Yes, they decided when they brought in Naga in Tarkir that creature types with mythological standing (Minotaur, Werewolf, ect) get that creature type and magic original creatures have mundane creature type (Leonin are cats, Aven are birds). Things like viashino and homarid got their own creature types before they set this system up and thus the creature types are thought of as a mistake.
That is a pretty good way of tearing away the originality from Magic and put it in the same bog of standard fantasy tropes we have seen so many times before... a perfect idea!
Okay I don't see how since this only effect the mechanics of cards and not creative team really.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I really don't want to start complaining, because scramming more references to old or obscure lore is hardly possible, but does anyone else miss certain things? Not a single dwarf, viashino, kor, nantuko or cephalid or at least their fate (considering the Rift Era they could have totally gotten away with making the otarian races extinct), no mention of Sarpadia outside of the homarid, which was a historic piece of information, not something about the continent's modern state. Also poor Caliman was completely ignored both in flavour text, art and supplementary materials.
Like, again, I don't mean to complain, but it felt a bit odd for such a rich setting like Dominaria to go through the card gallery and see 95% benalish cards in white and 90% tolarian cards in blue. It feels like Jamuura, the largest continent, specifically was largely left out apart from the odd reference here and there.
There is a mention of the Talas attacking Tolaria West ;-)
I think its mostly down to it being one set and there just isnt enough room. One of the things that stands out is that this story really paints it as the cabal vs new benalia. It kidna makes me thing the cabal isnt actually a global threat and just a rising power that is slowly expanding.
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SonofaBith - Wizards was so excited about making the packaging for Modern Masters 2 recyclable, they decided to make most of the rares and all but 1 of the UC's recycle-bin ready too. Convenient!
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
It was originally supposed to be 2 sets. Then the core sets got brought back, and the first of these new core sets took the spot of the second Dominaria set.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
They made the same mistake with Dominaria that they made with BFZ. Instead of implementing the change in block system with a set earlier in the design process they retrofit something to fit and it usually ****s it up.
On the other hand there is still a possibility that the fall set is Dominaria.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
This right here. We don't know what plane the next non-Core Standard set will be on. While it's likely that it won't be Dominaria, it's too soon to get upset about Dominaria being only one set.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
This right here. We don't know what plane the next non-Core Standard set will be on. While it's likely that it won't be Dominaria, it's too soon to get upset about Dominaria being only one set.
I was basing part of my assumption on the most recent article Rosewater posted, where he wrote: "One of the tricky things about being head designer is that I'm juggling a lot of balls at any one time. Dominaria being in set design meant "Spaghetti" was in vision design and "Meatballs" was in exploratory design."
That implied to me the two upcoming sets after Dominaria, together as 'Spaghetti and Meatballs,' are two parts of their own whole, and thus a two set block that follows after the end of Dominaria, instead of being an extension of Dominaria.
You have, an entire infinite Multiverse except for a small group of worlds in the Dominarian Shard area of the Multiverse to play in.
; the very act would be an admission of defeat.
Or it is cheating a bunch of schlubs who think they are a big deal because they are a major power on a single world.
Besides, remember that Lili was used to near omnipotency,
Yes she has hundreds of years of experience and doesn't apparently understand basic concepts like. "If I can see this easily visible loophole the guy who made the contract and the 4 demons." and can't think far ahead enough to understand that even if killing the 4 demons worked that all she did was trade them 4 for the chain veil.
If you're used to getting your way, you aren't going to run from problems, you try to solve them. If she did do as you say, she wouldn't be true to character;
You assume the Demons -are a problem- for her. In the entirety of the Lore there has been -ONE SINGULAR EXAMPLE- of the Demons calling in on her debt..which was when she tried to kill one. She already had her way because she could planeswalk to a world across the Multiverse in a Shard of worlds that the Demons have no access too. What are they going to do..tattle and call Nicol Bolas to fetch you? Cause he would totally do that, and even if you wanted them to not be able to call on you at all..The first one you offed already could not do that so you could just kill the other 3 and leave the last stuck in the HeliVault, thus completely negating the Bolas Clause of the Contract.
Yes she is being true to her character, and that is my problem..her character is a massive idiot who should know better and they chose her as the "black rep" in the Gatewatch despite her not fitting into it, if the writing staff were remotely competent Liliana would get killed at some point between now and Vraska shanking Nicol with The Blackblade.
Your suggestion is based on the single assumption that the demons can't reach through planes. That's like betting your life on the belief that these ancient and rather clever beings (never assume an enemy is stupid) do not have a way to leash a Planeswalker, and despite this made a deal anyway; would a bank offer a loan if they didn't have some way to collect? Betting everything on this, and then giving up your agency and the advantage of a preemptive strike, plus pissing off your debtors by hiding somewhere and not listening to them would be extremely stupid. It's clear the demons can communicate through planes; how would Kothoped even command Liliana to get the Chain Veil in the first place? And if they can communicate, they can easily plot. Liliana's actions is based on the same reasoning as to why every single superpower in history (Roman Imperium, USA, Kingdom of France, HRE, British Empire, China's Imperial Dynasties, Ottoman Empire etc) launches pre-emptive strikes on forces that can potentially be threats rather than just reacting to them; it's just a more reliable method with a greater success rate at protecting your own interests, even if it can fail at times.
I would also argue that Lili is a far cleverer character than Vraska (and the rest of the Gatewatch, though that isn't saying much; Jace is academically smarter, but Lili plots better) due to the sole fact that she actually does plan ahead. For example she tries to manipulate Jace to look through the demon deal, manipulates the Gatewatch into solving her problems, making people trust her by using selective honesty and etc. Sure her plans backfire, but that's a chance for good character development (in this new story, Lili was forced into being honest with Gideon more than she was comfortable with, showing emotional weakness due to the events around her brother and having her absolutely hating that Gideon can see it). Vraska just improvises her way out and uses the ability to petrify as a crutch. She was following a broken compass until Jace came along! Her leadership abilities were essentially given to her by Bolas, as the crew worked for her because of her supreme competence in navigating and sailing. Not to mention that as a character, her motivations are very mundane, she just longs for social acceptance (hates people seeing her as the evil gorgon, wants to lead the Golgari in order to give her people a place etc), which is hardly a black trait. If anything, seeing Vraska interact with the Gatewatch would be just adding another voice to their group-think chamber (as she would love acceptance into such an elite social group; her crush on Jace would be just a bonus). Seeing Vraska interact with Lili however would be super interesting, as Lili is essentially someone with Vraska's reputation who just doesn't care; they're complete opposites as Vraska longs for someone to understand her and her experiences, whereas Lili loathes any sign of pity or empathy from others as she sees it as simply a self admission of weakness that is recognized by others. Yet despite all this she enjoys Jace's company and being his friend/lover, and cannot bring herself to completely dismiss them as mere tools. Inner character tension is always great for development, whereas someone like Vraska currently only has a bland acceptance storyline. She wants something, getting that something (leadership abilities recognized, a place in society) does not in any way conflict with her character at all. Having her introduced to a different worldview altogether would however possibly cause character tension; would a part of Vraska want to have Liliana's apparent supreme self-confidence and irreverence of society?
Lili creates tension within the Gatewatch, and therefore creates valuable plot points between characters and gives an opportunity to flesh out everyone better. Just look at Gideon's development in this new storyline (although one could argue that it's also because they have a far better writer this time round, having him with a buddy like Jace would just offer more of the same since Gideon's beliefs, world view, goals, opinions of a character and etc would not be challenged).
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
This right here. We don't know what plane the next non-Core Standard set will be on. While it's likely that it won't be Dominaria, it's too soon to get upset about Dominaria being only one set.
I was basing part of my assumption on the most recent article Rosewater posted, where he wrote: "One of the tricky things about being head designer is that I'm juggling a lot of balls at any one time. Dominaria being in set design meant "Spaghetti" was in vision design and "Meatballs" was in exploratory design."
That implied to me the two upcoming sets after Dominaria, together as 'Spaghetti and Meatballs,' are two parts of their own whole, and thus a two set block that follows after the end of Dominaria, instead of being an extension of Dominaria.
OK that's fair. As I said, it's likely it won't be Dominaria. That being said, if the plane after that is interesting enough, would that make up for Dominaria not having two consecutive sets?
Yes, they decided when they brought in Naga in Tarkir that creature types with mythological standing (Minotaur, Werewolf, ect) get that creature type and magic original creatures have mundane creature type (Leonin are cats, Aven are birds). Things like viashino and homarid got their own creature types before they set this system up and thus the creature types are thought of as a mistake.
That is a pretty good way of tearing away the originality from Magic and put it in the same bog of standard fantasy tropes we have seen so many times before... a perfect idea!
Okay I don't see how since this only effect the mechanics of cards and not creative team really.
I believe the two things should be more integrated onw with the other, not more distant.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
This right here. We don't know what plane the next non-Core Standard set will be on. While it's likely that it won't be Dominaria, it's too soon to get upset about Dominaria being only one set.
I was basing part of my assumption on the most recent article Rosewater posted, where he wrote: "One of the tricky things about being head designer is that I'm juggling a lot of balls at any one time. Dominaria being in set design meant "Spaghetti" was in vision design and "Meatballs" was in exploratory design."
That implied to me the two upcoming sets after Dominaria, together as 'Spaghetti and Meatballs,' are two parts of their own whole, and thus a two set block that follows after the end of Dominaria, instead of being an extension of Dominaria.
OK that's fair. As I said, it's likely it won't be Dominaria. That being said, if the plane after that is interesting enough, would that make up for Dominaria not having two consecutive sets?
I like Dominaria because of the flavor and the walk through my formative Magic years. Like with anything else like that with anyone else, I'll admit to being greedy for a bit more, or a longer look, or an extended experience. The art for New Benalia/Serra, for instance, with the stained glass weapons and shields. I can't get enough of looking at it. Or all the Thran ruins that I've never seen before; I want to learn about them! And on and on.
All that being said, I always hope upcoming sets are interesting. With the codenames they chose, I'm hoping for like a Renaissance Italy type of plane, but I think they did that with Conspiracy, no?
Two part set next suggest Ravnica or I guess Theros. Ravnica cause you cannot put all the Guilds in oneset. Although I wonder are the Gatewatch really in a position to challenge Bolas after Bolas comes in grabs Lili and presumably gives the Gatewatch another beatdown? Or Theros because well you have 14 Gods. Seems kinda hard to fit them all into one set. But yes Spaghetti and Meatballs does suggest staying on the same Plane.
As for Lili she lacks foresight granted it doesn't take much foresight to wonder what Bolas is getting out of the deal from Liliana. Manipulating the Gatewatch is not all that impressive of a feat. It be one thing if Bolas was throwing say Venser or Teferi a bone for you know helping him out of a being trapped in a Rift. But Lili has done Bolas no favors of note and beyond that by Oldwalker standards is nothing special. Sorin didn't view her as a threat at all which suggest he didn't think she was all that smart or likely to improve her skills much at all. And when Lili meets Bolas she was shocked by his post mending power which presumably should be pre Alara arc powerup for Bolas. Which suggest she is not terribly informed about most other Oldwalkers.
Was it discussed somewhere by Wizards why, on the 25th anniversary and on the most prominent plane in Magic history, they decided to only do a one set block? A lot of our issues with representation of other Dominaria things and the rushed story could have been solved by having more than one set. Seems strange to me. I mean, we're still having four sets a year, right? They couldn't dedicate at least two for such a big anniversary? Shrug.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
This right here. We don't know what plane the next non-Core Standard set will be on. While it's likely that it won't be Dominaria, it's too soon to get upset about Dominaria being only one set.
Don't quote me on this but from what I understood from the articles is that the next core-set was originally supposed to be Dominaria, and while technically it's not set on one single world, there'll be plenty of holdovers from Dominaria. I expect it to be a bit of half a Dominaria 2 with the bulk of the cards actually set in Dominaria. But again, that was just the impression I got from their words.
I think if they Return to Ravniva within this year, it's not going to be the set in which Bolas invades with his Eternal Army (or does whatever other "big" thing he has planned for the plane). They have been setting this up for far too long to just rush it now. Also, the Gatewacht's defeat at Bolas's hands (claws) is still fresh in the minds of the audience. If the Gatewatch got a victory against Nicky B now, it wouldn't feel like their loss on Amonkhet really meant anything. And if they lost again, well, then that would be just more of the same. Because of these reasons I see Bolas's plans coming to fruition no earlier than in "Return to Return to Return to Ravnica". The plane certainly is complex, interesting and popular enough to allow for that many return sets.
Don't quote me on this but from what I understood from the articles is that the next core-set was originally supposed to be Dominaria, and while technically it's not set on one single world, there'll be plenty of holdovers from Dominaria. I expect it to be a bit of half a Dominaria 2 with the bulk of the cards actually set in Dominaria. But again, that was just the impression I got from their words.
I believe what they said is that yes DOM2 was scrapped to make room for the Core Set, but that the most interesting/important cards were taken from DOM2 and put into DOM1. That's why DOM1 has so many pushed uncommons.
I like the story so far but maybe the creatives should've focused more on a single continent instead of trying to manage the entire plane.
And then, they could've named the set "Return of the Cabal" or something like that instead of Dominaria 2018.
Honestly, I rather had more focus on all these magic academies give me a Hogwarts Triwizard tournament knockoff to give a little flavor to each region.
The problem with Belzenlok is you can't have a nobody arise to threaten whole plane out of nowhere and claim he was a big deal all along. I still haven't seen a reason yet why anyone let him get this far and someone like Jodah or Karn didn't stomp him into the ground before now. He is no Yawgmoth or Karona that is for sure and the characters don't seem especially scared of him in story or acting with a real degree of urgency. Its not like the other planes had Lili's Demons be all that important of figures. No need for the last one to be.
Does anyone know what's up with the circular ruin art in each of the basic lands save for forests? For each kind there's one art that shows an ancient ruin with a circular base and a stony gateway. My first thought was that it's just supposed to be a random ruin, but as the aesthetic looks almost the same in each of the four artworks, I wonder if it's suppsoed to be a reference I'm not getting?
Does anyone know what's up with the circular ruin art in each of the basic lands save for forests? For each kind there's one art that shows an ancient ruin with a circular base and a stony gateway. My first thought was that it's just supposed to be a random ruin, but as the aesthetic looks almost the same in each of the four artworks, I wonder if it's suppsoed to be a reference I'm not getting?
Do we have a source on that? It's not that I don't believe you, because I can see the resemblance, but if true that's so subtle that I don't if that's a bad or an amazing thing.
Does anyone know what's up with the circular ruin art in each of the basic lands save for forests? For each kind there's one art that shows an ancient ruin with a circular base and a stony gateway. My first thought was that it's just supposed to be a random ruin, but as the aesthetic looks almost the same in each of the four artworks, I wonder if it's suppsoed to be a reference I'm not getting?
Do we have a source on that? It's not that I don't believe you, because I can see the resemblance, but if true that's so subtle that I don't if that's a bad or an amazing thing.
Probably no official source.
The source is knowing Mark Poole as an artist, seeing the throwback commonalities with your own eyes, familiarity with the lore and putting two and two together.
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Been a member here for over a dozen years. Playing since '95 just got lost in the twitch shuffle.
The art on Poole's basics doesn't really work as an exact "centuries later" version of the FE lands (the swamp has straight stairs, the ruins in the island art are above water...). I think it's more like a hommage in that it evokes elements of the old lands while still being its own thing.
That being said, I don't really like those basics personally. Some of them have a very awkward composition imo.
"Spaghetti" and "Meatballs" is likely a holdover from when the sets were a block. They're not necessarily connected anymore.
As for the basics I just assumed they were planar portals.
Also: where's the love for Mister Lostspoons? Am I the only one who wants a card for him? Anyone else and the forum would be up in arms demanding a card. Or at least a bit in the story. I hope he finds his spoons.
So, I just got around to reading the most recent story, and my take away from it was, that Liliana's character development is constantly hamstrung by the fact Wizards seems intent that she has to be the mono-black representative of the Gatewatch. Granted, I'm enjoying Gideon's quasi-existential crisis going on. Him realizing that he may not be powerful enough to accomplish his goals is actually really good way to take the character.
Also, I'm going to miss the Dominaria plane-bound characters when we leave. Raff is such a lovable brat.
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It is but also they don't seem to dig deep into the Color for Gatewatch members. They just focus on the surface characteristics of each Color. Jace is physically weak, has poor people skills (introvert) and tends to overthink things. Chandra doesn't think at all, loves freedom and is emotionally driven. Nissa is both a Green and Elf stereotype as a nature loving hippie. Gideon is the Boy Scout trope of Captain America or Superman turned up to Eleven. Always fight fair, Always do the right thing...or in DnD Parlance. Lawful Stupid Paladin. So its not Lili exclusive.
I think the biggest issue is Lili really does not have a motivation to join a group that is main goal is protecting other Planes or stopping Bolas. Bolas did Lili a favor after all in giving her immortality and yeah he is about to screw her on that deal but prior to this screwing she has no motivation to be Anti-Bolas. And as for Protecting other Planes sure that could happen if the threat is big enough ie look at Sorin or Bolas. Sorin helps take care of the Eldrazi cause they are threat to his Plane. Bolas lets Teferi and Friends go and stuffs Lesherac in a rift cause protecting the Multiverse is good for him. Ergo Lili lacks a motivation to care and help at all outside of stopping Emrakul from destroying Innistrad. You can make a Black Aligned Character who would join a Hero Team but Lili simply lacks a good reason to care about the actual mission statement of the Gatewatch: Protect All Planes and Stop Bolas. Hence why she is just been using them to cross Demons off the list. It also doesn't help her motivations are shallow....Selling your soul for eternal youth is pretty weak. Especially when plenty of characters from Dominaria and Innistrad have found ways to do it without losing their souls. Basically, the finally settled on the simplest reason to get Lili on the Gatewatch, give her a reason to hate Nicol Bolas. Evil is after all not one big happy family.
I do like Gideon's new approach to things. I'm actually beginning to believe we'll see a w/b Gideon in the future at this rate. Of course I'm sure something angelic and "goodly" will set him back on the boyscout's path at some point, unfortunately. I get the feeling we may see Liliana's involvement in the gatewatch come to an end soon. Vraska was certainly getting set up to take her place it felt like.
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Okay I don't see how since this only effect the mechanics of cards and not creative team really.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I think its mostly down to it being one set and there just isnt enough room. One of the things that stands out is that this story really paints it as the cabal vs new benalia. It kidna makes me thing the cabal isnt actually a global threat and just a rising power that is slowly expanding.
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It was originally supposed to be 2 sets. Then the core sets got brought back, and the first of these new core sets took the spot of the second Dominaria set.
MaRo said that the 2-set paradigm was kind of a fail, so that's part of why they switched to one big set at a time.
HOWEVER, he also said that Creative was no longer beholden to the "New block, new plane" standard. so they do have the freedom to have back-to-back big sets on the same plane, if the storyline dictates. So there is a possibility, however slim, that the next set will still be on Dominaria.
Click the pic for more info.
They made the same mistake with Dominaria that they made with BFZ. Instead of implementing the change in block system with a set earlier in the design process they retrofit something to fit and it usually ****s it up.
On the other hand there is still a possibility that the fall set is Dominaria.
This right here. We don't know what plane the next non-Core Standard set will be on. While it's likely that it won't be Dominaria, it's too soon to get upset about Dominaria being only one set.
I was basing part of my assumption on the most recent article Rosewater posted, where he wrote: "One of the tricky things about being head designer is that I'm juggling a lot of balls at any one time. Dominaria being in set design meant "Spaghetti" was in vision design and "Meatballs" was in exploratory design."
That implied to me the two upcoming sets after Dominaria, together as 'Spaghetti and Meatballs,' are two parts of their own whole, and thus a two set block that follows after the end of Dominaria, instead of being an extension of Dominaria.
Your suggestion is based on the single assumption that the demons can't reach through planes. That's like betting your life on the belief that these ancient and rather clever beings (never assume an enemy is stupid) do not have a way to leash a Planeswalker, and despite this made a deal anyway; would a bank offer a loan if they didn't have some way to collect? Betting everything on this, and then giving up your agency and the advantage of a preemptive strike, plus pissing off your debtors by hiding somewhere and not listening to them would be extremely stupid. It's clear the demons can communicate through planes; how would Kothoped even command Liliana to get the Chain Veil in the first place? And if they can communicate, they can easily plot. Liliana's actions is based on the same reasoning as to why every single superpower in history (Roman Imperium, USA, Kingdom of France, HRE, British Empire, China's Imperial Dynasties, Ottoman Empire etc) launches pre-emptive strikes on forces that can potentially be threats rather than just reacting to them; it's just a more reliable method with a greater success rate at protecting your own interests, even if it can fail at times.
I would also argue that Lili is a far cleverer character than Vraska (and the rest of the Gatewatch, though that isn't saying much; Jace is academically smarter, but Lili plots better) due to the sole fact that she actually does plan ahead. For example she tries to manipulate Jace to look through the demon deal, manipulates the Gatewatch into solving her problems, making people trust her by using selective honesty and etc. Sure her plans backfire, but that's a chance for good character development (in this new story, Lili was forced into being honest with Gideon more than she was comfortable with, showing emotional weakness due to the events around her brother and having her absolutely hating that Gideon can see it). Vraska just improvises her way out and uses the ability to petrify as a crutch. She was following a broken compass until Jace came along! Her leadership abilities were essentially given to her by Bolas, as the crew worked for her because of her supreme competence in navigating and sailing. Not to mention that as a character, her motivations are very mundane, she just longs for social acceptance (hates people seeing her as the evil gorgon, wants to lead the Golgari in order to give her people a place etc), which is hardly a black trait. If anything, seeing Vraska interact with the Gatewatch would be just adding another voice to their group-think chamber (as she would love acceptance into such an elite social group; her crush on Jace would be just a bonus). Seeing Vraska interact with Lili however would be super interesting, as Lili is essentially someone with Vraska's reputation who just doesn't care; they're complete opposites as Vraska longs for someone to understand her and her experiences, whereas Lili loathes any sign of pity or empathy from others as she sees it as simply a self admission of weakness that is recognized by others. Yet despite all this she enjoys Jace's company and being his friend/lover, and cannot bring herself to completely dismiss them as mere tools. Inner character tension is always great for development, whereas someone like Vraska currently only has a bland acceptance storyline. She wants something, getting that something (leadership abilities recognized, a place in society) does not in any way conflict with her character at all. Having her introduced to a different worldview altogether would however possibly cause character tension; would a part of Vraska want to have Liliana's apparent supreme self-confidence and irreverence of society?
Lili creates tension within the Gatewatch, and therefore creates valuable plot points between characters and gives an opportunity to flesh out everyone better. Just look at Gideon's development in this new storyline (although one could argue that it's also because they have a far better writer this time round, having him with a buddy like Jace would just offer more of the same since Gideon's beliefs, world view, goals, opinions of a character and etc would not be challenged).
OK that's fair. As I said, it's likely it won't be Dominaria. That being said, if the plane after that is interesting enough, would that make up for Dominaria not having two consecutive sets?
I believe the two things should be more integrated onw with the other, not more distant.
I like Dominaria because of the flavor and the walk through my formative Magic years. Like with anything else like that with anyone else, I'll admit to being greedy for a bit more, or a longer look, or an extended experience. The art for New Benalia/Serra, for instance, with the stained glass weapons and shields. I can't get enough of looking at it. Or all the Thran ruins that I've never seen before; I want to learn about them! And on and on.
All that being said, I always hope upcoming sets are interesting. With the codenames they chose, I'm hoping for like a Renaissance Italy type of plane, but I think they did that with Conspiracy, no?
As for Lili she lacks foresight granted it doesn't take much foresight to wonder what Bolas is getting out of the deal from Liliana. Manipulating the Gatewatch is not all that impressive of a feat. It be one thing if Bolas was throwing say Venser or Teferi a bone for you know helping him out of a being trapped in a Rift. But Lili has done Bolas no favors of note and beyond that by Oldwalker standards is nothing special. Sorin didn't view her as a threat at all which suggest he didn't think she was all that smart or likely to improve her skills much at all. And when Lili meets Bolas she was shocked by his post mending power which presumably should be pre Alara arc powerup for Bolas. Which suggest she is not terribly informed about most other Oldwalkers.
Don't quote me on this but from what I understood from the articles is that the next core-set was originally supposed to be Dominaria, and while technically it's not set on one single world, there'll be plenty of holdovers from Dominaria. I expect it to be a bit of half a Dominaria 2 with the bulk of the cards actually set in Dominaria. But again, that was just the impression I got from their words.
I believe what they said is that yes DOM2 was scrapped to make room for the Core Set, but that the most interesting/important cards were taken from DOM2 and put into DOM1. That's why DOM1 has so many pushed uncommons.
Honestly, I rather had more focus on all these magic academies give me a Hogwarts Triwizard tournament knockoff to give a little flavor to each region.
The problem with Belzenlok is you can't have a nobody arise to threaten whole plane out of nowhere and claim he was a big deal all along. I still haven't seen a reason yet why anyone let him get this far and someone like Jodah or Karn didn't stomp him into the ground before now. He is no Yawgmoth or Karona that is for sure and the characters don't seem especially scared of him in story or acting with a real degree of urgency. Its not like the other planes had Lili's Demons be all that important of figures. No need for the last one to be.
Do we have a source on that? It's not that I don't believe you, because I can see the resemblance, but if true that's so subtle that I don't if that's a bad or an amazing thing.
Probably no official source.
The source is knowing Mark Poole as an artist, seeing the throwback commonalities with your own eyes, familiarity with the lore and putting two and two together.
That being said, I don't really like those basics personally. Some of them have a very awkward composition imo.
As for the basics I just assumed they were planar portals.
Also: where's the love for Mister Lostspoons? Am I the only one who wants a card for him? Anyone else and the forum would be up in arms demanding a card. Or at least a bit in the story. I hope he finds his spoons.
Also, I'm going to miss the Dominaria plane-bound characters when we leave. Raff is such a lovable brat.
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I think the biggest issue is Lili really does not have a motivation to join a group that is main goal is protecting other Planes or stopping Bolas. Bolas did Lili a favor after all in giving her immortality and yeah he is about to screw her on that deal but prior to this screwing she has no motivation to be Anti-Bolas. And as for Protecting other Planes sure that could happen if the threat is big enough ie look at Sorin or Bolas. Sorin helps take care of the Eldrazi cause they are threat to his Plane. Bolas lets Teferi and Friends go and stuffs Lesherac in a rift cause protecting the Multiverse is good for him. Ergo Lili lacks a motivation to care and help at all outside of stopping Emrakul from destroying Innistrad. You can make a Black Aligned Character who would join a Hero Team but Lili simply lacks a good reason to care about the actual mission statement of the Gatewatch: Protect All Planes and Stop Bolas. Hence why she is just been using them to cross Demons off the list. It also doesn't help her motivations are shallow....Selling your soul for eternal youth is pretty weak. Especially when plenty of characters from Dominaria and Innistrad have found ways to do it without losing their souls. Basically, the finally settled on the simplest reason to get Lili on the Gatewatch, give her a reason to hate Nicol Bolas. Evil is after all not one big happy family.