Dominaria release notes posted
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on March 9, 2018, 12:21 a.m. by pskinn01
Apparently there was a leak, so wizards put out the release notes for the set early - link to the notes on bottom of linked article
Please discuss
Interesting set, with lots of fun/interesting commander cards.
Since this was actually released by wizards, it is no longer considered a leak.
I would love to continue this discussion of card protection, but this is not the forum for it. I might make a separate thread about it, as it is very interesting.
To get back on Dominaria RN:
I was commenting on thread about creating legendary instants and sorceries just a week before the RN hit. I was saying they could not be done/would be kind of useless. I could not imagine they would do them still. It feels a bit surreal and I like them a lot.
Additionally, they are very cool and ooze with flavor. So far, Dominaria is shaping up to be awesome. Even if all else is bad in the set, I will still order a box of it.
March 16, 2018 11:06 a.m.
Regardless, let's get back to talking about Dominaria.
I think all the meat has been chewed off this bone.
I know nothing about Phyrexia apart from the mana symbol, which I can see is the watermark on some of the spoiled cards.
Will Phyrexian mana make a comeback in this set?
March 16, 2018 11:08 a.m.
If it were, it would be mentioned in the release notes. But even then, Wizards will not make the mistake of making Spike mana again.
Phyrexians have much deeper history than just corrupting mirrodin.
Here are the quick facts:
- Nobody knows how they came to be.
- Ancient evil dude Yawgmoth became their de facto leader and actual god.
- Their old home is Dominaria (as is the case for a lot of things in Magic) and they were banished to Phyrexia, their own plane, unable to return, making them vengeful towards Dominaria.
- And boy they did so in the most badass way - Yawgmoth ordered the creation of Rath, an artificial plane, that actually crashed into and melded with Dominaria (Invasion set).
- Yawgmoth and the phyrexians were ultimately stopped by the OG Gatewatch, aka the crew of the Weatherlight.
- Karn had a bit of Phyrexian Oil in him after the defeat of phyrexia and it infected mirrodin like a bad rash.
March 16, 2018 11:19 a.m.
That's a REALLY great summary, Boza; thanks tons!
As we approach DOM this summer, you should seriously consider doing up a series of "TL;DR" articles for those of us who are super-interested in Dominaria lore, but a little intimidated by the sheer volume of it ...
March 16, 2018 11:29 a.m.
If I remember the story right, and I'm not sure I do, Yawgmoth either noticed or created a disease called Phthisis (incidentally, an old name for tuberculosis). Is an apparent gesture of goodheartedness, he created a cure and distributed it to a select few Thran, who sponsored him to spread the cure, which largely involved making certain body parts inorganic. If you now anything about how Phyrexians work, you won't be surprised about the name of the cure. By the time anyone caught on to Yawgmoth's work, it was too late.
March 16, 2018 11:30 a.m.
I doubt it will make a comeback in this set--I feel that would have been spoiled alongside Kicker's return. It is such a difficult mechanic to accurately cost, that I would expect it to be featured heavily in their notes for the set.
Just to go on a bit of a lore tangent: I don't think it should be in Dominaria for lore reasons. Dominaria is a (some might say "the") regular plane, with regular mana. Phyrexian mana only appeared on New Phyrexia, which is a bit of an unusual plane, so it would make sense for unusual mana to exist. It began as Mirrodin--an artificial plane created by Karn (this was back before Time Spiral, when Planeswalkers were much closer to gods). Eventually, the plane got taken over by the Phyrexians, becoming New Phyrexia.
I always assumed Phyrexian mana represents the corrupted nature of Mirrodin's original mana. Dominaria has had its share of run-ins with phyrexia, but was not reshaped in the way Mirrodin was. (I've always liked that flavour text. Not sure why, it's not particularly notworthy). I presume the mana is still generally intact.
All things told, I'm super happy to see Phyrexians making a cameo in Dominaria. Phyrexians and Dominaria are, in many sense, Magic--they're the original plane and the original archenemy. That both will be popping up again is fantastic, and I cannot wait to see the inevitable showdown between Bolas and Phyrexia.
March 16, 2018 11:30 a.m. Edited.
LittleBlueHero says... #8
I'm hoping that one of the antagonists is Baron Sengir. The last we saw him it appeared his new army was ready to venture through the dwarven gate on ulgrotha. Its never been revealed where the gate leads, though the baron has sent minions through the gate before and none have returned. This could account for the fact that we have see Sengir Vampire on dominaria before when they shouldn't really be there.
Without going into detail we are currently about 60 or so years in the timeline AFTER leshrac saw Ihsan's Shade readying a vampire army to cross the gate. Which would mean, if the gate did in fact lead to dominaria, the Baron could have established a foothold here and become a player in whatever is going on. It would also better explain Kazarov, Sengir Pureblood being in the set.
Not to mention there would be a vampire army to fight Bolas's zombie army and how awesome is that!
March 16, 2018 11:33 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #9
Seriously though, who do you root for if Bolas and the Phyrexians clashed?
Dominaria has such a rich lore that it makes me happy to see them paying homage to various major points in the story. We also spent so much time on Dominaria that I personally feel much more attached to the storyline of that plane than any other. I will never forget the "oh crap" moment for the Dominarians depicted in No Mercy, or Darigaaz finally revolting against Rith in Insolence (those flavor texts though).
I kind of hope that with the return to the single large set format we can spend more time (multiple sets) on various planes. It is cool and all to go to new planes and see/experience new things, but I don't feel we spend enough time on each plane to really connect with it. Plus the constant shifting planes is a bit jarring to the flow of the story at times.
March 16, 2018 11:49 a.m.
clayperce, be aware that what I posted is notes on the cliffnotes for the stories on phyrexia and dominaria. The link has a lot more than a single post.
Also, while the phyrexian thing is a major plot point in Dominaria, the number of sagas should indicate to those uninitiated that a lot has happened on the Plane. I will put in the list below the cards from the Dominaria release notes that give us a clue about what they will showcase from Dominaria:
- The order of the Benalish knights (Benalish Marshal)
- Liliana's origin (she is from Dominaria) (no card yet)
- Various elder dragons (Darigaaz Reincarnated)
- Sengir Vampires, undead and various other cults (arvad the cursed)
- Keld warlord trbe (grand warlord radha)
- Jodah, the badass human who could battle on par with godlike planeswalkers. (jodah, archmage eternal)
- A lot of the history of the Weatherlight crew and the semi-sentient Weatherlight ship itself. (Shanna, Sisay's Legacy, Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain, Squee, the Immortal, Tiana, Ship's Caretaker).
- The next in line of the thought-to-be-extinct Umezawa clan, slayers of Bolas (Tetsuko Umezawa)
- Setting up much of the Kamigawa story (The Mirari Conjecture)
- The story of Teferi - an archmage planeswalker who lost his spark to protect his home and the multiverse - is now regaining his spark (teferi, hero of dominaria)
March 16, 2018 12:16 p.m.
The word "root" has a VERY different meaning in Australia than elsewhere.
If you "root, root, root for the home team", you must be very ... popular.
March 16, 2018 12:53 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #12
Argy that is actually really funny. The 7th inning stretch at american baseball games must be quite humorous to Aussies then?
Side note: Darigaaz is actually a primeval/primordial dragon, not an elder dragon (fun fact for those unaware, the primeval dragons are collectively known as The Ur-Dragon). They are a step below the elders (i.e. Bolas) and can't planeswalk.
March 16, 2018 1:14 p.m.
I do accompanying actions while singing, "Take me out to the ball game".
It amuses me. Coz I'm five.
March 16, 2018 1:53 p.m.
I know I'll be cheering for Phyrexia's victory over Bolas. Phyrexia has always been the most pervasive, constant threat to the multiverse--seeing it return in force would be glorious. Admittedly, my increasing boredom with the Gatewatch has soured me a tad toward Bolas--he is a bit too tied up in their stories right now.
Now... if we can have Bolas be defeated and subsequently be "perfected" by Jin-Gitaxias... That would be lovely.
March 16, 2018 2:27 p.m.
SkyknightXi says... #15
I will admit that I've had hypotheses that the transfiguring oil predates Yawgmoth, and that he may well have welcomed its effects on him. In other words, that the Phyrexian genius doesn't actually have a color (not that it does now, not with Elesh Norn at the helm); it was only associated with black in the past because that was what Yawgmoth was like. Not to mention that Yawgmoth wasn't so much Phyrexia's god as Phyrexia's foremost prophet.
That said, should the Multiverse even have a single over-arching villain? Nothing wrong with a proper Big Bad Ensemble. Just have to get Bolas to relinquish some of his spotlight, is all.
March 16, 2018 7:28 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #16
What if, after all this time Bolas has been manipulating and scheming, using people, drawing them to Dominaria to help save his home world... maybe he has a complex and can't simply ask people for help... ;)
March 16, 2018 8:01 p.m.
The major bad guys so far have included Yawgmoth in the background, Volrath, Nicol Bolas, and the Eldrazi Titans. Yawgmoth is about as dead as it gets, the Eldrazi are dead or imprisoned (willingly, but I suspect that won't last much longer), Volrath is dead, and Nicol Bolas is still active. SkyknightXi has a point--there's no reason there should be only one evil overlord. Maybe it's time for a new bad guy.
March 16, 2018 10:06 p.m.
Don't forget that our gal Nahiri, the Harbinger, and the baddest badarse of them all Ob Nixilis Reignited, are still around.
March 17, 2018 5:40 a.m. Edited.
I now notice some incorrect things in my story points that other users have pointed out. Darigaaz is not really an elder dragon, phyrexian oil has more to it than I have mentioned, but the idea is to wet your apetite. All of the story bits mentioned span several Magic novels and are hard to summarize in a couple of sentences. One major thing I forgot to mention:
- The brothers war - Urza, Academy Headmaster vs Mishra, Artificer Prodigy, while mishra was helped by phyrexia in the form of their agent Gix (Priest of Gix). Mishra still lost, but their war had lasting implications on Dominaria. Card in the Dominaria Release Notes for this one is The Antiquities War
March 17, 2018 7:45 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #20
Boza, what do you mean by "Spike mana?" Does Phyrexian mana somehow appeal to Spike players?
Also, the idea of "hexproof from black" or "hexproof from white" is ridiculous, since it is worse than both normal hexproof and protection; why could WotC not have simply revived protection, especially since this set will be on the original plane of this game?
March 17, 2018 9:38 a.m.
I know what Boza was shorthanding.
A lot of cards with Phexian mana costs tend to be expensive in price, due to becoming favoured by Spikes, because of how effective they are.
That would only be seen as offensive if you took the word "Spike" as being an insult.
It isn't. It just describes a certain type of player.
"Hexproof from x" is different from "Protection from x", and I for one am glad about that.
Protection was a tricky concept for me to pick up in my early days of Magic.
I think it's much better to say that something can't be the target of certain colored spells, than to say it also can't be blocked by a whole raft of Creatures.
Sucks to be you if your deck is momocoloured.
gg
March 17, 2018 9:52 a.m.
Phyrexian mana is also the mana used on Spike, Tournament Grinder.
March 17, 2018 12:06 p.m.
Protection is a terribly clunky ability, particularly for new users. Ive seen more questions about this keyword than any other. People do not understand why they have protection from Blasphemous Act, but not Worldfire. Or why Cyclonic Rift cant hit their creature, except when it is overloaded it can.
I have bad memories of protectionI started playing Magic before reminder text on evergreen keywords, and before internet resources could really solve arguments. Unfortunately, with protection, little has changedthe most common protection cards (Progenitus and Emrakul, the Aeons Torn) do not contain reminder text, ensuring confusion for a whole new generation of players.
Hexproof from X is a bit easier on newer players, and, as Argy pointed out, the lower power keeps the creature from steamrolling entire decks.
March 17, 2018 1:41 p.m. Edited.
To errata my comment above:
colored = coloured
momocoloured = monocoloured
March 17, 2018 3:12 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #26
Argy, I definitely do not regard "Spike" as an insult; I know that it is a player demographic.
March 17, 2018 10:48 p.m.
Rat Colony means that I am considering building a deck with , for one of the few times in my life.
Ratsssss.
If they reprint Typhoid Rats I will be ecstatic.
March 18, 2018 6:37 a.m. Edited.
@Argy: What are you going to use the in Rat Colony for? I'm legitimately curious. It seems to me like in standard would be the best combo.
Also: I don't think Typhoid Rats is likely, though that would be awesome, but I could see Ravenous Rats coming back? They're definitely going to print more rats, otherwise Rat Colony doesn't make much sense on its own in the set. We know it's going to be a rat with a simple effect that doesn't need clarification (since it's not on the release notes), and if it is a reprint, it'll probably be something iconic to Dominaria, like the other reprints we know of so far - and while Typhoid has never been in a Dominaria set, Ravenous has been on plenty, and its printing history shows that they really like to reprint it - it's also been a while since the last time. Either way it's not that exciting because Ravenous Rats is far from being the coolest rat out there. XD
Anyway, whatever they print, I'll be happy! Rats and Saprolings are my favorite things ever in Magic and this set was kind enough to bring both back after a long hiatus (those crappy Ixalan Saprolings don't count). Can't wait to see the ones that haven't been spoiled yet.
March 18, 2018 7:55 a.m.
This is why I want to feel compelled to use
among other excellent cards.
All those Indestructiblw Rats coming atcha.
Then coming back atcha.
March 18, 2018 8:24 a.m.
I don't think we'll see Dinos in a new expansion for a while.
March 18, 2018 1:01 p.m.
HARDsofty the dinosaurs of Ixalan are very similar to dragons, but with different names, as mentioned in the text of Dragonskull Summit.
March 18, 2018 3:56 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #34
I could see a dinosaur showing up here and there on Dominaria since they now do technically exist on the plane.
March 18, 2018 6:53 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #35
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor, if that is the case, where were they, before? How will WotC explain that retcon?
March 18, 2018 9:05 p.m.
The following dinosaurs have appeared on Dominaria--each received errata to Dinosaur was it was added as a subtype.
Dromosaur, Frenetic Raptor, Fungusaur, Imperiosaur, Putrid Raptor, Pygmy Allosaurus, Ridgetop Raptor, and Shivan Raptor.
That said, while they have appeared, I highly doubt we will see dinosaurs in this set. And that's fine--Dominaria should have Beasts and Kavu. Dinosaurs are not really right for the plane (or really most planes).
March 18, 2018 9:36 p.m.
DemonDragonJ do you think Wizards knows what they are doing?
Don't you think that they have a lot of experience by now?
March 19, 2018 6:39 a.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #38
They already spoiled a new dinosaur. Territorial Allosaurus I think it was?
March 19, 2018 9:42 a.m.
Thanks LittleBlueHero, I totally missed that one. Whoa!
Territorial Allosaurus
Creature - Dinosaur
5/5
Kicker (You may pay an additional as you cast this spell.)
When Territorial Allosaurus enters the battlefield, if it was kicked, it fights another target creature.
March 19, 2018 11:45 a.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #40
No problem.
I hope there are a couple in the set. don't need to be a ton just enough to help some of the dino decks weaknesses.
That guy is definitely good enough for me to sideboard in my mono green stompy against midrangey decks for sure. If my mana acceleration is more consistent with Llanowar Elves I could even see it making the mainboard over 1 or 2 of Crocodile of the Crossing I am currently running... though the haste is so hard to give up.
March 19, 2018 3:34 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #42
More spoilers today folks.
I think the title needs to be changed
March 21, 2018 11:52 a.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #43
Im a little surprised that Firesong and Sunspeaker are only available through buy a box promotions. I guess its a nice incentive for people to buy, but i still feel like there will be a ton of these floating around the secondary market.
Also LOVE LOVE LOVE the special borders on Legendary cards. Not sure if its just me but I think it makes them feel more unique and special for sure.
March 21, 2018 4:26 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #44
Little bit of a card that was spoiled yesterday: Part of the FNM promo suite
Cast Down
Instant
Rarity: Uncommon
Destroy target nonlegendary creature
March 23, 2018 10:38 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #45
Interesting, it seems that they have included a little line on the new cards to separate rules text from flavor text. Also, that artwork on the non promo Zhalfirin Void + its flavor text is amazing.
March 23, 2018 11:27 a.m.
FINALLY a decent 2 drop for x Control.
Walk the Plank is not as good as it could be, due to the and Sorcery speed.
Here's why I want to build a Rat Colony deck.
When I went to India I visited a rat temple.
The worst part? You had to remove your shoes before entering, and there was rat shit EVERYWHERE.
I used to work with rats for a living.
Those ones above look like the species rattus rattus to me. Commonly known as the black rat.
March 23, 2018 1:05 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #48
That 2-drop removal makes me smile Argy
Won't replace Fatal Push, but that is a good one.
But that complicates my brewing; I want to go U/W control; and some suggested Esper control, but I bombed badly last time I went Esper
March 23, 2018 3:06 p.m.
You don't need Esper with this new card.
I personally will be running it ALONG with Walk the Plank, and Fatal Push, in .
Will help immeasurably against Aggro.
Caerwyn says... #1
The logic does not change depending on which cards you were talking about--whether it is Alpha or Future Sight, just because something was done in a less efficient manner in the past does not justify a refusal to add new protections moving forward. Besides, Magic produces new cards all the time. We don't know what new card might become the next Snapcaster Mage--we might as well institute broad-spectrum security to make Amonkhet's costly cards a tad more difficult to fake 5 years from now.
As for it being pointless, I do not agree with your conclusion. From a brief googling, making a high quality hologram requires very specific technology that can cost several thousand dollars. Even so, there are usually errors and inconsistencies between the original and the fake. An expensive, difficult-to-perfect security mechanism is pretty much the definition of effectiveness.
March 16, 2018 9:43 a.m.