Multiverse Set Review: CoRE SET 2021
a BLAST FROM THE PAST
June 29, 2020 - By Nicholas Fair
Welcome back to MtG-Multiverse’s set reviews! With the Commander release this year being entirely Ikoria focused, it’s been a little bit since I’ve had a chance to run through a set full of little Vorthos mysteries and had a chance to track down every little artistic and verbal detail I could to catalog the set. Thankfully, Core Set M21 spoilers kept me excited from beginning-to-end, and I’m really pleased to share this review with the community.
I’ve received some great email feedback and comments over on Reddit for my last two reviews, but I’m always hungry for more! Please feel free to send me your feedback at mtgmultiverse.feedback@gmail.com if you have any thoughts or ideas about this review. Last time I ended up changing a few plane assignments thanks to really insightful points from the community, and I hope that you all keep me in check again this time!
As with every set review, I’ll start off by diving into individual card evaluations and my reasons behind them on a one-by-one basis, then take a peek at cool cards that don’t seem to have a home (yet). Then I’ll talk about some of the really cool artistic trends and any little fun facts about M21, and then top if all off with a tally of the new additions to each plane that I’ll add to MtG-Multiverse. Enjoy!
Cards from Known Planes
dominaria
Specifically: New Benalia
New Benalia is probably one of the most visually striking areas in present Dominaria, and easiest to place. The cards set here have a very distinct visual cue to their tall, chapel-esque stained glass (when it isn’t part of their enchanted armor), and often has figures cast in shadow to help the stained glass glow. The additional feathers are a nod to the Serra Angels that populate the realm, as Serra is worshipped as a god among the people of New Benalia.
amonkhet
I don’t normally feature Planeswalkers as plane-defined cards given their very nature, but when we’re introduced to a new one I like to use them as a benchmark for the plane. You can read about the creation of Basri and his lore over on the Mothership, but he’s essentially a planeswalker from Amonkhet who spreads the teachings of the now-dead Oketra across the multiverse. He’s a pretty cool design, and I especially love his ‘giant-arrow-turned-khopesh’ weapon.
amonkhet
This card was a little hard to place, but the sun-set desert motif, the costume elements, and concept of angelic enforcers all reminded me heavily of the Hour-of-Devastation version of Amonkhet. Angels on Amonkhet were used to punish dissenters, which matches the Celestial Enforcer’s mechanic quite well. Giant arrows in the background also feel like a nod to the cat god Oketra,
tarkir
Specifically: Khans Timeline
The look of the Abzan from Tarkir is unmistakable. The red cloth pops against the white faux-scales, and the triangular shape of their shoulder armor is an iconic nod to the symbol they use to honor the endurance of dragonkind. The Khans-era Abzan are probably one of my favorite visual designs in Magic, and I hope we see more of these kinds of cards, especially with Sarkhan’s timeline shenanigans stamping them out of existence.
theros
Griffins are a fantasy staple, and found on most planes in the multiverse. Because of the excellent visual design of modern magic, a lot of griffins have plane-specific details, and we can always look to the background of an image for additional hints. Griffins are incredibly common on Theros due to their greek affiliations, and the pillar in the background of this piece means Gale Swooper is likely flying around the Therosian Underworld after capturing goats. Huh. I wonder if that explains the goat token from Woe Strider…
eldraine
The sun-lit-but-overgrown-tomb depicted in Idol of Endurance isn’t as set-specific as many cards in this review, but the high fantasy design feels like a heavy nod to the worldbuilding done for Eldraine. It has a very European set of stylings on the armor and crown, and feels like it could fit in naturally with the faerie tales and knights found there.
alara
Any leonin being surrounded by a white enchantment is going to give off heavy Theros vibes, but I believe Light of Promise depicts an Alaran Leonin. The heavy plate armor is much more akin to what the catfolk of Bant wore after the conflux, rather than the much more Greek-Inspired cloths and gold of the many times we’ve visited Theros.
dominaria
Specifically: Corondor
Last time we saw Mangara, he was living in an alternate reality version of his home after being ripped through a time rift and freed from the Amber Prison. This card reflects an earlier incarnation of Mangara: a successful diplomat who was able to broker peace between the nations of Zhalfir, Femeref, and Suq’Ata.
the blind eternities
Although The Blind Eternities isn’t technically a location in the classic sense of the term, and they aren’t a plane, I felt like I had to include it in this list because of the amazing art that Paul Scott Canavan did on the piece. In the background we see eight legendary cats from Magic’s history (Including Brimaz and Mirri) in a very Mufasa-esque cloud display. The concept of multi-plane incarnation is a similar one to the universal nature of cats born from Arahbo.
kamigawa
Although the jury is out on if we will ever visit Kamigawa for an entire set ever again, M21 gave us a cycle of beautiful Shrines to take us back for a little glimpse of the Shinto-Japan-inspired world. During our first visit, Kamigawa had a cycle of five shrines relating to the five Myojin (great spirits) of the plane.
Fun fact: the flavour text for the new shrine cycle are haiku- a type of classical Japanese poem defined by three lines of text with specific syllable counts.
ravnica
When your card depicts an Azorius Arrester, the Rakdos symbol in the background, and has a quote from a Legendary card from the latest Ravnica block, I don’t know what else you can do to say a card is from Ravnica.
theros
Theros historically hates Cyclopses, probably due to the myth of Odysseus being a somewhat prominent part of the inspiration for the plane. The very bright gold-and-blue armor of the depicted Adrasteia, Akroan captain also adds some fun flair, but a question from a lore standpoint. The Akroans are usually a very white-red aligned poelis, whereas the people of Meletis tend to be blue-white. I suppose the palette does help the figure pop more in frame, so it could be a purely aesthetic choice.
fiora
I admit it: I love the plane of Fiora and I have a soft spot for it. Whenever a card depicts vaguely steampunky-clockwork stuff and Italian stylings, I can’t help but hope it’s from the plane. Tempered Veteran is far from a slam-dunk, but their spring-coil prosthetic leg is very reminiscent of the other technology we’ve seen from Fiora.
dominaria
Specifically: Tolaria
Barrin is one of the greatest mages to ever live. Seriously, go read his wiki entry. He was a mortal human who could keep up with Urza Planeswalker on most days, and although he was able to cast any color of Magic, his cool-headed and methodical pursuit of magical knowledge in early lore made him a very blue character. His first card was more than a little lackluster but was subtly very powerful, and I have a feeling his new incarnation is, too.
innistrad
Whenever we visit Innistrad and it’s not about chain-ghosts or zombies, I’m always pleasantly surprised. The plane has a lot of iconic things going for it, but there’s an entire world of classic gothic horror to delve into, and the concept of there being a puppetmaster with floating ghost-hands is really, really cool. We’ve notably seen this style of apparition before.
innistrad
I love this card. It’s a call-back to Take Inventory from Eldritch moon not only in mana cost and ability (they’re identical besides this being an instant) but in character, as well. Whoever this mad scientist lady is that keeps having to pack up her stuff and move to a new town, getting better each time, I want to see more of her! I’m glad she's gotten faster and survived Emrakul intact.
theros
Specifically: Meletis
The Tritons of Theros have a lot of fun visual design elements, including gigantic back-fins and an inclusion of a lot of warm colors to their classically aqua-blue bodies. This pilferer is taking paperwork from a clearly blue-white aligned structure with greek-style pillars, so it’s naturally at home on Theros.
DOMINARIA
Specifically: Tolaria
The school at Tolaria is a lesson in how not to run a magical university. Most cards from early sets took place on Dominaria, and it seems like every other blue card depicted a blue mage with some experiment blowing up in their face. Barrin, the headmaster, was probably too busy dealing with a Phyrexian invasion to oversee the studies of the students on a day-to-day basis, but this is a very fun homage to those early themes.
theros
Sirens are seen on two modern planes: Ixalan and Theros. They have very different visual designs, despite essentially being “bird people that aren’t aven”. Similar to this card, the Therosian sirens have back-mounted wings, a very human face with a head of feathers, and often a bare chest and stomach, whereas Ixalan sirens have a feather-covered nose bridge and forehead, and smaller, arm-mounted wings.
IXALAN
Reddit user EmptyStar12 pointed out that Pursued Whale (and the Pirate token it makes) are very Ixalan in design. The Pirate especially has the giant hat we’ve seen on other Ixalan pirates, and they also noted the gold markings/scars on the whale are actually found in Brass’ Bounty and the Magicfest 2019 Island. Sharp eye!
innistrad
Ghosts with chains dangling from them in the moonlight is an Innistrad staple, informed by the old motifs of a Christmas Carol. Innistrad spirits are somewhat unique in the multiverse in that they can be fairly benevolent or malicious, but are generally single-minded manifestations of emotions or regrets. This stands in contract to the more cognizant spirits and ghosts on other planes.
tarkir
Specifically: Khans Timeline
This card gets the award for "name I’m going to love saying as I cast it” for M21. Rookie Mistake depicts two Jeskai monks sparring; the eye on their forehead matching that of the Khans-era symbol, including the forehead tattoo of a pre-sparking Narset.
Kamigawa
I touch on the Shrine cycle during my brief snippet for Shrine of Tranquil Light above, but Kamigawa without obvious floating spirit fish and bizarro-world kami is so beautiful. I can’t get over how beautiful the art is. Johannes Voss really knocked them out of the park.
tarkir
Specifically: Dragons Timeline
The answer to the flavour text is: an alternate present, a nod to the lost Khans timeline of Tarkir. One of the key takeaways at the end of the Dragons of Tarkir storyline was that although the past had been erased, it had not been lost entirely, and Narset and the other Jeskai monks could uncover the truth. The feathered wings around the monk here are not bird wings, but dragon ones: the brood of Ojutai are feathered dragons.
innistrad
We already talked about ghosts floating above thatched houses in the moonlight, covered in chains, but Shacklegeist really doubles-down on the motif. The name is a great linguistic callback to Rattlechains.
dominaria
One of the only planes we frequent in Magic with merfolk that have fish tails like classic mermaids is Dominaria. Long ago, there was a lot of discussion about how combat felt weird when water-locked merfolk fought against land-bound creatures. The art direction since has been to give merfolk legs, such as those on Theros, Zendikar, and other planes. As M21 is a Teferi-centric set, having some old Dominarian merfolk makes sense.
Plane of Mountains & Seas
This is a great example of a homeless card that doesn’t need to be homeless. Elementals and storms are found on every plane; and because the background has no obvious markings to denote where it takes place, Stormwing Entity could be from anywhere. I initially looked at Tarkir, due to the lightning elementals found there in the Dragons timeline, but then I found Stormcloud Spirit and it felt like a perfect fit. Thunder Drake from Ravnica is an outlier unique to the invasion from Bolas, and so wasn’t a good card to base any worldbuilding on.
dominaria
Specifically: New Tolaria
Teferi was a bit of a prankster in his days at the Tolarian academy; it only makes sense that those he teaches at New Tolaria carry on the tradition of combining humor with their magic.
dominaria
Specifically: New Tolaria
I love seeing Teferi as a teacher at New Tolaria. The concept of the class clown becoming a professor at his old school is one that will never stop warming my heart.
dominaria
Another almost-homeless card, Tide Skimmer has red drakes with a fairly classic draconian design that calls back to the coastal drakes of Dominaria’s old sets. The rocky lighthouse is also reminiscent of some of the islands from our recent visit during the Dominaria set.
dominaria
Specifically: New Tolaria
This Kraken is huge and he’s going to eat your entire building. Naban, what kind of dean are you???
dominaria
Specifically: New Tolaria
Tolaria wouldn’t be Tolaria without mishaps, and the idea that so much knowledge comes together to form its own spirit is very much in-line with the great academy. That being said, why on earth isn’t this card an Elemental? the flavour text calls out that Tone Anima is the manifestation of knowledge, an abstract concept. Living Lore is an avatar, which has a similar definition, but generally embodiments of things are elementals. Bit of a flavour fail.
INNISTRAD
Gothic horror demon stuff with sacrificial daggers. ‘Nuff said.
ZENDIKAR
We’ll be going back to Zendikar soon, and I can’t wait! One of my favorite bits of the world, from both the first visit and the second, are the incredibly cool, insect-inspired Vampires. They have an incredibly unique and visceral design with blue-grey skin, red paint markings, and black chiton armor, making a beautiful contract to the refined blood-drinkers on planes like Innistrad.
ravnica
Specifically: The Undercity
During our last visit to Ravnica, we got to see a lot more of the ‘old lore’ of the world as Vraska initiated a Golgari uprising. The Undercity is built upon the history of Ravnica, and it has a lot of horrors and nightmares lurking in the old stones and archways.
dominaria
Specifically: Jamuraa
Kaervek, a man known for his spite, is from Jamuraa on Dominaria, and generally doesn’t seem to get along with anyone. I suppose if you’re fond of turning people into wisps of spirit-ash you don’t get invited to many parties at the Teferi family ranch.
IKORIA
I will very rarely include a card in a plane simply because of mechanical identity. There have been great cards in many supplementary products that use things like Devour that aren’t from the initial home of the mechanic, but in the context of Hooded Blightfang I’m making an exception. It looks incredibly similar to Zagoth Mamba, and the deathtouch tribal is very close to the Ikoria cycle we just had. Huge thanks to Reddit user kitsovereign for pointing this out!
dominaria
Specifically: Jamuraa
We’ve seen Kaervek before, but I’m a huge fan of his new card. He’s an incredibly ruthless warlord, loves casting hexes and purging things in flame, and his elegant design of giving all creatures (even your own) -1/-1 fits perfectly. I especially appreciate that he’s a mono-black card using fire in his art without it feeling out of place: major props to Daarken for his work on this. Though it does make you wonder why Kaervek ever needed a torch.
dominaria
Specifically: Caligo Morass, Benalia
Chandra has had a fanboy cosplayer for a while, so it’s about time Liliana got one as well. Liliana tends to spend most of her time on Innistrad, but her origins on Dominaria and the legacy of Vess Manor have shown us that the legend of her and her house live on in the area. Because this warlock lacks any of the classic tools of a stitcher or the shovel of a ghoulcaller from Innistrad, I figured he must be using a more “classic” necromancy at home on Dominaria. Also check out his faux tattoos and his headdress-inspired jacket. This guy has done his research.
dominaria
Specifically: Caligo Morass, Benalia
The House of Vess in Liliana’s Standard Bearer’s flavour text references Vess Manor, found deep within the swamps of the Caligo Morass outside of Benalia. It was once a bit happier, back when Liliana was younger, but with the death of her lich brother, there is none left to tend the house of Vess. It’s interesting that this zombie may be a former member of the Forward Order, who made the city of Vess their home.
DOMINARIA
Specifically: Caligo Morass, Benalia
If Vess Manor is to live up to its name, it needs a zombie butler. Thank goodness M21 has put this worry to rest.
ravnica
Specifically: The Undercity
This rogue may not explicitly be Dimir, but they could easy pass as one of the guild’s spies. The classic stone arches match what we’ve seen prior from the plane, and the leather arm straps make for a nice visual call-back as well.
DOMINARIA
As Reddit user Fatete pointed out, the Braids flavour text on this rather abstract card means it’s a spell from Otaria on Dominaria. As Dementia summoners were essentially madness mage-summoners, it’s a great fit.
ravnica
This card is a bit of a toss-up. Because we don’t see much detail beyond the backs of people’s heads and somewhat European-styled clothing, this could take place almost anywhere. The visuals seem to show a bustling street with square-carved bricks, however, and it feels like the kind of thing we could see on Ravnica.
kamigawa
The new shrine cycle has us exploring all manner of new locations on Kamigawa. This underground cave is a vastly different motif than what we got during our first visit to the plane, and much more classic than the super-saturated visuals that we’ve gotten during expansions.
INNISTRAD
That may or may not be Olivia Voldaren in the artwork, but there’s no mistaking an Innistrad vampire. Refined silks? Check. Jacket with 200 buttons? Check. Neckerchief? Check. Overtly malicious blood-pouring fountain? Check.
innistrad
Silversmote Ghoul begs a lot of questions. It’s both a zombie and a vampire, so how does a vampire, which is undead, become a zombie? And how does it retain its vampirism in second death? Or how does a zombie gain the vampire’s curse, being a corpse? The answer lies in Innistrad’s unique take on vampirism. The vampires of Innistrad are technically still living (which is why Sorin Markov still has a spark, as the undead cannot carry a spark) but cursed. Because of the use of silver as an undead-bane on the plane, and because of the unique nature of Innistrad’s vampirism, I believe it is the only place this creature could exist.
innistrad
Every visit to Innistrad has used the very effective first-person art style for its horror art. As the ‘village cult’ motif is alive and well on that plane, there is no better place for Village Rites to exist. I mean, cannibals need to organize eventually.
ixalan
Specifically: Torrezon
Ixalan has some of the best world building of any Magic set, and the fact that I desperately want to see a continent that has only ever been hinted at is testament to this. Torrezon is the home of the vampire legions, and followers of the Saint Elenda, the Dusk Rose. The ‘rose’ motif could be confused with early Fiora’s Marchesa, the Black Rose, but luckily Fiora has no vampires and this guy is a slam-dunk for the ‘vampire church’ vibe of Ixalan 1.0.
ELDRAINE
Referencing Witch's Cauldron, I initially thought it was too ‘plain’ for Eldraine. But as fellow vorthos Dylan noted, the spinning wheel and brooms in the back of the art feels very faerie-tale, and as Reddit user EmptyStar12 pointed out, many other witches on Eldraine like Barrow Witches are much more human in appearance!
DOMINARIA
At first I assumed this was a generic goblin, but his rather fantastic flavour text grounds him in Dominaria. Kobolds are weird little goblin-imps that are only found at Kher Keep in the Kher Ridges of Dominaria. They all almost have 0 power, making this goblin’s taunt a vicious one!
DOMINARIA
Specifically: New Tolaria
Who let goblins in the library. Who taught them pyromancy? Why doesn’t the Academy at New Tolaria have stricter enforcements on their safety policies?!
Fun fact: This card is a direct reference to a Monty Python sketch, making it the second one ever done.
Even more fun fact: Artist Izzy noted recently on social media that the goblins on Uncomfortable Chill, Goblin Diplomats, and Goblin Wizardry are all the same goblins! This dynamic duo is getting up to all manner of antics on Dominaria.
RAVNICA
Specifically: Rakdos Territory
There are two main planes that feature Devils: Innistrad and Ravnica. The Innistradi devils are scamps with big chins and wide grins who sit on top of churches and throw flaming doves, while the Ravnica ones perform in the Rakdos circus as jesters. This card is actually a throwback to the very-recent War of the Spark card Mayhem Devil due to the R/B theme in both sets being the same.
KAMIGAWA
Kamigawa was the first set to showcase snowy mountains for the majority of its cards. Snow-capped peaks generating red mana had a serene quality that made it stand out from the majority of other sets. Obviously not everywhere in the world is snow-covered, so it’s really cool to see this Great-Wall-style mountain range that leads to a beautiful shrine at the end.
DOMINARIA
Specifically: Jamuraa
Subira was the leader of the Tulzidi Caravan, and with her at the head they trekked across the continent of Jamuraa in the wake of the great Mending. She would eventually go on to marry the planeswalker Teferi and become mother to Niambi, who also gets a card in this set.
INNISTRAD
Treefolk have possibly one of the most varied designs of any race in Magic. Often times the line between treefolk, elemental, and plant get blurred, but individual planes tend to have their own flavour of treefolk to show players a visual personification of the forests. Innistrad has many wicked things deep within the woods, but the ravenous and twisted branches of the Lumberknot are a great benchmark for what its treefolk are like. With an almost jack-o-lantern like mouth and the oak tree leaves around it, this seems like a great include for Innistrad.
SHANDALAR
To be honest, Magic has never had a ‘Gargaroth’ before, and there’s no obvious visual for where this guy is located. He’s very unique, and I have an inkling he’s from Garruk’s home plane (which we don’t know). For now I’m going to slot him in the Core-set-centric Shandalar until we learn more.
KALADESH
Although none were featured in the Kaladesh set, we know that the plane has house cats because of Chandra. In some of the lore on the mothership, she was described as having cats flock to her as to warm themselves on her natural heat (cats, am I right?). With the somewhat standard visuals, the spiraling fur pattern/armor/adornment on this wonderful kitty make it seem like it’s at home in the spiraling aethers of Kaladesh, where all life has spirals to mimmic the plentiful aether in the atmosphere.
RAVNICA
Specifically: Golgari Territory
The flavour text gives it away, but even without it, the rotting mushrooms of this art make it seem very at home in the undergound lairs of everyone’s favorite green-black guild. Cevraya is actually quoted on quite a few cards, so I’m interested to see if she ever gets a card of her own.
ELDRAINE
Reddit user EmptyStar12 noted that Gnarled Sage isn’t just any treefolk, but visually matches the design of Eldraine’s Faeburrow Elder with glowing eyes and rather gnarled limbs. With that solid connection it’s in!
ELDRAINE
Over in our concept art section of MtG-Multiverse, we have a large amount of the keyframe Eldraine artwork that depicts iconic scenes from within the world. One piece, by Tyler Jacobson is a take on the classic tale of ‘Saint George and the Dragon’ which has been rendered by numerous classical painters across the ages. This is a beautiful alternate take, embracing the large fox mounts native to Eldraine to do it.
THEROS
Hydras are as common as housecats on Theros, so it often feels like a cop-out to send them there by default. The only other worlds where hydras are seen with any regularity, however, are much more visually distinct (as we’ll discuss in a moment). This art almost feels like it’s from the ‘Face the Hydra’ Challenge Deck.
DOMINARIA
Specifically: Mwonvuli Jungle, Jamuraa
Named legends are easy to place, but Jolrael has an extra fun history to her character. Initially depicted in her iconic headdress on the white card Spirit Link from Legends (and then re-mastered in 8th edition) and then finally getting her own card as a spellshaper in Prophecy, her first depiction was in prison, way back in Mirage.
DOMINARIA
Specifically: Llanowar
Llanowar has the best track record for churning out legions of elf druids that tap for green mana of any place in the multiverse. At this point we might want to default all druids to Llanowar, and let the rest of the multiverse sort itself out.
RAVNICA
During the last visit to Ravnica, we had the treat of visiting during Autumn, right before Nicol Bolas attacked. Pridemalkin is clearly a happy kitty on a bustling district road in Ravnica during that time, looking up at something in the sky. Maybe it’s a portal opening up from another world. Maybe he decides to check it out. Maybe he comes back a little changed from the experience.
Fun fact: A grimalkin (or greymalkin) is simply an archaic term for a cat.
IXALAN
Ghalta is one of the primal elder dinosaurs of Ixalan, and the embodiment of earth and might. Although this shaman is only channeling the essence of Ghalta, it doesn’t spell a good time for her enemies.
IXALAN
Ixalan’s vampires are the only ones on record that employ shades to allow them to fly. Aside from the colorful rainbow dinosaur of the Sun Empire, a quote from Atla Palani, and the obvious conquistador armor, the shade is the last in a long string of Ixalan tropes this card brings to the table.
KAMIGAWA
Have I mentioned how beautiful the art for these shrines is, and how clever and pretty the haikus are? Just look at it.
KALADESH
What I wouldn’t have given to have this card in Magic Origins limited. Kaladesh was initially designed as a world full of thopters, but due to the issues with limited being full of tiny 1/1 flying tokens, they were changed to 1/1 Servos. Kaladesh still has tons of the iconic little thopters, though, and you might find some cardboard ones flying around your LGS, too. The design of the elf’s outfit is something important to note: it’s incredibly unique and inspired by the Indian and Bangladeshi origins of the plane.
RAVNICA
Spiders? With mushrooms growing on them? Man, that sounds like a certain guild of mushroom-wearing folks we all know and love!
IKORIA
One of my favorite things about Ikoria is the concept of the bonders. Essentially Pokemon trainers with a single pet, they visually are linked to their animal by mirroring their natural traits. In other words, people on Ikoria cosplay their pets on a daily basis. The hunter here has the mask and ears of their wolf, and the crystals in the trees nearby are an Ikoria visual staple, similar to the Hedrons of Zendikar.
DOMINARIA
Reddit user MakesOnAPlane made a keen note about our lovable little boar, here. Thallids, which are referenced in his flavour text, are found exclusively on Dominaria as creations of Thelon of Havenwood, which would put Trufflesnout on Dominaria. Jund has apparently been home to them as well in one instance, somehow, but I give it the benefit of the doubt.
ZENDIKAR
“Wildwood” is an interesting term, because it’s used essentially once per plane to just mean “big forest”, rather than denote a specific place. Stirring Wildwood on Zendikar is a land and elemental, and only link to the word. But as you can see from other hydras on the plane, the hydras of Zendikar often have large frills on their face and neck, and somewhat stout faces. This makes this a great inclusion in the world.
RAVNICA
Specifically: Selesnya Territory
I don’t think this card could scream “Selesnya!” any more if you tacked a Selesnya charm directly over the cetaur’s face. With that helmet they may as well have.
IXALAN
I love seeing more ogres and pirates! These boys are from Ixalan, the only formal plane we’ve been to with pirates and blue monkey-goblins.
RAVNICA
Specifically: Izzet Territory
Weirds are only ever found on Ravnica, the result of the Izzet’s endless tinkering with magic. A weird is essentially a special type of elemental made of two contradictory elements, such as fire and ice, water and rock, steam and ice, lightning and goo, and…whatever happened in War of the Spark.
DOMINARIA
The last time we saw Niambi, daughter of Teferi, her entire card was mechanically just “let me get my dad.” Not a great look. Luckily this incarnation of her brings us a more mature, powerful variation of her character. As an orator, Niambi is a powerful healer who’s charisma and intelligence has helped the Femeref faith resurge in the past decade.
INNISTRAD
Stitchers are an Innistrad staple (pun intended) and this wacky one is right at home amidst the mad science and frankenstein monsters of the plane. If you look close you can see she’s actually cut off her own hand to use it as part of her corpse-zombie-sculpture. That’s nuts.
DOMINARIA
I love Radha, and I will never get tired of seeing my favorite half-Keldon, half-Skyshroud Elf kick butt on new cards. This is her third incarnation, and Chris Rahn has done an excellent job making her look as strong and graceful as she deserves. She started out pretty small but vicious, and has always held true to her connection to the land as an elf and her urge to wreck face as a Keldon.
KAMIGAWA
It’s a shrine in the sky! It’s so beautiful! It reminds me of the Reikai for some reason, and makes me all the more excited for more Kamigawa treats in supplemental sets. Bring us the Sisters of Flesh and spirit, Wizards!
RAVNICA
If the Golgari symbol in the background wasn’t enough to give it away, the fairly iconic “mushroom armor” of the guild gives us all the confirmation that we need about where these two assassins are from. Personally, I love this card not only because it goes great in my ‘Noob Cube’, but it does a great job with lore building. Because we’ve seen it mentioned twice before, but only as a proper noun, The Ochran takes on a new dimension thanks to Twinblade Assassins. I’m looking forward to seeing it the next time we visit Ravnica.
MIRRODIN
Mirrodin is known for its great hexplate fields and expansive Glimmervoid, so it’s really cool to see a revisit to the now-destroyed plane. The seas of quicksilver were a great nod in this as well, with the terminator-esque duplicant callback being especially appreciated. Mirrodin was the first set I played during, and so it holds a special place in my heart.
What’s weird is that this card officially makes a Kaladesh construct token.
NEW PHYREXIA
Masticores have only really been printed on Mirrodin/New Phyrexia since the original debuted on Dominaria. Although we don’t know for sure, I’d be willing to bet this creature is a creation of the New Phyrexians, and designed to hunt down the dissenter Koth and any other planeswalkers who could prove valuable test subjects for the praetors.
AMONKHET
Basri, like Vivien Reid before him, gets an intro deck planeswalker and so has two entires in the set review. You go, Basri.
DOMINARIA
Teferi really gets a lot of flack for trying to save Zhalfir when the reason it stayed phased out and lost was because of the planeswalker Jeska’s machinations. Lighten up, guys. They’re not technically dead.
THE PLANE OF MOUNTAINS & SEAS
This is such a bizarre looking fish, and I absolutely enjoy the art direction taken from it. The mystical and somewhat spiritual nature of it seems right at home in the otherwise ill-explored plane, as it’s unlike anything else.
DOMINARIA
Similar to what I mentioned above, there are very few planes with fish-tail merfolk, and given that this one hangs out with Teferi all the time, it makes sense for it to be Dominarian.
DOMINARIA
Although I’m sure Liliana has scroungers employed on multiple worlds, the environment of this piece and the existence of the other Liliana-themed cards all being from Vess on Dominaria makes me want to place this one there as well.
REGATHA
We got a healthy dose of Kheral Keep and other Regathan cards during the last core set as it was Chandra-Centric, but I’m always happy to see more fire monks on cards.
The Puzzle of Basri Ket
If you’ve read my other set reviews, you’ll know that I often use different clues on cards, such as flavour text and proper names of known characters, to figure out where a card is set. Often times a card is simply generic when it’s associated with a named planeswalker, as planeswalkers go all over the multiverse, and I’ll let it be homeless.
But this core set has done something interesting, in that it introduces a planeswalker without much of a home plane left. Although the art for Basri himself is on Amonkhet, none of his associated cards are, and we’re left wondering where he’s spread the wisdom of Oketra to. The art is mostly generic enough to take place on many different planes, or worlds we haven’t visited at all, and I’m very curious to learn more about the sand paladin to see if I can find homes for any of his associates. Adherent of Hope kind of looks like she’s on Tarkir, near Jeskai lands, but the outfit looks like nothing that plane has ever seen. Basri’s Lieutenant might be leading a legion of Benalia’s best behind them, but they don’t have any obvious visual cues. Sigiled Contender sounds like they might be from Alara, but looks like they’re in some kind of eastern-inspired fighting ring. The plot thickens! If you have any ideas, please let me know- I’m very interested in what you all think!
The Home Plane Cycle
As an additional piece of exciting lore, there are special lands seeded in M21 packs that depict the five home planes of the five featured planeswalkers in the set. Each has a unique frame referencing that Planeswalker’s native element, and they look awesome. Basri Ket has a plains from Amonkhet, Teferi has an island from Dominaria, Liliana has a swamp from Dominaria, Chandra has a mountain from Kaladesh, and Garruk has a forest from an unknown plane- because we still don’t know where he’s from! Sadly I’m not sure we can glean too many more details from the art; it seems like a fairly normal super-forest.
Cards from Unknown Worlds
Core sets, due to their nature, often cover a multitude of planes that we’ve never seen. As I like to mention in my reviews, requesting that an artist reference a world guide and adhere to specific designs & settings is time consuming. This is not only because the artist has to take the time reference the ‘correct’ design, but because the art team has to review it and ensure that the art matches their world guide correctly. Because a card can just be from a plane we’ve never seen, a lot of “slush art” and art from new artists finds its way into core sets, and we get new and exciting things like GOOSE SOLDIERS!
Final Plane Count
Core Set 21 is an absolutely fantastic set from a flavour perspective. Getting to re-visit Dominaria from Teferi’s point of view has given us some brand-new legends, as well as fun takes on old ones, and let us catch up with Dominaria a few years after our last visit. In terms of content, M21 has had more entires to new planes than M20 by a fair margin (almost 25%), and M20 beat out M19 by a good stretch as well. If Wizards keeps up at this rate, there won’t be any planar orphans left, and I’ll have to write a write-up for every card. Maybe it’ll be easier to do a podcast?
In Summary
Surprising no-one, Dominaria led the count of plane cards, with a special lead due to the inclusion of 2/5 of the planeswalkers calling Dominaria home and the new land arts from their home planes. Fan favorites Ravnica and Innistrad came in with a large number as well, and the recently-visited Theros and Ixalan had a fair showing. Compared to M20, where the leader was Zendikar with 10 cards, the runners-up of M21 have 10 each, and the leader Dominaria has twenty-seven. M21 is a fantastic set for new cards and new visits to favorite planes. I hope WotC keeps this up for the next core set!