The problem with "affinty for Eldrazi" is that Scions would count toward it and are a bit more numerous. And although it doesn't seem like it should work, they can actually count twice (announce the spell, count the number of Eldrazi, lock in the reduced cost, then sac Scions for mana).
I think that affinity for a tribe is the most likely way for affinity to come back, but the Eldrazi are probably not the tribe for it.
I'd love to see this eventually, too. If they were to do it, I think the right time would be right before they revisit the Phyrexia story. As for your card choices, I couldn't see them including more than one praetor, let alone all five, and they would definitely need at least one Phyrexian card from Antiquities.
I agree. If it was a new character or Elspeth back from the dead, that would be a surprise, but Gideon is the obvious second choice for a white planeswalker.
The "wall problem" is just that walls aren't typically living beings, but in order to block, they have to be creatures in the game. Making a new card type that's basically a creature but isn't called that just adds new rules without enough of a gain to be worth it. They can still make defenders that are concepted as something else, like a guard or a chained-up monster, and have it work both in terms of game mechanics and flavor. Also note that while it bugs Mark Rosewater, most of R&D doesn't have a problem with Wall as a creature type and enough players are fans, so it's likely we'll see Walls as creatures for some time to come.
When on iPhone or iPad, After my first 10 seconds in a thread, My app store opens with some sort of fantasy game (War of Thrones). Then when I close it and return, I get app store notices every 4-6 seconds asking me either if I want to open this page in app store, or that it can't open the page because of wrong adress. While I was typing this, I literally had to click Away a pop-up somewhere between 25 and 35 times. Started today.
Any solutions? Otherwise I will have to stop using the site, it's that annoying. I'm ready to throw my iPad against the wal.
Got the same here. It starts with a popup (nym1.mobile.adnx5.com or nym1.mobile.adnxs.com ; having a hard time reading back what I wrote down). It says "Sorry, error loading website. Please confirm to load a new site" with a Yes or No prompt, both leading to the App store as described. Generally happens on the Rumor Mill or Casual forum.
I've had the same thing in both the Rumor Mill and the wiki. Apart from the annoyance of having to close the app store, I also lose the page I was trying to read.
I would guess that the filing of the trademark as 1B is either a mistake (since they file trademarks for new terms all the time, but don't necessarily need to do that for old terms) or because it needs to cover the movie, too, which would be future use.
I'll be incorporating a few of the constructs and conspiracies in my regular cube (Worldknit in particular is one I've had multiple requests for), although many of the conspiracies really aren't suited to singleton cube. I'm not really interested in making a draft sim for the set, but I have considered building a cube with multiple rarity levels (and multiples of the lower rarities) that can take advantage of some of those conspiracies as well as cards that don't work in a singleton cube, but could be cube-worthy in multiples (think Squadron Hawk or Accumulated Knowledge).
Some of the problems with regeneration could be fixed by removing some of the less intuitive parts of the ability, tapping the creature and removing it from combat, but keeping the keyword as a whole. They've done similar cleanups with other keywords as needed, like making lifelink and deathtouch static abilities instead of triggered ones and even removing some of the wonkiness from even bigger rules headaches, like phasing and bands with other. I think they could do the same thing with regeneration, removing some of the complexity while keeping the mechanic as a whole.
The weird timing rules are another problem altogether and I'm not sure what there are a way to fix them without abandoning the mechanic or issuing massive errata. The reason there are "regeneration shields" at all is because the pre-Sixth Edition rules included a very specific timing window when you could regenerate a creature. Regeneration was an activated ability that worked more like a triggered ability (pre-Sixth rules also didn't make a clear distinction between activated and triggered abilities). When they wrote up Sixth Edition rules, they wanted regeneration to still be an activated ability, but didn't want the "damage prevention step" rules anymore, so we trade one set of odd timing rules for another.
Exiling is just a game mechanic that allows the card to work on indestructible enchantments and make sure they never come back. While exile is often flavored as something other than death, in this case it pretty clearly isn't. They could have written the card as "destroy target enchantment as though it didn't have indestructible" to make it clear the target is being killed, but calling the card "Deicide" should be enough.
Because they weren't using multicolor for utility cards in this block, they were using it for cards you can build a draft deck around. Also, up until Journey Into Nyx, the card wouldn't make any sense in this block since all of the enchantments were either creatures themselves or Auras that went on creatures or both.
This was my first thought as well. It fits more with the name scheme of Magic video games than sets. Card sets tend not to have the name of the game in them (with the exception of Core Sets) while video games do. Also, all the reprint-only sets have had "Masters" in the name for a while now. I'm hoping for a Shandalar remake as well.
Why does a unique block structure have to involve whether the sets are small or large? The original Ravnica block was a Large/Small/Small block, but I'd consider the guild model with the 10 guilds divided among three sets to be a unique way to structure a block.
I remember someone at WotC saying recently none of the future sight cards left will be reprinted in any Standard legal set. Also the specialty sets should not count as being part of a future set. Its more of a hey that card happens to fit in this specialty set.
That doesn't seem likely. I doubt that we would see them as being any different from any other reprints, it's just that some of them are harder to get into a normal set than others.
Vedalken Aethermage, for example, can only go into a set with a tribal component in which both Wizards and Slivers are supported tribes, creature type cycling is one of the mechanics, and Vedalken are part of the creative. The odds of that set happening are practically none.
Cards like Aven Mindcensor, Bonded Fetch, or Fomori Nomad, on the other hand, could go into any set that needed them as long as they work within the creative. I doubt they would prevent themselves from reprinting cards like that if needed, but they might not be actively looking for homes for them either.
I don't think they can tie it into a set release just because it would be too difficult to release both at the same time and not have the quality of either suffer. Plus, Magic sets are released on a very tight schedule, so if there is a delay in the movie production, they don't have the luxury of pushing the set back to make them line up. I think a supplemental product (like a Duel Deck) that ties into the movie is very likely, though.
As for the plot elements, I would expect to see an original storyline that may or may not be "canon" in the card game. They might use their own character as a main character, but I would hope they visit some of the settings of the game. Yes, "settings" in the plural. I think they need to have some planeswalking, even if they spend the majority of the movie on one plane (like Thor or Wreck-It Ralph).
I think that affinity for a tribe is the most likely way for affinity to come back, but the Eldrazi are probably not the tribe for it.
I've had the same thing in both the Rumor Mill and the wiki. Apart from the annoyance of having to close the app store, I also lose the page I was trying to read.
The weird timing rules are another problem altogether and I'm not sure what there are a way to fix them without abandoning the mechanic or issuing massive errata. The reason there are "regeneration shields" at all is because the pre-Sixth Edition rules included a very specific timing window when you could regenerate a creature. Regeneration was an activated ability that worked more like a triggered ability (pre-Sixth rules also didn't make a clear distinction between activated and triggered abilities). When they wrote up Sixth Edition rules, they wanted regeneration to still be an activated ability, but didn't want the "damage prevention step" rules anymore, so we trade one set of odd timing rules for another.
This was my first thought as well. It fits more with the name scheme of Magic video games than sets. Card sets tend not to have the name of the game in them (with the exception of Core Sets) while video games do. Also, all the reprint-only sets have had "Masters" in the name for a while now. I'm hoping for a Shandalar remake as well.
That doesn't seem likely. I doubt that we would see them as being any different from any other reprints, it's just that some of them are harder to get into a normal set than others.
Vedalken Aethermage, for example, can only go into a set with a tribal component in which both Wizards and Slivers are supported tribes, creature type cycling is one of the mechanics, and Vedalken are part of the creative. The odds of that set happening are practically none.
Cards like Aven Mindcensor, Bonded Fetch, or Fomori Nomad, on the other hand, could go into any set that needed them as long as they work within the creative. I doubt they would prevent themselves from reprinting cards like that if needed, but they might not be actively looking for homes for them either.
As for the plot elements, I would expect to see an original storyline that may or may not be "canon" in the card game. They might use their own character as a main character, but I would hope they visit some of the settings of the game. Yes, "settings" in the plural. I think they need to have some planeswalking, even if they spend the majority of the movie on one plane (like Thor or Wreck-It Ralph).