It may seem pedantic or nitpicky or other such words, but MTG has usually been good with demonstrating such small minuet details about fishing, agriculture, and hunting. Sometimes those themes are actually predominate on the world.
For example. Amonkhet you can say with certainy had functioning farms, fishing, even orchards despite the fact that it was just this one place on the plane. Innistrad, Theros, and also Tarkir have also demonstrated similar things.
The uncertainty on something as simple as fishing or hunting on Ikoria means that the worldbuilding has failed in certain ways. The worldbuilding as a whole hasn't failed, but now the counterpoint would exist of "don't think about it to deeply" as its an acknowledgement that world is more shallow than it actually appears. Even among the basic land arts, its less about the humans and more about how alien it looks.
This reminds me of the contention between Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Fallout 3 was criticized as "big yet unrealistic" for the easiest question of "where does their food or water come from" which had seem ignored by the teams. When Obsidian took their crack at it, they included farms with chain-link fences to show that the world felt more alive in addition to other things.
It may seem unimportant, yet to a person who is using the world as escapism such details help solidify their opinions of its quality. Innistrad while a horror plane still feels like a lived in world, Ikoria is like going to a theme park that is held with bubblegum.
On the MTGNexus forums, it was pointed out that Ikoria failed in its storytelling and worldbuilding because its a new plane with only a singular set. While Dominaria worked as a single set because Dominaria for the most part is a well-established plane with a rich history, so it can get away with not having to show you as much of the very same minutiae.
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Warriors, torch-bearers, come redeem our dreams
Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends
Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane
Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name
Scratching hag, you rake your claws, gnash your crooked teeth
You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe
- Children of the Elder Gods by Poets of the Fall
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For example. Amonkhet you can say with certainy had functioning farms, fishing, even orchards despite the fact that it was just this one place on the plane. Innistrad, Theros, and also Tarkir have also demonstrated similar things.
The uncertainty on something as simple as fishing or hunting on Ikoria means that the worldbuilding has failed in certain ways. The worldbuilding as a whole hasn't failed, but now the counterpoint would exist of "don't think about it to deeply" as its an acknowledgement that world is more shallow than it actually appears. Even among the basic land arts, its less about the humans and more about how alien it looks.
This reminds me of the contention between Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas. Fallout 3 was criticized as "big yet unrealistic" for the easiest question of "where does their food or water come from" which had seem ignored by the teams. When Obsidian took their crack at it, they included farms with chain-link fences to show that the world felt more alive in addition to other things.
It may seem unimportant, yet to a person who is using the world as escapism such details help solidify their opinions of its quality. Innistrad while a horror plane still feels like a lived in world, Ikoria is like going to a theme park that is held with bubblegum.
On the MTGNexus forums, it was pointed out that Ikoria failed in its storytelling and worldbuilding because its a new plane with only a singular set. While Dominaria worked as a single set because Dominaria for the most part is a well-established plane with a rich history, so it can get away with not having to show you as much of the very same minutiae.
Shine a light upon this night of otherworldly fiends
Odin's might be your guide, divorce you from the sane
Hammer's way will have its say, rise up in their name
Scratching hag, you rake your claws, gnash your crooked teeth
You've taken slaves like ocean waves, now feel the ocean seethe
- Children of the Elder Gods by Poets of the Fall