Serra Analysis · 11:03pm Apr 12th, 2018
Word of warning, this one's going to be silly and about card games.
So. Today, I'd like to discuss two cards from the upcoming Magic set Dominaria, a return to the titular plane where much of the first half of the card game's story took place. As such, there's a running theme of history and nostalgia. Appropriate given the ongoing twenty-fifth anniversary of the game.
The first card I'd like to focus on is this:
Frolic and dance? Clearly a party pony.
For those who weren't playing back in '95, this is a callback to one of the very first cards ever printed, Mesa Pegasus.
Don't ask what banding does. Just don't.
We're still waiting on Mesa Earth Pony. Still, this brings us to the other card in Dominaria explicitly set in Sursi:
Serra, for those wondering, was a white-mage planeswalker back in the day when they were literally more powerful than some gods. (The gods in question are living memes, need worship to sustain themselves, and are subject to the shifting tides of the collective unconscious. Old school 'walkers not so much.) She once created an entire universe with nothing but white mana, a utopian paradise of floating meadows so perfect that its inhabitants didn't even need to eat; they were sustained by the radiance of the realm itself.
Then Urza fled through the plane, Phyrexians hot on his heels, and everything went downhill from there. That sort of thing tended to happen when Urza got involved. Long story short, Serra fled the decaying universe, fell in love, watched her love die before her eyes, and fled to Sursi, where another planeswalker killed her. She could've healed herself, but with her love dead, she lost the will to live. The Cathedral of Serra was built there, which certainly explains why Serra's blessing is strongest there.
Still, pegasi and unicorns? I think Urza was far from the first extraplanar visitor to Serra's Realm. 
I would say Mesa Unicorn is a callback to both Mesa Pegasus and Pearled Unicorn. It's the kind of combination they did more often (both in name and with mechanics) in Time Spiral.
That is totally what I was thinking when I saw Mesa Unicorn. Maybe we can use Crested Sunmare as a placeholder?
gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=430695&type=card
Oh, and banding. Any number of creatures with banding and one creature without can attack in a band. If the opponent can block one of the creatures in the band, then the whole band is blocked.
Banding also changes the rules for assigning damage. If a group of creatures includes at least one with banding, then the group's controller assigns how the opponent's damage is dealt, rather than the opponent.
Banding is fun; I played with it back in the day. It's a lot more complex than they want for the game now. Now, don't ask me to explain bands with others. That's a rule that never should have been printed.
Yeah old walkers were scary, anything that can eat a hole in the fabric of reality should not be taken lightly.
Best way I've heard it explained:
Neowalkers are doctor who- you're not more powerful than the next guy, but you've got a lot more experience (assuming you don't just squat and be a butt, XENAGOS) and more tricks from more places. Like an extraplanar library card.
Oldwalkers, by turn, were Doctor Manhattan.
Didn't need to eat, huh? Well, it would certainly explain how Pinkie Pie can sustain herself on 95% pastries and sweets.
I think that if we're going for an earth pony in MTG, Crested Sunmare fits the bill. 5/5 and indestructible fits the earth pony power set of super strength pretty well. I suppose some thing that put a land into play would also fit the cultivator set of their powers, but that usually goes on humans, elfs, or druids.
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There's some good bits in the novels with Barrin complaining about his boss's eldritch horror foibles when he's around people he's not hiding his eldritch horrorness from.
Like 'turning' to someone by just suddenly being facing that way, or neglecting to fake breathing, or absentmindedly doing twelve other things to prepare this week's
war crime slash random wizard dickerycompletely necessary preparatory move to stop Yawgmoth.This is awesome! You really nailed the description of Serra's arc in the MtG storyline and gave great commentary on the cards. Is there any chance you may do this sort of thing again?
Thinking about it, Urza really reminds me of Starswirl, though I guess that would make Stygian Mishra.
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Dominaria is basically meant to be Time Spiral Block without requiring experience with previous sets. Same amount of clever callbacks, but only one returning mechanic.
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Pre-ascension Celestia is definitely the closest thing we have to an Equestrian earth pony, though there are a few honorable mentions. Temur Charger has the muscle, but its polydactyly shows that it's an earlier species of equinoid. Trenching Steed can certainly draw power from the land, but to disastrous effect for that land. And Timbermare is what happens to some Applejacks when the moon is full.
Meanwhile, we have a textbook seapony. From Theros, naturally.
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First rule of bands with other: Do not talk about bands with other.
Second rule of bands with other: Do not talk about bands with other.
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That is an excellent way of putting it. I'm going to have to remember that one. Thanks!
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Depends on when a card game does something relevant to my non-card game interests. I heard Yu-Gi-Oh had an "Odd-Eyes" archetype, but that was just referring to heterochromia.
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A bit of Mishra, a bit of Barrin. Though Stygian never decided to nuke an island after his daughter died fighting Starswirl's battles.