Early Look at Zendikar

Below is some information on the upcoming Zendikar set that I found at www.zendikar.net.

1. Zendikar does not have a multicolor theme. This is confirmed from Mark Rosewater’s latest article, “Tweet Talk” This means that Zendikar is monocolored.
Additionally: “Lights”, the 2010 large set, also does not have a multicolor theme.

2. Zendikar is NOT themed with pirates, dinosaurs, robots, ninjas, or monkeys. There goes the hope of anything like that. Note this does not 100% discourage Imperiosaur’s “basic lands only” ability.

3. Zendikar’s theme is hinted with this following passage:
Here’s my hint. There is a space in Magic design that we’ve explored on individual cards but have never explored thematically as a block theme. We started with that theme and then crafted a world that made it make sense. Once we had the world, we then made a bunch of other mechanics that made sense in that world. The design and creative did a lot of back and forth work to integrate the mechanical themes into the world. I do feel the world we’ve create is a resonant one, but not one with pirates or dinosaurs. Or robots. Or ninjas. Or monkeys. Let me wrap this answer up by saying that I’m quite excited with how Zendikar turned out, and once I’m allowed to freely talk about it, I anticipate I’ll start getting letters to ask me to stop talking about it.

4. There are a total of three Planeswalkers in Zendikar. One is confirmed to be Nissa Revane, and the other two are a mystery. The second Planeswalker, however, is a character who has previously appeared. Note that this might be interpreted to be Nissa Revane, who is “appearing” in Duels of the Planeswalker (the Xbox Live Arcade game). The exact quote is:
Q: how many planeswalkers are there in Zendikar?
A: Three, one of which is a planewalker that’s appeared previously.
Also: Note that Elspeth left the plane of Alara (or at least Bant) at the end of her webcomic arc. She could very well be the Planeswalker who appears in Zendikar.
Also: Note how Rosewater says “appeared”, not “printed”. It doesn’t discourage the possibility of Dominaria-centric Planeswalkers seeing print.

All four of these bits of info can be found on “Tweet Talk“, Mark Rosewater’s latest column.