Friends/Romans/Countrymen finally revealed! PAX East 2013

[Lemnear]

The upcoming block got their final names on PAX East 2013

Friends - Theros
Romans - Born of the Gods
Countrymen - Journey into Nix

This is pretty much the confirmation for an greek-mythology-block.



Official Arcana Info

Set Name Theros
Block Set 1 of 3 in the Theros block
Number of Cards 249
Prerelease Events September 21-22, 2013
Release Date September 27, 2013
Launch Weekend September 27-29, 2013
Pro Tour Theros Dates October 11-13, 2013
Game Day October 19-20, 2013
Pro Tour Theros Formats Swiss:

Standard Constructed
Theros Booster Draft

Top 8:

Standard Constructed

Official Three-Letter Code THS
Twitter Hashtag #MTGTHS
Initial Concept and Game Design Mark Rosewater (lead), Ethan Fleischer, Ken Nagle, Zac Hill, and Jenna Helland
Final Game Design and Development Erik Lauer (lead), Zac Hill, Dave Humpherys, Doug Beyer, Shawn Main, and Tom LaPille
Languages English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Available in Booster Packs, Intro Packs*, Event Deck*, Fat Pack*

Are you fucking kidding me?!?!

[Koby]

The upcoming block got their final names on PAX East 2013

Friends - Theros
Romans - Born of the Gods
Countrymen - Journey into Nix

This is pretty much the confirmation for an greek-mythology-block.

Romans? Greeks? Even my faint memory of ancient history is groaning at the faux-pas. Ugh.

Cool theme tho, are we expecting more Dryad Arbors then? Thunderbolt? Hammer of Olympus (Hammer of Bogardan look alike)?

[trivial_matters]

I'm trying to come up with a "Wrath of God" joke and failing.

[.dk]

Maybe we get the Storm mechanic back? Jupiter = God of the Sky/Thunder = Storms...?

(joking obv)

[Lemnear]

Romans? Greeks? Even my faint memory of ancient history is groaning at the faux-pas. Ugh.

Cool theme tho, are we expecting more Dryad Arbors then? Thunderbolt? Hammer of Olympus (Hammer of Bogardan look alike)?

Yeah, sounds like WotC's head designers does not only recruit same-minded employees but obviously all have had to fail at History class as well /rant

Wouldn't give much about codenames in general. They could not name them Zeus, Poseidon, Hades after all. The title "Romans" could be an accident

[Megadeus]

Storm coming back would make me wet my pants with excitement and I would buy all of the shocks to play standard.

[AEnesidem]

I love greek mythology, can't wait to see that set.

[Lord Seth]

Names seem pretty meh. I'm assuming Theros is the name of the new plane, but it just doesn't have a particularly good ring to it. Innistrad, Mirrodin, Zendikar...those are cool names. Theros? Meh. Born of the Gods and Journey Into Nix sound just plain cheesy and a bit of a mouthful.

Doesn't really tell us much though. I'm more interested in what the theme(s) of the block will be. I was hoping for a tribal block, but the pattern seems to be to have a tribal block be the SECOND block after a multicolor block (see: Invasion and Onslaught, Ravnica and Lorwyn). Best guess I can venture based on the names is that this might be another Legendary one like Kamigawa.

[Malchar]

I'm more interested in what the theme(s) of the block will be. I was hoping for a tribal block, but the pattern seems to be to have a tribal block be the SECOND block after a multicolor block (see: Invasion and Onslaught, Ravnica and Lorwyn). Best guess I can venture based on the names is that this might be another Legendary one like Kamigawa.

If it is Greek themed, I can't imagine that it will be a tribal block. I don't see the classic creature types like goblins and elves fitting into Greek mythos very well. Maybe they could do it with classes instead of races? Alternatively, it could be an enchantment theme since they haven't done that for a while. They could even do a land theme since Zendikar was a pretty long time ago.

I like the idea of revisiting the legendary theme. Kamigawa had a lot of problems, but I think that the legendary theme deserves another chance. It would work perfectly with the Greek theme, and it could even be combined with a land or enchantment theme if they need more depth. To take it full circle, maybe it will be tribal and we'll be revisiting arcane spells (although I have to believe that they will probably be called something else).

[GradStudentGuy]

There is so much unexplored space in Greek/ Roman mythology, I can wait to see the new mechanics. I am just hoping they are not as simplistic as the ones in RTR and Gatecrash.

[Lemnear]

There is so much unexplored space in Greek/ Roman mythology, I can wait to see the new mechanics. I am just hoping they are not as simplistic as the ones in RTR and Gatecrash.

My bets on more creature-only mechanics ... as usual -.-

[Esper3k]

We'll probably get more Merfolk (Poseidon dudes).

Maybe a badass Kraken (another Show & Tell dude to drop).

Possibly new Avatars and Titans?

[TkDodo]

Buy your Didgeridoos as long as they are cheap ;)

[Nihil Credo]

Romans? Greeks? Even my faint memory of ancient history is groaning at the faux-pas. Ugh.The code names are made for reference way before any work on the set starts, and have no creative meaning at all. I mean, the block after Theros is called Huey/Dewey/Louie and I doubt it will be a Disney tie-in.

Greek mythology is a pretty safe area to explore. I don't think there really is much to be guessed since they could do like they did with Lorwyn/Celtic and Ravnica/Slavic and just crib some names, creature types, and aesthetic while making a pretty much original world.

It would be fun if the third set has a major free spells (http://magiccards.info/fut/en/55.html) theme, though.

[Rocco111]

TkDodo
Buy your Didgeridoos as long as they are cheap ;)
:laugh:

Thing is that with a Greek/Roman mythology-based plane, there's quite a big chance to see forgotten tribes back on stage, like Minotaurs, Harpies, Medusas, Krakens, Titans, Birds, etc. That's pretty sweet. :smile:
The whole block may have a Antiquities touch to it & that'd be nice. :)

[Barook]

:laugh:

Thing is that with a Greek/Roman mythology-based plane, there's quite a big chance to see forgotten tribes back on stage, like Minotaurs, Harpies, Medusas, Krakens, Titans, Birds, etc. That's pretty sweet. :smile:
The whole block may have a Antiquities touch to it & that'd be nice. :)
Pegasi might be prominent as well.

I can see a legendary block coming. Greek mythology had lots of heroes and prominent figures they can base their stuff on.

And since Wizards already neutered the power level of GTC, maybe this block isn't going to suck like Kamigawa?

[Lemnear]

Get your Quests for Ula's Temple and Sacred Mesas now!

[phazonmutant]

Romans? Greeks? Even my faint memory of ancient history is groaning at the faux-pas. Ugh.

Cool theme tho, are we expecting more Dryad Arbors then? Thunderbolt? Hammer of Olympus (Hammer of Bogardan look alike)?

Clearly the code names were trying to incite us to mutiny and rage about the mixed references! (If you're not sure what I'm talking about, check out http://www.shakespeare-navigators.com/JC_Navigator/JC_3_2.html#speech30. It's an incredible, classic speech)

Hopefully they'll do some Human Advisors tribal (obviously featuring Filibuster counters (http://magiccards.info/query?q=locutors&v=card&s=cname)). What could be more appropriate for a Greek-themed plane than summoning windbag sophists?

[Lemnear]

Update OP with VERY BAD news

[Barook]

Update OP with VERY BAD news
Tom LaPille is kinda obvious, but what has Erik Lauer done?

[Lemnear]

Tom LaPille is kinda obvious, but what has Erik Lauer done?

Mindset Lackey Syndrome


Why did they make Tom LaPille return to Magic? Had he already successfully destroyed D&D in the meanwhile?

[Viridia]

I'm very behind on all the details here, anyone mind filling me in what they've done? :)

[Tao]

I'm very behind on all the details here, anyone mind filling me in what they've done? :)

I am not very well educated on this topic either, but I know that Tom is known for destroying the modern format by banning fucking everything.

[phonics]

I am not very well educated on this topic either, but I know that Tom is known for destroying the modern format by banning fucking everything.

And making it so that blue will never be a dominant color ever again due to Great Sable Stag.

[xfxf]

Didn't he also come up with the gentlemen's agreement against playing Mystical Tutor and playing trump cards like Great Stable Stag against Mental Misstep? One of those things could be wrong.

[Koby]

Didn't he also come up with the gentlemen's agreement against playing Mystical Tutor and playing trump cards like Great Stable Stag against Mental Misstep? One of those things could be wrong.

So between Tom LaPille's imaginary arguments, Erik Lauer's push for power, and Zac Hill's "let's just +1 mana this Necro card", we're looking at a set that will finally destroy constructed Magic?

Looking forward to the slaughter. THIS IS SPARTA!

[Barook]

THIS IS SPARTA!
I wouldn't be suprised if they threw in quite a few pop culture references.

I can totally see them making a card called "Release the Kraken".

[Lemnear]

Didn't he also come up with the gentlemen's agreement against playing Mystical Tutor and playing trump cards like Great Stable Stag against Mental Misstep? One of those things could be wrong.

It was Sable Stag against Counterbalance and blue's dominance afaik. Infamous for the Gentleman's Agreement statement and Modern's preemptive Banlist + 1st wave of banning every tool for combo, Control and Ramp. Had also his Hands into the decisions to Ban Survival and Misstep. Strong supporter of the creature-Focus, involved in design-decisions that gave us cards like Emrakul. Likely moved to the D&D rules Team after massive shitstorms etc.

Now he's back after a Year away from Magic

Correct me, if I'm wrong

[Lord Seth]

I am not very well educated on this topic either, but I know that Tom is known for destroying the modern format by banning fucking everything.Enh, while he may have been the spokesperson who wrote the article explaining the reasons for the bans, I don't think it's fair to blame him solely or even necessarily primarily for it.

Not sure what's wrong with Lauer though, unless it's another case of "shoot the messenger" (he's the one who announces bannings/unbannings). Though he was head of development for Innistrad and Return to Ravnica, so if someone really hated the power level of those sets...


So between Tom LaPille's imaginary arguments, Erik Lauer's push for power, and Zac Hill's "let's just +1 mana this Necro card", we're looking at a set that will finally destroy constructed Magic?Not any more than Return to Ravnica did, considering the three of them were on the development team for that also (with Erik Lauer as head, as noted earlier).

[Tao]

Enh, while he may have been the spokesperson who wrote the article explaining the reasons for the bans, I don't think it's fair to blame him solely or even necessarily primarily for it.

Not sure what's wrong with Lauer though, unless it's another case of "shoot the messenger" (he's the one who announces bannings/unbannings). Though he was head of development for Innistrad and Return to Ravnica, so I suppose if someone really hated the power level of those sets...

I have now read his article defending the bans. This was amongst the biggest bullshit I have ever read. It went like this: "Modern was really popular after the PT and people played it everywhere, online and offline. Then we banned all the cards we considered bad for the format and people immediately stopped playing it, online and offline. They told us that these bans sucked. Every single one of them is wrong and I am confident that we made things better." ????

On Innistrad and RtR, I think that both are AMAZING sets. Standard was good and drafting these sets was a ton of fun.

[Lord Seth]

I have now read his article defending the bans. This was amongst the biggest bullshit I have ever read. It went like this: "Modern was really popular after the PT and people played it everywhere, online and offline. Then we banned all the cards we considered bad for the format and people immediately stopped playing it, online and offline. They told us that these bans sucked. Every single one of them is wrong and I am confident that we made things better." ????Hrm, didn't read that (you're referring to this one (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/167), I assume) until now. I was actually referring to this one (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/155) where it gave the initial banned list and the reasons for it. Though it is interesting to see that apparently Modern lost a lot of popularity after the post-PT bans...

[Lemnear]

Enh, while he may have been the spokesperson who wrote the article explaining the reasons for the bans, I don't think it's fair to blame him solely or even necessarily primarily for it.

Not sure what's wrong with Lauer though, unless it's another case of "shoot the messenger" (he's the one who announces bannings/unbannings). Though he was head of development for Innistrad and Return to Ravnica, so if someone really hated the power level of those sets...

Not any more than Return to Ravnica did, considering the three of them were on the development team for that also (with Erik Lauer as head, as noted earlier).

If the spokesperson of a Company is insulting the intellicence of their customers like Tom LaPille did in his Ban-justifications HE DOES deserves the hate. I'm NOT talking about the bannings itself. Writing nonsense and patt'n on his own shoulder every announcent is disgraceful for WotC

Congrats, the 3 of them designed a multitude of Kicker-variants for creatures with a complete Lack of balance between guilds ... awesome work ... really

[Koby]

I have now read his article defending the bans. This was amongst the biggest bullshit I have ever read. It went like this: "Modern was really popular after the PT and people played it everywhere, online and offline. Then we banned all the cards we considered bad for the format and people immediately stopped playing it, online and offline. They told us that these bans sucked. Every single one of them is wrong and I am confident that we made things better." ????

On Innistrad and RtR, I think that both are AMAZING sets. Standard was good and drafting these sets was a ton of fun.

Saw a tweet earlier that sums up Gatecrap --

Every guild's keyword in Gatecrash but Dimir accrues value when drafted linearly. Battalion, Evolve, Bloodrush, and Extort all provide incremental advantage in multitudes. They reward play. The Dimir keyword (Cipher) increases risk. This is a neat set development methodology.

[Tao]

Hrm, didn't read that (you're referring to this one (http://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/167), I assume) until now. I was actually referring to this one (http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/ld/155) where it gave the initial banned list and the reasons for it. Though it is interesting to see that apparently Modern lost a lot of popularity after the post-PT bans...

I remember that ban announcement. Many people were really excited about Modern and then "boom, screw you, we will tell you what you are allowed to play".
What especially killed it for me personally was the ban of Blazing Shoal. They banned a freaking three-card-combo that dies to Mogg Fanatic. And they banned it despite the fact that they banned Preordain and Ponder on the very same day, TWO cards that were essential for Blazing Shoal decks to find all three pieces of their combo in time.

[Lord Seth]

Congrats, the 3 of them designed a multitude of Kicker-variants for creatures with a complete Lack of balance between guilds ... awesome work ... reallyThe claim was that the three of them together would create a set that destroyed Constructed magic. I pointed out that the three of them together (with Erik Lauer as lead developer like in Theros) helped put together a set that was incredibly successful and popular.

So predicting that the next set would "destroy Constructed magic" on the basis that the three were on the development team doesn't fit with the fact that the last time the three were on a development team together, the set was a big success.

To be fair, there were other people involved in development, and of course you can't discount the design team. But those aren't the things that are being cited as the reason for why this set might be bad.

[Koby]

The claim was that the three of them together would create a set that destroyed Constructed magic. I pointed out that the three of them together (with Erik Lauer as lead developer like in Theros) helped put together a set that was incredibly successful and popular.

So predicting that the next set would "destroy Constructed magic" on the basis that the three were on the development team doesn't fit with the fact that the last time the three were on a development team together, the set was a big success.

Big success is selling lots of packs. It doesn't necessarily mean a fun, repeatable Constructed environment. How well is Standard received right now? "Mid-range hell" seems somewhat appropriate to describe how that is developing. The Limited environment may be balanced and well received, and is specifically designed to be so in order to sell packs. There is a difference between what WotC calls a success and what its consumers call a success.

[Aggro_zombies]

Big success is selling lots of packs. It doesn't necessarily mean a fun, repeatable Constructed environment. How well is Standard received right now? "Mid-range hell" seems somewhat appropriate to describe how that is developing. The Limited environment may be balanced and well received, and is specifically designed to be so in order to sell packs. There is a difference between what WotC calls a success and what its consumers call a success.
"Man, I totally hate this format! I'm going to keep buying packs! That'll show 'em!"

Also, it's worth remembering that the Romans were basically cultural parasites of the Greeks. Roman gods were reskins of the Greek gods, many of the legends were the same, the Romans cribbed architecture notes and philosophy from the Greeks, and so on. Though I agree that "Friends, Romans, Countrymen" was probably locked in as the code name for the block prior to them deciding what the block was actually going to be.

[nedleeds]

God of War wannabe CGI art to follow

[Lord Seth]

Big success is selling lots of packs. It doesn't necessarily mean a fun, repeatable Constructed environment. How well is Standard received right now?Pretty well from the people I've talked to. I've certainly found myself enjoying it.


"Mid-range hell" seems somewhat appropriate to describe how that is developing.Not at all. There's a decent amount of aggro and control in the format. There's even a combo of sorts with Human Reanimator.

[Lemnear]

The claim was that the three of them together would create a set that destroyed Constructed magic. I pointed out that the three of them together (with Erik Lauer as lead developer like in Theros) helped put together a set that was incredibly successful and popular.


It sold because of the tag "Ravnica". The original expansion has the myth of being One of the best Blocks ever made. Slaming Ravinica, Mirrodin or Phyrexia onto packs sure helps selling packs to the mtg crowd, no matter the Content. The Time being drafted also has a large impact

[Rocco111]

Couple of post am reading which basically looks like Hatred vs Support the Geniuses. OK, there are some around here who are not so happy about the current WotC policy... but are they the same that criticized it years ago? or are they players that are ranting just the same way older players did in their time? No offence there, am just curious really.

What is your definition of a 'good block'? When Urza's block was released, I was playing MtG. I hated the immediate series of bans that ensued almost every released of the set but at the same time, I wasn't a competitive player back then so the bans had little effect on my decks, more on the value of the cards I bought & collected. However, I consider this set as one of the best I ever played with. When Mirrodin was released, I was also playing and yes, it was pretty fun too (just I never like the indestructible ability but that's just me, on the other hand, I really liked affinity and modular). When Ravnica or Scars of Mirrodin were released I didn't have time anymore to play MtG so to me, the names mean nothing but it seems that lots of players have sweet memories of them. Return to Ravnica so far is an average block, nothing huge nothing really bad either, apart maybe from the reprint of the shocklands (which is imho a very good thing for all formats), Decay and DRS as they both have marked all formats, thing rare enough to be mentioned here.

In every block there are always cards that'll become staples in a format or another, only there are blocks that tend to be stronger than others. Well, if you cannot deal with it, you'd better stop right now playing the game. 'Cause if you evaluate the success of a block based on the number of staples, I am afraid this isn't the right way either. WotC indeed evaluates the success of a block primarily by the attendance to the major tournaments and the number of boxes sold, and from what it looks like they are not ready to repeat another Fallen Empire/Homeland bs ever again. Just there's no point hoping for another Urza's block either because they learnt from their mistakes in both cases (or at least, we all hope so). So LaPille or not, the next block will have its content of good stuff and craps, let's just hope that the good stuff will be really good because in the end, isn't it what we are all expecting from the spoilers? So we can start saving money to buy boosters and boxes. On the other hand, with what's coming this summer, WotC HAS to deliver a good block if they want us to buy anything 'cause our wallets would already have been bled to death thanks to FtV 20 & Modern Masters... :tongue:

M2C

[DragoFireheart]

What is your definition of a 'good block'?

Alpha/Beta.