All Tomorrows

[Nanonox]

All Tomorrows: A visual cube experience​

Cube list (WIP)

@TrainmasterGT introduced me to All Tomorrows on a random preview thread and I've fallen in love with this story. I've always been amazed by space and the incomprehensible age of the universe, the distance between stars and galaxies and the sheer quantity of them. I'm also a fan of fantasy books like the Malazan book of the fallen, which goes into detail about ancient people, random architecture from lost civilizations and beings whose lives span thousands of years.

I want to recreate the universe described in the book using Magic's own history to tell that story. One way to accomplish this is using the various frames of Magic to give a feel of antiquity or advancement. Here we go.

The book talks about the story of humans through a period of half a billion years. While it focuses mostly on the evolutionary aftermath of an alien invasion, humans as we know them are still often referred to and remnants of their civilization and technology shine through. This is going to be the first use of the old-bordered Magic frame

Early humans

For the earliest traces of humanity, the earliest Magic aesthetics are perfect. The art is evocative and all over the place, creating the feeling of ancient history. The artifacts are distinctive compared to the more classic brown or grey frame and the art is something.

This is all we have left of the traces of humanity before they started exploring space. We don't know much about these legends, except that they somehow marked humanity. They are present in all colors, but divided.



These buildings and contraptions are some of the various artifacts that have resurfaced on different planets. Their use or purpose is unclear, but could jumpstart technological advancements of future humans.



The Star people

After the Earth-Mars conflict, humanity created a new species, the Star people. These new humans explored space, terraformed new worlds and populated them. They created a multiple solar system wide empire using advanced technology and science. In the grand scheme of things though, this is still the infancy of humanity and is expressed through the old-border card frame. The style is distinct from the earlier humans and shows an advancement in the timeline. This faction is going to stay in Jeskai.

Here are some examples of the Star people who lived exponential growth through their science and technology.



The "new old border" artifact frame offers a clean break from the previous age and reflect the available tech. From machines used to make worlds habitable to engineering marvels, there is a feel of space exploration and willingness to expand.



Traces of the Star people's way of life have survived and influenced other civilizations. These are sparce throughout the cube as befits a long extinct people.



The Qu



The Qu are an alien civilization who's goal is to remake life as they see fit. They are a billion year old and roam the galaxies in search of their next victims. I chose to go full alien here using the Eldrazi titans. This era marks the use of the border we see on Magic cards today.

The idea here is that you have this looming threat and presence in a pack that makes you double take. I don't have the exact number yet, but these four are the strongest candidates (no annihilator and Ulamog just looks like a funky Godzilla).



The Qu have bred creatures to serve them including a drone and a modified tracing creature. I'm choosing to break singleton on these two



I have three copies of each as I imagine the Qu would duplicate a successful servant rather than have unique ones. The Coatl looks a lot like the drone in the picture and the name Growth Spasm is evocative of the Qus mission. The Eldrazi spawn token represents the workers used to get the work done.

Modified humanity

I haven't fleshed this out yet. This is where the fucked up creatures of the Qu come in. This is going to be one hell of a Scryfall search and I'll be looking at some keywords like Graft, Evolve, Adapt and Proliferate as examples.

The newly released Guiding Hydra that reminded Train of this book is a great example of the twisted looks I will be going after.



Gravitals

This civilization evolved from the Ruin Haunters a Qu modified race of humanity. They had to lose their fleshy form and become machines in order to survive a dying sun. For the first time in my life, I am happy for the UB frame as I'll be using the Warhammer 40k Necrons to represent the threat to humanity.

Biotransference is so perfect it's uncanny. The Necrons themselves are artifact creatures dishing out violence and exterminating whole planets.



These effects help give a scale to the genocides they are committing on a galaxy wide theatre.



Rediscovery

There is another aspect of history that can transpire through the use of Magic's frame, rediscovery.

Here are two examples. Having the same art but different frames means you get the impression that something old has been found and used again by a newer civilization. Mind Stone takes it a step further thanks to the Warhammer frame. The art changes with the Necrons, but that's ok because they abandoned their flesh and adapted the machine. I don't want to be too heavy handed with this, but a few sprinkled in seems like a cool feature.



Second Empire/Unified Humanity

I'm not yet 100% sure how I want to represent this, but one idea I had was slivers!

These five color creatures represent unity and slivers are unique in working together to be greater than the sum of their parts.



There is also a nice progression between:
1. the early humans who spanned 5 colors, divided
2. the Star people who unified over their technology: Legacy Weapon
3. the Second empire who's people are actually unified as embodied by the 5 color slivers.

So that's it for now! If you have ideas on how to use Magic's frame to retell history, I'd love to hear them. Also, if you know of an All Tomorrows cube, I'd love to see it. I haven't been able to find one, which is great at first, but would be helpful for finding modified humans.

Thanks for reading this weird project of mine, I am way out of my comfort zone, so would love feedback if you have any.

 

[KhitriyKrab]

Cool to see more and more flavour-based cubes on Riptide!

Breaking singleton for a couple cards only is very cool and gets the theme across well. You could oversupport , and all these very heavily Black cards suggest playing Mono-Black specifically. Such color imbalance sounds exciting to play with and tough to get right.

I think the process of digging for the perfect artistic fit is one of the most rewarding activities, so I'm just leaving you some examples of cards that could represent screwed-up humans:
+ all the phyrexianized guys, obviously.

Eagerly looking forward to the developements! And now I should probably finally read All Tomorrows... And guide you to read Stapledon's "Star Maker", which shares a lot of similar themes and contains very outlandish sapient species designs like actual Living Ships or gaseous beings that feed on stellar emissions. The best part is that it's actually a great and thought-provoking philosophical/existential novel first, the wildly imaginative alien biology being a wonderful addition.

 

[Nanonox]

You could oversupport , and all these very heavily Black cards suggest playing Mono-Black specifically. Such color imbalance sounds exciting to play with and tough to get right.

You hit the nail on the head here. That's definitely going to be a challenge and one that sounds tough to balance when it's flavor + art first.

so I'm just leaving you some examples of cards that could represent screwed-up humans:

These are some solid choices. I want some humans to be distorted, but will likely use some completely degenerate creations too.

And guide you to read Stapledon's "Star Maker",

Ooh, love a recommendation, thanks!

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More rediscovery

I had an idea for an interesting narrative




Here the story is that the early humans had a primitive technology that the Star people perfected. Then, later in the timeline, another civilization finds that Star people tech and use it as is.
I don't know that I want to include both of these, especially because triple Icy seems miserable for a format. But Ornithopter seems like a slam dunk to triplicate.

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Qu

Regarding the Qu, there are a few cards that would fit the narrative and play well with some potential choices down the line.



Nobody wants to run the Eldrazi tribal instant, so having that lurking in the pack a reminder to everyone of the Qu seems appropriate.
Then Gaze is actually a playable card with good art and will work well with some modified human ideas I'll get into. Mutation is perfectly on theme and would be a nice way to boost the Ornithopters among others.

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Modified humans

One idea is to use the DFC cards as a nod towards the forced transformations of the Qu. There aren't a ton of humans that flip, but those that do fit nicely



The important part here is that the transformation is permanent, so that excludes some decent werewolf cards unfortunately. I also want the transformation to be feasible otherwise what are we even doing here? The four cards offer a decent spread of creature horrors, which is perfect.

There are also some emergent synergies appearing here to go along with the flavor. Otherworldly Gaze sets up your Delver and Angler flips. Ornithopters provide colorless creatures for Angler. Untable Mutation allows you to flip Lone Rider and boost your Ornithopters.

I'm a little on the fence about the Youth as the transformation is optional. I'm not sure if I can justify the flavor of forced mutation on a may. At the same time, getting a one to one perfect equivalent is ambitious, so even though not absolutely on point flavorwise, it's close enough that it works. I think. Does anyone feel strongly about this?

 

[TekLazar]

Does anyone feel strongly about this?

I think that having it as a "may" is going to be conducive to all of the transform cards. Like, Lone Rider is a "may" if you don't attack or block with them. But I think it's a good flavor choice to have it be the player's choice and not the "creature's" choice or bounce back and forth like with the werewolves.

 

[TrainmasterGT]

This is really cool!

 

[Nanonox]

Modified humans, first pass

My first pass of modified humans was to look through the horror type. One thing to remember is that the card needs a modern frame printing to be consistant with the timeline. I would love an Anurid Brushhopper here, but can't do it. There are a lot of other cool ones though, here are my favorites various possible evolutions of humanity



These aren't related to any of the books civilizations, because honestly, it's really tough finding 1 for 1 equivalents. So I guess I'll lean into Magic's weird arts and some of these deliver.

My top three is probably
1. Ridged Kusite
2. Plague Spitter
3. Temperamental Oozewagg
With honorable mention to Kami of the Painted Road who is desperately trying to keep a trace of humanity.

I am also looking for some connections with these creatures. For example

->

We don't know if they are related, but the big eyes found on both suggest evolution spanning an incredible amount of time.

The Overlord cycle

These are great fits as a modified humanoid, though the Red one is pushing it. The bigger issue is going to be around gameplay as these will be huge power outliers. For now though, I am just cataloging.



Old humanity candidate



Fucking love this stupid card and maybe this is a cube for it? While it doesn't depict any human precisely like the gold legends, it shows an ancient ritual (religious or otherwise) lost to time and incomprehensible. I think it can fit and any excuse to run this + Oozewagg in the same cube is worth exploring!



This one can also translate a celebration with an unknowable purpose. It has funky art to be noticeable in packs.



Some sort of ritual surrounding death? Unclear and that's the point.

Next I'm going to actually try and find cards to fit into the civilizations from the book.

 

[KhitriyKrab]

Some great finds for sure! But some of the more fantasy/whimsical art doesn't really suit the vibes. Patron of the Arts and Essence Channeler look the most jarring to me, but then again, maybe it's just me. Satyrs look out of place at first, but have just enough support to be plausible, that's a creative find. On a similar note, there's some intersting official lore regarding the biology of khenra that could fit the themes well. I know Slivers are a good thematic fit, but I don't know if you'll be able to support them properly....

Mistmeadow Skulk to Ridged Kusite evolution is amazing. More of that.

Have you thought about using the Amonkhet Invocation frame for "Early Humans" too? Loyal Retainers is even relevant mechanically.

And since I can't help sticking my nose into your choices I'm these leaving for your consideration:
.

And yes, I am doubling down on Beetleform Mage. It's the first card I thought of reading your initial post and it's in Blue-Green!

 

[Nanonox]

But some of the more fantasy/whimsical art doesn't really suit the vibes. Patron of the Arts and Essence Channeler look the most jarring to me, but then again, maybe it's just me.

Nope you are 100% right. I shared the cube list, but truth be told, it's a little early as I'm mostly cataloging right now. Patron of the Arts could represent the Saurosapients who have a rich culture, but it looks like ass as a whole.

On a similar note, there's some intersting official lore regarding the biology of khenra that could fit the themes well.

That is a fantastic find and now I am dreading going through 20k Magic cards looking for flavor text. I don't even know how to start a task that large.

I know Slivers are a good thematic fit, but I don't know if you'll be able to support them properly....

Slivers are a good find on paper, but even in the list, I'm not a huge fan of the way they look intermixed with the other civilizations. A little too homogenized for a galaxy spanning population. I'm open to other ideas, but right now I'm trying to finish finding weird species.

Have you thought about using the Amonkhet Invocation frame for "Early Humans" too? Loyal Retainers is even relevant mechanically.

I haven't, because honestly I love that ancient frame so much. However that's another frame that could be explored, maybe with the second empire to replace slivers. Or maybe I could use full art frames to represent that one. Thanks for the inspiration!

And since I can't help sticking my nose into your choices I'm these leaving for your consideration:

Please do suggest! As cool as they are though, I'm going to veto the UB frame ones, because that bleeds into my Gravitals section. Maybe I am being too rigid, but right now it's helping me stay on track.

Cephalid Broker: slam dunk, no notes.
Carrier Thrall: less convinced, it looks like a dude wearing a mask (see Fleshtaker)
Shore Keeper: I don't see the humanity in that one, but that might be the point (see Mantelopes, who looked like ordinary beasts)
Shielding Plax: Good fit, but I hate it because that means I'll need to go through so many non-creatures
Dutiful Thrull: What am I even looking at? Love it.
Loam Dryad: Also a great find. I find it tough in Green to draw the line with nymphs, dryads, elementals and so on.

And yes, I am doubling down on Beetleform Mage. It's the first card I thought of reading your initial post and it's in Blue-Green!

Forgot to add it! Definitely a slam dunk. Also forgot to add Underrealm Lich. Like Simic, Golgari is looking stacked.

Appreciate all the feedback!