I wonder if they'll be indestructible artifacts with something like a vehicle/crew effect to turn them into creatures. Something to tie into the "when...becomes tapped" abilities from Kaladesh, and the flavor of the tapping here would be bowing.
maybe they become gods if a condition is met, similar to kamigawa block flip cards.
What about [Basic] Devotion? Like: "Sobek is not a creature while you control less than 5 swamps."
i was thinking something closer to urborg panther or 'if you have 5 creatures with different CMC, this becomes a creature', etc...
you can use different conditions for each color.
ex. black: graveyard based
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pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
I think, generally, that the gods are pretty clear cut except the Jackal and Crocodile ones.
Except for the fact there is every reason in the world to simply list them in color pie (WUBRG) fashion?
Becuase that's what they always do. And it's what they did here too.
Still don't see it? OK, let's try something else..
The game has several black crododiles, and not a single red one. Becuase they LIVE IN SWAMPS.) And the game has a few famous famous red jackals too.
Sobek is not very Black in nature, nor is Anubis very Red. The lighting for Croc-God is more Red in theme, and the lighting for Jackal-God is darker. There is also the matter of the crocodile dragons to keep in mind too.
I'm not saying they are absolutely one thing or the other, I'm saying there are arguments for them to be either. And citing past precedent only works so well. Prior to Innistrad Werewolves were all Black, prior to Kaladesh we hadn't had mono-white Dwarves (although oddly they had been in Blue and Black). I'm not saying the gods don't line up that way. They could also be bi or tri colored. But at this point at least it seems very odd.
Is there an example of a non-enchantment god card?
If not, what reasons do you folks have for guessing they will deviate from being enchantment creatures?
How would the god "mechanic" work if they aren't also enchantments (or, I suppose, artifacts)?
For what it's worth, Maro considers the Myojin of Kamigawa to be Gods, even if they predate the Creature type. And them not looking like Enchantment Creatures would be a good reason to expect them to not be Enchantment Creatures. As for how Devotion would work, they could easily have Defender or simply "this creature can't attack or block until X", but they don't need to work the same way as Theros gods, they don't even need to have Devotion. They can (and likely will) be fairly different from the Theros and Kamigawa Gods, barring Indestructible as a commonality and flashy effects.
I don't see why they wouldn't bring back devotion here, make the gods indestructible colored artifacts that become creatures when the devotion is hit, exactly the same as the theros ones, but artifact instead of enchantment. And as for the colors themselves, I think they listed them in the classic WUBRG order; they don't need to be perfectly lined up with Egyptian mythology, but should be lined up with MTG mythology, which has me thinking the croc is definitely not red, it just makes no sense.
The Gods of Theros were in Nyx, another realm separate from the physical realm. These gods are definitely physical in nature, probably created by Nicol Bolas in the same way Sorin created Avacyn. I very much doubt that they will be Enchantment Creatures. How they will function, I don't know, but I guess they may have a variant of Devotion, like a "Devotion to [card type]" or something like it.
The Gods of Theros were in Nyx, another realm separate from the physical realm. These gods are definitely physical in nature, probably created by Nicol Bolas in the same way Sorin created Avacyn. I very much doubt that they will be Enchantment Creatures. How they will function, I don't know, but I guess they may have a variant of Devotion, like a "Devotion to [card type]" or something like it.
That was my thought. It makes sense that Nicol Bolas would create a trial to find those who could possibly serve or threaten his existence and it isn't very likely they would be enchantment beings, especially given the artwork depicts one of the gods walking among some laborers.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
For the colors I don't think we really have a good idea. I mean, why couldn't the gods be 4 colors? Presumably they will be legendary creatures, and having more 4 color commanders seems very possible after commander 2016.
What might be interesting with the gods and devotion is that trials have been mentioned; maybe the way that the gods become creatures is that you have to "complete their trial" by performing some sort of act, or maybe you can't cast the gods without performing said act. So, for example, the crane god might be something like, "You can't cast this unless you have drawn 3 or more cards this turn" or "while this creature doesn't have a divinity counter on it, it isn't a creature. At the beginning of your end step, if you drew 3 or more cards this turn, put a divinity counter on this" with perhaps some method of drawing cards with it.
For now, I'm sticking with the theory of monocolor Gods. It's the simplest expression of the cycle, and allows them to be played in a greater variety of decks.
I wonder: Could we see twobrid mana finally return, with the Gods each having a twobrid-heavy cost? Like, say, (2/W)(2/W)(2/W)(2/W) for the cat God? If the Gods do turn out to be artifacts, twobrid works great as then they can still be played in decks of any color, like a regular artifact, while rewarding decks that play specific colors.
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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.
Why do you suppose two of the five god arts are missing scaled birds?
Not that they're absolutely necessary, but the lack of artistic conformity seems negligent and something I couldn't help but notice.
Anyhow, the best I can come up with myself is a game in the top 8 of a PTQ back during Urza block in which we were starting game 3 with time already expired, so the tiebreaker rule was that whoever had more life after 3 turns would win. And I lost to... healing salve.
I would bet some serious money against a devotion mechanic attached to the gods of Amonkhet. That would make these just a cheap knockoff of Theros gods.
I would bet some serious money against a devotion mechanic attached to the gods of Amonkhet. That would make these just a cheap knockoff of Theros gods.
Devotion wouldn't make them knockoff copies. I'm not saying they will have it, but Devotion is a flexible mechanic.
Yeah, it's only if they copy what else the Theros Gods do that make them knockoffs. The Five Trials might provide a clue as to what the Gods' abilities will be:
Solidarity (Cat God) - Values having lots of creatures. Perhaps a pump effect a la Leonin Sun Standard? Or some manner of protective effect, though the pump effect would feel more rewarding.
Knowledge (Bird God) - Obviously tied to card draw, or cards in hand.
Ambition (Croc God) - My best guess is something graveyard-based.
Zeal (Jackal God) - Something involving First strike or Haste, perhaps? Or could even grant an extra combat phase on each of your turns.
Strength (Snake God) - Most likely involves a power-matters effect.
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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.
I kinda want them to be enemy-colored (should be right after Tarkir with five allied-colored tribes) - WB Cat, GU Crocodile, UR Bird, RW Hound and BG Snake, but most likely they will be monocolored. Also doubt about additional gods in HoD.
For what it's worth, Maro considers the Myojin of Kamigawa to be Gods, even if they predate the Creature type. And them not looking like Enchantment Creatures would be a good reason to expect them to not be Enchantment Creatures. As for how Devotion would work, they could easily have Defender or simply "this creature can't attack or block until X", but they don't need to work the same way as Theros gods, they don't even need to have Devotion. They can (and likely will) be fairly different from the Theros and Kamigawa Gods, barring Indestructible as a commonality and flashy effects.
Ah, the Myojin being considered a "God" design makes a lot of sense. Seems the design space is still fairly wide open. I appreciate the insight.
Do you guys think that these, assuming they are gods, will have the same creature type as their faces suggest? I doubt they'll all be enchantments like the Theros gods, so there would be room on the type line, although they don't look like they are actually the humanoid race they represent (cat(leonin)/bird(aven)/viashino/ainok/snake(naga)).... I'm a big fan of tribal decks.
My guess is they will be typed as |Legendary Artifact - God| with a condition to be met to turn them into creatures. This would make them feel thematically and functionally similar to the Theros gods, be easy to pick up because the previous block already made this work (Vehicles), and gel nicely with an artifact themed block to support it in Standard. The condition could simply be devotion again, or it could be something similar to the way Vehicles work. Something like:
Anubis, God of Judgement 4B
Legendary Artifact - God
Indestructible
~God powers~
Worship X (Tap X creatures you control that share a color with Anubis: Anubis becomes a creature until your next turn)
Those gods look too fleshy to be artifact creatures.
My hope is that these are neither enchantment creatures or artifact creatures (considering they don't look like either in their pictures), which clears up space on their type line to add an additional subtype, so we could have: Legendary Creature - Cat God
Theros couldn't do this because enchantment took up too much space on the card. So everyone who wanted Mogis, god of slaughter to be part of the minotaur tribe were disappointed.
It also clears up design space to not have these gods too similar to the Theros gods.
Maybe we'll see something more like this:
Bastet, God of Honor 2WWW
Legendary Creature - Cat God
Indestructible
Other creatures you control have +2/+2
Worship 3 - Tap 3 other white permanents, if you do, other creatures you control have +4/+4 until end of turn.
4 / 3
I'm also going to guess that these gods will be monocolored and that they were presented in WUBRG order. I know it makes sense lore wise for Anubis to be black, but there is too much red in Anubis' picture and there are zombies in the crocodile one at his feet.
Everyone seems to forget that Ashiok, who MADE a god out of nightmares on theros, is speculated to be an agent of Bolas. Maybe he brought the knowledge of this back and shared it with Bolas, which allowed him to "manifest" these gods as actual beings? In which case they could easily be a set of Enchantment Creatures. Also having them be Wedge colors would mean each god shares at least two colors with Bolas, with the one exception being Abzan
Everyone seems to forget that Ashiok, who MADE a god out of nightmares on theros, is speculated to be an agent of Bolas. Maybe he brought the knowledge of this back and shared it with Bolas, which allowed him to "manifest" these gods as actual beings? In which case they could easily be a set of Enchantment Creatures. Also having them be Wedge colors would mean each god shares at least two colors with Bolas, with the one exception being Abzan
That would imply the Gods of Amonkhet are only 2 years old at best. The plane is at least 1,280 years old. Those temples to them would have to be crazy fresh.
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW
GWUBRDraft my Old Border Nostalgia Cube! and/or The Little Pauper Cube That Could!RBUWG
Modern:WDeath & TaxesW | RUGRUG DelverRUG
i was thinking something closer to urborg panther or 'if you have 5 creatures with different CMC, this becomes a creature', etc...
you can use different conditions for each color.
ex. black: graveyard based
pucatrade
big receipts
alpha mox emerald
beta time walk
4 goyfs received
3 liliana of the veil
4 karn liberated
3 force of will
4 grove of the burnwillows
snapcaster mage
3 horizon canopy
2 full art damnation
Sobek is not very Black in nature, nor is Anubis very Red. The lighting for Croc-God is more Red in theme, and the lighting for Jackal-God is darker. There is also the matter of the crocodile dragons to keep in mind too.
I'm not saying they are absolutely one thing or the other, I'm saying there are arguments for them to be either. And citing past precedent only works so well. Prior to Innistrad Werewolves were all Black, prior to Kaladesh we hadn't had mono-white Dwarves (although oddly they had been in Blue and Black). I'm not saying the gods don't line up that way. They could also be bi or tri colored. But at this point at least it seems very odd.
For what it's worth, Maro considers the Myojin of Kamigawa to be Gods, even if they predate the Creature type. And them not looking like Enchantment Creatures would be a good reason to expect them to not be Enchantment Creatures. As for how Devotion would work, they could easily have Defender or simply "this creature can't attack or block until X", but they don't need to work the same way as Theros gods, they don't even need to have Devotion. They can (and likely will) be fairly different from the Theros and Kamigawa Gods, barring Indestructible as a commonality and flashy effects.
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 was my thought. It makes sense that Nicol Bolas would create a trial to find those who could possibly serve or threaten his existence and it isn't very likely they would be enchantment beings, especially given the artwork depicts one of the gods walking among some laborers.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
What might be interesting with the gods and devotion is that trials have been mentioned; maybe the way that the gods become creatures is that you have to "complete their trial" by performing some sort of act, or maybe you can't cast the gods without performing said act. So, for example, the crane god might be something like, "You can't cast this unless you have drawn 3 or more cards this turn" or "while this creature doesn't have a divinity counter on it, it isn't a creature. At the beginning of your end step, if you drew 3 or more cards this turn, put a divinity counter on this" with perhaps some method of drawing cards with it.
I wonder: Could we see twobrid mana finally return, with the Gods each having a twobrid-heavy cost? Like, say, (2/W)(2/W)(2/W)(2/W) for the cat God? If the Gods do turn out to be artifacts, twobrid works great as then they can still be played in decks of any color, like a regular artifact, while rewarding decks that play specific colors.
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.
Not that they're absolutely necessary, but the lack of artistic conformity seems negligent and something I couldn't help but notice.
Devotion wouldn't make them knockoff copies. I'm not saying they will have it, but Devotion is a flexible mechanic.
Solidarity (Cat God) - Values having lots of creatures. Perhaps a pump effect a la Leonin Sun Standard? Or some manner of protective effect, though the pump effect would feel more rewarding.
Knowledge (Bird God) - Obviously tied to card draw, or cards in hand.
Ambition (Croc God) - My best guess is something graveyard-based.
Zeal (Jackal God) - Something involving First strike or Haste, perhaps? Or could even grant an extra combat phase on each of your turns.
Strength (Snake God) - Most likely involves a power-matters effect.
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.
Ah, the Myojin being considered a "God" design makes a lot of sense. Seems the design space is still fairly wide open. I appreciate the insight.
Legacy - WRG Lands, WR Shortcake, RR Burn, UBRG Delver
My guess is they will be typed as |Legendary Artifact - God| with a condition to be met to turn them into creatures. This would make them feel thematically and functionally similar to the Theros gods, be easy to pick up because the previous block already made this work (Vehicles), and gel nicely with an artifact themed block to support it in Standard. The condition could simply be devotion again, or it could be something similar to the way Vehicles work. Something like:
Anubis, God of Judgement 4B
Legendary Artifact - God
Indestructible
~God powers~
Worship X (Tap X creatures you control that share a color with Anubis: Anubis becomes a creature until your next turn)
Archenemy: Nicol Bolas Upgrades
Calling it the crocodile god is black those are zombies near him.
Particually the ones close to his feet.
My hope is that these are neither enchantment creatures or artifact creatures (considering they don't look like either in their pictures), which clears up space on their type line to add an additional subtype, so we could have:
Legendary Creature - Cat God
Theros couldn't do this because enchantment took up too much space on the card. So everyone who wanted Mogis, god of slaughter to be part of the minotaur tribe were disappointed.
It also clears up design space to not have these gods too similar to the Theros gods.
Maybe we'll see something more like this:
Bastet, God of Honor 2WWW
Legendary Creature - Cat God
Indestructible
Other creatures you control have +2/+2
Worship 3 - Tap 3 other white permanents, if you do, other creatures you control have +4/+4 until end of turn.
4 / 3
I'm also going to guess that these gods will be monocolored and that they were presented in WUBRG order. I know it makes sense lore wise for Anubis to be black, but there is too much red in Anubis' picture and there are zombies in the crocodile one at his feet.
Cat = RGW or RWB
Bird = WUB or URW
Crocodile = BRG or WBG
Dog = UBR or GUR
Cobra(snake) = GWU or BGU
That would imply the Gods of Amonkhet are only 2 years old at best. The plane is at least 1,280 years old. Those temples to them would have to be crazy fresh.
I agree with these,
but I fear we will get another cycle of monocolored gods
Reprint Stasis!
Control needs more love.
EDH:
Momir Vig, Simic Visionary
Melek, Izzet Paragon
Oona, Queen of the Fae
Bruna, Light of Alabaster
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight
Rhys the Redeemed
Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord
Sen Triplets
The Mimeoplasm
WUBRGSliver OverlordGRBUW
WUBRGSliver Hivelord(Superfriends)GRBUW