Magic: The Gathering (Unreleased Sets)

IIRC, it's been confirmed in an artbook that Bolas released the Eldrazi to create a threat large enough to bring a group of planeswalkers together to stop them.

Edited by Zennistrad on Aug 31st 2018 at 10:33:01 AM

What's with all of the graveyard mechanics? That's a really weird direction to take Ravnica in.

Ravnica's always had a certain amount of graveyard stuff, and not just with the Golgari.

Yeah, and not just mechanics; the lore as well, with the Aether fold trapping souls and creating afterlife manifestations as a matter of course.

Here's the Guilds of Ravica trailer!

So, has this thread discussed how Elspeth got a new card?

+ flavor text on a spoiled card = Dimir as "good" guys? I'm intrigued!

Art of that card is has interesting details.

Edited by googlebot on Sep 2nd 2018 at 11:54:54 AM

Some highlights from cards spoiled so far:

• Shockland reprints (of course)
• Emmara Tandris gets a new card, and it's actually good (!)
• Narcomoeba reprint (!!)

Edited by Zennistrad on Sep 2nd 2018 at 8:30:26 AM

New personality test. Got Simic. With an option to go Izzet. This one gets my stamp of approval.

Huh, I got Simic and an option to go Izzet too.

I wonder what each Guild can do against Bolas and his army. Simic design and mass produce super soldiers? Dimir foil plans behind the scenes? Boros go We Have Reserves on his army?

The fact that the Guilds can fight each other is basically proof that they can fight Bolas's minions, whether that's with mutant monsters, assassination and sabotage, giant bolts of lightning, military force or armies that refuse to ever die. The tricky part would be getting them all to do so.

For more specific examples:

• Azorius: Their forces can pretty easily be repurposed as formal military, and they have solid aerial combat and a decent supply of delaying tactics.
• Boros: CHAAAARGE
• Dimir: Sabotage, yeah. Assassination, too - it won't necessarily help against the Eternals, but his agents in the Guilds could be in trouble.
• Golgari: How do you defeat an enemy who never dies?
• Gruul: Screaming hordes of goblins and giants and the occasional ferocious pig.
• Izzet: BZZZT
• Orzhov: Plenty of resources, a willingness to expend them for survival, and almost as much endurance as the Golgari.
• Rakdos: Point them in the vague direction of the enemy and stand back.
• Selesnya: Even bigger armies than the Boros Legion, and no shortage of huge elementals and so on.
• Simic: They wouldn't even need to do a super-soldier program: just unleash their best krasis...es (I don't know what the plural of "krasis" is).

Edited by CountDorku on Sep 4th 2018 at 6:10:00 PM

Heh, Bolas must hate Azorius magic on principle. What do you mean I can't do things just because they're against the law.

Addendum to the Dimir-information. Figuring out Bolas' current agents and likely future turncoats would be the first step towards removing them, quickly and efficiently.

Edited by ViperMagnum357 on Sep 4th 2018 at 4:26:31 AM

Bolas is the most dangerous part of that invasion. If he hadn't any unspecified interests in Ravnica, he could just go all Amonkhet on it. The Eternals are dangerous as an elite fighting force but Ravnica is a whole plane covered in a city. How many thousands of years would it take just to massacre the populace? And if that populace decides to fight back in mass?

I just had an WMG of what Niv is doing! He's cloning himself and is using the Firemind as a cloud storage for his consciousness to inhabit several bodies.

Here's the Guilds of Ravnica Mechanics article, as well as Guilds of Ravnica Packaging, Promos, and More.

And finally;

Magic Story; Unbowed, Part 2

Surprise non-Wednesday story update, in which pissing off a planeswalker goes wonderfully for everyone in Luneau.

Indeed. I'd feel sorry for Luneau if I hadn't read the previous two parts. Those got hard to read at some points, and not just because of the purpleness of the prose.

Anyway, we also now have a ''Guilds of Ravnica'' Card Image Gallery.

Upon reflecting a bit, here is what I would want from each guild over next three blocks:

Dimir: a commander(s) that is somewhere between X and Xantcha. Or both.

Boros: a clever combat commander. Maybe even a defensive one? =O Scandalous!

Izzet: had it down the first time/s. More of that.

Orzhov: Ditto.

Golgari: Tritto(?).

Selesnya: make Phytohydras great again. Mat'Selesnya awakens!

Simic: Supersoldiers, in a clever way; something like Slivers maybe? I.e. creatures with the same type get keywords from the s-soldier. Also, clever commanders. Lots of clever commanders. And! Get the lore right this time and make a proper Biomancer Parun.

Azorius: Hatebears. Ways to set rules on opponents.

Rakdos: Coherent theme and execution(he he). Slaanesh is a better example of Rakdos than Rakdos himself.

Gruul: Integrate them better into lore. Show that there is actual lore.

Edit: Prepare for an Izzetgazm: Niv's back, baby!

Edited by googlebot on Sep 10th 2018 at 12:15:57 PM

Preview season has officially begun!

• Making Magic: Guild to Order, Part 1, featuring Niv-Mizzet, Parun
• Guilds of Ravnica Split Cards, featuring;
  • Response // Resurgence
  • Find // Finality

Well, I got 'd on Niv-Mizzet's new card, but the article has some prime speculation fuel for the set after this one.

Followed by priority #3 for how the guilds were divided between sets.

Given the above, we know that the Izzet and the Golgari have been compromised by Ral and Vraska, respectively, and the Boros, Dimir, and Selesnya are safe. Now the question is, which three of the five remaining guilds (Azorius, Simic, Orzhov, Gruul, and Rakdos) have fallen under new Planeswalker overlords, and who are those Planeswalkers?

Edited by Lightblade on Sep 10th 2018 at 6:21:22 AM

I'm kind of hoping they do the unpredictable and have Rakdos be one of the guilds not under Bolas.

Same-they have telegraphed a likely Heel–Face Turn with the Golgari in the heat of battle via Vraska, but seeing the heretofore unknown Dimir and reliably uncontrollable Rakdos headed by a certain newly resurrected demon Parun being the linchpins to save the day would be a welcome break from all the White/Green heroics.

The fact that it is said so openly makes me feel there will be a twist. Something line Selesnya being Bolas aligned instead of Izzet.

I lean on Azorius being subverted and lead by Dovin Baan. Orzhov under Liliana's heel. + Gruul for color symmetry on both sides.

That was similar to my thinking-the traditional heroic colors of White and Green being mostly under the control of the Conqueror, with Black stepping up in a big way. I could see Orzhov going either way, but I would definitely like to see Rakdos, Golgari and Dimir form the core defense-with Azorius,Selesnya and Boros being the core bad guy factions-Gruul gets roped onto team bad guy through circumstance/manipulation, Orzhov plays both sides and gets butchered for it, Izzet gets sidelined by Zarek until near the end, and Simic: gun-shy after their last brush with being unintentional bad guys-waffles before choosing to side with the good guys after figuring out who the real enemies are (ie. not Rakdos and Dimir this time).

Edited by ViperMagnum357 on Sep 11th 2018 at 12:20:55 PM

Well, it was mentioned that all guilds will have elements leaning both ways.

I wonder what will be the kill list among guild leaders. Isperia and Jarad are almost confirmed. Ghost Council have had a target over their head for a long time now. Zagana I don't like, nothing of value will be missed. Borborygmos was showing signs of weakness last we heard of him.