I've did some minor research. If I'm right and this picture shows real cards, we're going to get Jace Boring Beleren again instead of Mind Sculptor. At start I've tried to compare the background of Jace's artwork, but it wasn't correct for any of the Jaces. It's for sure not J.B. but on the other hand there is no cape from JtMS neither. He's probably going to get new art. Still, Jace's card artwork has the same height as Gideon's so there's probably no chance for 4-ability Planeswalker here.
To be honest, I don't like how it turned out. Just try to compare power level of these cards:
Jace Beleren: nice draw but nothing else. Without Sun Titan he's losing a lot of value. Jace's Ingenuity is probably better at drawing three cards.
Sorin Markov: I'd even call him crap-mythic. His abilities don't matter at the moment when he hits the board. I use Disfigure to kill 2-toughness creature, not Planeswalker.
Garruk Wildspeaker: nice green Planeswalker, he can defend himself, ramp you into better spells and his ultimate is just pure fun, especially in Infect deck.
Chandra Nalaar/Ablaze: both of them aren't greatest cards ever printed. Koth is far better than both of these.
Gideon Jura: the best Planeswalker from whole set. He can protect you and your other planeswalkers and he's damn good at it. He also provides nice 6/6 assault body which is impossible to be removed by sorcery-speed spells, and awesome after succesfull Day of Judgment. Maybe he's not so great without uncle Big Jace, still probably noteworthy.
Jace Beleren: Still comes out earlier than everyone and is a decent draw engine, especially now since we have proliferate.
Sorin Markov: Will see no play because of 3BBB and his first two abilities don't justify spending 6 mana.
They need to stop increasing the power level of walkers, that's why making reprints is much easier than making a second version. This could also explain neutered versions of Elspeth 2.0. Tezzeret and Koth were made to be much more narrow.
It's a great direction as the planeswalkers should not be the hook, line and sinker to magic. Hopefully we'll return to a less planeswalker-oriented set and actually dive into the lore of the lands (was I the only one that missed playing the Mirage/Invasion block? those had awesome flavor/story/everything..)
The little bit of Chandra's art that we can see doesn't look like Chandra Nalaar, but it might be Chandra Ablaze. There was a new Chandra art a while back so it could be that art as a reprint (with new art) or as a third version.
It would be neat of there was a new and a classic version of all 5 characters, but 10 walkers seems steep.
If you notice at the end of the video they fan out the 5 planeswalker cards. They show Gideon J. with his original art and the m12 symbol. the other 4 you can't quite tell if art is original or not
If you notice at the end of the video they fan out the 5 planeswalker cards. They show Gideon J. with his original art and the m12 symbol. the other 4 you can't quite tell if art is original or not
Comparing the arts of the five walkers there to arts on the versions that have been printed already, it looks like Chandra, Garruk, and Jace will have new art, while Sorin and Gideon (obviously) won't.
I hope they bring Allies (the creature type) into M12.
So long have people complained that cores sets are filled with just bombs (and rightfully so) it would be nice if a skeleton of a deck would be in a core set.
With the counters on the creatures + the proliferate mechanic it could make it a viable aggro deck for at least 1 year.
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Allies is a ZEN block mechanic, it's probably not comin back. The video seems to state pretty clearly that "Gather Your Allies" refers to planeswalkers.
Could be more cards that interact with planeswalkers in the set, or just a cryptic tagline meant to make the Rumor Mill endlessly debate about M12 til July.
While i agree that "gather your allies" refers to planeswalkers. I like to think (read:hope) that it means we're getting more than just the 5 already speculated. Perhaps a total of 7 walkers, including a couple of new ones that wizards is (obviously) keeping tight lipped on.
Brian Tinsman, Set Designer :?mana::snow::snow:
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When Brian Tinsman, Set Designer enters the battlefield, ignore all flavor and mechanics of the first two sets in the block. "Ok so what do we have here... gothic horror? Scrap it. Expand the Devine Vs. Demonic duel deck to 244 cards and print it!"
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Because 5 is the norm. And as i said above im hoping that they are breaking from it. The number itself is mostly irrelevent, just being used as an example.
There were 6 in Zen block...
If these are the 5 Core planeswalkers, then what is going to be the selling hook of this set I wonder, cause Gideon isn't enough to get people to buy packs when they will just get cards they have in at least triplicate.
The red boarder looks to be Chandra Ablaze art... blue and green though definantly look like new or different arts... The thing is why would they make only a couple or one even with new art while reusing the others art? That seems sort of unfair to the other colors.
I can understand not giving Gideon new art since he's fairly new as it is. Sorin is only a bit older than Gideon so he keeps his art too.
As for the original versions of Jace, Garruk, and Chandra. These 3 have been around for a while now and could probably use a style update outside of the 2.0 kind of update. Kinda like why Serra Angel's art evolved over time.
So basically we get Jace, Sorin, Garruk, Chandra and Gideon as planeswalkers - but that doesn't mean we'll get 5 straight reprints...
Jace Beleren: Mockingly called Baby Jace - however, Baby Jace still sees a lot of play - since Lorwyn this card has been run in a lot of blue decks... Obviously Jace2 outclasses Baby Jace in every possible way - but MaRo has said that Jace2 won't get reprinted any time soon, and that Jace2 was - in a certain way - a "small" mistake... Although everybody has his playset already - I don't think it would be bad to put Baby Jace in the core set - again... this would help forget Jace2.
Sorin Markov: At 6 mana and with a lot of irrelevant abilities this walker never has and never will see play. What's strange though is that black lacks decent walkers. What's even stranger is that since Lorwyn mono-black walkers have become more demanding to cast (5->6 mana)... These days everybody is talking about MBC... if only Black got a decent walker at CMC 3, 4 or even 5 mana. They could do like a cool walker that starts out at 4 loyalty and that has: {-2:}Innocent Blood, {-1:}Minions' Murmurs, {+3:}One with Nothing, {-8:}Yawgmoth's Will as loyalty abilities...
Garruk Wildspeaker: I don't think they have to redo Garruk - Garruk is one of those walkers that has continously seen play since it's inception... it has relevant abilities and he can protect himself...
Chandra Nalaar: Ok... so Chandra Nalaar has seen some fringe play but she's still to slow for most straight forward burn decks. Koth is something else entirely - and only works in a big-red style deck - I think they could rework Chandra and put her at 3CMC or 4CMC (RRR/) so she would fit in the sligh (RDW) archetype... I'm still waiting for an (ultimate) emblem that grants a Furnace of Rath-like effect... at the lower loyalties they could put abilities like Empty the Warrens and/or fork that copies the next spell cast. Since sligh isn't trying to stall games, this new chandra could have all negative abilities (like Sarkhan the Mad)
Gideon Jura: The All-Star of the bunch. Doesn't need a new version and with Gideon's Avenger pretty much comfirmed there are strong indications Gideon will be a straight reprint...
5 walkers, with 2 new ones... seems like the perfect reprint/new ratio for a mythic core cycle...
The Chandra Idea sounds great! I like the idea of the 'furnace of rath' and of another planeswalker that could only goes negative (Sarkhan the Mad).
I'm not sure Empty the Warrens sounds like something Chandra would do, flavorly but hey, the fork ability sounds nice. Not sure if it work well as a card.
Anyways sure, hope WotC would print a red PW with 'furnace of rath', one day.
I doubt he's going to die, or else they would have to kill all the other planeswalkers who came to his aid in the clip scene. And how could wizards kill poor little jace?
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Hmm. My money's on the toolkit art for Chandra, the Ultra Pro product art for Garruk, and I suppose the toolkit art for Jace. Although there really is no reason whatsoever to update Aleksi's original work.
Jace is the one card I hope they DON'T have new artwork for since we already have 4differentartworks for him already. All other planeswalkers I'd like to see different art for though. :-D
Jace Beleren: Still comes out earlier than everyone and is a decent draw engine, especially now since we have proliferate.
Sorin Markov: Will see no play because of 3BBB and his first two abilities don't justify spending 6 mana.
Garruk Wildspeaker: Awesome Green 'Walker FTW!!
Chandra Nalaar/Ablaze: I agree. Both are outclassed by Koth.
Gideon Jura: The All-Star of the bunch. Will see play.
That being said, I wanted to see a whole new line-up of version 2.0s and 3.0s. How sad!
It's a great direction as the planeswalkers should not be the hook, line and sinker to magic. Hopefully we'll return to a less planeswalker-oriented set and actually dive into the lore of the lands (was I the only one that missed playing the Mirage/Invasion block? those had awesome flavor/story/everything..)
It would be neat of there was a new and a classic version of all 5 characters, but 10 walkers seems steep.
Here, have a closer look:
Comparing the arts of the five walkers there to arts on the versions that have been printed already, it looks like Chandra, Garruk, and Jace will have new art, while Sorin and Gideon (obviously) won't.
edit: nath'd
The Saga of Arkay
So long have people complained that cores sets are filled with just bombs (and rightfully so) it would be nice if a skeleton of a deck would be in a core set.
With the counters on the creatures + the proliferate mechanic it could make it a viable aggro deck for at least 1 year.
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While i agree that "gather your allies" refers to planeswalkers. I like to think (read:hope) that it means we're getting more than just the 5 already speculated. Perhaps a total of 7 walkers, including a couple of new ones that wizards is (obviously) keeping tight lipped on.
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Legendary Creature – Human Designer (MR)
Brian Tinsman, Set Designer can only be cast during the third set of a block.
When Brian Tinsman, Set Designer enters the battlefield, ignore all flavor and mechanics of the first two sets in the block.
"Ok so what do we have here... gothic horror? Scrap it. Expand the Devine Vs. Demonic duel deck to 244 cards and print it!"
2/2
i have a blog. i drink. i draft. misplays ensue.
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Return to Ravnica Draft #3 now up!
Kiki-Jiki does the sloppy swish.
If these are the 5 Core planeswalkers, then what is going to be the selling hook of this set I wonder, cause Gideon isn't enough to get people to buy packs when they will just get cards they have in at least triplicate.
The red boarder looks to be Chandra Ablaze art... blue and green though definantly look like new or different arts... The thing is why would they make only a couple or one even with new art while reusing the others art? That seems sort of unfair to the other colors.
Decks:
As for the original versions of Jace, Garruk, and Chandra. These 3 have been around for a while now and could probably use a style update outside of the 2.0 kind of update. Kinda like why Serra Angel's art evolved over time.
The Chandra Idea sounds great! I like the idea of the 'furnace of rath' and of another planeswalker that could only goes negative (Sarkhan the Mad).
I'm not sure Empty the Warrens sounds like something Chandra would do, flavorly but hey, the fork ability sounds nice. Not sure if it work well as a card.
Anyways sure, hope WotC would print a red PW with 'furnace of rath', one day.
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Jace is the one card I hope they DON'T have new artwork for since we already have 4 different artworks for him already. All other planeswalkers I'd like to see different art for though. :-D
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