We're presumably about 2 months out now from the release of War of the Spark, and at this point, I don't think i'm the only one who's starting to notice the lack of well... things to notice.
The story only started this week, and while it contained bare hints at the wider story moving forward, the gatewatch and bolas are seemingly miles away from anything going on, outside of the bare hints of speculation as to how whatever is mentioned within figures into the plot dragon's 19th dimensional chess game. The ravnica artbook even stopped dead in it's tracks before bolas' arrival save for hints of what we all knew was coming; the planeswalker war 2.0
Now, the one thing that is starting to get confusing is that we're entering a period where the lack of hype is almost a cause for concern. Announcement day, as we've known it, has essentially ceased to exist (now watch one somehow get posted later today to make me seem like a moron) and the last one let us off on RNA,meaning that we're flying blind into a set that's supposed to be "treading new ground" without even knowing when exactly it's going to come out. So far from the way things have been going, if they wait until absolutely everything is said and done from RNA including it's story before a peep is said about WAR, that puts the earliest it comes to light close to the end of February, not even a week from when spoilers could conceivably start. From a marketing perspective alone, this is sheer insanity.
What little we have is basically from alternative sources.Product art from MTG arena hints at the war to come, but the fact that this is something i'm currently failing to find a source for, not something on the product announcement page, almost makes it seem like wizards is trying to take some intentional measure of secrecy. this almost seems antithetical to a block that I've seen multiple sources list as the end of the gatewatch storyline leads one to wonder why we only got the name about two weeks ago. like it or not, this is going to be a moment of enormous gravity to the brand. on a purely corporate level, this is akin to marvel going "whoops, new avengers movie, out in two months". the thing that they've put three years into building up, and the momentum from the mothership is more akin to a cart pushed by a solitary husky as opposed to the full boiler hype train one would expect.
I'll be adding a poll as to some of the possibilities in my head, but honestly, I want other perspectives. i feel like i'm taking crazy pills.
I know from a retailer perspective, my boss is not happy about the lack of a release date. Makes it hard to plan other big events when they might be cancelled because WotC decides to finally say "Prereleases are weekend X". Longer it takes, the more annoying it is, and this is something we used to know a year or more ahead of time.
Don't really care about specific set details, because there's plenty of time for that. But at least give a release date.
Sets come out about every three months. Spoilers for War of the Spark will start some time end of March into beginning on April. There is still plenty of time. The purpose of Guilds and RNA are to set the stage for the war, so it makes sense for both the art book and story to only hint at things to come. All I can say is calm down and wait. Information will likely start arriving mid to late February at the absolute earliest.
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Currently Playing:
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
It does seem odd that they didn't give an official announcement, but they may be keeping it hush-hush due to it being a potential storyline closure after several years in the making.
Either that or Maro has been supplanted by illegal immigrants and they've trapped him in an incubation chamber until they get busted.
'buster
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'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset. Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
We know nothing about the "draft innovation" set too
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How i feel about competitive players and casual players in EDH: The competitive are german tourists, the casual are italian tourists, both in a italian beach. The italians asking themselves "why are the germans here?" make a legitimate question, the answer is because the beach is beautiful, no matter the country you came from. The italians wanting to ban the germans are dumb, because if the germans pay for their stay and follow the rules like everyone else, they have the right to be in the beach. Hovewer, if the germans started to ask themselves "why are the italians here?"... they would be dumb as hell.
They just released Ravnica Allegiance this week. It's bad marketing to undermine your current release by making people more excited for the next set than the one they should be buying now. Wait till the hype has died down for the current set and people have gotten most of the cards they need, and then they'll start hying the next set.
I feel that having so many sets spoiled really close to each other is overwhelming and can ruin them. I prefer to have the time to process a set, then get spoilers for the next set a few months after. I'm assuming if it gets released around April, then we'll be getting spoilers in March
This is more of what i was talking about. by now, it feels like we should have something more than a name and release window. i'm not screaming "where are the spoilers!?!??!?!?!?1?" what i'm honestly wondering is just how little we've seen by this point. Key art would at least give us something to look at to give us some vague idea of the set, and for people who need to plan around this (like store owners) are being kept in the dark for quite some time comparatively.
Now, one thing i did notice is that the RNA story has a gap on the week of the 13th, which makes it seem like that's the week we're going to start getting info, but that seems to put out an undeniable fact: Wizards wanted to hold onto this as long as possible for whatever reason. NY toy fair is at the end of that week, and they want to keep it until they logistically can't anymore. what i'm speculating on, i suppose, is the why of it all.
I'm not too concerned about WAR, because we know it's the next release. What I find weird is that we know nothing about what's happening this year. We know there'll be a Spellbook. Commander 19. Some Standard sets, presumably a draft matters set. No concrete info though.
I assume the lack of information for WAR or follow-up sets is story related to not blow the current story arc which would cause a distraction from the current standard. It's obvious the Bolas arc is ending, so after WAR is the time to make changes if any. After WAR I expect the next Core Set will be the next Standard set which doesn't get a lot of hype to begin with unless they are using it to bridge into a new story arc.
Maro also hinted that he is very excited about a couple sets this year that are innovative, and I speculate that it's going to generate a lot of hype or possibly disrupt some formats (don't worry RL will still be intact). We know it's not WAR and can assume Core 2020 is not what he's excited for.
RNA (January)
WAR (April)
Core 2020 (July-ish if coming a year after Core 2019)????
Unknown set (October-ish)???? Beginning of new story
Maybe 3 or 4 other supplemental products like:
1) Signature Spellbook: A given, but nothing novel to this to be excited about.
2) Precons: CMD decks are likely but maybe other format Precons for other formats?, unlikely this is what they are excited about too
3) Stand-alone non-Standard sets: These sets as we know them are not enough to get Maro and WotC excited IMO, unless they break from the traditional MtG gameplay with a new back making a completely new MtG game/format. Now that would be exciting! I only bring this up, because people loved the Un-sets which are not tournament legal cards and exist in their own silver bordered environment. Conspiracy, Battlebond, and Masters were similar that these were only legal in formats in which they are legal in (good way to get reprints for formats). If they supported a newly backed game within the game with 1 or 2 supplemental sets a year, you can get the foundation of a new game/format and fix all the problems they inadvertently developed over the past 25 years. Add to the fact that it will be easier to use in Arena since this would be new pack sales for a non-rotating format that is separate from Standard.
It's baseless speculation on my part on what I described, but I agree that it is unusual for WotC to be this quiet for upcoming sets. They have a lot riding on Standard and they don't want to spoil any new storylines when the old one is wrapping up. Maybe something else happens in WAR than what we expect Deus ex machina? We have to trust that WotC is doing this with the best intentions for the game and their profit.
i think gavin referenced "signature spellbook: chandra" as an example of a future spellbook in the tcc video he did. considering that he was not willing to divulge any real information about the upcoming signature spellbook I think it's safe to say that it is not going to be chandra. if the next signature spellbook was chandra he would have been spilling the beans, which i don't think he was supposed to do. chandra's spellbook is inevitable though so it was a safe options to use as an example.
given liliana's central role in the recent bolas/demonic contract story i wouldn't be surprised if they went with her. it would be a great time to reprint oubliette. : - )
*shrugs*
They always promise something outstanding and absolutely amazing but usually it turns out to be something like Kaladesh if we are lucky and BFZ if we are not.
they only just released the current set. what exactly is the issue?
If nothing else, the lack of information on prerelease and release dates makes it difficult for stores to schedule other events (for other games, or even a big in-store Magic event) because if they schedule one, and then the prerelease drops on that weekend, guess what's getting canceled. (Which would annoy the players for said other game, or those who had made arrangements to travel for said in-store event, costing the store business.)
It strikes me that it shouldn't be too difficult for Wizards to say, well in advance, the prerelease and release dates for the Standard-legal sets (not necessarily special releases like Ultimate Masters) without spoiling anything about them.
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Rules Advisor (as of the last time they offered that certification).
Quote from "William Lyon Mackenzie King" »
There are few men in this Parliament for whom I have greater respect than the leader of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation. I admire him in my heart, because time and again he has had the courage to say what lays on his conscience, regardless of what the world might think of him. A man of that calibre is an ornament to any Parliament.
I don't play decks. I solve optimization problems.
Currently solving:
Standard: Too poor for this format.
Modern: GW Auras, Living End, WB TurboFog, UB Mill, UR Storm
Legacy: R Burn, GU Infect, RG Lands, B Contamination
they only just released the current set. what exactly is the issue?
It strikes me that it shouldn't be too difficult for Wizards to say, well in advance, the prerelease and release dates for the Standard-legal sets (not necessarily special releases like Ultimate Masters) without spoiling anything about them.
Wasn't that how it worked not even long ago?
May be I'm remembering wrong, but didn't they generally announced the release dated for their standard products like 2 year quarters in advance? Or at least in their half-year announcements they generally gave the release dates of their announced products.
I'm wondering if now they are keeping the dates secret because they have to program the cards into arena first, then decide a specific date rather than decide a date and rush to have the code ready some weeks in advance from the deadline.
they only just released the current set. what exactly is the issue?
It strikes me that it shouldn't be too difficult for Wizards to say, well in advance, the prerelease and release dates for the Standard-legal sets (not necessarily special releases like Ultimate Masters) without spoiling anything about them.
Wasn't that how it worked not even long ago?
May be I'm remembering wrong, but didn't they generally announced the release dated for their standard products like 2 year quarters in advance? Or at least in their half-year announcements they generally gave the release dates of their announced products.
I'm wondering if now they are keeping the dates secret because they have to program the cards into arena first, then decide a specific date rather than decide a date and rush to have the code ready some weeks in advance from the deadline.
That's exactly how it used to work. And now here we are in February, with a set presumably releasing in April, that we have no release info on at all. Nobthehobbit is spot on, that's exactly what's happening with my store right now.
So, two weeks later now, i'd like to make a few observations.
first, seven people in the poll were wrong
First, We're going to be hearing about WAR before the end of the coming week, and this is absolute. Toyfair opens seven days from now (to be precise, 7 days, 2 hours, and 41 minute from the time i checked writing this post at 1:19 eastern) and this is going to mean that wizards can no longer keep the cat in the bag. they're going to have to start talking about the things they're exhibiting soon on their website, or i can guarantee the backlash will be phenomenal. People like to talk about the fact that wizards cares more about their bottom line than their player base (AKA the reason they have that bottom line to begin with) but literally waiting until an industry event to announce things would categorically prove that to a lot of people, and just generally be a PR disaster.
Second, no story this week. this means that wizards planned to have something take over the spot in the lineup. is this the fabled ANNOUNCEMENT WEEK! wizards has flirted with in the past? nobody outside of wizards knows that answer until Monday when they post the articles, but I've got a feeling if they just post the WAR announcement and nothing else, it'll still leave a lot of players feeling hollow that they announced the bare minimum amount of content, unless the bomb in so massive a whole week is needed.
but overall, while i'm excited to see what the coming week will bring, i'm left with a definite sense of trepidation. i've seen in a few places that wizards is toying with the announcement window to see how it works out with general publicity. i would like to note the rumor mill hasn't really leaked out any details. There's a reason why their lips are so tight, and the question until saturday at the absolute latest is going to be why
Prerelease dates apparently confirmed via their twitter account as April 27-28. Same weekend as Magicfest London, which is also apparently going to be a prerelease.
So, two weeks later now, i'd like to make a few observations.
first, seven people in the poll were wrong
First, We're going to be hearing about WAR before the end of the coming week, and this is absolute. Toyfair opens seven days from now (to be precise, 7 days, 2 hours, and 41 minute from the time i checked writing this post at 1:19 eastern) and this is going to mean that wizards can no longer keep the cat in the bag. they're going to have to start talking about the things they're exhibiting soon on their website, or i can guarantee the backlash will be phenomenal. People like to talk about the fact that wizards cares more about their bottom line than their player base (AKA the reason they have that bottom line to begin with) but literally waiting until an industry event to announce things would categorically prove that to a lot of people, and just generally be a PR disaster.
Second, no story this week. this means that wizards planned to have something take over the spot in the lineup. is this the fabled ANNOUNCEMENT WEEK! wizards has flirted with in the past? nobody outside of wizards knows that answer until Monday when they post the articles, but I've got a feeling if they just post the WAR announcement and nothing else, it'll still leave a lot of players feeling hollow that they announced the bare minimum amount of content, unless the bomb in so massive a whole week is needed.
but overall, while i'm excited to see what the coming week will bring, i'm left with a definite sense of trepidation. i've seen in a few places that wizards is toying with the announcement window to see how it works out with general publicity. i would like to note the rumor mill hasn't really leaked out any details. There's a reason why their lips are so tight, and the question until saturday at the absolute latest is going to be why
You just confirmed spoiler season starts April 8th then
i am not sure if it is me not being that much interested anymore or if it is really bad marketing by wizards that i do not realize anymore what they do
while i can understand, that they reduce the time of spoilers before a new set comes out to just not sabotage the current set (cause people might wait for the new set and stop buying stuff), i cant understand that they even reduce the hold up the hype for a current set.
it feels like they spit out product after product without any love for it. once its out they dont care. and since they release so many products now, they dont take their time to build up hype for certain products.
right now i think the marketing of wizards does a bad job. bad job in keeping the people interested in the game, loving the game, enjoying the game. all they do is half hearted stuff or even bad stuff (i still hate that the paper game lost their nationals in favor of the online game... same game, 2 different platforms, man was i disappointed)
in the past i follwed the story, and i think it used to be easier to do so. the webpage lost usability in my eyes. but the storyline was part for me on building up the hype. it was me wanting to see it in cards or understand the purpose of cards.
the only good thing on wizards is, that they constantly change, so there is chance, change might happen for the better in the future
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The story only started this week, and while it contained bare hints at the wider story moving forward, the gatewatch and bolas are seemingly miles away from anything going on, outside of the bare hints of speculation as to how whatever is mentioned within figures into the plot dragon's 19th dimensional chess game. The ravnica artbook even stopped dead in it's tracks before bolas' arrival save for hints of what we all knew was coming; the planeswalker war 2.0
Now, the one thing that is starting to get confusing is that we're entering a period where the lack of hype is almost a cause for concern. Announcement day, as we've known it, has essentially ceased to exist (now watch one somehow get posted later today to make me seem like a moron) and the last one let us off on RNA,meaning that we're flying blind into a set that's supposed to be "treading new ground" without even knowing when exactly it's going to come out. So far from the way things have been going, if they wait until absolutely everything is said and done from RNA including it's story before a peep is said about WAR, that puts the earliest it comes to light close to the end of February, not even a week from when spoilers could conceivably start. From a marketing perspective alone, this is sheer insanity.
What little we have is basically from alternative sources.Product art from MTG arena hints at the war to come, but the fact that this is something i'm currently failing to find a source for, not something on the product announcement page, almost makes it seem like wizards is trying to take some intentional measure of secrecy. this almost seems antithetical to a block that I've seen multiple sources list as the end of the gatewatch storyline leads one to wonder why we only got the name about two weeks ago. like it or not, this is going to be a moment of enormous gravity to the brand. on a purely corporate level, this is akin to marvel going "whoops, new avengers movie, out in two months". the thing that they've put three years into building up, and the momentum from the mothership is more akin to a cart pushed by a solitary husky as opposed to the full boiler hype train one would expect.
I'll be adding a poll as to some of the possibilities in my head, but honestly, I want other perspectives. i feel like i'm taking crazy pills.
Don't really care about specific set details, because there's plenty of time for that. But at least give a release date.
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
Either that or Maro has been supplanted by illegal immigrants and they've trapped him in an incubation chamber until they get busted.
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
That being said I will be at per-release and will make endless carnival jokes about the "Krieg der Funken(mariechen)"
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
(W/U)(B/R)GForm of Progenitus, Shape of a Scrubland
BRGJund Tokens with Prossh, the Magic Dragon Foil
URGAnimar, the RUG CleanerFoil
RRRFeldon of the Third Path 2.0 Foil
BG(B/G)Not Another Meren DeckFoil
UR(U/R)Mizzix, Y Control and X Burn Spells
(W/U)(B/R)GHarold Ramos - The 35 Foot Long Twinkie (In +1/+1 counters)
UB(U/B)Dragonlord Silumgar
But announcement is usually not till the last known set is left
Last time it was dominaria and about a few weeks months later we got the announcement day
So based on this I say mid February or beginning March we should end up with upcoming sets announcement
2023 Average Peasant Cube|and Discussion
Because I have more decks than fit in a signature
Useful Resources:
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EDHREC
ManabaseCrafter
Hands to the sky
Give a round of applause
For the great Miss Y!
Now, one thing i did notice is that the RNA story has a gap on the week of the 13th, which makes it seem like that's the week we're going to start getting info, but that seems to put out an undeniable fact: Wizards wanted to hold onto this as long as possible for whatever reason. NY toy fair is at the end of that week, and they want to keep it until they logistically can't anymore. what i'm speculating on, i suppose, is the why of it all.
Maro also hinted that he is very excited about a couple sets this year that are innovative, and I speculate that it's going to generate a lot of hype or possibly disrupt some formats (don't worry RL will still be intact). We know it's not WAR and can assume Core 2020 is not what he's excited for.
RNA (January)
WAR (April)
Core 2020 (July-ish if coming a year after Core 2019)????
Unknown set (October-ish)???? Beginning of new story
Maybe 3 or 4 other supplemental products like:
1) Signature Spellbook: A given, but nothing novel to this to be excited about.
2) Precons: CMD decks are likely but maybe other format Precons for other formats?, unlikely this is what they are excited about too
3) Stand-alone non-Standard sets: These sets as we know them are not enough to get Maro and WotC excited IMO, unless they break from the traditional MtG gameplay with a new back making a completely new MtG game/format. Now that would be exciting! I only bring this up, because people loved the Un-sets which are not tournament legal cards and exist in their own silver bordered environment. Conspiracy, Battlebond, and Masters were similar that these were only legal in formats in which they are legal in (good way to get reprints for formats). If they supported a newly backed game within the game with 1 or 2 supplemental sets a year, you can get the foundation of a new game/format and fix all the problems they inadvertently developed over the past 25 years. Add to the fact that it will be easier to use in Arena since this would be new pack sales for a non-rotating format that is separate from Standard.
It's baseless speculation on my part on what I described, but I agree that it is unusual for WotC to be this quiet for upcoming sets. They have a lot riding on Standard and they don't want to spoil any new storylines when the old one is wrapping up. Maybe something else happens in WAR than what we expect Deus ex machina? We have to trust that WotC is doing this with the best intentions for the game and their profit.
given liliana's central role in the recent bolas/demonic contract story i wouldn't be surprised if they went with her. it would be a great time to reprint oubliette. : - )
They always promise something outstanding and absolutely amazing but usually it turns out to be something like Kaladesh if we are lucky and BFZ if we are not.
If nothing else, the lack of information on prerelease and release dates makes it difficult for stores to schedule other events (for other games, or even a big in-store Magic event) because if they schedule one, and then the prerelease drops on that weekend, guess what's getting canceled. (Which would annoy the players for said other game, or those who had made arrangements to travel for said in-store event, costing the store business.)
It strikes me that it shouldn't be too difficult for Wizards to say, well in advance, the prerelease and release dates for the Standard-legal sets (not necessarily special releases like Ultimate Masters) without spoiling anything about them.
I don't play decks. I solve optimization problems.
Currently solving:
Standard: Too poor for this format.
Modern: GW Auras, Living End, WB TurboFog, UB Mill, UR Storm
Legacy: R Burn, GU Infect, RG Lands, B Contamination
May be I'm remembering wrong, but didn't they generally announced the release dated for their standard products like 2 year quarters in advance? Or at least in their half-year announcements they generally gave the release dates of their announced products.
I'm wondering if now they are keeping the dates secret because they have to program the cards into arena first, then decide a specific date rather than decide a date and rush to have the code ready some weeks in advance from the deadline.
That's exactly how it used to work. And now here we are in February, with a set presumably releasing in April, that we have no release info on at all. Nobthehobbit is spot on, that's exactly what's happening with my store right now.
first, seven people in the poll were wrongFirst, We're going to be hearing about WAR before the end of the coming week, and this is absolute. Toyfair opens seven days from now (to be precise, 7 days, 2 hours, and 41 minute from the time i checked writing this post at 1:19 eastern) and this is going to mean that wizards can no longer keep the cat in the bag. they're going to have to start talking about the things they're exhibiting soon on their website, or i can guarantee the backlash will be phenomenal. People like to talk about the fact that wizards cares more about their bottom line than their player base (AKA the reason they have that bottom line to begin with) but literally waiting until an industry event to announce things would categorically prove that to a lot of people, and just generally be a PR disaster.
Second, no story this week. this means that wizards planned to have something take over the spot in the lineup. is this the fabled ANNOUNCEMENT WEEK! wizards has flirted with in the past? nobody outside of wizards knows that answer until Monday when they post the articles, but I've got a feeling if they just post the WAR announcement and nothing else, it'll still leave a lot of players feeling hollow that they announced the bare minimum amount of content, unless the bomb in so massive a whole week is needed.
but overall, while i'm excited to see what the coming week will bring, i'm left with a definite sense of trepidation. i've seen in a few places that wizards is toying with the announcement window to see how it works out with general publicity. i would like to note the rumor mill hasn't really leaked out any details. There's a reason why their lips are so tight, and the question until saturday at the absolute latest is going to be why
You just confirmed spoiler season starts April 8th then
while i can understand, that they reduce the time of spoilers before a new set comes out to just not sabotage the current set (cause people might wait for the new set and stop buying stuff), i cant understand that they even reduce the hold up the hype for a current set.
it feels like they spit out product after product without any love for it. once its out they dont care. and since they release so many products now, they dont take their time to build up hype for certain products.
right now i think the marketing of wizards does a bad job. bad job in keeping the people interested in the game, loving the game, enjoying the game. all they do is half hearted stuff or even bad stuff (i still hate that the paper game lost their nationals in favor of the online game... same game, 2 different platforms, man was i disappointed)
in the past i follwed the story, and i think it used to be easier to do so. the webpage lost usability in my eyes. but the storyline was part for me on building up the hype. it was me wanting to see it in cards or understand the purpose of cards.
the only good thing on wizards is, that they constantly change, so there is chance, change might happen for the better in the future