We know that a number of the planes we've been introduced to are larger than what we've seen in the stories or cards, with Innistrad, Kaladesh and Ravnica being some examples. This is partly (if not entirely) due to these unknown/unseen/less-touched-upon places being less important/central to the theme or story presented by those planes. Amonkhet makes sense, because Naktamun was the last known bastion of civilization on the plane.
Should Wizards make more of an effort to explore more of the planes we visit outside of one city or continent within the story and/or cards, or is how they've been handling the planes in question good enough?
There are a lot of hooks for more potential Planar exploration. Both Zendikar sets are set on different continents. For all its faults, In the Teeth of Akoum really has geography matter. Alara was five distinct cultures and geographies. Innistrad and Theros have both hinted at there being more to the world. Kaladesh was entirely focused on Ghirapur.
We are likely to see more as we return to planes. Conservation is the name of the game for a long-term strategy. Exhaust Story potential in existing locations before adding new ones.
Creative is struggling as it is. Like yes I want more of these planes but lets let creative have a few hours to sleep, yeah?
Lol, for real. With the recent push into all media, they're definitely understaffed. They lost Mel Li and Michael Yichao within a few months of each other, and Chris L'Etoile's contract ran out in that timeframe, too. Amonkhet was basically the Alison Luhrs show (which was not a bad thing at all).
Should Wizards make more of an effort to explore more of the planes we visit outside of one city or continent within the story and/or cards, or is how they've been handling the planes in question good enough?
I'd prefer if they leave it unexplored and leave it open for the future. I think planes are better when there's room for more then one thing on them. They can do plenty of detail and storytelling in one region without having to pigeonhole an entire plane as "all-Egypt, all-the time", or "all-horror, all day, every day'. The fact that there's "something" across the ocean on Innistrad that we don't know about and may be completely different, adds some more depth to the plane, even if we never go there and see it.
Of course, fully fleshing out the plane with multiple continents and varied cultures like Zendikar is decent too, but a lot more work. Plus, with so much stuff there, most of it will only get a cursory look and a few cards representation, at best. Then it all gets destroyed and all that worldbuilding is for naught. I guess that's another benefit of smaller-scale settings like Amonkhet. You can have high stakes, have the heroes fail or only partially succeed with drastic consequences and massive devastation, and not ruin everything everywhere and have to have the next set there be Plane X: Post-apocalytic edition.
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My decks
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Creative is struggling as it is. Like yes I want more of these planes but lets let creative have a few hours to sleep, yeah?
Lol, for real. With the recent push into all media, they're definitely understaffed. They lost Mel Li and Michael Yichao within a few months of each other, and Chris L'Etoile's contract ran out in that timeframe, too. Amonkhet was basically the Alison Luhrs show (which was not a bad thing at all).
From what she said during the Ixalan podcast episode last week, it sounds like the Ixalan storyline is pretty much all her, too. I think she's pretty good that that job, but there are limits to what anybody can do based on time and energy. I'd be worried about burnout if I were responsible for that office.
So while I do think it would be more fun to see more expansive takes on planes, it would have to be done in a manner that doesn't add workload on top of the existing burden on Creative. Personally, I think the most reasonable technique would be to simply design more varied card sets, but that runs into potential gameplay issues that Wizards might not want to deal with. My impression is that Wizards is pretty happy with the set design principles that they're following right now, and probably would be hesitant to change that just to make worldbuilding a little more interesting.
To be honest, I think even just creating a map of some of the planes (like they're doing now with Ixalan) would be enough to let us know what lands out there beyond wherever the story is taking place.
Also with each return to a world I think the planes will be fleshed out more. Ravnica has tons of stuff added on since the first block (oceans and merfolk, the spots where the guildpact are null, etc). Both Innistrad and Mirrodin had stuff "transformed" on it more then added but both did get a good refresher.
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Also with each return to a world I think the planes will be fleshed out more. Ravnica has tons of stuff added on since the first block (oceans and merfolk, the spots where the guildpact are null, etc). Both Innistrad and Mirrodin had stuff "transformed" on it more then added but both did get a good refresher.
Innistrad still has those far-away continents we don't know about with those exotic lycanthropes, and I don't know too much about Mirrodin, but was there anything there still un-explored?
Also with each return to a world I think the planes will be fleshed out more. Ravnica has tons of stuff added on since the first block (oceans and merfolk, the spots where the guildpact are null, etc). Both Innistrad and Mirrodin had stuff "transformed" on it more then added but both did get a good refresher.
Innistrad still has those far-away continents we don't know about with those exotic lycanthropes, and I don't know too much about Mirrodin, but was there anything there still un-explored?
I don't believe so though I started playing around Alara so my knowledge on the first block is fuzzy...the changes don't help. Mirrodin was also a pretty small world, its roughly larger then our moon. Most of the unknown/unexplored stuff was the seeds for Phyrexia.
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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"
Should Wizards make more of an effort to explore more of the planes we visit outside of one city or continent within the story and/or cards, or is how they've been handling the planes in question good enough?
We are likely to see more as we return to planes. Conservation is the name of the game for a long-term strategy. Exhaust Story potential in existing locations before adding new ones.
Lol, for real. With the recent push into all media, they're definitely understaffed. They lost Mel Li and Michael Yichao within a few months of each other, and Chris L'Etoile's contract ran out in that timeframe, too. Amonkhet was basically the Alison Luhrs show (which was not a bad thing at all).
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Of course, fully fleshing out the plane with multiple continents and varied cultures like Zendikar is decent too, but a lot more work. Plus, with so much stuff there, most of it will only get a cursory look and a few cards representation, at best. Then it all gets destroyed and all that worldbuilding is for naught. I guess that's another benefit of smaller-scale settings like Amonkhet. You can have high stakes, have the heroes fail or only partially succeed with drastic consequences and massive devastation, and not ruin everything everywhere and have to have the next set there be Plane X: Post-apocalytic edition.
Standard - RIP Cat
Modern - Death & Taxes
Commander - Mazirek, Trostani, Angry Omnath
From what she said during the Ixalan podcast episode last week, it sounds like the Ixalan storyline is pretty much all her, too. I think she's pretty good that that job, but there are limits to what anybody can do based on time and energy. I'd be worried about burnout if I were responsible for that office.
So while I do think it would be more fun to see more expansive takes on planes, it would have to be done in a manner that doesn't add workload on top of the existing burden on Creative. Personally, I think the most reasonable technique would be to simply design more varied card sets, but that runs into potential gameplay issues that Wizards might not want to deal with. My impression is that Wizards is pretty happy with the set design principles that they're following right now, and probably would be hesitant to change that just to make worldbuilding a little more interesting.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Innistrad still has those far-away continents we don't know about with those exotic lycanthropes, and I don't know too much about Mirrodin, but was there anything there still un-explored?
I don't believe so though I started playing around Alara so my knowledge on the first block is fuzzy...the changes don't help. Mirrodin was also a pretty small world, its roughly larger then our moon. Most of the unknown/unexplored stuff was the seeds for Phyrexia.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
If that's the case, AmonkhetTown and New PhyrexiaTown are pretty messed up theme parks.
The porcelain dolls of NPH really scared our five-year-old heroes.