I'm excited for bloomburrow but seeing Ral Zarek there admittedly has me a bit worried. To me it feels like it's putting a huge asterisk on the idea that this is the first plane in nearly 20 years to not have humans, which was a big point of excitement for me. You mentioned in the past that a human-less plane was a hard sell, so was having Ral (albeit as an otter somehow) on the plane some sort of compromise?

We needed a planeswalker, and there aren’t a lot of animal options. We also felt making animal versions would be fun.

Re: fedoras on weirdsMAKM looks conpletely on-brand for Ravnica to me. Ravnica has always had urban elements, and cards like Tin Street Dodger, Frilled Mystic or Ral Zarek all feel "dressed up" in a way that's still "high fantasy" without feeling out of place amongst MAKM art. "High fantasy," whatever that means, has the spaciousness to include detective agencies, and why couldn't they look vaguely like Vincint Price movies? Ravnica, a sprawling metropolis, surely has room for varied easthetics, including tall collared coats, fedoras, and shifty characters. Bottom line, the vibe and creative of MAKM are amazing so far, it's not out of place on Ravnica, no complaints. It's possible the neigh-sayers are picking up on the difference in tone. The last ravnican outings have been fairly serious or forboding, being either a planewide invasion of undead supersoldiers, or the unstable political situations leading up to that. In contrast, MAKM is pulpy, fun, and much less dire in scope. Murder is still dark, sure, but unraveling a mystery is very different from stopping a planeswalker genocide. For fans who identify strongly with 'Serious Ravnica,' this set could feel off-brand.

I do think Ravnica has enough breadth to hit multiple tones.

Hey, it was my birthday just the other day so I was wondering if I could get some Ral Zarek Lore please

Ral Zarek stated as a planeswalker character we made for a spell-centric deck in the Duels of Planeswalker video game, along with Nissa and Kiora. We later made all three into planeswalker cards.Happy Birthday!

As of midnight, the favorite planeswalker count is:

Vraska 19 Elspeth 18 Tamiyo 17 Sorin 14 Teferi 14 Kaya 13 Ral Zarek 12 Chandra 11 Davriel 11 Angrath 10 Narset 10 Nissa 10 Gideon 9 Ajani 7 Arlinn 7 Karn 7 Liliana 7 Nahiri 7 Saheeli Rai 7 Sarkhan 7 Ashiok 6 Jace 6 Wrenn 6 Teyo 5 Dack Fayden 4 Daretti 4 Koth 4 Calix 3 Grist 3 Huatli 3 Kiora 3 Niko 3 Tezerret 3 Tibalt 3 Urza 3 Venser 3 Basri 2 Children of the Nameless 2 Domri 2 Dovin 2 Garruk 2 Oko 2 Serra 2 Aminatou 1 Commodore Guff 1 Fblthp ;) 1 Kenrith Twins 1 Lord Windgrace 1 Taysir 1 The Unluckiest Planeswalker 1 The Wanderer 1 Tyvar 1 Ugin 1 Vivian 1

FYIThanks for counting this up.

Do you think it's likely the we will see further development with the Gatewatch and their "supporting"characters such as Ral Zarek and Vraska?

Yes.

Ral Zarek seems to have a dragon tattoo on his arm. Is it supposed to be of bolas? Niv? Or just a generic dragon?

I don’t know. I’ll have to ask.

You said every spark is unique in some way. As a bit of trivia, can you tell us what the unique trait of Ral Zarek's spark? (He's kinda my favorite walker)

You’re misunderstanding what I’m saying. It’s not that each planeswalker has a unique ability that no one else has. Each planeswalker’s Spark is unique in how it works for them. There are many factors tied to pkaneswalking - how quick they can planeswalk, how often they can planeswalk, the physical wear on them to planeswalk, their ability to see where others have planeswalked, etc. Each planeswalker has a unique mix of all those variables.

Hey MaRo, I've been able to witness approximately 24 complete orbits around the sun as of midnight. The best bday present I received is the high probability of Ral Zarek's involvement in the upcoming Ravnica sets. Do you have any trivia on him or his card? He's my 2nd favorite planeswalker, but if I ran into him in dreams, I'd tell him he's number one.

Ral Zarek was originally designed as a planeswalker for Duels of the Planeswalkers for a deck that didn’t fit any of the current planeswalkers at the time. Ral went over well enough that we made him a planeswalker card in the game. Happy Birthday!

Getting more female plansewalkers is good, but is it possible that they could leave some room in red for more males? Bolas is the 1st male planeswalker in a non-supplemental set with red in his color since Sarkhan. Meanwhile, we have gotten Arlinn, Nahiri, and Saheeli, and Samut will be in the same set as Bolas. I realize that there are reasons for some of this (werewolf planeswalker, innovation theme, etc.), but lately red feels more heavily weighted towards female planeswalkers.

Male planeswalkers in red with a card (9): Dack FaydenDarettiDomri RadeKothNicol Bolas Ral ZarekSarkhan Vol TibaltXenagos Female planeswalkers in red with a card (5):Arlinn KordChandraNahiriSaheeli RaeSamutCan you see why we might be leaning towards making more female planeswalkers in red?

What kind of an accent does Ral Zarek have?

Um, A Ravnican one.