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.
The use of colour to denote rarity has only been true since Exodus, 1998. So 20 years, not 25.
April 10, 2018 10:59 p.m.
DemonDragonJ you often ask the forum why Wizard has decided to do something.
We have as much idea as you have.
If you have a bit of a think, you can usually work it out.
If you can't work it out, why would you assume that we can?
We have the exact amount of knowledge that you have.
April 10, 2018 11:07 p.m.
Sorry for the double post.
I wanted to check this statement:
"they will look to similar to the silver uncommon symbols"
I think you meant to write "too similar".
I will let that one go. You may have been tired, or poorly educated.
Now, my eyes are 50 years old, but I can CLEARLY make out the difference between this:
and this:
I like the white. It harkens back to those earlier days of white-bordered cards; back when we first visited Dominaria.
It would be a difficult symbol to make completely black. You would lose the cool pattern.
See? Told ya if you had a think about it you might come up with your own answer.
April 10, 2018 11:20 p.m. Edited.
I'm not too big on the white symbols. If they can make the Portal symbol white on black and still keep the image looking good, or the Invasion symbol, I bet they can do it with Dominaria. If it's just a one-off thing for this set, then I'll live with it. It might even grow on me. Like a fungus.
April 10, 2018 11:55 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #7
Someone help me out here: Why is there no love for Oath of Teferi? Is it because it does very little for its cost?
April 11, 2018 9:20 a.m.
I'd say it's because it was part of the release notes, thus the hype dwindled.
April 11, 2018 9:25 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #9
Looks like the saproling/fungus support is starting to show up:
Fungus Field
Enchantment, Uncommon
, Exile a creature card from you graveyard: Create a 1/1 green saproling creature token.
Sacrifice two saprolings: Draw a card and gain 2 life
Swarm of Spores
Instant, Uncommon
Create three 1/1 green saproling creature tokens
Also, holy crap! This might be one of the better reanimation commanders created in a long while. I doubt she will replace the likes of Chainer, Dementia Master or Yahenni, Undying Partisan, but dang she is good.
Lastly, this card itself is meh, but the flavor texts seems like a future story plot point:
Could Yavimaya become corrupted in the future through contact with these "protectors"?
April 11, 2018 10:54 a.m.
All the Aristocrat players will have their sensors pinging with the spoiler of that latest Creature.
April 11, 2018 11:54 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #11
Argy, I am not "poorly educated," to use your phrase, and I am deeply offended that you would dare to suggest that; I received straight A's through all twelve grades of school and I graduated from college with highest honors, a GPA of 3.85 out of 4.0. I simply was typing my previous post very quickly, and did not notice that I had used an improper word.
April 11, 2018 8:22 p.m.
JANKYARD_DOG says... #12
Dominaria Exclusive Preview Card:
Thraxos, Scourge of Kroog
Legendary Artifact Creature - Construct
Trample
Thraxos enters the battlefield tapped and doesn't untap during your untap step
Whenever you cast a historic spell, untap Thraxos
7/7 Rare
April 11, 2018 8:28 p.m. Edited.
Next up, a Thrax deck with Thraximundar, Spawn of Thraxes, and Thraxos, Scourge of Kroog.
Does Thrax translate to world, red paint, or he who?
April 11, 2018 8:56 p.m.
With a name like Thraxos, Thraximundar and Daxos were probably melded by Emrakul at some point during SOI block.
Jokes aside, I like the callback to the Brother's War and, specifically (in a way), Colossus of Sardia.
April 11, 2018 9:22 p.m.
@AgentGreen Oath of Teferi is amazing in it's archetype
I think will be really strong at prerelease. Plz give me all the Cloudreader Sphinx and their flying friends! Green will be the color to outpace. I hope they reveal more removal, right?
As always, I'm stoked for 2HG to reeeally see the archetypes shine
A TON of commander options throughout; Dominaria is back with a bang
P.s. I'm on the "meh" train for the white common symbols. Shoulda maybe stuck with masters 25 ?
April 11, 2018 11:20 p.m.
I've played two headed giant once with a magic buddy of mine.
April 11, 2018 11:23 p.m.
I'm sooooooooooooo happy for the new Saproling cards. While the new Swarm of Spores is not always as strong as Scatter the Seeds, it's much nicer on an empty board.
Still, I'm upset that Saprolings need four mana to make three creatures when Spirits and Goblins can do it for three mana, and Spirits fly. Granted, those are sorceries - but I would have preferred a three mana sorcery instead of a four mana instant.
Which's not to say I won't be using the new card. It can share Scatter the Seeds' slot for a while and we can see how that goes.
All they need to do now to make me REALLY happy is print some really nice 1-drop thallid.
April 12, 2018 7:22 a.m.
Also, sorry to double post, but look at how gorgeous this reprint is!!
Sadly this card has always costed too much mana to be reliably played outside of EDH, even with ramp, but I still want to get one of this version just for how pretty it is.
Speaking of pretty: isn't Sporecrown Thallid just gorgeous? I'm in love with all the new Fungi.
April 12, 2018 7:29 a.m.
@ DemonDragonJ I would guess that the move to white common symbols is because they are running out of design options for set symbols, so it's possible that white with black internal outlines lets them add more detail than previously (compared to black with white detailing - the white when used as an outline doesn't show up very well).
Alternatively, maybe some testing they did showed that new players were identifying black common symbols as being rarer than the uncommon symbol. Or that the black symbols were too prominent visually compared to the silver symbols.
Assuredly they had a reason for doing it as almost all, if not all, decisions they make are data driven.
April 12, 2018 9:27 a.m.
AgentGreen says... #20
Looks like they spoiled the rest of the cards
Gideon's Reproach is back. Cool art showing him throwing a magic-enhanced punch
April 12, 2018 11:12 a.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #23
Overall, this set looks awesome. Much more interesting (maybe that is just the nostalgia talking) and powerful than the past few sets. Even though this is a new set, the vibe I get from it is closer to that of a masters set.
It has been a while since I have seen so many new goodies for all of my EDH decks.
Also, you are all probably aware by now of my love for the artwork of this set, but I have to say, who ever did the flavor text for this set was brilliant.
April 12, 2018 1:23 p.m.
Don't you find that everyone gets excited about each new set, and kind of says THIS will be the set that changes everything (Standard in particular), then we play with it for a while, learn which cards are broken af, and the sheen wears off?
I think this set is definitely one for the Commander players, and the art lovers.
In those regards I think it is great.
April 12, 2018 1:31 p.m.
Agreed. I'd venture to say that Dominaria is the best set released since...I'd say either Khans or Origins (Of all time, definitely closer to Khans).
I love the soldier and the stained-glass knight tokens for the set. it made me wish I was running a tokens deck because those are amazing. The throwbacks are really cool too.
I even may have found the perfect EDH general in Hallar, the FIrefletcher. Such a unique design yet perfectly functional in EDH. The new legendary borders are awesome as well.
My only gripe is the Cabal's plan to rewrite history. As an ex-historian, this really ruffles my feathers.
April 12, 2018 1:56 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #26
This set has ALOT going for it.
As a control player I was initially concerned with the removal suite, but it seems really solid
I do believe U/W control is going to be strong with this set
April 12, 2018 2:15 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #27
Argy: Excitement and hyperbole are natural with any new set of cards. We will obviously see in a few weeks if the hype for this set is justified, and I am totally guilty of initially declaring a set great only to later on change my tune. However, this is a first time in a while that a set feels "complete" to me.
I am just a filthy casual EDH and Limited player though, so take my comments for what they are worth.
April 12, 2018 3:20 p.m.
Torgaar, Famine Incarnate is my next EDH deck. Maybe Brawl, but I don't pay enough attention to Standard. Definitely EDH.
After skimming the whole spoiler list, there really is a sense of the history of Dominaria throughout, both in mechanics (Howling Golem, Unwind) and flavor (Serra Angel, every single Saga). I wish there had been more about Sarpadia specifically, with one Homarid and a Thrull being the representatives, but maybe the Thallids and Saprolings count. I just want to know more about the pre-Fallen Empires cultures.
Also, Short Sword = Leonin Scimitar = Honed Khopesh. Everyone gets their basic sword.
Overall, I really like it. Good work, WotC.
April 12, 2018 5:14 p.m.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor this set looks MUCH better for Sealed than either in the Ixalan block.
The four different Tribes meant that you did very well if you got a lot of one Tribe, very poorly if you had a mix of each.
April 12, 2018 8:53 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #32
somsoc, I would also guess that WotC wishes to save ink by making common expansion symbols white, although I imagine that the amount of ink that they save shall by doing that would be minimal.
With the entire set now revealed, I do not have time to comment on every card, but how can Kazarov, Sengir pureblood be on Dominaria? Is not the Sengir family from Ulgrotha, or is there a connection between the two planes?
Eviscerate is slightly better than impale, but still far worse than most creature destruction spells; how can WotC actually think that anyone will use such a card?
The return of kicker is awesome, but far too many of the cards with it have kicker costs that are prohibitively expensive, which severely limits their usability, and I still do not understand why the black cards are dealing damage rather than causing loss of life.
I do have some complaints, but I overall am very excited about this set, and I will definitely be participating in the prerelease, after no doing so for those of the Ixalan block.
April 12, 2018 9:20 p.m.
@DemonDragonJ: The Sengir family is originally from Dominaria, but Baron Sengir was taken to Ulgrotha, where he started a new Sengir line. It's fair to say that the Sengir who remained in Dominaria would be a of a purer lineage - thus, the Sengir Pureblood.
As for the crappy kill spells, I don't play limited myself, but I assume that's what they're for. Not every card in a set can be amazing. Only a handful of cards in each set can actually be strong enough to see competitive constructed play, or it really breaks the game. This set already has Cast Down, so other removal spells need to be weaker.
As for kicker, eh. That's how it's always been. Versatility raises the cost of cards. But a lot of the new kicker cards are still usable despite that, and I for one am very excited to get my hands on Saproling Migration.
April 13, 2018 7:39 a.m.
DemonDragonJ says...
"how can WotC actually think that anyone will use such a card?"
There you go again.
Asking us why Wizards has chosen to do something.
We can't answer for Wizards. We have the same amount of information that you do.
April 13, 2018 7:43 a.m.
I'm going to work on a Modern fungus/saproling deck after this set gets released!
April 13, 2018 8:11 a.m.
I am not a limited player either (excepting prerelease), but ellie-is seems correct. Let us consider his some:
Eviscerate is a common spell. It kills any creature, regardless of mana cost, colour, toughness. That is all fantastic, and at premium in limited formats.
It is okay that this costs a lot. In limited, your opponent is unlikely to have many bombs. They play their bomb on turn five, you kill it turn five. You are much more likely to have a finisher in hand than they are to have a second finisher.
The one black, and the fact that you do not need to cast it until you have had several chances to draw lands means this is quite easily splashed in any deck. You could run 3 swamps, and still be likely to have one in play by the time you need it.
Edit: greyninja: +1 for Mars Attacks reference.
April 13, 2018 9:05 a.m. Edited.
DemonDragonJ says... #40
cdkime, that make sense, but the fact that the spell is a sorcery severely limits its usefulness; it is no accident that the majority of creature destruction spells in this game are instants. I could forgive the high mana cost of the spell if it were an instant, or I could accept it being a sorcery if it had a lower mana cost, but not both factors together.
I find myself wondering why spells no longer refer to themselves by name and instead say "this spell," but, rather than ask everyone else, I shall guess that it is because WotC wishes to save words on cards, even if doing so is not as clear as the previous template.
April 14, 2018 8:47 a.m.
I don't think it being at sorcery speed makes that big of a difference in Limited. This is a spell to be cast on turn 5 or turn 6 (depending if on draw or play), after they've played their bomb. Keeping 5 mana available for an opponent's turn in Dominaria limited would be suicide. By that point in the game, your hand size will be pretty low, so your opponent knows you're only likely to have a single instant-speed spell in your hand. There are only so many instant options at 5 mana, so they would know with reasonable cetainty it would be the 5 mana kill spell floating around the format. In that scenario, they're going to be reluctant to cast their bomb, instead getting a free turn to play some mild annoyances.
As to your other point, it will make Gatherer searches so much easier. Rather than searching for two separate terms ("whenever you cast" "exile target creature") you can just write one sentence that will cover every card you need ("whenever you cast this spell, exile target creature").
April 14, 2018 9:45 a.m.
There is literally no downside to the "this spell" change, and plenty of upsides. All I'm sad about is that they didn't do this years ago. But it's one of the least controversial, simplest changes they have made in this batch, and I don't see any reason to defend the previous wording.
April 14, 2018 5:59 p.m.
April 15, 2018 10:39 p.m.
SeekerofSecrets says... #46
Unwind looks really interesting, im gonna pick up a play set and see how it feels in modern
April 16, 2018 8:44 a.m.
I am fascinated by Naru Meha, Master Wizard and its combo potential. I am thinking Ux wizards will be a strong deck coming out of the gates.
April 16, 2018 9:40 a.m.
Agent_Fire says... #48
The problem is that Naru Meha only copies spells you control.
April 16, 2018 9:50 a.m.
Well, yes, but it does enable a myriad of instant speed combos.
Naru Meha, Master Wizard + Release to the Wind + Bontu's Monument drains for infinite. With diligent excavator (whenever you cast a historic spell, it mills 2 cards) it mills for infinite.
Naru Meha, Master Wizard + Siren's Ruse + Bontu's Monument does the same for one mana less.
The jankiest I could think of - Naban, Dean of Iteration + Siren's Ruse + Karn's Temporal Sundering + Naru Meha, Master Wizard - infinite turns.
And these just a few of the monoblue ones in standard I thought of. There are a lot more.
April 16, 2018 10:05 a.m. Edited.
Hi_diddly_ho_neighbor says... #50
Anyone think that there might be a viable robots deck in standard now that we have Traxos, Scourge of Kroog, Mox Amber, and Karn, Scion of Urza? Maybe make it R/U to abuse with Jhoira, Weatherlight Captain?
The two artifact lords from Kaladesh are still around, plus Walking Ballista, Merchant's Dockhand, Scrap Trawler from Aether Revolt, and Golden Guardian Flip from Rivals of Ixalan. Could be an interesting deck.
DemonDragonJ says... #1
I noticed only just now that the common cards in this set have white expansion symbols, rather than black ones. That is a minor change, but it still annoys me very much, because there does not seem to be any good reason for it, as they will look to similar to the silver uncommon symbols.
This is another instance of WotC making a change for no good reason, when it was something that has worked for twenty-five years. What does everyone else say about this? Why is WotC making such a change?
April 10, 2018 10:24 p.m.