**** YES! CALLED IT!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Calmer now. This is AWESOME! I cannot WAIT!
...now begin card speculation. I say Jace 4.0. He is there, isn't he?
EDIT: D'oh, he's on the poster. With Niv-Mizzet. Of course he's going to be in the set.
If you squint really hard you can see the corpse of Baron Sengir.
The name may seem obvious, but wasn't a return to Ravnica exactly what the player base wanted? Sometimes it doesn't pay (profit) to be subtle. I'm pretty excited.
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Commander decks-
Rafiq of the Many - Voltron
Kresh the Bloodbraided - Elemental Tribal
Sen Triplets - 100 Permanent griefer combo
Mikaeus, the Lunarch - Tokens
Mikaeus Unhallowed - Big black and undying
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer or Gisela, Blade of Goldknight - Metalcraft aggro
Zedruu, the Goat - Your stuff is better than mine. Lets trade
Riku of Two Reflections - Card advantage control
Talrand, Sky Summoner - badstuff.dec
Karador, sweeper recovery
Purphoros, creature combo
Excited as much as everyone else about revisiting Ravnica and its multicolored deliciousness, but am really disappointed by how blatant and bland the name is. At least with "Scars of Mirrodin," you get the sense that something is amiss with the plane, which is also the impetus of revisiting it in the first place. "Return to Ravnica" literally tells us what's going on, but not why. I would like to be as excited about why we're returning as I am about the plane. At the moment it sounds like a flavorless milking of a past block.
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Currently Playing:
Modern:
UBR Grixis Twin
Legacy:
Manaless Dredge
Pauper:
UR Nivix Blitz
EDH:
RGW Mayael the Anima ~ G Jolrael, Empress of Beasts ~ GWU Roon of the Hidden Realm ~ WU Kangee, Aerie Keeper ~ WU Daxos of Meletis ~ WUR Ruhan of the Fomori ~ UR Jhoira of the Ghitu
WUBRG Sliver Queen ~ WUBRG Sliver Overlord ~ BG Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord ~ B Iname, Death Aspect
Well, I know when his already great power was enhanced by the raw and powerful mana of Zendikar, his eyes glowed blue on Jace, the Mind Sculptor. So, I'm assuming that he's only grown more powerful, and this is reflected by that for whatever reason? Similar to how, while Liliana is cursed, when she uses her powers, the curse lines appear on her.
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Sigpic by me, 'Angel of Despair' by Todd Lockwood, 'Kaalia of the Vast' by Michael Komarck, 'Defiler of Souls' by Paul Bonner
Well, I know when his already great power was enhanced by the raw and powerful mana of Zendikar, his eyes glowed blue on Jace, the Mind Sculptor. So, I'm assuming that he's only grown more powerful, and this is reflected by that for whatever reason? Similar to how, while Liliana is cursed, when she uses her powers, the curse lines appear on her.
Actually those lines have more to do with her demonic pact than to her "curse" (I suppose that by "curse" you mean the Chain Veil).
You can notice the lines have appeared on her since her first printing in Lorwyn.
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Commander:GB Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord (list) - U Talrand, Sky Summoner - GRU Maelstrom Wanderer
I echo the hope for a planeswalker for each guild - that would be awesome!
We know Jace is here, are there any other walkers we already know about having a connection to Ravnica specifically? Garruk didn't want to go there (if I remember correctly) though he was told to find the healer Emmara there by Jace...anything else?
So many fun questions to speculate on: Will the guild mechanics return along with a 4-3-3 set-up like last time or will there be even distribution throughout? Will the shock lands return? All of this awesome...
Well, I know when his already great power was enhanced by the raw and powerful mana of Zendikar, his eyes glowed blue on Jace, the Mind Sculptor. So, I'm assuming that he's only grown more powerful, and this is reflected by that for whatever reason? Similar to how, while Liliana is cursed, when she uses her powers, the curse lines appear on her.
No, his eyes just glow blue to look more interesting, I think Memory Adapt is the only one without blue eyes.
Either way, YAY back to Ravinica!
I echo the hope for a planeswalker for each guild - that would be awesome!
We know Jace is here, are there any other walkers we already know about having a connection to Ravnica specifically? Garruk didn't want to go there (if I remember correctly) though he was told to find the healer Emmara there by Jace...anything else?
So many fun questions to speculate on: Will the guild mechanics return along with a 4-3-3 set-up like last time or will there be even distribution throughout? Will the shock lands return? All of this awesome...
indeed, a planeswalker for each guild be mind blowing, but as far as I can recall, not all guilds remained active after dissension...
On the topic of the bland name for the set, I believe that it's probably a simple marketing technique of the use of Alliteration in order to psychologically brand it into our minds making it unforgettable, therefor making it much more easier and communicable in order for them to sell more product.
Now, on the actual Return to Ravnica, all I gotta say is: ***** YES YES YES!!!!!!!!
1. I friggin loved Ravnica's multicolored gameplay, so much fun
2. Best lands ever made
3. Hardcore dose of nostalgia, I started playing MTG with Ravnica and I just had a memorigasm
4. ***** YEAH! Niv-Mizzet! I'm hoping he's just as broken.
5. Flavor flavor flavor.
Here's my guess on the story: Jace, in need of knowledge of how to settle the Eldrazi, deal with Nicol Bolas, and altogether become a better planeswalker, so who better to go to than the smartest dragon in the whole universe Mizzy to aid him in his quest? Then, of course, theres gonna be all the Guildpacted shenanigans between the gangs of Ravnica, Bolas might appear to get some Grixis shizz going on to screw around with Ravnica. And maybe, Niv will find a way to artificially planeswalk.
Final thoughts, I'm damn well excited, and I'm buying like 5 boxes.
Like pretty much everybody else, I am THRILLED at a chance to Return to Ravnica! It will actually be my first outing on that plane (I started with Zendikar (yeah, I'm pretty much a baby as far as MTG)), but when I look back on the blocks that I missed because I was so late to the game, Ravnica is one of the ones that I feel like I would have enjoyed the most.
Lots of multicolor goodness? Check.
Friendly card pool for making flavorful theme decks? Check.
A fair amount of Legendary Creatures and dual lands? Check.
Niv-Mizzet? Check.
Add new things like Planeswalkers into the mix, and I think we have a winner! Here's hoping that all these things that led to Ravnica's initial success are retained in this revisit!
As for the idea of a Planeswalker for each guild, I personally LOVE the idea, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Flavorwise, I am not really clear on the original Ravnica block storyline, but I don't think all of the guilds are even currently intact (Wizards has hopefully found some way past that, as the ten guilds is a HUGE part of why everybody loves the plane), and from a design/development perspective, that would mean 10 Planeswalkers in a single block (a rather large leap when you consider that the block with the most 'Walkers, the Zendikar block, had only 6 Planeswalkers, and I think the Large Set - Small Set - Large Set design helped contribute to that).
In any case, if there IS a Planeswalker for each guild, I wonder which one Jace will be affiliated with, as he is certainly in the set? My money's on Izzet (it seems the most obvious choice at the moment), but I could see him affiliating himself with Azorius as well.
What I'm mostly curious about is how they'll play out mechanics. Back during the original block they had 3-4 new keywords per set, now since even zendrikar I believe they've gone down to 1-2 new ones. I'm curious if they are going to reuse all guilds keywords, how many new ones they will add to make it diverse without overshadowing the original keywords.... Oh and also make legacy dredge even more stupidly overpowered in legacy I mean what?
I missed Ravnica because I'm an idiot, so I'm looking forward to this too. But if each guild were to get a PW, wouldn't that be 10 in one block? Isn't that like... twice as many as usual? The UR dude (Dack Fayden?) has gotta be in this one, but if UG was going to be Kiora and Ravnica had no merfolk, she doesn't seem like a good fit. WG and BG still gotta happen though!
Oh, and Haunt seems like a 100% guaranteed return mechanic because duh.
I'm pretty apprehensive about how much of the established canon they're going to acknowledge in this set. For most players, Ravnica was all about the guilds, so even though they've been gone for thousands of years, I'm afraid they're going to design a set based around them again. With the Creative department in apparent decline, I'm hoping somebody told R&D that there are no longer any guilds in Ravnica. And of course, there are all the confused people who think that Niv-Mizzet is a planeswalker because of DotP, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see him forced into becoming a planeswalker.
It was great seeing Ravnica pop up in stories over the past few years, but without the guilds it always seemed to me to be more of a staging area than a full setting. It'll be interesting to see how they frame the play style of the block without the guilds. Ravnica seems a bit too crowded and unfocused to have a large unified plotline, but I'm sure they'll come up with something solid.
Last point of contention: Is that really the best name they could come up with? It seems like their one selling point is that it's a revisited plane. The 'Return to' part might scare off newer players who might feel left out for not knowing about it beforehand. SoM got around this by not explicitly stating it was a revisited plane, and Nemesis, Time Spiral, and other blocks with not-recently-visited planes weren't even billed as returns. This is also the third return (counting Phyrexia) in as many years. Not that I mind revisiting settings, but it's getting to seem like nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, minus the tongue-in-cheek tone of Time Spiral.
*phew* Now that I have that out of the way, I just want to say that I'm really looking forward to this.
PW for each guild: Unlikely (if R&D and Creative have any conversations)
Returning guild mechanics: Highly likely
Multicolor focus: Could go either way depending on how they frame the setting
Niv-Mizzet as a PW: I hope not. I'd put my money on seeing Ral Zarek though.
It's official: "Hook" is taking us back to Ravnica. . .
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151466815895307&set=a.215689245306.266597.201120755306&type=3&theater
Also announced on the MTG.com arcana here – http://wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/arcana/946
Logo:
Symbol:
Details:
Set Name Return to Ravnica
Block Set 1 of 3 in the Return to Ravnica block
Number of Cards 274
Prerelease Events September 29-30, 2012
Release Date October 5, 2012
Launch Weekend October 5-7, 2012
Game Day October 27-28, 2012
Pro Tour Return to Ravnica Dates October 19-21, 2012
Pro Tour Return to Ravnica Location Seattle, WA, USA
Pro Tour Return to Ravnica Formats Swiss:
Modern Constructed
Return to Ravnica Draft
Top 8:
Modern Constructed
Official Three-Letter Code RTR
Twitter Hashtag #MTGRTR
Design Team
Ken Nagle (lead)
Zac Hill
Alexis Janson
Mark Rosewater
Ken Troop
Development Team
Erik Lauer (lead)
Zac Hill
Dave Humpherys
Tom LaPille
Adam Lee
Billy Moreno
Shawn Main
Languages
English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Available in Booster Packs, Intro Packs*, Event Decks*, Booster Battle Packs*, Fat Pack*
(Not available in all languages)
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
Calmer now. This is AWESOME! I cannot WAIT!
...now begin card speculation. I say Jace 4.0. He is there, isn't he?
EDIT: D'oh, he's on the poster. With Niv-Mizzet. Of course he's going to be in the set.
Oh, so am I. Very pleased. I just thought it was officially taking part on a new plane.
You got 99 attackers but I'm blocking with 1.
The Winner is Judge | 7
This Winner is Also Judge | 6
Club Flamingo | Lots
The name may seem obvious, but wasn't a return to Ravnica exactly what the player base wanted? Sometimes it doesn't pay (profit) to be subtle. I'm pretty excited.
Rafiq of the Many - Voltron
Kresh the Bloodbraided - Elemental Tribal
Sen Triplets - 100 Permanent griefer combo
Mikaeus, the Lunarch - Tokens
Mikaeus Unhallowed - Big black and undying
Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer or Gisela, Blade of Goldknight - Metalcraft aggro
Zedruu, the Goat - Your stuff is better than mine. Lets trade
Riku of Two Reflections - Card advantage control
Talrand, Sky Summoner - badstuff.dec
Karador, sweeper recovery
Purphoros, creature combo
That would be sensational! I'd love a GB Golgari planeswalker especially.
EDIT: Also, isn't Niv Mizzet a planeswalker in a MTG Xbox game?
Thanks to GR @ Yavin IV Studios for the signature!
Well, I know when his already great power was enhanced by the raw and powerful mana of Zendikar, his eyes glowed blue on Jace, the Mind Sculptor. So, I'm assuming that he's only grown more powerful, and this is reflected by that for whatever reason? Similar to how, while Liliana is cursed, when she uses her powers, the curse lines appear on her.
Sigpic by me, 'Angel of Despair' by Todd Lockwood, 'Kaalia of the Vast' by Michael Komarck, 'Defiler of Souls' by Paul Bonner
Should Blue Be Banned?
- U/W/r Control
MODERN
- N/A
LEGACY
- LED-less Dredge
I collect Phyrexian Ragers! (currently 41 nonfoils, 0 foils)
Although uncreative, the title is correct in what we all desire.
Also, are Jace and Niv buddies now? That would be super cute if they were.
Actually those lines have more to do with her demonic pact than to her "curse" (I suppose that by "curse" you mean the Chain Veil).
You can notice the lines have appeared on her since her first printing in Lorwyn.
Pauper: UR some horrible homebrew izzet deck
We know Jace is here, are there any other walkers we already know about having a connection to Ravnica specifically? Garruk didn't want to go there (if I remember correctly) though he was told to find the healer Emmara there by Jace...anything else?
So many fun questions to speculate on: Will the guild mechanics return along with a 4-3-3 set-up like last time or will there be even distribution throughout? Will the shock lands return? All of this awesome...
No, his eyes just glow blue to look more interesting, I think Memory Adapt is the only one without blue eyes.
Either way, YAY back to Ravinica!
Nicol Bolas, a balance of Vorthos and PowerUBR
Nath of the Gilt LeafBG
Others
Squee, Goblin of AwesomenessR
Nekusar, the Mindblazer!UBR
Vela the NightcladUB
I used to be a world champion, but then I took a wolf to the knee. And three Galvanic Blasts to the face.
Concerning when returning to Kamigawa would be acceptable
THANK YOU, MARO!
indeed, a planeswalker for each guild be mind blowing, but as far as I can recall, not all guilds remained active after dissension...
same here, gotta start
starving to deathsaving to buy at least two boxes and a fatpackNow, on the actual Return to Ravnica, all I gotta say is: ***** YES YES YES!!!!!!!!
1. I friggin loved Ravnica's multicolored gameplay, so much fun
2. Best lands ever made
3. Hardcore dose of nostalgia, I started playing MTG with Ravnica and I just had a memorigasm
4. ***** YEAH! Niv-Mizzet! I'm hoping he's just as broken.
5. Flavor flavor flavor.
Here's my guess on the story: Jace, in need of knowledge of how to settle the Eldrazi, deal with Nicol Bolas, and altogether become a better planeswalker, so who better to go to than the smartest dragon in the whole universe Mizzy to aid him in his quest? Then, of course, theres gonna be all the Guildpacted shenanigans between the gangs of Ravnica, Bolas might appear to get some Grixis shizz going on to screw around with Ravnica. And maybe, Niv will find a way to artificially planeswalk.
Final thoughts, I'm damn well excited, and I'm buying like 5 boxes.
Multicolornostalgiajizz rant over.
-Puffs
Lots of multicolor goodness? Check.
Friendly card pool for making flavorful theme decks? Check.
A fair amount of Legendary Creatures and dual lands? Check.
Niv-Mizzet? Check.
Add new things like Planeswalkers into the mix, and I think we have a winner! Here's hoping that all these things that led to Ravnica's initial success are retained in this revisit!
As for the idea of a Planeswalker for each guild, I personally LOVE the idea, but I wouldn't hold my breath. Flavorwise, I am not really clear on the original Ravnica block storyline, but I don't think all of the guilds are even currently intact (Wizards has hopefully found some way past that, as the ten guilds is a HUGE part of why everybody loves the plane), and from a design/development perspective, that would mean 10 Planeswalkers in a single block (a rather large leap when you consider that the block with the most 'Walkers, the Zendikar block, had only 6 Planeswalkers, and I think the Large Set - Small Set - Large Set design helped contribute to that).
In any case, if there IS a Planeswalker for each guild, I wonder which one Jace will be affiliated with, as he is certainly in the set? My money's on Izzet (it seems the most obvious choice at the moment), but I could see him affiliating himself with Azorius as well.
43/111, approximately 39% complete. Over a third done.
(calling it now; there will be a cycle of Legendary dual lands with Basic Land types in Theros block)
... AAAAAAAAND I was wrong
The Attention Deficit Guy URGU
Niv and Jace?
And Jace's eye glows one-sided only?I missed Ravnica because I'm an idiot, so I'm looking forward to this too. But if each guild were to get a PW, wouldn't that be 10 in one block? Isn't that like... twice as many as usual? The UR dude (Dack Fayden?) has gotta be in this one, but if UG was going to be Kiora and Ravnica had no merfolk, she doesn't seem like a good fit. WG and BG still gotta happen though!
Oh, and Haunt seems like a 100% guaranteed return mechanic because duh.
It was great seeing Ravnica pop up in stories over the past few years, but without the guilds it always seemed to me to be more of a staging area than a full setting. It'll be interesting to see how they frame the play style of the block without the guilds. Ravnica seems a bit too crowded and unfocused to have a large unified plotline, but I'm sure they'll come up with something solid.
Last point of contention: Is that really the best name they could come up with? It seems like their one selling point is that it's a revisited plane. The 'Return to' part might scare off newer players who might feel left out for not knowing about it beforehand. SoM got around this by not explicitly stating it was a revisited plane, and Nemesis, Time Spiral, and other blocks with not-recently-visited planes weren't even billed as returns. This is also the third return (counting Phyrexia) in as many years. Not that I mind revisiting settings, but it's getting to seem like nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, minus the tongue-in-cheek tone of Time Spiral.
*phew* Now that I have that out of the way, I just want to say that I'm really looking forward to this.
PW for each guild: Unlikely (if R&D and Creative have any conversations)
Returning guild mechanics: Highly likely
Multicolor focus: Could go either way depending on how they frame the setting
Niv-Mizzet as a PW: I hope not. I'd put my money on seeing Ral Zarek though.