Let's say they made two Innistrad sets, and after the first set giving us another take on the ally-color tribes, the second set explores enemy-color tribes. What tribes would you choose for the enemy pairs and why?
My choices:
WB Clerics
White has priests like those of the Avacynian Church and now the Lunarch Council and the Sigardian order. Black has cultists of the Skirsdag and other sinister followings. Plus Humans, Spirits, and Vampires have Clerics among them, so it allows for overlaps with those tribes. White Clerics would focus on creatures entering the battlefield, while black Clerics would instead focus on sacrificing creatures and benefitting from their death.
Mechanical theme: Ritualistic sacrifice
UR Wizards
We've seen mad scientists on Innistrad, chiefly aligned with Zombies as stitchers and necromancers but also with some red-mana leanings as they harness fire, lightning, poltergeists, and other chaotic energies. Much like with Clerics, Wizards have overlaps with the ally tribes, in this case Zombies and Vampires. Wizards could focus on discarding cards for Spellslinger-esque costs, or focus on the duality of drawing and discarding. Madness or Flashback could be possible mechanical affiliations.
Mechanical theme: Discarding and Spellslinging
Another choice could be Elementals, representing embodiments of weather phenomena like fog and lightning. Their mechanic would likely be Evoke, returning from Lorwyn to provide spell-like effects and to play well with death-matters effects.
BG Plants
Little Shop of Horrors, anyone? We've already seen some monstrous plants in green and a few in black, so expanding that into a full tribe shouldn't be hard. BG Plants would likely involve +1/+1 counters and graveyard interactions, perhaps incorporating Morbid or Undying. Devour could be another option since monster Plants tend to be carnivorous. BG Plants would have a tendency to return from the graveyard or even to multiply in number using tokens. Another option could be a Fabricate-like mechanic that allows you to choose between +1/+1 counters or Plant tokens. To overlap with other tribes, Plants could even be combined with other creature types to suggest a sort of parasitic takeover.
Mechanical theme: Graveyard shenanigans
Another option for BG could be Insects, playing into the common fear of bugs.
RW Humans
After GW, RW is the color pair most closely associated with Humans on Innistrad, what with red having Human Werewolves and AVR including some red Human tribal cards. RW obviously leans toward an angry mob flavor, though religious fanatics also play into RW. Of the five tribes, this is the one I would keep from the ally cycle as Humans are an important part of establishing the relevance of monsters. RW Humans would also overlap easily with WB Clerics and UR Wizards, though RW Humans would tend more toward aggro. To capture the angry mob flavor, RW Humans could make use of Revolt.
Mechanical theme: Aggro, Revolt
GU Mutants
If BG Plants are inspired by Little Shop of Horrors, these are inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau. Mutants could easily overlap with not only Humans but also Werewolves (or simply Wolves to distinguish from Werewolves) and Zombies, not to mention incorporate many other creature types. Obviously this would mean overlaps with UR Wizards and BG Plants as well.
Mechanical theme: Transformation (perhaps from Human Mutants to animal-type Mutants)
Another choice for GU could be Merfolk, in which case you're looking at Creature from the Black Lagoon. We don't know what all creatures live in Innistrad's seas, and some Innistrad alchemsists like Ludevic like to play with nature, so it's possible a race of fish people were spawned from an experiment gone wrong or out of control. Of course, this could also be a subset of the aforementioned Mutants.
I was going to put this in Custom Card Creation, but I didn't think of any actual card designs, so for now this just feels like baseless speculation. Please direct any and all card designs to Custom Card Creation.
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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My choices:
White has priests like those of the Avacynian Church and now the Lunarch Council and the Sigardian order. Black has cultists of the Skirsdag and other sinister followings. Plus Humans, Spirits, and Vampires have Clerics among them, so it allows for overlaps with those tribes. White Clerics would focus on creatures entering the battlefield, while black Clerics would instead focus on sacrificing creatures and benefitting from their death.
Mechanical theme: Ritualistic sacrifice
UR Wizards
We've seen mad scientists on Innistrad, chiefly aligned with Zombies as stitchers and necromancers but also with some red-mana leanings as they harness fire, lightning, poltergeists, and other chaotic energies. Much like with Clerics, Wizards have overlaps with the ally tribes, in this case Zombies and Vampires. Wizards could focus on discarding cards for Spellslinger-esque costs, or focus on the duality of drawing and discarding. Madness or Flashback could be possible mechanical affiliations.
Mechanical theme: Discarding and Spellslinging
Another choice could be Elementals, representing embodiments of weather phenomena like fog and lightning. Their mechanic would likely be Evoke, returning from Lorwyn to provide spell-like effects and to play well with death-matters effects.
BG Plants
Little Shop of Horrors, anyone? We've already seen some monstrous plants in green and a few in black, so expanding that into a full tribe shouldn't be hard. BG Plants would likely involve +1/+1 counters and graveyard interactions, perhaps incorporating Morbid or Undying. Devour could be another option since monster Plants tend to be carnivorous. BG Plants would have a tendency to return from the graveyard or even to multiply in number using tokens. Another option could be a Fabricate-like mechanic that allows you to choose between +1/+1 counters or Plant tokens. To overlap with other tribes, Plants could even be combined with other creature types to suggest a sort of parasitic takeover.
Mechanical theme: Graveyard shenanigans
Another option for BG could be Insects, playing into the common fear of bugs.
RW Humans
After GW, RW is the color pair most closely associated with Humans on Innistrad, what with red having Human Werewolves and AVR including some red Human tribal cards. RW obviously leans toward an angry mob flavor, though religious fanatics also play into RW. Of the five tribes, this is the one I would keep from the ally cycle as Humans are an important part of establishing the relevance of monsters. RW Humans would also overlap easily with WB Clerics and UR Wizards, though RW Humans would tend more toward aggro. To capture the angry mob flavor, RW Humans could make use of Revolt.
Mechanical theme: Aggro, Revolt
GU Mutants
If BG Plants are inspired by Little Shop of Horrors, these are inspired by The Island of Dr. Moreau. Mutants could easily overlap with not only Humans but also Werewolves (or simply Wolves to distinguish from Werewolves) and Zombies, not to mention incorporate many other creature types. Obviously this would mean overlaps with UR Wizards and BG Plants as well.
Mechanical theme: Transformation (perhaps from Human Mutants to animal-type Mutants)
Another choice for GU could be Merfolk, in which case you're looking at Creature from the Black Lagoon. We don't know what all creatures live in Innistrad's seas, and some Innistrad alchemsists like Ludevic like to play with nature, so it's possible a race of fish people were spawned from an experiment gone wrong or out of control. Of course, this could also be a subset of the aforementioned Mutants.
I was going to put this in Custom Card Creation, but I didn't think of any actual card designs, so for now this just feels like baseless speculation. Please direct any and all card designs to Custom Card Creation.
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.