I would eventually like to see just one (AND ONLY ONE) block of Dominaria where we return to a quirky plane, with all the cards future shifted, and we find inhabitants coping with the new world they were flung into, or coping with the new things flung into their world.
A Dominaria turned Topsy Turby, where sometimes up is down and down is up... waters flows odd in some places, and creatures have adapted to this "Alice in Wonderland" feel.
Islands could range from oddly shaped pools of water in the ground, to masses of water floating in the sky with debris.
Swamps would be odd holes of black land, charred scenes that once were opening to rifts.
Mountains could maintain their normal gravity based on their typical image, only they might be hovering upside down, inches from the ground. Goblins jumping lightly to exchange from mountain top to the surface of the plane.
Forests could follow odd, uniform shapes, where they move from time to time, or even grow upside down underground. Trees could float about, changing shape from that upright view, to something else entirely twisted, hanging to a surface by their roots.
Plains could be layered, with floating patches or land, hovering above one and other, entire villages on stacks of land, connected by ladders. Maybe even vertical stretches of land with towns on the sides.
I think I could deal with any plane that we stuck with for more than one block. Odyssey and Onslaught both took place in Otaria, and it was neat to see how things changed with a different focus. I'd love to see this concept revisited in a 3-year super-cycle.
Fallen Empires, Odyssey and Onslaught all take place in Dominaria. It is a REALLY big place. I think Wizards said it was twice as big as Earth. That being said it will be my choice. But what will also like a set that take place on multiple planes.
I think I could deal with any plane that we stuck with for more than one block. Odyssey and Onslaught both took place in Otaria, and it was neat to see how things changed with a different focus. I'd love to see this concept revisited in a 3-year super-cycle.
...
Otaria is a continent on Dominaria.
Thats the great thing about Dominaria, its a big planet with different continents that have varied ecosystems and a lot of deep history.
Whereas the planes we see now are basically just little theme parks where an entire planet is somehow all exactly the same.
Unlikely
Ulgrotha and Kamigawa. Both share a bond in that they have great lore and story, but are hamstringed by poor execution. I feel both deserve redemption.
More Likely
Zendikar and New Phyrexia, just because both pretty much ended with a big "To be continued..." sign on them. And of course, I want to see how Dominaria is recovering from the Time Crash of Time Spiral block.
At this point in time, I would definitely say Dominaria. I first started playing around the Urza and Masques blocks and held a particular fondness for the Invasion block, so it would be great to revisit it for the 20th anniversary. That being said, in a few years from now, I wouldn't be opposed to a return to Innistrad because WotC succeeded so immensely with the flavour for that block. At the present time, however, Dominaria would be great for pure nostalgia's sake.
How about "You may discard your hand, pay 5 life, rip this card, remove 3 digits from any number of target fingers you control, and concede at the end of the next end step rather than pay It Will Go Through!!'s mana cost.
Kamigawa is my definite favorite for a return. R&D has learned a lot over the past 8 years about what works and what doesn't. They were able to make better flip cards, with Transform. They were able to make a better "Splice onto Arcane" with "Forecast". And everybody loves Ninjas. I believe that Tamiyo, the Moon Sage as a planeswalker may well have been a check to see if the interest was there for more Kamigawa, as was the Ninja deck in Planechase 2. Both were recieved well, I think it may happen in a few years.
Zendikar and Mirrodin/New Phyrexia are going to be a bit more problematic. This would literally be the "good guys" digging out of one hell of a hole. The Eldrazi and Phyrexia are both big bad nasties. And, of course, the worst thing that could happen would be a temporal rift connecting Zendikar, New Phyrexia and Dominaria, which would bring the Eldrazi, the Phyrexians and the Slivers all face to face. Dear gods that would be a mess (but it might be fun at the same time).
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, of course, is a possibility. Another flavorful plane, with lots of nice playable cards, but I feel that the only thing that could really be done there would be to "meld" the two sides of this plane, which would, of course, feel a lot like "Shards of Lorwyn".
Now, that brings me to what I think will likely be our next "Return to" site, Alara. They have merged all of the shards together, and Alara is one big, happy plane again. I am willing to believe that they are not so happy. I expect that there is some major trouble brewing there, and with access to the other colors of mana, you will see some interesting things. What will the introduction of Green mana do to the Artificers of Esper? What about the chaos and injustice of Red and Black and it's absolute distaste to the former denizens of Bant? The wild folk of Naya must hate the artificial nature of blue and the death and corruption of black. THAT is just absolutely RIPE with flavor to be explored.
Dominaria won't be all that bad, either. And it does make a good choice for the 13th Anniversary.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently playing:
Standard: WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern: UR Twinning RU G Venus Fly Trap G U Artifacts Aggro U
I have always wanted a backstory block REVOLVING around the Elder Dragons demise. The. Vilian would be Nico Bolas who sparks. Block three is the death of the other elders, start of Legends.
Bolas is ALWAYS the villain.
Unfortunately, going back in time was not a big success (Time Spiral anybody?). They didn't print the cards people really wanted to see in timeshifted, it ended up just being a janky hodgepodge of underpowered cards (none in the entire set are currently clocking at over $12, and the most useful cards in it are Academy Ruins, Lotus Bloom and Vesuva, and Vesuva just got one-upped).
Magic isn't about looking back. It is about looking forward. My humble opinion.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently playing:
Standard: WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern: UR Twinning RU G Venus Fly Trap G U Artifacts Aggro U
Storyline-wise, we still need to track Sarkhan, Tezzeret, Karn, Elspeth, Koth (we already follwed Jace and Gideon). Also, storyline-wise, Gideon is still looking for help on Zendikar, Karn and crew searching for help for Mirrodin/New Phyrexia. Sarkhan is romaing somewhere. If anything, we need sets that will give us versions of any of the above (minus Elspeth Gideon and Jace) that follow story. Dominaria could be revisited for the arcing Karn and crew trip, since Karn knows the plane best and its history.
For flavor, they should just go back to Dominaria, and just (re)print things from the past and present of the 20 years, then kick off another start of crazy Magic shenanigans.
In the same way you can tell someone is from the XVIII century because he is arroused by ankles, you can tell someone is from USA because he feels nipples disturbing.
I had always thought that flavor-wise, Sarkhan had committed suicide after the Eye of Ugin incident. Nothing to confirm that, but it made sense to me.
I expect Karn is looking for allies, as would Koth be. Gideon is getting some experience in working with others (as suggested by the M13 trailer and his work with Boros).
Elspeth may well be working with Karn and Koth. She is one of those people who tends to mope unless she has a crusade to engage in, and Phyrexia is the kind of enemy that can keep her busy for a few hundred years.
We probably won't see what Tezzeret is up to until we find out what Bolas is up to next time around. Tezzeret is pretty much nothing more than a homunculus for Bolas at this point. He has a semblance of independent thought, but it really seems he doesn't have much control.
Dominaria! I would love to see Urza come out as a Planeswalker!
Problem with that is Urza is dead. His final atonement was to give his spark to Karn and activate the Legacy Weapon, which killed himself and Gerrard in the process.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Currently playing:
Standard: WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern: UR Twinning RU G Venus Fly Trap G U Artifacts Aggro U
Problem with that is Urza is dead. His final atonement was to give his spark to Karn and activate the Legacy Weapon, which killed himself and Gerrard in the process.
Wasn't Nicol Bolas dead too? They still make him into a card.
Wasn't Nicol Bolas dead too? They still make him into a card.
Nope. Bolas was just hiding, and surfaced on Alara, specifically the shart of Grixis, and had sent Tezzeret to monitor the activities of the Phyrexians on Mirrodin.
A Dominaria turned Topsy Turby, where sometimes up is down and down is up... waters flows odd in some places, and creatures have adapted to this "Alice in Wonderland" feel.
Islands could range from oddly shaped pools of water in the ground, to masses of water floating in the sky with debris.
Swamps would be odd holes of black land, charred scenes that once were opening to rifts.
Mountains could maintain their normal gravity based on their typical image, only they might be hovering upside down, inches from the ground. Goblins jumping lightly to exchange from mountain top to the surface of the plane.
Forests could follow odd, uniform shapes, where they move from time to time, or even grow upside down underground. Trees could float about, changing shape from that upright view, to something else entirely twisted, hanging to a surface by their roots.
Plains could be layered, with floating patches or land, hovering above one and other, entire villages on stacks of land, connected by ladders. Maybe even vertical stretches of land with towns on the sides.
Man, my vision is weird.
L1 Judge
Fallen Empires, Odyssey and Onslaught all take place in Dominaria. It is a REALLY big place. I think Wizards said it was twice as big as Earth. That being said it will be my choice. But what will also like a set that take place on multiple planes.
Otaria is a continent on Dominaria.
Thats the great thing about Dominaria, its a big planet with different continents that have varied ecosystems and a lot of deep history.
Whereas the planes we see now are basically just little theme parks where an entire planet is somehow all exactly the same.
Ulgrotha and Kamigawa. Both share a bond in that they have great lore and story, but are hamstringed by poor execution. I feel both deserve redemption.
More Likely
Zendikar and New Phyrexia, just because both pretty much ended with a big "To be continued..." sign on them. And of course, I want to see how Dominaria is recovering from the Time Crash of Time Spiral block.
The creator of Maro's Magic 8-Ball!
After reafing some of this I wish I could've been around for Dominaria,
Everyone misses Dominaria.
Hoping for a cure, or at least an outbreak.
Level 1 Judge (yay)
Kamigawa is my definite favorite for a return. R&D has learned a lot over the past 8 years about what works and what doesn't. They were able to make better flip cards, with Transform. They were able to make a better "Splice onto Arcane" with "Forecast". And everybody loves Ninjas. I believe that Tamiyo, the Moon Sage as a planeswalker may well have been a check to see if the interest was there for more Kamigawa, as was the Ninja deck in Planechase 2. Both were recieved well, I think it may happen in a few years.
Zendikar and Mirrodin/New Phyrexia are going to be a bit more problematic. This would literally be the "good guys" digging out of one hell of a hole. The Eldrazi and Phyrexia are both big bad nasties. And, of course, the worst thing that could happen would be a temporal rift connecting Zendikar, New Phyrexia and Dominaria, which would bring the Eldrazi, the Phyrexians and the Slivers all face to face. Dear gods that would be a mess (but it might be fun at the same time).
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, of course, is a possibility. Another flavorful plane, with lots of nice playable cards, but I feel that the only thing that could really be done there would be to "meld" the two sides of this plane, which would, of course, feel a lot like "Shards of Lorwyn".
Now, that brings me to what I think will likely be our next "Return to" site, Alara. They have merged all of the shards together, and Alara is one big, happy plane again. I am willing to believe that they are not so happy. I expect that there is some major trouble brewing there, and with access to the other colors of mana, you will see some interesting things. What will the introduction of Green mana do to the Artificers of Esper? What about the chaos and injustice of Red and Black and it's absolute distaste to the former denizens of Bant? The wild folk of Naya must hate the artificial nature of blue and the death and corruption of black. THAT is just absolutely RIPE with flavor to be explored.
Dominaria won't be all that bad, either. And it does make a good choice for the 13th Anniversary.
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list
BUWGRChilds PlayGRWUB
BUWGR Highlander GRWUB
UBSquee's Shapeshifting PetBU
BW Multiplayer Control WB
RG Changeling GR
UR Mana FlareRU
UMerfolkU
B MBMC B
Bolas is ALWAYS the villain.
Unfortunately, going back in time was not a big success (Time Spiral anybody?). They didn't print the cards people really wanted to see in timeshifted, it ended up just being a janky hodgepodge of underpowered cards (none in the entire set are currently clocking at over $12, and the most useful cards in it are Academy Ruins, Lotus Bloom and Vesuva, and Vesuva just got one-upped).
Magic isn't about looking back. It is about looking forward. My humble opinion.
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list
For flavor, they should just go back to Dominaria, and just (re)print things from the past and present of the 20 years, then kick off another start of crazy Magic shenanigans.
I expect Karn is looking for allies, as would Koth be. Gideon is getting some experience in working with others (as suggested by the M13 trailer and his work with Boros).
Elspeth may well be working with Karn and Koth. She is one of those people who tends to mope unless she has a crusade to engage in, and Phyrexia is the kind of enemy that can keep her busy for a few hundred years.
We probably won't see what Tezzeret is up to until we find out what Bolas is up to next time around. Tezzeret is pretty much nothing more than a homunculus for Bolas at this point. He has a semblance of independent thought, but it really seems he doesn't have much control.
Problem with that is Urza is dead. His final atonement was to give his spark to Karn and activate the Legacy Weapon, which killed himself and Gerrard in the process.
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list
Wasn't Nicol Bolas dead too? They still make him into a card.
Nope. Bolas was just hiding, and surfaced on Alara, specifically the shart of Grixis, and had sent Tezzeret to monitor the activities of the Phyrexians on Mirrodin.
http://wiki.mtgsalvation.com/article/Nicol_Bolas
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list
Yawgmoth hoped to dissect Dyffed, but never got to.
Standard:
WBRG Aggro-Reanimator Humans GRBW
Modern:
UR Twinning RU
G Venus Fly Trap G
U Artifacts Aggro U
Legacy:
B Reanimator B
WU Stoneblade UW
EDH
WBGGhave, Guru of SporesGBW
URGRiku of the Two ReflectionsGRU
WUBRGScion of the Ur-DragonGRBUW
Casual
Far too many to list