It was mentioned that Adventures have a bit different flavor here -- in Eldraine, they were adventures of the creature on the card, here they are YOUR adventures and the creature/object on the main card is something you have encountered/found on that adventure.
Vampire demon makes sense, as a demon who is cursed with vampirism, or a vampire who descends into demonage (or a vampire who becomes possessed by a demon); but demon noble does not make any sense. Demons are hedonists and treacherer, thus they are ignoble.
Royalty is a status of birth, but Nobility is a status of merit. Hence the entire concept of Knighthood (where a peasant can become a noble).
Thus, a prince of hell is a royal, but is not a noble.
This is not a demon who became a noble, though -- he started as a vampire noble and only became part demon later.
So they just slapped Demon on each card type and put some horns in the art. Nothing about the cards has anything demonic mechanically. Zero downside. Zero additional costs to cast like life or resources. Oh how far magic flavor has fallen.
Demons haven't been required to have downsides or additional costs for a while now and I don't see any reason they should.
That’s the whole point. They used to have some mechanically unique qualities that identified them as demons. Now they’re just angels with black mana and that’s boring.
At the very least, some recent demons require you to pay life or sacrifice a creature to get their abilities.
These have no demonic identity. You could remove that word entirely and the card wouldn’t be any different - you’d never be able to differentiate it from anything by else.
They touched on this in the story: true demons, like true angels, are gone from that world. Xander explains that he became part demon because he (as the other family heads) signed a pact that gave some of the demons' powers to them so they could effectively rule over the city.
Nobody knows the past, so either Elspeth's background is much older than we thought, or everyone's mind was wiped. Anyone remember an anime series called Big O?
And another thing -- where did these Phyrexians come from? Too late to be the originals, too early to be the New ones, so are we talking about another corruption from glistening oil someone introduced to Capenna?
I was wondering about the Fact or Fiction cycle... Do or Die, Fight or Flight... That mechanic seems to be fun in multiplayer since you can negotiate for opponent who would divide the cards more favorably.
For "tribal connections", I think that one obvious are Ogres and Demons -- in the original Kamigawa block, there were Ogre cards that rewarded you for playing Demons and vice versa. Seeing the sagas, maybe Snakes got a similar connection to Kirin here?
If her whole point is to wander, maybe she could have a spark that is so volatile that it can take her not only through multiverse, but also through time.
I think they sneaked it in with Vrondiss, Rage of Ancients in other words the draw back being it dies after combat damage?
It's a possibility, considering MaRo hints have been inaccurate before, but what horror trope would it be tied to? In horror stories monsters are supposed to be these undying forces that are relentlessly aggressive, reason we got mechanics like... well, Undying. Them disappearing after getting a hit in feels pretty backwards on how horror tropes work. Maybe this could work for Spirits, but is this really a mechanic that would fit what has been historically a WU tribe of 1/1 flying weenies?
Actually, I can imagine them stapling the Geist of Saint Traft Angel exiled-at-end-of-combat trigger on a whole bunch of tokens. Temporary help bravely fighting back against the lengthening night, anyone?
I read that hint as an option -- a way to create tokens without drawback for full price, or with drawback for cheaper. Temporary vs. permanent makes most sense, IMO.
Solitude and Fury at least get the consolation prize that they will stick around even if evoked
Everyone gets one Bear if they have at least artifact or enchantment. Not one for each type.
What if it's a "past eater" who is boosted by all historic cards in graveyard? Artifacts, Legendaries, and Sagas.
If being a vampire didn't disqualify him from being a noble, being a demon is not that large stretch.
This is not a demon who became a noble, though -- he started as a vampire noble and only became part demon later.
They touched on this in the story: true demons, like true angels, are gone from that world. Xander explains that he became part demon because he (as the other family heads) signed a pact that gave some of the demons' powers to them so they could effectively rule over the city.
Off-center wedges, yes, but we never had off-center shards.
And another thing -- where did these Phyrexians come from? Too late to be the originals, too early to be the New ones, so are we talking about another corruption from glistening oil someone introduced to Capenna?
Horizon Canopy is the only allied land in its cycle.
I read that hint as an option -- a way to create tokens without drawback for full price, or with drawback for cheaper. Temporary vs. permanent makes most sense, IMO.