No, no, I think you're onto something. Maro said Zendikar's theme wouldn't be pirates or robots or dinosaurs... But he didn't say anything about robotic dinosaur pirates!!! Oh, and since there was a vampire lord in the recent core set, they MUST have been lying about it being designed in a vaccum, and that obviously top-down card must have meant there will be vampires too! That's it! Zedikar is the Vampiric robot dinosaur pirate tribal block!
And they said we didn't have enough to base our speculation on yet. HA! let's see them try to disprove THIS flawless logic!
[/sarcasm]
Although it's already been amply discussed that M10 was not designed in a vacuum, considering the most solid evidence in Great Sable Stag as an answer to blue black Fae/Control.
Perhaps it was "destroy or steal or create anything"? I would find it rather difficult to defeat someone that has that ability. Of course, "creating" doesn't really seem very Bolas, and it doesn't sound like a big finisher, unless...
-8: Destroy all creatures target player controls. For each creature destroyed this way, put a 2/2 black zombie creature token into play under your control.
That fits in with Grixis colors (which is where Bolas was). Just my thoughts.
He may not even be a Planeswalker card. There are tons of planeswalkers that don't have a card, and although I haven't read the book, I've heard nothing about him walking with or before Chandra to Zendikar. Zendikar is only mentioned in the book, so unless the book actually says something about him going there, he probably won't be a walker in Zendikar, although perhaps in one of the later sets of Zendikar, which has already been said (and that would only happen if a book is written that keeps Chandra's love interest with Gideon.)
I pulled a Foil Darksteel Colossus (mythic now) out of my first pack, and as all of you know, that means I got another rare. Yay for free rares! Two packs later I opened an Ajani Goldmane. I also opened Silence and Harm's Way. Obviously I played white. I ended up playing white blue, even though I had 2 Prized Unicorns (sadly the only useful green cards I pulled). My score was 3 wins, 2 losses. But I left with the Colossus and Ajani. I was satisfied.
Gideon was as gangster as you can get for a white Planeswalker, i'm excited.
Because hes a walker in the book?
seriously why would they turn him into a legendary creature when his purpose is to be a Planeswalking love intrest to chandra....
A: I haven't read the book.
B: Thanks for spoiling it.
Why didn't you mention the biggest "spoiler" that would fit well with Zendikar?
Golden Lotus!
I don't know where the rumor came from, but it could fit in Zendikar.
Personally I think they should finally print the original planeswalker card as a planeswalker. Jaya Ballard.
Think about it. Jaya Ballard was Chandra's tutor. She also had 3 abilities on her card, which coincide very well with the way a Planeswalker card is set up.
Jaya Ballard 1RR
Planeswalker - Jaya
+2: Destroy target blue permanent
-1: Deal 3 damage to target creature or player (Lightning Bolt, no? And that reprinted in M10)
-6: Deal 6 damage to each creature and each player
or a robot turtle. Since both priates and dinosaurs are ruled out there is still room to speculate robots as the theme.
No, robots were also ruled out. And ninjas. And monkeys.
My guess is it's a Tidewater Minion reprint. After all, it converts from being an effective untapper to a 4/4 powerhouse, and as it is said, a 4/4 for 5 isn't bad.
Ok, so in this point we are nearly sure that Zendikar is a mana/land based theme.
Starting from this idea, and reading again the extract from the novel, I can only think in two possibilities:
-Wild mana acceleration: it could be broken, but not so if Wizards has done the correct cards. I mean, we are accustomed to see acceleration as broken as Dark Ritual or Titania's priest, but therefore there are a lot of mana sources which arent so good. The mana burn change of the rules and the idea that "new players love it" (large amounts of mana to cast some final spells) seems strong pillars for this idea. Anyways, I can´t see an entire block just based on this without getting absurd combos.
-Lands which do alternative effects, not only mana, transforming lands...: This also harmonize with the Maro´s Tidbit, and my opinion is that they can take a lot of good cards and ideas from it. I mean, there are a lot of different possibilities: manlands (im still sure that awakener druid is from Zendikar), lands which can be sacrified to deal damage, to look at the top, to draw, to gain life... and in the spells part, cards that change your lands, for example to another type of basic land...
I´m really loving the 2nd idea. I have always loved good lands, that can give you mana at the same time you use it to give advantage. Finally, It could be just a mana-themed edition in general, mixing all the ideas of acceleration, search lands, and stuff.
2nd idea ftw. They've made cards like Ghitu Encampment before, and with the printing of Gargoyle Castle in M10, it seems likely that it could happen. I'm speculating that the creature types will resonate with the lords of M10, making Zendikar a very Fantasy Noir type place. Perhaps we'll see things like:
Wolves Den
Land T: add G to your mana pool for each wolf you control.
Bloodsucker 1BB
Creature - Vampire
When Bloodsucker enters the battlefield, add B to your mana pool for each vampire you control.
It certainly seems like a very plausible idea, and with cards like Gargoyle Castle and Awakener Druid, it's not too far-fetched.
Haven't we been told that Zendikar will have three walkers? Is that for the whole block, or just for ZEN? Sure hope to see him. He sounds kinda cool.
Who even says he'll be a 'walker? He may just end up a legendary creature. After all, it's very possible that Chandra bumps into him when she 'walks into Zendikar.
You could play thesetypesofcreatures to benefit from the cleansing. It's really not that hard to do. And hey, what do you know? They're good against aggro too!
And getting a 5 for 2 really isn't that unthinkable. Just picture a Bant control deck:
Turn 2: Rampant Growth
Turn 3: Take your pick - Wall of Denial, Kitchen Finks, Farhaven Elf
Turn 4: I dunno? Cryptic?
Turn 5: Drop Gargoyle Castle. Cleansing.
There, a 5 for 2 with a favorable board position, no?
Aggro is strong right now, but it's not the end-all-be-all.
That's not a bad board position, but if I'm playing Jund aggro or even just RG aggro, my turn five would most likely be BBE, cascading into anything from a Jund Hackblade to a Ball Lightning. Or I may choose the less risky route and swing through with a Thunderblust or a Blitz Hellion. I'm not saying Planar Cleansing doesn't have opportunity. That actually sounds like a really interesting matchup.
I pulled a foil Darksteel Colossus (mythic rare foil ftw) out of my first pack at the prerelease. I don't know if it's been put up here yet, but that baby's going for 40 USD. That more than paid for both the sealed and side draft tournaments that day. 2 packs later I opened an Ajani Goldmane. Needless to say, I left satisfied, even though I went 3 of 5 in the sealed and 2 of 2 in the draft.
Which MWS text spoiler are you having trouble with? There are two, one by Memnarch, and one by KingAlanI.
The text spoiler by KingAlanI. I've also just found that all of the commons and uncommons are entered as commons. Also, Magma Phoenix's mana cost is R rather than 3RR. And Emerald Oryx's mana cost is G rather than 3G. I'll keep adding the small mistakes like these that I find as I play with the spoiler. And Illusionary Servant's mana cost is U instead of 1UU. And Snapping Drake has Wind Drake's attributes.
I've just noticed something peculiar in the M10 text spoiler on MWS. Firstly, all instances of apostrophe's or quotation marks are messed up, giving me weird symbols, and none of the creatures have any power or toughness and none of the planeswalkers have a Loyalty. Also, the text on the planeswalkers is disorganized, all strung in one line rather than having line breaks between each ability.
Although it's already been amply discussed that M10 was not designed in a vacuum, considering the most solid evidence in Great Sable Stag as an answer to blue black Fae/Control.
-8: Destroy all creatures target player controls. For each creature destroyed this way, put a 2/2 black zombie creature token into play under your control.
That fits in with Grixis colors (which is where Bolas was). Just my thoughts.
Perhaps there will also be Vampire Elves and Ninja Pirates. Wait, not the last one.
A: I haven't read the book.
B: Thanks for spoiling it.
Golden Lotus!
I don't know where the rumor came from, but it could fit in Zendikar.
Personally I think they should finally print the original planeswalker card as a planeswalker. Jaya Ballard.
Think about it. Jaya Ballard was Chandra's tutor. She also had 3 abilities on her card, which coincide very well with the way a Planeswalker card is set up.
Jaya Ballard 1RR
Planeswalker - Jaya
+2: Destroy target blue permanent
-1: Deal 3 damage to target creature or player (Lightning Bolt, no? And that reprinted in M10)
-6: Deal 6 damage to each creature and each player
Oddly enough, there's speculation on a vampire 'walker named Sorin.
No, robots were also ruled out. And ninjas. And monkeys.
My guess is it's a Tidewater Minion reprint. After all, it converts from being an effective untapper to a 4/4 powerhouse, and as it is said, a 4/4 for 5 isn't bad.
2nd idea ftw. They've made cards like Ghitu Encampment before, and with the printing of Gargoyle Castle in M10, it seems likely that it could happen. I'm speculating that the creature types will resonate with the lords of M10, making Zendikar a very Fantasy Noir type place. Perhaps we'll see things like:
Wolves Den
Land
T: add G to your mana pool for each wolf you control.
Bloodsucker 1BB
Creature - Vampire
When Bloodsucker enters the battlefield, add B to your mana pool for each vampire you control.
It certainly seems like a very plausible idea, and with cards like Gargoyle Castle and Awakener Druid, it's not too far-fetched.
Who even says he'll be a 'walker? He may just end up a legendary creature. After all, it's very possible that Chandra bumps into him when she 'walks into Zendikar.
That's not a bad board position, but if I'm playing Jund aggro or even just RG aggro, my turn five would most likely be BBE, cascading into anything from a Jund Hackblade to a Ball Lightning. Or I may choose the less risky route and swing through with a Thunderblust or a Blitz Hellion. I'm not saying Planar Cleansing doesn't have opportunity. That actually sounds like a really interesting matchup.
The text spoiler by KingAlanI. I've also just found that all of the commons and uncommons are entered as commons. Also, Magma Phoenix's mana cost is R rather than 3RR. And Emerald Oryx's mana cost is G rather than 3G. I'll keep adding the small mistakes like these that I find as I play with the spoiler. And Illusionary Servant's mana cost is U instead of 1UU. And Snapping Drake has Wind Drake's attributes.
Don't double post. Warning.