MTG Salvation

A tad early but we already had the first look, we are getting more info this weekend and we have some reflavoring I think we could bring here more to talk about.


Flavor;

-Tarkir: Dragonstorm is a return to the plane of Tarkir and is the 4th and final part of the Dragonstorm story arc and part 8/12 of the over all larger story arc.

-Dragonstroms have been bleeding out into the multiverse birthing dragons even in planes where dragons where never known before.

-It will be both a wedge set (aka the clans return) and a dragon themed set (with seemly new dragons) .

-Sarkahn (now called Dragonspeaker from the Duskmourn commander reprint of Ash Barrens) is here.

-Ugin (wearing clothing) is here.

-Jace and Vraska brought Loot and are working with an unnamed man.



Reflavors;

-Efreet the creature type where absorbed into Djinns, likely to be more accurate to mythology.

-Naga the creature type where absorbed into Snakes, likely to more accurate to mythology.

-Rakshasa lost the cat type and have had an art update to look more accurate to mythology.

-Much of the Sultai art in mtg area version of Khans of Tarkir (which also included the Rakshasa) had a flavor updates to be more accurate to the cultures the faction based on and to move away from certain stereotypes.

Personal theories;

-The clans will return (duh) and overthrow the dragonslords. I think all of the elder dragons will end up killed but could see a few escaping or ended up submitting/allying with the clans.

-The khans or clans will somehow make new dragons that are clans colors as allies who will help the clans stand against the dragonlords which how they are able to break away.

-The clans will overly embrace the color they had been missing and shift into being centered/focused in that color, maybe even to move away from the ways of the dragons (ie the neo-Azban will still be BWG but will become B focused after regaining it moving slightly away from WG as they become free of the dragons). That said they still will play similar to the themes of Tarkir 1 (or as much as the guilds in ravnica all play together across its sets).

-Some of the old dragons will ally with the klans due to the events of MoM making them work together and getting dragon riders.

-Ugin is here due to the imbalance of dragons and humanoids and the dragons storms leaking out.

-Narset will be here and end up the khan of the neo-Jeskai as history echos what happens in the khans timeline.

-Jace and Vraska will use the temporal magics in Tarkir to age Loot into an adult but that will result in not good thing happening, with my biggest guess being Loot becomes unstable and uncontrollable and/or this result in the Fomori returning.

-I think Bolas might have escaped the prison realm via omenpath but won't be a big bad in this set or the rest of the arc (more of just know hes out).

EDIT: -If this is a traditional faction set vs a strixhaven faction set* I'm guessing each clan will have a new mechanic (or new for Tarkir at least) with many of the old sets making cameos or being a sub-theme (like prowess or raid).

-There will be a face down/morph mechanic theme that will also tie together disguise, cloak and manifest dread.

*Strixhaven was different as a faction set as rather than each faction having its own mechanic they all shared the set mechanics and each used them in different ways similar to how (mega) morph/manifest was in Tarkir 1.

Blurbs from the pre-con commander decks, spoilers due it being unofficial spoiler/ leak;


Thoughts and comments

The Magic Story Podcast: The Five Clans of Tarkir: Dragonstorm: March 7
Tarkir: Dragonstorm Story: March 10–17

Planeswalker guide part 1
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/planeswalkers-guide-to-tarkir-dragonstorm-part-1

Details in the Planeswalker's Guide:

• Ugin leaving Tarkir indeed weakened Tarkir's Dragonstorms
• Former planeswalker Narset discovered a scroll for the Stormnexus Ritual, which "(calls) forth the soul of Tarkir", and summons 5 spirit dragons when used in the Crucible of the Spirit Dragon
• The old clans are back, led by the previous rebel leaders (including Zurgo(!!!)) and the spirit dragons that joined them
• The Stormnexus Ritual screwed up and intensified the Dragonstorms, which now spawn some "clan" dragons that align with the spirit dragons and the clans and mostly blended "wild" dragons that answer to no one

A few observations:
- Ok, they pretty much skipped the whole rebellion step, dragonlords are gone and the wedge clans back in power. I can see why, it being a lose lose situation (either give players a middling retread of Fate Reforged with a horrific to balance limited environment (allied colors vs wedges doesn't sound appealing) or skip the whole situation in the first place for a new status quo).

My problem is: DAMN. Wizards. Please expand the timeline a little bit. Khans of Tarkir has only been 5 (!) years ago in-universe! Bolas, Phyrexia, the Dragonfall AND the rebuilding of the clans all happened in an almost impossible to believe short time, and I feel like mostly to keep their main roster characters young (looking at you Chandra).
Ravnica's changes felt fine for the most part, just an additional agency after one and a half years, and more private investigators into crime. Thunder Junction was already a stretch, magic can explain the rapid urban development, but everyone and their mother moving there as quickly as they did was more than a bit improbable. Even the changes to Amonkhet (2 years to rebuild, but with new gods and the awakened dead to help) were radical but explainable.

But I have to say: Tarkir is close to breaking my pretty thick suspension of disbelieve here. I could believe that the Dragonfall already happened thanks to Narset's ritual, but pretty much all the clans should be in the middle of extensive rebuilding and restructuring. Instead it is as if they were in these new configurations for decades, if not centuries. Is it so hard to give the story a bit more time in universe to breathe? What would be the problem with giving Vraska and Jace five more years to come up with their plan (that seems to involve Tarkir)? Or even longer? Sigh. If there is one thing that is actually really starting to bother me about the lore, then it is the utter refusal to allow for any kind of time jump anymore, and the mounting problems with that.

- Now, rant over, I think there might also be another reason here that I find tentatively resonable, even though some might not like it: Let me make it clear, I LOVE Tarkir, it was always one of my favorite planes. But original Tarkir had a LOT of cultural issues. Spicerack made a whole video about it and for the most part I agree with him. The asian cultures they wanted to depict were quite frankly botched in ways that they didn't do with greek culture for Theros for example.
Then we had the retcon of Ugin (and therefore the dragon storms, at least as originally described) not being native to Tarkir adding a whole colonization angle to the plane, which was then treated like a good thing (since dragons are cool and we love them in Dragons of Tarkir, even though they are also horrible supremacists and are shown to be that too, muddling the whole thing even further). I liked to interpret the Dragonlords as representatives of different colonial methods of control (Ojutai being information control and historical revisionism, Dromoka forced cultural destruction etc.) even if it was a bit fan wanky, but I can see why Wizards and their cultural consultants didn't want to continue this. And unfortunately the easiest way to deal with it is an entirely new status quo: Dragonlords defeated, dragon storms are only partly influenced by Ugin, the new spirit dragons are part of the worldsoul of Tarkir, and the botched parts of the depicted cultures can be explained away as the shift towards the new clan structures. Something had to be done for sure, not quite certain whether this was the way I would have done it. Not bad per se, but again, it causes the already ridiculously short timeline problems to escalate. Hopefully the story and the second PW guide part will go a bit more in depth about this.

- Now more positive things: I love that this all allows for way more diversity in both the cultures depicted and the dragons. Dragons of Tarkir honestly felt flat, with the humanoid races becoming pretty much just fanclubs/servants for the dragons and the culture cleanly divided among the dragons themselves. Khans also was a bit like that, but the interactions between the humanoids was more prominent and their cultures (derived from three, not two colors like in Dragons) felt more complex. Mixing the dragons and the clan cultures, and diversifying the dragons as well benefits the orldbuilding a lot in my opinion. The real life culture influences are also more prominent and less botched as previously mentioned, which I also like.

- I also like that they are going light on the returning characters. Every single one of the new Khans being the Khans from the old timeline would have been absolutely ridiculous for example (Narset gets a pass since she seems to have initiated much of the Dragonfall). Still not sure how Zurgo went from simple and lanky bell-ringer to a jacked and powerful khan again in the span of three years at best (and don't get me started on why Ojutai was letting him ride him in MOM!) but hopefully part 2 explains that more thorougly.

- I also like that the new focus of the clans seems to be more on the enemy color (maybe not entirely but more so than before) without replacing their identity entirely. The guide specifically makes mention of the Jeskai's stubborness (red) and the Abzan's individualism (black) as defining traits that both hinder and help them. I definitely didn't like the weird centering of original Khans, so even if that is only a mild refocus, it is appreciated.

- More to come once part 2 is out.

Note that Part 2 will concentrate on Sultai, Mardu, and Temur, so while we'd better get more backstory on how Zurgo's marvellous years as a rebel leader have been going, I don't think we'll get any more world-building that covers all of Tarkir and not individual clans in Part 2 of the Planeswalker's Guide.

-I agree the 5 year span is really quick. I'm gonna wait and see though how the stories and cards shake out though since we got art thats show the khans casting the Stormnexus Ritual and a quote from the story (welcome back Cassandra Khaw) that looks like they showing off some of the rebellion on screen/cards and we might have just gotten more so of the clans now.

-Schrödinger's dragonlords feels a bit anti-climatic as I do think characters like the dragonslord need a proper ending but I do think this way at least they can be used again and maybe in a set that can properly focus on them being defeated for good.

-I like so far we have seen the Abzan and Jeskai not only get new creature types added to them, they also are still missing ones from the khans timelines and its nice to show the clans aren't just fully going back to the old timeline. So far Abzan aren't bring back orcs but now have loxodons and djinn and the Jeskai don't have the efreets back but now have goblins, orcs and ogres.


-On that note, Djinn have moved out of U (R) and gone into W, B and/or G

-I like we are seeing the G aspects of sultai more clear.

Looks like the Sultai are getting the biggest make-over. Not that I mind. I dislike black and white fictional societies and the old Sultai felt too "kicking puppies for fun" level of cartoonishly evil. So it's appreciated.

Djinni in Abzan are definitely a surprise. I assume they branch out into black, because the most famous djinni are blue-black, well and green I suppose, mmh. But might also be blue/white. Oh also efreeti are now djinni, so I guess djinni are now simply just prismatic, but centered in blue(-red).

Personally not a big fan of making anthropomorphic races like the aven too diverse per plane. Originally there were two species of aven on Tarkir, eagles and vultures, and now we have mandarin ducks and bearded vultures (and presumably more)? Like, can they have offspring with each other? If so, how do their features not get up completely mixed up over generations and if no, then how do they maintain stable populations? Urgh, whatever. Worldbuilding in MtG has become paperthin and seems to only exist on a visual level.

Also, I have to admit I would have preferred seeing the clans vs broods battle play out in the set instead of coming in after the fact. Ah well. Probably another casualty of moving to the one-set-per-world paradigm.

Then we had the retcon of Ugin (and therefore the dragon storms, at least as originally described) not being native to Tarkir adding a whole colonization angle to the plane, which was then treated like a good thing

By Sarkhan. Literally nobody else in-universe considered the Khanfall to be a good thing (aside from the dragons, and even Ugin probably hated it because he's all about balance). Anyone who has the take away that it was portrayed as A Good Thing, Actually needs to reassess their reading comprehension ability.

Quote from Flisch »

Djinni in Abzan are definitely a surprise. I assume they branch out into black, because the most famous djinni are blue-black, well and green I suppose, mmh. But might also be blue/white. Oh also efreeti are now djinni, so I guess djinni are now simply just prismatic, but centered in blue(-red).

Now that I'm thinking on it myth wise there is a lot about djinn living out in deserts and being/causing sand storms ect and djinn are found in middle eastern mythologies so it does make sense they would end up in Abzan.

Also, I have to admit I would have preferred seeing the clans vs broods battle play out in the set instead of coming in after the fact. Ah well. Probably another casualty of moving to the one-set-per-world paradigm.

I'm not sure how well a set focused on the rebellion would work in general even with blocks. Ally colored dragons vs wedge colored clans sounds really tricky to pull off without need to dilute aspects of one or the other. Fate Reforged worked but it was also meant to be split between themes in order to work in limited with two sets with very different themes. I could see that end up a BtZ deal where it doesn't feel like a return to Tarkir fully and would need to ask people to wait through a set they (wizards) are unsure of, just to get to a set they know will be more popular and play better.

Oh yeah, reading the Planeswalker's Guide Part 1 gives me the very big impression that the wild dragons were created by Creative as a massive excuse for the clans to be hunting down dragons, just like old times.

(At least the more intense Dragonstorms feel like something this block's story will actually address and not just a world-building detail made to support the cards. Maybe this is why Ugin is popping his head in - the Dragonstorms have clearly gone wrong?)

Quote from Flisch »

Looks like the Sultai are getting the biggest make-over. Not that I mind. I dislike black and white fictional societies and the old Sultai felt too "kicking puppies for fun" level of cartoonishly evil. So it's appreciated.

Djinni in Abzan are definitely a surprise. I assume they branch out into black, because the most famous djinni are blue-black, well and green I suppose, mmh. But might also be blue/white. Oh also efreeti are now djinni, so I guess djinni are now simply just prismatic, but centered in blue(-red).

Personally not a big fan of making anthropomorphic races like the aven too diverse per plane. Originally there were two species of aven on Tarkir, eagles and vultures, and now we have mandarin ducks and bearded vultures (and presumably more)? Like, can they have offspring with each other? If so, how do their features not get up completely mixed up over generations and if no, then how do they maintain stable populations? Urgh, whatever. Worldbuilding in MtG has become paperthin and seems to only exist on a visual level.

Also, I have to admit I would have preferred seeing the clans vs broods battle play out in the set instead of coming in after the fact. Ah well. Probably another casualty of moving to the one-set-per-world paradigm.

Then we had the retcon of Ugin (and therefore the dragon storms, at least as originally described) not being native to Tarkir adding a whole colonization angle to the plane, which was then treated like a good thing

By Sarkhan. Literally nobody else in-universe considered the Khanfall to be a good thing (aside from the dragons, and even Ugin probably hated it because he's all about balance). Anyone who has the take away that it was portrayed as A Good Thing, Actually needs to reassess their reading comprehension ability.

I didn't mean in-universe, but outside of it, and I absolutely implied that in what I said. I remember Dragons of Tarkir's marketing and the surrounding discussions very well and Wizards definitely played up the "dragons are back and its awesome!!!" angle in so many ways that people were getting upset about it because the story and the lore indicated how extremely oppressive and supremacist the dragon broods were and it simply didn't work well together.
And while yes, they later on pointed out that this was only a "good" change because Ugin was back and apart from that only in the eyes of Sarkhan, they only did that once the discussion about it had flared up, before that the focus was on "dragons are awesome", after all, it was the entire point of Dragons of Tarkir.
As I said, all this made the point of it all very muddled, and the reveal of Ugin as not even being native made it worse, since that meant that the extinction of the dragons in the old timeline, previously depicted as somewhat of a tragedy (granted, through Sarkhan's eyes mostly) which left only the warring clans slowly pushing each other into extinction too, was actually the eradication of a colonizing, invasive species (and made Ugin's role much less sympathetic).
Now, that was, as I said, also because previously Ugin was stated to be the be all end all source of the dragonstorms, which they now fortunately retconned into him simply "influencing" them. So dragons are not alien, invasive, always supremacist colonizers anymore. This sadly trikes awaymuch potential for any poignant theme about colonization, but it is a solution at least to the contradictory themes of Tarkir in the past.

Also the outfits were redesigned to be more culturally accurate

Part 2
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/feature/planeswalkers-guide-to-tarkir-dragonstorm-part-2

Gotta say, the Sultai glowup was refreshing

Maybe slightly expected given that the Planeswalker's Guide Part 1 doesn't mention Narset as Jeskai leader, but there is no mention of Zurgo in Part 2 at all despite him leading the Mardu again. Sigh. Guess we have to wait for the Legends article for how Zurgo became rebel leader.

-The sultai reflavor is nice, as said it moved them away from being "the evil clan" and more nuanced and adding in G elements a bit more as imo sultai last time really just had G in the animals and use of ancestor worship.

-I like Tarkir feels more lived in, before I felt we didn't see a lot of the cities or civilization outside of battles and this helps make the plane feel more lived in.

-For updated creature types;
-Sultai actually loses some as Rakshasa are now stunned and no longer part of the clan and gain no others types just keeping naga, aven, humans and zomibes. The zombies also seem less diverse (at least with humanoids) due to them no longer bringing back unwilling dead.
-Mardu have Ainok now and Aven
-Temur have kept the goblins and loxodon have rejoined. Unknown about the Efreet.

Alright, part 2 certainly puts the compressed timeline issue a bit into perspective, though I still think at least a time jump of a few more years would have helped tremendously here: What they want to confere is that the rebellions and their underground culture revival of the clans have been going on for many many decades if not centuries already, with the phyrexian invasion and the weakening of the broods being the pivotal point at which they revealed themselves and acted against their draconic oppressors directly.
Small problem with that: While there were hints that there was already an undercurrent of the old ways in all of the broods (Anafenza, the Temur whisperers in hiding etc), it really never felt like they were strong or numerous enough to fully replace the broods with their own cultures. It still feels like more time should have gone by for all these new traditions, political and cultural traits to develop after the Dragonfall.

Now, that aside, I have heard of people (though not on this forum particularly) being angry at the clans "changing" so much and losing "their edge" because Wizards didn't want to "offend" anyone with their portrayal. And I think this is not really an issue at all for multiple reasons:
- The new clans are NOT the clans from the original timeline. I would be extremely disappointed if that was the case. A thousand years of having to work under draconic rule and having to keep up the old traditions in secret with only partially available information about them makes it incredibly unlikely for the clans to evolve into their Khans of Tarkir versions. Think what you will about their new designs and characterization, but wanting them to be the exact way they were previously would exarbate all the problems of skipping the main rebellion extremely (and it would be nonsensical).

- The people who feel like the clans have gotten "too soft" and saccarine, and that Tarkir should be an edgy, war-torn place forever, have forgotten that one of the main themes of Khans was that the original timeline Tarkir clans were slowly but surely destroying each other due to constant warfare and resource exploitation. That was one of the reasons for Sarkhan to ascend in the first place and start his dragon worship: He was absolutely sick and tired of the constant futile and bloody warfare. His solution was not really helping matters, but he was certain that ultimately the clans would kill each other off in the original timeline, just as they had killed all the dragons. And now the clans have gotten a millenium and more time to feel oppression and hardship under the dragons, no wonder they are a bit more open to free trade and diplomacy (and even then they are not entirely peaceful or anything).

- Lastly, again, much of the "edge" that some people want to see are caused by using orientalist stereotypes (brutal, invading mongolian-like hordes without greater purpose; evil, greedy, demon contracting southeast asian-like tyrants etc). The new clans are more "realistic" in a sense, eschewing these common stereotypes. Wizards chose to change that and I am perfectly fine with it, especially since they need to have an identity different from the original Khan clans. It is not like the clans suddenly became perfectly kind people, the Sultai for example still ambush other clans and keep some of their original haughtiness and opulence.

I also want to add that I like the Sultai changes and the overall refocussing of the clans on the proper enemy color (which also makes sense in the lore, seeing as these are the colors they lost due to the broods, seems logical that as a response to distance themselves from them they would start focussing more on these lost aspects).

Would have loved to get some info on Ugin, but I guess that will have to wait until the stories.

Quote from ChrisBP7 »

Would have loved to get some info on Ugin, but I guess that will have to wait until the stories.

fortunatly that’s a short wait

we start the main story on March 7th I believe

Oh With the dragonlords gone now I wondering all over again of Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest is kolaghan because I don't see any mention they were killed maybe they ran off to different omenpaths

Quote from Ryperior74 »

Quote from ChrisBP7 »

Would have loved to get some info on Ugin, but I guess that will have to wait until the stories.

fortunatly that’s a short wait

we start the main story on March 7th I believe

Oh With the dragonlords gone now I wondering all over again of Dragonhawk, Fate's Tempest is kolaghan because I don't see any mention they were killed maybe they ran off to different omenpaths

I think Dragonhawk is just the equivalent of a "wild" dragon of Tarkir, except it wasn't born on Tarkir.

I dislike the new approach on the clans, mainly due to how it's transitioned.

During Phyrexian War, dragons was the sole reason why Tarkir was able to fight back invaders. Regardless of Dragonlord's oppression, this plane OWES the dragons for their survival, and I'm certain most non-dragons would agree that without their draconic leadership, the whole plane would've been doomed.

I can see dissent brooding prior to Phyrexian War, but after Tarkiri knows there are extraplanar threats, why are they still so eager in cutting down the trees that sheltered them? I imagine the rebellions would've gradually died down due to people start seeing dragonlords as an uncomfortable necessity. Not to mention, many non-dragons must have also earned favor in Dragons' eyes during the war, the status quo had already shaken.

Narset had absolutely no clue on what her miraculously appeared ritual would do to the plane. If it somehow wiped out the dragons (again), did they ever wonder how they're going to face another cosmic threat? Even if the rebellion was confident in rebuilding their civilizations, how soon could that happen before the next crisis? Did they even THINK?

Or rather, did the WRITERS even think about the logic behind these stories, or did they simply picture an semi-utopia and force it into an existing world? Sounds familiar, actually.

The new clan designs, as well as the vibe of sets in past few years (be it MtG or D&D), appear to me as an attempt to create a new "We're just a big family with misunderstanding" feeling. What these so-call writers did not realize that plot requires conflict, and a big cohesive land/world/universe will only bring stagnation to changes. They write as if they're afraid of creating villains without making them cartoonny.

We go all the way from Yawgmoth and Urza to this?

Quote from cyberium_neo »

I dislike the new approach on the clans, mainly due to how it's transitioned.

During Phyrexian War, dragons was the sole reason why Tarkir was able to fight back invaders. Regardless of Dragonlord's oppression, this plane OWES the dragons for their survival, and I'm certain most non-dragons would agree that without their draconic leadership, the whole plane would've been doomed.

I can see dissent brooding prior to Phyrexian War, but after Tarkiri knows there are extraplanar threats, why are they still so eager in cutting down the trees that sheltered them? I imagine the rebellions would've gradually died down due to people start seeing dragonlords as an uncomfortable necessity. Not to mention, many non-dragons must have also earned favor in Dragons' eyes during the war, the status quo had already shaken.

Narset had absolutely no clue on what her miraculously appeared ritual would do to the plane. If it somehow wiped out the dragons (again), did they ever wonder how they're going to face another cosmic threat? Even if the rebellion was confident in rebuilding their civilizations, how soon could that happen before the next crisis? Did they even THINK?

Or rather, did the WRITERS even think about the logic behind these stories, or did they simply picture an semi-utopia and force it into an existing world? Sounds familiar, actually.

The new clan designs, as well as the vibe of sets in past few years (be it MtG or D&D), appear to me as an attempt to create a new "We're just a big family with misunderstanding" feeling. What these so-call writers did not realize that plot requires conflict, and a big cohesive land/world/universe will only bring stagnation to changes. They write as if they're afraid of creating villains without making them cartoonny.

We go all the way from Yawgmoth and Urza to this?

Hard disagree on almost all these points. First of all, fundamentally, plot doesn't need conflict per se (there are traditional writing styles that go hundreds of years back that don't rely on it at all, like kishotenketsu). Secondly, there is a variety of conflict that can be used, doesn't have to be constant warfare and grimdark brutality. Thirdly, nowhere is it stated that the new clans are now happily living together, they obviously still fight over territory for example, have different ideologies and resulting conflicts, and the problems with dragon storms remains. They just also sometimes apply diplomacy too, which makes them more, not less realistic when it comes to worldbuilding.
I also don't follow your argument that the humanoids of Tarkir would have lost to Phyrexia without the dragons, hell, the dragons bolstered Phyrexias forces to such a degree that it fatally weakened the broods overall. Your argument also feels weird: "Oh these people have been oppressed brutally, seen as at best servants and lower lifeforms, at worst as snacks by their draconic overlords, why don't they turn around and worship them for doing the bare minimum of self-preservation?" If an apartheid state of some kind is under threat by a brutal invasion which forces everyone to work together or be annihilated, would you have said after the invasion is forced back and things return to normal (aka brutal apartheid) "Oh I don't know why the supressed people don't kiss the feet of their oppressors and remain happy about the awful status quo, after all, at least their oppressors helped fight the invaders that threatened them all out of self-interest!"
I hope I don't have to explain in detail why that is a very weird view on such a situation.
Also, no such thing as a perfect victim. The dragons were slowly replenishing their numbers and rebuilding after the invasion, the time to act for the rebellion was then or potentially never in the eyes of the rebells. Narset was obviously conflicted about the ritual but was overruled by the other rebellion leaders, who didn't care for long-term consequences if it meant throwingn off more than a millenium of brutal oppression.
So yeah, I don't see your points at all. My biggest problem is the compressed timeline, that is certainly a bit harder to explain, but the new way the clans are depicted makes a lot of sense.

Quote from cyberium_neo »

I dislike the new approach on the clans, mainly due to how it's transitioned.

During Phyrexian War, dragons was the sole reason why Tarkir was able to fight back invaders. Regardless of Dragonlord's oppression, this plane OWES the dragons for their survival, and I'm certain most non-dragons would agree that without their draconic leadership, the whole plane would've been doomed.

I can see dissent brooding prior to Phyrexian War, but after Tarkiri knows there are extraplanar threats, why are they still so eager in cutting down the trees that sheltered them? I imagine the rebellions would've gradually died down due to people start seeing dragonlords as an uncomfortable necessity. Not to mention, many non-dragons must have also earned favor in Dragons' eyes during the war, the status quo had already shaken.

I really don't see the dragonlords after 1000+ years treating and seeing humanoids as lesser beings and food, and creating powers structures based on the opression and explotion of humanoids suddenly treating them better. I could see the lesser dragons maybe, but the dragonlords likely would never. I could even see them getting worse after their power was threatened. Conversely I do not believe the humanoids after the would remain loyal after the phyrexia war, at least not as a whole and the fact they are will to work with the new dragons vs wiping them out like in the old timeline shows the effect of MoM imo.

There is also the fact the lost clan magic was used to protected many of the people of Tarkir (such as the kin trees) during the Phyrexian war which might have been more effective and better protections had the dragons not tried to whipe it out.

The new clan designs, as well as the vibe of sets in past few years (be it MtG or D&D), appear to me as an attempt to create a new "We're just a big family with misunderstanding" feeling. What these so-call writers did not realize that plot requires conflict, and a big cohesive land/world/universe will only bring stagnation to changes. They write as if they're afraid of creating villains without making them cartoonny.

We go all the way from Yawgmoth and Urza to this?

They still fight each other and are still fighting dragons, I don't see the lack of conflict.

Quote from cyberium_neo »

I dislike the new approach on the clans, mainly due to how it's transitioned.

During Phyrexian War, dragons was the sole reason why Tarkir was able to fight back invaders. Regardless of Dragonlord's oppression, this plane OWES the dragons for their survival, and I'm certain most non-dragons would agree that without their draconic leadership, the whole plane would've been doomed.

I can see dissent brooding prior to Phyrexian War, but after Tarkiri knows there are extraplanar threats, why are they still so eager in cutting down the trees that sheltered them? I imagine the rebellions would've gradually died down due to people start seeing dragonlords as an uncomfortable necessity. Not to mention, many non-dragons must have also earned favor in Dragons' eyes during the war, the status quo had already shaken.

Narset had absolutely no clue on what her miraculously appeared ritual would do to the plane. If it somehow wiped out the dragons (again), did they ever wonder how they're going to face another cosmic threat? Even if the rebellion was confident in rebuilding their civilizations, how soon could that happen before the next crisis? Did they even THINK?

Or rather, did the WRITERS even think about the logic behind these stories, or did they simply picture an semi-utopia and force it into an existing world? Sounds familiar, actually.

The new clan designs, as well as the vibe of sets in past few years (be it MtG or D&D), appear to me as an attempt to create a new "We're just a big family with misunderstanding" feeling. What these so-call writers did not realize that plot requires conflict, and a big cohesive land/world/universe will only bring stagnation to changes. They write as if they're afraid of creating villains without making them cartoonny.

We go all the way from Yawgmoth and Urza to this?

1- All the dragonlords perished during the invasion, so much for that

2- Just because they sacrificed themselves doesn't entitle the dragons to act as fascists who eat and abuse their underlings

Get ready we start the offical story today and the final chapter of this story will likely unmask the real name of the third arc (currently it’s known as “metronome” but it’s a place holder for now because we would know what the “war of the spark 3” theme would be based around)