Reprinting the ten Ninjas that exist? If half your creature selection has to be changelings, then it probably isn't a viable tribe to support at this time. Push for more worlds with Ninjas in them, and then we can make it happen.
I posted it half-jokingly ("unsuspected" and all that), but it wouldn't be all that hard for them to make a Ninja deck if they put their minds to it. Reprint the 10 they have, print 10 new ones, add 10 non-ninja utility creatures, and call it a day. If they wanted to they can.
The individual stories are mostly fine, some even pretty good. That said, the overall arcs are predictable and boring. Every single block under the new structure: Gatewatch assembles, defeats the villain, saves the plane.
Zendikar? All 4 members of the Gatewatch team up, destroy Ula and Cosi, and Zendikar is saved!
Innistrad? All 5(!) members of the Gatewatch team up, exile Ema, and Innistrad is saved!
Kaladesh? All 6(!!) members of the Gatewatch team up, defeat Tezz and destroy his portal, and Kaladesh is saved!
and if this holds:
Amonkhet? All 7(!!!) members of the Gatewatch team up, defeat Bolas, and Amonkhet is saved!
I don't know if they will or not, and I know a lot of people are saying that Bolas is too powerful to be defeated, but it's not really hard to imagine Ugin becoming a 7th member evening the odds and giving the Gatewatch ample means to overpower Bolas. Who, after all, hasn't been impressive for years and hasn't looked all that unbeatable when facing off against Ajani/Ugin/Tetsuo.
The closest parallel, and where it draws a lot of inspiration from, is undoubtedly MCU's Avengers. So far, they have also came out on top in every movie they've been in. However, not every movie features all of the Avengers. Falcon featured in Ant Man, Hulk in the next Thor movie, but they are not bringing in every single member of the Avengers in every single movie. I really don't understand why Magic feels the need to do that. Why couldn't Innistrad just be Jace/Lili teaming up with Tamiyo? Why couldn't Kaladesh just be Chandra/Nissa teaming up with Ajani to take out Tezz? Why did everyone have to be there every single time?
Platinum Angel isn't a legendary card, which essentially means it isn't a character, as a character is legendary (legend rule = only one, as there is only one of legendary creature/artifcat/ etc.
Not always true. As I recall, Hero of Bladehold refers to a singular character with a back story yet wasn't made legendary.
There was not a Red-Green god, at least as far as we know. Temple of Abandon is referring to the noun definition of Abandon: "complete lack of inhibition or restraint.", which is perfect for the Satyr. It's a hint at what Xenagos was trying to do.
I thought Temple of Abandon was a double play on the meaning of the word. It refers to both the original god who deserted them (first meaning of abandon), as well as the new god Xenagos who wants them to revel (second meaning of abandon).
Sorry for being late to the "Ludevic fails" complains, but I'm actually quite annoyed that Ludevic isn't black, not because he's a necro-alchemist, but because his true defining trait is his reclusiveness (seriously how many times did Geralf even meet him, let alone everyone else?) Reclusiveness was a B trait on Innistrad. I could tell they wanted to convey that through his ability, but they even botched that up (instead of "Don't bother Ludevic", everyone reads it as "Hurt yourself and get rewarded").
There are very few commanders that were blatently overpowered. Derevi, Animar, Riku, Meren, Mizzix
Actually thinking about it, those are the only 5 i can name. The rest seem pretty tame.
Not to mention the fact that no small percentage of the surviving humans have now been warped into Eldrazi and are killing the others. I really don't see how humanity can bounce back after this. Even if Sigarda becomes the new Avacyn like people are speculating, the population may well have dropped below replacement levels. Certainly at below the point of having a stable gene pool.
It's not that dire luckily. Even if 99% of Innistrad's human population perished, there would be enough genetic diversity to maintain the species.
Bolas is more than capable of wiping out huge chunks of their followers, too, which would (probably?) weaken them.
Would that even work on Theros? Nothing ever truly dies there. Would the result of Bolas killing a large chunk of Theros' population just be Erebos writing him a nice "Thank You" letter?
Uhm...
Fierce Empath for creatures
Sphinx Summoner for artifact creatures
Trinket Mage for artifacts
Godo, Bandit Warlord for equipment
Firemind's Foresight for instants
Sunforger for instants
Diabolic Tutor for anything
Heck, they just printed Nazahn, Revered Bladesmith in this very set.
Change it to coin flipping and the card works perfectly in black border.
Maro confirmed the color is gold.
I posted it half-jokingly ("unsuspected" and all that), but it wouldn't be all that hard for them to make a Ninja deck if they put their minds to it. Reprint the 10 they have, print 10 new ones, add 10 non-ninja utility creatures, and call it a day. If they wanted to they can.
Zendikar? All 4 members of the Gatewatch team up, destroy Ula and Cosi, and Zendikar is saved!
Innistrad? All 5(!) members of the Gatewatch team up, exile Ema, and Innistrad is saved!
Kaladesh? All 6(!!) members of the Gatewatch team up, defeat Tezz and destroy his portal, and Kaladesh is saved!
and if this holds:
Amonkhet? All 7(!!!) members of the Gatewatch team up, defeat Bolas, and Amonkhet is saved!
I don't know if they will or not, and I know a lot of people are saying that Bolas is too powerful to be defeated, but it's not really hard to imagine Ugin becoming a 7th member evening the odds and giving the Gatewatch ample means to overpower Bolas. Who, after all, hasn't been impressive for years and hasn't looked all that unbeatable when facing off against Ajani/Ugin/Tetsuo.
The closest parallel, and where it draws a lot of inspiration from, is undoubtedly MCU's Avengers. So far, they have also came out on top in every movie they've been in. However, not every movie features all of the Avengers. Falcon featured in Ant Man, Hulk in the next Thor movie, but they are not bringing in every single member of the Avengers in every single movie. I really don't understand why Magic feels the need to do that. Why couldn't Innistrad just be Jace/Lili teaming up with Tamiyo? Why couldn't Kaladesh just be Chandra/Nissa teaming up with Ajani to take out Tezz? Why did everyone have to be there every single time?
Not always true. As I recall, Hero of Bladehold refers to a singular character with a back story yet wasn't made legendary.
I thought Temple of Abandon was a double play on the meaning of the word. It refers to both the original god who deserted them (first meaning of abandon), as well as the new god Xenagos who wants them to revel (second meaning of abandon).
Isn't "leave me alone" a green trait?
Ghave, Karador?
It's not that dire luckily. Even if 99% of Innistrad's human population perished, there would be enough genetic diversity to maintain the species.
Would that even work on Theros? Nothing ever truly dies there. Would the result of Bolas killing a large chunk of Theros' population just be Erebos writing him a nice "Thank You" letter?