I noticed the complete opposite, an abundance of black-skinned humans. Much more then we get in an average set.
Looks like I goofed again. I realize now I didn't explain myself well. When I said "white human (male) soldiers", I was referring to MTG colors and types, and that's why male was in parentheses, because it's not. I love the ethnic variety in Theros, that's awesome. I was just saying that too many of the human creatures in Theros block, specifically in Born of the Gods, seem to be White (or W) Human (male) Soldiers, and a very high percentage of them are from Akroa. Whereas each Polis is supposedly part White (W). When there's only 3 major cities, I expect more diverse representation is all.
If the set looks "weak", I have a theory, a conspiracy theory...
Wizards hates enchantments. It took them this long to make enchantment creatures after all, when artifact creatures have been around since the very beginning. Artifacts get way more love than enchantments, and somehow seem to get less hate! They probably won't even make enchantment lands, even though the flavor of Theros would easily justify it. Why? Because artifacts. Artifact lands to be specific, they ruined it for potential enchantment lands. Which further ruins the path for the instant lands I've always wanted. Not to mention the Planeswalker Lands. *sigh* and the Snow Enchantment Tribal Lands.
Anyway, I've been a big fan of Bestow since Theros, but...as with Theros, most seem rather overcosted. There's a few sneaky Bestow creatures that are good creatures on their own, but overcosted as auras, with one or two that are awful creatures but reasonably costed auras. I especially like that Eidolon though. Eidolon of Countless Battles. Powers itself or enchanted creature up by the number of creatures AND auras you have. I love stuff like that. Shame there's no cards that just get better for each Enchantment you control, like those two in Return to Ravnica. Ethereal Armor and Sphere of Safety. Not surprised though.
Oh, one thing...notice the overabundance of human male soldiers? Don't say "but Greek mythology..." This isn't Greek Mythology or history, it's inspired by it. Magic typically has a much higher female to male ratio than this, and one of the three Polis' is supposedly chock full of warrior women, what's the deal? 80% of the Satessan warriors are on instants and sorceries, instead of being creatures, which is odd when you consider that Green is the creature color, yet the greenest city has the least creatures...? Doesn't anyone else find this a big flaw in the flavor area? I feel like they always do this though, they try and make certain places, tribes, or whatever seem balanced in the story, yet the cards represent this poorly. I know the creative team and design team are usually different, right? But with a top-down set like Theros, and this also applies to Innistrad, you'd think they'd try harder to have things sync up!
This isn't just about Satessa getting underrepresented, but Meletis as well, not too many people from there either. One of the fun things about Magic was always the variety of creatures, and even for just humans, the variety was pretty astounding. It's not just about soldiers, warriors, and knights, but wizards, advisors, rogues, the odd classless human...I feel like Theros is representing this poorly, giving too much of the human attention to white human (male) soldiers from Akroa.
Well, that was a rant that's sort of out of place, but it's somewhat relevant, as people were going on and on about flavor. For the record, I do quite enjoy the flavor of Theros quite a bit, but...some things stick out to me.
A little disappointed that they went with artifact token before enchantment token, considering the new directions enchantments are going in this block, but they've always loved artifacts more than enchantments, so it's no surprise. At least there is enchantment creature tokens now too. Which I want, badly. I'll pass on the Zombie tokens, creepy little zombie children with creepy masks, no thanks.
Now where's my Land tokens and Planeswalkers tokens.
Xenagos sounds just like another "all according to plan" villain, where stuff just happens and it benefits him, no matter how absurd or farfetched it is.
And Elspeth cannot seem to catch a break, it's like they enjoy tormenting her.
The awkward thing now is that Blizzard's next WoW expansion is "Warlords of Draenor."
One of my most first thoughts after hearing about WOW: Warlords of Draenor was how it sounded like Warlords of Khanar, the mysterious Magic trademark.
And watching the trailer got me wishing Warlors of Khanar would be even remotely like that. I dunno, the crazy siege elements...and I'd love to see Orcs return to Magic. I'm sure they aren't related though, I'm just saying...it gave me ideas...
Feels really Vanguard...(you know, that was a Vanguard stat, starting life changes) But, starting with 7 life seems underwhelming compared to most, and it seems harder to get. I wonder how much singles of it will cost, because, well, it's probably not gonna be highly sought after.
Was it really confirmed that it's gonna be a supported format?? I'm rather curious about that...
Anyway, it sounds like you get to use 2 Heroes in your deck? That spices things up a little...
Oh, c'mon. A story article, during Theros previews, going into detail about the fallen, plague-ridden, skinless-alien-cyborg infested world...not cool. And to make it worse, the strongest Praetor is the most absurd one. The skin-flaying, sadistic hypocrite "white" one. My eyes are rolling so hard it gives me a headache. She's obviously their new "pet villain", that is, a villain that's a horrible monster, that just can't lose. Some writers and designers become attached to their sadistic murderers and make them win at everything and never really fail. It's really quite sad. Doesn't help that she's...gross. Oh, how I long for Karn to reappear and vaporize at the very least the "white" praetor. Urabrask seems like a true bro for the Mirrans, hope he himself didn't lose to that...thing.
But Karn got retconned. Maybe he tried to use his ultimate and he hasn't reappeared yet? Because, you know, you can't keep him with that ability.
Elspeth'll do some heroic journey on Theros. Get some awesome new godly powers. Go back to Mirrodin and...make it Mirrodin again. Yup.
Did anyone else think the Cleric token looked like they were firing a kamehameha wave into the sky? Anybody...?
Also, the Akroan Horse soldier tokens, looks like they are coming out of an AT-AT.
Well, anyway, that Elemental token looks cool. And...if you ask me, a 1/0 token seems even more suspicious than a 0/0 token. Water horses look cooler than germs anyway.
Hey...hey...the ability triggers when the Archon enters the battlefield, or dies. In Black and White no less! It's like HAUNT. Missed the Orzhov role call by a few months, or a few years actually.
Also, hey, maybe there's a female Archon here because...they kinda said that there won't be angels in Theros.
I've wanted an ocean adventure block for a long time.
But more than Pirates, and even Ships (yes, I want Ship to become a creature type again, rather than the creature type being the pilot or captain or whatever, which irks me greatly), but a plethora of underwater stuff!
Notice how much they've been phasing out underwater stuff? I mean, sure, it makes sense for Merfolk, if they want them to interact with humans in ways besides at the water, and because hey, you are in a forest, or a mountain! How did you get there? Blah blah, the kind of flavor most players don't care about!
But still, what happened to the Fish? Fish is a creature type you know! There's only one Oyster, only one Starfish, only one Sponge. BAH! Even Leviathans and Krakens are usually out of the water!
When I first started Magic, some of my favorite cards were blue underwater creatures, Merfolk especially. It's just something, they phased out.
But an ocean adventure block? It might bring that back, even if only for one set! Even if it's more about sailing and pirates, there'd still be way more potential for underwater stuff, and FISH.
Well, now that I think about it...Purple in Theros (the block, not the set) would work better than it might seem.
I've always felt that if they do Purple, it should be related to Space (you know, that stuff between planets?) As "basic lands" are already covered for the most part, and Purple hasn't appeared before. But they've said that some Planes are in fact, galaxies or universes (right? I think they said that somewhere) Now, once you get to a Plane that has stuff in space, cosmic creatures or whatever, then...purple will "fit"...
Speaking of space, notice what the Nyx stuff looks like? It looks like outer space, kinda. SO, maybe Nyx, is more like some cosmic rift subspace place. Purple won't be in Theros, or Born of the Gods, not until Journey into Nyx!
YEAH....Not likely, but I think there's a...possibility.
I still think it's funny how like, one third of the Gorgons in Magic are Legendary. Not exactly, but pretty close.
Anyway, I love weird, creative tribal like this. I just wish she had Green like the other Gorgon in the set, for...EDH commander purposes...But oh well, she'd be fun in a Damia deck! Too bad I only have like, one other Gorgon. Still, at least...her ability is very Black, so it, makes sense she's not part Green.
The art on Orcish Lumberjack is all wrong in my opinion. Doesn't look at all like a 1/1 and, honestly, the original art is close to iconic.
Lots of cards have power and toughness that make me go "What!?" though. And...as a Warcraft 3 fan, I gotta say this:
original art = Goblin Shredder
new art = Peon!?
If you think of him as a Peon, being 1/1 makes more sense...
Well, anyway, Orcish Lumberjack still has that original art, even with a modern border (thanks to Coldsnap decks!) So you can still use that one...But yeah, the old art is...awesome, for lack of a better word.
ONE MORE THING. I know it probably means nothing, but a serious looking art for an Orc gives me some hope they'll return. They were often...almost depicted to be even more pitiful and awful than Goblins, and that's...a little sad. Oh, I doubt it really means anything. It's not like next block will have Orcs...
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Oh, oops, when I said "Theros" I was specifically referring to Born of the Gods. Theros the set was a little more balanced.
Looks like I goofed again. I realize now I didn't explain myself well. When I said "white human (male) soldiers", I was referring to MTG colors and types, and that's why male was in parentheses, because it's not. I love the ethnic variety in Theros, that's awesome. I was just saying that too many of the human creatures in Theros block, specifically in Born of the Gods, seem to be White (or W) Human (male) Soldiers, and a very high percentage of them are from Akroa. Whereas each Polis is supposedly part White (W). When there's only 3 major cities, I expect more diverse representation is all.
Wizards hates enchantments. It took them this long to make enchantment creatures after all, when artifact creatures have been around since the very beginning. Artifacts get way more love than enchantments, and somehow seem to get less hate! They probably won't even make enchantment lands, even though the flavor of Theros would easily justify it. Why? Because artifacts. Artifact lands to be specific, they ruined it for potential enchantment lands. Which further ruins the path for the instant lands I've always wanted. Not to mention the Planeswalker Lands. *sigh* and the Snow Enchantment Tribal Lands.
Anyway, I've been a big fan of Bestow since Theros, but...as with Theros, most seem rather overcosted. There's a few sneaky Bestow creatures that are good creatures on their own, but overcosted as auras, with one or two that are awful creatures but reasonably costed auras. I especially like that Eidolon though. Eidolon of Countless Battles. Powers itself or enchanted creature up by the number of creatures AND auras you have. I love stuff like that. Shame there's no cards that just get better for each Enchantment you control, like those two in Return to Ravnica. Ethereal Armor and Sphere of Safety. Not surprised though.
Oh, one thing...notice the overabundance of human male soldiers? Don't say "but Greek mythology..." This isn't Greek Mythology or history, it's inspired by it. Magic typically has a much higher female to male ratio than this, and one of the three Polis' is supposedly chock full of warrior women, what's the deal? 80% of the Satessan warriors are on instants and sorceries, instead of being creatures, which is odd when you consider that Green is the creature color, yet the greenest city has the least creatures...? Doesn't anyone else find this a big flaw in the flavor area? I feel like they always do this though, they try and make certain places, tribes, or whatever seem balanced in the story, yet the cards represent this poorly. I know the creative team and design team are usually different, right? But with a top-down set like Theros, and this also applies to Innistrad, you'd think they'd try harder to have things sync up!
This isn't just about Satessa getting underrepresented, but Meletis as well, not too many people from there either. One of the fun things about Magic was always the variety of creatures, and even for just humans, the variety was pretty astounding. It's not just about soldiers, warriors, and knights, but wizards, advisors, rogues, the odd classless human...I feel like Theros is representing this poorly, giving too much of the human attention to white human (male) soldiers from Akroa.
Well, that was a rant that's sort of out of place, but it's somewhat relevant, as people were going on and on about flavor. For the record, I do quite enjoy the flavor of Theros quite a bit, but...some things stick out to me.
A little disappointed that they went with artifact token before enchantment token, considering the new directions enchantments are going in this block, but they've always loved artifacts more than enchantments, so it's no surprise. At least there is enchantment creature tokens now too. Which I want, badly. I'll pass on the Zombie tokens, creepy little zombie children with creepy masks, no thanks.
Now where's my Land tokens and Planeswalkers tokens.
And Elspeth cannot seem to catch a break, it's like they enjoy tormenting her.
"Death to all who oppose the Horde!!!"
Couldn't help myself...
Anyway, this is interesting, I was expecting another monster challenge deck, not a minotaur horde thing. Waiting for details...
One of my most first thoughts after hearing about WOW: Warlords of Draenor was how it sounded like Warlords of Khanar, the mysterious Magic trademark.
And watching the trailer got me wishing Warlors of Khanar would be even remotely like that. I dunno, the crazy siege elements...and I'd love to see Orcs return to Magic. I'm sure they aren't related though, I'm just saying...it gave me ideas...
Was it really confirmed that it's gonna be a supported format?? I'm rather curious about that...
Anyway, it sounds like you get to use 2 Heroes in your deck? That spices things up a little...
The Warlords are the ones who command the T-Rexes. There will be a cycle of Legendary warlords riding on T-Rexes.
Well, anyway, maybe Sarkhan will return. Warlords of SARKHANar. Get it?
Eh, well, it sounds like a weird name for a set to me. It also sounds too red themed, and yup, most warlords in Magic are red.
I dunno. I'll just wait and see, as usual.
But Karn got retconned. Maybe he tried to use his ultimate and he hasn't reappeared yet? Because, you know, you can't keep him with that ability.
Elspeth'll do some heroic journey on Theros. Get some awesome new godly powers. Go back to Mirrodin and...make it Mirrodin again. Yup.
Also, the Akroan Horse soldier tokens, looks like they are coming out of an AT-AT.
Well, anyway, that Elemental token looks cool. And...if you ask me, a 1/0 token seems even more suspicious than a 0/0 token. Water horses look cooler than germs anyway.
Also, hey, maybe there's a female Archon here because...they kinda said that there won't be angels in Theros.
But more than Pirates, and even Ships (yes, I want Ship to become a creature type again, rather than the creature type being the pilot or captain or whatever, which irks me greatly), but a plethora of underwater stuff!
Notice how much they've been phasing out underwater stuff? I mean, sure, it makes sense for Merfolk, if they want them to interact with humans in ways besides at the water, and because hey, you are in a forest, or a mountain! How did you get there? Blah blah, the kind of flavor most players don't care about!
But still, what happened to the Fish? Fish is a creature type you know! There's only one Oyster, only one Starfish, only one Sponge. BAH! Even Leviathans and Krakens are usually out of the water!
When I first started Magic, some of my favorite cards were blue underwater creatures, Merfolk especially. It's just something, they phased out.
But an ocean adventure block? It might bring that back, even if only for one set! Even if it's more about sailing and pirates, there'd still be way more potential for underwater stuff, and FISH.
Also, Homarids.
I've always felt that if they do Purple, it should be related to Space (you know, that stuff between planets?) As "basic lands" are already covered for the most part, and Purple hasn't appeared before. But they've said that some Planes are in fact, galaxies or universes (right? I think they said that somewhere) Now, once you get to a Plane that has stuff in space, cosmic creatures or whatever, then...purple will "fit"...
Speaking of space, notice what the Nyx stuff looks like? It looks like outer space, kinda. SO, maybe Nyx, is more like some cosmic rift subspace place. Purple won't be in Theros, or Born of the Gods, not until Journey into Nyx!
YEAH....Not likely, but I think there's a...possibility.
Anyway, I love weird, creative tribal like this. I just wish she had Green like the other Gorgon in the set, for...EDH commander purposes...But oh well, she'd be fun in a Damia deck! Too bad I only have like, one other Gorgon. Still, at least...her ability is very Black, so it, makes sense she's not part Green.
Lots of cards have power and toughness that make me go "What!?" though. And...as a Warcraft 3 fan, I gotta say this:
original art = Goblin Shredder
new art = Peon!?
If you think of him as a Peon, being 1/1 makes more sense...
Well, anyway, Orcish Lumberjack still has that original art, even with a modern border (thanks to Coldsnap decks!) So you can still use that one...But yeah, the old art is...awesome, for lack of a better word.
ONE MORE THING. I know it probably means nothing, but a serious looking art for an Orc gives me some hope they'll return. They were often...almost depicted to be even more pitiful and awful than Goblins, and that's...a little sad. Oh, I doubt it really means anything. It's not like next block will have Orcs...