Y'know, it's real funny: I recall that Jace has been the scarcest PW in Standard as of late. His last two sets have been, what, RTR and SOI ? Meanwhile Gideon has gotten GTC, BFZ, and Amonkhet, Liliana got EMN and Amonkhet, Chandra got OTG and Kaladesh, and Nissa got OTG, Kaladesh, and Amonkhet. And that's not counting PW Decks, of which Jace is the only PW not to have gotten one yet. Jace is the only GW PW with literally one standard-legal card right now, while his buddies all have 3-4 (2 in Ajani's case). And people complain about Jace being overrepresented? I say it's about time we saw him again.
After years of over saturation it's only now other walkers are getting a chance to be overused like Gideon is currently.
Over saturation? You mean like how for a while every core set had a cycle of five PWs, one of which happened to be Jace? Because as far as story representation goes, Jace is about on par with other PWs at best. Yeah, he had the novels in the early days, but his first real set role was in Zendikar, and then he didn't play another story role until RTR, and then he had to wait until BFZ. In between those roles, the story focused chiefly on Elspeth (Scars of Mirrodin and Theros), Sarkhan (Zendikar and Khans of Tarkir), and Liliana (Innistrad and Shadows over Innistrad). Only Chandra and Nissa have had story roles spaced farther apart.
Seriously, I hadn't even thought of that, another snow set would be amazing and could perfectly fit in a one-shot block.
Dare I say it? Full Art Snow Basic Lands.
Personally, I missed the original Snow sets, but I've seen them around and it certainly does seem to be something ripe for new development.
A Four Seasons setting would be an ideal place for snow as part of the Winter theme. We could even get a Jack Frost expy as a "snow matters" legend! Norse world could work too.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Remind me again what was wrong Lorwyn? I come and go out of this game and Lorwyn was a time when I wasn't paying attention.
To my knowledge, it had a lot to do with the fact that the block was 4 sets long instead of 3, so it dragged on for a long time. It also really forced tribal, and you basically pick a tribe and that's what you get out of the set. If you don't like any of the tribes, you were kinda' outta' luck and would have to deal with it for 4 sets. Apparently it sold pretty bad. I think it's the reason Wizards doesn't wanna do a set with no humans, since Lorwyn had no humans. I feel like the do weird stuff due to silly reasons, like no return to Kamigawa because "players didn't like it".. Players love the actual plane, it's just that there were too many mechanics that were niche and wouldn't work, not just outside of the set, but together (to my knowledge..)
I could be wrong since I wasn't playing for either of these blocks, but that's what I've gathered
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Pauper:
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Frequent lurker and vorthos player
Hindsight is 20/20 and it would have been great to see positive changes without any mistake, but that's rarely how the world works in any capacity. Doing away with Core sets was the biggest mistake of Metamorphosis 1.0; the 18 month schedule just amplified the problems of not having Core sets with baseline reprints in the rotation. If you ask people what their first MtG purchase was, their answers are going to represent uninformed decisions. Of course most first-time players are buying the most recently released product before understanding how card collections works. But for those who convert into repeat customers, if a Core set exists, someone plugged into the community would know that they are buying Core product just as much as any other set because of the "generic" dual lands and utility cards. But business people aren't plugged into the community. I know people will point at stories that indicate designers and developers made these decisions, but the fact is that they didn't do it in a vacuum...someone showed them a non-existent problem (the poor results of surveys and marketing analysis) and told them to solve it. That's not the fault of the designers and developers.
All that being said, Metamorphosis 1.0 shook things up enough that Meta 2.0 is, in my opinion, going to make the Standard and Unlimited game even more enjoyable than it was previously, barring implementation mistakes in individual sets.
Y'know, it's real funny: I recall that Jace has been the scarcest PW in Standard as of late. His last two sets have been, what, RTR and SOI ? Meanwhile Gideon has gotten GTC, BFZ, and Amonkhet, Liliana got EMN and Amonkhet, Chandra got OTG and Kaladesh, and Nissa got OTG, Kaladesh, and Amonkhet. And that's not counting PW Decks, of which Jace is the only PW not to have gotten one yet. Jace is the only GW PW with literally one standard-legal card right now, while his buddies all have 3-4 (2 in Ajani's case). And people complain about Jace being overrepresented? I say it's about time we saw him again.
After years of over saturation it's only now other walkers are getting a chance to be overused like Gideon is currently.
Over saturation? You mean like how for a while every core set had a cycle of five PWs, one of which happened to be Jace? Because as far as story representation goes, Jace is about on par with other PWs at best. Yeah, he had the novels in the early days, but his first real set role was in Zendikar, and then he didn't play another story role until RTR, and then he had to wait until BFZ. In between those roles, the story focused chiefly on Elspeth (Scars of Mirrodin and Theros), Sarkhan (Zendikar and Khans of Tarkir), and Liliana (Innistrad and Shadows over Innistrad). Only Chandra and Nissa have had story roles spaced farther apart.
Seriously, I hadn't even thought of that, another snow set would be amazing and could perfectly fit in a one-shot block.
Dare I say it? Full Art Snow Basic Lands.
Personally, I missed the original Snow sets, but I've seen them around and it certainly does seem to be something ripe for new development.
A Four Seasons setting would be an ideal place for snow as part of the Winter theme. We could even get a Jack Frost expy as a "snow matters" legend! Norse world could work too.
It wasn't just in the story, even in blocks where storywise his character wasn't involved he usually had a powerful card in standard. Combined with the amount of reprints in duel decks and core sets and then add on promotional material and pro tours and it was just overwhelming.
I hope we get at least one set on Kamigawa then. Since the trip can be a quickie. Come on. It's ONE release. Risk it. Kamigawa can be done right. It's no longer Kami War world. It can be Japan World now.
You know, I was going to say that it's still not likely to get a full new expansion on that plane simply due to the many other options they will likely consider first, but then I thought about something... Core Set 2020: Tamiyo Origins... or something with a wider lense looking at the Story Circle.
I could see them doing something like that as a side story. Though I expect them to do Magic Villains properly first.
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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]
for those hoping for another snow set, i think you're looking at it wrong. the biggest issue with another snow set is the timeline. Ice age and Coldsnap happened a long, long (long) time ago. and Snow mana isn't just something that exists when it's cold. it's a special and, thus far, unique type of mana. something that has no reason to just pop up again on Dominaria, let alone a completely different plane. So, the switch to solo sets shouldn't make another snow set any more likely than it was yesterday (which, I'm sorry, was not at all likely)
But, there is another part to this announcement. The new core sets are said to be about the history of characters. so, if we are going to see more snow, imo, it's actually more likely to see in one of the new Core sets. but even that is a stretch, as it would require a current character to have a connection to events that are thousands of years old. it would also require snow to be determined to be newbie-friendly enough. which is probably not what you all are looking for anyway.
edit: but, all that being said, the most likely place to see more Snow is and has been in a side product. A Commander deck, the summer bonus set slot, and now maybe even a future Archenemy set.
Change #1—The Fall, Winter, and Spring Sets Will All Be Large Sets That Are Drafted Alone
Good. Big sets have more toys in them, although I am apprehensive that they will have very uninspiring mechanics and cards. Change #2—The Summer Set Will Be a Revamped Core Set
Needs to be more like Magic Origins and less like the garbage fire that was M14. Also it silences all the nerds who complain that a demanded reprint doesn't fit the current world. Change #3—A Different Approach to the Gatewatch
I hate the overexposure to the Jacetice league and how damn cocky and quippy they are. I don't care for Joss Whedon-type writing, so this is good IMO. Change #4—The Masterpieces Series Will Revert to Being in Fewer Sets
Ultra-super-mega-chocolatey-hyper-mongo mythic rares are not worth chasing for IMO. The less printings of these, the better. Change #5—We're Changing Things Behind the Scenes
WoTC probably pissed off Hasbro with their poor standard performance and continuing mistakes in oversight, which is probably why Sam Stoddard isn't writing the friday column anymore and why they brought in an outside consultant.
Change #5—We're Changing Things Behind the Scenes
WoTC probably pissed off Hasbro with their poor standard performance and continuing mistakes in oversight, which is probably why Sam Stoddard isn't writing the friday column anymore and why they brought in an outside consultant.
The Standard dumpster fire is showing severely reduced attendance at big events, FNM participation is half what it was 1-2 years ago, and you're hard pressed to find a pro article that isn't heavily critical of a broken meta driven by OP creatures and theme cards pushed too far. I hope the new department isn't just the blame target for future continued mistakes. They could be a huge help if they're listened too.
For the Ravnica fans saying that this will be perfect for another return because they can do 5 guilds plus 5 guilds, I think you're missing the point. THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO SPLIT THINGS UP
If the story is concise and set in Ravnica, they can do all 10 guilds in a single set. If the story is mega-huge, requiring 3 sets, they can still do all 10 guilds in each set! Just because they have opted to give every guild a unique mechanical identity in the past, does not require that they continue doing so. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with having 5 mechanics, 1 per color, and letting guilds share those mechanics. Then individual multi-colored cards could interact with the pairings in interesting ways.
More to the point, they don't need to be beholden to color symmetry either. If they want to do a story set on Ravnica that focuses on an Izzet / Golgari war, then they can. Mix in some mono-white Guildless who are protecting innocent bystanders and you've got some semblance of color balance. But you don't even need that, because maybe the next set takes us to a white-dominant plane.
This paradigm opens up a tremendous amount of story-telling potential, and I hope they understand just how much and embrace it.
Now that there will be fewer Masterpiece series might mean they can really focus in on tribes for when the sets they appear in uses that tribe, think Masterpiece Dragons in the Tarkir set, or Faeries for the Return to Lowyrn set, or Slivers in a set that features them. You get the idea.
This can only supplement what they do in future Commander series decks they now do.
I expect the story cards in the core set to be more like 15 cards than 5 and to be more like pocket histories showing key moments in the MTG story - a 'previously on MTG' if you will.
There will never be a return to Kamigawa set, ever. It may be used for flavour on a few iconic masters style extra cards or a commander deck or something but it's a dead world as far as the main story goes.
For the Ravnica fans saying that this will be perfect for another return because they can do 5 guilds plus 5 guilds, I think you're missing the point. THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO SPLIT THINGS UP
If the story is concise and set in Ravnica, they can do all 10 guilds in a single set. If the story is mega-huge, requiring 3 sets, they can still do all 10 guilds in each set!
Except that's how most fans want the Guilds split up, myself included. I'll take two large sets with five guilds each if it means more cards for each guild.
Just because they have opted to give every guild a unique mechanical identity in the past, does not require that they continue doing so. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with having 5 mechanics, 1 per color, and letting guilds share those mechanics. Then individual multi-colored cards could interact with the pairings in interesting ways.
Except that fans like each guild getting its own mechanic. If anything, I'd like for the guilds to get past keywords as guild mechanics, like Izzet Surge and Orzhov Exploit. Additionally, design prefers putting mechanics in 2-3 colors to give players more choices for cards to play in that strategy. It's like when they do tribal themes.
More to the point, they don't need to be beholden to color symmetry either. If they want to do a story set on Ravnica that focuses on an Izzet / Golgari war, then they can. Mix in some mono-white Guildless who are protecting innocent bystanders and you've got some semblance of color balance. But you don't even need that, because maybe the next set takes us to a white-dominant plane.
That's missing the point of Ravnica. Ravnica is about the ten guilds. A Ravnica set or sets should strive for roughly equal representation of the ten, otherwise fans of the underrepresented guilds will feel left out. Plus you also have drafting issues to address. What does a player who wants to play RW or mostly got RW cards do in your Izzet vs. Golgari scenario?
Now that there will be fewer Masterpiece series might mean they can really focus in on tribes for when the sets they appear in uses that tribe, think Masterpiece Dragons in the Tarkir set, or Faeries for the Return to Lowyrn set, or Slivers in a set that features them. You get the idea.
This can only supplement what they do in future Commander series decks they now do.
Assuming that Return to Lorwyn had a likely chance of happening, the Masterpiece series would revolve around tribal effects, not just Faeries. Lorwyn Tribes?
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I like not being stuck on the same world for 6+ months. This is exciting. I like the idea that each set is drafted alone, but also dislike that. But then also remember Eldritch Moon drafts where I had all the pieces for Mill deck but no mill deck enabling cards.
The large size of the sets makes me worry about having too much chaff in standard. And having quite a bit looser story direction on where to next and how long we are there is curious, never know if a new mechanic will be supported in the next set or dropped forever. I really detested not having Clues in Eldritch moon, not having Landfall in Oath, not having good manifest relevant cards in Dragons.
Half/half core sets, so, like Origins? Which is a slam dunk of a set for me. My all time favorite since playing in Jan 2015. Cool old cards, cool new cards, variety of draft types, my favorite deck theme(Mill).
A neato change wizards, good luck.
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Wanted -Zombie Foils and older expensive Zombie stuff. High Priority- Beta Z Master/ Int. Collector's Edition.
For the Ravnica fans saying that this will be perfect for another return because they can do 5 guilds plus 5 guilds, I think you're missing the point. THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO SPLIT THINGS UP
If the story is concise and set in Ravnica, they can do all 10 guilds in a single set. If the story is mega-huge, requiring 3 sets, they can still do all 10 guilds in each set! Just because they have opted to give every guild a unique mechanical identity in the past, does not require that they continue doing so. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with having 5 mechanics, 1 per color, and letting guilds share those mechanics. Then individual multi-colored cards could interact with the pairings in interesting ways.
Fitting all 10 guilds into 1 large sit is way too much, even Mark Rosewater have talked about that before
I like the set change. This way we can revisit more worlds--hopefully also including the more "risky" planes like Kamigawa-- and also explore more new planes. And if I dislike a certain plane or theme, I'll only have to wait three months for a new plane instead of the current six. Also happy to see the return of core sets. Call me crazy but I always enjoyed the flavor gems that could be found in those so-called flavorless sets, like the Bogbrew Witch bunch.
That being said, my favorite set of the last ten years is Fate Reforged: a small set designed specifically to be drafted with the large sets it was sandwiched between. Ironically, I don't even draft--I just really really liked the mechanics and flavor of that set and they happened to come about due to the nature of the set in relationship to the block it was in. It saddens me a bit that with the new structure, we won't get a chance at sets like that again. (But only a teeny tiny bit; we might get something even better instead, who knows.)
Hey, doesn't standalone sets make it seem like a third snow set could be more likely?
You know what plane would be perfect for this? Innistrad, our horror plane. Just imagine: life is slowly returning to normal, people are rebuilding their towns and hunting down the last of the Eldrazi monsters, and then--BAMN! A freak blizzard hits the plane and blankets all in a shroud of pristine white snow. Harsh winds carry the howls of yetis and winter wolves--or rather winter werewolves. The snow isolates entire villages from the outside world (again) and the isolation combined with a dwindling food supply causes the villagers to turn against eachother. The villagers' children try to make the best of the situation and fill the town with merry snowmen, but then the snowmen come alive and turn out to be not so merry after all...
Your story reminds me of GoT.
Here's the only catch,
Snowmen would probably have to be typed as a "scarecrow", which would be hilarious.
I'm glad to see Core sets return, soooo glad. I hope that the "each set is drafted by itself" concept allows for more room for reprints. I imagine there would be more room for reprints in sets if drafting doesn't overlap sets anymore.....right? Idk abt prerelease kits though, if they would still have only packs from their respective set..
I loved the idea of Blocks way more than blocks in reality. The 3 set blocks almost always felt like too little butter scrapped over too much bread. The two set blocks were nice but the second set always felt like a dinky add on. Switching fully to three big sets - and not binding their hands to having a different world or story for each set - is a good move. It lets WotC do exciting things. I also think this will ramp up excitement in the player base much more (as the enthusiasm for a small set is so much less than the enthusiasm for a new big set).
Gatewatch is cool. I like them but WotC waaaay over used them in card format. I do not think it would be as big of a problem if there were more members. If the Gatewatch had 10 members rather than 5, I do not think people would be freaking out as much about the overuse of these walkers.
Not super thrilled with the return of the core set. It will always be the weird red haired step child of the magic rotation. One of the reasons they eliminated he set originally was because they wanted to shepherd new players from starter decks to real sets faster. They also wanted to eliminate the problem of new players jumping into the game in, say December, and not being able to find the core set available to buy. The core set is also less interesting to veteran players and is wholly less exciting.
Not sure how you fix the core set problem. You need a way to reprint cards and put cards into standard that help bolster themes in other sets but at the same time make it appealing to new players and enough veteran players to ensure sales are sustainable.
I really thought they struck upon the right idea with their deck building boxes, which includes reprinted cards from sets that are outside of standard (like Nightmare and Shivan Dragon). I do not see why they cannot carry this concept forward. Instead of giving people lots of cards from the current and previous sets in Standard, just stuff the boxes full of new and reprinted cards that will help bolster the sets in standard and provide the tools new players need to ease into playing the game. WotC could even release one of these Deck Building Sets along side each new set, each with cards that would support the themes of the set it is released beside and the set that came before and after.
Of course this would still leave a hole in the summer. WotC Clearly wants 4 sets a year. Not sure what you could slip into the middle there if a big set is not doable and small sets are out. Maybe the Core Set was chosen since it is likely the least offensive and easiest to implement set that can be slipped into the summer.
for those hoping for another snow set, i think you're looking at it wrong. the biggest issue with another snow set is the timeline. Ice age and Coldsnap happened a long, long (long) time ago. and Snow mana isn't just something that exists when it's cold. it's a special and, thus far, unique type of mana. something that has no reason to just pop up again on Dominaria, let alone a completely different plane. So, the switch to solo sets shouldn't make another snow set any more likely than it was yesterday (which, I'm sorry, was not at all likely)
But, there is another part to this announcement. The new core sets are said to be about the history of characters. so, if we are going to see more snow, imo, it's actually more likely to see in one of the new Core sets. but even that is a stretch, as it would require a current character to have a connection to events that are thousands of years old. it would also require snow to be determined to be newbie-friendly enough. which is probably not what you all are looking for anyway.
edit: but, all that being said, the most likely place to see more Snow is and has been in a side product. A Commander deck, the summer bonus set slot, and now maybe even a future Archenemy set.
You know that snow doesn't have to be exclusive to Dominaria? Like how Amhonket and Rabiah are in a Desert?
Snow will not be popping up in a core set. The Core Sets are for new players. Snow is a weird concept that could easily confuse brand new players. If Snow were to return, it would be in an expert level set.
You know what plane would be perfect for this? Innistrad, our horror plane. Just imagine: life is slowly returning to normal, people are rebuilding their towns and hunting down the last of the Eldrazi monsters, and then--BAMN! A freak blizzard hits the plane and blankets all in a shroud of pristine white snow. Harsh winds carry the howls of yetis and winter wolves--or rather winter werewolves. The snow isolates entire villages from the outside world (again) and the isolation combined with a dwindling food supply causes the villagers to turn against eachother. The villagers' children try to make the best of the situation and fill the town with merry snowmen, but then the snowmen come alive and turn out to be not so merry after all...
I like this idea and all, but I want an Innistrad set in which the plane is doing just fine for, like, twenty minutes: a werewolf taking a quiet nap in a pretty forest, a cathar eating lunch with her family without anyone in the room being possessed by a spirit, Sorin using his time in rock-jail to consider reinventing himself, the Harmless Offering kitty playing with a couple of balls of yarn using both of its mouths, and Emrakul e-mailing the first draft of her autobiography to Tamiyo for a rewrite as a peace offering after that one time she messed up Tamiyo's copy of Serra's biography.
For the Ravnica fans saying that this will be perfect for another return because they can do 5 guilds plus 5 guilds, I think you're missing the point. THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO SPLIT THINGS UP
If the story is concise and set in Ravnica, they can do all 10 guilds in a single set. If the story is mega-huge, requiring 3 sets, they can still do all 10 guilds in each set! Just because they have opted to give every guild a unique mechanical identity in the past, does not require that they continue doing so. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with having 5 mechanics, 1 per color, and letting guilds share those mechanics. Then individual multi-colored cards could interact with the pairings in interesting ways.
Fitting all 10 guilds into 1 large sit is way too much, even Mark Rosewater have talked about that before
Alternately you could say he talked about trying to fit 10 new mechanics into a single set, and then cited past Ravnica sets as an example.
For the Ravnica fans saying that this will be perfect for another return because they can do 5 guilds plus 5 guilds, I think you're missing the point. THEY NO LONGER HAVE TO SPLIT THINGS UP
If the story is concise and set in Ravnica, they can do all 10 guilds in a single set. If the story is mega-huge, requiring 3 sets, they can still do all 10 guilds in each set!
Except that's how most fans want the Guilds split up, myself included. I'll take two large sets with five guilds each if it means more cards for each guild.
Just because they have opted to give every guild a unique mechanical identity in the past, does not require that they continue doing so. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with having 5 mechanics, 1 per color, and letting guilds share those mechanics. Then individual multi-colored cards could interact with the pairings in interesting ways.
Except that fans like each guild getting its own mechanic. If anything, I'd like for the guilds to get past keywords as guild mechanics, like Izzet Surge and Orzhov Exploit. Additionally, design prefers putting mechanics in 2-3 colors to give players more choices for cards to play in that strategy. It's like when they do tribal themes.
There is a big difference between what people say they want or like, and what people actually like as demonstrated by their purchasing power. Ravnica hasn't been experienced in another way to provide a frame of reference, so while it's easy to say that you like your status quo, you can't meaningfully say that you wouldn't like to experience the setting in some other way.
More to the point, they don't need to be beholden to color symmetry either. If they want to do a story set on Ravnica that focuses on an Izzet / Golgari war, then they can. Mix in some mono-white Guildless who are protecting innocent bystanders and you've got some semblance of color balance. But you don't even need that, because maybe the next set takes us to a white-dominant plane.
That's missing the point of Ravnica. Ravnica is about the ten guilds. A Ravnica set or sets should strive for roughly equal representation of the ten, otherwise fans of the underrepresented guilds will feel left out.
Why force your story tellers to work in such arbitrarily defined ways? Why couldn't such representation be more spread out over time? Over 3 years under this paradigm, we could easily visit Ravnica 5 times and still have room to tell a dozen other stories on several other worlds.
They couldn't have handled the Return to Return to Ravnica under the Two-Block Paradigm. I've always wondered about that. Problem solved: 2 or 3 large sets for the RtRtR.
I'm almost positive this is what ultimately pushed them to reach this solution.
They were NEVER going to fit a Ravniva set into One Large and One Small.
I'm okay for most of this, but hate the loss of the weirdness of drafting triple small set drafts. I love drafting triple Conflux or triple Oath of the Gatewatch. The experience was already rarer with the two set per block paradigm, meaning no triple middle set drafts, and now its gone completely.
I like the idea of the return of the core set and that 50% is new (hope) and 50% is reprints. Fall, Winter and Spring are going to be standalone and big sets (I like that too). I'm not too happy about limiting the master series but since every set is a huge they might do it once a year. See how that works.
for those hoping for another snow set, i think you're looking at it wrong. the biggest issue with another snow set is the timeline. Ice age and Coldsnap happened a long, long (long) time ago. and Snow mana isn't just something that exists when it's cold. it's a special and, thus far, unique type of mana. something that has no reason to just pop up again on Dominaria, let alone a completely different plane. So, the switch to solo sets shouldn't make another snow set any more likely than it was yesterday (which, I'm sorry, was not at all likely)
But, there is another part to this announcement. The new core sets are said to be about the history of characters. so, if we are going to see more snow, imo, it's actually more likely to see in one of the new Core sets. but even that is a stretch, as it would require a current character to have a connection to events that are thousands of years old. it would also require snow to be determined to be newbie-friendly enough. which is probably not what you all are looking for anyway.
edit: but, all that being said, the most likely place to see more Snow is and has been in a side product. A Commander deck, the summer bonus set slot, and now maybe even a future Archenemy set.
You know that snow doesn't have to be exclusive to Dominaria? Like how Amhonket and Rabiah are in a Desert?
snow mana isn't about being cold. it's a special type of mana, used by a small group of people who in the story are 1500 years dead. there was snow on Kamigawa. there was snow on Tarkir. but there was never a chance for snow mana there because that's not what snow mana is.
we're not going to see snow in an expert set without a retcon of what snow is, or a change in story philosophy that allows us to see an expansion set in the right part of history.
edit: honestly, it doesn't matter, and it's something I never should have brought up anyway. I was just trying to keep people from getting (what I consider) unreasonable hopes up, but it's not really my place to do so. For those of you who obviously want it, I hope you eventually get something you can love.
Over saturation? You mean like how for a while every core set had a cycle of five PWs, one of which happened to be Jace? Because as far as story representation goes, Jace is about on par with other PWs at best. Yeah, he had the novels in the early days, but his first real set role was in Zendikar, and then he didn't play another story role until RTR, and then he had to wait until BFZ. In between those roles, the story focused chiefly on Elspeth (Scars of Mirrodin and Theros), Sarkhan (Zendikar and Khans of Tarkir), and Liliana (Innistrad and Shadows over Innistrad). Only Chandra and Nissa have had story roles spaced farther apart.
A Four Seasons setting would be an ideal place for snow as part of the Winter theme. We could even get a Jack Frost expy as a "snow matters" legend! Norse world could work too.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
To my knowledge, it had a lot to do with the fact that the block was 4 sets long instead of 3, so it dragged on for a long time. It also really forced tribal, and you basically pick a tribe and that's what you get out of the set. If you don't like any of the tribes, you were kinda' outta' luck and would have to deal with it for 4 sets. Apparently it sold pretty bad. I think it's the reason Wizards doesn't wanna do a set with no humans, since Lorwyn had no humans. I feel like the do weird stuff due to silly reasons, like no return to Kamigawa because "players didn't like it".. Players love the actual plane, it's just that there were too many mechanics that were niche and wouldn't work, not just outside of the set, but together (to my knowledge..)
I could be wrong since I wasn't playing for either of these blocks, but that's what I've gathered
Bruna, Light of Alabaster | Karlov of the Ghost Council | Breya, Etherium Shaper | Marchesa, the Black Rose | Queen Marchesa | The Mimeoplasm | Avacyn, Angel of Hope |
Pauper:
Orzhov Nightsky Mimic
Frequent lurker and vorthos player
All that being said, Metamorphosis 1.0 shook things up enough that Meta 2.0 is, in my opinion, going to make the Standard and Unlimited game even more enjoyable than it was previously, barring implementation mistakes in individual sets.
It wasn't just in the story, even in blocks where storywise his character wasn't involved he usually had a powerful card in standard. Combined with the amount of reprints in duel decks and core sets and then add on promotional material and pro tours and it was just overwhelming.
You know, I was going to say that it's still not likely to get a full new expansion on that plane simply due to the many other options they will likely consider first, but then I thought about something... Core Set 2020: Tamiyo Origins... or something with a wider lense looking at the Story Circle.
I could see them doing something like that as a side story. Though I expect them to do Magic Villains properly first.
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
But, there is another part to this announcement. The new core sets are said to be about the history of characters. so, if we are going to see more snow, imo, it's actually more likely to see in one of the new Core sets. but even that is a stretch, as it would require a current character to have a connection to events that are thousands of years old. it would also require snow to be determined to be newbie-friendly enough. which is probably not what you all are looking for anyway.
edit: but, all that being said, the most likely place to see more Snow is and has been in a side product. A Commander deck, the summer bonus set slot, and now maybe even a future Archenemy set.
Good. Big sets have more toys in them, although I am apprehensive that they will have very uninspiring mechanics and cards.
Change #2—The Summer Set Will Be a Revamped Core Set
Needs to be more like Magic Origins and less like the garbage fire that was M14. Also it silences all the nerds who complain that a demanded reprint doesn't fit the current world.
Change #3—A Different Approach to the Gatewatch
I hate the overexposure to the Jacetice league and how damn cocky and quippy they are. I don't care for Joss Whedon-type writing, so this is good IMO.
Change #4—The Masterpieces Series Will Revert to Being in Fewer Sets
Ultra-super-mega-chocolatey-hyper-mongo mythic rares are not worth chasing for IMO. The less printings of these, the better.
Change #5—We're Changing Things Behind the Scenes
WoTC probably pissed off Hasbro with their poor standard performance and continuing mistakes in oversight, which is probably why Sam Stoddard isn't writing the friday column anymore and why they brought in an outside consultant.
The Standard dumpster fire is showing severely reduced attendance at big events, FNM participation is half what it was 1-2 years ago, and you're hard pressed to find a pro article that isn't heavily critical of a broken meta driven by OP creatures and theme cards pushed too far. I hope the new department isn't just the blame target for future continued mistakes. They could be a huge help if they're listened too.
If the story is concise and set in Ravnica, they can do all 10 guilds in a single set. If the story is mega-huge, requiring 3 sets, they can still do all 10 guilds in each set! Just because they have opted to give every guild a unique mechanical identity in the past, does not require that they continue doing so. There would be absolutely nothing wrong with having 5 mechanics, 1 per color, and letting guilds share those mechanics. Then individual multi-colored cards could interact with the pairings in interesting ways.
More to the point, they don't need to be beholden to color symmetry either. If they want to do a story set on Ravnica that focuses on an Izzet / Golgari war, then they can. Mix in some mono-white Guildless who are protecting innocent bystanders and you've got some semblance of color balance. But you don't even need that, because maybe the next set takes us to a white-dominant plane.
This paradigm opens up a tremendous amount of story-telling potential, and I hope they understand just how much and embrace it.
This can only supplement what they do in future Commander series decks they now do.
There will never be a return to Kamigawa set, ever. It may be used for flavour on a few iconic masters style extra cards or a commander deck or something but it's a dead world as far as the main story goes.
Except that's how most fans want the Guilds split up, myself included. I'll take two large sets with five guilds each if it means more cards for each guild.
Except that fans like each guild getting its own mechanic. If anything, I'd like for the guilds to get past keywords as guild mechanics, like Izzet Surge and Orzhov Exploit. Additionally, design prefers putting mechanics in 2-3 colors to give players more choices for cards to play in that strategy. It's like when they do tribal themes.
That's missing the point of Ravnica. Ravnica is about the ten guilds. A Ravnica set or sets should strive for roughly equal representation of the ten, otherwise fans of the underrepresented guilds will feel left out. Plus you also have drafting issues to address. What does a player who wants to play RW or mostly got RW cards do in your Izzet vs. Golgari scenario?
Assuming that Return to Lorwyn had a likely chance of happening, the Masterpiece series would revolve around tribal effects, not just Faeries. Lorwyn Tribes?
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
The large size of the sets makes me worry about having too much chaff in standard. And having quite a bit looser story direction on where to next and how long we are there is curious, never know if a new mechanic will be supported in the next set or dropped forever. I really detested not having Clues in Eldritch moon, not having Landfall in Oath, not having good manifest relevant cards in Dragons.
Half/half core sets, so, like Origins? Which is a slam dunk of a set for me. My all time favorite since playing in Jan 2015. Cool old cards, cool new cards, variety of draft types, my favorite deck theme(Mill).
A neato change wizards, good luck.
Selling some cards I don't want.
Generally less than tcg mid.
Fitting all 10 guilds into 1 large sit is way too much, even Mark Rosewater have talked about that before
Your story reminds me of GoT.
Here's the only catch,
Snowmen would probably have to be typed as a "scarecrow", which would be hilarious.
I'm glad to see Core sets return, soooo glad. I hope that the "each set is drafted by itself" concept allows for more room for reprints. I imagine there would be more room for reprints in sets if drafting doesn't overlap sets anymore.....right? Idk abt prerelease kits though, if they would still have only packs from their respective set..
http://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-general/334931-what-is-the-most-pimp-card-deck-youve-seen-or?comment=5361
Commander
RGOmnath, Locus of Rage Grenades! EDHGR
UWSygg's Defense, EDH - Voltron & ControlWU
BUGMimeoplasm EDH ft. Ifnir Cycling-discard comboBUG
WBTeysa, Connoisseur of CullingBW
BWSelenia & Recruiter of the Guard suicice combo EDHWB
UBRWGO-Kagachi - 5 Color Enchantments - EDHUBRWG
I loved the idea of Blocks way more than blocks in reality. The 3 set blocks almost always felt like too little butter scrapped over too much bread. The two set blocks were nice but the second set always felt like a dinky add on. Switching fully to three big sets - and not binding their hands to having a different world or story for each set - is a good move. It lets WotC do exciting things. I also think this will ramp up excitement in the player base much more (as the enthusiasm for a small set is so much less than the enthusiasm for a new big set).
Gatewatch is cool. I like them but WotC waaaay over used them in card format. I do not think it would be as big of a problem if there were more members. If the Gatewatch had 10 members rather than 5, I do not think people would be freaking out as much about the overuse of these walkers.
Not super thrilled with the return of the core set. It will always be the weird red haired step child of the magic rotation. One of the reasons they eliminated he set originally was because they wanted to shepherd new players from starter decks to real sets faster. They also wanted to eliminate the problem of new players jumping into the game in, say December, and not being able to find the core set available to buy. The core set is also less interesting to veteran players and is wholly less exciting.
Not sure how you fix the core set problem. You need a way to reprint cards and put cards into standard that help bolster themes in other sets but at the same time make it appealing to new players and enough veteran players to ensure sales are sustainable.
I really thought they struck upon the right idea with their deck building boxes, which includes reprinted cards from sets that are outside of standard (like Nightmare and Shivan Dragon). I do not see why they cannot carry this concept forward. Instead of giving people lots of cards from the current and previous sets in Standard, just stuff the boxes full of new and reprinted cards that will help bolster the sets in standard and provide the tools new players need to ease into playing the game. WotC could even release one of these Deck Building Sets along side each new set, each with cards that would support the themes of the set it is released beside and the set that came before and after.
Of course this would still leave a hole in the summer. WotC Clearly wants 4 sets a year. Not sure what you could slip into the middle there if a big set is not doable and small sets are out. Maybe the Core Set was chosen since it is likely the least offensive and easiest to implement set that can be slipped into the summer.
You know that snow doesn't have to be exclusive to Dominaria? Like how Amhonket and Rabiah are in a Desert?
There is a big difference between what people say they want or like, and what people actually like as demonstrated by their purchasing power. Ravnica hasn't been experienced in another way to provide a frame of reference, so while it's easy to say that you like your status quo, you can't meaningfully say that you wouldn't like to experience the setting in some other way.
Why force your story tellers to work in such arbitrarily defined ways? Why couldn't such representation be more spread out over time? Over 3 years under this paradigm, we could easily visit Ravnica 5 times and still have room to tell a dozen other stories on several other worlds.
Why would you expect to find many RW cards in such a set, or even very many mono-R cards?
I'm almost positive this is what ultimately pushed them to reach this solution.
They were NEVER going to fit a Ravniva set into One Large and One Small.
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
snow mana isn't about being cold. it's a special type of mana, used by a small group of people who in the story are 1500 years dead. there was snow on Kamigawa. there was snow on Tarkir. but there was never a chance for snow mana there because that's not what snow mana is.
we're not going to see snow in an expert set without a retcon of what snow is, or a change in story philosophy that allows us to see an expansion set in the right part of history.
edit: honestly, it doesn't matter, and it's something I never should have brought up anyway. I was just trying to keep people from getting (what I consider) unreasonable hopes up, but it's not really my place to do so. For those of you who obviously want it, I hope you eventually get something you can love.