So we've all seen the M15 announcement with the Garruk picture with purple-ish eyes. Here is a picture of the Funko figures...with a greyed out Garruk included.
So with these things in mind, is it possible that due to some "veil-cursed" incident, Garruk lost his colors, and will be a colorless planeswalker in M15? With Nissa taking his place for green?
I really don't even want to say a new color will be introduced (purple), because I think that will be a last resort for Wizards when they really start to run out of ideas (although when I look again, the purple contrast is really striking...). Just a bad idea all around . I think the purple-ish color just shows the after-effects of the veil curse (Liliana has lots of purple-ish hues in her "of the Veil" artwork. But making Garruk colorless seems like a good enough shakeup that doesn't completely turn the game upside down, while intriguing players all the same. This might go along with the big changes they're making to the card design in M15 as well. And after Theros (which has been seen by some as a bore), this could be the kind of buzz Wizards wants to stir up.
That makes no sense to make him colorless. Cursed Garruk was G and his flip was B.
True, but it's not like the story has to pick up exactly where Innistrad left off. There could have been some weird lasting effect, whatever.
Either way, it's obvious that the gray Garruk is going to show up in some form. Whether or not this means he's going to still have a green casting cost or be colorless remains to be seen. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he's colorless.
Colorless is very unlikely. Him being black is far more likely, if not certain (especially due to the grey/purple color pallet). Him still being green is slightly less certain, but still likely.
Something to note is that purple is typically a color used in black art a lot (similar to how an oddly large amount of black/blue cards use heavy gold art or blue cards use a lot of orange), mostly for contrast.
He may very well be black, but I doubt he'll be multicolor or colorless.
Why not multicolor? It has been done before with Nicol Bolas. It is unlikely that he is monoblack because the tagline of M15 is "hunt bigger game", which seems both green and black. Though I guess that it could be black (see Big Game Hunter)
Does this really mean that M15 might have 6 planeswalkers? Does this also mean that Garruk is the "special" sixth planeswalker that Nicol Bolas was in M13?
It would most likely be a Green Black Garruk.
Do you know what else is wierd? Nissa, has some black in it, well at least in DOTP. I don't know, something about learning black magic in Lorwyn or something.
Does this really mean that M15 might have 6 planeswalkers? Does this also mean that Garruk is the "special" sixth planeswalker that Nicol Bolas was in M13?
That makes no sense to make him colorless. Cursed Garruk was G and his flip was B.
His flip side (Garruk, the Veil-Cursed) is BG. If Garruk is the the 6th walker in M15 he will be BG (and a set of 6 Funko with one being Nissa points strongly in this direction)
So IF Garruk is BG and the mono green walker is Nissa, does this effect who the mono black walker will be? The conflict between Garruk and Liliana is well known but it seems like that would shift the focus of the core set from "Garruk" to "Garruk and Liliana". Maybe Sorin would make a comeback as the mono black walker? Didn't he have some sort of relationshiop with Nissa in the storyline?
So IF Garruk is BG and the mono green walker is Nissa, does this effect who the mono black walker will be? The conflict between Garruk and Liliana is well known but it seems like that would shift the focus of the core set from "Garruk" to "Garruk and Liliana". Maybe Sorin would make a comeback as the mono black walker? Didn't he have some sort of relationshiop with Nissa in the storyline?
it could also be that a colourless planeswalker can fit into any deck...to make thing easier in draft for the new guys, and give a better feel rather than " i got a red planewalker when i had already gone blue black" instead he fits every deck mana wise, and his abilities may not be green centric anymore.
This could be the first time a planeswalker changes colour, rather than adding a colour, changing completly to another (as the colours reflect the walkers backround) a colourless one may represent one so damaged in the mind that everything around them is bleached of colour...
just thoughts
Except it still doesn't make sense. The core sets are supposed to represent the basic concepts of magic. How is a colorless planeswalker that should be green or green/black make any sense from a gameplay or thematic perspective? Will Garruk make artifact beasts?
Admittedly, I am not necessarily a veteran. Having only played magic for a few years, I am having trouble understanding what it is exactly that would prevent Wizards from printing a colorless version of Garruk.
Is it something that they previously said they were trying to avoid?
For someone like me, who is a fairly new player still, the prospect of a colorless Garruk is very exciting. I'm not attached to the color a planeswalker used to be in the past, and I'm fine with them changing it as long as they can justify it in the lore.
That being said, most players like me from the DOTP generation( I was first introduced to Magic via with Duels of the Planeswalker games), don't really know enough of the lore that took place before the point where we were first introduced to the game. For me that was Innistrad which, by the way, included a version of Garruk that was GREEN, and transformed to GREEN/BLACK. How weird would it be for him to transform to COLORLESS. Not very weird at all when you think about it.
I'm not saying by any means that he will show up as colorless in M15. All I'm saying is that I dont think that Wizards is worried that a colorless Garruk would CONFUSE new players.
Mark Rosewater has previously said on his blog that "colorless planeswalker" is Karn's thing. I don't think they'd suddenly do that to a well-established green planeswalker, especially one that has been around since Lorwyn, and one who we last saw as GB.
It might not bother you or other newer players if Garruk changed to colorless, but if Wizards starts doing backflips to explain convoluted changes in established characters, it's going to hurt the brand that they've been building.
Another thing is that if the planeswalker is any good, and it's colorless, it automatically has to be more expensive, because that's one of the few ways that they can make sure that not every deck is running it for value. With a card like Nykthos in standard right now, any devotion deck could run a colorless Garruk and it'd probably make standard pretty unhealthy.
DFCs are almost certainly not going to happen, unless they're the returning mechanic, because DFCs require a separate print run.
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Thanks for your clarification on the colorless planeswalker topic. That actually makes a lot more sense than the default "new players" excuse that is regurgitated a lot on these forums.
I can definitely see Garruk being a G/B planeswalker and getting a new card. Flip cards are just too complicated to put in a core set so I don't think we will see the Garruk Relentless. Karn is likely to be the only colorless planeswalker we will see for a long, long time. Unless Ugin (who is dead) shows up.
If Nissa is in M15, she'll either get a new card or we will see Nissa's Chosen showing up as well. Wouldn't be too surprising as the planeswalkers in a core set get at least 1 card associated with them.
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The most striking thing to me is simply the lack of color in the garruk picture, and especially in the Funko figure. Planeswalkers always seem to have their color on them in an obvious way (barring Nicol Bolas). I really don't see him being green, but black, B/G, or colorless are all solid bets at this point. I really don't seen the colorless thing being a huge issue...Wizards is constantly doing big shakeup things that we would deem "horrible" beforehand. I mean, did anyone see DFCs coming? Or even think that they would do it? Colorless Garruk seems a lot less "threatening" than something of that magnitude, and I wouldn't count it out for the other reasons that have been listed here.
I can definitely see Garruk being a G/B planeswalker and getting a new card. Flip cards are just too complicated to put in a core set so I don't think we will see the Garruk Relentless. Karn is likely to be the only colorless planeswalker we will see for a long, long time. Unless Ugin (who is dead) shows up.
If Nissa is in M15, she'll either get a new card or we will see Nissa's Chosen showing up as well. Wouldn't be too surprising as the planeswalkers in a core set get at least 1 card associated with them.
As old Nissa is one of the 3 worst planeswalkers in the game and demands heavy elf support (which wouldn't exist in Standard because of Theros not having any elves), she is almost certainly getting a new card if she shows up.
Colorless, and non-artifact, is a very rare thing in Magic. Since so much of the game is rooted in the Color Pie. So the idea of a colorless walker, that isn't an Artifact Walker (Karn), is outright not happening anytime soon. There would be too much need for story to even attempt such a thing.
Colorless, and non-artifact, is a very rare thing in Magic. Since so much of the game is rooted in the Color Pie. So the idea of a colorless walker, that isn't an Artifact Walker (Karn), is outright not happening anytime soon. There would be too much need for story to even attempt such a thing.
http://www.icontact-archive.com/bgihXsTqzfGjmXXYo3MiOl_SrZ_5WJpQ?w=1
So with these things in mind, is it possible that due to some "veil-cursed" incident, Garruk lost his colors, and will be a colorless planeswalker in M15? With Nissa taking his place for green?
I really don't even want to say a new color will be introduced (purple), because I think that will be a last resort for Wizards when they really start to run out of ideas (although when I look again, the purple contrast is really striking...). Just a bad idea all around . I think the purple-ish color just shows the after-effects of the veil curse (Liliana has lots of purple-ish hues in her "of the Veil" artwork. But making Garruk colorless seems like a good enough shakeup that doesn't completely turn the game upside down, while intriguing players all the same. This might go along with the big changes they're making to the card design in M15 as well. And after Theros (which has been seen by some as a bore), this could be the kind of buzz Wizards wants to stir up.
Thoughts or comments?
EDIT: M15 announcement for good measure: http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/1401
True, but it's not like the story has to pick up exactly where Innistrad left off. There could have been some weird lasting effect, whatever.
Either way, it's obvious that the gray Garruk is going to show up in some form. Whether or not this means he's going to still have a green casting cost or be colorless remains to be seen. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if he's colorless.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Something to note is that purple is typically a color used in black art a lot (similar to how an oddly large amount of black/blue cards use heavy gold art or blue cards use a lot of orange), mostly for contrast.
Why not multicolor? It has been done before with Nicol Bolas. It is unlikely that he is monoblack because the tagline of M15 is "hunt bigger game", which seems both green and black. Though I guess that it could be black (see Big Game Hunter)
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
It would most likely be a Green Black Garruk.
Do you know what else is wierd? Nissa, has some black in it, well at least in DOTP. I don't know, something about learning black magic in Lorwyn or something.
I very much hope that this is the case
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Godo: Strap him up and turn him sideways!
His flip side (Garruk, the Veil-Cursed) is BG. If Garruk is the the 6th walker in M15 he will be BG (and a set of 6 Funko with one being Nissa points strongly in this direction)
They can also go the "reprint staples to raise availability" path (see Mutavault, Thoughtseize, Scavenging Ooze) and choose Liliana of the Veil also for flavour reasons (BG Garruk is BG because of that Liliana).
Except it still doesn't make sense. The core sets are supposed to represent the basic concepts of magic. How is a colorless planeswalker that should be green or green/black make any sense from a gameplay or thematic perspective? Will Garruk make artifact beasts?
I think DFCs are unlikely in a Core Set as they carry too much rules baggage, but... who knows
Is it something that they previously said they were trying to avoid?
For someone like me, who is a fairly new player still, the prospect of a colorless Garruk is very exciting. I'm not attached to the color a planeswalker used to be in the past, and I'm fine with them changing it as long as they can justify it in the lore.
That being said, most players like me from the DOTP generation( I was first introduced to Magic via with Duels of the Planeswalker games), don't really know enough of the lore that took place before the point where we were first introduced to the game. For me that was Innistrad which, by the way, included a version of Garruk that was GREEN, and transformed to GREEN/BLACK. How weird would it be for him to transform to COLORLESS. Not very weird at all when you think about it.
I'm not saying by any means that he will show up as colorless in M15. All I'm saying is that I dont think that Wizards is worried that a colorless Garruk would CONFUSE new players.
It might not bother you or other newer players if Garruk changed to colorless, but if Wizards starts doing backflips to explain convoluted changes in established characters, it's going to hurt the brand that they've been building.
Another thing is that if the planeswalker is any good, and it's colorless, it automatically has to be more expensive, because that's one of the few ways that they can make sure that not every deck is running it for value. With a card like Nykthos in standard right now, any devotion deck could run a colorless Garruk and it'd probably make standard pretty unhealthy.
DFCs are almost certainly not going to happen, unless they're the returning mechanic, because DFCs require a separate print run.
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RUG Riku of Two Reflections GUR
WB Teysa, Orzhov Scion BW
Looking forward to Shu Yun and Alesha.
If Nissa is in M15, she'll either get a new card or we will see Nissa's Chosen showing up as well. Wouldn't be too surprising as the planeswalkers in a core set get at least 1 card associated with them.
-Anonymous
As old Nissa is one of the 3 worst planeswalkers in the game and demands heavy elf support (which wouldn't exist in Standard because of Theros not having any elves), she is almost certainly getting a new card if she shows up.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Ugin.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.
Fair enough.
Storm Crow is strictly worse than Seacoast Drake.