I am paying tribute to one of my favorite podcasts this week because today’s topic is . . . 

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AntMTG Potpourri!

Now, for those of you following along at home who do not know what potpourri is, it is a category made popular by the game show Jeopardy in which the questions do not follow a particular theme and instead touch on a somewhat random assortment of subjects, similar to actual potpourri being a seemingly random selection of objects.

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Instead of focusing fifteen hundred words on a single topic, I am going to tackle three different things that have been on my mind as of late. Much like the Planeteers, the following discussion points are not strong enough to support the construction of entire article, but when the power of their paragraphs combine, these topics unite to form an article that is far more superior than the sum of its parts.

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Only now have I noticed Captain Planet’s mullet. Joe Dirt would be proud.

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1 – Magic: The Gathering Fatheads

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Did you know this existed? Neither did I. I was sitting at home watching TV when a Fatheads commercial came on, and I thought, “Man, I wish there were Fatheads of Planeswalkers. That would be amazing.” One short Google search later led me to the website above. Do you have a dedicated gaming of Magic space in your home? Do you have a niece, nephew, son, or daughter who is a fan of Magic? Pick up one of these and allow the gorgeous art of Magic’s star characters to grace the walls of the homes of you and your loved ones. I mean, seriously, who wouldn’t want a gigantic Jace, Chandra, or Ral Zarek on his or her wall? Some additional Fatheads I would love to see are Ashiok, Fblthp, and Urza as characters and maybe a larger Fathead of Chandra and Jace battling each other. How epic would that be?

2 – The Phyrexian Language

The year was 2011, and Mirrodin Besieged was being spoiled. The set’s spoiler video "All Will Be One" revealed to us the existence of a Phyrexian language. Created by a linguist hired by Wizards of the Coast, the language comes complete with rules of grammar and pronunciation, and it can be written top to bottom as showcased in the video. When New Phyrexia was announced, we were teased with the image of Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite in all her compleated glory:

What I wanted to know is, Where is this language? Why hasn’t the full language been revealed to the Magic community? I asked Doug Beyer on A Voice for Vorthos if we would ever see the language, and he kindly responded with the following:

While I agree that the language should be revealed to the public during a time when it makes the most sense and the Phyrexians are being predominantly featured in the story, what I do not understand is why the language wasn’t spoiled to us during New Phyrexia. I mean, what better opportunity could there have been to unveil the developed language than during a set that revolves completely around the newly revived Phyrexians on their newly compleated plane? My guess is that there was some type of unknown hangup that was preventing the language from being revealed to us during New Phyrexia. Hopefully, we will revisit the oily horrors soon so that we can finally converse with one another in the language of Magic’s greatest villain. I am imagining a website called The Phyrexian Language Institute (similar to this one for Klingon), where we can all learn to converse with one another in this compleatly amazing language. If you are also interested in seeing the entire Phyrexian language spoiled, please be sure to let Doug and the other people working hard on Magic know about it! Wizards does an amazing job of listening to its fans, and the best way to see this language is to let them know we want it!

3 – More Unique Planeswalkers

When we play Magic, the idea is that each and every one of us is a Planeswalker. The spells in our decks are supposed to represent a collection of magical abilities that we have learned while traversing the endless Blind Eternities and visiting a multitude of planes. The very nature of our Multiverse is that it is in fact infinite, offering a limitless supply of worlds to explore. That, to me, is the greatest draw for Magic, the simple idea that there is always something new to uncover. When a new player starts to play Magic, every game he or she plays will introduce said player to a multitude of cards that he or she has never before experienced, adding to that sense of wonder and exploration. As that player becomes more and more enfranchised in the game, and especially with the lore behind it, the Multiverse can start to seem smaller than it actually is. Over the past five years, we have seen cards primarily from Tarkir, Theros, Ravnica, Innistrad, Mirrodin/New Phyrexia, Fiora, and Shandalar, with a few subtle references to other planes in supplemental products such as Commander and Planechase. This leads players to think of the Multiverse not as infinite, but as a small collection of known worlds. What I would like to see more of in Magic are cards that showcase the fact that the Multiverse is a vast and limitless expanse of possibilities, and I think the best way for Wizards to do this is through Planeswalkers.

Planeswalker as a card type was first revealed to us back in Lorwyn. For those of you who don’t know, and those who don’t remember, Lorwyn was a fairytale-esque world filled with Merfolk, Elves, Giants, and boggarts (and some other races). By their very nature, Planeswalkers are unique entities due to their ability to walk between worlds. What makes them stand out visually is that they can often look “out of place” with their surroundings. The original “Lorwyn five” Planeswalkers (Ajani, Jace, Liliana, Chandra, and Garruk) captured this idea beautifully by being the only leonin and Humans found in the entire Lorwyn block. This decision was no accident, and it helped to drive home the idea that these characters were from a faraway place and were not of the current world we were visiting.

We did not see Planeswalkers again until Shards of Alara, but this time, the characters seemed to blend in with the different shards instead of standing out apart from them. Ajani was shown on his home shard of Naya, we met Tezzeret, Elspeth, and Sarkhan, who each looked to be from Esper, Bant, and Jund respectively. Heck, even Nicol Bolas fit in with the colors of Grixis. Nothing about those five made us think they were from far-off places just by looking at them. Since Alara, there seems to be a trend that, for each new world we visit, we are shown a Planeswalker who is from that new world.

Zendikar gave us Nissa, and during Mirrodin, we met Koth. On Innistrad, we were introduced to Tibalt, on Ravnica Ral Zarek and Domri, and on Theros, we met Xenagos. We have also started to visit the home planes of some Planeswalkers whose original origins were unknown. When we first met Sorin, he showcased a nice visual contrast when compared to the Vampires that called Zendikar home, and we have since visited his home world of Innistrad. Kiora had a very different look when compared to the tritons of Theros, but we recognized her look from the Merfolk of Zendikar. Tamiyo stuck out like a sore thumb on Innistrad because we knew she was a Moonfolk from Kamigawa. What is different about these characters is that we have seen where they originate, again making the Multiverse seem smaller than it is. Ashiok is a perfect example of a character who follows in the footsteps of the original five. Ashiok is a nice reminder to all of us just how limitless the Blind Eternities are. We know next to nothing about this character's past, and I hope it stays that way.

By giving Ashiok such a unique look and move set, we start to wonder where Ashiok is from. Ashiok’s mystery allows us to imagine a far-off world and re-instills within us the idea that there are many worlds out there we have not visited (and may never visit). I would like to see the creative team do more of this. With each new block, I think we should meet at least one Planeswalker who looks completely out of place and is from a world we have never visited before. These Planeswalkers should be painted by artists who have incredibly unique visual styles that are in direct contrast with the overall style of the sets they are appearing in, and they should exist for no other reason to remind everyone that there are more worlds out there that are waiting to be explored.