With today's announcement of yet another journey into Ravnica (is this plane really the "darling child" of WotC???), we'll have guild-specific keywords. I'm not speculating on this, I am almost 100% on this, since guild specific keywords is a large part of Ravnica sets (history repeats itself).
The big question I have for everyone is this:
A) New guild keywords?
B) A return of old guild keywords?
C) Both and A & B.
If you think there will a return of certain keywords, what would you [REALISTICALLY] want to see brought back (the emphasis is for keywords like dredge that have been called a mistake). Please give a reason why said keyword should come back.
As a whole, I would be happy w/ just about any of the old keywords coming back, since there is a lot of design space to play around with all of them.
I think it will be either a new keyword for each guild that sort of combines the old ones into a new mechanic that balances them better. Or recycling one of the older mechanics for the 3rd lap through this time.
I did like a handful of the RTR era keywords for each guild. Unleash(Rakdos) and Scavenge(Golgari) were pretty useful, but on opposite ends of the power spectrum. Unleash was pretty strong for Standard, but Scavenge was pretty weak, although great in Draft/Sealed. I wouldn't mind seeing something akin to Scavenge, but more functional for competitive play, perhaps something similar to Modular from Mirrodin way back in the day.
I really, really hope they bring back cipher. I know everyone hated it the first time around, and I know that it combined the card disadvantage of auras with the repetitive play problems of forecast and such. I don't care. I love that mechanic more than any other and I want it back.
More realistically, I think it's a question of design space:
-Selesnya: has two decent mechanics, but convoke has been used a couple of times elsewhere and I feel that populate doesn't have much more design space.
-Boros: Radiance is never coming back anywhere, but battalion is really flexible and hasn't been used elsewhere; I can see it being re-used.
-Orzhov: Haunt is never coming back; it's got lots of design space, but it's confusing to new players, inconsistent in its own use, and difficult to keep track of. Extort may or may not come back; it's not got all that much more you can do with it, but the individual designs don't matter so much anyway and it's a fun mechanic (I'm not sure how well received it was).
-Azorius: probably get a new mechanic because Wizards didn't love the play mechanics of forecast and detain is kind of played-out.
-Gruul: I can see Bloodthirst or Bloodrush coming back. Both are pretty narrow, but I feel like there's also a lot more that can be done with them.
-Golgari: Obviously dredge isn't coming back, ever. Scavenge was a good mechanic, though.
-Simic: Both graft and evolve were awesome mechanics. If they don't bring one or both back, I'm honestly curious what they'll do instead, since they're pretty much required to do a mechanic that uses +1/+1 counters. This is probably the only choice where there are two good options.
-Rakdos: Unleash is a good mechanic that could come back. Hellbent is cool, but I think Wizards didn't like encouraging players to play with no cards. They did say they've been considering 'heckbent' (1 or less cards) as a good alternative though.
-Izzet: I don't know how Wizards feels about replicate; it's restrictive on card design and kind of boring, but serviceable. Overload's also pretty limited, but I think it has some cool designs left.
-Dimir: Transmute has been called a mistake for deck consistency issues, and much as I may love it, I'm not optimistic about cipher.
All in all, I think it's definitely reasonable to expect 10 new mechanics. Most of the Ravnica guild mechanics seem to have had either pretty limited design space or some really poor play issues. Pretty much every one of these are mechanics I'd love to see individual examples of, but would hate entire sets of. Alternatively, we bring back non-Ravnica mechanics for the guilds; devour or morbid could be good Golgari options, and I can see a non-artifact-limited version of Modular for the Simic. Whatever happens, the Izzet will be a spell mechanic and the Simic will be +1/+1 counters.
Alternatively, no more individual mechanics for guilds. I'm skeptical, since it's kind of Ravnica's trademark and is a good way to hit the guild flavor, but 10 mechanics in the third set is going to push New World Order pretty hard (they complained about that for Dragon's Maze last time). Alternatively, they could abandon guild mechanics for the 3rd one only, or do something weird where for either only one or all three of the sets, guilds have weird combined mechanics shared among wedges or shards.
If I had to put my money on returning mechanics, I'd say heckbent for Rakdo; something like modular for Simic, or possibly Monstrosity; and honestly maybe Ninjutsu for Dimir. Whatever happens, you know we'll get tons of callbacks to the original mechanics (calling an uncommon creature cycle right now that have abilities that, although they don't use the mechanics themselves, mirror the effects of populate (copy a token somehow), battalian (direct copy), a card with an ETB and death trigger that drains for 1 each, a detain card, a bloodthirst card, a scavenge card if it's not the mechanic and otherwise a fake dredge 1, either graft or evolve with the other going to a similar callback rare, an unleash card, and I don't know what to do for izzet/dimir). Also, a mana-fixing artifact cycle.
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"It is better for all the world if, instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind. The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes... Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
I was thinking about this a little bit. When was the last 3 color wedge/shard set? Khans? Is it possible that the first 2 parts of Rav 3 is reintroducing and building up the final leg of Bolas's plans, then in set 3, we get a tri-color alliance theme, where guilds are allying with one another to form a new faction with a shard/wedge themed ability. It would atleast be something new and unique for the setting, instead of just reprinting the same old mechanics again, alongside Shocks and some sort of janky Karoo/Guildgate cycle.
I'm an advocate of new keywords, myself. I've been aching for Gruul to get Strengthen.
Strengthen (R/G)(Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay (R/G). If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Not only does Strengthen combine the two most basic RG strategies, ramp and fatty aggro, it has a lot of potential for "Whenever you strengthen" effects, not to mention the usual "+1/+1 counters matter" themes.
After getting a load of Embalm, I could see Orzhov getting a tweak that creates Spirits instead of Zombies.
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.
Like I said on another thread, they are definitely doing new mechanics, and they are definitely doing one mechanic per guild. Force of expectations is very strong on that, but also 2 sets with five guilds in each (as spelled out in the announcement) strongly indicates they're using a similar structure to RTR/GTC. You can't do 10 new mechanics in one set but 5 is on the high end of doable.
I don't expect any mechanics to return because it would be very feel-bad for fans of one guild if their guild got a returning mechanic and other guilds got shiny new mechanics, especially since no guild mechanic is all that beloved. Also, most guild mechanics have little design space because from RTR on, R&D was deliberately using those kinds of mechanics since they fit the guild mechanic niche well. At most I could see Convoke, Detain, or Bloodthirst coming back, but it seems very unlikely.
They are definitely not doing a repeat of Dragon's Maze. They've said explicitly that set 3 isn't about the guilds and is something different, just set on Ravnica. My assumption is that set 3 doesn't have guild mechanic cards in it.
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On average, Magic players are worse at new card evaluation than almost every other skill, except perhaps sideboarding.
Each guild will get a new mechanic. There will be no returning Ravnica mechanic (but a guild may get a returning mechanic that has never been used in a Ravnica set, like for example Buyback for Izzet). By extension there will be no "chose mechanic A or mechanic B, where A and B are two previous mechanics for the guild" either, because that would mean there are 10+ mechanics in the set, which is more than twice what WotC is currently willing to do.
Expect one mechanic per guild in the set, and possibly split cards.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
I would guess that set 3 will be more about the Gatewatch and other anti-Bolas PWs fighting Bolas' forces, with Ravnica and its guilds getting caught in the crossfire. So, I expect two major mechanics in Set 3, one for Team Bolas and one for Team Anti-Bolas.
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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.
I would guess that set 3 will be more about the Gatewatch and other anti-Bolas PWs fighting Bolas' forces, with Ravnica and its guilds getting caught in the crossfire. So, I expect two major mechanics in Set 3, one for Team Bolas and one for Team Anti-Bolas.
You are assuming that the guilds aren't capable of defending themselves. I assume that most of the guilds will join the battle against Bolas, including the guild leaders.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
I didn't say that. I said they would get caught in the crossfire. The set may not be about them, but it'll be pretty hard not to feature some Guild cards, especially a cycle of legends. And some guilds, like Dimir and Rakdos, may side with Bolas. Given how boringly OP the Elder Dragon is, no doubt he can override something as trivial as the Guildpact. And even if not, I'm sure guilds can opt out if they so please.
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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.
I didn't say that. I said they would get caught in the crossfire. The set may not be about them, but it'll be pretty hard not to feature some Guild cards, especially a cycle of legends. And some guilds, like Dimir and Rakdos, may side with Bolas. Given how boringly OP the Elder Dragon is, no doubt he can override something as trivial as the Guildpact. And even if not, I'm sure guilds can opt out if they so please.
Except he is no where near being OP anymore, which is a major part of his motivation. Sure he is immensely powerful, but that has more to do with him being the literally oldest dragon in the multiverse, and being, you know, a friggin' dragon, than anything else. He lost a heck of a lot of his power in the mending, and he wants it back, desperately.
If it came to blows (and it will), with the gatewatch on one side and Bolas and his minions on the other, and a majority of the guilds joining the battle against Bolas. Bolas would logically get wrecked. Particularly since at least one of his minions would turn on him at a crucial moment. Tezzeret would likely turn as well given the opportunity as he loathes being under Bolas's influence.
Not to mention, that although the guild-leaders aren't planeswalkers, most of them are immensely powerful entities with massive resources at their disposal. Niv-Mizzet himself is more intelligent than Bolas, and the most powerful telepath on Ravnica. He is without a doubt well aware of the threat Bolas is, and has taken steps. And Rakdos is an immensely powerful demon lord with a horde of fanatics at his beck and call. Isperia is currently the most powerful (and largest) Sphinx on Ravnica, and an incredibly powerful lawmage as well. Then we have a host of angels both at the Boros Guild and the Orzhov. A massive horde of Barbarians at the Gruul, lead by a very large, and very cranky cyclops. The Orzhov also have thousands of thrulls and spirits to throw at Bolas. The Simic has massive numbers of mutants and other engineered creatures at their disposal, as well as powerful magic. Selesnya can rapidly grow their army as necessary, and the Golgari isn't called the Swarm for nothing.
Basically, it is only the Dimir that may have joined with Bolas, and even then I wouldn't put it past them that they only did so to sabotage his forces from the inside, they're sneaky like that. So, logically, Bolas is going to get wrecked, hard. Even with his army of Eternals and a way to neutralize other planeswalkers. We are talking about the single most densely populated plane with ten factions with huge armies here.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Well sure but that is why Bolas is likely to spark a civil war now some of those guilds may join him but I suppose the real plan is to soften up the competition. Hopefully, Rakdos and Mat' will wake up for this one especially latter since she doesn't have a card yet.
Niv only suspectsvthat Planeswalkers even exist, nothing confirmed that is till Jace goes and talks to him. Niv is not even close to as old as Bolas, let alone as powerful. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 3rd set is setting up a brothers brawl, Nicol vs Ugin.
As for mechanics...eh...I wasn’t around for either Rav blocks so outside of maybe populate and new spirits...I’m not sure what I would like to see
I didn't say that. I said they would get caught in the crossfire. The set may not be about them, but it'll be pretty hard not to feature some Guild cards, especially a cycle of legends. And some guilds, like Dimir and Rakdos, may side with Bolas. Given how boringly OP the Elder Dragon is, no doubt he can override something as trivial as the Guildpact. And even if not, I'm sure guilds can opt out if they so please.
Except he is no where near being OP anymore, which is a major part of his motivation. Sure he is immensely powerful, but that has more to do with him being the literally oldest dragon in the multiverse, and being, you know, a friggin' dragon, than anything else. He lost a heck of a lot of his power in the mending, and he wants it back, desperately.
If it came to blows (and it will), with the gatewatch on one side and Bolas and his minions on the other, and a majority of the guilds joining the battle against Bolas. Bolas would logically get wrecked. Particularly since at least one of his minions would turn on him at a crucial moment. Tezzeret would likely turn as well given the opportunity as he loathes being under Bolas's influence.
Not to mention, that although the guild-leaders aren't planeswalkers, most of them are immensely powerful entities with massive resources at their disposal. Niv-Mizzet himself is more intelligent than Bolas, and the most powerful telepath on Ravnica. He is without a doubt well aware of the threat Bolas is, and has taken steps. And Rakdos is an immensely powerful demon lord with a horde of fanatics at his beck and call. Isperia is currently the most powerful (and largest) Sphinx on Ravnica, and an incredibly powerful lawmage as well. Then we have a host of angels both at the Boros Guild and the Orzhov. A massive horde of Barbarians at the Gruul, lead by a very large, and very cranky cyclops. The Orzhov also have thousands of thrulls and spirits to throw at Bolas. The Simic has massive numbers of mutants and other engineered creatures at their disposal, as well as powerful magic. Selesnya can rapidly grow their army as necessary, and the Golgari isn't called the Swarm for nothing.
Basically, it is only the Dimir that may have joined with Bolas, and even then I wouldn't put it past them that they only did so to sabotage his forces from the inside, they're sneaky like that. So, logically, Bolas is going to get wrecked, hard. Even with his army of Eternals and a way to neutralize other planeswalkers. We are talking about the single most densely populated plane with ten factions with huge armies here.
Is this stated anywhere that Niv is stronger than Bolas? Or even a better telepath than Jace who was getting wrecked by Bolas on Amonkhet? I hope too see Niv and co play a good role, but for sure it will not be easy and there will be some losses, otherwise Niv could do it all on his own. And I am pretty sure the Gstewatch and Guilds would loose without Vraska and Lili turning against Bolas in the End. I woukd like too see, which role Ral Zsrek has to play and Niv doesn't know any of his plans - neither the story with Jace nor him working for Bolas. So Bolas definitly knows about Niv.
There is no way that Niv-Mizzet does not know about Ral Zarek being a planeswalker. Niv-Mizzet is a telepath, a really powerful one. He is also over ten thousand years old being one of the original parun's (together with Rakdos, Azor, and Maat'Selesnya), and knows about planeswalkers even if he is not one himself. Niv knows that Bolas exists and is coming, there is no logical reason he would not. And dragons are territorial, very territorial. He is smarter than Bolas, but not as powerful. He will have taken steps to protect Ravnica. Bolas is going to have a very tough fight ahead of him, and Bolas knows this.
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It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
Yeah Niv not knowing about Planeswalkers at all makes no sense. Now sure he might not know who every walker on Ravnica is but seeing as he was around for millennium before the Guild Pact and Planeswalkers use to routinely bring Armies to fight on Ravnica and the fact that a certain sphinx is one....Well Niv would have to be an idiot to not know who a Walker is.
As for smarts in Sciences sure but there is more then one measure of intelligence.
I am not sure how the telepath part is especially relevant one does not need to be a Telepath to be resistant to it.
Thinking about it, I would welcome new keywords that synergize/compliment the old keywords. Even better, bring in some cards with the older keywords so we can truly see some amazing synergies. This could also breathe new life into the stale keywords.
The keywords, be they new or old, will play well enough with previous guild keywords, but they may not synergize directly. After all, the keywords in GRN and RNA have to be able to stand on their own, and past guild keywords didn't always have straight synergy either, in fact they usually didn't.
I could see some guilds getting old keywords, like Rakdos Madness and Izzet Surge, but others, like Azorius and Dimir, will practically require new keywords, as they don't really have any ideal returning mechanics that didn't already appear in a past Ravnica set.
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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.
For Dimir i would like to see a creature based ability. Maybe "conceal" where you can turn the creature facedown and give it hexproof until end of turn it becomes a 2/2 and to turn it back up you would need to deal combat damage. That could be nice limited ability.
Maybe Conceal [cost]: (For each spell and ability targeting this creature counter it unless its controler pays {3}.Turn this creature facedown it becomes a 2/2 creature.
Whenever this creature causes combat damage to a player turn it face up)
or something like this.
For Selesnya we had 2 mechanics related to tokens, how about something that is not totaly token related but is helped by it?
How about Unanimity [number] - effect (Tap [number] creatures to do this effect.)
Like Sandsower ,Nullmage Shepherd , and Selesnya Evangel back in the day. Could also see this for Azorius.
GRN
Dimir - New Mechanic (Transmute is a tutoring mechanic, and Cipher fared poorly)
Selesnya - Convoke (confirmed)
Izzet - New Mechanic (Replicate's multiple copies could be a little confusing, not to mention it can only be practically used on small effects and we just got Kicker in Dominaria, and Overload has small design space)
Boros - Battle Cry (Radiance fared poorly, Battalion certainly did better but they used a lot of the viable RW effects last time)
Golgari - Scavenge (Dredge was way too broken)
Since Convoke's returning, that makes other kinds of alternate cost keywords like Madness and Surge unlikely. I can see the Boros getting Battle Cry, it fits their aggro focus. Scavenge is a fairly flexible keyword that can go on any creature with at least 1 power. I could also see the Golgari getting some kind of tweak on Fabricate or Modular, playing into their whole "Growth from Death" philosophy.
RNA
Azorius - Detain (Forecast fared poorly)
Rakdos - Morbid (Hellbent fared poorly, Unleash would look bad next to Bloodthirst)
Gruul - Bloodthirst (successfully returned in M12, fared better than Bloodrush)
Orzhov - New Mechanic (Haunt fared poorly, Exort has development issues)
Simic - New Mechanic (Graft is problematic on Magic Online and requires more tracking, Evolve pushes for more creatures with high power/low toughness and low power/high toughness)
Bloodthirst can go on basically any creature. Detain may not be flashy, but it is functional, and like Bloodthirst, can go on basically any creature, and also on noncreature spells to boot. I could see the Rakdos getting Morbid, with sac outlets to help enable it.
I predict that we'll see one RTR and one GTC mechanic return in GRN and RNA each. So, four returning guild mechanics, four new mechanics, and two previously non-guild mechanics returning as guild mechanics.
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.
Mr. Rasmussen on twitter also announced that they'll reveal the guild's keywords and some other things today on the mtg stream, in about 13 hours from this post.
Hype.
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The big question I have for everyone is this:
A) New guild keywords?
B) A return of old guild keywords?
C) Both and A & B.
If you think there will a return of certain keywords, what would you [REALISTICALLY] want to see brought back (the emphasis is for keywords like dredge that have been called a mistake). Please give a reason why said keyword should come back.
As a whole, I would be happy w/ just about any of the old keywords coming back, since there is a lot of design space to play around with all of them.
I did like a handful of the RTR era keywords for each guild. Unleash(Rakdos) and Scavenge(Golgari) were pretty useful, but on opposite ends of the power spectrum. Unleash was pretty strong for Standard, but Scavenge was pretty weak, although great in Draft/Sealed. I wouldn't mind seeing something akin to Scavenge, but more functional for competitive play, perhaps something similar to Modular from Mirrodin way back in the day.
More realistically, I think it's a question of design space:
-Selesnya: has two decent mechanics, but convoke has been used a couple of times elsewhere and I feel that populate doesn't have much more design space.
-Boros: Radiance is never coming back anywhere, but battalion is really flexible and hasn't been used elsewhere; I can see it being re-used.
-Orzhov: Haunt is never coming back; it's got lots of design space, but it's confusing to new players, inconsistent in its own use, and difficult to keep track of. Extort may or may not come back; it's not got all that much more you can do with it, but the individual designs don't matter so much anyway and it's a fun mechanic (I'm not sure how well received it was).
-Azorius: probably get a new mechanic because Wizards didn't love the play mechanics of forecast and detain is kind of played-out.
-Gruul: I can see Bloodthirst or Bloodrush coming back. Both are pretty narrow, but I feel like there's also a lot more that can be done with them.
-Golgari: Obviously dredge isn't coming back, ever. Scavenge was a good mechanic, though.
-Simic: Both graft and evolve were awesome mechanics. If they don't bring one or both back, I'm honestly curious what they'll do instead, since they're pretty much required to do a mechanic that uses +1/+1 counters. This is probably the only choice where there are two good options.
-Rakdos: Unleash is a good mechanic that could come back. Hellbent is cool, but I think Wizards didn't like encouraging players to play with no cards. They did say they've been considering 'heckbent' (1 or less cards) as a good alternative though.
-Izzet: I don't know how Wizards feels about replicate; it's restrictive on card design and kind of boring, but serviceable. Overload's also pretty limited, but I think it has some cool designs left.
-Dimir: Transmute has been called a mistake for deck consistency issues, and much as I may love it, I'm not optimistic about cipher.
All in all, I think it's definitely reasonable to expect 10 new mechanics. Most of the Ravnica guild mechanics seem to have had either pretty limited design space or some really poor play issues. Pretty much every one of these are mechanics I'd love to see individual examples of, but would hate entire sets of. Alternatively, we bring back non-Ravnica mechanics for the guilds; devour or morbid could be good Golgari options, and I can see a non-artifact-limited version of Modular for the Simic. Whatever happens, the Izzet will be a spell mechanic and the Simic will be +1/+1 counters.
Alternatively, no more individual mechanics for guilds. I'm skeptical, since it's kind of Ravnica's trademark and is a good way to hit the guild flavor, but 10 mechanics in the third set is going to push New World Order pretty hard (they complained about that for Dragon's Maze last time). Alternatively, they could abandon guild mechanics for the 3rd one only, or do something weird where for either only one or all three of the sets, guilds have weird combined mechanics shared among wedges or shards.
If I had to put my money on returning mechanics, I'd say heckbent for Rakdo; something like modular for Simic, or possibly Monstrosity; and honestly maybe Ninjutsu for Dimir. Whatever happens, you know we'll get tons of callbacks to the original mechanics (calling an uncommon creature cycle right now that have abilities that, although they don't use the mechanics themselves, mirror the effects of populate (copy a token somehow), battalian (direct copy), a card with an ETB and death trigger that drains for 1 each, a detain card, a bloodthirst card, a scavenge card if it's not the mechanic and otherwise a fake dredge 1, either graft or evolve with the other going to a similar callback rare, an unleash card, and I don't know what to do for izzet/dimir). Also, a mana-fixing artifact cycle.
--Buck v Bell, 1927. This case, regarding the compulsory sterilization of inmates at mental institutions, has -- somehow -- never been overturned. Just a wee PSA for ya.
Strengthen (R/G) (Whenever this creature attacks, you may pay (R/G). If you do, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature.)
Not only does Strengthen combine the two most basic RG strategies, ramp and fatty aggro, it has a lot of potential for "Whenever you strengthen" effects, not to mention the usual "+1/+1 counters matter" themes.
After getting a load of Embalm, I could see Orzhov getting a tweak that creates Spirits instead of Zombies.
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.
I don't expect any mechanics to return because it would be very feel-bad for fans of one guild if their guild got a returning mechanic and other guilds got shiny new mechanics, especially since no guild mechanic is all that beloved. Also, most guild mechanics have little design space because from RTR on, R&D was deliberately using those kinds of mechanics since they fit the guild mechanic niche well. At most I could see Convoke, Detain, or Bloodthirst coming back, but it seems very unlikely.
They are definitely not doing a repeat of Dragon's Maze. They've said explicitly that set 3 isn't about the guilds and is something different, just set on Ravnica. My assumption is that set 3 doesn't have guild mechanic cards in it.
Expect one mechanic per guild in the set, and possibly split cards.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
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.
You are assuming that the guilds aren't capable of defending themselves. I assume that most of the guilds will join the battle against Bolas, including the guild leaders.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
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.
Except he is no where near being OP anymore, which is a major part of his motivation. Sure he is immensely powerful, but that has more to do with him being the literally oldest dragon in the multiverse, and being, you know, a friggin' dragon, than anything else. He lost a heck of a lot of his power in the mending, and he wants it back, desperately.
If it came to blows (and it will), with the gatewatch on one side and Bolas and his minions on the other, and a majority of the guilds joining the battle against Bolas. Bolas would logically get wrecked. Particularly since at least one of his minions would turn on him at a crucial moment. Tezzeret would likely turn as well given the opportunity as he loathes being under Bolas's influence.
Not to mention, that although the guild-leaders aren't planeswalkers, most of them are immensely powerful entities with massive resources at their disposal. Niv-Mizzet himself is more intelligent than Bolas, and the most powerful telepath on Ravnica. He is without a doubt well aware of the threat Bolas is, and has taken steps. And Rakdos is an immensely powerful demon lord with a horde of fanatics at his beck and call. Isperia is currently the most powerful (and largest) Sphinx on Ravnica, and an incredibly powerful lawmage as well. Then we have a host of angels both at the Boros Guild and the Orzhov. A massive horde of Barbarians at the Gruul, lead by a very large, and very cranky cyclops. The Orzhov also have thousands of thrulls and spirits to throw at Bolas. The Simic has massive numbers of mutants and other engineered creatures at their disposal, as well as powerful magic. Selesnya can rapidly grow their army as necessary, and the Golgari isn't called the Swarm for nothing.
Basically, it is only the Dimir that may have joined with Bolas, and even then I wouldn't put it past them that they only did so to sabotage his forces from the inside, they're sneaky like that. So, logically, Bolas is going to get wrecked, hard. Even with his army of Eternals and a way to neutralize other planeswalkers. We are talking about the single most densely populated plane with ten factions with huge armies here.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
I think that the Izzet could get a storm like ability, such as "Whenever you cast your 3rd spell this turn, x, y, and z."
Maybe the Azorius will have an ability that allows creatures to blink themselves for a cost? Or one that lets them trigger their ETB effects again?
As for mechanics...eh...I wasn’t around for either Rav blocks so outside of maybe populate and new spirits...I’m not sure what I would like to see
There is no way that Niv-Mizzet does not know about Ral Zarek being a planeswalker. Niv-Mizzet is a telepath, a really powerful one. He is also over ten thousand years old being one of the original parun's (together with Rakdos, Azor, and Maat'Selesnya), and knows about planeswalkers even if he is not one himself. Niv knows that Bolas exists and is coming, there is no logical reason he would not. And dragons are territorial, very territorial. He is smarter than Bolas, but not as powerful. He will have taken steps to protect Ravnica. Bolas is going to have a very tough fight ahead of him, and Bolas knows this.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
As for smarts in Sciences sure but there is more then one measure of intelligence.
I am not sure how the telepath part is especially relevant one does not need to be a Telepath to be resistant to it.
We could, but I doubt he'd tell us, the best we would get is a maybe.
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Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
I could see some guilds getting old keywords, like Rakdos Madness and Izzet Surge, but others, like Azorius and Dimir, will practically require new keywords, as they don't really have any ideal returning mechanics that didn't already appear in a past Ravnica set.
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.
Maybe
Conceal [cost]: (For each spell and ability targeting this creature counter it unless its controler pays {3}.Turn this creature facedown it becomes a 2/2 creature.
Whenever this creature causes combat damage to a player turn it face up)
or something like this.
For Selesnya we had 2 mechanics related to tokens, how about something that is not totaly token related but is helped by it?
How about
Unanimity [number] - effect
(Tap [number] creatures to do this effect.)
Like Sandsower ,Nullmage Shepherd , and Selesnya Evangel back in the day. Could also see this for Azorius.
So, guessing time:
GRN
Dimir - New Mechanic (Transmute is a tutoring mechanic, and Cipher fared poorly)
Selesnya - Convoke (confirmed)
Izzet - New Mechanic (Replicate's multiple copies could be a little confusing, not to mention it can only be practically used on small effects and we just got Kicker in Dominaria, and Overload has small design space)
Boros - Battle Cry (Radiance fared poorly, Battalion certainly did better but they used a lot of the viable RW effects last time)
Golgari - Scavenge (Dredge was way too broken)
Since Convoke's returning, that makes other kinds of alternate cost keywords like Madness and Surge unlikely. I can see the Boros getting Battle Cry, it fits their aggro focus. Scavenge is a fairly flexible keyword that can go on any creature with at least 1 power. I could also see the Golgari getting some kind of tweak on Fabricate or Modular, playing into their whole "Growth from Death" philosophy.
RNA
Azorius - Detain (Forecast fared poorly)
Rakdos - Morbid (Hellbent fared poorly, Unleash would look bad next to Bloodthirst)
Gruul - Bloodthirst (successfully returned in M12, fared better than Bloodrush)
Orzhov - New Mechanic (Haunt fared poorly, Exort has development issues)
Simic - New Mechanic (Graft is problematic on Magic Online and requires more tracking, Evolve pushes for more creatures with high power/low toughness and low power/high toughness)
Bloodthirst can go on basically any creature. Detain may not be flashy, but it is functional, and like Bloodthirst, can go on basically any creature, and also on noncreature spells to boot. I could see the Rakdos getting Morbid, with sac outlets to help enable it.
I predict that we'll see one RTR and one GTC mechanic return in GRN and RNA each. So, four returning guild mechanics, four new mechanics, and two previously non-guild mechanics returning as guild mechanics.
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.
Hype.