Cephalids’ new look from New Capenna. What everybody thinks of it?
Posted Mar 29, 2022, 4:17 PM UTC
188120
not a fan, wish everything didnt have to become more anthropomorphized before they print more of them
104
Was eager to see Cephalids, in the same way different races look different plane depending (Kamigawa Snakes vs Naga in general like)
But these honestly look more like poisonous-fish Merfolk, and vaguely like Compleated Taimyo. They don't stand out to me as a good design to communicate Cephalid
67
I just wish they would print more nonhumanoid Planeswalkers. There is such a wide design space and so many are just human or essentially human with a different shade of skin. One of the many reasons why [[Grist, the Hunger Tide]] was such a cool design.
23
I’m so tired of humanoids in the story.
7
Grist, the Hunger Tide - (G) (SF) (txt)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
6
Thank you !
5
Remember the Man Slivers? shudders
4
Yeah, that was a bad decision with a couple bad explanations.
2
I have no deep knowledge of Duel Masters, but one thing I really like about that game is how out there many of the creature designs are. One of the main factions is basically a post-humanist society of floating orbs and giant mechs. Sometimes I wish MtG would lean a bit more towards those kind of cool, but wild designs.
2
Duel Masters
The aesthetic you mentioned was abandoned in favour of an endless tide of humans, dragons, mechs, and varying combinations of the three more than a decade ago.
1
[deleted]
1
Once again I'm baffled.
It's a great look, don't get me wrong, I kind of love them.
But why did they make them Cephalids instead of Merfolk, or something new? There was a small minority of people who wanted a return of Cephalids (I was for it), and just like the larger minority that wanted a return of Slivers - this is not what they asked for.
(I forgot about the snakes on Kamigawa. Another absurd change.)
Did they learn nothing? They made this exact mistake already. Like I honestly want to know if they have amnesia, or if they're doing this stuff on purpose?
Why waste a great design by trying to appease people with a very specific desire that you've now completely ruined. We have raccoon people, rhino people, elephant people, phyrexians and horrors and aetherborn and slivers and eldrazi -- but cephalids that look like the creature they're named after is pushing things too far. They must be human-ized, heaven forbid a more alien, non-humanoid design that lets a race stand out and be interesting gets some screen time, can't have that.
Just baffling.
61
Due to them having no bones and thus being able to get in and out of tight spaces (confirmed by today's story), it seems to be for "spy flavor" reasons because Obscura.
11
Which is great. It doesn’t change the fact they didn’t need to be just fancy humans, though, you know? Squid people that look like squid people could fit in tight spaces and all that.
14
And if they're going for "master of disguise"...shapeshifters?
1
What... what are those? Slivers all over again...
48
That was my first thought. Holycrap no way in hell this thing is a Cephalid.
disheartening.
Why bring back exclusive races of old just to disfigure them. There are plenty of places and worlds dominated by humans, we don't need more of that BS. If I wanted to see another person I could just go outside and meet my friends.
homunculi, homarid, zuberas.
12
Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/what-you-expect-see-2022-03-29
Personally, I like the aesthetics but that doesn’t really scream Cephalid to me....
Also, I find the presence of Cephalids quite weird in a Mafia Art Deco City run by demon families (some of them looking like Birds, Cats and sphinxes...even raccoons are appearing!).
On a more general note, It’s not like I don’t like the pictures released so far but Capenna is giving me a weird Zoo-like vibe so far...
32
I mean, considering the history of cephalids in magic it isn’t really surprising… Magic’s most well known cephalids were a political drama, after all.
7
What? Why?
1
Odyssey. The cephalid royalty split. Two kingdoms fighting underwater.
2
Aah okay, the drama was in story, not from the community.
1
It feels like in faction sets, they push the racial diversity on the plane, to emphasize the social boundaries are drawn around the factions rather than species, although species still plays upon internal politics or organization.
Ravnica, Tarkir, and Strixhaven are all relatively high-diversity planes. The dramatic splash art for the Tarkir and Strixhaven factions (the Ascendancy cycle like [[Jeskai Ascendancy]] and the Command cycle like [[Lorehold Command]]) especially emphasize this.
6
Jeskai Ascendancy - (G) (SF) (txt)
Lorehold Command - (G) (SF) (txt)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
1
First Mirrodin's Goblins, then Slivers, Kamigawa's Snakefolk... How many times does WotC have to reinvent an established race before they learn that fans don't want this?
There's nothing inherently wrong with the design. The mistake is very clearly telling us Cephalids are coming back and then giving us this. What a bonehead move.
32
To be honest, Goblins I think are fine to reinvent on different Planes. There's been a bit of variety in Goblinoid design throughout MtG history even in the early days, so it's not like they're breaking from a long held depiction and saying "This is a goblin for some reason". It adds to the "Just can't get rid of them" nature of Goblins - in every Plane, no matter the environment, there is a Goblin. They're not all the same, but they're always Goblins.
This I would not even notice the Cephalidness, and if you pointed out the webbed hands I would assume Merfolk.
6
LotusEaterClub is complaining about them reinventing the goblins on the same plane, Mirrodin. They used to look a certain way, and then they suddenly looked like goblins from another plane for no reason.
2
Don't forget the goblins on Zendikar who suddenly got new heads in Battle for Zendikar
3
I think the goblins were a good change. Like the original goblins were boring and vaguely antisemetic. The new mirrodin goblins have personality, are original, and don’t look vaguely antiemetic. But I agree w the rest of those. Like w the slivers snake folk and cephalids the change has done the opposite, make them less original and given them less personality
1
Incidentally I agree that the new design for Mirrodin goblins is better than the original, but I would enjoy them more if they were introduced as a unique variation of goblins on a different plane. Generally speaking I want the design of races to stay faithful to what's been established for a given plane; it makes return visits more coherent.
1
Should have just called them squids
1
Ah yes, related to cephalopods. Very octopus/squid/cuttlefish/nautilus-like indeed
FFS what a waste of a cool design and species
25
Back in Odyssey, Cephalids discriminated and pitied Merfolk for their humanoid form.
Look at them now, it's like WOTC doesn't even remember what lore they established on them. I'm sad and angry.
20
Different plane and history for these Cephalids.
7
Yes, they didn't have to look down on Merfolk this time. But at least let them keep the Cephalopod features. This artwork looks more like a Merfolk.
7
The amount of players here simply forgeting that veldaken exist and calling this anywhere similar to merfolk is just baffling to me.
1
Vedalken aren't aquatic creatures, they don't have webed fingers or slimy skin like the one pictured.
1
It looks like across between merfolk and Cephalopod with a touch of D&D Genasi.
1
I’m literally not seeing how it looks like a Cephalid
3
It looks like someone tried to draw a Vedalken from memory
18
I thought it was a Vedalken at first, just New Capenna’s version.
10
Show me some legs. If it’s two, then I’m not on board. But if it’s tentacles all the way down, then hell yea.
18
SHOW FEET, OR HOPEFULLY NOT
2
They just look like Merfolk of a different flavor. I want my squid people back.
10
There may be a mechanical reason they didn’t want these creatures to be merfolk. I like the design, and think the old ones look dumb, personally.
-1
As a huge tribal player and self-proclaimed expert, very excited to see what the Cephalid bring to the table, even if there are only one or two in the set. It’s been far too long since we’ve seen these creatures and I hope that they can meld well with their predecessors in some sort of tribal deck.
10
That is…a take I guess.
9
BORING!
8
They bring back the squid people but remove the tentacles?
Tf?
8
The tentacles are on their heads.
0
Booooring. What are their huge human torsos, arms and legs there for? They should be molded tentacles too
2
They bring back the squid people but remove the tentacles?
Tf?
6
They still have tentacles on their head.
1
Booo, if they can just put on a hat and they turn into merfolk, then they're not really cephalids
1
Boo! Bring back the Octopus people!
6
Why? I was so happy to hear they were in this set, but this is disappointing. My dream of octo tribal is slipping away
6
"Cephalids are back!"
"Yay!"
"Because we just made them glowing blue humans!"
"Damn it!"
6
Dark blue Vedalken with webbed fingers
2
Did they take the legs from the Orochi just to give them to the Cephalid?
It reminds me a lot of the change the Mirrodin vedalken went through.
5
I would have been entirely willing to accept this design as a new take on Merfolk.
Cephalid, however, this is not.
These are clearly Lionfish Merfolk than anything
We already have a lionfish merfolk [[Prime Speaker Zegana]]
Prime Speaker Zegana - (G) (SF) (txt)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
How is this more a distinct design from other mermaids than the cephalids are from other mermaids?
Exactly, I thought it was merfolk at first. Than I remembered Cephalids were spoilt by MaRo’s teaser.
It's because the tentacle hair is hidden by the hat. It looks like the old-fashioned "ringlets" style. They have no bones and three hearts in the story, so I guess they were chosen for spy flavor?
My issue is, if they have no bones, why do they have a well-defined jawline and segmented fingers?
Shrugs in "They never explained that in the new stories"
Omg that's so annoying now thst you've pointed it out!