New Story's up, this one detailing Lili's fight with Tezz.
I forgot that half of the Gatewatch have no idea of who Bolas is or how big of a threat he poses. Looking forward to seeing what Beefslab, Chandra and Nissa say about dealing with him after Ajani, Lili and Jace explain.
I mean, I already know how they react, and I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying this is how & why they end up on Amonkhet. But I'm eager to see the arguments for an against going after Bolas.
Also, one of Lili's demons is on Amonkhet. so the plot thickens...
Liliana continues to be a delight. I am excited for the next chapter, which will hopefully feature Tezzeret's POV.
Also, story gears up for next set too.
First of all, although I'm no fan of Lilliana I was a bit taken aback by her characterization in this story.
If I was confident my "goody-two shoes" utilitarian companions would never know of my necessary discretions, I would totally have slaughtered all the meat shields in my way and build a zombie army. While I'm Abzan and therefore not in agreement with this mentality myself I'm confused why Lilliana would be so restrained, I mean, She hasn't even been around the others that long for them to have influence her in this way- or if they have the narrative has not appropriately shown it.
The Battle between Tez and Lili was a lot more subdued than I thought it should have been and there were moments that Lilliana seemed not as intelligent as I thought she should be. She should have always suspected Bolas, especially after hearing of his manipulations on other planes such as the release of the Eldrazi- which she would have heard from other Gatewatch members.
Secondly-
The explosion of the gate should have been a story unto itself, With Gids being unsure if it were even possible to extend his invulnerability to Chandra, and when he does so, it should be with great effort, as this is something the lore has never portrayed him as being able to accomplish before. Chandra and Gids should have a conversation about the strangeness of their coming together, having been enemies long ago, and Chandra should feel strained between her interest for Nissa and Gids if she indeed has romantic feelings for both (I personally believe she views Nissa as more of a friend but there is sufficient evidence to argue differently. Both Characters should wonder if this is going to kill them, it should be epic, the explosion described as a crucible of sorts, Tez and Lilliana being able to survive so close to the blast radiance lessons the reader's expectation of the explosion as it seems minimal compared to what were hinted at in earlier stories. This is Chandra's Big moment in her own Block! This part should be from her perspective and not feel like a -hey everyone ok? Great! job done, oh look Bolas!
I am excited to go to Amonkhet, I was grateful for the knowledge that there is a Lilidemon there, but in order for these stories to feel how they should they need to maximize the ethos in the present- that means making meaningful resolution-giving narrative for the character to whom the event is most important ie CHANDRA. The Story did well to include Lilli's origins for comparative contrast in the beginning of the story but mishandled everything after that in mine own opinion.
I don't mean to complain, but this story could have been better, it should have been better
Also I'm unsure why my computer will not let me edit my own posts as I'm writing them, forgive the weirdness afterwards as I'm unsure what's happening. [/i] for
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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
I like Liliana, she's my favorite PW, but she majorly failed the Bechtel test today, and that bums me out.
Why did she not use her normal tactics and raise a zombie army? Because she has a crush on Jace. Why did she not just veil up and wipe the floor with Tezzeret? Because she has a crush on Jace. Why did she hold back, make things harder for herself, and even start to question her own purpose with the Jacetus League? Because she has a crush on Jace.
It is literally on the first page: she has multiple reasons and multiple problems to deal with, each with its own loose ends. So she's going to change all of these plans and be a good and happy and (sort of) nice person... all because she wants a hard dicking from the universe's most bland mind mage.
Really sad.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
I like Liliana, she's my favorite PW, but she majorly failed the Bechtel test today, and that bums me out.
Why did she not use her normal tactics and raise a zombie army? Because she has a crush on Jace. Why did she not just veil up and wipe the floor with Tezzeret? Because she has a crush on Jace. Why did she hold back, make things harder for herself, and even start to question her own purpose with the Jacetus League? Because she has a crush on Jace.
It is literally on the first page: she has multiple reasons and multiple problems to deal with, each with its own loose ends. So she's going to change all of these plans and be a good and happy and (sort of) nice person... all because she wants a hard dicking from the universe's most bland mind mage.
Really sad.
I don't think that's fair to say. In fact, her conversation with Tezzeret and her own internal rationales would suggest that any consideration for Jace is simply a byproduct of her practicality. Liliana's whole thing is that using the chain veil is incredibly taxing, and using it takes some very careful consideration on her part. The whole reason she joined up with the gatewatch was to get them to help her kill her remaining two demons. She freely admits to herself that she needs the gatewatch to help beat her demons, so pissing them off by raising a ton of zombies isn't the best way to gain the trust of a group that already distrusts her.
Disappointed that thus far, and presumably not at all, we haven't had a look at anything from Tezzeret's perspective. Frustrating to no end. I want to know what's making the villain tick. Nahiri was done well, as far as reasons and motivations. I hoped Tezzeret would get a similar treatment. Oh well.
Disappointed in the Liliana/Tezzeret fight. A lot of bland magical and verbal jabs. No indication that either walker is really trying that hard at all. Tezzeret seemed to try harder in his duel than in protecting the Bridge, Liliana raised an army of undead on Innistrad. Here, they just lob some spells here or there. Just very boring. This is almost opposite the "Battle at the Bridge" story card, which implies an actual battle at the Bridge, and whose flavor text implies Tezzeret is confronting more than one walker. Neither of these things happened.
Disappointed in the Bridge. No indication of what it was for, where it was connecting to, what might come through? For the sake of the story it was just a threatening set of rings, but no real threat was seen apart from the threat of what Tezzeret *may* do with it, which we have no insight on because we don't have a story from his perspective. What a waste. The story was driven by the Bridge and the revolt. The Bridge part was just...disappointing.
Disappointed in the destruction of the Bridge. The Gideon missile hits, fire, Bridge destroyed in a big bada boom. I dunno. Felt underwhelming. Maybe if something was coming through the portal at the time, it would have been more '!!!!'.
Things I liked:
Tezzeret was not a screaming childish walker like he was in the story where the Bridge was being finalized. He clearly squirreled something away as Liliana approached. He's not done yet, but he might be done with Kaladesh. He's also plotting his own plots, and promises to be a future danger, again, in six years or so.
Liliana's selfish interest in Chandra not killing herself was in character and her painful reliance in the Chain Veil keeps up the issue of what she's going to do about it. Her taking on some positive aspects because of Jace......a stretch.
One of Liliana's demons on Amonkhet is interesting, and it makes me wonder whether the demon is a creation or peon of Nicol Bolas on Bolas' plane. From what I gather, demons can't planeswalk, and Amonkhet civilization is preserved by Bolas, so I assume Bolas is far more powerful than the demon.
Also, if Liliana is concerned about the Gatewatch being able to handle just one demon, while they destroyed two Eldrazi titans and stopped a third, I just have no real concept of power rankings anymore.
Wow, that was all pretty... let's be kind and say "anticlimactic." For reasons others have noted above, and plenty of others.
The Tezzeret/Liliana fight had all the drama and only about half the charm of your average Bud Lite commercial. As compared to the stuff on Innistrad, where Liliana came off as really impressive and scary-powerful, here she casually KOd a bunch of mooks and then tossed some necromantic bolts at Tezzeret. Tezzeret didn't come off as particularly powerful - the best stuff he made had trouble dealing with a single zombie? - or even able to dodge things particularly well, and neither he nor Liliana did anything to suggest either of them is substantially smarter than Kari Zev's monkey companion. No, scratch that. Liliana not even suspecting that Bolas might have a hand in things makes her seem like she might be less smart than the monkey. Liliana went in allegedly intent on ending Tezzeret, but other than us being told she was thinking that, the story didn't do anything to really sell us that she cared that much.
Like many others, I was hoping we'd get something from Tezzeret's POV, but given as badly as Liliana was depicted here, maybe we're just as well off not having gotten that. What we got of him, Tezzeret came off as snarky and kinda *****y, more like a minor contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race than a brilliant master villain.
The big Gideon/Chandra moment happened, and that was it. There was no real build-up or drama, just boom, the Planar Bridge goes blooey, they're okay. There was a nice piece of art which accompanied the moment, but that part of the story was about as engaging as listening to the hog futures report on some really awful AM radio station in rural Nebraska.
At the end, we get the "assemble the League Gatewatch, we gotta talk about Bolas and set up the next arc" moment. Um, yay?
Also, if Liliana is concerned about the Gatewatch being able to handle just one demon, while they destroyed two Eldrazi titans and stopped a third, I just have no real concept of power rankings anymore.
Seriously. I get they're trying to sell the new demon with "he's stronger than Kothoped and GrussellBrand", but it screams of "he's as strong as Superman and has all the powers of teh Silver Surfer, and he has mind powers, and and and he's super cool and everyone likes him!"
There is no possible way the new demon will live up to that level of hype.
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Level 1 Judge
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
You don't call "dying to removal" if the removal is more expensive in resources than the creature. If you have to spend BG (Abrupt Decay), or W + basic land (PtE) to remove a 1G, that is not "dying to removal". Strictly speaking Goyf dies to removal, but actually your removal is dying to Goyf.
Wizards screwed up majorly by putting the climactic story of the block in the hands of James Wyatt.
James Wyatt writes like old people f***.
It was an underwhelming slog from plot checkpoint to plot checkpoint, bereft of any compelling emotion or even action. It was the same thing as Thalia's march to Thraben and fight with Brisela- except at least that wasn't the ultimate climax of the Shadows Over Innistrad block. This was. Sixteen stories of buildup for this underwhelming crap.
Fortunately, I think now that we've got the bare bones of the plot, most of us can use our imaginations to view how this confrontation and climax would have gone in the hands of someone like L'Etoile, Beyer, or Kreines.
Hopefully the closeout at least salvages it somewhat.
I do feel like the story fell flat for me as well. Lilliana's fight scenes never disappoint, largely because she goes all out and is all about herself. She's very determined with her goals as expected. I didn't like seeing such an awkward change in her character. Sure, Jace and the Gatewatch having an influence on her is endearing, but not in such a situation or at such a stage as now. Tezzeret was a very serious threat that slipped from her grasp. I'm sure that's the intention though, that it's yet another loose end she's left - whether she acts morally or selfishly, she arrives at the same dilemma. That internal conflict is an area of interest, but it was still uncharacteristic of Lilliana. Would have been more palpable with more active writing. This entry was just choppy and far too passive to be engaging. It compromises Lilliana's determination. I expected her to be dead set on killing Tezzeret, but instead they conversed more than battled. Would have been amusing for him to taunt her and she be hell bent on killing him, only to have the Hope of Ghuipur ruin her death blow. I enjoyed her playing on his temper, but ultimately, she didn't feel like genuine Lilly that goes out of her way to get things done.
Also I expected Griselbrand to be the most powerful demon, coming from Innistrad and all.
Wizards screwed up majorly by putting the climactic story of the block in the hands of James Wyatt.
James Wyatt writes like old people f***.
It was an underwhelming slog from plot checkpoint to plot checkpoint, bereft of any compelling emotion or even action. It was the same thing as Thalia's march to Thraben and fight with Brisela- except at least that wasn't the ultimate climax of the Shadows Over Innistrad block. This was. Sixteen stories of buildup for this underwhelming crap.
Fortunately, I think now that we've got the bare bones of the plot, most of us can use our imaginations to view how this confrontation and climax would have gone in the hands of someone like L'Etoile, Beyer, or Kreines.
Hopefully the closeout at least salvages it somewhat.
Beyer and Kreines wouldn't be that much better. Doug is a good world builder (or so I'm told) but not a good writer. At all. The stories by Kreines in BFZ were abysmal, and while she has been steadily improving, her writing is still far from great quality. L'Etoile, on the other hand, is one of the best authors to ever touch Magic's story. I wish that we had more than two stories by him.
Wizards screwed up majorly by putting the climactic story of the block in the hands of James Wyatt.
James Wyatt writes like old people f***.
It was an underwhelming slog from plot checkpoint to plot checkpoint, bereft of any compelling emotion or even action. It was the same thing as Thalia's march to Thraben and fight with Brisela- except at least that wasn't the ultimate climax of the Shadows Over Innistrad block. This was. Sixteen stories of buildup for this underwhelming crap.
Fortunately, I think now that we've got the bare bones of the plot, most of us can use our imaginations to view how this confrontation and climax would have gone in the hands of someone like L'Etoile, Beyer, or Kreines.
Hopefully the closeout at least salvages it somewhat.
Beyer and Kreines wouldn't be that much better. Doug is a good world builder (or so I'm told) but not a good writer. At all. The stories by Kreines in BFZ were abysmal, and while she has been steadily improving, her writing is still far from great quality. L'Etoile, on the other hand, is one of the best authors to ever touch Magic's story. I wish that we had more than two stories by him.
I'm going to disagree heavily on Kreines. She did a fine job with the Nissa/Ob Nixilis fight. She single handedly turned Hal and Alena into fan favorites in "Under the Silver Moon". "Archmage of Goldnight" really made Arlinn shine. And "Breakthrough" was fanstastic as well.
But yeah, L'Etoile is heads and shoulders above the rest. Not only does he do a fantastic job with the main characters and developing them, showing awesome attention to detail and continuity, but he even inserts extremely likeable secondary characters that make the story even more enjoyable (ShadowblaYde, Nashi)
Seriously. I get they're trying to sell the new demon with "he's stronger than Kothoped and GrussellBrand", but it screams of "he's as strong as Superman and has all the powers of teh Silver Surfer, and he has mind powers, and and and he's super cool and everyone likes him!"
There is no possible way the new demon will live up to that level of hype.
The minute Tezzeret said "Razaketh", my immediate response was "Nice to have heard of you, Razaketh, Goodbye". This is now abysmal my expectations of Antagonists without the Spark (not that those with the Spark have much higher expectations). "Stronger than Kothoped and Griselbrand" doesn't mean anything when the two of them literally perished in a single hit. If we're lucky Razaketh might take two hits to finish off instead. Also, since there's a 4th Demon (forgot his name already), but if anyone stands a chance of being remotely more important, it's that last Demon (maybe Liliana gets too overconfident after Razaketh falls and the last Demon actually "wins"), either way Razaketh is doomed, considering that majority of the Gatewatch is there for Bolas and he's going to be either the appetizer or dessert.
I sort of liked Tezzeret here. I know the fight was lackluster, but that "lacklusterness" on Tezzeret's end really gave me the "I didn't really want to work to pay off this debt" vibe (especially when any debt to Bolas is probably for as long as he lives...), he's calm and snarky and that's the Tezzeret I prefer to the tantrum-throwing one who wants people out of the hallway his pet Ornithopter is flying in.
Don't forget, Liliana only killed Kothophed and Griselbrand as quickly as she did by using the Chain Veil. These days, she's trying to avoid using the Chain Veil, which is where the Gatewatch comes in.
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Also known as Blitzer or Romanoff Blitzer. WIXOSS wiki admin.
James Wyatt managed to screw things up again, though this time in a different way.
His writing was better this time, as well as the Liliana-Tezzeret interaction, but as many people here said, the whole thing just felt totally anticlimactic. Where is the artbook "Tezzeret activated the bridge and the whole aethersphere shook, and Kaladesh with it?". The whole bridge just ended up to be a glowy thing that got blown up.
Maybe, observed from the outside, it would look otherwise, this was just bland.
Please, PLEASE, next time, let Chris write the really important parts of the story :-(
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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)
Wow. very nice, touching character moments to finish the tale. Gideon is really growing into a leader, and we get some real growth for Chandra and Nissa.
Looks like Ajani will be a noshow in Amonkhet...and Bolas is about to get in Datazz.
yeah, next block feels like it will be the right time for the Gatewatch to finally take a major loss (maybe not a death, but a failure in their goals).
I may have missed something; why was Ajani in such mourning? I thought Oviya was injured but she survived/was still breathing? Did she actually die, or did something else happen?
I may have missed something; why was Ajani in such mourning? I thought Oviya was injured but she survived/was still breathing? Did she actually die, or did something else happen?
He's still mourning Elspeth. There's even a quick reference of her cloak (white, Bant-style stitching, too small for him) that he carries around.
Really enjoyed this story, Yahenni's section was particularly great. The emotion was real, and I loved their conversation with Nissa. And their reaction to *something* Nissa reveals is pure Yahenni. Really, I could go on with how well Yahenni's section was told. They are a character I will remember.
On the Gatewatch:
I don't agree with the Gatewatch's reasoning for rushing to Amonkhet, disregarding Ajani's warnings and suggestions of proper planning. Once Chandra said "We beat three Eldrazi and we beat Tezzeret. Let's hit him [Bolas] hard, now." and Gideon agrees with it, I want their plan to fail. Their overestimation of their own capabilities will be their downfall.
I agree, that was a beautiful wrap-up story. So many touching moments handled with expertise.
I REALLY despise the Gatewatch's decision making process re: Amonkhet.
It would have have been so epic to see them hopping around, checking in with people we haven't seen for a while. Jace going to to Garruk for advice on hunting could have been epic..
I def. agree that the major upcoming thing they need is an incredibly humbling kick in the ass. They are going to be so outclassed by Bolas' Legion of Doom.
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I forgot that half of the Gatewatch have no idea of who Bolas is or how big of a threat he poses. Looking forward to seeing what Beefslab, Chandra and Nissa say about dealing with him after Ajani, Lili and Jace explain.
I mean, I already know how they react, and I don't think I'm spoiling anything by saying this is how & why they end up on Amonkhet. But I'm eager to see the arguments for an against going after Bolas.
Also, one of Lili's demons is on Amonkhet. so the plot thickens...
Click the pic for more info.
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/puppets-2017-01-25
Liliana continues to be a delight. I am excited for the next chapter, which will hopefully feature Tezzeret's POV.
Also, story gears up for next set too.
EDIT: Quannage beat me to the post
If I was confident my "goody-two shoes" utilitarian companions would never know of my necessary discretions, I would totally have slaughtered all the meat shields in my way and build a zombie army. While I'm Abzan and therefore not in agreement with this mentality myself I'm confused why Lilliana would be so restrained, I mean, She hasn't even been around the others that long for them to have influence her in this way- or if they have the narrative has not appropriately shown it.
The Battle between Tez and Lili was a lot more subdued than I thought it should have been and there were moments that Lilliana seemed not as intelligent as I thought she should be. She should have always suspected Bolas, especially after hearing of his manipulations on other planes such as the release of the Eldrazi- which she would have heard from other Gatewatch members.
Secondly-
The explosion of the gate should have been a story unto itself, With Gids being unsure if it were even possible to extend his invulnerability to Chandra, and when he does so, it should be with great effort, as this is something the lore has never portrayed him as being able to accomplish before. Chandra and Gids should have a conversation about the strangeness of their coming together, having been enemies long ago, and Chandra should feel strained between her interest for Nissa and Gids if she indeed has romantic feelings for both (I personally believe she views Nissa as more of a friend but there is sufficient evidence to argue differently. Both Characters should wonder if this is going to kill them, it should be epic, the explosion described as a crucible of sorts, Tez and Lilliana being able to survive so close to the blast radiance lessons the reader's expectation of the explosion as it seems minimal compared to what were hinted at in earlier stories. This is Chandra's Big moment in her own Block! This part should be from her perspective and not feel like a -hey everyone ok? Great! job done, oh look Bolas!
I am excited to go to Amonkhet, I was grateful for the knowledge that there is a Lilidemon there, but in order for these stories to feel how they should they need to maximize the ethos in the present- that means making meaningful resolution-giving narrative for the character to whom the event is most important ie CHANDRA. The Story did well to include Lilli's origins for comparative contrast in the beginning of the story but mishandled everything after that in mine own opinion.
I don't mean to complain, but this story could have been better, it should have been better
Also I'm unsure why my computer will not let me edit my own posts as I'm writing them, forgive the weirdness afterwards as I'm unsure what's happening. [/i] for
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
Why did she not use her normal tactics and raise a zombie army? Because she has a crush on Jace. Why did she not just veil up and wipe the floor with Tezzeret? Because she has a crush on Jace. Why did she hold back, make things harder for herself, and even start to question her own purpose with the Jacetus League? Because she has a crush on Jace.
It is literally on the first page: she has multiple reasons and multiple problems to deal with, each with its own loose ends. So she's going to change all of these plans and be a good and happy and (sort of) nice person... all because she wants a hard dicking from the universe's most bland mind mage.
Really sad.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
|| 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 don't think that's fair to say. In fact, her conversation with Tezzeret and her own internal rationales would suggest that any consideration for Jace is simply a byproduct of her practicality. Liliana's whole thing is that using the chain veil is incredibly taxing, and using it takes some very careful consideration on her part. The whole reason she joined up with the gatewatch was to get them to help her kill her remaining two demons. She freely admits to herself that she needs the gatewatch to help beat her demons, so pissing them off by raising a ton of zombies isn't the best way to gain the trust of a group that already distrusts her.
Disappointed that thus far, and presumably not at all, we haven't had a look at anything from Tezzeret's perspective. Frustrating to no end. I want to know what's making the villain tick. Nahiri was done well, as far as reasons and motivations. I hoped Tezzeret would get a similar treatment. Oh well.
Disappointed in the Liliana/Tezzeret fight. A lot of bland magical and verbal jabs. No indication that either walker is really trying that hard at all. Tezzeret seemed to try harder in his duel than in protecting the Bridge, Liliana raised an army of undead on Innistrad. Here, they just lob some spells here or there. Just very boring. This is almost opposite the "Battle at the Bridge" story card, which implies an actual battle at the Bridge, and whose flavor text implies Tezzeret is confronting more than one walker. Neither of these things happened.
Disappointed in the Bridge. No indication of what it was for, where it was connecting to, what might come through? For the sake of the story it was just a threatening set of rings, but no real threat was seen apart from the threat of what Tezzeret *may* do with it, which we have no insight on because we don't have a story from his perspective. What a waste. The story was driven by the Bridge and the revolt. The Bridge part was just...disappointing.
Disappointed in the destruction of the Bridge. The Gideon missile hits, fire, Bridge destroyed in a big bada boom. I dunno. Felt underwhelming. Maybe if something was coming through the portal at the time, it would have been more '!!!!'.
Things I liked:
Tezzeret was not a screaming childish walker like he was in the story where the Bridge was being finalized. He clearly squirreled something away as Liliana approached. He's not done yet, but he might be done with Kaladesh. He's also plotting his own plots, and promises to be a future danger, again, in six years or so.
Liliana's selfish interest in Chandra not killing herself was in character and her painful reliance in the Chain Veil keeps up the issue of what she's going to do about it. Her taking on some positive aspects because of Jace......a stretch.
One of Liliana's demons on Amonkhet is interesting, and it makes me wonder whether the demon is a creation or peon of Nicol Bolas on Bolas' plane. From what I gather, demons can't planeswalk, and Amonkhet civilization is preserved by Bolas, so I assume Bolas is far more powerful than the demon.
Also, if Liliana is concerned about the Gatewatch being able to handle just one demon, while they destroyed two Eldrazi titans and stopped a third, I just have no real concept of power rankings anymore.
Typed on my phone, sorry for any typos or errors.
The Tezzeret/Liliana fight had all the drama and only about half the charm of your average Bud Lite commercial. As compared to the stuff on Innistrad, where Liliana came off as really impressive and scary-powerful, here she casually KOd a bunch of mooks and then tossed some necromantic bolts at Tezzeret. Tezzeret didn't come off as particularly powerful - the best stuff he made had trouble dealing with a single zombie? - or even able to dodge things particularly well, and neither he nor Liliana did anything to suggest either of them is substantially smarter than Kari Zev's monkey companion. No, scratch that. Liliana not even suspecting that Bolas might have a hand in things makes her seem like she might be less smart than the monkey. Liliana went in allegedly intent on ending Tezzeret, but other than us being told she was thinking that, the story didn't do anything to really sell us that she cared that much.
Like many others, I was hoping we'd get something from Tezzeret's POV, but given as badly as Liliana was depicted here, maybe we're just as well off not having gotten that. What we got of him, Tezzeret came off as snarky and kinda *****y, more like a minor contestant on RuPaul's Drag Race than a brilliant master villain.
The big Gideon/Chandra moment happened, and that was it. There was no real build-up or drama, just boom, the Planar Bridge goes blooey, they're okay. There was a nice piece of art which accompanied the moment, but that part of the story was about as engaging as listening to the hog futures report on some really awful AM radio station in rural Nebraska.
At the end, we get the "assemble the
LeagueGatewatch, we gotta talk about Bolas and set up the next arc" moment. Um, yay?Seriously. I get they're trying to sell the new demon with "he's stronger than Kothoped and GrussellBrand", but it screams of "he's as strong as Superman and has all the powers of teh Silver Surfer, and he has mind powers, and and and he's super cool and everyone likes him!"
There is no possible way the new demon will live up to that level of hype.
"I hope to have such a death... lying in triumph atop the broken bodies of those who slew me..."
Wizards screwed up majorly by putting the climactic story of the block in the hands of James Wyatt.
James Wyatt writes like old people f***.
It was an underwhelming slog from plot checkpoint to plot checkpoint, bereft of any compelling emotion or even action. It was the same thing as Thalia's march to Thraben and fight with Brisela- except at least that wasn't the ultimate climax of the Shadows Over Innistrad block. This was. Sixteen stories of buildup for this underwhelming crap.
Fortunately, I think now that we've got the bare bones of the plot, most of us can use our imaginations to view how this confrontation and climax would have gone in the hands of someone like L'Etoile, Beyer, or Kreines.
Hopefully the closeout at least salvages it somewhat.
Also I expected Griselbrand to be the most powerful demon, coming from Innistrad and all.
|| 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 ||
Beyer and Kreines wouldn't be that much better. Doug is a good world builder (or so I'm told) but not a good writer. At all. The stories by Kreines in BFZ were abysmal, and while she has been steadily improving, her writing is still far from great quality. L'Etoile, on the other hand, is one of the best authors to ever touch Magic's story. I wish that we had more than two stories by him.
I'm going to disagree heavily on Kreines. She did a fine job with the Nissa/Ob Nixilis fight. She single handedly turned Hal and Alena into fan favorites in "Under the Silver Moon". "Archmage of Goldnight" really made Arlinn shine. And "Breakthrough" was fanstastic as well.
But yeah, L'Etoile is heads and shoulders above the rest. Not only does he do a fantastic job with the main characters and developing them, showing awesome attention to detail and continuity, but he even inserts extremely likeable secondary characters that make the story even more enjoyable (ShadowblaYde, Nashi)
The minute Tezzeret said "Razaketh", my immediate response was "Nice to have heard of you, Razaketh, Goodbye". This is now abysmal my expectations of Antagonists without the Spark (not that those with the Spark have much higher expectations). "Stronger than Kothoped and Griselbrand" doesn't mean anything when the two of them literally perished in a single hit. If we're lucky Razaketh might take two hits to finish off instead. Also, since there's a 4th Demon (forgot his name already), but if anyone stands a chance of being remotely more important, it's that last Demon (maybe Liliana gets too overconfident after Razaketh falls and the last Demon actually "wins"), either way Razaketh is doomed, considering that majority of the Gatewatch is there for Bolas and he's going to be either the appetizer or dessert.
I sort of liked Tezzeret here. I know the fight was lackluster, but that "lacklusterness" on Tezzeret's end really gave me the "I didn't really want to work to pay off this debt" vibe (especially when any debt to Bolas is probably for as long as he lives...), he's calm and snarky and that's the Tezzeret I prefer to the tantrum-throwing one who wants people out of the hallway his pet Ornithopter is flying in.
Cōnservātum album delenda est.
James Wyatt managed to screw things up again, though this time in a different way.
His writing was better this time, as well as the Liliana-Tezzeret interaction, but as many people here said, the whole thing just felt totally anticlimactic. Where is the artbook "Tezzeret activated the bridge and the whole aethersphere shook, and Kaladesh with it?". The whole bridge just ended up to be a glowy thing that got blown up.
Maybe, observed from the outside, it would look otherwise, this was just bland.
Please, PLEASE, next time, let Chris write the really important parts of the story :-(
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
|| 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 ||
Check it out here.
Wow. very nice, touching character moments to finish the tale. Gideon is really growing into a leader, and we get some real growth for Chandra and Nissa.
Looks like Ajani will be a noshow in Amonkhet...and Bolas is about to get in Datazz.
Calling it now: Gatewatch takes an L next block.
Click the pic for more info.
I may have missed something; why was Ajani in such mourning? I thought Oviya was injured but she survived/was still breathing? Did she actually die, or did something else happen?
He's still mourning Elspeth. There's even a quick reference of her cloak (white, Bant-style stitching, too small for him) that he carries around.
On the Gatewatch:
I don't agree with the Gatewatch's reasoning for rushing to Amonkhet, disregarding Ajani's warnings and suggestions of proper planning. Once Chandra said "We beat three Eldrazi and we beat Tezzeret. Let's hit him [Bolas] hard, now." and Gideon agrees with it, I want their plan to fail. Their overestimation of their own capabilities will be their downfall.
I REALLY despise the Gatewatch's decision making process re: Amonkhet.
It would have have been so epic to see them hopping around, checking in with people we haven't seen for a while. Jace going to to Garruk for advice on hunting could have been epic..
I def. agree that the major upcoming thing they need is an incredibly humbling kick in the ass. They are going to be so outclassed by Bolas' Legion of Doom.