How to autocard (do this to specify a card in your posts): Type [c]Black Lotus[/c] to get Black Lotus . Type [c=Black Lotus]The Overpowered One[/c] to get The Overpowered One .
I don't get why people are saying the tribes aren't getting supported and that werewolves are dead. Sure we aren't getting any werewolf cards, but most of their good support also works on normal wolves, and thats what they now are in the set. As for the rest, we have hardly seen anything from the "monster" side yet. It has been said many times that the total disconnect from the other 2 sets during Rise wasn't a good move so they will add in some stuff for the tribes this set.
Well-written article. I do like flickering so I'm curious to see how that could work as a major set theme and you did a good job explaining the process the creative design of this set went through.
Probelm is, while your story about the frequently-shifiting planning explains the flavor-mess this set is becoming, it doesn't do anything to fix it (I know you're not a major force in Creative, but as we no longer have flavor articles I don't know where else to write this). As many people have and are mentionning, the story behind this set is filled with plot-holes and questionable atmospheric choices. I get that the good guys are having a resurgence, but the pendulum has swung so far to the side of light that it seems unbelievable that Innistrad ever could have reached the wretched state we found it in in the first place. Flavor issues also continue on individual cards and groups: a mutiliating smuggler is considered a good guy while werewolves can now suddenly be fused (and if so, why didn't Avacyn do this before?)
I agree that after two years of having sorylines just drop off to be continued later resolution is appreciated. And the cards previewed so far look great and I'm enjoying the set. But considering this block and your new Fifth Stage of Design is all about flavor and storytelling, I feel this set is punting the finale, jutting out like a sore thumb and looking more like Wizards didn't have three sets worth of horror cards than as a satisfying capstine to the year.
Overall the cards from AVR feel like they could be from any plane, and don't have a lot of connection to Innistrad.
I thought we've already returned to Ravnica. Yeah!
I actually cannot get the story. Where did the other angels go when Avacyn was locked up? Wasn't Helvault locking Demons? But from the spoilers so far, more angels are released?! The only Legendary Demon is Griselbrand...
I don't get why people are saying the tribes aren't getting supported and that werewolves are dead. Sure we aren't getting any werewolf cards, but most of their good support also works on normal wolves, and thats what they now are in the set.
Most does, but it would be better if they were consistent and made all do that. Poor Full Moon's Rise .
I don't get why people are saying the tribes aren't getting supported and that werewolves are dead. Sure we aren't getting any werewolf cards, but most of their good support also works on normal wolves, and thats what they now are in the set.
Most does, but it would be better if they were consistent and made all do that. Poor Full Moon's Rise .
Poor Treacherous Werewolf . He was printed with two very weak subtypes (Wolf Minion), and now has actually lost the more relevant of the two to be replaced by Werewolf... which is pretty much never going to be supported again. Lesser Werewolf and Greater Werewolf also can't exactly run with the pack either -- they went from benig Lycanthrope creaturess, to have a glimmer of tribal support as Human Wolf creatures, to being relegated once more to the irrelevant Werewolf creatures -- but at least those two are no worse than when they were originally printed.
I sort of get the sense from some of these articles that Wizards themselves wish they'd done three sets of top-down horror cards. It can't be great to have a creative risk be a massive success after it's too late to fully capitalise on it.
I don't get why people are saying the tribes aren't getting supported and that werewolves are dead. Sure we aren't getting any werewolf cards, but most of their good support also works on normal wolves, and thats what they now are in the set. As for the rest, we have hardly seen anything from the "monster" side yet. It has been said many times that the total disconnect from the other 2 sets during Rise wasn't a good move so they will add in some stuff for the tribes this set.
I know that most of the werewolf tribal cards also support wolves, but that doesn't mean printing more wolves supports the tribe. Without werewolves in AVR, they won't be printing any more cards that AID the tribe, just cards that ARE the tribe, and only the less-cool, mundane half of the tribe at that. As to the promise that we will be seeing some stuff for the tribes this set... Mark Rosewater has only said that they will be giving "some cards for some decks from Innistrad block"; I don't believe he's ever said which decks. The carry-over of Undying, and the sacrifice theme and death triggers theme in Black is more than enough to support his claim, and I personally think that's all they did include. Mark claims here that, in AVR, Red, Blue and Green are now "mirrored", being good guys. Which means it's very unlikely to see many, if any, monster tribal cards in those colors, doesn't it? Furthermore, a major theme for the evil side is "loners", which is the exact opposite of tribal support. So until we see some cards that actually DO support the tribal subtheme from Innistrad, I'm not convinced Wizards did any better at connecting AVR to INN than they did at connecting Rise to Zendikar.
I'm glad to see some monoblue flicker effects. This card is pretty clearly a riff on Mistmeadow Witch , but usable in a monoblue (or blue-red etc) deck. I'm a definite Flicker Lover so I'm going to enjoy that theme greatly.
(When I eventually manage to play with the set... not quite sure when that will be. I'm missing the prerelease due to a scheduling conflict and small prereleases being rubbish. I guess my group might get a box and do a draft.)
I think the humans have more of a chance just from sorin being back. He and liliana fix the plothole. She kills grizzlebrand and Sorin empowers avacyn back to her full strength+ to kick some butt.
I do feel it would have just been better as a 2nd small set that riffs on tribal with a few sweet angels. The traditional 3 set is best. What bothers me the most about the storyline is phyrexia. If one angel + maybe sorin is enough to defeat all the monsters why isnt a TIME TRAVELING PLANESWALKER THAT COULD ALSO COLLAPSE HIS OWN PLANE not strong enough. Cmon HE TIME TRAVELs. Isnt that the whole FLAVOR of Karn the Redeemed? Pretty much showing why time travel is always bad in every storyline ever.
