And gee, why would you want to put at least one of a popular and exciting card type in each set? Boggles the mind.
It is worth noting that Rosewater originally said that they wouldn't appear every set, and so far they've appeared in every set since Shards of Alara except for Alara Reborn. I expect you have the right of it - that may have been a hedge just in case planeswalkers didn't go over as well as they expected them to (or just an excuse as to why it would take until Shards until we saw any more. )
Ya know, until I saw the arts in Luminum's thread, my heart jumped as it looked like a friggin Izzet PW on Ravnica. The gothic looking buildings, the machines covering him, even the smug look. But knowing that there's someone like this in what could be INN, makes me happy as well. Maybe he IS from Ravnica and just happens to be somewhere else, much like Gideon's card release.
It is worth noting that Rosewater originally said that they wouldn't appear every set, and so far they've appeared in every set since Shards of Alara except for Alara Reborn. I expect you have the right of it - that may have been a hedge just in case planeswalkers didn't go over as well as they expected them to (or just an excuse as to why it would take until Shards until we saw any more. )
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't show up in *every* set. Like, if they skipped a small set in a block. But they'll be in every large set, in order to introduce the main characters of that block's story.
Some of the rules regarding planeswalkers have changed slightly since their introduction. For a long time, it was taboo to mention Planeswalkers in card text other than reminder text. Since New Phyrexia, however, that rule has been abolished. I presume that the role of Planeswalkers in the game has grown too large to ignore, so now they're giving in and letting other cards specifically mention and affect them. There are only so many ways you can provide answers without explicitly referring to them.
Nitz, you sir are the man. Not just any man, but THE man. With this, not only have you uncovered one of the coolest looking planeswalkers in a while, and in my favorite color combo to boot, but also singlehandedly busted open spoiler season for the fall block before the summer core set is even out. Way to go.
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Some of the 950 things Mr. Welch can no longer do during an RPG:
11. Not allowed to berserk for the hell of it, especially during royal masquerades.
54. Cannot pimp out other party members.
106. I do not have weapon proficiency in cat.
190. Duel wielding small animals is strictly forbidden.
222. Druids are not against my religion.
349. Power Word: Beer Me is not a real spell.
622. Paladins make poor vikings. And vice versa.
Planeswalkers are mortal now. He has the same weaknesses as any other human mage. The only difference is he can naturally move between planes and survive the journey through the blind eternities.
Thought they still maintained some of the 'god' abilities... kind of lame that their only trick as a whole not is doing something that you can build a machine to do.
Although I'd assume they have slightly more potential when it comes to magic allowing for stronger spells and a slightly longer than average lifespan as well.
(I remember reading an article here on Neowalkers a few years back that pretty much just pegged them as severely nerfed old walkers, less power, less invulnerability, lower lifespan, etc but I had no idea they got rid of all of that)
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Brian Tinsman, Set Designer :?mana::snow::snow:
Legendary Creature β 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
The advantage they have over normal mages is that they can travel to other worlds and form mana bonds with many different lands other than just their home worlds, and can learn spells and other knowledge from those many different worlds. They don't have inherently better spellcasting abilities than a non-walker, but they have much greater opportunities to advance their knowledge and capabilities.
They got rid of the god-like powers for a few reasons. For one, it's hard to come up with a plot for a story with Planeswalkers at the center when your main characters have, well, god-like powers. You have to have seriously impressive challenges to put in opposition to that, and continuously finding new excuses for why the protagonist can't just fix a problem with a wave of their hand isn't terribly sustainable. Until the new planeswalkers came about, they got around that by making normal people the focus of the stories instead, and keeping the planeswalkers in the background. But that sucks too, because the part of your fantasy world that represents the reader/player is no longer front and center.
The new planeswalkers solve those issues, in theory, by providing a player analog that can remain in focus without having to constantly face ridiculous enemies. And it helps to have player equivalents who are more relatable to the player. It's hard to put yourself in the shoes of a god-like entity with a tenuous grasp, if any, on their former humanity.
i dont know too much about ravnica, but didn't the guilds fall apart in Dissension? maybe Innistrad is just a new name for the collapsed Ravnica
i dunno, just my 2 cents. those floating buildings are hard to ignore
Interesting tattoo he has there. The Firemind isn't a serpentine dragon, but could it be depicting Niv-Mizzet anyway? (Assuming he really is Ravnican, of course.)
The problem with defining this format by what is "fun" is that everyone seems to define fun as what they don't lose to. If you keep losing to easily answered cards, that means you should improve your deck. If you don't want to improve your deck, then you should come to peace with the idea that you are going to lose because you chose to not interact with better strategies.
Now wouldn't that be a trip, if Innistrad actually turned out to be "Ravnica 2." Didn't Garruk track Liliana to that Plane in the Webcomics? Heck, between the UG and UR Walkers hiding in DotP 2012, maybe Innistrad will have four enemy-pair Walkers. Skipping RW, of course (been there, done that).
With all the inFamous I've been playing lately, I almost want to call this guy "Kessler."
EDIT: Yes, I am aware that Pirates on Ravnica would be strange. Then again, if we see Ramirez Di Pietro re-issued, I'm going to laugh my posterior off.
Word of god says that Innistrad is on the plane of Innistrad, so no its not Ravnica, but *yes*, this PWer is izzet to all hell. And that's ok- the defining point of a planeswalker being that he can travel between planes (durr). So we get one izzet dude, one ajani, one liliana this set.
I've actually seen a few pieces of art in screenshots that are exclusive to D12. Loading screens that show Jace confronting Tezzeret, for example.
An illustration showing two established characters fighting is categorically different from the complete top-to-bottom design of a new planeswalker character, though. There's no new worldbuilding or other Creative Team work involved in DotP.
Wow, seriously this guy looks very cool. He's a very snazzy dresser! Definitely looks like an Izzet Guild member.
I know it's pure speculation but, I think it would be neat for this guy to be one of the planeswalkers Gideon(since he went to Ravnica... right?) hires to help fight the Eldrazi. Sorry if anybody has mentioned that already, just kind of skimmed the posts.
Anyway whether he is from Innistrad or Ravnica, I'm very excited for this guy.
Innistrad now seems like it ought to have the subtitle "Scars of Ravnica". Although of course the buildings seem far more like they would belong in Victorian London than in Ravnica, which was a mash of Eastern and Western European architecture.
Not sure if this has been pointed out already, but the buildings on the floating rocks in the background make me think that plane isn't Ravnica. I mean, I didn't think Ravnica had anything like that anyway. In fact, Zendikar is the only plane I'm aware of with that kind of geomantic activity so far, and the buildings don't look anything like what you would see on Zendikar, especially with the Eldrazi loose. Doesn't really say anything about what plane it might actually be, besides that it isn't one we've seen before. I'd like to think it's Innistrad, but that still feels conclusion-jumpy...
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"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
Not sure if this has been pointed out already, but the buildings on the floating rocks in the background make me think that plane isn't Ravnica. I mean, I didn't think Ravnica had anything like that anyway. In fact, Zendikar is the only plane I'm aware of with that kind of geomantic activity so far, and the buildings don't look anything like what you would see on Zendikar, especially with the Eldrazi loose. Doesn't really say anything about what plane it might actually be, besides that it isn't one we've seen before. I'd like to think it's Innistrad, but that still feels conclusion-jumpy...
That's definitely Ravnica. Just look at the basic lands: Floating islands were blatantly apparent on one of the plains card. Not to mention that Innistrad's artwork is turning to look more like small medieval villages rather then having large cities.
They got rid of the god-like powers for a few reasons. For one, it's hard to come up with a plot for a story with Planeswalkers at the center when your main characters have, well, god-like powers. You have to have seriously impressive challenges to put in opposition to that, and continuously finding new excuses for why the protagonist can't just fix a problem with a wave of their hand isn't terribly sustainable. Until the new planeswalkers came about, they got around that by making normal people the focus of the stories instead, and keeping the planeswalkers in the background. But that sucks too, because the part of your fantasy world that represents the reader/player is no longer front and center.
The new planeswalkers solve those issues, in theory, by providing a player analog that can remain in focus without having to constantly face ridiculous enemies. And it helps to have player equivalents who are more relatable to the player. It's hard to put yourself in the shoes of a god-like entity with a tenuous grasp, if any, on their former humanity.
The problem with your theory is that the neowalkers face the same ridiculous enemies that the oldwalkers did.
Let's look at the three most recent Bad Guys:
1. Phyrexia
2. The Eldrazi
3. Bolas
All 3 fought on at least even ground with oldwalkers in past storylines. The stories would have worked just fine (with some modifications) with oldwalkers instead of neowalkers.
They did the Mending so they could print walker cards outside Vanguard, not because of story issues.
Innistrad now seems like it ought to have the subtitle "Scars of Ravnica". Although of course the buildings seem far more like they would belong in Victorian London than in Ravnica, which was a mash of Eastern and Western European architecture.
On a side note: Victorian age Back To The Future?
I think you might be on the right track. The architecture definitely bares a very close resemblance to the classic Victorian-era style of building, much more so than the Ravnican architecture does.
If INN is set on Victorian/Steampunk plane it WILL be my favorite block of ALLTIME and it WILL... BE... AWESOME!!!
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Sig by Rivenor
Cube. The best way to play Magic. PERIOD. Come over and check it out. Also, check out my Peasant Split Card Cube.
The World of Pokemon RPG has been rebooted. Come over and check it out.
Innistrad now seems like it ought to have the subtitle "Scars of Ravnica". Although of course the buildings seem far more like they would belong in Victorian London than in Ravnica, which was a mash of Eastern and Western European architecture.
On a side note: Victorian age Back To The Future?
I actually have to slightly disagree. The primary influence I'm getting from much of the architecture is the post-gothic french styles found during that same time period.
Looks very Izzet-like, the great one, Niv Mizzet would be pleased something else is in his image, I love it and the speculation back to timespiral block of a victorian future and INN art and now this make me want to start to connect the dots...
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"It was probably a lousy spell in the first place."
βErtai, wizard adept
think they will make a set without a new walker? seems unlikely.
seems like over a short period of time there is going to be walkers every where.
geez whats next a whole walker tribe?
sig by Sioux
And gee, why would you want to put at least one of a popular and exciting card type in each set? Boggles the mind.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
It is worth noting that Rosewater originally said that they wouldn't appear every set, and so far they've appeared in every set since Shards of Alara except for Alara Reborn. I expect you have the right of it - that may have been a hedge just in case planeswalkers didn't go over as well as they expected them to (or just an excuse as to why it would take until Shards until we saw any more. )
I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't show up in *every* set. Like, if they skipped a small set in a block. But they'll be in every large set, in order to introduce the main characters of that block's story.
Some of the rules regarding planeswalkers have changed slightly since their introduction. For a long time, it was taboo to mention Planeswalkers in card text other than reminder text. Since New Phyrexia, however, that rule has been abolished. I presume that the role of Planeswalkers in the game has grown too large to ignore, so now they're giving in and letting other cards specifically mention and affect them. There are only so many ways you can provide answers without explicitly referring to them.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
11. Not allowed to berserk for the hell of it, especially during royal masquerades.
54. Cannot pimp out other party members.
106. I do not have weapon proficiency in cat.
190. Duel wielding small animals is strictly forbidden.
222. Druids are not against my religion.
349. Power Word: Beer Me is not a real spell.
622. Paladins make poor vikings. And vice versa.
Thought they still maintained some of the 'god' abilities... kind of lame that their only trick as a whole not is doing something that you can build a machine to do.
Although I'd assume they have slightly more potential when it comes to magic allowing for stronger spells and a slightly longer than average lifespan as well.
(I remember reading an article here on Neowalkers a few years back that pretty much just pegged them as severely nerfed old walkers, less power, less invulnerability, lower lifespan, etc but I had no idea they got rid of all of that)
Legendary Creature β 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
They got rid of the god-like powers for a few reasons. For one, it's hard to come up with a plot for a story with Planeswalkers at the center when your main characters have, well, god-like powers. You have to have seriously impressive challenges to put in opposition to that, and continuously finding new excuses for why the protagonist can't just fix a problem with a wave of their hand isn't terribly sustainable. Until the new planeswalkers came about, they got around that by making normal people the focus of the stories instead, and keeping the planeswalkers in the background. But that sucks too, because the part of your fantasy world that represents the reader/player is no longer front and center.
The new planeswalkers solve those issues, in theory, by providing a player analog that can remain in focus without having to constantly face ridiculous enemies. And it helps to have player equivalents who are more relatable to the player. It's hard to put yourself in the shoes of a god-like entity with a tenuous grasp, if any, on their former humanity.
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
i dont know too much about ravnica, but didn't the guilds fall apart in Dissension? maybe Innistrad is just a new name for the collapsed Ravnica
i dunno, just my 2 cents. those floating buildings are hard to ignore
RADAMARO, FIRST TO DESIRER
UKEFNET THE MINDFULU
GSASAYA, OROCHI ASCENDANTG
MODERN
RMONO-RED ELDRAZIR
RWW Eldrazi Goggles
With all the inFamous I've been playing lately, I almost want to call this guy "Kessler."
EDIT: Yes, I am aware that Pirates on Ravnica would be strange. Then again, if we see Ramirez Di Pietro re-issued, I'm going to laugh my posterior off.
An illustration showing two established characters fighting is categorically different from the complete top-to-bottom design of a new planeswalker character, though. There's no new worldbuilding or other Creative Team work involved in DotP.
I know it's pure speculation but, I think it would be neat for this guy to be one of the planeswalkers Gideon(since he went to Ravnica... right?) hires to help fight the Eldrazi. Sorry if anybody has mentioned that already, just kind of skimmed the posts.
Anyway whether he is from Innistrad or Ravnica, I'm very excited for this guy.
On a side note: Victorian age Back To The Future?
"I am confident that if anyone actually
penetrates our facades, even the most
perceptive would still be fundamentally
unprepared for the truth of House Dimir."
http://magiccards.info/rav/en/287.html is a pretty big hole in your 'Ravnica doesn't float' argument.
The problem with your theory is that the neowalkers face the same ridiculous enemies that the oldwalkers did.
Let's look at the three most recent Bad Guys:
1. Phyrexia
2. The Eldrazi
3. Bolas
All 3 fought on at least even ground with oldwalkers in past storylines. The stories would have worked just fine (with some modifications) with oldwalkers instead of neowalkers.
They did the Mending so they could print walker cards outside Vanguard, not because of story issues.
Practice for Khans of Tarkir Limited:
Draft: (#1) (#2) (#3) (#4) (#5)
I think you might be on the right track. The architecture definitely bares a very close resemblance to the classic Victorian-era style of building, much more so than the Ravnican architecture does.
If INN is set on Victorian/Steampunk plane it WILL be my favorite block of ALL TIME and it WILL... BE... AWESOME!!!
Sig by Rivenor
Cube. The best way to play Magic. PERIOD. Come over and check it out. Also, check out my Peasant Split Card Cube.
The World of Pokemon RPG has been rebooted. Come over and check it out.
Set Creation Projects: Archester: Frontier of Steam Come over and check out our AWESOME Steampunk set.
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I actually have to slightly disagree. The primary influence I'm getting from much of the architecture is the post-gothic french styles found during that same time period.
I love MTG!
I love DragonLance!
"It was probably a lousy spell in the first place."
βErtai, wizard adept
Legacy: UW Miracle, U MUC, UW StoneBlade, U Merfolk, R Burn, & UB Reanimator
EDH: U Azami, Lady of Scrolls & URG Riku of Two Reflections
Casual: UR Dragonstorm, UB Dralnu-Teachings, U NinjaFae, & UR Izzet EDH