Hi! Spruke here from Tha Gatherin’. While Tha Gatherin' is currently between releases, sometimes something comes along that I can't ignore and that just immediately demands a track from the musician in me. Return to Ravnica was such an inspiration. From the minute cards started being spoiled, I knew it was something special, and something clicked—what makes for good structure of a set can also make for good structure for a track. Five guilds with their own keywords and unique attitudes? That could lend itself to a track split into five verses with a unique beat for each guild and a different attitude for every section.

My favorite thing about Tha Gatherin’ tracks is how they just really give me an outlet to show my passion for all the cool things about this game from all its different angles: art, flavor text, playability, format power level, and culture of the community. These are all things I can take into account to complete a rhyme and fill out a verse, and Ravnica is so rich in flavor that I was able to reference everything about the set at some point in the rap. For the guild beats, I went with a sci-fi, very techno, very synthesized beat for Izzet, as I imagine their wacky chemisters would want it; a string-quartet, chamber-music beat for the Azorius, to reflect their stately and official demeanor; a ghoulish, creepy, spreading exotic beat for the Golgari to reflect their grimy decay; a tribal beat with echoes of The Lion King to evoke the Selesnya's love of nature; and of course, some good, old fashioned death metal for the Rakdos. I hope you have as much fun listening to Return to Rapvica as I did making it!

Click to view the track in iTunes.