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.
"What was the rationale for setting the next commander legends in Balders Gate? From the original commander legends reactions it seems there were a number of MTG legends that people still wanted to see printed whereas Elminster seemed to be the only one that I really saw people missing from AFR. Balders Gate is also just one city in the forgotten realms so presumably this limits options for legends vs the whole of the forgotten realms or other worlds/settings like Greyhawk or Eberron?"
"The second Commander Legends needed a theme and we thought the audience would enjoy another D&D set. There are going to be many opportunities to make more legendary characters from Magic’s past. We even have a whole premier expansion coming, Brothers War, set in the past with a lot of Magic characters people have been asking for."
going by this here’s all the candidates I can think of
While on one hand I'm thrilled to see Kamigawa back... what really frustrates and angers me is the way they botched the writing system.
In the Kamigawa novels and official Wizards fictions, the writing system on Kamigawa used, as far as we can discern, actual kanji. This was even a significant plot point in one of the tales, where the written character for nin (as in "ninja") depicts the brushstrokes for "heart" below the brushstrokes for "blade" -- just as it does in the real world. This also makes collecting the Kamigawa cards in Japanese especially rewarding, as you can see how the names are written in kanji and, if you know Japanese, what those names actually signify. One beautiful wordbuilding touch is that on the Japanese cards and in the novel, the Soratami have all their names written in katakana, signifying their apartness from the rest of the world.
Kamigawa was full of these cool linguistic touches like that. The idea that Kamigawa mortals read and wrote in a script mirroring actual Japanese gave the world a whole extra dimension, a second lens through which it could be understood, experienced, and appreciated.
But these new neon signs don't say anything. This is just another generic made-up fantasy script like Magic has on all its other worlds. To be sure, some of the old Kamigawa cards also featured art with purely-fictional script, but those always appeared to be arcane runes associated with the spirit world. These are city signs, trying to evoke the general shapes of kanji and kana, but failing to be anything but ugly and meaningless.
At least the Neon Dynasty logo did it right.
Well, to be fair, it has been two thousand years.
And Wizards mentioned that they were working with some cultural experts, maybe they decided to not use real-world scripts? After all, they generally avoid real scripts and symbols elsewhere.
I wonder how they're going to justify the lore we've already seen from current day Kamigawa. Because we know that there are sections that aren't all cyberpunked from the stories about Tamiyo and her children.
Could Tamiyo be the Emperor?
Tamiyo the observer being Empress seems quite out of character to me.
The Sisters of Flesh and Spirit somehow figuring out how to planeswalk would be spicy, but part of me dreads Nicol Bolas finally tracking the Umezawas back to where they came from, escaping his Prison Realm, and becoming Emperor. (Honestly, Bolas not getting killed off still smells like Wizards left open the opportunity for him to come back, and him coming back might only be a matter of time.)
Someone else mentioned Oko as a possibility; IMO, the only way Oko is on the Emperor's throne is if he usurped it. While the flavour behind Oko definitely sounds like the faerie(/Yosei?) faction he came from espouses Asiatic philosophies of harmony, I suspect Wizards left his home plane open instead of fixing it on Kamigawa.
I would like to offer another possibility:
Kamigawa has clearly went through an increase in technology. Who do we know who loves technology, craves power, has a history of infiltrating other planes, and recently lost the only boss who could keep his plans in check?
even though i'm 99% sure it's no will Necrotic ooze get the loyalty abilities since it's a creature in the yard.
Yup, Ooze will copy those abilities. It will be only able to activate one each turn, though, even if you have multiple copies of Grist in your graveyard.
Priest of Fell Rites WB
Creature - Human Warlock
2/2 T, Pay 3 life, Sacrifice Priest of Fell Rites: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.
Unearth 3WB(3WB: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
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.
Probably not Ratepe, as the whole Xantcha story was centuries after Brothers' War. Urza was already a planeswalker fighting Phyrexia back then.
How about the Warlord of Yotia?
Well, to be fair, it has been two thousand years.
And Wizards mentioned that they were working with some cultural experts, maybe they decided to not use real-world scripts? After all, they generally avoid real scripts and symbols elsewhere.
I would like to offer another possibility:
Kamigawa has clearly went through an increase in technology. Who do we know who loves technology, craves power, has a history of infiltrating other planes, and recently lost the only boss who could keep his plans in check?
That's right, Tezzeret.
You forgot the plane card The Fourth Sphere -- it should definitely make Phyrexian Zombie tokens.
Yup, Ooze will copy those abilities. It will be only able to activate one each turn, though, even if you have multiple copies of Grist in your graveyard.
https://strategy.channelfireball.com/all-strategy/home/exclusive-modern-horizons-2-preview-priest-of-fell-rites/
Priest of Fell Rites
WB
Creature - Human Warlock
2/2
T, Pay 3 life, Sacrifice Priest of Fell Rites: Return target creature card from your graveyard to the battlefield. Activate only as a sorcery.
Unearth 3WB (3WB: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.)