I Want More Original Planes
Lore forum
Posted on Aug. 29, 2017, 3:10 p.m. by vbfabled
I'm not sure if anyone else shares this opinion with me, but I miss when WotC made planes that weren't so heavily based on real-world places. Personally, my favorite plane is probably Mirrodin, which I like because of its uniqueness from any other fantasy setting I've seen before. Recently everything has been like Kaladesh, which is just India but with less people and more communism, and Amonkhet which is ancient Egypt with more zombies, and Theros which is just ancient Greece but more magical, Tarkir which is based on a few different East Asian countries, and now Ixalan which is just South America except the Conquistadors are vampires and there's dinosaurs.
As much as I've enjoyed these sets and stories, I wish we could have a new plane that's just an original concept, like Mirrodin, Zendikar, Lorwyn/Shadowmoor, or Alara were.
This is mostly just me ranting, but if you agree, disagree, partially agree, or whatever, feel free to reply.
SSJ_Weegee says... #3
I think both styles deserve their place, but yeah, we haven't had a completely new concept for a while.
August 29, 2017 3:48 p.m.
Well, with all the attention they won't be paying to the gatewatch, hopefully more original content starts popping up (that sounds negative but I'm on break at work and can't think of a better way to put it).
I have faith that WotC CAN deliver... I guess we'll see if they do.
August 29, 2017 4:33 p.m.
I thought Kaladesh was one of the most flavorful in a long time. I'm even starting a D&D game based in that world.
August 29, 2017 6:30 p.m.
Kaladesh and KtK were both great, and it's not like amonkhet was bad or anything, nor that ixalan will be terrible as a standalone.
The problem is the repetitive nature of magic lore taking inspiration from world history. If you keep sticking to the same development algorithm, people will figure it out eventually, so change is needed to keep things fresh.
I loved kaladesh too btw, my literal only gripe being: if Chandra's home world is basically India, why is she as white as a Russian? Like I know north India can have some pretty fair skinned folk, but that's stretching it.
August 29, 2017 7:19 p.m.
filthyc4sual says... #7
I know this isn't the original purpose, but since you brought some older planes up, I wanted to ask what plane people would MOST like to revisit? For me it's Lorwyn, because I need more elves.
August 29, 2017 9:45 p.m.
Mirrodin. I know we just got an artifact set in Kaladesh, but I would love to have a larger suite of powerful artifacts to utilize, and maybe this time wizards can NOT break the cheap artifacts in half.
If not mirrodin, then probably lorwyn, because it was just such a well designed mutli-color set.
August 29, 2017 9:53 p.m.
filthyc4sual says... #9
Lorwyn's great. I also really like Alara, because Cascade. Also I would love for them to pick the storyline back up.
August 29, 2017 9:57 p.m.
Honestly I feel like Lorywn was so great because playing that block felt kind of like starting a new DnD campaign, what with the various tribes and mysticisms floating about. Wizards never really managed to grant that to any other block, which isn't a complaint about the design of non-lorwyn sets, but rather a commemoration of how amazing that block was.
As for alara's storyline... pretty sure that revolves around bolas, which means we won't be getting back to it until Jace figures out who the hell he is for the third time in his life.
August 29, 2017 10:02 p.m.
Oloro_Magic says... #11
I'm always down for another visit to Ravnica, I just find that plane so interesting and full of potential, but I would really love to see a return to Alara as the potential for new conflict on that plane is there especially with their enhanced focus on Bolas.
A few months ago I would have said Dominaria, and with the confirmation I am very excited to see what can be done.
Also, this may be a little odd, but a Segovia revisit could be interesting. It was a plane in Legends but it was not really developed, all that we really know is that it is kinda like Lilliput from Gulliver's Travels as everything on the plane is shrunken down. It has a planechase card that can be absolutely brutal (-5/-0 to all creatures) but it has never been developed.
August 29, 2017 10:05 p.m.
filthyc4sual says... #12
Jace is like that kid who's always sitting in the corner contemplating the universe.
August 29, 2017 10:08 p.m.
Well, worldbuilding ain't easy; & most are going to dip heavily into the mythology bucket no matter what (but I do understand that there are varying degrees to which they really have to "borrow" cultural concepts)
I am a sucker for some of the more "original" planes myself... That being said, I can't help but REALLY want some Viking/Valhalla action... They do that last theme & I'm good. I mean giants (the tribe I wanted for Commander 2017), norse gods, barbarians... Just too good. Then after that I am agreed.
Also, Zendikar could be interesting, what with all the ancient horrors, bizarre wastelands, post-eldrazi fallout -- maybe that plane could be full of crazy raiders & post-apocalyptic themes
August 29, 2017 11:06 p.m.
Actually I'd be ok with a norse themed plane too. Maybe Ixalan is just something I'm not as hyped for because Hearthstone already did Dinos and Pirates (I'm admitedly a bit burnt out on them), vampires have been a recurring tribe since BFZ, and I'm not crazy about merfolk. Also jace is still sticking around, even though we had three (sorry Gids, still don't like you) more interesting members of the gatewatch we could have followed.
Vikings though... that's definitely some very sparsely explored territory, and I'd be down for it.
August 29, 2017 11:09 p.m.
SteelSentry says... #15
I have been playing Planechase more often recently, and I wish I could see more that some of these planes have to offer than a picture and a semi-relevant ability.
Although, I will say, Lorwyn was full of myths and faerie tales like Theros was. It was a great set, but not really the premiere flagship for original content.
August 30, 2017 1:35 a.m.
Epochalyptik says... #16
For what it's worth, Lorwyn was essentially just Tolkien fantasy in a Multiverse setting. Innistrad, similarly, was gothic horror fantasy in a Multiverse setting.
Ultimately, every "new" idea draws inspiration from something. Part of the reason WOTC has favored X-but-Y sets (as in Egypt-but-zombies or Greece-but-somethingslightlyawry) is that they're instantly relatable. The player base has grown up learning about and being interested in the mythos surrounding each of those settings, and there's a certain nostalgia and cool factor about sets that capture the essence of those places in a new way.
That's not to say original sets aren't great; Zendikar and Mirrodin were some of the most interesting sets I've ever played. But inventing an entirely new universe is time-consuming and difficult. I'm not surprised to see twists on old ideas coming out in the meantime.
August 30, 2017 10:11 a.m.
Oloro_Magic says... #17
I think the Professor summed it up pretty well in his Ixalan predictions video where he stated that we would likely only have one set on Dominaria and then three sets on a "corporate safe" plane (for example Ravnica), a plane that in other words is a sure-fire hit and would be easy for the development team. If he is right about this "corporate safe" planning then I wouldn't be surprised if after that we saw something completely original as a separate dev team would have been given sufficient time to formulate new ideas hopefully.
August 30, 2017 11:25 a.m.
bennybubbles says... #18
I actually really like when they do planes with real world influences because as someone previously said you can be pretty confident about the general idea and can relate to the story. It's also interesting to see how real events and mythology shape the magic world, like vampire conquistadors and minotaurs and aven in the Egypt world. Add to that the fact that quite a few plane requests are for a magic take on another place and time in Earth's history and it seems like it's much easier for people to LOVE something like a Greek plane or Gothic horror than it is for "Yet another generic fantasy world". Not that I wouldn't love another Lorwyn or a post-apocalypse Zendikar
August 31, 2017 7:38 a.m.
Affinity_for_MTG says... #19
I agree, it's not that I don't love the flavor of the sets. In fact, I've been digging the flavor of ALL these sets, but it would be nice if they broke it up a bit with some original settings in between.
I felt the same way with Battle for Zedikar/Shadows over Innistrad. I liked both of them, but revisiting old planes twice in a row felt like too long of a stretch without anything new for me. It wasn't the end of the world, but putting Kaladesh between those two probably would have made it better, just to break up that long duration of old planes.
When you think about it, we haven't had an original plane that isn't based on a real-world location and not a revisit-plane since the original innistrad block in 2011. Literally the last 6 years of Magic have either been revisited planes (Ravnica, Zendikar, Innistrad) or sets based on real-world mythology (Theros, Tarkir, Kaladesh, Amonkhet, and now Ixalan.)
And we are revisiting Dominaria after Ixalan, so 7+ years without ground-up original plane. That's a fairly long time....
September 4, 2017 7:53 p.m.
Affinity_for_MTG says... #20
I take that back, Innistrad was based on colonialism. I guess the last ground-up original plane was the original Zendikar block in 2009. Everything else has been based on real-world locations or revisits.
Homura_Akemi says... #2
Strongly agree.
August 29, 2017 3:18 p.m.