1. Zodiac Monkey
Why? Has Forestwalk, and the "-walks" are aggressive abilities. The art here is clearly aggressive.
2. Spirit Link
Already knew.
3. Web
Why? That guy is creating a [*gasp*] Web.
4. Withering Gaze
Why? Art compliments the new Baleful Stare art.
5. Zur's Weirding
Already knew.
6. Tree Monkey Why? Appears to be flying. The "old" art was a bit cutesy but I liked it.
7. Temporal Adept
Why?
Focus: Human Wizard [Adept]
Setting: Sundial [Temporal < Time]
8. Sleight of Hand Why?
Focus: Wizard's Hands in three stages. "Now you see it, now you don't." Compare to 7th Sleight of Hand art.
9. Serra Angel
Already Knew.
10. ?
Can't even comprehend. The tone is red; and we see a red-aligned creature destroy a red-aligned creature (dragon). Any red pump spell out there?
11. Sift
Why? Draw three, discard one. "Abstract" expressionism is coming to magic, and this is a great interpretation.
12. Scaled Wurm
Why? Wurm with Scales.
13. Sudden Impact
Why? Look at the hair. This man has been impacted, not shocked. Lightning (in fantasy art at least) usually does silly things to hair upon being shocked.
14. Threaten
Already knew.
15. Sulfurous Springs
Why? Sulfur is a metal. Obvious red and black tones. 7th art is outdated and the color tones are off; Ice Age art is too comical and the color tones are off.
[Credit: Falc's quick shop convinved me. The Urza's Mine art is not only new, but an homage to the original art. They want to keep the homage in, especially since the new Urza's Tower shows Karn and Urza Planeswalker in the frame. If it was any of the Urza's it would be Urza's Power Plant since the current one is somewhat "Sci Fi" compared to the other two.]
16. Will-o-the-Wisp Already knew.
17. Yawgmoth Demon Why? Obvious black-aligned creature. Wings convey flying.
18. Sea's Claim Why? That looks like a Karpulsan Forest or a Taiga - Blue's two enemy colors.
With different artwork, they could make the elvish champion, say, Human, by being a champion of the Elves, although not actually elvish. The Goblin king could be a Minotaur, and the Lord of the Undead could either be a lich, or a cleric (like Doomed necromancer)
For flavor purposes they could reprint the various Lords with different artwork in different expansions.
For example, in Mercadia the "Goblin King" of the Kyren was probably a Phyrexian.
Nice talk and all, but the artwork never has reflected your point, except for Lord of the Undead. If my memory serves me correctly Lord Dralnu wasn't a zombie himself. Elvish Champion and Goblin King clearly depict an elf and a goblin respectively, the latter even implying in its flavor text that the lord is in fact a goblin.
On a sidenote: Why has Elvish Champion got 3 different pieces of art, when the first one was the best, and the last one the worst?
Just throwing it out there from a "flavor" perspective.
I think we aren't seeing the forest for the trees.
Flavor wise, can a non-Elf be an Elvish Champion? Certainly. Maybe a human is an Elvish Champion, a leader of the elves in times of trouble. Gerrard Capashen might have been considered an "Elvish Champion" at some point in his illustrious career.
Flavor wise, can a non-Zombie be a Lord of the Undead? Certainly. Any necromancer or lich can animate whatever armies they wish, thereby becoming a "lord" of the Zombies.
What about goblins? Well this one is troublesome as it is "Goblin King," but just read it as "King of the Goblins." It could be argued that in Kamigawa that the Brothers Yamazaki were "Goblin King Twins," yet they were not goblins.
Is it possible that the "guild" cards in Ravinca will have 50/50 mana costs? Imagine a symbol that is half-white and half-blue.
Mini-Absorb 2(W/U)
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controler pays 3. If he or she does, gain 3 life
Or half-red and half-green
Shock and Awe 1(G/R)
Enchant Creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
It's an easy visual aid that adds "new" colors without truly disrupting the color pie. This could cause ten new "dual" lands that produce half-mana, but are basic.
We already know that Garfield is on the design team, and if they ever were going to add colors, it would be with Garfield's blessing.
That being said, I think we're going to see "Storyline Tournaments" similar to Legend of the Five Ring with deck restrictions on guilds. Guild winners will get certain cards in the next set, guild losers have their guilds destroyed.
I'm amazed at the disparity of opinions on this card. It's been called "a 25 cent rare" right after being called "better than armageddon". I don't think any other card has ever drawn this kind of reaction.
Dont' be. Everyone plays magic for different reasons, and because of that we all have interpretations for different cards. I see this card fitting a nice roll in a U/R control deck. Meloku? Nice synergy.
Over at news they are saying he is a Legendary creatrue - human Shapeshifter So probably has a Volrath`s shapeshifter-like abbility but can also target opponents graveyard. looks black even though the ability is blue well maybe color wheel shift?!?! Comments?
Volrath's Shapeshifter depends on graveyard order, and graveyard order no longer matters.
Morphling > illustrated by rk post
Sakashima > illustrated by rk post
Cursory, I know, but still thought I'd point it out.
[What makes Morphling "too good" would be its untargetability. Sakashima could be a reprint without untargetability. Still, the Legend rule might justify reprinting Morphling.]
Wow. Why is this thread even in existance. Morphling has long been hailed as THE MOST POWERFUL CREATURE OF ALL TIME (though recently many have claimed psychatog is better), and here you all are trying to make an even more ridiculous version of it. If there is a morphling varient, expect it to be smaller, weaker, and pricier. There's no way they'd make another morphling anywhere close to the old one, especially with all the goodies they've given blue recently.
The Legend Rule does strange things...
Is not Ismaru, Hound of Konda more powerful than Savannah Lions?
Is not Yukora, the Prisoner more powerful than Juzam Djinn?
Good point. The Fifth Edition art of Sulfurous Springs is pretty good.
Why? Has Forestwalk, and the "-walks" are aggressive abilities. The art here is clearly aggressive.
2. Spirit Link
Already knew.
3. Web
Why? That guy is creating a [*gasp*] Web.
4. Withering Gaze
Why? Art compliments the new Baleful Stare art.
5. Zur's Weirding
Already knew.
6. Tree Monkey
Why? Appears to be flying. The "old" art was a bit cutesy but I liked it.
7. Temporal Adept
Why?
Focus: Human Wizard [Adept]
Setting: Sundial [Temporal < Time]
8. Sleight of Hand
Why?
Focus: Wizard's Hands in three stages. "Now you see it, now you don't." Compare to 7th Sleight of Hand art.
9. Serra Angel
Already Knew.
10. ?
Can't even comprehend. The tone is red; and we see a red-aligned creature destroy a red-aligned creature (dragon). Any red pump spell out there?
11. Sift
Why? Draw three, discard one. "Abstract" expressionism is coming to magic, and this is a great interpretation.
12. Scaled Wurm
Why? Wurm with Scales.
13. Sudden Impact
Why? Look at the hair. This man has been impacted, not shocked. Lightning (in fantasy art at least) usually does silly things to hair upon being shocked.
14. Threaten
Already knew.
15. Sulfurous Springs
Why? Sulfur is a metal. Obvious red and black tones. 7th art is outdated and the color tones are off; Ice Age art is too comical and the color tones are off.
[Credit: Falc's quick shop convinved me. The Urza's Mine art is not only new, but an homage to the original art. They want to keep the homage in, especially since the new Urza's Tower shows Karn and Urza Planeswalker in the frame. If it was any of the Urza's it would be Urza's Power Plant since the current one is somewhat "Sci Fi" compared to the other two.]
16. Will-o-the-Wisp
Already knew.
17. Yawgmoth Demon
Why? Obvious black-aligned creature. Wings convey flying.
18. Sea's Claim
Why? That looks like a Karpulsan Forest or a Taiga - Blue's two enemy colors.
For flavor purposes they could reprint the various Lords with different artwork in different expansions.
For example, in Mercadia the "Goblin King" of the Kyren was probably a Phyrexian.
Just throwing it out there from a "flavor" perspective.
Flavor wise, can a non-Elf be an Elvish Champion? Certainly. Maybe a human is an Elvish Champion, a leader of the elves in times of trouble. Gerrard Capashen might have been considered an "Elvish Champion" at some point in his illustrious career.
Flavor wise, can a non-Zombie be a Lord of the Undead? Certainly. Any necromancer or lich can animate whatever armies they wish, thereby becoming a "lord" of the Zombies.
What about goblins? Well this one is troublesome as it is "Goblin King," but just read it as "King of the Goblins." It could be argued that in Kamigawa that the Brothers Yamazaki were "Goblin King Twins," yet they were not goblins.
Mini-Absorb 2(W/U)
Instant
Counter target spell unless its controler pays 3. If he or she does, gain 3 life
Or half-red and half-green
Shock and Awe 1(G/R)
Enchant Creature
Whenever enchanted creature deals damage, put a +1/+1 counter on it.
It's an easy visual aid that adds "new" colors without truly disrupting the color pie. This could cause ten new "dual" lands that produce half-mana, but are basic.
Does this work?
That being said, I think we're going to see "Storyline Tournaments" similar to Legend of the Five Ring with deck restrictions on guilds. Guild winners will get certain cards in the next set, guild losers have their guilds destroyed.
Worst use of "postmodern" ever!
Dont' be. Everyone plays magic for different reasons, and because of that we all have interpretations for different cards. I see this card fitting a nice roll in a U/R control deck. Meloku? Nice synergy.
Can it compete with MUC? Only time will tell.
Volrath's Shapeshifter depends on graveyard order, and graveyard order no longer matters.
Sakashima > illustrated by rk post
Cursory, I know, but still thought I'd point it out.
[What makes Morphling "too good" would be its untargetability. Sakashima could be a reprint without untargetability. Still, the Legend rule might justify reprinting Morphling.]
The orb tells us we have one Shapeshifter in Saviors.
Sakashima is most likely that Shapeshifter.
Each set has had a "legendary" version of a famous creature.
Champions: Isamaru > Savannah Lions
Betrayers: Yukora > Juzamm Djinn
and in Saviors...
Sakashima > Morphling?
The Legend Rule does strange things...
Is not Ismaru, Hound of Konda more powerful than Savannah Lions?
Is not Yukora, the Prisoner more powerful than Juzam Djinn?
Is it a Legendary Morphling??
Edit I:
While +1/-1 and -1/+1 don't check out, there are 16 +1/+0 and 1 +0/+1...
Edit II:
Shapeshifter appears once...