Yeah, the problem is that all of the Gatewatch have compelling reasons to remain alive. Jace and Gideon have yet to revisit their birthplanes, Liliana still has the Raven Man to figure out, and Chandra is too popular to kill off. She seems to have the longest way to go as far as character development is concerned.
Nissa is the only one I could see being killed if she does show up, because her arc would be resolved by her making the choice to leave Zendikar and fight Bolas again.
Yeah, "problem". I want to see Gideon visiting Theros and Jace visiting Vryn, they're the perfect candidates for protagonists in those settings. And I don't think they'll have Nissa pull a 180 and get killed off before we even get to revisit Zendikar and see how it's doing under her care (seriously, what is with this forum's obsession over Gatewatch PWs getting killed? People, death is not the only way to raise stakes in a story, and it certainly doesn't need to be the protagonist's death). Sooner or later the Gatewatch are going to run afoul of Nahiri, and her history with Sorin and Ob Nixilis stands to make things interesting. Ob Nixilis no doubt would love to manipulate Nahiri and the Gatewatch into destroying each other (or at least try, and the moment he does I can already see the Jaters/Gaters copy-pastaing their usual death wishes), and possibly try to recruit Sorin as an ally/pawn in that scheme. Nahiri needs to answer for what she did to Innistrad's people; by bringing Emrakul to their world willingly and dismissing Innistrad's innocents as insignificant, she became just as bad as Sorin or Ob Nixilis if not worse. And the justice needs to come at the hands of someone actually just, like Gideon or a rightfully pissed off Innistradi such as Arlinn, not an equally amoral ******* like Sorin.
The one PW I can for sure see dying off in WAR is Jaya, since she's found a successor in Chandra. And damn if Jaya's not going out in a blaze of glory. I could see her taking out the remainder of Bolas' Eternals with a firestorm even she can't survive. She might ask Chandra to bring her goggles back to Keral Keep beforehand, if she's willing to let them keep a sentimenal memento around. Or Chandra might ask to do so.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Ah yes, the first planeswalker team, I remember the Gatewatch when they were called "The Eight Titans" during the war for Dominaria against the Phyrexian invasion. /sarcasm
Well, to be fair, from a marketing standpoint, "first team of post-Mending Planeswalkers" sounds a bit too jargon-y and "first post-reboot/most recent team of Planeswalkers" does make it sound less special. They're still lying though
And that's why the "marketing standpoint" is so unappealing to so many people. Omission, deception, misdirection, outright untruth are all part of the deal. Hiding all these unsavory techniques behind the positive connotations of "marketing" is itself a success of marketing.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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]
Ah yes, the first planeswalker team, I remember the Gatewatch when they were called "The Eight Titans" during the war for Dominaria against the Phyrexian invasion. /sarcasm
Ah yes, the first planeswalker team, I remember the Gatewatch when they were called "The Eight Titans" during the war for Dominaria against the Phyrexian invasion. /sarcasm
Pretty sure there were 9 titans.
Not for long...
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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]
Yeah, the problem is that all of the Gatewatch have compelling reasons to remain alive. Jace and Gideon have yet to revisit their birthplanes, Liliana still has the Raven Man to figure out, and Chandra is too popular to kill off. She seems to have the longest way to go as far as character development is concerned.
Nissa is the only one I could see being killed if she does show up, because her arc would be resolved by her making the choice to leave Zendikar and fight Bolas again.
The one PW I can for sure see dying off in WAR is Jaya, since she's found a successor in Chandra. And damn if Jaya's not going out in a blaze of glory. I could see her taking out the remainder of Bolas' Eternals with a firestorm even she can't survive. She might ask Chandra to bring her goggles back to Keral Keep beforehand, if she's willing to let them keep a sentimenal memento around. Or Chandra might ask to do so.
This sounds like it's legit going to happen when you write it like that hehe. Sounds cool to me.
Is it bad that when I saw this I thought this was the name of the next set after war of the spark (I know it’s a coreset but I can see them naming it: Coreset 2020: Rise if the Gatewatch).
Well, obviously. IIRC Freyalise and Windgrace are the only ones that survived Apocalypse. Everyone else either dies on Phyrexia or dies when Yawgmoth himself invades Dominaria. Except for Tevesh Szat who... got turned into a bomb? That can't be right, right? Old MtG lore sure was wacky.
Well, obviously. IIRC Freyalise and Windgrace are the only ones that survived Apocalypse. Everyone else either dies on Phyrexia or dies when Yawgmoth himself invades Dominaria. Except for Tevesh Szat who... got turned into a bomb? That can't be right, right? Old MtG lore sure was wacky.
Yeah, got turned into a bomb after killing other planeswalkers, which Urza needed as a moral justification for turning him into said bomb. Never understood that logic, if he turned him into the bomb right away, there could have been more survivors...
Considering Tevesh Szat was evil before the Nine Titans were assembled, yeah, Urza already had grounds to use him as a bomb. But then, Invasion was easily the weakest part of the entire Weatherlight story, with a bunch of deaths and betrayals happening all of a sudden because drama. Honestly, if I'd been a fan of Magic back then, I might have quit the game out of disgust.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
Hrd to call the 9 Titans really a team. More like Urza’s attempt at distracting Yaggy and potentially killing him if it went perfectly. The Gatewatch was actually a team from conception.
Is it bad that when I saw this I thought this was the name of the next set after war of the spark (I know it’s a coreset but I can see them naming it: Coreset 2020: Rise if the Gatewatch).
I could see a set with that name, but Oath of the Gatewatch basically handled that.
On a related note, I'd love to see a WUBRG enchantment named Oath of the Gatewatch sometime. Maybe a wincon for controlling five or more planeswalkers at the beginning of your upkeep?
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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.
It's still bad, but more for the twirly fingers than anything else.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
Serious question: What does Magic primarily belong to nowadays--the Fantasy genre or the Superhero genre?
Both. WotC uses the fantasy setting to tell stories that follow established superhero tropes (each planeswalker has their own unique special powers, big hero teamups, etc). The structure of the stories they're telling borrows heavily from serialized media like comics (and this subtle shift really entrenching itself in MtG after The Avengers and the MCU basically restructured the genre in film is surely no accident), but the meat and fat on those bones borrow extensively from fantasy and folklore.
The aesthetic is still firmly fantasy so that's the genre most will associate MtG with, but there are strong superhero genre structures shaping the narrative in a larger sense.
Also, why Chandra? Why do they seem to be pushing her, out of everyone?
Popularity. WotC has mentioned Chandra's popularity before, and I have no doubt they've got a lot of market research telling them what elements of the game are popular (we know they do that for the game itself, but they are assuredly doing the same for characters/settings/flavor).
Ah yes, the first planeswalker team, I remember the Gatewatch when they were called "The Eight Titans" during the war for Dominaria against the Phyrexian invasion. /sarcasm
Pretty sure there were 9 titans.
Not for long...
To be fair, there also wasn't eight for very long, either. Or seven. Or six...
I think the only number to last any significant amount of time was four.
Serious question: What does Magic primarily belong to nowadays--the Fantasy genre or the Superhero genre?
Both. WotC uses the fantasy setting to tell stories that follow established superhero tropes (each planeswalker has their own unique special powers, big hero teamups, etc). The structure of the stories they're telling borrows heavily from serialized media like comics (and this subtle shift really entrenching itself in MtG after The Avengers and the MCU basically restructured the genre in film is surely no accident), but the meat and fat on those bones borrow extensively from fantasy and folklore.
The aesthetic is still firmly fantasy so that's the genre most will associate MtG with, but there are strong superhero genre structures shaping the narrative in a larger sense.
And in fact, most of the superhero genre crosses over with one or more genres as well. For instance, the Hulk is a superhero horror story. Or Thor is superhero fantasy. (Come to think of it, so's Wonder Woman.) Batman has been superhero film noir forever.
Plus, we already had the inevitable "Crisis retcon" even before planeswalker cards were printed. And by "even before" I mean "just before". Like Time Spiral, War of the Spark looks like it'll be WotC's version of an event comic.
Also, why Chandra? Why do they seem to be pushing her, out of everyone?
Popularity. WotC has mentioned Chandra's popularity before, and I have no doubt they've got a lot of market research telling them what elements of the game are popular (we know they do that for the game itself, but they are assuredly doing the same for characters/settings/flavor).
Yeah, Chandra is definitely a hot item according to market research. You could say she's literally on fire right now.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
1x Worldfire
1x Red Elemental Blast
1x Sulfuric Vortex
1x Goblin Guide
1x Gamble
1x Fireball
1x Wheel of Fate
1x Chandra's Ignition
Chandra Nalaar: Her first appearance, like Jace Beleren.
Worldfire: Banned card in commander like Gifts Ungiven for Jace.
Red Elemental Blast: To mirror Jace's signature Blue Elemental Blast.
Sulfuric Vortex: Just seemed like an appropriate spell that Chandra would have to me.
Goblin Guide: Storywise, what that got through Zendikar 1.0 was a group of goblins who acted as her guide.
Gamble: A favorite of theirs to reprint in recent years and it would be complementary to Jace's Mystical Tutor.
Fireball: Simple and iconic while fitting for her.
Wheel of Fate: Would make sense based on her Chandra Ablaze and Chandra, Flamecaller versions.
Chandra's Ignition: Personally just chose this for story reasons.
Yeah, "problem". I want to see Gideon visiting Theros and Jace visiting Vryn, they're the perfect candidates for protagonists in those settings. And I don't think they'll have Nissa pull a 180 and get killed off before we even get to revisit Zendikar and see how it's doing under her care (seriously, what is with this forum's obsession over Gatewatch PWs getting killed? People, death is not the only way to raise stakes in a story, and it certainly doesn't need to be the protagonist's death). Sooner or later the Gatewatch are going to run afoul of Nahiri, and her history with Sorin and Ob Nixilis stands to make things interesting. Ob Nixilis no doubt would love to manipulate Nahiri and the Gatewatch into destroying each other (or at least try, and the moment he does I can already see the Jaters/Gaters copy-pastaing their usual death wishes), and possibly try to recruit Sorin as an ally/pawn in that scheme. Nahiri needs to answer for what she did to Innistrad's people; by bringing Emrakul to their world willingly and dismissing Innistrad's innocents as insignificant, she became just as bad as Sorin or Ob Nixilis if not worse. And the justice needs to come at the hands of someone actually just, like Gideon or a rightfully pissed off Innistradi such as Arlinn, not an equally amoral ******* like Sorin.
The one PW I can for sure see dying off in WAR is Jaya, since she's found a successor in Chandra. And damn if Jaya's not going out in a blaze of glory. I could see her taking out the remainder of Bolas' Eternals with a firestorm even she can't survive. She might ask Chandra to bring her goggles back to Keral Keep beforehand, if she's willing to let them keep a sentimenal memento around. Or Chandra might ask to do so.
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.
And that's why the "marketing standpoint" is so unappealing to so many people. Omission, deception, misdirection, outright untruth are all part of the deal. Hiding all these unsavory techniques behind the positive connotations of "marketing" is itself a success of marketing.
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
Not for long...
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
This sounds like it's legit going to happen when you write it like that hehe. Sounds cool to me.
Yeah, got turned into a bomb after killing other planeswalkers, which Urza needed as a moral justification for turning him into said bomb. Never understood that logic, if he turned him into the bomb right away, there could have been more survivors...
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.
I could see a set with that name, but Oath of the Gatewatch basically handled that.
On a related note, I'd love to see a WUBRG enchantment named Oath of the Gatewatch sometime. Maybe a wincon for controlling five or more planeswalkers at the beginning of your upkeep?
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.
Serious question: What does Magic primarily belong to nowadays--the Fantasy genre or the Superhero genre?
Also, why Chandra? Why do they seem to be pushing her, out of everyone?
The dominant style changes over the years. Just in Magic I've seen art that was something you'd hang in a museum, art that was something you'd put in a D&D manual, Frazetta-esque fantasy art, frankly cartoonish art, and photorealistic art. I could do with comic book art.
It's still bad, but more for the twirly fingers than anything else.
On phasing:
Both. WotC uses the fantasy setting to tell stories that follow established superhero tropes (each planeswalker has their own unique special powers, big hero teamups, etc). The structure of the stories they're telling borrows heavily from serialized media like comics (and this subtle shift really entrenching itself in MtG after The Avengers and the MCU basically restructured the genre in film is surely no accident), but the meat and fat on those bones borrow extensively from fantasy and folklore.
The aesthetic is still firmly fantasy so that's the genre most will associate MtG with, but there are strong superhero genre structures shaping the narrative in a larger sense.
Popularity. WotC has mentioned Chandra's popularity before, and I have no doubt they've got a lot of market research telling them what elements of the game are popular (we know they do that for the game itself, but they are assuredly doing the same for characters/settings/flavor).
Archatmos
Excellion
Fracture: Israfiel (WBR), Wujal (URG), Valedon (GUB), Amduat (BGW), Paladris (RWU)
Collision (Set Two of the Fracture Block)
Quest for the Forsaken (Set Two of the Excellion Block)
Katingal: Plane of Chains
Both and more, given that every plane has it's own genre.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
I think the only number to last any significant amount of time was four.
And in fact, most of the superhero genre crosses over with one or more genres as well. For instance, the Hulk is a superhero horror story. Or Thor is superhero fantasy. (Come to think of it, so's Wonder Woman.) Batman has been superhero film noir forever.
Plus, we already had the inevitable "Crisis retcon" even before planeswalker cards were printed. And by "even before" I mean "just before". Like Time Spiral, War of the Spark looks like it'll be WotC's version of an event comic.
Yeah, Chandra is definitely a hot item according to market research. You could say she's literally on fire right now.
On phasing:
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!