The description of the artbook had the following sentence in it...
Join the heroic Planeswalkers of the Gatewatch as they explore the Inventors’ Fair, and let your imagination soar alongside thopters and airships crafted by the best artificers in the Multiverse.
This worries me, and I think we'll see far more, if not all of the gatewatch's superstars in this block. I'm fine with chandra, it's her homeplane after all, but I'm so tired of the whole gatewatch thing overall... I don't need to see the same characters in every set and on a ****ton of cards to know that they exist. What I'm saying is... I'm just rather desperate for some character diversity at this point.
I'm SO SICK of the "too strong for Standard" argument. It's the new "Dies to removal". We can have a two mana 4/4 with a zillion abilities, but we can't just have Accumulated Knowledge. Makes sense.
Glissa had a spark before she was killed and compleated by the Phyrexians. But Phyrexians can't hold a spark, so that should mean she no longer has one.
In short, a Glissa Planeswalker should be off the table.
Outside of Commander or some Time Spiral shenanigans, this is 100% true.
It is possible that Glissa could regain a spark at some point in the future, though highly improbable. In the Story of New Phyrexia Karn was restored when Venser gave Karn his own heart and he also got Venser's spark. This shows that it is possible to planeswalkers to sacrifice themselves to give another their spark. Excluding any time travel shenanigans, Glissa could still become a Planeswalker again so long as another Planeswalker gave her their spark, however it has been pointed out that phyexians can't hold onto a spark and I'm not sure zombies could hold on to a spark either, so she'd have to be resurrected-from/cured-of both in order for it to happen.
I would assume that Chandra gets a (mono-R) Planeswalker Deck. So she will not be considered in the developmental planeswalker balance, since only high profile walker would get these decks and I would assume what they will not print two Chandaras in Kaladesh. (Perhaps they will do one in Aether Revolt).
MaRo mentioned on his blog that they can (and probably will) have overlap between the planeswalkers in the intro decks and in the actual sets.
So for example, Jace and Sorin might've gotten the Planeswalker intro decks for Shadows Over Innistrad, while Liliana and Nahiri got one in Eldritch Moon. As an example.
What about Teferi? His clothes looks very Kaladeshy. We've seen Ob Nixilis and Nahiri in the last two blocks, so why don't continue with those walkers? Daretti also seems fine, and Freyalise doesn't fit in Kaladesh IMO. Thoughts?
Chandra R
Tezzert UB
Saheeli ?- wanna say UR and won't be artifact centered, though she might synergies with them.
two already known walkers
Since the shift in the story it looks like they are slowing down on new walker characters since the only new one we got was Arlinn so I believe we will now just see one new walker per block.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
What about Teferi? His clothes looks very Kaladeshy. We've seen Ob Nixilis and Nahiri in the last two blocks, so why don't continue with those walkers? Daretti also seems fine, and Freyalise doesn't fit in Kaladesh IMO. Thoughts?
Teferi was an oldwalker from Dominaria (Zhalfir, to be specific) who gave up his spark to close a time rift during the Time Spiral story, so even if he's still alive (quite likely, actually), he's not a planeswalker anymore.
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standard: BUG The Baron (it doesn't work, but I try anyway)
Crucius is another candidate. He would likely be WUB, seeing as he's closely tied to Esper and the creation of Etherium.
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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.
Crucius is another candidate. He would likely be WUB, seeing as he's closely tied to Esper and the creation of Etherium.
An interesting idea. Etherium and Kaladesh filigree are indeed extremely similar, to the point that it makes me wonder if they are somehow connected. And such an iconic non-humanoid race as Sphinx should definitely get a playable planeswalker... On the other hand, it would leave little room color-wise for Tezzeret.
I wonder how many planeswalkers we can expect. The Origins 5 are rotating out, so that transition color balanced. Sarkhan and Narset from dragons are also rotating, but they see much less play than monocolored planeswalkers in standard.
We also know that 2 standard legal planeswalkers are coming in from the upcoming planeswalker decks, tying into Kaladesh block. These characters are relevant to the block, but not in it.
So we can expect 2 intro deck planeswalkers, 3-4 planeswalkers in Kaladesh (SOI had 4, BFZ had 3), and another 2 from Aether Revolt (like EMN and OGW) - anywhere from 7-8 'walkers. This leaves plenty of space for reprints (probable for the new intro packs), new walkers (probably Saheeli, and a new one as a foil to her), and new versions of planeswalkers (that weren't in the new innistrad block, cuz that feels to new).
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DECKS:
Commander:
Aurelia the Warleader - Combat Tricks and Swarm
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - Lifegain/Lifedrain Pillowfort
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - Token Assault
Meren of Clan Nel Toth - Reanimator Value
Mizzix - Out of the Box Spellslinger
As Glissa passed away, her spark would find its way into the unlikeliest of places...
Nutsworth, Squirrel Planeswalker 1G (If a snake can be an assassin, and a goat can equip a sword, then a squirrel could be a planeswalker)
+1 Put an 0/1 acorn artifact token onto the battlefield
0 Populate (Because that's what squirrels do)
-15 Put 100 green 1/1 squirrel tokens onto the battlefield
I wonder how many planeswalkers we can expect. The Origins 5 are rotating out, so that transition color balanced. Sarkhan and Narset from dragons are also rotating, but they see much less play than monocolored planeswalkers in standard.
We also know that 2 standard legal planeswalkers are coming in from the upcoming planeswalker decks, tying into Kaladesh block. These characters are relevant to the block, but not in it.
So we can expect 2 intro deck planeswalkers, 3-4 planeswalkers in Kaladesh (SOI had 4, BFZ had 3), and another 2 from Aether Revolt (like EMN and OGW) - anywhere from 7-8 'walkers. This leaves plenty of space for reprints (probable for the new intro packs), new walkers (probably Saheeli, and a new one as a foil to her), and new versions of planeswalkers (that weren't in the new innistrad block, cuz that feels to new).
They're going to have five planeswalker decks tied in to Kaladesh, one for each color and each focusing on a color pair. These are not the same as the Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis Duel Decks coming out later this year.
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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.
TL;DR, my prediction on walker is as follows: R Chandra in Kaladesh set G Nissa in Aether Revolt set W Gideon in Aether Revolt set U Saheeli in Kaladesh set UB Tezzeret in Kaladesh set
So, color balance is not just about what comes in a set, but what is in Standard across multiple rotations. So after Dragons/Origins rotates, here is what will be Standard legal:
The color balance after rotation will be: B - 2.5 G - 2.5 R - 2 U - 2 W - 2.5
This makes blue and red the "weaker" colors, and black is the only color with two mono colored walkers, making it the theoretical strongest. After Zendikar rotates, the balance would look like this: B - 1.5 G - 1 R - 1 U - 1.5 W - 1.5
Innistrad block only has two mono colored walkers in blue and black, so it seems highly likely that Kaladesh will have mono colored red, green, and white walkers to balance this. Adding these into the pre- and post-Zendikar rotations we get:
Pre-Zendikar rotation: B - 2.5 G - 3.5 R - 3 U - 2 W - 3.5
Post-Zendikar rotation: B - 1.5 G - 2 R - 2 U - 1.5 W - 2.5
In both of these scenarios, blue and black are the weaker colors, so we will likely see a mono blue walker and a blue black or tri-colored walker with blue and black. Leading to...
Pre-Zendikar rotation (assuming UB walker): B - 3 G - 3.5 R - 3 U - 3.5 W - 3.5
Post-Zendikar rotation (assuming UB walker): B - 2 G - 2 R - 2 U - 3 W - 2.5
Need to say, I'm kinda tired of "Meet the new world and new planeswalker from it" paradigm (see: Domri, Ral, Vraska (okay, technically Ravnica isn't new but those three planeswalkers are), Xenagos, Dack, Narset, Arlinn Kord, Saheeli). The hell, man, planeswalkers are supposed to planeswalk, aren't they? Why not to put some more new stranger planeswalkers into new sets? And planeswalkers from unknown worlds will be totally fine as speculation fuel.
It would be nice to see Daretti again, after Nahiri it seems possible to get planeswalkers from Commander in non-Commander products.
And unfortunately we probably (if not definitely) will see Jace Rangers dealing with Aether Revolt. Just saying.
Need to say, I'm kinda tired of "Meet the new world and new planeswalker from it" paradigm (see: Domri, Ral, Vraska (okay, technically Ravnica isn't new but those three planeswalkers are), Xenagos, Dack, Narset, Arlinn Kord, Saheeli). The hell, man, planeswalkers are supposed to planeswalk, aren't they? Why not to put some more new stranger planeswalkers into new sets? And planeswalkers from unknown worlds will be totally fine as speculation fuel.
This is one of the things that most bugs me, most of the time we see a new planeswalker, he is on his homeplane. It would be nice to meet new walkers from unknow planes outside of their home plane.
Need to say, I'm kinda tired of "Meet the new world and new planeswalker from it" paradigm (see: Domri, Ral, Vraska (okay, technically Ravnica isn't new but those three planeswalkers are), Xenagos, Dack, Narset, Arlinn Kord, Saheeli). The hell, man, planeswalkers are supposed to planeswalk, aren't they? Why not to put some more new stranger planeswalkers into new sets? And planeswalkers from unknown worlds will be totally fine as speculation fuel.
This is one of the things that most bugs me, most of the time we see a new planeswalker, he is on his homeplane. It would be nice to meet new walkers from unknow planes outside of their home plane.
That does happen with at least one walker each new block, and it does make sense that a walker would spend time on their home plane the most, barring story stuff, but most of the walkers we have seen have shown up on planes not their home.
I didn't count Commander walkers, as we are on no plane when we see them, but I guess you could count them too. Out of the 27 (or 32 if counting Commander) different PWs we've seen on cards, 14 of them (19 counting Commander) not on their home plane when first introduced with 13 being introduced on their home plane. So we do see more not on their home plane when introduced, but not by too much.
I guess you could count Ob Nixilis and Nahiri, even with discounting Commander, but why mess up math.
I really, really want a new Tezzeret, either U or UB (preferably Dimir). It's been too long since we've had him, and this seems like the best spot to print a new one.
That does happen with at least one walker each new block, and it does make sense that a walker would spend time on their home plane the most, barring story stuff, but most of the walkers we have seen have shown up on planes not their home.
I didn't count Commander walkers, as we are on no plane when we see them, but I guess you could count them too. Out of the 27 (or 32 if counting Commander) different PWs we've seen on cards, 14 of them (19 counting Commander) not on their home plane when first introduced with 13 being introduced on their home plane. So we do see more not on their home plane when introduced, but not by too much.
I guess you could count Ob Nixilis and Nahiri, even with discounting Commander, but why mess up math.
You forgot the key word on my sentece: UNKNOW.
Tamyio, Venser, Kiora, Nicol Bolas and Karn were from known planes, so we had the lorwyn 5, Elspeth and Sarkhan in Alara, Gideon, Sorin and Ob Nixilis on Zendikar and Ashiok at Theros. As walkers from 'unkown' planes being introduced outside of home.
So in 10 blocks since the introduction of planeswalkers, only 4 blocks had planeswalkers from unknown planes wandering around.
The problem with the Gatewatch is the oversaturation. They're present in too many cards and there are too many planeswalker cards depicting them. Before the creation of the Planeswalker cards I feel the story and flavor that involved the prerevisionist walkers were better - and that's not just because I've been in the game since Fallen Empires. There was an even great coalition of planeswalkers called the Nine Titans that had the greatest walkers of all time in it just to take down one villain - the mackdaddy of evil: Yawgmoth.
The Eldrazi are supposed to be the greatest cosmic horrors in the Multiverse but 4 neowalkers took down 2 of them like it was nothing (okay, all three were originally imprisoned by only 3 planeswalkers but given the age, it's safe to say that Sorin and Ugin could be considered pre-neowalkers to say the least, and Nahiri was a noobie neowalker under Sorin's tutelage) and then 6 of them were needed to take down the third one. Dominaria vs Phyrexia was such a massive spanning story that included many complex characters, many of whom were neither 100% good or 100% bad or simple or totally complex. Urza was the antihero all the way being no better than the Phyrexians, yet his side was the "good" side. Many walkers were quite complex as well such a Teferi. Other nonplaneswalker characters were given important roles and showcases like Barin, Ertai, Tsabo Tavoc, etc. Nowadays, legendary characters don't seem that legendary compared to planeswalkers. Their stories are tertiary at best, only doing some sidequests in the background of the background while the main story only revolves around planeswalkers.
I, for one, welcome the idea of Nicol Bolas finding a way to obtain ultimate power (maybe wrenching the Chain Veil away from Liliana or some other method) and lead over Phyrexia much as Yawgmoth did. Or, not even that, maybe just have Bolas become a villain of Yawgmoth's level where not only planeswalkers play a role in defeating him. Have legendary creatures be legendary once more and not just have the supertype "legend" in order to only have one in play. I could probably stomach the Gatewatch or a similar coalition of planeswalkers if that were the case - if the spotlight was shared. But if I have to see another Jace card in the near future I will riot.
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
That does happen with at least one walker each new block, and it does make sense that a walker would spend time on their home plane the most, barring story stuff, but most of the walkers we have seen have shown up on planes not their home.
I didn't count Commander walkers, as we are on no plane when we see them, but I guess you could count them too. Out of the 27 (or 32 if counting Commander) different PWs we've seen on cards, 14 of them (19 counting Commander) not on their home plane when first introduced with 13 being introduced on their home plane. So we do see more not on their home plane when introduced, but not by too much.
I guess you could count Ob Nixilis and Nahiri, even with discounting Commander, but why mess up math.
You forgot the key word on my sentece: UNKNOW.
Tamyio, Venser, Kiora, Nicol Bolas and Karn were from known planes, so we had the lorwyn 5, Elspeth and Sarkhan in Alara, Gideon, Sorin and Ob Nixilis on Zendikar and Ashiok at Theros. As walkers from 'unkown' planes being introduced outside of home.
So in 10 blocks since the introduction of planeswalkers, only 3 blocks had planeswalkers from unknown planes wandering around.
There are actually more planeswalkers from unknown planes:
On Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, 4/5 planeswalkers were from previously unknown planes (Liliana is from Dominaria) and there were no native planeswalkers in the set.
On Alara, Elspeth is from a currently unknown plane, Sarkhan's plane of Tarkir was unknown at the time, while Tezzeret's homeplane is Alara and Nicol Bolas finally got a planeswalker card. So in Alara, 2/3 new planeswalkers introduced were from unknown planes.
On Zendikar, the only native planeswalker was Nissa. Gideon's homeplane was unknown at the time and so was Sorin's. So, 2/3 new planeswalkers introduced came from previously unseen planes.
When we return to Mirrodin, we see Venser, Elspeth, Koth, Tezzeret, and Karn. All of these characters have been seen before except for Koth, who is native to the plane. Since this is a returning block, maybe that's why there weren't any newly introduced characters outside of the plane introduced to it. So it gets a 0.
On Innistrad, we again have Garruk, Liliana, Sorin, yet we get Tamiyo and Tibalt. Though this is Sorin's homeplane, we have seen him before. Tibalt being the new planeswalker in his homeplane and Tamiyo being a new planeswalker from a previously known plane. Again another 0.
When we return to Ravnica, we have Jace, Gideon, Vraska & Domri & Ral Zarek (new planeswalkers on their homeplane). Again, a returning plane but with no planeswalkers from unknown planes in it. Another 0.
On Theros we get Elspeth and Ajani, who we've both seen before, we get Xenagos, the native planeswalker, Kiora, a new planeswalker from a previous plane, and Ashiok, a new planeswalker from an unknown plane. So in the Theros block we get 1/3 new planeswalkers from unknown planes.
On Tarkir we get Sorin, Sarkhan, Ugin, and Narset. We've heard of Ugin before and now we have his card and Narset is native to this plane. Another 0.
When we return to Zendikar we have Gideon, Chandra, Kiora, Nissa, and Ob Nixilis. We have known of Ob Nixilis before and we've had another planeswalker card from him, but he is technically from an unknown plane - so he counts. The count in this block is 1.
When we return to Innistrad we get Sorin, Jace, Nahiri, Tamiyo, and Liliana. No one new but again, it's a returning plane. EDIT: Forgot to mention Arlinn who is native to Innistrad but she's actually returning to Innistrad, if that's worth anything.
To be fair, when returning to a plane I don't expect to see new characters - which is why I don't particularly like returning to planes. However, in order for the story to not grow stale or to have this eternal story like the Phyrexian War, then I understand when the story jumps around and then we come back to see how the story continues in a particular plane. Recently, it may seem that no new 'walkers from unknown planes are appearing but that's probably because the writers want to unveil both the 'walker and the plane simultaneously. I don't see a problem with that. However, it's not entirely true to say that it's always the case or it's the majority of the case. The planeswalker type is a relatively new card type in the game so in order to print cards for planeswalkers that have existed before the type is made, you're bound to get "new" planeswalker cards from previous planes like with Ugin, Venser, Teferi, Freyalise, Karn, and Bolas. In total, we've had 10 new planeswalkers from unknown planes distributed amongst 10 blocks (including returning blocks - which are 5 out of the 10, by the way, so there have been 5 new planes visited since the creation of the planeswalker card type). So from 5 new planes since the creation of the planeswalker type, we've had 10 new planeswalkers being introduced from previously unknown planes. That's a ratio of 2:1. Statistics. So basically, on average, so far we've seen two new planeswalkers from previously unknown planes for each new plane visited (and that's not counting introducing a new plane with a new planeswalker native to the plane, since both are being simultaneously visited for the first time).
Also, previously shown planes that were introduced before the planeswalker card type are bound to get planeswalker cards eventually. That happened with Tamiyo, Koth, Bolas, Karn, and others. So it's bound to happen again. There are no planeswalkers native to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, for example. Also, Rabiah, Ulgothra, and other past planes have planeswalkers that haven't been shown yet as well. Other legendary creatures that were actually planeswalkers may eventually get a planeswalker card as well.
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You hurt Alrinns feelings, although she doesn't count since she is a Innistrad native.
I'd like to point out that Bolas's homeplane is unknown, it is not Dominaria, making Garruk, Ob, Bolas, Ashoik and Elspeth the only card walkers we don't know their homeplane.
IMO I like meeting walkers on their own homes instead of needing to "retconning" things, like we kinda saw with the origins 5. Tarkir however was very well done so I can see that it works both ways.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
When we return to Zendikar we have Gideon, Chandra, Kiora, Nissa, and Ob Nixilis. We have known of Ob Nixilis before and we've had another planeswalker card from him, but he is technically from an unknown plane - so he counts. The count in this block is 1.
I counted ob nixilis at the first zendikar, since this was were he was introduced, even though he didn't had a card at the time, we knew he was a planeswalker from a unknown plane.
I just think that the new direction the story is going will make harder for we to have new planeswalkers from outside of the plane, because now we have the 'gatewatch mandatory slots', then we might have non-gatewatch returning walkers, and then the new walkers natives of the plane.
Anyway, I always thought that bolas plane was dominaria.
I agree. I was so happy with Theros and Tarkir because none of the Power Rangers were in it. But, since development wants the story to be linear or linked, we're gonna eventually be stuck with seeing these recurring characters for quite a while. However, since in the past characters that have been around since the beginning were killed off, hopefully that'll happen in maybe the next 5 years or so. These characters wouldn't've gotten the chance in the limelight if characters like Urza, Gerrard, and the other prerevisionists walkers weren't killed off.
My YouTube Channel: The Commander Tavern - a channel I just started where I'll post deck techs and gameplays. Please support by checking it out. Maybe you'll like its content and subscribe! Thanks!
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Join the heroic Planeswalkers of the Gatewatch as they explore the Inventors’ Fair, and let your imagination soar alongside thopters and airships crafted by the best artificers in the Multiverse.
This worries me, and I think we'll see far more, if not all of the gatewatch's superstars in this block. I'm fine with chandra, it's her homeplane after all, but I'm so tired of the whole gatewatch thing overall... I don't need to see the same characters in every set and on a ****ton of cards to know that they exist. What I'm saying is... I'm just rather desperate for some character diversity at this point.
It is possible that Glissa could regain a spark at some point in the future, though highly improbable. In the Story of New Phyrexia Karn was restored when Venser gave Karn his own heart and he also got Venser's spark. This shows that it is possible to planeswalkers to sacrifice themselves to give another their spark. Excluding any time travel shenanigans, Glissa could still become a Planeswalker again so long as another Planeswalker gave her their spark, however it has been pointed out that phyexians can't hold onto a spark and I'm not sure zombies could hold on to a spark either, so she'd have to be resurrected-from/cured-of both in order for it to happen.
One of the specific posts is right here.
So for example, Jace and Sorin might've gotten the Planeswalker intro decks for Shadows Over Innistrad, while Liliana and Nahiri got one in Eldritch Moon. As an example.
Chandra R
Tezzert UB
Saheeli ?- wanna say UR and won't be artifact centered, though she might synergies with them.
two already known walkers
Since the shift in the story it looks like they are slowing down on new walker characters since the only new one we got was Arlinn so I believe we will now just see one new walker per block.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Teferi was an oldwalker from Dominaria (Zhalfir, to be specific) who gave up his spark to close a time rift during the Time Spiral story, so even if he's still alive (quite likely, actually), he's not a planeswalker anymore.
BUG The Baron (it doesn't work, but I try anyway)
modern:
RGShaman Aggro
legacy:
UHigh Tide
German highlander:
BUG aggro control
EDH:
a positively unhealthy amount of decks
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.
An interesting idea. Etherium and Kaladesh filigree are indeed extremely similar, to the point that it makes me wonder if they are somehow connected. And such an iconic non-humanoid race as Sphinx should definitely get a playable planeswalker... On the other hand, it would leave little room color-wise for Tezzeret.
We also know that 2 standard legal planeswalkers are coming in from the upcoming planeswalker decks, tying into Kaladesh block. These characters are relevant to the block, but not in it.
So we can expect 2 intro deck planeswalkers, 3-4 planeswalkers in Kaladesh (SOI had 4, BFZ had 3), and another 2 from Aether Revolt (like EMN and OGW) - anywhere from 7-8 'walkers. This leaves plenty of space for reprints (probable for the new intro packs), new walkers (probably Saheeli, and a new one as a foil to her), and new versions of planeswalkers (that weren't in the new innistrad block, cuz that feels to new).
Commander:
Aurelia the Warleader - Combat Tricks and Swarm
Oloro, Ageless Ascetic - Lifegain/Lifedrain Pillowfort
Trostani, Selesnya's Voice - Token Assault
Meren of Clan Nel Toth - Reanimator Value
Mizzix - Out of the Box Spellslinger
Standard:
RB Madness Vamps
Casual:
Formerly Modern Elfball
Nutsworth, Squirrel Planeswalker 1G (If a snake can be an assassin, and a goat can equip a sword, then a squirrel could be a planeswalker)
+1 Put an 0/1 acorn artifact token onto the battlefield
0 Populate (Because that's what squirrels do)
-15 Put 100 green 1/1 squirrel tokens onto the battlefield
1
They're going to have five planeswalker decks tied in to Kaladesh, one for each color and each focusing on a color pair. These are not the same as the Nissa vs. Ob Nixilis Duel Decks coming out later this year.
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.
On 7/14/10, broke 1900 mark! <3 ROE.
R Chandra in Kaladesh set
G Nissa in Aether Revolt set
W Gideon in Aether Revolt set
U Saheeli in Kaladesh set
UB Tezzeret in Kaladesh set
So, color balance is not just about what comes in a set, but what is in Standard across multiple rotations. So after Dragons/Origins rotates, here is what will be Standard legal:
Zendikar Block
W Gideon
B Ob Nixilis
R Chandra
G Nissa
GU Kiora
Innistrad Block
U Jace
B Liliana
BW Sorin
GR Arlinn Kord//Flip Arlinn
RW Nahiri
GWU Tamiyo
The color balance after rotation will be:
B - 2.5
G - 2.5
R - 2
U - 2
W - 2.5
This makes blue and red the "weaker" colors, and black is the only color with two mono colored walkers, making it the theoretical strongest. After Zendikar rotates, the balance would look like this:
B - 1.5
G - 1
R - 1
U - 1.5
W - 1.5
Innistrad block only has two mono colored walkers in blue and black, so it seems highly likely that Kaladesh will have mono colored red, green, and white walkers to balance this. Adding these into the pre- and post-Zendikar rotations we get:
Pre-Zendikar rotation:
B - 2.5
G - 3.5
R - 3
U - 2
W - 3.5
Post-Zendikar rotation:
B - 1.5
G - 2
R - 2
U - 1.5
W - 2.5
In both of these scenarios, blue and black are the weaker colors, so we will likely see a mono blue walker and a blue black or tri-colored walker with blue and black. Leading to...
Pre-Zendikar rotation (assuming UB walker):
B - 3
G - 3.5
R - 3
U - 3.5
W - 3.5
Post-Zendikar rotation (assuming UB walker):
B - 2
G - 2
R - 2
U - 3
W - 2.5
It would be nice to see Daretti again, after Nahiri it seems possible to get planeswalkers from Commander in non-Commander products.
And unfortunately we probably (if not definitely) will see Jace Rangers dealing with Aether Revolt. Just saying.
That does happen with at least one walker each new block, and it does make sense that a walker would spend time on their home plane the most, barring story stuff, but most of the walkers we have seen have shown up on planes not their home.
The Lorwyn 5
Ashiok
Gideon
Karn
Kiora
Nicol Bolas
Sarkhan
Sorin
Tamiyo
Venser
I didn't count Commander walkers, as we are on no plane when we see them, but I guess you could count them too. Out of the 27 (or 32 if counting Commander) different PWs we've seen on cards, 14 of them (19 counting Commander) not on their home plane when first introduced with 13 being introduced on their home plane. So we do see more not on their home plane when introduced, but not by too much.
I guess you could count Ob Nixilis and Nahiri, even with discounting Commander, but why mess up math.
UBBreya's Toybox (Competitive, Combo)WR
RGodzilla, King of the MonstersG
-Retired Decks-
UBLazav, Dimir Mastermind (Competitive, UB Voltron/Control)UB
"Knowledge is such a burden. Release it. Release all your fears to me."
—Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver
Tamyio, Venser, Kiora, Nicol Bolas and Karn were from known planes, so we had the lorwyn 5, Elspeth and Sarkhan in Alara, Gideon, Sorin and Ob Nixilis on Zendikar and Ashiok at Theros. As walkers from 'unkown' planes being introduced outside of home.
So in 10 blocks since the introduction of planeswalkers, only 4 blocks had planeswalkers from unknown planes wandering around.
I did miss that, my bad, although Ob Nixilis and Gideon were PWs from places we did not know about at the time as well, and still don't about Ob.
The Eldrazi are supposed to be the greatest cosmic horrors in the Multiverse but 4 neowalkers took down 2 of them like it was nothing (okay, all three were originally imprisoned by only 3 planeswalkers but given the age, it's safe to say that Sorin and Ugin could be considered pre-neowalkers to say the least, and Nahiri was a noobie neowalker under Sorin's tutelage) and then 6 of them were needed to take down the third one. Dominaria vs Phyrexia was such a massive spanning story that included many complex characters, many of whom were neither 100% good or 100% bad or simple or totally complex. Urza was the antihero all the way being no better than the Phyrexians, yet his side was the "good" side. Many walkers were quite complex as well such a Teferi. Other nonplaneswalker characters were given important roles and showcases like Barin, Ertai, Tsabo Tavoc, etc. Nowadays, legendary characters don't seem that legendary compared to planeswalkers. Their stories are tertiary at best, only doing some sidequests in the background of the background while the main story only revolves around planeswalkers.
I, for one, welcome the idea of Nicol Bolas finding a way to obtain ultimate power (maybe wrenching the Chain Veil away from Liliana or some other method) and lead over Phyrexia much as Yawgmoth did. Or, not even that, maybe just have Bolas become a villain of Yawgmoth's level where not only planeswalkers play a role in defeating him. Have legendary creatures be legendary once more and not just have the supertype "legend" in order to only have one in play. I could probably stomach the Gatewatch or a similar coalition of planeswalkers if that were the case - if the spotlight was shared. But if I have to see another Jace card in the near future I will riot.
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There are actually more planeswalkers from unknown planes:
To be fair, when returning to a plane I don't expect to see new characters - which is why I don't particularly like returning to planes. However, in order for the story to not grow stale or to have this eternal story like the Phyrexian War, then I understand when the story jumps around and then we come back to see how the story continues in a particular plane. Recently, it may seem that no new 'walkers from unknown planes are appearing but that's probably because the writers want to unveil both the 'walker and the plane simultaneously. I don't see a problem with that. However, it's not entirely true to say that it's always the case or it's the majority of the case. The planeswalker type is a relatively new card type in the game so in order to print cards for planeswalkers that have existed before the type is made, you're bound to get "new" planeswalker cards from previous planes like with Ugin, Venser, Teferi, Freyalise, Karn, and Bolas. In total, we've had 10 new planeswalkers from unknown planes distributed amongst 10 blocks (including returning blocks - which are 5 out of the 10, by the way, so there have been 5 new planes visited since the creation of the planeswalker card type). So from 5 new planes since the creation of the planeswalker type, we've had 10 new planeswalkers being introduced from previously unknown planes. That's a ratio of 2:1. Statistics. So basically, on average, so far we've seen two new planeswalkers from previously unknown planes for each new plane visited (and that's not counting introducing a new plane with a new planeswalker native to the plane, since both are being simultaneously visited for the first time).
Also, previously shown planes that were introduced before the planeswalker card type are bound to get planeswalker cards eventually. That happened with Tamiyo, Koth, Bolas, Karn, and others. So it's bound to happen again. There are no planeswalkers native to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, for example. Also, Rabiah, Ulgothra, and other past planes have planeswalkers that haven't been shown yet as well. Other legendary creatures that were actually planeswalkers may eventually get a planeswalker card as well.
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I'd like to point out that Bolas's homeplane is unknown, it is not Dominaria, making Garruk, Ob, Bolas, Ashoik and Elspeth the only card walkers we don't know their homeplane.
IMO I like meeting walkers on their own homes instead of needing to "retconning" things, like we kinda saw with the origins 5. Tarkir however was very well done so I can see that it works both ways.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Yeah, I'm fine with getting new planeswalkers regardless the situation. I'm just tired of seeing Jace and Chandra everywhere.
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I just think that the new direction the story is going will make harder for we to have new planeswalkers from outside of the plane, because now we have the 'gatewatch mandatory slots', then we might have non-gatewatch returning walkers, and then the new walkers natives of the plane.
Anyway, I always thought that bolas plane was dominaria.
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