Blue elves? This is one I'll believe when I see the card, actually maybe not even then. Blue has been deliberately starved of fast mana, except as it pertains to artifacts (which is the original intent of Apprentice Wizard) as a deliberate disadvantage. I really can't see this being changed now, and except for Dreamscape Artist, which was a Planar Chaos card, meaning that it's part of an alternative colour pie, not the regular one, we've not seen anything to indicate that this might change.
As for a green Wrath of God, I can almost, sort of believe it, if it were some sort of destructive elemental with an ability similar to Mageta the Lion. Seems in flavour, and with appropriate activation costs could be quite fair.
Except that I don't think anyone would reasonably consider playing either of the cards under discussion in anything other than Standard. Echoing Truth, Chain of Vapor and Rushing River, with the possible inclusion of Wipe Away and an honorable mention to Æther Spellbomb are definitely the bounce spells of choice in other formats. Which one you want is very much a function of the deck and the metagame, as is the case here.
Wipe Away is one that I basically wouldn't consider in Standard. Split Second really doesn't offer much for the extra mana. If you're playing a tempo game, the difference between Wipe Away and Boomerang seems to be directly comparable to that between Sinkhole and Rain of Tears.
Barry's Land
Basic Land T: Add 1 to your mana pool.
Basically (no pun intended) a sixth basic land type of no colour. Although, to work these days, I think it would need a land type.
Edit: Silly me. I dunno why I was thinking that Lorwyn and Rav would be in standard together. Guess there's a fair chance of seeing it earlier, if at all, then.
Domain seems a little too linear and "Wizards made my deck for me" for R&D these days. It's possible, but I think if it were to come back in force, it would be some new take on it which I can't even think of a possibility for. Teramorphic Expanse is a pretty nice clue to.
If I had to guess as to when it would make a comeback, I'd guess Doughnut, or the next block after. I don't think that Domain + Shocklands is a particularly healthy recipe for the Standard environment, particularly since I think Wizards would push the power level a little. It seems a little out of flavour with the speculation that we have on Jelly/Doughnut though, so my guess is next block.
I think Satriani744 pretty much got it. Boomerang bouncing land is very handy when you're playing a tempo game. The other thing to keep in mind is that boomerang is also very useful against enchantments and artifacts that you couldn't counter the first time around.
I think that if your deck can support the UU for boomerang, you probably should be giving snapback a very close look before including unsummon, since you may well be able to gain tempo by not paying mana. But if you're lightly in blue and want to bounce creatures, unsummon is pretty hard to beat.
Yeah, unfortunately mana does empty at the end of each phase, so you do take burn at the end of combat. But as you said, you can attack and play Soulblast with combat damage on the stack, or even wait until after it's resolved and play it in the End of Combat Step, if you want to get a trigger off combat damage or something.
I get it, and I think that it could well work... But not in Magic. I think something like this would have to be deeply integrated into the rules of the game and wouldn't be appropriate for an add on after nearly a decade and a half.
I also think that it feels like it would work better in a sci-fi setting than a fantasy one.
Sorry, don't think there's anything here for the future of Magic.
The problem that I see with Soulblast is that it's almost always a win more card. If you've got enough power on the table to kill your opponent, the chances are that they're going to die sometime in the not too distant future anyway. Also, being so very expensive, it doesn't combo very well with some of the stuff that you would like it to, like the aforementioned Weatherseed Totem, Groundbreaker or high power pump like Might of Oaks or Stonewood Invocation.
Could be rather funny with Righteousness, but that's not exactly likely to be a particularly competitive deck.
@Thrawnkkar: You may actually be onto something there. Add Bridge from Below, perhaps, for even more highjinx
While Kamigawa may not have been Japanese mythology, it was definitely based on it. Most of the names for the types of kami (eg. Zubera, Akuba, Kaijin) came straight from Japanese folklore. There's was a really nice article explaining the depth to which they researched, looking for ideas and inspiration on magicthegathering.com. Unfortunately, I don't seem to be able to turn it up.
Maybe I'm missing something, but the only real Affinity hoser that is rotating is Pernicious Deed. The other real 'hosers' are Ancient Grudge and Shattering Spree, both of which are still legal post-rotation.
I don't think that the point of printing affinity hosers to make them available in extended is that any (other than Deed) are rotating out, but that so much else is rotating out that affinity decks will be so powerful that more hosers are required.
I think Wizards is planting these cards in tenth edition in the hope that they can get by without having to ban artifact lands in extended.
Until reading Vodalian Javelineer's post, I was going to say that there's absolutely no reason to suspect that Jelly/Doughnut is going to be the Victorian inspired block that a few cards in Future Sight hint at. But seeing that there is already a precedent in fantasy worlds evolving in this manner, it becomes a little more likely.
That said, I still don't think it's on the mark. I think it's more likely that we'll see a seelie/unseelie or day/night split between the two blocks, with each being set in the same basic world.
I think it's reasonably likely that Rock will have an artifact focus, presuming that Jelly/Doughnut doesn't. As to whether it will be busted, I don't think so. I've been really impressed so far with the ability of R&D under Maro's leadership to pump out cards and sets which push the envelope on power level, without creating anything truly broken.
As for a green Wrath of God, I can almost, sort of believe it, if it were some sort of destructive elemental with an ability similar to Mageta the Lion. Seems in flavour, and with appropriate activation costs could be quite fair.
Basically (no pun intended) a sixth basic land type of no colour. Although, to work these days, I think it would need a land type.
Edit: Silly me. I dunno why I was thinking that Lorwyn and Rav would be in standard together. Guess there's a fair chance of seeing it earlier, if at all, then.
If I had to guess as to when it would make a comeback, I'd guess Doughnut, or the next block after. I don't think that Domain + Shocklands is a particularly healthy recipe for the Standard environment, particularly since I think Wizards would push the power level a little. It seems a little out of flavour with the speculation that we have on Jelly/Doughnut though, so my guess is next block.
I think that if your deck can support the UU for boomerang, you probably should be giving snapback a very close look before including unsummon, since you may well be able to gain tempo by not paying mana. But if you're lightly in blue and want to bounce creatures, unsummon is pretty hard to beat.
I also think that it feels like it would work better in a sci-fi setting than a fantasy one.
Sorry, don't think there's anything here for the future of Magic.
Could be rather funny with Righteousness, but that's not exactly likely to be a particularly competitive deck.
@Thrawnkkar: You may actually be onto something there. Add Bridge from Below, perhaps, for even more highjinx
I don't think that the point of printing affinity hosers to make them available in extended is that any (other than Deed) are rotating out, but that so much else is rotating out that affinity decks will be so powerful that more hosers are required.
I think Wizards is planting these cards in tenth edition in the hope that they can get by without having to ban artifact lands in extended.
That said, I still don't think it's on the mark. I think it's more likely that we'll see a seelie/unseelie or day/night split between the two blocks, with each being set in the same basic world.