What Alara 1 Got Wrong?
General forum
Posted on Dec. 16, 2019, 7:30 p.m. by ZendikariWol
I don't know what any of you know about the original Alara block, but I don't hear a lot of people talking about it and... I love it. I really love it. A lot of you know that I really love it, because I have posted all over this website that I am making a return block to Alara.
An enormous part of making a return is knowing what worked and didn't work about the original. As a casual Johnny, I represent a small fraction of the Magic fanbase. I hope that I can get some valuable feedback on how you guys felt about this block.
ZendikariWol says... #3
All right, Icbrgr, now that is some feedback! Thank you for taking the time to comment. You've given me some really great stuff to work off of, and you've brought to the forefront some considerations that I was saving for later.
Specifically, mana fixing!! I am reprinting the tri-lands, yes. That said, this set is going to need more than that. I would love some ideas on how to do mana rocks better. I feel like being 2 mana is just critical for a rock, but I can't think of a way to make a two-mana rock that hasn't already been done. I want these sets to give a new, cool, flavorful mana rock to my fellow commander players.
Regarding the story, rest assured it's going to be more grounded. I'm writing it in the style of the old online chapter novels, but I can have more cohesion and character development because I don't have to pass my characters from author to author.
December 16, 2019 8:48 p.m.
Bolas was technically defeated by Bolas, not Ajani - Ajani summoned a mirror image that had equal power to Bolas:
"Ajani severed everyone's mana bonds and absorbed the last tiny bit of the Maelstrom that Bolas hadn't. Using that power, he called up an effigy of Bolas's soul and used it to banish Bolas from Alara."
You are your worst enemy, i guess.
But still the shards are now stuck together. AFAIK, no further details are available, so supposedly it will be business as usual and war for the five shards, just more intermingled. No conflict = no set.
December 17, 2019 9:01 a.m.
I would say one issue I had with the Alara sets is that some of the mana costs were kind of awkward and didn't seem to actually enable the card to be better or worse. For example, the one hybrid mana and one regular color mana thing or the double of each of a color on a tri colored spell. In some senses, that just seemed really confusing when I started playing or seriously makes the card less powerful.
I like the idea of doing it more like Fate Reforged for different costs but still retaining a tricolored identity though. For example, Yasova Dragonclaw .
December 17, 2019 4:18 p.m.
I wasn't around back then, but I totally think they should have another all-multicolor set where all the cards have at least two or more colors to their color identity. That was cool.
December 17, 2019 9:52 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #7
Boza, I actually feel the same about Ravnica; during Bolas's invasion, the entire plane united to fight him, and the guilds actually cooperated, so I cannot see how the story of that plane can be continued from there. I understand that, given that plane's popularity, a fourth block there is almost certain to occur, but I feel that it would be poor storytelling to have there be further conflict between the guilds after the united to fight a common enemy. A similar occurrence happened in the Warcraft games; the humans, orcs, and elves united to defeat a common enemy, the Burning Legion, but they again returned to fighting each other after that, which I felt completely ruined the happy ending of Warcraft 3 (I have not followed any games by Blizzard Entertainment since that game, so perhaps there have been new developments in the story, but I still disliked how the alliance between the humans and orcs disintegrated after the Archimonde was defeated).
StopShot, Mark Rosewater has said that another all-multicolored set is unlikely, as is any set with a similar gimmick (for example, Legions was composed entirely of creatures), but I do believe that a return to Alara would have a higher percentage of multicolored cards than is normal for a set.
December 22, 2019 12:03 a.m.
ZendikariWol says... #8
DemonDragonJ fighting side by side with someone doesn’t just make your problems disappear.
Just because the Azorius and the Orzhov have a common enemy and band briefly together doesn’t make the Orzhov less corrupt and doesn’t mean the Azorius don’t still see and despise that corruption.
December 22, 2019 1:46 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #9
ZendikariWol, yes, that is true, but, in the face of an apocalyptic, world-destroying threat, any other problems or disagreements would likely seem to be inconsequential in comparison.
Icbrgr says... #2
I thought it was a great block as far as the game is concerned... very fun having a block dealing with shards/tri-color spells encouraging if not demanding brewers to break away from their comfort zones as deck builders... many people (myself included) avoid having 3+ colored decks for reasons like budget/consistency but because there were so many great cheap/common multicolored spells and mana/color fixing this was pretty easy to accomplish in comparison to many other sets.... I also thought the shards each had fun/flavorful themes and mechanics and not to mention the debut of fantastic planswalkers/characters.
Lorewise.... its meh... a bit too ambiguous with how the shards were separated to begin with (some super god-like pre-mending-planswalker separated the plane for.... reasons...)...So Bolas to unite the plane/shards (to increase his own power) sounds more noble than evil from a surface level/ignoring his reasoning; and the fact the he is "defeated" by Ajani is kinda lame in hindsight considering what Bolas was/came to be.
December 16, 2019 8:08 p.m.