I would think something like this, considering what he does in the book:
Ral Zarek 2UR
Planeswalker - Ral
+1: Draw a card, then discard a card.
-2: Target player draws two cards, then Ral Zarek deals damage to that player equal to the number of cards he or she has drawn this turn.
-5: Put X 3/1 blue and red elemental creature tokens with trample and haste onto the battlefield, where X is the number of cards in your hand. Sacrifice those tokens at the end of turn.
Loyalty: 3
For as weak as those first two abilites are (Looter, Cerebral Vortex), neither one really supports the "ultimate" you submitted. Using the -2 on yourself is worse than Sign in Blood. I'd much rather see a Winds of Change effect at that cost. I really would be disappointed removing five counters from your Ral just to get one Spark Elemental token. Vraska showed us something a little more innovative with PWs; hopefully Ral gets the same treatment. And before people rant about how "terribad" Vraska's design was, not every card is meant for 4-Turn-or-less formats/decks.
While the books are an interesting read at times, they've also done things they weren't supposed to. Between the Time Spiral trilogy and the SoM novel, Venser turned into a suicidal drug-addict. Yay for "creative license." The webcomics (which are canon) had Chandra use Ghostfire during Zendikar block, yet we haven't seen that ability appear on any card bearing her name yet. Maybe we will with Chandra 4.0 in Friends block.
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I think his second ability will most assuredly be Electrolyze and it will be a -3. It cannot be a -2 because that will be a little too powerful. I have no clue about his plus 1, but I can definitely see a looting effect. His Ultimate is going to be a powerful summoning of elemental type spell just based off his lore and what he has been KNOWN to do.
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I think his second ability will most assuredly be Electrolyze and it will be a -3. It cannot be a -2 because that will be a little too powerful. I have no clue about his plus 1, but I can definitely see a looting effect. His Ultimate is going to be a powerful summoning of elemental type spell just based off his lore and what he has been KNOWN to do.
That would depend on his CMC and starting loyalty. If he was 4CMC (2RU) and started with 3 loyalty and a +1 as his first ability, a -2 Electrolyze is completely reasonable.
All I want is for him to be playable. I've waited forever for a RU planeswalker.
I'll chime in that I think Electrolyze will be his neg ability. I hope they don't make looting his first ability... we've had enough blue/red looting lately.
Although I'd be ok with a supercharged Electrolyze as his ultimate...
Bolas' card still follows the rule essentially, as he had already been represented once (Nicol Bolas). The other two were never referred to with a second name as were all the other planeswalkers. They were only ever referred to as "Vraska" and "Tibalt." Thus, the format above should still hold true, as these two are exceptions to the rule.
The real question: Is his subtype going to be "Ral" or "Zarek"?
Based on all other planeswalkers besides Nicol Bolas, I would say that it will be his first name, "Ral," as that is what would be carried forward in the card name as well... based on the convention outlined above of course.
Thoughts?
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COMMANDER DECKS
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Surrak Presents: Snow-where to Run (A Temur Production)
Zurgo - Mardu Warrior Tribal
Gisa and Geralf
Jhoira's Artifacts
You forgot Tamiyo, the Moon Sage in your ''exceptions'' list, and Elspeth's ''name'' variant also only came after her first version with a title.
None of Jace's titles are particularly interesting to me, Jace Beleren sounds by far the best. Vraska the Unseen however is extremely fitting and this should just be how she should be named, period, no last name required. I dont think your rule holds much value.
Tamiyo would fit in the same category as Tibalt and Vraska, same goes for Tezzeret and Koth. They were only ever referred to by their one name.
Whether the name sounds preferrential really doesn't hold weight as that varies from person to person.
So from this information, we can try to take what we know about Ral Zarek and determine how his card name could be formatted.
There are 11 planeswalkers that have come before Ral Zarek that share with him the fact that they have a first AND last name. Of those 11, 10 of them started off with there full name as their card name.
Based on that information, I would feel more confident in saying Ral Zarek's card will simply be titled "Ral Zarek."
Of all the Planeswalkers printed only ONE (Bolas) has both their first and last name and a title. Those that have titles only have either their first name or only name used. Thus, if Ral does start off with a title, he is most likely to appear as "Ral, __________."
Of course, he could completely fly in the face of everything that has been printed before him. That is the nature of speculation. I am simply trying to base my speculation on what has come before.
The only way we will know for sure is when he is finally printed.
COMMANDER DECKS
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Surrak Presents: Snow-where to Run (A Temur Production)
Zurgo - Mardu Warrior Tribal
Gisa and Geralf
Jhoira's Artifacts
So from this information, we can try to take what we know about Ral Zarek and determine how his card name could be formatted.
There are 11 planeswalkers that have come before Ral Zarek that share with him the fact that they have a first AND last name. Of those 11, 10 of them started off with there full name as their card name.
Based on that information, I would feel more confident in saying Ral Zarek's card will simply be titled "Ral Zarek."
Of all the Planeswalkers printed only ONE (Bolas) has both their first and last name and a title. Those that have titles only have either their first name or only name used. Thus, if Ral does start off with a title, he is most likely to appear as "Ral, __________."
Of course, he could completely fly in the face of everything that has been printed before him. That is the nature of speculation. I am simply trying to base my speculation on what has come before.
The only way we will know for sure is when he is finally printed.
Elspeth sets a precedent that could unravel all of your speculation. There's absolutely no reason why Koth, Tamiyo, Tibalt, and Vraska couldn't have a second incarnation further down the road with just their first and last name.
Since he's Izzet, let's up the crazy/design space a bit:
Ral Zarek 1UR
Ral Zarek's abilities may be activated any time you could play an instant (but only once per turn).
+1: You may cast sorcery cards as though they had flash this turn.
-1: Put a 3/1 Elemental creature token with haste into play.
-3: Ral Zarek does X damage among any number of target creatures and/or players, where X is the converted mana cost of target spell. Then +4.
2
His 'ultimate' ramps up lightning-charge style, while also being 'ultimate' with any huge spell Risky (since he'd go down to 1 before the +4 happens)
That might be too wild, but he seems like a good opportunity to turn things on their head a little bit. Plus, Garruk Relentless was pretty unusual, so its not like they've never done one with other qualifications. What are some wackier/more Izzet-genius ideas that might happen?
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that's not what happened at all. kamahl stabbed phage, akroma, and some old lady and they became korona. then korona got stabbed by her "prophets" and kamahl got drunk with a mutant centaur
Since he's Izzet, let's up the crazy/design space a bit:
Ral Zarek 1UR
Ral Zarek's abilities may be activated any time you could play an instant (but only once per turn).
+1: You may cast sorcery cards as though they had flash this turn.
-1: Put a 3/1 Elemental creature token with haste into play.
-3: Ral Zarek does X damage among any number of target creatures and/or players, where X is the converted mana cost of target spell. Then +4.
2
His 'ultimate' ramps up lightning-charge style, while also being 'ultimate' with any huge spell Risky (since he'd go down to 1 before the +4 happens)
That might be too wild, but he seems like a good opportunity to turn things on their head a little bit. Plus, Garruk Relentless was pretty unusual, so its not like they've never done one with other qualifications. What are some wackier/more Izzet-genius ideas that might happen?
Pretty sure using abilities at instant-speed would also mean being able to use one on your turn and one more on your opponent's turn.
Eating spells could very well be done. It'd just work like this:
+0: Exile an Instant or Sorcery card from your hand. Put X loyalty counters on Ral Zarek, where X is the converted mana cost of the exiled card.
Electrolyze would be awesome at a -2, and it would actually make a whole lot of sense
And, because it'd totally make sense for Izzet to:
-10 (Or some other relatively high number): You get an emblem with "At the beginning of each main phase on your turn, you may cast any number of instants and/or sorceries exiled by Ral Zarek without paying their mana cost."
And yes, absolutely would that emblem be stackable and yes on both main phases. =P
Or at least something along those lines. If Ral Zarek ate spells, I can only imagine that they'd be sure to make it so that they're reusable. That's just the best way I can think of making that happen.
I really like this idea. It's strictly better than Godzilla in every way.
Ral Zarek should hopefully be on the more shenanigans side of PWs.
Eating spells could very well be done. It'd just work like this:
+0: Exile an Instant or Sorcery card from your hand. Put X loyalty counters on Ral Zarek, where X is the converted mana cost of the exiled card.
Electrolyze would be awesome at a -2, and it would actually make a whole lot of sense
And, because it'd totally make sense for Izzet to:
-10 (Or some other relatively high number): You get an emblem with "At the beginning of each main phase on your turn, you may cast any number of instants and/or sorceries exiled by Ral Zarek without paying their mana cost."
And yes, absolutely would that emblem be stackable and yes on both main phases. =P
Or at least something along those lines. If Ral Zarek ate spells, I can only imagine that they'd be sure to make it so that they're reusable. That's just the best way I can think of making that happen.
I don't know if this has been addressed, but surely no one would abuse the 0 ability with Enter the Infinite.
I assume everyone here is an izzet Mage looking to be competitive in standard eh? I for one think we will all be surprised at Ral Zarek as everyone was shocked by Gideon's new form. Wizards better know we are anxious to play izzet aggro. Counter/burn has always been my favorite. He will be 3 or 4 mana to be competitive. If we see him at 5, he will have good abilities. A 3 spot would be ideal though seeing as how I think Talrand will see play soon, I can feel it. But who really knows. Wizards will surprise us all. As we have been waiting for an izzet planes walker for some time now
I would like to see a more general purpose PW than one completely devoted to sliding, auto-play fashion, into some existing Modern deck. I'd like to see him work in a generic Counterburn deck that can be built over a 100 different ways.
as countless others have already said, electrolyze as a -3. It just makes sense, lots of walkers have a minus kill ability(chandra nalaar, domri rade, lily of the veil, ajani vengeant, garruk relentless, gideon jura, karn, vraska and of course bolas). a few of them even come with benefits along with the creature kill, so why not card draw?
Speaking of Jace and Secretist pt.2, I almost sure Ral to have some kind of knowledge restoring power. Most likely "return target instant or sorcery card from [your/target player's] graveyard to [[your/his or her] hand / top of [your/his or her] library]".
I'm kind of hoping for a zaney Izzet mage who has mastered and mixed the unpredictable passions of red with the more subtle knowledge of blue. Someone who experiments and can make mistakes if they don't take time to set it up properly. I'd like to see something like:
Ral Zarek, Tesla Overlord 1RU
Planeswalker - Zarek
+1 Look at the top three cards of your library. You may put them back in any order.
-2 Put a red and blue */* Weird creature token into play with "Play with the top card of your library revealed. This creature's power and toughness are equal to the revealed card's converted mana cost."
-x Reveal the top X cards of your library. You may choose an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost X or less from among them and cast it without paying its mana cost. Place the other revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
Loyalty: 3
It's fast, it can attempt to protect itself immediately at risk of having a land at the top of the library. It's powerful, it's buildaround. It's likely imbalanced but it's the idea of it that sticks with me.
I'm kind of hoping for a zaney Izzet mage who has mastered and mixed the unpredictable passions of red with the more subtle knowledge of blue. Someone who experiments and can make mistakes if they don't take time to set it up properly. I'd like to see something like:
Ral Zarek, Tesla Overlord 1RU
Planeswalker - Zarek
+1 Look at the top three cards of your library. You may put them back in any order.
-2 Put a red and blue */* Weird creature token into play with "Play with the top card of your library revealed. This creature's power and toughness are equal to the revealed card's converted mana cost."
-x Reveal the top X cards of your library. You may choose an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost X or less from among them and cast it without paying its mana cost. Place the other revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
Loyalty: 3
It's fast, it can attempt to protect itself immediately at risk of having a land at the top of the library. It's powerful, it's buildaround. It's likely imbalanced but it's the idea of it that sticks with me.
that -2 needs to be */*+1 token. The other walkers that made tokens made at least 3 power for their negative, and couldn't die to something silly like top of deck. This wouldn't take away from the theme of manipulate your top deck in any way, it would just make it so that it's a worthwhile risk.
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For as weak as those first two abilites are (Looter, Cerebral Vortex), neither one really supports the "ultimate" you submitted. Using the -2 on yourself is worse than Sign in Blood. I'd much rather see a Winds of Change effect at that cost. I really would be disappointed removing five counters from your Ral just to get one Spark Elemental token. Vraska showed us something a little more innovative with PWs; hopefully Ral gets the same treatment. And before people rant about how "terribad" Vraska's design was, not every card is meant for 4-Turn-or-less formats/decks.
While the books are an interesting read at times, they've also done things they weren't supposed to. Between the Time Spiral trilogy and the SoM novel, Venser turned into a suicidal drug-addict. Yay for "creative license." The webcomics (which are canon) had Chandra use Ghostfire during Zendikar block, yet we haven't seen that ability appear on any card bearing her name yet. Maybe we will with Chandra 4.0 in Friends block.
Tried to pull away, but now I'm Back At it
Love is Emphatic, cards need to be played
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That would depend on his CMC and starting loyalty. If he was 4CMC (2RU) and started with 3 loyalty and a +1 as his first ability, a -2 Electrolyze is completely reasonable.
All I want is for him to be playable. I've waited forever for a RU planeswalker.
Although I'd be ok with a supercharged Electrolyze as his ultimate...
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The card's name will most likely simply be "Ral Zarek."
Every planeswalker that has ever appeared for the first time has had their character name as their first card name.
This is why I still do not understand all the fake cards like "Ral Zarek, Tonitrumancer" or "Ral Zarek, Izzet Mage."
All planeswalker appearances have followed the convention:
First Appearance: (First Name) (Last Name)
Further appearances: (First Name) (Optional Comma) (Some convoluted description or title)
For instance, Jace...
First Appearance: Jace Beleren
Second Appearance: Jace, The Mindsculptor
Third Appearance: Jace, Memory Adept
Fourth Appearance: Jace, Architect of Thought
Or Chandra...
First Appearance: Chandra Nalaar
Second Appearance: Chandra Ablaze
Third Appearance: Chandra, The Firebrand
The only acceptions to this rule are:
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Tibalt, the Fiend-Blooded
Vraska The Unseen
Bolas' card still follows the rule essentially, as he had already been represented once (Nicol Bolas). The other two were never referred to with a second name as were all the other planeswalkers. They were only ever referred to as "Vraska" and "Tibalt." Thus, the format above should still hold true, as these two are exceptions to the rule.
Based on all other planeswalkers besides Nicol Bolas, I would say that it will be his first name, "Ral," as that is what would be carried forward in the card name as well... based on the convention outlined above of course.
Thoughts?
COMMANDER DECKS
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Surrak Presents: Snow-where to Run (A Temur Production)
Zurgo - Mardu Warrior Tribal
Gisa and Geralf
Jhoira's Artifacts
Another very big exception is Elspeth, Knight-Errant coming before Elspeth Tirel.
Ah! I forgot about our gal Elspeth. She indeed would be the biggest exception and the one fly in the ointment. Good catch!
Tamiyo would fit in the same category as Tibalt and Vraska, same goes for Tezzeret and Koth. They were only ever referred to by their one name.
Whether the name sounds preferrential really doesn't hold weight as that varies from person to person.
Also, Karn, Liberated and Venser, the Sojourner follow the Bolas example of referring to previously seen characters.
As we stand now, we have...
Those that start with the full name (10 Total)
Jace Beleren > Jace, the Mindsculptor > Jace, Memory Adept > Jace, Architect of Thought
Chandra Nalaar > Chandra Ablaze > Chandra, the Firebrand
Garruk Wildspeaker > Garruk, Primal Hunter > Garruk Relentless
Ajani Goldmane > Ajani Vengeant > Ajani, Caller of the Pride
Liliana Vess > Liliana of the Veil > Liliana of the Dark Realms
Gideon Jura > Gideon, Champion of Justice
Sarkhan Vol > Sarkhan the Mad
Sorin Markov > Sorin, Lord of Innistrad
Nissa Revane
Domri Rade
Those that start with a name and title, BUT reference a previouusly introduced character (3 Total)
Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker
Venser, the Sojourner
Karn, Liberated
Those that started with a name and title, BUT are only referenced in the story by that one name (5 Total)
Tezzeret, The Seeker > Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas
Tamiyo, The Moon Sage
Tibalt, The Fiend-Blooded
Vraska The Unseen
Koth of the Hammer
And the only one that goes with a title first (1 Total )
Elspeth, Knight Errant > Elspeth Tirel
So from this information, we can try to take what we know about Ral Zarek and determine how his card name could be formatted.
There are 11 planeswalkers that have come before Ral Zarek that share with him the fact that they have a first AND last name. Of those 11, 10 of them started off with there full name as their card name.
Based on that information, I would feel more confident in saying Ral Zarek's card will simply be titled "Ral Zarek."
Of all the Planeswalkers printed only ONE (Bolas) has both their first and last name and a title. Those that have titles only have either their first name or only name used. Thus, if Ral does start off with a title, he is most likely to appear as "Ral, __________."
Of course, he could completely fly in the face of everything that has been printed before him. That is the nature of speculation. I am simply trying to base my speculation on what has come before.
The only way we will know for sure is when he is finally printed.
COMMANDER DECKS
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind
Surrak Presents: Snow-where to Run (A Temur Production)
Zurgo - Mardu Warrior Tribal
Gisa and Geralf
Jhoira's Artifacts
I have easy to meet expectations
On Modern Masters 2:
Will be kept until 12/31/2013 to prove if Right or Wrong.Proven right 1/27/2013Elspeth sets a precedent that could unravel all of your speculation. There's absolutely no reason why Koth, Tamiyo, Tibalt, and Vraska couldn't have a second incarnation further down the road with just their first and last name.
---
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#DefundThePolice
Ral Zarek 1UR
Ral Zarek's abilities may be activated any time you could play an instant (but only once per turn).
+1: You may cast sorcery cards as though they had flash this turn.
-1: Put a 3/1 Elemental creature token with haste into play.
-3: Ral Zarek does X damage among any number of target creatures and/or players, where X is the converted mana cost of target spell. Then +4.
2
His 'ultimate' ramps up lightning-charge style, while also being 'ultimate' with any huge spell Risky (since he'd go down to 1 before the +4 happens)
That might be too wild, but he seems like a good opportunity to turn things on their head a little bit. Plus, Garruk Relentless was pretty unusual, so its not like they've never done one with other qualifications. What are some wackier/more Izzet-genius ideas that might happen?
Pretty sure using abilities at instant-speed would also mean being able to use one on your turn and one more on your opponent's turn.
What you proposed is also way too powerful.
I really like this idea. It's strictly better than Godzilla in every way.
Ral Zarek should hopefully be on the more shenanigans side of PWs.
Sounds eerily like Chandra Ablaze, which was terribad.
---
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#DefundThePolice
+ exile an instant or sorcery card from your hand, ral does damage equal that cards converted mana cost to target creature
- a spell with "target" gets "overloaded"
ulti = you may cast an number of instants and sorcery cards exiled with ral, without paying their mana cost
starting loyalty ??
sig by Sioux
I don't know if this has been addressed, but surely no one would abuse the 0 ability with Enter the Infinite.
(Give your LGS judge a hug. He deserves it.)
Yes, Electrolyze or Magma Jet would be my absolutely first choice for this guy. Perhaps both of them.. Or maybe a better Suffocating Blast.
Ultimate? Some unholy mix of Insurrection + Evacuation.
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I thought Jace, the Mind Sculptor is a callback to Ixidor, Reality Sculptor? Both are powerful illusionists... at least storyline-wise. So it has a share of interest.
Speaking of Jace and Secretist pt.2, I almost sure Ral to have some kind of knowledge restoring power. Most likely "return target instant or sorcery card from [your/target player's] graveyard to [[your/his or her] hand / top of [your/his or her] library]".
And "make Cognivore / Magnivore" as an ultimate.
Ral Zarek, Tesla Overlord
1RU
Planeswalker - Zarek
+1 Look at the top three cards of your library. You may put them back in any order.
-2 Put a red and blue */* Weird creature token into play with "Play with the top card of your library revealed. This creature's power and toughness are equal to the revealed card's converted mana cost."
-x Reveal the top X cards of your library. You may choose an instant or sorcery spell with converted mana cost X or less from among them and cast it without paying its mana cost. Place the other revealed cards on the bottom of your library in any order.
Loyalty: 3
It's fast, it can attempt to protect itself immediately at risk of having a land at the top of the library. It's powerful, it's buildaround. It's likely imbalanced but it's the idea of it that sticks with me.
that -2 needs to be */*+1 token. The other walkers that made tokens made at least 3 power for their negative, and couldn't die to something silly like top of deck. This wouldn't take away from the theme of manipulate your top deck in any way, it would just make it so that it's a worthwhile risk.