commandereterno asked: I don't understand how do you consider other great risks, like adding mechanics/cards considered difficult to balance, like affinity, but you can't handle a world filled with characters, awesome art, modern staples, take the few good mechanics and reshape it to a higher power level. You have done such a great work with the new sets, I don't see how you couldn't do the same with Kamigawa.
A: The mechanics of Champions of Kamigawa block ranked mechanically as one of the worst blocks of all time.
Also, the creative of Champions of Kamgawa block ranked creatively as one of the worst blocks of all time.
I’m not sure what we’re supposed to be saving - the mechanics that the majority of players strongly disliked or the creative that the majority of players strongly disliked.
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"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
commandereterno asked: I don't understand how do you consider other great risks, like adding mechanics/cards considered difficult to balance, like affinity, but you can't handle a world filled with characters, awesome art, modern staples, take the few good mechanics and reshape it to a higher power level. You have done such a great work with the new sets, I don't see how you couldn't do the same with Kamigawa.
A: The mechanics of Champions of Kamigawa block ranked mechanically as one of the worst blocks of all time.
Also, the creative of Champions of Kamgawa block ranked creatively as one of the worst blocks of all time.
I’m not sure what we’re supposed to be saving - the mechanics that the majority of players strongly disliked or the creative that the majority of players strongly disliked.
I never said anything about the mechanics but lets talk about it.
First the current standing rules for legendary came from Kamigawa, yes this counts as a mechanic, which still stands years after introduction. Bushido and Soul Shift were really limited focused and are never seen in Modern, funny how focusing on only limited centered set building is a bad idea. Same with the flip cards, they were visually unpleasent, yet in Innistrad we got a 2.0 version that did work so it boiled down to execution failed not the idea.
Moving on to Betrayers. Ninjutsu proved to be is a fun and successful mechanic later down the road, good flavor with specific rules that made you feel like you were playing with actual ninjas. The other was Offering, pretty much sac a specific permanent type and its mana cost is used to pay for the new card's mana cost, this mechanic did not fair well due to it requiring specific tribes like Patron of the Kitsune so it would have been better to do this in a tribal heavy set.
Saviors. Channel and Sweep are again limited mechanics that tend not to see play. As for Epic, same thing in that they do not win you the game and have a serious if not fatal draw back.
So in total we have about Nine "mechanics" from this block in total. Out of those nine two from Champions ended up having improving effects on magic, one out of Betrayers has shown to be fun and even has a future (ninjutsu) while the other was put into a set it just didn't work in, and finally Saviors was a mess.
So 3 mechanics are still alive today in the form of the legends rule, Flip Cards in their improved form, and Ninjutsu which even got new cards later on. Offering is hard to say because I would argue that it needed to be used in something else with more mainstream tribes. The remaining five were Limited trash, and yet that seems to be Mark Rosewater's obsession to build sets for limited. I would take what Mark Rosewater says with with a big glass of water from the Dead Sea. The mechanics were sub-par when compared to the mighty weight of the Mirridon block, it was supposed to because magic needed to cool down the power level but they did it too hard.
But in terms of creativity it is purely objective. Creatively Kamigawa was fun with ninjas, samurai, and visually unique spirits and if asked which a remember more clearly in terms of art and style it will be Kamigawa hands down. The block had visual uniqueness in the art, personally it might be the the one thing that it had over the superior Mirridon block.
I will admit that the set had flaws, never said it didn't, but I honestly think that it also helped shape the future of magic for the better. And if we picked up the good, dusted off the bad, and gave it a redo it might be a tale of redemption that could make even the most jaded Magic player shed a tear of happiness. And if you do not believe me remember that the first Ravnica had its share of failed mechanics, so did the second return, and I promise you that this third return will also have failures as well.
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Well, obviously this is all speculation and opinion but here’s my two cents…
First of all I kinda dug Ixalan but I’m also in the rare camp of folks whose favorite block was Lorwyn so I don’t assume most other players share the same opinions as me. Moving on, I think it’s exceptionally likely that we’ll see more cards of the various tribes highlighted in Ixalan (vampires and merfolk are both pretty popular tribes for Magic in general while dinosaurs and pirates both seem to have some popularity) but I wouldn’t really venture to guess that we’re going to see a block dedicated just to Ixalan any time very soon. That said, I get the feeling that going forward that core sets will be a place where we see bits from a small number of planes. So, basically I think that we’ll definitely see more vampires and merfolk in the future, we’ll probably see more pirates and dinos to some extent (maybe some mecha-godzilla dinos from Kaladesh at some point... imagine if such things got the Phyrexian bug) and we might get more glimpses of Ixalan in a future core set but it’d be unlikely that we’ll see a block dedicated to the place any time soon.
As for the quality of the set I think this is really hard to evaluate and just reading through comments here I think I had a very different takeaway from the Ixalan block. In short, I feel like there was a pretty high number of cards that are meaningful in several different formats, this translates to a pretty good set in my book. I feel like part of the problem that Ixalan has had is that it kinda has to live in the shadows of the surrounding blocks and also we’re not really going to have a full picture of how much of a standard impact that we’re going to see before they rotate out. While there’s nothing subtle about it, Gishath, Sun's Avatar is an amazingly terrifying commander. Kitesail Freebooter and Siren Stormtamer are both really solid cards. There are plenty more but my point is while there hasn’t been a lot of tier Ixalan tribal decks the cards aren’t all so bad. That said, I would venture to guess just from where I play that there are some Ixalan-Tribal builds that could work. I played Pirates (Rakdos and Grixis) with pretty reliable results during Ixalan / Rivals and for the past two weeks there’s been a Rakdos pirates deck tearing up my FNM.
Obviously, this is all just speculation but I have a feeling that in until the next rotation we’ll probably be seeing more cards from the sets see play in tier decks with the possibility of some really brutal tribal builds but how and if at all this manifests really depends on what cards we see printed in the next couple sets and it’s tricky to even guess. Two of the four tribes are 3-color and the two that are 2-colored relate to guilds which have not yet been focused on in Ravnica and we’re not really sure what the post Alliance Ravnica set will look like at all.
After the next set, dinos and pirates will have access to checks and shocks which will probably make them the most playable they’ve ever been as 3-color decks (as well as being able to access a lot of different tools). If the post -Alliance set has a wedge theme this’ll probably give Grixis (pirates) and Naya (dinosaurs) an advantages over the other shards / wedges. vampires are a bit of a wildcard. In the history of magic there have been a lot of vampires and a lot of the vampires in Ixalan / Rivals are Knights which are also a pretty popular tribe historically and many vampires already see play as knights in knight decks I really have no idea how the next set will affect black / white or vampires. Given that merfolk are Simic colors and that many (but not all) of the Simic Guild are merfolk it seems likely that we’ll either see a bunch of Ixalan-Rivals merfolk along side Simic guild cards in the next set.
RNA mostly just offers Stomping Ground and Blood Crypt for those tribes respectively. So, they already have pretty good mana bases.
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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.
So 3 mechanics are still alive today in the form of the legends rule, Flip Cards in their improved form, and Ninjutsu which even got new cards later on. Offering is hard to say because I would argue that it needed to be used in something else with more mainstream tribes. The remaining five were Limited trash, and yet that seems to be Mark Rosewater's obsession to build sets for limited. I would take what Mark Rosewater says with with a big glass of water from the Dead Sea. The mechanics were sub-par when compared to the mighty weight of the Mirridon block, it was supposed to because magic needed to cool down the power level but they did it too hard.
The legendary rule has been changed since and Kamigawa didn't introduce it, so I won't consider it something that added to the game and since Ninjutsu is so tied to ninjas its limited to worlds that flavor wise could have them.
]I will admit that the set had flaws, never said it didn't, but I honestly think that it also helped shape the future of magic for the better. And if we picked up the good, dusted off the bad, and gave it a redo it might be a tale of redemption that could make even the most jaded Magic player shed a tear of happiness.
A little much?
And if you do not believe me remember that the first Ravnica had its share of failed mechanics, so did the second return, and I promise you that this third return will also have failures as well.
It also was scored as the most popular world in magic history, which Kamigawa did not and that was my original point. You can say the power level was low but from a creative stand point it failed to the general magic fan base at the time, not enough resonating or familiar things, the kami art was a turn off to some people and the card names where hard to pronounce. You can agree or disagree, but this are what the people making the game have said for why they won't return.
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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"
Kamigawa's big issue lack of resonance; they didn't even use the Japanese folklore most gaijin are familiar with, other than the moon rabbit (and none of the resurrection motifs because they're blue) and the kitsune (who were white for some reason, rather than red) and I guess kappa, though I don't think the akki really were that much like kappa except for their physical appearance? They have snake people, but no Yamata no Orochi. I've been trying to get Gaijin Goombah to do an episode on Kamigawa for the longest time.
And Lorwyn (aside from elves literally tasked with committing genocide against every other race in Lorwyn) was too sugar bowl for most people. Flavor matters.
Kamigawa and Ixalan do both have powerlevel issues (the polar opposite issues of the blocks from a year before, which is the same as Masques, come to think of it), though I imagine in the future there will be plenty of "good in EDH" Ixalan cards, just like Kamigawa, and for that matter, Masques. (And no, a strictly worse Rampant Growth isn't among them; Kamigawa had a strictly better.)
Why would Kitsunes ever be Red? They are trickster spirits, more ofthen than not malicious, making them more akin to the UB Fae in Lorwyn than W, but even then aside from their ties with "fox fires" making them R is a major stretch... Although there ARE a few W Kitsunes in myths, with the most important being Kuzunoha.
As for Lorwyn, there were way too many things wrong with it to count. It was supposed to be a Tribal block with a monocolor subtheme, but the Tribal aspects were very unbalanced and the monocolor aspects were poorly executed, resulting in a lack of identity, especially when sandwiched between pretty resonant blocks like Alara and Time Spiral. Most people still remember Lorwyn as either "The block that introduced Planeswalkers" or "The block with Faeries". Setting and flavor, while not particularly a homerun or anything, were not the main problem as far as I can tell.
As for Ixalan, there's always a possibility, but don't hold your breath. Problem with Ixalan is that it shares some of its identity with the aforementioned Lorwyn, which makes it a bit more unlikely. And even then, we have like 3 or 4 Planes that are way more likely to be returned to (New Phyrexia, Theros and Dominaria being a given, plus Innistrad somewhat likely), so if we ever return, I expect 4 to 5 years, minimum.
I'm thinking of the "tricksters fall for their own tricks" aspect of the archetype, which is very red.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
I personally really liked Ixalan, like as much as my other favourite sets are stuff like Innistrad, Conspiracy and New Phyrexia there was something cute about a whole set of high seas adventures with dinosaurs and such. Sure the power level was pretty low, but I mainly play EDH and limited so idc much.
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“Tell me who you walk with, and I'll tell you who you are.” Esmeralda Santiago Art is life itself.
It also was scored as the most popular world in magic history, which Kamigawa did not and that was my original point. You can say the power level was low but from a creative stand point it failed to the general magic fan base at the time, not enough resonating or familiar things, the kami art was a turn off to some people and the card names where hard to pronounce. You can agree or disagree, but this are what the people making the game have said for why they won't return.
Wizards is a company that will return to a set if it believes there is profit to be made.
And Mark Rosewater is not people, he is a single person and his words are not magically binding nor does he seem fully in touch with the player base. Prime example is the little polling he did on his twitter where he wanted to see where players wanted to return to, Kamigawa did ok while Lorwyn tied with New Phyrexia for first place. For years he has had the opinion that no one wanted to return to those sets and yet there is evidence countering that mindset.
You might not like the creative choices made in those sets, that is fully in your right to do so. But you have to at least admit that there are people who equally did like those choices as well. Personally I just want to return to sets that have not been touched for over a decade and give them another chance.
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Never forget whose grace and favor led to your success and always give your thanks, otherwise you might be doomed to loose it.
Why would Kitsunes ever be Red? They are trickster spirits, more ofthen than not malicious, making them more akin to the UB Fae in Lorwyn than W, but even then aside from their ties with "fox fires" making them R is a major stretch... Although there ARE a few W Kitsunes in myths, with the most important being Kuzunoha.
They're also known for shapeshifting into attractive ladies and...you know. And it's not always for sustenance or malice; some kitsune were known to legitimately fall in love with their human mates, and produce offspring with them. They were going to make Kitsune a WUBRG tribe to capture different aspects of the Kitsune, ranging from the malicious tricksters to the sacred protectors. And considering Kitsune are kami according to folklore, they really should have been shapeshifting Fox Spirits. Add that to the total lack of Tanuki or Tengu, the wasted opportunity to have Kappa as a GU tribe, and the wasted opportunity to adapt Orochi properly as the Kamigawa word for a Hydra, and you have a set that screwed up big time on its tribes, among other aspects. I'd call Kamigawa easily the worst block of modern Magic. It's why I want a new Japan-themed world that isn't weighed down by Kamigawa's poor world building choices. Magic Japan can be so much better.
Now, as for Ixalan, I think it's a bit weird (Dinosaurs and Pirates? ) but I like what they did for each tribe, especially for Pirates. I think it a pity only two of the tribes got a dedicated mechanic, but boy did they make sure to treat the most exciting tribes well. I still have hope that one day we'll get dedicated Dinosaur and Pirate worlds, but in the meantime I won't mind getting more Dinos and Pirates in general. The four faction theme was also novel, but the downside is that two factions get more set visibility over all, in this case the Dinos and Pirates. Again, they were the novel, exciting tribes, so of course they wanted to play them up, but Merfolk and Vampire fans could have used a few more goodies (although they did get a couple neat legends between both sets, as did the Dinosaurs, while Pirates only got the one).
That's discounting the monocolor legends, of course.
Dinosaurs really got treated in RIX. Overall I'd say they feel like the favored tribe of Ixalan.
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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.
It also was scored as the most popular world in magic history, which Kamigawa did not and that was my original point. You can say the power level was low but from a creative stand point it failed to the general magic fan base at the time, not enough resonating or familiar things, the kami art was a turn off to some people and the card names where hard to pronounce. You can agree or disagree, but this are what the people making the game have said for why they won't return.
Wizards is a company that will return to a set if it believes there is profit to be made.
And you hit it, I think Wizards as a company doesn't think Kamigawa won't sell well.
And Mark Rosewater is not people, he is a single person and his words are not magically binding nor does he seem fully in touch with the player base. Prime example is the little polling he did on his twitter where he wanted to see where players wanted to return to, Kamigawa did ok while Lorwyn tied with New Phyrexia for first place. For years he has had the opinion that no one wanted to return to those sets and yet there is evidence countering that mindset.
I'm also repeating other people who at wizards who have spoke on the subject Maro is just the easiest source to pin down. Again you can disagree or say he is out of touch, but as you said his words are not binding, even if Maro hates Kamigawa if Kamigawa is as really beloved as you claim then I think we would have returned by now.
You might not like the creative choices made in those sets, that is fully in your right to do so. But you have to at least admit that there are people who equally did like those choices as well. Personally I just want to return to sets that have not been touched for over a decade and give them another chance.
I acutely never said I disliked the creative choices, personally I'd like to see Tiro idea of trying Kamigawa with a new mechanical and flavor spin. But I'm also not blinding myself to the fact that Kamigawa failed its first time through and as such wizard thinks its unredeemable.
“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"
I'm also repeating other people who at wizards who have spoke on the subject Maro is just the easiest source to pin down. Again you can disagree or say he is out of touch, but as you said his words are not binding, even if Maro hates Kamigawa if Kamigawa is as really beloved as you claim then I think we would have returned by now.
Maro is certainly the most vocal, for better or for worse. As for why no return I think it might have to do with like we have discussed the set in their eyes was a failure, and despite there being a constant desire for it they might not know where to start. This might be the reason why we saw a couple of new Ninjutsu Cards in the past. Sort of testing to see what worked, Khans might have also been test to see if an Asian theme was doable.
I acutely never said I disliked the creative choices, personally I'd like to see Tiro idea of trying Kamigawa with a new mechanical and flavor spin. But I'm also not blinding myself to the fact that Kamigawa failed its first time through and as such wizard thinks its unredeemable.
I whole heartedly agree in that if they ever did do Kamigawa again they would have to try new mechanics and flavor that is a given. But if you would allow this one last bit of optimism from me, if the set was considered truly nonredeemable as Wizards seems to think, why are they still using ideas from it? Tamiyo is from Kamigawa and in the current lore she is even recorded going back, and even Ajani joins her there for a short time.
Not saying this means anything definite for the future, but if Wizards was so truly opposed to using Kamigawa again it would be better to completely seal the set away. Instead they are chumming the waters just enough to keep us thinking about it a little, so maybe this is where the frustration on my part is coming from.
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Never forget whose grace and favor led to your success and always give your thanks, otherwise you might be doomed to loose it.
[quote from="5colors »" url="/forums/magic-fundamentals/the-rumor-mill/speculation/800335-another-ixalan-set?comment=38"]
I whole heartedly agree in that if they ever did do Kamigawa again they would have to try new mechanics and flavor that is a given. But if you would allow this one last bit of optimism from me, if the set was considered truly nonredeemable as Wizards seems to think, why are they still using ideas from it? Tamiyo is from Kamigawa and in the current lore she is even recorded going back, and even Ajani joins her there for a short time. Not saying this means anything definite for the future, but if Wizards was so truly opposed to using Kamigawa again it would be better to completely seal the set away. Instead they are chumming the waters just enough to keep us thinking about it a little, so maybe this is where the frustration on my part is coming from.
Cuz they know Kamigawa has fan and are throwing them a bone. They mention that Tamiyo was made because they knew they won't go back to the plane but still could have a planeswalker from there showing up on other planes.
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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"
I wouldn't mind another Ixalan set or two in the future. I want to see more of Huatli (though honestly, she should show up on other planes), and the setting wasn't bad. I liked the story just fine, too (certainly a lot more than the Guilds of Ravnica story).
I wouldn't mind another Ixalan set or two in the future. I want to see more of Huatli (though honestly, she should show up on other planes), and the setting wasn't bad. I liked the story just fine, too (certainly a lot more than the Guilds of Ravnica story).
Huatli can show up anywhere, she has plausible ties to the Gatewatch through Saheeli (Give me clockwork dinosaurs!) so it will be easy to just plug her in. In fact, it's more likely that she will travel the multiverse gathering stories than just sit at home.
Huatli can show up anywhere, she has plausible ties to the Gatewatch through Saheeli (Give me clockwork dinosaurs!) so it will be easy to just plug her in. In fact, it's more likely that she will travel the multiverse gathering stories than just sit at home.
I think Ajani, Narset, and Tamiyo would welcome her. Hey, maybe they can give the Gatewatch a break and have a Story Circle arc? Revisit Tarkir, Alara, and Kaladesh?
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.
Huatli can show up anywhere, she has plausible ties to the Gatewatch through Saheeli (Give me clockwork dinosaurs!) so it will be easy to just plug her in. In fact, it's more likely that she will travel the multiverse gathering stories than just sit at home.
I think Ajani, Narset, and Tamiyo would welcome her. Hey, maybe they can give the Gatewatch a break and have a Story Circle arc? Revisit Tarkir, Alara, and Kaladesh?
Oh, boy do I want that. Particularly the Tarkir return.
Interesting although I suppose only Innistrad is immediately relevant since it takes usually 5-6 years to return. Although I think Theros and New Phyrexia are far more likely returns.
Interesting although I suppose only Innistrad is immediately relevant since it takes usually 5-6 years to return. Although I think Theros and New Phyrexia are far more likely returns.
I think that the 2 and 3 of the scale are Tarkir, Theros, Zendikar and New Phyrexia. Their return is already planned, that's why maro isn't talking about them.
The article is a part 1 and goes in alphabetical order, that why those planes weren't on there.
From other talks Maro has put Tarkir at 4 (multicolor set and needing to return the Khans), Theros at a 3 (it need an enchantment matters theme) , New Phyrexia at a 7 (Phyrexia invading seems to be the drawn more than the world itself, something they mentioned when they originally made the block and artifact matters set have broken in the past) and Zendiakr is a 2 (BtZ I think knocked it from being a 1).
“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"
Interesting although I suppose only Innistrad is immediately relevant since it takes usually 5-6 years to return. Although I think Theros and New Phyrexia are far more likely returns.
Is this still true under the new blockless system? If they go through planes faster, it stands to reason that returns will happen sooner if they want to keep the 50/50 ratio of new planes and returns. Unless, of course, we get more Ravnica-like visits and less one-shots.
Ixalan's tribal mechanics didn't work well. They've really never made a good Tribal block, after many tries.
But the setting was awesome.
If they return to Ixalan, they need a strong new mechanical identity to replace the Tribal mechanics, which would still be present but heavily reduced into a sub-theme.
I think what they should do is emphasize the "adventure world" feel of it, sort of like what made original Zendikar popular, before they overdid the Eldrazi. Expeditions to exotic new locales, pirates and explorers, dangerous jungles, lost cities, etc. That's the vibe they should push.
I think it's good to focus on what a set should make players feel like, as Kaladesh focused on making the players feel like inventors. A return to Ixalan set should make the players feel like explorers/adventurers in search of lost treasures. It should feature many cards that feel like "quests," with a high risk but high potential pay-off. Alternately, it could feature a mechanic a bit like clash, where you flip over the top card of your deck, and get some bonus based on it. "The risk of the unknown" should come through in the mechanics. This would work well with a return of the Explore mechanic, letting you set it up.
It could have a higher proportion of cards that reference other specific cards, like Throne of Empires, Crown of Empires, Scepter of Empires (though generally more at common rarity). It would be interesting for it to be "the combo set."
Ixalan had explore and, prominently, transform cards with lands on the back face. Maybe the best approach is lands matter with tribal being the smaller theme. Of course, there's the issue of making it distinct from (pre-Eldrazi) Zendikar.
My favorite part of Ixalan were the Pirates, so I'd definitely want to see them return in good numbers. Of course I'd also love a world themed around Pirates specifically, with Soldiers, Warriors, Birds, Monkeys, Cats, and Rats being other major creature types.
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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.
Ixlan was kinda a nothing block to me. The set was all about tribal but there weren't any good tribal support cards that weren't specific to the 4 tribes the set focused on. Since the block had absolutely no dragons in it whatsoever that meant my main EDH deck got literally nothing from the block :/. Perhaps the big thing against this block though is that the cards were relatively bland.
I can't say I care much for the setting either. Like, I am under the admittedly stupid opinion that Magic has been straying far from its high fantasy roots for too long so a Mesoamerican set that's also missing a number of staple magic races like elves, angels, and dragons didn't really do anything to make me feel like I'm playing my 90s Magic again. So yeah, I can't say I'd be too excited for a return.
Ixalan had explore and, prominently, transform cards with lands on the back face. Maybe the best approach is lands matter with tribal being the smaller theme. Of course, there's the issue of making it distinct from (pre-Eldrazi) Zendikar.
Monarch was also going to be a driving mechanic of the set until Conspiracy take the crown took it, so that a mechanics they could bring back and play up the idea of the factions fighting for lands/territory and less about adventuring.
Innistrad I think did a good job of being a "tribal block", so that is one way to still have a strong tribal theme that isn't as overwhelming. They also won't need to push out the number of creature types since Dinosaurs and Pirates are now a decent base number of cards.
Private Mod Note
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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"
Ixlan was kinda a nothing block to me. The set was all about tribal but there weren't any good tribal support cards that weren't specific to the 4 tribes the set focused on. Since the block had absolutely no dragons in it whatsoever that meant my main EDH deck got literally nothing from the block :/. Perhaps the big thing against this block though is that the cards were relatively bland.
Well, since the block had a strong tribal theme, it kinda makes sense that the featured tribes were the ones with tribal cards. What were they supposed to do, throw in a random Warrior or Knight tribal card? I guess they could have slipped a Goblin tribal in there? The four factions each clearly focused on one particular tribe. Sun Empire was the most complicated as it had to have humanoids in addition to Dinosaurs (unless they were going to be Mesoamerican Dinosaur people?), while Brazen Coalition, Dusk Legion, and River Heralds each focused on a humanoid tribe.
You consider the DFC versions of Reserved List cards like Lotus Vale and Tolariam Academy bland?
I can't say I care much for the setting either. Like, I am under the admittedly stupid opinion that Magic has been straying far from its high fantasy roots for too long so a Mesoamerican set that's also missing a number of staple magic races like elves, angels, and dragons didn't really do anything to make me feel like I'm playing my 90s Magic again. So yeah, I can't say I'd be too excited for a return.
Well Ixalan isn't supposed to be 90s Magic. Not every Magic set needs to have Angels, Goblins, Elves, and so forth. And we've had plenty of those staple races in recent sets like Dominaria and Guilds of Ravnica. Ixalan just isn't for you, I guess.
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.
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http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/131406697528/i-dont-understand-how-do-you-consider-other-great#notes?ref_url=https://www.hipstersofthecoast.com/2015/10/drawing-live-were-not-going-back-to-kamigawa/#_=_
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I never said anything about the mechanics but lets talk about it.
First the current standing rules for legendary came from Kamigawa, yes this counts as a mechanic, which still stands years after introduction. Bushido and Soul Shift were really limited focused and are never seen in Modern, funny how focusing on only limited centered set building is a bad idea. Same with the flip cards, they were visually unpleasent, yet in Innistrad we got a 2.0 version that did work so it boiled down to execution failed not the idea.
Moving on to Betrayers. Ninjutsu proved to be is a fun and successful mechanic later down the road, good flavor with specific rules that made you feel like you were playing with actual ninjas. The other was Offering, pretty much sac a specific permanent type and its mana cost is used to pay for the new card's mana cost, this mechanic did not fair well due to it requiring specific tribes like Patron of the Kitsune so it would have been better to do this in a tribal heavy set.
Saviors. Channel and Sweep are again limited mechanics that tend not to see play. As for Epic, same thing in that they do not win you the game and have a serious if not fatal draw back.
So in total we have about Nine "mechanics" from this block in total. Out of those nine two from Champions ended up having improving effects on magic, one out of Betrayers has shown to be fun and even has a future (ninjutsu) while the other was put into a set it just didn't work in, and finally Saviors was a mess.
So 3 mechanics are still alive today in the form of the legends rule, Flip Cards in their improved form, and Ninjutsu which even got new cards later on. Offering is hard to say because I would argue that it needed to be used in something else with more mainstream tribes. The remaining five were Limited trash, and yet that seems to be Mark Rosewater's obsession to build sets for limited. I would take what Mark Rosewater says with with a big glass of water from the Dead Sea. The mechanics were sub-par when compared to the mighty weight of the Mirridon block, it was supposed to because magic needed to cool down the power level but they did it too hard.
But in terms of creativity it is purely objective. Creatively Kamigawa was fun with ninjas, samurai, and visually unique spirits and if asked which a remember more clearly in terms of art and style it will be Kamigawa hands down. The block had visual uniqueness in the art, personally it might be the the one thing that it had over the superior Mirridon block.
I will admit that the set had flaws, never said it didn't, but I honestly think that it also helped shape the future of magic for the better. And if we picked up the good, dusted off the bad, and gave it a redo it might be a tale of redemption that could make even the most jaded Magic player shed a tear of happiness. And if you do not believe me remember that the first Ravnica had its share of failed mechanics, so did the second return, and I promise you that this third return will also have failures as well.
First of all I kinda dug Ixalan but I’m also in the rare camp of folks whose favorite block was Lorwyn so I don’t assume most other players share the same opinions as me. Moving on, I think it’s exceptionally likely that we’ll see more cards of the various tribes highlighted in Ixalan (vampires and merfolk are both pretty popular tribes for Magic in general while dinosaurs and pirates both seem to have some popularity) but I wouldn’t really venture to guess that we’re going to see a block dedicated just to Ixalan any time very soon. That said, I get the feeling that going forward that core sets will be a place where we see bits from a small number of planes. So, basically I think that we’ll definitely see more vampires and merfolk in the future, we’ll probably see more pirates and dinos to some extent (maybe some mecha-godzilla dinos from Kaladesh at some point... imagine if such things got the Phyrexian bug) and we might get more glimpses of Ixalan in a future core set but it’d be unlikely that we’ll see a block dedicated to the place any time soon.
As for the quality of the set I think this is really hard to evaluate and just reading through comments here I think I had a very different takeaway from the Ixalan block. In short, I feel like there was a pretty high number of cards that are meaningful in several different formats, this translates to a pretty good set in my book. I feel like part of the problem that Ixalan has had is that it kinda has to live in the shadows of the surrounding blocks and also we’re not really going to have a full picture of how much of a standard impact that we’re going to see before they rotate out. While there’s nothing subtle about it, Gishath, Sun's Avatar is an amazingly terrifying commander. Kitesail Freebooter and Siren Stormtamer are both really solid cards. There are plenty more but my point is while there hasn’t been a lot of tier Ixalan tribal decks the cards aren’t all so bad. That said, I would venture to guess just from where I play that there are some Ixalan-Tribal builds that could work. I played Pirates (Rakdos and Grixis) with pretty reliable results during Ixalan / Rivals and for the past two weeks there’s been a Rakdos pirates deck tearing up my FNM.
Obviously, this is all just speculation but I have a feeling that in until the next rotation we’ll probably be seeing more cards from the sets see play in tier decks with the possibility of some really brutal tribal builds but how and if at all this manifests really depends on what cards we see printed in the next couple sets and it’s tricky to even guess. Two of the four tribes are 3-color and the two that are 2-colored relate to guilds which have not yet been focused on in Ravnica and we’re not really sure what the post Alliance Ravnica set will look like at all.
After the next set, dinos and pirates will have access to checks and shocks which will probably make them the most playable they’ve ever been as 3-color decks (as well as being able to access a lot of different tools). If the post -Alliance set has a wedge theme this’ll probably give Grixis (pirates) and Naya (dinosaurs) an advantages over the other shards / wedges. vampires are a bit of a wildcard. In the history of magic there have been a lot of vampires and a lot of the vampires in Ixalan / Rivals are Knights which are also a pretty popular tribe historically and many vampires already see play as knights in knight decks I really have no idea how the next set will affect black / white or vampires. Given that merfolk are Simic colors and that many (but not all) of the Simic Guild are merfolk it seems likely that we’ll either see a bunch of Ixalan-Rivals merfolk along side Simic guild cards in the next set.
This concludes my baseless early-morning rant.
Modern: Goblins,Storm
Legacy: Burn
EDH: Simic Merfolk
Dinos
Pirates
RNA mostly just offers Stomping Ground and Blood Crypt for those tribes respectively. So, they already have pretty good mana bases.
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.
The legendary rule has been changed since and Kamigawa didn't introduce it, so I won't consider it something that added to the game and since Ninjutsu is so tied to ninjas its limited to worlds that flavor wise could have them.
A little much?
It also was scored as the most popular world in magic history, which Kamigawa did not and that was my original point. You can say the power level was low but from a creative stand point it failed to the general magic fan base at the time, not enough resonating or familiar things, the kami art was a turn off to some people and the card names where hard to pronounce. You can agree or disagree, but this are what the people making the game have said for why they won't return.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I'm thinking of the "tricksters fall for their own tricks" aspect of the archetype, which is very red.
On phasing:
Art is life itself.
Wizards is a company that will return to a set if it believes there is profit to be made.
And Mark Rosewater is not people, he is a single person and his words are not magically binding nor does he seem fully in touch with the player base. Prime example is the little polling he did on his twitter where he wanted to see where players wanted to return to, Kamigawa did ok while Lorwyn tied with New Phyrexia for first place. For years he has had the opinion that no one wanted to return to those sets and yet there is evidence countering that mindset.
You might not like the creative choices made in those sets, that is fully in your right to do so. But you have to at least admit that there are people who equally did like those choices as well. Personally I just want to return to sets that have not been touched for over a decade and give them another chance.
Now, as for Ixalan, I think it's a bit weird (Dinosaurs and Pirates? ) but I like what they did for each tribe, especially for Pirates. I think it a pity only two of the tribes got a dedicated mechanic, but boy did they make sure to treat the most exciting tribes well. I still have hope that one day we'll get dedicated Dinosaur and Pirate worlds, but in the meantime I won't mind getting more Dinos and Pirates in general. The four faction theme was also novel, but the downside is that two factions get more set visibility over all, in this case the Dinos and Pirates. Again, they were the novel, exciting tribes, so of course they wanted to play them up, but Merfolk and Vampire fans could have used a few more goodies (although they did get a couple neat legends between both sets, as did the Dinosaurs, while Pirates only got the one).
Dinosaurs really got treated in RIX. Overall I'd say they feel like the favored tribe of Ixalan.
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.
And you hit it, I think Wizards as a company doesn't think Kamigawa won't sell well.
I'm also repeating other people who at wizards who have spoke on the subject Maro is just the easiest source to pin down. Again you can disagree or say he is out of touch, but as you said his words are not binding, even if Maro hates Kamigawa if Kamigawa is as really beloved as you claim then I think we would have returned by now.
I acutely never said I disliked the creative choices, personally I'd like to see Tiro idea of trying Kamigawa with a new mechanical and flavor spin. But I'm also not blinding myself to the fact that Kamigawa failed its first time through and as such wizard thinks its unredeemable.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Maro is certainly the most vocal, for better or for worse. As for why no return I think it might have to do with like we have discussed the set in their eyes was a failure, and despite there being a constant desire for it they might not know where to start. This might be the reason why we saw a couple of new Ninjutsu Cards in the past. Sort of testing to see what worked, Khans might have also been test to see if an Asian theme was doable.
I whole heartedly agree in that if they ever did do Kamigawa again they would have to try new mechanics and flavor that is a given. But if you would allow this one last bit of optimism from me, if the set was considered truly nonredeemable as Wizards seems to think, why are they still using ideas from it? Tamiyo is from Kamigawa and in the current lore she is even recorded going back, and even Ajani joins her there for a short time.
Not saying this means anything definite for the future, but if Wizards was so truly opposed to using Kamigawa again it would be better to completely seal the set away. Instead they are chumming the waters just enough to keep us thinking about it a little, so maybe this is where the frustration on my part is coming from.
Cuz they know Kamigawa has fan and are throwing them a bone. They mention that Tamiyo was made because they knew they won't go back to the plane but still could have a planeswalker from there showing up on other planes.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Huatli can show up anywhere, she has plausible ties to the Gatewatch through Saheeli (Give me clockwork dinosaurs!) so it will be easy to just plug her in. In fact, it's more likely that she will travel the multiverse gathering stories than just sit at home.
I think Ajani, Narset, and Tamiyo would welcome her. Hey, maybe they can give the Gatewatch a break and have a Story Circle arc? Revisit Tarkir, Alara, and Kaladesh?
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.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
The article is a part 1 and goes in alphabetical order, that why those planes weren't on there.
From other talks Maro has put Tarkir at 4 (multicolor set and needing to return the Khans), Theros at a 3 (it need an enchantment matters theme) , New Phyrexia at a 7 (Phyrexia invading seems to be the drawn more than the world itself, something they mentioned when they originally made the block and artifact matters set have broken in the past) and Zendiakr is a 2 (BtZ I think knocked it from being a 1).
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Is this still true under the new blockless system? If they go through planes faster, it stands to reason that returns will happen sooner if they want to keep the 50/50 ratio of new planes and returns. Unless, of course, we get more Ravnica-like visits and less one-shots.
But the setting was awesome.
If they return to Ixalan, they need a strong new mechanical identity to replace the Tribal mechanics, which would still be present but heavily reduced into a sub-theme.
I think what they should do is emphasize the "adventure world" feel of it, sort of like what made original Zendikar popular, before they overdid the Eldrazi. Expeditions to exotic new locales, pirates and explorers, dangerous jungles, lost cities, etc. That's the vibe they should push.
I think it's good to focus on what a set should make players feel like, as Kaladesh focused on making the players feel like inventors. A return to Ixalan set should make the players feel like explorers/adventurers in search of lost treasures. It should feature many cards that feel like "quests," with a high risk but high potential pay-off. Alternately, it could feature a mechanic a bit like clash, where you flip over the top card of your deck, and get some bonus based on it. "The risk of the unknown" should come through in the mechanics. This would work well with a return of the Explore mechanic, letting you set it up.
It could have a higher proportion of cards that reference other specific cards, like Throne of Empires, Crown of Empires, Scepter of Empires (though generally more at common rarity). It would be interesting for it to be "the combo set."
Corrupt Control B | Burn R | UG Turbofog UG | White Weenie W | GW Tethmos WG | BG Cycling Combo BG
Enchantress GBW | Colorless Tron C | Red Deck Wins R | UG Madness UG | Mono-G Tron G | UR Puzzlehorns UR
Rhystic Tron WU| WU Prowess WU | BR Reanimator BR | Mono-R Control R | Stompy G | Temur Tron URG
Mardu Infinite Priest WBR | 85-Card Dredge BRG | Elves GU | Boros Bully RW | Jeskai Familiars RWU
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
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.
I can't say I care much for the setting either. Like, I am under the admittedly stupid opinion that Magic has been straying far from its high fantasy roots for too long so a Mesoamerican set that's also missing a number of staple magic races like elves, angels, and dragons didn't really do anything to make me feel like I'm playing my 90s Magic again. So yeah, I can't say I'd be too excited for a return.
Monarch was also going to be a driving mechanic of the set until Conspiracy take the crown took it, so that a mechanics they could bring back and play up the idea of the factions fighting for lands/territory and less about adventuring.
Innistrad I think did a good job of being a "tribal block", so that is one way to still have a strong tribal theme that isn't as overwhelming. They also won't need to push out the number of creature types since Dinosaurs and Pirates are now a decent base number of cards.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Well, since the block had a strong tribal theme, it kinda makes sense that the featured tribes were the ones with tribal cards. What were they supposed to do, throw in a random Warrior or Knight tribal card? I guess they could have slipped a Goblin tribal in there? The four factions each clearly focused on one particular tribe. Sun Empire was the most complicated as it had to have humanoids in addition to Dinosaurs (unless they were going to be Mesoamerican Dinosaur people?), while Brazen Coalition, Dusk Legion, and River Heralds each focused on a humanoid tribe.
You consider the DFC versions of Reserved List cards like Lotus Vale and Tolariam Academy bland?
Well Ixalan isn't supposed to be 90s Magic. Not every Magic set needs to have Angels, Goblins, Elves, and so forth. And we've had plenty of those staple races in recent sets like Dominaria and Guilds of Ravnica. Ixalan just isn't for you, I guess.
Me, I'm just happy to play with Pirates and Treasure. I love cards like Captain Lannery Storm, Trove of Temptation and Revel in Riches. I'd love to build a Pirate Treasure deck focused on winning by accumulating enough Treasure. I'd also love to add cards like Storm the Vault, Dowsing Dagger, Pirate's Cutlass, Prying Blade, and Treasure Map.
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.