I loved the hook of a plane at war - but why were the khans warring against one another? In this thread I'm putting forth some ideas and would like to hear others' ideas as well.
The Sultai - After the dragons were exterminated, the Sultai became one of the wealthiest clans. Their mages learned to harness the Rakshasa demons as a source of power while their skills in necromancy allowed them to make use of the casualties from the war against the dragons. Sibsig provided the Sultai with enough manpower to exploit their jungle mines for gems and precious metals while the soil allowed their Naga botanists to experiment with transspecies agriculture. Naga shaman devised all manner of poisons and pharmaceuticals from their own venom and that of their territory's native flora and fauna. Humans were appointed to positions of power by the Naga and partnered with Rakshasa viziers that would advise them - and from this partnership came the pleasure barges, which were essentially rewards to the people for their service and good works.
Source of conflict - the Sultai see the richness of the Temur mountains, with their wealth of metals, and begin planning incursions to seize the mountains.
The Temur - The Temur's wealth lay in their mountains' metals, their vast swaths of evergreen forests and in their territory's wildlife. Temur war shaman revolutionized warfare by forming mystical bonds with the creatures of their land, effectively letting them maintain surveillance over their territories from positions of relative safety. The war shamans are the major power, and are distinguished by their packs. A Temur that believes they are fit for the office of war shaman will challenge the alpha male of one of the following - the sabretooths, the yetis, the ogres, or the elementals - and if they succeed in dominating the alpha male, they gain that alpha as their packleader and seize control of the packleader's pack.
Source of conflict - the War Shamans come into prominence with the Sultai incursions; their position is further strengthened when the Jeskai Way declare that the custom of forcing a bond between man and beast is a violation of the natural order that threatens to reduce the Temur to draconic savages.
The Abzan -
“The Dead Teach the Living”
The Abzan have built their society around ancestor worship. They believe that the dead are what tether to living to the world, allowing the living to learn from their mistakes to cultivate a brighter future. The High Art of Necromancy involves spirit-speaking rather than a revival of the flesh; the spirits of the dead teach the living while the body is returned to the sands.
The Abzan have mastered the wastelands of Tarkir by conquering roaming tribes of deserters from the Mardu, Temur, and Jeskai. These wanderers are collectively referred to as the Krumar. In taking in the Krumar, the Abzan Houses gained a massive force of laborers and warriors with which to construct citadels at key locations in the wastelands that are interconnected by a great roadway.
Citadels are themed around a particular economic strength of the Abzan – the construction of siegecraft, the breeding of siege rhinos for war, the krushok ranching, and grain farming.
Source of Conflict: The Abzan believe that the Sultai are a hindrance to the plane’s forward progress – the hording of medicinal knowledge, the consorting with demons, the pursuit of vices rather than virtue, and the use of Sibsig for menial labor rather than learning and growing as a people. Thus the Abzan find themselves compelled to war against the Sultai and are happy to seize Naga prisoners and purge them of all ambition, leaving the Naga as savant-slaves with no purpose beyond their pharmaceutical magics and transspecies agriculture.
I'll type up the Mardu and Jeskai later. Again, I'm looking at what we were given and from that, coming up with sources of conflict to explain the constant warfare.
*Disclaimer: I'm a little fuzzy on the details because Tarkir was awhile ago. Please feel free to point out and correct any errors in the following post*
This feels like this misses what I believe to have been a bigger problem with Tarkir, which was Khans of Tarkir was more interesting than Dragons of Tarkir, and on the grand scheme, Tarkir overall went over well with the intended audiences.
About Khans, from what I remember, Wizards didn't push the warring factions that much because they weren't really on a global scale war like say... Mirrodin vs. the Phyrexians or Zendikar vs. The Eldrazi (side note: both Zendikar blocks and the overarching Eldrazi plot will probably generate a buzz for a fix it thread). Mardu and Sultai were making power plays. Jeskai only got involved if it threatened world balance, and Temur and Azban just minded their own business unless the fight came to their door. And specifically for the source of conflict in Khans, I think Sarkhan vs. Mardu seemed to be fine enough for me. It gave a sense of chase while also guiding us toward a goal we were curious about (Ugin).
What Wizards underestimated was the popularity of the pre-time shift because they overestimated the popularity of DRAGONS!!!! That's not to say that dragons overall are less popular or less interesting than the Khans world because I remember them being neck and neck, but Khans edged out the win at the time. An overall narrative reason is because the shift that happened: Khans to Fate Reforged was about Sarkhan staying alive and in the backdrop finally acting on filling out the background of the most important Eldrazi Wrangler. After both those points were resolved, Sarkhan's stakes shifted to a revenge story on Zurgo, which kind of deflated. However, Narset Transcendent's story seems to be one of the best received Wizards story that I can recall, so the broad strokes about the storyline comes with it's caveats.
EDIT: I also remember now Wizards just waved away all the time line/paradox problems they created with Sarkhan time traveling. That seemed like a big deal at the time.
It should be noted that the Mardu did not grow their own food. They were culturally "required" to raid other clains' territories.
As for the Sultai, they basically just wanted to build up their empire and thus kept encroaching into the other clans' territories.
The Temur, Jeskai and Abzan don't really have any real reason to attack others as far as we know. Or rather, there wasn't a reason we were shown. Maybe this was intended, seeing as all Krumar we have seen in stories and cards are actually orcs from the Mardu. So considering this, the whole conflict in the Khans timeline was more like Mardu vs Everyone vs Sultai.
There's a lot of supposition going on there. There's nothing about Naga botanists or war shamans and that honestly weird way of growing their "pack" in any Khans info. Nor do we know if Qal Sisma has any valuable metals and the Temur certainly don't make active use of it as wealth. Jeskai are WRU. They wouldn't care about the natural order, that's for the Green clans. Similarly the Abzan, being WBG, would not care about the planes forward progress.
Also: Krumar are not entire conquered tribes but children orphaned when an group is killed by the Abzan.
I know. I felt clans were still too barebones as presented. Their conflict needed more meat to fix WOTC's sloppy worldbuilding on Tarkir. The Dragons should have been presented as a necessary evil to fix the clans' massive ****ups. The best way to emphasize that would have been giving believable reasons for war that kept the sides from turning into mustache-twirlers like the Sultai, or murderhobos like the Mardu.
Tarkir's one of my favorite planes; that's why I'm demanding when it comes to the reasons for warfare (the official reasons are summarized in Flisch's post). We'd need to see the clans tearing each other to bloody bits to justify the extreme response given by the Dragonlords' return.
The idea of a wedge plane was the largest factor in why I enjoyed Tarkir. Now it seems like the same
old plane with five allied colors, but with more dragons. I would love to see the two alternative time lines somehow converge . Perhaps the Dragonlords adopted more of the old wedge traits but with a humanoid champion acting as their 2nd in command/general.
I'd love to just visit a plane and observe its natural peacetime state. It's naturally going to have wildlife, unique magic, etc. It's tiring with all these war scenes and all. I hope Return to Theros won't be a huge world-rending plot, but focuses on the Greek tragedy of Elspeth, and perhaps an Ashiok and Dack sub-plot. I didn't like either timeline for Tarkir or the plane itself. But I would like to see a focus on Narset's mission and reverting the plane to the one player's preferred, even if I'll never like it. Then again I prefer monochrome settings to gold ones.
I am also a bit baffled as to why WOTC wiped the wedge clans, since one of the set's unspoken goals was to give wedge colored decks an easy to grasp title ie Abzan for BWG decks instead of Junk/Jank/Three Deuce. I love a well-done war, rather than a war done simply for war's sake. I would hope a return to Tarkir includes Sarkhan shifting into BRG.
The whole idea for this thread came from one of Robin Hobb's assassin novels, where someone's trying to bring dragons back into prominence. His argument is that mankind has become petty, cruel, and is in dire need of having itself checked be beings just as arrogant as man, yet far more powerful than man. I took that idea and decided to run with it by applying it to a plane we're told was stuck in a state of war.
I would love it if Ajani takes on an Alexander the Great role in our return to Theros.
Gotta say I'm sad that so few people liked DTK. Dragons are easily my favorite thing in fantasy. If I wanted to watch stories about stupid humans squabbling over stupid ***** then I'd turn on FOX news. So for me it sucks that they seem to want to change Tarkir back to waring clans world. :/
I like both of those things, Gutterstorm; they're what keep my interest in fantasy. There's no reason we can't have both. If I weren't so fond of DTK and Tarkir itself, I probably wouldn't be so harsh on it.
I myself preferred the Khans of Tarkir over the Dragons, though yes I do enjoy the story of Narset Transcendent in the alternative timeline. I was very disappointed when WotC hand waved away the clans only to replace the story with dragons, revenge, planeswalkers and more dragons.
I hope that we can visit the original timeline somehow, the Jeskai are my favorite clan. It's sad to know that we may never have an opportunity to explore the clans in depth, to learn more about their ancient histories and beliefs. Now, all we have, are dragons. *yawn*
I hope that we can visit the original timeline somehow, the Jeskai are my favorite clan. It's sad to know that we may never have an opportunity to explore the clans in depth, to learn more about their ancient histories and beliefs. Now, all we have, are dragons. *yawn*
The implication from Narset's last story is that she's rediscovered the lore of the clans. A return to Tarkir would likely move to something more like the Fate Reforged Status Quo, with the Dragon Broods and reborn Clans.
The problem with Dragons of Tarkir is that Khans of Tarkir set up an awesome new tri-color block - the first in eight years. It then immediately undid those tri-color clans.
As for the 'war', don't read too much into the 'constant state of war'. The world-building indicates that's not actually the case, and it's more like ongoing territorial skirmishes, not outright war - with the exception of the Mardu, who are the roving horde.
Tarkir was an example of Creative planning a big thing and hoping people would like it. They were wrong. People like tri-color more than mindless dragonspam, which I am very pleased about.
It's a lesson I hope they take to heart because Kahns had a great world and Dragons was the nasty "World of Hats" trope amplified up to 11.
Chiming in with the trend of Dragons being less interesting than Khans. Loved Khans, have a hard time with Dragons. Not a big fan of dragons for starters, and Khans had the color combo I identify most with.
Maybe they can do something with Tarkir like they did with Lorwyn.
The problem with Dragons of Tarkir is that Khans of Tarkir set up an awesome new tri-color block - the first in eight years. It then immediately undid those tri-color clans.
Yeah, this was my big beef with Dragons as well. Dragons are cool and all, but trading out entire cultures and intricacies for winged lizards? Not interesting. Not at all.
My problem with DTK is that it's one of those rare moments where the story team had an adverse effect on the gameplay of a set. When I think "dragon set", I expect dragons up the wazoo. However, with their "no baby dragons" ban came less design space for smaller, cheaper, more common dragons, and thus the dragon tribal component was only half present.
My problem with DTK is that it's one of those rare moments where the story team had an adverse effect on the gameplay of a set. When I think "dragon set", I expect dragons up the wazoo. However, with their "no baby dragons" ban came less design space for smaller, cheaper, more common dragons, and thus the dragon tribal component was only half present.
Yes this is exactly it. They could have even printed non-dragons that cared about you having a dragon in play. ex) 2/2 for 2 that gets +1/+1 if you control a dragon. Plus them all being big meant they were all rather interchangable. And very few were aggressively costed. Foe-Razor Regent was just disappointing.
I think DTK would have worked better as another Wedge set. It would give more space for wedge designs, and people would have liked that. It'd also demonstrate how the clans and the Dragonlords aren't so different. We're told the khans were bad, but it never really seemed like it for Temur, Abzan and Jeskai. The dragonlords were far worse than the khans, even when trying to sympathize them. If they showed us this dichotomy with the wedge factions, (e.g: Mardu becoming Kolaghan, but keeping white), I'd be more inclined to believe that the khans were also pretty bad for the plane.
it would also help to sympathize the dragonlords a little.
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A giant dork. Who likes to eat with forks. Never used a spork.
Decks: Casual R Burn R
EDH R Godo Voltron R RUG ETB Overload RUG BW Clerics Pain and Drain BW GW Spirits!!! GW RUG Landfall Silliness RUG
I think DTK would have worked better as another Wedge set. It would give more space for wedge designs, and people would have liked that. It'd also demonstrate how the clans and the Dragonlords aren't so different. We're told the khans were bad, but it never really seemed like it for Temur, Abzan and Jeskai. The dragonlords were far worse than the khans, even when trying to sympathize them. If they showed us this dichotomy with the wedge factions, (e.g: Mardu becoming Kolaghan, but keeping white), I'd be more inclined to believe that the khans were also pretty bad for the plane.
it would also help to sympathize the dragonlords a little.
IMO the shedding of the wedge colour was quite symbolic for DTK. Non-dragons were "weak" and needed the third colour, whereas dragons were the apex and didn't need it. Mardu needed W for unity, but under Kolaghan it didn't matter, might is right and lesser beings get crushed. Same for Atarka's brute power, whereas Temur needed U for knowledge. Jeskai needed R to seek more knowledge by themselves, but not under Ojutai, whose teachings are more than sufficient for the typical human. Sultai needed G to grow from their mistakes, but now Silumgar is the top and there is little point growing. Abzan needed B for their ancestors' guidance, now they do everything as Dromoka dictates. The wedge colours also gave puny humanoids strength to threaten the dragons, hence the dragons took lengths to suppress them.
I really like dragons as a creature type but flavorfully and in terms of depth Khans world was much more interesting than dragons world (to me). We have Alara as the shard colors plane so it was really nice to have Tarkir as the wedge plane, but that was given up to make yet another allied color plane ( half a ravnica really) and the meat on that hook (there's a lot of dragons) wasn't really enough. Dragons are fun for the same reason angels and hydra's are fun, they are splashy, powerful, and they don't show up all the time so when they do it's fun and awesome. If there is an overabundance of dragons, and they are powered-down to compensate for their heightened presence. They are still cool and their art is still awesome but they lose some of their oomph. Best case (and most likely) scenario, in return to Tarkir there is a resurgence of the clans rising up to rebel against the dragons. We get our wedge plane, there's still a lot of dragons around, the cool interesting cultures from KTK resurface, and everybody's happy. The seeds for this were already planted in DTK and WOTC knows that KTK was (generally) the more popular world. So I'm pretty sure down the line this is what we'll get.
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Really, the only evidence I've seen that things were worse under the Khans than they were during Fate Reforged is the change in how the Land-cards looked.
Compare KTK Scoured Barrens to Fate Reforged, for instance.
One is a barren desert, the other is inhabited.
Or the Jeskai Mountain or Sultai Forest.
Again, both have been reclaimed by nature, suggesting that the Clans are all in decline. But quite frankly, that's not a lot of support for life under the Dragonlords being better.
I think things would have worked better if during FRF, the Clans had been dual-colored, and the dragons had shared the primary color, but had the opposing color as well. So the Mardu are Red-Black, Kolaghan is Red-White, and then in DTK the Clans have all seen a shift in the prominence of which supporting color is more prominent. So the Mardu were RBw in Khans, then in DTK, the Kolaghan are RbW instead.
The thing about Tarkir is that it suffers severely from moral myopia. KTO is supposed to be awful and rectified in DOT. Instead, we get a world where clans and their identities have been subdued by five different flavours of draconic trants whose sole claim to legitimacy is some vague background vital effect in the land arts (and even then, Atarka is stated to be a threat to all wildlife...), yet Creative seems obsessed with parading about how much better it is.
The fact that the dragons are allied colours is also boring. I'd much preffer if they were opposite coloured; if you're going to dillute wedges, do so in a less boring way.
The thing about Tarkir is that it suffers severely from moral myopia. KTO is supposed to be awful and rectified in DOT. Instead, we get a world where clans and their identities have been subdued by five different flavours of draconic trants whose sole claim to legitimacy is some vague background vital effect in the land arts (and even then, Atarka is stated to be a threat to all wildlife...), yet Creative seems obsessed with parading about how much better it is.
Sarkhan likes it better, but that's really it. I've only seen comments that it's different and a reborn world, not that it's better.
The thing about Tarkir is that it suffers severely from moral myopia. KTO is supposed to be awful and rectified in DOT. Instead, we get a world where clans and their identities have been subdued by five different flavours of draconic trants whose sole claim to legitimacy is some vague background vital effect in the land arts (and even then, Atarka is stated to be a threat to all wildlife...), yet Creative seems obsessed with parading about how much better it is.
Sarkhan likes it better, but that's really it. I've only seen comments that it's different and a reborn world, not that it's better.
True, but the issue stems from the fact that the playerbase percieves DTK as being worse than KTK, Wizards intentions be damned. Heck, look at StubbornOne's post further up the page; it defines the new Dragonbroods by what the Clans have lost, not what they have gained. The Clans are diminished by the Dragons, and that makes the story somewhat unsatisfying.
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The Sultai - After the dragons were exterminated, the Sultai became one of the wealthiest clans. Their mages learned to harness the Rakshasa demons as a source of power while their skills in necromancy allowed them to make use of the casualties from the war against the dragons. Sibsig provided the Sultai with enough manpower to exploit their jungle mines for gems and precious metals while the soil allowed their Naga botanists to experiment with transspecies agriculture. Naga shaman devised all manner of poisons and pharmaceuticals from their own venom and that of their territory's native flora and fauna. Humans were appointed to positions of power by the Naga and partnered with Rakshasa viziers that would advise them - and from this partnership came the pleasure barges, which were essentially rewards to the people for their service and good works.
Source of conflict - the Sultai see the richness of the Temur mountains, with their wealth of metals, and begin planning incursions to seize the mountains.
The Temur - The Temur's wealth lay in their mountains' metals, their vast swaths of evergreen forests and in their territory's wildlife. Temur war shaman revolutionized warfare by forming mystical bonds with the creatures of their land, effectively letting them maintain surveillance over their territories from positions of relative safety. The war shamans are the major power, and are distinguished by their packs. A Temur that believes they are fit for the office of war shaman will challenge the alpha male of one of the following - the sabretooths, the yetis, the ogres, or the elementals - and if they succeed in dominating the alpha male, they gain that alpha as their packleader and seize control of the packleader's pack.
Source of conflict - the War Shamans come into prominence with the Sultai incursions; their position is further strengthened when the Jeskai Way declare that the custom of forcing a bond between man and beast is a violation of the natural order that threatens to reduce the Temur to draconic savages.
The Abzan -
“The Dead Teach the Living”
The Abzan have built their society around ancestor worship. They believe that the dead are what tether to living to the world, allowing the living to learn from their mistakes to cultivate a brighter future. The High Art of Necromancy involves spirit-speaking rather than a revival of the flesh; the spirits of the dead teach the living while the body is returned to the sands.
The Abzan have mastered the wastelands of Tarkir by conquering roaming tribes of deserters from the Mardu, Temur, and Jeskai. These wanderers are collectively referred to as the Krumar. In taking in the Krumar, the Abzan Houses gained a massive force of laborers and warriors with which to construct citadels at key locations in the wastelands that are interconnected by a great roadway.
Citadels are themed around a particular economic strength of the Abzan – the construction of siegecraft, the breeding of siege rhinos for war, the krushok ranching, and grain farming.
Source of Conflict: The Abzan believe that the Sultai are a hindrance to the plane’s forward progress – the hording of medicinal knowledge, the consorting with demons, the pursuit of vices rather than virtue, and the use of Sibsig for menial labor rather than learning and growing as a people. Thus the Abzan find themselves compelled to war against the Sultai and are happy to seize Naga prisoners and purge them of all ambition, leaving the Naga as savant-slaves with no purpose beyond their pharmaceutical magics and transspecies agriculture.
I'll type up the Mardu and Jeskai later. Again, I'm looking at what we were given and from that, coming up with sources of conflict to explain the constant warfare.
This feels like this misses what I believe to have been a bigger problem with Tarkir, which was Khans of Tarkir was more interesting than Dragons of Tarkir, and on the grand scheme, Tarkir overall went over well with the intended audiences.
About Khans, from what I remember, Wizards didn't push the warring factions that much because they weren't really on a global scale war like say... Mirrodin vs. the Phyrexians or Zendikar vs. The Eldrazi (side note: both Zendikar blocks and the overarching Eldrazi plot will probably generate a buzz for a fix it thread). Mardu and Sultai were making power plays. Jeskai only got involved if it threatened world balance, and Temur and Azban just minded their own business unless the fight came to their door. And specifically for the source of conflict in Khans, I think Sarkhan vs. Mardu seemed to be fine enough for me. It gave a sense of chase while also guiding us toward a goal we were curious about (Ugin).
What Wizards underestimated was the popularity of the pre-time shift because they overestimated the popularity of DRAGONS!!!! That's not to say that dragons overall are less popular or less interesting than the Khans world because I remember them being neck and neck, but Khans edged out the win at the time. An overall narrative reason is because the shift that happened: Khans to Fate Reforged was about Sarkhan staying alive and in the backdrop finally acting on filling out the background of the most important Eldrazi Wrangler. After both those points were resolved, Sarkhan's stakes shifted to a revenge story on Zurgo, which kind of deflated. However, Narset Transcendent's story seems to be one of the best received Wizards story that I can recall, so the broad strokes about the storyline comes with it's caveats.
EDIT: I also remember now Wizards just waved away all the time line/paradox problems they created with Sarkhan time traveling. That seemed like a big deal at the time.
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.
~~~~~
As for the Sultai, they basically just wanted to build up their empire and thus kept encroaching into the other clans' territories.
The Temur, Jeskai and Abzan don't really have any real reason to attack others as far as we know. Or rather, there wasn't a reason we were shown. Maybe this was intended, seeing as all Krumar we have seen in stories and cards are actually orcs from the Mardu. So considering this, the whole conflict in the Khans timeline was more like Mardu vs Everyone vs Sultai.
Also: Krumar are not entire conquered tribes but children orphaned when an group is killed by the Abzan.
Tarkir's one of my favorite planes; that's why I'm demanding when it comes to the reasons for warfare (the official reasons are summarized in Flisch's post). We'd need to see the clans tearing each other to bloody bits to justify the extreme response given by the Dragonlords' return.
The idea of a wedge plane was the largest factor in why I enjoyed Tarkir. Now it seems like the same
old plane with five allied colors, but with more dragons. I would love to see the two alternative time lines somehow converge . Perhaps the Dragonlords adopted more of the old wedge traits but with a humanoid champion acting as their 2nd in command/general.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
The whole idea for this thread came from one of Robin Hobb's assassin novels, where someone's trying to bring dragons back into prominence. His argument is that mankind has become petty, cruel, and is in dire need of having itself checked be beings just as arrogant as man, yet far more powerful than man. I took that idea and decided to run with it by applying it to a plane we're told was stuck in a state of war.
I would love it if Ajani takes on an Alexander the Great role in our return to Theros.
I hope that we can visit the original timeline somehow, the Jeskai are my favorite clan. It's sad to know that we may never have an opportunity to explore the clans in depth, to learn more about their ancient histories and beliefs. Now, all we have, are dragons. *yawn*
The problem with Dragons of Tarkir is that Khans of Tarkir set up an awesome new tri-color block - the first in eight years. It then immediately undid those tri-color clans.
As for the 'war', don't read too much into the 'constant state of war'. The world-building indicates that's not actually the case, and it's more like ongoing territorial skirmishes, not outright war - with the exception of the Mardu, who are the roving horde.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
It's a lesson I hope they take to heart because Kahns had a great world and Dragons was the nasty "World of Hats" trope amplified up to 11.
Maybe they can do something with Tarkir like they did with Lorwyn.
Yes this is exactly it. They could have even printed non-dragons that cared about you having a dragon in play. ex) 2/2 for 2 that gets +1/+1 if you control a dragon. Plus them all being big meant they were all rather interchangable. And very few were aggressively costed. Foe-Razor Regent was just disappointing.
it would also help to sympathize the dragonlords a little.
Decks:
Casual
R Burn R
EDH
R Godo Voltron R
RUG ETB Overload RUG
BW Clerics Pain and Drain BW
GW Spirits!!! GW
RUG Landfall Silliness RUG
IMO the shedding of the wedge colour was quite symbolic for DTK. Non-dragons were "weak" and needed the third colour, whereas dragons were the apex and didn't need it. Mardu needed W for unity, but under Kolaghan it didn't matter, might is right and lesser beings get crushed. Same for Atarka's brute power, whereas Temur needed U for knowledge. Jeskai needed R to seek more knowledge by themselves, but not under Ojutai, whose teachings are more than sufficient for the typical human. Sultai needed G to grow from their mistakes, but now Silumgar is the top and there is little point growing. Abzan needed B for their ancestors' guidance, now they do everything as Dromoka dictates. The wedge colours also gave puny humanoids strength to threaten the dragons, hence the dragons took lengths to suppress them.
Regarding wedge-colour themes, here's a custom wedge set idea from a long time ago which I thought was really impressive: http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/creativity/custom-card-creation/custom-set-creation-and/378022-enemy-wedge-shards-a-design-discussion-thread?comment=2
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Compare KTK Scoured Barrens to Fate Reforged, for instance.
One is a barren desert, the other is inhabited.
Or the Jeskai Mountain or Sultai Forest.
Again, both have been reclaimed by nature, suggesting that the Clans are all in decline. But quite frankly, that's not a lot of support for life under the Dragonlords being better.
I think things would have worked better if during FRF, the Clans had been dual-colored, and the dragons had shared the primary color, but had the opposing color as well. So the Mardu are Red-Black, Kolaghan is Red-White, and then in DTK the Clans have all seen a shift in the prominence of which supporting color is more prominent. So the Mardu were RBw in Khans, then in DTK, the Kolaghan are RbW instead.
The fact that the dragons are allied colours is also boring. I'd much preffer if they were opposite coloured; if you're going to dillute wedges, do so in a less boring way.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
True, but the issue stems from the fact that the playerbase percieves DTK as being worse than KTK, Wizards intentions be damned. Heck, look at StubbornOne's post further up the page; it defines the new Dragonbroods by what the Clans have lost, not what they have gained. The Clans are diminished by the Dragons, and that makes the story somewhat unsatisfying.