It's gotta be more than 5. No way they picked only 5 planes and they were Lorwyn, Tarkir, Alara, Shandalar and Mercadia.
I actually think it’s likely they just did a cycle for the first set like planeswalkers were when they first appeared in Lorwyn. Especially if it’s a high complexity mechanic, introducing them with a small number of cards will ease the player base into them while also letting them be meaningful glimpses of planes that otherwise won’t be touched by cards in the set.
I wonder...are all battle cards going forward going to be double faced? That would significantly limit how many sets they can actually show up in. Maybe dfcs will be slightly more common because of battles. And if not, it will be interesting to see how they work. I could see them doing dfc battles here alongside other uses for phyrexian transforming stuff, but maybe those dfcs are in the set primarily because battles meant dfcs were already in set.
I'm guessing the dfc card part of battles is the front face being primarily a hoop to jump through that is the main conflict and back face which gives a payoff as a kind of ending of the battle.
EDIT: alternate possible theory, maybe the two faces represent different states for the battle, where it flips based on a condition a little bit like day/night, like what side of the battle is winning or something
EDIT: alternate possible theory, maybe the two faces represent different states for the battle, where it flips based on a condition a little bit like day/night, like what side of the battle is winning or something
I was thinking that too, but the artworks we got aren't very one-sided. Especially the Alara one is fairly balanced.
I personally am not convinced battles will be a tug-of-war. Cards that let the opponent influence that card's effectiveness are difficult to make fun. I don't think WotC wants to build an entire mechanic around such a principle, especially if it's intended to be a huge thing, like a new card type.
I would assume the backside simply shows the phyrexians winning and if you don't meet the criteria, the "invasion" of that plane was repelled and the battle disappears, something like that.
I have a theory that it's not necessarily "tug of war" style, but maybe something that everyone can interact with.
Like maybe battles have their own health (similar to planeswalker loyalty) and that any player can attack it and block incoming attacks against it. The player who deals the last points of damage to it "wins" the battle, then it will flip and they'll get the reward. Just a theory. Maybe this isn't the right place to post this, but it does play into the idea that everyone wants to attack this and get involved in the battle.
I have a theory that it's not necessarily "tug of war" style, but maybe something that everyone can interact with.
Like maybe battles have their own health (similar to planeswalker loyalty) and that any player can attack it and block incoming attacks against it. The player who deals the last points of damage to it "wins" the battle, then it will flip and they'll get the reward. Just a theory. Maybe this isn't the right place to post this, but it does play into the idea that everyone wants to attack this and get involved in the battle.
I could see this, but less symmetrical. Instead of either player being able to attack into it, maybe only the player who casts it can attack it and the opponent can choose to block it. That way you don’t risk giving your opponent value on top of not lowering their life total.
Like many new card types (ans mostly sub-card types) they've done in the past, I think battle will be something that technically they could have done with another card type, but it would make no sense for flavor. Like vehicule are midway artifact / creatures, planeswalker midway creature / modal spells, battle are probably mid-way lands / enchantments. They represent a location like a land, but they are cast, have a mana cost, can be played more than one per turn and have a global permanent effect. Or maybe an effect until your next turn?
Like many new card types (ans mostly sub-card types) they've done in the past, I think battle will be something that technically they could have done with another card type, but it would make no sense for flavor. Like vehicule are midway artifact / creatures, planeswalker midway creature / modal spells, battle are probably mid-way lands / enchantments. They represent a location like a land, but they are cast, have a mana cost, can be played more than one per turn and have a global permanent effect. Or maybe an effect until your next turn?
Pretty sure Eldraine will take part in the action, as there was previewed already the Will & his sister, Whats-her-name, had a funeral service (think it was a b&w enchantment or artifact). And by the creature pairs Commander cycle, it looks like heroes are banding together from each plane, like Goro-Goro and Satoru from Kamigaws. There are pairs from Innistrad, as well as Ikoria, and so forth. Now there are a total of 83 planes in Magic's know multiverse. But I am pretty sure we'll see just about every planes featured in each expansion from the past 30 years. Shandalar will likely be skipped because WotC has mentioned it's the least likely plane to revisit. Other minor planes will most likely have no representation, such Serovia or the plane from Battlebond. This is (most likely) a way to tie in most of the planes, as part of the 30th anniversary. Nothing sells better than nostalgia.
Pretty sure Eldraine will take part in the action, as there was previewed already the Will & his sister, Whats-her-name, had a funeral service (think it was a b&w enchantment or artifact). And by the creature pairs Commander cycle, it looks like heroes are banding together from each plane, like Goro-Goro and Satoru from Kamigaws. There are pairs from Innistrad, as well as Ikoria, and so forth. Now there are a total of 83 planes in Magic's know multiverse. But I am pretty sure we'll see just about every planes featured in each expansion from the past 30 years. Shandalar will likely be skipped because WotC has mentioned it's the least likely plane to revisit. Other minor planes will most likely have no representation, such Serovia or the plane from Battlebond. This is (most likely) a way to tie in most of the planes, as part of the 30th anniversary. Nothing sells better than nostalgia.
Cards that let the opponent influence that card's effectiveness are difficult to make fun. I don't think WotC wants to build an entire mechanic around such a principle, especially if it's intended to be a huge thing, like a new card type.
Monarch and Initative are actually whole mechanics where are both fun, effective -when aggresively costed enough- and opponent got a chance to interact with to get the same benefits, so I wouldn't rule this out of the table. It sure takes good design skills and I suspect that Battles, like Planeswalkers will show up only sparingly at high rarities.
Cards that let the opponent influence that card's effectiveness are difficult to make fun. I don't think WotC wants to build an entire mechanic around such a principle, especially if it's intended to be a huge thing, like a new card type.
Monarch and Initative are actually whole mechanics where are both fun, effective -when aggresively costed enough- and opponent got a chance to interact with to get the same benefits, so I wouldn't rule this out of the table. It sure takes good design skills and I suspect that Battles, like Planeswalkers will show up only sparingly at high rarities.
Sorry, "influence a card's effectiveness" was poor wording. I meant like when the opponent can get something out of it. Yes, if the opponent can interact with battles, I think that works, but people theorized that one of the two players can "win" the battle and reap the benefits.
Monarch is the closest here because your opponent can steal the crown from you, but there is always a chance to get it back. Once a battle is won that'd be it. Plus, Monarch is not an evergreen mechanic, but specifically made for multiplayer. I don't expect a whole card type that will see play in 2-player games to fall under similar design principles.
So I was thinking again about the "1 card per pack" thing and I looked up the number of cards in other sets that had "guaranteed card of <thing>" in each booster. Original Innistrad had 20 transform cards which was probably a bit low because in Shadows over Innistrad they bumped it up to 30. Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow had two in each booster and a total of 50 in each set. Dominaria and Dominaria United had a guaranteed legendary card in each booster and 60 legendaries in each set.
The "primary" planes (Planes regularly visited and referenced, like Ravnica, Theros and Zendikar) and secondary planes (usually not revisited but semi-frequently referenced, such as Shandalar, Lorwyn and Ulgrotha) together make up 20-25 planes, depending on where you make the cut. Since we already know Mercadia and Lorwyn are in, which are already on the lower end of secondary, we can assume there will be a minimum if 20-25 battles.
I assume we'll get like 30-35, which is enough to give us all the primary and secondary planes with some room for planechase-only ones (Muraganda comes to mind) and maybe some lore deep-cuts. I kinda wanna see an Invasion of Segovia, like a "miniature land" with tiny Realmbreaker roots and phyrexian pods. (Anything going to Segovia gets shrunk down but apparently native entities pulled from Segovia don't get scaled up.)
It's gotta be more than 5. No way they picked only 5 planes and they were Lorwyn, Tarkir, Alara, Shandalar and Mercadia.
I actually think it’s likely they just did a cycle for the first set like planeswalkers were when they first appeared in Lorwyn. Especially if it’s a high complexity mechanic, introducing them with a small number of cards will ease the player base into them while also letting them be meaningful glimpses of planes that otherwise won’t be touched by cards in the set.
While a small number for something so new is likely spot on if they come one to every booster a lot of folks are going to have 20+ of each if there's under 15.
It's gotta be more than 5. No way they picked only 5 planes and they were Lorwyn, Tarkir, Alara, Shandalar and Mercadia.
I actually think it’s likely they just did a cycle for the first set like planeswalkers were when they first appeared in Lorwyn. Especially if it’s a high complexity mechanic, introducing them with a small number of cards will ease the player base into them while also letting them be meaningful glimpses of planes that otherwise won’t be touched by cards in the set.
While a small number for something so new is likely spot on if they come one to every booster a lot of folks are going to have 20+ of each if there's under 15.
Yeah, my prediction was before i saw the 1-per-pack announcement
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now that it’s offical I’m like 95% sure it’s the “invasion of *plane name*” cards we saw in the first look.
either we will get one per plane or just 5 like the last time with planeswalkers
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StaffI actually think it’s likely they just did a cycle for the first set like planeswalkers were when they first appeared in Lorwyn. Especially if it’s a high complexity mechanic, introducing them with a small number of cards will ease the player base into them while also letting them be meaningful glimpses of planes that otherwise won’t be touched by cards in the set.
I'm guessing the dfc card part of battles is the front face being primarily a hoop to jump through that is the main conflict and back face which gives a payoff as a kind of ending of the battle.
EDIT: alternate possible theory, maybe the two faces represent different states for the battle, where it flips based on a condition a little bit like day/night, like what side of the battle is winning or something
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I was thinking that too, but the artworks we got aren't very one-sided. Especially the Alara one is fairly balanced.
I personally am not convinced battles will be a tug-of-war. Cards that let the opponent influence that card's effectiveness are difficult to make fun. I don't think WotC wants to build an entire mechanic around such a principle, especially if it's intended to be a huge thing, like a new card type.
I would assume the backside simply shows the phyrexians winning and if you don't meet the criteria, the "invasion" of that plane was repelled and the battle disappears, something like that.
Like maybe battles have their own health (similar to planeswalker loyalty) and that any player can attack it and block incoming attacks against it. The player who deals the last points of damage to it "wins" the battle, then it will flip and they'll get the reward. Just a theory. Maybe this isn't the right place to post this, but it does play into the idea that everyone wants to attack this and get involved in the battle.
Exactly what I was thinking as well.
We already have art of the Shandalar battle card.
Monarch and Initative are actually whole mechanics where are both fun, effective -when aggresively costed enough- and opponent got a chance to interact with to get the same benefits, so I wouldn't rule this out of the table. It sure takes good design skills and I suspect that Battles, like Planeswalkers will show up only sparingly at high rarities.
Sorry, "influence a card's effectiveness" was poor wording. I meant like when the opponent can get something out of it. Yes, if the opponent can interact with battles, I think that works, but people theorized that one of the two players can "win" the battle and reap the benefits.
Monarch is the closest here because your opponent can steal the crown from you, but there is always a chance to get it back. Once a battle is won that'd be it. Plus, Monarch is not an evergreen mechanic, but specifically made for multiplayer. I don't expect a whole card type that will see play in 2-player games to fall under similar design principles.
The "primary" planes (Planes regularly visited and referenced, like Ravnica, Theros and Zendikar) and secondary planes (usually not revisited but semi-frequently referenced, such as Shandalar, Lorwyn and Ulgrotha) together make up 20-25 planes, depending on where you make the cut. Since we already know Mercadia and Lorwyn are in, which are already on the lower end of secondary, we can assume there will be a minimum if 20-25 battles.
I assume we'll get like 30-35, which is enough to give us all the primary and secondary planes with some room for planechase-only ones (Muraganda comes to mind) and maybe some lore deep-cuts. I kinda wanna see an Invasion of Segovia, like a "miniature land" with tiny Realmbreaker roots and phyrexian pods. (Anything going to Segovia gets shrunk down but apparently native entities pulled from Segovia don't get scaled up.)
While a small number for something so new is likely spot on if they come one to every booster a lot of folks are going to have 20+ of each if there's under 15.
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