#shandalar

[danco110]

“Your skill with the flute is progressing quite nicely, Rebecca.”

“Er, thank you, Lady Melissa. However, I did have a question for you…”

The older elf smiled warmly at her pupil. “Of course! Anything you need.”

“Well, it’s just…When I started studying under you, I was just hoping I could learn to play the flute better, you know?”

“Yes. And may I say, you have improved much since we’ve begun.”

“S-Sure. But I was wondering whether you might be able to teach me a version of playing that doesn’t…you know…?”

Melissa arched an eyebrow. “No, I’m afraid I do not know. Is something wrong?”

“Well…is there any way I could learn to play without summoning things?” Rebecca blurted, before promptly clapping her hands across her mouth in embarrassment.

“…Without summoning?”

“Well, summoning, attracting, whatever! I was hoping for…well, more than just woodland critters to listen!”

Melissa loosed a haughty laugh. “But what better audience is there, than one naturally drawn to your music?”

“Well, I’m not so sure about ‘naturally.’ You’ve definitely taught me some powerful magic, here.”

“And you have proven quite the prodigy at channeling it.” Melissa waved a dismissive hand at her student. “With that in mind, I’m sure you can figure out how to play without the…side effects.”

“Can’t you just tell me how?”

“No.”

“You don’t know how, do you?” Rebecca deadpanned.

“…No…”

[Shoutout to @thecornwall for inspiration on this one!]

[overgrown-estate]

Remember when we all thought this was going to be a thing in Magic the Gathering back in January 2021 until nothing came of it? It still surprises me that Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro would spend so much resources on other IPs when they haven't even researched their own. Shandalar is one of the original planes created by Magic. It may have been created for the MicroProse game back in April of 1997, but they continued to make use of it in Core Sets.

Imagine the world that could be put together if they would actually make a Shandalar set. I'm pretty sure they actually do have everything ever done with Shandalar in some computer file collecting electron dust. It's just a shame they won't ever use it. They keep on saying things like Shandalar has no mechanical identity. Well, bitches, it's your creation, give it an identity - mechanical, story, and otherwise.

There's already been plenty of lore given to Shandalar across a number of media outlets, @wizardsmagic. Do what you normally do and put it all together. It's like you don't want to touch it anymore. Get off your high horse and take care of business. Show us what Shandalar can be in this current point in time in the Multiverse.

It's nice to think something can be done to make this happen but I doubt it ever will. I might as well be screaming into the wind.

[tumblhurgoyf]

This is round 1 of the Battle of the Planes! Polls for the other round 1 match ups are up as well.

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Scarecrow,“ starring Aminatou, Veil Piercer; Reaper King, and Pandora's Box. I think that enemy got the point.

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

More MTGinktober here.

Daily art updates on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky.

Reuxben

[vox-off]

i whinge about an extremely old computer game under the cut

so i was playing shandalar - as one does in the year of our lord 2024 - and was loitering about, picking fights, when a wizard attacked a nearby town. no biggie, i've got me a pretty bitchin' izzet burn deck, go to rescue the town, maybe get a cool card

now the wizards have all had like 14-21 starting life total up to this point. but THIS bitch had 100. i'mindanger.gif. fortunately for me, his deck sucked. well. okay i can see how his deck would be a problem for literally any other deck. his tactic was 'make everything expensive to cast' buddy a solid 28 of my 60 cards are 1 drops. i'm running 19 lands and still get flooded. i've got a core of lightning bolt, shock, fireball, opt, and ancestral recall. my 'big spenders' are guttersnipes at a whopping 3 cmc. maybe a docent if it gets dire. you can't cast shit for shit and i may be killing you 1/10th of your health at a time, but by god i am going to death by a thousand static shocks you

i beat him three times and each time, the game would crash before the 'you done beat him' screen. i got so steamed about it i rage quit and went to bed

googled about it this morning. turns out the ONLY enemy in the game with 100 life is the final boss. somehow the good good quality game of Modded To Fuck Shandalar glitched the final boss into a random city on the map with exactly zero Final Boss Time conditions met and then, presumably, crashed under the weight of its own embarrassment

[dominarianplowshare]

Fragment of some writing I’m noodling around with—

Many believe that it is an immense task, perhaps an impossible burden, to know all that can be known. This is true. But there is one task harder.

There are scholarly disciplines for every topic on earth, save one, which we will touch on in a moment. Geologists plumb the earth’s hidden depths, whilst geographers array before our eyes the manifold marvels spread across it. Botanists diagram the inner lives of plants, phlebotomists diagnose the infernal flows of blood, physicists master the manner of the cosmos, and physicians manage the mortalities of our bodily matter. And this is to say nothing of the magical arts! Allomancy, cryomancy, pyromancy, illusionism, duplimancy, hieromancy, keuranomancy, mimeomancy, lumimancy, oneiromancy, necromancy, thaumaturgy, viromancy—a mere triskadecaton of the manifold numerosities found in the study of magic, most of all our native Shandalar, infused as it is with our native magics.

But whether we name sciences of the body or earth, alchemies of fluid and chemicalism, or magics of ice, flame, death, or light—in all these disparate sciences we may grasp a common thread weaving amidst the chaos, which is this: the vocation of unveiling, that is to say of making the unknown known.

But I invite you to imagine the reverse. Can there be such a science as makes the known unknown? That is to say, a science that mystifies that which we take without faith, that clouds those sunny days of our intellect, that casts over our knowledge a pall of obscurity and allows us to know nothing but this: that our world is not what we believe it to be?

Such is the science I propose to you. Such is cryptohistory.

[beatsandskies]

deePRECONnaissance: some typical decks from the plane of Shandalar

[almostlookedhuman]

[overgrown-estate]

I really hope we get a set taking place on Shandalar. If there's any fantasy setting I'd want in a Standard set, it's Shandalar. There's so much that's taken place there in core sets and other media. I wish WotC would actually use it for a premier set.

Does the Brothers War set underperforming reduce the chances of a set focusing on Shandalar?

I find a lot of the lore from that era of Magic to be really interesting so I am sad that it might not get the spotlight I think it deserves because one set did bad.

It doesn't help, but doesn't make it off limits.

[odocoileus-esoterica]

[brastrophobia]

Doing that thing where I bounce between like 8 different games before never settling on any

[danco110]

“Hey, you look different today.”

“I…look different?”

The knight glanced over her shoulder at her partner and nodded. “Yeah,” she stated flatly.

“Yeah. Well,” muttered the other paladin, “I did try to…do something different with my hair today.”

“No, that’s not it.”

“That’s not it? Then…I don’t know what you mean…”

“Yeah you do,” drawled the first knight, with a knowing smirk. “Your face is different!”

The second knight’s hand drifted up to their cheek and breathed an anxious sigh. Their partner noticed this, her eyes growing wide with worry.

“What’s wrong? Is something-”

“All right! I’m sorry!”

“Sorry?”

The shapeshifter’s body grew and warped, until a large-jawed monster sat atop their horse, still clad in their gilded armor. Despite their new form, they still spoke with the same panicked voice of the knight from before:

“I was trying something new! I’m sorry! I know you really want us to look the same, but I was just trying to…change things up-”

“I like it!”

“-and I’m sorry! I…?”

The shapeshifter’s glowing eyes grew wide as they realized their partner was smiling warmly at them. They tilted their head, visibly confused by her reaction.

“You…do?”

“Yes!” beamed the knight. “Stepping out of my shadow, I see. Good for you!”

“But, you said…” The shapeshifter’s jaw was quivering, prompting their partner to gasp in realization.

“I…no, I’m so sorry! I just meant the armor! I thought you copying my face was nerves, or something. No, you don’t have to take any form you don’t want to. I just want to make sure you’re wearing something to protect you when we have to fight.”

“Oh.”

“…You must be angry. And I accept if you no longer want to ride with me.”

“No, I’m just relieved!” cried the shapeshifter. “And of course I’ll still ride with you! Although…could I maybe just travel like I am now?”

The other knight gave her partner a relieved sigh and an understanding nod. “No problem at all - just as long as you’re wearing that armor.”

[This is probably just me being very out of touch, but I never understood the trope of evil shapeshifters. It seems like just a cool superpower to have!]

[overgrown-estate]

A character from Shandalar in a Standard set? OMG! And he cares about modal spells? Can you even make a deck that's predominantly modal spells? This is interesting!

[leafdrake-haven]

How we feelin’ about that First Look y’all?

[reuxben]

Here’s our MTGinktober for “Wander,” starring Balan, Wandering Knight; Fblthp, the Lost; and Cairn Wanderer! When you need an expert crew of explorers to sorta travel around aimlessly, Balan and the Bald Bois are the best in the biz.

Click this post’s Source link for this piece’s Making-Of.

More MTGinktober here.

Daily art updates on Instagram and Twitter.

Reuxben

[vox-off]

okay. updated and modded shandalar both slaps extremely fucking hard and also sucks major ass