MTG Salvation

So I've been thinking...it's been a while since we've heard anything about New Phyrexia/Mirrodin, or had and artifact set.

The story:



Mirrodin Reforged

Mirrodin is all but completely controlled by the preators. The triumvirate of Elesh Norn, Jin Gitaxis and Sheoldred now turn their attention to the invasion of other planes. They enlist Tezzeret to build a new interplanar portal to advance their plans.

However, resistance remains. striking from hidden places, they await the return of their plane's creator, karn.


The Factions

Orthodoxy: WU B Led by Elesh Norn, this represents mainstream Phyrexia. they prefer a slow, attrition based style of combat, having acess to vast resources.
mechanics:
Phy mana: . there'e still a lot of room for this idea to get expanded on. some things might even have abilities that trigger upon paying life.

Infect: this could come back too, but without proliferate to make it so fast. poison is an iconic Phyrexian mechanic, and it'd be cool to see it in, punch out -1/-1 and poison counters are included, similar to ikoria.

Proflierate: we saw it too recently for a return.

Rebels RWU: these folks are artifact masteers. they have access to a lot of tools, but can't fight an all out war with Phyrexia, instead relying on subterfuge and surveillance.

Mecahnics:

Power up( a new mechanic): when you power up, choose one: equip an equipment, or crew a vehicle.

Improvise: these folks are really good with artifacts.


Rogue Phyrexians RG: These two Praetors don't care about the way Phyrexia went, and are somewhat sympathetic to the rebels.

mechanics:
artifact sacrifice
+1/+1 counters

Planeswalkers:

A fully Pheyrexianized Tezzeret. he has a +1 that gives a poison counter. has a -3 to return an infect creature to play. has no ultimate, but a passive- whenever you pay life, put a loyalty counter on him.

Karn, Creator of Mirrodin: back as a mythic rare. he has solid, artifact based abilites.

Melira, Mirran Healer: sort of an anti tezzeret. has a +1 that removes counter from a permanent/player, and a -3 that returns a card (like eternal witness). ultimate-double your life total.

other mythic rares:

Praetors: These are all colored artifact creatures this time around, with phy mana in their costs. Think of them sort of like the Mirrodin version of Gods. they have the following characteristics:

phy mana: all have at least 2 phy mana in their cost.
etb ability and a passive ability
upon death or exile, return to hand.

swords cycle: a few more of the allied swords are present at mythic rare.

well that's all the musing for now, would you like to see this set come to compleation? (sic.)

the whole "double " thing gets nuts fairly quick, the elemental...well you can turn it into far less efficient player damage.

he's a bordline boros-only powerhouse that can get a lot of damagage done, mentor will probably never help him but he fits the boros aggro- phase so i think he's at least a 1- of in anything that wants him.

g/w enchanter i bet... it'd be cool for something like

+1 look at top 3 and put enchantment unto hand
-3 gain life for each enchantment owned
-8 opalesence (all enchantments you control become creatures w pow/t equal to their cmc)

so i've been wondering, what happens in 5-10 years, when pioneer is as old as modern. what do we do then? create a newer format? so on and so forth?

honestly, i wouldn't be surprised if standard, modern, and pioneer all got rolled into one format in the next few years. lets say all cards within the last 10 years are legal. old cards rotate out once per year.

i could see draft being pushed harder in this scenario. it'd become almost the new standard- as well as a way for wizards to keep making sets and selling boosters. so what if it's 40% recycled themes/cards? it's draft, they're staples.

the new modern/pioneer/standard mashup format would be more or less stable, too, with the only changes being eventual retirement of very old cards.

this is just a minor complaint... i wish the escape cards had something like the flashback symbol so i could find them easier.

if there's not a large monster theme for each, i'll be a little sad.

dragons seem like a shoe in.... RGB for sure (main:red)
giants is one we've seen in lorwyn....WR and realmcloaked giant would be a good fit. main: white
krakens in blue? kiora has a number of tribes that she's got affinity with; .serpents, octopi...even merfolk, though those arent "monsters"
black...demons?
green....probably hyrdras. we'll probably see more hydras in theros.

Now, I peronally hope that we see more "weird adaptations"- like for instance the sirens in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dl2L4v6ecM

Troy: Total War is coming out soon, and we are seeing that minotaurs are really just humans with bull headdresses-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaSkIVpp_mI

that or maybe exile? it feels like nothing ever gets done with exile hardly.

well the only real counter to that is blood moon and...

i wish we saw more options to deal with "nonbasics"

pretty solid...only held back by being legendary

haven't seen this before.

yeah i'd probably never use that active unless i had no cards in hand. cool art, though.

they guys actually a hypothetical mini tarmagoyf that taps for 5

so....we have a top down design, balance aside, what do you think actually fulfils the fantasy theme it promises, and what doesn't?

for me, my biggest frustration so far is "knights". somehow, wizards feels that anyone on a horse/mount is a knight, so we have things like green knights, etc. who probably were never knighted, never took any vows, etc. it just feels a little off to me.

secondarily, why didnt they give them exalted? it seems like a perfect flavor fit.

also, embercleave...is it supposed to be excalibur? if so, it should only be able to be equipped to a legendary creature....i suppose we will need to read the book to find out what it's about.

now.. the good

adventures are cool visually and so are all the new card frame modifications

faeries are an obvious good fit even if they're not tribal here... the whole enchantment theme works for them.