A better MtG Team

>>55377023
There aren't really enough Black walkers to find good alternatives. It's basically Vraska or Lili no matter what.

Personally, I would go for a team of walkers who all share a color though. Ajani, Tamiyo, Kiora, Domri, Vraska could be a good lineup.

Suddenly everyone can bond over nature, has a common interest in maintaining the status quo of planes they visit to a degree, and generally ensuring that whether they're fighting off cosmic horrors or toppling oppressive governments, everyone is going to want to make sure there's a world worth living in after.

That said, I also feel like it would be easier from a mechanical and storytelling perspective if the team was only 3 walkers. Two with two colors each, and one mono-color, possibly with an artifact focus. Go for Black paired with one of its enemy colors so the selfish aspects are balanced out by a sense of teamwork and community. I would say G/B, so you could go for U/R. That way Blue is paired with something drawn to action and impulse so that they won't sit around and solve puzzles all day. Then White can stand alone, being a defacto leader trying to bring order and morality to this whole planeswalker thing.

Then, once you have this core of 3, you aren't taking up as much room in sets where all 3 need to show up, have simpler dynamics that can be explored further since you only need to worry about 3 different relationships rather than the 10 a five color group would have. Once you have them established, then you can bring in other members more frequently, but keep them firmly as side members.

Essentially, if they're going to be doing capeshit, get a Superman/Batman/Wonderwoman core, and then worry about the rest of the league.

>>55377283
>There aren't really enough Black walkers to find good alternatives.

this

>>55377023
That's a horrible idea, because A) Venser is dead dead (bringing him back means anybody ever could and now you're REALLY in capeshit territory), and B) Kaladesh is the only artifact plane not currently wrecked by Phyrexia, wrecking it with Phyrexia means there's now zero of those and you have to make ANOTHER.

>>55377323
It's sad how true this is
Liliana is a selfish bitch who manipulates for fun and profit and is only the current black rep because she's getting them to do her work for her.
Ob Nixilis destroys worlds for a hobby. Good villain, not so good protagonist material.
Tezzeret is Bolas's minion through and through, and why would you want Tezzeret in charge of anything.
Garruck's decided he wants to hunt the Most Dangerous Game and was an antisocial hunter even before that. And if the former stops, he'd go back to being monogreen. Does not play well with others.
Kaya we know shit-all about other than that she can go through walls and is a ghostbuster. Such useful talents, such a well-developed character.
Sorin's biggest problem, other than currently having the creature type Wall, is that he only gives a shit about Innistrad. If he were to join, any enemy would be allowed to just planeswalk away (and fuck taking on Bolas) because that leaves even the tiniest chance of said enemy threatening Innistrad...and he's one of the more likely candidates ('nip problems in the bud before they make it to Innistrad' might get him going)
And I'm not sure what they're doing with Vraska right now, and they kinda wobbled a bit on her in her other stories.
Honestly, it might be best to make a new one. Even if they're multicolor.

>>55378118
Currently, Vraska seems leagues better than Lili for hero potential. She's Black mainly due to guild affiliations and her philosophical outlook, which is surprisingly about justice. She went after Jace mainly to get him as an ally in dismantling all the guilds, although her having a compass gifted to her by Bolas on Ixalan doesn't bode well.

Honestly she'd be a great choice. Imagine if she was there in some of the more recent sets. Kaladesh? She'd be all over murderizing the consulate. Amonkhet? She'd love the chance to take down such an unjust religious sytem. Compare that to Liliana who often seems content to sit around or hunt demons while the rest of the team does the work and just summons a horde of zombies for the big climactic battle.

>>55377283
>All share a color
I like this idea for how it add more cohesion to the team, but has the unfortunate side-effect of presenting one color as being more important than the others, which really shouldn't be the case (Screw Jace). I suppose you could have multiple of these groups (which would be a pain), or have the group alternate what their shared color is, possibly swapping member as necessary.

>>55378226
Almost certainly. Her or Sorin would be the best bets of them all, with Kaya probably being #3 solely due to not knowing shit all about her (honestly what little they did show made her seem more white anyways) and Lilliana is #4 because she's the least bad of what's left
>>55378281
Perhaps rather than everyone sharing the same color, they all share with at least one other member? All multicolor.
And they split into smaller groups (not necessarily with their overlapping teammates all the time) instead of travelling in a large herd.

>>55378337
>All multicolor
Oooh, I like this. A lot more design room, too.
>Split into teams
This is really helpful from a narrative perspective, so you don't need everybody together at all times, which can often be overkill, and prevents anyone from getting dedicated facetime. Would be interesting to see trios which are all dual-color which form Shards.

>>55378281
Well, of the five colors, each 'team' would have the problem of cohesion in some regard.

Blue obviously boils down to a study group, not much going on there in the way of action.

Black is the villains, so it's tricky present them as equal in that regard.

Red might be a group of friends, but are so individualistic that teamups would be like herding cats.

Green is a gathering of strong individuals who care about balance in some regards, but all that means is that they'd only really interfere when something threatens to kill a whole bunch of shit.

White is more teamwork oriented, but also due to their morality might end up focusing too much on little problems. Basically how Gideon spent half his time on Zendikar fighting a world-ending threat and half his time on Ravnica fighting street crime with the Boros. They'd all have their little pet projects and kingdoms that they'll run off to and protect at a moment's notice.

>>55378337
>>55378372
I feel like all multicolor would be the better solution, particularly if they were all enemy color pairs. That means that for a lot of the members, someone who shares a color with them also has another color that is their ally. A U/R and a U/G mage would have a lot in common due to their knowledge-based outlook, and also see eye to eye on some of the things Red and Green like about eachother.

The ones that don't share colors also work out to a degree, as each one there would have one of that person's colors be the ally of both of their colors. A G/B character might appreciate a W/R character's sense of freedom and passion, even if they roll their eyes about how compassionate and by the book they are sometimes.

>>55378500
Well, of our current planeswalkers...
W/B: Sorin, Kaya, the whoisthis.
U/R: Dack, Ral, Saheeli
B/G: Vraska, Garruck, hunter of walkers
R/W: Huatli. Nahiri, the batshit insane.
G/U: Kiora, Nissa.
Tamiyo could be slotted into G/U. Ajani would need some major pissing-off to regain the Red to get there. Narset will eventually get her red back and become tricolor, and fuck if anyone knows what'll happen with Sarkhan from here on (other than base red), tricolor can work just as well here for later additions at least. Garruck is not a team player.
So let's see.
Sorin, Vraska, Huatli are the easy picks due to a lack of other options there. All G/U options are female, so it's best if Saheeli isn't one of the main five - either Dack or Ral can fit (one can always assume the current plot bit in Hour is resolved as 'against his will' or 'didn't know Bolas was behind it' if desired), and the G/U is Zendikari Fishtits, Zendikari Joragas, or the slight stretch of Best Bunny. Let's go Dack and Tamiyo.
From other viewpoints:
Sorin draws in the vampire/edgey crowd, and can always be printed monoblack if need be.
Dack gets to be our artifact guy, the party rogue, gets the snarky oneliners, and can bond with Sorin over high class stuff. Picked him over Ral to not have two Ravnicans.
Vraska is our only choice, but gets an obvious inhuman character in (look, the group's MAGICAL!) that's still recognizable to people unfamiliar with Magic.
Huatli is literally the only RW walker at the moment who isn't insane. Get brownie points for diversity, and much more importantly everyone gets summoned dinosaur mounts. Corporate is happy, everyone else is happy.
Tamiyo is the best and keeps everything in line.

>>55378791
That's actually a pretty nice setup overall. I could see Huatli and Tamiyo getting along great over their shared love of poetry and storytelling.

I think it's interesting though. There's some clear friction there, but they have a good deal in common with eachother as well.

I do feel like if they wanted to go for this sort of thing, it would've needed to be planned for more for the ground up, but it's interesting to see that it still works well with what's already there.

>>55379001
A bit of friction can be a good thing. Makes for more interesting stories if they're not 100% buddy buddy all the time.
It's when there's a lot of friction - like with the current Gatewatch - that things are a problem. Like...anything with A Villianess. And a lot of Chandra.

>>55379108
Yeah, I think what helps is that oddly enough the characters that don't share colors feel like they'd be more buddy-buddy. Tamiyo and Huatli feel like they'd get along swimingly, although that might be because they lean Naya and Bant. Dack and Sorin have met before, on not entirely hostile terms, although I think they both have a degree of respect for eachother, and could probably bond over some of their shared attitudes regarding protecting their homes, not being above dirty work, and enjoying a good quest for vengeance. Dack would also combo nicely with Vraska. Theif and assassin gives them a similar line of work in some ways, and Vraska's harsh outlook on justice would probably speak to him.

The schisms happen more with the ones that share colors though. Huatli probably wouldn't be too thrilled to meet yet more Vampire aristocrats, and her being all 'praise the sun' might not sit well with him either. Tamiyo seems to have a bit too zen of an outlook to really appreciate Vraska or Dack's more tragic pasts, and while she might respect it, it'd probably be in a more clinical way trying to get them to get over it, which they in turn might begrudge her for. Likewise, Dack and Huatli would probably clash due to how different their worlds are in technology, and she might see him as more cowardly due to his rogue tendencies. Strangely, I think Vraska and Sorin mesh the best here, as I think both can respect eachother's ambitions the most and realize they don't have much care about who the other wants to kill.

The problem is roping them all into doing something, although that might be achieved by simply grabbing up all their enemies and having them work for Bolas, along with him betraying Vraska and pissing of Tamiyo by stepping on a book or something.

>>55377023
>not Yawgmoth, Nicol Bolas, or Urza
Why that stipulation?

> Not making Ghoulcaller Gisa a planeswalker.
I just want best necro to come back.

>>55377023
>5 OCs
>Dominaria
>Dominaria is wrecked after suffering so many apocalypses, new inexperienced planeswalkers all planeswalk for the first time to the same place and have to survive in the dangerous world
Also their story is told primarily by a Mtg cartoon while the game focuses on world building of new blocks and has different protagonists each block, very few of which are planeswalkers

>>55381085
The first isn't and never was a planewalker, and explicitly wasn't, in fact - part of his story was trying to become one.
The second is an unrepentent villain unsuitable the roll of one of five main protagonists - even if things were changed to follow Bolas, it'd be The Bolas Show. You're supposed to pick five, not one.
The third not only has the 'all about me' problem, but much like Yawgmoth (and Venser), has another major problem - he's exceedingly dead. Beyond dead. Head was chopped off and soul burned to fuel the murder of #1 and the creation of Karn dead. Bringing any of those three back means you are descending into a place worse than Magic already is - where death has no meaning whatsoever and anyone can come back because you feel like it'd be Cool. You're here to make things better, not worse. Let the dead rest in peace.

Koth, Undead Elspeth, Kiora, Sarkhan, and Ashiok travel to Dominaria to find and remains of Urza's research to find out how to stop new phyrexia. Tezzeret skulks around trying to make Sarkhan go mad again while Tibalt help Garruk hunt them down.

>>55377023
Gideon, Koth, Ajani, Vraska, Garruk
Any
Kill Kaya, Samut and Saheeli

>>55377023
We might need to make anew character or two.

For White, we free Elspeth from the Theros-hell. She's the violent hotheaded one that likes to solve things with force first. Sometimes she's right. Can be White + any color, depending on her mood, but usually if she's 2-colored she will be white/Black or White/Red.

For Blue, we need a smart guy who can figure out the bad guy's plan but isn't strong enough on his own to thwart it. It's part of the team dynamic. We make a new planeswalker who mechanically is all about revealing information or concealing yours. Example +1s would be "Look at opponent's hand, you may look at the top card of your library", "Fateseal 1" or "Scry 2" Example -2s could be "shuffle a creature into its owner's library" "Target player reveals his or her library, then shuffles it" or "look at target player's hand. Choose any number or cards in it. That player discards those cards and then draws that many." Example ultimates could be "You choose all the targets for spells and abilities Emblem" Shuffle up to six target permanents into a library" or "Get an Emblem that lets you draw a card off the bottom of your library in addition to drawing off the top" He interacts with the library a lot since that's the most hidden of information. If multicolor versions are made they go into Blue/White or Blue/Green.

For Black, we'll have to make a new one too. He's a sauve cool rogue type character and in-universe a hit with non-teammate ladies (Elspeth and the others know better). He tends to challenge the leader's ideas, and his role is to cause conflict within the team, not so much that they aren't functional, just enough to make things interesting. His abilities would involve stealing things from the opponent, especially dead things. Other abilities would be things like exiling stuff (because if he can't have it no one can) or rarely tutoring up cards from your library. Multicolor versions can be Black/Red or Black/Blue

will continue in a moment.

>>55384398
Red's gotta be the main hero and the moral compass of the group. I'm going to go with Koth. He's not the most experienced, but he knows what's right and wants what's best for both his people and the multiverse. Don't make him all anger all the time, make him super passionate and give lots of rousing speeches. Give him a soft a side he hates to show too. Multicolor versions can be Red/White or Red/Green.

Green character only exists to add diversity to the team, and a source of comic relief that can add needed strength to a fight when they have to. This is where the non-human goes. We'll make a small cute Selkie girl from Shadowmoor. She's kind of an idiot, and doesn't understand non-selkie societies well, an eternal fish out of water. Her abilities have a lot of raw power but often have little synergy with each other and occasionally she gets a "Why the hell would you do that?!?" ability that either hurts you or helps your opponent (combo players will love this). Most likely to have 4 abilities, she gets to have 4 if we waste one on being a combo puzzle ability. Eventually they go back to Shadowmoor where she is within her element and she is like a god there. Multicolor versions can be green/blue or green/black.

So we have Elspeth, librarian, rogue dude, Koth, and Selkie.

The plane they go to is Theros to go free Elspeth and slaughter about half the gods. Then Shadowmoor to stop an evil Flame-Kin from undoing the Aurora and plunging the place into Lorwyn and its eternal daytime (not something Selkie girl would be okay with in the slightest)

>>55377023
urza's severed head as a snarky and powerful mentor but unable of moving without help would be a great character though

>>55384767
just imagine
" someone roll me closer so I can kick your ass"
"If i had hands I would be strangling you right now"
"I w

>>55384398
So you make Jace?

>>55387362
Yeh but less annoying and smug.

>>55387437
Jace isn't smug at all. The flavor texts attributed to him aren't the character, it's them wanting smug snarky counterspell flavor texts and not having Ertai around to say them.

>>55387527
So make a new guy to say them. So, we keep Jace, but he's not the leader anymore. And then have an annoying blue guy that follows them around harassing them for the counterspell flavortexts. He's not even with the main bad guys, he just follows the Gatewatch around to annoy with them for laughs, like an obnoxious brother-in-law that you try to ditch at the parties but he won't go away and drinks your beer and farts in front of your girl but you can't punch him because your wife would be pissed. Make him, like, the Rogue guy's brother or something.

And then have stuff like Overrun art where he's getting trampled by zebras or something because that makes it funnier when it's him.

I'm not saying start from Scratch but Gatewatch is a horrible idea and so are too many Planeswalker Cards in general.
In a sense, the Planeswalker Cards begin to really drive the narrative, so unless you're a planeswalker your not really relevant.

It also suffers from Planeswalkers being the Protagonists in a sense. Not every stories catalyst and driver needs to be planeswalkers.

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Some concept like this would give them flexible to do any kind of story they would like. Plenty of big and small episodes of JLU.

Id have the current members stay on, but take a backseat role. Jace needs to stay on Ravnica, and he can still do useful research and planning for the others. Acting as the hub rather than the frontline. Lily stays with Jace, working on the Chain Veil and preparing for her last demon.

Nissa needs to go back to Zendikar. Shits fucked, and her nature powers would help a lot in fixing the damage.

Chandra and Gideon are... fine. They can fill in as needed.

Dack Fayden is a cool dude with a tragic past, unique powers, and a long history of being wronged. Last we saw he was going to Theros Underworld to deal with Ashiok being a dick. Form a new team with Dack as the center, first recruit being Elspeth. Add Vraska or another GB to fill out the color pie. A theif, an assassin, and a holy warrior powerhouse. Sounds like a team to me.