I think there's a lot of synergy out in Origins for a UR Artifact deck, the question is if you want to dilute the focus away from the early Ensoul Artifact by having a Thopter Devotion approach.
So if I sacrifice Possessed Skaab to Rescue from the Underworld, the Skaab goes into exile instead of the graveyard from the start, and so as a card in a "public zone" (in my understanding of the rules) it still returns when Rescue from the Underworld finishes the following next upkeep. Correct?
There's a clear enchantments matter theme in some White cards, an artifact that refers to "Gods" that has enchantments matter, wouldn't it make a lot more sense to have a White-Blue enchantments matter theme than White with anything else?
Yeah, the UG Krasis puts Ravnica into UG, leaving Vryn's only possibility UW. It "could" be UB, but then one of Liliana's planes had to be BG, which it can't because Lorwyn would have to be GW, and Bant is that (green Rhox, renowned emphasis in those colors).
I've still got Vryn pegged for U/R Prowess/Spell Mastery. I guess that would put Kaladesh at W/R artifacts and Theros at W/U enchantments.
Going by the newly spoiled multi color cards Lorwyn is definitly G/B elf tribal, and Ravnica is U/G... generic tempo deck I guess?
I am starting to come around to the Kaldesh W/R idea from some of the equipment emphasis I've seen so far in White, and the idea that it would be odd if the Red legendary card to go with Chandra doesn't go with the artifact synergy.
BUT I'm optimistic that Origins is going to feature some sort of Blue-Black self-mill zombie theme from Innistrad. So I'm wondering if maybe there's still a niche for a Soulflayer deck, but perhaps more Blue-Black control, with Soulflayer as a later game finisher?
We also have to remember that Jace has had a lot of Green associates in Ravnica. Think Emmara Tandris. Just because UG doesn't exactly fit him doesn't mean it's not a part of the plane. We likely are going to see every color in all the planes (barring Bant), but there will be a definitive emphasis on the color pair for each plane as well.
Yeah, the issue is when we can tell from the spoiled cards if the card just happens to be that random card from that plane from the non-archetype color, or if it's representative. For something like the Rhox being Green and having the renown mechanic I suspect it's a sign that Bant's archetype is White-Green +1+/+1. For something like Weight of the Underworld it looks more like a random one-off from Theros.
So the confirmation from Maro today on the Mothership is that Magic Origins will feature ten planes, each plane providing the foundation for a two-color archetype for the set.
Based on Zendikar Incarnate as a Red-Green creature, I think we can mark Zendikar down as Red-Green.
Blazing Hellhound is Black-Red, but I'm not sure what plane.
Planes, based on the guess that one of the colors for each pair will be the same color as the Planeswalker. Some speculation below. I would guess each planeswalker has one enemy color pair and one allied color pair for balance.
Theros, Gideon: White-X
Bant, Gideon: White-X (Either Green or Blue, although the plane is all three I assume it will focus on cards from just one other color. I'm guessing Green based on Rhox Maulers being in the set. ).
Dominaria, Liliana: Black-X
Innistrad, Liliana: Black-X (Could this be the Hellhound's plane? I don't think so, I think it's more Regatha)
Zendikar, Nissa: Green-Red
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Nissa: Green-X
Vryn, Jace: Blue-X
Ravnica, Jace: Blue-X (Is Conclave Naturalists in reference in the Guild?)
Kaladesh, Chandra: Red-X
Regatha, Chandra: Red-X (My guess is Red-Black, but that's just my guess from looking similar to the Firecat).
I've seen that thread, and the problem is that the quest is to find artwork for all tokens, including the unprinted ones, and it's been so successful it's been all but impossible for me to go through and determine in what cases is the artwork printed and in what cases is it from something else, like MTGO or Duels or just a graphic artist.
Trying to do a survey of what tokens have been most commonly referenced on cards, but don't have a token card printed by WOTC.
I think the threshold is two, so far I haven't found anything with 3 or more references that doesn't have a card.
Unprinted tokens:
1/1 Green Hippo, referenced on two cards.
1/1 White-Blue Bird with flying, referenced on two cards.
X/X Green Elementals, referenced on two cards.
3/1 Black-Red Graveborn, referenced on two cards.
X/X Black Horror, referenced on two cards.
6/6 Green Wurm, referenced on two cards.
Two white tokens, three black tokens, five green tokens, one black/green token. Clearly a Green-Black token theme, and I guess white has a little bit too. No Green-White Elf Warriors though.
I am starting to come around to the Kaldesh W/R idea from some of the equipment emphasis I've seen so far in White, and the idea that it would be odd if the Red legendary card to go with Chandra doesn't go with the artifact synergy.
We shall see.
BUT I'm optimistic that Origins is going to feature some sort of Blue-Black self-mill zombie theme from Innistrad. So I'm wondering if maybe there's still a niche for a Soulflayer deck, but perhaps more Blue-Black control, with Soulflayer as a later game finisher?
Still waiting for more on WU and UR. Seen convincing arguments on both side for Kaladesh-UR to be spells or artifacts.
Yeah, the issue is when we can tell from the spoiled cards if the card just happens to be that random card from that plane from the non-archetype color, or if it's representative. For something like the Rhox being Green and having the renown mechanic I suspect it's a sign that Bant's archetype is White-Green +1+/+1. For something like Weight of the Underworld it looks more like a random one-off from Theros.
This looks pretty similar to my guess and Goblin's guess, the differences..
Ravnica: Blue-White or Blue-Green.
Vryn: Blue-White or Blue-Green.
Innistrad: Black-White or Black-Blue.
Dominaria: Black-White or Black-Blue.
I do think it's likely the Black-White is life as a resource, drain and gain. Black-Blue as self-mill with animate also.
Less clear what the archetypes for Blue-White or Blue-Green, especially since Vyrn is pretty much a black box.
If we go with the rebound effects from Trail of the Mage-Rings, I guess we could see Blue-Green Vyrn as some sort of rebound/bounce/tempo archetype?
So some sort of aggro approach.
Looks like White-Green may be home to the "renown" mechanic focused on getting +1/+1 counters.
Some sort of ramping-land archetype.
Which is odd since they aren't Simic, I wonder what the synergy will be.
Sacrifice your own things for fun and profit.
Last year's core set also had a little bit of a Red-Blue artifact synergy. Would love to see more Thopter tokens.
Life gain-life drain.
Self-mill for zombies?
Based on Zendikar Incarnate as a Red-Green creature, I think we can mark Zendikar down as Red-Green.
Blazing Hellhound is Black-Red, but I'm not sure what plane.
Planes, based on the guess that one of the colors for each pair will be the same color as the Planeswalker. Some speculation below. I would guess each planeswalker has one enemy color pair and one allied color pair for balance.
Theros, Gideon: White-X
Bant, Gideon: White-X (Either Green or Blue, although the plane is all three I assume it will focus on cards from just one other color. I'm guessing Green based on Rhox Maulers being in the set. ).
Dominaria, Liliana: Black-X
Innistrad, Liliana: Black-X (Could this be the Hellhound's plane? I don't think so, I think it's more Regatha)
Zendikar, Nissa: Green-Red
Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, Nissa: Green-X
Vryn, Jace: Blue-X
Ravnica, Jace: Blue-X (Is Conclave Naturalists in reference in the Guild?)
Kaladesh, Chandra: Red-X
Regatha, Chandra: Red-X (My guess is Red-Black, but that's just my guess from looking similar to the Firecat).
For example this White-Blue Bird LOOKS like a Magic Card: http://media-dominaria.cursecdn.com/attachments/17/789/635032477328440519.jpg
But it's actually fan art from someone random, and in fact there was an MTGO token artwork for White-Blue Birds that Magic had, but isn't an actual card: http://archive.wizards.com/Magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtgcom/arcana/1086
So that's my challenge and hence why I created a separate thread.
I think the threshold is two, so far I haven't found anything with 3 or more references that doesn't have a card.
Unprinted tokens:
1/1 Green Hippo, referenced on two cards.
1/1 White-Blue Bird with flying, referenced on two cards.
X/X Green Elementals, referenced on two cards.
3/1 Black-Red Graveborn, referenced on two cards.
X/X Black Horror, referenced on two cards.
6/6 Green Wurm, referenced on two cards.
Two white tokens, three black tokens, five green tokens, one black/green token. Clearly a Green-Black token theme, and I guess white has a little bit too. No Green-White Elf Warriors though.