Released less than a month ago, we are knee deep in Zendikar and will be for two more years (before it rotates out of Standard). Vampire decks and allies are invading our casual games and even sneaking into competitive play. Day of Judgment seems to herald a new age of mono-white control, especially with Luminarch Ascension. Meanwhile Sorin Markov has done the same for mono-black, with help from Mind Sludge this time. The point? We are firmly entrenched in Zendikar. However that doesn’t mean we aren’t looking off towards the horizon known as Worldwake. Before concrete information begins trickling out from the MTG community, we here at Gathering Magic like to make a few predictions regarding any upcoming set. In this case the predictions have been broken into three groups. First the ‘Well, yeah. . .’ predictions. These are basically locks. Second is the ‘Bold Predictions’ group, or guesses that take a little faith. The third section, ‘Hopes and Dreams’ is self-titled.
the original Jace was a mill deck card, that will most certainly change. especially while the mill-Jace remains legal in the same standard format. instead it is likely to include other basic 'blue' abilities.
Well, yeah. . .
Jace Beleren will be back. Much like Chandra, WotC foreshadowed Jace’s return at the end of this web-comic. And much like Chandra we can expect a slightly transformed Jace to make an appearance in Worldwake. He will be the only walker in the expansion. There will be no Ob Nixilis yet, especially since we had red and black planeswalkers in Zendikar. While there are similar signs pointing to a return by Elspeth, Knight Errant it seems unlikely. Besides, Jace is often recognized as the face of Magic. Don’t believe me? Just follow this link to the MTG.com homepage. Like Chandra before him, Jace will have new abilities and most likely have a higher CMC. For an (obviously mock) preview of the new Jace check out the sidebar to the right.
More Eldrazi remnants and still no sign of the Eldrazi themselves. If message boards are to be believed, the third and final Zendikar expansion will be titled ‘Rise of the Eldrazi’. Of course if they aren’t rising until the next set then Worldwake will be without these enigmatic beings. That does not mean however that signs of the ancient race will not show up in abundance. Eldrazi Monument was only the tip of the iceberg. Legendary lands, equipment and other artifacts bearing the Eldrazi mark will be sprinkled in throughout Worldwake.
Textless lands are the new standard. Regardless of the type of basic lands we saw in Zendikar, we will see the same in Worldwake. New basic lands simply do not come out each expansion. However, it is worth noting that textless lands should be included in every new set moving forward. They are too fan-friendly to stop printing, and there hasn’t been any text on basic lands since 1996. That was the year they changed with Portals and we haven’t looked back since. This is merely the next step.
Bold Predictions. . .
A touch of gold. You read that correctly. After swearing off multi-colored cards for all of two sets (M10 and Zendikar) they’re back. Not in droves like Shards of Alara, or as a gimmick like Alara Reborn, but as a way to emphasize certain legendary creatures.
color-pie be damned
The same way it was always done from Tempest through Lorwyn. There will probably be two, but perhaps only one. Because the planeswalker is Jace, and Jace Beleren will assuredly be mono-blue, don’t look for any gold planeswalkers here. Only bit characters from the Zendikar-Worldwake story line. For those of you not ready to tread back into gold waters – too bad. One core set and one expansion have taken place with zero multi-chromatic colors. For the color-wheel athiests at Wotc, that was more than enough time.
The land will come alive. Remember Dryad Arbor, the quirky little forest/creature from the Future Sight expansion? It will be one of a full cycle of creature lands to be included in Worldwake. Whispers of new types of land, and mana being produced in unique ways have been haunting Zendikar since its announcement. Here we have a great example of both. Of course just because it was time-shifted doesn’t mean it has to show up later, but in this case it makes too much sense.
remember me?
Few if any vampires, and a return of elf tokens. From time to time we at Gathering Magic are forced to directly refute something we just wrote. In this case, Three Up and Three Down: Zendikar included Vampires over Elves as the third pair. While that is certainly the case now, elves are merely biding time before the tribal spotlight is theirs again. WotC won’t stand by and let Elvish Archdruid rot and Nissa Revane still needs to be developed as a character, and a playable card. Without a single elf token generator in standard Nissa is running at half-speed. For those of you thinking the flavor of Zendikar precludes tribal groups (and tokens especially) remember this, Vampires have their own city! Besides there are already plenty of utility vampires and some serious vamp-bombs within Zendikar.
Hopes and Dreams. . .
No more dual/fetch lands. Make no mistake, the fetch lands are as popular with us as they are anywhere else. Pulling $15-$20 cards is always awesome. But please no more WotC! We beg of you. Including Alara there are now four cycles of dual+ lands in standard. Not to mention additional special lands like Exotic Orchard. Remember when mana-fixing was hard? That is the way it should be. At this rate we’ll being seeing Five-Color-Control come back by March. No allied fetch lands, no enemy CIPT lands, no lands that generate additional colors in Worldwake period.
Better or more complete allies. The idea of allies is certainly cool. A non-sliver tribe that brings something from each color of the wheel. Great, but how about a little effort on the abilities Wizards? With the exception of the rares Zendikar allies basically read ‘creatures get +1/+1 counters whenever a creature of the same type enters the battlefield’. Useful but very boring. We need some more unique abilities. Allies you control gain flying until end of turn, or trample, or any other ability. How about allies that give huge benefits, but only if two or more allies entered play this turn. The surface has only been scratched and its time we go deeper.
too much to ask?
A true sweep for black. Before you shout about how Infest and Marsh Casualties are both legal in Standard, please take the time to re-read the opening line. These are not true sweeps. They are cards meant to achieve slight card advantage, not decimate an army. What black needs, or deserves depending on your point of view, is a good old fashioned board clearer. Even if it is unplayable like Plague Wind, at least the spirit is there. Vampires are heating up the competitive Magic scene. But until there is true sweep for mono-black the future of these decks is hazy at best.
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Keep checking the Worldwake spoiler page for news, rumors, and the latest releases. And the chance to call me a liar of course.
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Well damnation certainly isnt too much to ask. I prebiosly stated man lands will return but elves will make a comeback or else Nissa was a WotC mistake from the begining and you never know jace might go blue black or blacl considering he was taught to fight by kisilik or w/e his name was and he also trained with the black planeswalker or so wikipedia says. Let gold die just a bit more its still prominant and untill shards dies gold will be un-ending. if they do bring back gold let it be okward mana like 2red 2white and a black not that stupid easy crap like terminate oh ill cast ball rape for 1R and 1B
@ hashmallim -I hate to disagree with you but jace was also taught by Tezzeret in agents of artifice, he was taught how to further his mind control, it is also noted that jace might be u/w or even try colored out of fear of becoming corrupt. Jace is one of the few younsters in the magic world so he doesn’t know everything he has met nicol bolas as well as the lorwyn and some alara walkers. He is a control card he might gain some exile or hand advantages but nothing that would be broken or over kill. If he were to have some black magic in him it would be hand control which would suit his control apperance if he were to go to white it would be to gain life at the cost of something heck even exiling a card on fiel would suite him. also has anyone seen the new living lands, they cost alot and aren’t as good as the tenth edition ones. Damnation or an equivalent might happen to see play yet again just with the creatures can regen. With multi color returning sarkan or even another old planes walker might make a return. Remember old planswalkers were legendary creatures at one point.
don’t complain about terminate, it was a reprint anyway, but weird mana would be good, there’s alot of crap that’s almost to easy to play
Hate to burst your bubble, but (and I’m sad about it too) textless lands are NOT the new standard. First of all, the “small” sets of a block don’t have their own basic lands (so Worldwake will use Zendikar lands), and obviously textless nonbasics wouldn’t make sense.
More to the point, however, is the fact that Mark Rosewater (or someone over at the mothership – I think it was him – could someone dig up the link?) announced that the textless basics were a one-shot thing for Zendikar (relating to the importance of land in the set) and will NOT be continued going forward. Even when Prosper/Rise of the Eldrazi comes out (as a “large” set), it will have regular basic lands. Zendikar is all we’ve got for the textless lands, I’m afraid. Well, and the Un-lands.
If I have learned anyhting from following MTG it is that things change. WotC may say its a one time deal, because that maintains a buzz. But textless lands will be back and stay back. Just wait, thats why its called a prediction not a summary of what we know.
On the full art lands: there was an article somewhere (can’t find it now) that noted the full art lands would only be for this one block, perhaps not even for Prosper.
On the black sweep: I thought Vampires! was an aggro deck with only a little combo; I’ll have to take another look at the recent builds.
Vampires are certainly aggro, but with some control elements like spot removal/discard. Unfortunately builds like this don’t work unless there is a true sweep involved. Meaning a Damnation equivalent.
Or just splash white for DoJ and Path/O-Ring. That’s what I did, and it was/is a great control deck. Even beat Jund 2-1, surviving quadruple Blightnings in game 1 (which I won).
lol no way a vamp deck beat jund after 4 blightnings… how did it go?
Interesting conjectures, although I personally think the planeswalker will be an insane Sarkhan Vol as he is the one depicted in the comic as going nearly insane and his constant mentioning of Nicol Bolas. The manlands would be a nice treat to see more FUT cards get printed again. Also, there was some Kor in Future Sight, so we might see the il-Kor that were taken from Zendikar come back in spirit form to help in whatever is coming to the plane in Worldwake.
I’m confused, are you talking about textless lands or full-art lands? Maro did say something full-art lands being a one shot deal. Did you mean including them in boosters?
Also, no mention of changing landfall? It seems far too easy to turn it into “Swampfall” or “Forestfall” and allowing for greater effects from it.
Based off of today’s article, I think vampires are hear to stay for a while. And how can you ask for gold but no dual lands? Seems like an odd contradiction.
Found Maro’s quote!
http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/mm/55
“The full-art basic lands (suggested by Brady Dommermuth for those who are interested) were also done to keep in the land theme. Yes, this does mean that the full-art basic land is a land-themed thing, only showing up in the two sets that have the theme, Zendikar and Worldwake. “Prosper” is going off in another, non-land-based direction, so basic lands will go back to their normal layout starting with “Prosper.” Why are we taking away something that the players to seem to love so much? For the same reason that we take away the other beloved things: Magic works best when the pendulum swings having things go in and out of sets. While I don’t talk much about it, splash inflation is something R&D has to be vigilant about. If we keep having to be bigger and splashier every set than the set before, Magic will spire out of control. For cool things to enter, other cool things must exit.”
So what did you mean by “textless-lands?”
Thanks for doing the work to dig that up!
Also, snazzy avatar! Maybe I should get one for myself…
Like I said above, I will believe it when I see it. This reminds me of when WotC said tehre would never be a ‘destroy target planeswalker’ card. And now we have Vampire Hexmage.
I think the claim to not print “destroy target Planeswalker” was for flavor reasons tied to that PHRASE rather than that MECHANIC.
Yeah, I’m with Jiggy on this one. The argument wasn’t about ways to destroy planeswalkers, it was about printing the exact phrase “Destroy target planeswalker.” And to date, we don’t have a card that says that.
http://www.wizards.com/magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/20
yeah but lets face it that is what that card is for. Hexmages would not be good if all they could do is slow down ascensions.
It was EXPLICITY STATED that the phrase “Destroy target Planeswalker” was seen as a no-no because of the flavor implications, but they still wanted hard answers for them. Vindicate, Mold Shambler, Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker, Maelstrom Pulse, et cetera still destroy planeswalkers without actually SAYING “Destroy target Planeswalker” Hexmage is just another answer. And I disagree with haha. Since when is a 2/x for two with a great ability bad for aggro? I guess Knight of Meadowgrain sucked, too.
I’d like a playable counter spell. People were lamenting the loss of Cryptic Command but I feel the loss of Broken Ambitions was just as bad without a replacement. Seems they’re trying to give blue decent creatures now so who knows what they’re planning. I hope to god they include some gold to replace whatever Jund creatures will rotate out next October. I also feel that a Goblin/Vampire Red/Black aggro/weenie deck is VERY close to being tournament worthy with a few small additions that I’d like to see. I’m old school and think a Nevinyral’s Disk type colorless artifact would solve the sweep problem but still be manageable if it cost alot more. They’ve brought back Harrow, Wrath of God (Day of Judgment) and Lightning Bolt so what’s next for common rarity, insanely powerful card to be thrown into standard? Cancel is probably asking too much but I have a feeling there will be another with Worldwake.
Cancel is in Zendikar already…
I’m sorry, but I think there ARE playable counterspells – Negate, Essence Scatter, and even Cancel are, in fact, playable. Just because old fogies were spoiled for so long with THE Counterspell doesn’t mean the current replacements are bad. Rather, the original was too good for the health of the game, given that it answered everything while itself was answerable only by more of the same. That’s the very nature of countermagic – it’s supremely versatile, and quite possibly the most powerful mechanic in the game, so it has to be balance by the cost. I’ll be people complained about the lack of playable card draw when Ancestral Recall went out, too.
Despite everything I just said, however, if the power level of other cards/mechanics was pushed enough, they might bring Counterspell back, as its name would make it more resonant than Cancel. But so far, it’s still overpowered.
Relatedly, I have mixed feelings about Cryptic Command. It was very overpowered, but perhaps wouldn’t have been if color requirements had mattered in Lorwyn Standard, you know?
This is the first “Predictions” article NOT written by me.. and usually I say something about a “usable” counterspell.. unfortunately.. It never happens
Spell pierce is decent but I agree.. something versitile like CC or Broken Ambitions or Remand would be nice. If we predict it every set we’ll be right eventually right?! I’ve said it before and so has WotC.. There is a fine line between a smattering of decent counters.. and “COUNTERSPELL RULES THE WORLD!” Because of the ability to put 4 of two or three decent counters in.. they don’t want you to be able to play a “No” deck. Hence my proposal here: http://www.gatheringmagic.com/?p=2465 for cards that can be limited to a certain number per deck.
The restriction mechanic is an interesting idea, but my initial reaction is that it’s a bad idea. What springs to mind is that if WotC can just slap Restricted X (boy, that sounds different out of context) onto a card, then they have an excuse to get lazy in development by not working as hard to balance a given set/format.
I think you hit it on the head with needing there not to be a “No” deck, which presents a sticky situation. The core set alone has 3 counters (12 in a deck), so if there are even 2 or three really strong counters in two other blocks combined (say, if they reprinted Rune Snag and Broken Ambitions) then you could throw 20 counters in a deck, which would be annoying. So we have to either have very few better-than-M10 counters, or take some of the basic counters out of the core set. None of these options sound too exciting.
You have to admit there are some nice blue cards in Zendikar. I have updated my blue/white/black standard with a few of each color and with 10 booster packs of cards I was not disappointed with my selection, however I was disappointed in the fact that I got that damn Lotus Cobra and didn’t get one damn Warren Instigator, however, I see trading that for 3 WI’s so maybe not as upsetting. Keep up the good work you guys.
Liked this article a lot! I know Zendikar just came out, but I can’t wait for Worldwake.
I do think the ultimate on Jace is a bit too strong, though. Perhaps you can play *one* of the top five. “Any number” would be a bit too crazy…
Of course, that could just be because I’ve been building a “cheating” deck lately that uses things like Djinn of Wishes and Brilliant Ultimatum in order to play spells for free. Don’t get me wrong, it’s awful and in no way viable, but it is a lot of fun
I’m with you on the Eldrazi, Jace, and the gold cards. The land-creatures is kind of a dramatic step, not sure if they’d go that far, besides, the only way to make a land creature cycle would be for them to each have their own abilities, and I think that would be a bit too strong for something that costs no mana. A 1/1 with no abilities was okay but a 1/1 with shroud, trample, first strike, etc is asking a bit much.
Also, I’ve seen that Ob Nixilis is wearing the Worldwake symbol. Is the statue guy in Eldrazi Monument also holding it?
“We need some more unique abilities. Allies you control gain flying until end of turn”
There is one that offers such an ability!:P but i agree, i want more allies, and they should change Highland BErserkr to give him haste or at least first strike on his own.
Predictions for Worldwake
A new Cycling like mechanic without the draw effect. This mechanic like Cycling still can’t be countered by spells or abilities.
Examples
1 9GGG
Sorcery
Destroy all permanents. If you choose to use that mechanic instead just pay 3GGG, destroy target permanent.
2 5GG
Creature Trample 7/6 If you choose to use that mechanic instead just pay 2GG, this creature comes into play with -3/-3 counters on it and losses it’s trample ability.
An enchantment with the ability “All Ally type creatures you control gets +1/+1 and shroud.”
The two non-basic land of the set
The nerfed version of the land that can destroy non-basic lands.
This land comes into play tapped.
t,add one colorless mana to your mana pool.
t,sacrifice this land:Destroy target non-basic land.
or
t,add one colorless mana to your mana pool.
3,t,sacrifice this land:Destroy target non-basic land.
Return of the Legendary Land card Kor Haven
THose are stupid predictions fag!
I don’t believe UBTog made any comments regarding his fascination with being loud, Harley-Davidsons, or biker culture. I don’t see you making any stunning predictions, either.
WHat do people think about goblins in the new set? which will be more powerful: elves or goblins?
goblins for now because red is just so powerful.
yes reprint Damnation, I wanna use my 4 foil black cards in Standard. lol
you know what we`re needing?
decent multi-colored cards like in the alara block let you making big decks like 400 cards.
that ill be much more interesting if they give us more cards to work about with that.
And believe me, i know what i`m talking about.
i`M portuguese, 12 yera old and i won a tournament in Lisbon with a naya deck tribe (couse if a person see those cards, they said this belongs to nay, i didn`t noticed that, tha`S why i call im tribal) with over then 600 cards and undefeated.
we need more things like that seriouly. i`m not seeing that 60 card decks are bad, i`m just sayng that with all included cann be globally better and stuff, butt sometimes you`ve got to use just a aggro deck our just a control deck, so what do you thonk? do you agree with me when i say that we need more multi-color like that???
SOrry my name name went to mean:”magicplayerportugal”
Elspeth will return. If you get an intro pack and look at the Zendikar “How to Play” insert, it lists Zendikar’s walkers; Elspeth and Jace are the two that were left out of the initial expansion.
Recently Wizards released the Intro Pack art for Worldwake. It does indeed contain another Vamp deck, so they’ll still be going strong. The new Jace is confirmed, and also will be mono-blue.
I doubt there will be any Eldrazi lands, but more artifacts. Also, probably one or two Eldrazi creatures will pop up.
Highly doubt they’ll do any living lands, and will almost assuredly be dual+ lands of some kind.
Allies will get more abilities, maybe the trample and flying, but probably not anything more complex than what they already have.
And there’s nothing wrong with gold, because how many people actually run mono-colored compared to multi-colored?
zombies!!!
You were pretty damn close on Jace that is impressive.
Thanks.
We try
The new jace is accually called: Jace, the Mind Sculptor.
He starts with 3 loyalty and his abilities are:
[+2]: Look at the top card of target player’s library. You may put that card on the bottom of that player’s library.
[0]: Draw three cards, then put two cards from your hand on top of your library in any order.
[-1]: Return target creature to its owner’s hand.
[-12]: Exile all cards from target player’s library, then that player shuffles his or her hand into his or her library.
Give black another damnation? Are you crazy?
Do you know how hard it is to play white with bloodwitch running around? Do you know how much harder it will be to compete with vampires if they have a board clearer?
How about we let black sit in a corner while the rest of the class catches up? Jund’s been naughty too, so it can just join it.
Also, though… elves? Really, man? You know how good they are already with Archdruid, Revane, and Garruk?
Let me just put it this way, buddy- it’s already a horror to play blue/white. Black/red/green can just… sit back for a while.
Damn, you’ve been pretty close on the New Jace. Good Job!
Tezzeret is currently unplayable in competition. I’m thinking Artifact Lands are returning. Your opinion?
Doubtful, as the originals were quickly banned after release in Mirrodin. I think Tezzeret fans will have to wait for something else.
[...] least how little you knew long long ago. On that note, lets revisit a group of predictions made here back in [...]
whats with the jace ascendant card with the worldwake emblem… was that what it was originally gonna be? because the jace i have is nothing like that and its from worldwake too…
oops my bad… didnt read all the other posts…