Last week, Wizards of the Coast did more than just start dropping some sweet Zendikar Rising previews on us. They also dropped a whole slew of set announcements on us! While I for one can't wait to explore the Norse-themed world of Kaldheim or the Harry Potter-esque Strixhaven, there was one set that really caught my eye: Time Spiral Remastered.

If you don't know what a Remastered set is, they go back to 2015 with the Magic Online exclusive release of Tempest Remastered. This was a really sweet idea that condensed the three sets of the Tempest block (aka the Rath Cycle) into a single draftable set. Obviously, this kind of release was only possible online courtesy of the Reserved List, but it got the gears turning. Could this sort of thing be possible in paper? Well, as I understand it, the set didn't get drafted as much as Wizards would've hoped, and the idea was largely shelved.

Then in the last couple of years came MTG Arena and soon after in 2019 came the advent of Pioneer. Wizards underestimated the appeal of the Pioneer format and players jumped on it. They quickly demanded that WotC give them the format on Arena so as to offer an alternative to Standard - especially when that format was in a bad spot. This need to bring the new format to this also new digital client spawned the recent release of Amonkhet Remastered which not only shrunk the two Amonkhet block sets into one, but also added some new cards to the mix as well.

Now we have Time Spiral Remastered which is playing largely by the same rules. We don't know too much about it other than it's the three sets of Time Spiral, Planar Chaos, and Future Sight all condensed into one. What we do know, however, is that this time they're adding in the separate Timeshifted sheet that Time Spiral had, but rather than featuring the same old cards - we're getting all new reprints in the old frame! So far, we know of Chalice of the Void, Path to Exile, and Relentless Rats all in that glorious old border.

The best thing about this set is that it's coming out not just digitally like the prior two, but in paper as well! This means that Remastered sets are finally a reality and I'd be shocked if we didn't see more in the future. Today I'm going to lay out my top five blocks I'd like to see get revisited (post-Reserved List sets, so no Urza block or anything) as well as an honorable mention!

Honorable Mention - Mercadian Masques Block

Let's start off with said honorable mention - the Mercadian Masques block. The reason this block is an honorable mention is simple really. Have you ever played this Limited environment? It sucked. When the full block packs dropped on Magic Online I tried my hand at it a little - especially since some of the cards in them were a little pricey. It was bar none the worst draft experience I'd ever had. Tons of unplayable cards that would wheel and wheel made it a truly horrific experience.

And that's why this is an honorable mention and not a part of the actual list. I think it's very possible to filter this block down into something playable. What's more, it's also possible to remix it with outside cards like both Amonkhet Remastered and Time Spiral Remastered are doing. There are two big problems with why this would never happen. The first is that this is widely regarded as the worst block of all time and features one of the worst sets ever in Prophecy. The other issue is that each individual set has its own individual story on a separate plane. Mercadian Masques takes place on Mercadia, Nemesis takes place on Rath, and Prophecy was on Dominaria. This would create a lot of flavor issues when trying to combine them together.

Even in the best of circumstances, bringing this back would be a tough sell and I just don't see it happening. Still, I'd love for this block to finally get a fair shake. I think it would be a great way to get some more copies of old cards into players' hands and give Masques block a decent Limited environment without all the garbage. Maybe someone at Wizards will give this one a chance, but I doubt it'll ever see the light of day, and so it gets relegated to an honorable mention slot.

5. Alara Block

For me, Alara block is in a strange spot. You see, I actually quit playing Magic in 2008 around the release of Shadowmoor and Eventide thanks to a lack of local support in my area at the time. I didn't end up getting back into it until 2010 with Rise of the Eldrazi so I ended up missing the whole year of Alara. I did have a lot of time playing with the cards in the block, however, and really enjoy playing with it. It's also one of the first sets that was designed to not hit quite the same complexity notes that the blocks that preceded it - Time Spiral, Lorwyn, Shadowmoor - all did.

The gameplay was fairly elegant and brought some strong multicolored gameplay to the forefront. It was also arguably the true introduction of planeswalkers - not just in a mechanical sense but in a flavorful sense as well. The Lorwyn five were actually meant for Future Sight to offer a glimpse of what was yet to come, but they weren't ready, and so instead they showed up in Lorwyn. This is why their art looks so out of place compared to the rest of the set, yet feels at home with the Time Spiral block. All told, Alara felt like the first of the modern-day Magic sets as we know them, and it was pretty great.

The one thing I've heard people talk about regularly who drafted the format is that it's great right up until you hit the Alara Reborn pack. In case you weren't aware, Alara Reborn was a 100% multicolored set. As such, what would often happen is you'd find yourself sticking to two or three colors and then often end up in four or five as a result of that Alara Reborn booster. I feel like this represents a great opportunity to revisit the block and balance this out a bit, thereby giving players a more well-rounded experience in the process.

It might be a bit more of a simple choice, but sometimes simplicity is a good thing. I'd love for a return to Alara once again and it seems like a nice elegant option for sets to revisit.

4. Onslaught Block

Let's keep things going with one of my favorite blocks of all time: Onslaught! This was the block where I started to really dip my feet into Magic on a more serious level and began exploring all the game had to offer - and the Onslaught block has its fair share of things to offer. Popular tribes like elves, goblins, zombies, and slivers really got to shine while lesser-known ones got a bit of time in the sun. Morph and cycling both saw their starts here while cycling got a pretty sizable expansion on what the mechanic was capable of.

The block featured a fairly robust draft environment that still holds up extremely well today. Beasts and Clerics were notably powerful, but it wasn't hard to come up with a deck for any of the many tribes of the block. There were also some really interesting things like how Legions was an all-creature set - simultaneously assuring you can get a deck packed full of creatures while getting tons of cool effects thanks to morph.

So, what would we be looking to change with this block were there to be a remaster of the Onslaught block? First and foremost is a pretty easy one: updating creature types! You see, when the block released, the Grand Creature Type Update had yet to happen. As such a lot of card types - and in some cases a few interactions - have changed that aren't reflected well on the original cards. There was also a lot of glut and mediocre cards that don't do a lot. No one needs Defiant Elf, Fugitive Wizard, or ALL HAIL THE GREAT LORD EGOTIST! (Scornful Egotist) Even the slivers weren't that great without a lord like Muscle Sliver or Sinew Sliver!

It feels like it would be a great opportunity to condense the block down to what made it so awesome to play in the past while also adding a few new goodies. After all, we've done it in Amonkhet Remastered and now Time Spiral Remastered so why not here? Changelings would be fantastic in a small capacity to help round out decks and - as you'll hear frequently in this article - adding some common duals to help would be great. There were plenty of tribes that crossed into multiple colors in a draft and having a few extra lands could really help.

Speaking of, there's one other big appeal for the Onslaught block: fetch lands!

Onslaught was the original printing of the five allied fetch lands and as such this would be a perfect opportunity to get some more of those into players' hands. Even better it would get more copies with the original artwork into the hands of the public, and I'm always down for that!

All told, I think this block has a lot of potential that's worth exploring and would love to see Wizards take a nice return to Otaria once again.

3. Innistrad Block

How do you improve on perfection? Triple Innistrad is generally considered one of the best draft formats of all time. Why would anyone want to touch it when Wizards could just re-release the set entirely - something I've suggested time and again? Well that would defeat the purpose of a Remastered set! If anything, I think it serves as a fine jumping board to work off of.

You could easily incorporate elements of Dark Ascension and Avacyn Restored - both of which felt like they either worsened Innistrad or were a watered down experience when taken as whole sets. By cherry picking the cards you'd want to see, you could craft yourself a fresh experience that appeals to the people who want to go back without outright reprinting just plain old Innistrad. Even better, there's also the Shadows Over Innistrad block that can have a few cards taken from it!

Now I'm not saying let's go all out and bring eldrazi into classic Innistrad or anything, but adding a few investigate cards to the mix (like Thraben Inspector, Tireless Tracker, and Magnifying Glass) seem like they'd make sense. You can also throw in some of the werewolf cards so as to shake up the well-known flip cards as well. Even some non-werewolf cards like Heir to Falkenrath and Startled Awake feel like they'd be at home in a remixed version of the original block - and that's just what we'd want to see!

Most importantly, though, it allows Wizards to fix a few pesky cards. Remember this guy?

Get it out of here! Or at least bump it up to rare or something. Nothing - and I mean nothing - feels worse than being on the opposing side of an Invisible Stalker equipped with a Butcher's Cleaver or Trepanation Blade. Fix these problems and give us a whole new experience. Even if the original was perfect, I and many others will be more than happy to see a revisit of that original block.

2. Kamigawa Block

Wait what? Didn't I just get done talking about how a dreadfully underpowered block is unlikely to make the cut? Well, yes. Mercadian Masques block is an absolute trash fire of a block. It unequivocally sucks. Kamigawa block, on the other hand, is a different story.

You see, Kamigawa block had a lot of problems. I laid a lot of them out in my article "Revisiting Kamigawa" and talked about how they could approach them in a way that could make a return feasible. What it boiled down to, though, was two things. The first was a dramatically decreased power level following how obscene Mirrodin was and the flavor not really sticking the landing for a lot of Magic's audience. What it did have despite these issues though was a surprisingly robust Limited environment. The format of Champions of Kamigawa and Betrayers of Kamigawa has returned to Magic Online numerous times - sans Saviors of Kamigawa of course.

As it turns out, when all of the cards are on the same playing field and in the same environment, it doesn't matter as much that the power was lowered or that the mechanics were super parasitic. At the end of the day, the two sets were extremely balanced, with Saviors causing issues due to an overabundance of bad cards. Even there, though, you could easily port over a handful of actually playable cards from that set and put them in with Champions and Betrayers. But why stop there?

It's clear that while a full-on revisit of Kamigawa in a Standard legal environment is pretty out of the question, Wizards is well aware of the plane's cult following. Over the years, they've given us tons of awesome cards set on the plane. These include cards like the various Tamiyo planeswalkers, Sakashima's Student, Yuriko, Kaseto, and most recently the Core Set 2021 shrines. There's a lot that can be pulled from and thus added to the set, but I think we can go even further still.

This might actually be an opportunity for Wizards to take a different approach at a Remastered set and make all new cards for it! This would be great for something like Kamigawa where our new cards are far and few between. Instead, what if, say, ten or twenty brand new cards got added into the block to help freshen it up and give the Kamigawa fans something new to go off of? To me that sounds like a win-win and makes the idea of Kamigawa Remastered a strong favorite in sets that I'd like to see.

1. Ravnica Block

Could there really be any other? Yes, we're talking about THE Ravnica block: the original one. Ravnica: City of Guilds, Guildpact, and Dissension. This was such a high point in Magic as a whole that I've heard on numerous occasions from players that Ravnica: City of Guilds was like the second coming of Alpha. Maybe not in the overpowered sense, but in the way it captured the core of what made the game fun. The flavor was off the charts and the color pairs as guilds idea was phenomenal.

It's no surprise then that we've since had two full blocks centered around the plane. This includes Return to Ravnica and the three sets of Guilds of Ravnica, Ravnica Allegiance, and War of the Spark (even if the last one was mechanically different). We've seen countless callbacks in supplemental products, promos, Core Sets, written material, and more. By today's standards, it's almost certainly the most popular plane in the game, and it's no secret why.

The original Ravnica block revolutionized the game for a number of players and re-stabilized things following the disastrous Mirrodin block and the middling Kamigawa block. When we returned, the game saw a very noticeable jump in popularity. It wasn't even close and felt very much like another line in the sand with where the game was heading. And let's not forget the most recent one which culminated in one of the biggest story payoffs in Magic's long history - much the same way as the Invasion block did once upon a time.

It only seems fitting to take the classic Ravnica block and turn it into a fully remastered set of excellence. I firmly believe that if Wizards did it right (perhaps a larger card pool than normal?) they could definitely get all ten guilds represented in a single set. The best part too is that they don't need to exclusively use cards from this original block! Like many of the sets in this article, some cards got nerfed hard thanks to the removal of damage on the stack. A few mechanics also didn't age all that well (looking at you Haunt). Thankfully, though, we've got two other blocks to pull some really sweet cards and patch things up!

There's no doubt in my mind that this would be a success and I fully believe that if Time Spiral Remastered is a home run, we're bound to see Ravnica Remastered in our futures. I for one absolutely cannot wait. Give me that classic Ravnica feel once again!

The best part is this is just the tip of the iceberg with how Wizards can approach Remastered sets in the future! Could you imagine the different ways you could meld the different Zendikar (and Eldrazi) blocks together? Maybe make a super tribal set with different blocks centered around Lorwyn! The possibilities are quite endless, and will only grow as time goes on. These are just my personal choices that I'd love to see, though. What sets or blocks would you like to see get the Remastered treatment?

Kendra Smith

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