I very much liked this story. It's the small moments that really make you like a character. Chandra blew up the Eldrazi? That's cool I guess. Chandra attracts sleepy cats because she radiates heat? I have a favorite member of the Gatewatch now! This story did it's job well. I wasn't very excited for Kaladesh before I read it, now I am. Nice job, Wizards.
Also, speculation, but given the name "Aether Revolt" the dependence of Kaladeshi magitech on aether and Baan's discovery of an unexpected problem he can't fix I'm better that Aether turns out to be either sentient or nonrenewable (or both).
I suspect it's going to be Nissa's doing. She's pretty clearly still feeling the effects of trying to channel the Emrakul-tainted leylines on Innistrad and the mind-attack, so when she gets to Kaladesh and touches the Aether, she's going to inadvertently warp it with the remnants of Emrakul she's still carrying. The other possibility is she sees the way the Kaladeshi use the Aether akin to slavery and chooses to cause an uprising. Either way I'm betting on Nissa being the inciting factor, and that this set is going to be the Gatewatch's version of the Avenger's Civil War; they're going to unknowingly (or maybe knowingly) bring chaos and destruction to a relatively peaceful world and it's going to stress their relationships significantly. They've had 2 back-to-back major wins against world-eating gods, it's about time for a failure storywise to prevent them from becoming unstoppable juggernauts that fear nothing. This set is going to focus on their relationships, and their ability to remain a team when things aren't going their way and competing ideals are causing tension.
I always appreciate stories that show some personality... through interactions. Each of them plays a role here: Lilliana scheming (love how she messes up Jace's library and takes over), Nissa coping with the city, and Chandra conflicted with his past, present, and future. The fact that they don't know certain fruit/veggie on other planes is also a nice touch.
I think Chandra was a little bit overdone in this. Is she like nine? Or a chibi anime character?
I'm suspecting that our next block may be a return to Theros, giving Gideon some more screen time and character development.
I could warm to the idea of Baan as WU but my gut is still telling me mono-blue for the moment.
I'm kind of disappointed to see that the elves of Kaladesh don't really have any distinguishing physical features to separate them from those of other planes. The only visual cue is their costuming. Non-human races are supposed to be physically altered by aether exposure, so I'd expect something a bit more exotic-looking than just the usual pointy ears.
Edit: This speculation is going around Twitter, judging by the body proportions in this art we may finally be bearing witness to the return of dwarves to Magic!
"In 2016, a crack walker unit destroyed two Eldrazi titans using a weapon they did not create. These men and women promptly imprisoned a third titan in maximum security stockade and moved to the Ravnica underground. Today, still wanted by the Eldrazi, they survive as soldiers of fortune. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... the Gatewatch."
Now I'm hoping next year's SDCC is the Gatewatch dressed up like the A-Team. Gideon with a Mr. T Mohawk would be amazing.
Was the article just on Monday this week to make room for announcement day on Wednesday?
I'm hoping it's because there's a part two of this prelude to Kaladesh coming on Wednesday as well. They seem to be willing to give story content on a more frequent basis in order to fit it all into the year's product schedule; Conspiracy content ran a bit into the space that Kaladesh would have had if last year's story schedule is the benchmark.
Edit: We are getting more story this week!
portmanteaurian asked:
Will there be a new story on Wednesday as well, or is today's replacing the standard Wednesday slot?
Magic: The Gathering
dougbeyermtg answered:
New story this Wednesday as well. BAM. We’re trying to time some story events to line up with PAX, so we’re zipping along at a faster clip here for a bit! It will go back to the usual Wednesday schedule later.
I liked this one a lot. Not up with "The Promised End" or Ob stories, but I liked having a long episode of character beats rather than action or plot exposition. Interesting that they set Gideon against Vraska.
I'm cautiously optimistic about Nissa/Chandra.
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I primarily play limited, so most of my spoiler season comments view cards through that lens.
Homesick is probably the single best piece of MTG fiction they've put out since the Theros block novellas, or possibly Khanfall. The characters are all extremely well defined when compared to many of their previous portrayals, especially Nissa, now that she has to deal with her agoraphobia as well as her emotional and magical scars that formed during Eldritch Moon. Dovin Baan, our first planeswalking Vedalken, is a great new addition, and the definition of a mono-blue character. His unique magic, appearance, personality, and mannerisms are all reminiscent of Admiral Thrawn of the Star Wars expanded universe. And that's a very good thing, since the trio of novels that share his name are regarded as superb for a reason. As for the plot, it was paced almost perfectly, with bits of levity sprinkled throughout breaking up the emotionally tense scenes. I, for one, eagerly await any further work Chris L'Etoile does for Magic.
So it turns out that Chris L'Etoile is not a Wizards staffer, but a writer who wrote much of the story for the Mass Effect games. Is this evidence that Wizards may be starting to look to outsource some of their stories to more experienced writers?
I for one, mostly, really enjoyed L'Etoile's style, although it took me a few minutes to get used to. He is great with dialogue and at making the characters all feel distinct, while giving you insight into their thought processes through first person POV narrative.
However I felt that he was quite over the top with some of his characterizations. Jace and Gideon seemed mostly on par with their past representations, though Gideon may have been portrayed as slightly goofier than normal. I did love the continuation of the Shoulder Clap story-arch, though. I can see how spending three months with people can cause you to care about them, but last we saw Liliana she was all "manipulation and deceit", but now she seems to care for the Gatewatch, especially Chandra whom she treats like a little sister.
My biggest gripe, though, is with his portrayal of Chandra and Nissa. Chandra has always been hot-tempered and shot off at the mouth, but in this story she comes off as an immature 13 year old. Her inner-processing was actually quite cute and charming, but a lot of her dialogue was downright childish. Consulate butt...really? And Nissa was completely strange and her thought process was almost alien-like. Now, maybe this is how she should have been all along. Maybe that's the problem. Nissa's portrayal has never been met with high acclaim, so maybe this is the Nissa we all don't know that we want.
All that said, I thought the story was mostly great. It was long and it is always nice to see our characters react to each other in non-emergency situations. This almost felt like Gatewatch: The Sitcom, but in the best way. The scene with Chandra showing up to the table with a cinnamon bun in her mouth was hilarious.
Dovin is a fascinating new character, with an equally interesting skill set. It will remain to be seen how this may be explored and exploited in the future. It'll be interesting to see how Saheeli fits in the mix. It was also cool to have Vraska and her machinations brought back into the fold. I wonder if this will be a plot point for the near future or if this was just a way to keep Gideon and Jace from going to Kaladesh.
So it seems that our Planeswalker lineup for Kaladesh so far is: Chandra, Dovin, Liliana, Nissa, and Saheeli. I wonder if they will all be getting cards and what other PW's might show up...
Todays story is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand all those unnecessarily verbose paragraphs detailing whatever were really breaking the flow without even adding anything. On the other hand the story had me chuckling a lot, though I'm not sure just how good of a thing it really is. The whole thing read like a sitcom and not like a Magic story. When the gatewatch defeated two titans, it was groanworthy, but at least they were doing fantasy stuff. Now they're acting out verbal slapstick over bowls of cereals. This is definitely not what I want out of Magic.
Chandra and Nissa were sorta cute. Lavinia & Gideon would make an awesome pair. And Vraska vraska vraska.... Will she be able to petrify the indestructible man?
I'd be fine with Nissa getting a little Chandra rubbing off on her card, Red/Green.
And then a certain Esper Sphinx planeswalker showing up on this wonderfully metaltastic world....
Chandra's parents are definitely still alive. The articles keep saying things like Chandra thought they were murdered by the consulate or they were reported dead by the officer in charge. Not sure if everyone picked up on this or not, but I'm wondering if they are going to have individual cards in the block.
Also, how beautiful is this block? The art alone is prompting me to buy a box. The new mechanics and artifact focus is just gravy.
Also, Elves are back. Love that for Magic Duels.
Well, we know for a fact that her dad was murdered. That's not a "Never found the body" situation, he was straight up stabbed to death in front of her.
Her mother on the other hand IS a "never found the body" situation. She might live yet.
My biggest gripe, though, is with his portrayal of Chandra and Nissa. Chandra has always been hot-tempered and shot off at the mouth, but in this story she comes off as an immature 13 year old. Her inner-processing was actually quite cute and charming, but a lot of her dialogue was downright childish. Consulate butt...really?
Not being able to dress herself unaided is what really goes over the line for me.
Yeah, so most of my thoughts have been echoed here already. Story had its ups and downs. I enjoy seeing the group play out their characters through interactions with one another, but I can't find myself enjoying any of themy really outside of Liliana. I enjoy watching Jace get batted around verbally and emotionally by Liliana like a kite in a storm, and his lack of composure makes him far more fun to me. Gideon I literally have no feelings towards. He's just soooo one-dimensional as the tank of the group. I want him to get more characterization, but geez I don't even know what would make me like him more.
Nissa and Chandra continue to just frustrate me in their writing. Chandra isn't even funny in her immaturity here. Remember when they tried to make her a fire version of Liliana for Magic 2014? That trailer where she was acting all self-assured and burning off the cuffs and saying she didnt care for jewelry of that sort, where se suddenly got very sexualized, and then Wotc back pedaled faster than a kid on a bike about to hit a mailbox? Yeah, Wizards forgot that too. They just seem to not know what to do with her, which is sad. She's supposed to be in her early 20's, not a kid, emotionally stunted growth or not. I want to like her, but boy does she change with each new author.
And I still don't care for Nissa's plant-hugging thing. Maybe just me, but can anyone find a relatable aspect of Nissa's character? If you do, please share. Not being sarcastic here, I just don't see how her thought process or character is relatable. If that's me, cool. Please, I'd like to learn from someone else's view.
The story is by no means bad, but it just reminds me that I wish characters like Koth, Arlinn, Ral, Narset, Elspeth and Ajani were utilized more than the current Gstewatch. They all felt more nuanced than what we've seen outside of Liliana and Jace to a lesser extent so far.
Just my two cents. Oh, and I'm voting for Dovin as monoblue.
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.
He is definitely Azorius. He sees the proper way to do things, and it is nominally all about protecting wider society. They also provide Aether for everyone equally. That is white if I ever saw it.
And I still don't care for Nissa's plant-hugging thing. Maybe just me, but can anyone find a relatable aspect of Nissa's character? If you do, please share. Not being sarcastic here, I just don't see how her thought process or character is relatable. If that's me, cool. Please, I'd like to learn from someone else's view.
Quiet. Likes privacy. Relates poorly to others. Always makes either too much or too little eye contact. Dislikes being touched. Yeah, there are people who can relate to that.
But also that's not at all the character of Nissa we've previously seen. I almost wonder if Chris L'Etoile wrote this entirely based on character bios rather than any previously established stories. He's a much better writer than most of Creative (which makes sense since I get the impression they're not mainly writers) but they need a firmer editorial hand for character consistency (and not switching from 3rd person limited to 1st person part way through the story). I can see what he's doing, he's trying to breathe much needed depth into these character and it works I think but perhaps he pushed too hard.
And I still don't care for Nissa's plant-hugging thing. Maybe just me, but can anyone find a relatable aspect of Nissa's character? If you do, please share. Not being sarcastic here, I just don't see how her thought process or character is relatable. If that's me, cool. Please, I'd like to learn from someone else's view.
Quiet. Likes privacy. Relates poorly to others. Always makes either too much or too little eye contact. Dislikes being touched. Yeah, there are people who can relate to that.
But also that's not at all the character of Nissa we've previously seen. I almost wonder if Chris L'Etoile wrote this entirely based on character bios rather than any previously established stories. He's a much better writer than most of Creative (which makes sense since I get the impression they're not mainly writers) but they need a firmer editorial hand for character consistency (and not switching from 3rd person limited to 1st person part way through the story). I can see what he's doing, he's trying to breathe much needed depth into these character and it works I think but perhaps he pushed too hard.
Very fair points, friend. I'm.....pretty much the opposite of all of that. Haha. I'm outgoing, social, stubborn and enjoy social interactions, so I guess that's why I gravitate more towards Ral Zarek and Liliana. Thanks for the relay there, buddy.
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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.
This story was pretty interesting, although when Chandra was speaking it was hard to follow. It would have been nice to get some more pictures of Ravnica though.
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Modern RGTron UGInfect URStorm WUBRAd Nauseam BRGrishoalbrand URGScapeshift WBGAbzan Company WUBRGAmulet Titan BRGLiving End WGBogles
Chandra's parents are definitely still alive. The articles keep saying things like Chandra thought they were murdered by the consulate or they were reported dead by the officer in charge. Not sure if everyone picked up on this or not, but I'm wondering if they are going to have individual cards in the block.
Also, how beautiful is this block? The art alone is prompting me to buy a box. The new mechanics and artifact focus is just gravy.
Also, Elves are back. Love that for Magic Duels.
Well, we know for a fact that her dad was murdered. That's not a "Never found the body" situation, he was straight up stabbed to death in front of her.
Her mother on the other hand IS a "never found the body" situation. She might live yet.
Yep, Chandra's mother did not die "on screen", I'm fully expecting Chandra to discover her mother alive, perhaps in some kind of leadership role in this "resistance"
I can't believe no one has mentioned Gideon getting pounded into the ground with his head poking out Loony Tunes style. I liked hearing all the little anecdotes about how time has passed, like "Don't throw the medicine ball at Jace again" or Liliana slowly disorganizing the library. It will be nice change of pace to see them deal with a not world ending threat I think.
Read it before going to sleep... I am sort of groggy at that point, still reeling from the fact that the Gatewatch is slung back at us this quick (I was sort of expecting them to appear in Set 2, as has been for two blocks now...)
- They should seriously be stable with characterization. Is anybody in Creative (or what's of it) looking over this? Though I kinda liked this slice-of-life-ish approach with the Neowalkers, after two blocks of dealing with a big bad, this was a breath of fresh air (until the second set comes in... hopefully not).
- Chandra's self POV as entertaining as it was, got me confused at times.
- Suddenly Nissa went from being Pocahontas to pre-Barn Lapis Lazuli (of Steven Universe). I echo a friend that as long as she shuts up more, the better.
- I LOVE this characterization of Gideon... all the fanservice-y bits got me hyped (him favoring being shirtless and the gymnasium). teehee... vapors~
- The Chandra x Lili stuff thrown all over this story right now... to me it just feels sort of weird that Liliana went sisterly overdrive like that. Unless she's actively being ulteriorly motiveish...
- I like how Dovin was portrayed here... though some of the terms he used got me disorientated. I wonder how he battles...
- That hook of Tamiyo and her Planeswalker contacts... juicy! Please to have her having an Oldwalker that's helpful for a change onegaichimasu~
- The fact that the Neowalkers get epilogues and the Planes do not stings a little bit. They did Innistrad bad (if only for them to use it as a hook for a return down the line)... It's a caution to not like a plane too much I guess, as beautiful as Kaladesh is.
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Serra Stan - Angel Enthusiast - Garruk and Tyvar thirsty follower - Flavor and Art Enthusiast
I was amused that the primary interactions among the Gatewatch were on Color Ally lines.
- Gideon's sparring match was with Nissa, and his leader banter was with Jace.
- Jace shares leadership with Gideon, and feels like Liliana understands him.
- Liliana spends her free time screwing with Jace's library, then checking on Chandra.
- Chandra seemed to enjoy the selfish freedom that is Liliana, and went to Nissa for 'stillness.'
- Nissa those things I already said about Chandra and Gideon.
Lili and Nissa felt off from past appearances, but at least for Nissa it was curbed by her issues being on Ravnica.
Chandra I was having trouble pinning down her age. She and Nissa felt younger than past appearances, but the age given for Chandra put her where she usually is.
Gideon is "Cool Dad", Liliana is Lush AuntOlder Sister, Jace is Know-it-all Brother, Nissa is Creepy Sister, Chandra is the Hot Mess.
And I still don't care for Nissa's plant-hugging thing. Maybe just me, but can anyone find a relatable aspect of Nissa's character? If you do, please share. Not being sarcastic here, I just don't see how her thought process or character is relatable. If that's me, cool. Please, I'd like to learn from someone else's view.
Quiet. Likes privacy. Relates poorly to others. Always makes either too much or too little eye contact. Dislikes being touched. Yeah, there are people who can relate to that.
But also that's not at all the character of Nissa we've previously seen. I almost wonder if Chris L'Etoile wrote this entirely based on character bios rather than any previously established stories. He's a much better writer than most of Creative (which makes sense since I get the impression they're not mainly writers) but they need a firmer editorial hand for character consistency (and not switching from 3rd person limited to 1st person part way through the story). I can see what he's doing, he's trying to breathe much needed depth into these character and it works I think but perhaps he pushed too hard.
This is why Nissa is the best part of this story, in my opinion, she got the much needed characterization and player-relation (at least to the targeted market, that is) from this article than almost all of her presences on Zendikar/Innistrad, which was pretty much pushing the wrong end of her character (the tree-loving aspect that fewer relate to).
If you asked me to rank the characterizations in this article from best to worst it would be Nissa > Gideon > Jace > Chandra > Liliana. Nissa for the breakthrough I mentioned above. Gideon because he's "main character cliche" and really easy to describe, honestly (he's easy to make more charming almost every article, it's only his silly fighting that gets us complaining most of the time). Jace is a middle ground between Gideon and Liliana (as someone mentioned their interactions were with their allied colors), but has his Guildpact responsibilities biting him back as some depth. As for Chandra, I'm starting to feel no one has any idea how to write her right and that's why she's all-over-the-place at times. Liliana is the most jarring because she's 200+ and unlike my mistakes with Daretti as a new planeswalker, I'm fully holding my "oldwalker callousness" expectations of her (which were reinforced by all those immortality-chasing and ruthless angel/demon/enemy-disposal depictions of Liliana prior to Origins). The "older sister" routine is a rather abrupt change, and a change from a rather established nature of Liliana's that I already came to expect (guess I need to start changing them now, although I'll still be grumbling on...)
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Also, I totally support a Nissa/Chandra pairing.
I think Chandra was a little bit overdone in this. Is she like nine? Or a chibi anime character?
I could warm to the idea of Baan as WU but my gut is still telling me mono-blue for the moment.
I'm kind of disappointed to see that the elves of Kaladesh don't really have any distinguishing physical features to separate them from those of other planes. The only visual cue is their costuming. Non-human races are supposed to be physically altered by aether exposure, so I'd expect something a bit more exotic-looking than just the usual pointy ears.
Edit: This speculation is going around Twitter, judging by the body proportions in this art we may finally be bearing witness to the return of dwarves to Magic!
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
Now I'm hoping next year's SDCC is the Gatewatch dressed up like the A-Team. Gideon with a Mr. T Mohawk would be amazing.
I'm hoping it's because there's a part two of this prelude to Kaladesh coming on Wednesday as well. They seem to be willing to give story content on a more frequent basis in order to fit it all into the year's product schedule; Conspiracy content ran a bit into the space that Kaladesh would have had if last year's story schedule is the benchmark.
Edit: We are getting more story this week!
R Citizen Cane (Feldon of the Third Path)
I'm cautiously optimistic about Nissa/Chandra.
Interested in Custom Card Creation.
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Art is life itself.
I for one, mostly, really enjoyed L'Etoile's style, although it took me a few minutes to get used to. He is great with dialogue and at making the characters all feel distinct, while giving you insight into their thought processes through first person POV narrative.
However I felt that he was quite over the top with some of his characterizations. Jace and Gideon seemed mostly on par with their past representations, though Gideon may have been portrayed as slightly goofier than normal. I did love the continuation of the Shoulder Clap story-arch, though. I can see how spending three months with people can cause you to care about them, but last we saw Liliana she was all "manipulation and deceit", but now she seems to care for the Gatewatch, especially Chandra whom she treats like a little sister.
My biggest gripe, though, is with his portrayal of Chandra and Nissa. Chandra has always been hot-tempered and shot off at the mouth, but in this story she comes off as an immature 13 year old. Her inner-processing was actually quite cute and charming, but a lot of her dialogue was downright childish. Consulate butt...really? And Nissa was completely strange and her thought process was almost alien-like. Now, maybe this is how she should have been all along. Maybe that's the problem. Nissa's portrayal has never been met with high acclaim, so maybe this is the Nissa we all don't know that we want.
All that said, I thought the story was mostly great. It was long and it is always nice to see our characters react to each other in non-emergency situations. This almost felt like Gatewatch: The Sitcom, but in the best way. The scene with Chandra showing up to the table with a cinnamon bun in her mouth was hilarious.
Dovin is a fascinating new character, with an equally interesting skill set. It will remain to be seen how this may be explored and exploited in the future. It'll be interesting to see how Saheeli fits in the mix. It was also cool to have Vraska and her machinations brought back into the fold. I wonder if this will be a plot point for the near future or if this was just a way to keep Gideon and Jace from going to Kaladesh.
So it seems that our Planeswalker lineup for Kaladesh so far is: Chandra, Dovin, Liliana, Nissa, and Saheeli. I wonder if they will all be getting cards and what other PW's might show up...
I'd be fine with Nissa getting a little Chandra rubbing off on her card, Red/Green.
And then a certain Esper Sphinx planeswalker showing up on this wonderfully metaltastic world....
Well, we know for a fact that her dad was murdered. That's not a "Never found the body" situation, he was straight up stabbed to death in front of her.
Her mother on the other hand IS a "never found the body" situation. She might live yet.
Not being able to dress herself unaided is what really goes over the line for me.
Nissa and Chandra continue to just frustrate me in their writing. Chandra isn't even funny in her immaturity here. Remember when they tried to make her a fire version of Liliana for Magic 2014? That trailer where she was acting all self-assured and burning off the cuffs and saying she didnt care for jewelry of that sort, where se suddenly got very sexualized, and then Wotc back pedaled faster than a kid on a bike about to hit a mailbox? Yeah, Wizards forgot that too. They just seem to not know what to do with her, which is sad. She's supposed to be in her early 20's, not a kid, emotionally stunted growth or not. I want to like her, but boy does she change with each new author.
And I still don't care for Nissa's plant-hugging thing. Maybe just me, but can anyone find a relatable aspect of Nissa's character? If you do, please share. Not being sarcastic here, I just don't see how her thought process or character is relatable. If that's me, cool. Please, I'd like to learn from someone else's view.
The story is by no means bad, but it just reminds me that I wish characters like Koth, Arlinn, Ral, Narset, Elspeth and Ajani were utilized more than the current Gstewatch. They all felt more nuanced than what we've seen outside of Liliana and Jace to a lesser extent so far.
Just my two cents. Oh, and I'm voting for Dovin as monoblue.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
B Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief B - Fear of the Dark
WG Sigarda, Heron's Grace WG - Strength in Numbers
RG Xenagos, God of Revels RG - Fullmoon (It's werewolves)
RW Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier RW - The End is Nigh
60 Card Kitchen Table Decks
WUB Avacyn, Spirit Ferrier
RG Arlinn Kord's Howlpack
Quiet. Likes privacy. Relates poorly to others. Always makes either too much or too little eye contact. Dislikes being touched. Yeah, there are people who can relate to that.
But also that's not at all the character of Nissa we've previously seen. I almost wonder if Chris L'Etoile wrote this entirely based on character bios rather than any previously established stories. He's a much better writer than most of Creative (which makes sense since I get the impression they're not mainly writers) but they need a firmer editorial hand for character consistency (and not switching from 3rd person limited to 1st person part way through the story). I can see what he's doing, he's trying to breathe much needed depth into these character and it works I think but perhaps he pushed too hard.
Very fair points, friend. I'm.....pretty much the opposite of all of that. Haha. I'm outgoing, social, stubborn and enjoy social interactions, so I guess that's why I gravitate more towards Ral Zarek and Liliana. Thanks for the relay there, buddy.
EDH - Yes, Each One is Named After a Song. I love tying music to my decks.
B Drana, Kalastria Bloodchief B - Fear of the Dark
WG Sigarda, Heron's Grace WG - Strength in Numbers
RG Xenagos, God of Revels RG - Fullmoon (It's werewolves)
RW Archangel Avacyn // Avacyn, the Purifier RW - The End is Nigh
60 Card Kitchen Table Decks
WUB Avacyn, Spirit Ferrier
RG Arlinn Kord's Howlpack
RGTron
UGInfect
URStorm
WUBRAd Nauseam
BRGrishoalbrand
URGScapeshift
WBGAbzan Company
WUBRGAmulet Titan
BRGLiving End
WGBogles
Yep, Chandra's mother did not die "on screen", I'm fully expecting Chandra to discover her mother alive, perhaps in some kind of leadership role in this "resistance"
- They should seriously be stable with characterization. Is anybody in Creative (or what's of it) looking over this? Though I kinda liked this slice-of-life-ish approach with the Neowalkers, after two blocks of dealing with a big bad, this was a breath of fresh air (until the second set comes in... hopefully not).
- Chandra's self POV as entertaining as it was, got me confused at times.
- Suddenly Nissa went from being Pocahontas to pre-Barn Lapis Lazuli (of Steven Universe). I echo a friend that as long as she shuts up more, the better.
- I LOVE this characterization of Gideon... all the fanservice-y bits got me hyped (him favoring being shirtless and the gymnasium). teehee... vapors~
- The Chandra x Lili stuff thrown all over this story right now... to me it just feels sort of weird that Liliana went sisterly overdrive like that. Unless she's actively being ulteriorly motiveish...
- I like how Dovin was portrayed here... though some of the terms he used got me disorientated. I wonder how he battles...
- That hook of Tamiyo and her Planeswalker contacts... juicy! Please to have her having an Oldwalker that's helpful for a change onegaichimasu~
- The fact that the Neowalkers get epilogues and the Planes do not stings a little bit. They did Innistrad bad (if only for them to use it as a hook for a return down the line)... It's a caution to not like a plane too much I guess, as beautiful as Kaladesh is.
Serra Stan - Angel Enthusiast - Garruk and Tyvar thirsty follower - Flavor and Art Enthusiast
- Gideon's sparring match was with Nissa, and his leader banter was with Jace.
- Jace shares leadership with Gideon, and feels like Liliana understands him.
- Liliana spends her free time screwing with Jace's library, then checking on Chandra.
- Chandra seemed to enjoy the selfish freedom that is Liliana, and went to Nissa for 'stillness.'
- Nissa those things I already said about Chandra and Gideon.
Lili and Nissa felt off from past appearances, but at least for Nissa it was curbed by her issues being on Ravnica.
Chandra I was having trouble pinning down her age. She and Nissa felt younger than past appearances, but the age given for Chandra put her where she usually is.
Gideon is "Cool Dad", Liliana is Lush
AuntOlder Sister, Jace is Know-it-all Brother, Nissa is Creepy Sister, Chandra is the Hot Mess.This is why Nissa is the best part of this story, in my opinion, she got the much needed characterization and player-relation (at least to the targeted market, that is) from this article than almost all of her presences on Zendikar/Innistrad, which was pretty much pushing the wrong end of her character (the tree-loving aspect that fewer relate to).
If you asked me to rank the characterizations in this article from best to worst it would be Nissa > Gideon > Jace > Chandra > Liliana. Nissa for the breakthrough I mentioned above. Gideon because he's "main character cliche" and really easy to describe, honestly (he's easy to make more charming almost every article, it's only his silly fighting that gets us complaining most of the time). Jace is a middle ground between Gideon and Liliana (as someone mentioned their interactions were with their allied colors), but has his Guildpact responsibilities biting him back as some depth. As for Chandra, I'm starting to feel no one has any idea how to write her right and that's why she's all-over-the-place at times. Liliana is the most jarring because she's 200+ and unlike my mistakes with Daretti as a new planeswalker, I'm fully holding my "oldwalker callousness" expectations of her (which were reinforced by all those immortality-chasing and ruthless angel/demon/enemy-disposal depictions of Liliana prior to Origins). The "older sister" routine is a rather abrupt change, and a change from a rather established nature of Liliana's that I already came to expect (guess I need to start changing them now, although I'll still be grumbling on...)