It's interesting that the number crunch for the set so far doesn't have room for Jace and Nissa to have Triumph cards AND signature spells like all the other planeswalkers. I wonder if the other two Triumphs belong to non-Gatewatch? I believe Mark Rosewater said there were five total.
There does seem to be room for "Bolas's Triumph" though.
Wait, does that flavor text mean we're getting Feather?!?
Wait a minute... Feather, Fblthp, Massacre Girl... There aren't any highly requested legends from Ravnica left after this set. We... we might not be coming back to Ravnica in the foreseeable future...
Considering that each time they come back to Ravnica under this new set structure they need to dedicate two sets to it so they can fit all the guilds in, I'd imagine we won't. Unless they do something like an Agyrem-based set. That'd be something.
Jace doesn't die. Chandra doesn't die. Liliana doesn't die. They're the three most popular PWs.
This...shouldn't matter. Popularity shouldn't affect plot. I'll invoke Game Of Thrones and leave it at that.
I do think that if Jace DOES live, his newfound attitude of actually taking responsibility for the choices he's made may lead him to quit the Gatewatch in favor of actually being the Guildpact.
Of supporting cast, Sorin and Nahiri are pretty clearly going to live, as there is no reason to narratively show their feud continuing unless they will continue it into the future.
Or it gets resolved in the story, one way or the other.
I hope Tamiyo doesn't die.
We need her for the Return To Kamigawa.
Jaya likely dies.
Teyo, Davriel, and the Wanderer are all too new to die, IMO.
Ral Zarek probably dies. I hope Vraska doesn't, but she might.
The odds that any given GR PW dies is pretty high given the relative glut of them they have. Domri Rade almost certainly will die, given that he seems the most pro-Bolas PW out there.
By the same token, Dovin could die.
Tezzeret likely lives.
Agree about Jaya. Teyo probably ends up replacing Gideon if Gideon dies. Unless Liliana brings him back. I've said for a while either Jace or Vraska goes. Domri just bugs me for some reason, he could go. Dovin seems like a non-character and his inclusion on Bolas' side is just weird to begin with, not for personality reasons but just pure odds. The only actual connection between Dovin and Bolas was the Gatewatch. How did they meet? How did he get recruited? Unless Bolas' influence on Liliana's contract has more of a hold on her than we know about? Or Bolas is the Raven Man, and she's been his unwitting spy on the Gatewatch this entire time?
And Tezzeret needs to give the Bridge tech to Phyrexia.
Then there's all the redshirts - Arlinn, Ashiok, Huatli, etc. Flip a coin. My personal doubt is that the body count of known characters will be pretty low. Three maybe, at most?
I thought for sure we'd see fetchlands in this set for mana-fixing. I said I'd admit I was wrong when the set list is revealed, and it looks like enough has been shown to rule them out completely. So I was wrong.
That said, I wonder if this set will have a Cavern Of Souls/Boseiju card for Planeswalkers. This would be the set to include it.
Actually, looking at the art, I can see what throws you guys off. It's absolutely anatomically incorrect.
Look at where his butt is, that's usually attached to the tail, right below. How can his butt be up in the air like that while both of his legs are already bent above his elbows? That makes no sense.
Lotus Petal is too strong. People complain about Mox Opal and you have to build around that card to make it good; Lotus Petal, even though it's a one-shot, would open up too many broken plays.
Wasteland is too cheap. It works in Legacy because it balances out the cheap fixing with fetchable duals, but in Modern those already have some costs attached. As for Strip Mine, that card just laughs at you for thinking you get to play Magic. They're not about to put a banned-in-Legacy restricted-in-Vintage card into Modern. Same goes for Gush, of course.
Rishadan Port is another card that laughs at you for thinking you would get to play Magic. It's not quite as strong without Exploration and Mox Diamond around, but Aether Vial does exist in Modern.
Speaking of Exploration, that would soup up Amulet of Vigor too much.
I'm not saying Soothsaying would be too good for Modern, but I think it has too much of a Sensei's Divining Top vibe for Wizards to risk it.
Wizards also doesn't like lots of shuffling, because it slows down games, or tutoring, because it makes games play out too similarly, so I think stuff like Long-Term Plans, Enlightened Tutor, Worldly Tutor and the Mirage fetches are out.
I'm not saying Slivers couldn't use a boost in Modern, but I think Crystalline Sliver is too cheap for what it does in a Modern context.
I think we'd be more likely to see Maro with trample (at the same cost, or maybe at 1GGG) as a new card than we are to see Storm Seeker, since green is not supposed to have direct damage.
I'm unsure on Vision Charm since I don't think Wizards wants to put phasing into Modern.
Sinkhole is far too cheap; Wizards won't want land destruction below three mana, especially when it can hit basic lands. Ice Storm is a possibility, but I think Winter's Grasp is more likely (and I don't think that's very likely, either, since Wizards doesn't like land destruction in general).
Crop Rotation is too inexpensive for what it can potentially do, and suffers from the same shuffling and tutoring problems as other suggested cards.
Apparently, whenever someone asks on Blogatog whether Force of Will could be reprinted in Modern, Maro asks the rest of Design if it could go into Modern safely and always gets a resounding "NO!"
Similarly, they've come to the conclusion that Modern can support one of Lightning Bolt or Chain Lightning, but not both.
They also don't really like colour hosers all that much, so I think Dread of Night and Chill are out.
Priest of Titania produces too much mana for them to feel comfortable, I'd imagine.
Baleful Strix is probably a touch on the strong side.
Argothian Enchantress might be bit too much, especially since she has shroud. I think we'd be more likely to see a new version without shroud, but with optional draw like Verduran Enchantress has.
If you want the Mirage Diamonds... you do know Coldsteel Heart is in Modern, right? And it sees no play, so I doubt the Diamonds would be in.
The Tempest Medallions, on the other hand, are probably too cheap for what they do.
Victimize is probably too cheap for what they want in reanimation.
Concordant Crossroads is a World Enchantment, which is a mechanic they've long since abandoned and probably won't want in Modern.
So, basically, anything that would make packs of the set worth buying would be too powerful to be in the set. I really hope that's not the case - if this set is an unlimited print run, it needs some broken stuff to justify the cost, even at $200 a box on the cheap end. If this set just goes right to the "buy singles" mentality once it's all spoiled, there's going to be a lot of unhappy retailers. This set needs some of that broken stuff, and Cabal Therapist-type things won't cut it.
Ugh. If this is just another tank/healer/dps game, they can keep it. I'd rather see this turn into something like No Man's Sky, where the main thrust is exploration instead of dungeon-crawls/raids.
SCG preordering the UR deck for $40 USD and the mono white deck for $25. I get they have families to feed but seeing vendor price variance on these products is highly irritating to me. Those numbers are based SOLELY on the fact that the UR deck had higher secondary market values at the time of the spoiler.
MSRP does not exist any more, so stores can charge whatever they think they can for all of the products.
The Red Deck will sell better than the White Deck. Stores are forced to buy boxes with an equal number of decks in them. The best way to efficiently sell everything is to charge less for the less popular decks and charge more for the more popular decks.
Ever since that announcement I've been noticing people seem to have a great misunderstanding of what MSRP was and did. It was never a limit on price. Stores could always charge whatever they wanted for a product - MSRP was just there to set an expectation for the consumer, not a guarantee, and certainly not something that was in any way enforceable.
If SCG presells that deck for $25, there will be a run on that deck since that $25 will be less than the cost of buying those cards singly, and as a result the value of those cards would plummet almost immediately. By setting their price at $40, that process is slowed somewhat. The price drop for those cards will still happen, this will just make it gradual over time instead of right now. The best way to combat this is simply not to buy that deck at that price from SCG (or whoever else).
This happens with a lot of products WotC puts out that contain reprints. I imagine SCG's preorder price for the Selesnya Guild Kit was higher than the others as well. MSRP doesn't stop that, that's not what it's there for.
Incidentally, this also stops people from buying a bunch of those decks all at once and flipping them on eBay right away, which is what would also happen if the price was set at $25 instead of $40. It may still happen at $40 but probably not as badly. The board game Scythc was another example of this type of thing - we set our price higher to avoid people coming in and buying them all only to resell them online.
MSRP going away isn't going to have much effect on retailers that know what they're doing. Their prices are likely still going to keep the same profit margins they always did (50% typically). It's not going to magically allow stores to "gouge" because they always could anyhow.
There does seem to be room for "Bolas's Triumph" though.
Not that great. You don't get the card back right away. Infinite mana plus infinite draw or something like Experimental Frenzy, that might do it.
Throw in a Neheb The Eternal for added fun.
Considering that each time they come back to Ravnica under this new set structure they need to dedicate two sets to it so they can fit all the guilds in, I'd imagine we won't. Unless they do something like an Agyrem-based set. That'd be something.
This...shouldn't matter. Popularity shouldn't affect plot. I'll invoke Game Of Thrones and leave it at that.
I do think that if Jace DOES live, his newfound attitude of actually taking responsibility for the choices he's made may lead him to quit the Gatewatch in favor of actually being the Guildpact.
Or it gets resolved in the story, one way or the other.
We need her for the Return To Kamigawa.
Agree about Jaya. Teyo probably ends up replacing Gideon if Gideon dies. Unless Liliana brings him back. I've said for a while either Jace or Vraska goes. Domri just bugs me for some reason, he could go. Dovin seems like a non-character and his inclusion on Bolas' side is just weird to begin with, not for personality reasons but just pure odds. The only actual connection between Dovin and Bolas was the Gatewatch. How did they meet? How did he get recruited? Unless Bolas' influence on Liliana's contract has more of a hold on her than we know about? Or Bolas is the Raven Man, and she's been his unwitting spy on the Gatewatch this entire time?
And Tezzeret needs to give the Bridge tech to Phyrexia.
Then there's all the redshirts - Arlinn, Ashiok, Huatli, etc. Flip a coin. My personal doubt is that the body count of known characters will be pretty low. Three maybe, at most?
That said, I wonder if this set will have a Cavern Of Souls/Boseiju card for Planeswalkers. This would be the set to include it.
That's not his butt.
Now this has to happen. It'll never leave my brain.
So, basically, anything that would make packs of the set worth buying would be too powerful to be in the set. I really hope that's not the case - if this set is an unlimited print run, it needs some broken stuff to justify the cost, even at $200 a box on the cheap end. If this set just goes right to the "buy singles" mentality once it's all spoiled, there's going to be a lot of unhappy retailers. This set needs some of that broken stuff, and Cabal Therapist-type things won't cut it.
Ever since that announcement I've been noticing people seem to have a great misunderstanding of what MSRP was and did. It was never a limit on price. Stores could always charge whatever they wanted for a product - MSRP was just there to set an expectation for the consumer, not a guarantee, and certainly not something that was in any way enforceable.
If SCG presells that deck for $25, there will be a run on that deck since that $25 will be less than the cost of buying those cards singly, and as a result the value of those cards would plummet almost immediately. By setting their price at $40, that process is slowed somewhat. The price drop for those cards will still happen, this will just make it gradual over time instead of right now. The best way to combat this is simply not to buy that deck at that price from SCG (or whoever else).
This happens with a lot of products WotC puts out that contain reprints. I imagine SCG's preorder price for the Selesnya Guild Kit was higher than the others as well. MSRP doesn't stop that, that's not what it's there for.
Incidentally, this also stops people from buying a bunch of those decks all at once and flipping them on eBay right away, which is what would also happen if the price was set at $25 instead of $40. It may still happen at $40 but probably not as badly. The board game Scythc was another example of this type of thing - we set our price higher to avoid people coming in and buying them all only to resell them online.
MSRP going away isn't going to have much effect on retailers that know what they're doing. Their prices are likely still going to keep the same profit margins they always did (50% typically). It's not going to magically allow stores to "gouge" because they always could anyhow.