I actually think this may be in the current 7 year plan.
1. In the article "Tell me what you want" by MaRo, he states Return to Kamigawa is heavily requested, and at the end of the article states some of the listed requests are in the 7 year plan (which ones, we don't know).
2. From that list, we've seen Egypt World, Dinosaur World, Taigam, return to Dominaria and several other requests already get done.
3. Blogatog is bombarded with Kamigawa questions.
4. Kamigawa is a 7 on the Rabiah scale.
5. The shift to a block being as little as one large set at times is… intriguing. If they did Kamigawa for one large set, it minimizes the risk if it is a failure (unlikely if done right).
6. Chroma was re-done as Devotion and was a success - granted entire planes are more complicated.
7. MaRo asked what players would want to see if returning to Kamigawa - the results were evidently mixed, but still.
8. Kamigawa followed up the most broken set in MTG which was unfair to it. Innistrad-level strength and the right focus easily redeems it.
9. Tamiyo's popularity as a Planeswalker is difficult to dispute. She's probably among the most popular.
The question will be if they can fix all the issues the first Kamigawa had, like all the weird hard-to-remember names and strange art of "spirits" that weren't spirits. I trust that they can fix the mechanical issues (low power level, bad mechanics like Sweep, change "Splice onto Arcane" into "Splice onto Instant", etc). I think if they focus on the resonant stuff like Ninjas and Samurai (+Bushido), they could make a Kamigawa that works.
This would be amazing. They have to bring back bushido and ninjutsu, make flip cards into DFCs. I think splice into arcane is interesting, it's just that there isn't enough good options, if it's just 1 set that won't change but 2 sets, maybe. Splice onto instant might be a little too strong.
Story wise it can be pretty easy, one member of the GW goes to see Tamiyo during her story circle to get info on where the other members where sent off by Bolas, some Kami starts trouble and the present PWs join together to help Tamiyo. If i'm not mistaken, Narset is part of he story circle, could be a viable reason to bring her back.
I had no hopes for a return long enough, but you just made me think it is possible. Especially the switch to standalone blocks seems like the perfect opportunity. If it would be selling bad, they could still follow it up with Ravnica/Innistrad 3.
If they would geht the flavour and the art style right though, and don't have too much 5-mana 2/1's, I'd buy a ton of Kami2 stuff.
I forgot to mention Tamiyo's popularity as a planeswalker as well.
I would definitely buy a lot of Kamigawa 2 as well.
This would be amazing. They have to bring back bushido and ninjutsu, make flip cards into DFCs. I think splice into arcane is interesting, it's just that there isn't enough good options, if it's just 1 set that won't change but 2 sets, maybe. Splice onto instant might be a little too strong.
Story wise it can be pretty easy, one member of the GW goes to see Tamiyo during her story circle to get info on where the other members where sent off by Bolas, some Kami starts trouble and the present PWs join together to help Tamiyo. If i'm not mistaken, Narset is part of he story circle, could be a viable reason to bring her back.
Splice into Sorcery could be fair to make Sorceries more appealing.
The question will be if they can fix all the issues the first Kamigawa had, like all the weird hard-to-remember names and strange art of "spirits" that weren't spirits. I trust that they can fix the mechanical issues (low power level, bad mechanics like Sweep, change "Splice onto Arcane" into "Splice onto Instant", etc). I think if they focus on the resonant stuff like Ninjas and Samurai (+Bushido), they could make a Kamigawa that works.
The names are easy - those difficult to recall characters are long gone now. We have new named characters in Tamiyo's family which are easily recalled.
Spirits - Kami War has ended. No need for spirit manifestations. Focus on Kamigawa as rebuilt and recovered Japan World
I think "Kamigawa 2" would actually sell pretty well. Although the first set was arguably a sales flop, but it did have a pretty great story tied into a unique and flavorful world.
I think it could sell well if:
- Kamigawa reworks new mechanics to match some of the "failed" mechanics from the Old sets.
- Reworks the tribes of Kamigawa to be better represented among the colors evenly.
- Bring back old characters and add some new ones.... most importantly add a lot of legendaries!
- Has a fairly strong power level to make up for what people consider lacking from the Old Kamigawa.
Personally I would like to see:
- Ninjas and Samurai reworked.
- Spirits to still be a part of Kamigawa, still have a fairly tribal connection, but less of them "at war" and more or less just another tribe divided in the five colors.
- Lots of legends.
I think they should scale down on legends. That was one of the things players didn't like about the original. I mean they can make just as many legendary artifacts and lands but less creatures.
As a mainly commander player i would love more but it's not a set for edh
Return to Kamigawa... they could always make it a draft set like Conspiracy was.
A mix of old Kamigawa block reprints (Umezawa's Jitte) and new cards (Sisters of Flesh and Spirit). Along with draft-focused cards like a Zubera that has a draft mechanic like Garbage Fire when it dies.
Reintroduce the splice mechanic with brand new cards. Splice onto Instant or Splice onto Sorcery. Add permanents that make splicing more generalistic so they can be used on instants and sorceries.
More spirit support, but spirits should be a smaller role on a return. Think like Innistrad for the amount of spirit tribal cards and spirit cards in general.
More support for Samurai and Ninjas should be a given.
Legendary cards should be a thing. Though not as high in density. If there is any legendary non-rare or non-mythic cards, they should strictly be as reprints only.
In an ideal world, Kodamas of the West and/or East Trees should be printed.
The set could focus more on political intrigue rather than Spirt-Human-War. As there was much in the way of dynasties, houses, honor, dishonors, dueling, etc. Think if Portal Three Kingdoms, Conspiracy and Kamigawa had a baby.
Tamiyo as a planeswalker. Maybe we could even get a Nezumi planeswalker to fill our aligned quota.
So...anyone else get the feeling Maro's answer is a load of crap?
Not really, no. I trust his perspective from a company that plans a minimum of two years in advance and gathers customer data on a large scale over the skewed perspectives and priorities on this website.
I looked at Kamigawa and didn't feel resonance like I did with Innistrad, Theros, and Amonkhet. I appreciate some of the design themes they shot for, but there wasn't nearly enough of what I like about Japanese culture, or the Hollywood version thereof anyway, in there to warrant a return. The Samurai and Ninja were the only parts I really cared for; the Kami could have been done better and we should have had more iconic depictions of Oni, Kitsune, and such. Not to mention the set was sorely lacking Tanuki and should have had Kappa.
At this point I would just as soon we get a new Japan-themed world and set, with its own distinct themes to make it feel like more than just "Improved Kamigawa". Mecha, Kaiju, Monks inspired by Dragon Ball and Street Fighter, and DFC creatures inspired by the likes of Power Rangers and Sailor Moon are at the top of my list. I guess you could say my ideal Japan world would blend elements of traditional Japanese culture like the Samurai, Ninja, and Kami with more contemporary anime influences.
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Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I don't know that that's the appropriate way to tally things, given that MaRo's statement seems to more imply "Tell us what we can't cut, and what isn't stated will be."
So by that metric.
9 people upset if there aren’t Soratami
7 people upset if there aren’t Nezumi
6 people upset if there aren’t Kitsune.
5 people upset if there aren’t Orochi.
5 people upset if there aren’t Akki.
5 people upset if there aren’t Oni.
8 people upset if there aren’t Spirits.
10 people upset if there aren’t Samurai.
12 people upset if there aren’t Ninja.
2 people upset if there isn’t a creative/mechanical split between the spirit and mortal realm.
1 person upset if there isn’t Bushido (assuming people aren’t conflating bushido with samurai)
1 person upset if there isn’t Ninjutsu (assuming people aren’t conflating ninjutsu with ninja)
3 people upset if there aren’t more legends than normal.
1 person upset if there aren’t splice spells (assuming arcane isn’t factored in).
2 people upset if there aren’t arcane spells (assuming splice isn’t factored in).
2 people upset if there aren’t callbacks.
And 1 person who would be upset by anything.
And that’s 19 people out of 108-ish who gave feedback.
And unfortunately, even the feedback given doesn't really help all that much. People seem to want the non-human races left in, but we don't know if they care about just the creature type, the general flavor, the mechanical flavor, where they stood in the lore in the previous version of Kamigawa, or any combination thereof. If we got Moonfolk that didn't bounce lands, or fly, would people still want them, or are those aspects integral to their sense of self? Do the spirits need to be in all five colors, or can they be focused down into two? What happens if popular perception of the block changes the story? If people think O-Kagachi is still alive after Commander 2017, then will it be if a new set rolls around?
I don't really think MaRo is full of crap about this. Like, just going back to the amount of people who responded vs. the people who didn't: Not even 20% responded. More than 80% either couldn't articulate their thoughts on the subject, wanted to keep everything, or didn't care if it all got cut. And that's from the "When will you bring back Kamigawa" Blogatog group. That's from the dedicated, enfranchised people. Why would the layman care?
And since there's more of the layman than us, it frankly wouldn't matter. They'd need to design a set that appealed to as many people as possible. They could call it Kamigawa 2, but why would they give it that baggage of expectation?
As if WOTC has ever struggled to satisfy every single metric on a Return set before? BFZ took one of the most popular planes in MTG and made everyone cringe at the mention of it or the Eldrazi with BFZ. Instead of delivering ZEN, we got ROE. Innistrad was Cosmic Horror on the return. Let's please not pretend they've set out to cover all their bases, which is impossible anyway.
MaRo should look at the actual trends. The requests can all be summed up by this list:
Kamigawa's original geography
Characteristic races (Moonfolk etc.)
Legendary
Callback cards
Samurai, Ninjas
Popular Mechanics (Bushido, Ninjitsu)
All of which are entirely reasonable expectations. Oh look, I just made a Legendary Creature - Soratami Ninja with the Ninjitsu ability and flavor text referencing Higure the Still Wind with Minamo in the background of its art. This one card literally just hit every single metric on the above list alone.
Just as an example.
what's hilarious is on Tarkir, they literally took the popular Wedge Factions and ended up with a far less popular world that now they need to bend over backwards to justify returning to the former. But with Kamigawa, the Kami War ended, and it can be the Japan World which delivers what was popular before with Japan World tropes. It's a blank slate.
As if WOTC has ever struggled to satisfy every single metric on a Return set before? BFZ took one of the most popular planes in MTG and made everyone cringe at the mention of it or the Eldrazi with BFZ. Instead of delivering ZEN, we got ROE. Innistrad was Cosmic Horror on the return. Let's please not pretend they've set out to cover all their bases, which is impossible anyway.
MaRo should look at the actual trends. The requests can all be summed up by this list:
Kamigawa's original geography
Characteristic races (Moonfolk etc.)
Legendary
Callback cards
Samurai, Ninjas
Popular Mechanics (Bushido, Ninjitsu)
All of which are entirely reasonable expectations. Oh look, I just made a Legendary Creature - Soratami Ninja with the Ninjitsu and flavor text referencing Higure the Still Wind with Minamo in the background of its art. This one card literally just hit every single metric on the above list alone.
Just as an example.
what's hilarious is on Tarkir, they literally took the popular Wedge Factions and ended up with a far less popular world that now they need to bend over backwards to justify returning to the former. But with Kamigawa, the Kami War ended, and it can be the Japan World which delivers what was popular before with Japan World tropes. It's a blank slate.
I think Mark Rosewater personally just dislikes Kamigawa.
As I've read the blogatog thing for awhile and multiple users have suggested ways to make Kamigawa 2.0 more appealing while not exactly losing what makes Kamigawa... Kamigawa. Yet they mostly hide behind 12 year survey data, sales figures and an unwillingness to return and instead jump to other planes.
In 1995 there was a card game called Legend of the Five Rings. It persisted for twenty years. It was Kamigawa with a dash of the guilds in Ravnica. It told twenty years worth of stories on a single "plane". It had sets of varying power levels where are some are like the equivalent of Ravnica and others more like Mercadian Masques.
In fact the majority of the stories for L5R are on 1/5th of this super-continent, the other 4/5ths is this massive desert/jungle hybrid that plays out more like Tarkir as you got Egyptians, Romans, Turkish, Mongolians, Eastern Indians, etc. Also by-the-by the Desert/Jungle section is from mostly a card game created by WOTC called "Legend of the Burning Sands". Its only briefly used in L5R, like a single set and many 1-of cards that reference it.
I mean Mark Rosewater goes on and on with Dominaria about the "Their is a saying in writing: If you are everything, you are nothing".
Do you know which card game did better in the same universe between Five Rings and Burning Sands? Five Rings. That is because Five Rings told a story from a view of xenophobic Japanese people. Burning Sands went for the approach like Tarkir or Alara would. Did I mention that Burning Sands was made by the same people who make MTG?
And we are talking about barely more than a hundred fans out of millions. Blogatog is not a good source of statistics for determining demographics. Again, I'll trust Maro's word supported by a corporation's worth of resources, personnel, and 25 years of experience over a group of people who happened to like Kamigawa.
Believe it or not, I actually dislike Kamigawa. I dislike the race selection (Four-armed snake people? Moonfolk? Where are the Tanuki and the Tengu? Where's our trio of Susanoo, Kushinada, and Orochi? How about Amaterasu and Tuskiyomi? Red oni and blue oni?), I dislike certain aesthetics (like how the Oni Demons barely resemble the curvy-toothed, spiral-horned ogres we know from pop culture), I dislike most of the mechanics (Bushido and Ninjutsu are alright, Soulshift and Channel are okay, Splice is parasitic, Sweep didn't warrant an ability word). If they revisit Japanese culture, I want a new world that isn't Kamigawa, a world they can rebuild from scratch with more resonant tropes.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
And we are talking about barely more than a hundred fans out of millions. Blogatog is not a good source of statistics for determining demographics. Again, I'll trust Maro's word supported by a corporation's worth of resources, personnel, and 25 years of experience over a group of people who happened to like Kamigawa.
Believe it or not, I actually dislike Kamigawa. I dislike the race selection (Four-armed snake people? Moonfolk? Where are the Tanuki and the Tengu?
Because Kamigawa is based off of Legend of the Five Rings which barely had any Tanuki or Tengu at all. As around this time, Wizards had bought the L5R property from its original creators a few years prior. The original creators were lobbying a few years later to reclaim their property.
Where's our trio of Susanoo, Kushinada, and Orochi? How about Amaterasu and Tuskiyomi? Red oni and blue oni?)
Its like Theros or Amonkhet. Many of such notable characters are either:
I dislike certain aesthetics (like how the Oni Demons barely resemble the curvy-toothed, spiral-horned ogres we know from pop culture)
This is why Theros AND Amonkhet suffer. Your pop culture preconceptions means we can't have nice things. If we do get nice things like Hundred-Handed One or Prowling Serpopard, they are far and few between and the unenlightened masses believe its some random thing that WotC created.
I dislike most of the mechanics (Bushido and Ninjutsu are alright, Soulshift and Channel are okay, Splice is parasitic, Sweep didn't warrant an ability word).
Splice =/= Parasitic
Arcane = Parasitic
If they revisit Japanese culture, I want a new world that isn't Kamigawa, a world they can rebuild from scratch with more resonant tropes.
We already got more of that Eastern Asia culture, its called Tarkir. Seems strange to say at first until you have read blogatog. A year and a half before Tarkir came out, a question was asked. More Japan or other cultures in Asia. Mark Rosewater responded with the latter which is how we got Tarkir.
So...anyone else get the feeling Maro's answer is a load of crap?
Not really, no. I trust his perspective from a company that plans a minimum of two years in advance and gathers customer data on a large scale over the skewed perspectives and priorities on this website.
I looked at Kamigawa and didn't feel resonance like I did with Innistrad, Theros, and Amonkhet. I appreciate some of the design themes they shot for, but there wasn't nearly enough of what I like about Japanese culture, or the Hollywood version thereof anyway, in there to warrant a return. The Samurai and Ninja were the only parts I really cared for; the Kami could have been done better and we should have had more iconic depictions of Oni, Kitsune, and such. Not to mention the set was sorely lacking Tanuki and should have had Kappa.
At this point I would just as soon we get a new Japan-themed world and set, with its own distinct themes to make it feel like more than just "Improved Kamigawa". Mecha, Kaiju, Monks inspired by Dragon Ball and Street Fighter, and DFC creatures inspired by the likes of Power Rangers and Sailor Moon are at the top of my list. I guess you could say my ideal Japan world would blend elements of traditional Japanese culture like the Samurai, Ninja, and Kami with more contemporary anime influences.
Lmao, what am I reading. Is this supposed to be some next-level sarcasm? Dragon ball, Sailor moon, anime? Contemporary anime influence? Hollywood version? Whaa....??
Kamigawa was a perfect set as far as flavor goes. The japanese aestethics and atmosphere, the art and flavor texts were all on point. If a return to Kamigawa means ruining the essence of the plane, then I agree with Maro and would rather not return to it.
I really don't want to see a new Japanese world because it's likely to just be overly anime-based. Japan has a lot to offer that isn't anime, but that's what pop culture perception is of Japan. I worry that a Return to Kamigawa would just wind up being overly anime-based too, though it having existing lore at least kind of mitigates that.
You guys do realize that MaRo is notorious for misguiding us about future products, right? Just remember how he kept insisting on how unlikely the next un-set was. I would say that the chances of a return to Kamigawa are actually pretty high...
For once, I agree completely with MaRo. With the way Wotc is beholden to market research these days, a return to Kamigawa would most likely be Naruto: The gathering instead of Kamigawa 2.0. No reason to go back if you will make a completely different plane to try an appeal to a broader demographic. Just make a new plane instead.
i'd be so down for this!!
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Huey, Dewey and Louie are always dressed in RUG. it is CLEARLY going to be the wedges block Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
Because Kamigawa is based off of Legend of the Five Rings which barely had any Tanuki or Tengu at all. As around this time, Wizards had bought the L5R property from its original creators a few years prior. The original creators were lobbying a few years later to reclaim their property.
Well then it sounds like LotFR wasn't the Japanese set most of us were looking for.
Theros' bases were much more resonant. Even if Kamigawa's Susanoo wasn't the one to slay its Orochi, you still could have had that story presented in an iconic manner with a Samurai and an eight-headed Hydra. What, were Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang and That Which Was Taken supposed to be the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (grass-cutting sword taken from Orochi's fourth tail) and Yata-no-Kagami (Mirror used to help lure Amaterasu out of a cave)? What about the Yasakani-no-Magatama (Beads used to lure Amaterasu out of a cave, provides the basis for the famous teardrop bead shape)?
This is why Theros AND Amonkhet suffer. Your pop culture preconceptions means we can't have nice things. If we do get nice things like Hundred-Handed One or Prowling Serpopard, they are far and few between and the unenlightened masses believe its some random thing that WotC created.
Theros and Amonkhet are smash hits compared to Kamigawa, so clearly they aren't suffering from playing into resonant tropes. Resonance is what we recognize, and it becomes resonant because we like it. We can easily tell stories about it. We don't need the nitty-gritty, especially because as you said certain elements of mythology are repurposed anyway, so Magic's adaptation of these cultures and their figures need not be 1-for-1, they just need to employ recognizable tropes. People recognize Kitsune and Tanuki, they don't recognize "weird blue spirit things" beyond being the kind of weird creature you sometimes see in hardcore Japanese productions, and you don't see those slapped all over Japanese merchandise.
I like "pop culture resonance" because those are the fun parts of these cultures. If I wanted a lesson on Sengoku-period Japan, I'd look for a book on the subject. I play a Japanese set, I expect Samurai, Ninja, Tanuki, etc. because those are the fun parts of Japanese culture which even the Japanese embrace on a regular basis. Japan itself regularly includes references to Tanuki, Kappa, Oni, etc. in their own games and cartoons, so it's not like Westerners appropriated Japanese culture for their own purposes. Japan understands the value of iconism, and so they have developed an iconic look for many of their well-known creatures.
I'll take Naruto: the Gathering if it means more Ninja fun. Because I play a game to have fun, you know?
I'll grant this one. But with Overload now a thing, it's less likely that we'll see Splice onto instant or sorcery. A non-Arcane version of Reweave or Strange Inversion would do wacky things on an Overload spell, nevermind Shifting Borders.
We already got more of that Eastern Asia culture, its called Tarkir. Seems strange to say at first until you have read blogatog. A year and a half before Tarkir came out, a question was asked. More Japan or other cultures in Asia. Mark Rosewater responded with the latter which is how we got Tarkir.
Jeskai was explicitly not Japanese, it was more Chinese if anything. I certainly didn't see Ninja or Samurai walking around Jeskai (though that would have been awesome), I saw more Shao Lin monks than anything.
You guys do realize that MaRo is notorious for misguiding us about future products, right? Just remember how he kept insisting on how unlikely the next un-set was. I would say that the chances of a return to Kamigawa are actually pretty high...
I recall that he said we need to make our voices heard to Wizards. Which we did. And they listened. How many people are actually calling for a return to Kamigawa, in a standard set?
And again, I would prefer a Japan world that isn't Kamigawa so they can build a more resonant world with tropes most fans will recognize. Give us the Japan world that has Kitsune, Tanuki, Kappa, Tengu, Oni, Orochi, Samurai, Ninja, fireball-throwing Monks, kaiju, mecha, and transforming heroes. By all means implement influences from modern Japanese pop culture like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Street Fighter, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, Godzilla, Transformers, Gundam, and Attack on Titan. Give us a world that marries the most popular tropes of traditional Japanese lore with all the exciting elements of modern Japanese anime and other media. There's plenty of material for a Japanese set that blows Kamigawa out of the water.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
1) L5R HAS the deities you speak of like Amaterasu. It has a dishonor and honor system that acts as your life total. It has a feudal clan system which are the equivalent of guilds in MTG. It has many more things that are so Japanese its like 110% authentic in comparison to Kamigawa.
2) Theros actually lacks Greek elements. Like for starters: Did you know, there were originally legendarys that would represent Hercules, Achilles, the Furies, Charybdis, and Scylla? All of which didn't make the print.
2.5) What you are describing is repurposed material.
3) I play MTG to have fun as well. But how does your fun supersede mine?
4) Jeskai are based on Tibetan culture. The reason I brought it up, AGAIN, is because Tarkir is what you get instead of more Japanese sets. Mark Rosewater was asked that specific question and the answer was "Other Asian Cultures".
Quote from Manite »
And again, I would prefer a Japan world that isn't Kamigawa so they can build a more resonant world with tropes most fans will recognize. Give us the Japan world that has Kitsune, Tanuki, Kappa, Tengu, Oni, Orochi, Samurai, Ninja, fireball-throwing Monks, kaiju, mecha, and transforming heroes. By all means implement influences from modern Japanese pop culture like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Street Fighter, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, Godzilla, Transformers, Gundam, and Attack on Titan. Give us a world that marries the most popular tropes of traditional Japanese lore with all the exciting elements of modern Japanese anime and other media. There's plenty of material for a Japanese set that blows Kamigawa out of the water.
You want a Naruto TCG? That already exists.
Inyusaha TCG? It exists.
DBZ TCG? It exists.
Yu-Yu Hakusho TCG? It exists.
Gundam TCG? It exists.
Sailor Moon TCG? It exists.
Street Fighter TCG? It exists.
Attack on Titan TCG? It exists.
Power Ranges TCG? It exists.
What I find absurd is you want MTG to bend the knee for stuff that is already out there.
2) Theros actually lacks Greek elements. Like for starters: Did you know, there were originally legendarys that would represent Hercules, Achilles, the Furies, Charybdis, and Scylla? All of which didn't make the print.
I really wish these had made print over some of the random, boring limited fodder sets these days are always cluttered with. I hate draft and limited holding sets hostage all the damn time so we don't get interesting Legends or stronger cards. But that's for another thread.
The Either-Or Fallacy needs to be dropped. It's not either Kamigawa 2 or Japan World. It's - the Kami War was millennia ago, Kamigawa is now Neo-Kamigawa, the Japan World. Civilization has expanded to new territories and oh look, in this region lives this kind of Japan trope, and now these Kappa previously believed to be extinct appeared again when the Kami retreated. With the plane at peace, Ninjas resumed their devious work under cover of the night. The Sisters repurposed magic on Kamigawa (literally outright stated in the books) so Splice into Arcane has become Splice! Harness the powerful exotic magic of Neo-Kamigawa, the Japan World.
I think the problem is greed. Stockholders do not want to take any risk which might compromise revenue. There's pressure to keep selling. Even if Maro loved Kamigawa he probably has to keep echoing this fraudulent rhetoric force-fed to him by the powers that be about how much everyone that loves Kamigawa actually hates it, because "we're only doing what is guaranteed to sell because it has before."
If Kappa do make a return, they better have the goblin subtype. As that is what they were stated to be in Kamigawa. River dwelling goblins. Their cousins, the Akki goblins that dwell in the frigid mountains share their shell-like backs. Which means we could have Mono-U goblins.
1) L5R HAS the deities you speak of like Amaterasu. It has a dishonor and honor system that acts as your life total. It has a feudal clan system which are the equivalent of guilds in MTG. It has many more things that are so Japanese its like 110% authentic in comparison to Kamigawa.
So then why didn't they put that in Kamigawa if it was based so closely on LotFR?
2) Theros actually lacks Greek elements. Like for starters: Did you know, there were originally legendarys that would represent Hercules, Achilles, the Furies, Charybdis, and Scylla? All of which didn't make the print.
2.5) What you are describing is repurposed material.
Never mind all the Boars, Centaurs, Chimeras, Cyclopes, Gorgons, Harpies, Hydras, Minotaurs, Nymphs, Satyrs, Serpents, Sirens, Sphinxes and of course titans and Gods in the set. Theros is chock full of resonant Greek tropes. Even when the tropes get mixed around, we can still recognize them.
3) I play MTG to have fun as well. But how does your fun supersede mine?
It doesn't, any more than yours does mine. But when you're looking at marketing a product, you have to pay attention to resonance because resonance sells. The difference in Kamigawa's performance versus Theros and Amonkhet is proof of that. And the fact is, I would have more fun with the Japanese world I described, therefore I support a new Japan world over Kamigawa.
4) Jeskai are based on Tibetan culture. The reason I brought it up, AGAIN, is because Tarkir is what you get instead of more Japanese sets. Mark Rosewater was asked that specific question and the answer was "Other Asian Cultures".
Well of course they're going to explore other cultures before going back to Japan. That provides more diversity. Tarkir is not a top-down world, it doesn't fulfill the critera for other Asian cultures any more than Kaladesh does. The cultures were added after the basic theme had already been decided; it's not like they sat down and said "let's make a world themed around different Asian cultures" and started with that.
We can still get sets themed around China, India, Tibet, and so forth, just not in such close proximity to sets that were influenced by them. I wouldn't be surprised to see a world themed around China in the future. I can brainstorm plenty of ideas for that one.
You want a Naruto TCG? That already exists.
Inyusaha TCG? It exists.
DBZ TCG? It exists.
Yu-Yu Hakusho TCG? It exists.
Gundam TCG? It exists.
Sailor Moon TCG? It exists.
Street Fighter TCG? It exists.
Attack on Titan TCG? It exists.
Power Ranges TCG? It exists.
What I find absurd is you want MTG to bend the knee for stuff that is already out there.
None of those are MTG. What I want is a Magic set with Samurai, Ninja, Kaiju, Mecha, and so forth. I don't think it so absurd to want a Magic set with Japanese tropes I actually like.
If Kappa do make a return, they better have the goblin subtype. As that is what they were stated to be in Kamigawa. River dwelling goblins. Their cousins, the Akki goblins that dwell in the frigid mountains share their shell-like backs. Which means we could have Mono-U goblins.
I see no reason why Kappa have to be Goblins, especially when they're compared to Turtles more often than not. Even Kamigawa established that the two are not the same. If Kappa return, I certainly don't expect them to be Goblins, any more than Tengu.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
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1. In the article "Tell me what you want" by MaRo, he states Return to Kamigawa is heavily requested, and at the end of the article states some of the listed requests are in the 7 year plan (which ones, we don't know).
2. From that list, we've seen Egypt World, Dinosaur World, Taigam, return to Dominaria and several other requests already get done.
3. Blogatog is bombarded with Kamigawa questions.
4. Kamigawa is a 7 on the Rabiah scale.
5. The shift to a block being as little as one large set at times is… intriguing. If they did Kamigawa for one large set, it minimizes the risk if it is a failure (unlikely if done right).
6. Chroma was re-done as Devotion and was a success - granted entire planes are more complicated.
7. MaRo asked what players would want to see if returning to Kamigawa - the results were evidently mixed, but still.
8. Kamigawa followed up the most broken set in MTG which was unfair to it. Innistrad-level strength and the right focus easily redeems it.
9. Tamiyo's popularity as a Planeswalker is difficult to dispute. She's probably among the most popular.
Thoughts?
|| 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 ||
Story wise it can be pretty easy, one member of the GW goes to see Tamiyo during her story circle to get info on where the other members where sent off by Bolas, some Kami starts trouble and the present PWs join together to help Tamiyo. If i'm not mistaken, Narset is part of he story circle, could be a viable reason to bring her back.
I would definitely buy a lot of Kamigawa 2 as well.
|| 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 ||
The names are easy - those difficult to recall characters are long gone now. We have new named characters in Tamiyo's family which are easily recalled.
Spirits - Kami War has ended. No need for spirit manifestations. Focus on Kamigawa as rebuilt and recovered Japan World
Agree on the other points.
|| 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 ||
I think it could sell well if:
- Kamigawa reworks new mechanics to match some of the "failed" mechanics from the Old sets.
- Reworks the tribes of Kamigawa to be better represented among the colors evenly.
- Bring back old characters and add some new ones.... most importantly add a lot of legendaries!
- Has a fairly strong power level to make up for what people consider lacking from the Old Kamigawa.
Personally I would like to see:
- Ninjas and Samurai reworked.
- Spirits to still be a part of Kamigawa, still have a fairly tribal connection, but less of them "at war" and more or less just another tribe divided in the five colors.
- Lots of legends.
Dunes of Zairo
SHANDALAR
Innistrad - The Darkest Night
~THE RAVNICAN CONSORTIUM~
A Community Set
Commander: Allies & Adversaries
As a mainly commander player i would love more but it's not a set for edh
A mix of old Kamigawa block reprints (Umezawa's Jitte) and new cards (Sisters of Flesh and Spirit). Along with draft-focused cards like a Zubera that has a draft mechanic like Garbage Fire when it dies.
Reintroduce the splice mechanic with brand new cards. Splice onto Instant or Splice onto Sorcery. Add permanents that make splicing more generalistic so they can be used on instants and sorceries.
More spirit support, but spirits should be a smaller role on a return. Think like Innistrad for the amount of spirit tribal cards and spirit cards in general.
More support for Samurai and Ninjas should be a given.
Legendary cards should be a thing. Though not as high in density. If there is any legendary non-rare or non-mythic cards, they should strictly be as reprints only.
In an ideal world, Kodamas of the West and/or East Trees should be printed.
The set could focus more on political intrigue rather than Spirt-Human-War. As there was much in the way of dynasties, houses, honor, dishonors, dueling, etc. Think if Portal Three Kingdoms, Conspiracy and Kamigawa had a baby.
Tamiyo as a planeswalker. Maybe we could even get a Nezumi planeswalker to fill our aligned quota.
Not really, no. I trust his perspective from a company that plans a minimum of two years in advance and gathers customer data on a large scale over the skewed perspectives and priorities on this website.
I looked at Kamigawa and didn't feel resonance like I did with Innistrad, Theros, and Amonkhet. I appreciate some of the design themes they shot for, but there wasn't nearly enough of what I like about Japanese culture, or the Hollywood version thereof anyway, in there to warrant a return. The Samurai and Ninja were the only parts I really cared for; the Kami could have been done better and we should have had more iconic depictions of Oni, Kitsune, and such. Not to mention the set was sorely lacking Tanuki and should have had Kappa.
At this point I would just as soon we get a new Japan-themed world and set, with its own distinct themes to make it feel like more than just "Improved Kamigawa". Mecha, Kaiju, Monks inspired by Dragon Ball and Street Fighter, and DFC creatures inspired by the likes of Power Rangers and Sailor Moon are at the top of my list. I guess you could say my ideal Japan world would blend elements of traditional Japanese culture like the Samurai, Ninja, and Kami with more contemporary anime influences.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
|| 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 ||
So by that metric.
9 people upset if there aren’t Soratami
7 people upset if there aren’t Nezumi
6 people upset if there aren’t Kitsune.
5 people upset if there aren’t Orochi.
5 people upset if there aren’t Akki.
5 people upset if there aren’t Oni.
8 people upset if there aren’t Spirits.
10 people upset if there aren’t Samurai.
12 people upset if there aren’t Ninja.
2 people upset if there isn’t a creative/mechanical split between the spirit and mortal realm.
1 person upset if there isn’t Bushido (assuming people aren’t conflating bushido with samurai)
1 person upset if there isn’t Ninjutsu (assuming people aren’t conflating ninjutsu with ninja)
3 people upset if there aren’t more legends than normal.
1 person upset if there aren’t splice spells (assuming arcane isn’t factored in).
2 people upset if there aren’t arcane spells (assuming splice isn’t factored in).
2 people upset if there aren’t callbacks.
And 1 person who would be upset by anything.
And that’s 19 people out of 108-ish who gave feedback.
And unfortunately, even the feedback given doesn't really help all that much. People seem to want the non-human races left in, but we don't know if they care about just the creature type, the general flavor, the mechanical flavor, where they stood in the lore in the previous version of Kamigawa, or any combination thereof. If we got Moonfolk that didn't bounce lands, or fly, would people still want them, or are those aspects integral to their sense of self? Do the spirits need to be in all five colors, or can they be focused down into two? What happens if popular perception of the block changes the story? If people think O-Kagachi is still alive after Commander 2017, then will it be if a new set rolls around?
I don't really think MaRo is full of crap about this. Like, just going back to the amount of people who responded vs. the people who didn't: Not even 20% responded. More than 80% either couldn't articulate their thoughts on the subject, wanted to keep everything, or didn't care if it all got cut. And that's from the "When will you bring back Kamigawa" Blogatog group. That's from the dedicated, enfranchised people. Why would the layman care?
And since there's more of the layman than us, it frankly wouldn't matter. They'd need to design a set that appealed to as many people as possible. They could call it Kamigawa 2, but why would they give it that baggage of expectation?
MaRo should look at the actual trends. The requests can all be summed up by this list:
Kamigawa's original geography
Characteristic races (Moonfolk etc.)
Legendary
Callback cards
Samurai, Ninjas
Popular Mechanics (Bushido, Ninjitsu)
All of which are entirely reasonable expectations. Oh look, I just made a Legendary Creature - Soratami Ninja with the Ninjitsu ability and flavor text referencing Higure the Still Wind with Minamo in the background of its art. This one card literally just hit every single metric on the above list alone.
Just as an example.
what's hilarious is on Tarkir, they literally took the popular Wedge Factions and ended up with a far less popular world that now they need to bend over backwards to justify returning to the former. But with Kamigawa, the Kami War ended, and it can be the Japan World which delivers what was popular before with Japan World tropes. It's a blank slate.
|| 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 ||
I think Mark Rosewater personally just dislikes Kamigawa.
As I've read the blogatog thing for awhile and multiple users have suggested ways to make Kamigawa 2.0 more appealing while not exactly losing what makes Kamigawa... Kamigawa. Yet they mostly hide behind 12 year survey data, sales figures and an unwillingness to return and instead jump to other planes.
In 1995 there was a card game called Legend of the Five Rings. It persisted for twenty years. It was Kamigawa with a dash of the guilds in Ravnica. It told twenty years worth of stories on a single "plane". It had sets of varying power levels where are some are like the equivalent of Ravnica and others more like Mercadian Masques.
In fact the majority of the stories for L5R are on 1/5th of this super-continent, the other 4/5ths is this massive desert/jungle hybrid that plays out more like Tarkir as you got Egyptians, Romans, Turkish, Mongolians, Eastern Indians, etc. Also by-the-by the Desert/Jungle section is from mostly a card game created by WOTC called "Legend of the Burning Sands". Its only briefly used in L5R, like a single set and many 1-of cards that reference it.
I mean Mark Rosewater goes on and on with Dominaria about the "Their is a saying in writing: If you are everything, you are nothing".
Do you know which card game did better in the same universe between Five Rings and Burning Sands? Five Rings. That is because Five Rings told a story from a view of xenophobic Japanese people. Burning Sands went for the approach like Tarkir or Alara would. Did I mention that Burning Sands was made by the same people who make MTG?
Believe it or not, I actually dislike Kamigawa. I dislike the race selection (Four-armed snake people? Moonfolk? Where are the Tanuki and the Tengu? Where's our trio of Susanoo, Kushinada, and Orochi? How about Amaterasu and Tuskiyomi? Red oni and blue oni?), I dislike certain aesthetics (like how the Oni Demons barely resemble the curvy-toothed, spiral-horned ogres we know from pop culture), I dislike most of the mechanics (Bushido and Ninjutsu are alright, Soulshift and Channel are okay, Splice is parasitic, Sweep didn't warrant an ability word). If they revisit Japanese culture, I want a new world that isn't Kamigawa, a world they can rebuild from scratch with more resonant tropes.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Its like Theros or Amonkhet. Many of such notable characters are either:
A) Reprurposed
B) Nonlegendary This is why Theros AND Amonkhet suffer. Your pop culture preconceptions means we can't have nice things. If we do get nice things like Hundred-Handed One or Prowling Serpopard, they are far and few between and the unenlightened masses believe its some random thing that WotC created.
Splice =/= Parasitic
Arcane = Parasitic
We already got more of that Eastern Asia culture, its called Tarkir. Seems strange to say at first until you have read blogatog. A year and a half before Tarkir came out, a question was asked. More Japan or other cultures in Asia. Mark Rosewater responded with the latter which is how we got Tarkir.
Lmao, what am I reading. Is this supposed to be some next-level sarcasm? Dragon ball, Sailor moon, anime? Contemporary anime influence? Hollywood version? Whaa....??
Kamigawa was a perfect set as far as flavor goes. The japanese aestethics and atmosphere, the art and flavor texts were all on point. If a return to Kamigawa means ruining the essence of the plane, then I agree with Maro and would rather not return to it.
i'd be so down for this!!
Pioneer: WURFaerie fires BRGDragons
ModernBGElves WRBurn UR Fires Turns URGift Storm UG Twiddle Storm
Well then it sounds like LotFR wasn't the Japanese set most of us were looking for.
Theros' bases were much more resonant. Even if Kamigawa's Susanoo wasn't the one to slay its Orochi, you still could have had that story presented in an iconic manner with a Samurai and an eight-headed Hydra. What, were Tatsumasa, the Dragon's Fang and That Which Was Taken supposed to be the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (grass-cutting sword taken from Orochi's fourth tail) and Yata-no-Kagami (Mirror used to help lure Amaterasu out of a cave)? What about the Yasakani-no-Magatama (Beads used to lure Amaterasu out of a cave, provides the basis for the famous teardrop bead shape)?
Theros and Amonkhet are smash hits compared to Kamigawa, so clearly they aren't suffering from playing into resonant tropes. Resonance is what we recognize, and it becomes resonant because we like it. We can easily tell stories about it. We don't need the nitty-gritty, especially because as you said certain elements of mythology are repurposed anyway, so Magic's adaptation of these cultures and their figures need not be 1-for-1, they just need to employ recognizable tropes. People recognize Kitsune and Tanuki, they don't recognize "weird blue spirit things" beyond being the kind of weird creature you sometimes see in hardcore Japanese productions, and you don't see those slapped all over Japanese merchandise.
I like "pop culture resonance" because those are the fun parts of these cultures. If I wanted a lesson on Sengoku-period Japan, I'd look for a book on the subject. I play a Japanese set, I expect Samurai, Ninja, Tanuki, etc. because those are the fun parts of Japanese culture which even the Japanese embrace on a regular basis. Japan itself regularly includes references to Tanuki, Kappa, Oni, etc. in their own games and cartoons, so it's not like Westerners appropriated Japanese culture for their own purposes. Japan understands the value of iconism, and so they have developed an iconic look for many of their well-known creatures.
I'll take Naruto: the Gathering if it means more Ninja fun. Because I play a game to have fun, you know?
I'll grant this one. But with Overload now a thing, it's less likely that we'll see Splice onto instant or sorcery. A non-Arcane version of Reweave or Strange Inversion would do wacky things on an Overload spell, nevermind Shifting Borders.
Jeskai was explicitly not Japanese, it was more Chinese if anything. I certainly didn't see Ninja or Samurai walking around Jeskai (though that would have been awesome), I saw more Shao Lin monks than anything.
I recall that he said we need to make our voices heard to Wizards. Which we did. And they listened. How many people are actually calling for a return to Kamigawa, in a standard set?
And again, I would prefer a Japan world that isn't Kamigawa so they can build a more resonant world with tropes most fans will recognize. Give us the Japan world that has Kitsune, Tanuki, Kappa, Tengu, Oni, Orochi, Samurai, Ninja, fireball-throwing Monks, kaiju, mecha, and transforming heroes. By all means implement influences from modern Japanese pop culture like Naruto, Dragon Ball, Street Fighter, Power Rangers, Sailor Moon, Godzilla, Transformers, Gundam, and Attack on Titan. Give us a world that marries the most popular tropes of traditional Japanese lore with all the exciting elements of modern Japanese anime and other media. There's plenty of material for a Japanese set that blows Kamigawa out of the water.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
1) L5R HAS the deities you speak of like Amaterasu. It has a dishonor and honor system that acts as your life total. It has a feudal clan system which are the equivalent of guilds in MTG. It has many more things that are so Japanese its like 110% authentic in comparison to Kamigawa.
2) Theros actually lacks Greek elements. Like for starters: Did you know, there were originally legendarys that would represent Hercules, Achilles, the Furies, Charybdis, and Scylla? All of which didn't make the print.
2.5) What you are describing is repurposed material.
3) I play MTG to have fun as well. But how does your fun supersede mine?
4) Jeskai are based on Tibetan culture. The reason I brought it up, AGAIN, is because Tarkir is what you get instead of more Japanese sets. Mark Rosewater was asked that specific question and the answer was "Other Asian Cultures". You want a Naruto TCG? That already exists.
Inyusaha TCG? It exists.
DBZ TCG? It exists.
Yu-Yu Hakusho TCG? It exists.
Gundam TCG? It exists.
Sailor Moon TCG? It exists.
Street Fighter TCG? It exists.
Attack on Titan TCG? It exists.
Power Ranges TCG? It exists.
What I find absurd is you want MTG to bend the knee for stuff that is already out there.
The Either-Or Fallacy needs to be dropped. It's not either Kamigawa 2 or Japan World. It's - the Kami War was millennia ago, Kamigawa is now Neo-Kamigawa, the Japan World. Civilization has expanded to new territories and oh look, in this region lives this kind of Japan trope, and now these Kappa previously believed to be extinct appeared again when the Kami retreated. With the plane at peace, Ninjas resumed their devious work under cover of the night. The Sisters repurposed magic on Kamigawa (literally outright stated in the books) so Splice into Arcane has become Splice! Harness the powerful exotic magic of Neo-Kamigawa, the Japan World.
I think the problem is greed. Stockholders do not want to take any risk which might compromise revenue. There's pressure to keep selling. Even if Maro loved Kamigawa he probably has to keep echoing this fraudulent rhetoric force-fed to him by the powers that be about how much everyone that loves Kamigawa actually hates it, because "we're only doing what is guaranteed to sell because it has before."
|| 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 ||
So then why didn't they put that in Kamigawa if it was based so closely on LotFR?
Hercules' strength can be represented on cards like Titan's Strength, while Charybdis was represented by Vortex Elemental. Anthousa, Setessan Hero started as a Hercules legend. Theros had a lot of resonant tropes:
Chained to the Rocks - Prometheus' imprisonment
Curse of the Swine - Circe's most famous act, cursing people by turning them into pigs
Vortex Elemental - Charybdis
Eye Gouge - When Odysseus under the pseudonym of "Nobody" kills Polyphemus
Hythonia, the Cruel - A legendary Gorgon, quite possibly the equivalent of Medusa
Rescue from the Underworld - Representing times when heroes would venture into the underworld to rescue someone, most notably when Heracles rescued Theseus and when Orpheus sought to rescue Eurydice
Bearer of the Heavens - Based on Atlas
Titan of Eternal Fire - Based on Prometheus giving fire to mortals
Two-Headed Cerberus - Based on Orthrus, twin-headed sibling of Cerberus
Underworld Cerberus - Based closely on the guard dog of the Underworld
Fleecemane Lion - Based on the Nemean Lion
Gorgon's Head - Based on the story of Perseus and Medusa
Prowler's Helm - Hades' helm of invisibility
Never mind all the Boars, Centaurs, Chimeras, Cyclopes, Gorgons, Harpies, Hydras, Minotaurs, Nymphs, Satyrs, Serpents, Sirens, Sphinxes and of course titans and Gods in the set. Theros is chock full of resonant Greek tropes. Even when the tropes get mixed around, we can still recognize them.
It doesn't, any more than yours does mine. But when you're looking at marketing a product, you have to pay attention to resonance because resonance sells. The difference in Kamigawa's performance versus Theros and Amonkhet is proof of that. And the fact is, I would have more fun with the Japanese world I described, therefore I support a new Japan world over Kamigawa.
Well of course they're going to explore other cultures before going back to Japan. That provides more diversity. Tarkir is not a top-down world, it doesn't fulfill the critera for other Asian cultures any more than Kaladesh does. The cultures were added after the basic theme had already been decided; it's not like they sat down and said "let's make a world themed around different Asian cultures" and started with that.
We can still get sets themed around China, India, Tibet, and so forth, just not in such close proximity to sets that were influenced by them. I wouldn't be surprised to see a world themed around China in the future. I can brainstorm plenty of ideas for that one.
None of those are MTG. What I want is a Magic set with Samurai, Ninja, Kaiju, Mecha, and so forth. I don't think it so absurd to want a Magic set with Japanese tropes I actually like.
I see no reason why Kappa have to be Goblins, especially when they're compared to Turtles more often than not. Even Kamigawa established that the two are not the same. If Kappa return, I certainly don't expect them to be Goblins, any more than Tengu.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.