Just looked at a bigger picture of the art for "Turn Against" and yeah those definitely aren't hedrons, but they do look a lot like Koz's obsidian plates. Maybe my theory of "messing with minds is Kozilek's shtick" is less out there than I thought.
On the subject of "Turn Against", there's something I've been wondering about. In original Zendikar we saw the hedrons being used and manipulated exclusively (as far as I know) by eldrazi. That has since seemed to be kind of retconned with the hedrons being a method of imprisoning eldrazi, and the Zendakari using them as weapons, lanterns, and wards. The lone exception to this is "Turn Against" which shows a Zendakari being mind-controlled while tiny hedrons float around his head. This is presumably the work of an eldrazi (it's a devoid spell) so what does this mean for the hedrons? Are some of the eldrazi still utilizing them the way we saw way back in "Rise of the Eldrazi"? and if so how does this stack with everything we're being told about the hedrons, their purpose, and how the Zendakari are using them? I sort of like the idea that during their imprisonment the eldrazi may have learned how to manipulate the hedrons that were imprisoning them, but this is pure conjecture.
So I've been thinking about the eldrazi titans and how Wizards seems to be trying to distinguish them from one another. We know from cards like Transgress the Mind that Ulamog lineage can cause psychological trauma and take over minds (Turn Against as well) but maybe this is a relatively rare thing among Ulamog brood. Ulamog is the titan of ceaseless hunger, the one who will eat any and all physical matter and is basically a big-tentacled-steamroller that goes around eating and smashing. As such, it makes sense that all his brood does is go around eating and smashing. Maybe psychic or magical trauma is a trait more common of Kozilek brood (Butcher of Truth/trickster god and all). I may be making something out of nothing, but it would make me feel better about how the eldrazi have been portrayed in recent UR. The brood currently most prominent on zendikar are just big aggressive tentacle monsters because the titan they spawned from is just a big aggressive tentacle monster. Ulamog is the weakest of the three, maybe he (for the most part) leaves the mental damage and reality distortion that we expect from Lovecraft-inspired beings to Koz and Em. I obviously don't mean by intentional preference because we don't know if the eldrazi even have that sort of thing, but just by standard method of feeding and reacting to threats.
I actually really liked this one. True enough, not a lot of plot advancement, but well written, engaging, and cool worldbuilding (which is something I've really been missing in UR lately). The one thing I didn't like was Kiora saying she beat Thassa when she got rolled all battle, but I understand that was just Kiora's perspective of what happened. I really enjoyed the characterization of the Merfolk gods and learning more about Kiora's past. I do agree that it would be nice to see more of the psychological effect eldrazi can have on mortals, and see them present a different form of threat than just "giant tentacle monster." Regardless, excited to see Ob next week even if it means having to deal with Nissa again.
I feel you, I was really hoping for a cantrip processor. Maybe next set. I agree with you that Esper doesnt really seem worth it. Im brewing in azorius right now for maindeck spell skite remand and tomescour w/ a 3-1 split of RIP and relic. Kind of blue white control w/ eldrazi as a win condition. It struggles w/ the aggro matchup though.
Sooooo I feel like Rest in Peace, Blight Herder, and Eldrazi temple/Eye of Ugin are a deck waiting to happen. I think Modern may be about to welcome a deck that plays RIP as a main deck build-around card rather than as a sideboard silver bullet.
I was wondering about cunning ultimatum, I feel like it's ok because it costs 3 colors and can't target players but maybe moving it down to 2 damage and 2 life would be better. Savage Ultimatum is through the breach but for 3 colors of mana, sorcery speed, and no option to splice. Granted it lets you draw 2 cards, keep the creature, and give it hexproof for a turn, but I don't think keeping the creature around is that big a deal in modern because the only decks that would play this card are likely combo decks. In retrospect I do agree that the draw two cards and hexproof probably makes it too strong, Maybe replacing one of them with scry 2? Or keeping them but the creature gets shuffled into your library at end of turn...
Trying to buoy up some underrepresented decks and because I like Tarkir:
Rakshasa Grave-robber BUG1
Creature-Cat Demon 0/0
Flash
When Rakshasa Grave-robber enters the battlefield exile target graveyard, Rakshasa Graverobber enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it where x is the number of cards exiled this way.
Ruthless Ultimatum BU[mana]G[/mana]
Instant
Destroy target permanent, then exile the top 5 cards of target player's library
Cunning Ultimatum RWU
Instant
Counter target spell. Cunning Ultimatum deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker and you gain 3 life.
Enduring Ultimatum WBG1
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures, then exile all cards from all graveyards, you gain x life where x is the number of cards exiled in this way
Swift Ultimatum RBW1
Instant
Put 3 1/1 red goblin creature tokens with haste onto the battlefield. Creatures you control gain deathtouch and first strike until end of turn.
Savage Ultimatum GUR2
Sorcery
Draw 2 cards. Then put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste and hexproof until end of turn
Kamigawa,a lot of people love it, more people hate it, even more are just kind of meh. That said, it had pretty cool, and very well developed, flavor, and it had one of the better story-arcs/book sets Magic has come out with. While I wont be heartbroken if we never go back, I am in the camp of people who thinks Kamigawa deserves a second chance. With that said, were we to get a Return to Kamigawa block/set what would you want out of it flavor/story-wise? Less focus on the Kami? A more updated higher-tech world? The whole plane getting chomped by Emrakul so people stop talking about it? Personally, I would want Hidetsugu and the Sisters of Flesh and spirit as Legendary Creatures. I'd also want more ninjas, more zubura/shrines, a better explanation of how the Kami form and where they come from, and for Tamiyo to be the block protagonist. What about all of you?
I said Theros, I love the flavor of Innistrad, and Dominaria wins storyline by a mile, but between Nyx, what I thought was an awesome storyline, a lot of room for further development, and always being partial to Greek mythology, Theros takes it.
Very reasonable, and I agree that stories focusing on legendary creatures are nice. Hopefully we'll get UR for Munda and Noyan Dar in the near future.
On filler, it is true that something plot relevant happens w/ each story we get, and the Gideon/Jace stories have generally been more interesting/plot advancing than Nissa's, but I feel there is still a lot of fluff for less substance. I liked the most recent Gideon story, but imagine if it had been from the perspective of one of the refugees fleeing the Smothering Abomination rather than Gideon's, there would have been genuine peril for the main character, we could have seen the eldrazi as the unchallengeable threat they are to most Zendikari, and at the end we still could have gotten the scene where Gideon becomes leader of the Zendikari resistance. I really enjoy the UR, even the Nissa ones, but I do feel we're getting a lot of stories about Gideon moving water falls and smashing eldrazi, and Nissa bemoaning her life, while parts of those stories (Pili and Leek, the refugees) probably could have made a more interesting UR that would still tie into, affect, and advance the primary plot. I will freely admit that not all the planeswalker centric stories are filler (Jace's was awesome and included plot-relevant material) I just feel that things are being really stretched out when they could be compacted to make room for more material.
I'm also looking forward to the Kiora story next week, and really looking forward to the Jace/Ugin story whenever we get it.
@Tarkir: The obvious issue is that Wizards (in increasingly common fashion) used "tell don't show" to imply that the Khans timeline was bad. Both timelines are bad for some subset of Tarkir's sapient species/cultures, and the only 'balanced" timeline was Fate Reforged (which wasn't that great either). I think some of us, myself included, connect more to the Khans timeline because we are humans and can better empathize with the human characters of Khans. Were we dragons, or maybe if we'd gotten even ONE story from the perspective of the dragon lords or their broods, we'd probably be better able to empathize with that side of the conflict. Personally, I feel Khans timeline was more interesting than Dragons timeline, but I do not feel it is necessarily the "better" outcome for the world because we've never been given evidence that the plane of Tarkir itself was doing particularly well/poorly either way.
@Nissa/The most recent uncharted Realms: I thought this was decent. Like everyone has pointed out Nissa stories are pretty bland and filler-y, and as a character she lost a lot of her complexity due to the retcons. Her weird "you can't say Zendikar is yours"snob moment while talking to Munda was kind of weird and made me like her as a character a little less. Which is the first time I've felt anything more than ambivalence towards her character since Worldwaker so right on for that. I am coming to the belief that the change in how UR is handled is a mistake. Whatever your feelings about Khans/Dragons of Tarkir the way UR was handled was excellent. We got cool random stories that let us immerse ourselves in the world and we got relevant plot-advancing stories of Sarkhan's quest and the fall of the Khans. In the new stories, by keeping the focus solely on the planeswalkers, I feel we are losing a lot. We're being given filler instead of individual vignettes, and because we're only following the main characters who we know appear next block there is nothing at stake. This also really undercuts the threat of the eldrazi, as we never see them from the perspective of the average Zendikari, but only from the perspective of badasses like Gideon and Nissa who can slaughter dozens of eldrazi single handedly. The best UR we've had recently has been Drana's, UR should be handled the way they were in Tarkir block, with the story only focusing on the main characters when something important or relevant has happened.
Well, on a different note, while I no longer believe Kozilek is on Zendikar I still think it's interesting that all of his spawn are shown underground. Is this a feeding preference? Like Ulamog and his spawn drain the mana out of planes by scouring the surface and oceans while Kozilek drains planes by going underground and feeding on a world's core? If so it would probably explain why he was the titan that the Kor and merfolk turned into their Earth god in later mythology.
I was kind of surprised and disappointed we didn't get an eldrazi processor that cantripped/let you draw cards as it's on cast effect. I was really hoping processors would be the thing that finally let you build a deck around rest in peace. Waiting on next set I guess...
Rakshasa Grave-robber
BUG1
Creature-Cat Demon 0/0
Flash
When Rakshasa Grave-robber enters the battlefield exile target graveyard, Rakshasa Graverobber enters the battlefield with X +1/+1 counters on it where x is the number of cards exiled this way.
Ruthless Ultimatum
BU[mana]G[/mana]
Instant
Destroy target permanent, then exile the top 5 cards of target player's library
Cunning Ultimatum
RWU
Instant
Counter target spell. Cunning Ultimatum deals 3 damage to target creature or planeswalker and you gain 3 life.
Enduring Ultimatum
WBG1
Sorcery
Destroy all creatures, then exile all cards from all graveyards, you gain x life where x is the number of cards exiled in this way
Swift Ultimatum
RBW1
Instant
Put 3 1/1 red goblin creature tokens with haste onto the battlefield. Creatures you control gain deathtouch and first strike until end of turn.
Savage Ultimatum
GUR2
Sorcery
Draw 2 cards. Then put a creature card from your hand onto the battlefield. That creature gains haste and hexproof until end of turn
On filler, it is true that something plot relevant happens w/ each story we get, and the Gideon/Jace stories have generally been more interesting/plot advancing than Nissa's, but I feel there is still a lot of fluff for less substance. I liked the most recent Gideon story, but imagine if it had been from the perspective of one of the refugees fleeing the Smothering Abomination rather than Gideon's, there would have been genuine peril for the main character, we could have seen the eldrazi as the unchallengeable threat they are to most Zendikari, and at the end we still could have gotten the scene where Gideon becomes leader of the Zendikari resistance. I really enjoy the UR, even the Nissa ones, but I do feel we're getting a lot of stories about Gideon moving water falls and smashing eldrazi, and Nissa bemoaning her life, while parts of those stories (Pili and Leek, the refugees) probably could have made a more interesting UR that would still tie into, affect, and advance the primary plot. I will freely admit that not all the planeswalker centric stories are filler (Jace's was awesome and included plot-relevant material) I just feel that things are being really stretched out when they could be compacted to make room for more material.
I'm also looking forward to the Kiora story next week, and really looking forward to the Jace/Ugin story whenever we get it.
@Nissa/The most recent uncharted Realms: I thought this was decent. Like everyone has pointed out Nissa stories are pretty bland and filler-y, and as a character she lost a lot of her complexity due to the retcons. Her weird "you can't say Zendikar is yours"snob moment while talking to Munda was kind of weird and made me like her as a character a little less. Which is the first time I've felt anything more than ambivalence towards her character since Worldwaker so right on for that. I am coming to the belief that the change in how UR is handled is a mistake. Whatever your feelings about Khans/Dragons of Tarkir the way UR was handled was excellent. We got cool random stories that let us immerse ourselves in the world and we got relevant plot-advancing stories of Sarkhan's quest and the fall of the Khans. In the new stories, by keeping the focus solely on the planeswalkers, I feel we are losing a lot. We're being given filler instead of individual vignettes, and because we're only following the main characters who we know appear next block there is nothing at stake. This also really undercuts the threat of the eldrazi, as we never see them from the perspective of the average Zendikari, but only from the perspective of badasses like Gideon and Nissa who can slaughter dozens of eldrazi single handedly. The best UR we've had recently has been Drana's, UR should be handled the way they were in Tarkir block, with the story only focusing on the main characters when something important or relevant has happened.