Jace is a merfolk deck.
The other one is the dinosaur deck.
This leads me to believe that the 2 Rivals of Ixalan decks would be Pirates and Vampires
For all we know, the Pirate one is probably going to be Black Green just because WOTC probably wants to shoehorn Vraska in there. In that case, I really hope that Vraska isn't in any of the planeswalker decks. I'd rather have them do White Black Vampires, and Blue Red Pirates. Another reason for this is that so far, Green is the only color that is not missing in a set's worth of Planeswalker deck color pairs.
Kaladesh is black
Aether revolt is red
Amonkhet is blue
Hour of Devastation is white
Ixalan is black
WOTC could have sprinkled some green in the dinosaur deck to make a tri color deck, like the Hour of Devastation Nicol Bolas deck, but they didn't, which was why I would predict that the pirate deck would be blue red, and the fact that unless one of the decks was 3 color, both decks in the set won't share a color.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Pretty much guaranteed; that will make for an unusual Ajani deck, though, as he will have to splash black in order to fit Vampires.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Just watch them not do that hahahahaha. Or worse yet, Angrath would be one of those planeswalkers without a card hahaha.
I don't know if one of the decks must have a gatewatch member in it, but I am thinking of 3 scenarios for the vampire deck. Gideon, Liliana, or some white black planeswalker that will become a gatewatch member.
Still think that they should have sprinkled some green in the dinosaur deck. If it was in the theme deck era, WOTC would have no trouble doing a tri color deck. The best example would be Sliver Shivers from Legions, Sliver Evolution from Time Spiral, and Shamanism from Morningtide. They had others, but those contained 3 color cards that would require the 3rd color in the deck. Ok, maybe just Shamanism considering how there probably wasn't enough slivers to do a 2 color deck, but the Shamanism deck could have been White Black, Black Green, or Green White. Instead, they made it black green with a sprinkle of white.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Pretty much guaranteed; that will make for an unusual Ajani deck, though, as he will have to splash black in order to fit Vampires.
Actually, I would bet that Ajani is not on Ixalan, but Dominaria. If you look at the art on the booster packaging for "Conquest of Power" (the pre-Rivals of Ixalan name), it's none other than Huatli, Warrior-Poet on the booster packaging. Huatli's in Ixalan, not Rivals, so we can't assume that Ajani is in Rivals. Instead, it makes perfect sense that he'd be on Dominaria -- you know, the plane that he told the rest of the Gatewatch to meet him on?
Planeswaler color balance wants walker that are part green, black, red, and white. If they go the tribal route for the decks, it would mean white-black vampires and red-green more dinosaurs. Or black-red pirates, and green-white more dinosaurs.
If Angrath is Black-red like he seems to be, then we'll need a Green-white walker in Rivals. Which probably means Ajani.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
I wish Grasping Current's effect was on Castaway's Despair and vice versa. Castaway's Despair clearing away creatures and letting you find a lonely Jace from your deck makes more sense. And Grasping Current tapping down a creature permanently until it "eases up" (enchantment leaves the field) makes more sense.
Plus, I want the search card to be the one with the beautiful art. Oh well
Grasping Current doesn't even have Jace as the main focus of the art, sadly. Wish it were the other way around.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Pretty much guaranteed; that will make for an unusual Ajani deck, though, as he will have to splash black in order to fit Vampires.
Actually, I would bet that Ajani is not on Ixalan, but Dominaria. If you look at the art on the booster packaging for "Conquest of Power" (the pre-Rivals of Ixalan name), it's none other than Huatli, Warrior-Poet on the booster packaging. Huatli's in Ixalan, not Rivals, so we can't assume that Ajani is in Rivals. Instead, it makes perfect sense that he'd be on Dominaria -- you know, the plane that he told the rest of the Gatewatch to meet him on?
Cited booster art for reference.
I think Rivals is a Dragon's maze like story where champions will battle for the prize. The Boros Girl is clearly the champion for the sun empire, soo it makes sense for her to be in the seccond set. As for Ajani, he is looking for jace soo makes he fit in the Story. In the Draw 7 MR sorcery we know that we will have a very powerful merfolk in rivals, and some say that que Queen of the Vampires will be in the next set, Angrath (the Minotaur pirate Walker) could have been in the first set in development but as both Vraska and hin represents the pirate tribe, development probably swaped hin for her to give more simety for the block. First set we get the generals of those tribes and in the seccond set we get the leader and more powerful warrior of those tribes.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
Nissa is in Amonkhet, but her planeswalker deck card is in Hour of Devastation.
I'm just going to say this. If Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan had theme decks instead of planeswalker decks, it would have been GU merfolk, RGW dinosaurs, WB vampires, and UBR pirates. I just feel that the theme of the deck is ruined just to shoehorn in an off color planeswalker. Hope WOTC proves me wrong though,
I wouldn't mind if color pairs were repeated in the same block, or in sets released close to another, or even have similar themes if and only if each set had 4 set associated precons. A dinosaur themed deck in Rivals of Ixalan is a bad idea. 4 planeswalker decks in the block, and 4 tribes. Why wouldn't they do pirates and vampires for the decks in the next set?
This is the pattern I find with planeswalker decks so far. There is always one color not represented in the two planeswalker decks released per set. Green is the only color that has been in at least one planeswalker deck per set, so I would think that it would be green's turn to sit out for Rivals of Ixalan planeswalker decks. I would predict WB vampires and UR pirates, both color pairs haven't been used yet, unlike RW and GU, which have been used 3 times already. All colors are represented in exactly 2 tribes. The 2 tribes that don't have a planeswalker deck in Ixalan also are the tribes that do not have green in them. As I said, if Rivals of Ixalan didn't have planeswalker in the decks, UR pirates and WB vampires would be the obvious choice, but we all know that the colors might change just to incorporate the planeswalker.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
The most recent set before Ixalan was Hour of Devastation featuring the planeswalker decks "Nissa" and "Nicol Bolas". Nissa appeared not as a planeswalker card in Hour of Devastation proper, but in the previous set of the same block Amonkhet. Precedence disproves your claim. Not only that, but the most recent possible precedence possible regarding what is possible for the second set of a two-set block.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
“Zero change”? Lol. As others have said, Nissa was in an HOU planeswalker deck, which already completely disproves your statement, but even if she wasn’t in HOU it would still be too early in the history of planeswalker decks to say with absolute certainty that it could never happen. It clearly, it can. Also, Maro basically confirmed that Vraska will be in a planeswalker deck in Rivals already: http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/164867569798/i-was-wondering-why-you-guys-decided-not-to-give
Jace is a merfolk deck.
The other one is the dinosaur deck.
This leads me to believe that the 2 Rivals of Ixalan decks would be Pirates and Vampires
For all we know, the Pirate one is probably going to be Black Green just because WOTC probably wants to shoehorn Vraska in there. In that case, I really hope that Vraska isn't in any of the planeswalker decks. I'd rather have them do White Black Vampires, and Blue Red Pirates. Another reason for this is that so far, Green is the only color that is not missing in a set's worth of Planeswalker deck color pairs.
Kaladesh is black
Aether revolt is red
Amonkhet is blue
Hour of Devastation is white
Ixalan is black
WOTC could have sprinkled some green in the dinosaur deck to make a tri color deck, like the Hour of Devastation Nicol Bolas deck, but they didn't, which was why I would predict that the pirate deck would be blue red, and the fact that unless one of the decks was 3 color, both decks in the set won't share a color.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
First, I think that you're vastly overestimating WotC's desire to balance the colors in these decks. We've just had three consecutive blocks with both GU and RW decks, while several other color pairs don't have a single deck. But I don't think that a Vraska PW deck would be pirate tribal. Planeswalker decks usually focus on the themes of a color pair that appears in the actual set, and for BG, that's explore, not pirate tribal. While Vraska is a pirate, a BG pirate deck would be not only hard to build but also misleading to new players. Instead I would expect a deck focusing on explore or perhaps another BG-focused mechanic that replaces explore in rivals.
Besides, there’s no reason that every tribe needs a planeswalker deck. There aren’t any good candidates for a face card for a vampire planeswalker deck, with Sorin being stuck in a wall and new W, B, or WB vampire planeswalker being unlikely because Sorin exists. Vampires and merfolk are kind of the minor tribes of the plane anyway, with dinosaurs and pirates being the major ones that truly need to have planeswalker decks. I think that Angrath will have a BR deck representing pirate tribal and Vraska will have a BG deck that features some pirates and some non-pirates, with the real focus being explore or whatever the BG archetype is in Rivals if it’s not explore (and before anyone tells me that there’s zero chance of decks with overlapping colors, I’d like to point out that both of HOU’s decks were partially blue.)
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Pretty much guaranteed; that will make for an unusual Ajani deck, though, as he will have to splash black in order to fit Vampires.
Actually, I would bet that Ajani is not on Ixalan, but Dominaria. If you look at the art on the booster packaging for "Conquest of Power" (the pre-Rivals of Ixalan name), it's none other than Huatli, Warrior-Poet on the booster packaging. Huatli's in Ixalan, not Rivals, so we can't assume that Ajani is in Rivals. Instead, it makes perfect sense that he'd be on Dominaria -- you know, the plane that he told the rest of the Gatewatch to meet him on?
Cited booster art for reference.
I couldn't agree more. Huatli's art from Ixalan being on a Rivals booster definitely proves that the leaked boosters don't line up perfectly with the actual product, and Ajani would make way more sense in Dominaria for several reasons:
The story has already set up Ajani's presence on Dominaria, but has done nothing to suggest that he would be involved in Ixalan.
Ajani doesn't know where Jace is and probably doesn't know where Ixalan is either, it being a hidden plane and all. He's looking for allies right now, not tracking down defeated Gatewatch members (yet). He might not even know that Bolas kicked their asses yet, since they went to Amonkhet without telling him.
Ajani being in Dominaria would put more space between a new card and his previous card than him being in Rivals would.
There will already be a lot of green planeswalkers in standard when Rivals releases, so another GW Ajani does't make much sense for color balance.
If Ajani is in Dominaria, it opens up space for another planeswalker besides Angrath to be in Rivals, most likely either Ugin or the "associate" of Bolas that is supposed to help Vraska. There are a lot of planeswalkers competing for space in Rivals and not a lot for Dominaria.
In the Ixalan story podcast, it was stated that Jace is the only Gatewatch planeswalker on Ixalan. They could have been deliberately misleading us by referring to only Ixalan the set and not Ixalan the block, but if Ajani’s not actually on Ixalan at all it would open up the possibility of it just being an honest statement.
While it's not impossible that Ajani will show up in Rivals, it's far from a guarantee at this point. It’s an assumption that everyone has been making for quite a while now so most people will probably be fully expecting it until we actually start to see Rivals, when we’ll know for sure whether or not Ajani is in Rivals.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Pretty much guaranteed; that will make for an unusual Ajani deck, though, as he will have to splash black in order to fit Vampires.
Actually, I would bet that Ajani is not on Ixalan, but Dominaria. If you look at the art on the booster packaging for "Conquest of Power" (the pre-Rivals of Ixalan name), it's none other than Huatli, Warrior-Poet on the booster packaging. Huatli's in Ixalan, not Rivals, so we can't assume that Ajani is in Rivals. Instead, it makes perfect sense that he'd be on Dominaria -- you know, the plane that he told the rest of the Gatewatch to meet him on?
Cited booster art for reference.
I agree with you that Ajani is most likely in Domniaria. I think it would be disappointing not to have a vampire-themed deck in the block and have either two pirate-themed decks in rivals or another dinosaur-themed deck if Ajani is indeed going to be in rivals. I'm guessing there are three possibilities for the last planeswalker.
1- For some reason, Ajani really is in Ixalan. He could be loosely aligned with the sun empire or be mono-white and will help with the life maters theme that the vampires have.
2- I think this one could cause contention but I'm going to throw it out there. Sorin will be revealed to have escaped Nahiri's stoney prison and is searching for something on Ixalan. To me it would be weird to have a vampire faction in the colors of the premier vampire planeswalker and not have him in the block. I find it weird to be honest that Kiora isn't involved either. But a lot of people are "sick of a Sorin in every standard" (I'm not one of those people) so if you are, please don't yell at me for suggesting this.
3- A third life gain or vampire related walker.
One problem I had with the Tarkir block is that the walkers didn't fall into an alignment like in Alara and I hope that this block isn't a repeat of that.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
Nissa is in Amonkhet, but her planeswalker deck card is in Hour of Devastation.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
Nissa is in Amonkhet, but her planeswalker deck card is in Hour of Devastation.
Huh. I thought for sure Nissa was in HOU.
Nope Nissa's actual blue/ green card was in Amonkhet along with Gideon and Liliana (who both also had a planeswalker deck).
In hours Nissa and Nicol Bolas got a planeswalker deck. Nissa was a monogreen walker for the deck. However the featured walkers for the set were Nicol Bolas and Samut the Tested.
If Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan both had 4 precons per set, the theme might be:
GU merfolk
2 of 3 of
RW dinosaurs
RG dinosaurs
GW dinosaurs
2 of 3 of
UB pirates
BR pirates
UR pirates
WB vampires
BG explore
WU flyers
If there is another mechanic in Rivals of Ixalan, it may replace the second dinosaur, second pirate, or the flyers deck.
Every time I think WOTC is going to do something right with planeswalker deck, they let me down. Hour of devastation has a Nissa planeswalker deck, a GU one, just like the one in Kaladesh. Ixalan has 2 decks using the same color pairs as the ones from Kaladesh. If it is true that one deck in Rivals of Ixalan is Black Red, because the pirate planeswalker minotaur is black red, and the other being Vraska, so black green, it just proves the shoehorning in of the planeswalker dictates the color pairs, and thus, Rivals of Ixalan might have black represented twice, and thus being the first set to have 2 colors not represented in all the precons of that set.
I've said it before when planeswalker decks were announced. They should have released 2 non-planeswalker decks along with the planeswalker decks, totalling 4 decks per set. That way, they can reuse the same color pairs for the planeswalker decks without having to not use the ones they haven't used in a long time, because they would be used in the non-planeswalker deck.
If the gatewatch isn't shoehorned as one of the planeswalker deck planeswalker, Ixalan's 2 decks might have been BG explore and RW dinosaurs. A GU, again, merfolk deck exists because Jace had to be in there. The Rivals of Ixalan deck would be a pirate deck and whatever new mechanic Rivals of Ixalan might have, but nope. One planeswalker deck had to be wasted just so Jace is in there. Now, this would be a different story if they just released 4 decks per set.
As I said, if Ixalan had theme decks the way sets like Time Spiral or Onslaught had them, almost every theme and every mechanic would be used, and each deck would utilize the colors that best demonstrate those themes and mechanics without the planeswalker being there to add in a color, compromise the deck just by using the same colors of the planeswalker, omit certain themes or mechanics just because certain planeswalkers had to be in the deck, or overuse certain colors or color pairs because of the planeswalker.
In all likelihood, Vraska gets one of the PW decks in RIX, leaving us with some combination of WU, UR, or RW as the remaining deck. RW's already been taken by Huatli, so that leaves WU and UR. Angrath will most likely be our other PW and he'll most likely be monored so they can give him a UR Pirate-themed deck.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
I don't know why the Minotaur planeswalker needs to be black-red in so many people's eyes. Monocolored red is a perfectly fine color identity.
Color balance and art.
Ixalan's balance needs two walkers who need to be some combination of black red green and white. If he's mono red, the balance is thrown out of whack, as three color walkers aren't counted for balance purposes.
A monored Angrath can still be played in a BR Pirate deck, and more besides. Personally, I was hoping for a BR PW inspired by characters like Jack Sparrow, but there are always future sets.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
It could be black red in the set, but mono red in the planeswalker deck.
On the other hand, nissa was green blue in amonkhet and yet her hour of devastation planeswalker deck was still green blue. Deck could have been Green red or some other color combination, but nope, nissa was green blue therefore her planeswalker deck must be green blue despite her being mono green in the deck.
Nissa, and jace, being gatewatch members and mandatory in at least one planeswalker deck, makes it so that some themes are unused in a deck. In that case, wotc would be building the deck around the planeswalker, including finding themes, or lack thereof, just to fit the planeswalker color identity. What wotc should do is build the deck around themes and mechanics, and if a planeswalker fits, put it in, otherwise leave it out, hence my idea of 4 precons per set, 2 of which have planeswalkers in them.
If ixalan was in the theme deck or intro pack era, there would be a deck for all themes. Gu Merfolk, bg explore, br pirates, rw dinosaurs in Ixalan. Rivals of ixalan would have ub pirates, rg dinosaurs, wb vampires, and some deck based on a mechanic from that set. Maybe a wu based mechanic.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/ixalan-planeswalker-deck-lists-2017-09-20
I don't know how to transfer list onto post so anyone who can add list to the page feel free.
The other one is the dinosaur deck.
This leads me to believe that the 2 Rivals of Ixalan decks would be Pirates and Vampires
For all we know, the Pirate one is probably going to be Black Green just because WOTC probably wants to shoehorn Vraska in there. In that case, I really hope that Vraska isn't in any of the planeswalker decks. I'd rather have them do White Black Vampires, and Blue Red Pirates. Another reason for this is that so far, Green is the only color that is not missing in a set's worth of Planeswalker deck color pairs.
Kaladesh is black
Aether revolt is red
Amonkhet is blue
Hour of Devastation is white
Ixalan is black
WOTC could have sprinkled some green in the dinosaur deck to make a tri color deck, like the Hour of Devastation Nicol Bolas deck, but they didn't, which was why I would predict that the pirate deck would be blue red, and the fact that unless one of the decks was 3 color, both decks in the set won't share a color.
Now I am really scared that the pirate themed planeswalker deck is going to have Vraska as the cover card and is going to be Black Green, when pirates have nothing to do with green. If that was the case, it means that they are building the deck around the planeswalker, not around the theme, in which case I just wished they went back to theme decks. The worst part is, I can't think of any blue, red, or blue red planeswalker that can be the cover card of a pirate deck.
I'd expect the pirate deck would be Angrath.
Pretty much guaranteed; that will make for an unusual Ajani deck, though, as he will have to splash black in order to fit Vampires.
I̟̥͍̠ͅn̩͉̣͍̬͚ͅ ̬̬͖t̯̹̞̺͖͓̯̤h̘͍̬e͙̯͈̖̼̮ ̭̬f̺̲̲̪i͙͉̟̩̰r̪̝͚͈̝̥͍̝̲s̼̻͇̘̳͔ͅt̲̺̳̗̜̪̙ ̳̺̥̻͚̗ͅm̜̜̟̰͈͓͎͇o̝̖̮̝͇m̯̻̞̼̫̗͓̤e̩̯̬̮̩n͎̱̪̲̹͖t͇̖s̰̮ͅ,̤̲͙̻̭̻̯̹̰ ̖t̫̙̺̯͖͚̯ͅh͙̯̦̳̗̰̟e͖̪͉̼̯ ̪͕g̞̣͔a̗̦t̬̬͓͙̫̖̭̻e̩̻̯ ̜̖̦̖̤̭͙̬t̞̹̥̪͎͉ͅo͕͚͍͇̲͇͓̺ ̭̬͙͈̣̻t͈͍͙͓̫̖͙̩h̪̬̖̙e̗͈ ̗̬̟̞̺̤͉̯ͅa̦̯͚̙̜̮f͉͙̲̣̞̼t̪̤̞̣͚e̲͉̳̥r͇̪̙͚͓l̥̞̞͎̹̯̹ͅi͓̬f̮̥̬̞͈ͅe͎ ̟̩̤̳̠̯̩̯o̮̘̲p̟͚̣̞͉͓e͍̩̣n͔̼͕͚̜e̬̱d̼̘͎̖̹͍̮̠,͖̺̭̱̮ ̣̲͖̬̪̭̥a̪͚n̟̲̝̤̤̞̗d̘̱̗͇̮͕̳͕͔ ͖̞͉͎t̹̙͎h̰̱͉̗e̪̞̱̝̹̩ͅ ̠̱̩̭̦p̯̙e͓o̳͚̰̯̺̱̰͔̘p̬͎̱̣̼̩͇l̗̟̖͚̠e̱͉͔̱̦̬̟̙ ̖͚̪͔̼̦w̺̖̤̱e͖̗̻̦͓̖̘̜r̭̥e͔̹̫̱͕̦̰͕ ̗͔̠p̠̗͍͍̱̳̠r̰͔͎̰o͉̥͓̰͚̥s̟͚̹̱͔̣t͉̙̳̖͖̪̮r̥̘̥͙̹a͉̟̫̟̳̠̟̭t͈̜̰͈͎e̞̣̭̲̬ ͚̗̯̟͙i͍͖̰̘̦͖͉ṇ̮̻̯̦̲̩͍ ̦̮͚̫̤t͉͖̫͕ͅͅh͙̮̻̘̣̮̼e͕̺ ͙l͕̠͎̰̥i̲͓͉̲g̫̳̟͈͇̖h̠̦̖t͓̯͎̗ ̳̪̘̟̙̩̦o̫̲f̙͔̰̙̠ ̹̪̗͇̯t͖̼̼͉͖̬h̹͇̩e͚̖̺̤͉̹͕̪ ͚͓̭̝̺G͎̗̯̩o̫̯̮̟̮̳̘d̜̲͙̠-̩̳̯̲̗̜P̹̘̥͉̝h͍͈̗̖̝ͅa͍̗̮̼̗r̜̖͇̙̺a̭̺͔̞̳͈o̪̣͓̯̬͙̯̰̗h̖̦͈̥̯͔.͇̣̙̝
Just watch them not do that hahahahaha. Or worse yet, Angrath would be one of those planeswalkers without a card hahaha.
I don't know if one of the decks must have a gatewatch member in it, but I am thinking of 3 scenarios for the vampire deck. Gideon, Liliana, or some white black planeswalker that will become a gatewatch member.
Still think that they should have sprinkled some green in the dinosaur deck. If it was in the theme deck era, WOTC would have no trouble doing a tri color deck. The best example would be Sliver Shivers from Legions, Sliver Evolution from Time Spiral, and Shamanism from Morningtide. They had others, but those contained 3 color cards that would require the 3rd color in the deck. Ok, maybe just Shamanism considering how there probably wasn't enough slivers to do a 2 color deck, but the Shamanism deck could have been White Black, Black Green, or Green White. Instead, they made it black green with a sprinkle of white.
Actually, I would bet that Ajani is not on Ixalan, but Dominaria. If you look at the art on the booster packaging for "Conquest of Power" (the pre-Rivals of Ixalan name), it's none other than Huatli, Warrior-Poet on the booster packaging. Huatli's in Ixalan, not Rivals, so we can't assume that Ajani is in Rivals. Instead, it makes perfect sense that he'd be on Dominaria -- you know, the plane that he told the rest of the Gatewatch to meet him on?
Cited booster art for reference.
If Angrath is Black-red like he seems to be, then we'll need a Green-white walker in Rivals. Which probably means Ajani.
Unless you're asserting Vraska will get two cards in one block like Sarkhan in Tarkir there is absolutely zero chance of her being the face card of a Rivals of Ixalan Planeswalker deck. Those cards are exclusively jank variants of planeswalkers that are in THAT set.
Plus, I want the search card to be the one with the beautiful art. Oh well
Grasping Current doesn't even have Jace as the main focus of the art, sadly. Wish it were the other way around.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I think Rivals is a Dragon's maze like story where champions will battle for the prize. The Boros Girl is clearly the champion for the sun empire, soo it makes sense for her to be in the seccond set. As for Ajani, he is looking for jace soo makes he fit in the Story. In the Draw 7 MR sorcery we know that we will have a very powerful merfolk in rivals, and some say that que Queen of the Vampires will be in the next set, Angrath (the Minotaur pirate Walker) could have been in the first set in development but as both Vraska and hin represents the pirate tribe, development probably swaped hin for her to give more simety for the block. First set we get the generals of those tribes and in the seccond set we get the leader and more powerful warrior of those tribes.
Nissa is in Amonkhet, but her planeswalker deck card is in Hour of Devastation.
I'm just going to say this. If Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan had theme decks instead of planeswalker decks, it would have been GU merfolk, RGW dinosaurs, WB vampires, and UBR pirates. I just feel that the theme of the deck is ruined just to shoehorn in an off color planeswalker. Hope WOTC proves me wrong though,
I wouldn't mind if color pairs were repeated in the same block, or in sets released close to another, or even have similar themes if and only if each set had 4 set associated precons. A dinosaur themed deck in Rivals of Ixalan is a bad idea. 4 planeswalker decks in the block, and 4 tribes. Why wouldn't they do pirates and vampires for the decks in the next set?
This is the pattern I find with planeswalker decks so far. There is always one color not represented in the two planeswalker decks released per set. Green is the only color that has been in at least one planeswalker deck per set, so I would think that it would be green's turn to sit out for Rivals of Ixalan planeswalker decks. I would predict WB vampires and UR pirates, both color pairs haven't been used yet, unlike RW and GU, which have been used 3 times already. All colors are represented in exactly 2 tribes. The 2 tribes that don't have a planeswalker deck in Ixalan also are the tribes that do not have green in them. As I said, if Rivals of Ixalan didn't have planeswalker in the decks, UR pirates and WB vampires would be the obvious choice, but we all know that the colors might change just to incorporate the planeswalker.
The most recent set before Ixalan was Hour of Devastation featuring the planeswalker decks "Nissa" and "Nicol Bolas". Nissa appeared not as a planeswalker card in Hour of Devastation proper, but in the previous set of the same block Amonkhet. Precedence disproves your claim. Not only that, but the most recent possible precedence possible regarding what is possible for the second set of a two-set block.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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“Zero change”? Lol. As others have said, Nissa was in an HOU planeswalker deck, which already completely disproves your statement, but even if she wasn’t in HOU it would still be too early in the history of planeswalker decks to say with absolute certainty that it could never happen. It clearly, it can. Also, Maro basically confirmed that Vraska will be in a planeswalker deck in Rivals already: http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/164867569798/i-was-wondering-why-you-guys-decided-not-to-give
First, I think that you're vastly overestimating WotC's desire to balance the colors in these decks. We've just had three consecutive blocks with both GU and RW decks, while several other color pairs don't have a single deck. But I don't think that a Vraska PW deck would be pirate tribal. Planeswalker decks usually focus on the themes of a color pair that appears in the actual set, and for BG, that's explore, not pirate tribal. While Vraska is a pirate, a BG pirate deck would be not only hard to build but also misleading to new players. Instead I would expect a deck focusing on explore or perhaps another BG-focused mechanic that replaces explore in rivals.
Besides, there’s no reason that every tribe needs a planeswalker deck. There aren’t any good candidates for a face card for a vampire planeswalker deck, with Sorin being stuck in a wall and new W, B, or WB vampire planeswalker being unlikely because Sorin exists. Vampires and merfolk are kind of the minor tribes of the plane anyway, with dinosaurs and pirates being the major ones that truly need to have planeswalker decks. I think that Angrath will have a BR deck representing pirate tribal and Vraska will have a BG deck that features some pirates and some non-pirates, with the real focus being explore or whatever the BG archetype is in Rivals if it’s not explore (and before anyone tells me that there’s zero chance of decks with overlapping colors, I’d like to point out that both of HOU’s decks were partially blue.)
I couldn't agree more. Huatli's art from Ixalan being on a Rivals booster definitely proves that the leaked boosters don't line up perfectly with the actual product, and Ajani would make way more sense in Dominaria for several reasons:
I agree with you that Ajani is most likely in Domniaria. I think it would be disappointing not to have a vampire-themed deck in the block and have either two pirate-themed decks in rivals or another dinosaur-themed deck if Ajani is indeed going to be in rivals. I'm guessing there are three possibilities for the last planeswalker.
1- For some reason, Ajani really is in Ixalan. He could be loosely aligned with the sun empire or be mono-white and will help with the life maters theme that the vampires have.
2- I think this one could cause contention but I'm going to throw it out there. Sorin will be revealed to have escaped Nahiri's stoney prison and is searching for something on Ixalan. To me it would be weird to have a vampire faction in the colors of the premier vampire planeswalker and not have him in the block. I find it weird to be honest that Kiora isn't involved either. But a lot of people are "sick of a Sorin in every standard" (I'm not one of those people) so if you are, please don't yell at me for suggesting this.
3- A third life gain or vampire related walker.
One problem I had with the Tarkir block is that the walkers didn't fall into an alignment like in Alara and I hope that this block isn't a repeat of that.
Huh. I thought for sure Nissa was in HOU.
Nope Nissa's actual blue/ green card was in Amonkhet along with Gideon and Liliana (who both also had a planeswalker deck).
In hours Nissa and Nicol Bolas got a planeswalker deck. Nissa was a monogreen walker for the deck. However the featured walkers for the set were Nicol Bolas and Samut the Tested.
Very possible since she had a strong flavor presence mostly in black. Could have abilities around Explore, creature kill, and treasure.
Technically she is, since her planeswalker deck card has the expansion symbol and is legal in Constructed as long as HOU is.
And without doubt you will feel the same if they decide e. g. to make a Vraska planeswalker deck in Rivals of Ixalan.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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If Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan both had 4 precons per set, the theme might be:
GU merfolk
2 of 3 of
RW dinosaurs
RG dinosaurs
GW dinosaurs
2 of 3 of
UB pirates
BR pirates
UR pirates
WB vampires
BG explore
WU flyers
If there is another mechanic in Rivals of Ixalan, it may replace the second dinosaur, second pirate, or the flyers deck.
Every time I think WOTC is going to do something right with planeswalker deck, they let me down. Hour of devastation has a Nissa planeswalker deck, a GU one, just like the one in Kaladesh. Ixalan has 2 decks using the same color pairs as the ones from Kaladesh. If it is true that one deck in Rivals of Ixalan is Black Red, because the pirate planeswalker minotaur is black red, and the other being Vraska, so black green, it just proves the shoehorning in of the planeswalker dictates the color pairs, and thus, Rivals of Ixalan might have black represented twice, and thus being the first set to have 2 colors not represented in all the precons of that set.
I've said it before when planeswalker decks were announced. They should have released 2 non-planeswalker decks along with the planeswalker decks, totalling 4 decks per set. That way, they can reuse the same color pairs for the planeswalker decks without having to not use the ones they haven't used in a long time, because they would be used in the non-planeswalker deck.
If the gatewatch isn't shoehorned as one of the planeswalker deck planeswalker, Ixalan's 2 decks might have been BG explore and RW dinosaurs. A GU, again, merfolk deck exists because Jace had to be in there. The Rivals of Ixalan deck would be a pirate deck and whatever new mechanic Rivals of Ixalan might have, but nope. One planeswalker deck had to be wasted just so Jace is in there. Now, this would be a different story if they just released 4 decks per set.
As I said, if Ixalan had theme decks the way sets like Time Spiral or Onslaught had them, almost every theme and every mechanic would be used, and each deck would utilize the colors that best demonstrate those themes and mechanics without the planeswalker being there to add in a color, compromise the deck just by using the same colors of the planeswalker, omit certain themes or mechanics just because certain planeswalkers had to be in the deck, or overuse certain colors or color pairs because of the planeswalker.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
Factions: Sleeping
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Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
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Color balance and art.
Ixalan's balance needs two walkers who need to be some combination of black red green and white. If he's mono red, the balance is thrown out of whack, as three color walkers aren't counted for balance purposes.
2W, 2U, 1B, 3R, 2G
Zendikar - Sorin, Chandra, Nissa, Jace, Gideon, Sarkhan
1W, 1U, 2B, 2R, 1G
SOM - Elspeth, Koth, Venser, Tezzeret, Karn
2W, 2U, 1B, 1R, 0G, 1C
Innistrad - Liliana, Garruk and his cursed self, Sorin, Tamiyo, Tibalt
1W, 1U, 2.5B, 1R, 1G
RTR - Jace, Vraska, Gideon, Domri, Ral
1W, 2U, 1B, 2R, 2G
Theros - Elspeth, Ashiok, Xenagos, Kiora, Ajani
2W, 2U, 1B, 1R, 3G
KTK - Sarkhan, Sorin, Ugin, Narset, Sarkhan again
1W, 2U, 1B, 2R, 1G, 1C
BFZ - Gideon, Ob Nixilis, Kiora, Chandra, Nissa
1W, 1U, 1B, 1R, 2G
SOI - Jace, Arlinn and her Werewolf self, Sorin, Nahiri, Liliana, Tamiyo
3W, 2U, 2B, 2R, 2G
Kaladesh - Chandra, Nissa, Dovin, Saheeli, Ajani, Tezzeret
2W, 2U, 1B, 2R, 2G
Amonkhet - Gideon, Liliana, Nissa, Samut, Nicol Bolas
1W, 2U, 2B, 2R, 2G
A monored Angrath can still be played in a BR Pirate deck, and more besides. Personally, I was hoping for a BR PW inspired by characters like Jack Sparrow, but there are always future sets.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
On the other hand, nissa was green blue in amonkhet and yet her hour of devastation planeswalker deck was still green blue. Deck could have been Green red or some other color combination, but nope, nissa was green blue therefore her planeswalker deck must be green blue despite her being mono green in the deck.
Nissa, and jace, being gatewatch members and mandatory in at least one planeswalker deck, makes it so that some themes are unused in a deck. In that case, wotc would be building the deck around the planeswalker, including finding themes, or lack thereof, just to fit the planeswalker color identity. What wotc should do is build the deck around themes and mechanics, and if a planeswalker fits, put it in, otherwise leave it out, hence my idea of 4 precons per set, 2 of which have planeswalkers in them.
If ixalan was in the theme deck or intro pack era, there would be a deck for all themes. Gu Merfolk, bg explore, br pirates, rw dinosaurs in Ixalan. Rivals of ixalan would have ub pirates, rg dinosaurs, wb vampires, and some deck based on a mechanic from that set. Maybe a wu based mechanic.