Wait how is it they have decided not to have masterpieces in Ixalan when they only just got bad feedback about the Amonkhet ones.....when did they start working on ixalan? During the release of Amonkhet?
My guess is that it's not to hard to just skip printing the Ixalan masterpieces. They were on a special foil print sheet, and randomly inserted. They were probably designed, and are just being pulled from the set because they realized that they were as underwhelming as the Amonkhet ones, and since they weren't going to increase pack sales, they'll just save the money and call it "responding to feedback." I'm not being critical about the decisions, I think its a good one. But its an easy one for them to spin while also saving money (which is great!).
Prediction: Magic Player Rewards are coming back to increase attendance at standard events.
It's really unfortunate they're not learning the right lesson from the amonkhet invocations. I think less masterpieces is a good idea, but it's not why the invocations were a failure. They were hideous. The aesthetics of their design was just bad.
When I see Healing Salve, I'm often like "Oh girl, I wish I could turn every card into this." Thanks they removed the gain life part, otherwise this would have been broken.
It's really unfortunate they're not learning the right lesson from the amonkhet invocations. I think less masterpieces is a good idea, but it's not why the invocations were a failure. They were hideous. The aesthetics of their design was just bad.
Which is kind of an offshoot of the same problem - when you are having them in every set, and they all need to look different AND fit the theme of the set, you're a lot more likely to have ugly designs make it through cause you have to do something.
Seems very promising. Reading between the lines, the Core sets will be smaller; probably to offset the 3 large block going on now. It also handles the upcoming problem of a Block set only lasting 15 months (Like Hour of Devastation is going to); few people (well I certainly didn't) minded a Core set rotating quick, but having a block rotate that quickly felt wrong to me. Especially since the lore-freedom of a Core set lets them reprint easier. (The Titans lasted 27 months due to reprinting in 2 core sets in a row for example; but reprinting an Hour of Devastation bombs in Summer 2018 would be really difficult)
3 Large sets sort've reflects what my LGS owner commented on last FMN. He regularly does Drafts, and he's noted for years how when a set comes out, Draft is big, then it tapers off. When the second half of a block comes out, the initial spike isn't as high (since you aren't all new cards) and it trails off faster. So this new model will make him happier.
The Masterpieces are a bit hit or miss; I understand why they're making them rarer (for the sets). I'm hoping a bit we'll get a Creature-themed set that would encourage them to do Creature-Masterpieces fairly soon.
Core Sets were boring for me because I didn't like how generic they are. Magic Origins was neat as one because it had a theme and featured other worlds. M15 was neat as well with its Soul cycle from DOTP featured world themes. Ideally the new Core Sets will feature a survey of worlds players love that we won't see for a while. Artifacts themed from Kaladesh. Oh look, a Blue spell featuring Thassa in the art. Here's new land set on Tazeem showing Sea Gate rebuilt. That sort of thing, instead of generic trash. It's the best way to peak in on planes instead of waiting to return to get themed cards from them.
I like the Gatewatch, but I started getting bothered when they encroached on other planes walker's space. The fact Tamiyo got shoved out of the Mono-Blue spot by Jace deeply bothers me, even if Jace is my favorite Planeswalker. Having blocks without them but connected to the Gatewatch arc at large is an excellent way to interlude.
Less Masterpieces is better. Ideally Return to Theros has Enchantment themed ones though.
I am not sure about 3-2-1 set "blocks" if they're still that. I'll have to see it in practice. Sounds like a good idea on paper though. I did like the 2-set block model, but this could be interesting too. Whatever gets us back to Theros faster.
I didn't really miss Core sets (though after Magic Origins, I was actually impressed by a Core Set just to have them go away). But with my 5 year old just learning Magic now, I think I'll enjoy being able to play them with him. It was tricky building decks out of mechanically simple cards that he could understand. I think with new core sets focusing on new players, this will be the perfect product for me to play with him.
I agree with most of this. There were a few really stand-out core sets over the years and Origins was by far the best of them. It sounds like they're leaning toward Origins being the model for what core sets will look like going forward. That's encouraging, though I expect things like flip walkers will exceed the complexity level they're going for with the new vision.
Overall, I'm feeling good about this. The flexibility of the new model appeals to me. Constraints can encourage innovation, but constraints for the sake of constraints are just unnecessary limitations on creativity.
Edit to add: Core sets being used to fill in story holes, etc., means we could get a lot of micro-"returns" to planes that can't feature heavily in the primary expansions for whatever reasons.
- Set a world up, planeswalkers walk in, "explore"
- Catastrophic Armageddon in the world that messes everything up, planeswalker walk away
And this was like a turbo for the story, which completely eliminated every hype or high end for the story (while weatherlight saga and urza story line took it to the other extreme, stretching a continues story over decades of game time, it was literally what magic was about, Urza "was" magic for a long time).
----
Core sets where overall boring for limited, but perfect to stuff reprints in a set for beginners, while they still had some reprints that constructed needed, without printing more and more similiar effects (something that kind of hurts commander, if you get a lot of the same card with different names, it defeats the purpose of the 1-of rule).
In my book, core-sets are a bad idea, simply because they hurt limited players too much, its a ***** time to have them around.
A way better solution would be to put more reprints in the duel decks, if that is what they want a newbie to buy, make it WORTH its price, and put some actual useful cards in them, even for constructed (and yes, that means the set auto-sells as players want some specific cards, but it also means, they can pretty much gift-away the deck to a newbie right afterwards, which is a pretty self-financing advertisement machine and makes sure the sets sell out all the time).
Putting a bunch of reprints in the deckbuilds Toolkit would also fulfill that goal much more elegant.
----
A set with boosters MUST be a good set to draft , otherwise it completely fails its purpose and it smells like WotC is going to fk that up right here, which is sad news in my book.
I am not sure about 3-2-1 set "blocks" if they're still that. I'll have to see it in practice. Sounds like a good idea on paper though. I did like the 2-set block model, but this could be interesting too. Whatever gets us back to Theros faster.
Hold on to your butt, friendo, we're gonna bust Elspeth outta jail!
My guess is two sets in 2019 through 2020, one for the story of getting Elspeth out of the Underworld and restoring her planeswalker powers and one for the assault on the Gods, where we get to see the most anticipated thing in the Modern era of Magic: Heliod dying.
What will happend to the story with this new model? We will go to a world and, for instance, only be there for 1 set. How is that time enough to set up a story for the world and then resolve it at the same time?
What will happend to the story with this new model? We will go to a world and, for instance, only be there for 1 set. How is that time enough to set up a story for the world and then resolve it at the same time?
It doesn't have to resolve. There's such a narrative device as a cliffhanger, after all, and then they can pull the trigger for the storyline at literally any point, not being constrained by blocks.
It's really unfortunate they're not learning the right lesson from the amonkhet invocations. I think less masterpieces is a good idea, but it's not why the invocations were a failure. They were hideous. The aesthetics of their design was just bad.
I suspect making them so visually splashy was a direct result of them trying to find ways to make them feel "special" as they were struggling to make them fit. By making them less commonplace, they don't need as many gimmicks.
This is pretty much all upside from my view, since I advocated many of these changes myself. I'm too lazy to dig my post, but a while back I suggested that they get rid of the fixed block concept and just do set as appropriate for the world and mechanics.
I also wanted them to show less of the gatewatch and return to less rigid storytelling, where they can spawn new stand-alone stories, like they used to do when moving out of Dominaria. The original Ravnica, Mirrodin, Kamigawa... that let them tell better stories, not constrained by having the Gatewatch. The gatewatch forced to always have the same heroes, and restricted what could possibly happen (deaths, growths, reveals).
I'm not super happy for the return of core set, I'd rather that they printed standard-legal supplementary products to include necessary reprints instead. I do see that business-wise it's easier for them to have standard be driven solely by sales of random boosters. That's their meat and potato.
What will happend to the story with this new model? We will go to a world and, for instance, only be there for 1 set. How is that time enough to set up a story for the world and then resolve it at the same time?
Most likely simply "return" to a place we know anyway and battle something out.
You really dont need apokalyptic level of destruction in EVERY block , it gets old.
Simply building something in a set, by invetigating, or finding some powerful artifact can be totally enough to carry the story forward, without the need to have a defeated super villain "every time" , which is terrible boring.
I am not sure about 3-2-1 set "blocks" if they're still that. I'll have to see it in practice. Sounds like a good idea on paper though. I did like the 2-set block model, but this could be interesting too. Whatever gets us back to Theros faster.
Hold on to your butt, friendo, we're gonna bust Elspeth outta jail!
My guess is two sets in 2019 through 2020, one for the story of getting Elspeth out of the Underworld and restoring her planeswalker powers and one for the assault on the Gods, where we get to see the most anticipated thing in the Modern era of Magic: Heliod dying.
This is a REALLY REALLY good point. By not forcing a "block" to have more than one set, it can actually have a hyper focused story on a smaller scale (think Ant Man in the MCU - smaller scale story - still great). Gatewatch saves Elspeth would be an awesome story to tell through a set, and because of the small scope it could be executed really flavorfully.
Oh... you could even have a "Civil War" style black where the Gatewatch has internal fighting and dukes it out over multiple planes because you're not fixed to a location due to it being used in multiple sets. :-D
If the core sets are going to be geared even more toward new players than in years past, then perhaps the packs of that product should also be cheaper...
What will happend to the story with this new model? We will go to a world and, for instance, only be there for 1 set. How is that time enough to set up a story for the world and then resolve it at the same time?
Most likely simply "return" to a place we know anyway and battle something out.
You really dont need apokalyptic level of destruction in EVERY block , it gets old.
Simply building something in a set, by invetigating, or finding some powerful artifact can be totally enough to carry the story forward, without the need to have a defeated super villain "every time" , which is terrible boring.
I do feel any story needs some kind of conflict, otherwise what will your story be about? Happy people catching butterflies? Doesn´t have to be some big bad wolf but there must be a reason we go to a specific place.
Wait how is it they have decided not to have masterpieces in Ixalan when they only just got bad feedback about the Amonkhet ones.....when did they start working on ixalan? During the release of Amonkhet?
He said that, while they were making them, they didn't like how the Invocations didn't tie into Amonkhet as easily as the Expeditions and Inventions did. It's likely they either decided to scrap the idea of Masterpieces being in every block then or they started putting Ixalan Masterpieces together, planning to pull them, if they felt they should.
This is pretty telling: he said they won't be doing Masterpieces unless they were "memorable," and that they didn't like the Invocations because they didn't fit with Amonkhet very well, so the absence of Masterpieces in Ixalan makes it sound like there's no theme to the set that evokes obvious, memorable Masterpieces that would fit in the same way that the Expeditions and Inventions did (making everybody immediately say "I hope they do this, this, and this"). Then again, whenever I read into MaRo's words I tend to be wrong more often than I'm right lol
What will happend to the story with this new model? We will go to a world and, for instance, only be there for 1 set. How is that time enough to set up a story for the world and then resolve it at the same time?
Most likely simply "return" to a place we know anyway and battle something out.
You really dont need apokalyptic level of destruction in EVERY block , it gets old.
Simply building something in a set, by invetigating, or finding some powerful artifact can be totally enough to carry the story forward, without the need to have a defeated super villain "every time" , which is terrible boring.
I do feel any story needs some kind of conflict, otherwise what will your story be about? Happy people catching butterflies? Doesn´t have to be some big bad wolf but there must be a reason we go to a specific place.
Not every conflict is Man vs Man. They could go to investigate a plane that's behaving erratically, with the cause being as simple as the inhabitants accidentally messing it up. You don't -need- some nefarious evil-doer to be behind everything. I think my favorite of the newer stories has been SOI, because Nahiri wasn't some pure evil trying to destroy a world because it's fun, she wanted to hurt Sorin the same way that he had hurt her.
For me, small set drafts always were boring, only Eldritch Moon was cool enough to keep interest. So I guess I am totally fine with a new paradigm. And need to say, 1-3 worlds per year can be better than expected: simetimes you feel that two sets for one plane in a row are not enough or too much - but definitely better than 1 world per year.
Don't care much about core sets though, but why not.
Glad to see less Gatewatch and masterpieces - yes, I told you about future of masterpiece theme earlier, it feels good to be right.
Though I think these changes appeared too soon, but maybe quick response to players' feedback is good. We are living at such fast changing times.
Is MaRo saying that the new core sets are the utility boxes that keep Standard in check? He has to be talking about this, right?
3 big sets and a utility set per year seem nice. This way we can get to return to previous plains and explore new ones at a faster pace (or create epic multisets like Lorwyn and Shadowmoore). I'm guessing they have to tune the number of planeswalkers for this new structure.
Less masterpieces... probably OK if they reprint decent stuff in the new Cores and Masters. Also, it gives them time to really pick a theme for the Masterpieces, not just cram a ton of unrelated stuff as we've seen with the Invocations.
Less Gatewatch, more new PW faces? Noice.
Now, release some news about the 25th celebration goodies already! Also, Magic Digital Next!
In my book, core-sets are a bad idea, simply because they hurt limited players too much, its a ***** time to have them around.
A way better solution would be to put more reprints in the duel decks, if that is what they want a newbie to buy, make it WORTH its price, and put some actual useful cards in them, even for constructed (and yes, that means the set auto-sells as players want some specific cards, but it also means, they can pretty much gift-away the deck to a newbie right afterwards, which is a pretty self-financing advertisement machine and makes sure the sets sell out all the time).
And not having core sets is bad for Constructed. The format needs a set with generic answers that might not fit the flavor of any given block. Standard has suffered a great deal since they were removed
LouCypher said "Attack the idea, not the person". But there is a real person writing "metamorphosis 2" and he turned to be Maro. And I have just one thing to say: it is a little annoying to read "Success" for things that are not that successful, like "quicker storytelling". And it is more annoying to read "challenge" when he should say "total failure", for things like "no core sets".
1. Three large sets.
Never was really a fan of smaller sets, so I'm actually okay with this. Also changes up the possibility that we could conceivably go through three different worlds per year, and if we stay on one world for a bit, it'll be for good reason.
My biggest concern are the stories, which have become a crucial part of my personal magic experience. Right now we're getting about 16-20 stories per block, or about 8-10 per set, which seems to be enough to make the entire plot work. With now doing one off releases, that means the story cycles are going to have to be more compressed into a single set release timeframe. Hopefully this means we'll get a few more stories in a set, like, say 12, to allow for things to properly build up and play out.
2. Revamped Core Set.
Totally okay with this. Although it'd be cool if each had an overlying theme. Also, hopefully the core set will be vastly different from year to year, since they will overlap in the rotation.
3. Gatewatch changes.
But... I like the Gatewatch
In truth, happy they're scaling back on the cards. I like the idea that each member should have a legal iteration in Standard. But the fact that we have four legal Nissas is a bit much. Besides, less Gatewatch means more variety of other planeswalkers, which I'm cool with.
Just as long as the stories keep them as their focus. I've really enjoyed the route they've taken with this from block to block.
4. Fewer Masterpieces
Of course I finally start actually cracking them and they do this. Still, I can see why they want to dial it back and make it so that when they do do it, its something special.
5. Behind the scenes
Whatever they think needs to work.
Private Mod Note
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Yeah, m10 was far and away the best of the first round of revamped core sets (note - best =/= most powerful).
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
My guess is that it's not to hard to just skip printing the Ixalan masterpieces. They were on a special foil print sheet, and randomly inserted. They were probably designed, and are just being pulled from the set because they realized that they were as underwhelming as the Amonkhet ones, and since they weren't going to increase pack sales, they'll just save the money and call it "responding to feedback." I'm not being critical about the decisions, I think its a good one. But its an easy one for them to spin while also saving money (which is great!).
Prediction: Magic Player Rewards are coming back to increase attendance at standard events.
Custom Set
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hu9uNBSUt92PwGhvexYlwFvsh6_SJBlEEIUV3H9_XyU/edit?usp=sharing
Which is kind of an offshoot of the same problem - when you are having them in every set, and they all need to look different AND fit the theme of the set, you're a lot more likely to have ugly designs make it through cause you have to do something.
375 unpowered cube - https://cubecobra.com/cube/list/601ac624832cdf1039947588
3 Large sets sort've reflects what my LGS owner commented on last FMN. He regularly does Drafts, and he's noted for years how when a set comes out, Draft is big, then it tapers off. When the second half of a block comes out, the initial spike isn't as high (since you aren't all new cards) and it trails off faster. So this new model will make him happier.
The Masterpieces are a bit hit or miss; I understand why they're making them rarer (for the sets). I'm hoping a bit we'll get a Creature-themed set that would encourage them to do Creature-Masterpieces fairly soon.
Core Sets were boring for me because I didn't like how generic they are. Magic Origins was neat as one because it had a theme and featured other worlds. M15 was neat as well with its Soul cycle from DOTP featured world themes. Ideally the new Core Sets will feature a survey of worlds players love that we won't see for a while. Artifacts themed from Kaladesh. Oh look, a Blue spell featuring Thassa in the art. Here's new land set on Tazeem showing Sea Gate rebuilt. That sort of thing, instead of generic trash. It's the best way to peak in on planes instead of waiting to return to get themed cards from them.
I like the Gatewatch, but I started getting bothered when they encroached on other planes walker's space. The fact Tamiyo got shoved out of the Mono-Blue spot by Jace deeply bothers me, even if Jace is my favorite Planeswalker. Having blocks without them but connected to the Gatewatch arc at large is an excellent way to interlude.
Less Masterpieces is better. Ideally Return to Theros has Enchantment themed ones though.
I am not sure about 3-2-1 set "blocks" if they're still that. I'll have to see it in practice. Sounds like a good idea on paper though. I did like the 2-set block model, but this could be interesting too. Whatever gets us back to Theros faster.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
I agree with most of this. There were a few really stand-out core sets over the years and Origins was by far the best of them. It sounds like they're leaning toward Origins being the model for what core sets will look like going forward. That's encouraging, though I expect things like flip walkers will exceed the complexity level they're going for with the new vision.
Overall, I'm feeling good about this. The flexibility of the new model appeals to me. Constraints can encourage innovation, but constraints for the sake of constraints are just unnecessary limitations on creativity.
Edit to add: Core sets being used to fill in story holes, etc., means we could get a lot of micro-"returns" to planes that can't feature heavily in the primary expansions for whatever reasons.
- Set a world up, planeswalkers walk in, "explore"
- Catastrophic Armageddon in the world that messes everything up, planeswalker walk away
And this was like a turbo for the story, which completely eliminated every hype or high end for the story (while weatherlight saga and urza story line took it to the other extreme, stretching a continues story over decades of game time, it was literally what magic was about, Urza "was" magic for a long time).
----
Core sets where overall boring for limited, but perfect to stuff reprints in a set for beginners, while they still had some reprints that constructed needed, without printing more and more similiar effects (something that kind of hurts commander, if you get a lot of the same card with different names, it defeats the purpose of the 1-of rule).
In my book, core-sets are a bad idea, simply because they hurt limited players too much, its a ***** time to have them around.
A way better solution would be to put more reprints in the duel decks, if that is what they want a newbie to buy, make it WORTH its price, and put some actual useful cards in them, even for constructed (and yes, that means the set auto-sells as players want some specific cards, but it also means, they can pretty much gift-away the deck to a newbie right afterwards, which is a pretty self-financing advertisement machine and makes sure the sets sell out all the time).
Putting a bunch of reprints in the deckbuilds Toolkit would also fulfill that goal much more elegant.
----
A set with boosters MUST be a good set to draft , otherwise it completely fails its purpose and it smells like WotC is going to fk that up right here, which is sad news in my book.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Hold on to your butt, friendo, we're gonna bust Elspeth outta jail!
My guess is two sets in 2019 through 2020, one for the story of getting Elspeth out of the Underworld and restoring her planeswalker powers and one for the assault on the Gods, where we get to see the most anticipated thing in the Modern era of Magic: Heliod dying.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
It doesn't have to resolve. There's such a narrative device as a cliffhanger, after all, and then they can pull the trigger for the storyline at literally any point, not being constrained by blocks.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
I suspect making them so visually splashy was a direct result of them trying to find ways to make them feel "special" as they were struggling to make them fit. By making them less commonplace, they don't need as many gimmicks.
I also wanted them to show less of the gatewatch and return to less rigid storytelling, where they can spawn new stand-alone stories, like they used to do when moving out of Dominaria. The original Ravnica, Mirrodin, Kamigawa... that let them tell better stories, not constrained by having the Gatewatch. The gatewatch forced to always have the same heroes, and restricted what could possibly happen (deaths, growths, reveals).
I'm not super happy for the return of core set, I'd rather that they printed standard-legal supplementary products to include necessary reprints instead. I do see that business-wise it's easier for them to have standard be driven solely by sales of random boosters. That's their meat and potato.
Overall, it looks like good changes to me.
Most likely simply "return" to a place we know anyway and battle something out.
You really dont need apokalyptic level of destruction in EVERY block , it gets old.
Simply building something in a set, by invetigating, or finding some powerful artifact can be totally enough to carry the story forward, without the need to have a defeated super villain "every time" , which is terrible boring.
WUBRG#BlackLotusMatterWUBRG
👮👮👮 #BlueLivesMatter 👮👮👮
Can anyone shed some light?
This is a REALLY REALLY good point. By not forcing a "block" to have more than one set, it can actually have a hyper focused story on a smaller scale (think Ant Man in the MCU - smaller scale story - still great). Gatewatch saves Elspeth would be an awesome story to tell through a set, and because of the small scope it could be executed really flavorfully.
Oh... you could even have a "Civil War" style black where the Gatewatch has internal fighting and dukes it out over multiple planes because you're not fixed to a location due to it being used in multiple sets. :-D
Custom Set
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1hu9uNBSUt92PwGhvexYlwFvsh6_SJBlEEIUV3H9_XyU/edit?usp=sharing
I do feel any story needs some kind of conflict, otherwise what will your story be about? Happy people catching butterflies? Doesn´t have to be some big bad wolf but there must be a reason we go to a specific place.
He said that, while they were making them, they didn't like how the Invocations didn't tie into Amonkhet as easily as the Expeditions and Inventions did. It's likely they either decided to scrap the idea of Masterpieces being in every block then or they started putting Ixalan Masterpieces together, planning to pull them, if they felt they should.
This is pretty telling: he said they won't be doing Masterpieces unless they were "memorable," and that they didn't like the Invocations because they didn't fit with Amonkhet very well, so the absence of Masterpieces in Ixalan makes it sound like there's no theme to the set that evokes obvious, memorable Masterpieces that would fit in the same way that the Expeditions and Inventions did (making everybody immediately say "I hope they do this, this, and this"). Then again, whenever I read into MaRo's words I tend to be wrong more often than I'm right lol
Not every conflict is Man vs Man. They could go to investigate a plane that's behaving erratically, with the cause being as simple as the inhabitants accidentally messing it up. You don't -need- some nefarious evil-doer to be behind everything. I think my favorite of the newer stories has been SOI, because Nahiri wasn't some pure evil trying to destroy a world because it's fun, she wanted to hurt Sorin the same way that he had hurt her.
Don't care much about core sets though, but why not.
Glad to see less Gatewatch and masterpieces - yes, I told you about future of masterpiece theme earlier, it feels good to be right.
Though I think these changes appeared too soon, but maybe quick response to players' feedback is good. We are living at such fast changing times.
3 big sets and a utility set per year seem nice. This way we can get to return to previous plains and explore new ones at a faster pace (or create epic multisets like Lorwyn and Shadowmoore). I'm guessing they have to tune the number of planeswalkers for this new structure.
Less masterpieces... probably OK if they reprint decent stuff in the new Cores and Masters. Also, it gives them time to really pick a theme for the Masterpieces, not just cram a ton of unrelated stuff as we've seen with the Invocations.
Less Gatewatch, more new PW faces? Noice.
Now, release some news about the 25th celebration goodies already! Also, Magic Digital Next!
Anyway, I like the changes.
Thanks for the info, LouCypher.
3BB
Sorcery
You lose the game.
1. Three large sets.
Never was really a fan of smaller sets, so I'm actually okay with this. Also changes up the possibility that we could conceivably go through three different worlds per year, and if we stay on one world for a bit, it'll be for good reason.
My biggest concern are the stories, which have become a crucial part of my personal magic experience. Right now we're getting about 16-20 stories per block, or about 8-10 per set, which seems to be enough to make the entire plot work. With now doing one off releases, that means the story cycles are going to have to be more compressed into a single set release timeframe. Hopefully this means we'll get a few more stories in a set, like, say 12, to allow for things to properly build up and play out.
2. Revamped Core Set.
Totally okay with this. Although it'd be cool if each had an overlying theme. Also, hopefully the core set will be vastly different from year to year, since they will overlap in the rotation.
3. Gatewatch changes.
But... I like the Gatewatch
In truth, happy they're scaling back on the cards. I like the idea that each member should have a legal iteration in Standard. But the fact that we have four legal Nissas is a bit much. Besides, less Gatewatch means more variety of other planeswalkers, which I'm cool with.
Just as long as the stories keep them as their focus. I've really enjoyed the route they've taken with this from block to block.
4. Fewer Masterpieces
Of course I finally start actually cracking them and they do this. Still, I can see why they want to dial it back and make it so that when they do do it, its something special.
5. Behind the scenes
Whatever they think needs to work.