Not so sad a Swan Song as it is an homage to the old standard Cascade Swans (aka Seismic Swans) deck where it was played alongside Swans of Bryn Argoll.
Another character you missed is Gaea - Dominaria's Goddess. She interfered with both Urza and Mishra on Argoth, sending her avengers to fight for its preservation and in an attempt to remove the brothers during the final confrontation. It was essentially a three sided battle between her and the brothers.
It would also be nice to see some modernized remakes of some of the cards like the Weakstone and Mightstone as they are pivotal to Urza's ascension to a planeswalker. Also, a new Dragon Engine would be nice, perhaps using Traxos as a template. Other potential reprints/remakes of things depicted in the story would be Feldon's Cane, Hurkyl's Recall, Ivory Tower, and Su-chi (as a remake since it's reserved).
Besides cards of Gix and Ashnod, what I most want to see is a card depicting Mishra in his final form as he approached Urza immediately preceding the Sylex blast when Mishra's was walking next to a Dragon Engine and his body was connected to it via phyrexian tech. I desperately want to see that. And it would be nice for them to give a nod to the battle taking place on the last day of the year - the only day of the year that the brothers were true equals (Urza was born on the first day and Mishra the last of the same year).
But anyhoo, NOBODY commenting on how Wasteland depicts a destroyed Library of Alexandria??? (I first thought City of Brass but then I read the flavor text.)
That was the first thing I noticed, I recognized those spires immediately! I was like "Is that a wasted Library of Alexandria?? I love it"
The use of Library is apropos since Poole was its artist. He's wasting his own art. That's the tie-in for its inclusion. The only one I question is Brainstorm, but I'm guessing it's the closest thing to Ancestral Recall which he did.
Yeah, it happens every time they keyword something that was previously not. There are other examples like Fervor and Goblin War Drums that were printed before Haste and Menace were keyworded respectively.
The verbiage used in the futureshifted card hint specifies that it has never appeared in a premier set (i.e. standard legal) outside of Future Sight. That means it is likely to be a card that has already been reprinted in a non-premier set such as a supplemental or box set. If it were a card that has never been reprinted period, then there would be no reason to specify in a premier set.
I wonder if the MDFC will be planeswalkers, with one side being Rowan and the other side being Will. So far, with the exception of a lone planeswalker deck Rowan, they've always been together via partner or on the same card.
If you're going to sharpie a basic as a placeholder, at the very least please use a land that does not match the color of your deck. E.g. It's utter nonsense for a mono-black deck to use Swamp marked as a Guardian Beast (or whatever). Use a Plains or something else so there's no way for anyone to potentially misunderstand the board state. Even better, use white boarder lands if you don't use them otherwise - anything to aid in indicating that one of these things is not like the others.
I believe that makes this the first standard expansion set since Tempest (Rath) to take place on a new plane without being named after the plane itself.
Are you referring to just recent times, like since they went to the one block Standard?
Because Dragon's Maze and Gatecrash don't refer to the plane.
Or, are you just counting the first block of a set?
As was noted by the response after yours, those were not taking place on a new plane.
Expansion sets taking place primarily on a new plane not yet visited in a previous expansion set:
Arabian Nights - Rabiah
Antiquities - Dominaria (with a sprinkle of Phyrexia)
Homelands - Ulgrotha
Tempest - Rath
Mercadian Masques - Mercadia
Mirrodin - Mirrodin
Champions of Kamigawa - Kamigawa
Ravnica: City of Guilds - Ravnica
Lorwyn - Lorwyn
Shards of Alara - Alara
Zendikar - Zendikar
Innistrad - Innistrad
Theros - Theros
Khans of Tarkir - Tarkir
Kaladesh - Kaladesh
Amonkhet - Amonkhet
Ixalan - Ixalan
Throne of Eldraine - Eldraine
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths - Ikoria
Kaldheim - Kaldheim
Strixhaven - Arcavios
I believe that makes this the first standard expansion set since Tempest (Rath) to take place on a new plane without being named after the plane itself.
As the first response says, they've been using two different card stocks for a few years now. It's not just the set boosters. You can get both types of stock in regular draft boosters. The packaging is different between them, so you know which you are getting before you open the pack, or even the box.
The darker, Japanese stock comes in boxes where the front flap that tucks into the box has slits in the corners to grip the two side flaps. The older stock doesn't use the slits and slides open easier. Also, the darker stock cards come in packs that use more material and are loose, allowing the cards to slide up and down. These packs typically have slits at the top and bottom allowing you to peel open the packs (though they barely work - you're better off packing the cards down and cutting the tops off with scissors). The older packs are tight and don't have the slits, they can be easily opened by pulling at the center seam. Once opened, the cards using the new stock are also packed in reverse order. And lastly, on top of the differences noted in the link above, the cards smell different too.
Volrath the Fallen would argue otherwise.
It would also be nice to see some modernized remakes of some of the cards like the Weakstone and Mightstone as they are pivotal to Urza's ascension to a planeswalker. Also, a new Dragon Engine would be nice, perhaps using Traxos as a template. Other potential reprints/remakes of things depicted in the story would be Feldon's Cane, Hurkyl's Recall, Ivory Tower, and Su-chi (as a remake since it's reserved).
Besides cards of Gix and Ashnod, what I most want to see is a card depicting Mishra in his final form as he approached Urza immediately preceding the Sylex blast when Mishra's was walking next to a Dragon Engine and his body was connected to it via phyrexian tech. I desperately want to see that. And it would be nice for them to give a nod to the battle taking place on the last day of the year - the only day of the year that the brothers were true equals (Urza was born on the first day and Mishra the last of the same year).
The use of Library is apropos since Poole was its artist. He's wasting his own art. That's the tie-in for its inclusion. The only one I question is Brainstorm, but I'm guessing it's the closest thing to Ancestral Recall which he did.
As was noted by the response after yours, those were not taking place on a new plane.
Expansion sets taking place primarily on a new plane not yet visited in a previous expansion set:
Arabian Nights - Rabiah
Antiquities - Dominaria (with a sprinkle of Phyrexia)
Homelands - Ulgrotha
Tempest - Rath
Mercadian Masques - Mercadia
Mirrodin - Mirrodin
Champions of Kamigawa - Kamigawa
Ravnica: City of Guilds - Ravnica
Lorwyn - Lorwyn
Shards of Alara - Alara
Zendikar - Zendikar
Innistrad - Innistrad
Theros - Theros
Khans of Tarkir - Tarkir
Kaladesh - Kaladesh
Amonkhet - Amonkhet
Ixalan - Ixalan
Throne of Eldraine - Eldraine
Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths - Ikoria
Kaldheim - Kaldheim
Strixhaven - Arcavios
The darker, Japanese stock comes in boxes where the front flap that tucks into the box has slits in the corners to grip the two side flaps. The older stock doesn't use the slits and slides open easier. Also, the darker stock cards come in packs that use more material and are loose, allowing the cards to slide up and down. These packs typically have slits at the top and bottom allowing you to peel open the packs (though they barely work - you're better off packing the cards down and cutting the tops off with scissors). The older packs are tight and don't have the slits, they can be easily opened by pulling at the center seam. Once opened, the cards using the new stock are also packed in reverse order. And lastly, on top of the differences noted in the link above, the cards smell different too.