From what I can tell, Jace has the subtype of "Legendary Planeswalker - Jace". So does this mean that not only did the gatewatch lose to Nicol Bolas, which was expected anyway, but they also got scattered across the planes?
White Vamps and green Merfolk. Looks like a subtheme of "off-color" creature types? What's that mean for the flavor of the story?
White vampires are a pretty interesting follow-up from Amonkhet, where we have white zombies.
Not just any vampire, Aztec vampires. I can already smell a fracking JoJo reference on the horizon, not to mention we might have "Vampirate" later on. It's time to forsake our humanity!
On a more serious note, I guess any undead/monster related to sacred rituals would be put under white category. The only other white vampire I know was from Odyssey block.
From what I can tell, Jace has the subtype of "Legendary Planeswalker - Jace". So does this mean that not only did the gatewatch lose to Nicol Bolas, which was expected anyway, but they also got scattered across the planes?
Planeswalker has its own subtype rules, perhaps new Jace's ultimate would put copies of himself into play while negating that PW type.
Planeswalker has its own subtype rules, perhaps new Jace's ultimate would put copies of himself into play while negating that PW type.
If this new Jace is legendary, then (in theory) he wouldn't even need the subtype to maintain "uniqueness" for the card itself (though he apparently still has it here), and could possibly allow for actual situations where you can control multiple Jace walkers. That has implications for not just his ultimate, but how they design future planeswalkers.
So awhile back on the podcast Mark was talking about the different story ideas they were throwing around to explain the way Tarkir drafted. One such idea was doing a new world that's set in the past, then goes to the future, and then the third set would be the reveal that we were on Dominaria the whole time. Last we saw Ajani he was talking about going to Dominaria to recruit planeswalkers...but here he is on Ixalan. What if the Dominaria set in April is just the third act of the Ixalan story and Ixalan is just a continent? The test name for this world, Atlazan, seems to be a reference to Atlantis and would explain why we've never heard of this Dominarian continent until now. The continent resurfacing would also explain all the merefolk that populate it.
So awhile back on the podcast Mark was talking about the different story ideas they were throwing around to explain the way Tarkir drafted. One such idea was doing a new world that's set in the past, then goes to the future, and then the third set would be the reveal that we were on Dominaria the whole time. Last we saw Ajani he was talking about going to Dominaria to recruit planeswalkers...but here he is on Ixalan. What if the Dominaria set in April is just the third act of the Ixalan story and Ixalan is just a continent? The test name for this world, Atlazan, seems to be a reference to Atlantis and would explain why we've never heard of this Dominarian continent until now. The continent resurfacing would also explain all the merefolk that populate it.
"There's another way," said Ajani. "Bolas has a lot of enemies. And we have a lot of friends waiting in the wings. Give me time to get some of those friends together. Go find your own allies. Figure out what Bolas is actually planning, and what part of that plan is weakest."
[...]
"Please," he said. "Don't go to Amonkhet. Not yet. Stay here, or go find allies elsewhere. In the morning we can pick a rendezvous point. We can meet up in a few weeks' time, count our allies, compare notes, and plan our next move."
He's on Ixalan to recruit at least one of those friends (maybe the woman in the Rivals of Ixalan key art?), before meeting the rest of the Gatewatch on Dominaria. Ixalan is 100% its own plane.
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"The true measure of all heroes is not what they achieve, but who they inspire." —Triumph of Gerrard
I think theres to much being read into the whole Jace's new type/ult. It's just WotC trying to streamline the legendary and Planeswalkers uniqueness rules.
Now that Jace is there i 100% expect Ixalan story to suck.
The City of Orazca is like lost ancient and ship? Jace can auto find it cause hes sooo smart. Doesnt matter that Vraska is the Tomb Raider collector, does not matter that she is Scalie Indiana Jones, Jace will be the one to find Orazca.
Does not matter if some legendary Pirate Captain has been living on Ixalan his whole life, or is a pirate who has spent years finding it. Jace will autofind it in a day or two.
Also Vraska the awesome pirate will once again be a saturday cartoon villain. While jace gets upgraded with abs and steals vraska's spotlight.
Team Vraska is blasting off again.
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MtG is where you can hate white players or black players, and still not be racist.
Im curious to see how they flavor vampires to make them white. I wonder if they'll do something along the lines of a sineater..like these vampires feed on the diseases of others.
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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"
The test name for this world, Atlazan, seems to be a reference to Atlantis and would explain why we've never heard of this Dominarian continent until now. The continent resurfacing would also explain all the merefolk that populate it.
I'd actually bet that Atlazan as a name was a reference to the mythical city/place/island of Aztlán, the ancient home of the predecessors of the Aztecs. They left it commanded by their top-dog-god, Huitzilopochtli, to find the destined place where in the middle of a lake, an eagle would perch on a cactus while eating a serpent (that place would eventually become Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City).
This makes sense given that this apparently is Mesoamerican World. Due to their spelling similarity however Atlazan would make most people think of Atlantis instead, which is also much more common in pop-culture. I'd imagine that after evoking the wrong image time and time again, Wizards decided to go with something else entirely and that's how we got Ixalan.
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Vorthos-y Johnny. All will be One
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I already posted this in the thread about Jace's Defeat but it seems relevant so I'll put it here too: I'm predicting the Nicol Bolas is going to mind rape Jace, causing him to flee by planeswalking to a random plane (Ixalan). Once he gets there, most or all of his memories will be gone because of what Nicol Bolas did to him, and he won't even remember that he's a planeswalker, thus making him a castaway. Then maybe Ajani will rescue him in the second set. Maybe Bolas mind wiped and scattered the entire Gatewatch and Ajani will have to go to each random plane the others ended up on and rescue them. Or maybe not. But it would certainly let them fulfill their promise of less Gatewatch in each block if they spread them out in such a way.
I already posted this in the thread about Jace's Defeat but it seems relevant so I'll put it here too: I'm predicting the Nicol Bolas is going to mind rape Jace, causing him to flee by planeswalking to a random plane (Ixalan). Once he gets there, most or all of his memories will be gone because of what Nicol Bolas did to him, and he won't even remember that he's a planeswalker, thus making him a castaway. Then maybe Ajani will rescue him in the second set. Maybe Bolas mind wiped and scattered the entire Gatewatch and Ajani will have to go to each random plane the others ended up on and rescue them. Or maybe not. But it would certainly let them fulfill their promise of less Gatewatch in each block if they spread them out in such a way.
I've actually been thinking the same thing since we found out Jace will be in the next set as a castaway. My hope is Vraska will find him, realize he's lost his memories, and invite him to join her crew as her servant. Later Ajani will have to rescue him. This would deepen the Jace/Vraska antagonism and sour Vraska on Ajani (another GW member), helping to set up the, I feel inevitable, Ob Nixilis led UnGate Watch.
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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 might note here that the one person we know of who can heal madness and other psychological problems is Tamiyo. So it's very likely that Jace loses his memory, Ajani finds him, and takes him to Tamiyo to be healed. It also allows Ajani to find out what's going on with the rest of the GW. Presumably.
I might note here that the one person we know of who can heal madness and other psychological problems is Tamiyo. So it's very likely that Jace loses his memory, Ajani finds him, and takes him to Tamiyo to be healed. It also allows Ajani to find out what's going on with the rest of the GW. Presumably.
Someone else suggested on the HoD thread that it might be more fun if Bolas fixes Jace's memories. That could be even more traumatic for him than getting memory-wiped again.
Someone else suggested on the HoD thread that it might be more fun if Bolas fixes Jace's memories. That could be even more traumatic for him than getting memory-wiped again.
I can imagine remembering all the shady stuff you've done, the secrets you've uncovered and, oh yes, your entire childhood, can throw a person off.
We have to get to Vryn somehow, so I hope this theory is true.
I can imagine remembering all the shady stuff you've done, the secrets you've uncovered and, oh yes, your entire childhood, can throw a person off.
We have to get to Vryn somehow, so I hope this theory is true.
I mean the stuff he did for Al wasnt really different from what he did as part of the Consortium. Plus before he joined them he was a professional blackmailer.
I mean the stuff he did for Al wasnt really different from what he did as part of the Consortium. Plus before he joined them he was a professional blackmailer.
That's true, but that was still a whole chapter of his life he doesn't even remember.
Also I want to see Vryn for personal reasons. I find the mage-rings and the whole circles theme interesting, and I imagine a set about Vryn would be to resolve the conflict surrounding the rings, finding out where they came from and/or reuniting Jace with Mr. and Mrs. Beleren (or their corpses, if you're more pessimistic). Also the one Vryn plane card we have suggests an instant and sorcery-focused place.
Well, the first and most important question about Jace regaining his memories would be... why doesn't he PW home? It's possible that Jace is ashamed of what he did and 'doesn't want to face reality', but that seems... doubtful.
Just remember that at least for Liliana and Jace--likely also Gideon--their greatest strength also embodies their greatest fear or weakness. You have Liliana the Necromancer who is afraid of death, and Jace the mind mage who is very susceptible to mental attack due to his fractured memories. Gideon is arguable because you have a selfless protector who... is invulnerable, so he has to watch while others die.
Bumping this back up based on what we know following Amonkhet block. It looks like we'll be following an amnesiac Jace who gets enlisted into a pirate crew - possible Vraskas!
Bumping this back up based on what we know following Amonkhet block. It looks like we'll be following an amnesiac Jace who gets enlisted into a pirate crew - possible Vraskas!
Also, IIRC, one of the leaked cards hint at Vraska being in Bolas's employ.
I guess that coupled with Ral being his agent implies that Ixalan is part of yet another Bolas plot, but more indirect like Zendikar and New Phyrexia.
Bumping this back up based on what we know following Amonkhet block. It looks like we'll be following an amnesiac Jace who gets enlisted into a pirate crew - possible Vraskas!
Also, IIRC, one of the leaked cards hint at Vraska being in Bolas's employ.
I guess that coupled with Ral being his agent implies that Ixalan is part of yet another Bolas plot, but more indirect like Zendikar and New Phyrexia.
Bumping this back up based on what we know following Amonkhet block. It looks like we'll be following an amnesiac Jace who gets enlisted into a pirate crew - possible Vraskas!
Also, IIRC, one of the leaked cards hint at Vraska being in Bolas's employ.
I guess that coupled with Ral being his agent implies that Ixalan is part of yet another Bolas plot, but more indirect like Zendikar and New Phyrexia.
Which card? I didn't catch that.
River's Rebuke.
The flavour text is pretty fuzzy (as you might imagine), but part of it says something that looks like "Carefully following the [something] compass Bolas had given her, Vraska..."
To lend further credence to this idea, the card is a story spotlight card.
Bumping this back up based on what we know following Amonkhet block. It looks like we'll be following an amnesiac Jace who gets enlisted into a pirate crew - possible Vraskas!
Also, IIRC, one of the leaked cards hint at Vraska being in Bolas's employ.
I guess that coupled with Ral being his agent implies that Ixalan is part of yet another Bolas plot, but more indirect like Zendikar and New Phyrexia.
Which card? I didn't catch that.
River's Rebuke.
The flavour text is pretty fuzzy (as you might imagine), but part of it says something that looks like "Carefully following the [something] compass Bolas had given her, Vraska..."
To lend further credence to this idea, the card is a story spotlight card.
Seems a bit random to have different planeswalkers suddenly pop up as a agent for Bolas, like that´s the only reason they made them
Seems a bit random to have different planeswalkers suddenly pop up as a agent for Bolas, like that´s the only reason they made them
Everyone is an agent of Bolas. They just don't know it yet.
On a serious note, if the flavour text is saying what it looks like it's saying, maybe Vraska's task is of a different nature. She wants to shake up Ravnica, and she needs power to achieve that, so maybe Bolas struck a deal with her. Couple that with her apparent penchant for gathering artifacts from the planes she visits, and this might have been something she couldn't pass up (also we don't know how much she actually knows about Bolas).
All we know about Bolas and Vraska's interactions is that Bolas gave her a compass. It is entirely possible that she is a fully-coopted agent like so many others. Or he could be using her with a more hands-off approach - for all we know, as far as she's concerned, Bolas is "that guy that gave me the compass."
Not just any vampire, Aztec vampires. I can already smell a fracking JoJo reference on the horizon, not to mention we might have "Vampirate" later on. It's time to forsake our humanity!
On a more serious note, I guess any undead/monster related to sacred rituals would be put under white category. The only other white vampire I know was from Odyssey block.
Planeswalker has its own subtype rules, perhaps new Jace's ultimate would put copies of himself into play while negating that PW type.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
If this new Jace is legendary, then (in theory) he wouldn't even need the subtype to maintain "uniqueness" for the card itself (though he apparently still has it here), and could possibly allow for actual situations where you can control multiple Jace walkers. That has implications for not just his ultimate, but how they design future planeswalkers.
He's on Ixalan to recruit at least one of those friends (maybe the woman in the Rivals of Ixalan key art?), before meeting the rest of the Gatewatch on Dominaria. Ixalan is 100% its own plane.
The City of Orazca is like lost ancient and ship? Jace can auto find it cause hes sooo smart. Doesnt matter that Vraska is the Tomb Raider collector, does not matter that she is Scalie Indiana Jones, Jace will be the one to find Orazca.
Does not matter if some legendary Pirate Captain has been living on Ixalan his whole life, or is a pirate who has spent years finding it. Jace will autofind it in a day or two.
Also Vraska the awesome pirate will once again be a saturday cartoon villain. While jace gets upgraded with abs and steals vraska's spotlight.
Team Vraska is blasting off again.
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'd actually bet that Atlazan as a name was a reference to the mythical city/place/island of Aztlán, the ancient home of the predecessors of the Aztecs. They left it commanded by their top-dog-god, Huitzilopochtli, to find the destined place where in the middle of a lake, an eagle would perch on a cactus while eating a serpent (that place would eventually become Tenochtitlan, modern-day Mexico City).
This makes sense given that this apparently is Mesoamerican World. Due to their spelling similarity however Atlazan would make most people think of Atlantis instead, which is also much more common in pop-culture. I'd imagine that after evoking the wrong image time and time again, Wizards decided to go with something else entirely and that's how we got Ixalan.
Modern - Cheeri0s (building), Belcher (building), Lantern (building), UW Control (building)
RIP Magic Duels. Wizards will regret what they did to you.
I've actually been thinking the same thing since we found out Jace will be in the next set as a castaway. My hope is Vraska will find him, realize he's lost his memories, and invite him to join her crew as her servant. Later Ajani will have to rescue him. This would deepen the Jace/Vraska antagonism and sour Vraska on Ajani (another GW member), helping to set up the, I feel inevitable, Ob Nixilis led UnGate Watch.
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"
https://archidekt.com/user/71716
Someone else suggested on the HoD thread that it might be more fun if Bolas fixes Jace's memories. That could be even more traumatic for him than getting memory-wiped again.
I can imagine remembering all the shady stuff you've done, the secrets you've uncovered and, oh yes, your entire childhood, can throw a person off.
We have to get to Vryn somehow, so I hope this theory is true.
I mean the stuff he did for Al wasnt really different from what he did as part of the Consortium. Plus before he joined them he was a professional blackmailer.
That's true, but that was still a whole chapter of his life he doesn't even remember.
Also I want to see Vryn for personal reasons. I find the mage-rings and the whole circles theme interesting, and I imagine a set about Vryn would be to resolve the conflict surrounding the rings, finding out where they came from and/or reuniting Jace with Mr. and Mrs. Beleren (or their corpses, if you're more pessimistic). Also the one Vryn plane card we have suggests an instant and sorcery-focused place.
Just remember that at least for Liliana and Jace--likely also Gideon--their greatest strength also embodies their greatest fear or weakness. You have Liliana the Necromancer who is afraid of death, and Jace the mind mage who is very susceptible to mental attack due to his fractured memories. Gideon is arguable because you have a selfless protector who... is invulnerable, so he has to watch while others die.
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
Also, IIRC, one of the leaked cards hint at Vraska being in Bolas's employ.
I guess that coupled with Ral being his agent implies that Ixalan is part of yet another Bolas plot, but more indirect like Zendikar and New Phyrexia.
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
River's Rebuke.
The flavour text is pretty fuzzy (as you might imagine), but part of it says something that looks like "Carefully following the [something] compass Bolas had given her, Vraska..."
To lend further credence to this idea, the card is a story spotlight card.
Seems a bit random to have different planeswalkers suddenly pop up as a agent for Bolas, like that´s the only reason they made them
Everyone is an agent of Bolas. They just don't know it yet.
On a serious note, if the flavour text is saying what it looks like it's saying, maybe Vraska's task is of a different nature. She wants to shake up Ravnica, and she needs power to achieve that, so maybe Bolas struck a deal with her. Couple that with her apparent penchant for gathering artifacts from the planes she visits, and this might have been something she couldn't pass up (also we don't know how much she actually knows about Bolas).
RWU
GUB
WBR
URG
BGW