Locations
A Return to Dominaria (and a light story line) - Are you guys ready to hang out on the island of Shiv again? Maybe you wish you were chilling in Jamuraa? Well, you won't have to wait much longer because M11 is going to take us back to Dominaria. "But Reinhart," you say, "core sets always take place on Dominaria!" This is true, to some extent, but I think that M11 will not only take place on Dominaria. It will also be the first ever core set to have a minor story line. What happened to Jace after the events of "In the Teeth of Akoum". And what ever happened to that Liliana Planeswalker novel that was supposed to come out in February of 2010? The main characters of Magic aren't going anywhere and it would be nice to have some connectivity between one block and the next. Our heroes don't even have to be on Dominaria necessarily, but we do need to account for them at some point! Why not do it in the set in which they'll be printed!? (More on that next). I''m not talking about a full-fledged Urza-Saga storyline here. Just a simple stop-off between blocks to regain our bearings and reprint/update some classic goodies on the plane where it all began.
The Five Planeswalkers you'll meet in M11 - No one really knows how the planeswalker rotation will work in M11. Will we continue to see the original, Lorwyn walkers in core sets or will we be getting the updated versions? I'm hoping (and predicting!) that Wizards will throw us a curve ball and toss in a couple of brand new walkers! I tend to think that Wizards will stick with their five main characters for as long as they can. But how lame would it be to pull your 6th Jace Beleren out of a shiny new pack of M11? I understand the need for "chase rares" in a set that is still being printed like Worldwake but I sincerely hope we see Jace, the Mind Sculptor in Magic 2011. Everyone deserves the chance to play with this card and I think it will wallow in obscurity for kitchen table Magic players if it doesn't make it into the core set. We'll also get Chandra Ablaze from Zendikar, of course, but what about the other three Lorwyn walkers?! My guess is that Gideon Jura will replace Ajani Goldmane as the staple white walker. Sorry Elspeth fans, I just don't see her making it to the evergreen party and Wizards has been trying to up the CMC on walkers since they first came out. That leaves Green and Black. I think we'll see entirely new Liliana and Garruk cards in M11. Here's my attempt at designing these walkers:
On a lighter note, keep an eye out for this gem in M11:
Look for the "big 5" walkers to make a return to Dominaria in Magic 2011.
Fewer "Reprints with New Names" - When M10 was announced there was a minor controversy over old cards with new names being marketed as "New Cards". Personally, I was happy to get anything new in a Core Set and M10 turned out to be a huge success for everyone. That having been said, I do think that Magic 2011 will back off on the use of this tactic. They "updated" scores of card names last time and I doubt they'll need to do many more. This time, when Wizards says that their new core set will contain "X% New Cards", we can rest easy knowing that most of them are actually new.
[caption id="attachment_9952" align="aligncenter" width="448" caption="FINALLY! New cards in the core set!... wait..."]
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The Game is Slowing Down... - I've touched on this before with regards to Rise of the Eldrazi. The game is much too quick right now and I think Wizards realizes it. If players could carve out one or two more turns per game I think we'd all be having a lot more fun in standard. Look for the average price of a Planeswalker to rise, if nothing else. There is also the natural slowing that will occur when Alara's cheap rainbow cards and lands rotate out.
Day of Judgment/Path to Exile are in.. oh and Cancel too! - Wizards doesn't always make decisions that everyone is content with but I think it's safe to say that a reprint of Path to Exile would make a lot of people happy. Day of Judgment is almost a given, though that could conceivably wait until 2012 since it doesn't rotate out until late next year. I'm going to go ahead and call it though - both of these cards will be reprinted in Magic 2011. And Cancel too!
Most of your M10 favorites are back! - Put away the pitchforks and torches, people! Baneslayer Angel and Lightning Bolt are back! We've already semi-confirmed the inclusion of Lightning Bolt and there is a smidgen of twitterish evidence that Baneslayer Angel is confirmed as well. But overall, you should look for a lot of the new stuff from M10 to carry over. Wizards has so much to lose and so little to gain by scratching out a card like BSA. I think you'll see a lot of M10's gems reprinted if only because they've only been legal for a single year! I wouldn't want to see each and every M10 mythic reprinted (No thanks, Sphinx Ambassador) but I think you'll be surprised and how many of your M10 cards will remain legal in 2011. Yes, the core sets now rotate out of standard every year, but that doesn't mean your shiny new mythics have to go with them! Give them a chance to breathe Wizards!
At least one new Evergreen mechanic - I think we're due! I like the way Borgadan Hellkite snuck into M10 with flash and I think players can handle another mechanic making it into the evergreen rotation. I don't think we'll see it on a crazy number of cards in M11. It will be more like flash was on the Hellkite. This gives players a chance to experience some of the advanced mechanics right off the bat without overwhelming them. If I had to guess I'd say that yes, flash is going to make another appearance, and what the heck I'll say... Horsemanship? Guan Yu, Sainted Warrior would certainly be happy, but no. It's too early for Wizards to consider levelers in Core sets but I do think that is a possibility for the future. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that kicker will be the next evergreen ability in M11. Bank on it!
Bloodbraid Elf is reprinted with its originally intended Flying, Lifelink - Wizards originally intended for BBE to fly and gain you a little life but sadly, a printing error prevented Bloodbraid Elf from reaching its intended power level. We've never really experienced the true potential of this card... until M11 where... *end hellish nightmare sequence* Goodbye sweet friend, we hardly knew yee. I've been thinking quite seriously about throwing a Goodbye Party for Alara as I know a lot of people have been waiting patiently for this event. It's been a long, rainbowish-road these past couple of years and I think a lot of people are ready to put Alara out to pasture. This happens at every major rotation; one or two strategies tend to dominate and we simply get bored. For better or for worse, this upcoming "rotation day" will drastically change the face of standard and M11 is going to be a big part of that transition... with or without Bloodbraid Elf.
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Check out the M11 (Magic 2011 Core Set) Spoiler Page for all of the latest spoilers. You should also keep an eye on our Spoiler Forum if you want bleeding edge spoiler news.
