I would honestly expect to never see Warlords of Khanar announced. They trademarked that at right around the same time Blizzard announced Warlords of Drawenor. It looks to me like they switched titles to avoid confusion and settled on this one instead, which is fine because Khans of Tarkir sounds super cool.
Something people have been asking for is a Wedge-focused block (at least on this site). Could be a possibility, though Wedges have made an appearance before. It could be the thing they haven't done before (even though it's a bit of a stretch)
People have been asking Maro on his tumblr about this. They called it "BlizzAlara".
BizarrAlara- no L after the B.
It's a reference to DC Comics' Bizarro.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
This would be where my money is for at least one of those. When wizards boasts about stuff like this, it is usually them NOT taking a big chance, so all these guesses at them "shaking things up" are, in my opinion, far fetched. They feel they've gotten their formula right, so they're not shaking anything up at the moment, but full art lands or the return of snow lands? Sure, they'd absolutely do that and try and make it a big deal.
This would be where my money is for at least one of those. When wizards boasts about stuff like this, it is usually them NOT taking a big chance, so all these guesses at them "shaking things up" are, in my opinion, far fetched. They feel they've gotten their formula right, so they're not shaking anything up at the moment, but full art lands or the return of snow lands? Sure, they'd absolutely do that and try and make it a big deal.
Unless the set has any relevance on lands, I doubt they would do full art lands.
I'm also all for the return of Snow stuff, but I'm not sure how actually in demand that is.
That wasn't my point. There isn't design room in a set focusing on warlords or Mongolian type tribes.
Uhhhh there's plenty? Have you seen Mulan? It looks more like a pan-Asian setting anyways with influences from China and Japan too. And it's not a top-down block anyway, so they didn't specifically base the premise of the set directly off of Mongolian lore.
A wedge block would be awful with Theros. They will wait at least one more year for Theros to go before going back to multicolour. We still are coming off the back of a multicolour block with RTR. Maro has stated they need to wait around 4 years between those types of blocks. Don't expect another wedge block until 2015 or 16.
We do have mana confluence for fixing which is nice, and personally I'd like to pretend theros block never happened so I'd be psyched!
He specifically said "big absence from Magic" for a long time. What's been missing for a long time? Enemy Fetchlands were 5 years ago, Allied 12 years ago (not judge). Plus, with the new card-frame and anti-counterfeit stuff, the timing seems right. It was a little weird that Zen had so little gold, yet had some of the best fixers ever. Plus, mono-colored warlords wouldn't be as fun as two or three color lords, so perhaps Khans is bizzalara, and requires good fixing.
"Something fans have been asking for, that we've never done" - contraptions aside, maybe finally doing steeds and ships, and bizzalara.
Set symbol is pretty bad-ass too.
*Snow is a good point too. Coldsnap was 8 years ago, and Maro isn't proud of the use of snow in that set. Wow that makes me feel old.
I think the unique block structure will probably be all 3 sets being drafted together as Large small Large for the first time, unlike innistrad block with avacyn restored. Similar to RTR block
Other neat stuff that could possibly be done as part of a "unique block structure."
1) The third set retells the first set but from a different perspective.
2) The third set of this block is also the first set of the next block (the Khans of Tarkir invade the 2015 plane).
3) The three sets are not necessarily released in succession. Maybe something that's not technically part of the block will be released in between two of the sets.
He specifically said "big absence from Magic" for a long time. What's been missing for a long time? Enemy Fetchlands were 5 years ago, Allied 12 years ago (not judge). Plus, with the new card-frame and anti-counterfeit stuff, the timing seems right. It was a little weird that Zen had so little gold, yet had some of the best fixers ever. Plus, mono-colored warlords wouldn't be as fun as two or three color lords, so perhaps Khans is bizzalara, and requires good fixing.
Five old, flavor-devoid lands are not going to be "the big thing players have been wanting back for years"
Sets completed in the "Vale" Block
Vale: The Shadowlands
More sets to come
My Have/Want List
I loathe creatures! Praise Prison and Land Destruction!
My Peasant Cube (looking for feedback)
I also bet the returning thing will be Ninjas or some other Kamigawa-ish stuff.
BizarrAlara- no L after the B.
It's a reference to DC Comics' Bizarro.
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
Mongolia is really freaking cold.
I have 0 clue what the thing they haven't done before would be.
Twitter
MaRo did mention they might do something like Bushido from Kamigawa in the new block.
This would be where my money is for at least one of those. When wizards boasts about stuff like this, it is usually them NOT taking a big chance, so all these guesses at them "shaking things up" are, in my opinion, far fetched. They feel they've gotten their formula right, so they're not shaking anything up at the moment, but full art lands or the return of snow lands? Sure, they'd absolutely do that and try and make it a big deal.
How To Keep Your FOIL Cards From Curling: http://youtu.be/QTmubrS8VnI
The Best Deck Boxes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEwgLph_Pjk
The Best Binders: http://youtu.be/H5IauASYWjk
The link to the video has been added, if you want to watch it too!
Unless the set has any relevance on lands, I doubt they would do full art lands.
I'm also all for the return of Snow stuff, but I'm not sure how actually in demand that is.
That wasn't my point. There isn't design room in a set focusing on warlords or Mongolian type tribes.
Uhhhh there's plenty? Have you seen Mulan? It looks more like a pan-Asian setting anyways with influences from China and Japan too. And it's not a top-down block anyway, so they didn't specifically base the premise of the set directly off of Mongolian lore.
We do have mana confluence for fixing which is nice, and personally I'd like to pretend theros block never happened so I'd be psyched!
Screw GR. They have already enough stuff especially planeswalkers wise.
You can actually make out what the expansion symbol is!!!
"Something fans have been asking for, that we've never done" - contraptions aside, maybe finally doing steeds and ships, and bizzalara.
Set symbol is pretty bad-ass too.
*Snow is a good point too. Coldsnap was 8 years ago, and Maro isn't proud of the use of snow in that set. Wow that makes me feel old.
EDH:
Niv-Mizzet
Legacy:
The Rack
Modern
Venser, the Sojourner Control
1) The third set retells the first set but from a different perspective.
2) The third set of this block is also the first set of the next block (the Khans of Tarkir invade the 2015 plane).
3) The three sets are not necessarily released in succession. Maybe something that's not technically part of the block will be released in between two of the sets.
I'm hoping for a Mono-R Sarkhan, but the least I ask is that he doesn't have G for a little while.
As an aside, IIRC, MaRo said that BizarrAlara wasn't in the current 7-year plan, so I strongly doubt this block is it.
Five old, flavor-devoid lands are not going to be "the big thing players have been wanting back for years"