Is it Merely a Coincidence that Innistrad Always Follows Zendikar?
General forum
Posted on Nov. 7, 2021, 8:29 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
The original Innistrad block was released not long after the original Zendikar block, and the Shadows Over Innistrad block was released immediately after the Battle for Zendikar block, which could have been merely a coincidence, but the Innistrad Double Feature has been released not long after Zendikar Rising, so I wonder if WotC is deliberately releasing a product set on Innistrad shortly after a product set on Zendikar (those are two of the most popular planes in the game), or if it really is a coincidence.
What does everyone else say about this? Is it a coincidence that Innistrad always seems to follow Zendikar?
DemonDragonJ says... #3
legendofa, I do not like that idea, since it seems as if WotC is allowing popularity and public opinion to influence the story, which is never a good thing; as someone who enjoys writing on occasion, I feel that the writers alone should decide how the story proceeds, and be influenced by external sources as little as possible.
November 7, 2021 12:52 p.m.
DemonDragonJ I completely understand where you're coming from, but I have to ask: Do you market your stories? Are you trying to making a profit off of them? If you want to sell a product, it helps if you know people will buy it. And you do that by knowing what's popular and catering to them.
The new planes are explorations into different market niches as well as opportunities for the writers to develop new and "uninfluenced" material, but even those have largely been staying close to pre-existing sources.
November 7, 2021 1:07 p.m.
Gidgetimer says... #5
With the amount of blatant money grabs over the last few years, do you really think that the entirety of MtG is being run as anything but a cash cow for Hasbro? It would be nice if the writers and their story could influence the course of the lore. Unfortunately since the end of Khans block the "lore" has been hack fiction churned out to try and give the thinnest of veneers that there is still a story. I don't see anything changing (with the possibility of things getting worse) now that WotC is a division of Hasbro instead of a subsidiary.
November 7, 2021 1:08 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #6
legendofa, no, I do not market anything that I write; I write purely for my own enjoyment, and I wish that there were more people who did that, rather than compromising their integrity for profit and popularity.
November 7, 2021 5:07 p.m.
And that's what separates a successful multi million dollar business that supports dozens if not hundreds of employees from a hobby. If "more people who did that, rather than compromising their integrity for profit and popularity." There wouldn't be a ccg that we could get all puffed up about and virtue signal over
November 7, 2021 8:03 p.m.
sergiodelrio says... #8
Adding to the story portion of the discussion:
I suspect that most players simply don't care at all or very little about anything story related - myself included. MtG would be 100% the same for me if it had 0 story and only loose flavour narratives which I guess is kinda what we're at already.
While I can understand the players who do want more quality and overall more story, this comes with a lot of ressources to the company. They have already tried printing story novels in the past and went on cutting more and more of that aspect, as it didn't resonate with most people.
Additionaly, the game should first and foremost be about gameplay, so weaving a story around a decent design skeleton will result in a much better game than throwing flavorful mechanics on a piece of brilliant literature.
Again I feel sympathy for the story fans, but I can see why you're not getting more of what you want.
legendofa says... #2
Not a coincidence, but more about marketing than story.
Zendikar shows up, and proves to be highly popular.
Several months later, Innistrad shows up, and proves to be highly popular.
Immediately after, Ravnica, a well-established and popular plane, returns with lots of hype.
Over the next few years, there's a string of new planes, broken up by Zendikar and Innistrad. Lots of hype for the popular planes.
Dominaria and Ravnica, possibly the two most successful and popular planes, return.
In a couple of years, Innistrad and Zendikar, possibly the third and fourth most successful and popular planes, return.
So it's not really a coincidence. The developers/marketing/whoever's in charge of plane order keeps cycling through the most popular planes and new planes, with occasional smaller planes (Theros, Kamigawa) interspersed to break up the pattern a little bit. I don't know for sure, but my guess is that someone gives out an ordered list of planes, and the story and sets are developed around that list.
November 7, 2021 12:45 p.m.