I'm not suggesting it would be invisible just for the sake of giving Bolas an invisible plane to hang out. But it's clear he's planning something there, with the Second Sun and the Trials of the Worthy and all that, something that he can't do in the Meditation Realm. I mean, if you have Bolas be the god pharaoh of an Egyptian plane, would it really be that out of place or worthy of Occam's razor to imagine that said plane is called something like 'Hidden Garden', 'Hidden Kingdom', 'Hidden Desert' or 'Hidden Whateverplace' and just say it's invisible so that nobody but Bolas and his agents can get in? I think not. You could even take it as a bit of a meta-nod to the fact that we haven't seen Bolas for ages. And really, now that Magic is finally doing an Egyptian themed setting, I want it to have a real name with an actual meaning, not just something that Creative thought sounds vaguely Egyptian. That language is just too cool to not pay attention to it at all.

Do you mean explanations for why the plane is called Amonkhet or explanations for the invisible spot Vraska planeswalked to?

True, but here's the fault in your logic.
Why does it have to be anything that impacts more than just Amonkhet?

Yes, it would be because planes don't work that way. It would be monumental for a world to be invisible, not something that has a glib name to reflect that.

Which is why I brought up Kamigawa.
Yes, the kami are important, but the second half of that has no bearing on it, so it really feels like you're reaching to put things together just because you want them to be together.


It's called Amonkhet because that has Egyptian overtures evoking the likes of Amun-Ra. It doesn't NEED any more complicated an explanation anymore than Tarkir, Innistrad, or Theros. Particularly that last one since it had nothing to do with Summer.
Vraska could have gone to the Meditation Realm since it is a plane that doesn't technically exist and can only be accessed by a select few. Or it could be the planar void everyone is assuming she went to (Honestly, I think it was just a dark place, not a void)

It doesn't necessarily have to to fit what I said. Though given that Bolas is working hard to get back as much power as he can after the Mending, and given the other things he is or was somehow involved in (Eldrazi, Chain Veil, Infinite Consortium, sending Tezzeret to New Phyrexia and Kaladesh), I would be surprised if whatever he's doing on Amonkhet didn't have wider ramifications.

Why would it be monumental? I mean, I don't want to get into hairsplitting about what exactly it means for a plane to be 'invisible' from the Blind Eternities and to what degree under which exact circumstances planeswalkers might be able to find it. But Magic has no shortage of planes that were either hidden somehow or really hard to find, like one of the planes in Roreca's Tale in the Alpha Player's Guide, or Phyrexia, presumably because it was an artificial plane. Ulgrotha was explicitly stated to have become invisible due to Feroz' Ban (which was probably just a side effect of it being planeswalker- and summoning-proof), so even if Amonkhet isn't naturally hidden and Bolas had to set up some enchantment of his own, it should technically be possible to make a plane invisible but not inaccessible by casting a modified version of Feroz' Ban. Planes have been broken into Shards or split into Sugar Bowl World and Tim Burton World by people meddling with them, so just hiding a plane sounds relatively tame in comparison. You could even argue that no-one knows how common hidden planes really are because no-one can see them. Most planes have some sort of unique feature, and from what we've seen, being invisible to planeswalkers seems pretty unspectacular compared to some.

Okay, but they don't normally use actual names of gods or mythological figures in their worldbuilding, so even if a plane starting with 'Amon-' invokes ancient Egypt with its name, I find it odd that they would use the name of a god that probably doesn't exist in Magic's universe for that sort of thing if they didn't have the excuse that the name has a meaning of its own and can refer to something else than the god.

I mean, Theros is really summerly, but I think the point of that name is that it has both the English 'hero' and the Greek 'heros' in it. It even works as a portmanteau of 'the hero(es)', which is really what the plane is all about. Theros probably just is a lucky case where they were able to use actual Greek words that fit the plane AND make a pun that the average Magic player can understand. You could go even deeper than that and postulate it's a portmanteau of the Greek words 'therion' ('animal', 'beast', possibly with the connotation of 'moster', given that it's used to refer to the Beast in the Bible) and 'heros', which would make it 'beast + hero' in Greek, and that's really what Theros is all about in a nutshell.
Wait, I thought the Meditation Realm is only accessible from Dominaria, not directly from the Blind Eternities? Because that would mean that Ral should have detected her going to Dominaria instead of just vanishing. I agree about the dark place thing, though, I think people are reading too much into that place. I really don't think they'll bring up the obscure destination of her first planeswalk again. Why would Vraska going there even be important enough to bring it up in a completely unrelated story about Kaladesh? I think it would be more straightforward if this was a hook to have her show up on Amonkhet.

I don't really disagree with this sentiment, but I think we're in need of local upheavals more than epics considering how BAD the Eldrazi arc was handled. Bolas is certainly a multiplanar threat, but everything he does doesn't have to be on that scale.


All of those mentions were exceptional. That's why they're exceptional. You wouldn't name a world something indicating it was somehow invisible.
Ultimately, there's just no evidence it's the intention, and I feel you're getting SEVERAL steps ahead of yourself by connecting dots that might not even have anything to do with each other. Added to then drawing conclusions based on that data.


They didn't really do so here either when you get right down to it.
The name is Amun, later Amun-Ra. It's similar, but Valla is similar to Valhalla.

What it means is what it means though. Hero was definitely something they wanted to get in there, but if you're looking for connections to actually languages, that's one whose meaning bore no difference on the world. Which is really how it should be, beyond evoking a cultural connection.


I would say yes, but Sarkhan has already gone there, and by rights, it's NOT a plane. It's a pocket space, but I'm willing to bet they're not going to make the distinction just because it's a layer of complications that doesn't really benefit the explanation. As far as changes would go, I wouldn't be torn up by them dropping that part.


I'm genuinely down for her showing up, but I think it would be too coincidental considering Tezzeret is already in the story.

So, I'm curious what others think regarding the likelihood of new walker characters showing up on Amonkhet.
Think we'll have a Kaladesh spread of characters, or are we looking at a repeat of BfZ?

Considering the set up, I'm not expecting much in the way of new characters. (and for once, I'm actually okay with that prospect. Looking at all my decks, the cast has swelled to somewhat staggering proportions)

I reckon it's going to be mostly Gatewatch plus maybe one new 'walker. Which might be one of the 'Worthy' who ascended during the trials, but that's kinda speculative.

I hope there are no new planeswalkers. Saheeli only got the most token story spotlight, so I want quality over quanity.

Each new post-Lorwyn plane have gotten at least one new native planeswalker. Even most of the returns get a new or newly-sparked planeswalker: the only block post-Lorwyn that has not presented a character never-before-seen on a planeswalker card was Battle Block.

I expect this trend to continue until the sun scorches the earth black.

I'm quite truthfully expecting three members of the watch and Bolas, leaving one slot open for someone new, but I don't really want one. The menagerie of the cast has really gotten somewhat out of hand.

On the bright side, it means unpopular characters stay sidelined. (I hate you so much, Domri)

Can we have Domri around as a bratty fourth-wall-breaker who quotes Marvel films all the time? That would be hilarious. They already replaced four of their central protagonists with sitcom characters, so it's not like there's much serious storytelling to be lost...

[bumps into the Gatewatch]

"Wait a minute! You guys aren't the real Avengers!"

[points finger]

"I can totally tell, Hulk gives it away!"

Gideon: "Excuse me?"

or...

"Dude, you've got a metal arm? That's so cool!"

What four sitcom characters ?

I don't know. Annoying ones.

...

"You look like an avocado had sex with an older, more disgusting avocado."

I feel like talking about Amonkhet some more, and a thing we haven't really discussed specifically are the mechanics. Have they officially confirmed that it's going to be a top-down set, or is it more like bottom-up with Egyptian window dressing?

God cards have been confrmed, and so far people in this thread have been mentioning Sand creatures and Deserts, two things I've absolutely been wanting in there right from the start, and also Divinity counters, which would also be nice. I've always wanted them to flesh the Desert type out mechanically and do something with it, so maybe they could just print a few more lands with that type? I'm generally fine with them not really doing landwalk and protection anymore, but it would be really cool with Deserts (see also: Desert Nomads). Dune-Brood Nephilim is my favourite nephilim just for the Sand tokens, and those aren't colour specific and could show up in any colour if needed.

What are the odds of Curses showing up? I'd love that. Definitely a mechanic that needs more support. And we all know the Pharaoh's Curse stories, so I'm sure someone at WotC probably wrote that idea on a flipchart in a meeting at some point. Traps would fall into a similar category flavourwise, and BFZ block didn't have them, so it's been a while. You could even argue Tezzeret luring the Gatewatch to Amonkhet is a big trap in itself, so maybe there could be a story spotlight card that's a trap? Hideaway would also be really fitting, both as creatures and objects that are buried in ancient tombs and as things lurking beneeath the sand. And it's a fun mechanic in EDH... A graveyard theme would feel at home on an Egytian plane, but we already had that one block ago, so probably not. I guess there might be one Golgari-like keyword that does something with the graveyard, but that's probably about it. Morbid would also feel right. Maybe they could bring back Osai Vultures's Carrion counters or Scavenging Ghoul's Corpse counters? That would fit the flavour and go hand in hand with Morbid. I could see -1/-1 counters, too, in some form or another. Those could represent the harsh desert environment and/or venomous plants and animals and/or a kind of curse. Might play into some sort of counter theme that goes well with Kaladesh block but also helps you fight decks that rely on +1/+1 counters.

I think that deserts as a concept are ultimately gone, to be replaced by plains as in Tarkir and Alara.

Aesthetically, yes, but basic lands can be a lot of different things depending on the plane. Tarkir and Alara didn't use the Desert type, so it was fine, but if they wanted to do something with Deserts mechanically, I don't think that some plains looking like deserts would be what stops them. The Desert concept might still be ultimately gone if they don't feel like revisiting it, but Deserts are definitely something I for one would expect on a desert plane. I think the mechanics should somewhat reflect the desert environment of Amonkhet, even if it's not done with actual Deserts but with other mechanics.

On an unrelated note, I think they should really reprint those enemy fetchlands sometime soon. They reprinted the allied ones in KoT, so they could at least follow it through and reprint all ten. I don't really care because I only play casual formats where you don't need super expensive mana bases, but from what I understand, it should be healthy for Modern. At least people will finally shut up about it if they get their reprints. I reckon you could justify them pretty well in Amonkhet flavourwise.

Corcodile dargon!?

Seems to be leashed in some way or just wearing jewlery?

If we're lucky, we might see a Sobek analog. It'll probably be less unstoppable than his current incarnation though.

Given that we have a Sobek-like person in an officially revealed artwork, that can be taken for granted.

I was hoping it would probably be the god, since crocodiles are mostly (in that order) and Sobek is a primal, fertility-oriented deity. However, if the dragons belong to it then it probably is the god; makes less sense since Sobek is normally perceived as the "water god", but whatever.

Ideally, it would go like this:

- : Sekhmet-inspired (since we already got a male sun god, and Sekhmet is both a female sun god as well as a healer)

- : Thoth-inspired (do I even need to say anything?)

- : Anubis-inspired (maybe too similar to Erebos, but the Apophis analogue is already filled by Bolas)

- : Set-inspired (as the god of chaos)

- : Sobek-inspired

For now, it seems that my and suggestions have been met, assuming the masked cat is the god

Bolas rules this world -- he's not Apophis, he's Ra (or at least the pantheon head) if he fits into the cycle at all.

I'd guess Sobek; Isis; Nuit, Apophis, Set. OK Thoth is potentially more likely for but Nuit appeared in WotC's Hecatomb (Representing the Egyptian pantheon along with Osiris and Set) so if anyone from that era is left she's rattling around in brains at WotC.