The only jarring part to me was that he's able to hold his ground (even if only briefly) v Ulamog in the BFZ story but gets more or less tossed around by the ammit.
Let's be honest, that's an issue with the BFZ story, not this one.
The only jarring part to me was that he's able to hold his ground (even if only briefly) v Ulamog in the BFZ story but gets more or less tossed around by the ammit.
If anything should be retconned, it's basically that moment and Nissa's entire existence. She has potential but the writers are just horrible with her for some reason.
Story was rather good. Not remarkable, but I enjoyed it. Worthwhile action and actual revelations that move the plot along. I wonder if some gods, like Bontu and Kefnet do indeed serve Bolas willingly (the ones in his color identity, perhaps?) while the others were either erased on mind-warped into doing so. I feel Bolas must have found Oketra to be too necessary to undo so he wiped her mind and forced her into serving him without realizing it. White is all about community and unity, etc. She may have been too valuable to snuff out.
If all the Gatewatch will endure trials I suspect Jace will try Rhonas and Lilliana will attempt Oketra. Notice how so far they've undergone enemy color trials. Each has something to learn so it makes sense Jace would attempt to learn strength and confidence which he lacks from being bullied and relying on mind over matter. And Lilliana has a lot to learn about solidarity.
Another thought- why did Oketra bring Gideon to the Trial of Ambition?
Its pretty clear Gids isn't going in the usual order of the trials. We know he's finished one- but it wasn't the Trial of Solidarity, by this story's own admittence. So that means either strength or knowledge. Either way, he's not doing the proper order. Why is that?
Oketra knows Gideon's a visitor to the world, and therefore isn't necessarily interested in achieving the afterlife for the five trials. He's after something else, and she seems to recognize and respect this (I think even when the mask comes down, Oketra's going to be revealed to be actually pretty damn benevolent, at least compared to the other four).
Is it possible that Oketra put him into the ToA because she wanted him to realize exactly what was going on here? Its pretty clear that while the first three trials are difficult, and potentially lethal, the Trial of Ambition is specifically designed to have a body count- you have to sacrifice at least five people to even get to the final room (one in the sludge pool, and four on the pillars), and then you basically have to halve your number to cross the final bridge. That means, at the very best, 7 survive the trial (15 make it to the final room- 7 kill another 7 for their hearts, and the odd man out is stranded, with probably no other alternative but to dive into the water, get bitten, and die). That's a MINIMUM 65% casualty rate.
Oketra wanted Gids to do some waking up. Maybe she's secretly revolted by what's going on, and sees Gideon as the tool to cause an Awakening that she herself, for whatever reason, cannot do?
I enjoyed this week's story well enough. Wasn't my favorite of this block (I really enjoyed the first few), but was still solid overall. As Spaz pointed out, it's interesting to see how this differs from his usual approach where the enemy is tangible. It's also interesting to see how his usual stance gets in the way of finishing the trial, to the point of him actually causing additional losses due to not being able to mesh with the setup of the Trial.
The only jarring part to me was that he's able to hold his ground (even if only briefly) v Ulamog in the BFZ story but gets more or less tossed around by the ammit.
I thought he only held his ground because Ulamog didn't really care about him. Ulamog was just shambling on the Seagate and the glowing speck wasn't even on his radar. I don't think he even noticed him until right before the trap activated. Ulamog usually just turns everything he touches to dust anyway, so he doesnt have an alternative fighting style, so the little fly that keeps flying near his face and not dying wouldn't be a threat to him, but a curiosity at best and mild annoyance at worst. It was poorly written though, and I'm not about to go back and reread that tripe to see if I'm remembering correctly, so if I'm not and Ulamog really was trying to 1v1 Gideon and failing please correct me so I can have a laugh.
Today's story was great though.
Private Mod Note
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Anyone think that Bolas designed Amonkhet as an Eldrazi trap? If I recall correctly, it was implied that the Eldrazi titans served some natural purpose in reclaiming dead or dying planes, like some sort of planar recyclers. Now we have a dying plane in Amonkhet, which seems like it could use some recycling.
In addition, the cryptoliths that Nahiri used to summon Emrakul were similarly shaped to one of Bolas' horns. And we know from Eldritch Moon that zombies are resistant to Emrakul's influence. It makes me wonder if Bolas' plan has been to capture or harness the Eldrazi on Amonkhet. It would also explain why Emrakul showed up in the last story.
Obviously the Ammit could hurt Gideon because it puts -1/-1 counters on things.
Great story, flowed well. Minor nitpicks: so much fodder, and still no interaction between the gods. Oketra literally dropped him off at Bontu's and peaced out. Some shady eye contact, or a mutual nod would have been nice. But hey, plenty more story to go. Wonder how she'll feel about Gideon failing the trial.
Obviously the Ammit could hurt Gideon because it puts -1/-1 counters on things.
Great story, flowed well. Minor nitpicks: so much fodder, and still no interaction between the gods. Oketra literally dropped him off at Bontu's and peaced out. Some shady eye contact, or a mutual nod would have been nice. But hey, plenty more story to go. Wonder how she'll feel about Gideon failing the trial.
I don't think that Amonkhets gods are particularly chatty with each other. The Theros gods are very human, with internal conflicts (often over belief as a ressource) and so on. They do interact with each other, but often in a negative way (Kruphix being the exemption in both cases, nearly never directly interacting with the gods or mortals for that matter). This is because they represent mortal beliefs, which means taking on certain human aspects as well (similar to the gods on Terry Prattchets discworld). The Amonkhet gods seem to be much more mechanical, probably because they are directly generated by the plane (at least it seems to be that way). They don't have to interact much because they each already know their place and what they have to do (the exemption here being dealing with threats to the city or its inhabitants). Nothing else matters for them. It's a nice distinction from the Theros pantheon in my opinion.
The only jarring part to me was that he's able to hold his ground (even if only briefly) v Ulamog in the BFZ story but gets more or less tossed around by the ammit.
If anything should be retconned, it's basically that moment and Nissa's entire existence. She has potential but the writers are just horrible with her for some reason.
Story was rather good. Not remarkable, but I enjoyed it. Worthwhile action and actual revelations that move the plot along. I wonder if some gods, like Bontu and Kefnet do indeed serve Bolas willingly (the ones in his color identity, perhaps?) while the others were either erased on mind-warped into doing so. I feel Bolas must have found Oketra to be too necessary to undo so he wiped her mind and forced her into serving him without realizing it. White is all about community and unity, etc. She may have been too valuable to snuff out.
If all the Gatewatch will endure trials I suspect Jace will try Rhonas and Lilliana will attempt Oketra. Notice how so far they've undergone enemy color trials. Each has something to learn so it makes sense Jace would attempt to learn strength and confidence which he lacks from being bullied and relying on mind over matter. And Lilliana has a lot to learn about solidarity.
Nissa's my favorite Gatewatch character, I'd rather they not write her out. Everyone has characters they like and don't like, just means Nissa isn't for you.
I also kind of doubt that they're going to have the other Gatewatch do trials. Though Liliana doing Solidarity would be funny, I'm not sure what Jace could do in Strength, he's... kind of weak, and squishy. Nissa for Knowledge was clearly for her Simic growth, Gideon for Ambition seems to be for his personal development, though not the same thing as becoming White/Black. Jace and Liliana seem to be off dealing with the demon, probably won't have time for trials.
This was the story I was waiting for, as Gideon seems to have the central character arc for the set. And it didn't disappoint. I loved how the Amonkheti (Amonkhetian?) ethos of noble death clashed with Gideon's constant desire to save everyone. And Bontu was a fine exemplar of Black idealism. The heart-scale test was an amazing scene, and a clever adaptation of Egyptian mythology. Overall, it was just solid storytelling. They thoroughly justified Gideon's rejection of the Trials.
And honestly, it's nice to see real meaningful violence back in the story. Kaladesh started to feel a little like an 80's Saturday morning action cartoon, everybody parachuting to safety when their planes blew up (even Liliana pulling her punches). The stakes here are higher, since we know that on Amonkhet people can really die in horribly vicious ways. And the plane-wide irony that's coming when Bolas finally returns...that is going to be agonizing.
And honestly, it's nice to see real meaningful violence back in the story. Kaladesh started to feel a little like an 80's Saturday morning action cartoon, everybody parachuting to safety when their planes blew up (even Liliana pulling her punches). The stakes here are higher, since we know that on Amonkhet people can really die in horribly vicious ways. And the plane-wide irony that's coming when Bolas finally returns...that is going to be agonizing.
You say this now, but wait until the last scene of Hour of Devastation is just the arm of Bolas, petting a now cat-sized Oketra, as his ship flies away.
So I'm starting to think creative has honestly forgotten that Gideon knows hieromancy. The Ammit scene would have been the perfect opportunity to have him use some to restrain the beast.
Also I agree that Jace and Lili won't be doing trials. Gideon has done three (he has two cartouches, one of which is strength, I think) and we know he gonna get involved with the trial of zeal. And Nissa didn't exactly do Kefnet's by choice.
Well that was dark, really good story overall though. It was nice to see a god getting to show one of the GW who was in charge. Bontu is a pretty interesting and badass character even though I can't say I like her very much. I feel bad for all those initiates. I'll agree that some of the problems w/ past stories have been that the red shirts were just faceless randos going down, so even if Ulamog or Emrakul was mowing down dozens at a time you didn't really feel the loss. Here, let's be real, the Tah initiates were still red shirts, but they were red shirts with names, back stories, and we knew a little bit about them. When they died in gruesome ways we could see the affect it had on the others and their deaths meant something. They weren't just a background.
Private Mod Note
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My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Soooo, Bontu gave everyone the license to kill each other, and yet two of the initiates drop the hearts they cut out to stop Gideon from intervening in the murder of Djeru's crop mate? That doesn't make sense on at least two levels.
Also one room was climbing up a wall? I take it that's a freebe for aven then?
Also also, supposedly a crop is like 20 people, but there are only four named crops in the cards? Are we to assume that the current population of Amonkhet is ~80, that we only got four named crops (in which case why bother naming them) or that a crop is actually bigger, more like a district, in which case the description of crops is pretty inconsistent.
Also also also, apart from the open question where children come from, what are the rules for what gets mummified? I mean, we have mummified cats, sphinxes, manticores and even illusions for crying out loud. (Seriously, how does that even work.) Do they just mummify everything that dies, indiscriminately. Does that mean there are camel mummies? Bird mummies? Sandwurm mummies? If no, where's the line?
I mean, I'm really liking Amonkhet visually and thematically and I used to really like the world-building in recent years, but what the heck has happened here with the creative team?
Oketra knows Gideon's a visitor to the world, and therefore isn't necessarily interested in achieving the afterlife for the five trials. He's after something else, and she seems to recognize and respect this (I think even when the mask comes down, Oketra's going to be revealed to be actually pretty damn benevolent, at least compared to the other four).
From what we have seen, I'd say the gods are in general rather benevolent. Yes, Kefnet kinda wanted to kill Nissa, but that's just him weeding out the unworthy. As long as you don't fail their trials, they do everything they can to prepare you for them. Even Bontu is benevolent in the sense, that she just tries to bring out the (in her mind) best in the initiates. She's not utilitarian, of course, but still benevolent.
Is it possible that Oketra put him into the ToA because she wanted him to realize exactly what was going on here? Its pretty clear that while the first three trials are difficult, and potentially lethal, the Trial of Ambition is specifically designed to have a body count- you have to sacrifice at least five people to even get to the final room (one in the sludge pool, and four on the pillars), and then you basically have to halve your number to cross the final bridge. That means, at the very best, 7 survive the trial (15 make it to the final room- 7 kill another 7 for their hearts, and the odd man out is stranded, with probably no other alternative but to dive into the water, get bitten, and die). That's a MINIMUM 65% casualty rate.
To be fair, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that the trials are custom-tailored to each crop (or at least tweaked), seeing as they have to be admitted first.
Oketra wanted Gids to do some waking up. Maybe she's secretly revolted by what's going on, and sees Gideon as the tool to cause an Awakening that she herself, for whatever reason, cannot do?
I had a similar idea. Didn't Nissa feel dread or fear coming from Oketra? Maybe the gods are subconsciously aware that something is wrong (they have to be connected to the world soul on some level, I mean isn't it all leylines ) and this is their subconsciousness asking for help.
Bontu is quite accurate about Gideon when he challenges a world for their belief system. Who the hell did he think he was, to question a foreign culture when its inhabitants do not? Although he did clarified in his head that his anger was less about his cropmates' actions but more towards Bontu and Gods in general, rehearsing his trauma back on Theros.
Gideon is, in many ways, like Sarkhan, both are looking for a direction for their faith. Sarkhan was so blinded by his fascination for dragons he'd regard a world ruled by tyrants a paradise, Gideon on the other hand has inherited white mentality where he wants to see justice served, therefore impacted by the death of innocence. Gideon was after all from a plane where worshiping a divinity is part of daily life, while he was mad at what the Gods did to his friends, he continues to search for his faith.
Because in reality, he is most angry at himself for the death of his Irregulars, perhaps starts to believe that fighting the Gods (not Bolas) on Amonkhet will remand his failure.
1) At that point everyone besides Djeru, Gid, and Meris already had a heart. The crop genuinely seemed to like each other, if everyone already had a heart there's no more need for backstabbing.
2) I think there are way more crops than just the ones we see in card names, kind of like there were a bunch of Consuls on Kaladesh (I think 11?) but only 2 of them were named on cards.
3) I think children come from where they always come from, they're just taken and raised by mummies as soon as they are born and the child's birth mummy (yes I did) just goes right back into training. As for mummification, I'm pretty sure that's an honor given only to things that have earned or are deemed to deserve the honor. Obviously all the initiates who die in the trials are worthy of mummification, but so are sacred cats, wise sphinxes, mighty obstacles from the trials like a manticore, and absolutely a god's personal pet hydra. Stray cats, beasts of burden, random less impressive monsters, and anything outside the wall (sandwurms) probably aint getting mummified. I agree w/ you on the illusion though. That's just sillyness.
I agree that within the Amonkhetu worldview the gods are benevolent and I'd really like to see the other 3 at some point. I think Oketra brought Gideon to Bontu's trial because she wanted him to come to terms with himself and his ideas of faith, and she knew the trial of Bontu would force him to confront them.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My Decks:
UG Merfolk RG 8-Whack BWG Abzan midrange GRB Living End UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin" RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!" BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Soooo, Bontu gave everyone the license to kill each other, and yet two of the initiates drop the hearts they cut out to stop Gideon from intervening in the murder of Djeru's crop mate? That doesn't make sense on at least two levels.
Its not about pointless killing, its about obedience to the gods (Bontu wants to thin their numbers for some reason).
I did get a chuckle from Gideon's offhand mention of various initiates trying to stab him through his shield while he stands there in horror.
Also also, supposedly a crop is like 20 people, but there are only four named crops in the cards? Are we to assume that the current population of Amonkhet is ~80, that we only got four named crops (in which case why bother naming them) or that a crop is actually bigger, more like a district, in which case the description of crops is pretty inconsistent.
The members of this crop seem unsurprising by the idea that Gideon is the only survivor of his crop. Maybe the vast majority of crops totally suck and get wiped out early on. Dejru suggests something like that when he mentions that crops which lose too many members get absorbed in others to keep the numbers consistent.
Also also also, apart from the open question where children come from, what are the rules for what gets mummified? I mean, we have mummified cats, sphinxes, manticores and even illusions for crying out loud. (Seriously, how does that even work.) Do they just mummify everything that dies, indiscriminately. Does that mean there are camel mummies? Bird mummies? Sandwurm mummies? If no, where's the line?
They seem to mummify mainly the honored dead which covers all sentient being that die without becoming outcasts. Mummifying pets is detail taken from ancient Egypt. Gotta say the manticore is kind of a stumper (Maybe it was a pet?) and a mummified illusion is ridiculous.
Is it possible that Oketra put him into the ToA because she wanted him to realize exactly what was going on here? Its pretty clear that while the first three trials are difficult, and potentially lethal, the Trial of Ambition is specifically designed to have a body count- you have to sacrifice at least five people to even get to the final room (one in the sludge pool, and four on the pillars), and then you basically have to halve your number to cross the final bridge. That means, at the very best, 7 survive the trial (15 make it to the final room- 7 kill another 7 for their hearts, and the odd man out is stranded, with probably no other alternative but to dive into the water, get bitten, and die). That's a MINIMUM 65% casualty rate.
To be fair, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that the trials are custom-tailored to each crop (or at least tweaked), seeing as they have to be admitted first.
You've got to wonder how long setup and clean up take. I mean the trial is so extensive that it took hours to finish. You probably can't do more than one a day. I guess with tireless mummies as workers you might squeeze two in.
Bontu is quite accurate about Gideon when he challenges a world for their belief system. Who the hell did he think he was, to question a foreign culture when its inhabitants do not?
You don't think ritualistic mass murder is something that should be questioned?
Eh.... so Gisa/Geralf and Yahenni's stories are so far the only first-person narration that I can say I enjoy.
Not helped with the fact that this feels too diary-ish that I can't bother to invest much time reading things. Except for Djeru, the names are all meh. The stuffs in the Trials feel... yeah, sure.
*sigh* I think I'll just wait to see if next week's story is any better.
So I'm starting to think creative has honestly forgotten that Gideon knows hieromancy. The Ammit scene would have been the perfect opportunity to have him use some to restrain the beast.
That's a good point, but I suspect he can't use it as well when his convictions aren't 100% certain. If he's questioning his own morality, even on a subconscious level, how would he be able to enforce true justice?
Bontu is quite accurate about Gideon when he challenges a world for their belief system. Who the hell did he think he was, to question a foreign culture when its inhabitants do not? Although he did clarified in his head that his anger was less about his cropmates' actions but more towards Bontu and Gods in general, rehearsing his trauma back on Theros.
Gideon is, in many ways, like Sarkhan, both are looking for a direction for their faith. Sarkhan was so blinded by his fascination for dragons he'd regard a world ruled by tyrants a paradise, Gideon on the other hand has inherited white mentality where he wants to see justice served, therefore impacted by the death of innocence. Gideon was after all from a plane where worshiping a divinity is part of daily life, while he was mad at what the Gods did to his friends, he continues to search for his faith.
Because in reality, he is most angry at himself for the death of his Irregulars, perhaps starts to believe that fighting the Gods (not Bolas) on Amonkhet will remand his failure.
You have to remember one other thing:
This whole "competitive meritocracy where everyone dies, but those who die the best get the best afterlife" thing is only valid if its true. Otherwise, its a big sham with a whole bunch of people dying terrible deaths and being thrust into a perhaps even worse afterlife. Considering the merits of the guy who set the whole thing up... which one are you betting on being true?
Gideon's right as hell to question this. I can't blame the acolytes and viziers, and maybe even Bontu for being offended by the questioning, because they're being duped up the yinyang (or in on it, in Bontu's case, in which case, screw her anyways). And maybe Gideon would have been better being more careful in rocking the boat, but I'm going to go with a guy who's been to many planes and fought many battles smelling a huge elder-dragon sized pile of bull***** over the faiths of people who are seeped in indoctrination since birth and literally live in a bubble.
Man does this story make a lot things in the story really stupid (note: this story itself is pretty decent). So if the Demon crocodile can move Gideon around as it pleases, either Eldrazi are utter chumps that pose no threat to anyone or Sorin, Nahiri and Ugin (and by extension Bolas) are not so powerful or everyone is infected by incompetence virus or Gatewatch are just so goddamn op it doesn't even matter and should have no problem ending Bolas.
This is rather nitpicky but that's what you get when you start story with universe ending threats and then scale downwards. It kind of scews up stakes, level of danger, powers of everybody if done badly and it's pretty clear Wotc screwed up with the whole gatewatch story arc.
Other than that I'm halfly expecting Gideon turn to some sort of iconoclast by the end of Amonkhet unless he gets killed.
There were logical reasons for the gatewatch defeating the two titans, as I have explained before (these reasons include why Ugin etc were not able or not willing to defeat them by the way, so no it doesn't imply they are weak or that the gatewatch is OP). It was probably a mistake to start with the Eldrazi, that much I'll give you. Ulamog wasn't actively trying to kill Gideon (he barely even recognized him), otherwise he would have.
I know there's been speculation on there being an Amonkhet born planeswalker having their spark ignite in this block, and I think at this point Djeru is a clear front runner. The poor guy is entirely all-in on the God Pharaoh's way, and the realization that this is all a complete sham is going to shatter him. Wouldn't be overwhelmingly shocked if he becomes Gatewatch member #7.
It'd be cool if they did a flipwalker card for it too.
Bontu is quite accurate about Gideon when he challenges a world for their belief system. Who the hell did he think he was, to question a foreign culture when its inhabitants do not? Although he did clarified in his head that his anger was less about his cropmates' actions but more towards Bontu and Gods in general, rehearsing his trauma back on Theros.
You have to remember one other thing:
This whole "competitive meritocracy where everyone dies, but those who die the best get the best afterlife" thing is only valid if its true. Otherwise, its a big sham with a whole bunch of people dying terrible deaths and being thrust into a perhaps even worse afterlife. Considering the merits of the guy who set the whole thing up... which one are you betting on being true?
Gideon's right as hell to question this. I can't blame the acolytes and viziers, and maybe even Bontu for being offended by the questioning, because they're being duped up the yinyang (or in on it, in Bontu's case, in which case, screw her anyways). And maybe Gideon would have been better being more careful in rocking the boat, but I'm going to go with a guy who's been to many planes and fought many battles smelling a huge elder-dragon sized pile of bull***** over the faiths of people who are seeped in indoctrination since birth and literally live in a bubble.
Consider Gatewatch (and we as readers) are looking at the whole thing from the start, we know well enough that Bolas is usually up to no good, but that doesn't change the fact that Gideon rushed in and questioned a society's belief in front of everyone who believes in it, void of evidence. If one of the cropmate asks Gideon what exactly made him uttered his disbelief, Gideon would not be able to present anything but suspicion, because the Jacetice League literally has no idea what Bolas is planning to do. Suspicion, no matter how close to the truth, remain unsound if one cannot back it up with evidence, we readers believe in Gideon because we know he's probably right, but if I was one of his cropmate I sure as hell would not respect it.
Long sentence short, if Gideon has no way to "prove" an already existed system to be false, protested only out of his compassion and out of his dislike towards their God, he really was in no position to question the said system, not to mention his complaint was muddled with his old doubt and new disappointment in divinity.
Besides, consider people's devotion in Bolas, even if he eventually destroy the world and collect the worthy dead for his personal benefit, they might still regard that precisely the "ascension they were hoping for. Remember in both Norse and Biblical mythology, even if the world came to an end, as long as the Gods favor you, nothing else matters. If that's the choice of the people on Amonkhet, that's their right.
Let's be honest, that's an issue with the BFZ story, not this one.
Story was rather good. Not remarkable, but I enjoyed it. Worthwhile action and actual revelations that move the plot along. I wonder if some gods, like Bontu and Kefnet do indeed serve Bolas willingly (the ones in his color identity, perhaps?) while the others were either erased on mind-warped into doing so. I feel Bolas must have found Oketra to be too necessary to undo so he wiped her mind and forced her into serving him without realizing it. White is all about community and unity, etc. She may have been too valuable to snuff out.
If all the Gatewatch will endure trials I suspect Jace will try Rhonas and Lilliana will attempt Oketra. Notice how so far they've undergone enemy color trials. Each has something to learn so it makes sense Jace would attempt to learn strength and confidence which he lacks from being bullied and relying on mind over matter. And Lilliana has a lot to learn about solidarity.
|| 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 ||
Its pretty clear Gids isn't going in the usual order of the trials. We know he's finished one- but it wasn't the Trial of Solidarity, by this story's own admittence. So that means either strength or knowledge. Either way, he's not doing the proper order. Why is that?
Oketra knows Gideon's a visitor to the world, and therefore isn't necessarily interested in achieving the afterlife for the five trials. He's after something else, and she seems to recognize and respect this (I think even when the mask comes down, Oketra's going to be revealed to be actually pretty damn benevolent, at least compared to the other four).
Is it possible that Oketra put him into the ToA because she wanted him to realize exactly what was going on here? Its pretty clear that while the first three trials are difficult, and potentially lethal, the Trial of Ambition is specifically designed to have a body count- you have to sacrifice at least five people to even get to the final room (one in the sludge pool, and four on the pillars), and then you basically have to halve your number to cross the final bridge. That means, at the very best, 7 survive the trial (15 make it to the final room- 7 kill another 7 for their hearts, and the odd man out is stranded, with probably no other alternative but to dive into the water, get bitten, and die). That's a MINIMUM 65% casualty rate.
Oketra wanted Gids to do some waking up. Maybe she's secretly revolted by what's going on, and sees Gideon as the tool to cause an Awakening that she herself, for whatever reason, cannot do?
I thought he only held his ground because Ulamog didn't really care about him. Ulamog was just shambling on the Seagate and the glowing speck wasn't even on his radar. I don't think he even noticed him until right before the trap activated. Ulamog usually just turns everything he touches to dust anyway, so he doesnt have an alternative fighting style, so the little fly that keeps flying near his face and not dying wouldn't be a threat to him, but a curiosity at best and mild annoyance at worst. It was poorly written though, and I'm not about to go back and reread that tripe to see if I'm remembering correctly, so if I'm not and Ulamog really was trying to 1v1 Gideon and failing please correct me so I can have a laugh.
Today's story was great though.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
In addition, the cryptoliths that Nahiri used to summon Emrakul were similarly shaped to one of Bolas' horns. And we know from Eldritch Moon that zombies are resistant to Emrakul's influence. It makes me wonder if Bolas' plan has been to capture or harness the Eldrazi on Amonkhet. It would also explain why Emrakul showed up in the last story.
Great story, flowed well. Minor nitpicks: so much fodder, and still no interaction between the gods. Oketra literally dropped him off at Bontu's and peaced out. Some shady eye contact, or a mutual nod would have been nice. But hey, plenty more story to go. Wonder how she'll feel about Gideon failing the trial.
I don't think that Amonkhets gods are particularly chatty with each other. The Theros gods are very human, with internal conflicts (often over belief as a ressource) and so on. They do interact with each other, but often in a negative way (Kruphix being the exemption in both cases, nearly never directly interacting with the gods or mortals for that matter). This is because they represent mortal beliefs, which means taking on certain human aspects as well (similar to the gods on Terry Prattchets discworld). The Amonkhet gods seem to be much more mechanical, probably because they are directly generated by the plane (at least it seems to be that way). They don't have to interact much because they each already know their place and what they have to do (the exemption here being dealing with threats to the city or its inhabitants). Nothing else matters for them. It's a nice distinction from the Theros pantheon in my opinion.
Humor aside I think this is one of the most interesting and positive views of Black that we've seen.
Nissa's my favorite Gatewatch character, I'd rather they not write her out. Everyone has characters they like and don't like, just means Nissa isn't for you.
I also kind of doubt that they're going to have the other Gatewatch do trials. Though Liliana doing Solidarity would be funny, I'm not sure what Jace could do in Strength, he's... kind of weak, and squishy. Nissa for Knowledge was clearly for her Simic growth, Gideon for Ambition seems to be for his personal development, though not the same thing as becoming White/Black. Jace and Liliana seem to be off dealing with the demon, probably won't have time for trials.
And honestly, it's nice to see real meaningful violence back in the story. Kaladesh started to feel a little like an 80's Saturday morning action cartoon, everybody parachuting to safety when their planes blew up (even Liliana pulling her punches). The stakes here are higher, since we know that on Amonkhet people can really die in horribly vicious ways. And the plane-wide irony that's coming when Bolas finally returns...that is going to be agonizing.
You say this now, but wait until the last scene of Hour of Devastation is just the arm of Bolas, petting a now cat-sized Oketra, as his ship flies away.
"I'll get you next time, Gatewatch!"
Also I agree that Jace and Lili won't be doing trials. Gideon has done three (he has two cartouches, one of which is strength, I think) and we know he gonna get involved with the trial of zeal. And Nissa didn't exactly do Kefnet's by choice.
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GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
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Also one room was climbing up a wall? I take it that's a freebe for aven then?
Also also, supposedly a crop is like 20 people, but there are only four named crops in the cards? Are we to assume that the current population of Amonkhet is ~80, that we only got four named crops (in which case why bother naming them) or that a crop is actually bigger, more like a district, in which case the description of crops is pretty inconsistent.
Also also also, apart from the open question where children come from, what are the rules for what gets mummified? I mean, we have mummified cats, sphinxes, manticores and even illusions for crying out loud. (Seriously, how does that even work.) Do they just mummify everything that dies, indiscriminately. Does that mean there are camel mummies? Bird mummies? Sandwurm mummies? If no, where's the line?
I mean, I'm really liking Amonkhet visually and thematically and I used to really like the world-building in recent years, but what the heck has happened here with the creative team?
From what we have seen, I'd say the gods are in general rather benevolent. Yes, Kefnet kinda wanted to kill Nissa, but that's just him weeding out the unworthy. As long as you don't fail their trials, they do everything they can to prepare you for them. Even Bontu is benevolent in the sense, that she just tries to bring out the (in her mind) best in the initiates. She's not utilitarian, of course, but still benevolent.
To be fair, it's perfectly reasonable to assume that the trials are custom-tailored to each crop (or at least tweaked), seeing as they have to be admitted first.
I had a similar idea. Didn't Nissa feel dread or fear coming from Oketra? Maybe the gods are subconsciously aware that something is wrong (they have to be connected to the world soul on some level, I mean isn't it all leylines ) and this is their subconsciousness asking for help.
Gideon is, in many ways, like Sarkhan, both are looking for a direction for their faith. Sarkhan was so blinded by his fascination for dragons he'd regard a world ruled by tyrants a paradise, Gideon on the other hand has inherited white mentality where he wants to see justice served, therefore impacted by the death of innocence. Gideon was after all from a plane where worshiping a divinity is part of daily life, while he was mad at what the Gods did to his friends, he continues to search for his faith.
Because in reality, he is most angry at himself for the death of his Irregulars, perhaps starts to believe that fighting the Gods (not Bolas) on Amonkhet will remand his failure.
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2) I think there are way more crops than just the ones we see in card names, kind of like there were a bunch of Consuls on Kaladesh (I think 11?) but only 2 of them were named on cards.
3) I think children come from where they always come from, they're just taken and raised by mummies as soon as they are born and the child's birth mummy (yes I did) just goes right back into training. As for mummification, I'm pretty sure that's an honor given only to things that have earned or are deemed to deserve the honor. Obviously all the initiates who die in the trials are worthy of mummification, but so are sacred cats, wise sphinxes, mighty obstacles from the trials like a manticore, and absolutely a god's personal pet hydra. Stray cats, beasts of burden, random less impressive monsters, and anything outside the wall (sandwurms) probably aint getting mummified. I agree w/ you on the illusion though. That's just sillyness.
I agree that within the Amonkhetu worldview the gods are benevolent and I'd really like to see the other 3 at some point. I think Oketra brought Gideon to Bontu's trial because she wanted him to come to terms with himself and his ideas of faith, and she knew the trial of Bontu would force him to confront them.
RG 8-Whack
BWG Abzan midrange
GRB Living End
UWB Spirit Control
GU Kruphix's "Hug Assassin"
RW Kalemne's "Play Fatties and Hope for the Best!"
BUGW Atraxa's "All counters, all the time"
Its not about pointless killing, its about obedience to the gods (Bontu wants to thin their numbers for some reason).
I did get a chuckle from Gideon's offhand mention of various initiates trying to stab him through his shield while he stands there in horror.
The members of this crop seem unsurprising by the idea that Gideon is the only survivor of his crop. Maybe the vast majority of crops totally suck and get wiped out early on. Dejru suggests something like that when he mentions that crops which lose too many members get absorbed in others to keep the numbers consistent.
They seem to mummify mainly the honored dead which covers all sentient being that die without becoming outcasts. Mummifying pets is detail taken from ancient Egypt. Gotta say the manticore is kind of a stumper (Maybe it was a pet?) and a mummified illusion is ridiculous.
You've got to wonder how long setup and clean up take. I mean the trial is so extensive that it took hours to finish. You probably can't do more than one a day. I guess with tireless mummies as workers you might squeeze two in.
You don't think ritualistic mass murder is something that should be questioned?
Not helped with the fact that this feels too diary-ish that I can't bother to invest much time reading things. Except for Djeru, the names are all meh. The stuffs in the Trials feel... yeah, sure.
*sigh* I think I'll just wait to see if next week's story is any better.
That's a good point, but I suspect he can't use it as well when his convictions aren't 100% certain. If he's questioning his own morality, even on a subconscious level, how would he be able to enforce true justice?
You have to remember one other thing:
This whole "competitive meritocracy where everyone dies, but those who die the best get the best afterlife" thing is only valid if its true. Otherwise, its a big sham with a whole bunch of people dying terrible deaths and being thrust into a perhaps even worse afterlife. Considering the merits of the guy who set the whole thing up... which one are you betting on being true?
Gideon's right as hell to question this. I can't blame the acolytes and viziers, and maybe even Bontu for being offended by the questioning, because they're being duped up the yinyang (or in on it, in Bontu's case, in which case, screw her anyways). And maybe Gideon would have been better being more careful in rocking the boat, but I'm going to go with a guy who's been to many planes and fought many battles smelling a huge elder-dragon sized pile of bull***** over the faiths of people who are seeped in indoctrination since birth and literally live in a bubble.
There were logical reasons for the gatewatch defeating the two titans, as I have explained before (these reasons include why Ugin etc were not able or not willing to defeat them by the way, so no it doesn't imply they are weak or that the gatewatch is OP). It was probably a mistake to start with the Eldrazi, that much I'll give you. Ulamog wasn't actively trying to kill Gideon (he barely even recognized him), otherwise he would have.
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I know there's been speculation on there being an Amonkhet born planeswalker having their spark ignite in this block, and I think at this point Djeru is a clear front runner. The poor guy is entirely all-in on the God Pharaoh's way, and the realization that this is all a complete sham is going to shatter him. Wouldn't be overwhelmingly shocked if he becomes Gatewatch member #7.
It'd be cool if they did a flipwalker card for it too.
Consider Gatewatch (and we as readers) are looking at the whole thing from the start, we know well enough that Bolas is usually up to no good, but that doesn't change the fact that Gideon rushed in and questioned a society's belief in front of everyone who believes in it, void of evidence. If one of the cropmate asks Gideon what exactly made him uttered his disbelief, Gideon would not be able to present anything but suspicion, because the Jacetice League literally has no idea what Bolas is planning to do. Suspicion, no matter how close to the truth, remain unsound if one cannot back it up with evidence, we readers believe in Gideon because we know he's probably right, but if I was one of his cropmate I sure as hell would not respect it.
Long sentence short, if Gideon has no way to "prove" an already existed system to be false, protested only out of his compassion and out of his dislike towards their God, he really was in no position to question the said system, not to mention his complaint was muddled with his old doubt and new disappointment in divinity.
Besides, consider people's devotion in Bolas, even if he eventually destroy the world and collect the worthy dead for his personal benefit, they might still regard that precisely the "ascension they were hoping for. Remember in both Norse and Biblical mythology, even if the world came to an end, as long as the Gods favor you, nothing else matters. If that's the choice of the people on Amonkhet, that's their right.
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Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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