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I still wonder if Ugin will actually be upset about what's happened on Tarkir. As many people have stated he wants balance. Well, whats more unbalanced than the extinction of dragons like in the KTK-reality? The dragons didnt cause humanoid extinction in DTK. they just rule the land. Seems more "balanced" to me. Who knows though.. Maybe Ugin didnt want either to be subjugated. I am very interested in seeing the Ugin part of this story getting fleshed out.
It is quite well written. The girl who wrote this and last week's UR has talent.
But whatever. Your choice.
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i have too many thoughts about this weeks article to write them all down. but I get the feeling some people were thinking because history was being rewritten in fall of the khans that mean a,b,c, and x,y,z, with regards to the dragons or Ojutai in particular when only a,b,c were true. or heck maybe only a was true and the rest was only in peoples minds because our own history.
always glad for a new blue walker but I was really holding out hope for lavinia for no real reason other than I love her to death.
That's your prerogative of course. Keep in mind though, Avatar: the Last Airbender can be summed up thusly: "The kung fu Dahli Lama and his eskimo pals fight Luke Skywalker and his army of evil arsonists with shoulder pads." That sounds pretty lame too.
But if you're already negatively predisposed to the character I will not attempt to dissuade you further.
Me personally, I'd still like something from the Dragon's points of view to see how they feel about their new subjects.
I apologize for any errors I've made - I don't have a clear memory of the exact details of some of these aspects, so thanks for clearing the up, so I can refine what I think happened.
Actually, since it's a map TO Zendikar, it establishes that whoever wrote the scroll must more or less be a planeswalker and since pretty much only planeswalkers would draw maps to planes, the map and manual together must be intentional. Although I wonder why would Nahiri need a map to Zendikar if she's definitely capable of returning to Zendikar without any issues - I would actually think Sorin would need the map more, relatively speaking.
Well, there's a bit of a catch 22 because sorin apparently erased the memories of how to GET there from the planeswalkers involved. That little tidbit was in the Teeth of Akoum.
EDIT: Actually being part of a set seems to imply the writer's interest at artifacts/knowledge of power
Well, in fairness, we really don't have any clue what is on the rest of those scrolls.
You guys called it: Narset is indeed a Planeswalker. and She did indeed stumble across the old scrolls. Nice call on those.
I'm just glad everyone can seem to accept the fact that it isn't the Narset from Khans and she in fact DIED back then. That was the biggest problem I had, is the thought she'd somehow be the same person.
So, am I the only one who, when faced with what appears to be such a drastic change in Ojutai's character there at the end, and the way Narset describes how she suddenly feels capable of letting go, feels like maybe Ojutai hasn't actually changed all that much, and decided to mess with her head and get her out of the way?
Like, think of it this way. Say Ojutai is actually the despotic big brother figure we all got the impression he was when he took over. Say he learns of Narset finding and reading the scrolls. Well, Ojutai's main goal is to keep things in his brood peaceful and status quo yes? So obviously he can't have someone like Narset with that knowledge in her head, especially if fidget-y, doesn't-like-to-be-walled-in Narset decides that the Great Teacher has done his students a disservice by teaching them lies. She might hang around and start making a nuisance of herself. So Ojutai goes and sees her to deal with the problem. But as he does so, he has a quick read of her mind. Turns out she's conflicted, about herself, and him, and just about everything. Not to mention, she seems capable of traveling to other worlds, which Ojutai might or might not recognize as something Ugin used to do before the whole hedron cocoon thing. So, while Ojutai could always try and just eradicate Narset, and deal with the problem directly and permanently, he instead forgoes the violent approach and selects a more manipulative, W/U option. He puts on a facade of being okay with everything Narset has done, and gives her mind a little nudge. Narset suddenly finds herself at peace, and planeswalks away, conveniently taking all of her potentially dangerous knowledge away with her, while also keeping her on good terms with Ojutai should she ever return.
This is all conjecture, of course, but something like this being true makes more sense in my head than such a drastic change in Ojutai's character. Silumgar doesn't seem to have changed overmuch during the intervening time so I don't really know that I accept the idea of Ojutai's opinions shifting like they seem to have.
I'd thought of that myself. Ojutai could actually be having dark thoughts of Narset being either so utterly distracted by all those new worlds that she won't come back for quite some time, or she'd actually get killed by something in those other worlds (and with places like Zendikar, Muraganda, and the Jund portion of Alara...). Either way, she's out of the picture with a minimum of fuss or show. And since, according to Arashin Sovereign, the Ojutai order has to deal with rebellions every now and again, Ojutai probably isn't interested in setting off yet another uprising.
Anyway, let's see all of the other planes we know of, that Narset could end up on (assuming she doesn't end up on an entirely new plane, or someplace we've only seen in Planechase like Belenon):
--Dominaria
--(what's left of) Old Phyrexia
--Ulgrotha
--Mercadia
--Rabiah
--Equilor
--New Phyrexia
--Kamigawa
--Ravnica
--Lorwyn
--Alara
--Zendikar
--Innistrad
--Theros
--Shandalar
Thoughts on the best place to end up that will give her a better sense of how to regard Ojutai the Manipulative? Keep in mind she has to be able to get out alive, which may preclude New Phyrexia outright...
I still wonder if Ugin will actually be upset about what's happened on Tarkir. As many people have stated he wants balance. Well, whats more unbalanced than the extinction of dragons like in the KTK-reality? The dragons didnt cause humanoid extinction in DTK. they just rule the land. Seems more "balanced" to me. Who knows though.. Maybe Ugin didnt want either to be subjugated. I am very interested in seeing the Ugin part of this story getting fleshed out.
Hmm I'd be very surprized if he goes on some crazy dragon purge. Him waking up will probably normalize the dragon storms and the world will slowly go back into balance
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Thoughts on the best place to end up that will give her a better sense of how to regard Ojutai the Manipulative? Keep in mind she has to be able to get out alive, which may preclude New Phyrexia outright...
I'd say Ravnica and have her run into Niv-Mizzet. Having her talk to a dragon who is most likely far, far older than Ojutai would be interesting.
I still wonder if Ugin will actually be upset about what's happened on Tarkir. As many people have stated he wants balance. Well, whats more unbalanced than the extinction of dragons like in the KTK-reality? The dragons didnt cause humanoid extinction in DTK. they just rule the land. Seems more "balanced" to me. Who knows though.. Maybe Ugin didnt want either to be subjugated. I am very interested in seeing the Ugin part of this story getting fleshed out.
Hmm I'd be very surprized if he goes on some crazy dragon purge. Him waking up will probably normalize the dragon storms and the world will slowly go back into balance
Don't forget, though, that he'll suddenly be a lot weaker than before, on account of the Mending. He might no longer be able to wrest control of all the tempests back. He may need to look for outside aid--and not just Vol and Narset. In other words, don't expect any headway of any real magnitude until we get a "Return to Tarkir" block dyad.
Well he is probably an elder dragon *I know its not confirmed and no I dont mean the tarkir version which is basically just old dragon* and as such he would still be stupid powerful. Anyways he never controlled the dragon tempest in the first place they just happened.
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SonofaBith - Wizards was so excited about making the packaging for Modern Masters 2 recyclable, they decided to make most of the rares and all but 1 of the UC's recycle-bin ready too. Convenient!
They happened in his wake, were caused by him, and were closely tied to him and his well being: whend he "died", they stopped existing, and he could call all the Dragons of the plane to help him against Bolas.
Have anyone noticed that the scroll cracked in the middle of Narset's Ascension. The details of the damage was not stated however it appears that it is Narset's word against Ojutai regarding this fact.
Even though Taigam managed to find out what is narset is doing, is Ojutai's telepathy two way?
This is just speculation but from Narset's point of view, Sarkhan would probably be a creepy stalker if he ever found her (Zurgo and the others do not recognize Sarkhan and they do not have tarkir 1.0 memories).
The fire in the background of the Narset Trancendant does appear to symbolize the red mana that was left behind.
It appears that Dragonspeaker (as seen in the KTK card) is now a title for those who translate for dragons.
What exactly did Narset let go of? Was it the plane?
I liked this weeks Uncharted Realms, but Narset felt very Red to me. She seeks knowledge, but seemed very impulsive. I guess I interpreted it wrong?
I believe a character's colour is not determined by what they are, but by what they value. Narset wants knowledge primarily and guidance secondarily. I think it fits squarely into Uw, there is no red needed, because she doesn't value her impulses so much, she sees them more as a flaw.
Speaking of which, I'm surprised nobody else brought this up yet, but don't you think Narset as a person has a severe case of ADHD? I wonder if it's intentional, but seeing that we recently got Alesha, who also does not conform to "perceived social standards" I like to think it is.
I don't think Narset went ANYWHERE at all. It said she was about to but then pulled herself back. She didn't go. Like lingering at the entrance of a room but not actually going in.
But it would be interseting to theorize, where would Narset go instinctivly? The plane has to embody seeking of knowledge, I don't think the plane has to be red, because think about it, just by GOING into another plane Narset would be red, as she'd be breaking the rules of her world. As such the Plane in my opinion would be a blue/white one. Or atleast one that lends itself to it.
The idea that she would go to Ravnica and have a chat with Mizzet makes sense, because that would both satisfy her need of finding knowledge, and put into perspective how not-that-old-and-powerful Ojutai is, being only 1.2K old or so. Then again, we don't know how old he is, we know he is atleast 1.2K, but Mizzet is 25K years old, so I'm thinking he's older.
At the very end of the story, after Ojutai exhorts her to seek further knowledge and enlightenment, it says that she "let go". The implication is that she let go of her need to stay on Tarkir and planeswalked.
And although we've been talking about a good place for her to end up while planeswalking, I wonder also about which of the known planeswalkers (besides Venser, Xenagos, and Elspeth, for obvious reasons) she should meet first, ideally.
Well, okay, she really should hope it's not Bolas, Ashiok, or Garruk she meets first...
Well unlike Jace she can fight so she might at least be able to escape Garruk if not outright win. I'm still voting for Tamiyo as her first meet up if not Sarkhan. Also, I don't think she has ADHD necessarily. It's not that she has trouble concentrating much, her training with Ojutai demonstrates that. Rather it seems she's too smart and too easily bored by the mundane. She loved spell casting because there was so much to keep track of. If that desire to constantly have things to keep track of to stay focused is an aspect of ADHD (and it may very well be, I don't claim to be an expert on the subject) it's not one I've ever heard associated with it.
Also, I like the interpretations of Ojutai manipulating Narset slightly. It's cool. Not my personal favorite interpretation but definitely not a bad one.
As for her first planeswalk I would think either Ravnica (for the Niv Mizzet thing and because her meeting the Boros, Azorius, and Izzet would be hysterical) but also I'm going throw my hat into the ring for Kamigawa.
(And I forgot the other three planeswalkers most likely to be dangerous for a neophyte like Narset to meet--Lilianna, Zarek, and Tibalt. Maybe Vraska, but I don't see Narset registering on Vraska's radar.)
Hmmmm. So not ADHD but autism (possibly high functioning Aspergers or something similar) You know, that's kind of cool in it's own way.
So this block we've got a trans character and one on the autistic spectrum. Hmmmmmm. Good job to the author. I'd have never hit on that.
I think that might have been reading into it a bit too much, but Death of the Author and everything.
But even then, I really don't want to open this can of worms considering how the Alesha stuff went, so can we drop that please?
But it would be interseting to theorize, where would Narset go instinctivly? The plane has to embody seeking of knowledge, I don't think the plane has to be red, because think about it, just by GOING into another plane Narset would be red, as she'd be breaking the rules of her world. As such the Plane in my opinion would be a blue/white one. Or atleast one that lends itself to it.
There is an intrinsic problem with making the assumption that the place a walker ends up instinctively HAS to correlate with their subconscious in some fashion. There's enough there that maybe you can talk about it, but there's also a LOT of proof contrary from the annals of history.
So yeah, I don't think we should really speculate because it goes a step further than just speculation, but assumes something that isn't even necessarily true.
Well, I wouldn't deem autism as touchy a subject as gender identity, but I'll grant your point nonetheless...
I know perfectly well that the first plane, speaking in terms of probability, isn't necessarily going to be the kind of learning experience Narset needs. For every Kamigawa and Ravnica, there's also a Mercadia (comparatively placid, although who knows what she could get from the Ramosian tradition) and a Muraganda (and as I mentioned before, a Muraganda may just be what Ojutai's best-case scenario is). But I'm thinking in terms of popular fiction tendencies. I suppose that at least, Kamigawa or Ravnica is likely to be the first place Narset visits that gets lots of narrative attention. Emphasis on "likely".
Although...this all calls up another question--When, in relation to Vol's reappearance in Tarkir 1.1, did Narset planeswalk? No matter how his meeting with Ugin goes, Vol's probably going to be a...well, not a wreck, certainly, but still nervous...about the fate of his first real friend, version update or no. Maybe Ugin sensed her first planeswalk from within the hedron mantle; we probably won't find out until one or two weeks from now (depends on when the Planeswalkers' Guide goes up). Given the nature of Ojutai's prodding, it will probably be months at least until Narset even thinks to come back, barring anything that makes her realize that Ojutai was manipulating her. There's knowledge in them thar planes!
(I'm still a little surprised, by the way, that my 1.0/1.1 terminology took off so thoroughly. Either I wasn't the only one who came up with it, or it really resonated with the commentators. Especially since I haven't seen anyone speak of 1.0/2.0, instead. Didn't think I'd make that sort of terminological impact...)
So autism it is, and not ADHD, my bad. Anyway, I for one welcome the variety of different characters we get. Makes the Magic universe feel much more real than if they just kept using your typical fantasy archetypes.
Hmmmm. So not ADHD but autism (possibly high functioning Aspergers or something similar) You know, that's kind of cool in it's own way.
So this block we've got a trans character and one on the autistic spectrum. Hmmmmmm. Good job to the author. I'd have never hit on that.
I think that might have been reading into it a bit too much, but Death of the Author and everything.
But even then, I really don't want to open this can of worms considering how the Alesha stuff went, so can we drop that please?
Yes, let's stifle the potential for a completely civil conversation, because some idiots may barge in making insane or even insulting claims and when people respond to that, it's suddenly a can of worms.
Let's punish everyone instead of just the idiots! \o/
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Speaking of which, I'm surprised nobody else brought this up yet, but don't you think Narset as a person has a severe case of ADHD? I wonder if it's intentional, but seeing that we recently got Alesha, who also does not conform to "perceived social standards" I like to think it is.
I think she's pretty clearly autistic. She studies the way apples are stacked and feels there is a rule everyone should follow regarding it, highly sensitive to stiumuli, frustrated by people's actions, forms few close personal attachments.
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Now to wait for next week's.
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Well, so does your post.
It is quite well written. The girl who wrote this and last week's UR has talent.
But whatever. Your choice.
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Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
always glad for a new blue walker but I was really holding out hope for lavinia for no real reason other than I love her to death.
But if you're already negatively predisposed to the character I will not attempt to dissuade you further.
Me personally, I'd still like something from the Dragon's points of view to see how they feel about their new subjects.
Well, in fairness, we really don't have any clue what is on the rest of those scrolls.
I'm just glad everyone can seem to accept the fact that it isn't the Narset from Khans and she in fact DIED back then. That was the biggest problem I had, is the thought she'd somehow be the same person.
The Myojin most DEFINITELY have their own agendas.
Like, think of it this way. Say Ojutai is actually the despotic big brother figure we all got the impression he was when he took over. Say he learns of Narset finding and reading the scrolls. Well, Ojutai's main goal is to keep things in his brood peaceful and status quo yes? So obviously he can't have someone like Narset with that knowledge in her head, especially if fidget-y, doesn't-like-to-be-walled-in Narset decides that the Great Teacher has done his students a disservice by teaching them lies. She might hang around and start making a nuisance of herself. So Ojutai goes and sees her to deal with the problem. But as he does so, he has a quick read of her mind. Turns out she's conflicted, about herself, and him, and just about everything. Not to mention, she seems capable of traveling to other worlds, which Ojutai might or might not recognize as something Ugin used to do before the whole hedron cocoon thing. So, while Ojutai could always try and just eradicate Narset, and deal with the problem directly and permanently, he instead forgoes the violent approach and selects a more manipulative, W/U option. He puts on a facade of being okay with everything Narset has done, and gives her mind a little nudge. Narset suddenly finds herself at peace, and planeswalks away, conveniently taking all of her potentially dangerous knowledge away with her, while also keeping her on good terms with Ojutai should she ever return.
This is all conjecture, of course, but something like this being true makes more sense in my head than such a drastic change in Ojutai's character. Silumgar doesn't seem to have changed overmuch during the intervening time so I don't really know that I accept the idea of Ojutai's opinions shifting like they seem to have.
Anyway, let's see all of the other planes we know of, that Narset could end up on (assuming she doesn't end up on an entirely new plane, or someplace we've only seen in Planechase like Belenon):
--Dominaria
--(what's left of) Old Phyrexia
--Ulgrotha
--Mercadia
--Rabiah
--Equilor
--New Phyrexia
--Kamigawa
--Ravnica
--Lorwyn
--Alara
--Zendikar
--Innistrad
--Theros
--Shandalar
Thoughts on the best place to end up that will give her a better sense of how to regard Ojutai the Manipulative? Keep in mind she has to be able to get out alive, which may preclude New Phyrexia outright...
Hmm I'd be very surprized if he goes on some crazy dragon purge. Him waking up will probably normalize the dragon storms and the world will slowly go back into balance
GW Rhys the Redeemed EDH
RUGAnimar, Soul of Elements EDH
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death EDH
I'd say Ravnica and have her run into Niv-Mizzet. Having her talk to a dragon who is most likely far, far older than Ojutai would be interesting.
Don't forget, though, that he'll suddenly be a lot weaker than before, on account of the Mending. He might no longer be able to wrest control of all the tempests back. He may need to look for outside aid--and not just Vol and Narset. In other words, don't expect any headway of any real magnitude until we get a "Return to Tarkir" block dyad.
GW Rhys the Redeemed EDH
RUGAnimar, Soul of Elements EDH
WBRAlesha, Who Smiles at Death EDH
Even though Taigam managed to find out what is narset is doing, is Ojutai's telepathy two way?
This is just speculation but from Narset's point of view, Sarkhan would probably be a creepy stalker if he ever found her (Zurgo and the others do not recognize Sarkhan and they do not have tarkir 1.0 memories).
The fire in the background of the Narset Trancendant does appear to symbolize the red mana that was left behind.
It appears that Dragonspeaker (as seen in the KTK card) is now a title for those who translate for dragons.
What exactly did Narset let go of? Was it the plane?
I believe a character's colour is not determined by what they are, but by what they value. Narset wants knowledge primarily and guidance secondarily. I think it fits squarely into Uw, there is no red needed, because she doesn't value her impulses so much, she sees them more as a flaw.
Speaking of which, I'm surprised nobody else brought this up yet, but don't you think Narset as a person has a severe case of ADHD? I wonder if it's intentional, but seeing that we recently got Alesha, who also does not conform to "perceived social standards" I like to think it is.
But it would be interseting to theorize, where would Narset go instinctivly? The plane has to embody seeking of knowledge, I don't think the plane has to be red, because think about it, just by GOING into another plane Narset would be red, as she'd be breaking the rules of her world. As such the Plane in my opinion would be a blue/white one. Or atleast one that lends itself to it.
The idea that she would go to Ravnica and have a chat with Mizzet makes sense, because that would both satisfy her need of finding knowledge, and put into perspective how not-that-old-and-powerful Ojutai is, being only 1.2K old or so. Then again, we don't know how old he is, we know he is atleast 1.2K, but Mizzet is 25K years old, so I'm thinking he's older.
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And although we've been talking about a good place for her to end up while planeswalking, I wonder also about which of the known planeswalkers (besides Venser, Xenagos, and Elspeth, for obvious reasons) she should meet first, ideally.
Well, okay, she really should hope it's not Bolas, Ashiok, or Garruk she meets first...
Also, I like the interpretations of Ojutai manipulating Narset slightly. It's cool. Not my personal favorite interpretation but definitely not a bad one.
As for her first planeswalk I would think either Ravnica (for the Niv Mizzet thing and because her meeting the Boros, Azorius, and Izzet would be hysterical) but also I'm going throw my hat into the ring for Kamigawa.
http://dougbeyermtg.tumblr.com/post/112727174244/hi-doug-reading-the-new-uncharted-realms-i-felt
(And I forgot the other three planeswalkers most likely to be dangerous for a neophyte like Narset to meet--Lilianna, Zarek, and Tibalt. Maybe Vraska, but I don't see Narset registering on Vraska's radar.)
So this block we've got a trans character and one on the autistic spectrum. Hmmmmmm. Good job to the author. I'd have never hit on that.
I think that might have been reading into it a bit too much, but Death of the Author and everything.
But even then, I really don't want to open this can of worms considering how the Alesha stuff went, so can we drop that please? There is an intrinsic problem with making the assumption that the place a walker ends up instinctively HAS to correlate with their subconscious in some fashion. There's enough there that maybe you can talk about it, but there's also a LOT of proof contrary from the annals of history.
So yeah, I don't think we should really speculate because it goes a step further than just speculation, but assumes something that isn't even necessarily true.
I know perfectly well that the first plane, speaking in terms of probability, isn't necessarily going to be the kind of learning experience Narset needs. For every Kamigawa and Ravnica, there's also a Mercadia (comparatively placid, although who knows what she could get from the Ramosian tradition) and a Muraganda (and as I mentioned before, a Muraganda may just be what Ojutai's best-case scenario is). But I'm thinking in terms of popular fiction tendencies. I suppose that at least, Kamigawa or Ravnica is likely to be the first place Narset visits that gets lots of narrative attention. Emphasis on "likely".
Although...this all calls up another question--When, in relation to Vol's reappearance in Tarkir 1.1, did Narset planeswalk? No matter how his meeting with Ugin goes, Vol's probably going to be a...well, not a wreck, certainly, but still nervous...about the fate of his first real friend, version update or no. Maybe Ugin sensed her first planeswalk from within the hedron mantle; we probably won't find out until one or two weeks from now (depends on when the Planeswalkers' Guide goes up). Given the nature of Ojutai's prodding, it will probably be months at least until Narset even thinks to come back, barring anything that makes her realize that Ojutai was manipulating her. There's knowledge in them thar planes!
(I'm still a little surprised, by the way, that my 1.0/1.1 terminology took off so thoroughly. Either I wasn't the only one who came up with it, or it really resonated with the commentators. Especially since I haven't seen anyone speak of 1.0/2.0, instead. Didn't think I'd make that sort of terminological impact...)
Just, can we get a gay character now? >_>
Yes, let's stifle the potential for a completely civil conversation, because some idiots may barge in making insane or even insulting claims and when people respond to that, it's suddenly a can of worms.
Let's punish everyone instead of just the idiots! \o/
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~kaburi
I think she's pretty clearly autistic. She studies the way apples are stacked and feels there is a rule everyone should follow regarding it, highly sensitive to stiumuli, frustrated by people's actions, forms few close personal attachments.