Have we heard anything about where we're going after Zendikar Resurgent or even when/how that will be announced? I recall WotC having an official "Annoucement Day" in July the past few years--I wouldn't be surprised if that changed, especially this year, but typically we know the subsequent plane prior to the next set's spoiler season.
Some background: A document was released on Twitter detailing a history of systemic racism in WotC hiring practices. I'm sure anyone can find, read and judge it for themselves if they're interested, so I won't derail this thread by describing any additional details here. It concluded by showing that not only was Invoke Prejudice and its art on Gatherer, but the cards multiverse ID was 1488 (again, Google it if you need to). This is despite there being a comment in the gatherer discussion from 2012 asking that the ID be changed.
The clear evidence that in 8 years they couldn't even fix a URL was hard to ignore and supported the rest of document. Some of us on Twitter were vocal in demanding some kind of response to the claims and 3 days later they banned the 7 cards, removed their images from Gatherer and changed the ID. I assume this was a direct response to the player initiated discussions on Twitter. Since we have also seen a call for creative writing samples from BIPOC individuals.
Again, I don't believe this thread or forum is an appropriate venue for discussing opinions on these actions or what they might have done differently, but thought this additional context might help to clarify how they came about.
Went through the full list before skimming the thread; apologies if I missed something someone said. I also haven't followed any other leaks or rumors lately, so may be offbase.
• A brand new planeswalker (from a plane we’ve visited)
- I'm guessing they're from Zendikar, as a teaser for the fall set and/or because they there wasn't enough Planewalker slots in Zendikar Resurgance.
X Wrong
• A card that lets you draw half of your library.
- Mostly jk: "Search your library for 2 cards with different names, exile the rest, then put those cards back on top in a random order. Draw a card."
X Wrong
• A +1/+1 tribal lord for a creature type that’s never had one. (A creature type with over fifty cards already in print.)
-I like the hound discussion but Spider's also passed the 50 mark and lordless.
X Wrong
• A character with a Vanguard card and a legendary creature card gets a second of the latter.
Possibilities are: Karn, Maraxus, Barrin, Hanna, Orim, Selenia, Starke, Eladamri, Rofellos, Sidar Kondo, Silver Queen, Mishra, Tawnos, Urza, Xantch. I expect Eladamri or Refellos.
X Listed but not guessed
• A card with thirty-one different options.
My idea was single color and non-land permanent type, which is 5x6=30 options, with something like cycling as the 31th. I much prefer the simple "choose any combination of up to 5 colors" suggestion.
X Wrong
• A card that gains all activated abilities of a certain subset of cards in a place it’s never done it before.
I think it has to be hand, e.g. "Play with your hand revealed. ~ has all activated abilities of cards in your hand." Sideboard fits the description but is awkward in Sealed and does nothing in Commander (which isn't an actual problem, except they've been trying to support that format more and more).
- Question thrown out, as I either the question was poorly worded or Maro forgot Skill Borrower
• A card that uses a nonevergreen named ability over twenty years old.
Some possibilities: Phasing, Landwalk, Rampage, Shadow, Fear (the ability is 20+ years old even though the name is not). Phasing seems likely, maybe in Mythic Teferi's Ult. I could also see Landwalk on a rare creature.
√ CORRECT
• A card with the words “battlefield”, “cast”, “creature”, “converted mana cost”, “end of turn”, “exile”, “graveyard” and “mana cost”.
Simplest design I could think of that fits:
"You may cast ~ as though it had flash if <something>
Return target creature card with converted mana cost X from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn. Exile it at end of turn or if it would leave the battleflied."
X Wrong
• An aura inspired from a cycle from Urza’s Sagablock
Either the "Return to hand" cycle or the "2, sac: draw" cycle. I suspect the former.
X Wrong
• A nonevergreen enchantment subtype returns
Pretty easy Shrine over Saga or Cartouche, imo.
√ Correct
• A popular character first introduced in flavor text. Saffi Eriksdotter was my first thought but "popular" makes me think it's Fblthp, the Lost. Didn't know about Ugin/Ghostfire until reading the thread: Khan's Ugin might be too strong and War to recent/complex with the static, though.
X Wrong
• A card with a unique protection.
Only options I could find were Mistmeadow Skulk (Pro cmc3+) or Baneslayer Angel (Pro demons). Pro Enchant, Pro Everything, and Pro Instants have all been used multiple times, unless Maro missed/didn't count one of those.
X Wrong
• Two cards played in tournaments that have been reprinted over twenty times with at least five different pieces of art
I guess only two of the five basic lands are in the set
Any two of Unsummon, Llanowar Elves and Giant Growth are likely, more so imo than Lightning Bolt and Birds of Paradise. Remember that there are limited tournaments as well (or used to be :frown:), so "played in tournaments" is a pretty weak restriction.
X X Wrong
• A card that’s never previously appeared in a premier set.
Rather open ended, I suspect a commander staple over e.g. something from MH1. Thought Vessel feels like a core set card, Patron of the Vein is a nice Vampire Lord, Song of the Dryads answers Theros Gods, Primal Vigor would help sell the set.
X Wrong
• A card that’s never been reprinted before which has a 2, 3, 5 and 6 all appear on the card. Massacre Wurm fits, but I think Xathrid Gorgon is more likely.
½ Half point
• A card from the Time Spiraltimeshifted sheet. Withered Wretch jumps out as a metagame brake on Escape.
½ Half point for correctly guessing graveyard hate
Na, Baneslayer Angel takes that spot for Unique Protection and is also the French Vanilla Mythic.
But a +1/+1 cleric lords would sound interesting. I wonder if the lord would be a cleric or rather an Angel... Perhaps the Black/White of the Innistrad Angels?
Maro said that each hint was a single card.
or maybe Baneslayer is the "unique protection" reprint and the "french vanilla mythic" reprint is Akroma, Angel of Wrath (which would be lame since she was just reprinted in commander 2020 and masters 25) or Carnage Tyrant (uncounterable is a stretch for french vanilla) or sphinx of the steel wind.
If we are really getting the cleric with protection from clerics reprinted, that means morph is coming back. Which probably makes for a cool limited environment, but feels iffy for a non-expert level set.
While I know that there are a whole bunch of cool and valuable cards with funky protection, I really do think that it’s going to be Horizon Drake
Protection from players and protection from everything exist on several cards but protection from lands only exists in this one place... and it would be an excellent plant before traveling to Zendikar, home of man-lands.
Runed Halo is a bit more spicy as far as cards with unique protections (and is exactly the sort of niche sideboard card that wizards loves shoving in core sets) but my bet is ultimately on the drake.
I did a deeper dive on the protection hint and found some other possibilities. The word Maro used was "unique" and I feel like he's generally been rather precise in the language for these hints, so it should be a type of protection that appears on exactly one card. "Unique" still as some ambiguities, though, i.e. is "Vampires" unique from "Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies", or are all "Protection from <list of creature types>" one "kind of protection"? The most likely answers I can find are:
Of these, "Lands", "Non-humans" and "CMC 3 or greater" seem to be the best fit for "unique". I like the idea that pro-lands would be interesting in standard with Zendikar coming, but wouldn't it be confusing to newer players if it does nothing in its own set? Though I guess "confusing new players" and "protection" aren't good bedfellows to begin with. At this point I'd have to bet on Baneslayer Angel, despite how it strains "uniqueness".
Wow, yeah that's a legally questionable degree of similarity, in my untrained opinion. Having trouble not seeing that art as Teferi's Protection, too, given a few of Maro's teasers point towards it being in the set. Felt A) too powerful and B) too expensive on the secondary marker for a "premier" set, but I've I bunch of Commander decks that need one so won't complain.
The logic is that that's your answer as you explained it. the Bolt SL drops on the 4th, the Birds SL drops on the 5th. Spoilers begin on the 4th. So the timing works out.
If bolt and birds are in the set, they'll be spoilerized on the 4th and 5th respectively. If they arent spoilerized then, then it is a fairly safe bet they're not in the set.
Or maybe not so safe, because you can get the superdrop until the 15th. It would certainly match Hazbrodian logic to try to sell something for $30, and if that doesn't work try to sell it again for $170.
You can argue it the other way, too, though: wait for the Super Drop completely finish before so people who need those cards spend the premium mark-up before revealing they'll be in $4 boosters next month. Personally I think that was one of Maro's "tricks" though, as Llanowar Elves, Unsummon and Giant Growth also fit his teaser.
Can't be Abbot of Keral Keep or Monastery Swiftspear as Prowess is no longer even deciduous. I guess they could bring it back, but they spent years trying to make it work as the UR creature keyword, but ultimately gave up do to complexity, flavor and metagame issues. I highly doubt they'll try again.
Went through the full list before skimming the thread; apologies if I missed something someone said. I also haven't followed any other leaks or rumors lately, so may be offbase.
• A brand new planeswalker (from a plane we’ve visited)
- I'm guessing they're from Zendikar, as a teaser for the fall set and/or because they there wasn't enough Planewalker slots in Zendikar Resurgance.
• A card that lets you draw half of your library.
- Mostly jk: "Search your library for 2 cards with different names, exile the rest, then put those cards back on top in a random order. Draw a card."
• A +1/+1 tribal lord for a creature type that’s never had one. (A creature type with over fifty cards already in print.)
-I like the hound discussion but Spider's also passed the 50 mark and lordless.
• A character with a Vanguard card and a legendary creature card gets a second of the latter.
Possibilities are: Karn, Maraxus, Barrin, Hanna, Orim, Selenia, Starke, Eladamri, Rofellos, Sidar Kondo, Silver Queen, Mishra, Tawnos, Urza, Xantch. I expect Eladamri or Refellos.
• A card with thirty-one different options.
My idea was single color and non-land permanent type, which is 5x6=30 options, with something like cycling as the 31th. I much prefer the simple "choose any combination of up to 5 colors" suggestion.
• A card that gains all activated abilities of a certain subset of cards in a place it’s never done it before.
I think it has to be hand, e.g. "Play with your hand revealed. ~ has all activated abilities of cards in your hand." Sideboard fits the description but is awkward in Sealed and does nothing in Commander (which isn't an actual problem, except they've been trying to support that format more and more).
• A card that uses a nonevergreen named ability over twenty years old.
Some possibilities: Phasing, Landwalk, Rampage, Shadow, Fear (the ability is 20+ years old even though the name is not). Phasing seems likely, maybe in Mythic Teferi's Ult. I could also see Landwalk on a rare creature.
• A card with the words “battlefield”, “cast”, “creature”, “converted mana cost”, “end of turn”, “exile”, “graveyard” and “mana cost”.
Simplest design I could think of that fits:
"You may cast ~ as though it had flash if <something>
Return target creature card with converted mana cost X from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn. Exile it at end of turn or if it would leave the battleflied."
• An aura inspired from a cycle from Urza’s Sagablock
Either the "Return to hand" cycle or the "2, sac: draw" cycle. I suspect the former.
• A nonevergreen enchantment subtype returns
Pretty easy Shrine over Saga or Cartouche, imo.
• A popular character first introduced in flavor text. Saffi Eriksdotter was my first thought but "popular" makes me think it's Fblthp, the Lost. Didn't know about Ugin/Ghostfire until reading the thread: Khan's Ugin might be too strong and War to recent/complex with the static, though.
• A card with a unique protection.
Only options I could find were Mistmeadow Skulk (Pro cmc3+) or Baneslayer Angel (Pro demons). Pro Enchant, Pro Everything, and Pro Instants have all been used multiple times, unless Maro missed/didn't count one of those.
• Two cards played in tournaments that have been reprinted over twenty times with at least five different pieces of art
I guess only two of the five basic lands are in the set
Any two of Unsummon, Llanowar Elves and Giant Growth are likely, more so imo than Lightning Bolt and Birds of Paradise. Remember that there are limited tournaments as well (or used to be :frown:), so "played in tournaments" is a pretty weak restriction.
• A card that’s never previously appeared in a premier set.
Rather open ended, I suspect a commander staple over e.g. something from MH1. Thought Vessel feels like a core set card, Patron of the Vein is a nice Vampire Lord, Song of the Dryads answers Theros Gods, Primal Vigor would help sell the set.
• A card that’s never been reprinted before which has a 2, 3, 5 and 6 all appear on the card. Massacre Wurm fits, but I think Xathrid Gorgon is more likely.
Not for me but I understand that not everything will be. Feels off that Wizards is effectively moving into the singles market. FTV kind of did that but that was only 1 product/year: this is like 7 FTV "Drops" and I'd guess they'll be once a quarter for all of 2020. And only available from WotC for 24hrs? I thought they we're trying to help the LGS or at least wanting it to look that way. My year of being disappointed/mystified in WotC's decisions continues...
I'm looking to test out some decks in a 1-1 format on a single machine. Reading through the full software list thread, it appears there's a lot of options to choose from. Do any of the third party apps stand out for this purpose? I really like an undo/rewind feature, support for older cards, and as much automation as possible.
My LGS does sealed for FNM, but instead of being the normal distribution of sets, each player can pick any 6 boosters from those they have available (typically all sets in standard). At the risk of this tread being derailed by a discussion of whether or not this is a good idea, I'm looking for thoughts as to what would be the most competitive 6 boosters to choose.
The clear evidence that in 8 years they couldn't even fix a URL was hard to ignore and supported the rest of document. Some of us on Twitter were vocal in demanding some kind of response to the claims and 3 days later they banned the 7 cards, removed their images from Gatherer and changed the ID. I assume this was a direct response to the player initiated discussions on Twitter. Since we have also seen a call for creative writing samples from BIPOC individuals.
Again, I don't believe this thread or forum is an appropriate venue for discussing opinions on these actions or what they might have done differently, but thought this additional context might help to clarify how they came about.
Weird. On Scryfall Shock has 19, Cancel 21 and Duress 23. Looks like SF includes some promo printings that gatherer doesn't have.
Guess we know which card database Maro uses
Most surprising result to me is Prowess returning;
I fleshed this out more in the thread on Maro's teasers, but TL;DR my top candidates for the "unique" protection are:
Lands: Horizon Drake
Demons (& Dragons): Baneslayer Angel
Werewolves (& Vampires & Zombies): Elite Inquisitor
Sorceries (& Instants): Devoted Caretaker
Vampires (only): Midnight Duelist
Non-humans: Spare from Evil
CMC 3 or greater: Mistmeadow Skulk
Baneslayer Angel was my #1, though it's true it could be the Mythic Franilla. Spare from Evil is probably my #2 guess.
I did a deeper dive on the protection hint and found some other possibilities. The word Maro used was "unique" and I feel like he's generally been rather precise in the language for these hints, so it should be a type of protection that appears on exactly one card. "Unique" still as some ambiguities, though, i.e. is "Vampires" unique from "Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies", or are all "Protection from <list of creature types>" one "kind of protection"? The most likely answers I can find are:
Lands: Horizon Drake
Demons (& Dragons): Baneslayer Angel
Werewolves (& Vampires & Zombies): Elite Inquisitor
Sorceries (& Instants): Devoted Caretaker
Vampires (only): Midnight Duelist
Non-humans: Spare from Evil
CMC 3 or greater: Mistmeadow Skulk
Of these, "Lands", "Non-humans" and "CMC 3 or greater" seem to be the best fit for "unique". I like the idea that pro-lands would be interesting in standard with Zendikar coming, but wouldn't it be confusing to newer players if it does nothing in its own set? Though I guess "confusing new players" and "protection" aren't good bedfellows to begin with. At this point I'd have to bet on Baneslayer Angel, despite how it strains "uniqueness".
Each of your opponents: Cliffside Rescuer
Monocolored: Guardian of the Guildpact
Elves: Nath's Buffoon
Rats: Hungry Lynx
Kavu: Shoreline Raider
Legends: Tsabo Tavoc
Humans: Yawgmoth, Thran Physician
"Own" colors: Earnest Fellowship
Clerics: Fallen Cleric
Non-spirits: Harbinger of Spring
Spirits and Arcane: Kitsune Riftwalker
Beasts: Riptide Biologist
Snow: Ronom Hulk
You can argue it the other way, too, though: wait for the Super Drop completely finish before so people who need those cards spend the premium mark-up before revealing they'll be in $4 boosters next month. Personally I think that was one of Maro's "tricks" though, as Llanowar Elves, Unsummon and Giant Growth also fit his teaser.
Can't be Abbot of Keral Keep or Monastery Swiftspear as Prowess is no longer even deciduous. I guess they could bring it back, but they spent years trying to make it work as the UR creature keyword, but ultimately gave up do to complexity, flavor and metagame issues. I highly doubt they'll try again.
• A brand new planeswalker (from a plane we’ve visited)
- I'm guessing they're from Zendikar, as a teaser for the fall set and/or because they there wasn't enough Planewalker slots in Zendikar Resurgance.
• A card that lets you draw half of your library.
- Mostly jk: "Search your library for 2 cards with different names, exile the rest, then put those cards back on top in a random order. Draw a card."
• A +1/+1 tribal lord for a creature type that’s never had one. (A creature type with over fifty cards already in print.)
-I like the hound discussion but Spider's also passed the 50 mark and lordless.
• A character with a Vanguard card and a legendary creature card gets a second of the latter.
Possibilities are: Karn, Maraxus, Barrin, Hanna, Orim, Selenia, Starke, Eladamri, Rofellos, Sidar Kondo, Silver Queen, Mishra, Tawnos, Urza, Xantch. I expect Eladamri or Refellos.
• A card with thirty-one different options.
My idea was single color and non-land permanent type, which is 5x6=30 options, with something like cycling as the 31th. I much prefer the simple "choose any combination of up to 5 colors" suggestion.
• A card that gains all activated abilities of a certain subset of cards in a place it’s never done it before.
I think it has to be hand, e.g. "Play with your hand revealed. ~ has all activated abilities of cards in your hand." Sideboard fits the description but is awkward in Sealed and does nothing in Commander (which isn't an actual problem, except they've been trying to support that format more and more).
• A card that uses a nonevergreen named ability over twenty years old.
Some possibilities: Phasing, Landwalk, Rampage, Shadow, Fear (the ability is 20+ years old even though the name is not). Phasing seems likely, maybe in Mythic Teferi's Ult. I could also see Landwalk on a rare creature.
• A card with the words “battlefield”, “cast”, “creature”, “converted mana cost”, “end of turn”, “exile”, “graveyard” and “mana cost”.
Simplest design I could think of that fits:
"You may cast ~ as though it had flash if <something>
Return target creature card with converted mana cost X from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste until end of turn. Exile it at end of turn or if it would leave the battleflied."
• An aura inspired from a cycle from Urza’s Sagablock
Either the "Return to hand" cycle or the "2, sac: draw" cycle. I suspect the former.
• A nonevergreen enchantment subtype returns
Pretty easy Shrine over Saga or Cartouche, imo.
• A popular character first introduced in flavor text.
Saffi Eriksdotter was my first thought but "popular" makes me think it's Fblthp, the Lost. Didn't know about Ugin/Ghostfire until reading the thread: Khan's Ugin might be too strong and War to recent/complex with the static, though.
• A French Vanilla mythic rare.
Akroma, Angel of Wrath or Baneslayer Angel
• A popular aura that started as part of a cycle.
I suspect Faith's Fetters, but could also see Curse of Opulence
• A card with a unique protection.
Only options I could find were Mistmeadow Skulk (Pro cmc3+) or Baneslayer Angel (Pro demons). Pro Enchant, Pro Everything, and Pro Instants have all been used multiple times, unless Maro missed/didn't count one of those.
• Two cards played in tournaments that have been reprinted over twenty times with at least five different pieces of art
I guess only two of the five basic lands are in the set
Any two of Unsummon, Llanowar Elves and Giant Growth are likely, more so imo than Lightning Bolt and Birds of Paradise. Remember that there are limited tournaments as well (or used to be :frown:), so "played in tournaments" is a pretty weak restriction.
• A card that’s never previously appeared in a premier set.
Rather open ended, I suspect a commander staple over e.g. something from MH1. Thought Vessel feels like a core set card, Patron of the Vein is a nice Vampire Lord, Song of the Dryads answers Theros Gods, Primal Vigor would help sell the set.
• A card that’s never been reprinted before which has a 2, 3, 5 and 6 all appear on the card.
Massacre Wurm fits, but I think Xathrid Gorgon is more likely.
• A Human Monk.
Could be (among others) Avacyn's Pilgrim, Monk Idealist or Graceblade Artisan. I'd bet on the latter.
• A card from the Time Spiraltimeshifted sheet.
Withered Wretch jumps out as a metagame brake on Escape.
Thanks!