We are going back to Dominaria and Maro has said that it will have a more concise theme.
Does anyone else want to make random speculations about what will be focused on and what will be gone? I'm guessing that whatever they go with I will be disappointed and there won't be enough kavu.

Prediction 1 High Fantasy
This is the plane of alpha and Legends. The somewhat generic fantasy setting with knights and wizards and castles. It makes sense that the returning to Dominaria means returning to the what people think of as the roots of the fantasy genre. They could probably fit the Otarian Pit Fights from the Onslaught block into this.

Prediction 2 Vikings
This is the plane of Ice Age. It has Kjeldoran Knight and Balduvian Barbarians. I think all of that was before the Brothers War so I don't know if those nations are still around but with the events of Time Spiral they could probably bring them back if they needed to. Honestly I think that when they do Vikings they should do a brand new plane that can have its own gods and history without having to worry about old Dominaria but I put this here because I do think we are getting Vikings soon. If I list off all of the things that I've seen on Blogatog in the last couple years I see Steampunk [check], Egypt [check], Dinosaurs [check], Pirates [check], Kamigawa, Vikings, and Cowboys. I consider Cowboys to be less likely because guns.

Prediction 3 Post Apocalyptic
During Time Spiral we say everything was getting messed up. The laws of time and space unstable, preventing any large civilization from thriving. To me this sounds a lot like the roils of Zendikar and I don't need another of those. Maro has mentioned that this could be the theme of Dominaria going forward, I don't know if that makes it more or less likely to be true.

I also want to mention Jamuraa, the Africa inspired continent seen in the Mirage block. I don't know much about it but (possibly because of that) I am sort of hoping that is what we get.

I'm pretty sure I'll be disappointed, too, at least that's what I'll assume until proven otherwise. Which is a tough place to be in considering all my hopes and dreams of Magic ever getting back on track again are tied to that "block" (if it's just one set, they needn't even bother). But let's go through the possibilities you listed...

1.) Generic high fantasy in the broadest sense is certainly a big part of Dominaria, but it's also hard to pin down what that would mean as a hook for returning there. It's also not going to happen because they're bringing back the core sets. Plus, Maro promised it wouldn't be a generic vanilla world. Of course Maro has made many empty promises over the years, but the 'unifying identity' thing he is talking about is probably more specific than that.

2.) Dominaria as a Viking world is not going to happen. Kjeldor and Balduvia merged into the nation of New Argive at the end of the Ice Age about 3,000 years after the Brothers' War, which in turn was about 1,500 years before the present day. New Argive also isn't particularly Viking-esque anymore for all we know. They're almost certainly saving that for a top-down plane like Valla.

3.) I mean, they basically already did that with Time Spiral, and the announcement said we would see a Dominaria that has recovered. Of course I'd expect some post-apocalyptic background noise, but I neither hope nor think that's going to be the focus.

4.) I'd be totally down for Jamuraa, especially if Teferi finds a way to phase the missing region back in, but given that the set we know about is called Dominaria, it's probably not going to focus on a single continent.

The best option to go with would probably be an archaeology/history focus.

That's where my money still sits.

I think we'll be pleasantly suprised and also dissapointed.

Look what's floating around on tumblr!




Looks like a crazy blend between Serra's Realm and New Benalia. Huh. I kinda like it, and if this one image is any indication, they really ARE building this on established lore instead of just going bland and generic. I wonder what the story behind that place is. Benalia really isn't the place that you would expect to embrace anything Serran, but then again, we are talking New Benalia here, and there were a few refugees from Serra's Realm in Benalia, so I guess anything is possible.

Thoughts?

Serra worship was punishable by death in Benalia because of the Serran angels involvement in the fall of the previous empire, so I'd be a bit pissed about the two blending. It looks like a good piece of art, but it still feels derivative, which I'm not against or anything.

But if we're talking Serra, and such, I expect this to be Sursi rather than Benalia.

Why would Dominaria be bland and generic? That's what Shandalar is for.



Impossible. As everyone knows, the Church of Angelfire outlawed Serra worship.

#WOTCstaff

OH. MY. FRIKKIN GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWD!




Those spires, the glass, the floating island aesthetic, heck there's even a seeming call out to Serra's insignia within this image! The colour palette too is Serra's Realm to a tee!

If not some sort of a total appreciator of Serra, this would've been the work of a survivor from the Realm itself...

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN..... darn it. The hype has been lit once more....


But then again, back in the Time Spiral block no such signs of the Church of Angelfire was seen or even hinted and still there were Serra followers-- And Avengers even!

Could it be that the Church of Serra has outlasted the Church of Angelfire already? I mean, it's been years and there have been no Angelfire activity hinted in the cards for quite a while now! (UNLESS, that's gonna be the conflict for the white side of the Dominaria Return... )

Slide into my DMs and share some Tea Ethan! After the dissapointment that was Commander 2017, I'm dying here...

Let's just say the way Maro has been talking about Dominaria hasn't exactly filled me with confidence.

I mean, you know that, I know that, other people in this thread know that. But not too long ago Maro implicitly denied that Gabriel Angelfire ever existed when he answered a question about male angels on Amonkhet, sooo... Besides, everyone knew that Chandra lived in a mountain village in a country ruled by foreign invaders with her siblings and that her mum was very, very dead until a certain Core Set came out, so it's not like established canon has stopped Creative from doing anything in recent years. But glad to hear I can hold Dominaria to a higher standard

Speaking of which, you do realise that you just established "Impossible. As everyone knows, [insert obscure 20 year old worldbuilding detail that has been contradicted]" as a fair and legit baseline for criticism of Dominaria, right? Not that that wouldn't have been my baseline anyway That answer was awesome though, not gonna lie. Thanks for responding!


My thoughts as well. Whoever was involved in building that place must have seen Serra's Realm with their own eyes. Which is utterly possible, given that there are still Serra Angels on Dominaria, and I think the humans from Serra's Realm were more or less ageless, too, right? And it dawned on me just this morning that we probably know now where Tamiyo got the story on her iron scroll from...

So, I'll assume it has nothing to do with Benalia then, or Ethan wouldn't have said what he said. Sursi would be a reasonable option as well, yeah. It's where Serra is buried and where the Cathedral of Serra is, and you could argue it has a vague resemblance to the Cathedral. Those flying horses would surely come in handy if there was a floating city in Sursi now. Or it might be a totally new Serran Empire. Serra's Boon mentions a New Order of Serra, so wherever that cloud city is, those guys are probably involved.

The hype has officially been lit indeed!

...and?
There are other white places on Dominaria, why do you even want it to be Benalia? Let Sursi have its time!
In case you've forgotten, Benalia was honestly kind of an awful place.


They were ageless because, effectively, they were only people shaped beings. Serra did craft them herself.

Huh? What gave you the impression that I am demanding that it must be in Benalia only?
(I don't know that it's an awful place btw, where was it mentioned like that?)

Heck, put this new "settlement" near Femeref, or any other white-aligned places in Dominaria... I just want my Serran presence~!
(If Mesa Pegasus is to be judged tho, that "leaked" image somewhat gives me the vibe of Sursi indeed. )

(Unless, this is another one of MtG's case of Religion deterioration like that one poster over Reddit has complained. In which I'll wretch in agony once more...)

It was more the implication that since Angelfire wasn't around, but Serra was, that it must have taken over.

And yeah. Benalia wasn't a pleasant place. A lot of the material in things like Rath and Storm and Invasion kinda got into how strict and unethical the place was.

The Benalkin were huge jerks in the Greensleeves trilogy too.

And that's putting it mildly!

On reflection, I'm very seriously thinking that we'll see vehicles on Dominaria.

It has to involve Phyrexia somehow

...why?

Not that I'd be really upset to see vehicles on Dominaria, but it's probably not a mechanic I'd pick for that. Keep in mind that Ixalan is going to have vehicles too, one or two were on the leaked rare sheet. We don't know how regularly they are going to use vehicles, but I doubt it's going to be quite as much. It could be interesting if they use it for things like Talas Air Ships and Steam Frigates, or Benalia's flying ships, though. Talas technology could actually facilitate global travelling a lot, which would help them make different parts of the plane feel more connected.

One mechanic I really, really want to see come back is Flanking. I've always liked it, and I was really happy that they brough it back in Time Spiral. They gave it to pretty much every creature with a mount across the whole plane the last time we saw Dominaria, so it's just something I've come to expect for the return. Besides, it's flavourful and has been exclusively tied to Dominaria so far, so it would be a good fit. Provoke would also be really nice, we haven't seen that in a while (though I think it would also make for a cool Gruul keyword on Ravnica). They also used Bloodthirst last time, I think I would dig that too, and Battalion would feel right for New Benalia. Those Serra dudes in the cloud city we've seen could have something like Convoke or a mechanic that rewards lifegain. That would be very Serra-esque.

Speaking of mechanics, I think mechanical complexity is another reason why at least three Dominaria sets would be the best option. They said that each set would be played alone in limited in the new three plus one paradigm, and that consecutive sets wouldn't necessarily share mechanics. That's actually ideal for returning to Dominaria because less experienced players or players who just don't feel like putting up with a ton of complexity could just draft each set individually as intended, while others could throw several or all sets together and basically get close to the adorable craziness of Time Spiral block, at least if the sets have clever hidden synergies with each other.

And of course we know for a fact that the archetype will obviously be Kavu tribal. I mean, come on.

We do know that there will be a few vehicles in Ixalan (representing some ships I think), so it seems like vehicles, as a whole, are moving towards deciduous or evergreen status and it would not be out of place to see them in any future sets. As for Dominaria, there's bound to be airships and other vehicles that are permutations of Invasion era technology.

Theres far too many possible angles for dominaria to try and predict what mechanics will be there. But I would not be suprised if we see 1-5 vehicles in every set going forward, just like equipment are in almost every set now.

Precisely.
Dominaria gave us the Weatherlight, THE most important vehicle in the game.
But also, since it appears there were flooding cities at one location (at least) they'd need sky skiffs just for that.