The gods in this set feel more like goofy humans rather than gods. Not sure how I feel about them.
I mean, half the point of the Norse gods is that, first of all, as with certain other pantheons of gods (like the Greek gods), Norse gods are very close to the temperament and behavior of the humans.
Unlike most other pantheons, however, Norse gods aren't immortal. At all. On the contrary, when they die they go to Hel or Valhalla just like everyone else. And, unlike virtually every other pantheon of gods, the Norse gods are not inherently born immortal. They are ONLY able to stay youthful in body and long-lived enough to see Ragnarok because of magical apples grown by their fellow Norse goddess, Iðunn. If they did not eat these apples, Norse gods grow old and die of natural causes, just like everyone else.
Norse gods being fundamentally mortal but powerful beings is kind of one of the whole things that make them unique amongst pantheons.
Since we only have the god dual cards so far, and there's likely to be a nice chunk of design space in the set for dual cards, there will be many more like the gods.
My guess is all the Kaldheim dual cards have equipment on one side, anything else on the other.
This includes runes, which I suspect will be dual cards. A rune as a piece of equipment works REALLY well for many practical fantasy runic concepts. Equipping a rune, for example, could symbolize etching the rune on something someone's wearing, or painting/tattooing it on oneself. Or equipping a piece of gear that has the rune etched upon it, of course.
Then, some sort of spell on the other. Could be instant/sorcery, symbolizing the classic etching of the rune in the air for a magical effect. Or it could be an aura, likely one that does not enchant a creature; land-enchanting auras, as suggested elsewhere, could certainly be interesting and fill some rare design space.
Again, these cards are not being removed from the game. They're being removed from official events sanctioned by the company itself. As this company wishes to be more inclusive, they chose to ban playing those cards ONLY in events THEY, THE COMPANY, OFFICIALLY SANCTION. That's it. Your cards are not going to be removed from the game's history, taken from you then burned. You can still play with these cards at home, just not at any officially-sanctioned events. That's it.
Rather like removing cards such as Chaos Orb removed a physical element to the game they didn't want in official play didn't magically prevent people from playing those cards at home, but did remove a potential physical barrier from people from official events in a game that otherwise does not require explicitly physical skills to play. You can still play with those types of cards at home, just not at any officially-sanctioned events. And the history of those cards being in the game remains intact.
Rather like removing ante cards doesn't in any way prevent people at home from playing for ante or with those cards, but does prevent you from having cards permanently taken from you in official events without your consent, as well as removing an explicit gambling element from the game. You can still play with those cards and for ante, just not at any officially-sanctioned events. And the history of those cards and the ante mechanic being in the game remains intact.
In the same way that removing a statue isn't erasing history, it's just removing a memorial to someone from public spaces. Somehow, magically, we can look at post-WWII Germany, not see anymore publicly displayed fascist statues or imagery, yet have deep, complex, nuanced, and THOROUGH histories of that time intact, without a single need to maintain officially-sanctioned public imagery commemorating the acts or the people involved.
This is nothing more than taking some problematic combinations of imagery, words, and effects that have a profoundly negative context to those historically or currently harmed by the aforementioned (and no, no one else gets to tell the marginalized they are not being harmed, and that somehow intent or the lack thereof negates that harm), and removing them from officially-sanctioned public events. The end.
When WotC decides they can take your cards away from you and destroy them, or otherwise utterly erase their existence from the game as a whole instead of merely at official events, then there might be a leg to stand on in terms of accusing them of trying to actually erase history.
Not to mention, destiny is often not order; it is chaos. One's destiny is hardly so predictable. This is why it's the FICKLE hand of fate.
The goddess of fate on Theros, then, embodies both the natural order of the progression of life and time and the destiny such things invariably bring with them. But she is also the embodiment of the unpredictable nature of fate.
While Calix is explicitly--per previous descriptions of the character himself--fate's agent of order in the world, and thus green/white, the goddess of fate herself, being the embodiment of fate itself, is far more chaotic and unpredictable (a thoroughly red trait). But she still has profound use for agents who pull the strands of fate into an ordered weave, pulling order from chaos to guide specific destinies.
So red/green is quite understandable as destiny. Destiny is something that comes to everyone, whether they wish it or not, and that destiny is very often indeed unpredictable, bringing chaotic upheaval to life, both personal and in the multitudes.
Sadly, Haktos always has protection from cmc 1, so he cannot be targeted with Gods Willing.
Oh right, duh. Obvious mistake is obvious.
Disclosure: that was my first thought, as well, and then I reread the card. We do have Center Soul or Feat of Resistance at cmc 2 but the likelihood that your opponent will just happen to have the correct cmc of removal in hand is low enough that this card should prove difficult for them to remove, sweepers notwithstanding (since they don't target). Rather than trying to find neat combos to use to make him absoluately invulnerable, we should probably rely on his inherent effects--those are more than sufficient. Blink effects in white are probably better--not only will reentering the battlefield change the number but the blink means the original spell isn't targeting him any more.
That's why I suggested Brave the Elements. Doesn't target so you can still give him pro any color for W.
And sweepers not targeting is why I suggested the in-color Deafening Clarion and Storm's Wrath. Because while they also don't target, protection prevents all damage. So if you rolled a 2, he's immune to both of those sweepers, otherwise he's immune to one or the other.
Having protection from tokens (and other 0-cost cards), 1-drops, and 5+ cost cards automatically is... pretty damned nice. Even if you end up hitting a cost your opponent has some cards that can remove him, they have to hit that exact card. Their removal is usually a 3-drop, but you rolled 2 so only one removal card they have a couple copies of can remove him? Wow.
Note also that it's protection from. If you are playing Boros, you might very well have Deafening Clarion and Storm's Wrath as your sweepers. If you roll a 2, he's immune to the damage from both (but still gets lifelink from Clarion!). If you roll a 3 or 4, he's still immune to one of them, giving you some interesting lines of play. You're also playing red and white. If you roll a number the opponent has a blocker for, you're in a color combo that can remove that potential blocker, thereby removing the card that he DOESN'T have protection from. You're also in a color combo that can give him protection from a color of your choice for W at instant speed. They use one of the only cards that can remove him, and you stop it with Gods Willing, you might have ruined their game just like that.
I'm going to have to profoundly disagree with the flavor not fitting. This is a kraken from the deeps. The 2/3 body isn't its actual body, and this is why it gets bigger and bigger and bigger. This is a kraken just exploring the surface. Testing it. From far below. The 2/3 body is just what little bit it's showing at the start. If you manage to remove that 2/3, you've driven the kraken back into the deeps. The longer the kraken explores the surface world, however, the more of itself it shows, including its tentacles. The more of itself it shows, the harder it is to drive back down into the deeps.
I think this card very, very successfully encapsulates a classic trope of many a story of such monsters of the deeps. Where you only see a hint of it, at first. However, as the narrative progresses, you begin to see more and more of the truth. First one tentacle grasps a person and pulls them under. Then, more and more tentacles slowly appear, wrapping around more people, around the ship, multiple ships, a whole fleet. As it rises to the surface more over the course of the story, the true danger lurking below grows more and more terrifying.
That's what this card appears to be going for. And for that reason, this card is chock full of flavor win, to me. And also might very well be playable in constructed? Heck, yeah.
Treacherous Blessing 2B
Enchantment
When Treacherous Blessing enters the battlefield, draw three cards.
Whenever you cast a spell, you lose 1 life.
When Treacherous Blessing becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
Cling to Dust B
Instant
Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a creature card, you gain 3 life. Otherwise, you draw a card.
Escape: 3B, Exile five other cards from your graveyard.
That I agree with completely. Making it a Land - Forest Food would have been fun and flavorful... so to speak. Without making it busted, I don't believe.
Why on earth is a candy house a forest ? ******* awful flavor.
The gingerbread house is from Hansel and Gretel.
The whole story is about kids getting abandoned then lost within a forest. Their stepmother decides to take them out in the forest and then leave them there, but Hansel, the brother, initially leaves a trail of white pebbles he'd collected after overhearing the parents agree to abandon the children the previous night, the father reluctantly pushed into it by the stepmother so they don't have to pay to feed them anymore, the family is so poor.
The kids come back, and their stepmother locks them up so they can't collect more pebbles, but Hansel instead leaves a trail of breadcrumbs from the meager bread meal they had and he saved when their stepmom does the same thing to them. Birds, however, had eaten the breadcrumbs so they are lost deep in the woods.
They wander for DAYS, starving. Eventually, they happen upon a house made of gingerbread and candy within the forest, which they start to eat ravenously, then the whole witch thing happens, yadda yadda, cannibal, oven, kill the witch, escape, etc.
The story has always been about a gingerbread house quite specifically hidden deep within a FOREST. It's kind of the entire reason the kids get lost and stumble on it to begin with, because if it weren't a dense forest, they would have made their way home pretty easily.
Therefore, having the gingerbread house tied to a forest fits the flavor of the fairy tale it's highlighting perfectly. Just perfectly. It's a hugely important part of the story.
So, normal is, in a world full of Fae, Giants, Elves, etc., there is exactly one black woman who is Queen? That’s out of place. There is no context. Where the hell did she come from? If she was a purple elf, and there were no other elves present, I would be asking the same damn question.
So to reiterate, for those in the back, where the f*** are the rest of the people that share her characteristics? That’s the point. That is what leads me to believe she is only there to check a damn box. In what world is there exactly one person who looks/acts as they do?
Color aside, let’s say she speaks freaking French. Would that make a lick of sense? I’d want to know why.
My question isn’t why is she black, it’s why is she the only black person depicted in this set. That’s normal? There’s what, ~250 cards in this set? It’s normal to reserve 1-3 card slots for art with PoC? By my count, there exactly 3 that clearly depict a PoC in the art. None in crowds.
You people sit up here and bang the drum of “good job wizards”, yet I’m like, ok you could’ve done more. You don’t normalize anything by introducing in small doses. Give this women some staying power here. Give her a reason to exist.
Again, sh***y human beings, all of you. Hell, you judged me and you don’t even know me. That tells me all I need to know about you.
You truly have been on the receiving end of some pretty big injustices here. I'm just sitting here shaking my head at what you had to go through. If there's anything I can do, let me know. You've been through some s****y stuff on this thread page, been judged and whatnot. Shame on all these people. Shame on them.
Thank you, your thinly veiled sarcasm truly adds to this discussion. I mean, by all accounts, you truly are a beacon of support here and we should all learn a thing or two from it.
@gutterstorm makes a valid point, but not in the way they had expected. They could literally be any color, so what is the significance here? Why not a Latino? Asian? Or anything in between? What separates her from her peers?
No actually that’s exactly the point I was making. Her race isn’t relevant. It’s not relevant to her individual character or any tropes she could be portraying. The same way it’s fine to have female knights because gender isn’t relevant to them or the dictions that inspire them. They could be any race, gender or sex and it wouldn’t matter. It’s not like, because she’s dark skinned she’s been through the same thing black people in our world have. I’m not going to go into the ridiculousness of “representation other than to say that if you need someone to look like you in order to empathize with their struggles and journey or to think that you could achieve similarly then that’s a deficiency in you and no one else. Skin color doesn’t matter.
So this makes the point I was making. I’m not saying that she needs a tragic backstory. But, is it not reasonable to ask why she is who she is? She is a legendary creature after all. There has to be a reason they chose a black woman to be the Twins step-mother, meaning she’s queen. Married to a white man. I’m not suggesting there be incredible detail, but you’ve chosen to cross a handful of barriers, there should be a level of significance to it. If you’re cool with checked boxes, that’s fine. But, I can assure you that’s not the same as respresentation.
Must utterly disagree. Part of normalizing things like racial diversity is... you know... not bringing up things like "why was she married to a white man?"
Straight up, pointing out that there simply must be reasons for these details, that there has to be significance to justify its inclusion, flat out continues to other marginalized people. It's very much akin to pointing out that a marriage is interracial or that a couple has a "gay marriage" instead of, you know, just... these two people are married, no more context needed, that continues to highlight them as other, and not simply people who are existing as people doing things people do all the time.
By not explaining it as being something that requires a reason in any way, it's far more inclusive and presented as simply a normal part of this world. Women are knights, a black woman is married to a white man. None of it is explained, because it's all just a normal part of life on Eldraine. You know, like fairies flying around and giants stomping about and food coming to life and having sentience is just a normal part of life on this world.
The wildest part is... guess what virtually never needs an explanation for why it is in stories and worlds like this? Fairies, and giants, and living, sentient food. They're allowed to be just a normal part of this world, to simply exist within the world, without any explanation needed. But gender and racial diversity? Nah. That simply must have an explanation to justify it existing.
Being his wife doesn't necessarily give her the authority of the High King. Really depends on the laws of the land, so it can't be assumed the wife of the High King has the same authority over the five courts as the High King.
It still makes her Queen of the High Court. It also means he is king, both of the High Court and Ardenvale(Hence why he is monowhite with 5 activated abilities not 5 color) Thus, hypothetically, she would have higher authority than the rulership of the other four courts. She could have had either design and it be an accurate portrayal of her character. They wanted her to fit into the ruler cycle and made Kennreth special because he was the BaB. The honest shame is that they didn't put some of the more minor characters on the uncommon legends. I.E. Syr Cato for the White uncommon Knight.
BTW for those who don't mind spoilers or don't intend to read the book you can find a pretty good summary here. (from this guys point of view the book isn't that much more worth a read than the WAR book was.)
This may come as a shock, but a queen, even the highest queen in a realm, often did NOT have all the powers of the king, especially if the king had a living oldest heir (in the real world usually male heir), and especially if she was not the blood mother of the heir(s). Such a queen would act, at best, as a regent, and answerable to the Lords and to the Crown Prince, without anything near the full powers of the monarchy herself. This is not always the case, but often enough. And we do not know what the laws and courtly rules of Eldraine are, so we still cannot say that Linden herself had the same power over the other Courts of Eldraine, simply because she's the High King's wife.
In a huge number of societies, Will and/or Rowan would have the power of the throne, and NOT a stepmother queen. So really, it's not at all unreasonable to think Kennreth's abilities represent his power as the High King alone, and having nothing to do with the knightly quests he and Linden apparently undertook in younger days, nor that anyone who's not the High King would NOT have such abilities.
That being said, is that what the five color-activated abilities on Kennreth for sure represent? Or is that simply supposition?
Because--without reading the novel, granted--it makes 100% perfect sense that the High King of the realms has those five different color-based abilities simply because he is the monarch in control of all five mana-color-based Courts of Eldraine. As in, he quite literally has the political authority over and the power to command the use of all five courts of the realm with his word alone by virtue of being the High King, and those activated abilities represent his bringing to bear the power of a given court and its associated virtue (so loyalty for the white court, knowledge for blue, persistence for black, courage for red, and strength for the green court).
Not because he's undergone all the trials, but simply due to his political position. If the king of another court was the High King, I suspect they, too, would have five colored abilities to represent that authority over the five courts of Eldraine feudalism.
Linden is his wife... sssssoooooooooo.......... yes?
Being his wife doesn't necessarily give her the authority of the High King. Really depends on the laws of the land, so it can't be assumed the wife of the High King has the same authority over the five courts as the High King.
I mean, half the point of the Norse gods is that, first of all, as with certain other pantheons of gods (like the Greek gods), Norse gods are very close to the temperament and behavior of the humans.
Unlike most other pantheons, however, Norse gods aren't immortal. At all. On the contrary, when they die they go to Hel or Valhalla just like everyone else. And, unlike virtually every other pantheon of gods, the Norse gods are not inherently born immortal. They are ONLY able to stay youthful in body and long-lived enough to see Ragnarok because of magical apples grown by their fellow Norse goddess, Iðunn. If they did not eat these apples, Norse gods grow old and die of natural causes, just like everyone else.
Norse gods being fundamentally mortal but powerful beings is kind of one of the whole things that make them unique amongst pantheons.
Since we only have the god dual cards so far, and there's likely to be a nice chunk of design space in the set for dual cards, there will be many more like the gods.
My guess is all the Kaldheim dual cards have equipment on one side, anything else on the other.
This includes runes, which I suspect will be dual cards. A rune as a piece of equipment works REALLY well for many practical fantasy runic concepts. Equipping a rune, for example, could symbolize etching the rune on something someone's wearing, or painting/tattooing it on oneself. Or equipping a piece of gear that has the rune etched upon it, of course.
Then, some sort of spell on the other. Could be instant/sorcery, symbolizing the classic etching of the rune in the air for a magical effect. Or it could be an aura, likely one that does not enchant a creature; land-enchanting auras, as suggested elsewhere, could certainly be interesting and fill some rare design space.
Rather like removing cards such as Chaos Orb removed a physical element to the game they didn't want in official play didn't magically prevent people from playing those cards at home, but did remove a potential physical barrier from people from official events in a game that otherwise does not require explicitly physical skills to play. You can still play with those types of cards at home, just not at any officially-sanctioned events. And the history of those cards being in the game remains intact.
Rather like removing ante cards doesn't in any way prevent people at home from playing for ante or with those cards, but does prevent you from having cards permanently taken from you in official events without your consent, as well as removing an explicit gambling element from the game. You can still play with those cards and for ante, just not at any officially-sanctioned events. And the history of those cards and the ante mechanic being in the game remains intact.
In the same way that removing a statue isn't erasing history, it's just removing a memorial to someone from public spaces. Somehow, magically, we can look at post-WWII Germany, not see anymore publicly displayed fascist statues or imagery, yet have deep, complex, nuanced, and THOROUGH histories of that time intact, without a single need to maintain officially-sanctioned public imagery commemorating the acts or the people involved.
This is nothing more than taking some problematic combinations of imagery, words, and effects that have a profoundly negative context to those historically or currently harmed by the aforementioned (and no, no one else gets to tell the marginalized they are not being harmed, and that somehow intent or the lack thereof negates that harm), and removing them from officially-sanctioned public events. The end.
When WotC decides they can take your cards away from you and destroy them, or otherwise utterly erase their existence from the game as a whole instead of merely at official events, then there might be a leg to stand on in terms of accusing them of trying to actually erase history.
The goddess of fate on Theros, then, embodies both the natural order of the progression of life and time and the destiny such things invariably bring with them. But she is also the embodiment of the unpredictable nature of fate.
While Calix is explicitly--per previous descriptions of the character himself--fate's agent of order in the world, and thus green/white, the goddess of fate herself, being the embodiment of fate itself, is far more chaotic and unpredictable (a thoroughly red trait). But she still has profound use for agents who pull the strands of fate into an ordered weave, pulling order from chaos to guide specific destinies.
So red/green is quite understandable as destiny. Destiny is something that comes to everyone, whether they wish it or not, and that destiny is very often indeed unpredictable, bringing chaotic upheaval to life, both personal and in the multitudes.
And sweepers not targeting is why I suggested the in-color Deafening Clarion and Storm's Wrath. Because while they also don't target, protection prevents all damage. So if you rolled a 2, he's immune to both of those sweepers, otherwise he's immune to one or the other.
Oh right, duh. Obvious mistake is obvious.
Note also that it's protection from. If you are playing Boros, you might very well have Deafening Clarion and Storm's Wrath as your sweepers. If you roll a 2, he's immune to the damage from both (but still gets lifelink from Clarion!). If you roll a 3 or 4, he's still immune to one of them, giving you some interesting lines of play. You're also playing red and white. If you roll a number the opponent has a blocker for, you're in a color combo that can remove that potential blocker, thereby removing the card that he DOESN'T have protection from. You're also in a color combo that can give him protection from a color of your choice for W at instant speed. They use one of the only cards that can remove him, and you stop it with Gods Willing, you might have ruined their game just like that.
This is a fascinating card.
I think this card very, very successfully encapsulates a classic trope of many a story of such monsters of the deeps. Where you only see a hint of it, at first. However, as the narrative progresses, you begin to see more and more of the truth. First one tentacle grasps a person and pulls them under. Then, more and more tentacles slowly appear, wrapping around more people, around the ship, multiple ships, a whole fleet. As it rises to the surface more over the course of the story, the true danger lurking below grows more and more terrifying.
That's what this card appears to be going for. And for that reason, this card is chock full of flavor win, to me. And also might very well be playable in constructed? Heck, yeah.
Text:
Treacherous Blessing
2B
Enchantment
When Treacherous Blessing enters the battlefield, draw three cards.
Whenever you cast a spell, you lose 1 life.
When Treacherous Blessing becomes the target of a spell or ability, sacrifice it.
Cling to Dust
B
Instant
Exile target card from a graveyard. If it was a creature card, you gain 3 life. Otherwise, you draw a card.
Escape: 3B, Exile five other cards from your graveyard.
That I agree with completely. Making it a Land - Forest Food would have been fun and flavorful... so to speak. Without making it busted, I don't believe.
The gingerbread house is from Hansel and Gretel.
The whole story is about kids getting abandoned then lost within a forest. Their stepmother decides to take them out in the forest and then leave them there, but Hansel, the brother, initially leaves a trail of white pebbles he'd collected after overhearing the parents agree to abandon the children the previous night, the father reluctantly pushed into it by the stepmother so they don't have to pay to feed them anymore, the family is so poor.
The kids come back, and their stepmother locks them up so they can't collect more pebbles, but Hansel instead leaves a trail of breadcrumbs from the meager bread meal they had and he saved when their stepmom does the same thing to them. Birds, however, had eaten the breadcrumbs so they are lost deep in the woods.
They wander for DAYS, starving. Eventually, they happen upon a house made of gingerbread and candy within the forest, which they start to eat ravenously, then the whole witch thing happens, yadda yadda, cannibal, oven, kill the witch, escape, etc.
The story has always been about a gingerbread house quite specifically hidden deep within a FOREST. It's kind of the entire reason the kids get lost and stumble on it to begin with, because if it weren't a dense forest, they would have made their way home pretty easily.
Therefore, having the gingerbread house tied to a forest fits the flavor of the fairy tale it's highlighting perfectly. Just perfectly. It's a hugely important part of the story.
Huh, is she? I'm afraid I hadn't noticed that. Nor other people of color mixed in.
Must utterly disagree. Part of normalizing things like racial diversity is... you know... not bringing up things like "why was she married to a white man?"
Straight up, pointing out that there simply must be reasons for these details, that there has to be significance to justify its inclusion, flat out continues to other marginalized people. It's very much akin to pointing out that a marriage is interracial or that a couple has a "gay marriage" instead of, you know, just... these two people are married, no more context needed, that continues to highlight them as other, and not simply people who are existing as people doing things people do all the time.
By not explaining it as being something that requires a reason in any way, it's far more inclusive and presented as simply a normal part of this world. Women are knights, a black woman is married to a white man. None of it is explained, because it's all just a normal part of life on Eldraine. You know, like fairies flying around and giants stomping about and food coming to life and having sentience is just a normal part of life on this world.
The wildest part is... guess what virtually never needs an explanation for why it is in stories and worlds like this? Fairies, and giants, and living, sentient food. They're allowed to be just a normal part of this world, to simply exist within the world, without any explanation needed. But gender and racial diversity? Nah. That simply must have an explanation to justify it existing.
This may come as a shock, but a queen, even the highest queen in a realm, often did NOT have all the powers of the king, especially if the king had a living oldest heir (in the real world usually male heir), and especially if she was not the blood mother of the heir(s). Such a queen would act, at best, as a regent, and answerable to the Lords and to the Crown Prince, without anything near the full powers of the monarchy herself. This is not always the case, but often enough. And we do not know what the laws and courtly rules of Eldraine are, so we still cannot say that Linden herself had the same power over the other Courts of Eldraine, simply because she's the High King's wife.
In a huge number of societies, Will and/or Rowan would have the power of the throne, and NOT a stepmother queen. So really, it's not at all unreasonable to think Kennreth's abilities represent his power as the High King alone, and having nothing to do with the knightly quests he and Linden apparently undertook in younger days, nor that anyone who's not the High King would NOT have such abilities.
Being his wife doesn't necessarily give her the authority of the High King. Really depends on the laws of the land, so it can't be assumed the wife of the High King has the same authority over the five courts as the High King.