We are finally here! Eldritch Moon spoiler season is right around the corner. Everyone will be getting hype as the final couple weeks go by until we see what's in the set. However I am here to talk about the things that aren't guaranteed but really should happen. These aren't in any particular order. Here are 5 things that NEED to happen in Eldritch Moon.
1. Eldritch Moon needs a great limited environment. I feel this goes without saying but Eldritch Moon needs a fun and powerful limited environment. Overall I think Shadows had one of the better limited formats in a while. Eldritch Moon needs to keep that trend.
2. It needs to be a strong set. This also goes without saying. Shadows was a surprisingly strong set. Innistrad was an incredibly powerful set. This needs to be the same. I know Wizards wants standard to be a bit underpowered right now but EMN needs to have a somewhat high power level.
3. Tribal Archetypes need more support. The tribes of Innistrad are one of the selling points of the plane. However, Shadows only really supported one tribe. That being Humans. Tribes like werewolves, zombies and such need more and better support. I want to see these archetypes in standard. They really didn't get great support. Hopefully EMN will change that.
4. Humans needs to be put in check. One of the most powerful decks out the gate of Shadows was humans. Still at the tail end of Shadows standard Humans is running rampant as one of the most powerful decks. Eldritch Moon needs to do something about this. Whether that is a simple removal spell or a new archetype to go head to head with them. They need to be knocked down a peg.
5. Eldrazi needs to NOT be one of the big themes. I am done with eldrazi. We had 2 sets with them as the front running themes. I honestly don't want to see them for a long time. However the big rumor is that Emrakul will be on Innistrad. If he is then let him be the ONLY eldrazi represented on a card. I'm fine if his brood is referenced but don't put a ton of eldrazi in the set just cause Emrakul is there. I don't want them dragging the set down.
Well, about the tribes needing more support - I believe the tables will turn in terms of cards, since I believe with Avacyn dead, Humans with lose their faith in the story and the horrors she helped keep in check will go in strength.
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So far, the story seems to be turning into "monsters vs. even worse monsters", with vampires mobilising under Sorin and Olivia and Werewolves under Arlinn. Also, it seems that Geralf is joining the "good" side with his skaab and geists might rally under the Order of st. Traft. The humans are kinda getting caught in the crossfire here, so I would't fear about them being too strong, unless Sigarda and her flight play a very significant role.
In terms of story I can see humans falling off in popularity but in terms of competitive play I really just want another tribe to be playable (Preferably Werewolves). The humans deck needs something to kinda balance it. It is arguably the best deck in standard right now. So if another tribe or archetype could bring it down a bit that would be optimal.
I mean.. Eldrazi could be in and just play differently.
Like have DFC cards that are transforming into Eldrazi horrors by discarding or exiling cards from your hand - that would be very cool IMO.
I would not like to have the same Eldrazi we saw on BFZ, of course.
I agree with more tribal support though. SOI really lacked on that front.
I'd like to see Vampire and Zombie lords. Probably werewolves as well
I'm not sure if I'd like to see Eldrazi again so soon but looks like Emrakul could be around
Well obviously we want that. However, this list is stuff that is actually in the realm of reason. Wizards has basically said that there will not be a reprint of that level. It could still happen. A non 0 chance is still a chance but it's highly unlikely.
I'd like to see Vampire and Zombie lords. Probably werewolves as well
I also wish these 3 tribes get better cards. I think that SOI provided us with interesting cards (Olivia, Restless Dead) but these have yet to find a good home to really shine. I am keeping my fingers crossed, hopefully Eldritch will deliver us with some great cards to go along them.
So far, the story seems to be turning into "monsters vs. even worse monsters", with vampires mobilising under Sorin and Olivia and Werewolves under Arlinn. Also, it seems that Geralf is joining the "good" side with his skaab and geists might rally under the Order of st. Traft. The humans are kinda getting caught in the crossfire here, so I would't fear about them being too strong, unless Sigarda and her flight play a very significant role.
I'd rather Geralf use the madness to keep dicking around, throwing out the occasional bunch of skaabs to fend off the "worse monsters" when they start intruding on his playground.
Catching up with Tibalt would be fun. I'd love a good UR that lets us get into his head and see how he ticks.
My wants:
1.) The horror cults - Followers of beasties like the Gitrog Monster, Awoken Horror, and whatever we see in Engulf the Shore need to come into the picture. I'd like to see these cults acting in humanity's interest by going to war against the vampires, werewolves, and Lunarch Inquisition - basically using the monsters and monstrous humans as sacrifice for the horrors that they've taken on as godheads in lieu of Avacyn and her hosts.
2.) Humans, werewolves, vampires all trying to screw one another over in the face of Emrakul's coming. All done in the interest of self preservation and in an attempt to form a resistance to Emrakul, but it would ultimately amount to them playing petty politics while the apocalypse looms and uses it to its advantage.
Not that its going to happen but what if the Saviors of Inninstrad happened to be a bunch of W Eldrazi? We only saw one W Eldrazi in Oath. Could be a very ironic twist.
Okay, back from La-la land. I think we may see Emrakul, that's it.
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Liliana of the Veil has about a 0% chance of being reprinted in Standard under the current Wizards climate (plus it doesn't fit the storyline, which is all-important of course) but Cavern of Souls is a possibility and desperately needs a reprint.
Can we be honest with ourselves and just say "These are things I would like to see in Eldritch Moon" and not "Things that NEED to happen?"
Can we just...trust Wizards to do okay with the second set since they handled the first well?
Legitimate question: During the season, how many of the five tribes did well in Scars-Innistrad standard? I recall Vampires being sort of a thing in Innistrad-RTR block with the Aristocrats, and Humans definitely being a Naya thing during the same period, but how many tribal decks actually happened at the time, and how well did they do?
Can we be honest with ourselves and just say "These are things I would like to see in Eldritch Moon" and not "Things that NEED to happen?"
Can we just...trust Wizards to do okay with the second set since they handled the first well?
Legitimate question: During the season, how many of the five tribes did well in Scars-Innistrad standard? I recall Vampires being sort of a thing in Innistrad-RTR block with the Aristocrats, and Humans definitely being a Naya thing during the same period, but how many tribal decks actually happened at the time, and how well did they do?
I do think that saying that these things are things that NEED to happen may have been a bit overbearing. Also, I would trust wizards but I'm still a bit annoyed by how they managed Battle for Zendikar block. I just don't want that to happen again. There have been multiple times when the second or third set of a block dropped the ball.
I think that some of the tribes were okay. Humans were decent and in Innistrad-RTR vampires and werewolves showed up sometimes as a tier 2-2.5 deck. I just want to see more tribes in standard. I'm kinda tired of just picking 2-3 colors and putting all the best cards in the deck. I want to see more themes in deck building.
2. It needs to have some new Modern relevant cards that aren't likely to just get banned. Things that are strong in areas where they aren't much good stuff in Modern yet, but not so strong as to be ban-worthy, while still weak enough without Modern synergies to not break Standard.
3. More removal relevant against the set's bombs across all colors for limited. Recently removal that can actually deal with the bombs has been sparse, even at high cmcs, and the stronger removal has moved up a lot in rarity on average, making it harder to draw into for limited purposes for dealing with the opponent's bombs, even if you save what little you do get (and draw into it). Limited has seemed too swingy to me as of late, with too many more things needing removal compared to the amount of removal that can remove those things. We've gotten plenty of restricted removal that only targets weaker things and the like, but not nearly enough that could allow us to take out the opponent's bombs. One more card either as a common or uncommon in each color designed to fight opposing bombs would be sufficient (green would probably get something like a large or deathtouching reach critter), even if they have to be high cmc or otherwise difficult to cast.
4. Better color balance than some other recent limited environments, and whatever tweaking might be needed to help color balance in Standard, keeping a special eye on white, blue, and red which they seem to be somewhat experimenting with the color pie design space of lately.
5. Sanctuary Cat appearing in some form, and that form not being dead, undead, crazy, or corrupted. Sorry, I'm a cat person and a Sanctuary Cat fan in particular, and I feel like Innistrad needs something like that to be not corrupted or destroyed (if only thanks to luck) if only to contrast against all the corrupted, crazy, killed/unmade, or undead things, and I personally want it to be Sanctuary Cat.
1) A good reprint (or plural) for Modern. In fact, all sets need this from now on, since Core sets are gone. I need some Cavern of Souls and Liliana of the Veil and I am not paying the current price for either.
2) A better way to fill your graveyard in UB. A Zombie Satyr Wayfinder would be great, or a Sylvan Messenger that puts cards in the graveyard instead of the bottom of the library. Diregraf Colossus needs this to work.
3) A Legendary Werewolf of course.
4) Some Spirit tribal support, especially a Spirit bomb creature. Rattlechains in fun, but it has little to no spirit worth protecting.
5) Better color balance. White needs to take a dive, while Blue and Red need support.
Not that its going to happen but what if the Saviors of Inninstrad happened to be a bunch of W Eldrazi? We only saw one W Eldrazi in Oath. Could be a very ironic twist.
Okay, back from La-la land. I think we may see Emrakul, that's it.
that would actually be a sweet plot twist but unlikely to happen
If they're going to keep pumping out tribal support, they better up their game because tribal magic is super contrived to begin with. Cards like Silverfur Partisan and Diregraf Colossus are super interesting tribal cards that don't just run the boring merfolk gambit where everything is a lord, and everything cares about power. If I never saw a card that said "[tribe] creatures you control get +1/+1," again I would be all the happier for it.
As for EMN, I'd love to see some white madness cards to play in with the idea that humans (primarily white or white-green) are going insane. That seems reasonable and interesting to me.
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... I know it's silly, but all I really want is a card with CMC 13. We have 0-12 and 14-16, but no 13. And in an thirteen-happy Innistrad set, it's the perfect place.
A card that "Transform target creature".
It might end up being pretty useless, but would still be fun to play with with targets like The Thing in the Ice and Wicked Witch.
Some thing like that would probably be something specifically for werewolves since their the DFC tribe.
Yeah well, they would have to print a werewolf that's worth playing then as well. The ones that are now in the set are fun for limited but useless otherwise, with the single exception of the Recruiter.
Well, Vildin-Pack Alpha is decent but it too needs more playable werewolves to be any good.
1. Eldritch Moon needs a great limited environment. I feel this goes without saying but Eldritch Moon needs a fun and powerful limited environment. Overall I think Shadows had one of the better limited formats in a while. Eldritch Moon needs to keep that trend.
2. It needs to be a strong set. This also goes without saying. Shadows was a surprisingly strong set. Innistrad was an incredibly powerful set. This needs to be the same. I know Wizards wants standard to be a bit underpowered right now but EMN needs to have a somewhat high power level.
3. Tribal Archetypes need more support. The tribes of Innistrad are one of the selling points of the plane. However, Shadows only really supported one tribe. That being Humans. Tribes like werewolves, zombies and such need more and better support. I want to see these archetypes in standard. They really didn't get great support. Hopefully EMN will change that.
4. Humans needs to be put in check. One of the most powerful decks out the gate of Shadows was humans. Still at the tail end of Shadows standard Humans is running rampant as one of the most powerful decks. Eldritch Moon needs to do something about this. Whether that is a simple removal spell or a new archetype to go head to head with them. They need to be knocked down a peg.
5. Eldrazi needs to NOT be one of the big themes. I am done with eldrazi. We had 2 sets with them as the front running themes. I honestly don't want to see them for a long time. However the big rumor is that Emrakul will be on Innistrad. If he is then let him be the ONLY eldrazi represented on a card. I'm fine if his brood is referenced but don't put a ton of eldrazi in the set just cause Emrakul is there. I don't want them dragging the set down.
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1... A legendary werewolf.
2... A better burn spell...
3... Lands that transform werewolves
4... A card that turns humans (non werewolf) to werewolves.
5... Holy symbol that taps all vampires and keeps them tapped until the artifact is removed.
In his Second 100 days - Yawgmoth's Bargain is unrestricted in Vintage.
What is going to happen in the Next 100 days!!!
Meh
Modern
BUWEsper ControlWUB
BRUGrixis DelverURB
WRBGKiki ChordGBRW
WBGAbzan MidrangeGBW
BRGJundGRB
Legacy
UBRGrixis DelverRBU
Commander
Also meh
No way. Wizards is saving her to sell the next Modern Masters.
I'd like to see Vampire and Zombie lords. Probably werewolves as well
I'm not sure if I'd like to see Eldrazi again so soon but looks like Emrakul could be around
Well obviously we want that. However, this list is stuff that is actually in the realm of reason. Wizards has basically said that there will not be a reprint of that level. It could still happen. A non 0 chance is still a chance but it's highly unlikely.
I'd rather Geralf use the madness to keep dicking around, throwing out the occasional bunch of skaabs to fend off the "worse monsters" when they start intruding on his playground.
Catching up with Tibalt would be fun. I'd love a good UR that lets us get into his head and see how he ticks.
My wants:
1.) The horror cults - Followers of beasties like the Gitrog Monster, Awoken Horror, and whatever we see in Engulf the Shore need to come into the picture. I'd like to see these cults acting in humanity's interest by going to war against the vampires, werewolves, and Lunarch Inquisition - basically using the monsters and monstrous humans as sacrifice for the horrors that they've taken on as godheads in lieu of Avacyn and her hosts.
2.) Humans, werewolves, vampires all trying to screw one another over in the face of Emrakul's coming. All done in the interest of self preservation and in an attempt to form a resistance to Emrakul, but it would ultimately amount to them playing petty politics while the apocalypse looms and uses it to its advantage.
Okay, back from La-la land. I think we may see Emrakul, that's it.
STOP using "dude/bro" as a pejorative or insult. Grow up.
Margaret Thatcher: “The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.”
Benjamin Franklin: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
Martin Luther King Jr.: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."
Can we just...trust Wizards to do okay with the second set since they handled the first well?
Legitimate question: During the season, how many of the five tribes did well in Scars-Innistrad standard? I recall Vampires being sort of a thing in Innistrad-RTR block with the Aristocrats, and Humans definitely being a Naya thing during the same period, but how many tribal decks actually happened at the time, and how well did they do?
I do think that saying that these things are things that NEED to happen may have been a bit overbearing. Also, I would trust wizards but I'm still a bit annoyed by how they managed Battle for Zendikar block. I just don't want that to happen again. There have been multiple times when the second or third set of a block dropped the ball.
I think that some of the tribes were okay. Humans were decent and in Innistrad-RTR vampires and werewolves showed up sometimes as a tier 2-2.5 deck. I just want to see more tribes in standard. I'm kinda tired of just picking 2-3 colors and putting all the best cards in the deck. I want to see more themes in deck building.
1. At least one big reprint from the original Innistrad block, either: Cavern of Souls (most likely one), Craterhoof Behemoth (possible), Liliana of the Veil (very unlikely), Snapcaster Mage (very unlikely)
2. It needs to have some new Modern relevant cards that aren't likely to just get banned. Things that are strong in areas where they aren't much good stuff in Modern yet, but not so strong as to be ban-worthy, while still weak enough without Modern synergies to not break Standard.
3. More removal relevant against the set's bombs across all colors for limited. Recently removal that can actually deal with the bombs has been sparse, even at high cmcs, and the stronger removal has moved up a lot in rarity on average, making it harder to draw into for limited purposes for dealing with the opponent's bombs, even if you save what little you do get (and draw into it). Limited has seemed too swingy to me as of late, with too many more things needing removal compared to the amount of removal that can remove those things. We've gotten plenty of restricted removal that only targets weaker things and the like, but not nearly enough that could allow us to take out the opponent's bombs. One more card either as a common or uncommon in each color designed to fight opposing bombs would be sufficient (green would probably get something like a large or deathtouching reach critter), even if they have to be high cmc or otherwise difficult to cast.
4. Better color balance than some other recent limited environments, and whatever tweaking might be needed to help color balance in Standard, keeping a special eye on white, blue, and red which they seem to be somewhat experimenting with the color pie design space of lately.
5. Sanctuary Cat appearing in some form, and that form not being dead, undead, crazy, or corrupted. Sorry, I'm a cat person and a Sanctuary Cat fan in particular, and I feel like Innistrad needs something like that to be not corrupted or destroyed (if only thanks to luck) if only to contrast against all the corrupted, crazy, killed/unmade, or undead things, and I personally want it to be Sanctuary Cat.
1) A good reprint (or plural) for Modern. In fact, all sets need this from now on, since Core sets are gone. I need some Cavern of Souls and Liliana of the Veil and I am not paying the current price for either.
2) A better way to fill your graveyard in UB. A Zombie Satyr Wayfinder would be great, or a Sylvan Messenger that puts cards in the graveyard instead of the bottom of the library. Diregraf Colossus needs this to work.
3) A Legendary Werewolf of course.
4) Some Spirit tribal support, especially a Spirit bomb creature. Rattlechains in fun, but it has little to no spirit worth protecting.
5) Better color balance. White needs to take a dive, while Blue and Red need support.
WBC Eldrazi & Taxes CBW
UR Keep on Cantripin' (UR Phoenix) RU
WU Surprise! It's not UW Control! (UW Midrange) UW
BG The Rock, Straight BG
U Mono-Blue Fish U
RBW Mardu Pyromancer BWR
RG Rabble! Rabble! (GR Blood Moon Aggro) GR
Legacy
W Death & Taxes W
that would actually be a sweet plot twist but unlikely to happen
As for EMN, I'd love to see some white madness cards to play in with the idea that humans (primarily white or white-green) are going insane. That seems reasonable and interesting to me.
Some thing like that would probably be something specifically for werewolves since their the DFC tribe.
Well, Vildin-Pack Alpha is decent but it too needs more playable werewolves to be any good.
I'd be down for a Cavern of Souls reprint as well.
And no Emrakul... Let the Eldrazi be dormant for a while.