One of the most underrated developments in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Magic The Gathering in the last few years has been the semi-regular release of cinematic trailers. Accompanying most premier sets, these trailers often bring the world we're about to visit to life in a way cards just can't. They've only been around for a few years, but it's always an exciting time in the run-up to a major release.

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For this list, we're only ranking the trailers released following War of The Spark in 2019. Often animated by Axis Studio, these trailers focus on worldbuilding and showing certain story elements over the older trailer style of putting the card art itself on display. Those trailers were incredibly well-made, but they're not quite the same as what we've been seeing the last few years. Honourable mention should go to , , and trailers, though. They looked incredible.

11 🏅 Strixhaven: School of Mages 𓃲

Welcome to Strixhaven

This was one was such a disappointment. Strixhaven was one of 2021's biggest releases, taking us to the magical university of Strixhaven and introducing us to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:its five colleges. It was a huge event, with five Commander decks tied🍌 into it, a D&D book a few months later, and even a reality show narrated by Sue Perkins that showed that saw celebrities (of a sort) learning to play🧸 Magic.

So instead of taking that gorgeous world Wizards had built and showing us some of the daily life at Strixhaven, or letting us catch up with 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Kenrith twins, we got… 'Welcome to Strixhaven'. A weirdly-animated 2D-puppet-style comedy skit. It's meant to be a parody, full of fourth-wall breaking references and even a couple of instances of swearing, and sometimes it gets a few decent jokes in. But what a waste.

Here is this new, interesting world we're going to spend the next few months in, with one of the strongest visual identities of any set since Ravnica or Tarkir… and Wizards introduces it with an odd, South Park-style thing. It might have ranked a bit higher if it had not been the only trailer we got for this set.

10 Ikoria: Lair of Behemoths 🌸 𓃲

Ikoria Trailer

For a long time, Ikoria's trailer was the infamous one. Much like Strixhaven, Ikoria was a big part of its year's release calendar, taking us to a land where humanity is in a constant struggle against the monsters that roam the land. Playing up kaiji movie themes, Ikoria is a fascinating and brutal plane.

Then the trailer came along. Showing the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Planeswalker Vivien Reid and her flying tiger companion fighting against a huge, intimidating monster. It looked cool, but the strange decisions to have iಌt all set against Bad Reputation by Joan Jett was strike number one.

Strike number two was having Vivien, who is usually a reasonably straight-laced Planeswalker, smirk all the way through the fight like a Dreamworks character. In fact, the two combined lead to many people comparing it to the fight scene from Shrek. It just doesn't fit with the tone of Ikoria, and was a bad way to introduce the world to players.

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9 Zendikar Rising ไ

Zendikar Rising Trailer

There is a lot to applaud the Zendikar Rising trailer for. It was one of the first heavily story-focused trailers to launch after War of the Spark, and showcased Nahiri's brutal self-righteousness to great effect. Showing her and her party Akiri and Zareth venture into the Skyclaves to recover a mysterious artifact built up the adventure tropes at the heart of Zendikar Rising really well.

It also had big shocks in the death of Zareth and the attempted murder of Akiri at the hands of Nahiri. Akiri, in particular, was a big name in previous trips to Zendikar, so players were shocked to see her topple from a Skyclave. What was that artifact Nahiri wanted so bad she'd murder for?

The big letdown of this trailer is its production quality. This was the first time Axis Studio tried to show characters actually talking, but the lip-syncing makes everyone fall from a Skyclave and right into the uncanny valley. The other animations also feel quite stiff too, especially compared to the trailers before it. Maybe this was one of the first Axis produced♚ during the pandemic, with Zendikar Rising launching in September 2020, but it was a rare dip in its usual quality.

8 Kaldheim

Kaldheim Trailer

Kaldheim was the Norse-themed set players had been demanding for years, and the trailer delivers on that in spad𒐪es. With brutal metཧal music, beardy Vikings screaming at each other, and also a look at its otherworldly mythology, the trailer does an excellent job at giving us a full-force blast of what made Kaldheim special.

What it doesn't do as well is tell us the story, which is what it was trying to do. Kaldheim's story was infamously too big to tell in its single set, and many players still aren't quite sure what was going on. The Doomskar was like Ragnarok, Kaya was there, and Tibalt was doing something, and then we were introduced to Niko and Tyvar, and Vorinclex was somehow running around too and… it was a bit of a mess.

The trailer has a valiant attempt at condensing Kaldheim's ten realms and sprawling story into just under two minutes, but you're likely to finish it more confused than when you started. It has a rock-solid aesthetic, though, which counts for a lot.

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7 ෴ Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (Anime Trailer)

NEO ANime

The newest Magic set had not one, but two animated trailers. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty was inspired by Japanese culture, and so it only made sense for Wizards to get an anime studio to produce a trailer. In Attack on Titan and Ranking of Kings' WIT Studio, it got a huge name involved.

The trailer looks stunning and follows the main story of Neon Dynasty as Kaito, The Wanderer and Tamiyo fight against Tezzeret and Jin-Gitaxias. But therein lies the big problem with the trailer: it's a huge, missed opportunity.

You can't throw that gorgeous artwork at us for almost four minutes and not leave us desperately needing more. It's easy to watch the trailer and forget this is for a card game, and the crushing disappointment when you realise a full anime isn't on the way is so, so disappointing. The trailer only gives us a quick recap of the story, when we actually want an entire series by Wit adapting Neon Dynasty.

6 🍸 🤪 Theros: Beyond Death

Beyond Death Trailer

Unlike Kaldheim, which had too much story, Theros: Beyond Death didn't have enough. There was a story planned, of course, but in the backlash to the recently-published War of the Spark novels Wizards decided to pull it. Two years later, Elspeth Tirel is gearing up for an appearance in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Streets of New Capenna and it feels like we'll never know what actually happened in Theros: Beyond Death.

That being said, the trailer is intense. Set in the Theros Underworld, it shows Elspeth fighting against her fate of becoming one of the many nameless souls to pass on. Pulling her golden mask off and rushing to the aid of a child, the sudden shift of tone from 'valiant heroism to being pulled into the depths of the underworld by Ashiok's minions is possibly the scariest thing any trailer has shown so far.

It's just a shame we don't have much context for what's really going on in this scene.

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5 🎀 Innistrad: Crimson Vow

Crimson Vow Trailer

The second Innistrad set of 2021 was camp as hell. Focusing on a decadent vampire wedding that combined luxury and splendor with brutality and bloodthirst, Crimson Vow was brilliant and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:incredibly gay set full of amazing imagery.

The first few seconds of it are brilliant. At first glance, it's a bride and a groom getting ready for their special day, but as you look closer more and more things feel wrong. The slightly too runny blood-red lipstick, the flinch of the groom at the sight of the straight razor, the subtle tears in the eyes of the bride; it all looks the part, but in that tense Innistrad way we love so much.

It's then revealed the 'bride' and the 'groom' are just human playthings for a massive cabal of vampires, lead by one of Innistrad's most powerful, Olivia Voldaren. The voice-over we've been hearing the whole time isn't the bride, but Voldaren's declaration that she will rule Innistrad by any means necessary. It isn't their wedding; it's hers.

It's a cool trailer oozing with the style that made Crimson Vow special, but there's something very flat about it at the same time. The reveal that all the guests are vampires is very wonky (they just… bare their teeth? For no reason?), and with no groom Edgar Markov in sight, nor his grandson Sorin, it's hard to pinpoint when exactly this trailer is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:meant to be happening.

4 ꦅ 🍷 Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty (CG Trailer)

Neon Dynasty Trailer

The second of two trailers for Neon Dynasty was animated by Axis Studio, and it went completely beast mode for it. Instead of telling a story like most trailers, Neon Dynasty's focuses entirely on its cybyerpunk world's sublime aesthetic.

While the story of Neon Dynasty is fantastic, and seeing The Wanderer and Kaito get the screentime they deserve in the anime trailer was great, but let's be honest: it's the world that makes Neon Dynasty so brilliant the glowing cities, cyborg ninjas, and rat biker gangs contribute way more to what will make this set go down as one of the all-time greats, and Axis understood that perfectly.

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3 ✤ Throne of Eldraine 🌟

Eldraine Trailer

Throne of Eldraine was Magic's fairy tale-themed set, full of references of everything from the Golden Goose to Jack and the Beanstalk. It was also the first set to launch after War of the Spark, and had a big job of showing what the multiverse might look like in the aftermath of the war.

Though it's hard to call Throne of Eldraine's trailer 'light-hearted', the tragedy is at a much smaller scale than War of the Spark. A gingerbread couple deeply in love is ripped apart (literally) by a fight between the Planeswalker Garruk and a number of Eldraine's knights. In some ways it feels like Wizards was trying to make lightning strike twice by having a devestating scene alongside popular music, but it's hard not to love what Throne of Eldraine's trailer is going for.

It's an absolutely gorgeous trailer, showing how brilliant an aesthetic Eldraine has. It plays a lot with scale and perspective, putting the fight between the humans in the background as the gingerbread people try to survive the chaos in the room. It's also got a fun little twist, and introduces a character fans have been begging Wizards to bring back as a Planeswalker later on.

2 🌃 Innistrad: Midnight Hunt

Midnight Hunt Trailer

The set might not have been 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:an all-time great, but the trailer for our first of two return trips to Innistrad in 2021 w🔜as amazing.

Instead of showing the main story, the trailer takes a look at one of its side-characters, Jerren. A corrupt and cruel member of the Lunarch council, his religious activities as a Bishop of Sigarda are nothing but a front of the demon worshipping cult-leader he is. Part of his 'charitable acts' was the running of the Heron's Grace Orphanage, where we find ourselves in this trailer.

Midnight Hunt's trailer does an incredible job of setting up the tone of Innistrad for those who missed the last visits years earlier, while also showing how it's adapted since the Eldrazi invasion for those who remember the Shadows Over Innistrad block. Dark and brooding, as you'd expect with any Innistrad set, but with that hint of folkloric mysticism that defines Midnight Hunt.

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