I'm under the impression they storyboarded this block and commissioned artwork well before the move to UR/OMF became the main venue for the story. Now you have cards that very obviously have your heroes wrapped in purple rings that does bad stuff to your opponent and it's a rare. If cards are going to reflect story moments this is kind of unavoidable once we get the card in our hands. They have to support the story artwork with, well, written story. I'd rather have cards that are backed by actual story instead of current time retcons because I do agree it's not very sensible to carry 3 full sized adults off to touted in a remote cave until you've adequately tended your shredded wing and broken knee. However, we need an explanation of that card as it's very obviously not some generic zendakari. Their hands were tied and I'd rather have a card in my hands that's jives with the story then feel the "when did that happen?" Moment.
I think they can learn and correct some of this before it's too late. Go back and rewrite parts of the unreleased story to make it more seamless. I dunno, it feels clunky and unpolished. I feel like story should be the absolute first thing done prior to ordering artwork and providing art descriptions but don't get that vibe. This is all personal feelings as I have zero clue how they process this workload.
I want to like Chandra so bad, because I think her concept is awesome on paper. The fact is that there is no "random" or "chaos" aspect to her when I know she'll get all pouty at someone telling her what to do through gritted teeth with extra punctuation before fireballing said someone. The character is soooo predictable. I'm never surprised at her actions and her logic is really just passionate or aggressive. Red can be chaotic, loving, free willed, absent minded, or a myriad of other emotions aside from these. Red can also be pretty down to earth, I don't recall Feldon being nearly this cookie cutter of a red character. I think there is a fair arguement for other colors being see in the other 3 walkers, but not Chandra she's very mono red.
I get that they write for a wide audience with different tastes, but sometimes the joy of growing with a story is revisiting it. Finding that foreshadowing, those little lore tidbits, and character interactions you didn't catch the first time around that make it feel immersive. I don't feel like these stories, this one in particular, does any of that. It's face value, cliché, and very linear.
Personally, I think Ob looking like a generic villain is less because of the writing and more because that's what he looks like when we're not inside his head. Ob is an exceptionally well-written generic villain, but a generic villain nonetheless.
There is some truth to this, but from inside his head or out, Ob's previous appearances would have shown a distinct lack of standing back and waiting for his opponent to recover. And he gives Chandra than chance twice.
I did like Jace actually getting to accomplish things in a fight scene, though. And his doing them through slurry delirium telepathy is just sauce.
People have already said most of the problems I had with this one (though I don't mind the Avengers Assemble feel-- I'm the kind of person that finds that pretty awesome, though I know that a lot of people don't care for it and I knew the response coming when I saw that one piece of Ob Nixilis getting taken down by the combined magics of the Gatewatch in the art book), but I do have one issue not mentioned yet.
I thought it was kind of strange that none of Chandra, Flamecaller's new abilities were shown off. This seems to be the point in her story Flamecaller is meant to be portraying based on the description of the area being a cave covered in Kozilek's corruption, and the story happened to star Chandra. I ind of expected at the very least a reference to her 3/1 Haste elementals would have been prudent. I know there's no obligation to perfectly portray the mechanics in the story but I really thought it would have made sense to tie her new card and the story together here by having her show off some of her new powers, especially since she's just coming from Keral Keep which could even have been used to explain her new abilities.
I dunno, it's a little thing, but a little thing that would take no effort on their part and change nothing in the overall storyline that could have furthered the connection between the story and the cards.
I'm also not a big fan of Doug Beyer's writing in general. I think he tries very hard to be... I guess "clever"? "Cool"? With his writing. It suits the character he tends to write for (Chandra) I suppose, but it permeates his stories in general.
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They didn't care that he was the savior of Fort Keff, the great hunter of Ondu, the champion of Kabira. To them, he was just another piece of flesh, a thing with life to be drained away.
Ob should have left Zendikar after setting off Kozilek'd alarm Clock and laying waste to a great deal of zendikar's forces. That would kept his efficient and ruthless persona intact. They had a good villain. They now have a new Dr Klaw. Now he only needs a MadCat...
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Thanks to SpiderBoy4 @ High-Light Studio's for the awesome banner
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.” —Volrath
So I actually liked this story and thought it was pretty good I mean sure we all saw it coming a mile away but I don't think that makes it a bad story.
On Ob Nixilis being a saturday morning cartoon villain: Has he ever not been one? He destroyed everyone else on his home plane because...he wanted to. That seems pretty one-dimensionally evil, and then he went around the multiverse conquering worlds for sport. He is generally well-written and seeing things from his perspective is always entertaining, but he has never not been a vindictive mustache twirler. He is generally pragmatic but as the last story that featured him showed he is more than willing to risk his life to torment people for a little bit. I don't think it is unreasonable that he'd take Nissa for torture after what she did to him, I think the other 2 were kind of just a bonus.
Last, I tend to really enjoy cartoons like justice league and movies like the avengers so maybe that is why I liked this more than most people seem to. It is obviously nothing as good as the Tazri story but it was a story we knew was going to happen and all in all I thought it was pretty good.The part where they all simultaneously blasted Ob was good fun, and I thought his response to them upon his defeat was very in-character for him.
Edit: I wonder if people would have enjoyed this story more if it were written from Ob's perspective? It would certainly be interesting to hear his internal reasoning for his actions, as well as his thoughts as he realized he was being defeated.
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
With Sea Gate in ruins, and two Eldrazi titans on the loose, Jori En and must will embark on a mission to help Kiora recover her powerful bident—a weapon of the gods that could the tide against the Eldrazi."
I would look out for the story, if not for the knowledge that the bident will probably not have any part in dealing with the eldrazi at all.
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Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
I'm also not a big fan of Doug Beyer's writing in general. I think he tries very hard to be... I guess "clever"? "Cool"? With his writing. It suits the character he tends to write for (Chandra) I suppose, but it permeates his stories in general.
That is quite fitting description. Clever and "cool". His writing just feels almost always like an overzealous trying-too-hard fan's fan-fiction. Eid was very sarcastic and sometimes cruel to him in his review of Alara Unbroken, but many of the problems from that book are still here.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I want to like Chandra so bad, because I think her concept is awesome on paper. The fact is that there is no "random" or "chaos" aspect to her when I know she'll get all pouty at someone telling her what to do through gritted teeth with extra punctuation before fireballing said someone. The character is soooo predictable. I'm never surprised at her actions and her logic is really just passionate or aggressive. Red can be chaotic, loving, free willed, absent minded, or a myriad of other emotions aside from these. Red can also be pretty down to earth, I don't recall Feldon being nearly this cookie cutter of a red character. I think there is a fair arguement for other colors being see in the other 3 walkers, but not Chandra she's very mono red.
I get that they write for a wide audience with different tastes, but sometimes the joy of growing with a story is revisiting it. Finding that foreshadowing, those little lore tidbits, and character interactions you didn't catch the first time around that make it feel immersive. I don't feel like these stories, this one in particular, does any of that. It's face value, cliché, and very linear.
Completely agree, and its the problem with the Origins 5 overall. When you try to have 5 walkers as the faces of the games and their colors, you get terribly cliche and narrow characters. Jace and Liliana have more or less always been written similarly, but even Jace and Liliana are being written into the roles of "nerdy and misunderstood telepath" and "seductive and selfish necromancer." Nissa was completely retconned into an elf-hippy, which we've been over before, Gideon has seemingly become more of a blunt soldier than the lawful warrior he was originally designed as. And Chandra still is, like you said, just rebelling against anyone who tells her anything. There's no depth.
You know who got depth? Ajani when he became vengeant over his brother's death or more community-based while among the Leonin on Theros. Garruk when he found he enjoyed the corruption and power of the veil curse and chose to keep his solitude and hunting for bigger game focus. They had depth. True, the depth moved them our of monocolor, but then we have Koth, Tamiyo or Elspeth all as better, more nuanced versions of mono-color walkers. I just have yet to love the choices of face walkers, and not even Doug can solve the issue. Although I do like Doug, let's not forget he is the Creative Director. If we aren't pleased with the Creative direction, I'm not saying it is all his fault or anything like that, I think we have the right to at least question his decisions for this block and the Origins 5. I know Chandra's his girl, but he still hasn't written her in a very interesting way yet, or non-cliche. To me at least.
Story was fine, but I'm at the point where I'm starting to dread the stories with the Origins 5. They're just all predictable. Teamwork makes the dream work, Ob is strong and deadly, but acts like a Bond villain for no reason other than plot convenience, and we still don't get much internal thoughts about how the walkers view each other. The social dynamic is....just there. Chandra just now trusts Jace? What changed? Chandra is most concerned about Gideon, as she calls for him first. Does that imply their sort-of romance from the Purifying Fire is still canon? What does Nissa think of the new pyromancer? There's just no thought processes; it's all action. It's boring.
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Vorthos-player with way too much time on his hands and a love of thematic decks.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
With Sea Gate in ruins, and two Eldrazi titans on the loose, Jori En and must will embark on a mission to help Kiora recover her powerful bident—a weapon of the gods that could the tide against the Eldrazi."
I would look out for the story, if not for the knowledge that the bident will probably not have any part in dealing with the eldrazi at all.
Does anybody proofread this stuff before it's published? Really? "Jori En and must will"? "weapon of the gods that could the tide"? Sloppy.
I wish they'd left Kiora's fate as a cliff-hanger. Even more so the fate of the bident. Then it could have resurfaced (aha ha) a couple of years down the line with an interesting little 'how did you come by *that*?!' tale.
Can we just move to legendary creature stories only now? Please?
And on time: can we have stories where 'the fate of the world as we know it' is not in check? These would be good stories. I miss good dialogues, I miss stories without cliches, oh well...
So predictable, so cartoonish, uah. Please, someone, hire me to write these stuff. Or Zazdor. Or anyone here. Come on, I thought professional writers could do better.
EDIT: I'm an avid comic book reader, and I read a lot of super hero stories and watch cartoons with them. I assure you, if we're talking about GOOD stories from this medium, when they team up, it is not so cheesy as it was here.
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Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
Although I liked today's story, it had just a little too much showcasing and not enough new elements. Two titans walking around - check. Zendikari being miserable - check. Red mage doing fire, blue mage doing telepathy, green mage doing... vines-looking stuff, white mage being about weapons and black mage doing dark forbidden ancient powerful stuff - quintuple check. Four people shown on all art fighting together fought in-story together - check. All in all, that was cute little summary of OGW for future reference, just not that deep.
Predictable but I'm hoping that Perhaps because this is kinda like an experiment block things will improve with time. I'm also displeased with how Ob acted so out of character. He's supposed to be a pragmatic villian! I am hopeful that the next story with kiora is at least interesting. I hope the bident isn't lost for good. I kind of like it being Kiora's sig weapon. Mark my words however, Kiora in the end will discover her sister's death and it will cause her to abondon Zendikar in her grief. That way Kiora is outta the picture when the Oaths start coming but is sufficiently explained, changed and prepared for what ever they throw at her next.
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Wizards. listen. 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
the story today has a comic book-like vibe to it. i like.
i think Ob Nix was a necessary villain to put the PWs together. if they can't handle a powerful PW, what more the Eldrazi titans?
if Ob Nix just planeswalked away, then in the future, we'd read people complain that they couldn't beat Ob Nix, how could they beat Kozilek and Ulamog?
at least in this story they were shown that they could fight together against a powerful foe.
Anyone here remember that Ob-Nix has been through a lot over the last few days including:
Being crushed under huge amounts of earth etc by Nissa
Travelled over continents to get to Sea Gate
Gone through a painful, potentially lethal process that ignited his spark
Had a showdown with Nissa, Jace and Gideon that has forced him to cast a spell of pure pain (that effected himself), had his leg broken by Gidieon and numerous other wounds
Is constantly having to concentrate to remain in partial control of the Kozi drones.
Really the fight with Chandra and all 4 of them even so beaten up being able to temporarily drive him back felt believable to me. Yes he is powerful but he is still a Neowalker in the end.
I agree, and I hope Ob Nixilis shows up more because he could easily beat them three-vs-one and I hope that he succeeds in killing at least 1 (preferably Gideon due to all his big breaks).
Is constantly having to concentrate to remain in partial control of the Kozi drones.
The drones were already killed of before the fight started.
My only main complain about the story is Ob taunting while giving Chandra time to recover. Its too cartoon villainy thing to do. The torture scene was fine. I just rationalize it as a way for Ob at getting back at Nissa some more by torturing her along with her friends.
Though it sad that Ob became the target of "together we are powerful" by first defeating the planeswalkers one by one (including Chandra) then being forced out Zendikar by their combined might.
So I've had some time to sort my thoughts out. I think my feeling from distaste is that I get a fractured story told to me through the cards. I get all the story points in spoiler season so I know the greater story. When the UR/OMF is released I expect that fuzzy picture to start getting some more detail except the edges still feel blurry to me after stories like this. Why can't I know where Tazri is going to? Where's Drana and what's left of her warriors? Why do we only get Scions when Koz/Ula are around...shouldn't there be bigger threats too? The picture still isn't focused for me and that's what makes me dissatisfied.
When Sam Stoddard talked about the Origins Chandra having the word "Damage" on it more than any other card in magic history and then I read something like this...it feels forced and empty. I think her summoning elementals like someone mentioned would've been a good match for her card. It would have been neat for the elementals to fight the eldrazi while she took on Ob, added more dimension to the scene, played off the luck aspect of red's color pie in that it happened to free the other walkers, etc. I get the feeling that the whole magic team is on the same page, but it's not a page I'm enjoying.
Nissa is beginning to feel like she's dipping her toes into everyone else's color pie to me. The telepathy Hedron trap with Jace felt blue, her laying her hand on Chandra and restoring her felt white, her anger at being taken away from Ashaya in this awkward life/death cycle through the stories feels red (how many times is that thing going to crumble into a pile of mulch?) She just doesn't feel very green. I know lifegain is green, but I dunno...feels like they didn't flesh her out before the deadline hit.
That way Kiora is outta the picture when the Oaths start coming but is sufficiently explained, changed and prepared for what ever they throw at her next.
I hope you are right about her being out of the way.
I can't find a single redeeming quality to that awful walker. Maybe Jori will make the story readable but I really doubt it.
Nissa is beginning to feel like she's dipping her toes into everyone else's color pie to me. The telepathy Hedron trap with Jace felt blue, her laying her hand on Chandra and restoring her felt white, her anger at being taken away from Ashaya in this awkward life/death cycle through the stories feels red (how many times is that thing going to crumble into a pile of mulch?) She just doesn't feel very green. I know lifegain is green, but I dunno...feels like they didn't flesh her out before the deadline hit.
Green is the best color to break the color pie (with birds of paradise being able to pay for those color pie breaks.)
Initially I'd been excited at the prospect of the Origins 5 becoming the "stars" of the primary story, for the sake of an identifiable "main" cast, but I feel that the way they've handled the storytelling has really driven me to be sick of them. I much prefer the stories about legendary creatures and planeswalkers like Kiora, Ob-Nixilis, and Sarkhan.
This was...better than I thought it was going to be, though the main premise was still just not good. Echoing another poster, Doug did the best that he could with this one. He writes Chandra well, and there were parts of this that I actually found pretty cool. Ob Nixilis acting like a pants-on-head evil saturday morning cartoon villain is ridiculous and out of character, but at least he was written as a pretty good one. He still kicked Chandra's ass, and it's very believeable to me that the four planeswalkers together could send him off, but it made it very clear that he was out of their leagues individually. I feel like, if this is what they wanted to happen, they could have just had Chandra intervene in the fight the Gatewatch had against Ob Nixilis initially, saving Gideon from being drowned or something. She could have still had the same Big Damn Heroes moment, and there wouldn't be this weird disconnect with Ob Nixilis's actions. If it was Tibalt here instead of Ob Nixilis I would believe it, because the man is obsessed with torture, but the "let's go to a remote cave just so that I can torture you lol" thing was just so stupid, and so very avoidable.
What makes it particularly bad is that the Gatewatch didn't even really do anything to Ob Nixilis. Sure, Nissa beat him up, but he already repaid her for that by destroying her world (at least, in his mind), and trapping her in that field of warped time. Ob Nixilis even seemed to kind of like Gideon, in a twisted way, and Jace barely registered on his radar. He handily defeated all of them, and he only had anything vaguely personal against one of them, so why on earth would he go out of his way to torture them? What does he get out of going out of his way to torture people who are, essentially, complete strangers to him? People who, are far as he's concerned, are about to die fighting the Eldrazi anyways? This just reeks of something the writers wanted the character to do, not something the character actually wanted to do, and I hate it when you can feel that disconnect.
But credit where credit is due, I liked Doug's writing. He's nowhere near my favorite, but he writes entertainingly. I just wish I wasn't dreading the rest of the stories in this block, because no matter how well-written they might be, it's going to be very hard to make any of it palatable knowing how this all ends.
Because it was easy. It took virtually no effort on his part. He also knew they were walkers who could leave if defeat was inevitable, so their deaths were not guaranteed, and one consistent character trait he displays is the need to punish those who stand against him. The second things turned against him, he ran. Your plan A was his plan B.
Quote from Caranthir »
Quote from JDAEnzio »
I'm also not a big fan of Doug Beyer's writing in general. I think he tries very hard to be... I guess "clever"? "Cool"? With his writing. It suits the character he tends to write for (Chandra) I suppose, but it permeates his stories in general.
That is quite fitting description. Clever and "cool". His writing just feels almost always like an overzealous trying-too-hard fan's fan-fiction. Eid was very sarcastic and sometimes cruel to him in his review of Alara Unbroken, but many of the problems from that book are still here.
At least that style works for POV Chandra stories, given her characterization. She's neo-Jaya, so her dialogue is supposed to try to be clever and cool, of course she isn't as good as Jaya, so she isn't as clever or cool either.
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
That way Kiora is outta the picture when the Oaths start coming but is sufficiently explained, changed and prepared for what ever they throw at her next.
I hope you are right about her being out of the way.
I can't find a single redeeming quality to that awful walker. Maybe Jori will make the story readable but I really doubt it.
I also want her out of the way but for very different reasons. I actually really like Kiora when she's written well, but while she has a role in this story it is not very large. I'll be satisfied if they give her a tragic turning point in her life that might ground her and cause her to be a lil more reflective. I want to see her grow and develop and not just stay stagnant. Ofttimes when characters and places become part of a recognizable brand there is a tendency to keep them static and the same instead of dynamic with a few core traits. I don't want that for any MAGIC character.
I'm just glad they didn't kill her....
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Wizards. listen. 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
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Fire!
Wind!
Water!
Heart!
GO PLANET!
With your powers combined, I am Captain Planet!
Captain Planet, he's our hero,
Gonna take pollution down to zero,
He's our powers magnified,
And he's fighting on the planet's side
Captain Planet, he's our hero,
Gonna take pollution down to zero,
Gonna help him put asunder,
Bad guys who like to loot and plunder
"You'll pay for this Captain Planet!"
You are about five months late with this joke. One poster even has a spoof on this topic in his sig...
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I'm under the impression they storyboarded this block and commissioned artwork well before the move to UR/OMF became the main venue for the story. Now you have cards that very obviously have your heroes wrapped in purple rings that does bad stuff to your opponent and it's a rare. If cards are going to reflect story moments this is kind of unavoidable once we get the card in our hands. They have to support the story artwork with, well, written story. I'd rather have cards that are backed by actual story instead of current time retcons because I do agree it's not very sensible to carry 3 full sized adults off to touted in a remote cave until you've adequately tended your shredded wing and broken knee. However, we need an explanation of that card as it's very obviously not some generic zendakari. Their hands were tied and I'd rather have a card in my hands that's jives with the story then feel the "when did that happen?" Moment.
I think they can learn and correct some of this before it's too late. Go back and rewrite parts of the unreleased story to make it more seamless. I dunno, it feels clunky and unpolished. I feel like story should be the absolute first thing done prior to ordering artwork and providing art descriptions but don't get that vibe. This is all personal feelings as I have zero clue how they process this workload.
I want to like Chandra so bad, because I think her concept is awesome on paper. The fact is that there is no "random" or "chaos" aspect to her when I know she'll get all pouty at someone telling her what to do through gritted teeth with extra punctuation before fireballing said someone. The character is soooo predictable. I'm never surprised at her actions and her logic is really just passionate or aggressive. Red can be chaotic, loving, free willed, absent minded, or a myriad of other emotions aside from these. Red can also be pretty down to earth, I don't recall Feldon being nearly this cookie cutter of a red character. I think there is a fair arguement for other colors being see in the other 3 walkers, but not Chandra she's very mono red.
I get that they write for a wide audience with different tastes, but sometimes the joy of growing with a story is revisiting it. Finding that foreshadowing, those little lore tidbits, and character interactions you didn't catch the first time around that make it feel immersive. I don't feel like these stories, this one in particular, does any of that. It's face value, cliché, and very linear.
I did like Jace actually getting to accomplish things in a fight scene, though. And his doing them through slurry delirium telepathy is just sauce.
I thought it was kind of strange that none of Chandra, Flamecaller's new abilities were shown off. This seems to be the point in her story Flamecaller is meant to be portraying based on the description of the area being a cave covered in Kozilek's corruption, and the story happened to star Chandra. I ind of expected at the very least a reference to her 3/1 Haste elementals would have been prudent. I know there's no obligation to perfectly portray the mechanics in the story but I really thought it would have made sense to tie her new card and the story together here by having her show off some of her new powers, especially since she's just coming from Keral Keep which could even have been used to explain her new abilities.
I dunno, it's a little thing, but a little thing that would take no effort on their part and change nothing in the overall storyline that could have furthered the connection between the story and the cards.
I'm also not a big fan of Doug Beyer's writing in general. I think he tries very hard to be... I guess "clever"? "Cool"? With his writing. It suits the character he tends to write for (Chandra) I suppose, but it permeates his stories in general.
But the people behind the barrier knew.
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
On Ob Nixilis being a saturday morning cartoon villain: Has he ever not been one? He destroyed everyone else on his home plane because...he wanted to. That seems pretty one-dimensionally evil, and then he went around the multiverse conquering worlds for sport. He is generally well-written and seeing things from his perspective is always entertaining, but he has never not been a vindictive mustache twirler. He is generally pragmatic but as the last story that featured him showed he is more than willing to risk his life to torment people for a little bit. I don't think it is unreasonable that he'd take Nissa for torture after what she did to him, I think the other 2 were kind of just a bonus.
Last, I tend to really enjoy cartoons like justice league and movies like the avengers so maybe that is why I liked this more than most people seem to. It is obviously nothing as good as the Tazri story but it was a story we knew was going to happen and all in all I thought it was pretty good.The part where they all simultaneously blasted Ob was good fun, and I thought his response to them upon his defeat was very in-character for him.
Edit: I wonder if people would have enjoyed this story more if it were written from Ob's perspective? It would certainly be interesting to hear his internal reasoning for his actions, as well as his thoughts as he realized he was being defeated.
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
"Episode 06: Beneath the Surface
With Sea Gate in ruins, and two Eldrazi titans on the loose, Jori En and must will embark on a mission to help Kiora recover her powerful bident—a weapon of the gods that could the tide against the Eldrazi."
I would look out for the story, if not for the knowledge that the bident will probably not have any part in dealing with the eldrazi at all.
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
That is quite fitting description. Clever and "cool". His writing just feels almost always like an overzealous trying-too-hard fan's fan-fiction. Eid was very sarcastic and sometimes cruel to him in his review of Alara Unbroken, but many of the problems from that book are still here.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Completely agree, and its the problem with the Origins 5 overall. When you try to have 5 walkers as the faces of the games and their colors, you get terribly cliche and narrow characters. Jace and Liliana have more or less always been written similarly, but even Jace and Liliana are being written into the roles of "nerdy and misunderstood telepath" and "seductive and selfish necromancer." Nissa was completely retconned into an elf-hippy, which we've been over before, Gideon has seemingly become more of a blunt soldier than the lawful warrior he was originally designed as. And Chandra still is, like you said, just rebelling against anyone who tells her anything. There's no depth.
You know who got depth? Ajani when he became vengeant over his brother's death or more community-based while among the Leonin on Theros. Garruk when he found he enjoyed the corruption and power of the veil curse and chose to keep his solitude and hunting for bigger game focus. They had depth. True, the depth moved them our of monocolor, but then we have Koth, Tamiyo or Elspeth all as better, more nuanced versions of mono-color walkers. I just have yet to love the choices of face walkers, and not even Doug can solve the issue. Although I do like Doug, let's not forget he is the Creative Director. If we aren't pleased with the Creative direction, I'm not saying it is all his fault or anything like that, I think we have the right to at least question his decisions for this block and the Origins 5. I know Chandra's his girl, but he still hasn't written her in a very interesting way yet, or non-cliche. To me at least.
Story was fine, but I'm at the point where I'm starting to dread the stories with the Origins 5. They're just all predictable. Teamwork makes the dream work, Ob is strong and deadly, but acts like a Bond villain for no reason other than plot convenience, and we still don't get much internal thoughts about how the walkers view each other. The social dynamic is....just there. Chandra just now trusts Jace? What changed? Chandra is most concerned about Gideon, as she calls for him first. Does that imply their sort-of romance from the Purifying Fire is still canon? What does Nissa think of the new pyromancer? There's just no thought processes; it's all action. It's boring.
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Does anybody proofread this stuff before it's published? Really? "Jori En and must will"? "weapon of the gods that could the tide"? Sloppy.
I wish they'd left Kiora's fate as a cliff-hanger. Even more so the fate of the bident. Then it could have resurfaced (aha ha) a couple of years down the line with an interesting little 'how did you come by *that*?!' tale.
Can we just move to legendary creature stories only now? Please?
And on time: can we have stories where 'the fate of the world as we know it' is not in check? These would be good stories. I miss good dialogues, I miss stories without cliches, oh well...
So predictable, so cartoonish, uah. Please, someone, hire me to write these stuff. Or Zazdor. Or anyone here. Come on, I thought professional writers could do better.
EDIT: I'm an avid comic book reader, and I read a lot of super hero stories and watch cartoons with them. I assure you, if we're talking about GOOD stories from this medium, when they team up, it is not so cheesy as it was here.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
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 think Ob Nix was a necessary villain to put the PWs together. if they can't handle a powerful PW, what more the Eldrazi titans?
if Ob Nix just planeswalked away, then in the future, we'd read people complain that they couldn't beat Ob Nix, how could they beat Kozilek and Ulamog?
at least in this story they were shown that they could fight together against a powerful foe.
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The drones were already killed of before the fight started.
My only main complain about the story is Ob taunting while giving Chandra time to recover. Its too cartoon villainy thing to do. The torture scene was fine. I just rationalize it as a way for Ob at getting back at Nissa some more by torturing her along with her friends.
Though it sad that Ob became the target of "together we are powerful" by first defeating the planeswalkers one by one (including Chandra) then being forced out Zendikar by their combined might.
When Sam Stoddard talked about the Origins Chandra having the word "Damage" on it more than any other card in magic history and then I read something like this...it feels forced and empty. I think her summoning elementals like someone mentioned would've been a good match for her card. It would have been neat for the elementals to fight the eldrazi while she took on Ob, added more dimension to the scene, played off the luck aspect of red's color pie in that it happened to free the other walkers, etc. I get the feeling that the whole magic team is on the same page, but it's not a page I'm enjoying.
Nissa is beginning to feel like she's dipping her toes into everyone else's color pie to me. The telepathy Hedron trap with Jace felt blue, her laying her hand on Chandra and restoring her felt white, her anger at being taken away from Ashaya in this awkward life/death cycle through the stories feels red (how many times is that thing going to crumble into a pile of mulch?) She just doesn't feel very green. I know lifegain is green, but I dunno...feels like they didn't flesh her out before the deadline hit.
I hope you are right about her being out of the way.
I can't find a single redeeming quality to that awful walker. Maybe Jori will make the story readable but I really doubt it.
"Kiora is the Aquaman of planeswalkers."
"Useless and everyone pretends to like her?"
Green is the best color to break the color pie (with birds of paradise being able to pay for those color pie breaks.)
--
Initially I'd been excited at the prospect of the Origins 5 becoming the "stars" of the primary story, for the sake of an identifiable "main" cast, but I feel that the way they've handled the storytelling has really driven me to be sick of them. I much prefer the stories about legendary creatures and planeswalkers like Kiora, Ob-Nixilis, and Sarkhan.
Because it was easy. It took virtually no effort on his part. He also knew they were walkers who could leave if defeat was inevitable, so their deaths were not guaranteed, and one consistent character trait he displays is the need to punish those who stand against him. The second things turned against him, he ran. Your plan A was his plan B.
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I'm also not a big fan of Doug Beyer's writing in general. I think he tries very hard to be... I guess "clever"? "Cool"? With his writing. It suits the character he tends to write for (Chandra) I suppose, but it permeates his stories in general.
That is quite fitting description. Clever and "cool". His writing just feels almost always like an overzealous trying-too-hard fan's fan-fiction. Eid was very sarcastic and sometimes cruel to him in his review of Alara Unbroken, but many of the problems from that book are still here.
At least that style works for POV Chandra stories, given her characterization. She's neo-Jaya, so her dialogue is supposed to try to be clever and cool, of course she isn't as good as Jaya, so she isn't as clever or cool either.
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I also want her out of the way but for very different reasons. I actually really like Kiora when she's written well, but while she has a role in this story it is not very large. I'll be satisfied if they give her a tragic turning point in her life that might ground her and cause her to be a lil more reflective. I want to see her grow and develop and not just stay stagnant. Ofttimes when characters and places become part of a recognizable brand there is a tendency to keep them static and the same instead of dynamic with a few core traits. I don't want that for any MAGIC character.
I'm just glad they didn't kill her....
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