charlequin
Banned
Scourge, which is full of the absolute most ridiculous nonsense.
I can't emphasize enough how much this is still better than the post-Exodus Weatherlight Saga, which is deeply insulting to the very craft of writing.
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Magic: the Gathering |OT9| Kaladesh - Cruisin' Down the Street in my 6/4
- Thread starter SigmasonicX
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Scourge, which is full of the absolute most ridiculous nonsense.
I can't emphasize enough how much this is still better than the post-Exodus Weatherlight Saga, which is deeply insulting to the very craft of writing.
Scourge was ridiculous I agree. However Ixidor was a badass dude. Not a planeswalker, but willed his dead wife back to life as an angel. Not an illusion which he makes, a motherfuckin REAL angel
Karona and all that shit was nuts, but the glimpses of other planes and whatnot was awesome.
She makin' the Heart of Kiran brehs. We gonna have a dogfight with Skysovereign. Worth noting that straight up, Skysovereign can kill Heart of Kiran. However, if crewed with the veteran motorist, they both blow each other up in flavor glory
Karona and all that shit was nuts, but the glimpses of other planes and whatnot was awesome.
She makin' the Heart of Kiran brehs. We gonna have a dogfight with Skysovereign. Worth noting that straight up, Skysovereign can kill Heart of Kiran. However, if crewed with the veteran motorist, they both blow each other up in flavor glory
Etrian Oddity
Member
Ashodin, have you figured out a good U/G deck for Kiora yet???
I wanna make U/G Energy a thing with her.
I wanna make U/G Energy a thing with her.
Wulfric
Member
Is it really that bad? It's the kind of thing Sorin would say. I admit it's hard to top the original flavor text.
SigmasonicX
Member
Hmm, what do you guys think of this?
nilhir asked: Hi there, would you consider breaking up Dominaria's continents into different planes, like a reverse Alara or something?
Interesting idea. Long time Question Marks, what do you think of that idea?
Angry Grimace
Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Didn't you read about Gideon's dokidoki in this chapter?
Climax of the sublime apocalypse novel
Living white mana seeking out Yawgmoth, killing him in much the same way engineered plagues do. It's the perfect retaliation from Urza that unfortunately puts him on the same level of Yawgmoth. That he died to make it happen makes the difference between who Urza is vs. Yawgmoth.
Gimme Jamuraa. I need my black africa magic setting again. Visions and Mirage is awesome
Man, I'm with you in theory, but... the idea of Return to Mirage with modern Magic's art direction just makes me kind of sad.
The whole place would seem hollow without that sort of feel.
Train wrecks unfolding are still more entertaining than the dull formulaic writing the current team employs. Elspeth isn't dead because of plot armor. Ugin isn't dead because of time travel. The Eldrazi aren't dead because they can't truly die. Sorin isn't dead because of plot armor. There are literally no consequences.
Wulfric
Member
When did WotC start designing sets with limited in mind? We have 8 packs left for a chaos draft set and want something that is 1) fun to open and 2) <$15 a pack. I think the GP should be a good place to grab the last boosters, since the oldest set available in town is DKA.
So far we got:
I'm leaning towards Innistrad, Future Sight, and one of the all-foil Alara packs. Beyond that I'm open to suggestions.
So far we got:
I'm leaning towards Innistrad, Future Sight, and one of the all-foil Alara packs. Beyond that I'm open to suggestions.
I dont see the point.
Characters dying isn't the only way to show consequence. Characters, and their worlds, changing is typically more interesting. Simply killing off Elspeth is a lot more boring than fundamentally changing her identity.
Ugin was only killed for the purpose of bringing him back. By the time we knew he was dead, it was already clear that the plan was to Marty McFly him back to life and doing so had a huge effect on Tarkir.
We don't know the extent of Elspeth's 'death' yet. She could become a returned like Daxos and lose her identity, or something else could happen that's even more drastic.
Ulamog and Kozilek are dead as far as we know. Sure, they might end up coming back, but I'm guessing, more likely, when we see the Eldrazi again (which won't be a for a long, long time), we'll get new titans to replace them, rather than seeing them resurrected.
Avacyn, Gisela and Bruna are dead and Olivia is now the new 'Lord' of Innistrad. Sure, Sorin's not technically dead, but everything he's worked towards, in regards to Innistrad, has basically been undone. He also doesn't really have much of a role in the story anymore beyond his feud with Nahiri.
I'd imagine we'll likely see Yahenni die toward the end of this block's story.
Odds are, the five main Gatewatch members will, unfortunately, remain pretty stagnant, but they've shown a willingness to have other characters go through pretty big changes. Garruk and Avacyn are the recent examples that come to mind.
[EDIT]
I'm pretty sure Mirage was the first set designed with booster draft in mind. That said, we do a Wacky/Chaos Draft every month and I've found that, often, most pre-Mirrodin packs are pretty weak for limited by modern-day standards. So many creatures are well-below curve and a lot of the removal tends to super-situational.
That said, I did once win a match off the back of Bloodfire Infusion.
Yeah, anything pre Mirrodin is straight up bad for limited play. You had abominations like Urza's Saga, where black was so powerful and so deep you could have 4 people on a table go into it and still have two black decks in the finals. Or Mercadian Masques, where the colours were ridiculously unbalanced and the set mechanics resulted in completely one sided events.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Scourge wasn't removed from canon, it's like purifying fire hazy in nature. Jeska definitely was Karona and and she or Teferi remark in the time spiral books that people say they talked to each other which they deny for instance.
Wulfric
Member
Thanks, I think I'll stick with original Ravnica as the oldest block. The other day I suggested drafting Ice Age and that got shut down pretty darn quick lol.
TheBlackMarvel
Member
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
sunforger + reiterate buyback, CA in boros is hard.
My thoughts on these predictions:
- Elspeth comes back as the defacto black/white 'walker replacing Sorin. She will retain her token creature making ability but get something else besides creature buffing since that's more Ajani's thing now and they will also need to showcase what's different about her
- Ulamog and Kozilek are dead, full stop, but replacing them was telegraphed with Brisela and its similarities to Ulamog. Eventually, the two titans will be replaced with some kind of equivalent threats, when they decide to do the Eldrazi thing again
- Sorin's on ice until he fits in and he somehow gets freed. He isn't limited to his story with Nahiri, though of course that will come up when he returns. I have no doubt we'll see him again.
- Yahenni is almost certainly going to die a noble death of some sort
- The Gatewatch are pretty boring, and they will likely stay that way for a long time. It's by design. Rosewater loves the idea of them being like a team of superheroes, and he loves the idea that there are characters that are the constant focal point because people who dip out can dip back in and immediately know who they are. It's not bad from a marketing standpoint, it's just surrounded by uninspired storytelling, memes aside. If they're going to take the comics route, they need to eventually break a few eggs and have the characters actually go into some sort of conflict with each other once in a while. Right now there's absolutely no lasting drama, or actual arc to the characters. Having characters like Garruk around is great... if they actually come around. The two and three color characters have greater depth of personality (surprise surprise) and more nuance as characters, as the Gatewatch have been stuffed into the mono-color box to a fault. Hopefully this is just growing pains, but I honestly feel like this is what they're going for.
Except for Avacyn.
Avacyn represented change on Innistrad, so she had to go.
Simply Sarah
Member
What's the point? Most early sets and blocks were set on a single continent or area. The only reason you'd 'need' to split them up is to make every visit to one have a plane threatening event that couldn't be limited to a specific area. Heck, even that isn't a good reason. The only real value to doing that would be to make the parts of Dominaria fit into "every plane needs to have an explicit theme that we can beat into your head" nonsense.
I agree they've not done a great job setting up any sort of arc for most of them except the whole Nissa "I want to learn to actually have some level of personality" thing. Related, I feel like one of the biggest issues has been that they just haven't given the characters room to breath. It feels like when they're writing about side characters they let them have thoughts and feelings and goals and personalities since those stories tend to be world building, but when writing about the Gatewatch it almost always is for pushing the plot forward and that's when they tend to be at their most flat. Like, the first Kaladesh story was more setup and, regardless of what you may think of the characterization in it, at least let the members of the Gatewatch act as people for a while.
There's glimmers of good stuff. But like, we really don't know much about Saheeli. I'd love to get more stories about her, and learn about her motivations or who she is. What her role in Kaladesh is. Deliver me the story of the world through the characters already there. Show me it's beautiful by bringing me there through the characters that area already there instead of having Gideon tell me it's beautiful via thought. You can insert your main characters and still develop others.
Simply Sarah
Member
I'd actually say part of the issue is that there isn't enough story. With about 8 per set now you have maybe 2-3 which are more pure world building/focus on a side character and the rest just end up pushing through the rest of the story. Combine that with them having felt the need to insert the entire Gatewatch and there's just only so many characters that can get screen time.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Member how Saheeli is the poster child of Kaladesh? I think there's even a post where mark says she's the main character.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Gideon is supposed to have been retconned brown and Ajani is a cat, a white cat but the thought counts. Saheeli is indian and didn't get much screentime of course.
Chandra, Lili and Nissa are almost blindingly white though
Etrian Oddity
Member
Member when we got a Werewolf planeswalker that didn't get any story attention at all?
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Oh yeah the one visibly middle aged lady among all PWs
I could agree with this.
Arlinn featured prominently in two of the stories: one that first introduced her and one that went over her backstory.
Infinite Stars
Member
Don't forget Jace! After all, we can't have the GateWhite without our resident "I'm so smart" Blue mage.
All in favor of Koth replacing Chandra? /s
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Jace is regular white hence I left him out but the other 3 you go blind if you stare at them directly.
I know you said /s but honestly, I'd love if Chandra did something "impulsive" and ran after some enemy into a portal and we didn't see her for like 2 years, leaving an opening for Koth to come on board.
TheBlackMarvel
Member
I was thinking about this the other day, especially in regards to a Magic movie. Not a good look.
Infinite Stars
Member
I'd be totally fine with it, I was mainly saying /s because Chandra's not going to leave. Koth's one card has a distinct identity vs Chandra's spastic identity.
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
Fucking Bolas' goblin face. That's not how a dragon should look.
What's Atlazan?
What's Atlazan?
Oh wow, huge leak if real. I'm very down for an Atlantis plane.
Lazy vs Crazy
Member
Wait they are calling the Atlantis plane Atlazan?
A bit on the nose there.
A bit on the nose there.
TheBlackMarvel
Member
Anyone else getting an "Inca/Aztek" vibe from Atlazan?
Familienoberhauptvogel
Banned
That gotta mean merfolk. Been too long since we got a new piece. Selfless Spirit and Spell Queller should both have been fish.
Yeah, looks like Atlantis and Meso American Civs together.
No spirits > merfolk
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