They do seem totally monocolored but... couldn't they be actually shard colored? I find really akward the crocodile-like one being red, when crocodiles have always been BUG. Maybe the cat one is Bant colors, the ibis one is Esper, the crocodrile is Jund (wich would make a lot of sense, in my opinion, they could even bring back devour, since some of the ancient egyptians fed their sacred crocodiles as a ritual), the jackal one is Grixis (graveyard matters theme) and the snake one is Naya.
As someone who has built a Cat tribal deck: Naya would be the way to go for the Bastet. Esper works for Birds (though they are generally just WU), Hounds before Tarkir were mostly Jund, and Snakes are also Sultai (though largely UG).
I don't think there's any particular cycle of color combinations that fits perfectly. I thought they might be enemy colored based on the art, but the Thoth and Anubis kind of throw that off, and if they're allied colored then the Sobek and Bastet kinda throw that off. And I don't think they'd do wedge so soon, or with a Bolas ruled plane.
One of the issues is figuring out whether the forms we see are going to be largely ripped from their respective God, or whether there's gonna be some mixing and matching (like Zeus/Apollo Heliod). It might be that the Anubis is a mix of Anubis and Sekhmet. It could be that the Bastet is a mix of Bastet and Neith. We don't know enough yet, I think, to make anything but a wild guess.
More like Sekhmet* (more leonine apparence, bow and arrows) and Wadjet (which is very cheeky, as "Wadjet" = "green one")
+Though Bast started off as pretty much a cloe of Sekhmet, so...
Wadjet seems to be more traditionally depicted as just a full on snake though. Hauhet is pretty exclusively a humanoid with a snake for a head. (And I'm specifying Hauhet, because the male form, Heh, has a few different appearances.)
And the face seems much more cat-like than lioness-like to me personally. Plus, as you said, Bastet was originally a much more ferocious god. (Sekhmet isn't associated with fighting Apep so far as I know.)
I'm not any sort of specialist on this subject though, so...*shrug*
Cool new art. I like the aesthetic of the five gods (I kinda hope that their "plating" isn't purely gold but electrum. Would be great flavor ion my opinion). I also believe them to be either mono- or shardcolored (hoping for the latter to distinguish them from the Theros pantheon). And Gideon shows just a tiny bit of skin under his new armor, which I find great (though I would have favored him being topless :D). It seems that Liliana is living the high life again. All of the full-art lands show these giant Bolas horns, those things must be gigantic (I guess appropiate for an ego like his). I'm officially hyped for this set!
I think the crocofile is the main thing making me not sure they're mono colored. I think in context its because the crocodile head is actually a dragon head, just Amonkhet dragons apparently look like crocodiles, kind of letting them cheat on colors while still having an iconic looking animal head. Though I still rgink shards are a good possibility, since even if these appear mono color, shards tend to center on one anyway.
Im so excited for these guys! I cant wait to learn more. I'm really interested in seeing if gods continue to be enchantment creatures. Just want to see how distinct they make these guys mechanically so we can get a grasp on how similar gods have to be card wise between worlds. Really love the gold funerary mask animal head designs.
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They didn't care that he was the savior of Fort Keff, the great hunter of Ondu, the champion of Kabira. To them, he was just another piece of flesh, a thing with life to be drained away.
Are...are we getting ANOTHER NISSA?! Like I'm normally not one to complain about gatewatch exposure but putting her in two sets in row for the mono-green slot is kinda overkill. Give her atlas until the block after Amonkhet.
I really like the gods, they feel very different from Theros and I like the mix of human, animal and metal. They Could possible me artifact creature with the amount of metal they have, as well as 4/5 heads seem to be be of the metal. Interesting that the crocodile one is the only one with an organic head. I'm guessing mono-color.
Someone had pointed this out on twitter so I've got to ask you guys about the art for the archenemy package. Shouldn't Bolas be MUCH taller? Isn't he colossal in size? Wasn't he shown/described to be colossal in size on multiple occasion?
One of the issues is figuring out whether the forms we see are going to be largely ripped from their respective God, or whether there's gonna be some mixing and matching (like Zeus/Apollo Heliod). It might be that the Anubis is a mix of Anubis and Sekhmet. It could be that the Bastet is a mix of Bastet and Neith. We don't know enough yet, I think, to make anything but a wild guess.
I think the mix and match is what is going to happen, it allows them to reference of the source material into the gods, allows them t be "original" with the characters and since magic is centered on the color pie they probity need to shift things so the gods fit into their colors.
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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"
Wadjet seems to be more traditionally depicted as just a full on snake though. Hauhet is pretty exclusively a humanoid with a snake for a head. (And I'm specifying Hauhet, because the male form, Heh, has a few different appearances.)
Depends. Either way, I think it would be very clever.
And the face seems much more cat-like than lioness-like to me personally. Plus, as you said, Bastet was originally a much more ferocious god. (Sekhmet isn't associated with fighting Apep so far as I know.)
Sekhmet is the eye of Ra, so she is the foremost in the battle against Apep.
Are...are we getting ANOTHER NISSA?! Like I'm normally not one to complain about gatewatch exposure but putting her in two sets in row for the mono-green slot is kinda overkill. Give her atlas until the block after Amonkhet.
Got it, Anubis, the Jacket god. Hence, why the dead look so dope in Egypt. : P
I don't think we're getting another Nissa. We know the Gatewatch (sans Ajani) is heading to Amonkhet, but it's just like how Gideon, Nissa, and Chandra showed up on Innistrad art, but not as Planeswalkers, or how Jace showed up in Oath and Kaladesh art, but not as a walker, or how Gideon and Liliana showed up in Kaladesh art, but not as walkers. Present, but not as a card.
Hmm. They don't look very enchantmenty. So they could just be something like: Legendary Creature - (subtype).
I am also curious if they did mix-n-match with the Egyptian gods like they did with the Greek gods.
Got it, Anubis, the Jacket god. Hence, why the dead look so dope in Egypt. : P
d'oh
I don't think we're getting another Nissa. We know the Gatewatch (sans Ajani) is heading to Amonkhet, but it's just like how Gideon, Nissa, and Chandra showed up on Innistrad art, but not as Planeswalkers, or how Jace showed up in Oath and Kaladesh art, but not as a walker, or how Gideon and Liliana showed up in Kaladesh art, but not as walkers. Present, but not as a card.
Well it is the fact they featured some art work 9which does look planeswalkery) along with the god art and what could be Liliana and Gideon real-card art.
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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"
Well it is the fact they featured some art work 9which does look planeswalkery) along with the god art and what could be Liliana and Gideon real-card art.
There is Nissa art, but it's Howard Lyon, and his work has been consistently more "spells and creatures" than Planeswalkers. The Gideon and Lili art I could buy as being their Planeswalker art, but the Nissa art isn't as...dynamic? I guess that's the term. The way she's posed seems to draw the eye downward, which makes me believe it's some cropped spell art. Especially since we can see the hint of some other non-elemental creature in the bottom left corner, which doesn't feel right for a Nissa PW card.
Gideon, meanwhile, kind of draws your full attention, and is an Izzy piece. Izzy's previous Planeswalker work is the PW cards for Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas, so...maybe some precedence here, for a White Walker fighting the big dragon.
Lili also takes up the center of the frame and draws your attention, but I could see this not being PW art. Kind of depends on what's in the rest of the picture. Chris Rallis, who did this piece, also did Kaya, Ghost Assassin, so there's some Planeswalker history in there too.
Hmm. They don't look very enchantmenty. So they could just be something like: Legendary Creature - (subtype).
I am also curious if they did mix-n-match with the Egyptian gods like they did with the Greek gods.
There's also the possibility that they're fake gods, since the entire plane feels so Stargate-y
Hmm. They don't look very enchantmenty. So they could just be something like: Legendary Creature - (subtype).
I am also curious if they did mix-n-match with the Egyptian gods like they did with the Greek gods.
There's also the possibility that they're fake gods, since the entire plane feels so Stargate-y
Indeed. They could just be powerful beings made of mana that Nicol Bolas had created when he still had an old spark. Like how Sorin shaped Avacyn.
Hmm. They don't look very enchantmenty. So they could just be something like: Legendary Creature - (subtype).
I am also curious if they did mix-n-match with the Egyptian gods like they did with the Greek gods.
There's also the possibility that they're fake gods, since the entire plane feels so Stargate-y
I get the feeling their either fake or, if Bolas just took over an old plane, they're enslaved. The masks feel very... off. Gives them a very distinct look. Kind of makes me sad too, they're very pretty.
Given the order that they revealed them Cat - White, Bird - Blue, Crocodile - Black, Jackal - Red, and Snake - Green looks likely, especially when the first two and the last feel very fitting. But I agree that it feels more likely that the Crocodile is going to be red focused, which makes it kind of odd they'd reveal them in that order. Who knows though, could be Shard based in which case... well, still would be odd for the Crocodile to be Grixis instead of Jund.
Gideon is also looking really good. Doubt it'll be a card I want to use but who knows, would be nice to have one I like.
The gods are either natural and enslaved in which case Bolas has no real qualms with using them even if he isn't White or Green, or the gods are artificial and help balance the plane, in which case you need five colors.
Also of note is we could theoretically see more gods in the second set. But I kind of expect mono-colored gods. Of the two planes that had gods before Amonkhet mono-colored ones was the only common thread. It's also MtG, mono-colored cycles are going to be pretty consistent in general.
So a comment appeared on Blogatog about Amonkhet lands/Bolas horns:
drummerjon131 asked: You know, with Bolas's horns in every piece of full art land, it looks like he's playing peek-a-boo just beyond the horizon.
Maro: All will be explained in time.
Which leads me to Crazy Crackpot Speculation Time...
The entire plane of Amonkhet is housed within the gem between Bolas' horns. That's why you can see them from anywhere on the plane. How is this possible? Who knows. Maybe he found a way to do what Urza did with Serra's plane (collapsing it into a powerstone) without destroying the plane itself. Maybe this is part of the reason he's so powerful. He literally has an entire plane's worth of mana at his disposal at all times.
So a comment appeared on Blogatog about Amonkhet lands/Bolas horns:
drummerjon131 asked: You know, with Bolas's horns in every piece of full art land, it looks like he's playing peek-a-boo just beyond the horizon.
Maro: All will be explained in time.
Which leads me to Crazy Crackpot Speculation Time...
The entire plane of Amonkhet is housed within the gem between Bolas' horns. That's why you can see them from anywhere on the plane. How is this possible? Who knows. Maybe he found a way to do what Urza did with Serra's plane (collapsing it into a powerstone) without destroying the plane itself. Maybe this is part of the reason he's so powerful. He literally has an entire plane's worth of mana at his disposal at all times.
That’s actually a really cool idea. But wouldn’t that make any planeswalkers who tried to planeswalk to it really, really big? Which is obviously not the case, from what we have seen?
Anyway, for the gods' color identities, I think the monocolor god theory makes a lot of sense but: the toy fair image shows a card with the five trial names, which match up to single colors pretty well, but they’re in a weird order:
Solidarity, Knowledge, Strength, Ambition, Zeal
So… WUGBR? That’s strange. And that’s listed on the card with the achievements (play in a standard tournament, bring a friend, etc.). It could be carelessness, but in the past things have been in proper order. For example, prerelease stuff for Tarkir block always listed the factions in order.
Idk. It very well could be monocolor. But the weird order makes me unsure.
And I think that people are forgetting the possibility of five color pairs that mix allied and enemy pairs (like in RTR and Gatecrash), or five tricolor factions including some shards and some wedges (GWU, UBR, RGW, BGU, RWB, for example).
So a comment appeared on Blogatog about Amonkhet lands/Bolas horns:
drummerjon131 asked: You know, with Bolas's horns in every piece of full art land, it looks like he's playing peek-a-boo just beyond the horizon.
Maro: All will be explained in time.
Which leads me to Crazy Crackpot Speculation Time...
The entire plane of Amonkhet is housed within the gem between Bolas' horns. That's why you can see them from anywhere on the plane. How is this possible? Who knows. Maybe he found a way to do what Urza did with Serra's plane (collapsing it into a powerstone) without destroying the plane itself. Maybe this is part of the reason he's so powerful. He literally has an entire plane's worth of mana at his disposal at all times.
That’s actually a really cool idea. But wouldn’t that make any planeswalkers who tried to planeswalk to it really, really big? Which is obviously not the case, from what we have seen?
Not necessarily. It could be like Segovia, which Bolas has visited.
So a comment appeared on Blogatog about Amonkhet lands/Bolas horns:
drummerjon131 asked: You know, with Bolas's horns in every piece of full art land, it looks like he's playing peek-a-boo just beyond the horizon.
Maro: All will be explained in time.
Which leads me to Crazy Crackpot Speculation Time...
The entire plane of Amonkhet is housed within the gem between Bolas' horns. That's why you can see them from anywhere on the plane. How is this possible? Who knows. Maybe he found a way to do what Urza did with Serra's plane (collapsing it into a powerstone) without destroying the plane itself. Maybe this is part of the reason he's so powerful. He literally has an entire plane's worth of mana at his disposal at all times.
That’s actually a really cool idea. But wouldn’t that make any planeswalkers who tried to planeswalk to it really, really big? Which is obviously not the case, from what we have seen?
I figure it'd work more akin to a time dilation field, wherein upon crossing the boundary into the field you would begin to experience time at the local rate. Planeswalking onto Amonkhet would shrink you to relative size. Planeswalking off of Amonkhet would return you to default.
THE ART OF MAGIC: THE GATHERING – AMONKHET reveals a world of harsh beauty and incredible contrast. While withering sandstorms rip across barren and treacherous deserts, a thriving city-state worships the God-Pharaoh who protects their verdant oasis...
Could be that Bolas has a temple/statue in the center of the city state that you can see from anywhere in Amonkhet.
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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"
First, absolutely dig the art for the 'gods', and the ibis and crocodile ones may be my favorites. Just look at the shine on the ibis' wings!
Second, if Amonkhet was a created plane, I assume Nicol Bolas in his infinite wisdom would know that an artificial plane needs color balance to endure? If I recall correctly, color imbalance is what was dooming Serra's plane (unless it was the injection of Phyrexians? Memory is fuzzy).
I then wouldn't be surprised if these 'gods' are sources of mana that Bolas created to maintain the color balance. But a la Stargate, if the walkers point out these 'gods' aren't gods, might the people of Amonkhet take one or two down, unbalancing the plane and ushering in destruction (or devastation ::eyebrow wiggle::)?
Also, if the plane is created and demons don't planeswalk, is there anything Liliana's demon on Amonkhet can do that Bolas himself can't do? If the demon is his creation, I would think not.
Also also, Gideon's armor is interesting, but doesn't look, for lack of a better word, 'smooth.'
From what I recall, as a plane created entirely of White Mana Serra's Realm was doomed. You need to balance the colors, otherwise it'll mess up. I could also see the Gatewatch taking down one or two of the Gods, and that causing a problem, especially if the Gods predate the Mending. If Bolas can't recreate the Gods easily (or at all), it may mess up Amonkhet pretty badly.
Also love the Not-Thoth the best too, I'm hoping that the Gods aren't entirely thralls of Bolas, I'd love to use him in my deck. Not-Bast too.
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As someone who has built a Cat tribal deck: Naya would be the way to go for the Bastet. Esper works for Birds (though they are generally just WU), Hounds before Tarkir were mostly Jund, and Snakes are also Sultai (though largely UG).
I don't think there's any particular cycle of color combinations that fits perfectly. I thought they might be enemy colored based on the art, but the Thoth and Anubis kind of throw that off, and if they're allied colored then the Sobek and Bastet kinda throw that off. And I don't think they'd do wedge so soon, or with a Bolas ruled plane.
One of the issues is figuring out whether the forms we see are going to be largely ripped from their respective God, or whether there's gonna be some mixing and matching (like Zeus/Apollo Heliod). It might be that the Anubis is a mix of Anubis and Sekhmet. It could be that the Bastet is a mix of Bastet and Neith. We don't know enough yet, I think, to make anything but a wild guess.
Wadjet seems to be more traditionally depicted as just a full on snake though. Hauhet is pretty exclusively a humanoid with a snake for a head. (And I'm specifying Hauhet, because the male form, Heh, has a few different appearances.)
And the face seems much more cat-like than lioness-like to me personally. Plus, as you said, Bastet was originally a much more ferocious god. (Sekhmet isn't associated with fighting Apep so far as I know.)
I'm not any sort of specialist on this subject though, so...*shrug*
EDIT: Merged posts.
Im so excited for these guys! I cant wait to learn more. I'm really interested in seeing if gods continue to be enchantment creatures. Just want to see how distinct they make these guys mechanically so we can get a grasp on how similar gods have to be card wise between worlds. Really love the gold funerary mask animal head designs.
But the people behind the barrier knew.
Are...are we getting ANOTHER NISSA?! Like I'm normally not one to complain about gatewatch exposure but putting her in two sets in row for the mono-green slot is kinda overkill. Give her atlas until the block after Amonkhet.
I really like the gods, they feel very different from Theros and I like the mix of human, animal and metal. They Could possible me artifact creature with the amount of metal they have, as well as 4/5 heads seem to be be of the metal. Interesting that the crocodile one is the only one with an organic head. I'm guessing mono-color.
Someone is little obsessive about size.
Using the bird scale they look pretty big, the cat god looks almost pyramid sized.
For Bolas I think it is just the angel, the gatewatch look like the are still several yards away from him.
I think the mix and match is what is going to happen, it allows them to reference of the source material into the gods, allows them t be "original" with the characters and since magic is centered on the color pie they probity need to shift things so the gods fit into their colors.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
Depends. Either way, I think it would be very clever.
Sekhmet is the eye of Ra, so she is the foremost in the battle against Apep.
Ah, didn't realize the Eye of Ra thing was a title for multiple deities. I only saw it associated with Bastet. Again, this isn't my area of expertise.
Regardless, it's exciting.
Got it, Anubis, the Jacket god. Hence, why the dead look so dope in Egypt. : P
I don't think we're getting another Nissa. We know the Gatewatch (sans Ajani) is heading to Amonkhet, but it's just like how Gideon, Nissa, and Chandra showed up on Innistrad art, but not as Planeswalkers, or how Jace showed up in Oath and Kaladesh art, but not as a walker, or how Gideon and Liliana showed up in Kaladesh art, but not as walkers. Present, but not as a card.
I am also curious if they did mix-n-match with the Egyptian gods like they did with the Greek gods.
d'oh
Well it is the fact they featured some art work 9which does look planeswalkery) along with the god art and what could be Liliana and Gideon real-card art.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
There is Nissa art, but it's Howard Lyon, and his work has been consistently more "spells and creatures" than Planeswalkers. The Gideon and Lili art I could buy as being their Planeswalker art, but the Nissa art isn't as...dynamic? I guess that's the term. The way she's posed seems to draw the eye downward, which makes me believe it's some cropped spell art. Especially since we can see the hint of some other non-elemental creature in the bottom left corner, which doesn't feel right for a Nissa PW card.
Gideon, meanwhile, kind of draws your full attention, and is an Izzy piece. Izzy's previous Planeswalker work is the PW cards for Ajani vs. Nicol Bolas, so...maybe some precedence here, for a White Walker fighting the big dragon.
Lili also takes up the center of the frame and draws your attention, but I could see this not being PW art. Kind of depends on what's in the rest of the picture. Chris Rallis, who did this piece, also did Kaya, Ghost Assassin, so there's some Planeswalker history in there too.
There's also the possibility that they're fake gods, since the entire plane feels so Stargate-y
Indeed. They could just be powerful beings made of mana that Nicol Bolas had created when he still had an old spark. Like how Sorin shaped Avacyn.
I get the feeling their either fake or, if Bolas just took over an old plane, they're enslaved. The masks feel very... off. Gives them a very distinct look. Kind of makes me sad too, they're very pretty.
Given the order that they revealed them Cat - White, Bird - Blue, Crocodile - Black, Jackal - Red, and Snake - Green looks likely, especially when the first two and the last feel very fitting. But I agree that it feels more likely that the Crocodile is going to be red focused, which makes it kind of odd they'd reveal them in that order. Who knows though, could be Shard based in which case... well, still would be odd for the Crocodile to be Grixis instead of Jund.
Gideon is also looking really good. Doubt it'll be a card I want to use but who knows, would be nice to have one I like.
And because there wouldn't be a game otherwise
Also of note is we could theoretically see more gods in the second set. But I kind of expect mono-colored gods. Of the two planes that had gods before Amonkhet mono-colored ones was the only common thread. It's also MtG, mono-colored cycles are going to be pretty consistent in general.
Which leads me to Crazy Crackpot Speculation Time...
The entire plane of Amonkhet is housed within the gem between Bolas' horns. That's why you can see them from anywhere on the plane. How is this possible? Who knows. Maybe he found a way to do what Urza did with Serra's plane (collapsing it into a powerstone) without destroying the plane itself. Maybe this is part of the reason he's so powerful. He literally has an entire plane's worth of mana at his disposal at all times.
That’s actually a really cool idea. But wouldn’t that make any planeswalkers who tried to planeswalk to it really, really big? Which is obviously not the case, from what we have seen?
Anyway, for the gods' color identities, I think the monocolor god theory makes a lot of sense but: the toy fair image shows a card with the five trial names, which match up to single colors pretty well, but they’re in a weird order:
Solidarity, Knowledge, Strength, Ambition, Zeal
So… WUGBR? That’s strange. And that’s listed on the card with the achievements (play in a standard tournament, bring a friend, etc.). It could be carelessness, but in the past things have been in proper order. For example, prerelease stuff for Tarkir block always listed the factions in order.
Idk. It very well could be monocolor. But the weird order makes me unsure.
And I think that people are forgetting the possibility of five color pairs that mix allied and enemy pairs (like in RTR and Gatecrash), or five tricolor factions including some shards and some wedges (GWU, UBR, RGW, BGU, RWB, for example).
Not necessarily. It could be like Segovia, which Bolas has visited.
*ominous music*
I figure it'd work more akin to a time dilation field, wherein upon crossing the boundary into the field you would begin to experience time at the local rate. Planeswalking onto Amonkhet would shrink you to relative size. Planeswalking off of Amonkhet would return you to default.
Could be that Bolas has a temple/statue in the center of the city state that you can see from anywhere in Amonkhet.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Second, if Amonkhet was a created plane, I assume Nicol Bolas in his infinite wisdom would know that an artificial plane needs color balance to endure? If I recall correctly, color imbalance is what was dooming Serra's plane (unless it was the injection of Phyrexians? Memory is fuzzy).
I then wouldn't be surprised if these 'gods' are sources of mana that Bolas created to maintain the color balance. But a la Stargate, if the walkers point out these 'gods' aren't gods, might the people of Amonkhet take one or two down, unbalancing the plane and ushering in destruction (or devastation ::eyebrow wiggle::)?
Also, if the plane is created and demons don't planeswalk, is there anything Liliana's demon on Amonkhet can do that Bolas himself can't do? If the demon is his creation, I would think not.
Also also, Gideon's armor is interesting, but doesn't look, for lack of a better word, 'smooth.'
Also love the Not-Thoth the best too, I'm hoping that the Gods aren't entirely thralls of Bolas, I'd love to use him in my deck. Not-Bast too.