To note. Maro said the specific dates aren’t accurate here but the order they release in is

https://www.tumblr.com/markrosewater/724916284205219840/bloomburrow-and-duskmourn-were-both-mentioned-as

But Standard legal is literally the definition of a Premier Set. They literally just changed the name of “Standard Set” to “Premier Set” its the same concept. Now as standard becomes less popular standard legality becomes less important and we are starting to see “supplemental” sets be treated with major focus, but in a world where MH2 and LOTR are the two best selling sets I think that shift was inevitable.

Also we wanted battles to (mostly) replace planeswalkers going forward That’s clearly not true because they explicitly said they were gonna see the feedback from the Battles before going all on with them .

Weren’t the old Urza sets such a disaster for magic they almost killed the game and got R&D threatened with being fired?

There aren’t any UB premier sets. There never have been and none of have been announced.

Redwall, Guardians of Gahoole, Warrior Cats, Secrets of Nimh, An American Tale, Zootopia Rango…

The “Talking Animal setting” has been done a bunch. Which is fine. There hasn’t been a single “original” set concept in magic. Even the most out there settings like Mercadia or Phyrexia are made by mixing other pre existing tropes and concepts. Same as all art.

How are the sets “Tv show names?” Or at least anymore so than sets like “Shadows Over Innistrad” or “Aether Revolt?”

As if people haven’t been asking for a western set for over a decade…

I disagree that it is “ham-fisted.” Maybe you could argue that about past top downs sets (Gothic Horror World, Greek Myth World, Ancient Egypt World etc). But I think MTG is really broadening the tropes they are using. “70s and 80s horror, but it’s in a universe-sized mansion” isn’t exactly low-hanging fruit. The most “obvious” of these planes is Thunder Junction and even that is built around a multiverse angle that isn’t common in westerns (and I’m not familiar with many Westerns that have magic rayblasters as part of the aesthetic). Looking at this, and future sets in the lineup, I think we are seeing top-down sets move from just “This is a campaign setting based around this genre” and more “This set is this specific type of story.” So we don’t get a “Murder Mystery world” we get a Murder Mystery set on Ravnica. There isn’t a “race world” but a set designed around a race held on three existing planes. I like that technique. And hey , it’s not like the Innistrad Trope world sets are stale either. Space Opera is something both generally liked and a new frontier of design space for Magic. I’m not buying any of these products, but that’s because I am boycotting Hasbro for their exploitative business practices, discriminatory operators, and abuses of employees. The actual game design seems pretty good for the most part.