"Crew" makes little sense to me. The big Flagship needs "crew 3", which you'd think means it needs 3 crew members.... but nah, it just needs a creature with 3 power in order to fly it. Yeesh.
And oh goodie, we get counters with associated symbols now, that's really useful and won't make the game gimmicky or anything :|
Oh yeah, and we're "creating" creature tokens now. Might as well have made it "birthing" or "popping out". What a mess.
With regards to Crew, at an earlier stage in development is was "Tap N creatures" but that was found to disproportionately favor Servo/token decks so it was changed to "N power" to balance it. Yes it makes less sense flavorfully, but it makes more sense mechanically.
The new wording for making tokens was apparently chosen to clear up any ambiguity with new players possibly thinking "Put X token onto the battlefield" mean that they have to HAVE that specific token (In hand or whatever).
Dovan Baan will actually be next-level Arlinn Kord!
They won't just forget about him halfway through the story, no! They already forgot to even put him in the set.
Thus he's on the boosters but won't get an actual card in this block. And they'll never talk about him again. Ever.
You joke, but it's like a knife through my heart.
/salty
******
Honestly, I don't think that he'll make tokens. While he can inherently detect the flaws in artifacts/structures/systems/whatever, there's never any mention at all of him making them. Despite his involvement with artificers, it doesn't look like he actually is one himself.
It does look if you take his art for reference. There are 5+ servos/thopters around him. That would be a terrible art decision if he was not popping them. Also, given Saheeli, I think he should be a little more playable in non artifact decks, thus making artifacts tokens makes the most sense for an artifact matter walker I suppose.
But his art doesn't show him making servos/thopters. It shows him detecting the flaws in them. That's what the glowing, violet colored cracks through them are supposed to represent. He could easily destroy or modify artifacts, not make them.
Dovan Baan will actually be next-level Arlinn Kord!
They won't just forget about him halfway through the story, no! They already forgot to even put him in the set.
Thus he's on the boosters but won't get an actual card in this block. And they'll never talk about him again. Ever.
You joke, but it's like a knife through my heart.
/salty
******
Honestly, I don't think that he'll make tokens. While he can inherently detect the flaws in artifacts/structures/systems/whatever, there's never any mention at all of him making them. Despite his involvement with artificers, it doesn't look like he actually is one himself.
Rikuto, Architect of the Clouds4UU
Legendary Creature - Moonfolk Wizard
Flying 1, Return a land you control to your hand: Tap target permanent.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return target tapped permanent to its owner's hand.
2/3
It's actually kind of amazing how well the Soratami's land return mechanic works with Landfall.
Skycaptain Aadesh2WR
Legendary Creature - Human Pilot
Whenever ~ crews a vehicle, that vehicle gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever a Pilot you control crews a vehicle, that vehicle gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
3/2
I had originally had the second ability as "Whenever a Pilot you control crews a vehicle, that Pilot gets +2/+0 until end of turn." With the idea that it enabled your Pilots to fill the crew requirements of larger vehicles. A 1/1 Pilot would be able to pilot a Crew 3 vehicle solo. But it occurred to me that his ability could in fact lead to playing fewer pilots rather than the prompt's "play lots of" so I changed it. Now it just rewards you for tapping (possibly multiple) Pilots to crew your vehicles.
Okay, I'd like to see an Esper colored* commander that has nothing to do with artifacts. *That is, a WUB Commander. Absolutely no requirement that Esper the Shard be involved in any way, shape or form.
I dn't expect Ajani to get a card already, but I'm pretty happy to see him in addition to Tezzeret. Ajani and Tezzeret together create connections to all dangling storyline threads we can expect to be addressed in the coming years, so this is quite a thrilling turn to the storyline. Ajani also is such a great team player that he's a natural fit for the Gatewatch.
Also we are just Garruk's redemption away for the Lorwyn 5 to make their full appearance in the Gatweatch story!
The art of Nissa and Tezzeret alone seem a little generic(so is the cardnam "Tezzeret's Ambition"). Is Nissa now always having full green eyes? Haven'T noticed that before and thought it was just a side effect of spellcasting visuals, but she seems quite chill in the first art.
I assume o´nly the three named cards are actual storyline spotlight cards? Though the last art seems alright enough to count.
When Wizards decided to change their narrative structure during Origins one of the things they talked about was Magic not having an actual protagonist. They had a lot of characters but none that they could name as their central cast. So they picked five walkers to be their main cast and that's what their rolling with. If people are expecting many sets without the gatewatch prepare to be disappointed for a while. They're the central focus of how Magic approaches storylelling now so most, if not all sets, will likely revolve around them or their story.
You seem to misunderstand: It's less about having a central cast of five characters and more about the fact that each story seems to deveolve into assembling the whole crew. It would seem that having two or three members sit out each block (except maybe for conclusions of a multi-block story arc) would give the audience some time to grow expectant of their return.
No one realistically expects the Gatewatch to be entirely left out of a block anytime soon, but having the entire Gatewatch every block is the other extreme and can lead to unfavorable oversaturation.
A little absence makes the heart grow fonder. And it doesn't need to even be a whole year. Won't we rest until this is a card illustration?
Indeed. If we're going full on Avengers here, you have to take the Marvel Universe (as it pertains to the members of the Avengers) as a whole. You don't just get five Avengers movies in a row. You get an Avengers, then an Iron Man, then a Captain America, then another Avengers. While you might see one or two of the other Avengers pop up in the movies for other members , you never see ALL of them in any movie that's not AVENGERS as a team.
Gatewatch is rapidly approaching all Avengers in every movie proportions.
Writing was fair, about as good as we can expect. Doug Beyer is definitely one of the better writers on Creative, but not the best. The only thing that felt pushed was Liliana's corruption of Chandra. I mean, that was just a little too easy at some parts.
I'm glad Tezzeret is back, though I do wonder how he got in-vegtabled. Perhaps Bolas decided he could be useful again.
Pia is alive. Because yeah, nobody saw that coming.
Finally, I'm glad they finally ditched that stupid swimsuit thing for Liliana. The dress has always been her best costume.
Lillana's corruption of Chandra was my favorite part. I think Chandra is very easily influenced. I hope that mosaic of Kiran appears on the art of a card. So beautiful and nostalgic. Poor Chandra, I feel myself identifying with her a lot more. My favorite line was "I know home can be a source of pain" - Lilliana is really growing on me too despite my not liking her at all before due to her killing angels.
Anyone feel like revealing Tezzeret and Pia at once, and so soon, felt a bit rushed though? We'll have to see how the story plays out. I expected at least Tezzeret to be a more dramatic reveal at the main fair as its judge, and getting close to him being a difficult feat. Like an emperor of sorts. Again, time will tell how this is meant to play out.
Agreed about Doug. This was still rather good regardless.
It felt a bit rushed to me as well... and like yet more of the Gatewatch simply bumbling into necessary plot points, rather than actively seeking them out.
Seriously, if they had just skipped the dancing/antagonizing consul officers/fleeing and just happening to stumble upon Pia and Tezz, and just had their investigation actually prove useful it would have sat a lot better with me.
Fury of the Storm 3UR
Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell from your hand, look at the top three cards of your library. You may reveal a card from among them with the same name as a spell cast this turn. If you do, you may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
*I'm not entirely sure that the mechanics actually work for this card.
Usually, this becomes more complicated because "enchant BLAH" means that you have to target a BLAH when you cast the spell.
The correct template is the one currently used for Animate Dead or Necromancy.
Also, something like what they did for manifested creatures with Rageform and its siblings could work.
---------------------
UntouchabilityCWUBRG
Instant
Each permanent and each player gains protection from everything until end of turn. "You didn't really need that aura, did you?"
Ah, I had originally worded it similarly Rageform, but it seemed clunky to me so I changed it. (I couldn't think of a card to look up to see the official wording.)
He didn't manipulate them into aiding his cause though, if anything he hurt his cause.
We don't know that yet. What he asked for may not have been what he wanted (in fact - that's how master manipulators work) Can you tell I'm rooting for him to be UB? If he wanted Chandra to return to Kaladesh for some reason - that's exactly what happened. I have a hard time believing someone that ordered 'mistook' the Gatewatch's purpose the way he says he did.
It's certainly possible he misspoke, but that wouldn't make him UB. Though it's entirely possible Tamiyo didn't explain it properly too.
Heck, it might not even have been Tamiyo who explained it to him. We have no idea how many intermediaries were involved in this multiversal game of Telephone. He could simply have actually not had the correct impression of what the Gatewatch was looking to do.
Edit: And also, we already have a UBartifact centered planeswalker. I don't really see the need for a second one, and would prefer another color combination, or a different focus if UB.
With regards to Crew, at an earlier stage in development is was "Tap N creatures" but that was found to disproportionately favor Servo/token decks so it was changed to "N power" to balance it. Yes it makes less sense flavorfully, but it makes more sense mechanically.
The new wording for making tokens was apparently chosen to clear up any ambiguity with new players possibly thinking "Put X token onto the battlefield" mean that they have to HAVE that specific token (In hand or whatever).
But his art doesn't show him making servos/thopters. It shows him detecting the flaws in them. That's what the glowing, violet colored cracks through them are supposed to represent. He could easily destroy or modify artifacts, not make them.
Legendary Artifact - Equipment
Equipped creature gets +2/+0 and has first strike, deathtouch and reach.
Equip 3
You joke, but it's like a knife through my heart.
/salty
******
Honestly, I don't think that he'll make tokens. While he can inherently detect the flaws in artifacts/structures/systems/whatever, there's never any mention at all of him making them. Despite his involvement with artificers, it doesn't look like he actually is one himself.
Legendary Creature - Moonfolk Wizard
Flying
1, Return a land you control to your hand: Tap target permanent.
Whenever a land enters the battlefield under your control, you may return target tapped permanent to its owner's hand.
2/3
It's actually kind of amazing how well the Soratami's land return mechanic works with Landfall.
Next up, a Rat commander
Legendary Creature - Human Pilot
Whenever ~ crews a vehicle, that vehicle gains flying until end of turn.
Whenever a Pilot you control crews a vehicle, that vehicle gets +1/+1 until end of turn.
3/2
I had originally had the second ability as "Whenever a Pilot you control crews a vehicle, that Pilot gets +2/+0 until end of turn." With the idea that it enabled your Pilots to fill the crew requirements of larger vehicles. A 1/1 Pilot would be able to pilot a Crew 3 vehicle solo. But it occurred to me that his ability could in fact lead to playing fewer pilots rather than the prompt's "play lots of" so I changed it. Now it just rewards you for tapping (possibly multiple) Pilots to crew your vehicles.
Okay, I'd like to see an Esper colored* commander that has nothing to do with artifacts. *That is, a WUB Commander. Absolutely no requirement that Esper the Shard be involved in any way, shape or form.
Artifact Creature - Atog
Modular 2
Remove a +1/+1 counter from a creature you control: Cogatog gets +2/+2 until end of turn.
0/0
Enchantment
All creatures get -3/-3.
Whenever a creature dies, its controller loses 3 life.
Indeed. If we're going full on Avengers here, you have to take the Marvel Universe (as it pertains to the members of the Avengers) as a whole. You don't just get five Avengers movies in a row. You get an Avengers, then an Iron Man, then a Captain America, then another Avengers. While you might see one or two of the other Avengers pop up in the movies for other members , you never see ALL of them in any movie that's not AVENGERS as a team.
Gatewatch is rapidly approaching all Avengers in every movie proportions.
That I did. That's what I get for starting a post before dinner, then finishing it afterwards.
It felt a bit rushed to me as well... and like yet more of the Gatewatch simply bumbling into necessary plot points, rather than actively seeking them out.
Seriously, if they had just skipped the dancing/antagonizing consul officers/fleeing and just happening to stumble upon Pia and Tezz, and just had their investigation actually prove useful it would have sat a lot better with me.
Enchantment
Whenever you cast a spell from your hand, look at the top three cards of your library. You may reveal a card from among them with the same name as a spell cast this turn. If you do, you may cast that card without paying its mana cost.
Ah, I had originally worded it similarly Rageform, but it seemed clunky to me so I changed it.
Painful Repression 1BB
Instant
Choose one or both-
Turn target creature with morph face down.
Destroy target face down creature.
Not everything is a Nemesis Plot.
Everything is a Nemesis Plot.
Heck, it might not even have been Tamiyo who explained it to him. We have no idea how many intermediaries were involved in this multiversal game of Telephone. He could simply have actually not had the correct impression of what the Gatewatch was looking to do.
Edit: And also, we already have a UB artifact centered planeswalker. I don't really see the need for a second one, and would prefer another color combination, or a different focus if UB.