Nicol Bolas was a strict exception that was designed before they stuck to that rule. The reason being players are more tied and can relate to humanoid planeswalkers better.
And to the question about where he said it, it was on his Tumblr that he talked about a gobbo planeswalker (as well as the rule against non-humanoid planeswalkers).
What about angels? Angles in Magic: the Gathering have arms and legs and thumbs and basically look like hot human girls with wings. The only thing that differentiates them from other "humanoid" creature types is their typical size and power level. I would really like to see an angel planeswalker someday. Especially with Serra being dead and all.
Poor Serra.
As for your idea, I suggest you look up cards from Mirage Block. It's not exactly the same but as Jamaara is based on African folklore and Egypt is located in northern most part of Africa, you'll find tons of cards like Heat Stroke, Sandstorm, Savage Twister,Desolation,, Choking Sands, Circling Vultures (don't know if Vultures are native to Egypt or not, but whatevs,) Crypt Cobra, and plenty of Djinns and Efreets.
I also don't think that efreets are from Egypt either, but they are from the middle East and you take what you can get... :/
Thank you for writing this. It is a good thread. It illustrates that this set is something to look forward to with actual analysis (although, strictly speaking, speculation about cards to come might weaken this point a little) and shows that the complainers are just complaining because they like to complain.
ALSO THE TITANS ARE GONE WHICH SHOULD BE CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION.
If you want people to learn about drafting, putting ridiculous bomb rares that give you immediate value probably isn't the way to go.
Yeva is basically 2GG
Instant
"destroy target attacking creature then make a 4/4. Your opponent must play around surprise blocks for the rest of the game."
There are, like, 5 cards that say a land type instead of just basic land, when they could have easily said a basic land. My count for M13 is thusly; Lilliana of the Dark Realms Liliana's Shade Farseek Arbor Elf Ranger's Path
I thought there were 6, but that's still more then usual. Also, none of them are cards that particularly reward you for going mono-colour like Tendrils of Corruption or Jaws of Stone or whatever. Not a sure thing, by any means, but still worth mentioning. It's also possible that the land cycle could be lands with one or more land type that aren't shock lands. I think that would be a marketing mistake, but it's still possible.
I just wanted to say if they made a playable Nissa planeswalker I would be on board. I was super disappointed with the last Nissa, but my beef is with the card, not the character. I really like her decks in duels of the planeswalkers and it seems like the potential is there for a really dynamic character if they just didn't screw up the mechanics so badly.
I think it is unlikely we will get legendary Nephilim in RTR block. Not impossible, just unlikely.
If the current trend holds, we will be seeing the return of an Old M:TG villain in RTR. As each block after TS has gone new/old/new/old ect.
Llorwyn/Shadowmoor - Oona.
Alara - Bolas
Zendikar - Eldrazi
Scars - Phyrexia
Innistrad - Liliana (more of an anti-villain, but still a bad gal).
If the pattern holds, then RTR will have the return of an Old villain. Could be someone from the original RTR block, or someone completely out of the left field, so to speak, someone we did not expect to return.
Going to be interesting to say the least.
I doubt it is going to be the Nephilim, as they where closer to a natural disaster than a malicious participant of the last Ravnica block. And they did that trick a few years ago (See Eldrazi above). Bolas and Phyrexia would also be to soon, so it is also unlikely that either of those will be it.
Well, if not Nephilim, what do you think is the likelihood of 4-colour legends in general? I honestly don't care if it's a "Nephilim-with-a-capital-N", but a cycle of 4 colour legends would be very nice for the commander format. Seeing as they only do multi-colour blocks every 4 or so years, this would be their last chance (outside of another commander set) to do it for the four-see-able future. :P. I personally think conflux would have been the best set to put them in, but it didn't happen, so I'm hoping for this block. A 4-colour legend doesn't need to be a Nephilim creature, it could really be any kind of creature, really.
So Mark Rosewater said that if he could re-do one thingabouttheNephilimcycle is that he would make the Nephlim legendary so people would have generals for 4-colour commander decks. Now we see that we are coming back to the City of Guilds. What do you think of are the chances they'll make some 4 colour legends in this year's block?
Edit: Here is Mark Rosewater's quote in the article "On Wedge" last year: "It has zero four-color legendary creatures. (I'd errata the Nephilim to be legendary in a heartbeat if I was allowed to do such a thing.) In three-color, it's doing pretty well with the arcs, but the wedges are woefully small in number."
You know what's kinda cool? They kinda combo together. If you have an easy way to make tokens in a hurry like Krenko, Mob Boss it makes Sublime Archangel's ability a lot better. Make a bunch of tokens and the exalted triggers can make it so you can attack with one of those tokens and only endanger that single creature token.
What about angels? Angles in Magic: the Gathering have arms and legs and thumbs and basically look like hot human girls with wings. The only thing that differentiates them from other "humanoid" creature types is their typical size and power level. I would really like to see an angel planeswalker someday. Especially with Serra being dead and all.
Poor Serra.
Edit: Oh it doesn't block either...
I think he's saying it looks like a mummy...
As for your idea, I suggest you look up cards from Mirage Block. It's not exactly the same but as Jamaara is based on African folklore and Egypt is located in northern most part of Africa, you'll find tons of cards like Heat Stroke, Sandstorm, Savage Twister, Desolation,, Choking Sands, Circling Vultures (don't know if Vultures are native to Egypt or not, but whatevs,) Crypt Cobra, and plenty of Djinns and Efreets.
I also don't think that efreets are from Egypt either, but they are from the middle East and you take what you can get... :/
Oh- and they may be terrible, but there is a cycle of scarab cards from Ice Age.
Also this is a card
ALSO THE TITANS ARE GONE WHICH SHOULD BE CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION.
Aren't players supposed to be planeswalkers?
Yeva is basically
2GG
Instant
"destroy target attacking creature then make a 4/4. Your opponent must play around surprise blocks for the rest of the game."
It's not even close.
Lilliana of the Dark Realms
Liliana's Shade
Farseek
Arbor Elf
Ranger's Path
I thought there were 6, but that's still more then usual. Also, none of them are cards that particularly reward you for going mono-colour like Tendrils of Corruption or Jaws of Stone or whatever. Not a sure thing, by any means, but still worth mentioning. It's also possible that the land cycle could be lands with one or more land type that aren't shock lands. I think that would be a marketing mistake, but it's still possible.
Well, if not Nephilim, what do you think is the likelihood of 4-colour legends in general? I honestly don't care if it's a "Nephilim-with-a-capital-N", but a cycle of 4 colour legends would be very nice for the commander format. Seeing as they only do multi-colour blocks every 4 or so years, this would be their last chance (outside of another commander set) to do it for the four-see-able future. :P. I personally think conflux would have been the best set to put them in, but it didn't happen, so I'm hoping for this block. A 4-colour legend doesn't need to be a Nephilim creature, it could really be any kind of creature, really.
Edit: Here is Mark Rosewater's quote in the article "On Wedge" last year: "It has zero four-color legendary creatures. (I'd errata the Nephilim to be legendary in a heartbeat if I was allowed to do such a thing.) In three-color, it's doing pretty well with the arcs, but the wedges are woefully small in number."