For Chandra, Acolyte of Flame, we were excited about showing her as a student of the Regathan pyromancers. Visually, this pushed us in the direction of depicting Chandra more as a warrior monk in training. We showed her without a regulator to emphasize that this was a time in her life when she tried to hone her skills and control her emotions without it. On Regatha, she was surrounded by pyromancers who all understood the nature of fire. If she lost control, there were fewer repercussions than if she unexpectedly blew something up on any other plane. For her card illustration, we really wanted to lean into Chandra’s rebellious-yet-playful attitude. She is clearly supposed to be meditating, but instead is happily creating a fire elemental. Anna Steinbauer did an amazing job bringing this moment to life in her illustration. In the background, she added an amazing extra bit of one of Chandra’s teachers looking annoyed at her for not doing her homework. You might have to zoom in for that little gem.
With Chandra, Novice Pyromancer we wanted her to have a little more edge to her as she sets out to find herself on Ravnica. She is more confident and excited to strike out on her own. We really wanted to visually plant some seeds that would ultimately take her down the path of Chandra, Awakened inferno. She’s wearing light armor and we see chain-links to her outfit. She’s also created a new regulator that’s a reflection of her experience in Ravnica, the City of Guilds. Chandra, Novice Pyromancer maintains the lighthearted attitude that we saw in Chandra, Acolyte of Flame but with a little bit more self-assuredness and showmanship now that she is more in touch with her abilities. She has all these amazing powers and is ready to show them off to the people of Ravnica. You can even see the little elemental in her hand reflecting a similar pose as her.
In both of these illustrations, we explored how we could incorporate nods to Chandra’s home plane of Kaladesh. In Chandra, Acolyte of Flame, there is elegant filigree found on the trim of her clothing. In Chandra, Novice Pyromancer, her chain-links are forged to reflect the filigree found on Kaladesh, and her new regulator is reminiscent of the one her father made for her back on Kaladesh.
Lastly with the image Chandra, Awakened Inferno we wanted to capture Chandra as a calm and confident pyromancer fully in control of a very dangerous and almost wild amount of fire swirling around her. Chris Rahn did an amazing job creating this dynamic and moody piece for Chandra. She is ready to take on any threat the Multiverse has to offer.
I think this is another great way (with transform origins walker) to show off a character growth and it looks like we are see Chandra from after she sparked (age 12) to the present (or at least when she started the story so age 19-23). And while this isn't feature as much in the lore is seems like they are maybe giving Chandra elemental powers to help her and Jaya get a bit different space design wise. Also looks like Regatha and Ravnica will be feature planes.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I don't usually think Core Sets have flavor. M19 did because it was just before Bolas's finale. And Origins did. But mostly Core Sets don't.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
The set will have some story relevance, but more in a "filling in information of the past about relevant characters" way than telling a piece of the "present-day" story.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Looking forward to more Regatha. Hopefully they used some of their creative resources they didn't have to spend on the Guilds block to flesh out Regatha a little. From all the new origins planes, it was awfully... nowhere? Like sure the plane has rugged mountain shard thingies and a red-aligned pyromancer monastery, but other than that we know nothing about it.
I mean I suppose this confirms Chandra as the new face of magic.
But really this seems like a waste of an interesting idea. Like oh Chandra goes from Kid to Teen to Young Adult. This would be far more interesting for any of the Oldwalkers running around where there is a significant change since you know they have been around centuries to millennia.
I mean I suppose this confirms Chandra as the new face of magic.
But really this seems like a waste of an interesting idea. Like oh Chandra goes from Kid to Teen to Young Adult. This would be far more interesting for any of the Oldwalkers running around where there is a significant change since you know they have been around centuries to millennia.
That sounds like the target audience for magic horizons, not an on boarding set for new players. Seeing a character past-present in one set gives a newer a lot of character bits to chew on. How cool is it when you start to learn all these small details about chandra from her clothing, the setting, etc.? She's been in the story for awhile and it's good that she's getting some screen time. She's a unique character.
I'm an enfranchised player too, and I love the old lore bits. They even have continuity input now to keep the old bits in sync with the new bits. We may get some, but I doubt much.
This isn't the product for us, and I'm okay with that. There is still plenty I'll enjoy like playability, art, a less tedious limited environment compared to MH1, a break for my wallet lol.
I mean I suppose this confirms Chandra as the new face of magic.
But really this seems like a waste of an interesting idea. Like oh Chandra goes from Kid to Teen to Young Adult. This would be far more interesting for any of the Oldwalkers running around where there is a significant change since you know they have been around centuries to millennia.
This actually sounds awful. Here is Liliana when she sparked a 20 something necromancer who is learning her craft. Now here is Liliana 30 years later, she looks exactly the same but is stronger and older, trust us. And this is Liliana now 100 years later, she is even older and even stronger than before; yes we know the art shows the exact same character but trust us she is older.
Pick any of the other old walkers and its more or less the same. This is them when they sparked, this is them 40 years after they sparked when they have mastered their craft; this is them now. Can you spot the difference? No? Well, that's to be expected they haven't actually changed very much. You know being an old walker they are essentially immortal and watching an immortal grow up through still images is confusing at best.
Seeing an actual change in a few years is far more interesting then being told hundreds of years passed even if you can't see any change.
Looking forward to more Regatha. Hopefully they used some of their creative resources they didn't have to spend on the Guilds block to flesh out Regatha a little. From all the new origins planes, it was awfully... nowhere? Like sure the plane has rugged mountain shard thingies and a red-aligned pyromancer monastery, but other than that we know nothing about it.
Same, it was in a weird spot with barely any world building and yet being the adopted home of a current main character and a last major character. Vryn is similar but it being Jaces home is still new-er info next to Regatha which has been around almost as long as Chandra.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Looking forward to more Regatha. Hopefully they used some of their creative resources they didn't have to spend on the Guilds block to flesh out Regatha a little. From all the new origins planes, it was awfully... nowhere? Like sure the plane has rugged mountain shard thingies and a red-aligned pyromancer monastery, but other than that we know nothing about it.
Same, it was in a weird spot with barely any world building and yet being the adopted home of a current main character and a last major character. Vryn is similar but it being Jaces home is still new-er info next to Regatha which has been around almost as long as Chandra.
Vryn also got some world building for it. Jace's entire origins story took place on Vryn with the last couple lines dealing with him ending up on Ravnica, his first planeswalk plane. The same pattern repeats for Gideon and Chandra as well, which is why Ravnica, Bant and Regatha got little more than namedrops in Origins, which isn't so bad for Ravnica and Bant, as we know about them and can fill in the blanks, but it didn't work out for Regatha.
The set will have some story relevance, but more in a "filling in information of the past about relevant characters" way than telling a piece of the "present-day" story.
So, basically, more like retcon. Not necessarily bad, but you're more likely to notice when it's bad than when it's good. Sounds alright. Looks like we're getting Chandra, then, but who else?
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
If they keep her backstory on Regatha, would we get a Gideon again for the Purifying Fire bits of her past? It seems counterproductive to kill him in WAR then reprint him, but if we get (at least) one 'walker per color, he'd make the more sense lore-wise. Jace in blue, Liliana in black and Chanra in green would maintain the usual suspects, and they each have direct impacts on Chandra.
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Dominian Scholar of the Old Guard, specializing in pre-revisionist (Armada comics) and revisionist (Brothers' War through Apocalypse)history
The set will have some story relevance, but more in a "filling in information of the past about relevant characters" way than telling a piece of the "present-day" story.
So, basically, more like retcon. Not necessarily bad, but you're more likely to notice when it's bad than when it's good. Sounds alright. Looks like we're getting Chandra, then, but who else?
A retcon is when they change something that was previously established. Not when they tell us details about things we kind of knew but not very well. That is called storytelling.
Well we got the packaging for the walkers decks; W-Ajani U-Yangling B-Sorin R-Chandra G-Vivien
I'm excited to see more on Yangling and I wonder if this was the reason she wasn't given a card in war and/or a seed for the next block since her lore and story isn't as known.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Pick any of the other old walkers and its more or less the same. This is them when they sparked, this is them 40 years after they sparked when they have mastered their craft; this is them now. Can you spot the difference? No? Well, that's to be expected they haven't actually changed very much. You know being an old walker they are essentially immortal and watching an immortal grow up through still images is confusing at best.
Some old walkers got character development too: Tevesh Szat was borna as Tev Loneglade, a sort of hermit, and only after his sister's death he became the Doom of Fools.
Also, Taysirt went from being a hero to a crazied villian and was reborn as a hero once again.
Even Freyalise had changes in her aspect, from her strange leaf-wings to her eye-patch.
I hope Vivien is evil now so we have a Green villain.
I want a green villain too but I don't think Vivien is a good fit. She doesn't embody the villainous side of green all that well. Both Garruk and Nissa have a lot more potential in that department, and they walked away from that Nissa.
She made a vow to kill off civilisation and even admitted her own similarities to Bolas. I think she fits.
Yeah. She's got strong Eco-terrorist vibe going, and I hope they don't minimize it or hand wave it away to have her be a "hero" or some nonsense.
I have a suspicion that they are going to hand wave it as she only wants to destroy 'bad civilization' which could mean whatever they want it to at any time. They really played up how awful the legion was when they introduced her trying to make it seem like they deserved her reckoning, which they kind of did with how cartoonishly villainous they were. This is probably the route they are going to go with her.
So from the weekly stream they did confirm that while the Eldrzi are gone from Zendiakr some of their influence still is effecting places, with Bala Ged showing the most effected shown with Yarok.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
She made a vow to kill off civilisation and even admitted her own similarities to Bolas. I think she fits.
Yeah. She's got strong Eco-terrorist vibe going, and I hope they don't minimize it or hand wave it away to have her be a "hero" or some nonsense.
I have a suspicion that they are going to hand wave it as she only wants to destroy 'bad civilization' which could mean whatever they want it to at any time. They really played up how awful the legion was when they introduced her trying to make it seem like they deserved her reckoning, which they kind of did with how cartoonishly villainous they were. This is probably the route they are going to go with her.
Yeah. That's the feeling I got through that entire terrible story. White-washing her terrible acts by painting her victims as even more terrible.
It's a load of bull, and I really hope they don't continue along the same vein, but I don't hold out much hope of the subject.
The set will have some story relevance, but more in a "filling in information of the past about relevant characters" way than telling a piece of the "present-day" story.
So, basically, more like retcon. Not necessarily bad, but you're more likely to notice when it's bad than when it's good. Sounds alright. Looks like we're getting Chandra, then, but who else?
A retcon is when they change something that was previously established. Not when they tell us details about things we kind of knew but not very well. That is called storytelling.
Chandra originally had no backstory and wore the iconic armor she always does.
Later on revealed she hailed from an unknown and nameless plane that wasn't Regatha.
Chandra's pyromancy abilities caused soldiers to burn down her village and family.
Chandra fled to Regatha and studied with the monks at Keral Keep Monastery.
She trained with Mother Luti at the monastery.
Chandra's home plane was later revealed to be Indian Aetherpunk world of Kaladesh, she stuck out like a sore thumb since both parents are Indian.
Also revealed later was that she was to be executed before escaping to Regatha.
Also revealed later was that Chandra's mother is actually alive.
Chandra and Gideon had a romantic relationship.
Revealed later that Mother Luti was actually Jaya Ballard.
Revealed later that Gideon instead saw Chandra as a sibling than a romantic partner.
Now revealed she at some point in her life used a 'regulator' for her magic before becoming her adult self, but what happened to the regulator is unknown as it doesn't appear on her normal armor.
Now revealed she is actually a very prodigious summoner of elementals in addition to her known pyromancy rather than just a pyromancer who only shoots gouts of flames, however these summoning talents are neglected prior to this in her lore.
Chandra's backstory is several layers of Retroactive Continuity or "retconning" as its also known. Where they revised the backstory over and over and over. She gives the formerly amnesiac Jace a run for his money.
The set will have some story relevance, but more in a "filling in information of the past about relevant characters" way than telling a piece of the "present-day" story.
So, basically, more like retcon. Not necessarily bad, but you're more likely to notice when it's bad than when it's good. Sounds alright. Looks like we're getting Chandra, then, but who else?
A retcon is when they change something that was previously established. Not when they tell us details about things we kind of knew but not very well. That is called storytelling.
Chandra originally had no backstory and wore the iconic armor she always does.
Later on revealed she hailed from an unknown and nameless plane that wasn't Regatha.
Chandra's pyromancy abilities caused soldiers to burn down her village and family.
Chandra fled to Regatha and studied with the monks at Keral Keep Monastery.
She trained with Mother Luti at the monastery.
Chandra's home plane was later revealed to be Indian Aetherpunk world of Kaladesh, she stuck out like a sore thumb since both parents are Indian.
Also revealed later was that she was to be executed before escaping to Regatha.
Also revealed later was that Chandra's mother is actually alive.
Chandra and Gideon had a romantic relationship.
Revealed later that Mother Luti was actually Jaya Ballard.
Revealed later that Gideon instead saw Chandra as a sibling than a romantic partner.
Now revealed she at some point in her life used a 'regulator' for her magic before becoming her adult self, but what happened to the regulator is unknown as it doesn't appear on her normal armor.
Now revealed she is actually a very prodigious summoner of elementals in addition to her known pyromancy rather than just a pyromancer who only shoots gouts of flames, however these summoning talents are neglected prior to this in her lore.
Chandra's backstory is several layers of Retroactive Continuity or "retconning" as its also known. Where they revised the backstory over and over and over. She gives the formerly amnesiac Jace a run for his money.
The only TRUE retcon here is:
- alleged arranged marriage that caused her to manifest her abilities and be the cause of burning her village and people in it, that was later explained as Chandra dealing with PTSD and making the story up for Gideon instead of telling the truth.
Her relationship with Gideon was never truly explored deeper from either side, they basically slept together once on Diraden, when he provided her a support. Gideon definitely haven't seen her as a romantic partner ever, and if she had, well, that happens.
All other things are not retcons, just additionally revealed facts.
By the way, you are wrong about the regulator. It is mentioned in her origin story:
Quote from Fire Logic »
“You just have to be more careful. I have something for you, something that should help.” Her father handed her a small mechanism. It was a finely-etched metal box with vents on one side. It had a shoulder strap and a flexible cable that led into it.
Chandra turned it over in her hands. “What is it?”
“It’s called a vent pack. It’s based on an old invention from long ago. Your mother and I made this for you.”
The elemental summoning, well, that is one so-far unexplored side of Chandra. But the fact we have never seen her doing it does not mean it was not there all the time. Also not a retcon, but an addition. We might as well learn that she caused some damage with elemental summoning along her life and that made her restrain from it.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
So uh... Chandra is officially the energetic, endearing, lovable face of the product now? Are we all supposed to pretend that one time when she killed innocent people with no provocation (TWICE!) never happened?
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We got three Chandra cards that show her past to her now. From the article that previewed them;
https://io9.gizmodo.com/get-to-know-magics-most-famous-fire-mage-in-these-brand-1835412320
I think this is another great way (with transform origins walker) to show off a character growth and it looks like we are see Chandra from after she sparked (age 12) to the present (or at least when she started the story so age 19-23). And while this isn't feature as much in the lore is seems like they are maybe giving Chandra elemental powers to help her and Jaya get a bit different space design wise. Also looks like Regatha and Ravnica will be feature planes.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
On phasing:
Maro in regardes to coresets;
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/metamorphosis-2-0-2017-06-12
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
But really this seems like a waste of an interesting idea. Like oh Chandra goes from Kid to Teen to Young Adult. This would be far more interesting for any of the Oldwalkers running around where there is a significant change since you know they have been around centuries to millennia.
That sounds like the target audience for magic horizons, not an on boarding set for new players. Seeing a character past-present in one set gives a newer a lot of character bits to chew on. How cool is it when you start to learn all these small details about chandra from her clothing, the setting, etc.? She's been in the story for awhile and it's good that she's getting some screen time. She's a unique character.
I'm an enfranchised player too, and I love the old lore bits. They even have continuity input now to keep the old bits in sync with the new bits. We may get some, but I doubt much.
This isn't the product for us, and I'm okay with that. There is still plenty I'll enjoy like playability, art, a less tedious limited environment compared to MH1, a break for my wallet lol.
Pick any of the other old walkers and its more or less the same. This is them when they sparked, this is them 40 years after they sparked when they have mastered their craft; this is them now. Can you spot the difference? No? Well, that's to be expected they haven't actually changed very much. You know being an old walker they are essentially immortal and watching an immortal grow up through still images is confusing at best.
Seeing an actual change in a few years is far more interesting then being told hundreds of years passed even if you can't see any change.
Same, it was in a weird spot with barely any world building and yet being the adopted home of a current main character and a last major character. Vryn is similar but it being Jaces home is still new-er info next to Regatha which has been around almost as long as Chandra.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Vryn also got some world building for it. Jace's entire origins story took place on Vryn with the last couple lines dealing with him ending up on Ravnica, his first planeswalk plane. The same pattern repeats for Gideon and Chandra as well, which is why Ravnica, Bant and Regatha got little more than namedrops in Origins, which isn't so bad for Ravnica and Bant, as we know about them and can fill in the blanks, but it didn't work out for Regatha.
So, basically, more like retcon. Not necessarily bad, but you're more likely to notice when it's bad than when it's good. Sounds alright. Looks like we're getting Chandra, then, but who else?
On phasing:
W-Ajani
U-Yangling
B-Sorin
R-Chandra
G-Vivien
I'm excited to see more on Yangling and I wonder if this was the reason she wasn't given a card in war and/or a seed for the next block since her lore and story isn't as known.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Some old walkers got character development too: Tevesh Szat was borna as Tev Loneglade, a sort of hermit, and only after his sister's death he became the Doom of Fools.
Also, Taysirt went from being a hero to a crazied villian and was reborn as a hero once again.
Even Freyalise had changes in her aspect, from her strange leaf-wings to her eye-patch.
I want a green villain too but I don't think Vivien is a good fit. She doesn't embody the villainous side of green all that well. Both Garruk and Nissa have a lot more potential in that department, and they walked away from that Nissa.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
Yeah. She's got strong Eco-terrorist vibe going, and I hope they don't minimize it or hand wave it away to have her be a "hero" or some nonsense.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
It's a load of bull, and I really hope they don't continue along the same vein, but I don't hold out much hope of the subject.
Later on revealed she hailed from an unknown and nameless plane that wasn't Regatha.
Chandra's pyromancy abilities caused soldiers to burn down her village and family.
Chandra fled to Regatha and studied with the monks at Keral Keep Monastery.
She trained with Mother Luti at the monastery.
Chandra's home plane was later revealed to be Indian Aetherpunk world of Kaladesh, she stuck out like a sore thumb since both parents are Indian.
Also revealed later was that she was to be executed before escaping to Regatha.
Also revealed later was that Chandra's mother is actually alive.
Chandra and Gideon had a romantic relationship.
Revealed later that Mother Luti was actually Jaya Ballard.
Revealed later that Gideon instead saw Chandra as a sibling than a romantic partner.
Now revealed she at some point in her life used a 'regulator' for her magic before becoming her adult self, but what happened to the regulator is unknown as it doesn't appear on her normal armor.
Now revealed she is actually a very prodigious summoner of elementals in addition to her known pyromancy rather than just a pyromancer who only shoots gouts of flames, however these summoning talents are neglected prior to this in her lore.
Chandra's backstory is several layers of Retroactive Continuity or "retconning" as its also known. Where they revised the backstory over and over and over. She gives the formerly amnesiac Jace a run for his money.
The only TRUE retcon here is:
- alleged arranged marriage that caused her to manifest her abilities and be the cause of burning her village and people in it, that was later explained as Chandra dealing with PTSD and making the story up for Gideon instead of telling the truth.
Her relationship with Gideon was never truly explored deeper from either side, they basically slept together once on Diraden, when he provided her a support. Gideon definitely haven't seen her as a romantic partner ever, and if she had, well, that happens.
All other things are not retcons, just additionally revealed facts.
By the way, you are wrong about the regulator. It is mentioned in her origin story:
The elemental summoning, well, that is one so-far unexplored side of Chandra. But the fact we have never seen her doing it does not mean it was not there all the time. Also not a retcon, but an addition. We might as well learn that she caused some damage with elemental summoning along her life and that made her restrain from it.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)