Plane Revisits Speculation - Phyrexia or Alara
Spoilers, Rumors, and Speculation forum
Posted on Nov. 4, 2015, 9:52 p.m. by OmegaAura113
It seems that the side sets and products WotC releases every year hints at the main block plane of the next (with this year's hinting at both of next year's planes). I'm not talking about only core sets, but cards that strongly suggest a revisit.
Last year we had Tarkir's trek through time to find Ugin, a colorless planeswalker, with strong ties to Zendikar. In addition, we had Nahiri and Ob Nixils' planeswalker forms introduced in last year's commander decks and reprints of the three Titans in MM2 a short time before BFZ was announced - all of them pointing at Zendikar from the beginning.
This year's hints are a bit more subtle, but definitely there: FTV Angels reprinted Avacyn, and Commander this year brings Gisela; all referencing Innistrad, which was spoiled to be revisited in Spring.
Now here's where it gets good. If we follow this trend, usually anomalies in Magic products (characters from planes more than three years in the past), we end up with this year's B/G commander - Ezuri, the new Living Weapon artifact, and the card synthetic destiny. I say after Innistrad, we should be seeing Phyrexia return in all its poisonous glory. Either that, or a return to Alara from meren of clan Mel toth's appearance. Any thoughts?
That's all well and good, but I recall MaRo saying pretty clearly that blocks would be roughly 50-50 between new and returning planes going forward. It's probably pretty reasonable to assume that the next 2 blocks after SOI will be new planes.
After that maybe we can settle into a new-return-new-return cycle of blocks.
November 4, 2015 10:01 p.m.
Epochalyptik says... #4
Subtle. Suddle isn't even a word.
From a design perspective, I'm not really sure what would be happening on New Phyrexia or Alara that would be worth revisiting. I'll mention first that I don't follow the lore anymore, so I don't really know where things are headed after Zendikar. I hear there's speculation that the Eldrazi show up on Innistrad and that Avacyn is cursed or something. But Alara was already rejoined in the Conflux, and New Phyrexia has been completely taken over (hence the name). I don't think there could be any great resistance on NP unless the Eldrazi show up courtesy of deus ex machina masquerading as plot advancement. Alara therefore seems likelier, but what would be happening there I'm not sure.
As far as I know, we also haven't heard from Bolas or Tezzeret in a while.
November 4, 2015 10:01 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #5
FTV reprinting Avacyn in no way foreshadowed Innistrad, she's just an amazing angel that needed a reprint. Same with Gisela, she just fits with the deck theme and is legendary.
That said, I don't think we'll ever go back to Phyrexia. Perhaps New Phyrexia (or Mirrodin, as some scrubs call it), but it'll be in a year and a half at the very least. Alara I highly doubt, it wasn't a super popular block.
November 4, 2015 10:33 p.m.
Yea I don't think we're likely to see returns to either of those planes soon. Maybe at some point, but I'm not sure. I feel like we will get a new plane after Shadows over Innistrad.
November 4, 2015 10:54 p.m.
CastleSiege says... #7
Well, MaRo said 50% of the time he wants to do revisists and the other 50% he wants to be new planes. Since Theros and Tarkir were both new planes, and we're now getting 2 revisits in a row, it's probably safe to assume we'll get 2 new planes in a row AFTER the Innistrad revisit. It's possible we'll see both Alara and New Phyrexia when that happens, who's to say? Keep in mind that Lorwyn is also one of the most fan requested revisits after Zendikar and Innistrad so that's equally possible.
Epochalyptik, I believe that Tezzeret died a while ago and that's why we haven't heard from him. I'd love to see Nicol Bolas make a return to the plot though.
November 4, 2015 11:05 p.m.
scopesightzx says... #8
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/checking-planeswalkers-2015-2015-08-19
Tezzeret is still alive from what wizard's says.
November 4, 2015 11:44 p.m.
GoldGhost012 says... #9
With Tezzeret doing Tezzeret-things to gain power and overthrow Bolas (again), I'm expecting to see him soon, possibly in the same block where Bolas returns.
I also wouldn't be surprised to revisit New Phyrexia sometime. There is a band of resistance headed by a still-alive Koth still fighting against the Phyrexians, though I don't expect them to hold out well unless they get help from other planeswalkers. Karn is also looking into finding a "cure" or a way to stop the Phyrexians, so that might come into play.
November 5, 2015 12:51 a.m. Edited.
i think they would, and should visit a new or way older plane before returning to yet another not too distant plane. Being a modern, EDH and Tiny leaders player I get quite a big range of playable cards from each set so i don't really get worn down by repetitive planes. But lore, and gameplay wise, it would be much better to get new stuff rather than returns too often. If Maro sticks to the 50/50 i very much look forward to the future of MTG. I hope to see another Conspiracy or planechase set though in the next couple of years :-)
November 5, 2015 7:01 a.m.
Named_Tawyny says... #11
If you look at things like FTV or Commander releases (or MM/COnspiracy) in hindsight, you can see LOTS of hints. But that's only because you're trying to see patterns.
For every set that was 'hinted' at, there were multiple sets that had equal hints, but didn't get (re)visited.
November 5, 2015 7:09 a.m.
RussischerZar says... #12
I already assumed that the Eldrazi would go to Alara next (as they said it will be a multiple-block storyline). I guess Innistrad is just as rich in mana and/or the Eldrazi want revenge on Sorin? Although revenge doesn't seem like something the Eldrazi would do.
November 5, 2015 7:27 a.m.
APPLE01DOJ says... #14
I think some new Phyrexian Mana cards would be dope.
November 5, 2015 1:15 p.m.
I would say that new phyrexia is to current to have a return set, but seeing as we're already going to innistrad again...
November 5, 2015 1:30 p.m.
Harashiohorn says... #16
I feel Like a Return To Mirrodin/New Phyrexia won't be coming up too soon because it always wrecks the existing world order (It's two for two for breaking every competitive format, can it do it a third time?) and also given that its key mechanics include Phyrexian Mana, AND Infect, AND Metalcraft/Affinity it would seem like a huge jump in power compared to some of the more recent sets. I think a return to Alara would make some sense since it would advance the Bolas plot some, and is old enough to get a reprint. Honestly though I would like to see a return to Either Lorwyn, since Was famously comprised of two two set sets, or some kind of coldsnap-esque set. In general I wish we could revisit some of the older planes that we haven't seen in forever, I feel like a return to Innistrad was kind of unnecessarily soon, and really feels like a repeat, whereas some of the old sets would almost seem new given how long its been since we got to play around with them, and some of their mechanics.
November 7, 2015 5:20 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #17
I've got it. We return to a plane no one wants, like Mercadia or Shandalar, and have the Eldrazi invade, only to find out the Phrexians are already invading. It's the only way to have Eldrazi and Phyrexians fight it out without visiting a plane for a third time
November 7, 2015 8:20 p.m.
I don't know, could be funny if the eldrazi invaded lorwyn only to have it turn into shadowmoor again half way through.
November 7, 2015 9:23 p.m.
Serendipitous_Hummingbird says... #19
I really want to see the forces of Phyrexia wage war against the most unholy of trinities that is the Eldrazi Titans
And I don't want that war to happen on Lorwyn because it was a kickass plane and the fae and the goblins and the elementals and even the kithkin (and god do I hate white) are awesome
Think of the kithkin causalities, never again to see their kith or their kin
November 7, 2015 9:28 p.m.
I was more thinking that since when their world gets hit by the aurora, everybody but the fae change and forget about stuff, so when it changed everyone would be like "WTF are these things and WTF is going on"
November 7, 2015 9:46 p.m.
FAMOUSWATERMELON says... #21
I mean, technically, the Scars block WAS a return block... so wether we get a return block of a return block...
EmblemMan says... #2
Idk maybe but it wont be right after innistrad itll be the block after
November 4, 2015 10 p.m.