It's possible they were initially intending to use the original art for them, and it was a rushed decision to use new art, or it's just a style difference between artists they chose.
It's possible they were initially intending to use the original art for them
They've never repeated art in an expert-level expansion, unless it was futureshifted (and I'm not sure they've even done that more than once). It is not necessary to "explain" why the art is inferior in some people's opinions. That's just how art is, people have opinions about its quality relative to other art.
1. They were the first cards in the set. They were in the set before the set was even an idea.
2. I keep hearing people complain about the art on them, but I think it's fine to good. Not the most jaw-dropping, but not bad.
3. Why don't people complain about the art on Zendikar fetchlands? It's not bad, but none of it is particularly interesting or memorable. I think these are actually better.
Inclusion of fetchlands is much more a thing for modern.
They needed to reprint them and so they did.
The artwork for them isnt that bad, with the exception of Flooded Strand, which just looks strange and doesnt fit the cards name ; mainly as its a STRAND and the artwork its more like a lake in a mountain area, and the dragon bone is incredible ugly aswell.
Wooded Foothills (a little big too much ice, and not enough "wooded") , especially compared to the onslaught art, which much more literraly shows a forest on the foot of a mountain.
Polluted Delta (that looks like a Delta, dirty dragon bones, just good) however has a great fitting artwork, arguable better than the onslaught ones.
Overall it looks like they wanted fetchlands, but the "names" did not really fit the Tarkir World, or the artists didnt do the cards with fetchlands in mind , more like the idea was to have lands for dragons, but not necessary fetchlands (or fetchlands that in fact hit 3 basic land types, with a different cost rather then pay 1 life).
That said, it would make much more sence to have 3-color wedge fetchlands with the sets Wedge theme in mind.
Also for some artworks make more sence if a wedge theme is behind them.
For example :
Wooded Foothills has the big element of ice in it, which easily could be TEMUR and fetch for a island aswell for that.
The Flooded Strand might have made slighty more sence as a Jeskai fetchland, with the mountains in the backround, it could easily hit a mountain.
Ofcourse all that means the names would be different aswell to reflect being "wedge" fetchlands.
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So if they intended fetchlands as the very first cards, it was solely for the reason that modern very much demanded a reprint, not because they fit the set in any way (beside delve at least).
That art thing is purely subjective to some players. Personally, I like the new art, with the new frame and its clearer, more spacious layout and the dragon theme.
A lot of people I know who complain about the art are people who used to play with the Onslaught ones and feel a bit entitled to play ol' grumpy (arrr, 'was much better back in the days!). But not all are like that.
As for the rush, I don't know, they've been very aggressive with modern reprints lately (TS, Muta, Ravlands etc), I guess it follows that trend.
Nope, the answer for why the fetchlands in Tarkir is Modern. They pretty much confirmed it in recent articles. As soon as the set was starting planning, they asked Maro if fetchlands could be put in, 'cause they needed it for modern, and he basically just said sure.
Any card synergies or avoidance of super-synergies came after the decision to have fetchlands, which was before they had any other cards in the block. They were literally the first cards in the block. They're a big huge nod to modern players.
- If yes, then does it mean, that we will NOT see any Return-To-Zendikar within the next years?
No more than the allied fetches indicate such a thing. A lot of people have got it into their heads that there's some special connection between Zendikar and the enemy fetchlands, but there isn't. They have generic names and no more mechanical synergy than the allied ones. If fetchlands were 100% necessary for a return to Zendikar (which they aren't) then the presence of the allied cycle in Khans would be enough to postpone it at least by a few years. They're not going to print two basically identical cycles in adjacent blocks, either they finish the cycle in Fate Reforged or Louie, or we don't get enemy fetchlands at all. I think the former is substantially more likely, but either way return to Zendikar doesn't come into it. That ship sailed when they revealed this cycle in Tarkir.
You are the only person I have ever heard say the new wooded foothills is ugly Themisto. Everyone else seems to hate the new art except for the wooded foothills. I'm personally a fan of all the arts but especially foothills. Not to mention the new windswept heath doesn't have that face drawn on it -.- original delta I have to give the nod to over the new one although the new one is fine. Old mire has the edge over the new one by a tad as they look very similar. Original flooded strand I'm just not a fan of with how little colors it has present while the new one has the nice green, blue, and dragon bones.
Fetchlands were the first thing in the set. I'm glad for that as it means WotC is supporting the players at least by not having people shell out $400 for a delta playset instead of 40-80.
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I really have no idea what you guys mean by ugly. Wooded Foothills, Windswept Heath and Bloodstained Mire from KTK have some of my favorite land arts ever and the other two look fine (okay, Flooded Strand looks a little... well it looks like it was drawn by a child with crayon, but only on the card. The actual piece of art has much more detail than people realize and it's actually pretty good.)
They all depict exactly what they're called and most importantly, they are really recognizable. That's the reason art is even part of the game, to make it so that players know what a card is at first glance. None of these arts will ever be confused with anything else and that's a good thing.
Also, I'd much rather have good cards with bad art than bad cards with good art (looking at you Teysa).
Nope, the answer for why the fetchlands in Tarkir is Modern. They pretty much confirmed it in recent articles. As soon as the set was starting planning, they asked Maro if fetchlands could be put in, 'cause they needed it for modern, and he basically just said sure.
Any card synergies or avoidance of super-synergies came after the decision to have fetchlands, which was before they had any other cards in the block. They were literally the first cards in the block. They're a big huge nod to modern players.
Well, you are not answering the question here. The fact is they decided not to have Return To Zendikar be the block with the fetches.
Okay, sure they needed fetches in 2014-2015, but that is not answering why Tarkir and not Zendikar. They could have just swapped block.
No, they couldn't have. The story isn't anywhere near the point where they can return to Zendikar. They hadn't revived Ugin yet or found a replacement for him (possibly Chandra if you were going by the ghostfire mastery). Nissa hadn't found any new magic effective for fighting the Eldrazi. Kiora, while she was looking on Theros, didn't really find anything effective vs. the Eldrazi there. And Nissa and Kiora are just the Zendikar native planeswalkers interested in the fight. Jace and Gideon are also searching for things to face the Eldrazi with (Chandra seems like she might not have even noticed they were released, perhaps she left Zendikar too quickly, or after the bull***** she'd faced on Zendikar earlier, didn't realize they were weird for Zendikar?). I also suspect they want to introduce properly the Lithomancer (or replace them if they are dead or something) before we have a Return to Zendikar. They may also want to reveal _why_ Bolas was arranging for the Eldrazi to be released before that as well.
Basically, they didn't have the ingredients set up for the Return to Zendkiar. Also, the fetchlands aren't inherent to Zendikar in the first place. They were originally from Onslaught, and they have generic names to allow them to turn up on any plane. The main thing making them work well on Zendikar was landfall, which I don't think has to be a Zendikar specific mechanic, although it might not use that name outside of Zendikar, as shown by Sporemound.
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With the huge spike in Fetchland price and the clamor from Modern players for reprints, were these perhaps a more rushed inclusion in the set?
( Obviously, no evidence on my part, hence putting it in Baseless. )
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They've never repeated art in an expert-level expansion, unless it was futureshifted (and I'm not sure they've even done that more than once). It is not necessary to "explain" why the art is inferior in some people's opinions. That's just how art is, people have opinions about its quality relative to other art.
People got fetchlands and they are complaining about ART? Oh MTGS, there are new depths to reach I had not expected from you, even after 9 years.
I think that the new arts are great, with the subtheme of dragon bones.
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2. I keep hearing people complain about the art on them, but I think it's fine to good. Not the most jaw-dropping, but not bad.
3. Why don't people complain about the art on Zendikar fetchlands? It's not bad, but none of it is particularly interesting or memorable. I think these are actually better.
They needed to reprint them and so they did.
The artwork for them isnt that bad, with the exception of Flooded Strand, which just looks strange and doesnt fit the cards name ; mainly as its a STRAND and the artwork its more like a lake in a mountain area, and the dragon bone is incredible ugly aswell.
Wooded Foothills (a little big too much ice, and not enough "wooded") , especially compared to the onslaught art, which much more literraly shows a forest on the foot of a mountain.
Polluted Delta (that looks like a Delta, dirty dragon bones, just good) however has a great fitting artwork, arguable better than the onslaught ones.
Overall it looks like they wanted fetchlands, but the "names" did not really fit the Tarkir World, or the artists didnt do the cards with fetchlands in mind , more like the idea was to have lands for dragons, but not necessary fetchlands (or fetchlands that in fact hit 3 basic land types, with a different cost rather then pay 1 life).
That said, it would make much more sence to have 3-color wedge fetchlands with the sets Wedge theme in mind.
Also for some artworks make more sence if a wedge theme is behind them.
For example :
Wooded Foothills has the big element of ice in it, which easily could be TEMUR and fetch for a island aswell for that.
The Flooded Strand might have made slighty more sence as a Jeskai fetchland, with the mountains in the backround, it could easily hit a mountain.
Ofcourse all that means the names would be different aswell to reflect being "wedge" fetchlands.
-----------------------
So if they intended fetchlands as the very first cards, it was solely for the reason that modern very much demanded a reprint, not because they fit the set in any way (beside delve at least).
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A lot of people I know who complain about the art are people who used to play with the Onslaught ones and feel a bit entitled to play ol' grumpy (arrr, 'was much better back in the days!). But not all are like that.
As for the rush, I don't know, they've been very aggressive with modern reprints lately (TS, Muta, Ravlands etc), I guess it follows that trend.
Any card synergies or avoidance of super-synergies came after the decision to have fetchlands, which was before they had any other cards in the block. They were literally the first cards in the block. They're a big huge nod to modern players.
from KTK, I find wooded foothills art ugly.
No way of knowing for sure just yet, but if it was planned it was presumably planned at the same time.
No more than the allied fetches indicate such a thing. A lot of people have got it into their heads that there's some special connection between Zendikar and the enemy fetchlands, but there isn't. They have generic names and no more mechanical synergy than the allied ones. If fetchlands were 100% necessary for a return to Zendikar (which they aren't) then the presence of the allied cycle in Khans would be enough to postpone it at least by a few years. They're not going to print two basically identical cycles in adjacent blocks, either they finish the cycle in Fate Reforged or Louie, or we don't get enemy fetchlands at all. I think the former is substantially more likely, but either way return to Zendikar doesn't come into it. That ship sailed when they revealed this cycle in Tarkir.
Fetchlands were the first thing in the set. I'm glad for that as it means WotC is supporting the players at least by not having people shell out $400 for a delta playset instead of 40-80.
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They all depict exactly what they're called and most importantly, they are really recognizable. That's the reason art is even part of the game, to make it so that players know what a card is at first glance. None of these arts will ever be confused with anything else and that's a good thing.
Also, I'd much rather have good cards with bad art than bad cards with good art (looking at you Teysa).
No, they couldn't have. The story isn't anywhere near the point where they can return to Zendikar. They hadn't revived Ugin yet or found a replacement for him (possibly Chandra if you were going by the ghostfire mastery). Nissa hadn't found any new magic effective for fighting the Eldrazi. Kiora, while she was looking on Theros, didn't really find anything effective vs. the Eldrazi there. And Nissa and Kiora are just the Zendikar native planeswalkers interested in the fight. Jace and Gideon are also searching for things to face the Eldrazi with (Chandra seems like she might not have even noticed they were released, perhaps she left Zendikar too quickly, or after the bull***** she'd faced on Zendikar earlier, didn't realize they were weird for Zendikar?). I also suspect they want to introduce properly the Lithomancer (or replace them if they are dead or something) before we have a Return to Zendikar. They may also want to reveal _why_ Bolas was arranging for the Eldrazi to be released before that as well.
Basically, they didn't have the ingredients set up for the Return to Zendkiar. Also, the fetchlands aren't inherent to Zendikar in the first place. They were originally from Onslaught, and they have generic names to allow them to turn up on any plane. The main thing making them work well on Zendikar was landfall, which I don't think has to be a Zendikar specific mechanic, although it might not use that name outside of Zendikar, as shown by Sporemound.