Mark Rosewater has used his tumblr blog, Blogatog, to talk about the "short list" of planes that the game is likely to go to. He has a list on his FAQ page, but it isn't complete. What I'm intending on doing with this list here is to keep an updated list of places we know that we could end up, even if it won't be for a while yet.
Return to Theros
Return to Dominaria
Underground plane
Prison plane
Steampunk plane
A Land of the Lost, prehistoric world (probably Muraganda)
Wild West plane
Pirate plane
Plane based on Egyptian mythology
Medieval plane, classic Arthurian fantasy
Return to New Phyrexia
Meso-American plane
Fairy tale plane
Viking plane
Mystery/noir plane
Sky plane
Australia based plane
Water plane
Roman plane
India derived plane
Disease plane
Sliver homeworld
I'm going to maintain the list and update it when we get more information. Hope this information is useful!
If you can find me the exact post where Mark said that Return to Zendikar is on the shortlist, I'll edit the OP immediately. I am pretty sure he said it, myself, but I would like some evidence for confirmation. I've done some looking and haven't been able to locate the post where he's implied it's on the short list, it'd be easier if there were tags on his posts.
At the moment some worlds feel quite small. Like Theros. Why is the entire world a single mono-culture? And all those other planes where one culture dominates the entire planet?
Some planes are literally smaller than others. Other times, we see just a little part of the whole world.
Zendikar, for example, showed many different continents and people (Mul Daya elves, Joraga elves and Tajuru elves are three very different elven cultures).
Innistrad was focused in a single continent. We know for a fact other continents exist, with different species of lycanthropes and maybe still living elves (they are extinct on the continent shown)
I am very pleased to see that a Viking/Norse-themed set, a classic Arthurian/Tolkienian high fantasy set, and a return to Dominaria are on this list, as I greatly desire all of those, but many of the other items are extremely vague, and this game already had a fairy tale-themed set in the form of the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block. Some of those ideas also would be better for single standalone sets, rather than entire blocks, in my mind.
Is not that list rather long to be considered a "short list?" That does bother me, somewhat.
Some of those ideas also would be better for single standalone sets, rather than entire blocks, in my mind.
With the change in block structure (one large + one small) I think it will allow for them to play with ideas more without having to have as much depth as what we currently consider a good block to require.
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I am very pleased to see that a Viking/Norse-themed set, a classic Arthurian/Tolkienian high fantasy set, and a return to Dominaria are on this list, as I greatly desire all of those, but many of the other items are extremely vague, and this game already had a fairy tale-themed set in the form of the Lorwyn/Shadowmoor block. Some of those ideas also would be better for single standalone sets, rather than entire blocks, in my mind.
Is not that list rather long to be considered a "short list?" That does bother me, somewhat.
Fairy tales as in Grimm/Disney themed set, which has a lot of their own tropes which Lorwyn/Shadowmoor did not use.
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sequentialsmart asked: Does the need for the five basic land types limit the kind of worlds you can visit, like say, an underwater world full of shrimp?
Yes. Magic worlds come with some limitations based on the needs of the game.
47headedboy asked: Has a water-based set ever been considered (such as one where pirates would prosper)? Or is there a fear that it would be too blue-oriented?
We joke about Waterworld often. Maybe someday, but it has a whole host of problems that come with it.
Vast, mostly flat, open seafloor areas littered with occasional small seaweed plants = Plains -- Or plankton dense area of open water = Plains
Deep areas filled with decomposing fish and other bits that due to too much carbon dioxide being released pushed oxygen out of the area to create a 'dead zone' = Swamp
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
I think they should stop creating new planes entirely for now. We have dozens we can visit now for a change, they should focus on exploring the planes we already have and fleshing them out more and making the story aspect of the game more obvious and integrated into the game, rather than each plane being a bit of a sight-seeing tour.
I believe this has been adressed by Mark Rosewater on Blogatog or elsewhere. I cannot find a link, but if I recall correctly, it's just the easy way to do it. "We want a set based on Greek Mythology? Bam! A greek mythology plane." He compared it to Star Wars, where you have Tatooine (My goodness, have I forgot how to spell Tatooine? I'm slipping.) which is a desert world, the forest moon of Endor, etc. I think the idea is that it is just much easier from a storytelling perspective to have each plane have a single, defined identity. So players can easily connect to Theros as the Greek plane, Ravnica as the city-plane, etc. So if they wanted to do a Roman themed set or whatever, they'd probably just make "Roman-world", rather than go to a different continent of Theros or Innistrad or what have you. This way, they don't have continuity issues between sets in the same world. Like in this example, if they did a Roman-set on "Rome-continent" of Theros, then they might somehow need to explain the connection to the story of Theros, and this Roman story might have ramifications on what could happen during an eventual return to "Greek Theros". These issues are now completely eliminated, except when they explicitly seek them out, like with Scars of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia.
Not the most satisfying explanation I suppose, but I guess they feel that this way they can get the most out of their creative resources.
Vast, mostly flat, open seafloor areas littered with occasional small seaweed plants = Plains -- Or plankton dense area of open water = Plains
Deep areas filled with decomposing fish and other bits that due to too much carbon dioxide being released pushed oxygen out of the area to create a 'dead zone' = Swamp
I'm pretty sure, that if we allow Return to Zendikar to be on the shortlist based on hints and indications, then Innistrad should also be on there. It is a very popular world, and the set was incredibly successful, game- and mechanics-wise too, further increasing players' positive associations with the plane.
But, strictly speaking, probably neither belongs on this "official" list until there really is a confirmation.
It is also important to remember that there are things on the shortlist that we do not know about, and that perhaps they avoid talking about (could be next block for example), so just because something isn't on the shortlist we have access to it doesn't really mean anything. (Unless it is stuff like banana world and circus world, where we have explicit confirmation that they are not on the shortlist).
Some of these thematics are litterally too narrow to build a whole plane. For example (and sorry for all the pirate fans), I don't see WotC building a whole world solely around piratry or some kind of water world. They could easily "fit" these elements into a much larger concept, like having one of the main protagonists have a strong maritime tradition and a history of Piracy, just like someone else stated with Zendikar' Elves (Mul Daya elves, Joraga elves and Tajuru elves).
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A prison plane is at the top of my list. There's a surprisingly large amount of design space there, and it would lend itself really well to having the story tie in with the gameplay. Also, it's an awesome concept IMO.
Return to Theros is on the short list.
I couldn't find any direct "Return to Dominaria is on the short list"; Maro said "I would be surprised if we never returned" and "I assume one day", "probably", "eventually".
Some planes are literally smaller than others. Other times, we see just a little part of the whole world.
Zendikar, for example, showed many different continents and people (Mul Daya elves, Joraga elves and Tajuru elves are three very different elven cultures).
Innistrad was focused in a single continent. We know for a fact other continents exist, with different species of lycanthropes and maybe still living elves (they are extinct on the continent shown)
Theros is simply small. We can see the literal edge of the world.
Also Dinosaur plane please.
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Is not that list rather long to be considered a "short list?" That does bother me, somewhat.
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With the change in block structure (one large + one small) I think it will allow for them to play with ideas more without having to have as much depth as what we currently consider a good block to require.
― Anthony Bourdain, Kitchen Confidential
I will always firmly stand by the belief that Magic is a game first and a collectable second.
Fairy tales as in Grimm/Disney themed set, which has a lot of their own tropes which Lorwyn/Shadowmoor did not use.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
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Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Kelp Forest and coral reefs
Underwater Mountains and Volcanos and steam vents
Vast, mostly flat, open seafloor areas littered with occasional small seaweed plants = Plains -- Or plankton dense area of open water = Plains
Deep areas filled with decomposing fish and other bits that due to too much carbon dioxide being released pushed oxygen out of the area to create a 'dead zone' = Swamp
Strong current = Island
-Pirate plane
-Egyptian Mythology plane
-Wild West plane
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10/10, I tapped.
I believe this has been adressed by Mark Rosewater on Blogatog or elsewhere. I cannot find a link, but if I recall correctly, it's just the easy way to do it. "We want a set based on Greek Mythology? Bam! A greek mythology plane." He compared it to Star Wars, where you have Tatooine (My goodness, have I forgot how to spell Tatooine? I'm slipping.) which is a desert world, the forest moon of Endor, etc. I think the idea is that it is just much easier from a storytelling perspective to have each plane have a single, defined identity. So players can easily connect to Theros as the Greek plane, Ravnica as the city-plane, etc. So if they wanted to do a Roman themed set or whatever, they'd probably just make "Roman-world", rather than go to a different continent of Theros or Innistrad or what have you. This way, they don't have continuity issues between sets in the same world. Like in this example, if they did a Roman-set on "Rome-continent" of Theros, then they might somehow need to explain the connection to the story of Theros, and this Roman story might have ramifications on what could happen during an eventual return to "Greek Theros". These issues are now completely eliminated, except when they explicitly seek them out, like with Scars of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia.
Not the most satisfying explanation I suppose, but I guess they feel that this way they can get the most out of their creative resources.
It would sound very weird to me that an underwater plain did not tap for blue mana..
I guess flying would be a challenge under water too..
And I hope, and believe, that they would be reluctant to create a "swimming" analogy to horsemanship.
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Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Prison plane
A Land of the Lost, prehistoric world (probably Muraganda)
and Fairy tale plane all sound like the most interesting to me. 2cents.
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But, strictly speaking, probably neither belongs on this "official" list until there really is a confirmation.
It is also important to remember that there are things on the shortlist that we do not know about, and that perhaps they avoid talking about (could be next block for example), so just because something isn't on the shortlist we have access to it doesn't really mean anything. (Unless it is stuff like banana world and circus world, where we have explicit confirmation that they are not on the shortlist).
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
"The Hippodrome" on 'Segovia' plane looks soo awesome. :3
Also, if wizards starts to explore planes like they did with Dominaria Magic will last forever.
I really think I'd prefer a Return to Kamigawa than a Return to TherosI secretly ship Ral x Jace... and Nissa x Chandra... :">Maybe they can print a "Vile Platypus" in another set or something.