MTG Salvation

Maro:

"The natural place to center wedge factions is in the enemy color (for example, white in red-white-black). It's intuitively what everyone assumes, as it's the color that has the same relationship with the other colors. The only reason we didn't do that in Khans of Tarkir was that we couldn't. You see, the factions started as wedge in Khans of Tarkir and then, after time travel shenanigans, turned into ally color factions in Dragons of Tarkir. Creatively, the factions shifted but had the same core identity. That meant we couldn't center it in the enemy color, as that was the one color that disappeared between the first and last set of the block. Originally, by the way, the factions in Dragons of Tarkir were enemy colored, but it turns out that wedge sets and enemy color sets draft similarly, so we had to change it.

When we got to the plane of Ikoria, we were in a new world that didn't have the restrictions of Tarkir, so we let each wedge center itself where it felt most natural, which was the enemy color. I think this is a good thing because I like having mechanical elements that further differentiate the two wedge worlds from one another."

Quote from soramaro »

Quote from 5colors »

For the city they talk about being able to separate out into small groupers then come back together as a bigger whole which kinda feels white or white/green so that might be that aspect of it.

Skysail is mentioned in the Indatha section, but even going by the little information we have about it, it very much feels like a "Rwu" type of place. The main value is freedom (R) which is achieved by careful planning and engineering (U) and a strong social structure (W) which are both necessary to successfully maintain a floating city that has to defend itself against giant sky monsters.

The Skysail is floating for safety's sake, not necessarily because of freedom (a side benefit perhaps). Valuing safety via congregation is a W/G trait, soaring above the danger (B) below them. Though, there's no deny that Skysail could go else where when they choose to, as we saw in Xyris, the Writhing Storm, but the "Jeskai" region of Ikoria is Raugrin, that place is filled with flying dinosaurs so Skysail's advantage is naught over there. Indatha is terrible but most threats appear to be nonflying. Most.

And, I presume why the Bonders in the story are in a conflicted position. Humans in Drannish fight monsters all the time and likely banished Lukka for his bonding. They may well be the mediators between wild and civilization in this world.

Quote from 5colors »

For Savai they hare prideful it seems since they boast how they haven't ever fallen (which if the trailer is fully canon thats gonna change) and while defensive they do have a military (who Lukka and his gf are apart of) that could add in the red some.

Do you think that trailer speaks of an Attack on Titan vibe? It's understandable if Humans on Ikoria grew lax behind the wall and suddenly a giant monster head looks over you... it will remind them the fear of cattle.

Quote from TearingEons »

This is why I didn't like Creative's wedge portrayal on Tarkir focusing on the first color of the trios rather than the central color. Shard of Alara had the focus on the central color of the shards and things resonated well. It showed how the core color interacted with its allies, and a little bit for enemy pairings. For me, Tarkir always felt off due to going with the first color for flavor and focus. They played up more of the allied pairs than the enemy pairs. Now Ikoria is taking the Shards approach and using the central color of each wedge to get flavor and focus. This isn't a knock against Tarkir because I did enjoy that block and world, I did give me Crackling Doom. I'm just looking forward to the core colors interacting more with their enemy pairs, with a little bit of allies thrown in.

I think it's actually a good approach to have different foci each time a color pair/trio come up. Boros for example, being combat-centric only became a theme since Ravnica #2, but it's a convenient design so WotC went with it, but it hardly express how much W/R could potentially do, consider Lorwyn had a very different approach on Boros.

For Shard/wedges, more colors, more possibilities, what works on one plane may require different look on another. I appreciate WotC takes time to design them from different angles. I wouldn't mind seeing a Bant take a turn on design, where beasty creatures "domesticate" human beings.

Old thread here: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-storyline/797487-identities-of-wedges

So on Ikoria, the Apexi of each location are Wedge color legends with this Mutate ability that displays their core color, which differs from the Tarkir Wedges. Brokkos, Apex of Forever is Sultai-green (instead of black), Illuna, Apex of Wishes is Temur-blue (instead of green), Snapdax, Apex of the Hunt is Mardu-white (instead of red), and Vadrok, Apex of Thunder being Jeskai-red (instead of blue). I'd imagine Nethroi, Apex of Death would be Abzan-black (instead of white).

I appreciate this take on wedges, it adds new flavor contrary to the humanoid-centric clans on Tarkir.

Savai - Human and civilization focus of Ikoria, fortified and ready for battle, though more on the defense than offense, therefore it's Mardu on the white side. It's also a cat region and cat frequently associates with white and red. Black may be symbolized via human tenacity.

Ketria - Elemental region where Illuna came from continues the Omnath, Locus of the Roil route with Temur. Ketria in a way is similar to Tarkir Temur where creatures modify your spellsling, though it takes one step deeper. This region also has the highest concentration of monster crystals (one that glow when a monster approaches), which might suggest Ikorian mutation and instability has something to do with it, and why dream and illusion can turn real in Ketria.

Indatha - Highest concentration of nightmares on Ikoria, though not the only place with it. Nightmare associates with black, so instead of white-aligned like on Tarkir here we have it fear-aligned. Indatha also an airborne human settlement that could adapt according to current monster threats, which may be the W/G aspect of this region.

Raugrin - Coastal Dinotopia, the dinosaurs here take blue instead of green like their Ixalan brethren, therefore appear to have more supernatural power rather than primal strength. Gavi, Nest Warden is an interesting, almost alternative universe take on Atla Palani, Nest Tender. Who knows, Gavi might've been the Bonder of Vadrok, that's why she's looking after his eggs.

Zagoth - Swampy but lush, this region harbors the largest Beast collection on Ikoria, thus far already has two legends with mutate in mind, which might suggest it to be the most evolve-centric area; Green implies size and power, blue the mutation, and black being its endurance (a trait signified in Eldraine). The greatest number of monster hunters here suggest that humans here too are quite green-aligned.