I like role tokens a lot. It's about time we got some enchantment tokens after all the artifact tokens we've been seeing and auras is a fun way to make them different and do some interesting new things. I like the way there a number of different ones. Adds a little complexity but it allows you to do some cool stuff.
I'm going to guess the batching mechanic is not the 'mystical' one from ELD design. The fact that they indicted a stronger focus on enchantments makes me think we're not going to see a mechanic which groups them and artifacts together this prominently. There is a card in these hints which cares about both, so you could argue that that indicates 'artifacts + enchantments' will be a theme again enough to make them want to do a mechanic for it, but on the other hand there could easily be a smaller subset of cards with this theme and the fact that this hinted card seemingly does *not* use the batching mechanic might actually indicate it's not artifacts and enchantments.
I do think enchantments + other stuff ia a good guess, and faeries is a good guess. The emphasis on the three witches here makes me think of spellcaster types possibly being included, but Warlock and Shaman, the most witchy types, are not in alpha, only Cleric, Wizard and Druid, and I don't know how well those would fit.
Perhaps another mystical enchanment-y creature type like nightmare, elemental, incarnation or spirit?
I really like the look of the Space set concepts. Wild West looks very fun to. Will be interesting to see how Duskmourn compares to Innistrad, and Bloomburrow compares to both Eldraine before it and Lorwyn/Shadowmoor after.
Happy to be returning to Tarkir also.
Don't get me wrong, Commander is popular and there are reasons for it, but them forcing every set to be Commander with obvious format plants in every single product is partly why formats aren't doing well, either due to power creep forcing it to be more expensive (thanks to those cards coming from premium sets), WotC constantly pointing them towards Commander, rather than Standard or other sets, or the lack of support for those sets (from the focus on Commander.)
Maybe that's me not enjoying there being 30+ legendaries in every set.
Mark Rosewater has said they are thinking of toning down the legendary count a little.
That doesn't make much sense after the fact that they decided to "despark" most of the PW, means that there are even more legends than usual around now.
Well, that's now. Changes WotC makes come in the future, they take time for us to see them.
I mean, the focus on Commander from WotC is them following people's interest. They are encouraging it along the way, but there is genuine popular support for it.
Don't get me wrong, Commander is popular and there are reasons for it, but them forcing every set to be Commander with obvious format plants in every single product is partly why formats aren't doing well, either due to power creep forcing it to be more expensive (thanks to those cards coming from premium sets), WotC constantly pointing them towards Commander, rather than Standard or other sets, or the lack of support for those sets (from the focus on Commander.)
Maybe that's me not enjoying there being 30+ legendaries in every set.
Mark Rosewater has said they are thinking of toning down the legendary count a little.
WotC changed standard because of their business interests in trying to get people to buy packs. They are trying to address their reluctance some people have to buy cards for standard because they will be spending all that money only for things to rotate. I think this is especially on their mind given the success of Commander, which I think has been in part driven by it being an eternal format where people feel safe investing a bunch into a deck.
EDIT: Goes hand in hand with ban announcements being less frequent too. They want players to feel safer buying cards knowing they will get good use out of them.
It also goes along with the lack of tournament support for Standard. They kept taking away from it and it's no wonder people don't want to play it when there's nothing to strive for with it or even decent rewards from FNM. I don't know why they're surprised people are going to Commander, they're making every set about Commander now and if that's what they will focus on then so will the players, among a myriad of other reasons.
I mean, the focus on Commander from WotC is them following people's interest. They are encouraging it along the way, but there is genuine popular support for it.
This is the part I don't understand with the decision to extend the rotation season for Standard sets. This can all be solved if they had allowed sets to rotate out as they would have under the previous rotation schedule. But going three years instead of two is going to create a whole lot of problems and design won't catch up until roughly two years down the line.
WotC changed standard because of their business interests in trying to get people to buy packs. They are trying to address their reluctance some people have to buy cards for standard because they will be spending all that money only for things to rotate. I think this is especially on their mind given the success of Commander, which I think has been in part driven by it being an eternal format where people feel safe investing a bunch into a deck.
EDIT: Goes hand in hand with ban announcements being less frequent too. They want players to feel safer buying cards knowing they will get good use out of them.
(And since we got jack and the beanstalk as a fairytale this is likely are goose that lays the golden eggs)
It is interesting that they seem to be retreading a lot of the original Eldraine references. Perhaps they felt there weren't enough others to work with. Giant Killer, Gilded Goose, Queen of Ice and Wishful Merfolk all reference stories that have been highlighted in these previews.
In a fairy tale world, I think it's fair enough to have mutliple things referencing some fairy tale element. Fairy tale world is not just the place where the fairy tales all happen, it's a world styled all around that. Fairy tales things abound. I think it makes sense, especially when we are seeing unique mtg spins on things, like this goose hydra.
Eldraine's story starts August 8th. Preview 'debut' is August 15th when will start getting a bunch of cards. There might be a couple more cards seen before the debut.
Ixalan is releasing in November so story and debut will probably start in October.
It seems like nobody has mentioned this, but unless I'm mistaken these eight different products, one of them could easily be commander decks or a reprint set, not all of these are necessarily full 'premier' sets.
Most likely 6 of them are premier sets (Eldraine and Ixalan, which we know about and the 4 premier sets for 2024). One is some Lord of the Rings product, which leaves 1 that is something else.
So it's not "Lost Caverns of Ixalan", it's "Lost Cavern of Ixalan", got it.
Not sure why they decide to expand on the world this way instead of, like, visiting the other continent(s) we've been teased about, but I don't understand most creative decisions from WotC anymore.
Based on what happened with Kamigawa, I imagine it's fairly likely that WotC wanted to do an underground hidden world sort of set and decided to make it on Ixalan more so than wanting to do a return to Ixalan and deciding to make it an underground hidden world thing.
Eldraine stuff looks good. I like the increased enchantment focus, enchantments deserve more time as a theme outside of just Theros with how much artifact themes we get.
Ixalan actually really cool. Loving the style of it at all. Fun and interesting. It's recognizably Ixalan but with cool new stuff to explore.
It seems like nobody has mentioned this, but unless I'm mistaken these eight different products, one of them could easily be commander decks or a reprint set, not all of these are necessarily full 'premier' sets.
O slender as a willow-want! O clearer than clear water!
O reed by the living pool! Fair river-daughter!
O spring-time and summer-time, and spring again after!
O wind on the waterfall, and the leaves’ laughter!
Okay, I might even understand making over half of the characters black... I can endure helm-less Eowyn or Andúril in magical fire....but this outright sh*tting on the source material for no reason, completely inverting it, is really beyond my understanding.
My God they contradicted one single brief line about a character. The story is ruined!
I wonder why the Peter Jackson movies are widely beloved, despite cutting out or changing entire chunks of the story, while this set is being so vehemently criticized for changing around a few cosmetic aspects while keeping very true to the story.
Because the Peter Jackson trilogy delivered on what people wanted and/or expected.
Is Goldberry being thin or other characters being white something that people particularly want and expect from LotR? And why that over things? See, this is where some people start to run into trouble.
I do think enchantments + other stuff ia a good guess, and faeries is a good guess. The emphasis on the three witches here makes me think of spellcaster types possibly being included, but Warlock and Shaman, the most witchy types, are not in alpha, only Cleric, Wizard and Druid, and I don't know how well those would fit.
Perhaps another mystical enchanment-y creature type like nightmare, elemental, incarnation or spirit?
Happy to be returning to Tarkir also.
Well, that's now. Changes WotC makes come in the future, they take time for us to see them.
Mark Rosewater has said they are thinking of toning down the legendary count a little.
I mean, the focus on Commander from WotC is them following people's interest. They are encouraging it along the way, but there is genuine popular support for it.
WotC changed standard because of their business interests in trying to get people to buy packs. They are trying to address their reluctance some people have to buy cards for standard because they will be spending all that money only for things to rotate. I think this is especially on their mind given the success of Commander, which I think has been in part driven by it being an eternal format where people feel safe investing a bunch into a deck.
EDIT: Goes hand in hand with ban announcements being less frequent too. They want players to feel safer buying cards knowing they will get good use out of them.
In a fairy tale world, I think it's fair enough to have mutliple things referencing some fairy tale element. Fairy tale world is not just the place where the fairy tales all happen, it's a world styled all around that. Fairy tales things abound. I think it makes sense, especially when we are seeing unique mtg spins on things, like this goose hydra.
One week is not a specific enough timeframe? 'Time is ticking' yes, so it's all coming quite soon.
Eldraine's story starts August 8th. Preview 'debut' is August 15th when will start getting a bunch of cards. There might be a couple more cards seen before the debut.
Ixalan is releasing in November so story and debut will probably start in October.
Yeah, presumably.
Based on what happened with Kamigawa, I imagine it's fairly likely that WotC wanted to do an underground hidden world sort of set and decided to make it on Ixalan more so than wanting to do a return to Ixalan and deciding to make it an underground hidden world thing.
Ixalan actually really cool. Loving the style of it at all. Fun and interesting. It's recognizably Ixalan but with cool new stuff to explore.
My God they contradicted one single brief line about a character. The story is ruined!
Is Goldberry being thin or other characters being white something that people particularly want and expect from LotR? And why that over things? See, this is where some people start to run into trouble.