I imagine the legendary creatures will be designed around the same sort of ideas that influence the shards from Shards of Alara, where each 3-colour shard is defined by what was missing than what was included (while still being true to its colour). For example, Jund (BRG) is defined by being incredibly savage because there was no white and no blue mana, while Grixis is basically a dead and evil zone because there is no life magic from green or white.
Probably better just to make a house rule to allow planeswalkers to function beside legendary creatures.
But if you are not going to go for that, given how vulnerable planeswalkers can be in the game, then I would keep all of those cards that generate advantage, like Doubling Season, give them an expected leg up. You should expect every green deck to have that enchantment and plan accordingly.
I don't see why going to an Egyptian themed set would break up the story they are trying to tell? Isn't the whole point of having a group of planeswalking super heroes the fact that they can planeswalk to wherever they want? They could show up on an Egyptian themed world to fight some evil thing just as easily as going to Ravnica.
As for the Phyrexians, there has to be some story idea of how they get off their world. Their portals don't work anymore, so they are stuck. They can't get a spark and they've already won their war against the Mirrans (except for a small resistance). Personally, I think the next time we see the Phyrexians will be on another world and it will be a mystery how they got there instead of another visit to New Phyrexia to destroy them.
The descriptor basically confirms that Dethrone, Parley, and Will of the Council are returning.
I don't know if they would bother bringing back Dethrone, it was a combat mechanic that encourages switching around the target from turn to turn. I imagine they might want to try a different combat mechanic in the same vein instead of just printing more cards with that ability on it (they printed nine in Conspiracy).
However, I think we'll get more Parley (five in Conspiracy) and Will of the Council (nine in Conspiracy). There is a lot more they could do with those mechanics in a multiplayer game.
I keep seeing people saying the fetches are in, but I was certain that they were confirmed out by Wasteland's #. With it being second to last in the set and there being two fetches after it doesn't that confirm out?
People seem to be referring to the Zendikar fetchlands, none of which are alphabetically after Wasteland.
I'd love an example of how this is true? What game died out from being too expensive? Some people just save up (me) over time and buy what they need. Also games that are too expensive, have you ever been to an NFL game? Way worth expensive now than 10 years ago and it goes up yearly, and thats not gona change. Anyone stop going to NFL games? Can't tell becasue they are still sold out weekly...
That's not quite the same circumstance though since a lot of people can watch NFL games effectively for free by watching on TV. It might not be their preferred method of experiencing a game, but it is more affordable. The fact that the stadiums are still sold out simply means that the price was too low in the past compared to the demand, but it also means that the type of person that goes to the game in person is changing from casual fans + super fans to rich casual fans + super fans that can afford the tickets.
Modern is not an Eternal format. The only two Eternal formats are Vintage and Legacy.
That is semantic hair splitting though. Regardless of how WotC defines these formats, a lot of people are just going to look at the English definition of "eternal" as lasting forever and apply that to any large pool, non-rotating formats. The fact that there is a shrinking percentage of sets in Vintage and Legacy that are not in Modern is not going to mean much in a few more years.
For reference there are 92 sets for Magic and of those sets 41 are only in Legacy and Vintage (this includes the Commander sets, Conspiracy, and Planechase 2012 since they have new cards that cannot be played in Modern). This means 44.6& of the sets in Legacy and Vintage are not usable in Modern and that number is going to go down every year. Modern is going to feel pretty "Eternal" despite what WotC claims.
If Rule 4 was revoked, I wonder if hybrid existing as R&D intended is in the wings.
I'm going to guess not.
Allowing hybrid mana requires adding additional rules in the Colour Identity rules and understanding why the rule exists requires understanding some fairly arcane design intentions. Adding new rules is harder to justify than taking away existing rules especially when from a mechanical point of view, people that want hybrid cards allowed more freely have no leg to stand one. A card like Waves of Aggression is always a red and white spell in every zone and even on the stack, just like a gold card. From another point of view, the fact that you could cast Waves of Aggression with only red mana is about as relevant as trying to cast a white creature with a red activated ability that you claim you don't want to use.
I like this suggestion of a sealed Commander Masters booster product, however, it would likely be priced in the same way that Modern Masters is priced, so individual booster products would not be cheap, which cuts against the grain that Commander is a more casual environment.
However, I would defend the Commander pre-cons as a good way to introduce a new player to the Commander format. Yes, they provide some great new cards for the format, but their primary audience is new or relatively new players, not seasoned players with large existing card pools.
I think every Commander set should heavily push for the reprinting of Portal cards that are expensive only because they are so rare.
I would also like to see them explore linear or parasitic mechanics that did not get a lot of room to explore in the sets they were in or are difficult to bring back without dedicating a lot of room for them. For example, cards with Ninjutsu or Arcane (with Splice onto Arcane, but not badly costly).
I can't see the update right now because the page is down, but if you mean the colour to colourless mana production rule is gone, I am very, very happy.
I'm ok with the Prophet being removed, it was very strong and could easily warp games around it.
Up to a certain point, you should honor a deal. But if the game state changes and the deal greatly out favors another party, there is no reason to stick to it.
Is there no reason, though? He would have surely lost the game had I not given him the hornets, and he won't receive such opportunities in the future now that he can't be trusted. Is this really the best possible outcome?
But how long were you expecting him to keep to the agreement? Was he supposed to eliminate the other two players first and then never attack you with the tokens and just have them sit there? Was this a reasonable expectation on your part from him?
I think you gave him the tokens in order to have him defeat the other two players while you were trying to find a way to win yourself. You didn't find such a thing and when the hornet player looked at the board, he decided that between you and the half-dead player, you were the one most likely to prevent him from winning in two turns. I think it makes sense to attack you. Now if he had attacked you after killing the first player while the other opponent had the stronger board / better shot of winning, I could see you taking issue with his actions, but as it stood. I don't think you should hold it against him.
I'd like to bring up Rule 15 when discussion allows, as well.
Could anyone point me to the rules announcement for Rule 15 being implemented?
There was a change that removed the "optional" section of the rules and just broadly mentioned that people should talk to their group about wishes. I think this announcement post covered that change: Link
That makes sense to me, but doesn't that still try to, for example, pay R to cast a Lightning Bolt? When you tap your Plains to pay that cost, wouldn't it become colorless?
Welcome to the world of Rule 4 where a small wording change between Daxos of Meletis and Celestial Dawn is all the difference needed to make one card a lock-out mechanism and the other card work normally.
But if you are not going to go for that, given how vulnerable planeswalkers can be in the game, then I would keep all of those cards that generate advantage, like Doubling Season, give them an expected leg up. You should expect every green deck to have that enchantment and plan accordingly.
As for the Phyrexians, there has to be some story idea of how they get off their world. Their portals don't work anymore, so they are stuck. They can't get a spark and they've already won their war against the Mirrans (except for a small resistance). Personally, I think the next time we see the Phyrexians will be on another world and it will be a mystery how they got there instead of another visit to New Phyrexia to destroy them.
I don't know if they would bother bringing back Dethrone, it was a combat mechanic that encourages switching around the target from turn to turn. I imagine they might want to try a different combat mechanic in the same vein instead of just printing more cards with that ability on it (they printed nine in Conspiracy).
However, I think we'll get more Parley (five in Conspiracy) and Will of the Council (nine in Conspiracy). There is a lot more they could do with those mechanics in a multiplayer game.
People seem to be referring to the Zendikar fetchlands, none of which are alphabetically after Wasteland.
That's not quite the same circumstance though since a lot of people can watch NFL games effectively for free by watching on TV. It might not be their preferred method of experiencing a game, but it is more affordable. The fact that the stadiums are still sold out simply means that the price was too low in the past compared to the demand, but it also means that the type of person that goes to the game in person is changing from casual fans + super fans to rich casual fans + super fans that can afford the tickets.
That is semantic hair splitting though. Regardless of how WotC defines these formats, a lot of people are just going to look at the English definition of "eternal" as lasting forever and apply that to any large pool, non-rotating formats. The fact that there is a shrinking percentage of sets in Vintage and Legacy that are not in Modern is not going to mean much in a few more years.
For reference there are 92 sets for Magic and of those sets 41 are only in Legacy and Vintage (this includes the Commander sets, Conspiracy, and Planechase 2012 since they have new cards that cannot be played in Modern). This means 44.6& of the sets in Legacy and Vintage are not usable in Modern and that number is going to go down every year. Modern is going to feel pretty "Eternal" despite what WotC claims.
I'm going to guess not.
Allowing hybrid mana requires adding additional rules in the Colour Identity rules and understanding why the rule exists requires understanding some fairly arcane design intentions. Adding new rules is harder to justify than taking away existing rules especially when from a mechanical point of view, people that want hybrid cards allowed more freely have no leg to stand one. A card like Waves of Aggression is always a red and white spell in every zone and even on the stack, just like a gold card. From another point of view, the fact that you could cast Waves of Aggression with only red mana is about as relevant as trying to cast a white creature with a red activated ability that you claim you don't want to use.
However, I would defend the Commander pre-cons as a good way to introduce a new player to the Commander format. Yes, they provide some great new cards for the format, but their primary audience is new or relatively new players, not seasoned players with large existing card pools.
I would also like to see them explore linear or parasitic mechanics that did not get a lot of room to explore in the sets they were in or are difficult to bring back without dedicating a lot of room for them. For example, cards with Ninjutsu or Arcane (with Splice onto Arcane, but not badly costly).
I can't see the update right now because the page is down, but if you mean the colour to colourless mana production rule is gone, I am very, very happy.
I'm ok with the Prophet being removed, it was very strong and could easily warp games around it.
But how long were you expecting him to keep to the agreement? Was he supposed to eliminate the other two players first and then never attack you with the tokens and just have them sit there? Was this a reasonable expectation on your part from him?
I think you gave him the tokens in order to have him defeat the other two players while you were trying to find a way to win yourself. You didn't find such a thing and when the hornet player looked at the board, he decided that between you and the half-dead player, you were the one most likely to prevent him from winning in two turns. I think it makes sense to attack you. Now if he had attacked you after killing the first player while the other opponent had the stronger board / better shot of winning, I could see you taking issue with his actions, but as it stood. I don't think you should hold it against him.
There was a change that removed the "optional" section of the rules and just broadly mentioned that people should talk to their group about wishes. I think this announcement post covered that change: Link
Welcome to the world of Rule 4 where a small wording change between Daxos of Meletis and Celestial Dawn is all the difference needed to make one card a lock-out mechanism and the other card work normally.