There's no place like Homelands

The discussion on legal sets in this format is truly a vivid one. The arguments on Fallen Empires is the most commented post on this blog, and the third most read (after the two more general posts on fake cards). From that discussion, it's clear that many players want to add some additional cards to the format, but at the same time many players are sceptical towards the FE expansion. Another issue that commonly comes up is the lack of mana fixing, and the problems with finding duals that are format legal.

After some consideration, we've come up with a great solution which handles all these issues. There is after all another expansion that really can vitalize this format, and that is not a part of modern block structure. The people who are sceptical about legalizing Fallen Empires wont have to worry about Hymns wrecking their meta, and the people wanting to have access to new tech will get their fair share. This set even have some "triple-lands", giving the most grinchy naysayers easy access to mana fixing. The set I'm talking about is of course Homelands.

Homelands was released in 1995, but is in many ways an "older" expansion than Ice Age. Where Ice Age is a part of the modern block structure, today with Ice Age/Alliances/Cold Snap, Homelands is still keeping it oldschool as a stand-alone expansion. The themes and the artwork from Homelands is much closer to expansions like The Dark than art from Mirage or newer expansions. It will fit the artistic style of the format well.

Finally more mana fixing!

Homelands of course has quite a few powerful cards which will stir up the meta. Green, one of prevoiusly weaker colors in the format, is the biggest winner here. Autumn Willow will be the formats future finisher-of-choice for control decks, and Primal Order will make the red/green beatdown decks even stronger. Apart from these two obvious flagships, there's quite a lot more going on here. Roots gives the green mage unconditional removal (at least in combination with Mammoth Harness); Spectral Bears is a huge game even if the opponent isn't running black; and Hungry Mist is a very fast clock that usually plays around control magic (due to it's upkeep "drawback"). The list goes on.

A faster clock than Erhnam in the Ehrnamgeddon decks.

 The other colors also gets their fare share of backbreaking spells though. Blue gets the Enchant World Mystic Decree, which completely locks down creature combat (in combination with Moat or Island Sanctuary). The new Memory Lapse counter will make last years loss of Mana Drain feel much less stingy for the control players. Perhaps even bigger than that, we'll get the Vintage powerhouse Merchant Scroll, able to tutor for cards like Ancestral Recall and Mana Drain. The Scroll is one of two cards in the set we'll have restricted from the start. The other one is also blue, and is of course the almighty Marjhan. Marjhan's ping-ability can completely lock down the board, and is additonally one of only five cards in the format (apart from elder dragon legends) that can kill an opponent at full life in only three attacks. As the control decks are already very strong in the format, giving them access to 3-4 Marjhans seems like it would do more harm than good.

Also combos well with Animate Dead and Sengir Autocrat.

Black and White get their main boosts in form of creatures. Black now have access to three new game-ending 5/5s, in Baron Sengir, Ishan's Shade and Veldrane of Sengir, as well as new cheaper beatdown cards like Sengir Bats. The winner of the weenies is White though, with cards like Death Speakers and Trade Caravan, and additional Crusade effects in Serra Aviary and Soraya the Falconer.

Red even gets access to two new Tribes! You can be sure that we'll see a lot of the Minotaurs and Dwarves during the coming season. Add some combat tricks like Ambush and Aliban's Tower, and Red would be a winner even without the Shatter-machines of Joven and Chandler.

The legalization of Homelands will be in effect by n00bcon, so make sure to get your hands on your Dry Spells and Evaporates as soon as possible if you want to try them out! To peak your intrest even further, check out this Homelands booster ripping video by n00bcon 4 top8 competitor Xerent.

Feel free to give feedback and new tech ideas!