The Gatewatch are still going to be our protagonists, but every member will no longer show up in every block. We may even have some blocks where none of the Gatewatch appear, although even those blocks will still be relevant to the larger story.
I have no problem with this at all. Less Gatewatch means more opportunities for non-Gatewatch character development, and prevents the story from getting too stale (Gatewatch vs. Bolas, Gatewatch vs. the Kraul, Gatewatch vs. Heliod, etc.).
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Lapsed DCI Rules Advisor - Retired from playing but still hanging around
Well, less Gatewatch planeswalker cards means more room for both returning and native planeswalkers to get cards.
There was a recent exchange on blogatog that got me really wondering about the lack of self-awareness. Fortunately this change allows to get new native planeswalker and a returning planeswalker outside the Gatewatch into a story-arc (cannot call it a block anymore now, can I?) more easily.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Its like comics, we got the full Justice League and now we going to get the different character stories and at time we'll get the one-off issues that are set up for the main storylines.
Also with Coresets being using as background/set up stories I think we'll see more origins of our walkers.
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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"
This was going to happen anyway. The creative team have been talking about it from the very beginning.
Less Gatewatch planeswalker cards is very nice though, because a lot of the Gatewatch fatigue was from forcing all of the Gatewatch to be standard legal.
This looks like a good expression of popular desire. It will be more interesting to me to see how the new core sets (or kinda core sets?) work into the story.
With this and the new set structure they can really set up a cool multi-world arc, where Ajani or some of the Gatewatch members can check on a world in one set, give us a quick look at an old place and recruit an ally to fight Bolas, without needing an apocalypse to back up a visit.
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.
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
With this and the new set structure they can really set up a cool multi-world arc, where Ajani or some of the Gatewatch members can check on a world in one set, give us a quick look at an old place and recruit an ally to fight Bolas, without needing an apocalypse to back up a visit.
Since that the article said that they are starting to take the attention off the gatewatch from Hour of Devastation, what if only Jace and Liliana escape from Bolas and have to convince Ajani to help them save the others in the Ixilan block?
EDIT:
I know that it is not going to happen, but having some of the gatewatch injured or held captive is an easy way to have the first block without the whole gatewatch intervening.
Maybe, why not, I know so far we have only seen them as the plot armor brigade, but the new structure is the perfect moment to change that, and Amonkhet the perfect stage to set this up.
What I was aiming for was the idea that with this structure they could even show what Ajani was up to, while the kids where meddling on Amonkhet. We could have a few worlds where he just shows up, recruits, leaves, and then they could all meet up on Dominaria, where the other fled to after Amonkhet. With this we would have a few sets without the Gatewatch (yeah Ajani is a member, but the team would take a break).
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Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
This is good news. Planeswalkers tend to open up new strategies and the gatewatch were eating up slots (e.i. Gideon). Not sure how this affects the story since it should allow a more focused story but pacing might be a bit difficult.
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Modern
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
I think this is all good news, less GW fatigue, and the core-sets sound like they'll fill in stories from other parts of the multiverse. I love that we have a primary story arc w/ a primary cast of characters (I'm someone who generally likes the GW) but it will be cool if we can start getting slice of life stories again on various planes. How is the rebuilding on Zendikar going? What is Alara like now? Do the Obzedat still have Tajic imprisoned? Has Oona reformed on Shadowynn? Did Ajani's campaign to create atheism on Theros spread beyond Meletis? These are all the kinds of stories I'm hoping the new coresets can be used to tell. What is going on in the areas where the GW doesn't have a presence atm.
Also, if "there may be worlds we only visit for one set" means WOTC is willing to give a go to a Tamiyo focused return to Kamigawa set I will hyperventilate like a Dr. Who fangirl. #Sage's Path 2018
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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"
I have no problem with this at all. Less Gatewatch means more opportunities for non-Gatewatch character development, and prevents the story from getting too stale (Gatewatch vs. Bolas, Gatewatch vs. the Kraul, Gatewatch vs. Heliod, etc.).
A thousand times this, and prevents us from getting walkers in back-to-back blocks (Sets going forward I guess?) Nissa in 3 of 4 of the last blocks and Chandra appearing in back-to-backs.
I'm hoping the new core sets are almost time spiral like. Not in complexity but in showing little bits of the past and future.
I really like the implication that they're examining moments in the past.
I'm leaning towards Urza's Sage like, telling older stories from the lore.
Or maybe just reprints that evoke story moments. For example, Mercadia's Downfall is a good uncommon combat trick that gets insane in commander and probably wouldn't break standard.
I'm leaning towards Urza's Sage like, telling older stories from the lore.
Now you're just giving people hopes for new cards for premending characters - and planeswalkers - in the coresets. All the while it's more likely we'll just see some parallel stories from settings that are currently on the backburner like the one-off stories about Ravnica we see every now and then.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Speaking of one off stories and Ravnica, am I the only one who wants a single set where we go back to Ravnica, and we just see the mess Jace's absence caused? I think that would make a good gatewatch-less set, could be used as a jumping point for Vraska and Ral (and maybe others) to enter the main story, and be a compelling reason for Jace to actually go do his job. Though I digress...
Yeah, this is largely what I was hoping for as well, though it depends on how they translate this to the story. While I never thought it made sense for the gatewatch to always respond to everything together, I also hated it when planeswalkers largely traveled solo and just interacted with each other by happenstance. So long as they maintain a healthy medium that's true to the characters and story - like Elspeth and Ajani traveling together as friends without a home, or Koth bringing planeswalkers to aid against the Phyrexians.
Combined with the "Possible 1 Block-Plane Structure", this gives me hope we'll see a set on Kamigawa based around the Bookworm club Tamiyo and Ajani are part of. We might not get much (story-wise) of the plane itself, but considering the club is a source of planeswalker intel-gathering, it makes Kamigawa the perfect intelligence hub and transition set between storylines.
They did say less-gatewatch focused, not less-planeswalker focused, so I'm not holding overly high expectations, but it's still an improvement.
I've been playing this game a long time (since Ice Age), do I have seen the pendulum swing back and forth on the issue a few times. In the beginning, we only got bits and pieces of the background story through the art and flavor text, but players were wanting a more coherent and immersive story. The result of that was the Weatherlight Saga that spanned four years until people got completely burned out by the whole thing. So WotC swung the story pendulum back the other way where it stayed until opinion swung back towards wanting a bigger and more cohesive backstory again giving us the Gatewatch. Somewhat predictably, three years into it and people are burned out on the characters.
Hopefully WotC learns from this and notices the pattern. They should be planning to switch back and forth between the two storytelling modes every 2.5 years to keep things interesting and fresh before they get stale and not wait until after things get to that point.
I'm leaning towards Urza's Sage like, telling older stories from the lore.
Now you're just giving people hopes for new cards for premending characters - and planeswalkers - in the coresets. All the while it's more likely we'll just see some parallel stories from settings that are currently on the backburner like the one-off stories about Ravnica we see every now and then.
quoting MaRo directly:
The set will have some story relevance, but more in a "filling in information of the past about relevant characters" way than telling a piece of the "present-day" story.
nearest thing I can think of is the Origins set.
May be they will treat the story elements that way, like How Elspeth's spark ignite or how Kaalia became the person she became...
Or what the hell happened to Liliana's brother after she planeswalked away.
Or say... the history of the Raven Man? Or Bolas? Or Karn?
I've been playing this game a long time (since Ice Age), do I have seen the pendulum swing back and forth on the issue a few times. In the beginning, we only got bits and pieces of the background story through the art and flavor text, but players were wanting a more coherent and immersive story. The result of that was the Weatherlight Saga that spanned four years until people got completely burned out by the whole thing. So WotC swung the story pendulum back the other way where it stayed until opinion swung back towards wanting a bigger and more cohesive backstory again giving us the Gatewatch. Somewhat predictably, three years into it and people are burned out on the characters.
Hopefully WotC learns from this and notices the pattern. They should be planning to switch back and forth between the two storytelling modes every 2.5 years to keep things interesting and fresh before they get stale and not wait until after things get to that point.
I think you misunderstand how this works.
The story doesn't shift back and forth necessarily for the reasons you're describing, those tonal shifts also represent changes in leadership among the creative team. It can take a couple years between when someone actually leaves and when things progress. It's hard to gauge why changes have been made, but I'll tell you this shift to a less-team focused story was always in the works. Remember, we've only gotten the equivalent of two blocks worth of Gatewatch under the old story. For the last year and a half or so, the creative team has been saying the Gatewatch will eventually split off and not every member will show up in every story.
Read the whole article here.
This is what we wanted, right?
Thoughts?
Click the pic for more info.
There was a recent exchange on blogatog that got me really wondering about the lack of self-awareness. Fortunately this change allows to get new native planeswalker and a returning planeswalker outside the Gatewatch into a story-arc (cannot call it a block anymore now, can I?) more easily.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Also with Coresets being using as background/set up stories I think we'll see more origins of our walkers.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Less Gatewatch planeswalker cards is very nice though, because a lot of the Gatewatch fatigue was from forcing all of the Gatewatch to be standard legal.
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
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
Maybe, why not, I know so far we have only seen them as the plot armor brigade, but the new structure is the perfect moment to change that, and Amonkhet the perfect stage to set this up.
What I was aiming for was the idea that with this structure they could even show what Ajani was up to, while the kids where meddling on Amonkhet. We could have a few worlds where he just shows up, recruits, leaves, and then they could all meet up on Dominaria, where the other fled to after Amonkhet. With this we would have a few sets without the Gatewatch (yeah Ajani is a member, but the team would take a break).
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
Competitive: GW Hatebears - UG Infect - BGW Liege Rhino
Casual: GR Titan Ramp - BR Aggro
WIP: BUW Control Mill
Also, if "there may be worlds we only visit for one set" means WOTC is willing to give a go to a Tamiyo focused return to Kamigawa set I will hyperventilate like a Dr. Who fangirl. #Sage's Path 2018
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"
I'm leaning towards Urza's Sage like, telling older stories from the lore.
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
Or maybe just reprints that evoke story moments. For example, Mercadia's Downfall is a good uncommon combat trick that gets insane in commander and probably wouldn't break standard.
Now you're just giving people hopes for new cards for premending characters - and planeswalkers - in the coresets. All the while it's more likely we'll just see some parallel stories from settings that are currently on the backburner like the one-off stories about Ravnica we see every now and then.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Yeah, this is largely what I was hoping for as well, though it depends on how they translate this to the story. While I never thought it made sense for the gatewatch to always respond to everything together, I also hated it when planeswalkers largely traveled solo and just interacted with each other by happenstance. So long as they maintain a healthy medium that's true to the characters and story - like Elspeth and Ajani traveling together as friends without a home, or Koth bringing planeswalkers to aid against the Phyrexians.
They did say less-gatewatch focused, not less-planeswalker focused, so I'm not holding overly high expectations, but it's still an improvement.
Hopefully WotC learns from this and notices the pattern. They should be planning to switch back and forth between the two storytelling modes every 2.5 years to keep things interesting and fresh before they get stale and not wait until after things get to that point.
Jalira, Master Polymorphist | Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder | Bosh, Iron Golem | Ezuri, Renegade Leader
Brago, King Eternal | Oona, Queen of the Fae | Wort, Boggart Auntie | Wort, the Raidmother
Captain Sisay | Rhys, the Redeemed | Trostani, Selesnya's Voice | Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight | Obzedat, Ghost Council | Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind | Vorel of the Hull Clade
Uril, the Miststalker | Prossh, Skyraider of Kher | Nicol Bolas | Progenitus
Ghave, Guru of Spores | Zedruu the Greathearted | Damia, Sage of Stone | Riku of Two Reflections
That's the reason I brought it up.
I think you misunderstand how this works.
The story doesn't shift back and forth necessarily for the reasons you're describing, those tonal shifts also represent changes in leadership among the creative team. It can take a couple years between when someone actually leaves and when things progress. It's hard to gauge why changes have been made, but I'll tell you this shift to a less-team focused story was always in the works. Remember, we've only gotten the equivalent of two blocks worth of Gatewatch under the old story. For the last year and a half or so, the creative team has been saying the Gatewatch will eventually split off and not every member will show up in every story.
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