For like two seconds I imagined Jace chasing after Ral to stop him and have a cute moment.
I have some questions regarding Project Lightning Bug. So it allows Ral to see where planeswalkers are 'walking to, but can he only see planes he's aware of, which would mean planes that he has visited himself right? Or is the known-multiverse mapped out? Because that seems like a powerful tool. And that would make sense that Amonkhet, an uncharted realm, wouldn't show up.
Ah, all these years and the primary mode of travel between stories is still shrouded in mystery.
I take Ral's ability to trace where a Walkers going to as confirmation that planes have a location relative to others, like planets in our solar system.
For like two seconds I imagined Jace chasing after Ral to stop him and have a cute moment.
I have some questions regarding Project Lightning Bug. So it allows Ral to see where planeswalkers are 'walking to, but can he only see planes he's aware of, which would mean planes that he has visited himself right? Or is the known-multiverse mapped out? Because that seems like a powerful tool. And that would make sense that Amonkhet, an uncharted realm, wouldn't show up.
Ah, all these years and the primary mode of travel between stories is still shrouded in mystery.
I take Ral's ability to trace where a Walkers going to as confirmation that planes have a location relative to others, like planets in our solar system.
They definitely do, as I remember back in the day that one Minotaur planeswalker was banished to a plane so far that he would never return to Dominaria in the perceivable near future.
I'm just wondering how many planes Ral has been to if he's to have any reliability in knowing what the destinations are. Cartographer seems like a fun characteristic for Ral, if this is how it works.
The story itself felt a bit rough, but overall was passable and intriguing.
I suspect Ral's device can recognize a signature in the mana/aether when a PW planejumps, to tell where they are coming from or going to. Likely he has to know the plane to figure out where it is (how else would he know the name of the plane if he didn't go there/didn't get told the name of it). He's probably snuck around behind Jace, jumping to the places Jace (and Gideon and Liliana ) have been to identify those planes.
Which has other implications if you think of it. The above theory would imply he could follow a PW even if he doesn't really know the plane. Thus Vraska's destination shouldn't really be a mystery; even if it was a new plane, he would have said as much. This implies that Vraska is either in the Blind Eternities, (maybe she could double jump to hide the destination by going to null space first), or more likely she's in a protected/shielded plane that you can't reach without knowing/having some tricks. Likely the Gatewatch will get the key from Tezzeret in Aether Revolt, leading them onward to Amonkhet.
And on another note, is this the most Planeswalkers we've seen in a Set story arc ever? By my count there have been 11 PWs seen and another 3 mentioned in the Kaladesh stories alone:
Speaking of Vatti/Shadowblayde, I'm thinking that the girl-with-mech-arm art we see in the AER ad in KLD boosters might be just her. There's blade there (and in her name), and she looks important enough.
i think the girl's Saheeli Rai that lost her spark, becoming just a legendary creature in Aether Revolt.
Losing a spark is not a common occurence at all, FYI. Actually it is very rare, and yet unseen in neowalkers (save Radha, of course, who was exposed to a friggin time rift several times and used as mana lens. I would appreciate if people stopped throwing such theories around casually.
When a glimpse of Kamigawa overshadows an entire new plane and story, you know WOTC is wrong for not returning.
I dare to say that it overshadowed it just for you, and given what is known about you, no surprise here Not that it was not great, but stop exaggerating.
If I remember correctly, Bolas retreated somewhere after he used Leshrac to seal the Madaran Rift, somewhere he was confidant would survive the end of the multiverse. I wonder of this hidden location is where Bolas went, be it his meditation realm or Amonket.
Almost certainly his Meditation Realm, that we saw in Planechase, as well as one of the webcomic.
I enjoyed the story. Vraska… could she have planes walked to Eliquor (sp?) a plane hidden even from Urza?
Equilor. And see above. I did not expect them to bring such an ancient plane forward. But you are right, it is the only plane we know of that could be "shielded" from common knowledge of walkers.
Another possibility is a plane somehow shielded by Tezzeret's inventions. In Agents of Artifice, he had various things at his disposal (Blind Eternities tracking Infinity Globes, etc. Why not something that shields his secret base again? And Vraska might be interested working against Jace, for obvious reasons.
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I had assumed that untraceable Vraska meant she walked into a world destroyed by Eldrazi. Hopefully I'm wrong and we won't hear from them anytime soon. That Nicol Bolas somehow secured his plane makes sense, after all Sorin did too, somewhat, but not against PW.
I had assumed that untraceable Vraska meant she walked into a world destroyed by Eldrazi. Hopefully I'm wrong and we won't hear from them anytime soon. That Nicol Bolas somehow secured his plane makes sense, after all Sorin did too, somewhat, but not against PW.
Wizards has mentioned Bolas, because the next set is his plane, but the story hasn't mentioned him in quite a while.
So if Ajani is right, what exactly is Tezzeret building? Next Wednesday can't come soon enough.
Also, I wonder if the line about people in the crowd shouting "Tezzeret cheats!" was an intentional Warcraft movie reference or just a coincidence.
I think the most viable deduction right now is a refined version of the teleporter Rashmi won top honors with. For what, is anyone's guess at this point.
So, apparently Dovin Baan is a willing accomplice in Tezzeret's plans (as implied in then segment with Kembul). But that just doesn't make any sense! If Baan was knowingly in league with Tezzeret why would he have ever involved the gatewatch???
The presence of the Gatewatch wasn't integral to the plan's success in any way, and there's no reason for Tezzeret to want more planeswalkers present to meddle in his affairs.
So, apparently Dovin Baan is a willing accomplice in Tezzeret's plans (as implied in then segment with Kembul). But that just doesn't make any sense! If Baan was knowingly in league with Tezzeret why would he have ever involved the gatewatch???
The presence of the Gatewatch wasn't integral to the plan's success in any way, and there's no reason for Tezzeret to want more planeswalkers present to meddle in his affairs.
It is entirely possible Dovin Baan never thought the Gatewatch was anything more than essentially a security force for hire. So it makes sense for him to go to them, because he would have no reason to believe they would turn against them at any point. Of course once he knows that Nalaar is part of the gatewatch the plan to use them would vanish, but that plan had gone down the drain before then. But he hung around because that was proper etiquette and it seemed important to him.
Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
I'm still confused how he can do this,
As mentioned before this could require him to know of the plane to track such movements or something like that but it smells oddly of 'plot device' to me and not even lampshaded plot device.
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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
Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
Ral did accurately track Jace's movements for several planes beyond departing Ravnica.
On one hand, the story does feel running a bit too fast, but at least given that they mentioned Kambal and Tezzeret planning to confiscate the winning entries of the fair for something, this fast pace feels quite justified. The intro part in Ravnica was good.
Sad to know that it's now all but confirmed that Dovin is a villain.
Ral seriously is my favorite by leaps and bounds. Well, Ajani, Arlinn and Koth are all up there, but Ral just coincides with my personality more. Sarcastic, observant and chaotic - and he gets as annoyed at Jace as I do when he just shows up for no real reason. Yes, he has the Tezzeret background, I know, but couldnt he and Gideon just have their own side quests? The Avengers don't all assemble every movie.
Anyways, agree with most everyone that Ral's mapping ability and the Vraska vanishing act are the highlights. Kaladesh is doing a far better job of setting up future plot threads than any of the past few sets. Now I want to see how they all unravel. Outside of Ajani, I'm curious who will be in Amonkhet.
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Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
Ral did accurately track Jace's movements for several planes beyond departing Ravnica.
Mmm, right, yeah. As far as we know Jace went straight from Zendikar to Innistrad without stopping over at Ravnica, as the Gatewatch did between Innistrad and Kaladesh. I wonder if that's going to be:
A) a unique thing with Jace (Perhaps being the Guildpact somehow makes it easier/possible to track him well beyond other planeswalkers)
B) something Ral could do with only a planeswalker he's set a tracker of some kind onto (didn't Project Lightning Bug mentions him having put a tracker into Jace's cloak?)
or
C) he can track any planeswalker (or any planeswalker that's been to Ravnica at some point to leave behind a "signature" or something) anywhere they go.
Option C seems overtly plot device-y, so I'd honestly rather it be A or B.
Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
Ral did accurately track Jace's movements for several planes beyond departing Ravnica.
Mmm, right, yeah. As far as we know Jace went straight from Zendikar to Innistrad without stopping over at Ravnica, as the Gatewatch did between Innistrad and Kaladesh. I wonder if that's going to be:
A) a unique thing with Jace (Perhaps being the Guildpact somehow makes it easier/possible to track him well beyond other planeswalkers)
B) something Ral could do with only a planeswalker he's set a tracker of some kind onto (didn't Project Lightning Bug mentions him having put a tracker into Jace's cloak?)
or
C) he can track any planeswalker (or any planeswalker that's been to Ravnica at some point to leave behind a "signature" or something) anywhere they go.
Option C seems overtly plot device-y, so I'd honestly rather it be A or B.
The Tesya story confirms he did stop by Ravnica before going to Innistrad.
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Let's not ignore the fact that Tezz is probably keeping information from Baan.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
Ral did accurately track Jace's movements for several planes beyond departing Ravnica.
Mmm, right, yeah. As far as we know Jace went straight from Zendikar to Innistrad without stopping over at Ravnica, as the Gatewatch did between Innistrad and Kaladesh. I wonder if that's going to be:
A) a unique thing with Jace (Perhaps being the Guildpact somehow makes it easier/possible to track him well beyond other planeswalkers)
B) something Ral could do with only a planeswalker he's set a tracker of some kind onto (didn't Project Lightning Bug mentions him having put a tracker into Jace's cloak?)
or
C) he can track any planeswalker (or any planeswalker that's been to Ravnica at some point to leave behind a "signature" or something) anywhere they go.
Option C seems overtly plot device-y, so I'd honestly rather it be A or B.
The Tesya story confirms he did stop by Ravnica before going to Innistrad.
Ah, then it is possible that he can only track planeswalkers that have Ravnica as either their Arrival or Departure point.
For starters he doesn't need to know about a plane to be able to see a walker going there. If Project Lightningbug acts like radar, pinging whenever the unique energy signature of a walker breaching the boundaries of a plane, it will pick up a signal regardless of whether Ral knows of the plane or not.
Secondly if the tech can detect walkers leaving Ravnica it could hypothetically be expanded to detect those leaving other planes as well. They could also expand the network to planes with allies like Kamigawa, Zendikar, and possibly Kaladesh depending on how things go.
Nothing too much arresting about this story entry...
- I lived for a bit for the Jace x Ral interaction (after so many prevalent FxF pairs this year, this a nice break, albeit in my delusion)
- The possible story hooks in the beginning are interesting.
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Losing a spark is not a common occurence at all, FYI. Actually it is very rare, and yet unseen in neowalkers (save Radha, of course, who was exposed to a friggin time rift several times and used as mana lens. I would appreciate if people stopped throwing such theories around casually.
Technically Venser (for all intents and relevance he's pretty much a neowalker) lost his spark, he just happened to die as a result. I consider it a case of losing a spark (even if it as given up voluntarily) based on the assumption that a planeswalker must still be alive during a spark transfer to actually be successful (which stems from the idea that if the last-attached soul the spark was placed in dies, the spark disappears along with it, otherwise Yawgmoth probably could have gone on a oldwalker corpse-collecting spree all those years ago, he certainly prioritized his science over his sadism).
On Project Lightning Bug, I think it's simple - pretty sure only planes Ral knows can be recorded on the device, he doesn't have to visited the plane, if Jace told him the relative co-ordinates he probably could key it in to a high-accuracy extent. Planes can be consciously hidden to prevent detection from oldwalkers then, it's probably going to work against one Izzet science experiment. Knowing Bolas and his methods, it's most likely Vraska went to Amonkhet (because I think Tezz will lead the main crew there, but he's going to be semi-relevant there like Liliana is now) and it's one of the planes Bolas actively cloaked from detection. The only reason Gatewatch got there is most likely going to be outright following Tezz. I know it's speculation, but other than Emrakul's surprise ending, most of MTG's storylines are pretty straightforward when they aren't retcon'ed.
I could settle for Vraska being eaten by a 4th Eldrazi Titan though
I had assumed that untraceable Vraska meant she walked into a world destroyed by Eldrazi. Hopefully I'm wrong and we won't hear from them anytime soon. That Nicol Bolas somehow secured his plane makes sense, after all Sorin did too, somewhat, but not against PW.
Wizards has mentioned Bolas, because the next set is his plane, but the story hasn't mentioned him in quite a while.
I think Bolas was mentioned in the previous Story.
But not by name. "Two years? Impossible, Ajani. Tezzeret died...three years ago, I think? Betrayed by his comrades. Nashi's village, those that survived, they killed him. A dragon bargained for the corpse."
I think Bolas was mentioned in the previous Story.
But not by name. "Two years? Impossible, Ajani. Tezzeret died...three years ago, I think? Betrayed by his comrades. Nashi's village, those that survived, they killed him. A dragon bargained for the corpse."
This could be Bolas..
No, it definitely is. We know that. After Jace brainwiped Tezz and the Nezumi finished the job Bolas knew he could rebuild him. He has the technology. In one of the webcomics (I think the one where Sarkhan goes to the eye) Bolas shows Tezz' body to Sarkhan.
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I take Ral's ability to trace where a Walkers going to as confirmation that planes have a location relative to others, like planets in our solar system.
They definitely do, as I remember back in the day that one Minotaur planeswalker was banished to a plane so far that he would never return to Dominaria in the perceivable near future.
I'm just wondering how many planes Ral has been to if he's to have any reliability in knowing what the destinations are. Cartographer seems like a fun characteristic for Ral, if this is how it works.
I suspect Ral's device can recognize a signature in the mana/aether when a PW planejumps, to tell where they are coming from or going to. Likely he has to know the plane to figure out where it is (how else would he know the name of the plane if he didn't go there/didn't get told the name of it). He's probably snuck around behind Jace, jumping to the places Jace (and Gideon and Liliana ) have been to identify those planes.
Which has other implications if you think of it. The above theory would imply he could follow a PW even if he doesn't really know the plane. Thus Vraska's destination shouldn't really be a mystery; even if it was a new plane, he would have said as much. This implies that Vraska is either in the Blind Eternities, (maybe she could double jump to hide the destination by going to null space first), or more likely she's in a protected/shielded plane that you can't reach without knowing/having some tricks. Likely the Gatewatch will get the key from Tezzeret in Aether Revolt, leading them onward to Amonkhet.
And on another note, is this the most Planeswalkers we've seen in a Set story arc ever? By my count there have been 11 PWs seen and another 3 mentioned in the Kaladesh stories alone:
Jace
Chandra
Nissa
Gideon
Liliana
Dovin Baan
Saheeli Rai
Tamiyo
Ajani
Tezzeret
Ral Zarak
Elspeth
Narset
Vraska
Losing a spark is not a common occurence at all, FYI. Actually it is very rare, and yet unseen in neowalkers (save Radha, of course, who was exposed to a friggin time rift several times and used as mana lens. I would appreciate if people stopped throwing such theories around casually.
I dare to say that it overshadowed it just for you, and given what is known about you, no surprise here Not that it was not great, but stop exaggerating.
Almost certainly his Meditation Realm, that we saw in Planechase, as well as one of the webcomic.
Equilor. And see above. I did not expect them to bring such an ancient plane forward. But you are right, it is the only plane we know of that could be "shielded" from common knowledge of walkers.
Another possibility is a plane somehow shielded by Tezzeret's inventions. In Agents of Artifice, he had various things at his disposal (Blind Eternities tracking Infinity Globes, etc. Why not something that shields his secret base again? And Vraska might be interested working against Jace, for obvious reasons.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I had assumed that untraceable Vraska meant she walked into a world destroyed by Eldrazi. Hopefully I'm wrong and we won't hear from them anytime soon. That Nicol Bolas somehow secured his plane makes sense, after all Sorin did too, somewhat, but not against PW.
I think the most viable deduction right now is a refined version of the teleporter Rashmi won top honors with. For what, is anyone's guess at this point.
The presence of the Gatewatch wasn't integral to the plan's success in any way, and there's no reason for Tezzeret to want more planeswalkers present to meddle in his affairs.
I think the most important thing from this for the long run is that Ral can track where walkers are going. I mean we already knew that walkers leave trails in the blind eternities that other walkers can follow but they have to be in the eternities to do so. Now the Gatewatch has a way to track enemies.
Provided that they arrive to or depart from Ravnica, and that Ral is in a sharing mood, that is.
I'm still confused how he can do this,
As mentioned before this could require him to know of the plane to track such movements or something like that but it smells oddly of 'plot device' to me and not even lampshaded plot device.
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
Ral did accurately track Jace's movements for several planes beyond departing Ravnica.
Sad to know that it's now all but confirmed that Dovin is a villain.
Anyways, agree with most everyone that Ral's mapping ability and the Vraska vanishing act are the highlights. Kaladesh is doing a far better job of setting up future plot threads than any of the past few sets. Now I want to see how they all unravel. Outside of Ajani, I'm curious who will be in Amonkhet.
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Mmm, right, yeah. As far as we know Jace went straight from Zendikar to Innistrad without stopping over at Ravnica, as the Gatewatch did between Innistrad and Kaladesh. I wonder if that's going to be:
A) a unique thing with Jace (Perhaps being the Guildpact somehow makes it easier/possible to track him well beyond other planeswalkers)
B) something Ral could do with only a planeswalker he's set a tracker of some kind onto (didn't Project Lightning Bug mentions him having put a tracker into Jace's cloak?)
or
C) he can track any planeswalker (or any planeswalker that's been to Ravnica at some point to leave behind a "signature" or something) anywhere they go.
Option C seems overtly plot device-y, so I'd honestly rather it be A or B.
The Tesya story confirms he did stop by Ravnica before going to Innistrad.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Ah, then it is possible that he can only track planeswalkers that have Ravnica as either their Arrival or Departure point.
Secondly if the tech can detect walkers leaving Ravnica it could hypothetically be expanded to detect those leaving other planes as well. They could also expand the network to planes with allies like Kamigawa, Zendikar, and possibly Kaladesh depending on how things go.
- I lived for a bit for the Jace x Ral interaction (after so many prevalent FxF pairs this year, this a nice break, albeit in my delusion)
- The possible story hooks in the beginning are interesting.
Serra Stan - Angel Enthusiast - Garruk and Tyvar thirsty follower - Flavor and Art Enthusiast
Technically Venser (for all intents and relevance he's pretty much a neowalker) lost his spark, he just happened to die as a result. I consider it a case of losing a spark (even if it as given up voluntarily) based on the assumption that a planeswalker must still be alive during a spark transfer to actually be successful (which stems from the idea that if the last-attached soul the spark was placed in dies, the spark disappears along with it, otherwise Yawgmoth probably could have gone on a oldwalker corpse-collecting spree all those years ago, he certainly prioritized his science over his sadism).
On Project Lightning Bug, I think it's simple - pretty sure only planes Ral knows can be recorded on the device, he doesn't have to visited the plane, if Jace told him the relative co-ordinates he probably could key it in to a high-accuracy extent. Planes can be consciously hidden to prevent detection from oldwalkers then, it's probably going to work against one Izzet science experiment. Knowing Bolas and his methods, it's most likely Vraska went to Amonkhet (because I think Tezz will lead the main crew there, but he's going to be semi-relevant there like Liliana is now) and it's one of the planes Bolas actively cloaked from detection. The only reason Gatewatch got there is most likely going to be outright following Tezz. I know it's speculation, but other than Emrakul's surprise ending, most of MTG's storylines are pretty straightforward when they aren't retcon'ed.
I could settle for Vraska being eaten by a 4th Eldrazi Titan though
I think Bolas was mentioned in the previous Story.
But not by name.
"Two years? Impossible, Ajani. Tezzeret died...three years ago, I think? Betrayed by his comrades. Nashi's village, those that survived, they killed him. A dragon bargained for the corpse."
This could be Bolas..
No, it definitely is. We know that. After Jace brainwiped Tezz and the Nezumi finished the job Bolas knew he could rebuild him. He has the technology. In one of the webcomics (I think the one where Sarkhan goes to the eye) Bolas shows Tezz' body to Sarkhan.