Anax and Cymede - Magic the Gathering

And we return to multicolor with no guild symbols.

I was going to do the rare color hoser cycle from M14, but then Wizards dropped a bombshell, and by that I mean they did something everyone already expected them to do, Theros previews.

Theros is Greco-Roman inspired, and what is Greek mythology without some wise king and queen. At least, that's my assumption. For all I know they're just brother and sister. Also, which is Anax and which is Cymede. My gut instinct is Anax is the guy and Cymede the girl, just because they sound more masculine and feminine to me. The art however has the girl before the guy, so maybe its supposed to be the other way. It's like those movie posters where the picture shows the actors from left to right yet reading the top bill like you normally would, the names don't match the actors.

And heroic, the new pseudo-keyword. Because its psuedo, I'm not certain what it's meant to do. My future self will read this and laugh at me. It seems to be "Whenever you cast a spell that targets ~, this happens." Several questions though. The effect in the preview card benefits all creatures. Will all heroic effects be universal? That would match the idea of somebody doing something heroic, inspiring everyone else to do something, but universal effects can be narrow. Second, will heroic only be on legendary cards? I like it flavor wise if it does, the legends being the heroes after all. The heroic effect would then encourage players to use they're legendaries, and to target their legendaries with their spells. But that just opens up problems. Legendaries don't appear too much at lower rarities, partially because it feels weird. Meaning the effect you just tagged won't be showing up at common, which is very important for your set mechanic to do. Odds are, there will be non-legendary creatures with heroic. Still, I like this ability because it actually encourages you to play your instants, sorceries, and auras. Even if the ability isn't that good, it can still create a good upswing.

Design wise, this feels like a very aggressive costed card, and the effect makes them feel like rulers. The only things I find weird are very nitpicky. One is the heroic effect grants trample. Trample is in red, meaning its perfectly within colors to do, but giving an army of creatures trample feels more green than red or white. My other nitpick is that despite the card depicting two characters, the effect doesn't feel like two characters. I like the design of Sisters of Stone Death. That card depicts three separate characters, yet its effects make it feel like each sister is doing something individually. Tibor and Lumia does the same thing. This one doesn't.

Still, this card looks good and powerful, so who am I to complain.