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.
Slivers dominate the design of any set they are introduced in. They need a considerable number of Slivers to be a playable tribe in a standard format. But if you hit that critcial mass, they have a tendency to be brokenly powerful, so the rest of the set needs to be designed around them.
Wizards said they wanted to create a lore-filled, explorative set with Dominaria. Slivers, they felt, would skew their focus, leading to a less intricate, interesting set.
March 25, 2018 6:05 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #5
Wizard's Lightning and Wizard's Retort art and flavor text are spoiled. I love how they play off of each other:
March 26, 2018 11:11 a.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #6
I may have missed the boat but how exactly are spoilers happening?
I know I read on the mothership that they were starting things early and different outlets still were interested in "spoiling" cards that had been leaked.
Just curious if anyone knew more about when spoilers will start becoming more frequent.
March 26, 2018 11:20 a.m.
LittleBlueHero: typically a month before we begin getting spoilers and it typically lasts for 2 weeks.
Another spoiler:
March 26, 2018 11:27 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #8
Hmmm, I just noticed something (I apologize if this was obvious to others), but both Shanna and Danitha appear to be descendants from, or at least are from the same bloodline as original Weatherlight crew members. They are also at uncommon rarity.
I think this is a nice touch by WoTC. I may be reading too much into this, but from my perspective WoTC is acknowledging the greatness of the original crew members by keeping this new generation of characters at a lower rarity. WoTC could even be planning to increase these new characters' rarity as their storylines progress which I think would be cool.
I wonder if some of these other uncommon legendaries are related to previous Weatherlight crew members?
March 26, 2018 12:16 p.m.
Except Gerrard never had a child himself. A relative of his, maybe?
March 26, 2018 12:38 p.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #10
Well lets think about whose left
Ertai is dead. Hannah is dead. Rofellos is dead. Mirri is dead. Starke is dead. Crovax is dead but his curse may not be. Karn is in the set. Multaini is in the set. Squee is still kicking in the set. Orim had returned to Mercadia to be with Cho-manno so its definitely possible there. Tahngarth was still alive after the legacy and was adventuring with Sisay and Squee so I hope his line continues.
So really of whats left 2 strong possibilities unless maybe they retcon something to say that mirri had kids or hannah did or something weird.
March 26, 2018 12:41 p.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #11
Gerrard legacy isn't a child or a relative. His DNA was used in a process to attempt to create the perfect soldiers back in the day to fight off Yawgmoth which was where the Methran came from.
To put it simply think of Jango Fett and all his clones.
March 26, 2018 12:43 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #12
Danitha doesn't have to be directly descendant from Gerrard, but she is of the Capashan clan. There could be some blood relation there, though most of his family was destroyed by the Phyrexians.
I don't know, it was just something I noticed and thought would be a cool route for WoTC to go as long as they don't start retconning the original story.
March 26, 2018 1:14 p.m.
What happened is that Sarkhan brought Elspeth back from the dead, but in Gerrad's time frame.
They had children and voila!
(not really - I know very little of the lore)
March 26, 2018 10:16 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #16
K34, I disagree, as I believe that she is clearly feminine, but she simply has well-developed muscles, and her name also is very feminine.
Also, why is her title simply "paragon?" Of what is she a paragon?
March 27, 2018 8:52 p.m.
K34 I can see what you're saying.
She definitely has no well defined chest area, and her features aren't strongly female or male.
Her name could easily be either that of a woman or a man.
March 27, 2018 11:05 p.m.
scotchtapedsleeves says... #18
Wizards really screwed up with the Firesong and Sunspeaker Promo only thing, I think it's fair to assume that they are every commander player's new dream non-jank boros commander, and to have them that expensive will be deadly. Plus, brawl is a thing now, and Firesong and Sunspeaker are gonna make a big impact in it if there even is one in the playgroup.
March 27, 2018 11:17 p.m.
scotchtapedsleeves says... #20
K34 I found out about it yesterday and put my Firesong and Sunspeaker deck on hold pretty much indefinitely, I'm still gonna post it once it's done but that'll be a while, no incentive anymore.
Speaking of which, Suns_Champion, are you planning on getting a Firesong and Sunspeaker? Your deck is insane and it would be amazing to play.
March 27, 2018 11:33 p.m.
Apparently MaRo has admitted that Wizards fucked up with the buy a box promo only idea.
Not sure if that will translate into them doing something about it.
Wizards is dropping the ball a lot, these days.
March 28, 2018 5:45 a.m.
Argy - Specifically MaRo said that they have heard loud and clear that this was unpopular, not that it was a mistake. Source
March 28, 2018 6:13 a.m.
Suns_Champion says... #23
scotchtapedsleeves yes. My playgroup and I draft occasionally so I do plan to get one with a box of Dominaria.
That being said I'm still mad about the situation, because it's a Buy-A-Box exclusive, so they had to be very careful to just make it very okay/good and not great or else the price would spike. If it was highly playable in every format that'd be a problem, thus the 6 cmc, only red spells get lifelink, only white spells cause damage, doesn't pass the vanilla test, etc. It's frustrating. They try to do "something special for commander players" but fail to understand what Boros commander players want and need. Halfway there, Wizards.
I wish they had just put them in the set. Then they could have made them something fair like 5 cmc and I could have drafted/pre-released them.
Also, I do not care about Brawl.
But yeah, I'll be getting one. I was excited about Firesong and Sunspeaker before this info came out and I'm still excited after; the card hasn't changed so neither should I. I've playtested my deck a few times: it is amazing to play!
March 28, 2018 7:19 a.m.
scotchtapedsleeves says... #24
Maybe they'll realize their mistake, not that they already have, and put it in Dominaria Pt. 2, though that would still be too late.
March 28, 2018 7:57 a.m.
I would be surprised if that happened.
I think Wizards knew there would be complaints, but that more people will buy boxes anyway, which is their ultimate goal.
I can see a lot of people buying boxes, given that there is a Lengendary Creature in each pack. That's a hell of a lot of value.
The timing of Brawl is a little strange.
It's so close to a rotation that I, and some other brewers, have put together decks that we have no inclination to build in paper.
Why would you, when the whole deck will rotate out soon?
You'd wait until after the next rotation. By then then format might be old news, though, and go the way of Tiny Leaders.
I will be interested to see what happens with it. My old EDH playgroup is showing interest, albeit for odd reasons eg. That there won't be any broken combos, tutors, or OP lands or cards in the format.
March 28, 2018 8:54 a.m. Edited.
How to make Brawl work:
Ignore Wizards' suggestion to keep the pool to Standard legal cards.
Allow cards from M15 onwards, like Frontier does.
Keep other building restrictions the same.
FIXED!!
Then you can use your old favourite cards, the power level shouldn't be too bad, and you don't need to worry about your deck rotating out.
March 28, 2018 9:51 a.m.
How to make Brawl work:
Ignore Wizards' suggestion to keep the pool to Standard legal cards.
Allow cards from M15 onwards, like Frontier does.
Keep other building restrictions the same.
FIXED!!
Then you can use your old favourite cards, the power level shouldn't be too bad, and you don't need to worry about your deck rotating out.
Call it Frontier Brawl.
March 28, 2018 9:54 a.m.
IMO Argy, the timing of Brawl was VERY carefully calculated ...
Tons of Legendaries in DOM, tons of (now-historic) Artifacts in KLD and AER, and it's just long enough before rotation to get some play value out of a new Brawl deck? Sounds like perfect timing ... to sell as many cards from about-to-rotate sets as possible.
FWIW, I'm not irritated by that at all. I want MTG to stick around for at least another 25 years, so I'm all for Wizards coming up with new ways to sell cards that would otherwise sit in a warehouse somewhere! :-)
March 28, 2018 10:03 a.m. Edited.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #29
My guess is that the Brawl format will be short lived. It is clearly geared towards new players as an introduction to EDH. That poses a few problems though:
1) Their target audience is a smaller than normal group of magic players. I think some more tenured EDH players will give it a shot which will boost the format initially, but they will lose interest due to the rotation of cards.
2) An inherent issue of the structure of the Brawl format is that they will have an ever fluctuating player base as players start out in Brawl, get the hang of a singleton format, and then move into EDH once their collections grow enough/realize how much more EDH has to offer. As a result, I feel that this will make it difficult for LGS to support the format with events.
3) One of the beautiful aspects of EDH is that you can build a competitive deck (not cEDH competitive) for cheap that won't rotate. I suspect new players who build a Brawl deck for budget/card selection reasons will simply be forced into EDH once a rotation happens in Standard.
On a spoiler note, it looks like the Planeswalker deck cards are spoiled. The Teferi actually looks halfway decent:
Here is the Chandra:
March 28, 2018 10:16 a.m.
AgentGreen says... #30
Chandra's PW deck card is decent too. Expensive sure, but you get some ramp out of it and can bolt things.
March 28, 2018 11:07 a.m.
clayperce oh I know about all the Legendary and Artifact cards.
Do you know of anyone who is starting up a play group for Brawl? My friends were saying they won't until after rotation, until we talked about Frontier Brawl.
I don't want Wizards to fail, far from it.
I just object to being manipulated to the nth degree, and them not focusing on Standard enough to make it a success.
Good cards, and interesting interactions, should sell a set.
Not buy a box only promotions.
March 28, 2018 11:14 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #32
Called it. Danitha is definitely a relative of Gerrard, though it looks like her younger brother, Raff, will be actually playing a larger part in the story.
Also, I am loving the templating and artwork of the saga cards more and more. Some of them are quite beautiful.
March 29, 2018 12:36 p.m.
Are the designs behind the rules text on Sagas just decorative, or are they some sort of signifier, like watermarks?
March 29, 2018 12:39 p.m.
I'm also enjoying the art and designs of the sagas. Time of Ice seems fine if a bit slow. I assume that standard is going to slow down a lot to make sagas more playable.
Please offer conjecture on how to make The Mirari Conjecture playable in standard :) My conjecture before seeing the full set spoiler is that 90% of the time when you cast it on curve you will lose as a result. I enjoy build arounds, but this seems a stretch.
Five mana that doesn't affect the board and does nothing until you untap, and then it only draws you 2 cards that you've probably already cast, costing 1-4 CMC, so nothing too powerful. What are the best instants to return? Settle the Wreckage? You probably don't want to cast that on T4. Maybe card draw, but then, you might just be dead on opponents turn.
So it's probably cantrips and cheap removal. The kind of stuff that you don't want to copy with Saga III, because it doesn't advance your board position.
Alternatively, there's some room for using cards like Skyship Plunderer, getting two cards that turn, and going off on T6 if you're very lucky.
Maybe, you cast it later, when you can have more lands up for III. Even then, I am not sure what expensive spells will win you the game.
It's a terrible shame that it's not sorcery then instant, since you could cast an instant on turn 6, and then return it immediately.
March 30, 2018 8:49 a.m. Edited.
I don't see Standard slowing down, just to accomodate some new cards.
I don't know about other places but at our LGS Aggro consistently wins the night.
I think the Sagas are going to be strong in Limited. Haven't seen one spoiled yet that I consider a must play in Standard.
March 30, 2018 9:56 a.m.
I think that the History of Benalia is a strong conteder for White aggro. There are several spoiled knights that are very cost efficient and a lot of the Ixalan vampires are knights (or soldiers). With ascend from rivals, history of benalia and Legion's Landing Flip both give you 2 permanents and this will allow you to play Ascend Nacatl Snubhorn Sentry.
A low curve topping out at 3 mana for the benalish anthem on a stick dude and History will be powerful in standard.
March 30, 2018 10:02 a.m.
Time of Ice might have my favourite art in recent memory. I'm a huge fan of for Quinton Hoover, Rebecca Guay, and other stylistic artists and have been disheartened by the move away from stylistic, almost medieval card arts toward photo-realism. I love the flavour of "here is an ancient saga, let's depict it with art befitting of the old Dominaria sets."
March 30, 2018 10:12 a.m. Edited.
AgentGreen says... #38
Today is April 2nd....the first day of official spoiler season
Let the hype train go into 3rd gear
April 2, 2018 9 a.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #40
Weatherlight is pretty cool. I love the flavor. Drop Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain. The follow it up with this, draw a card. Next turn crew Weatherlight with Jhoira, Swing with it, get a card, cast it, draw another card... its like the ship is searching out its crew I love it!
More importantly though... how cute is this guy and his little saps?
April 2, 2018 11:51 a.m.
AgentGreen says... #41
The Weatherlight is a decent vehicle, but in a format that has Abrade, and the theory that Wizards is a thing, may be frozen out of the format
April 2, 2018 2:54 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #42
Looks like I was right about the new generation of the Weatherlight crew (besides Jhoira and Multani?) being uncommons. That is pretty cool. I hope that as the story progresses, WoTC will upshift future cards of these characters in rarity.
Liking today's spoilers so far. Jaya's art is pretty cool. We got a nice card draw/filter card for white in Board the Weatherlight. Both Raff and the Weatherlight themselves look like solid cards. Cabal Paladin could be interesting in Brawl, but his effect is probably too weak to make a splash in EDH.
April 2, 2018 3:26 p.m.
LittleBlueHero says... #43
Im digging the artwork for this set so much. I wasn't particularly interested it this guy until I saw his art.
April 2, 2018 4:27 p.m.
Suns_Champion says... #44
EDH Breya/Artifact decks will like this.
Also a great limited card. 3/3 flash flyer for 4? Yes please.
April 2, 2018 6:20 p.m.
Agent_Fire says... #45
Weatherlight is too weak with abrade running around also Raff allows you to do an instant speed wrath in standard
April 2, 2018 6:37 p.m.
With some of the cards from the last set that combo is looking like a go in this Standard.
For example Storm Fleet Sprinter.
I'm glad Ascend is a mechanic in this set. I'm quite enjoying it.
April 2, 2018 7:12 p.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #48
Belzenlok is awesome, but I wish to again express my concern about black cards dealing damage instead of causing life loss, which is more appropriate for that color. I really hope that WotC has not decided that it is pointless to have two abilities that are very similar, because they have important differences in flavor and functionality. First, they depower mass life drain, and now, they do this.
April 2, 2018 10:41 p.m.
Could somebody please get me a fan?
I've been looking at
for too long.
Cosplay alert!!
April 3, 2018 3:33 a.m.
PS. How nice to actually see a female with modest yet oh so cool dress sense, and a realistically shaped body.
Argy says... #1
AgentGreen says "but I bombed badly last time I went Esper"
That's what can happen if you force colours in order to build around one card.
March 24, 2018 2:45 a.m.