Watermarks or a top-corner symbol would've been nice, but they would've also had to come up with iconography for each shard--something difficult as they weren't organizations, but places. I realize that the latest comment is two years old and so it's really easy to point this out, but the best solution would've been to run prereleases similar to Return to Ravnica and Gatecrash. Fortunately Wizards did learn a few things.
That aside, I really did love Alara (and to be clear with that I mean the first set, only the first set). The concept of worlds in which the colors we take for granted simply do not exist was fantastically novel, and as far as I can tell is the most frequently revisited theme among fan-designers. For the block as a whole, I choose lack of block clarity and focus as a ruining factor more than its timing. Conflux was a monumental disappointment--we're here for worlds without certain colors. Now you're mashing everything together rather than giving the shards depth. Gee, thanks guys.
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- Rusty Keyes
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Why not?
I didn't say it was complex or too hard to understand, it's not I assure you! By extra work I merely mean fighting people's natural inclination to expect a card that's the same color as its mana cost. I don't see anything fundamentally weird or potentially rage-inducing about putting trailblaze on sorceries to justify an action that is.
Are you implying that Dominaria's natural state before arriving at the nexus and subsequent exposure to its mana lines was that of being frozen? If so, that's an audible "woah" from me.
Given that this is a very "on-off"ish mechanic and that it can make shaping a smooth mana curve much more difficult, I would fix the cost reduction to just one number. 2 seems perfect and is still significant at higher costs.
That said, I don't like Primeval Replication and Ancient Exhumation because they don't work with morph, but Tracker's Guile becomes really cool.
Primeval Knowledge I believe could be written as "Draw cards equal to target creature's power or toughness, whichever is greater."
This is an awesome idea for wedge lands; I'm definitely doing it for my set. Why? Because it mirrors the shard lands perfectly. I would argue against 2 life being too good, since while being tapped stinks in the early run, being forced to pay that life late game is equally cringe-worthy. I think the Ravnica shocks set a pretty good baseline.
The worst I've seen them do is confuse omniscience with omnipotence, but then again knowledge is power so the point is moot.