I got Kaladesh vibes from them (to go along with Ragavan), though could be the Kaladesh "master piece" versions of them.
You can actually see the items in Ragavan, Nimble Pilferer's artwork. (The regular artwork) So it's unlikely they are supposed to be specifically the Rabiah artifacts. At best they're references, but apart from maybe the sandals the art doesn't match up too well.
Just because those artifacts appear on Ragavan does not preclude them from being nods to the Arabian Nights artifacts. As to the sandals, differing art styles do exist within MTG canon. I'd be interesting to ask Anna Fehr what her inspiration and guidelines were. While I love the look and style of those old cards, some of the art was hokey AF. So any newer art depicting older Magic imagery will have more often than not upgraded the art style.
It's a set with a lot of throw back refences, so it's all about the Easter eggs man, it's what you do to appease your fan base.
It's my parade so don't rain on it, LOL!!!
As I said, it's possible these are references to the Rabiah artifacts. The sandals do look suspiciously similar to Abdallah's.
However, two points:
1) The other two artifacts don't line up that well. I can see the lamp being an upgraded/Kaladeshi version of Aladdin's Lamp, but Suleiman's Bottle just doesn't evoke its original art at all, which would be the entire point of a nod to old cards.
2) Why these three cards specifically? Is there something I'm missing? Were the sandals particularly popular? This is of course not proof that it can't be a nod, but it would make the selection somewhat weird, especially since the cards are put into a different setting than they originally appeared in.
Dihada's Ploy might be interesting in combo sideboards to fight through disruption, but 3cmc seems like too much for the main and it's only card filtering + lifegain for decks that don't use the graveyard heavily. Unless I'm overlooking something that's right in front of me, it feels like it could be great in Standard (and Historic) without being busted, but it ended up here for Limited reasons.
I can't stop laughing at the concept that for each creature that attacks you, the Inquisitors only find a single clue as to who the attacker was.
Why don't they just ask the surviving defenders? Flavor-wise, I think it would work better if it triggered every time a creature or PW died. At least then there's actually something to investigate ("Hey, does it look like this guy was torn apart by werewolves or vampires?") but that's far less fun.
I skimmed the first two cards, moved on to Graceful Restoration, drooled over the art for a few minutes, then closed the window without reading the card :B::B:
Uhhhhhhh, is my dude wearing jean shorts? I sincerely can't figure out the guy's pants situation, and my mind rebels at accepting that he's literally wearing jean shorts, someone please help.
that additional [+1] part is interesting. So any [0] ability will tick the pw up, and [-1] would become a [0], and [-2] or more become a little less damaging. Don't think it's top tier, but its certainly an interesting design space.
ED: good synergy with WAR Ajani, the uncommon walkers, SOM Elspeth, ELD Garruk, BFZ Gideon, original Kaya, and ZNR Nissa.
ED2: amd of course, askurza.com
How would it work with [-x] abilities?
Presumably, "costs (1) more" works with -X the same way "costs (1) less" works with X
Ugin has an ability that chooses X, then checks how much it costs to activate for X. If you choose X=5 and the cost is -5, you pay 5 loyalty counters and it goes on the stack. If you choose X=5 and the cost is 1-5, you pay 4.
Yer no idea why they couldn't put it at rare in a premium product.
What makes it worse is I don't even think it's Modern playable, it's just purely an EDH reprint. Yer there's the stuff with Urborg, but I'm to be convinced there's a deck there. It's not that quick to get on board and Modern is just a super powerful format.
Bruh, people tried to make Cabal Stronghold work in Modern, and that card does jack with Urborg. Mono-B Devotion has a devoted fanbase.
Edit: Forgot to mention, Thrasta could be cute in Elves. IDK about Storm, GG is a heavy requirement - Could be playable in Vintage with Lotus and cheap / free spells, but it's SUCH a bad topdeck once you're low on cards.
Cannot wait for Yusri, though, that's exactly my jam.
Fantastic news if true, especially CSpell. The Ward cards have recently had me wondering how Evoke would be with 0-mana alt costs like life loss or discarding; it's kind of silly that I considered discarding but not exiling from hand when there's got to be more precedent there lol
Wow, that's yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugggeee...It's quite fitting too. Welcome to Pioneer, Tutor!
'buster
Man, Pioneer has a billion uses for this Bogles, Ascendancy, Reclamation, Fires, Possibility Storm, Enchantress, Tutelage, New Perspectives, Thousand-Year Storm, Omni-Flood, and likely many more that I'm not thinking of rn. Furthermore, it can be a threat *or* an answer - if you're running Banishing Light and friends - and these are just the established decks, not taking into account any new decks that it could enable
They're obviously knock-offs, that's why they're simply 'treasure'
They're tripping face on K, trying to get everyone to join in.
Why don't they just ask the surviving defenders?
If there isn't now, it's possible they expect it to be very relevant later. An answer for all the new toys for Reanimator, I guess?
Presumably, "costs (1) more" works with -X the same way "costs (1) less" works with X
Ugin has an ability that chooses X, then checks how much it costs to activate for X. If you choose X=5 and the cost is -5, you pay 5 loyalty counters and it goes on the stack. If you choose X=5 and the cost is 1-5, you pay 4.
Bruh, people tried to make Cabal Stronghold work in Modern, and that card does jack with Urborg. Mono-B Devotion has a devoted fanbase.
Edit: Forgot to mention, Thrasta could be cute in Elves. IDK about Storm, GG is a heavy requirement - Could be playable in Vintage with Lotus and cheap / free spells, but it's SUCH a bad topdeck once you're low on cards.
Cannot wait for Yusri, though, that's exactly my jam.
To be fair, the set will be legal in formats with GSZ.
Rushed Rebirth, meet Icebreaker Kraken; Kraken, meet Rebirth. I think you two are going to get along quite nicely.
Man, Pioneer has a billion uses for this