#lorwyn set

[pinnacle-radio]

43 Surge of Thoughtweft, by Randy Gallegos for "Lorwyn"

44 Nevermaker, by Chuck Lukacs for "Morningtide"

45 Parapet Watchers, by Scott Altmann for "Shadowmoor"

46 Syphon Life, by Dan Seagrave for "Eventide"

[markrosewater]

Im really torn between the fact that my favorite set of all time Will be seeing the light of the day again ( lorwyn) and my gut feelings of how It Will be fucked up by the new superbland mediocre art style and the real world politic agenda ( not so) subtly pushed in late sets, in a CARD GAME. We want to see stories of faeries, kithkins, elves, goblins, Giants,merfolk and cinders in their beautiful fantasy setting, no trans they/them faeries that think they're kithkins

Two points:

1) When returning to a world, we’re very cognizant of the aesthetic of the world. We understand returning to Lorwyn requires embracing what made people love it the first time around. Obviously, there will be updates, as the game has evolved much since our first visit, but we’re very aware of the need to recapture the plane’s essence.

2) For far too long, fantasy, as a genre, was used as a way to reflect the worldview of those in power. It leaned into stereotype and reflected how the privileged wished the world was. Modern fantasy is more reflective of the actual world, which includes the wide variety of life experiences that exists.

Trans people, people of color, and women playing a larger role, are all part of modern fantasy because they’re all part of the actual world, and it’s important that our stories and world building be reflective of that.

“I want to return to a time where we could ignore the existence of certain elements because I was happy living in that ignorance” is not an excuse to deny real people and their real life experiences.

Entertainment is at its best when it lifts everyone up and isn’t used as yet another means to ignore certain people’s reality.

[sylvan-librarian]

RE: Nissa’s Retcon

* * *

About once a month, I get a comment on one of my posts saying something along these lines

“Uhhh, you left out the part where Nissa was a fascist!”

“Nissa was more interesting as an elf-supremacist, imo.”

To be perfectly frank, I think both of these points are stupid and not worth my time, but just to give these posters the benefit of the doubt, I’ll assume they mean well and respond to them, once and for all, this way:

To address the first point, you’re right: in my posts celebrating Nissa and the journeys she has taken, I do tend to leave out material that was retconned. This isn’t entirely true, however, as I wrote an entire essay about this on my Tumblr page, which I doubt people slipping into my comments to post “gotcha!” have bothered to read. But anyway, to assume the best of these posters, let’s take a brief look at this retcon. Outside of a few brief blurbs in the “Duels of the Planeswalkers” video game and her 2009-era character description on Magic’s website, the “racist Nissa” characterization comes entirely from the In the Teeth of Akoum novel from 2010. And yes! In this book, Nissa is a hilariously stupid racist (frighteningly like real racists, imo). However, many aspects of this book were retconned in Nissa’s Magic Origins reboot. To note, in the 2010 novel, Nissa has no idea what the fuck Akoum even is and lets herself get led there by Sorin and Anowon. In the reboot, we learn that, among many other changes, she went to Akoum previously in her life, as that journey is what led to her sparking. Either way, post-Origins, many aspects of Teeth are questionably accurate at best. It’s quite safe to assume that with how horrified Nissa is when she sees Lorwyn elves hunting goblin children for sport that that particular aspect of Nissa’s personality (white supremacy) is no longer a part of her characterization.

For the second point, this one is just crazy, man. I don’t know y’all come up with this stuff. I don’t even know how to address this politely. Keep in mind that I am not by any stretch saying that Nissa is now a perfect cinnamon roll that never did anything wrong ever. Nissa is at fault for not trusting Sorin and setting the Eldrazi free. This is a decision that forever will, and should, haunt her. In the newer lore, she still distrusts vampires and outsiders in her youth because of how she was raised, and this is wrong of her. But Nissa does not distrust them because she thinks she is somehow morally superior to them by nature of birth. Nissa was raised as a member of the Joraga nation. The Joraga, as even the most basic of searches into the Magic wiki tells us, “eschewed outsiders and held even the other elves of Zendikar in disdain.” Nissa carries this distrust of outsiders with her into her adult life and doesn’t really learn to let go of this until she meets the Gatewatch and learns to expand her horizons. And again, Nissa was wrong for this xenophobia. But don’t get it twisted: there is still a big difference between fear and distrust of outsiders and fascist, ‘hierarchy of races’ bullshit. Both are rooted in fear, but for all her many shortcomings, the retconned Nissa of the new lore would never advocate for elves ruling the multiverse at the top of a racial hierarchy like the older Nissa would (and did). This is hammered home in her Origin story where she is horrified by watching Dwynen lead other Lorwyn elves as they slaughter entire tribes because they think it's funny. Furthermore, on the subject of Lorwyn elves, I would argue that old Nissa is fairly boring as a villain, as “racist elves” as a concept was already explored in depth in the Lorwyn stories. An entire planeswalker with that as her bit would get boring very quickly.

Lastly, and I suppose this is subjective, but isn’t a nuanced character, deeply flawed but trying her best to shed the xenophobia ingrained in her more interesting that an unrepentant, racist dumbass learning that “goblins are people actually!” only after she condemned an entire world to death? The latter might be (darkly) funnier, I’ll give you that, but the former makes for a much more interesting and emotionally satisfying narrative arc.

[vorthosjay]

while not an exactly mtg thing, its related to it. but would it be great for more mtg planes to get dnd settings books? like i'd buy a dnd settings book if it was about Alara plane and they had Ajani giving out world tidbits.

I want this too. We've got a Lorwyn-Shadowmoor supplement coming soon, announced over the weekend.

[inventors-fair]

Next of Kin: LRW/SHM Runners-up!

Our runners-up for this past contest are @helloijustreadyourpost, @levelzeo and @nine-effing-hells!

@helloijustreadyourpost — Erase the Eyeblight / Preserve the Pure

The elves are back at it again. I wonder how much of our return to Lorwyn will by the typal-on-rails that the last expansion was, considering that it didn't do as hotly and Bloomburrow didn't particularly improve that process. (Side note: that's my personal opinion, I understand it's beloved by many, etc.) If that's the case, then a card like this would be a curious addition. Would there be multiple two-color archetypes for the colors? Would BG elves be a little more aristocrats and GW elves a little more lifegain-grind? It all depends. Like, from an secondary-color perspective this is a weird thing to suggest about what a draft might look like, not gonna lie. The green is nowhere to be found. Is it necessary that green is there? Honestly, no! I like that challenge that this card brings.

The flavor is what's giving me a thumbs-up here. It's pretty evident that it's ripped straight from the cliches of the elves on the different worlds, but it's paired with a set of awesome cards that emphasize that flavor. The deathtouch counter and the really funny death trigger ensures that you'll be sneering as you swing in with your high-cheekboned xenophobes. The flipside of grind-'em-out tokens makes every elf you play matter. Interestingly both sides want you to play elves—one out of fear of life loss, and the other to strengthen yourself. The deck construction itself reflects the flavor. I think that's really neat! "Erase the Eyeblight" feels more like an instant/sorcery name to me, but that's the only real nitpick I have, and it makes sense with the reflection so what do I know lol.

@levelzeo — Gravebog Plateau / Gravebog Forsaken

So weird that Hideaway used to say that it entered tapped, and now you have to specify. Freaky stuff, but that isn't the point here. What the point is is that red-black on Lorwyn was strange to me until I remembered that that was the Boggart's schtick. Elementals, though—that's a transformation indeed. I think the historicity you're going for in terms of ritual is definitely a unique choice, and I don't really know how to feel about it from a top-down perspective. Boggarts falling into the pit is definitely one way to go about it, but this isn't about them—it's an Elemental-themed card, and the primal elementals at that. Hm...

Let's back up. Mechanically, this card's intense and I'm actually a huge fan. Transforming into a massive recursion machine after sacrificing creatures is phenomenal mechanical linkage. Hiding things in the tar to depict them as parts of an elemental mass is also a fantastic image, and that flavor text is stellar. All the vibes of this as, like, its own card—excellently done. For Lorwyn and Shadowmoor? It's definitely an interesting centering. The Primal Beyond usually gives them more of a five-color everycreature (as in a play on "everyman," not changeling) feeling, so to center it here is the stronger mechanical choice and a real wrench in world expectations. I think in the end I'm on board? Whether or not elementals can even be "buried" is another question, but that's a little tinkering part of this if you want to go about it. I love an amalgam, that's for sure.

@nine-effing-hells — Orchard's Bounty / Thirsting Grove

I grok the two mechanics here. That grokking comes under a bit of duress. Like, good lord, you have to have this explained to you if you're a first-time player, especially because it's so unconventional, but is there any other possible way to word this? I don't think so. One side transforms the others on your board. It can only be morning or evening. Sure, okay, there's some stuff that might change that with horrendous type-changing and transformational effects, but I'll save that for the insufferable YouTube shorts that go over the combos as if anyone ever listens to them. It's interesting that this is a rare, because it feels pretty light otherwise? I might have given the backside deathtouch as well just because it's funny. There's gotta be a way to make this feel a little rarer, IMO.

I'll be honest with you too: I didn't actually read the art descriptions until just now...because I didn't have to to understand what you were depicting. Both the cards do such a good job of building up a vibe that the art here feels like icing on top of icing on top of this cake. The Grove's AD is fantastic, of course, and the Shadowmoor treefolk are definitely a little less pleasant than their counterparts. With how Lorwyn/Shadowmoor work, I can see this being the same tree without the memories, even though it's really treading that line in a way that almost crosses over. Still, evil trees? I'm down. I'm picking up what you're putting down, in a much different way than the evil son of a birch over there.

This week will see me spending a lotta time getting what I can together for commentary. Thanks for your patience, folks. Hope everyone had a good prerelease!

@abelzumi

[danco110]

“So. You set everything on fire around you. Wherever you go.”

“Y-Yes…But it sounds so terrible when you put it like that!”

Ashling squirmed under the scrutiny of her questioner. Though the two had not come to blows, the flamekin swore she could hear disdain in the stranger’s voice.

“And you’re a pilgrim, you say?”

“Oh, yes! I travel all over Lorwyn and-”

“So you set all kinds of places on fire.”

“Well, I…” Ashling’s literal and figurative wooden expression slowly shifted as the flame behind it intensified. She planted her feet, her mask changing into a scowl as she spoke. “It’s not like I’m trying to hurt anyone! I try to have my…outbursts while on the road. It’s part of why I travel, actually.”

“So you can’t control it!”

“No. But I have fought almost everything this world has to offer, on both Lorwyn and Shadowmoor, and I still draw breath. So bite your tongue before you flare my temper!”

Ashling’s red flame flashed a brilliant white.

“Wait, what? Oh, no, sorry! I wasn’t judging.”

“Backpedal all you like. You’re not fooling anyone!”

“No, really! I kinda get the feeling we’ve got a lot in common!”

This suddenly chipper tone convinced Ashling to at least calm down, her flame returning to its original crimson color.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…well, we’ve both got fire!” The stranger snapped her fingers, summoning a spray of sparks from her nails. “And I’m not exactly the most precise pyromancer, either!”

“Oh. Well…I wish you luck in your mastery.”

“Right back at you!”

With that, the stranger broke off from Ashling’s path and wandered away. This left the flamekin alone on the trail, staring curiously after the other mage. But her mask was smiling now, her mood bolstered by meeting a mage in a similar situation.

“What an interesting kithkin. I didn’t know they had any pyromancers!”

[Ashling should be a planeswalker too! Pilgrim or Extinguisher, either one could be really cool! Also, read her wiki article, kinda looks like she’s a main character in the Lorwyn block. Pretty interesting stuff!]

[salamileg]

I was so excited to get into Standard with Foundations, then bam

I don't even dislike Universes Beyond that much, I just don't play with most of the cards and it wasn't an issue for me. But if Sephiroth control is the only viable control deck because and that's my preferred archetype, then I'm shit out of luck ain't I?

Not to mention that Lorwyn (originally announced for Q4 2025) has been delayed to make room for another Universes Beyond set.

[cheddar-baby]

im so excited for whenever the lorwyn mtg set gets released. Im not touching my changelings deck until it comes out then im gonna do a full revamp with all the new good ones they add. I really hope they capture the same art style as the original cause i found all the art from the first lorwyn set to be incredibly charming

[incorrect-mtg]

Flavor Text Highlights - Lorwyn

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

Cool - Kithkin Greatheart

Sometimes a curious giant singles out a “little one” to follow for a few days, never realizing the effect it will have on the little one’s life.

Funny - Ingot Chewer

Elementals are ideas given form. This one is the idea of “smashitude.”

Worldbuilding - Exiled Boggart

Among the boggarts, there is only one real rule: all new treasures and experiences must be shared. Those who hoard their gifts commit the one truly unforgivable sin.

Worldbuilding - Lys Alana Scarblade

In beauty-obsessed Lys Alana, one cut of her blade means the difference between a high society feast and raking through the dungheap for scraps.

<- Previous Set | Next Set ->

[magicwithclass]

Duskmourn or Innistrad?

Today, Magic the gathering released a humongous amount of new information about upcoming sets in 2024. We received many spoilers about Duskmourne and I stand with what I always thought upon first hearing about the set and theme; this could have been set on Innistrad. Maybe griselbrand has been fused to a haunted house upon resurrection (demons on Innistrad can return from being destroyed). Slowly, griselbrand has been gaining more power and he is starting to expand his domain outward. I think that a future trip to innistrad may want to move away from the typal creature support as that has been done many countless times. Do you think people would approve of an Innistrad set without the majority of creatures being locked into 5 types? Of course, vampires, spirits, humans, zombies, and werewolves/wolves would still get a few cards but it would pivot away from an overused theme just as Ixalan did in Caverns of Ixalan. After seeing Caverns of Ixalan and Murders at Karlov Manor experimenting with the idenitty of established planes, I thought that any horror set would be a lock for Innistrad. Didn't Innistrad do cosmic horror at one point? There are also many similarities between Duskmourn and Innistrad. Delirium debuted in Shadows over Innistrad. It is insulting to the audience to downplay the obvious similarities and then resuse an old mechanic that debuted on the first horror plane. One of the cards in duskmourne depicts a chainsaw. Innistrad just referenced the texas chainsaw massacre with the banned meathook massacre. Many of the spirits of Innistrad have connections to enchantments. While the creatures are not spirit, some of the glimmer creatures play in this same space. I will say that delirium seems like a stronger fit in Duskmourn as some of the villainous factions are either enchantment creatures or artifact creatures (quickened toys) The razorkin also kind of remind me of zombies and the beasties kind of remind me of werewolves. Beasties have two faces just like werewolves and werewolves also usually do not want you to see the wolf face. Even the wickerfolk kind of remind me of evil treefolk masquerading as trees. I do not like to spread conspiracy theories but a part of me thinks that Duskmounre was supposed to be set on Innistrad but they changed it after the failure of crismon vow and midnight hunt. Is Duskmourne meant as a replacement for Innistrad which looks like it has diminishing returns with set after set? Has wotc realized that returning too frequently, even to popular planes does not allow us nostalgia to build? Also, what is with the butterfly set symbol. A butterfly would have made more sense for bloomburrow or lorwyn but the symbol totally contradicts the theme. Do we get a butterfly card in the set? Will it be creature type insect or butterfly? The symbol should have obviously been a spooky house. We did get more news on Bloomburrow but I think we all know enough about what to expect from that set. I had never heard of the Redwall series but I am familiar with some of the tropes. I do not feel like the news about bloomburrow was significant or important in the history of the game. However, one announcement could have a major impact on the game going forward. Standard is now five years. Yes, after just increasing standard to 3 years they have decided to make standard even longer. May sheoldred forever reign! Ok, you got me! Standard is NOT going to be 5 years...... yet. A major announcement does shake up standard in a way that many did not see coming. Magic the Gathering Foundations is a new set that is going to release November 15 2024. It will be a standard legal set and it will be legal in standard until AT LEAST 2025. That means the set will have a role in the next two standard environments. The set is supposed to be similiar to a core set with some amount of reprints and some amount of new cards and the cards showcased so far seem very simple. So why am I so concerned about this set? Well simple does not mean weak. The few cards spoiled in Foundations seem extremely pushed.

[a-magical-recap]

Yesterday the name of the upcoming Lorwyn expansion was revealed to be Lorwyn Eclipsed. The set will explore what happens when the day of Lorwyn and the night of Shadowmoor blend together.

[niuttuc]

Summary of all the MtG announcements to 2026

Wizards announced a bunch of upcoming sets for years to come at Gencon. Here's a short summary of just the key points to not get lost. Full video in a reblog.

Main Sets:

Wilds of Eldraine

Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Murders at Karlov Manor (Ravnica Murder Mystery)

Outlaws of Thunder Junction (Wild West)

Bloomburrow (animal people world)

Duskmourn: House of Horrror (Giant Mansion, modern horror)

[Tennis] (interplanar death race)

[Ultimate] (Return to Tarkir)

Voleyball (Spaaaaaaaaaace)

[Wrestlin] (Return to Lorwyn)

[Yachting] (Return to Arcavios)

[Ziplining] (Finale of the Omenpath Arc)

Supplemental Sets

Jurassic World with Lost Caverns of Ixalan

Secret Lair Angel Commander Precon

Ravnica: Remastered

Ravnica Clue

Fallout

Modern Horizons III

Innistrad Remastered

Assassin's Creed

Final Fantasy

Pioneer Masters on MtG Arena

[markrosewater]

There is a lot of talk about returning to Planes lately, and I look forward to the return to Lorwyn next year.

However, the rapidfire number of sets that were returns lately (Midnight Hunt, Crimson Vow, Neon Dynasty, Theros Beyond Death, Murders, Wilds...), has gotten me fatigued on the idea.

My favorite MTG sets of the last 5 years have been, in order of preference: Ikoria, Bloomburrow, and Capenna - with LotR being my favorite UB set.

I would like to offer my appreciation for those sets, and encourage the direction of future MTG sets to explore those Planes we have been teased, but never visited.

Examples: Xerex, Belenon, Segovia, Shandalar, and Karsus.

Our goal for in-Multiverse sets is to do about half new worlds and half revisits. This comes from a number of factors including resources (new worlds take more time) and player feedback (we get a lot more requests for returns).

Referenced worlds are not necessarily always good fodder for a new world. Segovia, for example, got created as a joke, a way to explain how a piece of art wasn’t a mistake. But a world defined by how small it is in contrast to other worlds is hard to do when you’re only on that world. Making a few cards is a far cry from crafting a whole world.

That doesn’t mean we’ll never visit referenced worlds. We just visited Muraganda. It does mean though that we need a good take on a referenced world to properly build it.

[tallgreenlady]

I just learned that we’re getting the stupid Spider-Man magic set INSTEAD of a return to Lorwyn this coming year. I was already not pleased about half of Magic not being Magic but I’m mourning now. Lorwyn is one of Magic’s most interesting settings imo and i’ve been hoping for a return for years now

[sylvan-librarian]

Nissa's Pilgrimage Part I: Worldwaker

Preface: 

Hi there! My name is Steven; I recently wrapped up a master’s degree in library science and am doing my best to segue careers. Since my terminally long job hunt has left me with more down time than I ever wanted to have, I decided to put my English degree to good(?🤷) use by writing a bunch of personal essays on Magic the Gathering, as it is a topic I have been obsessed with for around a decade now. I didn’t intend to share these ramblings at first, and I began this whole project for my own edification, to keep my brain active, and to prevent myself going insane from boredom. However, I thought it couldn’t hurt to throw these online and see what comes of it.

This particular piece is part 1 of ???. I have a lot of notes in my drafts and even more thoughts in my head, so it may just go on indefinitely until someone (finally) gives me a dang job.

TLDR: I’m a deranged MTG Vorthos and former English major with a lot of thoughts and even more time on my hands, so I began a handful of English major-y essays on my pet topics. I’m posting them here for now.

Introduction:

Almost every Magic player who began learning the game after the planeswalker card type was introduced in the Lorwyn expansion in October, 2007 can tell you a story about the first planeswalker card they fell in love with. It might have been because the mechanics on the card melded perfectly with their preferred strategy of play, it might have been because they kept up with the story and were invested in the represented character’s journey, or it might have simply been because they thought the art looked cool.

For whatever reason under Mirrodin’s five suns a Magic player first became attached to a planeswalker and their cards, the character often become symbolic for our love of the game itself. These symbols grow beyond simple loyalty abilities on a piece of cardboard and become inexorably intertwined with our own personal Magic experience.

For me, this planeswalker was Nissa Revane.

You see, in March of 2014, I started working at The Game Closet in Waco, Texas. I had just finished getting a master’s degree in English, so of course, my first job out in the real world was to become a clerk at my local game store (really putting my humanities education to work). Having grown up in a small Louisiana town, I never had a chance to play Magic. I entered the tabletop gaming world through my obsession with Dungeons & Dragons, Shadowrun, and sundry other RPG’s. 

Nevertheless, as Magic players made up the majority of the store’s customer base, I took it upon myself to learn the game. The Theros block was wrapping up at the time with its third set, Journey into Nyx, and a bunch of friendly players were more than happy to unload all of their bulk commons and uncommons to me (Journey into Nyx was famously underpowered, after all), so I tried to make a standard deck out of all this draft chaff and run it at Friday Night Magic. 

It didn’t go too well.

However, I was happy with the overall direction of the deck, and I immediately discovered that I loved green decks, specifically green ramp strategies.

I was enthralled with the idea of accelerating mana so that you can play flashy, intimidating creatures and cool, game warping spells far earlier than you have any right to, so I continued to tweak the deck until I made a functioning version of the Theros Standard Mono Green Devotion deck. Even though I wasn’t good enough at the game in my early days to consistently win (even at the local level), I had a lot of fun with it! It was fast and explosive, but for some reason, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was missing something.

However, not a few months later, the Magic 2015 Core Set gets released, and the chase mythic rare in the set’s early days was exactly the kind of card I was looking for: Nissa, Worldwaker. I had no idea who this Nissa character was supposed to be — though I did think the art looked pretty cool — but I was in awe of the card’s abilities! It was precisely the kind of fuel I felt my standard deck needed at the time, and it turns out I was right! My Magic the Gathering “competitive” “career” begins and ends with a handful of first place rankings at my local game store’s standard FNM events, but as small a victory as those are, nearly all of these top rankings were due to Nissa, Worldwaker. 

Needless to say, I became devoted to the character overnight.

Exploration:

But who is Nissa, really? Let’s start with the basics. Nissa is an elf planeswalker from the plane of Zendikar, a largely untamed wilderness where the land itself has a will of its own, causing unforeseeable (un)natural disasters called “the roil” by Zendikari locals. According to the recently-released Magic The Gathering: The Visual Guide by Jay Annelli, Nissa is in her 60s and she is 5 feet, 2 inches tall, making her the smallest of the original four members of the Gatewatch (five if you count Liliana). Nissa has a mystical connection to the land and can sense a plane’s leylines, giving her a measure of control over the ground she walks on; this allows her to animate the very land itself to fight her enemies, a narrative element that has been expressed mechanically time and time again on Nissa’s cards throughout the years. 

Ostracized from the elven clan she was born in, the Joraga, for the crime of having this connection to the land (a rare brand of sorcery called “animism” in the lore of Magic), Nissa spent large stretches of years alone with only the spirits of the natural world as companions. This has made her socially awkward to a fault, and the issues she has in communicating with her friends (and later, lovers) has been a fairly consistent plot point throughout all of the (canon) story arcs she has played a part in. 

In a fictional universe that contains ageless elder dragons, a man-eating toad, a sentient robot who literally created a planet from scratch, and a wizard who once phased an entire continent out of the time stream, Nissa Revane’s eternal struggle to express simple feelings to people she shares a bond with always seemed to me the most human element in the Magic canon. Additionally (big surprise), that’s something I have in common with her. While other Vorthoses have made the argument that Nissa is on the autism spectrum, that is something I have neither the personal experience with nor the education of to speak about. That is certainly a valid lens to view this character through, however, so if that interests you, I’d encourage you to search up these pieces on your own.

What I can speak on with a certain level of expertise, however, is the personal struggle of being a shy, withdrawn introvert in an extroverted world. As a lifelong wallflower with a vivid imagination and a rich inner world, I can deeply relate to a character who doesn’t know how to put her intense feelings to words. For example, in the final story of the Kaladesh arc, Renewal, Nissa tries to express to her companion Chandra just how deeply she wants to be “friends” with her:

Nissa swallowed past the desert in her throat. "I don't speak often. I lived alone for...decades. Zendikar was my companion. We understood each other at a level deeper than words. I...I don't know how to talk to you. I'm trying to learn." Chandra looked up, eyes wide and startled. "You don't know how to talk to me?" "I will make mistakes," Nissa said. "Pick the wrong words. Misunderstand yours. I'll act strange and won't know that I am. But if you can be patient with me, I would like to be..." Waves of sky-song memory welled upward, symphonies of color and warmth, resonant movement and shared breath. She stilled them, reduced them, and forced out angular words shaped in a pallid shadow of acceptable truth. "...your friend." Chandra's hands leapt out to enfold hers, warm as a bird's nest. "I dunno," she sniffled, one corner of her mouth quivering upward. "I think you're pretty good at picking words." "It took all afternoon to decide how to say this."

While this section of Renewal is a cornerstone of Nissa’s and Chandra’s future romantic relationship, that is a topic big enough to warrant its own essay in order to do it justice. For now, though, let’s focus on this bit: “‘I would like to be…’ Waves of sky-song memory welled upward, symphonies of color and warmth, resonant movement and shared breath. She stilled them, reduced them, and forced out angular words shaped in a pallid shadow of acceptable truth. ‘...your friend.’” Nissa’s never ending struggle to use words grand enough to communicate the intensity of the feelings in her heart has stuck with me since Renewal was posted on Magic’s website in 2017. I doubt I’m the only one, either.

Heroic Intervention

Nissa was already the character I was most invested in back in 2017, but observing her deep well of emotions she didn’t know to express and her entire lifetime's worth of interests and experiences she didn’t know how to talk about helped me, I think, come to terms the previous two-and-a-half decades of my own life that I spent cowering in corners at parties, being as unobtrusive as possible in the lives of my friends and family, and holding myself back because I didn’t think anyone would ever want me around - as a friend, as a lover, or even as a coworker. This section, from later on in Renewal, really gutted me at the time: 

What would she do, if she had the time again? If she didn't flinch at light, noise, and touch, or speak in gestures and movements strange and off-putting to others? How could she tell this new life to laugh and weep without reservation or regret; to sing to the stars and waters, or to nothing at all; to love unreserved and unguarded; to treasure every moment with those beloved; to forgive any regretted trespass; to dance when moved to; to savor long silences in warm company; to greet each dawn, each face with the thought, this will be an adventure; to be brave, and kind, and trusting, and... ...like Chandra. The aetherborn waited, flickering. But why would anyone find her thoughts on the matter of value, anyway? Don't be afraid to follow your heart, Nissa told them. ...Why would that be scary? Halfway across Ghirapur, her body exhaled a laugh into the deepening twilight. May it ever puzzle you.

It wasn’t too long after this story was published that I began my own journey from hiding in the shadows to living my life in a way I was proud of. I moved away with the woman I was dating at the time, and even though that relationship ended up not working out, I spent five long, fun, life-altering years learning to

laugh and weep without reservation or regret; to sing to the stars and waters, or to nothing at all; to love unreserved and unguarded; to treasure every moment with those beloved; to forgive any regretted trespass; to dance when moved to; to savor long silences in warm company; to greet each dawn, each face with the thought, this will be an adventure.

I wonder to this day if the courage Nissa displayed during her own pilgrimage helped nurture in me the courage I needed in my own…

Conclusion

If you made this far, thanks! I’m not sure who, if any, will be interested in these endless ramblings, but if you're here, I hope you found something in it to enjoy!

Further entries in this little series will cover who Nissa is as a character, how she has been treated by various writers in Magic's various seasons, and why that matters (to me at least). The next longform piece I post will go over Nissa’s dual origins, why she was retconned from an incompetent xenophobe into the cinnamon roll with baggage we know today, and what both the Magic Story Team and its fans have made of this shift over the years.

References

Annelli, J. Magic The Gathering The Visual Guide. DK Publishing

Li, M., Digges, K., Luhrs, A., Beyer D., & L'Etoile, C. (2017). Renewal

[inventors-fair]

High Perfects: LRW/SHM Winners!

Our winners this past contest are @bergdg, @deg99 and @wildcardgamez!

@bergdg — Gilt-Leaf Faultless / Safehold Warden

Easy transformation mechanics make for a pretty good time. You have the part of the turn, you've got it as a single-transformation change, and once you read the backside you know what's about to happen. I'll talk about the mechanics secondarily, but the easy switch from Lorwyn's jerk elves to Shadowmoor's preservationists is represented quite well here. It's not even selfish on the front side, just a whole vibe of personal antagonism—and yet, the Warden turns it into a kind of selflessness that makes the Lorwyn elves seem all the stranger. I loved the fact that elves on this plane have a bit of a mean streak. Shadowmoor's elves are equally mysterious and mystical to me, and those motions are represented here with all the mono-green goodness that you can imagine.

Whether or not we get another three-color MTG set on a return plane is something that I can't speak to. The double-hybrid allowing for this to remain mono-green in all its multicolored identity is really cool because you've really mashed together all the things that green can possibly do besides trample, and it works! Not gonna lie, this is a lot of text. All of it groks, but it's still quite a bit, especially with the flavor text. But what the heck, it's done right enough that it's still an awesome way to work up the early grind of beefing the Faultless before the Warden spreads the love. It would for sure make me excited to see some of the counter synergies that one might work up, and I like the gameplay potential of one side building resources and the other side using those resources across the board. Really neat!

@deg99 — Gloryblaze Flamekin / Smoldering Cinders

Hey look, we're using the ol' art contest art! I really love that, actually—Ashling was depicted in one of them, I recall that, and that black-bone Cinder feeling is on point for sure. Also, what a strange and unique card! Mono-redness for the Flamekin checks out, and the disturbance balances mechanically as well. It's odd, but it's possible to put the counters on an opponent's creature and then have that tick down too, which seems... Well, it seems like a niche application but one that's got potential for brewers! Aggressive attacks with your own set of beaters seems like the right plan too. It'll burn out, but that's the point of it. Getting a +3/+3 aura (essentially) for two mana in those colors after your turn-two beater hits the bin? Not insignificant for sure.

I think that the story here is minimal, but this is a bottom-up design that utilizes the worlds of Lorwyn and Shadowmoor to the prompt in a way that I still genuinely appreciate. The front-side Flamekin rushes out, and the flame dwindles because it rushed out too soon. And when it's reduced to cinders, that burning passion becomes hatred, the spite of the Cinders. That flame is snatched up and devoured by whomever claims it. Removal by speed, removal by avarice. It's not necessarily deep and it's not asking to be; the Disturb mirror affects each creature in a similar enough way, just with different frames of mind. I appreciate that a lot! I think both mono-red and Rakdos aggro decks in a standard environment would appreciate this immensely, and I can see how any amount of evasion can stack this up for sure. I think you did a great job here.

@wildcardgamez — Pyrelight Ritualist / Darksmoke Ritualist

The only mechanical wonder I have is the mana-ability-transforming part and the stack, but I suppose that day/night doesn't use the stack in that sense either, so—maybe weirdness is just inherent in transforming DFCs, who'da thought. A 1/1 haster that can ramp you out isn't so strange. The Flamekin have had their share of rituals, and at uncommon for this rate, it's reasonable to see this be not too overpowered. Adding RRRR would be way too much, I think, especially because that would take away from the backside mirror. I love the way that you make the player work for that transformation, because it's both a cool poke into the limited themes, potentially, as well as a fantastic flavor indication of what happens to the Flamekin in the darkness of the Aurora.

The flavor text being mirrored here is absolutely stellar work. You've perfectly encapsulated the feeling of joyous embers to insidious miasma, where the viewer and their relationship to the cards is what matters here. This is the same character in a mirror world, with skills of their other life but none of the same emotions, which is precisely what I was hoping we'd see more of in this contest. The fact that they share the same typeline is really awesome as well. What exists in one world must exist in the other somehow, though not as it first may seem. Yeah, no, I got nothin' else but praise for this execution. Bringing aggro rituals to limited is definitely niche but great for bombs if you can get them off. Bringing this kind of focused worldbuilding is even better.