If Dwarves were on Kaladesh, they could have probably gotten a very big reaction by including a single Dwarf in Origins. Like, marketing wise, that would have been a good call.

I remember in apocalypse we had blue dwarves, some with short tempers. Could be an interesting dynamic - dwarves who've been marginalized for so long that they are raging xenophobes that produce fine products like that dagger I autocarded and go all bloodfire when they see what humans are doing with their metals.

I still advocate for Xpunk referring to spec. fic. settings where X takes the role modern tech plays in our lives and serves most of the functions it does to as similar degree as is done in modern society. Xpunbk is more of an aesthetic than a setting. By that definition Alloy Of Law (the only one of the books I've read) would fit as aetherpunk, or magepunk. The whole "Xpunk" might not be the greatest naming convention, but it's increasingly the meaning that is intended when we say "Xpunk".

I haven't read Mistborn. I did enjoy The Way of Kings though.

There's not much in fantasy I've read that comes across as -punk in the traditional sense. For me, punk is as much a visual thing as it is characterization. Two pieces come to mind - one is The Dragons of Babel by Swanwick, which has the industrial aesthetic with a rage-against-the-establishment attitude in the protagonist that manifests in his viciousness toward various establishment figures both traditional and revolutionary. The other is Richard Morgan's Land Fit for Heroes trilogy; again, the three characters we follow in this one work for horrible people, but are working against something far worse than their masters.

Both of these authors jumped into fantasy from a SF background; their fantasies both have that sense of anger and urgency you tend to find in -punk SF.

I'm guessing we'll get Vedalken.

They have a proficiency with artifacts, and they're blue and have multiple arms like Vishnu.

I would like to see some vedalken. There's a lot of interesting ways to take them. Mostly I just want to see four-armed vedalken draped in dangling amulets and diaphanous shawls.

At this point, I'm expecting no nonhuman races. We didn't get any in Origins, and it would probably distract from the skin diversity they are so keen to point out on Kaladesh.

That would be a terrible shame, especially after Innistrad.

I am gripped with the idea that it would simply be lovely if the aether revolt would ultimately (and finally) be a result of Bolas's machinations?

Because it's been ages since he was relevant.

I was talking about time in the shop today and I realized it's been 9 years since Shards block.

That's uncanny.

NINE YEARS since Bolas was directly involved in the plot.
Bout time he started to show his face again.

I don't think creative really wants to bring him back all that badly.

Maybe they do but they're really pushing the "long term scheming" flavor.

Maybe. But I think if they were going to bring him back in some way they would have started doing it by now considering he orchestrated the Eldrazi's release.

Nahiri is probably going to be the main villain.

Maybe his presence or sort of anything about his plans is going to be touched up in Kaladesh... I mean, it's really weird that his story ties are left barren for almost a decade now, and with the Eldrazi being dealt with and all....

He may have known what ugin suspects that getting rid of the eldrazi is a bad thing and thats his plan or something. Or he could be involved in this "aether revolt" or maybe he goes to vrynn to harness the mage rings for ultimate power and gets stopped by terrible planeswalkers again and we dont hear him for another 10 years.

I want Tezzeret or Ramaz to question Bolas about the Eldrazi...and I want Bolas to be like, "Yeah, I like to throw out warnings, hints, and plane-destroying schemes to make it seem like I've got a grand plan running in the background. It keeps the gnats at bay."

Really, I just want Bolas to win again. I want Bolas to win so much that every time he comes back into the plot I'm like, "Mr Bolas please no more winning! I can only take so much winning!"

agreed i need some heros to fail

I think it's pretty apparent by now that nobody had any idea just what Bolas' grand scheme was. They wrote the whole thing X-Files style- throwing out juicy leads that don't actually lead anywhere. Eventually the thirst for answers becomes a need for answers, and when the writers don't have any, it all comes crumbling down.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious at this point that they had no plan whatsoever, or if they did have a plan, it got the axe eventually because they changed direction so many times. Which is a shame because Bolas is one of the very few ties to the old lore we have left and deserves better. It's all tied to the mess the entire eldrazi arc was pretty much from the beginning, too. [Insert obligatory complaint about Ugin, Sorin and Nahiri's triumphant reunion being ruined by the Gatewatch].