I think they actually said they wrote in an excuse that the Roil could stay, with how the glyph tried to absorb the Eldrazi energies.
It pissed me off then and still does.


I'm just pissed they thought they needed to Mirrodin the goblins. There was nothing wrong with the design before, and now the goblins look like ****. Even with a half assed explanation, there's no point in trying to fix what's not broken.
Hilariously they now look like the Mirrodin goblins from BEFORE the scars redesign.

Return to Dominaria? I have some ideas.

Option 1: Regular block, return to a specific continent
Now, Time Spiral is probably my favorite set ever, so I certainly wouldn't mind another block like it that gives us glimpses from all over the globe, but I think I would prefer a more focused set. That would allow for more depth and detail. Plus it would allow us to differentiate the continents again, after everything ended up looking pretty samey in Time Spiral.

Option 1a: Return to Jamuraa
Jamuraa is my favorite Dominarian continent, and the most distinctive and original, so it would get my first vote for a return. We've even got our story hook for it already, with Teferi hanging out there, presumably still distraught over his lost homeland. I can imagine a plot about him trying to open up another time rift in an attempt to free Zhalfir (and surrounding lands), with Jhoira, Jodah and a Gatewatch representative (Taimyo is a good choice because of the Null Moon, though if its Jace us Dutchies could call them the Drie J's and chuckle about that) trying to stop him. Set one could showcase the crapsack Time Spiral version of Jamuraa, then set two could cover what happens when the almost-at-their-peak countries suddenly return. Do they start conquering surrounding lands? Or will they be under siege for their still-abundant mana?

Option 1b: Return to Terisiare
Terisiare would also be fun to return to. I imagine its as having gone from the time-wasteland of Time Spiral to a slightly more livable Wild West/Steampunk kind of post-apocalyptic, with people tinkering with Brothers' War era artifacts that are being dug up/had been dumped through the time rifts. That way you could get in plenty of references to older sets without having to backtrack on the whole apocalypse thing.
Also, it would keep alive the proud tradition of Terisiare looking completely different every time we visit it (Brothers' War -> Dark Age -> Ice Age -> Flood Age etc.)

Option 1c: Return to the Domains
If you want to make Nostalgia a main draw again, The Domains are probably your best bet. It has big names like Keld, Benalia, Tolaria (West is there right? Correct me if I'm wrong), Ulgrotha, Bogardan, Llanowar, Vodalia, as well as things like Verdura, Shanodin, Durkwood, D'Avenant... I don't really know what you would do with it though. Nostalgia alone can't sell a regular set, and this continent doesn't really have another hook...

Option 2: Another Time Spiral... as a Supplemental Set
Speaking of Nostalgia... I still have a little bit of hope that while we will never get a regular set as nostalgia-driven as Time Spiral, there might be a change for such a set as the summer supplemental product, in the Conspiracy slot. Maybe for the 25th/30th etc. birthday of Magic? Like Conspiracy it would be draft-focused, exploring the interaction between a host of older mechanics. Half the set would be sweet reprints, the other half cards riffs on old cards (you know, like every single card in Time Spiral block was), the new cards (and some old cards with new art) showcasing stuff from all over Dominarian history. Would be a good opportunity to do another round of Legendary Creatures for characters we are still missing. You know... Tawnos, Ashnod, Xantcha...

Downside of this option is off course that it is still looking backwards, showing us Dominaria's past rather than its present. We usually don't get a lot of Uncharted Realms stories on supplemental products. But you know what would make me forget all about that? If they put the Dominarian globe online. Heck, I wouldn't care if they announced the whole story was going on hiatus for a year after that, I just want that globe so badly...

Time Spiral Masters sounds like a draft format I can get behind here.

as long as they kept the mechanic count low, and speaking of what mechanic are based out of Dominaria anyway?

Kicker is a big one. Phasing, being Teferi's invention, is connected with Dominaria by default. Fading/Vanishing. All the time-related mechanics of Time Spiral save for the time-shifted cards. Cumulative Upkeep, as of Coldsnap. Those are all the ones I can think of, although I'm certain there are others.

EDIT: Threshold is definitely Dominaria-exclusive, while Madness has branched out a bit since Torment.

Narratively, I'd do something opposite of the Dominaria's early development in the old novels...instead of a period where everyone hates magic and mages are persecuted, I'd do something like have magic being widely embraced while those that shun it are persecuted. Tie it into the threat of wild slivers, lingering snow phyrexians or something like that.

Nostalgic ways of selling the set - look at the historic decks that have components based in Dominaria: Kai Budde's Wildfire deck, the infamous Tolarian Academy deck and others; print stuff that's a less broken throwback in an attempt to revive and update these kind of strategies.

I could do with a 2 pack snow set again. I mean after the big desolation event the World of Dominaria went through when timespiral happened it enters another ice age, which we as the player come back into the time when that is about the thaw. Timeline wise it wont matter since creative has NEVER given us a straight timeline on how long after mending this current story arc is.

I really really don't want to return to Zendikar, ever. The best thing they could do is let it rot in oblivion, give the land theme a new spin and move it to other planes where it makes sense, like Shandalar or modern day Kamigawa.

Apparently Tolaria West is somehwere on the Spice Isles, so I guess it kind of belongs to the Domains, yup. Wait, why Ulgrotha? Are you talking about the portal in Sursi? That would be a cool connection indeed, though I guess it's probably a one-way trip from Dominaria to Ulgrotha... I think they could still do new and interesting things with the place that aren't just nostalgia for nostalgia's sake, though. Radha is still around, and I think a war between Keld and New Benalia (or Keld and any other place really) could work as a conflict for the set. Maybe through in some Keldon infighting. They could always make the Domains where Liliana is from and have a story about her visiting her old home for reasons (bonus points if it happens to be in the war zone). Jodah, Jhoira and Teferi would be amazing protagonists, and them being at Tolaria West and doing research on how to bring back Zhalfir would be cool and could pave the way for a return to Jamuraa after that. Archmage Eternal x 3... I don't think I'd like to see Teferi being the antagonist, thoug, but maybe if it's really well executed..? Teferi and Jodah would have amazing dynamics together, though, and the big egos of two immortal sages who think they know what's best might lead to the situation you described... Karn could also show up to visit his old friends and somehow be involved in things.

To come back to a point that I mentioned earlier in this thread, what's everyone's opinion on the current model of planeshopping? Would anyone else like to see a more balanced approach where we get a more regular dose of Dominaria once in a while? Kind of like a middle ground between the thing we have now and the way it was pre-Mirrodin..?

I've been largely indifferent to the plane hopping concept. Its just that it seems like our Returns sets came rather quickly.

Those are some good Dominaria hooks, Pavor. I imagine someone like Jodah would be a great resource for Liliana and her veil problem, if Dierk can't figure anything out.

Does Dominaria still have a sliver problem? It seems like those critters were everywhere back in the Time Spiral novels.

I don't have strong enough feelings about Dominaria to really care about a return. I mean, I have no idea how to parse the stuff y'all are discussing.

I don't mind the planeshopping, but there's a lot of room for improvement in how they utilise it and how they tell stories in that format.

And then Jodah discovers that Lim-Dûl has been in the Veil all along!
I don't think there's still much of a sliver problem; most of the slivers in Otaria and Skyshroud were probably dead by the end of Futue Sight. But who knows what has been going on in the last 100 years. Or maybe someone has found the Hivestone...

That thing with Dul would give us a nice Ice Age parallel:

A plane so warped by its catastrophes that magic is an absolute necessity for survival. Those that speak out against it are at best, shunned and left to fend for themselves. At worst, they're made sacrifices to this tribe's or that tribe's newly invented magical gods. Against this backdrop the Archmage Jodah seeks to bring about the return of absolute law to a lawless land. Standing against the Archmage is Teferi, Archmage and Master of Whispers to Madara's Nekoru Empress - a veteran of the Phyrexian Invasion and Time Rifts whose traumas have hardened his heart to the brutality of his useful idiots. It won't be easy when the Master of Whispers has proclaimed that the only force of law in the lawless lands of Jamuraa is a champion of the Elder Dragons seeking to reestablish their empire across the whole of Dominaria.

The mechanical side of the idea is a bit weak, I admit. You could probably get more millage out of a Multiverse-wide set, with mechanics from all over the planeshopping era. But that's not what this topic is about.


Actually, I was trying to type "Urborg", but apparently my Homelands nostalgia took control of my fingers


I like planeshopping. It never made a whole lot of sense that a game based on people who can travel from world to world staying on the same one for ages and ages. That said, as an old fogey I would of course love to see a regular return to Dominaria. Once every... 4/5 blocks? That sounds good to me. But I fully understand that WotC isn't just there to make me happy


My headcanon: the Sliver Overlord was still hanging out in the remnants of Otaria somewhere. Then when the Time Rifts died down it summoned all the Slivers from all over Dominaria to itself, where they formed the Sliver Legion, which is incubating a new Sliver Queen. That would allow for a return to Dominaria without having Slivers everywhere, while keeping them available for a return when we want it.

Plus, there is a convenient absence of literally any other life on Otaria, so it gives us a reason to care... Maybe.
**** Otaria....

Actually, I'd like to see the ubermensch Thralls squatting on Sarpadia. We were told they are unstoppable perfect apex evolution killing machines after so many years and the only thing saving the rest of the world is that they literally cannot conceive of the idea that there are any other lands beyond where they live.

Oh, hey, they guys at MtG Sally now have a thread about returning to Dominaria, too. Either they're copy cats or the topic is just in the air somehow .

Two more random things I'd like to see when we see Dominaria again:

- Picking up the plot thread in Master of the Pearl Trident's flavour text. Apparently the Merfolk of the Pearl Trident have finally learned that old magic trick of growing legs and are now expanding inland. The Pearl Trident guys are Vodalians, aren't they? That would mean they'd most likely show up in the Domains, so we'd have another plot hook for that part of Dominaria. Merfolk are cool.

- At least one male angel, preferably a Serra Angel reprint with a winged dude in the artwork. I just don't like it when they are trying to sweep things under the rug that canonically exist.

As much as it bothers us, they're never going to do something like malach of the dawn in the regular universe.

The other side of things is that there shouldn't be any more of the militant Vodalians left following the Apocalypse. Bo Levar shielded Etlan Shiis, but the rest of the empire was in shambles.

I don't know, couldn't the militant Pearl Tridant guys be from Etlan Shiis? The original flavour text of Merfolk of the Pearl Trident suggests a (albeit speculative) connection to Atlantis, which apparently is in fact Etlan Shiis, so maybe that could be a thing? I mean, between the end of the Apocalypse and now, surely things could somehow align in a way that makes militant Pearl Trident guys with legs work?

[curses art directors for art-directing cool things out of the game]

It would be a pretty huge perversion of what Etlan Shiis stood for considering it was an scenic city of poets, musicians, and philosophers in the vein of the Bohemian movement.

Ha, but see, that's another potential plot hook right there. What if the Pearl Trident group seized power over Etlan Shiis through a military coup and there's still a Bohemian resistance that will take over again at the end of the set/block? ...Pearl Trident guys with legs are a thing, okay? It's right there on the card . I mean, Master of the Pearl Trident's flavour text doesn't even necessarily imply a hostile expansion, it could also mean they're coming out of the ocean to support another nation (New Benalia?) in a war (against Keld?) or something like that. Still wouldn't be all that Bohemian, but at least it wouldn't make them look too militaristic.

Here are the mechanics and themes with ones that are dead or have been taken out of their dominarian context enough to not really be mainly dominarian crossed out.
ABU: Evergreens
Antiquities: Artifact Theme
Legends: Rampage, Multicolored, Legendary
The Dark
Fallen Empires: Tokens
Ice Age Block: Cumulative Upkeep, Snow, "Pitch" Spells
Mirage Block: Phasing
Urza's Block: Echo, Cycling, "Growing" Enchantments, Returning Enchantments, Enchantress Theme
Prophecy: Rhystic
Invasion Block: Kicker, Domain, Divvy, Flagbearer, Penumbra
Otaria: Flashback, Threshold, Madness, Incarnations, Morph, Slivers, Provoke, Storm, Amplify
Time Spiral: Suspend, Vanishing, Split Second


In an unprecedented creative union between Hasbro and Disney, Time Spiral 2 will also be Frozen 3. It is set to feature significant themes of enchantments and girl power. "It's time to see what we can do," said Jenna Helland, speaking for Wizards of the Coast creative, "To test the limits and break through." A Disney spokesman responded to the comment by humming along.