#history or ravnica

[racefortheironthrone]

fantasy sometimes doesn't afford itself the ability to fantasize about a better world with many of the same problems of real life. thankfully ive found fantasy thatfantasize about things like gender roles, orientations, social status, etc. being more accepting, and the world kinder more often than not. question is, as hard as it is to find solid urban fantasy, are there anyworks you know of that use itself to imagine a optimal city for us urban nerds? magic public works, free dragon transit?

So there is a real problem in the fantasy and sci-fi genres that they often have a failure of revolutionary imagination, as I’ve termed it. We’re so used to not just the world as it is but also the public historical imagination of how change happens, that even in art that’s supposed to be about radically reimagining our world or new worlds, we often revert back to the familiar. (I find this tic particularly annoying in alternate history, which is supposed to be about imagining how the world could have evolved differently, but often reverts back to a retelling of (often bad) history with the numbers filed off.)

(A sadly rare counter-example.)

You raise a fascinating question about the potential for urbanist fantasy. This is often quite rare in urban fantasy, because often out of a desire to maintain the verisimilitude of urban life, they default to a masquerade scenario which renders it impossible to explore the impact of magic on transit, housing, and other aspects of urbanism because the central conceit is that people with magic are trying to hide and thus have no impact on the mundane world.

However, it does crop up sometimes in Magitech settings, because their central conceit is all about how magic would function in place of science and lead to new ways of organizing societies, urban and otherwise. For a popular example, look at how Arcane examines the social impacts of Hextech and Shimmer. My personal favorite example of urbanist fantasy is the plane of Ravnica from Magic the Gathering.

Ravnica is a ecumenopolis, a city-state that covers the whole planet. The city is governed by a guild council, each of whom are responsible for an aspect of the city’s physical and social infrastructure:

The Azorius Senate is responsible for running the courts and the legal system, and sometimes they run the police as well (although they have a jurisdictional dispute with the Boros Legion on that front).

House Dimir are couriers, messengers, journalists, private investigators, spies, assassins, thieves, and librarians, as well as the city’s clandestine intelligence service - if it deals with information in any way, the Dimir have a hand in it…or do they?

The Cult of Rakdos run the city’s entertainment, food service, retail, and labor recruitment (lots of shanghaing and press ganging goes on in Ravnica) - and they’re also a crazed juggalo bdsm blood cult who are responsible for keeping an ancient arch-demon entertained so he doesn’t try to destroy the city, again.

The Gruul Clans are an anarchist collective responsible for the planet’s wilderness areas, which they try to maximize by violent raids that tear down developed areas any chance they get - which also makes them Ravnica’s main demolition industry. The Boros Legion spends a lot of time defending built-up areas from Gruul rampages.

The Selesnya Conclave are a hippie nature cult commune who manage the city’s parks and other green spaces, as well as providing basic welfare services (food, “shelter,” clothing, etc.) to the city’s poor. They also use magic to do weird hivemind brainwashing in the name of harmony and unity, and they can raise giant Ent-Kaiju to defend the city in times of need.

The Orzhov Syndicate are a vampire banker mafia, and also one of the city’s biggest religions. They believe in debt on a spiritual level, and their religion fully embraces indulgences to their logical conclusion. The Orzhov preach that you can literally buy your way into heaven, and that debts to the (Catholic by way of Prosperity Gospel Evangelical) Church or its many front organizations and legitimate businesses will carry over into the next life; the Orzhov practice debt slavery on both living people and ghosts. And lest you think it’s all a cover for profit-making, they can summon dark angels to conduct rituals, lead services, and make war on their enemies. Something above is answering their prayers…

My personal favorite is the Izzet League, an institute of mad scientists and engineers and elementalist wizards who combine science and magic to research, build, and maintain the city’s infrastructure (as well as funding all tech R&D and theoretical and experimental research in physics, chemistry, and engineering) - the power grid, water and sewer systems, heating and gas lines, as well as the city’s mass transit and transportation/freight system, are all powered by their steam and fire and lightning and Magitech gadgets and robots and cyborgs made out of a magic metal named mizzium. Yes, a lot of their devices explode, and yes their golems and robots and elementals have a tendency to go rogue, but that’s the price of progress!

The Golgari Swarm are a subterranean necromantic cabal who run the city’s waste disposal, burial services, and do the bulk of the agricultural production for Ravnica’s hungry masses. All of Ravnica’s citizens are entitled to a food dole provided by the Golgari’s fungi farms as a form of basic income. Just don’t think too hard about what went into the compost heaps or what your rations might be made of…

The Boros Legion is Ravnica’s main police and military, led by a literal host of warrior angels. Imagine the combination of a police force entirely made up of noir detectives and loose cannon Dirty Harry-esque cops and an army with flying fortresses led by fiery angels who are all deeply dramatic lesbians. True believers one and all, the Boros are here to mete out justice and divine wroth upon evildoers wherever they hide. If they had their way, the Orzhov would all be in prison along with the Gruul and the Rakdos, but the damn bureaucrats in the Azorius Senate keep trying them up in knots with paperwork.

The Simic Combine are responsible for the city’s environmental quality, ensuring biodiversity and sustainability in a global metropolis; they are also the city’s universal health care providers. All Ravnicans have access to free health care, as long as they consent to the Combine’s biomantic research. See, the Simic are the other group of mad scientists/mages in the city, except they went into genetics, environmental science, and (marine) biology and they believe in individual and societal evolution through the use of augmentation, cloning, and splicing. After all, why stop at curing someone’s respiratory illness when you could also give them gills? Or giant crab claws? Or tentacles?

I love the world-building and the attention to urban systems and infrastructure in Ravnica. More than most, they’ve thought about what urban life needs to function and made it magical.

[house-dimir-official]

I'm obsessed with the concept of things that are "beyond human comprehension" not because they are alien or eldritch necessarily but just because they are so damn old, in real life and in fiction.

Art and painting of things that no longer exist, tools made for a forgotten purpose, the Nazca lines, the Guildpact from Ravnica, random contraptions built by the Greeks that we still don't know the function of, Elderglass from the Gentleman Bastards (technically this one is also alien but if the aliens were still around presumably the technology would be less opaque).

And the best part is I think that one day this will happen digitally. At some point PDFs and .docx and .jpg will just be letters and numbers, modern computers won't be able to open them without an emulator, and then people will stop updating the emulators, and then those files will just be digital lost artifacts floating through cyberspace.

And idk I just think that's neat.

[markrosewater]

Given the history of bad things happening to characters that you like, did the creative team for MKM just ask you who you liked in Ravnica to fill out the list of murders?

It was odd. They said, "So who are your favorite residents of Ravnica?"

[raakdos-battlemap]

After the War and the Phyrexian Invasion, Vitu-Ghazi was weak and no longer able to sustain itself. The guildhall needed to lay semi-dormant to recover its strength, and Mat'Selesnya told Trostani that the tree needed space to lay new roots. A moor within a park on Selesnya territory was deemed the best place for Vitu-Ghazi to reconnect with the plane and properly recover. The tree was planted around a manor that was made a repository of the plane's history, including a library of Ravnican books and the original Guildpact.

More variations of this map:

[danco110]

“Alquist…where are we?”

The more put-together detective gave his sphinx partner a weary sigh. “We are on the streets of Ravnica, detective. Trying to solve a murder. Speaking of which, let’s get back to that.”

The sphinx nodded, but froze as he reached up to scratch his uncovered head. “B-But wait! Shouldn’t I have a…hat? A uniform?”

“Yes, you should. One with identifying marks tying you to the Foundway Associates. But you don’t. You lost it. That’s why we’re looking for it - while we solve the case - along with your magnifying glass, also missing, by the way.

The sphinx’s face fell. “I LOST MY MAGNIFYING GLASS?”

“Yes.”

“D-Does that mean I’m not a detective anymore?” Tears were forming in the sphinx’s eyes.

“No. It simply means you have lost your uniform and tools. We can still solve this investigation without them. It’ll just be more difficult.”

“Oh. Cool.”

“Very cool.” Alquist’s face was devoid of emotion.

“Yes, cool. Now, about what you said earlier…”

“Yes?”

“‘The streets of Ravnica.’”

“Yes.”

“What is Ravnica, exactly? And…where?”

“Perhaps we should bring you up to speed on the city’s history *later*. After all, there are suspects to interview, and we still need to inspect the body.”

“But how will I inspect anything without my trusty magnifying glass? Or my hat?”

“Your hat would be of very little help here. As for your magnifying glass…” Alquist’s mouth set in a thin line as he held out his own magnifying glass. “Just until we find yours.”

But when the sphinx reached out, he clumsily bumped into Alquist, making him drop the tool. It fell to the ground and lay there, broken, while the two detectives stared down at it.

“Well…Like you said, Alquist! We can still solve this investigation without our stuff, right?”

“That was what I said, yes. Although, that was before you damaged *my* equipment as well.”

The sphinx felt a brief yet sudden pain in his chest. “Well…uh…let’s just keep moving, then!”

“Mmhm,” Alquist nodded, as he leaned down to retrieve the broken tool.

[HAND-EYE COORDINATION [Trivial: Failure]

I know it’s a surprise, but I’m playing through DE again! SUCH a good game!]

[bittenrabbit]

Six Deck Tech :> Decklist can be found here: Six Baubles (now with six baubles!)

hello! I'd like to talk about one of my commanders, a card with a really unique effect from Modern Horizons 3 who has yet to see the variation in deck building that they probably should!

But before I get to that, I'd like to talk about one of my favorite decks from magic history, Eggs! Eggs is a deck that revolves around the same game pieces regardless of format: 1 and 0 mana artifacts that you can "crack" for a card and an effect of some kind. You win by using some kind of mana engine to draw your entire deck. one card at a time. Once you've thinned your deck, you can achieve a loop of some kind to end up winning the game. It's the ultimate power trip!!! Taking a ridiculous amount of game actions just to lose to not drawing the exact piece you need, choosing when/when to not shuffle becomes a game of percentages at the slot machine it's fantastic lol If you have yet to watch Pro Tour Return to Ravnica's finals, it's definitely worth a watch! The winning list ran Lotus Bloom as its mana engine of choice and won by cracking eggs (and lands through ghost quarter!) and then reanimating them + Lotus with Second Sunrise/Faith's Reward before cracking everything again to get ever closer to an empty deck and then win by looping a single Pyrite Spellbomb :>

So who's at the helm of my deck? As I went into MH3 spoiler season, Six really stood out to me! I love wide open cards that let you brew in a billion different ways :>

Six (of Wrenn and Six fame) is a 3 mana 2/4 Reach who reads:

Reach Whenever Six attacks, mill three cards. You may put a land card from among them into your hand. As long as it’s your turn, nonland permanent cards in your graveyard have retrace. (You may cast permanent cards from your graveyard by discarding a land card in addition to paying their other costs.)

Most Six lists so far on EDHREC run stuff like Spore Frog and Sakura-Tribe Elder + Sacrifice effects to accrue value/discard lands and then end the game through cards like Avenger of Zendikar/landfall effects + mass land reanimation spells!

I took a bit of a different spin on Six, one that no one seems to have replicated yet (side tangent um. being the only deck running this stuff on EDHREC is so funny, you can literally see my deck on the website!) I made an eggs list! With Six out on the field, cards like Conjurer's Bauble and Mishra's/Urza's Bauble read "discard a land to draw a card" With any mana discount, Chromatic Star/Sphere and a bunch of other eggs read the same :D

My gameplan is to get Six out and protected and then draw a whole bunch of cards and gain a tooon of value with cards like Glaring Fleshraker, Turntimber Sower and Sarinth Steelseeker

If you can keep hitting lands off your eggs, your storm count'll go way up recasting your baubles which you can use to cast cards like Sprouting Vines to cast MORE BAUBLES!!!! Or win through typical storm payoffs like Aeve & Aetherflux Reservoir to blast em all for super lethal damage >:D (or you could just win by simply having more cards and tokens than opponents can handle!)

Anywaays that's my deck tech i think! lmk if i missed anything maybe i'll rewrite this at some point and make a video? :>

[beholdingslut]

ranking of d&d worlds i've played in:

1. eberron. undisputed champion, my favourite world to think about and play in, the structures are so unique and complex and i think keith baker rules

2. ravnica. the tension between the guilds (and the guildless), the technological aspects, the city wide planet, the intersection of the planes, the truly egregious amount of history, the 10th district my beloved.

3. faerûn. my rotten soldier, my bad time boy, my rock of sisyphus. i have set four campaigns there and counting and i have been aggrieved every single time, and still, i return. high and wide magic to the point of silliness, gods are real, nuance is limited, child brides are abundant and still, i persist.

4. krynn. i am interested in it but i've not had the opportunity to play a lot. big fan of worlds that gods have abandoned.

5. theros. the lesser contribution from mtg. i do enjoy the pseudo greek gods and the piety system but it's just okay really.

honourable mentions

1. thedas. obviously not a wotc enterprise and not optimised for 5e but sometimes i forget there were ten years between instalments because i got to play an amazingly fleshed out campaign in thedas and visit places like llomerryn and nevarra

2. the spelljammer world developed by nick (and me a little) which is the bastard child of the spelljammer setting and worlds without nunbers. high technology with actual space ships and federations and also the rock of bral which rules.

[macabresymphonies]

I appriciate the implications for lore and larger story and all the supplemental stories (please don't get rid of those WOTC) of Thunder Junction, but the fact this is "an empty plane with no living beings before that" makes it feel so forgettable it's actually insane.

I tried to stay positive really, but it's just bunch of returning characters having a cowboy themed party. The events could happen literally anywhere else, Ixalan especially, because there was no inherent faction, history or structure that made it unique to the plane. The Marketable Plushie™ could have been locked in Niv-Mizzet's cabinet for all I care and it would actually make more lore significant, than a random vault desert plane with vaugely native american nomad faction visiting it (you know, it's like native american history, sans most of it's core).

With MKM feeling like "Clue night at Markov Mansion" (to the point actual Clue set came out with it), Caverns of Ixalan not originally being Ixalan, but being "too similar not to not change" (god forbid you have more than one native american set when you have your n-th "vaugely european fantasy" set), I'm afraid it's setting a bad precedent for the future where creativity is stifled by marketability.

"I know you got a plane that suddenly has pissed winged police all over it and crime can no longer fly in demon city, but we can't do two sets on the same plane in such a short time (unless it's scamming you on small packs of course) so the cops and robbers set is instead back on Ravnica, you guys like Ravnica don't you (the sales charts said so)? Look Teysa Karlov is here! Isn't she like your "gagachondra mother boss queen" or whataver you nerds like to say? We're still testing grounds since we lost our last goth girl bait to some "character growth" or whatever back in Strixhaven"

Hoping Blumburrow is good enough to maybe make them reconsider (at least epilogue sets were atrocious enough to make them stop any in the future). It at least looks like it has an original enough story that's not just "Jace is the main character despite not being that well liked".

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights

So, one thing that I did two years ago (and have kept updated since) on twitter was my flavor text thread, where I went through each set in Magic history and picked the top 4 (or, for some exceptional cases, 8) best pieces of flavor text in my opinion.

Since then, I have regreted some choices and very much dislike the fact I can't edit the original tweets to reflect changes on the rules I followed for card selection... So I might as well use Tumblr as the place to correct all that.

Every day from now on, I will re-post a set from the list until I catch up to it, then eventually update it as new magic sets come out. The rules for selection can be seen after the linebreak below (as well as a full list of sets I've already gone through, with links). The first one can be found here.

1- Categorization

I will always try to select a diverse list of cards so as to fill the following 4 categories of flavor text types:

Cool - Boasts and descriptions that serve to make the subject matter of the card seem powerful and/or interesting.

Funny - Dialogue, descriptions or epigrams meant to get a laugh out of you

Worldbuilding - Flavor text whose biggest strength comes not from what it says on its own, but how it helps build upon either the world the set takes place in or the story of the set in question

Emotional - This one could conceivably be separated in two whole categories, but it encompasses cards that would fill the same niche as the "Cool" category but with a specific focus on either sadness or horror.

However, there will be situations where there might be a number of good flavor texts within a certain category while another is found lacking of any truly great options. In such scenarios, I will simply remove one (and in rare cases more) of the categories and repeat one of the remaining options. For an extreme example, the first Un-sets barely had any non-Funny options, so when picking cards from those sets most/all of the picks will be from the Funny category.

2- Card Selection

Cards will be reviewed only if they have new flavor text (using scryfall's "new:flavor" filter) and only if it's original flavor text (aka no real world references or quotes from literature) while sets will either be reviewed alone or grouped up depending on the amount of eligible cards in the set. Although I don't have a hard cut-off point for how many new flavor texts a set needs to be reviewed alone, the general range is around 150.

For sets that don't reach that number, they will either be bundled with an associated set (i.e. reviewing Commander precons with their associated Standard set) or bundled with a lot of other smaller products until a suitable number is reached (i.e. bundling all early Masters sets and Duel Decks together, since the amount of new flavor texts in those products is very low).

2.1 - Cycles

For some sets, a collection of cards (usually a cycle) will have flavor texts that work together, expand on each other or combine into a single theme. If said interaction is particularly good or if there isn't already a good flavor text that can stand up on its own, a cycle might be picked for a specific entry. Below, I will try to set up a list of every post for this, in order:

Alpha/Beta/Unlimited

Antiquities

Legends

The Dark

Fallen Empires

Ice Age | Homelands | Alliances

Mirage | Visions | Weatherlight

Portal

Tempest | Stronghold | Exodus

Portal Second Age

Unhinged + Unglued

Urza's Saga | Urza's Legacy | Urza's Destiny

Mercadian Masques | Nemesis | Prophecy

Invasion | Planeshift | Apocalypse

Odyssey | Torment | Judgment

Onslaught | Legions | Scourge

Mirrodin | Darksteel | Fifth Dawn

Champions of Kamigawa | Betrayers of Kamigawa | Saviors of Kamigawa

Core Sets (4th Edition - 10th Edition)

Ravnica: City of Guilds | Guildpact | Dissension

Coldsnap

Time Spiral | Planar Chaos | Future Sight

Lorwyn | Morningtide | Shadowmoor | Eventide

Duel Decks

Shards of Alara | Conflux | Alara Reborn

Magic 2010

Zendikar | Worldwake | Rise of the Eldrazi

Magic 2011

Scars of Mirrodin | Mirrodin Besieged | New Phyrexia

Commander Precons (Commander 2011 - Commander 2019)

Magic 2012

Innistrad | Dark Ascension | Avacyn Restored

Magic 2013

Return to Ravnica | Gatecrash | Dragon's Maze

Masters Sets

Magic 2014

Theros | Born of the Gods | Journey into Nyx

Conspiracy + Conspiracy: Take the Crown

Magic 2015

Khans of Tarkir | Fate Reforged | Dragons of Tarkir

Magic Origins

Battle for Zendikar | Oath of the Gatewatch

Shadows Over Innistrad | Eldritch Moon

Kaladesh | Aether Revolt

Amonkhet | Hour of Devastation

Ixalan | Rivals of Ixalan

Unstable + Unsanctioned

Dominaria

Battlebond

Magic 2019

Guilds of Ravnica | Ravnica Allegiance | War of the Spark

[crinosmonsters]

Endrek Sahr, Master Breeder

The Original creator of the Thrulls, Endrek Sahr was a member of the Order of the Ebon Hand, a depraved cult which operated upon on the continent of Sarpadia on the plane of Dominaria thousands of years ago. Sahr created the Thrulls initially as slaves and sacrifice fodder, but felt like his creations could be more, pushing him to create larger and more powerful Thrulls. These Ambitions led him to create the Derelor which, while physically powerful, consumed too many resources to be viable. As a result, Sahr was sentenced to death. But while history considers Sahr dead, there was a period in Dominaria's history where time and space became mutable, and Sahr may yet have escaped his unfortunate fate and lives on.

Endrek Sahr's Enchiridion

Endrek Sahr has access to numerous unique magic spells, some he created himself (Breeding Pit and Thrull retainer) and others which were created by the Order of the Ebon Hand. These spells can be found in Sahr's spellbook on his person, or an ambitious and unscrupulous wizard can learn the spells themselves under the evil wizard.

Thrull Retainer

1st level Necromancy

casting time: 1 action

range: An unoccupied space within 5 feet.

Components: V, S, M (at least half of a humanoid corpse or more)

duration: Concentration: up to an hour

This spell summons a single Servitor Thrull (descriped in Guildmaster's guide to Ravnica) Which loyally serves the caster to the best of its limited abilities. The Thrull will not move more than five feet away from its caster, and can be called upon to use its self sacrifice ability as a reaction.

Classes: Cleric, Warlock, Wizard

Hymn to Tourach

2nd level Enchantment

Casting time: 1 action

Range: 60 feet

components: V

Duration: Instantaneous

Named for the evil cleric which founded the order of the ebon hand, the Hymn of Tourach requires the caster to unleash a dark infernal prayer to torment their enemies. One target within 60 feet must make a wisdom saving throw or be stunned until the end of your next turn. In addition, if the target was a spellcaster, they lose a spell slot of the highest level they are capable of casting.

Classes: Bard, Cleric, Warlock, Wizard

Breeding Pit

Third Level Necromancy (Ritual)

Casting time: 10 minutes

Range: 120 feet

Components: V, S, M (a large hole, approximately 1,000 pounds worth of corpses, and alchemic potions equaling about 500 GP)

Duration: See below

Endrek Sahr's masterpiece, this spell allows for the mass production of Thrulls on a massive scale. The Spell creates a breeding pit, a 10 foot wide, 80 foot deep pit filled with bubbling ichor comprised of numerous alchemic reagents and liquefied flesh.

Once per day, at sundown, a Servitor Thrull emerges from the Breeding pit, loyal to the caster who created the pit. So long as it is maintained, the Breeding pit will continue to produce new Thrulls in this manner indefinitely.

Maintenance of the Breeding Pit requires two things: First, the pit must be replenished with a periodic supply of new chemicals and corpses once a month, to the equivalent of one medium sized corpse and 50 gold pieces. More importantly, the Pit requires a constant source of magic to function. Each day, a spellcaster (not necessarily the one who created the pit) within 60 feet must sacrifice a level two or higher spell slot in order to keep the pit alive. Without this magic, the pit will dry up and die in a matter of hours.

There is no limit to the number of breeding pits that a single caster can create at one time, so long as the upkeep requiements are met.

If you enjoy my work, please consider joining My Patreon, Where I post compilations of the monsters that you see here (Along with Patreon exclusive new monsters) Or donate to my Ko-fi where you can request a monster writeup for the low low price of one dollar.

[underthegates]

How do we know YOU’RE not a dimir agent

I suppose you can't know for certain, but my familial history means that they see me as a security risk.

well, I suppose you could have a guildmaster issue an official order to their guild to have me killed. in which case the guildmaster would immediately be punished by the guildpact were I a member of any guild. but that seems well beyond the means of 90% of ravnica, and I'd rather not have an even bigger target on my back than I already do.

[markrosewater]

I don't think is arguable that the block system is less popular in the short term for sets, but shouldn't Wotc consider that multi-set planes are an investment for future sets? Some of the most beloved planes would never have been created under this blockless paradigm, Ravnica chief among them. I feel like Team X should take a risk every 1-2 years with a multi-set new plane they think is a homerun to try and build a fanbase for it.

There's a little argument that plays out on this blog. We do something. Some players don't like it. I explain that it's popular (players like it according to market research) and selling well. The response to that is well, maybe it's good for the short term, but it's harmful for the long term of the game.

Okay, let's walk through that. The first set in the new non-block era was Dominaria in 2018. That's six years ago. 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 were the six high-grossing years Magic has had in its thirty-year history. On top of that, the vast majority of the top-selling sets of all time come from that six-year window. On top of that, our player growth for the last six years has been record-breaking.

During that time, we've introduced the following new worlds: Eldraine, Ikoria, Kaldheim, Arcavios (Strixhaven), and New Capenna. Eldraine was revisited in Wilds of Eldraine. Arcavios is being revisited in the set codenamed "Yachting". We haven't announced a set yet that revisits Ikoria or Kaldheim, but both were popular and I could clearly see going back to both of them. My guess is players would be happy to see both. New Capenna was the least successful of our new worlds, but even that has come up recently because some players wanted the murder mystery set there instead of Ravnica.

I question your hypothesis that beloved planes can't be created during the block-less design era. I agree that the dynamics are different, but I think players can fall in love with new worlds in a single set. Also, the fact that we only visited the world for a one set does enable us to return sooner than the block model as evidenced by Wilds of Eldraine.

[dimestoretajic]

THE MAGIC PLANESWALKER ULTIMATE BATTLE FINALE

We've reached the end of the road, folks! It's been an absolute slobberknocker from start to finish, but we finally have two towering titans standing at the top of the pile!

As is always tradition for my brackets, we're not doing a separate post. Let's get this going right here!

On one side, we have Vraska, Golgari Queen. This card shows Vraska at the height of her power. Fresh from her escape from Ixalan, this Vraska is leader of the Golgari and sitting at the tables of power in Ravnica. Her ultimate represents her ability to effect events, finally, directly, for the first (and some would say last) time in her life... or perhaps, her life so far, as some may say.

On the other, we have Sarkhan, Unbroken, also representing himself at the height of his strength. Once an aimless warrior and a planeswalker under the thumb of Nicol Bolas, this Sarkhan has fought through time itself and changed the course of history, bringing back dragons back to Tarkir when they were once extinct (whether that is good or bad is up to you). His ultimate fully reflects that, bringing to the battlefield every single dragon at his disposal to rain down fire (and lightning and light and so on and so forth) onto his foes.

Now, months of waiting have brought these two mighty warriors to blows. Who wins? Who falls? As always, gang, that's up to you!

One more time! Let's do this!

MAKE! YOUR! CHOICE!

[eras-of-oroza]

hello!

i'm somewhat, and for the past few days i've been working on making my biggest mtg project yet: the Eras of Oroza, my own custom set! before i get rambling, i'll put this here:

link to set (on cubecobra.com)

this set started with a simple card cycle i made to play around with cumulative upkeep -- the Five Ages.

each one details a specific time in Oroza's history, and bare the new enchantment subtype, Era

the world and story of the set are not yet finished, but the general premise and mechanics have been established. the set revolves around the enemy color pairings-detailed below-and is somewhat ravnica-inspired

the groups:

The Apheneon — white & black this group delves heavily in the concepts of thinking and memory-- but works for their supression and annihilation. similar to the Orzhov, the Apheneon also work with death, being the group with most of the common undead, such as zombies and skeletons the Apheneon ability word is "Diminished," and cares about having two or less cards in hand.

The Begdros — black & green the Begdros, as an organization, focuses on wars and fighting them. many Begdra cards have fight effects, giving their deathtouch-heavy creatures an interesting take on removal. unlike most planes, Orozan angels are almost exclusively alligned with black & green, and thus rank among the Begdros warriors the Begdros ability word is "Slaughter," which cares about when your creatures deal damage-- as well as sometimes giving additional bonuses if that damage was through fighting

The Thahmis — green & blue i have not figured out too much about them yet. sorry. they do do suspend and impending and time travel and stuff. the Thahmis ability word is "Development," denoting abilities that care about you putting counters on creatures that you control.

The Khalkos — blue & red ah, red and blue! my favorite color combination! the Khalkos focus heavily on industry. they're dirty, dirty capitalists and i sadly kinda love them for it. they have vampires and vedalken, too. that's pretty cool i think. the Khalkos ability word is "Production," triggering abilities whenever a noncreature token enters on your half (or quarter) of the field!

The Ekhma — red & white the Ekhma, like the Begdros (and the Boros, i guess), live for combat, but in a much different way. they're a big army-like thing (also like the Boros...), and i haven't figured out too much else about them. other than the fact that i'm going to make them not just be Boros. the Ekhma ability word is "Engage," and they trigger whenever your creatures attack or block

i'll give all major cards i make their own posts here, and dump less important ones together. i'll also try to write story stuff (whether summaries or full things) too. thank you for being here for this!

syl

[lord-of-innistrad]

What I imagine an Amalia card would've looked like in MKM.

Thoughts under the cut

So obviously whenever someone goes through an omenpath their color identity seems to change. First from Troyan in WOE who was a member of the Red/Blue Izzet League on Ravnica but is Green/Blue on Eldraine to Kellan who starts Red/White, then becomes Green/White, then Green/Blue, then Green/White/Blue changing colors each time he goes through an omenpath. The only exception to this rule seems to be the desparked planeswalkers, but I'd argue they'd have a stronger connection to their color identities than the random joe schmoes going through omenpaths.

This fueled my decision to change Amalia's color identity, but to what? Well the MKM story only barely mentions her, being investigating a ruin and investigating the plane's history. And then it hit me. What other group is interested in history in mtg lore? Lorehold College, Red/White, a color identity which also fits her vampire status, with most vampires being in red/white/black.

[angrennufuin]

Elflinguistics Part 2: Ravnica

For the currently-paused Ravnica campaign, I'm playing Sûl the elven bard-warlock, currently a courtesan but formerly a noble. Mainly I wanted my Ravnica names to sound different from my Eberron names; these are different settings and vastly different people-groups. Let's, once again, get into it.

Rules for myself

Ravnica is a planet that is all one giant city, but some parts of it are currently less-inhabited and more ruined than others. Sûl's family hails from part of this Rubblebelt; while Linmir's clan is a diaspora of middle-class tradesmen and occasionally warriors, Sûl comes from a stuffy, dissipated high-elf aristocracy clinging onto their former glory.

So the idea here is still poetic eloquence, but where Eberron elves make portmanteaus with layered meaning, Ravnica elves go big or go home. Long names are in vogue, and often include hyphens and/or prepositions. They also have multiple names/forms of names for different levels of connection!

Long, formal name used by strangers + acquaintances

A shortened (usually single-word) form of that name used by friends and family

An entirely different "private name" known only to parents and really serious lovers

Formal names

These are used by strangers and acquaintances, in formal settings (which are most settings, for Sûl's family). Elves have long lives and long memories, and it's considered slightly disrespectful/kind of bad luck to name your child entirely after someone else, whether deceased or living. They can get away with this because there are not, historically, that many elves, period, in Ravnica. There are even less in the Rubblebelt, the sparsely-inhabited area of ruins and urban decay that is home to this branch of crumbling elf aristocracy.

We're not using Sûl as the case study for any of these, for reasons I'll explain later. Instead, let's go with her oldest sister. Her long-form name is Elen-atto-vomentië (=meeting of two stars); short form would likely be Elen, as the first word in the name is most likely to be picked for casual usage. Elen (stars) is an extremely common Elvish name; other possibilities could have been Tië (path) or Vomen (to gather together).

Generally, children are allowed to choose the casual form of their name whenever they want to. Like being named Alexander and going by Alex, for example. Not a particularly weighty decision, and subject to change! The "don't name your kid after someone else" social norm only applies to the full formal name, but if you have like six people in your immediate family tree who shorten their name to Elen, it's considered quite gauche.

Intimate names:

The intimate name is a much bigger deal. Generally only a child and their parents know it & parents would never use it except alone with their kid in a moment of great emotion. Traditionally you'd tell your spouse at your wedding, but modern elves might tell it to a non-marital life partner or even a VERY best friend, if their bond is close enough. It's supposed to be something of a horoscope/prophecy/wish from the parent to the child. Elen's intimate name is Asya-Mekte (=to ease [one's] heart); her parents hoped she would be a kind and empathetic soul.

I cannot stress enough that you Do Not say this name except in private! Think like the True Name of a fairytale creature. There's a superstition that where you give your private name, you give your heart -- with the proper spells, some believe it can be used to control you. Is it true? Who knows! But certainly it would be extremely rude, having been given the honor of an elf’s intimate name, to use it where anyone not so chosen could hear.

[I think I was using an older form of Elvish for these? But I've forgotten entirely.]

Surnames:

Surnames are a lot easier to deal with, because they're just place names. This brand of elves is pretty traditional and keen on long history, so they generally go by whatever region/estate/geographical feature they consider their ancestral home. Sûl's family comes from a region and its corresponding manor called Haudh-en-Calen (= Green Hills/Green Barrows), so that's their last name. In the most formal settings you would stick a possessive from in there: Elen-atto-vomentië Haudh-en-Calenva. If one were inclined to make one's introduction more accessible to non-Elvish speakers (Elen is NOT inclined), one could call oneself Elen of the Green Hills. Or Two-Stars of the Green Hills, but that would be just too assimilationist.

This got long and has been languishing in my drafts for months, so you'll have to hear about Sûl's name another day.