Was the article just on Monday this week to make room for announcement day on Wednesday?
I'm hoping it's because there's a part two of this prelude to Kaladesh coming on Wednesday as well. They seem to be willing to give story content on a more frequent basis in order to fit it all into the year's product schedule; Conspiracy content ran a bit into the space that Kaladesh would have had if last year's story schedule is the benchmark.
Edit: We are getting more story this week!
portmanteaurian asked:
Will there be a new story on Wednesday as well, or is today's replacing the standard Wednesday slot?
Magic: The Gathering
dougbeyermtg answered:
New story this Wednesday as well. BAM. We’re trying to time some story events to line up with PAX, so we’re zipping along at a faster clip here for a bit! It will go back to the usual Wednesday schedule later.
I'm suspecting that our next block may be a return to Theros, giving Gideon some more screen time and character development.
I could warm to the idea of Baan as WU but my gut is still telling me mono-blue for the moment.
I'm kind of disappointed to see that the elves of Kaladesh don't really have any distinguishing physical features to separate them from those of other planes. The only visual cue is their costuming. Non-human races are supposed to be physically altered by aether exposure, so I'd expect something a bit more exotic-looking than just the usual pointy ears.
Edit: This speculation is going around Twitter, judging by the body proportions in this art we may finally be bearing witness to the return of dwarves to Magic!
Today's story implies that the aethersphere of Kaladesh exists as an alternative to the network of ley-lines found on most planes. Both distribute mana throughout a plane, but Kaladesh's aether seems to be far more volatile and has a stronger influence on the landscape and living things than ley-lines do.
Dovin seems very much mono-blue to me. He doesn't seem to care much about any sort of greater good, just making things run as efficiently as they possibly can. He's as cold and detached as a character can be. I could understand adding white on the basis of a love of structure and organization, but those are traits that overlap with blue anyway. I am confused by the color scheme, though; no matter what color(s) he is it seems to split focus with Saheeli, whom we know to be UR and has a similar color scheme in her clothing.
So far our confirmed cast of planeswalker characters for the block is up to four: Chandra, Nissa, Dovin, and Saheeli. The color black is noticeably missing from that line-up, and possibly white depending on whether Dovin is mono-blue or white-blue. And with at least two blue walkers already present, at least one of whom works directly with artifacts, I think it's sadly unlikely we'll be seeing Tezzeret here, unless we get another Tamiyo situation with him being an "extra" planeswalker with narrow focus and color requirements (Esper, obviously).
Edit: Forgot about Liliana. Since she and Chandra planeswalked together, I guess it's likely she came to Kaladesh along with her. So that's five characters, though not all of them will necessarily have new cards. I'm guessing Liliana gets left out, since she just got a card in Eldritch Moon and I don't get the impression from this story that she'll be be getting very involved beyond advising Chandra in an attempt to gain her trust and/or manipulate her into achieving some goal she has for her.
I'm curious to see if the next Conspiracy set shows us a bit more of Trest, or even introduces one of the still unseen locations on the plane such as Kinnesta or Alberon. The former is noteworthy in that it is apparently an empire rather than a single city-state, and all we know of the latter is that it is the name of Selvala's birthplace or current home in the hinterlands.
Yeah, the part where you pick before drawing is to prevent you from just using it to smooth out your mana for whatever is in your opening hand. It's intended to shape your deckbuilding and drafting. Really cool card. It could be very intriguing in cube, too.
So you can "splash" low-cost creatures from any color, so long as they're all of the same converted mana cost? Very interesting. That could lead to some powerful drafting strategies without completely screwing with how you build your deck, like a Worldknit or Sovereign's Realm.
Notably, one of the few ways to become the monarch at instant speed. Important for cards that reward you for being the monarch at the beginning of your upkeep.
Can't say I much like Grenzo's new role as a purposeless rebel inciting senseless violence. I didn't love him before as a corrupt dungeonkeeper, but I like that more than just smashing and burning for no good reason.
Sounds like you don't really like the majority of goblin kind.
I'm fine with that being a general goblin mentality but Grenzo is someone who used to have a larger agenda and has abandoned it. Also I don't feel like his character design reflects his new role well; his large, muscular build, clothing, and key-shaped staff don't give you an impression of who he is or what he does anymore. Marchesa had a wardrobe change to reflect her new position, and Selvala hasn't changed enough to warrant a new style so she still fits. Grenzo got a new job but still looks dressed for his old one.
They seem to be going for lots of exotic animals brought to Paliano for the amusement of the rich elite, for display in zoos and such. So there are places beyond the borders of Paliano and Trest that have tigers, elephants, hydras, giant lizards, and these other exotic fauna.
Gorgeous art, though I'm a little disappointed it isn't from Kaladesh. I'm still very much looking forward to seeing more of that setting but I would have loved this to be a glimpse of Kaladeshi elven design.
Can't say I much like Grenzo's new role as a purposeless rebel inciting senseless violence. I didn't love him before as a corrupt dungeonkeeper, but I like that more than just smashing and burning for no good reason.
My only criticism of Selvala is that I wish her mana ability counted the greatest power among all creatures, not just ones you control, like her first ability. I feel like that would create a much more interesting table dynamic where an opponent may cast a bigger creature and get to draw a card, but they fuel your mana production at the same time. She's still interesting and powerful as she is, but I think that would have been a much more intriguing option.
I'm hoping it's because there's a part two of this prelude to Kaladesh coming on Wednesday as well. They seem to be willing to give story content on a more frequent basis in order to fit it all into the year's product schedule; Conspiracy content ran a bit into the space that Kaladesh would have had if last year's story schedule is the benchmark.
Edit: We are getting more story this week!
I could warm to the idea of Baan as WU but my gut is still telling me mono-blue for the moment.
I'm kind of disappointed to see that the elves of Kaladesh don't really have any distinguishing physical features to separate them from those of other planes. The only visual cue is their costuming. Non-human races are supposed to be physically altered by aether exposure, so I'd expect something a bit more exotic-looking than just the usual pointy ears.
Edit: This speculation is going around Twitter, judging by the body proportions in this art we may finally be bearing witness to the return of dwarves to Magic!
So far our confirmed cast of planeswalker characters for the block is up to four: Chandra, Nissa, Dovin, and Saheeli. The color black is noticeably missing from that line-up, and possibly white depending on whether Dovin is mono-blue or white-blue. And with at least two blue walkers already present, at least one of whom works directly with artifacts, I think it's sadly unlikely we'll be seeing Tezzeret here, unless we get another Tamiyo situation with him being an "extra" planeswalker with narrow focus and color requirements (Esper, obviously).
Edit: Forgot about Liliana. Since she and Chandra planeswalked together, I guess it's likely she came to Kaladesh along with her. So that's five characters, though not all of them will necessarily have new cards. I'm guessing Liliana gets left out, since she just got a card in Eldritch Moon and I don't get the impression from this story that she'll be be getting very involved beyond advising Chandra in an attempt to gain her trust and/or manipulate her into achieving some goal she has for her.
I'm fine with that being a general goblin mentality but Grenzo is someone who used to have a larger agenda and has abandoned it. Also I don't feel like his character design reflects his new role well; his large, muscular build, clothing, and key-shaped staff don't give you an impression of who he is or what he does anymore. Marchesa had a wardrobe change to reflect her new position, and Selvala hasn't changed enough to warrant a new style so she still fits. Grenzo got a new job but still looks dressed for his old one.
They seem to be going for lots of exotic animals brought to Paliano for the amusement of the rich elite, for display in zoos and such. So there are places beyond the borders of Paliano and Trest that have tigers, elephants, hydras, giant lizards, and these other exotic fauna.