesome.
For example a blue one that has flash with two abilities like "-2: Draw a card / -2: Return target permanent to its owners hand" with a loyalty of 4 or another blue one that does stuff with blues transmuting to turn things into other things, either momentarily or removing the creature/permanent outright.
The could just throw constant walkers at us and I would be okay with that.
Innistrad 1 had a happy ending.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Also how is Lorwyn nonsense?
I should have been clearer, its nonsense in the sense that people think that Lorwyn was Wizards doing a "fairy tale" themed set when it was more of a "faerie"/Celtic mythology/storybook-look world.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
LOL, that would be great
I would love to see a return to more generic fantasy: wizards, trolls, ogres, knights etc.
But all planes now are just mildly interesting backdrops for the Jacetice league to do there ***** on.
Honestly, I just really wish they would stop forcing things into settings they don't belong in. There shouldn't have been elves, angels, demons, dragons or hydras on Kaladesh. There shouldn't be angels, hydras or dragons on Amonkhet. They should really stop using cultural settings as a new coat of paint for the same creature types over and over again. It homogenizes the planes when we know there's always going to be dragons on every plane. When we always know there are going to be angels and demons on every single plane, etc. Let's actually have unique creatures inhabit our planes to actually make them stand out from one another.
-Chandra Nalaar
Thats not what people want when they say Atlantis world. Most people want a world that is mostly or fully underwater.
That is why the short list from Maro has it listed as water world;
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/faq
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Not everything is meant to be taken in its most literal sense (especially when its inference was already spelled out for you)
In regard to Mirrodin, while it may have been "original", I didnt care for the plane or the story. Just never did anything for me on any level.