I read the archive trap article today and learned of Moag. I'm no story guru but this is to my knowledge the only plane to have been invaded by Phyrexians "off screen". Could this be Elspeth's home plane then?
I think it all depends upon whether Wizards ever plans on visiting Elspeth's home plane. If they never do, then they might someday declare that plane to be Moag. (And I agree that wouldn't make much sense, but with MtG, Past Continuity always bends to the needs of the Present Narrative.) If they do, then it will be an original world they can flesh out as they see fit. I believe it is a question of whether or not they need another Phyrexian-impacted world, given that New Phyrexia and Dominaria (and Mercadia) already exist.
Elspeth's home plane is likely one of the ones Karn spread Phyrexian Oil to by accident.
As an aside, am I the only one who is bothered by that retcon? Not the idea of Karn as an unwitting instigator of doom - that idea has a lot of story potential. I can see Karn's narrative arc becoming travelling around and trying to fix the worlds that he inadvertently corrupted. No, I mean the idea that the catalyst was Xantcha's heartstone. Partly because it seems inconsistent to what know about the heartstones (Xantcha was walking around with hers for ages with no apparently ill-effects, and you can't tell me that even Insane Urza wouldn't have given that thing a once-over for Phyrexian foulness.) Partly because the Phyrexian Oil was itself a retcon - wasn't it supposed to be retcon'd into some weapon deployed during the Invasion? (So how would the Heartstone - created around the time of the Brother's War - have any of the Oil?)
Mostly, though, I object because it seems like a massive disservice to the character of Xantcha herself, who remains one of the most interesting (to me, at least) characters WotC has ever created.
And then some. They honestly have three color vibes about them. Anubis lady feels Grixis, for one.
I was thinking the same thing while looking at these. Very curious if they do shard or wedge gods, but it seems very likely that they'll be three colored
Given that Bolas himself is Grixis colors, if these Gods are three-color, I fully expect them to be shard-colored. (Assuming that Bolas's inevitable card is Grixis) I consider it far less likely for us to get both shard and wedge-colored mythics in the same block.
According to MaRo, Amonkhet was briefly considered to be the Fall 2016 and Kaladesh for Spring 2017 for reasons he cannot yet disclose. While I believe the reason probably involves block mechanics, I wanted to draw attention to this MaRo's comment here because there are storyline implications for this change. Was Amonkhet originally going to be a cutaway from the Gatewatch storyline to see what Bolas was doing to set-up Tezzeret's actions on Kaladesh?
This chapter is beautiful, I love the emotions here, bittersweet chocolate everywhere, and Yahinni, you will be remembered. Nissa's conversations in this chapter is touching, how she assists Yahinni's passing by letting them know the grander universe they are key to, and how she helps Chandra in handling anger and sadness.
I wanted to second this opinion. While I do hope we get an epilogue with Tezzeret and Bolas that gives us some hints as to Bolas's larger scheme, this was the sort of story Eldritch Moon desperately needed to give us some sense of closure on both the characters and the world as a result of the events of the block.
(Also - memo to WotC Re: Future Kaladesh sets: We don't need to always visit a plane in the midst of an apocalypse. Happy endings that were hard-earned (*I know, individual mileage may vary as to how much it was earned) can be allowed to stick, more or less. Return to Ravnica featured a major crisis that was basically rooted in the conflicts innate to the existing society, and I hope the inevitable "Return to Kaladesh" goes the same route, instead of having the Phyrexians invade or the Aether becoming corrupt or Marit Lage or a plague of Homarids or whatever.)
Somewhat off topic - Liliana suggested Amonkhet was created by Bolas. If true, that makes things even more interesting. Did Bolas create the local gods and demons? Is Liliana's Demon #3 one of Bolas's creations? There are many interesting implications here...
Just having the Gatewatch taking an L is good. Maybe they just barely escape the last battle or someone suffers a serious injury. Bolas could re-conscript Liliana again somehow because of their previous history. Anything to make them rethink their YOLO strats for world-ending threats. Ajani could possibly be a casualty in a big battle but I think he has too many connections to events before Gatewatch.
I agree the mostly likely outcome is that they'll get their noses bloodied, be humbled and hopefully realize that their victories over the Eldrazi Titans were heavily dependent on external factors (pre-existing Hedron Network and Emrakul's own enigmatic plans, respectively), and then return home to start the process of recruiting new members to play the long game against Bolas. I just think that if anything bad does happen to anyone on the Gatewatch, Gideon is the mostly likely suspect. (Jace is MtG's Mickey Mouse; Liliana has her Demons and the Garruk plotline (And the Chain Veil. And the Raven Man...); Chandra is #2 in popularity, just had a focus block, and Wizards has just begun their plans for Chandra & Nissa.)
As for Ajani, there is a persistent rumor that Ajani (not Elspeth) was originally the one who was supposed to die at the end of the Theros (a la Obi Wan), but Elspeth's death (presumably) set up more interesting possibilities for the future. Whether true or not, I believe that Ajani will almost certainly be around for the inevitable "Return to Theros" block and that, if Ajani is going to die, it will be to resurrect Elspeth.
Hour of Devastation won't be very devastating if the Gatewatch doesn't suffer any major consequences for their hubris in this chapter. If a protagonist dies, I doubt that it'd be Jace (too popular) or Liliana (too much unfinished business). My guess -- based on foreshadowing throughout the current block -- is that a certain reckless pyromancer will endanger herself and Gideon will sacrifice himself to save her thanks in part to his apparently unrequited affection for her.
You actually make a wonderful point I didn't consider initially, Chandra. Just a little fun factoid, Nicol Bolas is down one agent. That agent being Sarkhan who is at his core and is quite content with serving Ugin who is an arch rival to Nicol Bolas.
Perhaps Gideon does some form of self-sacrificing, but wouldn't it be kind of grand if Chandra was made into a pawn for Nicol Bolas? Just think of it. She could have her color identity expanded to or and she wasn't going to go either direction if she had Nissa around her. Her pyromancy becomes much more destructive yet focused under Nicol Bolas's tutelage. As after all who is the one instigated this plan in the first place to attack Nicol Bolas at Amonkhet now of all times? Why, its Chandra.
What does this open the door to? Koth joining the Gatewatch. What does Koth bring to the table? The problem plane of New Phyrexia which means the Phyrexians can take a step into the picture again after Amonkhet and a block for them can be given. Koth is also Elpseth's friend and by that extension is an ally to Ajani and that Koth would help him save Elspeth. Which means he also brings with him, a return to Theros. Saving Elspeth also means that she can join the Gatewatch. And then that means they can start assembling forces to start focusing on the strategics on how to defeat (or at least contain) the Phyrexian threat as Elspeth has massive beef with them.
This also gives Nissa character growth as she has been heavily depending on Chandra for social interaction. As she now has to deal with her support pillar, Chandra, no longer will be there for her.
This also affects Pia Nalaar as her daughter may return to Kaladesh but Chandra won't be the same and she now has to bear a terrible secret from her as Chandra is now basically working alongside Tezzeret, the very same man she helped defeat.
If Gideon is still alive, imagine it. Now he would be so heartbroken about how he has basically lost another close friend and he couldn't save her.
Liliana loses a pawn and little sister figure she liked keeping around.
Jace realizes that without Chandra, they the Gatewatch have lost their main firepower who is also a glass-cannon and has been the lynchpin for 2/3rds of their victories.
This is a very interesting idea, and would open the door to a lot of storytelling possibilities, but since Chandra is supposedly the second most popular planeswalker, I don't see it being very likely. Also, just as Jace was off-focus in Kaladesh because he had just played a starring role in Shadows over Innistrad, I expect Chandra to be off-focus in Amonkhet because of her prominence in Kaladesh. I fully expect Gideon to be the focal character (with another heavy dose of Liliana, due to her demon being present), basically because he seems like he is next in line to take center-stage in a block.
Personally, I agree with the suggestions above that something bad might happen to Gideon - I do like the character and he has hidden depths, but the Captain America / Superman archetype is also one of the hardest for writers to keep from becoming one-note, and - as noted - there are other popular white 'walkers waiting in the wings. Plus, Gideon's removal might be used to advance the Chandra/Nissa plotline (depending upon where WotC ultimately plans on going with it, of course...)
I'm personally tickled by the fact that one of the planes Rashmi saw appears to be Mercadia...nice bit of nostalgia (I liked Mercadian Masques' story, if the set itself was weak.)
The market? She appears to have glimpsed Zendikar as well. Is the starry sky Theros? She's the second legend to know of other worlds to the same depth as a PW would - the first was Kydele. IF you're B/G, you've got it made henny
Other than the clear reference to Zendikar, I don't think the story gave us enough information to definitively identify the other planes Rashmi saw. However, I suspect the writer did have specific planes in mind for at least most of the references. The cityscape was probably Ravnica, for instance, and I agree that the starry sky could have been a reference to Theros. The marketplace could be Mercadia or Rabiah, although given Creative's dislike of Rabiah (as it does not represent original IP), I agree that probably was Mercadia. Am I missing an obvious reference with respect to the plane with purple clouds, mountains, and yellow flowers?
There was a brief time after Karn left that I thought the resistance had a chance. The praetors were squabbling among themselves for supremacy. But they all began to despise the interloper, Tezzeret. Although the resistance had limited access to information, we believed Elesh Norn had dominated Urabrask's and Sheoldreds' domains.
Emphasis mine.
At this point, I'm assuming everything we think we know about New Phyrexia (outside of what was actually established on cards in New Phyrexia) will be proven inaccurate when we finally get a "Return to New Phyrexia" block. The conflict between the five Praetors was easily one of the most interesting things about the setting, and like the Guilds of Ravnica being overthrown and then re-established because they were the most iconic part of the setting, I am willing to bet that we will find the five back in power when the story returns to that setting.
As a side note, I do wonder if developmental concerns about the Infect mechanic have delayed a return to New Phyrexia, or if it is merely a matter of wanting the Guildpact to be more established before they run up against New Phyrexia. (Also, there is an argument that Elspeth should be a part of the resolution to the New Phyrexia storyline, given her origins; that could suggest we will be returning to Theros before New Phyrexia.)
To tie this back to the topic, I was also really hoping for a story about Atraxa, but I'm wondering if Wizards didn't want to commit to establishing anything about the current state of New Phyrexia that they might have to change later.
If someone had asked anyone to design a Reyhan card you could bet your right arm that 99% of all people would have gone for -at the very least- a partially white card, but most likely BGW. That is because she was the leader of the Abzan. It's a pattern that is so ingrained in Magic, that the leaders of a certain faction have all the colours of that faction. All of the Khan cards match their clan's identity, as do the dragons and their broods. Then there's the guilds, the shards of Alara. The list goes on. This Reyhan card not only goes against player expectations, but even worse, it does it for no good reason. Reyhan wasn't designed to be Reyhan. Her name was simply slapped on a card that was clearly not intended to be Reyhan from the beginning.
There are two ways to make a character fit to a card: Justifications and reasons. Justifications come after the card is made. ("Okay so Reyhan isn't white, but it's because she's a rebel!") While reasons come before. ("Which colours would Reyhan be? Well, considering she's the khan of literally the last true Abzan, BGW seems to be the most fitting.") Personally, I want to see legendary creature cards designed with a reason, not have them justified retroactively.
Fair enough - I definitely can see your point, and understand why you are disappointed...
But Reyhan was never the true leader of the Abzan, at least how they used to be. The Abzan ceased to be when Daghatar bent knee to Dromoka. Reyhan was the leader of a splinter faction, and was barely recognized as a Khan by the others - and only then because they needed her. Flavorfully, BG still fits. And she can still pilot an Abzan deck, she just needs a WB or WG partner.
As for Reyhan, she was clearly designed with Abzan in mind. She's incomplete... as she should be.
...But I happen to agree with these assessments more. But while I might disagree about Reyhan, I completely agree with you and everyone else complaining about Ludevic.
I don't see why anyone is pissed at Ludevic being Blue/Red. Necro-alchemists are pretty strongly Blue, there's plenty of Red spells associated to them, and several of the innistrad decks involve zombies in combinations beyond Blue/Black. Frankly, I'm glad that they went this direction, it was a very pleasant surprise (though personally I was expeting Ludevic to be Green/Blue).
If i was making Ludevic, I would have him in the grixis colors: blue, red, and black. They make far more sense for the mad scientist necro-alchemist that he is.
Here... I can see why they went they way they did, and there is indeed some cleverness in the concept. (And understand the desire to keep Ludevic distinct from Geralf and Gisa.) My problem is that Ludevic's card concept isn't intuitive. Nothing about his card screams "Necro-Alchemist". Even a fairly knowledgeable Vorthos would expect Ludevic to interact with the graveyard in some fashion or at least 'create monsters' somehow, as the cards that quote him almost always deal with reanimated creatures or horrible monstrosities. Would anyone here designing Ludevic in a vacuum have started with the top-down traits of "Reclusive" and "Makes Others Do His Dirty Work" instead of "Master Monster Maker"? (I think my platonic ideal for Ludevic would have been either BUR(as Herkles) suggests) or URG, but that is just me.) Reyhan's card concept and mechanical link I could grok just by looking at the card; the fact that the article had to explain what Ludevic's card is trying to convey seems like a huge flavor fail to me.
As an aside: I have absolutely nothing against "story-less one-off characters that will never get expanded on". Not only do they make the Multiverse feel bigger, but they also fill a very important niche: Not everyone is a Vorthos, moreover, not everyone wants to replay the lore. Some people want to make up their own stories. Who is Ghave and what does he do? We only got the barest hint of his character in his blurb and that gets some people's imaginations rolling. Some want to make up their own stories. "Zero lore" characters fill that particular niche, especially for commander, where you actually have a face for your deck.
I also agree, provided they give us some story tidbits to go with the new characters. I love having glimpses of entirely new worlds, or little-known worlds like Valla or Ir. I think my ideal would be about 50/50 new characters and old characters still lacking cards.
Personally, I don't think that slapping a name of a character on a random card is satisfying. But I might be in the minority here.
Are you arguing that Reyhan's card doesn't fit the character? Because I think it's a decent fit - she (mechanically) cares about +1/+1 counters and (thematically) is about maintaining continuity with the dead and retaining their gifts, which seems to fit what little we know about her. She's certainly no worse than half the Legends and Planeswalkers out there when it comes to fitting the character concept. (I'd argue she's a better fit than Dovin Baan was for his concept, for example.)
Or are you arguing that, in general, you'd rather see Legendary Creatures organically built around their character concept, top-down, instead of creating them a Legendary Creature bottom-up and then applying a pre-existing name to it? Because if that is your argument, then I agree - and don't think you are in the minority with that opinion, either. (We just might disagree on the suitability of specific cards, though.)
You probably failed to notice we are getting Ludevic. Vial Smasher and Reyhan are minor Tarkir characters, but featured in recent stories, so no problem there. Bruse Tarl is essentially Norin the Wary v2. Yeah, I would like to see RW Feather, BW Pivlic the imp or others, but Tymna and Tana are really just two, and there is still more to come.
Damn, Feather and a young version of Kos (both with partner) would have been amazing even just for flavour
My suspicion is that they are holding onto Feather is case they want to use her in the inevitable Return to Return to Ravnica. Just like I expect they are holding onto Taigam for a return to Tarkir. Conversely, it might be many years before we return to Innistrad again, so there is no harm in giving us a Ludevic card now. Likewise, characters like Sidar Kondo are perfect for this product, because outside of a hypothetical Time Spiral 2.0, they can't show up in a return set. (In that vein, some of my most wanted legends include Gix, Ashnod and Tawnos, because where else are we ever going to get cards for them?)
I'm sure we'll find out soon why exactly Ajani is on Kaladesh, but here's my proposal: Bolas runs the Consulate, or at least is in the process of consolidating control over it from behind the scenes, and Ajani knows this. That explains Tezzeret's presence: he's eliminating the last vestiges of opposition to the Consulate and paving the way for Bolas to overtly seize control of Kaladesh. (If Tezz was only there to seize some invention or something similiar, why would he bother trying to seek out and eliminate Pia Nalaar?)
Not only would that establish a reason for the Gatewatch to become involved in Aether Revolt, but also nicely leads into Amonkhet - perhaps the Gatewatch decides to take the battle to Bolas directly, or else is working to unravel whatever larger scheme Bolas is currently cooking up?
You're forgiven.
**) I'm actually really annoyed that Nissa is not in AER (That's my feelings so far - I can imagine a sufficiently interesting and well executed twist to make me perfectly content with AER) - she's getting the short end on story and sorely needs some focus after she got apparently retroactively changed from her original character. If OGW is actually to be counted as a Chandra set this is the second time Nissa is playing support for main character Chandra. If anything that should have meant Nissa should have been the focus of at least one of BFZ/OGW (set on her home plane).
If AER gets another focus (e. g. a shift towards the villain Tezzeret without replacing Chandra as protagonist, or focussing on a non-Gatewatch planeswalker (Saheeli? Ajani? Parcher?)) then I can see why people feel Nissa is getting mishandled.
This is part of what threw me. I had a feeling you might have been talking about stories (especially since you said story) but most people I talk to say that Zendikar is Nissa's and Shadows in Liliana's (because the first is a home plane and the 2nd is a first walk) and now Kaladesh is Chandra's home plane. Amonket threw a spanner in that theory though.
I agree with your WUBRG theory, now that you've explained it. I didn't follow BFZ story - I started following the story again since Eldritch Moon (I haven't been following the stories since Mercadian Masques block). It does feel like Nissa is getting the shaft and is underdeveloped. She feels like she's just being shoved to the side a lot - but I figured maybe she was just a passive/zen character who doesn't draw a lot of attention (unlike Chandra) and maybe her story was developed elsewhere.
But I'm a bit biased - I never liked Nissa. I much prefered Garruk for the iconic green planeswalker - but they went and made him an antagonist.
First of all, I agree with both of the above that Nissa's time to shine should have been BFZ - and she did get a fair bit of focus, including her fight with Ob Nixilis - but since the purpose of that block was to establish the Gatewatch, she was only one member of an ensemble cast.
Related to that, I think the purpose of Amenkhet isn't to focus on one member of the Gatewatch (although it could induct Ajani into the Gatewatch, and one of Liliana's demons could be there, so I'm not ruling it out), but rather to establish Bolas as the major reoccurring nemesis for the Gatewatch, the proverbial Lex Luthor to their Justice League. One goal of the creative era that begin in Alara was to establish MTG's major villains - Bolas, New Phyrexia, the Eldrazi, Ob Nixilis, possibly the Chain Veil and Raven Man. That creative era has given way to the Gatewatch era (with an even greater focus on comics-style storytelling), so now those villains need to brought into conflict with the Gatewatch. The Eldrazi and Nixilis have already crossed paths with the Gatewatch - Bolas is up next. I believe it is only a matter of time before New Phyrexia is back in focus for the same reason, and fully expect we'll see a return to New Phyrexia either Fall 2017 or Spring 2018.
So, the Kaladesh PW decks are effectively Planemon: Fire Red and Leaf Green? Now we need a blue Gatewatch themed around water.
Then later we can have Ral Zarek join the Gatewatch for the Yellow Edition...
On a more serious note, has it been confirmed anywhere that we are getting 6 planeswalkers in the Kaladesh block? I agree that it is likely (because there are 4 in Kaladesh), but so far as I've heard, Tezzeret is the only planeswalker who seems certain to appear in Aether Revolt. (If people are assuming Ajani, it seems far more likely for him to get a card in Amonkhet than in Aether Revolt, even if the character does appear in the tie-ins for Aether Revolt.)
I don't really understand why these planeswalkers had to be this bad, honestly. They could have just been okay or somewhat decent, not... garbadge? I feel that this is going to end up working against them as the quality of the planeswalkers in these decks actually decreases some new player's excitement for planeswalker cards overall and players who may have bought one planeswalker deck the first time around, I suspect, won't be doing the same in the future unless something changes.
I agree with you on this point, but I think the reason these planewalkers are so weak is because all of the cards in these decks are considered part of Kaladesh (and are therefore Standard legal) so, for developmental reasons, wanted to make absolutely sure these planeswalkers weren't even close to being tournament playable. (I think they overdid it, though.) As a side note, while the planeswalker tutor spells in these decks only look for these specific iterations, the card that get better if you control the deck's planeswalker only care about a Chandra or a Nissa, so there is a chance (probably very small) that those cards could be viable (especially if Chandra, Torch of Defiance proves to be as good as it looks at first glance).
As for the Modules, I loved the Fifth Dawn Stations and had a janky deck back in the day built around them. These are no Stations, of course - no infinite loops here - but I do like the looping design, and will definitely be playing around with those at the kitchen table. Especially Animation Module's counter granting mode.
I think it all depends upon whether Wizards ever plans on visiting Elspeth's home plane. If they never do, then they might someday declare that plane to be Moag. (And I agree that wouldn't make much sense, but with MtG, Past Continuity always bends to the needs of the Present Narrative.) If they do, then it will be an original world they can flesh out as they see fit. I believe it is a question of whether or not they need another Phyrexian-impacted world, given that New Phyrexia and Dominaria (and Mercadia) already exist.
As an aside, am I the only one who is bothered by that retcon? Not the idea of Karn as an unwitting instigator of doom - that idea has a lot of story potential. I can see Karn's narrative arc becoming travelling around and trying to fix the worlds that he inadvertently corrupted. No, I mean the idea that the catalyst was Xantcha's heartstone. Partly because it seems inconsistent to what know about the heartstones (Xantcha was walking around with hers for ages with no apparently ill-effects, and you can't tell me that even Insane Urza wouldn't have given that thing a once-over for Phyrexian foulness.) Partly because the Phyrexian Oil was itself a retcon - wasn't it supposed to be retcon'd into some weapon deployed during the Invasion? (So how would the Heartstone - created around the time of the Brother's War - have any of the Oil?)
Mostly, though, I object because it seems like a massive disservice to the character of Xantcha herself, who remains one of the most interesting (to me, at least) characters WotC has ever created.
Given that Bolas himself is Grixis colors, if these Gods are three-color, I fully expect them to be shard-colored. (Assuming that Bolas's inevitable card is Grixis) I consider it far less likely for us to get both shard and wedge-colored mythics in the same block.
According to MaRo, Amonkhet was briefly considered to be the Fall 2016 and Kaladesh for Spring 2017 for reasons he cannot yet disclose. While I believe the reason probably involves block mechanics, I wanted to draw attention to this MaRo's comment here because there are storyline implications for this change. Was Amonkhet originally going to be a cutaway from the Gatewatch storyline to see what Bolas was doing to set-up Tezzeret's actions on Kaladesh?
I wanted to second this opinion. While I do hope we get an epilogue with Tezzeret and Bolas that gives us some hints as to Bolas's larger scheme, this was the sort of story Eldritch Moon desperately needed to give us some sense of closure on both the characters and the world as a result of the events of the block.
(Also - memo to WotC Re: Future Kaladesh sets: We don't need to always visit a plane in the midst of an apocalypse. Happy endings that were hard-earned (*I know, individual mileage may vary as to how much it was earned) can be allowed to stick, more or less. Return to Ravnica featured a major crisis that was basically rooted in the conflicts innate to the existing society, and I hope the inevitable "Return to Kaladesh" goes the same route, instead of having the Phyrexians invade or the Aether becoming corrupt or Marit Lage or a plague of Homarids or whatever.)
Somewhat off topic - Liliana suggested Amonkhet was created by Bolas. If true, that makes things even more interesting. Did Bolas create the local gods and demons? Is Liliana's Demon #3 one of Bolas's creations? There are many interesting implications here...
I agree the mostly likely outcome is that they'll get their noses bloodied, be humbled and hopefully realize that their victories over the Eldrazi Titans were heavily dependent on external factors (pre-existing Hedron Network and Emrakul's own enigmatic plans, respectively), and then return home to start the process of recruiting new members to play the long game against Bolas. I just think that if anything bad does happen to anyone on the Gatewatch, Gideon is the mostly likely suspect. (Jace is MtG's Mickey Mouse; Liliana has her Demons and the Garruk plotline (And the Chain Veil. And the Raven Man...); Chandra is #2 in popularity, just had a focus block, and Wizards has just begun their plans for Chandra & Nissa.)
As for Ajani, there is a persistent rumor that Ajani (not Elspeth) was originally the one who was supposed to die at the end of the Theros (a la Obi Wan), but Elspeth's death (presumably) set up more interesting possibilities for the future. Whether true or not, I believe that Ajani will almost certainly be around for the inevitable "Return to Theros" block and that, if Ajani is going to die, it will be to resurrect Elspeth.
This is a very interesting idea, and would open the door to a lot of storytelling possibilities, but since Chandra is supposedly the second most popular planeswalker, I don't see it being very likely. Also, just as Jace was off-focus in Kaladesh because he had just played a starring role in Shadows over Innistrad, I expect Chandra to be off-focus in Amonkhet because of her prominence in Kaladesh. I fully expect Gideon to be the focal character (with another heavy dose of Liliana, due to her demon being present), basically because he seems like he is next in line to take center-stage in a block.
Personally, I agree with the suggestions above that something bad might happen to Gideon - I do like the character and he has hidden depths, but the Captain America / Superman archetype is also one of the hardest for writers to keep from becoming one-note, and - as noted - there are other popular white 'walkers waiting in the wings. Plus, Gideon's removal might be used to advance the Chandra/Nissa plotline (depending upon where WotC ultimately plans on going with it, of course...)
Other than the clear reference to Zendikar, I don't think the story gave us enough information to definitively identify the other planes Rashmi saw. However, I suspect the writer did have specific planes in mind for at least most of the references. The cityscape was probably Ravnica, for instance, and I agree that the starry sky could have been a reference to Theros. The marketplace could be Mercadia or Rabiah, although given Creative's dislike of Rabiah (as it does not represent original IP), I agree that probably was Mercadia. Am I missing an obvious reference with respect to the plane with purple clouds, mountains, and yellow flowers?
At this point, I'm assuming everything we think we know about New Phyrexia (outside of what was actually established on cards in New Phyrexia) will be proven inaccurate when we finally get a "Return to New Phyrexia" block. The conflict between the five Praetors was easily one of the most interesting things about the setting, and like the Guilds of Ravnica being overthrown and then re-established because they were the most iconic part of the setting, I am willing to bet that we will find the five back in power when the story returns to that setting.
As a side note, I do wonder if developmental concerns about the Infect mechanic have delayed a return to New Phyrexia, or if it is merely a matter of wanting the Guildpact to be more established before they run up against New Phyrexia. (Also, there is an argument that Elspeth should be a part of the resolution to the New Phyrexia storyline, given her origins; that could suggest we will be returning to Theros before New Phyrexia.)
To tie this back to the topic, I was also really hoping for a story about Atraxa, but I'm wondering if Wizards didn't want to commit to establishing anything about the current state of New Phyrexia that they might have to change later.
Fair enough - I definitely can see your point, and understand why you are disappointed...
...But I happen to agree with these assessments more. But while I might disagree about Reyhan, I completely agree with you and everyone else complaining about Ludevic.
Here... I can see why they went they way they did, and there is indeed some cleverness in the concept. (And understand the desire to keep Ludevic distinct from Geralf and Gisa.) My problem is that Ludevic's card concept isn't intuitive. Nothing about his card screams "Necro-Alchemist". Even a fairly knowledgeable Vorthos would expect Ludevic to interact with the graveyard in some fashion or at least 'create monsters' somehow, as the cards that quote him almost always deal with reanimated creatures or horrible monstrosities. Would anyone here designing Ludevic in a vacuum have started with the top-down traits of "Reclusive" and "Makes Others Do His Dirty Work" instead of "Master Monster Maker"? (I think my platonic ideal for Ludevic would have been either BUR(as Herkles) suggests) or URG, but that is just me.) Reyhan's card concept and mechanical link I could grok just by looking at the card; the fact that the article had to explain what Ludevic's card is trying to convey seems like a huge flavor fail to me.
Completely agree.
I also agree, provided they give us some story tidbits to go with the new characters. I love having glimpses of entirely new worlds, or little-known worlds like Valla or Ir. I think my ideal would be about 50/50 new characters and old characters still lacking cards.
Are you arguing that Reyhan's card doesn't fit the character? Because I think it's a decent fit - she (mechanically) cares about +1/+1 counters and (thematically) is about maintaining continuity with the dead and retaining their gifts, which seems to fit what little we know about her. She's certainly no worse than half the Legends and Planeswalkers out there when it comes to fitting the character concept. (I'd argue she's a better fit than Dovin Baan was for his concept, for example.)
Or are you arguing that, in general, you'd rather see Legendary Creatures organically built around their character concept, top-down, instead of creating them a Legendary Creature bottom-up and then applying a pre-existing name to it? Because if that is your argument, then I agree - and don't think you are in the minority with that opinion, either. (We just might disagree on the suitability of specific cards, though.)
My suspicion is that they are holding onto Feather is case they want to use her in the inevitable Return to Return to Ravnica. Just like I expect they are holding onto Taigam for a return to Tarkir. Conversely, it might be many years before we return to Innistrad again, so there is no harm in giving us a Ludevic card now. Likewise, characters like Sidar Kondo are perfect for this product, because outside of a hypothetical Time Spiral 2.0, they can't show up in a return set. (In that vein, some of my most wanted legends include Gix, Ashnod and Tawnos, because where else are we ever going to get cards for them?)
I'm sure we'll find out soon why exactly Ajani is on Kaladesh, but here's my proposal: Bolas runs the Consulate, or at least is in the process of consolidating control over it from behind the scenes, and Ajani knows this. That explains Tezzeret's presence: he's eliminating the last vestiges of opposition to the Consulate and paving the way for Bolas to overtly seize control of Kaladesh. (If Tezz was only there to seize some invention or something similiar, why would he bother trying to seek out and eliminate Pia Nalaar?)
Not only would that establish a reason for the Gatewatch to become involved in Aether Revolt, but also nicely leads into Amonkhet - perhaps the Gatewatch decides to take the battle to Bolas directly, or else is working to unravel whatever larger scheme Bolas is currently cooking up?
First of all, I agree with both of the above that Nissa's time to shine should have been BFZ - and she did get a fair bit of focus, including her fight with Ob Nixilis - but since the purpose of that block was to establish the Gatewatch, she was only one member of an ensemble cast.
Related to that, I think the purpose of Amenkhet isn't to focus on one member of the Gatewatch (although it could induct Ajani into the Gatewatch, and one of Liliana's demons could be there, so I'm not ruling it out), but rather to establish Bolas as the major reoccurring nemesis for the Gatewatch, the proverbial Lex Luthor to their Justice League. One goal of the creative era that begin in Alara was to establish MTG's major villains - Bolas, New Phyrexia, the Eldrazi, Ob Nixilis, possibly the Chain Veil and Raven Man. That creative era has given way to the Gatewatch era (with an even greater focus on comics-style storytelling), so now those villains need to brought into conflict with the Gatewatch. The Eldrazi and Nixilis have already crossed paths with the Gatewatch - Bolas is up next. I believe it is only a matter of time before New Phyrexia is back in focus for the same reason, and fully expect we'll see a return to New Phyrexia either Fall 2017 or Spring 2018.
Then later we can have Ral Zarek join the Gatewatch for the Yellow Edition...
On a more serious note, has it been confirmed anywhere that we are getting 6 planeswalkers in the Kaladesh block? I agree that it is likely (because there are 4 in Kaladesh), but so far as I've heard, Tezzeret is the only planeswalker who seems certain to appear in Aether Revolt. (If people are assuming Ajani, it seems far more likely for him to get a card in Amonkhet than in Aether Revolt, even if the character does appear in the tie-ins for Aether Revolt.)
I agree with you on this point, but I think the reason these planewalkers are so weak is because all of the cards in these decks are considered part of Kaladesh (and are therefore Standard legal) so, for developmental reasons, wanted to make absolutely sure these planeswalkers weren't even close to being tournament playable. (I think they overdid it, though.) As a side note, while the planeswalker tutor spells in these decks only look for these specific iterations, the card that get better if you control the deck's planeswalker only care about a Chandra or a Nissa, so there is a chance (probably very small) that those cards could be viable (especially if Chandra, Torch of Defiance proves to be as good as it looks at first glance).
As for the Modules, I loved the Fifth Dawn Stations and had a janky deck back in the day built around them. These are no Stations, of course - no infinite loops here - but I do like the looping design, and will definitely be playing around with those at the kitchen table. Especially Animation Module's counter granting mode.