[MH2] Maro's MH2 Teaser

[Mookie]

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Before previews for Modern Horizons 2 officially begin, I thought it would be fun to do another of my Duelist-style teasers where I give tiny hints of things to come. Note that I'm only giving you partial information.

First up, here are some things you can expect:

• a legendary character best known for having his name on a powerful card (that's been banned) finally gets a legendary creature
• a theme on only a handful of cards in Modern Horizons gets a larger presence
• a Frog twenty-six years in the making
• new split cards
• a Future Sight mechanic reused for first time
• a character that first appeared in a Magic novel finally becomes a legendary creature
• A card with the number words "four" and "fourteen".
• a fan favorite animal character finally becomes a legendary creature
• a white enchantment with a trigger that investigates
• a planeswalker from the past that has previously only had a legendary creature card

Here are some snippets from rules text that appear in the set:

• "Whenever you cast your third spell each turn,"
• "for each other Ooze you control."
• "If an ability of a <CENSORED> or another <CENSORED> you control triggers, that ability triggers an additional time."
• "This ability costs 1 less to activate for each +1/+1 counter on creatures you control."
• "you may sacrifice a Mountain rather than pay this spell's mana cost."
• "Trample over planeswalkers"
• "If an Insect card was milled this way,"
• "Protection from permanents with corruption counters on them"
• "choose a number between 1 and 5. Flip that many coins."
• "instead create one of each."

Here are some type lines from the set:

• Artifact Creature – Assembly-Worker
• Creature – Dinosaur Illusion
• Creature – Dauthi Rogue
• Creature – Skeleton Shaman
• Creature – Elemental Incarnation
• Artifact Creature – Clue Myr
• Tribal Artifact – Lhurgoyf
• Legendary Creature – Merfolk God
• Legendary Creature – Snake Elf Scout
• Legendary Creature – Squirrel Warrior

Finally, here are some of the mechanics in the set. (I replaced all the letters with x's.)

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[Feyd_Ruin]

a planeswalker from the past that has previously only had a legendary creature card

• Azor
• Dakkon
• Ravi
• Slobad
• Urza

..I think that's it?

Blackblade would be beautiful to have in Planeswalker form.

[JovialJovian]

[*]a legendary character best known for having his name on a powerful card (that's been banned) finally gets a legendary creature

I'd bet that's Tourach, of Hymn to Tourach fame.

[Sniffnoy]

a planeswalker from the past that has previously only had a legendary creature card

• Azor
• Dakkon
• Ravi
• Slobad
• Urza

..I think that's it?

Blackblade would be beautiful to have in Planeswalker form.

I think it has to be Blackblade, because the packaging shows someone that looks like him. (Personally, I wish it were Azor, but I don't think it is...) I think Jared Carthalion also goes on your list, but they only just did him as a creature, so I rather doubt they'd do him as a planeswalker immediately.

[*]a legendary character best known for having his name on a powerful card (that's been banned) finally gets a legendary creature

I'd bet that's Tourach, of Hymn to Tourach fame.

I think it has to be. I've been going through the possibilities and nothing else seems to quite fit. Hurkyl's Recall was once banned, but it's not exactly very powerful, and Maro said "his" so presumably the character is male and therefore not Hurkyl. Although if the character only has to appear in the card's flavor text, it could be Drafna, but, again, Hurkyl's Recall isn't exactly very powerful. Flavor text does open up a few more possibilities, but none of them work as well as Tourach.

For completeness, here are the other possibilities (based on flavor text, if that counts) that seem like outside chances:

• Vy Covalt is quoted on Gitaxian Probe
• Afari is quoted on various cards that would count
• Javad Nasrin is quoted on Expedition Map, but I'm not sure that counts as powerful
• General Khurzog is quoted on High Tide

...but even if flavor text does count, I think it still has to be Tourach.

[Feyd_Ruin]

I'm fairly sold on JovialJovian's Tourach.
I don't think any other card fits the bill.
Ith, Zur, and Feldon got cards.
The others don't fit the "best known"
Hurkyl was a woman, as Sniffnoy pointed out.

Unless it is a tricky hint that goes off of flavor text.. it's gotta be Tourach.

__

Legendary Creature – Merfolk God

This really makes me think of Ixalan. Kinjalli, Tilonalli, and Ixalli were the three gods which composed the Three-Fold-Sun that the Sun Empire worshipped — and they well represented Green, White, and Red. Aclazotz was the bat god that brought the night (Black). The blue god was absent, and should have been the River Merfolk's god. Which means maybe we get to see him/her, and... Azor is the planeswalker, because we see a good bit of early Ixalan, when Azor got there and messed things up.

Or maybe we'll get best of both words, see the full God cycle of Ixalan and still have Blackblade!

[Sniffnoy]

Legendary Creature – Merfolk God

This really makes me think of Ixalan. Kinjalli, Tilonalli, and Ixalli were the three gods which composed the Three-Fold-Sun that the Sun Empire worshipped — and they well represented Green, White, and Red. Aclazotz was the bat god that brought the night (Black). The blue god was absent, and should have been the River Merfolk's god. Which means maybe we get to see him/her, and... Azor is the planeswalker, because we see a good bit of early Ixalan, when Azor got there and messed things up.

Or maybe we'll get best of both words, see the full God cycle of Ixalan and still have Blackblade!

A friend of mine pointed out that the the Merfolk God could possibly also be Svyelun...?

[Feyd_Ruin]

A friend of mine pointed out that the the Merfolk God could possibly also be Svyelun...?

Oh snap. She might also be the legend known mainly from a card:

...but I'm still hoping for Dakkon and Tourach.

[CommanderMaster999]

there is one question im having about tourach it's finally gets a legendary creature but isn't there a rumor that Ebon Praetor is tourach? but of course he's not a legendary creature. if so which one is he? (in the card art.)

Ugin actually fits this one but Eye of Ugin is not how he's best known by

and "marit lage" would be number one with Dark Depths but the problem is the "having his name" part so this legendary is male.

but i think i figured out one of them

• a character that first appeared in a Magic novel finally becomes a legendary creature

If my research is correct it can be alot of characters but by going by most requested for a card that got first mentioned by a novel rather than card(s) first.

I think it's Gix

First appeared in "the brothers war" novel published in may 1998 but all the cards that are about him wasn't till "urza saga block" which was released Five months after the book was published (release date of set was october 1998) and he's probably currently the most requested character for a card out of all the remaining.

[Feyd_Ruin]

Tourach worshipped The Ebon Praetor (the card depects an avatar of the Ebon Praetor at the podium in the middle) but wasn't him. Tourach founded the Order of the Ebon Hand, and was later revered as a god himself (he wasn't).

a Frog twenty-six years in the making

Lifeforce or Dingus Egg hatching into a frog?
Dingus Frog?!

[JovialJovian]

Frog idea: the red frogs from the Ice Age printing of Circle of Protection: Green.

Logic: 1995 was 26 years ago, only two regular sets with new card were released in 1995, Ice Age and Homelands, CoP:G was the only frog I could find from among them.

[Feyd_Ruin]

Ice Age and Homelands

Chub Toad ?

[JovialJovian]

Ice Age and Homelands

Chub Toad ?

Fair point, but that's already a frog, I would assume the "Frog 26 years in the making" wasn't already a Frog card at the time.

But maybe we're getting a souped-up Chub Toad?

[Feyd_Ruin]

Maybe?
I also think this could easily just be a random card that was originally created for ice age / homelands, and just sat in the archives until they were looking through for MH2 and revamped it for modern day.

[void_nothing]

Mishra is best known for a LOT of things besides one broken land, so I have to agree with Tourach.

What small themes existed in MH1? The tribal bonus Ninjas?

The Merfolk God is definitely Svyelun; it's not a new Thassa because Theros Gods don't get anything else on the typeline, no matter what form they take.

I'm not sure what counts as an "animal" for the animal legend. Is this Chester, Zagorka's mule from the Onslaught block terrible novels? He used to be a popular joke character but I think has since passed into obscurity. Mowu already has his own card.

Do I dare hope that the character who first appeared in a novel could be Pivlic?

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

I'm not sure what counts as an "animal" for the animal legend. Is this Chester, Zagorka's mule from the Onslaught block terrible novels? He used to be a popular joke character but I think has since passed into obscurity. Mowu already has his own card.

This has me stumped too! No animal character comes to mind. "Character" indicates a creature that appeared in the comics or novels. Did any of the planeswalkers, old or new, ever have a pet or something?

I went through the whole list of creature types and nothings jumps out at me.

A wild guess is Lukka's Patagia Tiger?

EDIT: Some on reddit suggested Ragavan from Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, but that gave my brain the necessary impetus to make the leap: it MUST be Voja, Tolsimir's wolf partner!!

Maybe?
I also think this could easily just be a random card that was originally created for ice age / homelands, and just sat in the archives until they were looking through for MH2 and revamped it for modern day.

Could it be Turg? I know his appearance doesn't line up with the 26 year timeline, but he could have been in development long before making an appearance in the novel, probably someone DnD NPC/boss mob?

[JovialJovian]

EDIT: Some on reddit suggested Ragavan from Kari Zev, Skyship Raider, but that gave my brain the necessary impetus to make the leap: it MUST be Voja, Tolsimir's wolf partner!!

Voja is my thought as well, she's appeared twice as a token, making her the most prominent of the "Animal companion" tokens aside from Mowu, who already got a card.

But there's no mtg definition of "animal," so there's some ambiguity of that criterion. Biologically, a human is an animal after all, though I doubt that's the manner Maro is using it here. At what point a creature stops being an animal and becomes something else in Maro's opinion is a total unknown.

[CommanderMaster999]

I did some digging for the banned character legendary

I think the answer was right there in front of us

https://mtg.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_sec ... /Dominaria

The answer might have been "Afari"

A Jamuraan writer and author of the Tales of Jamuraa.

First maro said "having his name on a powerful" he didn't say where on the card nothing about the name of the card. So flavor text was in play.

The banned or were banned cards with Afari tales

• Mystical tutor
• Worldly tutor
• Squandered Resources

Now for the part of "right in front us the whole time"

Remember that oneof the preview cards was Diamond lion look at the flavor text.

That's right "afari" there hasn't been a flavor text of one of the tales written since mirage and visions.

Now, before you'd say coincidence back in the "Commander legends" preview they showed off a card called Demonic Lore the flavor text is "Nevinyrral" that's the first time he talked since the other sets and guess what happened a few days later Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant happened. So it could be the same thing here.

[Sporegorger_Dragon]

Voja is my thought as well, she's appeared twice as a token, making her the most prominent of the "Animal companion" tokens aside from Mowu, who already got a card.

I'm going to laugh so hard if Voja produces a Tolsimir token

But there's no mtg definition of "animal," so there's some ambiguity of that criterion. Biologically, a human is an animal after all, though I doubt that's the manner Maro is using it here. At what point a creature stops being an animal and becomes something else in Maro's opinion is a total unknown.

True, but we (fandom and developers alike) don't think of or refer to the humanoid races as animals; I doubt he'd refer to a leonin, minotaur or viashino as an animal.

So I'm thinking that it's non-humanoid, so no Rhox or Loxodon, although sapience would be possible.

[slimytrout]

What about Roreca for the animal? Fan favorite is maybe a little strong if no one has thought of it yet, but seems like a possibility.

[Moonlighter]

That's right "afari" there hasn't been a flavor text of one of the tales written since mirage and visions.

Now, before you'd say coincidence back in the "Commander legends" preview they showed off a card called Demonic Lore the flavor text is "Nevinyrral" that's the first time he talked since the other sets and guess what happened a few days later Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant happened. So it could be the same thing here.

I really, deeply appreciate the digging involved here. The Murder Map you've invented is great if true, but more interesting than the truth if wrong. Thanks.

[CommanderMaster999]

That's right "afari" there hasn't been a flavor text of one of the tales written since mirage and visions.

Now, before you'd say coincidence back in the "Commander legends" preview they showed off a card called Demonic Lore the flavor text is "Nevinyrral" that's the first time he talked since the other sets and guess what happened a few days later Nevinyrral, Urborg Tyrant happened. So it could be the same thing here.

I really, deeply appreciate the digging involved here. The Murder Map you've invented is great if true, but more interesting than the truth if wrong. Thanks.

glad you like it

but unfortunately

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2LAjnhX0Ac ... name=small

it looks like tourach is infact the legend

[BeneTleilax]

It's also interesting that Tourach being the Ebon Praetor appears to be a bit of in-setting revisionist history by Tourach himself.