Interesting design, very reminiscent of Nashi, Moon's Legacy but with enough interesting twists to make it fresh. The "Artifacts and Lands" restriction is both a flavorful rendition of Lara Croft (tombs and treasures are her specialty, not monkeys) as well as a great way to carve a niche for her where neither feels like a strict upgrade over the other (Nashi's keywords are way better for his purpose, Lara gets very useful Treasure generation; Nashi gets to reanimate any Legendary nonland, Lara can "store" targets for later and recast the same legend multiple times; Nashi can target Rats, Lara can target other graveyards and so on...).
As for the Godzilla Treatment cards, Totec's Spear / Shadowspear is a really good reprint and will probably be worth big bucks, meanwhile I will definitely want Storm of Yamatai for flavor reasons.
Scalding Viper, meet your new best friend Ojer Axonil. I expect you two to become very acquainted in the following Standard format.
Breeches also seems insane, if there's a halfway decent two-mana Pirate for it to curve into it will be a house and even if there isn't a versatile 3/3 First striker is nothing to be scoffed at.
The other cards seem underwhelming, Huatli could be fun in some Agatha brew but otherwise seems just clunky, Skullspore could be a sideboard in grindy matchups but otherwise too situational and doubly so against exile-based wraths and Ghalta almost looks like a joke when compared to Etali, Primal Conqueror and Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
Not much to comment on Jurrasic Park UB, I LOVE the flavor of Welcome to Jurassic Park but the other two are just okay. Lastly, holy crackers there's some god-tier art on display here. Those Ixalan Special Guests and special treatments all look fantastic, especially Skullspore and the basics, and all five Anime treatment Ravnica reprints look amazing which is good especially considering that Anime Enchanted Tales had some very obvious duds.
Welp I guess lightning bolt is finally getting a home in commander.
Less "home" and more "decrepit old shack at the backwaters of Mordor". Imodane shoulda have costed 3, at 4 she competes with Torbran and Toralf and she's the worst of the three. Hell, the former can cast End the Festivities to do the same but better. Cool concept for a card but bad execution.
Asinine Antics is pretty dope but not sure if worth running on its own, sweet with Constellation and in decks capable of killing weenies with ease like Silumgar, the Drifting Death or Tibor and Lumia but P/T reduction by itself won't save you from being 'hoofed or drowned in card advantage.
• a new mechanic that batches together three items that have been in the game since Alpha but never batched before
Obvious answer would be Mystical (artifacts, enchantments, and Faeries), the Historic-like mechanic that eventually got cut and turned into "artifact and enchantment matters".
oh interesting they are making a legend based off of “the rat king”
Highly unlikely. Reminder that Eldraine's no.1 mandate is "no talking and/or anthropomorphic animals", so unless it's a Rat King interpretation that has been cursed by the fae (which would feel veryold hat at this point) I think this will be a princess - specifically the Cinderella equivalent - turned into a rat, as an inversion of the Enchanted Carriage trope.
Since I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere, MH3 is confirmed to be a set with DFCs. Considering the disastrous effect MH2 had, I'm not looking forward to its release, although at least the Melvin inside of me always appreciates the mechanic hodgepodge that is MH design.
Bloomburrow is very likely to be the home plane of Grist (for those unaware, Grist is not a horrible skeleton monster thing, Grist is a single talking insect inside the skeleton's eye socket). Would probably be the best place for her to make a return.
Duskmourn is... weird. I like the art showcased but... maybe it's because we're seeing so far ahead on the future, but to me it feels like it's an extremely shallow world concept-wise. Sure Arcavios or Kylem also had shades of this where aside from one place the entire world feels boring, but at least on these there was a world. Going by MaRo's description, Duskmourn is not a plane with a horror mansion, Duskmourn IS a horror mansion. Maybe we will eventually get a world to go with this (a fantasy take on the '50s Americana aesthetic could be cool) but as of right now, not really interested in the world conceptually.
Would be fun if they make a showdown or standoff mechanic where you need to duel or something.
Clash is pretty much tailor-made for this. You face an opponent one-on-one, you both draw at the same time and to the victor goes the spoils. Problem is that while it IS extremely flavorful for a western set, it was not a popular mechanic.
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.
That's because 1) Ixalan is, at its core, Exploration World. It's a top-down concept at its core and the idea of explorers, discovery and conquerors is just as core to Ixalan as gothic horror is to Innistrad. You can't have the adventurous rush of exploring uncharted lands by just checking out the densely populated cities of Not-Spain, Vampire Edition; and 2) Being restrained to a single biome is a pretty lame way of realizing a plane whose most important mechanical hook was working your way through hoops to uncover some of Magic's most powerful lands ever made.
Eldraine is an unique case because it was designed as a two-set block at first, and the OG Eldraine's design doc reflects this. The original design of "Baseball"/Wilds of Eldraine was the journey to rescue King Kenrith at the Wilds, and it would focus on the Fey and at the "deconstruction era" of fairytales. It was also mentioned that they were actively trying to avoid just making it "darker" specifically to avoid Lorwyn comparisons, though it is not mentioned how they tackled the "fairy tale deconstruction" angle while simultaneously avoiding the dark connotations it brings.
DJK already mentioned "Quests" which was also cut content, and I think they are an obvious evolution for Battles. Make a checklist of things that decrease a Battle's Defense and make said Defense very high, something like "cast an Instant or Sorcery: -1 Defense, draw 5+ cards in one turn: -5 Defense, total 10 Defense". It would also make sense to focus on grand quests when the story focuses so hard on the Kenrith Twins trying to solve the plane's problems.
Finally, considering how the the Castles fell during the Phyrexia invasion, I expect Knights to have lesser focus this time around. Maybe centered exclusively in WR while the Fey are focused on BUG, and maybe their support will be centered around a specific mechanic instead of Tribal.
I've been saying for years that the combination of large wastelands, constant conflicts over resources, massive decrepit conglomerates of people and violent punks withmakeshift gear makes Vryn the most likely plane to be the post-apocalyptic / Mad Max World that Mark Rosewater mentioned a few times. Of course, we do know things weren't THATbad yet fromrecent card portrayals, so Vryn always seemed one slight push away from going all Road Warrior on us.
With Jace missing and Vryn in shambles after years of teetering on the edge, maybe this will be our opportunity to see it happen.
If you want a big beefy monster that turns a big board on a game-winning one, run Defiler of Vigor.
If you want a powerful 7 drop that helps you control the board the moment it drops, run Titan of Industry.
If you want a great target for reanimation that also holds the fort, run Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
If you want a big costly dumbo that is pretty much useless unless you already have a board, this is your guy. Card is kinda bad outside Commander and Limited is what I'm saying.
I'm kinda sad that Tekuthal doesn't double spells/permanents.
That wouldn't make sense considering that's already Jin-Gitaxias, Progress Tyrant's whole sthick. Double card draw could also work but "big Phyrexian flier that gives you more card draw" would prolly be too similar to Consecrated Sphinx. It's a bit parasitic but I like the direction they took here.
The fact that Ichormoon Gauntlet exists in a world where some of the best decks in Pioneer are doing extremely degenerate things with Karn, the Great Creator scares me.
Tekuthal is fine, I really like its potential as a Commander but in Constructed I'd run it less for Proliferate.dek and more because he's a 3/5 Flying stone wall, which is... not really that exciting in 2023 Magic except as a side tech. Still better than the green one IMO.
Just like Phyrexian Obliterator the card might as well read "unblockable 5/5" 90% of the time, and that's fine.
Compared to Obliterator, this is much more "blockable" most of the time. Having trample makes Obliterator worse to deal with because even if you throw something in the way, you still take damage and have to sac more permanents, and if you try to block with enough creatures to soak up the trample, you're likely to clear your entire board as well. This Exemplar/Vindicator not only is possible to chump with small creatures, but as the ability only hits a single target, its "only" a 2-for-1 at worst, and at best quasi-trample based on your blocker's power.
It is still a helluva card, but I think its going to be a lot less brutal than the Obliterator
I disagree. Obliterator folds to small Deathtouchers and lategame you can block and sac excess lands just fine if you really need to. This folds to only one thing - small fliers - since any big lategame threat that could block it like, say, Titan of Industry can't ever block it either. The drawback of blocking Obliterator is far more severe, true, but the window when it's safe to do so are far more limited with Exemplar, which IMO makes both comparable.
Phyrexian Exemplar only needed to be an efficient flying cow to be playable in a format where Lay Down Arms exists. Just like Phyrexian Obliterator the card might as well read "unblockable 5/5" 90% of the time, and that's fine. Yes there are some cute synergies you can do and unlike Obliterator you don't necessarily need to bend backwards to fit them in your mana base since White is secondary in damage spells and also has Pariah effects but really that's just a bonus.
Cankerbloom is just generically good, not much else to say. Could be significant sideboard in Scales decks as well.
Flavortext is: "Elspeth, my dear, the Multiverse answered my prayers by bringing you here so that I can incorporate you in my pack and protect you forever". As for the Skullbomb flavor texts, they are kinda boring, just "it [VERB]s with the [ADJECTIVE] of a [SOMEONE VERY GOOD AT THING]" five times.
As for the card themselves... eh. Devotion is awful without a Toxic target and actually pretty deece with it, but I don't think it's the kind of thing you'd want to run in a Constructed Toxic deck. The Skullbombs have middling effects for Limited and Sorcery speed restrictions pretty much kills them everywhere else. U one is by far the best one in Limited because it kills Rebels, and R is probably the one with the most potential in Constructed but that's not saying much.
This is actually really good. Shame its obvious niche (efficient two drop that comes with an Artifact attached) is almost always better covered by Bloodtithe Harvester, so unless you want quick Equipment or Modified synergies (which admittely are both pretty deece, but still no real deck that uses them in Standard) this would probably fall into "not quite there" territory.
As for the Godzilla Treatment cards, Totec's Spear / Shadowspear is a really good reprint and will probably be worth big bucks, meanwhile I will definitely want Storm of Yamatai for flavor reasons.
Breeches also seems insane, if there's a halfway decent two-mana Pirate for it to curve into it will be a house and even if there isn't a versatile 3/3 First striker is nothing to be scoffed at.
The other cards seem underwhelming, Huatli could be fun in some Agatha brew but otherwise seems just clunky, Skullspore could be a sideboard in grindy matchups but otherwise too situational and doubly so against exile-based wraths and Ghalta almost looks like a joke when compared to Etali, Primal Conqueror and Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
Not much to comment on Jurrasic Park UB, I LOVE the flavor of Welcome to Jurassic Park but the other two are just okay. Lastly, holy crackers there's some god-tier art on display here. Those Ixalan Special Guests and special treatments all look fantastic, especially Skullspore and the basics, and all five Anime treatment Ravnica reprints look amazing which is good especially considering that Anime Enchanted Tales had some very obvious duds.
Asinine Antics is pretty dope but not sure if worth running on its own, sweet with Constellation and in decks capable of killing weenies with ease like Silumgar, the Drifting Death or Tibor and Lumia but P/T reduction by itself won't save you from being 'hoofed or drowned in card advantage.
Obvious answer would be Mystical (artifacts, enchantments, and Faeries), the Historic-like mechanic that eventually got cut and turned into "artifact and enchantment matters".
Highly unlikely. Reminder that Eldraine's no.1 mandate is "no talking and/or anthropomorphic animals", so unless it's a Rat King interpretation that has been cursed by the fae (which would feel very old hat at this point) I think this will be a princess - specifically the Cinderella equivalent - turned into a rat, as an inversion of the Enchanted Carriage trope.
Bloomburrow is very likely to be the home plane of Grist (for those unaware, Grist is not a horrible skeleton monster thing, Grist is a single talking insect inside the skeleton's eye socket). Would probably be the best place for her to make a return.
Duskmourn is... weird. I like the art showcased but... maybe it's because we're seeing so far ahead on the future, but to me it feels like it's an extremely shallow world concept-wise. Sure Arcavios or Kylem also had shades of this where aside from one place the entire world feels boring, but at least on these there was a world. Going by MaRo's description, Duskmourn is not a plane with a horror mansion, Duskmourn IS a horror mansion. Maybe we will eventually get a world to go with this (a fantasy take on the '50s Americana aesthetic could be cool) but as of right now, not really interested in the world conceptually.
Clash is pretty much tailor-made for this. You face an opponent one-on-one, you both draw at the same time and to the victor goes the spoils. Problem is that while it IS extremely flavorful for a western set, it was not a popular mechanic.
Anyway, I'm impressed. WotC finally made the first card ever that you can hear.
DJK already mentioned "Quests" which was also cut content, and I think they are an obvious evolution for Battles. Make a checklist of things that decrease a Battle's Defense and make said Defense very high, something like "cast an Instant or Sorcery: -1 Defense, draw 5+ cards in one turn: -5 Defense, total 10 Defense". It would also make sense to focus on grand quests when the story focuses so hard on the Kenrith Twins trying to solve the plane's problems.
Finally, considering how the the Castles fell during the Phyrexia invasion, I expect Knights to have lesser focus this time around. Maybe centered exclusively in WR while the Fey are focused on BUG, and maybe their support will be centered around a specific mechanic instead of Tribal.
With Jace missing and Vryn in shambles after years of teetering on the edge, maybe this will be our opportunity to see it happen.
If you want a powerful 7 drop that helps you control the board the moment it drops, run Titan of Industry.
If you want a great target for reanimation that also holds the fort, run Atraxa, Grand Unifier.
If you want a big costly dumbo that is pretty much useless unless you already have a board, this is your guy. Card is kinda bad outside Commander and Limited is what I'm saying.
Tekuthal is fine, I really like its potential as a Commander but in Constructed I'd run it less for Proliferate.dek and more because he's a 3/5 Flying stone wall, which is... not really that exciting in 2023 Magic except as a side tech. Still better than the green one IMO.
Cankerbloom is just generically good, not much else to say. Could be significant sideboard in Scales decks as well.
As for the card themselves... eh. Devotion is awful without a Toxic target and actually pretty deece with it, but I don't think it's the kind of thing you'd want to run in a Constructed Toxic deck. The Skullbombs have middling effects for Limited and Sorcery speed restrictions pretty much kills them everywhere else. U one is by far the best one in Limited because it kills Rebels, and R is probably the one with the most potential in Constructed but that's not saying much.