Magic: The Gathering (Unreleased Sets)

Maro's official word on Kamigawa II: Eclectic Boogaloo is that they're probably not returning, because returns are generally reserved for planes that were broadly popular rather than Love It or Hate It, but there's nothing preventing them from doing another block in a Fantasy Japan setting; it's just that it won't be Kamigawa specifically.

i also want return to kamigawa. i dont really know how weak the block realy was (didnt play then but i heard it was rather weak) but i love the flavour, the lore and ninjutsu

From what I've heard the cards stand up alright nowadays, but it was between two extremely powerful sets so it's impact on standard was basically nil.

I actually kinda like the idea of another fantasy Japan plane. After all, there are multiple fantasy Europe planes, why can't there be more fantasy Japan (or India or Zaire or wherever) planes?

We got fantasy Mongolia...

Given that Liliana is the 'face character' of the set, I don't think Emrakul is what's going on. Rather, I think what's going on actually has something to do with the Chain Veil - we've already had it hinted at that it's an artifact of doom of some kind, it's part of Liliana's story, and it would allow them to avoid doing Eldrazi in back-to-back blocks.

So no, I think Emrakul showing up on Innistrad is a false lead of wishful thinking - I think we're about to see the Chain Veil story start to heat up instead.

I think we'll get some progression of the Chain Veil story but I can't imagine it being the focus in a block centered around a mysterious horror descending upon Innistrad. It seems like a Shandalar-centric block would be better suited to actually confront the Chain Veil, given its ties to the roaming plane's mythos.

The only relationship the thing has with Innistrad is that Liliana used it to kill a demon here once.

edited 8th Feb '16 5:44:22 PM by TobiasDrake

On the other hand, mysterious horrors turning up on planes not their own seems to be a MTG theme.

So, some thoughts on things....

Eldritch Moon is an awesome name. Just really awesome. Not much more to say, but... I really like it. Very mysterious.

While I've resigned myself to what this block is, I agree with Imca that it is too soon, especially when some planes have been skipped over... I was already mourning the lack of a return to Lorwyn/Shadowmoor when BFZ happened, and now this... But, I grin and bear it, because Innistrad is still pretty cool (and also because there's nothing to actually do about it 'cause wizards can make what they want >.>).

As for talk on Kamigawa and Eastern fantasy sets, I'd personally be more interested in something a bit different... a Chinese mythology inspired set, maybe...? or more broadly speaking of non-european fantasy, both the Norse and Egyptian concepts that float around every so often as things that can be tackled are really exciting to me. I think it's kind of a waste to return to a Japanese set that isn't Kamigawa, when there's so many ideas that haven't been done at all before. But then, I still love Japanese stuff, so that'd be cool too.

AS FOR the chain veil, it could be secondary to this set's plot and a lead-in to a Shandalar-based block directly after (i.e. Jace examines it and goes, "we should totally go to Shandalar and stuff cuz reasons?"). We pretty much know the next block is a "new" plane, but it could be new in the same sense that a Vryn-based block would be new. Much as that would disappoint me immensely, as Shandalar is rather generic...

edited 8th Feb '16 8:51:00 PM by ImperialSunlight

Though if it isn't the setting of a base set, they'd be able to focus on what makes Shandalar unique.

So... Slivers?

edited 8th Feb '16 11:35:09 PM by LeChuck4

A set from their point of view would be kind of awesome, but I doubt that we'd get that in the new world order.

More◊SOI◊ spoilers.◊

edited 9th Feb '16 5:35:52 AM by googlebot

Funny to see the prowess creatures, actually. The blue ones have higher power than toughness and the red ones have higher toughness than power.

Well at least I know a replacement for the Mage-Ring Bully's lol

I've been musing on this and it's actually a good point. As much as I've also indulged in checking out the linked leaks, it's a violation of forum policy to provide links to criminal material up to and including leaks, torrents, and piracy-focused streaming sites. We should probably stop.

edited 9th Feb '16 10:46:18 AM by TobiasDrake

On the other hand, it's kind of difficult for us to use those leaked cards in the same way you'd use the likes of torrents and digital bootlegs.

I'm not defending the leakers, but it's not as thought we can take those leaked cards and then go actually play with them in any way. We'll still have to go out and acquire them legally if we want to get real use out of them.

I think this is more akin to linking the people who've watched a movie ahead of time in some illegal manner then posting spoilers about the movie, which provides about the same effect as reading the Wikipedia article summery once it's been officially released - or in this case, getting pieces of Wizard's own card gallery once official spoiler season starts.

The Brink of Extinction.

(deep breath) Here we go.

Well, we already know that doesn't quite work out as planned. More fire involved, if the cards are anything to go by.

I've got to say, the plan is basically exactly what I was hoping for - they're not meeting the Eldrazi strength-to-strength but rather bringing them into position for Zendikar itself to do the heavy lifting.

jace showing signs of real humor was unexpected ( i mean his prof. x imitation)

all in all i liked this one. A problem i had was that it sounded (in the summary) like jace chandra and nissa had enough power to kill the titans but now the one who does the actual killing is zendikar itself. I can accept that

I deliberately didn't read the summary, so for me, this just sounds like exactly what Jace was musing on in the Eye chamber: an evolution of the hedrons' purpose, taking the principle of imprisoning the Eldrazi and expanding it to lethal ends. I never thought for a moment that the Gatewatch were going to defeat the Titans by just hitting them with violence until they fall down.

From the way Jace explained it, it's not even so much killing them as dissipating them. An Exile effect instead of a Destroy. The energies that comprise the Titans' being will be dissolved and redistributed across Zendikar - possibly undoing the damage they've done to the plane in the process.

edited 10th Feb '16 11:27:10 AM by TobiasDrake

Though it does raise the delicious possibility of a return set in 10 years or so where it turns out that absorbing them into the plane has caused some kind of poison or weirdness in place of the roil.

This is going to have unforseen consequences, I'm sure of it.

This will unquestionably have consequences. It's a scenario I raised way back when we first got Nahiri's telling of how the Eldrazi were sealed.

Ugin didn't tell Markov and Nahiri that you CANNOT kill the Eldrazi. He emphasized it as a SHOULD NOT, citing the unknowable consequences that their demise could have on the Blind Eternities. I speculated way back when that the neowalkers, lacking Ugin and Markov's long-term perspective, would kill the Titans for the short-term goal of protecting Zendikar, saving the plane but wreaking some terrible havoc in the future.

The theory met a lot of opposition at the time from people who insisted that no, despite Ugin's implication that it was possible to kill them, there's no way the neowalkers could possibly accomplish such a goal because the Eldrazi are unkillable horrors. This block has left me feeling very vindicated.