Magic sets are inspired by real-world cultures and history. But are we running out of inspiration?
General forum
Posted on July 29, 2022, 7:10 p.m. by TypicalTimmy
It's no surprise that Magic takes elements from our real world history and lore as inspiration for fanciful and whimsical sets. But after nearly 30 years of world building, are we at the end of the inspirational limits?
There are a few cultures not yet adopted, such as the Indian (As in India, not the derogatory term used for Native American<3) culture and religion, and yes Native American as well. There is also a massive plethora for central and southern African cultures. You could easily have a set inspired by the Russian culture or German culture.
But, and I hope I do not sound racist here, to the vast majority of people, many of these cultures are indistinguishable from one-another. For example, Ethiopian history and the Mali or Songhai empires in Africa are all very uniquely distinct, but perhaps not broad enough to have a set each to their own. And if you ask an average citizen not within those cultures what their differences are, they likely will not be able to name any.
Similarly, while German and Russian folklore are different, it can also be melded and shared into one idea. Their cultures are old enough and close enough that one set can encompass both, easily.
I feel like Magic is, therefore, running out of experiences to draw inspiration from. Likely why we are now seeing sets for Warhammer, Fortnite and Stranger Things. As well as Godzilla.
While these are either limited edition Secret Lair print runs or merely artistic overlays on a real set such as Ikoria, I feel this is WOTC's attempt to normalize the idea of future full sets that are not MTG related.
Such as, The Forgotten Realms. After all, you need a platform to jump off of, so why not use a property owned by the parent company that is similar enough as to not be jarring to the public?
I could see, in the future, a full 280-320 card set for Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones. I can see a Commander set for Harry Potter if they can come to an agreement. I could see a DC / Marvel Secret Lair drop.
But this all also means inspiration from our real world cultures might have dried up.
What do you all think? Are we upon the horizon of seeing less and less cultural adaptations in favor of more and more borrowing of other IPs? Or has WOTC many more years of rich culture and inspiration to borrow from across our world and history?
I've been moderately vocal about sets not based on the real world. Alara was a great example of that, especially Esper and Grixis. Ikoria was also a good step in that direction.
As long as we're talking about real-world inspiration, though, I think there's space in the "culture + genre" category. Innistrad is central and eastern Europe + Gothic horror. Kaladesh is steampunk with a south Asian veneer. Just by switching those, you can describe a south Asian horror plane, with penanggalans and the demon king Mara, and a steampunk European plane, possibly with inspiration from the Industrial Revolution.
Africa in general has been largely unexplored. Jamuraa, the part of Dominaria from Visions and Mirage, and Amonkhet are pretty much it. Amonkhet covers the Nile River valley, and Jamuraa seems to mostly cover central and eastern Africa. Northern, southern, and western Africa, even as large blocks, are still options.
The Baltic region around Finland, Latvia, and Estonia might be conflated with Kaldheim, but I think there's enough there to create something new. The same applies to the Canada/Greenland/Siberia/Arctic Circle region.
Australia and Oceania are wide open, as is South America. There's a little generic Maya/Aztec/Inca/whatever influence in Ixalan and Naya, but I think there's a deeper well there.
The eastern Mediterranean and Arabian peninsula make kind of an odd case, since the Rabiah set of Arabian Nights is literally a M:tG interpretation of real-world stories.
Central Asia has chunks of Tarkir, especially the Mardu/Kolaghan and Abzan/Dromoka areas. I'm not sure how much more expansion there is in the region, just global ignorance on my part.
July 29, 2022 7:54 p.m.
plakjekaas says... #4
The cynical point of view? As long as we keep buying, crossover sets will be easy money. Why risk basing your new set on obscure real world historical cultures and alienating parts of your audience when the proven popular intellectual property already in place will soar sales? Most of the people playing the game now would probably do so anyway if the cards only had oracle text and no theme. Best way to stay in business is to take as low of a risk as possible, I'm afraid that's what we're seeing.
On the other hand, Streets of New Capenna is a non-crossover, non-revisit set, and is doing pretty well. There's a lot of real world circumstances I'm leaving out, but I think it sold better than AFR or Ikoria. Fantasy has gone a lot more mainstream than back when Magic's "original content" was developed. It took them 24 years to even look at ancient Egypt for Amonkhet, which would have been my first inspiration when I was little. In the meantime revisiting popular planes is usually a grand slam too. No use building a world if you're not going to live in it.
It doesn't feel like they're running out of inspiration to me, but it does feel like they found out ancient real world history is not the only place to look for inspiration. Fact is, most people know a lot more about pop culture these days than they would know native American culture. As long as it's done well, I don't mind diversifying the source of inspiration.
July 29, 2022 11:23 p.m.
There is always inspiration to sell in the world, because there will always be more world than Magic.
I have been in want of a set for Chilean mythology.
July 30, 2022 6:52 a.m.
Here's one more vote for Chilean mythology : )
But yeah, honestly I'm starting to think that the idea behind the set is less important to me than the effort and creativity that gets put in. I don't care at all about Street Fighter, but I look at the SL cards and think, wow okay some of these are awesome. And I'm a huge Baldur's Gate fan, but I look at that set as, this has nothing to do with BG. And similarly with recent sets and things. I loved the idea of Crimson Vow, it just wasn't there in execution (honestly if they just gave us fan service characters in foofy clothes I would have been happy) and I didn't inherently go in for the idea of AFR, but it was mostly done really well so I bought a ton.
So, I don't know. I guess I'm starting to look at sets in spoiler season and see if it looks cool or not. Because they've made stinkers out of great ideas and they've made great sets out of just whatever, and I really can't predict it anymore : )
July 30, 2022 7:54 a.m.
That all being said, I'd be way down for a Polynesian and/or Hawaiian setting.
July 30, 2022 7:57 a.m.
TypicalTimmy says... #8
KND would be a super fun alt theme if we ever go back to Kaladesh.
Like what Godzilla was for Ikoria.
August 11, 2022 4:15 a.m.
StarkFalcon says... #9
I don't care at all about Street Fighter, but I look at the SL cards and think, wow okay some of these are awesome. And I'm a huge Baldur's Gate fan, but I look at that set as, this has nothing to do with BG. And similarly with recent sets and things. https://mcdvoice.me/
shadow63 says... #2
There's a modern horizons style lord of the rings set coming next year
July 29, 2022 7:26 p.m.