I think the reason for the Worldfire unban, but not Sway of the Stars is that one is a simple "Remove Everything but decks from the game" and the other is "Let's restart the game, but at 7 life."
For comparison:
Worldpurge: Not banned because it provides selection for everyone and cannot be abused (as easily) as Upheaval. (Also, as a result, not very good!) Upheaval: Banned, obviously. Pretty sure we're all familiar with the dread that is an Upheaval deck. The Great Aurora: Lots of card draw for everyone, and the loss of land is mitigated. Shaharazad: Also Banned. Karn Liberated: Despite having, arguably, more power than Sway of the Stars, there are also way more answers to a Karn than not. World Warp: Well, it's pure chaos. A bit hard to get any extra benefits out of that one.
All of these, including Worldfire, are annoying, but by comparison, Worldfire is less likely than these others to make the game go on for another 3 hours.
Theory for New Capenna: Given that they said "Three-Color Factions" but didn't specify arcs or wedges, and that the Three-Color Factions all correspond to Demon run gangs, and Demons are specifically Black's signature creature, we might be looking at a redo of Torment.
Instead of Arcs or Wedges, some combination of the three colors that include black. I think, balance wise, it'd probably be something like: WUB, UBR, BRG, RBW, GBU. Black getting the most representation, followed by Red and Blue, then White and Green.
Or, as with the dragon sets, we're going to be getting Demons in colors other than black, which could be fascinating in it's own right.
Additionally, based on that other piece of art we got for Ob Nixilis and the set, it looks like we might be seeing the start of the Anti-Gatewatch here.
EDIT: Also meant to say that if not the above combination, almost assuredly Arcs, as it's been some time since we've seen those three color combinations.
I am excited for the fall and winter sets then, set on dominaria, but they kinda ruined kamigawa for me and capenna looks similarly futuristic. I don't want futuristic on my magic cards, I already hated kaladesh.
Capenna looks futuristic? Honestly, I was getting Ancient Rome vibes from that New Capenna art.
The logo and background in the Ob Nixilis art are very much Art Deco in style, which sets it at roughly 1920's our time. Pretty modern as far as MtG sets go, but not really futuristic or ancient.
I wonder how they're going to justify the lore we've already seen from current day Kamigawa. Because we know that there are sections that aren't all cyberpunked from the stories about Tamiyo and her children.
Aren't vedalkens supposed to have six fingers per hand? Or is that only the Kaladesh ones?
Also, the art on this is the creepiest I've seen in a long while. I'm getting major Hellraiser vibes here.
Six fingers is specifically Kaladesh. There's a point that those may not be their original hands, but of the Vedalken we've seen, this card most closely resembles a Ravnican one. (Only two arms, so not Mirrodin or possibly wherever Nin is from, no Etherium components so not Alara, and only 4 fingers and a thumb per hand so not Kaladesh.)
Absolutely, but I think it would be more competitively viable, and reduce the amount of tracking.
I think having a set number your Commander needs to reach is a bit easier to track than needing to do comparative math every time your life total changes from anything after a Commander hits you once. (Plus you can end up in weird situations where "X Commander hit me for 10, Y Commander hit me for 10, I've just been drained by player 3, my life total is now 20, who do I lose to for the purposes of rules?")
Yeah, just pointing out that Brawl not having Commander Damage is no more a sign that "WotC thinks Commander Damage shouldn't exist" than 1v1 Commander not allowing partner meant WotC thought it was a bad mechanic they should never have printed.
I mean, by that same argument, isn't 1v1 Commander a sign that WotC is trying to get rid of the Partner mechanic?
Brawl is a different format. You have smaller decks, greater restrictions on deck lists, and can use Planeswalkers as commanders. They might not have had Commander Damage to encourage people using Planeswalkers as well as creatures. Or they might have decided it's a bad rule.
Maybe WotC doesn't like Commander damage as a mechanic, I'll happily concede that. I literally can't know one way or the other. I haven't personally seen anything on CD, but people at WotC have commented on things they don't like, like MaRo and his intense dislike of political cards.
Personally, I don't think it's a bad rule. It means that even relatively vanilla legends can be useful beyond just deck flavor.
Among other things, if WotC did go with a Commander Damage matters as a theme for a deck or color, it would give them an excuse to make tracking tokens, like with poison. Which could make that general process easier.
I thought commander damage was never mentioned because of how tedious tracking it can get sometimes. It's why the consolidated commander damage argument comes up every once in a while.
I won't disagree that Commander Damage can be quite tedious to manage, especially with things like Partner and stealing effects and copies and what not. That might be due, in part at least, to the fact that few decks focus on it as a win condition. When it's something extraneous, something no one is aiming for, it does feel like weird rules baggage that is difficult to track. If a deck is focused on it, however, I think it'd be something easier to track (if for no other reason than someone's win con is literally based on tracking it.)
Yeah, Kediss, Emberclaw Familiar feels like a real missed opportunity for “commander damage matters” - perhaps a deliberate one. Some altered rules functionality along the lines of “whenever a creature/commander you control deals combat damage to an opponent, it deals that much combat damage to each other opponent” would have sufficed.
Anyone remember how powerful Erhnam Djinn was back in the day? I can’t help but feel that’s a good analogue for where white should be right now. Flavor wise, “yes I’m really strong, but I abide by a certain code of honor to compensate” strikes me as eminently suitable.
Actually, Erhnam Djinn specifically makes me wonder if you could build something out of a White deck that wants to be attacked. Like an Reverse-Goad, "Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks you if able." It'd be a unique playstyle for the format, I think, while fitting in White's color pie by encouraging you to "martyr" yourself to "protect" the others. But it'd definitely be difficult to balance, because the rewards for being attacked would need to be really good, while not completely alleviating the fact that you're being attacked as often as possible. (And also not get tied up in Ghostly Prison effects.)
I have a strong feeling that WotC personally hate the "21 commander damage rule" (and I can perfectly understand the reasons behind it) and that's why it's a thing that in 10 years of commander product was never mentioned in any single card (and probably never will), because they have no interest in supporting it, but since they do not control the rules of the format but the Rules Commitee, they can't officially delete it either. In fact, when WotC did their own commander variant, Brawl, they dislike commander damage so much that it doesn't exist as a rule in that format completely.
As for Commander Damage not being a thing in Brawl, I think that's more because of the 25 life, 60 cards, one on one thing, rather than because they dislike Commander Damage. The difference between 21 damage and 25 damage is very small, and in a stalled board you can run through two sixty card decks much faster than four one-hundred card decks. Commander Damage is just another potential valve for ending the game faster.
That's an interesting idea, and something I don't actually think wotc has explored at all, despite jumping into a lot of other areas of commander design space. I could see something like a legend, creature, or enchantment that let all your creatures deal commander damage, or all creatures of a certain type. Maybe even something that reduced the required commander damage for opponents.
Given White's current love of Equipment, maybe there's something in a White Equipment that says "Equipped creature deals combat damage as though it was your Commander. If the equipped creature is your Commander, it gains double strike." Or something to that effect.
For comparison:
Worldpurge: Not banned because it provides selection for everyone and cannot be abused (as easily) as Upheaval. (Also, as a result, not very good!)
Upheaval: Banned, obviously. Pretty sure we're all familiar with the dread that is an Upheaval deck.
The Great Aurora: Lots of card draw for everyone, and the loss of land is mitigated.
Shaharazad: Also Banned.
Karn Liberated: Despite having, arguably, more power than Sway of the Stars, there are also way more answers to a Karn than not.
World Warp: Well, it's pure chaos. A bit hard to get any extra benefits out of that one.
All of these, including Worldfire, are annoying, but by comparison, Worldfire is less likely than these others to make the game go on for another 3 hours.
Instead of Arcs or Wedges, some combination of the three colors that include black. I think, balance wise, it'd probably be something like: WUB, UBR, BRG, RBW, GBU. Black getting the most representation, followed by Red and Blue, then White and Green.
Or, as with the dragon sets, we're going to be getting Demons in colors other than black, which could be fascinating in it's own right.
Additionally, based on that other piece of art we got for Ob Nixilis and the set, it looks like we might be seeing the start of the Anti-Gatewatch here.
EDIT: Also meant to say that if not the above combination, almost assuredly Arcs, as it's been some time since we've seen those three color combinations.
The logo and background in the Ob Nixilis art are very much Art Deco in style, which sets it at roughly 1920's our time. Pretty modern as far as MtG sets go, but not really futuristic or ancient.
Six fingers is specifically Kaladesh. There's a point that those may not be their original hands, but of the Vedalken we've seen, this card most closely resembles a Ravnican one. (Only two arms, so not Mirrodin or possibly wherever Nin is from, no Etherium components so not Alara, and only 4 fingers and a thumb per hand so not Kaladesh.)
I'd dig it, but the clues definitely suggest otherwise (which I'm sure is, for most people, a blessing.)
I think having a set number your Commander needs to reach is a bit easier to track than needing to do comparative math every time your life total changes from anything after a Commander hits you once. (Plus you can end up in weird situations where "X Commander hit me for 10, Y Commander hit me for 10, I've just been drained by player 3, my life total is now 20, who do I lose to for the purposes of rules?")
Brawl is a different format. You have smaller decks, greater restrictions on deck lists, and can use Planeswalkers as commanders. They might not have had Commander Damage to encourage people using Planeswalkers as well as creatures. Or they might have decided it's a bad rule.
Maybe WotC doesn't like Commander damage as a mechanic, I'll happily concede that. I literally can't know one way or the other. I haven't personally seen anything on CD, but people at WotC have commented on things they don't like, like MaRo and his intense dislike of political cards.
Personally, I don't think it's a bad rule. It means that even relatively vanilla legends can be useful beyond just deck flavor.
I won't disagree that Commander Damage can be quite tedious to manage, especially with things like Partner and stealing effects and copies and what not. That might be due, in part at least, to the fact that few decks focus on it as a win condition. When it's something extraneous, something no one is aiming for, it does feel like weird rules baggage that is difficult to track. If a deck is focused on it, however, I think it'd be something easier to track (if for no other reason than someone's win con is literally based on tracking it.)
Actually, Erhnam Djinn specifically makes me wonder if you could build something out of a White deck that wants to be attacked. Like an Reverse-Goad, "Until your next turn, that creature attacks each combat if able and attacks you if able." It'd be a unique playstyle for the format, I think, while fitting in White's color pie by encouraging you to "martyr" yourself to "protect" the others. But it'd definitely be difficult to balance, because the rewards for being attacked would need to be really good, while not completely alleviating the fact that you're being attacked as often as possible. (And also not get tied up in Ghostly Prison effects.)
As for Commander Damage not being a thing in Brawl, I think that's more because of the 25 life, 60 cards, one on one thing, rather than because they dislike Commander Damage. The difference between 21 damage and 25 damage is very small, and in a stalled board you can run through two sixty card decks much faster than four one-hundred card decks. Commander Damage is just another potential valve for ending the game faster.
Given White's current love of Equipment, maybe there's something in a White Equipment that says "Equipped creature deals combat damage as though it was your Commander. If the equipped creature is your Commander, it gains double strike." Or something to that effect.