If its planes what Planes? Dominaria, Ravnica and Innistrad for sure. What is the last pick? Zendikar?
Shandalar? (It would give them a chance to give it a *real* identity)
Considering that Commander decks are currently 83% reprint, do they have enough cards from Shandalar that can be reprinted? Commander is not the place to give a plane a "real" identity, as they can only put 17-18 new cards in each deck.
And again, only three of the decks would actually be plane-themed. The fourth deck is going to be some random off-theme because a vocal minority didn't like C17 being all tribal decks, so now we have to plan around each year having the token off-theme deck.
Another rule they seem to be following is that each color appears 2-3 times within a cycle, never in all four decks nor just once or not at all. Every color has its fans, so they want to make sure each year offers at least two options for fans of that color. To wit:
I'm also assuming that they won't repeat a color combination two years in a row, nor deck themes (so if this year's theme is Planes, Mirrodin, Zendikar, and Theros are all unlikely as they would effectively be artifact, land, and enchantment-themed decks). That rule might even extend to the past two years, as they have yet to use the following two- and three-color combinations in the new four-deck plan:
WU UB BR RG WB BG RW GU RGW WBG URW BGU GUR
Additionally, they have yet to use colorless, monocolor, or four-color in the new plan. So, there are a lot of options left to exercise before looping back to the color combos used in C17 and C18. And barring the rare WUBRG deck, they won't likely have one deck eclipse another in colors.
All that said, I could definitely see a WB Innistrad deck making it this year, with either Sorin or the Fourth Sister being the commander (and if Sorin is the CPW, the Fourth Sister would no doubt be included as the secondary commander). Ravnica or Dominaria would no doubt be immensely popular, but we did just visit those worlds, so it may be too soon for them to get Commander decks.
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've suggested a Plane theme myself before, and I've determined that the biggest obstacle for a plane theme this year is the fact three of the most popular planes - Mirrodin, Zendikar, and Theros - center around or heavily feature themes that were just done last year: Artifacts, Land, and Enchantments. Now Ravnica and Innistrad are also highly popular, the two most popular in fact, and their most probable themes - Multicolor and Graveyard - are available for this year. Ravnica can be either WUBRG (most likely using a "one and all" Jace since he's the Guildpact) or WU (with Azor as the probable face card, since he helped found the Guildpact). Innistrad would obviously be WB with Sorin as the commander, and the Fourth Sister as a very likely second.
The question then is what third plane gets featured? And the reason I only say third and not also fourth is because they now have a rule that one of the four decks each year has to be off-theme because apparently some players didn't like C17 being all tribal decks (boo!). Thus C18's Esper deck was themed after Topdeck rather than card types. Tarkir to me seems the next most likely due to the popularity of Dragons and Wedges. Sarkhan could easily helm a GUR Tarkir deck themed around Dragons with smatterings of Morph and various Tarkir mechanics in the mix, leaning Temur and Atarka but also allowing the other Clans and Broods some representation.
As for villains, if they did a Bolas deck, I think there would be an expectation for the other decks to have villainous CPWs as well. We did just get Nicol Bolas, the Ravager in Core 19, so there is technically a recent Bolas option for Commander. If there was a Phyrexian deck, I'd want it to be WUBRG with Karn, Father of Machines as the commander. They could still include a Yawgmoth legend in the deck, and maybe find a clever way of turning him into a WUBRG commander using "one and all" technology similar to Tazri and Najeela, since even back in the Invasion days Phyrexia wasn't strictly monoblack.
If you want a villain theme, the decks should be themed around villains who don't have good or any representation yet. Volrath really wanted to be UB, so Commander could be a good chance for him to get a second shot, though there is the little problem that his primary minions are red Moggs. Leshrac and Tevesh Szat never got cards either, and they're planeswalkers to boot. A BR Ob Nixilis would be tempting, but he did get a CPW before. The Fourth Sister could be another good candidate, for either an Innistrad-themed deck or as part of the villain theme.
Ravnica has another problem, though. You're doing "two-color". Alara would have "three-color", as would Tarkir. Thing is, which two (or three) do you pick? That's a total of 10 unique two-color combinations and 10 unique three-color combinations, each has a mechanical identity (albeit not necessarily on you might see in the normal game: White "power 5 or greater"? White spellslinger? Black artifacts?) The other side of Tarkir and Innistrad is tribal, which was only two years ago, and brings up the question of "Which faction?"
Mirrodin has the same "two face" problem: Artifacts (did that last year) and counters (infect's weak in multiplayer TBH unless you're doing something like infect as Voltron or Triumph of the Hordes in a token deck, or even Ichor Rats or Decimator Web and just proliferate nine times, but attracts undue hate).
Even unpopular planes have this issue: Lorwyn is tribal, while Shadowmoor is pretty antagonistic to Commander rules (unless the RC decides "Okay, yeah, hybrids are now 'either' and twobrids and Phyrexian mana are now essentially colorless for color identity purposes.") Ixalan is obviously a tribal set, so the "Which faction?" issue is present just like in Lorwyn or Innistrad. Kamigawa is, oddly enough, a plane I could see a lot of potential for, but it leaves a sour taste in Design's mouth.
And of course, over half of any given set is chaff in Constructed.
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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!
Ravnica has another problem, though. You're doing "two-color". Alara would have "three-color", as would Tarkir. Thing is, which two (or three) do you pick? That's a total of 10 unique two-color combinations and 10 unique three-color combinations, each has a mechanical identity (albeit not necessarily on you might see in the normal game: White "power 5 or greater"? White spellslinger? Black artifacts?) The other side of Tarkir and Innistrad is tribal, which was only two years ago, and brings up the question of "Which faction?"
Mirrodin has the same "two face" problem: Artifacts (did that last year) and counters (infect's weak in multiplayer TBH unless you're doing something like infect as Voltron or Triumph of the Hordes in a token deck, or even Ichor Rats or Decimator Web and just proliferate nine times, but attracts undue hate).
Even unpopular planes have this issue: Lorwyn is tribal, while Shadowmoor is pretty antagonistic to Commander rules (unless the RC decides "Okay, yeah, hybrids are now 'either' and twobrids and Phyrexian mana are now essentially colorless for color identity purposes.") Ixalan is obviously a tribal set, so the "Which faction?" issue is present just like in Lorwyn or Innistrad. Kamigawa is, oddly enough, a plane I could see a lot of potential for, but it leaves a sour taste in Design's mouth.
Ravnica and Alara both could justify a WUBRG theme, but I can also see certain factions being picked based on the overall feel of the plane in question or what suits certain design needs. For example, since every other Shard has been done in the past couple years, I could see Alara being represented by Naya, though ironically that's the least popular shard. Esper would be the most popular, but we just got an artifact-themed deck and an Esper-colored deck in C18, so that's right out. Alara had some dedicated WUBRG support in Conflux, so it wouldn't be a bad candidate for the next WUBRG deck.
As for Ravnica, if not WUBRG with all ten guilds, then I'd probably go WU with a focus on the Azorius while also including cards from other white and blue guilds. Azor would make the ideal CPW for a WU Ravnica deck as he founded the Senate and helped create the Guildpact. I'd probably include at least one pair of Partner legends in that deck, one being monowhite, the other being monoblue, and each hailing from a Guild other than Azorius to increase the Guild representation in the deck. The white partner would likely be Boros, as they are the other major police guild of Ravnica. The blue Partner is a little trickier to pick, as none of the blue guilds feel particularly close to Azorius in function. The Dimir or Simic offer more diverse color influence as the Boros partner already represents red influence. But I could see a monoblue Izzet legend providing some support for the Azorious' flying subtheme, indeed I could picture the Partner legends together supporting that theme. Altogether though I'd say WUBRG would be more satisfying for Ravnica as well.
Since we will have just visited Ravnica, I'd say Alara is more likely to get a dedicated deck this year, and might well be a WUBRG deck to boot so all five Shards get representation. The fact that four of them have easy mechanical overlaps helps, though that's a lot of noise going on in one deck.
For Innistrad, I've already expressed my support for WB as the two colors most significant to the plane's identity. Sorin can easily be a CPW, and there's been a lot of demand for the Fourth Sister.
In the event of a WUBRG Alara deck, I would hope for a legend more satisfying than Progenitus. The Hydra Avatar just doesn't provide much incentive for playing the various Shard's strategies. I'd like to see a WUBRG Angel or Human legend. The Sword of Asha could be a cool rare.
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 like the Planes, Villains, and Archetype Ideas, although the latter would have to do something to make it 'grokable' to newer commander players who are just learning basic mtg themselves. Yawgmoth also deserves a card.
For the Planes: I am torn between popular and 'more obscure' planes as a concept. While I desire more info and experimentation on account of Wizards to test what is viable for the more obscure planes, as somebody mentioned, fewer reprints to draw upon, though I think Ulgrotha and Kamigawa themselves could be sufficiently retrofitted to modern sensibilities.
I like Shandalar and Regaltha and I think, given the right treatment, they could be expanded upon in their conceptualization.
Shandalar is a free-spirited, roaming plane where mana is deeply part of everyday life and land, like Dominaria it has links to Premending History which provides the opportunity to bring back 'Historic' and 'Sagas', while being also similar to Pre-RoE Zendikar in that it appears to be a setting where 'quests' and 'adventuring parties' would be commonplace, which provides the opportunity for mechanics like Quests, Traps and Allies.
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Wizards. listen. The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
So if it's planes themed, it's almost required that each of the featured planes is one that's been visited in more than one Standard-level block, just because of the need for a reprint pool, right? So that's Dominaria, Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, Zendikar, Innistrad, and Ravnica. Of these Ravnica would basically have to be 5C - maybe you could get away with a deck themed around one guild only - but then it would feel "off" if Dominaria were not every color. Mirrodin is presumably RW if Mirrans and BGU (or WUB now that Norn is in charge?) if Phyrexians, Zendikar's either RG or the colorless deck if they decide to go that route and give us Eldrazi, and Innistrad is... dependent upon what they want to showcase.
I agree its hard to do a set focused on planes cause so many suggest 5 Colors. But yeah definitely Ravnica.
I mean Dominaria I would say its most Dominated by Blue as Wizards and Artificers have dominated the plane in terms of shaping it.
Innistrad and Phyrexia don't play well if you ask me cause they are both most associated with Black. And they both have secondary White based on Sorin/Avacyn and Elesh Norn taking control on New Phyrexia so that means what 3 Colors.
Zendikar I would say Green is the main color. Red Secondary.
So I say Dominaria you say Jeskai URW which are the colors of the Face Characters for our recent trip to Dominaria as Teferi is UW and Jhoira is UR. Karn is colorless but artifacts play nice with Jeskai. Don't think we have a Jeskai deck either.
Innistrad I guess you want Mardu but we already had a Mardu Deck and an Esper Deck so if you don't want to repeat your kinda stuck. You also already done Abzan and BW. But these were longer ago, although Esper was disappointing so you might get away doing Abzan or Esper again. I like Esper cause then you could go Zombies as the theme. But can you really repeat that quickly?
Its much the same for Phyrexia. Elesh Norn is in charge so White, Black is the color most associated with Phyrexia though.
Zendikar RG is easy plus we haven't done ally colors pairs.
Actually it might be best to just build themes around the remaining ally color pairs. They did GW for Cats so they could finish the cycle with UW, UB, BR and RG. We could go back to Tribal for that. So I don't know RG Elementals/Lands, BR Minotaurs or Warriors, UB Zombies or Faeries...I have no idea about what a good tribe is for UW besides Humans which is boring.
id like to see the Partner mechanic explored a bit further. While i loved Battlebond, I wasn't quite as impressed with the partner commanders from set as they could only be partner to one other specific commander leading to very linear deck building. it think mono colored Partner Commanders with subtle abilities would be cool.
Example maybe a mono blue deck, one partner has whenever an opponent cast a spell put a charge counter on this creature tap this creature remove all charge counters from it add one colorless mana to your mana pool for each counter removed this way, The other partner has BB tap: draw cards equal to the amount of mana in your mana pool then empty your mana pool you may untap two islands.
now these two commanders have abilities that directly synergize with one another, however they could both be effective as commanders in other partner decks.
if you wanted to go the multicolor deck route you could have a mono white commander who simply says whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control. Creatures you control gain vigilance until the end of the turn. and a mono green commander who says tap: creatures you control may block an additional creature this turn.
Again both creatures are created to have a particular synergy between one another, but could also be effective partners to other commanders. I think eight to ten new versatile monocolored partners would be a magnificent approach to this years commander set.
Another idea I thought may be cool is Legendary creatures with the ability to Level up. Its a fairly old mechanic that most people consider two slow for commander unless you're playing proliferate, and lets be honest if your playing proliferate you're either playing super friends or counters. The 2019 set could feature cards specifically designed to raise level counters on creatures similar to the way venerated Teacher Does.
I think Experience counters do everything Level Up commanders want to do and more. In hindsight, Level Up was kinda clunky. If they did something like it again, probably better to template it after the Sagas. I wouldn't mind seeing 2-3 level spells, but that's a subject for another time.
A Mirrodin deck without blue would just feel wrong. I'd be all for a URW Mirrodin deck if C18 hadn't just done a UR artifact deck. Now RW Equipment could be different enough to work, as there would be more of a focus on voltron aggro. I'd love to see a RW Dwarf Artificer with an Equipment focus.
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.
kinda dated but wanted to post this while the forums were in read only.
For Innistrad Wizard could go WGR to represent the humans, because although it would be Avacyn's restored more than classic Gothic horror, both GW and GWU are not possible since they appeared in the 2 last year.
I think Experience counters do everything Level Up commanders want to do and more.
Or a mashup - commanders that hit new levels based on your experience counter total?
The mashup idea was one I was going to suggest, but alas I was beat to the punch.
This could allow for legendary story characters (that they don't intend to use further) to be given some type of 'additional growth' or 'follow-up' flavor.
The experience / level up mashup as suggested could even be expanded to other permanent types such as artifacts and enchantments to represent how your Commander grows in ability throughout the game. Seems like there is plenty of design space to be innovative too, just by combining them.
What if they did something simple this year with two monocolor decks and two decks of the opposite colors? Or hey, what about an Iconic theme? Of course, C17 did Dragons a couple years ago, so this time around the other four might get a shot. One of the decks can't be iconic themed per se, but could still feature iconics as part of the overarching theme.
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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 would make sense to do Tribal again. It was pretty popular in 2017 and I noted it would let them finish the Ally Color Pairs that started with GW Cats.
UW: Sphinxes? Angels? Spirits? Probably Angels or Spirits, I don't think Sphinxes are all that popular.
BR: Demons/Devils? Minotaur? Probably Demon/Devils it works I mean as noted Dragons got their own deck. Works well if you combine with Angels
UB: Faeries? Zombies? Could go either way here really.
RG: Beast? Hydra? Elementals? I mean they botched the Jund Land Theme they could get redemption by doing Elemental with Lands and getting it right.
It would make sense to do Tribal again. It was pretty popular in 2017 and I noted it would let them finish the Ally Color Pairs that started with GW Cats.
Isn't it just as likely to finish the arcs that started with UBR Wizards or the wedges started with RWB Vampires? Really, one point with these new themes is that they don't have to be entirely bound by making full cycles of pairs and triples every year. At the very least we also know that a pure tribal product was not universally liked - which is why a flavor theme that could be realized in different ways mechanically seems like a better plan.
Maybe they'll tie the decks into the current storyline as they did with Archenemy: Nicol Bolas and make four planeswalker based decks, but not built around color combinations per se, but providing us with two decks for each side of the conflict in the Sparky War. It could be even minor characters or planeswalkers that didn't get a recent reprint and are just introduced as some of the dozen of planeswalkers Ajani brought in. They could double-dip on the plane theme some of the audience want to see a glimpse of old planes if e. g. one of the allies brought in was Tamiyo and we get to get some Kamigawa-themed new cards and reprints, but since she is a planeswalker the decks needn't be entirely restricted like that and also wouldn't be required to be representative of all of Kamigawa, but only the part of the plane connected to the planeswalker.
The strongest strike against this is that such a theme would more naturally focus on the main characters again, so e. g. Bolas + Domri vs. Jace + Ajani (Note that this combination of 'walkers would repeat two of the tribal year's color combinations making this less likely). But as a transition between story arcs it could be set up differently.
... thinking about it some more it seems unlikely with last year's decks also featuring planeswalker commanders.
It would make sense to do Tribal again. It was pretty popular in 2017 and I noted it would let them finish the Ally Color Pairs that started with GW Cats.
Isn't it just as likely to finish the arcs that started with UBR Wizards or the wedges started with RWB Vampires? Really, one point with these new themes is that they don't have to be entirely bound by making full cycles of pairs and triples every year. At the very least we also know that a pure tribal product was not universally liked - which is why a flavor theme that could be realized in different ways mechanically seems like a better plan.
Maybe they'll tie the decks into the current storyline as they did with Archenemy: Nicol Bolas and make four planeswalker based decks, but not built around color combinations per se, but providing us with two decks for each side of the conflict in the Sparky War. It could be even minor characters or planeswalkers that didn't get a recent reprint and are just introduced as some of the dozen of planeswalkers Ajani brought in. They could double-dip on the plane theme some of the audience want to see a glimpse of old planes if e. g. one of the allies brought in was Tamiyo and we get to get some Kamigawa-themed new cards and reprints, but since she is a planeswalker the decks needn't be entirely restricted like that and also wouldn't be required to be representative of all of Kamigawa, but only the part of the plane connected to the planeswalker.
The strongest strike against this is that such a theme would more naturally focus on the main characters again, so e. g. Bolas + Domri vs. Jace + Ajani (Note that this combination of 'walkers would repeat two of the tribal year's color combinations making this less likely). But as a transition between story arcs it could be set up differently.
... thinking about it some more it seems unlikely with last year's decks also featuring planeswalker commanders.
Yes but the fans have Ben rioting for ally colored precon decks for a while so would make sense to make them
And also yes I would love a bolas vs walkers theme decks for this but beside already did walkers last year it’s also that the set will already be out by the time the decks get revealed (war of the spark releases in April and commander decks are not till mid summer/August)
But really repeat themes probably have to have a decent year span but tribal is not out of the ordinary of doing again since there’s are countless creature tribes that don’t have a good leader yet rakdos, the showstopper is very close to a demon/devil tribal but way to hard to win with and O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami which was in the tribal set is as close as we gotten to a spirit tribal but no tribal support as a matter of fact they confessed spirits was the original plan but the popularity of dragons ruined everything (but some needed reprints anyway and a opportunity to make the Ur-dragon)
Kaladesh: artifact-themes deck... again. Jeskai colors. Plenty of tokens and 1-2 pieces of vehicle support.
Zendikar: What the windgrace deck should have been. An actual land-based deck (gruul or maya) with ramp that triggers landfall and works you toward a small number of eldrazi.
Lorwyn: Tribal Miscellanea. A core of changelings (including one or two new ones) with miscellaneous lords for obscure creature types, conspiracy, and arcane evolution. As people are always clamoring for lords for obscure types, this deck would give wizards the chance to go nuts (Crab Lord, Scout Lord, etc). 5 color.
Innistrad: Dimir/Sultai graveyard theme deck with zombie sun-theme. Zendikar’s mechanical identity is the graveyard set and these colors are the ones to incorporate that (Selesnya/Banr angels+humans doesn’t really have an identity beyond having two tribes and Jund aggro is unlikely when the vampires already got their own deck)
Dominaria: 5-color weathertight theme deck, as mentioned by others. Notably, this would probably be the place to put a vehicle (the weatherlight) that can act as a commander.
Alara OR Ravnica: multicolor Matters. If Alana, I could imagine more five-colored cards and a cascade sub-theme. If Ravnica, I’d expect a collection of recognizable cards with a gate subtheme and maze’s end. Either way, five colors.
Theros: ...I literally can’t think of anything that isn’t just doing Estrid again. Devotion would require fewer colors but this set doesn’t have a definitive color...
They kinda spent their best Kaladesh rep last year with Saheeli, the Gifted. I mean, I'd be all for a "one and all" Pia that supports Energy, but I wouldn't get my hopes up for one this year.
If the theme is planes, Innistrad is the most likely plane to get a deck this year as it's been a while since we've visited Innistrad, it's the second most popular plane after Ravnica, and it has an easy color combo - WB, with Sorin or Fourth Sister as the face - that hasn't been done in the four deck plan yet.
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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.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
If at least one of the decks is monogreen, that'd be the perfect place for Magus of the Natural, thereby completing the Magus cycle that started in C15.
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.
If they want to do a Magus that really wants a monogreen deck, then yes.
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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.
The crowd/speculation goes wild if the fourth plane is something like Vryn or Muraganda.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
And again, only three of the decks would actually be plane-themed. The fourth deck is going to be some random off-theme because a vocal minority didn't like C17 being all tribal decks, so now we have to plan around each year having the token off-theme deck.
Another rule they seem to be following is that each color appears 2-3 times within a cycle, never in all four decks nor just once or not at all. Every color has its fans, so they want to make sure each year offers at least two options for fans of that color. To wit:
Commander 2017
WUBRG Draconic Dominion
GW Feline Ferocity
RWB Vampiric Bloodlust
UBR Arcane Wizardry
Commander 2018
UR Exquisite Invention
BRG Nature's Vengeance
GWU Adaptive Enchantment
WUB Subjective Reality
I'm also assuming that they won't repeat a color combination two years in a row, nor deck themes (so if this year's theme is Planes, Mirrodin, Zendikar, and Theros are all unlikely as they would effectively be artifact, land, and enchantment-themed decks). That rule might even extend to the past two years, as they have yet to use the following two- and three-color combinations in the new four-deck plan:
WU
UB
BR
RG
WB
BG
RW
GU
RGW
WBG
URW
BGU
GUR
Additionally, they have yet to use colorless, monocolor, or four-color in the new plan. So, there are a lot of options left to exercise before looping back to the color combos used in C17 and C18. And barring the rare WUBRG deck, they won't likely have one deck eclipse another in colors.
All that said, I could definitely see a WB Innistrad deck making it this year, with either Sorin or the Fourth Sister being the commander (and if Sorin is the CPW, the Fourth Sister would no doubt be included as the secondary commander). Ravnica or Dominaria would no doubt be immensely popular, but we did just visit those worlds, so it may be too soon for them to get Commander 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.
Ravnica has another problem, though. You're doing "two-color". Alara would have "three-color", as would Tarkir. Thing is, which two (or three) do you pick? That's a total of 10 unique two-color combinations and 10 unique three-color combinations, each has a mechanical identity (albeit not necessarily on you might see in the normal game: White "power 5 or greater"? White spellslinger? Black artifacts?) The other side of Tarkir and Innistrad is tribal, which was only two years ago, and brings up the question of "Which faction?"
Mirrodin has the same "two face" problem: Artifacts (did that last year) and counters (infect's weak in multiplayer TBH unless you're doing something like infect as Voltron or Triumph of the Hordes in a token deck, or even Ichor Rats or Decimator Web and just proliferate nine times, but attracts undue hate).
Even unpopular planes have this issue: Lorwyn is tribal, while Shadowmoor is pretty antagonistic to Commander rules (unless the RC decides "Okay, yeah, hybrids are now 'either' and twobrids and Phyrexian mana are now essentially colorless for color identity purposes.") Ixalan is obviously a tribal set, so the "Which faction?" issue is present just like in Lorwyn or Innistrad. Kamigawa is, oddly enough, a plane I could see a lot of potential for, but it leaves a sour taste in Design's mouth.
And of course, over half of any given set is chaff in Constructed.
On phasing:
As for Ravnica, if not WUBRG with all ten guilds, then I'd probably go WU with a focus on the Azorius while also including cards from other white and blue guilds. Azor would make the ideal CPW for a WU Ravnica deck as he founded the Senate and helped create the Guildpact. I'd probably include at least one pair of Partner legends in that deck, one being monowhite, the other being monoblue, and each hailing from a Guild other than Azorius to increase the Guild representation in the deck. The white partner would likely be Boros, as they are the other major police guild of Ravnica. The blue Partner is a little trickier to pick, as none of the blue guilds feel particularly close to Azorius in function. The Dimir or Simic offer more diverse color influence as the Boros partner already represents red influence. But I could see a monoblue Izzet legend providing some support for the Azorious' flying subtheme, indeed I could picture the Partner legends together supporting that theme. Altogether though I'd say WUBRG would be more satisfying for Ravnica as well.
Since we will have just visited Ravnica, I'd say Alara is more likely to get a dedicated deck this year, and might well be a WUBRG deck to boot so all five Shards get representation. The fact that four of them have easy mechanical overlaps helps, though that's a lot of noise going on in one deck.
For Innistrad, I've already expressed my support for WB as the two colors most significant to the plane's identity. Sorin can easily be a CPW, and there's been a lot of demand for the Fourth Sister.
In the event of a WUBRG Alara deck, I would hope for a legend more satisfying than Progenitus. The Hydra Avatar just doesn't provide much incentive for playing the various Shard's strategies. I'd like to see a WUBRG Angel or Human legend. The Sword of Asha could be a cool rare.
3 Gwafa Hazid, Profiteer
3 Shardless Agent
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Knight of New Alara
4 Meren of Clan Nel Toth
4 Rafiq of the Many
4 Stoic Angel
4 Yidris, Maelstrom Wielder
5 Ethersworn Adjudicator
5 Sphinx Summoner
5 Kresh the Bloodbraided
5 Maelstrom Archangel
6 Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith
6 Etherium-Horn Sorcerer
6 Sedris, the Traitor King
6 Meglonoth
6 Malfegor
7 Enigma Sphinx
7 Magister Sphinx
7 Sphinx of the Steel Wind
8 Maelstrom Wanderer
2 Conqueror's Flail
3 Chromatic Lantern
3 Sigiled Sword of Valeron
3 Mage Slayer
3 Behemoth Sledge
4 Hammer of Nazahn
Enchantments
5 Finest Hour
5 Maelstrom Nexus
Sorceries
8 Conflux
Land
1 Arcane Sanctum
1 Command Tower
1 Crumbling Necropolis
1 Exotic Orchard
1 Jungle Shrine
1 Savage Lands
1 Seaside Citadel
5 Plains
5 Island
5 Swamp
5 Mountain
5 Forest
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.
For the Planes: I am torn between popular and 'more obscure' planes as a concept. While I desire more info and experimentation on account of Wizards to test what is viable for the more obscure planes, as somebody mentioned, fewer reprints to draw upon, though I think Ulgrotha and Kamigawa themselves could be sufficiently retrofitted to modern sensibilities.
I like Shandalar and Regaltha and I think, given the right treatment, they could be expanded upon in their conceptualization.
Shandalar is a free-spirited, roaming plane where mana is deeply part of everyday life and land, like Dominaria it has links to Premending History which provides the opportunity to bring back 'Historic' and 'Sagas', while being also similar to Pre-RoE Zendikar in that it appears to be a setting where 'quests' and 'adventuring parties' would be commonplace, which provides the opportunity for mechanics like Quests, Traps and Allies.
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I mean Dominaria I would say its most Dominated by Blue as Wizards and Artificers have dominated the plane in terms of shaping it.
Innistrad and Phyrexia don't play well if you ask me cause they are both most associated with Black. And they both have secondary White based on Sorin/Avacyn and Elesh Norn taking control on New Phyrexia so that means what 3 Colors.
Zendikar I would say Green is the main color. Red Secondary.
So I say Dominaria you say Jeskai URW which are the colors of the Face Characters for our recent trip to Dominaria as Teferi is UW and Jhoira is UR. Karn is colorless but artifacts play nice with Jeskai. Don't think we have a Jeskai deck either.
Innistrad I guess you want Mardu but we already had a Mardu Deck and an Esper Deck so if you don't want to repeat your kinda stuck. You also already done Abzan and BW. But these were longer ago, although Esper was disappointing so you might get away doing Abzan or Esper again. I like Esper cause then you could go Zombies as the theme. But can you really repeat that quickly?
Its much the same for Phyrexia. Elesh Norn is in charge so White, Black is the color most associated with Phyrexia though.
Zendikar RG is easy plus we haven't done ally colors pairs.
Actually it might be best to just build themes around the remaining ally color pairs. They did GW for Cats so they could finish the cycle with UW, UB, BR and RG. We could go back to Tribal for that. So I don't know RG Elementals/Lands, BR Minotaurs or Warriors, UB Zombies or Faeries...I have no idea about what a good tribe is for UW besides Humans which is boring.
Example maybe a mono blue deck, one partner has whenever an opponent cast a spell put a charge counter on this creature tap this creature remove all charge counters from it add one colorless mana to your mana pool for each counter removed this way, The other partner has BB tap: draw cards equal to the amount of mana in your mana pool then empty your mana pool you may untap two islands.
now these two commanders have abilities that directly synergize with one another, however they could both be effective as commanders in other partner decks.
if you wanted to go the multicolor deck route you could have a mono white commander who simply says whenever a creature enters the battlefield under your control. Creatures you control gain vigilance until the end of the turn. and a mono green commander who says tap: creatures you control may block an additional creature this turn.
Again both creatures are created to have a particular synergy between one another, but could also be effective partners to other commanders. I think eight to ten new versatile monocolored partners would be a magnificent approach to this years commander set.
A Mirrodin deck without blue would just feel wrong. I'd be all for a URW Mirrodin deck if C18 hadn't just done a UR artifact deck. Now RW Equipment could be different enough to work, as there would be more of a focus on voltron aggro. I'd love to see a RW Dwarf Artificer with an Equipment focus.
1 Goblin Gaveleer
1 Kitesail Apprentice
1 Kor Duelist
2 Champion of the Flame
2 Leonin Shikari
2 Relic Seeker
2 Sram, Senior Edificer
2 Stone Haven Outfitter
2 Puresteel Paladin
2 Weapons Trainer
3 Armory Automaton
3 Brass Squire
3 Valduk, Keeper of the Flame
3 Danitha Capashen, Paragon
4 Auriok Windwalker
4 Balan, Wandering Knight
5 Vulshok Battlemaster
5 Stonehewer Giant
5 Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer
6 Heavenly Blademaster
1 Sol Ring
2 Boros Signet
Equipment
0 Paradise Mantle
1 Basilisk's Collar
1 Bloodforged Battle-Axe
1 Golem-Skin Gauntlets
1 Infiltration Lens
1 Masterwork of Ingenuity
1 Skullclamp
2 Blade of Selves
2 Captain's Claws
2 Swiftfoot Boots
2 Sword of the Animist
3 Champion's Helm
3 Helm of Kaldra
3 Loxodon Warhammer
3 Sigiled Sword of Valeron
3 Godsend
4 Assault Suit
4 Grappling Hook
4 Hammer of Nazahn
4 Moonsilver Spear
4 Shield of Kaldra
4 Sword of Kaldra
1 Quest for the Holy Relic
1 Sigarda's Aid
Planeswalkers
5 Nahiri, the Lithomancer
Sorceries
1 Steelshaper's Gift
Land
1 Battlefield Forge
1 Boros Garrison
1 Boros Guildgate
1 Command Tower
1 Clifftop Retreat
1 Drifting Meadow
1 Forgotten Cave
1 Inspiring Vantage
1 Secluded Steppe
1 Smoldering Crater
1 Stone Quarry
10 Mountain
10 Plains
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.͇̣̙̝
For Innistrad Wizard could go WGR to represent the humans, because although it would be Avacyn's restored more than classic Gothic horror, both GW and GWU are not possible since they appeared in the 2 last year.
The mashup idea was one I was going to suggest, but alas I was beat to the punch.
This could allow for legendary story characters (that they don't intend to use further) to be given some type of 'additional growth' or 'follow-up' flavor.
The experience / level up mashup as suggested could even be expanded to other permanent types such as artifacts and enchantments to represent how your Commander grows in ability throughout the game. Seems like there is plenty of design space to be innovative too, just by combining them.
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.
UW: Sphinxes? Angels? Spirits? Probably Angels or Spirits, I don't think Sphinxes are all that popular.
BR: Demons/Devils? Minotaur? Probably Demon/Devils it works I mean as noted Dragons got their own deck. Works well if you combine with Angels
UB: Faeries? Zombies? Could go either way here really.
RG: Beast? Hydra? Elementals? I mean they botched the Jund Land Theme they could get redemption by doing Elemental with Lands and getting it right.
I think I really like this idea actually lol.
Isn't it just as likely to finish the arcs that started with UBR Wizards or the wedges started with RWB Vampires? Really, one point with these new themes is that they don't have to be entirely bound by making full cycles of pairs and triples every year. At the very least we also know that a pure tribal product was not universally liked - which is why a flavor theme that could be realized in different ways mechanically seems like a better plan.
Maybe they'll tie the decks into the current storyline as they did with Archenemy: Nicol Bolas and make four planeswalker based decks, but not built around color combinations per se, but providing us with two decks for each side of the conflict in the Sparky War. It could be even minor characters or planeswalkers that didn't get a recent reprint and are just introduced as some of the dozen of planeswalkers Ajani brought in. They could double-dip on the plane theme some of the audience want to see a glimpse of old planes if e. g. one of the allies brought in was Tamiyo and we get to get some Kamigawa-themed new cards and reprints, but since she is a planeswalker the decks needn't be entirely restricted like that and also wouldn't be required to be representative of all of Kamigawa, but only the part of the plane connected to the planeswalker.
The strongest strike against this is that such a theme would more naturally focus on the main characters again, so e. g. Bolas + Domri vs. Jace + Ajani (Note that this combination of 'walkers would repeat two of the tribal year's color combinations making this less likely). But as a transition between story arcs it could be set up differently.
... thinking about it some more it seems unlikely with last year's decks also featuring planeswalker commanders.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
Yes but the fans have Ben rioting for ally colored precon decks for a while so would make sense to make them
And also yes I would love a bolas vs walkers theme decks for this but beside already did walkers last year it’s also that the set will already be out by the time the decks get revealed (war of the spark releases in April and commander decks are not till mid summer/August)
But really repeat themes probably have to have a decent year span but tribal is not out of the ordinary of doing again since there’s are countless creature tribes that don’t have a good leader yet
rakdos, the showstopper is very close to a demon/devil tribal but way to hard to win with and O-Kagachi, Vengeful Kami which was in the tribal set is as close as we gotten to a spirit tribal but no tribal support as a matter of fact they confessed spirits was the original plan but the popularity of dragons ruined everything (but some needed reprints anyway and a opportunity to make the Ur-dragon)
Kaladesh: artifact-themes deck... again. Jeskai colors. Plenty of tokens and 1-2 pieces of vehicle support.
Zendikar: What the windgrace deck should have been. An actual land-based deck (gruul or maya) with ramp that triggers landfall and works you toward a small number of eldrazi.
Lorwyn: Tribal Miscellanea. A core of changelings (including one or two new ones) with miscellaneous lords for obscure creature types, conspiracy, and arcane evolution. As people are always clamoring for lords for obscure types, this deck would give wizards the chance to go nuts (Crab Lord, Scout Lord, etc). 5 color.
Innistrad: Dimir/Sultai graveyard theme deck with zombie sun-theme. Zendikar’s mechanical identity is the graveyard set and these colors are the ones to incorporate that (Selesnya/Banr angels+humans doesn’t really have an identity beyond having two tribes and Jund aggro is unlikely when the vampires already got their own deck)
Dominaria: 5-color weathertight theme deck, as mentioned by others. Notably, this would probably be the place to put a vehicle (the weatherlight) that can act as a commander.
Alara OR Ravnica: multicolor Matters. If Alana, I could imagine more five-colored cards and a cascade sub-theme. If Ravnica, I’d expect a collection of recognizable cards with a gate subtheme and maze’s end. Either way, five colors.
Theros: ...I literally can’t think of anything that isn’t just doing Estrid again. Devotion would require fewer colors but this set doesn’t have a definitive color...
If the theme is planes, Innistrad is the most likely plane to get a deck this year as it's been a while since we've visited Innistrad, it's the second most popular plane after Ravnica, and it has an easy color combo - WB, with Sorin or Fourth Sister as the face - that hasn't been done in the four deck plan yet.
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.
"Restriction breeds creativity." - Sheldon Menery on EDH / Commander in Magic: The Gathering
"Cancel Culture is the real reason why everyone's not allowed to have nice things anymore." - Anonymous
"For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" - Mark 8:36
"Most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution." - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
"Every life decision is always a risk / reward proposition." - Sanjay Gupta
Magus of the Wheel
Magus of the Will
Magus of the Mind
Magus of the Balance
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.
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.͇̣̙̝