Five- and zero-color decks are the obvious holes left. It would be interesting if they took a year to develop some of the cool mechanics they've created in 5 Commander and 2 Conspiracy sets the past few years; lieutenants, planeswalker (and perhaps other non-creature?) commanders, voting cards, dethrone, monarch, and commander-matters cards (like Bastion Protector). I left partner off the list, as I imagine they would want to gauge feedback before doing more of them. The problem would be that it would be more of a greatest-hits feel than a consistent mechanical theme, so they would likely avoid it; but it would be nice to have a few more examples of the mechanics that have worked well.
It's explained in the article. They wanted the Gatecrash colors to have more time in Standard, since the RtR pairs were introduced earlier and have had more time in Standard.
In a limited way, this is a repeatable Sword to Plowshares. Lots of people were happy to trade life to eliminate a troubling creature in the 'good old days.' StP is more versatile, of course, as the Alms Beast cannot hit flyers and unblockables, but I think it's worth experimenting with.
I would not be surprised if there were 4-color legends. It's been noted that they are very hard to design, and since the only other 4-color cards were in Dissension, Dragon's Maze would be a great place to release them (if only to get the Commander players off their backs).
The Timmy in me would love for them to be a new cycle of Elder Dragon Legends, but it's probably more likely that I sprout wings and fly away from this keyboard.
Revised is when I started playing, summer of '94. I went to college in a small town, but the Waldenbooks I worked at got boxes regularly. Thus, I was pretty well set up for Revised, Fallen Empires, Ice Age, and Homelands. Played a LOT with college buddies. I roomed with one during a summer a few years later, and when he couldn't pay his half of the rent in cash, I accepted his Magic collection as payment instead. Considering he lived in Seattle and had been playing since Day 1, I got a lot of great rare cards that I still have to this day. (Not a lot of depth, but a lot of breadth.) Best deal I ever made, even as a poor college student!
Still, to some extent it's down to WotC's promotion. Why haven't we heard ANYTHING about the novel since Beyer's first announcement? People are clearly getting invested in this storyline, but WotC isn't capitalizing on that.
I think a good compromise would be to have the third Un-set be in the style of Planechase/Archenemy. Instead of a standard 144-card set or whatever, make it four or five decks filled with new cards (and maybe Un-reprints) that are "balanced" to play against one another. And don't just make it joke cards; feel free to included insane, overpowered cards that would never see the light of day in a black border. Heck, just name the set "Unbalanced."
Why would anyone shop at Walmart over their lgs assuming the lgs is at least halfway decent? Walmart must be offering free play space now.
At holidays and gift-giving times, it's a lot easier to ask for something that a parent/grandparent/SO can get at Walmart (or Target) rather than something they need to go a FLGS for. And that's assuming you have a FLGS, and not an unfriendly or unlocal GS to even point them to.
Glad MaRo and co. were able to get another Doctor Who reference onto a card. "Best not blink." = "Don't blink." Plus, it's a great card. I really like this design space of green mages being able to summon critters on their opponent's turns so they're ready to go.
How about this for a crazy theory: a new cycle of Elder Dragon Legends, keeping Bolas but subbing in four new mythic rare dragons for the other color combos? I love Vaevictis Asmadi as much as the next guy, but modern Magic technology can come up with some amazing replacements, I'm sure.
It's explained in the article. They wanted the Gatecrash colors to have more time in Standard, since the RtR pairs were introduced earlier and have had more time in Standard.
Yeah, very similar to how the Miracle cards had slightly different borders.
And the flavor is awesome.
The Timmy in me would love for them to be a new cycle of Elder Dragon Legends, but it's probably more likely that I sprout wings and fly away from this keyboard.
You may have missed it; Beyer's novel comes out two weeks from today. http://www.amazon.com/Return-Ravnica-Secretist-Part-ebook/dp/B009MYB82Y/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1352831782&sr=8-12&keywords=doug+beyer
At holidays and gift-giving times, it's a lot easier to ask for something that a parent/grandparent/SO can get at Walmart (or Target) rather than something they need to go a FLGS for. And that's assuming you have a FLGS, and not an unfriendly or unlocal GS to even point them to.
Nice find. I'm going to go the iPad route for this one, though.
Oh, and YESSSSSSSSS for D13 on the iPad!