Sets [THB] Theros Beyond Death *SPOILER*

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
The Akroan War is super sweet!
Alirios, Enraptured is a design that makes me smile :)
Those basics are epic! Instant cube staples!
 
Those basics - uhhhhhhhggggmmmmh! This sucks - It took me too long to get those Rebecca Guay lands from the Commander sets... only to want to switch now.

Beyond my complaint - the Escape mechanic looks pretty cool, and I look forward to what other cards will have it. Elspeth looks cool, and seems particularly strong, especially in a Graveyard-based environment. I'm also hyped for the return of Sagas, as I thought they were underrated in Dominaria.

Anyone know when the exact Spoiler Season for this set is suppose to begin? I'm guessing around the first weekend of the new year, eh?
 
The set code is THB not TBD!!!

The leaked cards -literally- have the set code printed on the bottom.

I like the escape mechanic- it seems very flavorful and interesting to play with. It definitely helps support self-mill strategies! The fact that exiling 4 cards from your graveyard is a cost means that some cards will probably be able to escape by exiling more or fewer cards. That Grafdigger's Cage reprint from M20 makes way more sense now with the provided context of this mechanic- maybe it means some of the escape cards will be extremely pushed.

Wolfwillow Haven is exactly the sort of ramp effect I want to play with my land untapping theme. It's not quite as good as Fertile Ground as far as mana fixing is concerned, but the late game creature seems nice.

I'm sad constellation hasn't been confirmed for a return- WOTC only puts around 3 mechanics in non-faction sets these days so I think these 3 are it.
 
Sagas: Great to see those back. This will probably help Historic themes in cubes. We now have at least one Saga with 4 chapters and it is uncommon. An advanced and expensive Preordain. Really cool.

Devotion is back. I am thinking of Pioneer here and on some of you devotion-Riptide cubers. Also I called this mechanic to return many months ago. Also it looks like there is no Monstrosity which we kind of already knew. Heroic is back but only in small numbers and it isn’t keyworded. We also once again have enchantment creatures.

Escape: Really flavorful. In order to escape the underworld, you have to sacrifice four of your fellow escape companions in the proces. And you are bound to return to the underworld when your life ends because you have committed a crime that forever bans you from entering Ilysia (Heaven-ish.)

Full art Basic: Looks crazy. Basic lands are always flavorful and story driven. I hope these make sense from a story perspective. Maybe they’re just Nyx.

Omen Cycle: So far we have seen three and there will most likely be 2 more. They seem very playable.

Vehicles are back. This kind of makes sense. I wish Ixalan has given us a cool ship but now I hope we get a cool chariot.

Also we now know that this guy..

..was once a man who died only to escape from the underworld and became a God.
 
I'm sad constellation hasn't been confirmed for a return- WOTC only puts around 3 mechanics in non-faction sets these days so I think these 3 are it.
Nevermind, another group of cards got leaked, and Constellation is back!

Ah, I thought the set code was To Be Determined ;P

Had it not been leaked, it would still have been :).

Basics remind me of Pokémon energy

They're trying to lure in the kids.
 
Those basics are incredible. I was waffling on which ones I wanted to use for the CMDR cube I'm developing, but I think we have a clear winner now. Hoping for some nice Constellation and Saga cards. I might give this new Elspeth a run as a W/x Aggro curve-topper. For once, she's making HUMAN Solider tokens instead of just generics so this opens up synergies with Champion of the Parish and Thalia's Lieutenant. If you have anthems and stuff, she could be very powerful in certain strategies as a recurrable token factory.
 

Jason Waddell

Administrator
Staff member
Mixed feelings on sagas returning. The mechanic is super clunky and inelegant, and when I played the previous Sagas set (Origins? Dominaria?) with inexperienced players, they never 'clicked'.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Mixed feelings on sagas returning. The mechanic is super clunky and inelegant, and when I played the previous Sagas set (Origins? Dominaria?) with inexperienced players, they never 'clicked'.

Aside: Do you have the admin powers to change the set code in the title of this thread to THB?

Personally, I like sagas, though I mostly cube with experienced players. I also quite like the aesthetics of the mechanic, as the layout, the art, and the concept form a neat little story. The Eldest Reborn and History of Benalia have been very sweet cards to play with, and I don't mind a few more playable ones. Especially some that are fetchable by Zur the Enchanter :)
 

Chris Taylor

Contributor
Mixed feelings on sagas returning. The mechanic is super clunky and inelegant, and when I played the previous Sagas set (Origins? Dominaria?) with inexperienced players, they never 'clicked'.

Nah sagas are fine. Do 1, then 2 then 3 then dies is intuitive, the thing that isn't is for some reason they trigger on the main phase instead of the upkeep because of The First Eruption.
That's the kind of thing that's a problem if you're used to the other way

I think if people weren't getting it, that might be dominaria being overwhelming.
 
Ah, I thought the set code was To Be Determined ;P


Seriously, that's what I thought when I guessed the set code. Someone who's able to should change it, it seems that I can't do it.

I love sagas returning, as well as the fact that this time there might be enough playable enchantments to support different kinds of themes for my cube. The basic lands are somewhat cool, but not as basic lands to use in a game of Magic.

Escape looks like a mechanic that could easily get broken if printed on a strong card.
 
Funny little thing to note:

The original Elspeth Elspeth, Knight-Errant was from the second wave of planeswalkers. She was the first one (and only one for maaaaaaany years) that didn’t have a minus ability but instead had two plus abilities. She could only go up in loyalty.

This new one can only go down in loyalty.
 
Funny little thing to note:

The original Elspeth Elspeth, Knight-Errant was from the second wave of planeswalkers. She was the first one (and only one for maaaaaaany years) that didn’t have a minus ability but instead had two plus abilities. She could only go up in loyalty.

This new one can only go down in loyalty.

The next planeswalker to have 2 + abilities was Nissa Revane in Zendikar the year after Elspeth was printed. However, one of Nissa's plus abilities was just a tutor effect for a bad creature. The next time a "real" planes walker with two + abilities would be printed was Ajani, Mentor of Heroes almost 6 years later. Following Ajani, double + walkers became less uncommon. The most recent double + walker, Oko, Thief of Crowns, has managed to ruin standard because he's a jerk.
 

Onderzeeboot

Ecstatic Orb
Ok, all I want from Theros 2 is an interesting and playable blue black enchantment with converted casting cost 3 or less, so I can finally add something useful in Dimir for Zur the Enchanter to fetch! (Preferably one that has cross synergy with the discard for value theme.)
 
OMG now me too! That is also what I want after reading that.

And I don’t even mind that blue black enchantment to also be a creature since we are on Theros.

Show me in (ci-form) which Zur enchantments you are running!
 
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