San Diego Comic Con 2014 - Magic the Gathering

This panel featured Mark Rosewater, the Head Designer for Magic the Gathering, Doug Beyer, the Senior Creative Director, Mark Purvis, Magic Brand Director, and Gavin Verhey, the Game Experience Designer. Gavin appeared at this panel dressed as Jace Beleren, one of the Planewalkers.

The first thing talked about was a new set From the Vault: Annhilation. This features a number of cards from the past: Wrath of God, Armageddon, Rolling Earthquake, Living Death and Catacylsm. There are a number more cards in the set but these were the ones revealed. The Rolling Earthquake is highly sought after and very expensive as it is from a short lived set.

The next bit talked about was the upcoming Duel Decks which Doug Beyer explained. The next one to be coming out is called “ Speed Vs. Cunning”. This pits Zurgo Helmsmasher from the upcoming Khans of Tarkir set against Acanus the Omnipotent. He also talked about a new product in this line: Duel Deck Anthologies. This Anthology is to feature the first 4 Duel Decks: Elves vs. Goblins, Jace vs. Chandra, Divine vs. Demonic and Garruk vs. Liliana.

Next he talked about the new Commander sets that are coming out. He told us that there would be 5 new commander decks. This would include Planeswalkers that can be used as a Commanders. There was one revealed and that was Teferi, Temporal Archmage. The other commander revealed was Ghoulcaller Gisa. It was mentioned that her Brother, Geralf, could be featured as well. It looks as though there could be 4 other Planewalkers who could be used as Commanders.

The next thing they started talking about was the upcoming block. Mark explained that they like to work from different directions. While the last one was designed from the top down. In this case, they wanted to work from the mechanics up. This will give you a different feeling from the Theros block that was just completed. They also explained that some things are going to be different.

The first thing was just explaining what the drafts from this are going to be like. The first part of the block is the only one with a name revealed. The other two were revealed to be called “Dewey”, a small expansion set for January and “Louie” another large expansion in April. The Draft format is going to follow this set up. The first draft will be all Khans of Tarkir. The second of drafting will be 2 sets of Dewey and Khan. The third draft will be 1 of Dewey and 2 of Louie. This is very unusual for a draft game. The middle set is meant to play with both of the large sets but the large sets are meant to played separately because of the story behind it. All that was explained about the story was that Time Travel is involved in some fashion.

Mark Rosewater revealed that this plane is the homeworld of Sarkhan Vol. He left to seek out a dragon worthy of his loyalty. This lead him into the hands of the planewalker Nicol Bolas, a very powerful and ancient dragon. He has made his way home to recover from everything he has been through and the sway of Nicol Bolas' power.

Now we stared learning about the clans of Tarkir. There are 5 clans and they all represent an aspect of Dragons. The various clans are also tied to color wedges. This puts them to 3 colors that they represent. The first covered was the Abzan Houses, the Clan of the Dragon's Endurance. This clan has humans, Orcs and a new race: Ahnak. They are lead by the Khan: Anafenza. They believe that they must endure. They will take on sieges and outlast their foes. They have the colors White, Black and Green. They will have a mechanic that will aid them in such a matter.

The second clan revealed was the Jeski Way. They present the Cunning of the dragon. This puts them in position to out-think or maneuver their opponents. This clan has Djinni, Efreet, Monks, and Aven. They have the colors Blue, Red and White. They have a mechanic that is suited to the long game. This mechanic is focused on getting your opponent to second-guessing and unsure of what you're planning.

The third clan was Sultai Brood. They represent the Fang of the dragon, but Ruthlessness. They are the scheming clan. They have Humans, Zombies, Naga and Rakshasa. They will have a mechanic focused on manipulating resources. They are lead by the Khan: Sidisi. They have the colors: Black, Green and Blue.

The fourth revealed clan was the Mardu Horde. They represent the Wing of the Dragon, taking on the aspect of the Dragon's Speed. They are lead by Zurgo Helmsmasher. The clan has Humans, Orcs and Goblins. This horde is to be featured in the Speed vs. Cunning Duel Deck. The mechanic they have is focused on a fast and very aggressive strategy.

The final clan revealed was the Temur Frontier. They represent the Claw of the Dragon, the Savagery of the Dragon. They have the colors: Green, Blue and Red. They are fierce and rugged survivors who build their structures out of ancient dragon bones. The Khan of the Clan is Surrak Dragonclaw.

After all that they revealed there was another returning mechanic. The mechanic that is coming back is Morph. They reveal that the Morph mechanic is tied to the Dragonic Magic. This will play into some part of the story of what is going on. It is good to see this old mechanic making a come back after so long of being absent. It goes a long way in some strategic areas. It is good to see this mechanic again.

The Magic the Gathering panel was very good to attend. You got to see a number of new cards as well as get a lot of insight into the new sets. The new decks and the next From the Vault set look to be great. The anthology of the Duel Decks is very nice to see as well. It gives access to a lot of older cards we haven't seen in age.


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