Larkhall Hero changed to Wazani Fameseeker and Wazani Sentry changed to Wazani Sentry. I've decided to add a pair of common Mercenaries to each color outside Green. Each pair are mechanically similar to keep complexity in check. This white pair complements the token generation and go-wide strategies already supported in the color.
Wazani Executioner downshifted to common and changed to Wazani Executioner and Wazani Veteran changed to Wazani Veteran. The red Wazani pair are meant to provide some late-game punch, which the red Contenders can sometimes struggle with. I can foresee tweaking the costs here after some playtesting.
Blood Baroness changed to Underchapel Baroness. Along with Har-Oha and Lykarev on the Contender side, this card joins Wazan, City of Coin with Mercernary build-arounds. I'm interested in supporting this "loose tribal" theme, and I hope it will allow for interesting sealed and draft decisions. I'm also hoping to accentuate Black "life economy" subtheme with this design.
Nightborn Courier changed to Wazani Night Courier. Several of the hybrid common cards are "theme bridge" cards, which serve multiple themes in the set. Making this little guy a bat helps support both Mercenaries along with its existing selfmill functionality. I was inspired to lower the cost of the card by the printing of Stitcher's Supplier in M19.
Individual Card Changes:
Drowned Hope changed to Cove Surge. Blue has suffered from a lack of "signpost" cards to draw people into the color. I'm hoping this tribal card, which is very powerful, will give players a reason to consider playing blue more often.
Plunder Studies changed to Plunder Depths. The evasion granted by the old card was often redundant in blue, and the high price for the card caused it to be cut often from decks. I've repositioned the card as a mild reward for both self-mill and spells-matters decks, while still being a solid late game top deck for any strategy.
Flamevoice Volley upshifted to Uncommon and changed to Concurrent Volley. I needed a rarity upshift so I could downshift Wazani Executioner, and Flamevoice Volley was typically a cruel common. I'm hoping the new uncommon version will retain the same offensive punch while feeling a bit more in-flavor for the residents of Wazan.
Truthseeker changed to Tideborn. Another "theme bridge" change, this allows Merfolk decks to have a few more playables while retaining the card's use in Spirit decks.
Land Changes:
Changed Abernath Cove and the other common duals to be like Abernath Cove. I put these cards in the set before Amonkhet was released, and now the presence of "unkeyworded Cycling" is confusing people. I don't want to bring Cycling to the set as a whole, so I'm replacing the ability with a powered-down version of the checklands. I didn't often see players using the cycling ability, so I don't think this will have a negative impact on play.