I went and shelled out the (seemingly) going rate of $250 for pre-order at a LGS and I am really hoping for a Rishadan Port and something else to get spoiled and make me feel 100% about what I spent. Doesn't have to be a money-card, just hopefully something useful for EDH. In a weird way, I'm more excited about the foiled, modern Hymn to Tourach than the shiny JTMS.
...because the number of replies to this thread, is too damn high.
I've been playing off and on since Homelands (now THAT was a set ), and I'm actually excited about the sliver's return.
I remember pulling my first Sliver Queen from a pack of Stronghold, and I remember how excited I was the first time I put together my sliver EDH a few years ago.
So, if I declare my Master of Cruelties as an attacker, and then I respond by untapping him with a Maze of Ith, assuming my opponent doesn't block/can't block, his ability still triggers right?
He attacked...I just untapped him...and his ability has nothing to do with dealing damage, so I'm assuming that means the opponents life-total is now one and I have a first-strike, deathtouch blocker ready to go.
Unless, for some reason, Maze of Ith is more fantastic than I realize and my opponent can't block a creature I've targeted and untapped with it.
I'm betting the Hero deck will be primarily White/Green and the Monster deck will be primarily Red/Black. Maybe both will splash a little Blue for Bant/Grixis flavor?
I'm hoping they don't rehash stuff printed in FTV:Legends, Divine vs. Demonic, or Knights vs. Dragons though.
I would be excited to see some stuff from the original 'Legends' expansion, and wouldn't be surprised if they threw in something like Crimson Manticore, which I know isn't a great card, but they put Desert in FTV:Realms just for flavor. Maybe they'll go nuts and pick one of the random legendary creatures not on the reprint list, like Rubinia Soulsinger or Torsten Von Ursus.
We've had a couple of those already - Visara the Dreadful; Damia, Sage of Stone. A new one is practically inevitable in Theros, though maybe not in the Monsters deck.
If I could bet money on the preview art, I would put it all on Control Magic for sure. My thoughts:
1) This lady looks way too relaxed to be casting Force of Will. Think about the concept behind what FoW does...all of the sudden...without mana...you pay your own life to stop what your opponent's doing. The woman in the preview looks like she's casting her spell effortlessly.
2) The skull in the background could indicate she has an affiliation with black, but...but both CM and Mystical Tutor had skulls too...and they're straight blue, through and through.
3) Speaking of Mystical Tutor, the woman on that card had "sly grin" similar to our mystery woman in the preview art, but come on, MT already got the FTV treatment...it seems silly to do a reprint so soon in the FTV series.
4) I feel like the woman in the preview art looks way too menacing to be a Mother of Runes. She looks like she's about to steal something with her blue trickery to me.
5) Let's be honest...the artwork for Control Magic and this one are so similar!
6) The green staff definitely throws me off some, but was Noble Hierarch ever really a "championship card" that would deserve to be in a set celebrating 20 years of magic?
7) If you look at the most recent art for Mind Control, both the mage and the creature depicted have a blue sphere above their heads...and so does our preview art woman...maybe yet another nod to Control Magic?
8) Mana Drain would be so great...but I just don't see it happening.
9) I guess after reading some of the other posts....Cryptic Command is a really good call too...I would have to split my bets between CM and CC.
So in another thread, someone found a WOTC trademark for the word 'Nyx' and another for the word 'Theros' and something referencing a "Journey into Nyx." From that, people have begun to compile some clues, if you will, that the next set will be on the plane of Arkhos. Here's some stuff I've found:
Internet searches for the word 'arkhos' produce some results showing it has Greek origins, and it means the word 'ruler.'
Arkhos is listed as the plane of 'Lethe Lake' (a plane from Planechase). It was pointed out in a Daily MTG article that 'River of Tears' is on the plane of Arkhos. So...we can establish that Arkhos is for sure a plane, and its name itself appears to somewhat have Greek origins.
There is a Wikipedia entry for the word 'Lethe' that states "In Greek mythology, Lethe was one of the five rivers of Hades. " More Greek connections for the term/name Lethe.
According to Wikipedia, "Nyx is the is the Greek goddess (or personification) of the night." Per Greek Mythology (via Wikipedia), Nyx resides in Tartarus, which is "...a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld." Now it wouldn't be very, ahem, proper to journey into a goddess, so it seems more like Nyx will be a dark and gloomy place, hence the "Journey into Nyx" trademark request.
With all this, I think we all have enough foundation to determine this set will take place on the plane of Arkhos, and Nyx could be an area of 'the Underworld' of that specific plane where we journey to.
In favor of the Greek themed block, I would like to point out that "Theros" means "Summer" in the ancient Greek language and derives from the ancient greek verb "thero" (θέρω) meaning "I heat".
I'm pretty sure we're all on to something here. I've also found some of the following Greek related information.
As somewhat previously mentioned, internet searches for the word 'arkhos' produce some results showing it has Greek origins, and it means the word 'ruler.'
Also as previously stated, Arkhos is listed as the plane of 'Lethe Lake' (a plane from Planechase). It was pointed out in a Daily MTG article that 'River of Tears' is on the plane of Arkhos. So...we can establish that Arkhos is for sure a plane, and its name itself appears to somewhat have Greek origins.
There is a Wikipedia entry for the word 'Lethe' that states "In Greek mythology, Lethe was one of the five rivers of Hades. " More Greek connections for the term/name Lethe.
Since someone has also pointed out that Nyx is a character within Greek mythology, I think we all have enough foundation to determine this set will take place on the plane of Arkhos, and Nyx could be an area of 'the Underworld' of that specific plane where we journey to.
Wait a second... In what world are the gates better than the original dual lands? Sure gate is relavent in this block but the original duals come in untapped and all have 2 relavent land types
"After investigating the incident involving Josh Meckes at Grand Prix Toronto, the Investigations Committee has determined that the infraction was not intentional. Wizards of the Coast supports and encourages players to express their opinions via public media, however we ask that such expressions avoid accusations and other demeaning language. We value fairness and fun, and urge anyone with concerns about the integrity of the game to contact a judge at the event, his or her local judge, or his or her Regional Judge Coordinator."
"Next year, many of the strongest cards will be enchantments or interact with them, because that is what [Theros] is about."
So, now we know we'll have a lot of enchantments!
I've been playing off and on since Homelands (now THAT was a set
I remember pulling my first Sliver Queen from a pack of Stronghold, and I remember how excited I was the first time I put together my sliver EDH a few years ago.
I'm hoping these guys only make that deck better.
I hope he rests in peace.
My favorite Quinton art:
Honorable Mentions: Ball Lightning, Darkpact, Headless Horseman, Krovikan Vampire, Meekstone, Spoils of Evil
3. Hymn to Tourach
2. Vesuvan Doppelganger
1. Wrath of God
He attacked...I just untapped him...and his ability has nothing to do with dealing damage, so I'm assuming that means the opponents life-total is now one and I have a first-strike, deathtouch blocker ready to go.
Unless, for some reason, Maze of Ith is more fantastic than I realize and my opponent can't block a creature I've targeted and untapped with it.
I felt like I was reading a kids book.
Artwork previews were nice though.
I'm hoping they don't rehash stuff printed in FTV:Legends, Divine vs. Demonic, or Knights vs. Dragons though.
I would be excited to see some stuff from the original 'Legends' expansion, and wouldn't be surprised if they threw in something like Crimson Manticore, which I know isn't a great card, but they put Desert in FTV:Realms just for flavor. Maybe they'll go nuts and pick one of the random legendary creatures not on the reprint list, like Rubinia Soulsinger or Torsten Von Ursus.
Maybe Vraska will make an appearance?
Wow! How has no one else brought this up yet? Good call!
I might have to change my answer...but to what?!?
1) This lady looks way too relaxed to be casting Force of Will. Think about the concept behind what FoW does...all of the sudden...without mana...you pay your own life to stop what your opponent's doing. The woman in the preview looks like she's casting her spell effortlessly.
2) The skull in the background could indicate she has an affiliation with black, but...but both CM and Mystical Tutor had skulls too...and they're straight blue, through and through.
3) Speaking of Mystical Tutor, the woman on that card had "sly grin" similar to our mystery woman in the preview art, but come on, MT already got the FTV treatment...it seems silly to do a reprint so soon in the FTV series.
4) I feel like the woman in the preview art looks way too menacing to be a Mother of Runes. She looks like she's about to steal something with her blue trickery to me.
5) Let's be honest...the artwork for Control Magic and this one are so similar!
6) The green staff definitely throws me off some, but was Noble Hierarch ever really a "championship card" that would deserve to be in a set celebrating 20 years of magic?
7) If you look at the most recent art for Mind Control, both the mage and the creature depicted have a blue sphere above their heads...and so does our preview art woman...maybe yet another nod to Control Magic?
8) Mana Drain would be so great...but I just don't see it happening.
9) I guess after reading some of the other posts....Cryptic Command is a really good call too...I would have to split my bets between CM and CC.
Internet searches for the word 'arkhos' produce some results showing it has Greek origins, and it means the word 'ruler.'
Arkhos is listed as the plane of 'Lethe Lake' (a plane from Planechase). It was pointed out in a Daily MTG article that 'River of Tears' is on the plane of Arkhos. So...we can establish that Arkhos is for sure a plane, and its name itself appears to somewhat have Greek origins.
There is a Wikipedia entry for the word 'Lethe' that states "In Greek mythology, Lethe was one of the five rivers of Hades. " More Greek connections for the term/name Lethe.
According to Wikipedia, "Nyx is the is the Greek goddess (or personification) of the night." Per Greek Mythology (via Wikipedia), Nyx resides in Tartarus, which is "...a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld." Now it wouldn't be very, ahem, proper to journey into a goddess, so it seems more like Nyx will be a dark and gloomy place, hence the "Journey into Nyx" trademark request.
With all this, I think we all have enough foundation to determine this set will take place on the plane of Arkhos, and Nyx could be an area of 'the Underworld' of that specific plane where we journey to.
I'm pretty sure we're all on to something here. I've also found some of the following Greek related information.
As somewhat previously mentioned, internet searches for the word 'arkhos' produce some results showing it has Greek origins, and it means the word 'ruler.'
Also as previously stated, Arkhos is listed as the plane of 'Lethe Lake' (a plane from Planechase). It was pointed out in a Daily MTG article that 'River of Tears' is on the plane of Arkhos. So...we can establish that Arkhos is for sure a plane, and its name itself appears to somewhat have Greek origins.
There is a Wikipedia entry for the word 'Lethe' that states "In Greek mythology, Lethe was one of the five rivers of Hades. " More Greek connections for the term/name Lethe.
Since someone has also pointed out that Nyx is a character within Greek mythology, I think we all have enough foundation to determine this set will take place on the plane of Arkhos, and Nyx could be an area of 'the Underworld' of that specific plane where we journey to.
In the same world in which Wood Elemental and Razor Boomerang are win conditions.
"After investigating the incident involving Josh Meckes at Grand Prix Toronto, the Investigations Committee has determined that the infraction was not intentional. Wizards of the Coast supports and encourages players to express their opinions via public media, however we ask that such expressions avoid accusations and other demeaning language. We value fairness and fun, and urge anyone with concerns about the integrity of the game to contact a judge at the event, his or her local judge, or his or her Regional Judge Coordinator."