BTW, I hope Aberrant Researcher, Daring Sleuth, and others have a common 'transform' theme dominated by 'going insane'. I.e., discarding cards (Madness)..
This would be...ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. Oh, the flavor. Seriously, I'm gonna pass out over here. I hope you are right!!!!
The flavor is great though it is not that simple mechanically: you can't have these cards basically have both madness and transform this seems unlikely and would be bad.
So basically you need a "when you cast a spell with madness" trigger, and with statements about parasitic mechanics that translates into "when you cast a spell from exile"? That seems weird.
For Madness transform it could be simple like "If you discarded a card this turn, transform card name" and then the opposite for the transform version, creating a Jekyll and Hyde theme. Kinda. Would follow the template that the original Werewolf flip cards left us as well, just subbing spells for discard.
Recovering from madness seems unlikely, given horror tropes. Plus, Discarding cards is relatively hard compared to casting two spells per turn, so an "off" switch would make them much worse gameplay-wise. Personally, I think a "When condition is met, you may discard a card. If you do, transform ~" is more likely.
Is it possible for SOI to have an artifact/equipment subtheme? The reasoning is that in Oath we have Stone Haven Outfitter and even Weapons Trainerbut there aren't any powerful equipments in standard right now, so there was already speculation that we will may see some constructed playable equipment in a future set. Innistrad block wasn't known for its artifacts so I didn't expect return to have good artifacts either. But two cards suggest otherwise. Expose Evil introduces the investigate keyword which puts an artifact into play which might have some significance (perhaps some card or mechanic cares about the number of colorless permanents or artifacts you control -obviously not affinity-). The other card is Explosive Apparatus. The flavor text of this card suggests technology powered by souls, "soulpunk" if you will. So maybe we will have more such artifacts or even equipment. What do you think?
Name and number crunch does show that there are going to be at least 28 artifacts and lands. I doubt over 12 of these are lands, so there is room for a lot of artifacts.
That said, I am part of a minority that would rather have Scarecrow tribal than an equipment theme.
Skin Infection and Autumn Gloom sound like DFC enchantments and Neglected Heirloom a DFC artifact, but I don't see other possible non-creature DFC in the list. Maybe more will show up in Eldritch Moon.
The other Red and Green DFCs seem like Werewolves. 5 in each color. We could assume the other monster tribes will have slightly higher numbers, since Werewolves have the aid of regular Wolves in their Tribal decks.
Harvest Hand could be a DFC Scarecrow.
The White DFCs seem to portray common people. Two even particularly devout. It is possible that we see them go insane in their reverse.
Aberrant Researcher and Daring Sleuth will probably go through a similar Fate. Daring Sleuth will probably lose his sanity in the Night mode after discovering some truth regarding the Moon/Avacyn/Vampires. That'd be a given trope.
Heir of Falkenrath is probably a vampire. I would say Accursed Witch might mean a return of Curses as a theme, but none has been spoiled so far. Kindly Stranger is almost definitely a Demon or a Stitcher in his Night mode, given Horror Tropes.
Official Magic Fiction is such a painfully bland name that it seems like a parody. I guess they did it because it is how most players would Google Search Magic Lore, though.
Some notes on Innistrad's Demonic Metaphysics: The only place this is really covered is the story of Saint Traft. Basically, you can't permanently kill a demon, because they are beings of pure black and will eventually re-form in a different shape. Conservation of Demonic Essence is at work here. Killing demons is said to heavily disrupt their plans, and when they reform they often have a grudge. But it's not clear whether or not when they reform if they're the same demon, or in effect a new demon. They're often bound instead of killed for that reason.
I assume Liliana's deal with Griselbrand was broken when she killed him. Liliana apparently thinks so. But it's unclear if she knows that Innistradi Demons reform later.
Brady said that their demonic energy would reform into new demons in the old Wizards forum.
And it seems like it would make the most sense, considering Lili's deal.
Well, we don't know if Ulamog and Kozilek are truly defeated yet, or if Jace and friends merely ended up releasing them into the multiverse. I don't see how the second option could be considered bad.
Edit: Never mind. Turns out they were indeed killed.
Assuming I could go back as far as RoE, I would have probably not released them fully. Saying something like the seals are broken and these entities are beginning to manifest, their spawn and even their avatars roam the land, but they aren't fully "awaken" yet. All the Eldrazi seen in ROE would be more like "sleep twitches" of the titans, which is why I could explain that several years later Zendikar is still not destroyed by this apparent "multiversal threat x3".
Then, we would return to Zendikar in BFZ, and find out that the Titans have managed to destroy most of Zendikar while STILL sleeping, but we learn that it looks like they could wake up any moment now, the walkers are decided to seal them back. Ob actually awakens Ulamog fully, drains the energy released and escapes. AwakenUlamog easily slaps Gideon and friends around, but Ugin, Nahiri and Chandra show up to help, yet that is still NOT ENOUGH. Nahiri reveals that she had been preparing a weapon since the mending and with everyone's help seals Ulamog back in, at the cost of the weapon and her life. But it is too late to reseal Kozilek and Emrakul, because apparently they have vanished from Zendikar during the battle. Presumably because they woke up and found that Zendikar is largely unappetizing now that it is 95% void of mana and they want a more nutritious breakfast, or because they fear a weapon like the one Nahiri used on Ulamog, or maybe because they expect Ulamog to wake up again and finish the job one day, or because they feel curious about the post-mending nature of the multiverse, or maybe some other reason we can't comprehend.
Emrakul and Kozilek show up in later blocks. Ulamog would be captured, but his brood would continue to rampage around Zendikar for the next hundreds of years, which would mean all future visits.
Of course, this can only be done with 20/20 hindsight and giving story a larger priority than marketing and gameplay, which wouldn't be possible since marketing and gameplay are where Wizards makes their money.
Which means that creative has possibly reversed its position on summoning. I believe Doug mentioned that they felt it would be "sadistic" to physically summon creatures to fight.
Well, we have Liliana and the ghoulcallers and stitchers creating zombies out of deceased inhabitants of Innistrad. That's quite morbid (pardon the pun) in and of itself. I think that's worse than the idea of summoning a creature to fight for you.
I could see that from a Green point of view, but I don't think Black and its allies (and possibly White) would agree. The worst thing that could happen to the summoned Zombie would be returning to its previously dead state, so it is not that different from just protecting yourself with a rock or a tree. Summoned Friends and local Fauna could easily result in their deaths, and just because a creature decided to "bond" with you, it probably doesn't mean that they would like to become your meatshields any time, regardless of your cause or chances of success.
I don't think she is very good right now, but the high possibility of Flashback and other Graveyard mechanics in Shadows over Innistrad could give her a chance in the future.
I don't know if human uprising against the Church would make much sense in the setting. I mean, even if word of the Lunarch's journal got out, it would have little to no evidence and would be met with immediate accusations of blasphemy, and then executions. And even if was sustained somehow, jumping against the only thing even keeping you alive isn't very logical. Especially for the predominantly White/Green humans of Innistrad. I mean, if they have the population of Innistrad rise against the Angels, how would such a conflict be happily resolved? Humans and Angels would both grow weaker, and then Demons and Vampires would have a complete advantage.
Plus it would be too similar to Theros apparent upcoming story line, I think.
Avacyn being corrupted makes quite a bit more sense to me. Since there are a bunch of possible culprits (demons, vampires, Bolas, Emrakul, Tibalt, the Raven Man, a bug in Avacyn's programming, whatever the natural corrupting force of the plane is, etc.) and the solution would be pretty standard: find corrupting influence, remove it, blame any possible destruction caused by crazy Avacyn on a "demon pretending to be Avacyn".
Eldrazi have always been described as "Galactus meets Cthulhu", not just "Cthulhu", and lately the Galactus part has clearly overtaken the Cthulhu part, as evidenced in the very prospect of them being hurt by mortals at all. Now, while Galactus is not really a schemer personality-wise, crafting a plan that humans could sorta comprehend would certainly be a possibility for him. Also, while scheming is not really Cthulhu's modus operandi, Nyarlathotep's behavior in the extended mythos could be simplified as such.
I really wouldn't discount the possibility of a larger Eldrazi plot based on expectations of Lovecraftian narrative inside MtG stories. Especially when it is considerably more interesting than the "Eldrazi will do whatever we need them to do" option.
Nobody actually started to fight Ulamog until recently. That means Kozilek hid before it even knew planeswalkers were going to band together to fight Ulamog. Plus, how did Kozilek know Ulamog would stay? All of them were free to leave, but Kozilek knew to hide because Ulamog would eventually fight the planeswalkers that Kozilek did not know about?? It would be more believable that Kozilek and Emrakul did, in fact, leave the plane and waited for Ulamog to follow. After realizing that Ulamog is set on destroying Zendikar, Kozilek returns to Zendikar (either by his own will or Emrakul's realizing that having them all trapped again is not a good thing) either to speed up the process of destoying Zendikar or to "drag" Ulamog off the plane since they could very well get trapped again only to find Ulamog (which I think is the "little brother" of the three)is trapped again.
It just doesn't sound right that Kozilek would go underground after have been trapped there is stasis for 1,000 years or more.
First. Staying on the plane at all is suspect. This is a plane that they know contains a weapon that can trap them, so leaving it ASAP would be a natural reaction.
Second, I don't think Eldrazi being able to communicate with each other would be strange at all. In fact, it would be weirder if they couldn't. Assuming Kozilek wanted to make sure that the Oldwalkers who trapped them the first time are "dealt with", then trying to bait them into showing up again and then ambushing them would make sense. And he could also ask Emrakul to leave for a while just to make sure that another Titan is free to give them a hand to escape in case the ambush plan fails.
But why risk it?? At that time, planeswalkers left holes when they planeswalked and were immortal. They had to have taken notice of it. I mean Ulamog was held off by a POST-MENDING walker. They had to be aware of how powerful pre-mending walkers were.
This is really just messy writing. If Eldrazi Titans can be held off by post-mending walkers, then groups of talented non-walker wizards should also be able to held them off.
That said, the thing being held off is merely the Eldrazi's "shadow". Being able to held off a shadow, or even destroying a shadow, wouldn't actually mean much harm to the "real" Eldrazi.
Plus, kozilek has the power to distort reality so why not just make everyone on Zendikar believe that they trapped all three again and just go on destroying the plane with nobody being able to actually see the true nature of what is happening. Finally, the walkers that trapped them obviously knew of their existence so why would Kozilek even let that happen?? What is the point of having the ability to alter reality and what is true if you do not use it? But....the three could have been powerful enough to withstand Kozilek's mind tricks which I think would send some serious red flags.
Because he wouldn't have his power "on" 100% of the time? Presumable, like any spell, it would require some time and focus to activate. And while the oldwalkers couldn't damage them physically, being able to dispel such illusion effects in the real world could easily fall within their domain.
Also, note that the Eldrazi had already fought oldwalkers like Nahiri that tried to defend previous worlds, and these walkers had proven to be entirely useless for the task. In fact, Eldrazi had probably learned that oldwalkers were nothing to fear when they were sealed the first time.
That's believable.....until you go back and realize that Kozilek was trapped just as easily as the other two. The kozilek you describe has an enormous amount of foresight and intelligence. How could this being be trapped as easily as the other two?? Couldn't it have just warped reality and nobody could have ever seen them in the first place??
Why not just warp everybody's perception and go unnoticed?? Plus, if kozilek has that kind of foresight, how did it get captured in the first place??
Not that this is necessarily what happened, but back when the Eldrazi were first captured, they probably weren't expecting measly 3 dimensional creatures, planeswalkers or not, to be able to hurt them at all.
I mean, it is like if termites decided to trap you in your basement by chewing away the wood in the stairs leading to it. Whether you are a genius or not, you would probably fall for it because the idea wouldn't ever cross your mind.
Recovering from madness seems unlikely, given horror tropes. Plus, Discarding cards is relatively hard compared to casting two spells per turn, so an "off" switch would make them much worse gameplay-wise. Personally, I think a "When condition is met, you may discard a card. If you do, transform ~" is more likely.
Name and number crunch does show that there are going to be at least 28 artifacts and lands. I doubt over 12 of these are lands, so there is room for a lot of artifacts.
That said, I am part of a minority that would rather have Scarecrow tribal than an equipment theme.
The other Red and Green DFCs seem like Werewolves. 5 in each color. We could assume the other monster tribes will have slightly higher numbers, since Werewolves have the aid of regular Wolves in their Tribal decks.
Harvest Hand could be a DFC Scarecrow.
The White DFCs seem to portray common people. Two even particularly devout. It is possible that we see them go insane in their reverse.
Aberrant Researcher and Daring Sleuth will probably go through a similar Fate. Daring Sleuth will probably lose his sanity in the Night mode after discovering some truth regarding the Moon/Avacyn/Vampires. That'd be a given trope.
Heir of Falkenrath is probably a vampire. I would say Accursed Witch might mean a return of Curses as a theme, but none has been spoiled so far. Kindly Stranger is almost definitely a Demon or a Stitcher in his Night mode, given Horror Tropes.
Brady said that their demonic energy would reform into new demons in the old Wizards forum.
And it seems like it would make the most sense, considering Lili's deal.
Edit: Never mind. Turns out they were indeed killed.
Then, we would return to Zendikar in BFZ, and find out that the Titans have managed to destroy most of Zendikar while STILL sleeping, but we learn that it looks like they could wake up any moment now, the walkers are decided to seal them back. Ob actually awakens Ulamog fully, drains the energy released and escapes. AwakenUlamog easily slaps Gideon and friends around, but Ugin, Nahiri and Chandra show up to help, yet that is still NOT ENOUGH. Nahiri reveals that she had been preparing a weapon since the mending and with everyone's help seals Ulamog back in, at the cost of the weapon and her life. But it is too late to reseal Kozilek and Emrakul, because apparently they have vanished from Zendikar during the battle. Presumably because they woke up and found that Zendikar is largely unappetizing now that it is 95% void of mana and they want a more nutritious breakfast, or because they fear a weapon like the one Nahiri used on Ulamog, or maybe because they expect Ulamog to wake up again and finish the job one day, or because they feel curious about the post-mending nature of the multiverse, or maybe some other reason we can't comprehend.
Emrakul and Kozilek show up in later blocks. Ulamog would be captured, but his brood would continue to rampage around Zendikar for the next hundreds of years, which would mean all future visits.
Of course, this can only be done with 20/20 hindsight and giving story a larger priority than marketing and gameplay, which wouldn't be possible since marketing and gameplay are where Wizards makes their money.
I could see that from a Green point of view, but I don't think Black and its allies (and possibly White) would agree. The worst thing that could happen to the summoned Zombie would be returning to its previously dead state, so it is not that different from just protecting yourself with a rock or a tree. Summoned Friends and local Fauna could easily result in their deaths, and just because a creature decided to "bond" with you, it probably doesn't mean that they would like to become your meatshields any time, regardless of your cause or chances of success.
Plus it would be too similar to Theros apparent upcoming story line, I think.
Avacyn being corrupted makes quite a bit more sense to me. Since there are a bunch of possible culprits (demons, vampires, Bolas, Emrakul, Tibalt, the Raven Man, a bug in Avacyn's programming, whatever the natural corrupting force of the plane is, etc.) and the solution would be pretty standard: find corrupting influence, remove it, blame any possible destruction caused by crazy Avacyn on a "demon pretending to be Avacyn".
I really wouldn't discount the possibility of a larger Eldrazi plot based on expectations of Lovecraftian narrative inside MtG stories. Especially when it is considerably more interesting than the "Eldrazi will do whatever we need them to do" option.
First. Staying on the plane at all is suspect. This is a plane that they know contains a weapon that can trap them, so leaving it ASAP would be a natural reaction.
Second, I don't think Eldrazi being able to communicate with each other would be strange at all. In fact, it would be weirder if they couldn't. Assuming Kozilek wanted to make sure that the Oldwalkers who trapped them the first time are "dealt with", then trying to bait them into showing up again and then ambushing them would make sense. And he could also ask Emrakul to leave for a while just to make sure that another Titan is free to give them a hand to escape in case the ambush plan fails.
This is really just messy writing. If Eldrazi Titans can be held off by post-mending walkers, then groups of talented non-walker wizards should also be able to held them off.
That said, the thing being held off is merely the Eldrazi's "shadow". Being able to held off a shadow, or even destroying a shadow, wouldn't actually mean much harm to the "real" Eldrazi.
Because he wouldn't have his power "on" 100% of the time? Presumable, like any spell, it would require some time and focus to activate. And while the oldwalkers couldn't damage them physically, being able to dispel such illusion effects in the real world could easily fall within their domain.
Also, note that the Eldrazi had already fought oldwalkers like Nahiri that tried to defend previous worlds, and these walkers had proven to be entirely useless for the task. In fact, Eldrazi had probably learned that oldwalkers were nothing to fear when they were sealed the first time.
Not that this is necessarily what happened, but back when the Eldrazi were first captured, they probably weren't expecting measly 3 dimensional creatures, planeswalkers or not, to be able to hurt them at all.
I mean, it is like if termites decided to trap you in your basement by chewing away the wood in the stairs leading to it. Whether you are a genius or not, you would probably fall for it because the idea wouldn't ever cross your mind.