I'm warming up to them more quickly than I expected, but that's probably only because I had an incredibly strong aversion when I first saw them, so right now they're only sort of pretty terrible.

I think my main problem with them is that they're so clearly trying way too hard

it's the Emrakul, the Aeons Torn of card formatting

I predict the new Bolas will have something to do with -1/-1 counters

I think after Kaladesh's relatively subtle treatment, they wanted to try something envelope-pushing. I happen to like these a lot, but I don't think they will age well.

The gods will be monocolored, if we didn't already know this.
Source:
http://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/15 ... -for-the-5

The collector numbers of the five unrevealed Invocations strongly suggested as much, but it's good to have confirmation, since we don't 100% know that those Invocations will be the gods. (I'd give it at least a 95%, though.)

It also possible that an actual foil CARD as opposed to a screen shot might be easier to read. (Also: could be harder). Better than full art Psionic Blast

Reasonable Cycling reprints (mono colored, generic flavor, consistent creature types, no other mechanics)

1 x Aura Extraction
1 x Break Asunder
1 x Choking Tethers
1 x Clear
1 x Complicate
1 x Constricting Tendrils
1 x Death Pulse
1 x Decree of Annihilation
1 x Decree of Justice
1 x Decree of Pain
1 x Decree of Savagery
1 x Decree of Silence
1 x Dragon Wings
* Bolas is a dragon
1 x Drifting Djinn
* It's a desert but not sure they have Djinns
1 x Edge of Autumn
* Doesn't seem to fit thematically
1 x Essence Fracture
1 x Expunge
1 x Fade from Memory
1 x Fend off
1 x Flame Jet
1 x Hush
1 x Improvised Armor
1 x Iron Will
1 x Keeneye Aven
1 x Lay Waste
1 x Lull
1 x Miscalculation
1 x Pendrell Drake
* Eh, I think way more likely to get the Aven
1 x Power Taint
1 x Primal Boost
1 x Radiant's Judgement
1 x Rapid Decay
1 x Rebuild
1 x Rejuvenate
1 x Repopulate
1 x Rescind
1 x Savage Hunger
1 x Scrap
1 x Shimmering Barrier
1 x Sicken
1 x Slice and Dice
1 x Solar Blast
* seems like it would fit!
1 x Spark Spray
1 x Spell Snip
1 x Star Storm
1 x Sunfire Balm
1 x Swat
1 x Unburden
1 x Undead Gladiator
* it's sub-type gladiator, so I almost left it off
1 x Unearth
1 x Volcanic Submersion
* seems unlikely given land art.
1 x Wild Dogs
1 x Wipe Clean



Things they probably won't reprint but could:
Single-colored lands, i.e., Drifting Meadow or Secluded Steppe
Fluctuator

Alot of these are redundant, but I bet we get a black removal spell, a blue bounce or counterspell, a green pump and a red burn.
Maybe we get 2 of each color, 1 common 1 uncommon?

I also think the Decrees actually might mesh with the gods, but they are pretty silly cards so...

Ugh does the
tag no longer work? Oh I have to put numbers, that's right.

I disagree with Decree of Pain and Expunge being reasonable reprints. As of Aether Revolt they have more or less replaced regeneration with indestructible, so they will avoid printing cards with "can't be regenerated" text among non-Masterpiece cards.

Oh that's a good point. There are a few more that seem janky for various reasons.

They aren't reprinting any cycling cards with plane-specific names, like pendrell drake or radiant's judgment.

In other news, Amonkhet has -1/-1 counters, but not poison counters.

Huh, didn't occur to me that Radiant was an actual person (angel). And funny about Pendrell Drake because there are Drakes on Amonkhet. I also, at this point, don't expect any cycling creature reprints.

Hour of Devastation will contain persist. Predicting that right now.

Also, not a big fan of the "plausible cycling reprints". A lot of them are lazy designs.
1. Take a staple
2. Add cycling
3. Up the cost by

You know they do that with pretty much every mechanic, right? They can only have so many clever designs.

I'm not seeing it that way. It's not like they're putting cycling on a hill giant or a murder. A lot of these are effects that you don't always want, depending on the matchup, or depending what point of the game you're at, so cycling is a natural fit.

so, what do we assume the other gods attack conditions are like?
White: Control X other creatures. Makes tokens.
Black: Have more than/less than X life/opponent's life total?
Green: I kind of hope it's "Can't attack or block unless you remove a -1/-1 counter from ~", but I'm skeptical.

White: Creatures controlled
Black: Cards in Graveyard
Green: Control the creature with the greatest power?

Seems about right.



I don't think cycling alone could support this.



Could they word it so it wouldn't count itself?