I base my decklists on what the Planeswalkers want to be doing. Elspeth wants lots of weenie aggro, thus downplaying Heroic, Aura-based Heroic in particular, which is a pity as it would be a good flavor fit. Elspeth also wants a good suite of removal as Kiora's late game threats will need answers. Kiora's sea monster focus is obvious, but for early game plays she wants a mixture of defense and ramp, augmented with card draw. To sum up the basic direction I see for each deck:
The rule with Duel Decks has been to include one mythic rare (the face card), five rares, and a myriad of commons and uncommons in each deck. So unless that rule has changed, we can forget about Entreat the Angels, Devout Invocation, Primeval Titan, or any other Mythic non-Planeswalker card in EvK.
Above all else, flavor is important to Duel Decks, especially PW Duel Decks where the PWs' respective skillsets provide the basis for the decks as a whole. Serum Visions might get a reprint but I wouldn't hold my breath on Gitaxian Probe, we're more likely to get Peek.
Because the Elspeth deck is most likely going to be about weenie aggro, my guess is the Kiora deck will have at least a few Fog effects to help neutralize Elspeth's assault. Kiora will also likely have defensive early game creatures like Kraken Hatchling and Fog Bank, as well as utility creatures like Kiora's Follower and Coiling Oracle.
Elspeth meanwhile will need to contend with Kiora's big late game creatures as well as the early blockers, so removal like Devouring Light and perhaps Path to Exile will be must-includes. Elspeth herself provides a wrath effect but to deal with smaller creatures a separate wrath such as Martial Coup could be included as well.
I'm strangely touched that Marble Gargoyle has so quickly caught on in this topic.
Twobrid permanents aren't as undermining as regular colorless permanents as the former can at least fit into a color of deck. But I agree that requiring all permanents you control to fit a particular category is asking for trouble. A threshold like colorcraft would probably serve the needs of the set better as it still gives you incentive to play lots of cards of a shared color without mandating that all cards must be one specific color.
Affinity for color would also work well for a monocolor set, as you only need a certain number of permanents of a given color, and it's a mechanic you can put on instants and sorceries as well.
What if the mechanic specifically said "If all nonland permanents you control share a color, [effect]"? That would provide a lot of incentive for hybrid and twobrid as hybrid cards can support the mechanic in two colors of deck and you won't want many colorless nonland permanents in the set. Affinity for color will benefit your set as well since you want to run lots of permanents of the same color.
That was actually the first take on the concept. It's elegantly simple, but the problem lies in the involuntary switching. If it was a straight upgrade, like tapping for to tapping for or , it wouldn't be a problem. But auto switching from C to D and back feels similar to the River of Tears template and is unappealing both to new players because of obvious strategic complexity and experienced players because of less convenience than regular duals.
I'm starting to think that having each face tap for one color alone might not be enough. It might be better if each side taps for a different pair, using a shared color as a unifier. For example:
Pristine Orchard
Land {U}
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool. 1: Transform ~.
Pristine Lake
Land
: Add or to your mana pool. 1: Transform ~.
Of course, that would make the auto-transform option more plausible as then the land at least has a consistent color of mana. I'm intrigued by the prospect of an upgrading land, though.
Empty Basin
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
Whenever you tap ~ for mana, put a charge counter on ~. Then if there are three or more charge counters on ~, remove them and transform it.
If Etched Champion's in this set, there's a good chance Metalcraft is one of its drafting themes. I love to guess these things, so here goes my limited archetype guesses:
I wouldn't count on Volcanic Hammer appearing in the last Core Set; choosing a card that's worse than at least two staples could leave a bad taste in players' mouths, which a send-off most definitely does not want to do.
I could see Coyotefolk standing in for Goblins much like Satyrs did in Theros. It helps that one famous coyote is known for his bad luck and amusing physical injuries.
Well, let's not forget that Maro never said KTK wasn't a multicolor block. It's possible that DTK will still feature color pairs, perhaps focusing on enemy pairs to retain the spirit of wedge if not the presence. I have a hard time believing we'll see monocolor dragons as green fliers have already burned the color pie recently with Hornet Queen, but two color dragons aren't out of the question.
Going on a tangent here, anyone think we'll see a red wrath burn spell associated with Dragons in FRF or DTK? Anger of the Gods is going to rotate out before KTK does and Standard will want red to have some kind of last resort to use against creature armies. I'm thinking they can turn up the heat a little since high-toughness creatures will be more commonplace in the year ahead.
Wrath of Dragons3RR
Sorcery
~ deals 5 damage to each non-Dragon creature.
Black will be one of three colors with the lifegain matters mechanic, so it needs a lifegain land. I'm satisfied with the cycle providing lifegain, I'm mainly looking for name suggestions.
Twobrid makes putting artifacts in a color matters block easy. The twobrid provides double bonuses, both for playing the card in the "correct" color and for any other cards that care about color. Consider suggestions like these:
these can be quite good actually. but the transform should require a tap in it's cost too to stop possible future shenanigans with mass-transforming gimmicks.
I suppose tapping to transform would be the safer option, it just means you have to wait two turns before you can access the other color of mana, a little slow even for limited formats. If both sides tapped for two colors of mana, that would be a little more acceptable, but then it still feels worse than regular trilands.
have you put any thoughts into the possibilities of just having a double-sided land that CAN'T transform, but you choose which side it comes into play as instead?
flooded pit (side A)
land (u)
When flooded pit comes into play, you may transform it.
Flooded pit comes into play tapped t: add U or B to your mana pool
flooded fields
land
flooded field comes into play tapped t: add U or W to your mana pool
That just feels like a more awkward fetchland. The whole point of a double-faced land is that you can toggle it or it has to upgrade into a better version of itself. Although, I suppose there could always be design space for lands that get worse after one use, but would those be as much fun?
I like using the Storage Land "technology" on the originals. The only downside is that you either have to do each color combo twice to make all colors equal. Not a huge problem, but something to keep in mind.
I did talk with my brother about allowing the player to play either face first, so you could start with U instead of W if you want for example.
My brother came up with this idea for a double-faced land template that taps for two different colors, one on each side, which you can transform at will. He suggested tapping the land to transform it, but I thought it would be more elegant if you had to pay to transform the land, using either mana from the land itself or another source, similar to how the Storage lands from Time Spiral worked.
Drained Pool
Land {U}
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add to your mana pool. 1: Transform ~.
Flooded Pool
Land
: Add to your mana pool. 1: Transform ~.
Chillax. Dack didn't appear in Theros block, so he wouldn't make the cut for Duel Decks. Furthermore, the artifact stealing ability on his card likely wouldn't have any relevance against the Nightmare-themed Ashiok.
Elspeth - weenie aggro, removal
Kiora - defense, ramp, card draw, sea monsters
Above all else, flavor is important to Duel Decks, especially PW Duel Decks where the PWs' respective skillsets provide the basis for the decks as a whole. Serum Visions might get a reprint but I wouldn't hold my breath on Gitaxian Probe, we're more likely to get Peek.
Because the Elspeth deck is most likely going to be about weenie aggro, my guess is the Kiora deck will have at least a few Fog effects to help neutralize Elspeth's assault. Kiora will also likely have defensive early game creatures like Kraken Hatchling and Fog Bank, as well as utility creatures like Kiora's Follower and Coiling Oracle.
Elspeth meanwhile will need to contend with Kiora's big late game creatures as well as the early blockers, so removal like Devouring Light and perhaps Path to Exile will be must-includes. Elspeth herself provides a wrath effect but to deal with smaller creatures a separate wrath such as Martial Coup could be included as well.
Twobrid permanents aren't as undermining as regular colorless permanents as the former can at least fit into a color of deck. But I agree that requiring all permanents you control to fit a particular category is asking for trouble. A threshold like colorcraft would probably serve the needs of the set better as it still gives you incentive to play lots of cards of a shared color without mandating that all cards must be one specific color.
Affinity for color would also work well for a monocolor set, as you only need a certain number of permanents of a given color, and it's a mechanic you can put on instants and sorceries as well.
I'm starting to think that having each face tap for one color alone might not be enough. It might be better if each side taps for a different pair, using a shared color as a unifier. For example:
Pristine Orchard
Land {U}
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add or to your mana pool.
1: Transform ~.
Pristine Lake
Land
: Add or to your mana pool.
1: Transform ~.
Of course, that would make the auto-transform option more plausible as then the land at least has a consistent color of mana. I'm intrigued by the prospect of an upgrading land, though.
Empty Basin
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
Whenever you tap ~ for mana, put a charge counter on ~. Then if there are three or more charge counters on ~, remove them and transform it.
Flooded Basin
Land
: Add or to your mana pool.
WU Metalcraft
UB Ninjas
BR Sacrifice - Devour, Evoke, Eldrazi Spawn, etc.
RG Kicker
GW Allies
WB Spirits - Soulshift, Haunt
UR Modular
BG Infect/Persist
RW Battle cry
GU Graft/Proliferate
As for notable card reprints, I'm guessing we'll see at least a few of these:
Going on a tangent here, anyone think we'll see a red wrath burn spell associated with Dragons in FRF or DTK? Anger of the Gods is going to rotate out before KTK does and Standard will want red to have some kind of last resort to use against creature armies. I'm thinking they can turn up the heat a little since high-toughness creatures will be more commonplace in the year ahead.
Wrath of Dragons 3RR
Sorcery
~ deals 5 damage to each non-Dragon creature.
Marble Gargoyle (2/W)(2/W)
Artifact Creature - Gargoyle
Flying
2/2
Craniumite (2/U)
Artifact Creature - Construct
(2/U), Sacrifice ~: Draw two cards.
1/1
Scorpionox (2/B)(2/B)
Artifact Creature - Scorpion
Deathtouch
1/3
Thunder Golem (2/R)(2/R)(2/R)
Artifact Creature - Golem
Haste
3/3
Wooden Ram-Engine (2/G)(2/G)(2/G)
Artifact Creature - Juggernaut
Trample
4/4
I suppose tapping to transform would be the safer option, it just means you have to wait two turns before you can access the other color of mana, a little slow even for limited formats. If both sides tapped for two colors of mana, that would be a little more acceptable, but then it still feels worse than regular trilands.
That just feels like a more awkward fetchland. The whole point of a double-faced land is that you can toggle it or it has to upgrade into a better version of itself. Although, I suppose there could always be design space for lands that get worse after one use, but would those be as much fun?
I did talk with my brother about allowing the player to play either face first, so you could start with U instead of W if you want for example.
Drained Pool
Land {U}
~ enters the battlefield tapped.
: Add to your mana pool.
1: Transform ~.
Flooded Pool
Land
: Add to your mana pool.
1: Transform ~.