I can only imagine that the Bident will be powerful enough to kill an Eldrazi, otherwise, why bother?
If it was powerful enough to kill an Eldrazi titan, Kruphix wouldn't be so terrified of them.
There's nothing in the Multiverse strong enough to actually "kill" a titan. Ugin pre-Mending wasn't even strong enough (not that he wanted to). But the Bident certainly gives Kiora a power boost to help in the struggle to stop the bleeding on Zendikar and to reseal Ulamog.
And it's quite hilarious that anyone could read the story and think that Thassa was intended to be anything other than an antagonist. She's portrayed as a petty, conniving drama queen who's upset that someone is taking her Twitter followers. She doesn't care about anything else than proving to the tritons that she's the god that they need to worship, and that she's going to brutalize anyone who stands against her. There were also several references to how Thassa keeps the sea monsters of Theros "penned" in like "cattle or tuna." She's as possessive as a 6 year old. I even like Thassa the best out of all of the Theros gods, and it's incredibly obvious that she was supposed to be the bad guy here.
Contrast that to Kiora, who was basically trying to make an instinctual connection to the sea monsters, who she viewed more as comrades than property. She was portrayed as having benevolent sentiments for Elspeth and Ajani, a point that seemingly departed a bit from Godsend, but the novel was vague enough that we don't really know what Kiora was thinking. And she's doing this whole thing not to increase her own power, but to protect her home. If there's any kind of "flaw" in Kiora's character, it would be her utter disrespect for the gods, but I wouldn't even consider this a flaw, especially considering her experience with the "gods" on Zendikar.
They definitely went out of their way to portray Kiora in a sympathetic light and as a good guy in this story, and I really enjoyed seeing her jovial personality come out, along with her empathetic sentiments toward creatures of the deep. I'm very interested to read more stories about Kiora (which will be coming as BFZ gets closer), and to see how having Thassa's Kiora's Bident manifests itself on her next planeswalker card.
So can we assume that with Nahiri last week, Kiora this week, we'll be seeing something about Gideon or Nissa next week?
Valid and respectable reasoning. I do agree with your points. I do think it was in Kiora's best interest to have at least feigned humility. But considering how Thassa was behaving, I doubt that would have made a difference so why bother I suppose. Thassa is petty and possessive but that's the nature of MTG's versions of Greek gods though - so it's a matter of continuity. She should be that way - the Theros gods own the plane, its magic and its mana. It IS their property, even if that attitude is inherently flawed. Now we know why those sea monsters never responded to Kiora's Whelming Wave in the last UR with her. Thassa keeps them penned.
Regarding continuity - why would Kiora's sea monsters be larger than Thassa's save for Arixmethes? In Godsend Kiora states she had never seen such formidable creatures with the strength and lifetimes of those in Thassa's seas on other planes before. Sounds like an error to me. Either that or Kiora just cast the biggest she knew? It was lame IMO. She's on Theros BECAUSE it has massive beasts, but I'll just assume Kiora cast a bunch of massive legends from other planes facing off against a bunch of non-legendaries (except Arixmethes).
Is Thassa's Bident actually replaceable though? It's a legendary artifact she used to control the tides... can Purphoros really make her a new weapon to replace it and have the same magic hers did? I don't know. I hope so. And I also hope she does get a better looking weapon. Preferably a more elegant TRIdent this time. Not some decayed looking cocktail fork with barnacles on it. But a sleeker weapon.
I actually agree that I thought the whole point of Kiora's arc was going to end up being that even with all the leviathans of all the worlds she wouldn't be able to match the Eldrazi in power. I also would find it really entertaining if Arixmethes gets made as a card and it does indeed end up having matching stats to Kozilek. It would be a great nod. I feel like the reference in size wasn't an accident or just there for the heck of it so maybe.
I felt like something was off about Thassa's dialog though. Not in the sense that it was inconsistent with anything, I guess in a way somehow it wasn't like I imagined a god talking down to a mortal (I mean, just because a character says "I'm a god, here's my worshippers" doesn't mean they sound like a god, if you get what I'm saying). I'm not sure how you'd do it anyway and maybe given that they want to show the Theros and Greek thing of gods just being especially fickle, normal people with the power of a god maybe it wasn't what they wanted to show anyway. The way she talks just feels so run of of the mill, like you could imagine any other antagonist to talk like she does, I think is the problem I have.
Yeah it really would be neat if his stats matched Kozilek. Here's to hoping the comparison was intentional. It's impressive because we know Ulamog is the smallest of the thee and she compared Arixmethes to Kozilek with the idea he could even be larger (at least as large as Kozilek). For a plane-bound monster, even a legendary, that is extremely impressive considering what the Eldrazi actually are IMO. Hell Arixmethes compared with something that makes even a pantheon of gods look humble?
The dialog was indeed cheesy. I didn't mind that but I did expect something more elegant from Thassa as a god. But I excused it because Thassa wasn't just taunting Kiora, but putting on a show for the Tritons, so it's understandable that she'd use very explicit and straightforward statements to get her point across to the audience.
and I really enjoyed seeing her jovial personality come out,
I didn't. It really took away from the seriousness of the situation at hand. I expect some urgency from someone that seemingly cares so much about her world. The personality they wrote for her here is more befitting of a Chandra.
Is Thassa's Bident actually replaceable though? It's a legendary artifact she used to control the tides... can Purphoros really make her a new weapon to replace it and have the same magic hers did? I don't know. I hope so. And I also hope she does get a better looking weapon. Preferably a more elegant TRIdent this time. Not some decayed looking cocktail fork with barnacles on it. But a sleeker weapon.
I actually doubt that it is replaceable, given the lobotomy that Kruphix gave Purphoros. That's why everyone was after the Godsend when Elspeth came back to Theros: Purphoros's brains were all scrambled by Kruphix, so he couldn't make another Godsend if he wanted. Unless Purphoros got his wires uncrossed, it's doubtful that he's going to be making any more god weapons anytime soon.
and I really enjoyed seeing her jovial personality come out,
I didn't. It really took away from the seriousness of the situation at hand. I expect some urgency from someone that seemingly cares so much about her world. The personality they wrote for her here is more befitting of a Chandra.
Red doesn't have the monopoly on fun characters. What makes a character red is making decisions based on impulse and emotion rather than logic and planning. Blue/green is totally allowed to have characters with a sense of humor. The most humorless characters are probably found in white. Kiora planned out every move that she made, but she wasn't a brooding stiff just because she was undertaking a quest to save her world.
Red doesn't have the monopoly on fun characters. What makes a character red is making decisions based on impulse and emotion rather than logic and planning. Blue/green is totally allowed to have characters with a sense of humor. The most humorless characters are probably found in white. Kiora planned out every move that she made, but she wasn't a brooding stiff just because she was undertaking a quest to save her world.
Cool. I didn't say that though, but I suppose that's one way to read it.
Kiora's utter ignorance of the danger she was in undersold the threat. It made Thassa look weaker since her opponent wasn't taking her seriously, and when we got into Kiora's head, it was always for her to make some stupid quip. Look at how absolutely omnipotent that gods are portrayed in Godsend, and then look at this nonsense. You don't need to be brooding, but show that what's going on on your world affects you. Show, don't tell. She should be acting with a sense of urgency instead of doing what she did in this story. Her personality makes no sense given her situation, unless it's later revealed to be a coping mechanism for her, like how Spiderman jokes around because he's terrified of the danger he puts himself in.
Lol her carefreeness was a total of 2 sentences, at most. It didn't take away from anything. You're reaching. Or have an amplified & forced ambivalence toward the writing.
Red doesn't have the monopoly on fun characters. What makes a character red is making decisions based on impulse and emotion rather than logic and planning. Blue/green is totally allowed to have characters with a sense of humor. The most humorless characters are probably found in white. Kiora planned out every move that she made, but she wasn't a brooding stiff just because she was undertaking a quest to save her world.
Cool. I didn't say that though, but I suppose that's one way to read it.
Kiora's utter ignorance of the danger she was in undersold the threat. It made Thassa look weaker since her opponent wasn't taking her seriously, and when we got into Kiora's head, it was always for her to make some stupid quip. Look at how absolutely omnipotent that gods are portrayed in Godsend, and then look at this nonsense. You don't need to be brooding, but show that what's going on on your world affects you. Show, don't tell. She should be acting with a sense of urgency instead of doing what she did in this story. Her personality makes no sense given her situation, unless it's later revealed to be a coping mechanism for her, like how Spiderman jokes around because he's terrified of the danger he puts himself in.
The God's weren't shown as omnipotent though, Heliod literally was incapable of killing Elspeth when he confronted her, which is why he made her his champion. The gods are shown more as powerful mages with nigh unlimited mana. As far as I could tell she showed the proper amount of concern for her predicament. She was fighting a powerful enemy, but in no way an unbeatable enemy. And if you joke during a fight either you have an unfathomable advantage, or its something you always to to keep your nerves.
Kiora seems, also, like she probably enjoys the fight. I think part of what makes her green is a natural aggressiveness that manifests most clearly when she up against something bigger than herself.
And if you joke during a fight either you have an unfathomable advantage, or its something you always to to keep your nerves.
If you joke during a fight it's a sure sign you're part of a story, because people don't joke during a fight in real life. Your brain is literally too occupied with not dying that even coming up with a joke would be impossible, not to mention that it probably never crosses your mind.
Having that said, I don't think Kiora is acting inapropriate of her situation. Is she arrogant? Yes, but if you think every arrogant character in a story is unrealistic then you probably can't enjoy 90% of all fiction, not to mention it's kind of silly. Arrogant people exist in reality too. Still though, the danger of the Eldrazi is not imminent, so having her make jokes seems justified.
Thassa reminded me of Zeboim from Dragonlance (who was also the Goddess of the Sea there). both behaved and spoke in a similar manner that i had to check if the author of the UR is Margaret Weiss.
one thing about stealing the Bident: what if someone asked Kiora to steal it?
i recall that Feldon's Cane - no minor artifact - was stolen. and now Thassa's weapon too. is someone attempting to collect powerful artifacts from different planes for some reason?
Is Thassa's Bident actually replaceable though? It's a legendary artifact she used to control the tides... can Purphoros really make her a new weapon to replace it and have the same magic hers did? I don't know. I hope so. And I also hope she does get a better looking weapon. Preferably a more elegant TRIdent this time. Not some decayed looking cocktail fork with barnacles on it. But a sleeker weapon.
I actually doubt that it is replaceable, given the lobotomy that Kruphix gave Purphoros. That's why everyone was after the Godsend when Elspeth came back to Theros: Purphoros's brains were all scrambled by Kruphix, so he couldn't make another Godsend if he wanted. Unless Purphoros got his wires uncrossed, it's doubtful that he's going to be making any more god weapons anytime soon.
Purphoros just can't make god-harming weapons anymore. He can still make regular things (like that chimera Thassa was using to scout with). I'd imagine another weapon that Thassa can use to focus her power wouldn't be out of the way.
That is unless Creative is dead set on doing Thassa dirty. We won't know about the extent of the damage until the next time we visit Theros.
Regarding Kiora - I got the impression she realized how dire the situation was - "this is going to be tough" she thought as Thassa approached. But she wanted to maintain her confidence and had genuine hope that she didn't need to actually defeat Thassa or necessarily believed that she could; only that Kiora could bond with Arixmethes and then flee. When the plan failed, she bought herself some time.
Is Thassa's Bident actually replaceable though? It's a legendary artifact she used to control the tides... can Purphoros really make her a new weapon to replace it and have the same magic hers did? I don't know. I hope so. And I also hope she does get a better looking weapon. Preferably a more elegant TRIdent this time. Not some decayed looking cocktail fork with barnacles on it. But a sleeker weapon.
I actually doubt that it is replaceable, given the lobotomy that Kruphix gave Purphoros. That's why everyone was after the Godsend when Elspeth came back to Theros: Purphoros's brains were all scrambled by Kruphix, so he couldn't make another Godsend if he wanted. Unless Purphoros got his wires uncrossed, it's doubtful that he's going to be making any more god weapons anytime soon.
Purphoros just can't make god-harming weapons anymore. He can still make regular things (like that chimera Thassa was using to scout with). I'd imagine another weapon that Thassa can use to focus her power wouldn't be out of the way.
That is unless Creative is dead set on doing Thassa dirty. We won't know about the extent of the damage until the next time we visit Theros.
I have doubts though. He may be able to forge many things, but a legendary artifact like Dekella that can control the tides and ocean creatures? Purphoros could easily overtake the domains of other gods that way if he could forge such weapons. Unless the god weapons only focus the natural power of their owners rather than have abilities themselves? I don't know. It's uncertain what will become of Thassa now - and it was unnerving to read she screamed with anguish over the lost Bident... she is now the only god, and a major one commanding a significant domain no less, without an important weapon. We saw how manipulative Phenax was with Thassa in Godsend and we know Theros is a Greece-like plane of meddling gods... this could be dangerous for Thassa and the balance of Theros in general. Hopefully the other gods, save Kruphix of course, won't find out too soon. I wonder if she'll go crying to him for another and he'll grant Purphoros the knowledge to forge another in order to maintain balance in the pantheon? Or if "belief" will allow her to wield another? Who knows.
Hope creative doesn't do Thassa dirty While the Bident theft was an interesting twist in the ending, I'm disappointed with how Thassa got shafted. She won the battle but Kiora won in general through cowardly theft. What's with Thassa getting the boot all the time? Callaphe defeated her too in the myths, no? And here she is mentioned by Thassa again - where is Callaphe's card? And Arixmethes? So many missing legends...
Red doesn't have the monopoly on fun characters. What makes a character red is making decisions based on impulse and emotion rather than logic and planning. Blue/green is totally allowed to have characters with a sense of humor. The most humorless characters are probably found in white. Kiora planned out every move that she made, but she wasn't a brooding stiff just because she was undertaking a quest to save her world.
Cool. I didn't say that though, but I suppose that's one way to read it.
Kiora's utter ignorance of the danger she was in undersold the threat. It made Thassa look weaker since her opponent wasn't taking her seriously, and when we got into Kiora's head, it was always for her to make some stupid quip. Look at how absolutely omnipotent that gods are portrayed in Godsend, and then look at this nonsense. You don't need to be brooding, but show that what's going on on your world affects you. Show, don't tell. She should be acting with a sense of urgency instead of doing what she did in this story. Her personality makes no sense given her situation, unless it's later revealed to be a coping mechanism for her, like how Spiderman jokes around because he's terrified of the danger he puts himself in.
The God's weren't shown as omnipotent though, Heliod literally was incapable of killing Elspeth when he confronted her, which is why he made her his champion. The gods are shown more as powerful mages with nigh unlimited mana. As far as I could tell she showed the proper amount of concern for her predicament. She was fighting a powerful enemy, but in no way an unbeatable enemy. And if you joke during a fight either you have an unfathomable advantage, or its something you always to to keep your nerves.
That's the thing, Elspeth used a spell Heliod had never seen before. She avoided being turned to dust by him, but that's all she managed. Did you see the feats the gods did in that story, like Heliod dragging Thassa across the sky? When they flexed their muscles in godsend, all of Theros quaked. Here, Thassa was much weaker.
I'm unsure that what Thassa did qualifies as a victory. After all, Kiora did make out with her personal Bident. I am glad that this showed that the Theran gods are no pushovers. It even took two Planeswalkers to take down Xenagos in his infancy as a Theran deity.
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Red doesn't have the monopoly on fun characters. What makes a character red is making decisions based on impulse and emotion rather than logic and planning. Blue/green is totally allowed to have characters with a sense of humor. The most humorless characters are probably found in white. Kiora planned out every move that she made, but she wasn't a brooding stiff just because she was undertaking a quest to save her world.
Cool. I didn't say that though, but I suppose that's one way to read it.
Kiora's utter ignorance of the danger she was in undersold the threat. It made Thassa look weaker since her opponent wasn't taking her seriously, and when we got into Kiora's head, it was always for her to make some stupid quip. Look at how absolutely omnipotent that gods are portrayed in Godsend, and then look at this nonsense. You don't need to be brooding, but show that what's going on on your world affects you. Show, don't tell. She should be acting with a sense of urgency instead of doing what she did in this story. Her personality makes no sense given her situation, unless it's later revealed to be a coping mechanism for her, like how Spiderman jokes around because he's terrified of the danger he puts himself in.
The God's weren't shown as omnipotent though, Heliod literally was incapable of killing Elspeth when he confronted her, which is why he made her his champion. The gods are shown more as powerful mages with nigh unlimited mana. As far as I could tell she showed the proper amount of concern for her predicament. She was fighting a powerful enemy, but in no way an unbeatable enemy. And if you joke during a fight either you have an unfathomable advantage, or its something you always to to keep your nerves.
That's the thing, Elspeth used a spell Heliod had never seen before. She avoided being turned to dust by him, but that's all she managed. Did you see the feats the gods did in that story, like Heliod dragging Thassa across the sky? When they flexed their muscles in godsend, all of Theros quaked. Here, Thassa was much weaker.
I wonder if that's only because Thassa was trying to make a demonstration out of Kiora for devotion reasons. That, and to be fair Kiora summoned a lot of sea monsters to be dealt with. Though Thassa could have just changed her to a Siren or hexed her or something idk.
It's funny because in the labyrinth uncharted realms a mortal thought the prize for completing that challenge would be the bident Dekella and instead he only got bestowed with power, thinking mortals were not meant to wield Dekella as Thassa was. Welp there's one way to get it.
Heh, I knew I will see Jenrik crying/angry about the story when I come here. (Sorry pal, I had to - don't take it as offense ;-))
Btw, looking at your sig, can you explain to me what "astronomancer" does? Move stars and celestial bodies? All that we know that he is an astronomer.
But at least you got a story featuring Arixmethes at last.
As for the story, well, I salute Kelly Digges for using the known part from Godsend, taking it from Kiora's view and expanding it. If all UR were like this, the Magic lore still stands a chance. After Jenna leaving to care for her own projects, this guy could be the future.
As for the fight, I would paraphrase the flavortext of Hand to Hand: The match between Thassa and Kiora was close only in the mind of the planeswalker. I agree with Jenrik here that Thassa made a show out of it to reinforce the devotion of her followers, both her own and those stolen by Thassa, whereas she might just crush her.
I really wonder how the bident would work in other planes. I expected these weapons to be inherently a part of Nyx, like the gods themselves, and therefore untransportable from Theros. Because the story ends so abruptly, it might dissolve just moments after. We will see.
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I'm unsure that what Thassa did qualifies as a victory. After all, Kiora did make out with her personal Bident.
There's more to it though. All the tritons were watching as a mere mortal stole Dekella from Thassa from under her nose as literal as it gets. This is not a great way to get followers and it might disturb the power balance on Theros even more than it already is after the events of Xenagos' ascension and through Ajani's campaign.
...
I really wonder how the bident would work in other planes. I expected these weapons to be inherently a part of Nyx, like the gods themselves, and therefore untransportable from Theros. Because the story ends so abruptly, it might dissolve just moments after. We will see.
I suppose Dekella may exist just as Elspeth's sword did. In fact, when Thassa threw it, it reduced its size the same way the sword had done, when Elspeth had grabbed it back then.
However, we don't know much about Elspeth's sword, only that she could channel her magic through it. Dekella could work the same way.
...
I really wonder how the bident would work in other planes. I expected these weapons to be inherently a part of Nyx, like the gods themselves, and therefore untransportable from Theros. Because the story ends so abruptly, it might dissolve just moments after. We will see.
I suppose Dekella may exist just as Elspeth's sword did. In fact, when Thassa threw it, it reduced its size the same way the sword had done, when Elspeth had grabbed it back then.
However, we don't know much about Elspeth's sword, only that she could channel her magic through it. Dekella could work the same way.
You might be right, my friend.
But keep in mind that flavorwise (if we take the cards into account), Godsend is not an enchantment artifact like the god-weapons, neither it is showing the Nyx traits.
As for the auto-resize, Godsend kind of resized itself to accept Elspeth, whereas here, Thassa probably willed Dekella to resize accordingly to fulfill the task she had in mind (pinning and choking Kiora).
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Hmm. I vaguely remember that the sword shrinked during the fall from Nyx to Theros. The same as Polukranos had much more heads in Nyx than in Theros. So maybe even there Dekella shrinked the moment it leaves the hand of Thassa (essentially Nyx).
Considering the cards, Godsend was transformed by Heliod. Who knows what shenanigans did he do with it. And Dekella isn't even an equipment, but Kiora is a planeswalker, and technically "player", who can use non equipment artifacts
Anyway, this was more than decent UR. I hope in future they will be at least at this level.
Hmm. I vaguely remember that the sword shrinked during the fall from Nyx to Theros. The same as Polukranos had much more heads in Nyx than in Theros. So maybe even there Dekella shrinked the moment it leaves the hand of Thassa (essentially Nyx).
Considering the cards, Godsend was transformed by Heliod. Who knows what shenanigans did he do with it. And Dekella isn't even an equipment, but Kiora is a planeswalker, and technically "player", who can use non equipment artifacts
Anyway, this was more than decent UR. I hope in future they will be at least at this level.
Yeah, you are probably right with the sword shrinking when falling from Nyx. Okay, let's continue this discussion on our home turf ;-)
I agree this UR was nice. Maybe there is still a hope.
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I wonder if this will lead into the Return to Theros plotline where Thassa helps Elsepth/Ajani in exchange for them to hunt Kiora and get back the bident.
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Fun UR, I'm interested in how the Bident will appear in BfZ, probably just on Kiora's card. I wonder if it will be part of her arsenal going forward, assuming she and it survive BfZ.
I didn't read Godsend so maybe I'm just out of the loop here, but a lot of you guys care a lot about Thassa and its a little bewildering to me.
Yeah but Kiora appearng again in BfZ wouldn't be a smart choice: she left Zendikar to find sea creatures to fight against the Eldrazi. She does have the Bident, which may or may not help her find and control said creatures, but right now, I don't think she has enough giant shrimps to really make a difference?
She may appear, that wouldn't be surprising, but is it really the smartest choice?
Yeah but Kiora appearng again in BfZ wouldn't be a smart choice: she left Zendikar to find sea creatures to fight against the Eldrazi. She does have the Bident, which may or may not help her find and control said creatures, but right now, I don't think she has enough giant shrimps to really make a difference?
She may appear, that wouldn't be surprising, but is it really the smartest choice?
Smart or not, I fully expect her to get a card in BFZ. Having a story about her just when a Return to Zendikar is right around the corner is just too much of a coincidence.
Valid and respectable reasoning. I do agree with your points. I do think it was in Kiora's best interest to have at least feigned humility. But considering how Thassa was behaving, I doubt that would have made a difference so why bother I suppose. Thassa is petty and possessive but that's the nature of MTG's versions of Greek gods though - so it's a matter of continuity. She should be that way - the Theros gods own the plane, its magic and its mana. It IS their property, even if that attitude is inherently flawed. Now we know why those sea monsters never responded to Kiora's Whelming Wave in the last UR with her. Thassa keeps them penned.
Regarding continuity - why would Kiora's sea monsters be larger than Thassa's save for Arixmethes? In Godsend Kiora states she had never seen such formidable creatures with the strength and lifetimes of those in Thassa's seas on other planes before. Sounds like an error to me. Either that or Kiora just cast the biggest she knew? It was lame IMO. She's on Theros BECAUSE it has massive beasts, but I'll just assume Kiora cast a bunch of massive legends from other planes facing off against a bunch of non-legendaries (except Arixmethes).
Is Thassa's Bident actually replaceable though? It's a legendary artifact she used to control the tides... can Purphoros really make her a new weapon to replace it and have the same magic hers did? I don't know. I hope so. And I also hope she does get a better looking weapon. Preferably a more elegant TRIdent this time. Not some decayed looking cocktail fork with barnacles on it. But a sleeker weapon.
Yeah it really would be neat if his stats matched Kozilek. Here's to hoping the comparison was intentional. It's impressive because we know Ulamog is the smallest of the thee and she compared Arixmethes to Kozilek with the idea he could even be larger (at least as large as Kozilek). For a plane-bound monster, even a legendary, that is extremely impressive considering what the Eldrazi actually are IMO. Hell Arixmethes compared with something that makes even a pantheon of gods look humble?
The dialog was indeed cheesy. I didn't mind that but I did expect something more elegant from Thassa as a god. But I excused it because Thassa wasn't just taunting Kiora, but putting on a show for the Tritons, so it's understandable that she'd use very explicit and straightforward statements to get her point across to the audience.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I didn't. It really took away from the seriousness of the situation at hand. I expect some urgency from someone that seemingly cares so much about her world. The personality they wrote for her here is more befitting of a Chandra.
Your mods are terrified of me.
I actually doubt that it is replaceable, given the lobotomy that Kruphix gave Purphoros. That's why everyone was after the Godsend when Elspeth came back to Theros: Purphoros's brains were all scrambled by Kruphix, so he couldn't make another Godsend if he wanted. Unless Purphoros got his wires uncrossed, it's doubtful that he's going to be making any more god weapons anytime soon.
EDIT:
Red doesn't have the monopoly on fun characters. What makes a character red is making decisions based on impulse and emotion rather than logic and planning. Blue/green is totally allowed to have characters with a sense of humor. The most humorless characters are probably found in white. Kiora planned out every move that she made, but she wasn't a brooding stiff just because she was undertaking a quest to save her world.
Cool. I didn't say that though, but I suppose that's one way to read it.
Kiora's utter ignorance of the danger she was in undersold the threat. It made Thassa look weaker since her opponent wasn't taking her seriously, and when we got into Kiora's head, it was always for her to make some stupid quip. Look at how absolutely omnipotent that gods are portrayed in Godsend, and then look at this nonsense. You don't need to be brooding, but show that what's going on on your world affects you. Show, don't tell. She should be acting with a sense of urgency instead of doing what she did in this story. Her personality makes no sense given her situation, unless it's later revealed to be a coping mechanism for her, like how Spiderman jokes around because he's terrified of the danger he puts himself in.
Your mods are terrified of me.
"utter ignorance." Lol
The God's weren't shown as omnipotent though, Heliod literally was incapable of killing Elspeth when he confronted her, which is why he made her his champion. The gods are shown more as powerful mages with nigh unlimited mana. As far as I could tell she showed the proper amount of concern for her predicament. She was fighting a powerful enemy, but in no way an unbeatable enemy. And if you joke during a fight either you have an unfathomable advantage, or its something you always to to keep your nerves.
If you joke during a fight it's a sure sign you're part of a story, because people don't joke during a fight in real life. Your brain is literally too occupied with not dying that even coming up with a joke would be impossible, not to mention that it probably never crosses your mind.
Having that said, I don't think Kiora is acting inapropriate of her situation. Is she arrogant? Yes, but if you think every arrogant character in a story is unrealistic then you probably can't enjoy 90% of all fiction, not to mention it's kind of silly. Arrogant people exist in reality too. Still though, the danger of the Eldrazi is not imminent, so having her make jokes seems justified.
Thassa reminded me of Zeboim from Dragonlance (who was also the Goddess of the Sea there). both behaved and spoke in a similar manner that i had to check if the author of the UR is Margaret Weiss.
one thing about stealing the Bident: what if someone asked Kiora to steal it?
i recall that Feldon's Cane - no minor artifact - was stolen. and now Thassa's weapon too. is someone attempting to collect powerful artifacts from different planes for some reason?
Purphoros just can't make god-harming weapons anymore. He can still make regular things (like that chimera Thassa was using to scout with). I'd imagine another weapon that Thassa can use to focus her power wouldn't be out of the way.
That is unless Creative is dead set on doing Thassa dirty. We won't know about the extent of the damage until the next time we visit Theros.
"Kiora is the Aquaman of planeswalkers."
"Useless and everyone pretends to like her?"
I have doubts though. He may be able to forge many things, but a legendary artifact like Dekella that can control the tides and ocean creatures? Purphoros could easily overtake the domains of other gods that way if he could forge such weapons. Unless the god weapons only focus the natural power of their owners rather than have abilities themselves? I don't know. It's uncertain what will become of Thassa now - and it was unnerving to read she screamed with anguish over the lost Bident... she is now the only god, and a major one commanding a significant domain no less, without an important weapon. We saw how manipulative Phenax was with Thassa in Godsend and we know Theros is a Greece-like plane of meddling gods... this could be dangerous for Thassa and the balance of Theros in general. Hopefully the other gods, save Kruphix of course, won't find out too soon. I wonder if she'll go crying to him for another and he'll grant Purphoros the knowledge to forge another in order to maintain balance in the pantheon? Or if "belief" will allow her to wield another? Who knows.
Hope creative doesn't do Thassa dirty While the Bident theft was an interesting twist in the ending, I'm disappointed with how Thassa got shafted. She won the battle but Kiora won in general through cowardly theft. What's with Thassa getting the boot all the time? Callaphe defeated her too in the myths, no? And here she is mentioned by Thassa again - where is Callaphe's card? And Arixmethes? So many missing legends...
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
That's the thing, Elspeth used a spell Heliod had never seen before. She avoided being turned to dust by him, but that's all she managed. Did you see the feats the gods did in that story, like Heliod dragging Thassa across the sky? When they flexed their muscles in godsend, all of Theros quaked. Here, Thassa was much weaker.
Your mods are terrified of me.
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
I wonder if that's only because Thassa was trying to make a demonstration out of Kiora for devotion reasons. That, and to be fair Kiora summoned a lot of sea monsters to be dealt with. Though Thassa could have just changed her to a Siren or hexed her or something idk.
It's funny because in the labyrinth uncharted realms a mortal thought the prize for completing that challenge would be the bident Dekella and instead he only got bestowed with power, thinking mortals were not meant to wield Dekella as Thassa was. Welp there's one way to get it.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Btw, looking at your sig, can you explain to me what "astronomancer" does? Move stars and celestial bodies? All that we know that he is an astronomer.
But at least you got a story featuring Arixmethes at last.
As for the story, well, I salute Kelly Digges for using the known part from Godsend, taking it from Kiora's view and expanding it. If all UR were like this, the Magic lore still stands a chance. After Jenna leaving to care for her own projects, this guy could be the future.
As for the fight, I would paraphrase the flavortext of Hand to Hand: The match between Thassa and Kiora was close only in the mind of the planeswalker. I agree with Jenrik here that Thassa made a show out of it to reinforce the devotion of her followers, both her own and those stolen by Thassa, whereas she might just crush her.
I really wonder how the bident would work in other planes. I expected these weapons to be inherently a part of Nyx, like the gods themselves, and therefore untransportable from Theros. Because the story ends so abruptly, it might dissolve just moments after. We will see.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
There's more to it though. All the tritons were watching as a mere mortal stole Dekella from Thassa from under her nose as literal as it gets. This is not a great way to get followers and it might disturb the power balance on Theros even more than it already is after the events of Xenagos' ascension and through Ajani's campaign.
I suppose Dekella may exist just as Elspeth's sword did. In fact, when Thassa threw it, it reduced its size the same way the sword had done, when Elspeth had grabbed it back then.
However, we don't know much about Elspeth's sword, only that she could channel her magic through it. Dekella could work the same way.
You might be right, my friend.
But keep in mind that flavorwise (if we take the cards into account), Godsend is not an enchantment artifact like the god-weapons, neither it is showing the Nyx traits.
As for the auto-resize, Godsend kind of resized itself to accept Elspeth, whereas here, Thassa probably willed Dekella to resize accordingly to fulfill the task she had in mind (pinning and choking Kiora).
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Considering the cards, Godsend was transformed by Heliod. Who knows what shenanigans did he do with it. And Dekella isn't even an equipment, but Kiora is a planeswalker, and technically "player", who can use non equipment artifacts
Anyway, this was more than decent UR. I hope in future they will be at least at this level.
Yeah, you are probably right with the sword shrinking when falling from Nyx. Okay, let's continue this discussion on our home turf ;-)
I agree this UR was nice. Maybe there is still a hope.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I didn't read Godsend so maybe I'm just out of the loop here, but a lot of you guys care a lot about Thassa and its a little bewildering to me.
She may appear, that wouldn't be surprising, but is it really the smartest choice?
It's just two. They're just being very vocal about it.
Smart or not, I fully expect her to get a card in BFZ. Having a story about her just when a Return to Zendikar is right around the corner is just too much of a coincidence.