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[SigmasonicX]

Baron Sengir, a big problem with Zendikar is that it's coming after Tarkir.

I was being facetious by posting a bad land instead of the actual Baron Sengir card. Though that card really isn't that great either, except insofar as him being a 5/5 flying creature for 8 without a drawback in Homelands that could (probably won't) get bigger.

When do we usually get the contents of the intro packs and event decks?

Early next week. The intro packs will be available for sale during the prerelease.

 

[Yeef]

Odd to see only one Invoker in the set, but I like it. Strong enough to close out games, but not as overwhelming as nonsense like Dawnglare Invoker.

There's a green one, too.

RG is the landfall/ramp archetype, so it makes sense.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

So much negativity. Invoking Homelands? Worse than AVR? Somehow rose tinting Theros? Wow.

I've been very vocal about this in the past: I love Theros and will defend it to the bitter end. BTG definitely has a lot of issues, but JOU was excellent, and on the whole I think the block was a success. I loved that world, the mechanics, the Gods, etc etc. I could go on forever. Theros was great.

 

[Lucario]

There's a green one, too.

RG is the landfall/ramp archetype, so it makes sense.

Ooo, nice. That one's strong too.

Limited is looking fun for this set.

 

[Crocodile]

This happens every time they do new evergreen mechanics, the first few sets afterwards have them at weirdly low volume.

I dunno, Hexproof moved to official evergreen status around M12 and it was pretty much all over the place in Innistrad. I also expect to have no shortage of Scry cards moving forward. I'd have to think a bit longer to discern if what you're you saying in a common occurrence.

MaRo's year in review:

Problem #1: We failed to meet player expectations re: The Eldrazi.

This reminds me that Maro no longer sets up the questions to address ahead of time for his State of the Design articles. I'm hoping he actually touches upon this in the future and doesn't try to dodge the subject.

Very pushed. I love cards like this.

Normally sacrifice engines only see play in constructed if there's no activation cost, but I think this might be strong enough to be an exception. Especially with Evolutionary Leap in the same environment.

Definitely an improvement on Culling Dais, Carnage Altar, Phyrexian Vault, etc.

I really wish the activation cost and the casting cost were switched on this. 2 mana to activate is obnoxious (even if its "fair")

I will also agree its weird there is only 2 (there's also one in Green) Invokers. Feels like it should be a cycle.

 

[Angry Grimace]

I dunno, Hexproof moved to official evergreen status around M12 and it was pretty much all over the place in Innistrad. I also expect to have no shortage of Scry cards moving forward. I'd have to think a bit longer to discern if what you're you saying in a common occurrence.



This reminds me that Maro no longer sets up the questions to address ahead of time for his State of the Design articles. I'm hoping he actually touches upon this in the future and doesn't try to dodge the subject.



I really wish the activation cost and the casting cost were switched on this. 2 mana to activate is obnoxious (even if its "fair")

I will also agree its weird there is only 2 (there's also one in Green) Invokers. Feels like it should be a cycle.

Isn't that just Evolutionary Leap =P

 

[Yeef]

Some as-fan numbers. I might do color-by-color breakdowns when I get back from FNM.

Power

• 0 - 0.27
• 1 - 1.44
• 2 - 2.47
• 3 - 1.57
• 4 - 0.95
• 5 - 0.25
• 6 - 0.04
• 7 - 0.17
• 8 - 0.1
• 9 - 0
• 10 - 0.06
• 11 - 0.01

Toughness

• 1 - 1.5
• 2 - 2.1
• 3 - 1.73
• 4 - 1.08
• 5 - 0.58
• 6 - 0.19
• 7 - 0.01
• 8 - 0.14
• 9 - 0.11
• 10 - 0.02

Mechanics

• Allies - 1.97
• Rally - 0.63
• Converge - 0.51
• Landfall - 1.31
• Awaken - 0.84
• Eldrazi - 2.56
• Devoid - 3.2
  • [Devoid Creatures] - 2.16
  • [Devoid non-creature Spells] - 1.04
• Processors - 0.65
• Cards that make Scions - 0.89
• Ingest - 0.65
• Cards that exile opponent's cards (excluding ingest) - 0.94

 

[Ashodin]

According to this thread

• Cards they want to play with: 0

JK You guys are pretty down on the set tho.

 

[The Technomancer]

Some as-fan numbers. I might do color-by-color breakdowns when I get back from FNM.

Power

• 0 - 0.27
• 1 - 1.44
• 2 - 2.47
• 3 - 1.57
• 4 - 0.95
• 5 - 0.25
• 6 - 0.04

Toughness

• 1 - 1.5
• 2 - 2.1
• 3 - 1.73
• 4 - 1.08
• 5 - 0.58
• 6 - 1.9

What?

 

[Yeef]

What?

That's a typo; it should be 0.19

 

[The Technomancer]

That's a typo; it should be 0.19

Wondered. Yeah numbers indicate a slightly more defensive spread, which is interesting

 

[Yeef]

CMC

• 1 - 1.56
• 2 - 3.17
• 3 - 3.04
• 4 - 2.88
• 5 - 1.38
• 6 - 0.55
• 7 - 0.33
• 8 - 0.14
• 9 - 0.01
• 10 - 0.02

 

[y2dvd]

According to this thread

• Cards they want to play with: 0

JK You guys are pretty down on the set tho.

Gaf is harsh on everything until things settled down.

 

[Angry Grimace]

These manabases are weird, man. Especially for wedge-decks, you'll probably notice why when you look at it:

Deck: Dranathopter

//Creatures
3 Soulfire Grand Master
4 Thopter Engineer
3 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
1 Kolaghan, the Storm's Fury
4 Hangarback Walker

//Planeswalkers
2 Sorin, Solemn Visitor
2 Ob Nixilis Reignited

//Spells
2 Mardu Charm
3 Fiery Impulse
2 Bone Splinters
4 Crackling Doom
2 Secure the Wastes

//Land
1 Foundry of the Consuls
3 Shambling Vent
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Canopy Vista
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Battlefield Forge
1 Plains
2 Swamp
1 Mountain

//Sideboard
2 Ultimate Price
1 Arc Lightning
2 Outpost Siege
4 Duress
1 Ruinous Path
1 Erase
2 Arashin Cleric
2 Vampiric Rites

Display deck statistics

I'm not even really sure the best way to organize it because as it is, I can't fetch an untapped land at all. Maybe run some on-color fetches or something?

1 Foundry of the Consuls
3 Shambling Vent
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Smoldering Marsh
3 Wooded Foothills
2 Bloodstained Mire
1 Canopy Vista
1 Plains
3 Swamp
3 Mountain

or,

1 Foundry of the Consuls
3 Shambling Vent
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Polluted Delta
1 Canopy Vista
1 Prairie Stream

or even worse (I probably can't get away with Foundry in this three color deck, but this is still weird)

3 Shambling Vent
4 Nomad Outpost
3 Smoldering Marsh
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Polluted Delta
1 Canopy Vista
1 Prairie Stream
2 Swamp
3 Mountain

 

[Jhriad]

Out of curiousity, when's the last time a big fall set hasn't had a major impact on Standard?

They're bound to have some impact just because of the sheer volume of cards rotating out. Without having played around with the set at at all, this one does look to be pretty low impact compared to the last few fall sets. Of course, I'm a bit higher on the set than some of folks around here as should be evident by the post of mine that you quoted. I'm looking forward to trying out the limited environment.

 

[Firemind]

Atarka Red

4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Lightning Berserker
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
1 Goblin Glory Chaser
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Scab-Clan Berserker

4 Wild Slash
4 Atarka's Command
4 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Become Immense

11 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cinder Glade

 

[Angry Grimace]

I guess I'd just go with this one:

3 Shambling Vent
4 Nomad Outpost
4 Smoldering Marsh
4 Wooded Foothills
1 Canopy Vista
2 Caves of Koilos
2 Battlefield Forge
1 Plains
2 Swamp
2 Mountain

 

[Crocodile]

This is not an answer I expected regarding why there is no Prowess in BFZ: http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/129362482033/is-there-a-reason-that-theres-no-prowess-in-bfz

Isn't that just Evolutionary Leap =P

Works for me

 

[Firemind]

Man I really do miss Lightning Strike. Not gonna play Fiery Impulse or Roast maindeck in an unknown field.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Just back from FNM I actually really enjoy Origins Drafts.

Even ended up in white red. Only problem was that I only had 15 creatures and among them only 1 3 drop. 3 celestial flares 2 enshrouding mists 1 fiery impulse where great though, especially if I got out Mage Ring Bully turn 2.

First round I draw'ed against a horrible, horrible deck. Win game 1, lost game 2 to skysnare spider. Game 3 started in extra rounds.

Second round I won game1 against Green Red then lost to the 6/6 Goliath which can only be blocked by 1 creature twice. My highest power creature was 4...

3rd round I played against someone with an Esper control deck whose only wincon was Willbreaker, won game 1 then conceded twice since he could still get packs while I had no chance.


The draft was really weird though every time I wanted to stop drafting white I got a 6th or 8th picked enshrouding mist or suppression bonds. Heck pack 3 I got a 7th picked Topan Freeblade and a 14th enshrouding mist.

There's a green one, too.

RG is the landfall/ramp archetype, so it makes sense.

how did you quote me w/ someone else's comment?

 

[Angry Grimace]

*sigh*

of course my UW Control opponents hand is Dissolve, Dissolve, Ojutai's Command, Ojutai's Command.

Fuck counterspells, and fuck control players who play draw-go.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Here's an interesting experiment, mostly to test how much I can stretch the mana for BFZ Standard Aggro decks. Compared to my pre-full spoiler Mardu build, I cut the Gideons and Outbursts for colored mana and curve reasons. In order to hit my mana requirements without relying too heavily on tapped lands it took quite a bit of tweaking but I managed to more or less get where I'm comfortable.

Right now, the spread looks like this, with 6 must come into play tapped lands and 3 tangolands:

• 17 b
• 12 w
• 12 r
• 11 g

Which is slightly below what you'd want ideally, but given the percentage of the time you need specific color combinations on certain turns, it's within acceptable limits.

No Blue Tokens

24 Creatures

• 4 Hangarback Walker
• 4 Zulaport Cutthroat
• 4 Dragon Fodder
• 4 Catacomb Sifter
• 4 Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 4 Unified Front

3 Planeswalkers

• 3 Sorin, Solemn Visitor

10 Spells

• 2 Bone Splinters
• 4 Abzan Charm
• 4 Crackling Doom

23 Lands

• 4 Nomad Outpost
• 2 Shambling Vent
• 4 Wooded Foothills
• 4 Llanowar Wastes
• 1 Cinder Glade
• 1 Smouldering Marsh
• 1 Canopy Vista
• 2 Mountain
• 2 Swamp
• 1 Plains
• 1 Forest

Sideboard

• 4 Butcher of the Horde
• 2 Duress
• 1 Mardu Charm
• 1 Hallowed Moonlight
• 2 Outpost Siege
• 3 Arc Lightning
• 2 Dromoka's Command

Ultimately I think the ability to run Abzan Charm is worse than just playing Mardu for an aggressive deck(Outburst, Gideon and extra utility lands being the draw), but I think the potential really is there for more midrangey 4-color decks that play 24-26 lands.

Something worth thinking about, at least. Bone Splinters/Murderous Cut, Abzan Charm, Cracking Doom is probably the best removal suite in Standard.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Fetches will let you play 4 color, you just have to hope the format is actually slow enough to let you get away with 50% of your lands coming into play tapped. You probably need more of them too.

 

[Angry Grimace]

Atarka Red

4 Monastery Swiftspear
4 Lightning Berserker
3 Zurgo Bellstriker
1 Goblin Glory Chaser
4 Abbot of Keral Keep
4 Dragon Fodder
4 Hordeling Outburst
2 Scab-Clan Berserker

4 Wild Slash
4 Atarka's Command
4 Exquisite Firecraft
1 Become Immense

11 Mountain
1 Forest
4 Wooded Foothills
4 Bloodstained Mire
1 Cinder Glade

I don't know man, you have too many cards from BFZ in this deck for it to be viable.

 

[Wichu]

Zulaport Cutthroat seems good in a Rally the Ancestors deck with Nantuko Husk and a bunch of creatures that spawn tokens/manifests on death. Card ratios need some work - I really want to run more Fleshbag Marauders, but I don't know what to remove.

4 Blisterpod
4 Zulaport Cutthroat
4 Sultai Emissary
4 Elvish Visionary
4 Nantuko Husk
2 Fleshbag Marauder
3 Grim Haruspex
3 Liliana, Heretical Healer
1 Abzan Ascendancy
4 Collected Company
4 Rally the Ancestors
23 lands

Or maybe an Ally the Ancestors deck with Kalastria Healer and more Allies?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

What about Mardu Dragons or Grixis dragon?

Blue gets some great control spells, the 2CMC reveal a dragon burn card is now probably the best replacement to lightning strike.

Losing Stormbreath dragons hurts though, is there anything that could replace it?

 

[Lucario]

Zulaport Cutthroat seems good in a Rally the Ancestors deck with Nantuko Husk and a bunch of creatures that spawn tokens/manifests on death. Card ratios need some work - I really want to run more Fleshbag Marauders, but I don't know what to remove.

~

Or maybe an Ally the Ancestors deck with Kalastria Healer and more Allies?

Play Catacomb Sifters!

Rally the Ancestors is my plan for the first events after release. Partially because it seems well-positioned against the control decks everyone is brewing, but mostly because I don't want to buy Jaces.

It's a shame the mana isn't good enough to run Butcher of the Horde in a list like this. Not sure if there are enough sac outlets (or other ways to get creatures into the graveyard) to make the combo kill w/ Cutthroat work.

Here's the list I'm basing my decks on:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10133&d=258338&f=ST

Elvish Mystic, Mogis's Marauder, and Satyr Wayfinder are all huge losses for the deck. No more incidental self-mill, and no more combo kill.

In return we get Blisterpod, Catacomb Sifter, Zulaport Cutthroat (likely just as good of a combo kill), Vampiric Rites, and Drana.

 

[Firemind]

What about Mardu Dragons or Grixis dragon?

Blue gets some great control spells, the 2CMC reveal a dragon burn card is now probably the best replacement to lightning strike.

Losing Stormbreath dragons hurts though, is there anything that could replace it?

Young Kolaghan

Grixis Draconic Thopters
3 Hangarback Walker
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Whirler Rogue
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Icefall Regent
3 Kolaghan, The Storm's Fury

3 Wild Slash
4 Silumgar's Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
4 Dig Through Time
1 Murderous Cut
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Stubborn Denial

25 lands

 

[Infinite Stars]

Finally went 3-0 in a Draft and I thought my deck was awful when drafting (UR Thopters). But holy hell the Deck was amazing when it went off.

Highlight of the rounds: Blocking my opponent's(who was at 4) Kopothed with the 4 Thopters I could. So good.gif

Looking at BFZ now in the context of Draft/limited, I'm actually looking forward to it. It's not looking awful, but it's still not great to me.

 

[Wichu]

Play Catacomb Sifters!

Rally the Ancestors is my plan for the first events after release. Partially because it seems well-positioned against the control decks everyone is brewing, but mostly because I don't want to buy Jaces.

It's a shame the mana isn't good enough to run Butcher of the Horde in a list like this. Not sure if there are enough sac outlets (or other ways to get creatures into the graveyard) to make the combo kill w/ Cutthroat work.

Here's the list I'm basing my decks on:

http://mtgtop8.com/event?e=10133&d=258338&f=ST

Elvish Mystic, Mogis's Marauder, and Satyr Wayfinder are all huge losses for the deck. No more incidental self-mill, and no more combo kill.

In return we get Blisterpod, Catacomb Sifter, Zulaport Cutthroat (likely just as good of a combo kill), Vampiric Rites, and Drana.

Derp, I was looking through the BFZ list and thought Catacomb Sifter looked really good, but forgot to add it to my list. Got to cut something else now too :/

 

[Lucario]

Derp, I was looking through the BFZ list and thought Catacomb Sifter looked really good, but forgot to add it to my list. Got to cut something else now too :/

Here are the 3-drops I'm currently considering for the deck:

Liliana, Heretical Healer
Deathmist Raptor
Den Protector
Nantuko Husk
Catacomb Sifter
Fleshbag Marauder
Merciless Executioner
Drana, Liberator of Malakir
Grim Haruspex
Anafenza, the Foremost
Abzan Ascendancy



... Yeah. The old version of the deck played 24 3-mana creatures. (21 if you don't count Den Protector, but c'mon.) I don't think we can really do that anymore without Elvish Mystic =\

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Young Kolaghan

Grixis Draconic Thopters
3 Hangarback Walker
3 Pia and Kiran Nalaar
2 Whirler Rogue
4 Thunderbreak Regent
2 Icefall Regent
3 Kolaghan, The Storm's Fury

3 Wild Slash
4 Silumgar's Scorn
4 Draconic Roar
4 Dig Through Time
1 Murderous Cut
1 Kolaghan's Command
1 Stubborn Denial

25 lands

Which one is that?

BR dragon played the Khans one already. What about the Origins dragon, the curve of the deck isn't particularly low but later it's like an outpost siege with a body. Especially good if you get out multiples. He's unplayable though if you have any cards in hand since he has an immediate downside but his upside takes a turn to get in effect.

I really like Gaby's Mardu Dragons list she used for the SSL.

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/daily-deck/standard-mardu-dragons-2015-09-17

Looking at that list is there any decent replacement for Anger of The Gods? Exile is more important than ever.

 

[El Topo]

Homelands is shit. It was shit when it got released, it is shit now, it will forever be shit. It sucked for Constructed, it sucked for Limited, it sucked for everything other than its flavor.
I should know, I own more than enough Dwarven Ponies.

At the very least BfZ has a couple of interesting cards, some good planeswalkers, as well as fetch and shock lands. That is much, much more than Homelands ever had.

Fuck Homelands.

 

[duxstar]

Holy crap am I having issues figuring out the mana bases for the old khans colors, it seems easier to just build the alara colors. It makes 16 of your lands almost automatic (4 wooded foothills, 4 windswept heaths, 4 cinder glades, 4 Canopy Vista, 2 + 2 + 2 of forest, mountain plains, with room to move based on what color you will need more, maybe even 2 man lands)

The problem is with the Abzans, Temur's, and ilk its almost like the 4th splash is easier than getting the numbers you need on the basic 3.

Let's look at a Temur Deck

Let's say I want 2 Lumbering falls

Now How do I get the untapped lands I need every turn
My options are

Frontier Bivouac (which is a nonbo with the "battle" lands"), Yavimaya coast, which I can't fetch, Wooded Foothills, and Cinder glade; and you have to assume that your cinder glade is going to come into play tapped.

If anyone has figured out the best solution they think, then give me some advice =P

 

[The Technomancer]

Homelands is shit. It was shit when it got released, it is shit now, it will forever be shit. It sucked for Constructed, it sucked for Limited, it sucked for everything other than its flavor.
I should know, I own more than enough Dwarven Ponies.

At the very least BfZ has a couple of interesting cards, some good planeswalkers, as well as fetch and shock lands. That is much, much more than Homelands ever had.

Fuck Homelands.

Homelands will always be second to Prophecy for me when it comes to bad design. The MTGSalvation Wiki lists that Prophecy had a "minor land sacrifice theme", which is inaccurate. It has a major land sacrifice theme, along with land discard themes, and "control no untapped lands" themes. I understand the set was made by people who hadn't made Magic sets before, but didn't any of them ever playtest with their cards and go "wow this is super not fun for anyone" at any stage in the design?

 

[Kacar]

Have no clue what standard deck to play. Probably some variation of BR dragons or BR aggro.

Mainly cause I have a full set of bloodstained mire, I also have a full set of flooded strand but have basically no control pieces. UW aggro doesn't look like a thing at the moment.

 

[Ashodin]

Just came back from FNM, not enough people for a tournament

Bought some packs tho, I got:

Jace, Vryn's Prodigy
Molten Vortex
Hixus, Prison Warden
Yavimaya Coast
Hallowed Moonlight
Demonic Pact
Graveblade Marauder
Scab-Clan Berserker
Priest of the Blood Rite

Some guy traded me Sword of the Animist (cool ass card)

I also got tons of other cards for my UR Thopter deck. I'm excited!

 

[Yeef]

Just came back from FNM, not enough people for a tournament

Talk to your T.O. In the past you had to have 8 to fire an event, but nowadays you only need 2. If there's less than 8 they can reschedule it as a casual event and fire it off.

 

[kirblar]

You opened the best card in the set (Jace) which is good.

 

[charlequin]

It's the worst set they've released in a very, very, very long time.

Like, a REALLY long time.

Well, going back, trying to mediate personal feelings with abstract critical reception:

Khans of Tarkir is a fantastic set with a good followup and a bland last act, but at least one that affected Standard and had some decent stuff.

Theros is a set with solid design, great development, followed by a clunker middle and a solid final set.

RTR is a very good first set, a less exciting second large, and a total stinker final.

Innistrad is the best set ever, a perfunctory middle set, and the worst set of the modern era.

Scars of Mirrodin is a bland and slightly problematic set, a super perfunctory middle set, and the best last set since Future Sight.

Zendikar is two sets that are much more boring than people remember, and then the best draft set of all time.

Going through coresets backwards you get mixed-to-positive, reasonably positive, does M14 really exist I can't think of a single thing about it?, genius, tom lolpille, solid, neat.

...

Going backwards from today, I think the first set to really be clearly worse than BFZ is Dragon's Maze, which is basically just a complete and total failure of execution. To get a worse big set you have to bounce back to AVR, the worst set (by a big margin) in the time period we're discussing.

For context, everything in that window is still much better than true junkers like Homelands, Prophecy, or Saviors; probably all better than mediocre junk like Masques. Probably every large set besides AVR is better than Alara.

WoTC is really in love with their Ghirapur Gearcrafter / Sandsteppe Outcast effects.

Well, I mean, that mechanic is about 37% of all Hearthstone cards ever.

Homelands will always be second to Prophecy for me when it comes to bad design. The MTGSalvation Wiki lists that Prophecy had a "minor land sacrifice theme", which is inaccurate. It has a major land sacrifice theme, along with land discard themes, and "control no untapped lands" themes. I understand the set was made by people who hadn't made Magic sets before, but didn't any of them ever playtest with their cards and go "wow this is super not fun for anyone" at any stage in the design?

Yes, Prophecy is the worst set of all time, because Saviors is weak and shitty, Homelands is boring, weak and shitty, but Prophecy is boring, weak, shitty, and insulting.

Not people who hadn't made sets before, though. Design team was Mike Elliot, Bill Rose, and Mark Rosewater (aka one of the most prolific designers ever, plus 2 of Magic's 4 current senior leadership.)

 

[kirblar]

I like this set less than both of those right now- I grade DGM on a curve cause I agree w/ Rosewater where I'm not sure that set's actually doable. I agree that Alara is the lowest mark when you stretch back that far.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Dragon's Maze wins the award for "the set I'm most likely to forget ever existed."

 

[Yeef]

Masques block, in general, was way powered down due to backlash from Urza's block, so they're somewhat forgivable, since their jobs were on the line.

 

["God's Beard!"]

Khans of Tarkir is a fantastic set with a good followup

Fate Reforged was fucking miserable to draft with KTK. Completely fucked balance between rarities, very few playables at common and the set had very little synergy with KTK, which also caused weird drafts because the color discrepancy and decrease in mana fixing.

I was drafting KTK 2-4 times a week and completely stopped after a week of FRF.

 

[red13th]

Okay back from my honeymoon, can finally post. Battle for Zendikar sucks
I think I have... five additions to my cube (Origins gave me eleven).

 

[charlequin]

I like this set less than both of those right now

I basically think the angels theme in AVR sucks, miracles kind of suck, soulbond is a cool concept executed in a way that sucks, the creative sucks, the way that the set theme makes no sense whatsoever with the storyline Macguffin they invent solely to justify this set's theme sucks, even the prerelease gimmick sucked. (AVR is really bad y'all.)

 

[Yeef]

AVR had some good cube and constructed cards. Cloudshift is one of my favorites.

It looks like these are the story beats that made it onto the cards.

Fall of Sea Gate:

Gathering of survivors:

Nissa gets her powers back (there doesn't seem to be a card explaining that she lost her powers to begin with though):

Jace meets Ugin who tells him about the hedrons:

Allies take back Sea Gate:

Realizing that Ugin is right, they rebind Ulamog in a Hedron Netwrk just outside of Sea Gate rather than killing him (then likely form some kind of Justice League-type group called the Gatewatch; hence the name of the next set, "Oath of The Gatewatch"):

Also, Kiora and Ob Nixilis do things (it seems Ob Nixilis is trying to help the Eldrazi just out of spite for the plane of Zendikar, since he's gotten his spark back he can just leave, but he chooses to stay and wreck up the place; Kiora seems to join up with Gideon and Nissa to take back Sea Gate):

Hints that Kozilek is still on Zendikar (underground), but Emrakul has gone elsewhere:

 

["God's Beard!"]

Man, every single one of those characters is acting like a total badass except Jace, who is a petulant child.

"They're ethereal, extra-dimensional beings that can't be interacted with in a meaningful manner? Well fuck you and your tens of thousands of years of insight, you're just a dumbhead and I'm leaving to kill them all!"


How did this guy become the arbiter of an entire plane?

Meanwhile, they made Kiora and Ob Nixilis have super fun personalities.

 

[Ashodin]

Thanks I love the lore, so getting bits and pieces is nice.

 

[OnPoint]

NIce story summary, Yeef.

Anyone comparing this set to Homelands: You're out of your gourd. Homelands was absolute shit, and this is a million times better.