I swear, every time I read one of Reap's posts its like someone took a regular post through Google Translate six times before hitting Reply.
Thor is probably over costed. I'd say it should be have some kind of combat keywords and cost 2RR.
Varloz' ability needs to cost more unles you add "Activate as a sorcery and only once each turn."
The only issue I see with Soul of Muraganda is that when it dies and you recast it your best target is just gone, so you'll have to have a bunch of big vanillas in your deck. Not sure a good fix, maybe "exile with a petroglyph counter" and copy of any card with a petroglyph counter"
An interesting angle for leovold would be to combine the mana and spell ability together. "T: Target player adds three mana of any color. Until end of turn, they don't lose this mana as steps and phases end. The next time that player casts a spell this turn, if they are an opponent, you may cast a spell of equal or lesser mana value without paying its casting cost."
I'd let Lazav hit any graveyard, for utility of gy removal as well as more copy options.
Council is too strong: 5 mana, play an free Ugin (even one that died) and all my planeswalkers are Ugins too. Something like "When cardname comes into play, search your graveyard and library for a planeswalker card of each color, reveal them and put them into your hand, then shuffle." and then a cost reduction mechanic of some sort would be much more utility in superfriends (my main EDH deck, by the way)
I based Thror's cost on the typical mana-doubling effect, seeing as this is that but arguably better. Conservatively, I think five mana is safe, although I could see adding some keywords or other abilities too. Just not sure what to add. It's just so simple and clean as is.
When I was costing Varolz' ability, I was comparing it to Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. It's basically the undying ability, except that you pay mana per death, which already seems like a significant drawback. Not being limited to non-Human creatures is a plus, but not a huge one. Being able to add as many counters as you'd like is definitely a bonus too, although the mana cost scales with it, and it also doesn't change the fact that you still only get one trigger per creature (unless you're doing combo stuff, and even that's harder because this card costs at least one mana per trigger). It's really hard to tell whether Varolz is appropriately costed when compared to Mikaeus, but I'm not convinced that increasing the cost of the activated ability or limiting it to once per turn is all that necessary.
Between what you and the others have said about Soul of Muraganda, I can definitely get behind using counters on the exiled cards the same way my Lazav does, so that you can pick and choose which creature you want to use as a token at any given time and still be able to use the same creature card as a target in commander games when you're re-casting Soul. The only problem I see with that is that it means you really only have to include one huge vanilla creature in your commander deck. You'd always go with the biggest creature since it has no abilities anyway, unless you're taking stuff like color or creature type into account, which I can't imagine would happen very often. I guess you could, but I just don't know if it would be more interesting to give the player that option, or to force the player to build more heavily into vanilla creatures to maximize how much value they can get out of Soul after casting it multiple times. How about, to mix things up, we change how the exiled card gets exiled:
Soul of Muraganda1GU
Legendary Creature - Avatar (R)
3/3
Whenever you cast a creature spell that has no abilities, you may exile that card with a fossil counter on it. If you do, you may create a token that's a copy of a card you own in exile with a fossil counter on it.
If you would create one or more creature tokens, instead you may create that many tokens that are copies of a card you own in exile with a fossil counter on it.
This way, the way a game plays out will at least depend on what vanilla creature you draw, rather than the first one you tutor out.
The tricky thing with Lazav is mirror matches. If he could hit any graveyard, then he'd have to be able to copy cards you don't own, which means that an opponent's Lazav could copy cards you've put into exile with your Lazav, which is just awkward. Added gy removal and selection is nice, but I don't think it's worth the added risk.
Thror, Mountain King3RR
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Noble (M)
4/4
Whenever you tap a Mountain for mana, create a Treasure token.
Varolz, Sage of Scars3BG
Legendary Creature - Troll Shaman (M)
5/5
Menace, trample X: When target creature you control dies this turn, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control with X +1/+1 counters on it. X can't be 0.
Soul of Muraganda1GU
Legendary Creature - Avatar (R)
3/3
When ~ enters the battlefield, search your library for a creature card with no abilities, exile that card, then shuffle.
If you would create one or more creature tokens, you may create that many tokens that are copies of the exiled card instead.
Leovold, the Benevolent3GWU
Legendary Creature - Elf Advisor (R)
3/3
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if you haven't cast any spells this turn, you may cast a card with equal or lesser mana value from your hand without paying its mana cost. T: Target player adds three mana in any combination of colors.
Lazav, Collector of Secrets2UB
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter (M)
3/3
When ~ enters the battlefield, exile up to one target creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard with a disguise counter on it. 1: Exile ~. Return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step. You may have it enter the battlefield as a copy of a card you own in exile with a disguise counter on it, except it has this ability.
Council of the SuperfriendsWUBRG
Legendary Creature - Avatar (R)
5/5
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may put a planeswalker card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield.
Each planeswalker you control has all loyalty abilities of each other planeswalker you control.
Rakdos: This is a riff on Amass that I think is a complete flavor home-run. Functionally, it leans into the aggressive, self-destructive nature of Rakdos.
Entertain N (Audiences you control get +N/+N until end of turn. If you don’t control one, create a 0/0 Audience creature token with haste first.)
Rakdos Conductor 1R
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
1/3
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, entertain 1.
Whenever an Audience enters the battlefield under your control, add R and exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card until the end of your next turn.
Rakdos, Master of Mayhem BR
Legendary Creature - Demon (M)
6/6
This spell costs 1 more to cast for each card in your hand.
Flying, trample
When ~ enters the battlefield, entertain 6.
Azorius: I liked the idea of the Azorius creating laws that enforce themselves. Ravnica’s law magic is more tangible than on any other plane, so it seemed fitting to have it represented by enchantments that come alive. Functionally, this helps bridge the gap between white’s focus on creatures and blue’s focus on non-creatures. It’s also a slower, more durdly mechanic that leans into the controlling playstyle of the Azorius. As an added bonus, +1/+1 counters synergize with Simic, if they happen to be in the same set.
[cost]: Enforce N (If this enchantment isn’t a creature, put N +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes a 0/0 enchantment creature.)
ex.
Above the Law 2WU
Enchantment (U)
Creatures you control have flying. 4: Enforce 4.
Imminent Ban WU
Enchantment (R)
As ~ enters the battlefield, choose a nonland card name.
Whenever a player casts a spell with the chosen name, if ~ is a creature, counter that spell. Otherwise, put three +1/+1 counters on ~ and it becomes a 0/0 enchantment creature. 1: Enforce 1
Regular Reports 2UU
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your end step, draw a card. 3: Enforce X, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
Preface: These are ideas aimed at standard environments and intended to be similar power level to shocklands. For simplicity, they will all have basic types, but that isn’t important to their design, meaning that it’s fine if those get removed.
Most of these involve interacting with the opponent in some way, which I believe is an interesting, nearly untapped well of design space for duals. Some are probably worse than shocks for that reason, and definitely feel tricky, but I believe this kind of interaction would enhance gameplay by raising the stakes a little and potentially kickstarting counterplay.
Anyway, let me know what you think, and which is your favorite.
Tolled Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent create a Treasure token. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Canyon Tableau
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent create a Clue token. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Guarded Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent manifest the top card of their library. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Canyon Archive
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent scry 2. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Expansive Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice another land or discard a land card. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Taxed Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, any opponent may pay {mana}1{/mana}. If they do, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Toxic Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, any opponent may pay 2 life. If they do, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Canyon Library
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, any opponent may have you draw a card. If they do, it enters the battlefield tapped.
I don't understand why WOTC couldn't have, y'know, released Midnight Hunt on October 2021, and Crimson Vow on January 2022. I read some comments on reddit that said that between the release gap between Fall and Winter is too long, and I don't buy that. They could have just released Midnight Hunt in October, and Crimson Vow in January, and there would have been a 3 month gap.
If WOTC really wanted to release a standard set in November, they could've released D&D set in August, Midnight Hunt in November, and Crimson Vow in February, with the set after that released in May, and mimic the release schedules of Pokemon and Yugioh.
I don't like this new release cycle. There should never ever be 3 sets within a span of 6 months.
I also read that some people say that Crimson Vow is "supposed to be" the Winter 2022 set released a few months early, and then referencing the "There are still 4 standard sets per rotation year". This does not mean that Crimson Vow is the "Winter 2022" set, because we might get a Winter 2022 set, Spring 2022 set, Summer 2022 set, and Fall 2022 set, with rotation being pushed up to be in between Spring and Summer 2022 set. Maybe the slot where Core Sets would have been aren't the last set, but first set in the rotation?
Idk about how rotation will work, but my theory is that the two Innistrad sets are so close together because they want to mitigate plane-fatigue. We'll have had two consecutive years of new planes with every set. It's possible WotC think that staying on Innistrad too long will make players bored of the setting, which is part of the reason they dropped the block model.
I could be completely wrong though. We won't really know why the sets are so close together at least until we have a better idea of what's coming in 2022. They might be planning an increased number of supplemental sets that they want to space out a bit more evenly.
For cycles, we can assume some things and predict others. We already have the commands, and Elder Dragons have been mentioned. Finishing a cycle of dual lands seems fitting.
There’s one possible cycle I’m interested in though, and that’s a mythic cycle of MDFCs, where each face is a different color. My reason for this prediction is the Kenrith twins. They’re pictured on the packaging, so they’re in. They’re a really good fit for Prismari. But every time they’ve been in a set, they’ve had a unique twist. First, they had partner. Then they were on the same card. This time, I predict that they will be a single MDFC, where one side is Will and the other side is Rowan.
It stands to reason that, if Prismari gets a mythic MDFC, the other colleges will too.
Riposte is flavorful, but super narrow. Not sure how often you could get the bonus or even how much design space there is, considering it can only go on instant-speed cards.
Display is sorta neat, but I feel like the display cost should be less, not more, unless the spell actually resolves AND gets displayed. Even then, it feels a lot like Foretell.
Dissect is cool. I like the open-endedness of it. No idea how it would actually play, but I'd give it a test drive for sure.
Excavate read really nicely until the last two sentences. If you chop those, I feel like you have a really clean card engine mechanic going. I like the idea of effects that excavate multiple cards at a time because you can still only actually draw one per. Seems like too much card flow for RW though. And when I think about excavation, I imagine graveyard interaction instead of library. But w/e. Still neat.
I'm guessing anything that has a genetic counter also has all of your genetic abilities. That's a neat idea, but it could be reworded to be a little less reliant on intuition alone:
"Creatures you control with gene counters have trample.
1G, T: Put a gene counter or +1/+1 counter on target creature."
I like the direction the original was going in. The other versions are fine too. As long as we're suggesting different takes, here's one:
Ralitha, Sky Aflame 3RR
Legendary Creature - Phoenix
4/4
Flying, haste
Whenever a Phoenix enters the battlefield under your control, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card. Then, if that creature entered the battlefield from a graveyard, ~ deals damage to any target equal to the number of cards you've drawn this turn. WUBRG: Search your library for a Phoenix card and put that card into your graveyard. Then shuffle your library.
Added a 5c ability to make it a flexible Phoenix tribal commander. Also, as a commander-oriented card (I assume, anyway), it doesn't really need a reanimator ability for itself.
Between the popularity of the first Zendikar block, the mounting anticipation of a more coherent story, exceptional marketing, and the inclusion of the first and best Masterpieces, the commercial success of BFZ likely had very little to do with the set itself.
As much as I would hate this, I believe that there is a significant chance we get a HPxMTG crossover with Strixhaven. I like the HP books, and I like the premise of a faction set where the factions are different schools of magic, but I cringe at the thought of them being shoehorned together. That said, I can’t help but speculate on what that could mean for the set.
What kind of cards might we see that are inspired by HP? Is this as likely as I think it is? Is this as cringey as I think it is?
We're at 20 mythics and 58 rares so far. Isn't that way above the norm for a standard set? And that's not counting the probable GU legendary creature and the red and white Inscriptions, which would put us at 61 rares.
I’m actually very excited about Strixhaven. It’s a faction set about competing schools of magic, which is the exact premise I used for my custom enemy colored set. I wonder if that’s the same angle they’ll take here. A UR school of artifice is low-hanging fruit, so I’d say the chances are good.
Alternatively, they could go in another direction and give us shards again, the same way Ikoria gave us wedges. That would make sense, as it would balance out this year and next year for tricolor archetypes and give them a place to print the other five tricycle lands. Also, it makes sense with the other tricolor worlds we’ve seen. Strixhaven could be to Alara what Ikoria was to Tarkir.
I would be happy either way. But we Strixhaven could just as easily go away from multicolor factions, which I wouldn’t be as happy about. But we’ll see I guess.
Eventually we will go back. Phyrexians are too big not to revisit. For the plot, I had this general idea:
Karn, Ajani, and Elspeth get together and formulate a plan to help the Mirrans. The plan is: find and capture Tezzeret, modify his Planar Bridge to be able to safely transport living things, and evacuate Mirran refugees from New Phyrexia. Ultimately, with Koth's help, they succeed. However, Tezzeret escapes with the modified Planar Bridge. Because of this, Tezzeret can now effectively hold the multiverse at gunpoint by threatening a Phyrexian invasion on any plane, making him extremely powerful.
As for mechanics, bringing back Phyrexian mana could work, but only if it's used for generic costs imo. That way, instead of a way to cheat the color pie, it becomes a way to play more aggressively. I'd also love to see Living weapon return, especially if they make more use of colored artifacts.
Idk when exactly we will see this happen, but if Ashiok's involvement in Theros: Beyond Death was any indication, they're building up to it.
The person who called Timetwister a bad card has been warned please do not respond to him any more
daaaaaaaaaamn thass cold B... can't a guy have a controversial opinion on the internet these days?
Anyway the new card is interesting. I feel like it's an odd fit for most of the decks that are able to abuse it, considering it shuffles the gy in, which you'd have to go out of your way to fill in order to flash this back.
I based Thror's cost on the typical mana-doubling effect, seeing as this is that but arguably better. Conservatively, I think five mana is safe, although I could see adding some keywords or other abilities too. Just not sure what to add. It's just so simple and clean as is.
When I was costing Varolz' ability, I was comparing it to Mikaeus, the Unhallowed. It's basically the undying ability, except that you pay mana per death, which already seems like a significant drawback. Not being limited to non-Human creatures is a plus, but not a huge one. Being able to add as many counters as you'd like is definitely a bonus too, although the mana cost scales with it, and it also doesn't change the fact that you still only get one trigger per creature (unless you're doing combo stuff, and even that's harder because this card costs at least one mana per trigger). It's really hard to tell whether Varolz is appropriately costed when compared to Mikaeus, but I'm not convinced that increasing the cost of the activated ability or limiting it to once per turn is all that necessary.
Between what you and the others have said about Soul of Muraganda, I can definitely get behind using counters on the exiled cards the same way my Lazav does, so that you can pick and choose which creature you want to use as a token at any given time and still be able to use the same creature card as a target in commander games when you're re-casting Soul. The only problem I see with that is that it means you really only have to include one huge vanilla creature in your commander deck. You'd always go with the biggest creature since it has no abilities anyway, unless you're taking stuff like color or creature type into account, which I can't imagine would happen very often. I guess you could, but I just don't know if it would be more interesting to give the player that option, or to force the player to build more heavily into vanilla creatures to maximize how much value they can get out of Soul after casting it multiple times. How about, to mix things up, we change how the exiled card gets exiled:
Soul of Muraganda 1GU
Legendary Creature - Avatar (R)
3/3
Whenever you cast a creature spell that has no abilities, you may exile that card with a fossil counter on it. If you do, you may create a token that's a copy of a card you own in exile with a fossil counter on it.
If you would create one or more creature tokens, instead you may create that many tokens that are copies of a card you own in exile with a fossil counter on it.
This way, the way a game plays out will at least depend on what vanilla creature you draw, rather than the first one you tutor out.
The tricky thing with Lazav is mirror matches. If he could hit any graveyard, then he'd have to be able to copy cards you don't own, which means that an opponent's Lazav could copy cards you've put into exile with your Lazav, which is just awkward. Added gy removal and selection is nice, but I don't think it's worth the added risk.
Legendary Creature - Dwarf Noble (M)
4/4
Whenever you tap a Mountain for mana, create a Treasure token.
Varolz, Sage of Scars 3BG
Legendary Creature - Troll Shaman (M)
5/5
Menace, trample
X: When target creature you control dies this turn, if it had no +1/+1 counters on it, return that card to the battlefield under its owner's control with X +1/+1 counters on it. X can't be 0.
Soul of Muraganda 1GU
Legendary Creature - Avatar (R)
3/3
When ~ enters the battlefield, search your library for a creature card with no abilities, exile that card, then shuffle.
If you would create one or more creature tokens, you may create that many tokens that are copies of the exiled card instead.
Leovold, the Benevolent 3GWU
Legendary Creature - Elf Advisor (R)
3/3
Whenever an opponent casts a spell, if you haven't cast any spells this turn, you may cast a card with equal or lesser mana value from your hand without paying its mana cost.
T: Target player adds three mana in any combination of colors.
Lazav, Collector of Secrets 2UB
Legendary Creature - Shapeshifter (M)
3/3
When ~ enters the battlefield, exile up to one target creature or planeswalker card from your graveyard with a disguise counter on it.
1: Exile ~. Return it to the battlefield under its owner's control at the beginning of the next end step. You may have it enter the battlefield as a copy of a card you own in exile with a disguise counter on it, except it has this ability.
Council of the Superfriends WUBRG
Legendary Creature - Avatar (R)
5/5
When ~ enters the battlefield, you may put a planeswalker card from your hand or graveyard onto the battlefield.
Each planeswalker you control has all loyalty abilities of each other planeswalker you control.
Entertain N (Audiences you control get +N/+N until end of turn. If you don’t control one, create a 0/0 Audience creature token with haste first.)
ex.
Tragicomedy 3BB
Instant (C)
Destroy target creature or planeswalker. Entertain 2.
Rakdos Conductor 1R
Creature - Human Wizard (R)
1/3
Whenever you cast an instant or sorcery spell, entertain 1.
Whenever an Audience enters the battlefield under your control, add R and exile the top card of your library. You may cast that card until the end of your next turn.
Rakdos, Master of Mayhem BR
Legendary Creature - Demon (M)
6/6
This spell costs 1 more to cast for each card in your hand.
Flying, trample
When ~ enters the battlefield, entertain 6.
Azorius: I liked the idea of the Azorius creating laws that enforce themselves. Ravnica’s law magic is more tangible than on any other plane, so it seemed fitting to have it represented by enchantments that come alive. Functionally, this helps bridge the gap between white’s focus on creatures and blue’s focus on non-creatures. It’s also a slower, more durdly mechanic that leans into the controlling playstyle of the Azorius. As an added bonus, +1/+1 counters synergize with Simic, if they happen to be in the same set.
[cost]: Enforce N (If this enchantment isn’t a creature, put N +1/+1 counters on it and it becomes a 0/0 enchantment creature.)
ex.
Above the Law 2WU
Enchantment (U)
Creatures you control have flying.
4: Enforce 4.
Imminent Ban WU
Enchantment (R)
As ~ enters the battlefield, choose a nonland card name.
Whenever a player casts a spell with the chosen name, if ~ is a creature, counter that spell. Otherwise, put three +1/+1 counters on ~ and it becomes a 0/0 enchantment creature.
1: Enforce 1
Regular Reports 2UU
Enchantment (R)
At the beginning of your end step, draw a card.
3: Enforce X, where X is the number of cards in your hand.
Most of these involve interacting with the opponent in some way, which I believe is an interesting, nearly untapped well of design space for duals. Some are probably worse than shocks for that reason, and definitely feel tricky, but I believe this kind of interaction would enhance gameplay by raising the stakes a little and potentially kickstarting counterplay.
Anyway, let me know what you think, and which is your favorite.
Tolled Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent create a Treasure token. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Canyon Tableau
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent create a Clue token. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Guarded Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent manifest the top card of their library. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Canyon Archive
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may have an opponent scry 2. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Expansive Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, you may sacrifice another land or discard a land card. If you don’t, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Taxed Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, any opponent may pay {mana}1{/mana}. If they do, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Toxic Canyon
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, any opponent may pay 2 life. If they do, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Canyon Library
Land - Mountain Plains
As ~ enters the battlefield, any opponent may have you draw a card. If they do, it enters the battlefield tapped.
Idk about how rotation will work, but my theory is that the two Innistrad sets are so close together because they want to mitigate plane-fatigue. We'll have had two consecutive years of new planes with every set. It's possible WotC think that staying on Innistrad too long will make players bored of the setting, which is part of the reason they dropped the block model.
I could be completely wrong though. We won't really know why the sets are so close together at least until we have a better idea of what's coming in 2022. They might be planning an increased number of supplemental sets that they want to space out a bit more evenly.
There’s one possible cycle I’m interested in though, and that’s a mythic cycle of MDFCs, where each face is a different color. My reason for this prediction is the Kenrith twins. They’re pictured on the packaging, so they’re in. They’re a really good fit for Prismari. But every time they’ve been in a set, they’ve had a unique twist. First, they had partner. Then they were on the same card. This time, I predict that they will be a single MDFC, where one side is Will and the other side is Rowan.
It stands to reason that, if Prismari gets a mythic MDFC, the other colleges will too.
Display is sorta neat, but I feel like the display cost should be less, not more, unless the spell actually resolves AND gets displayed. Even then, it feels a lot like Foretell.
Dissect is cool. I like the open-endedness of it. No idea how it would actually play, but I'd give it a test drive for sure.
Excavate read really nicely until the last two sentences. If you chop those, I feel like you have a really clean card engine mechanic going. I like the idea of effects that excavate multiple cards at a time because you can still only actually draw one per. Seems like too much card flow for RW though. And when I think about excavation, I imagine graveyard interaction instead of library. But w/e. Still neat.
I'm guessing anything that has a genetic counter also has all of your genetic abilities. That's a neat idea, but it could be reworded to be a little less reliant on intuition alone:
"Creatures you control with gene counters have trample.
1G, T: Put a gene counter or +1/+1 counter on target creature."
Ralitha, Sky Aflame 3RR
Legendary Creature - Phoenix
4/4
Flying, haste
Whenever a Phoenix enters the battlefield under your control, you may discard a card. If you do, draw a card. Then, if that creature entered the battlefield from a graveyard, ~ deals damage to any target equal to the number of cards you've drawn this turn.
WUBRG: Search your library for a Phoenix card and put that card into your graveyard. Then shuffle your library.
Added a 5c ability to make it a flexible Phoenix tribal commander. Also, as a commander-oriented card (I assume, anyway), it doesn't really need a reanimator ability for itself.
Between the popularity of the first Zendikar block, the mounting anticipation of a more coherent story, exceptional marketing, and the inclusion of the first and best Masterpieces, the commercial success of BFZ likely had very little to do with the set itself.
What kind of cards might we see that are inspired by HP? Is this as likely as I think it is? Is this as cringey as I think it is?
Alternatively, they could go in another direction and give us shards again, the same way Ikoria gave us wedges. That would make sense, as it would balance out this year and next year for tricolor archetypes and give them a place to print the other five tricycle lands. Also, it makes sense with the other tricolor worlds we’ve seen. Strixhaven could be to Alara what Ikoria was to Tarkir.
I would be happy either way. But we Strixhaven could just as easily go away from multicolor factions, which I wouldn’t be as happy about. But we’ll see I guess.
Idk when exactly we will see this happen, but if Ashiok's involvement in Theros: Beyond Death was any indication, they're building up to it.
Anyway the new card is interesting. I feel like it's an odd fit for most of the decks that are able to abuse it, considering it shuffles the gy in, which you'd have to go out of your way to fill in order to flash this back.