Another thought- why did Oketra bring Gideon to the Trial of Ambition?
[...]
Is it possible that Oketra put him into the ToA because she wanted him to realize exactly what was going on here?
I oticed that, too, and it might be that the Gods/plane itself are steering certain Gatewatch members into directions to resolve the unnatural state of Amonkhet.
But right now I would rather guess that the Gods - being able to see a persons true self - realize a flaw in Gideon. It would be natural to his character arc that after the hubris that caused the death of his friends Gideon tries to be a servant and the Gods sensing his wasted potential want him to find his pride and power: Hence he gets steered directly to the Trial that confronts him most directly with his flaw. Oketra knows his history and doesn't think he has to prove his Solidarity or Strength - but also that he will not fall from failig the trial, but be able to grow from it).
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
So... I went ahead and checked of how many crop-mates in Tah crop we learn over the course of the story.
Ignoring Samut/Gideons 20th slot we learn bits and pieces of 15 of the 19 remaining initiates (14 of them named and an unnamed female Minotaur that doesn't seem to be any of the other characters mentioned - except maybe other unnamed characters that were killed of and not described).
The most interesting part is that we learn the names and races of the four surviving members of the original Tah crop:
Djeru is a male Human
Basetha is a female Khenra
Nassor is a male Minotaur
Neit is a female of an unspecified race
Basetha has left behind her crop-mates by the time of the event depicted in Cruel Reality - and everyone who wouldn't survive but the drowning Meris are dead already. This means according to the story the two crop-mates in the illustration holding back Gideon should be a male Minotaur and a female of an unspecified species.
Well, maybe Neit is a human woman and Gideon was in a better position to tell than me from that art, but neither of the depicted initiates really passes for a Minotaur. Maybe I'm just trans-speciist-o-phobic for noticing this.
I'd like to see one of their D&D sourcebook thingies done on Amonkhet, and specifically, a part describing the trials.
You and me both. I can only hope that I don't have to wait for months this time until someone points out that they posted it in a very hidden away manner. Or that they stop producing this stuff due to lack of positive feedback after they mismanaged announcing them repeatedly.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
So... I went ahead and checked of how many crop-mates in Tah crop we learn over the course of the story.
Ignoring Samut/Gideons 20th slot we learn bits and pieces of 15 of the 19 remaining initiates (14 of them named and an unnamed female Minotaur that doesn't seem to be any of the other characters mentioned - except maybe other unnamed characters that were killed of and not described).
The most interesting part is that we learn the names and races of the four surviving members of the original Tah crop:
Djeru is a male Human
Basetha is a female Khenra
Nassor is a male Minotaur
Neit is a female of an unspecified race
Basetha has left behind her crop-mates by the time of the event depicted in Cruel Reality - and everyone who wouldn't survive but the drowning Meris are dead already. This means according to the story the two crop-mates in the illustration holding back Gideon should be a male Minotaur and a female of an unspecified species.
Well, maybe Neit is a human woman and Gideon was in a better position to tell than me from that art, but neither of the depicted initiates really passes for a Minotaur. Maybe I'm just trans-speciist-o-phobic for noticing this.
I'd like to see one of their D&D sourcebook thingies done on Amonkhet, and specifically, a part describing the trials.
You and me both. I can only hope that I don't have to wait for months this time until someone points out that they posted it in a very hidden away manner. Or that they stop producing this stuff due to lack of positive feedback after they mismanaged announcing them repeatedly.
I think this was a clear case of Writer's can't do math.
Nine people entered. We knew that (There's also the little matter of them going, after losing 8 guys in the first three rooms, for "hours and through numerous challenges" by only losing three people, but let's gloss over that.)
- One dies from Neit backstabbing him. Basetha gets his heart.
- One dies from Nassor smashing his head in. Nassor gets his heart
- One fought with Neit over the first heart which Basetha stole, and was killed by Neit, who got his heart.
So there, three dead. Six left. Basetha's on the other side sitting pretty with a cartouche. Nassor and Neit are getting their own hearts. Gideon's standing there looking horrified. And Djeru and Meris face each other.
They then have their conversation, and embrace.
Then
The other clashes quieted as victors emerged. Soon, all eyes lingered on the pair. Djeru pulled back from the embrace, looked Meris in the eyes, and smiled.
WHAT OTHER CLASHES?! WHO THE **** WAS STILL FIGHTING?!
I don't know if some numbers got changed in editing, but I think its clear the writer was thinking there were going to be more survivors than the ones named, and those were the ones who'd hold Gideon back.
Not the worst issue of WCDM I've seen, but definitely a glaring one.
What more gets me is how badly the little book that came with the Amonkhet bundle got it wrong. It talks about how crops go 10 at a time (20 started), you're increasingly given incentive to betray your teammates (It was more about making sacrifices than out and out betrayal), and the final room has three doors, Bontu telling you the doors determine where you start in the final trial, and then unleashing flesh-eating scarabs (the scarabs were the room before, and the final trial was nothing like that at all). Its not the first time the stories, mini-book, and artbook all have contradicted each other either. Really wish they'd put a bit more effort into consistency.
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.
While I agree that there are reasons and some of them are good (like Ugin not willing to try and kill Eldrazi) there are, at least to me, way too many bad reasons/plot points how gatewatch defeated the Eldrazi that the story will probably always be laughable and Eldrazi will remain as non-threats. As for Ulamog, to borrow the fly comparasion floating around. Fly wouldn't be able to stop, say, human from walking forward wether it wanted or not.
I was under the impression that Gideon didn't stop Ulamog really. I would like to have a citation for that. I only remember him holding of a single one of Ulamogs tentacles. Also: Some people do stop for a second if a fly tries to fly in their face repeatedly. Which reasons were dumb? The only one I can think of is that Chandra was able to channel all that mana without crippling herself at least, but otherwise... The reasons why Ulamog and Kozilek were defeated were:
a) The Hedron network being used to imprison them and slowly stripping them of their mana. Without it they would have been as powerful as they were when they were imprisoned, e.g. unstoppable for the Gatewatch.
b) Ugin's Insight: Without it the Gatewatch couldn't have possibly known how to attack the real forms of the two titans.
c) Zendikars sentience, connection to Nissa and especially potent mana: Without the help of the plane, even with all these preparations it wouldn't have been possible.
d) Emrakul being gone: The strongest titan was already elsewhere (and they REALLY couldn't defeat her at all on Innistrad later on, which makes perfect sense considering the amount of help they had on Zendikar. Emrakul remains a huge threat.)
e) And Chandra being able to channel all that mana to reduce them to ash.
I admit: The stories were pretty weak and, all in all, the Eldrazi were misused in the BFZ block (but not in the SOI block I would argue), but the reasons for why they were capable of doing this were internally consistent with what came before, didn't require a deus ex machina (since all of this (except for Chandras part maybe) was already established) and didn't need the Gatewatch to be OP to be able to do this.
Really liked how basetha and her brother ran through rhe swinging blades. Maybe the dyinng twin should have gone first, so the alive twin would step over her brother's corpse like it was nothing. That would be so brutal(er). Also Gids could have disabled the trap if he went first ti spare his mate from all the chopping.
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MtG is where you can hate white players or black players, and still not be racist.
While I don't disagree that whatever Bolas is planning is very likely to be not pleasant, I'm not even convinced at this time the denizens of Amonkhet don't know that - for all we know they actually already knew all about the Hour of Devastation being "bad" and they actually find it glorious. It almost feels like we (and the Gatewatch) are just denied the specifics of the Hour of Devastation for the purpose of suspense - nothing indicates the denizens of Amonkhet don't - they don't mention it, but its convenient to point out Bolas managed to shut the mouths of every Sphinx on the plane.
The real problem that needed to be hidden by Bolas was the fact that he wiped out a whole generation prior and he twisted the entire plane itself. Samut's dissent seems to come from discovering the wipeout prior (rather than any indication of the Afterlife being a lie of any sort). Sure, Samut shouts about the entire system being a lie, which it is (being artificial and all), but the nothing indicates the afterlife portion was inconsistent with the entire lie of the system (even Samut doesn't specify on that). The leylines pretty much explained the plane-twisting part clearly and honestly that is a more justifiable reason for Nissa to wreck the entire system / Bolas than Gideon has right here.
Of course, problem being lack of information for the sake of suspense, Samut could still be correct - the trials were always a natural part of the plane and Bolas only twisted the end (perhaps the 3 missing Gods are linked to that), but here's the catch, if that was the case, the Trial of Ambition could possibly been natural all along and Gideon will be doubly-wrong (and extra-judgmental) in this story.
Yeah, the math was really silly on this one - after losing eight mates in the first four rooms they skip to the last room and report: "So many rooms, each designed to have more left behind. Some we battered our way through, making it across intact. But more often, the room battered through us, taking lives despite our best efforts and abilities."
But they only went from twelve to nine over course of those "many rooms" and if they literally "more often" lost mates than "making it across intact" (i. e. the number of rooms causing at least one loss is strictly greater than the number of rooms passed without loss) while losing three people this "many" would be at most five rooms - one more than the number of rooms that cut their numbers almost by half.
It seems like Bontu grew lenient after the first rooms.
Gids could have disabled the trap if he went first ti spare his mate from all the chopping.
Yeah, I was actually hoping that he would realize such and simply step forward.
---
Okay ignoring all the silliness that was in the details of the story, I think the greatest missed opportunity comes from the indirect story-telling and the weird choice to have Gideon "cheat" his way into Bontu's challenge. Any sane story-telling would have grasped the opportunity to join Gideon into a crop as they go through their trials one-by-one so there is an actual opportunity to bond and learn about the characters first-hand rather than informed by the sometimes awkward way everyone compliments each other.
Even if it was just flashbacks interlaced with the story of Bontu's trial explaining that Gideon past the second and third trial at the time the previous stories of Nissa and Liliana/Jace respectively happened that would have been nice. What I really would have loved would be to have met at least half of the named characters of the Tah crop in an earlier story. That way the return to the crop during the fourth trial would actually affect chracters that I haven't just met as a reader.
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
[thread=239793][Game] Level Up - Creature[/thread]
I thought this might be the right place to ask whether we have any ideas on whether and when there will be a Planeswalker's Guide to Amonkhet.
I don't know if they'll do the online Planeswalker's guide or not, but as of the last few blocks, the "Art of" books have also done a solid job of acting as those guides. The Amonkhet one should be out around the time Hour of Devastation releases.
In Maro's mothership article today he mentions that Samut is a speedster. At first I thought he just meant she was quick but he goes on to specifically reference the Flash as an inspiration and mention why they gave her the keywords they did to emphasize speed. To my knowledge, honest to goodness superspeed like Maro seemed to imply, isn't a power other people on amonkhet seemed to possess. This combined w/ the fact tgat she is 3 colors, makes me wonder if she is in fact supposed to be a chosen champion of the misding 3 gods. It just seems like a pretty impressive power set for someone who is just a warrior (granted she could be a pw but i still think that will be Djeru)
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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"
In Maro's mothership article today he mentions that Samut is a speedster. At first I thought he just meant she was quick but he goes on to specifically reference the Flash as an inspiration and mention why they gave her the keywords they did to emphasize speed. To my knowledge, honest to goodness superspeed like Maro seemed to imply, isn't a power other people on amonkhet seemed to possess. This combined w/ the fact tgat she is 3 colors, makes me wonder if she is in fact supposed to be a chosen champion of the misding 3 gods. It just seems like a pretty impressive power set for someone who is just a warrior (granted she could be a pw but i still think that will be Djeru)
I think you're taking that a bit too literally. I don't think he meant to imply that she is Flash level fast. Maybe faster than human. Faster even than non-human humanoids. But not so fast that she would have wanted to have reach because she can make tornados with her hands.
I really liked this latest story. One of the best of Amonkhet so far in my opinion.
It was important for Gideon and Nissa to discover personal reasons to hate on Bolas.
Chandra hates him for manipulating her accidental release of the Titans and possibly having been behind Tezz's machinations on Kaledesh.
Jace has personally met and also been the un-consenting pawn of the Dragon.
Bolas was the one who Brokered Lillianna's dealings with Demons. A service she's grateful for but with her killing of her masters I doubt she looks upon the Elder Dragon as anything other than a more powerful and dangerous rival, and potential foil to her desired eternal youth- without the consequences of enslavement.
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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
In Maro's mothership article today he mentions that Samut is a speedster. At first I thought he just meant she was quick but he goes on to specifically reference the Flash as an inspiration and mention why they gave her the keywords they did to emphasize speed. To my knowledge, honest to goodness superspeed like Maro seemed to imply, isn't a power other people on amonkhet seemed to possess. This combined w/ the fact tgat she is 3 colors, makes me wonder if she is in fact supposed to be a chosen champion of the misding 3 gods. It just seems like a pretty impressive power set for someone who is just a warrior (granted she could be a pw but i still think that will be Djeru)
I think you're taking that a bit too literally. I don't think he meant to imply that she is Flash level fast. Maybe faster than human. Faster even than non-human humanoids. But not so fast that she would have wanted to have reach because she can make tornados with her hands.
That's kind of what I'm expecting tbh, it was just a surprising way for him to decribe it and it stood out to me. I'm very interested in meeting her in-story now.
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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"
I really liked this latest story. One of the best of Amonkhet so far in my opinion.
It was important for Gideon and Nissa to discover personal reasons to hate on Bolas.
Chandra hates him for manipulating her accidental release of the Titans and possibly having been behind Tezz's machinations on Kaledesh.
Jace has personally met and also been the un-consenting pawn of the Dragon.
Bolas was the one who Brokered Lillianna's dealings with Demons. A service she's grateful for but with her killing of her masters I doubt she looks upon the Elder Dragon as anything other than a more powerful and dangerous rival, and potential foil to her desired eternal youth- without the consequences of enslavement.
No one but Sarkhan knows that Bolas orchestrated the release of the Eldrazi. Right now Chandra hates Bolas because the others say so and maybe because he might have been behind Tezz on Kaladesh.
What about the Duels Game where Chandra sought and faught Ramaz?
I was pretty sure it was revealed to her that some PW named Bolas was associated with Ramaz in the orchestration.
But even without this, Bolas's connection with Tezz, the man who tried to kill her mother and did much damage to her people and plane is more than enough of a reason for her to hate him no?
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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
Seems like Nissa's vision of the three children disappearing into the desert was literal.
Would't be surprised to see a Djeru card in the next set.
As for the story, it had some decent parts, but a bit too much exposition for my liking. You'd think Samut discovering the truth about Bolas would have more resonance.
The story this time around gives me mixed feelings. I think I like the idea of the story but the execution of it, the writing, convoluted the idea for me. For instance, you can clearly tell that at one point this story was written from a first-person perspective of Nakht and then for some reason they decided to change that. Perhaps because Nakht had not been developed prior to this story the editors thought it would miss the mark.
It's really sloppy to leave remnants of the initial perspective. Multiple times the story abruptly says "I" and then switches back to "his" or "him."
"He kept MY hands held tight, trying to maintain focus as he flew higher..."
That's awful. Oh, and then the part with "Suddenly, sudden dread..."
Outside of that, while the dialogue is pretty standard and shallow, I like the idea and I am glad that we get a chance to see what caused Samut's dissension. Honestly, the last couple paragraphs are pretty fun to read. It's nothing that we didn't know or speculate but it still sent chills down my back as I pictured the scene.
This was the worst of the stories. There was not much character development from anyone. We know how Djeru is. We know how Samut is. As soon as they said their friend was an Aven, I knew he would use magic (like last week's story). I'm glad Grim Strider got some camera time; poor card. The last few paragraphs and the whole part of them going into the desert should've been where they started today's story. Then they could've shown when Samut was the dissenter of the group and when she left the crop to discover her own meaning.
Hopefully next week the Second Sun finally centers itself.
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"The essence of every world, every spell and every thought is power. Nothing else matters, because nothing else exists."
Now we know the true meaning of Trespasser's Curse, it's not about the people who entered the tomb, but Bolas himself.
The end was rushed, perhaps to squeeze as much information in without needing another update, but that's kinda silly. If you need the length, do the length, don't half-arse it.
And again, why would Bolas permit any old glyphs to survive, did he leave in a hurry or something? That's not very Bola-like
Now we know the true meaning of Trespasser's Curse, it's not about the people who entered the tomb, but Bolas himself.
The end was rushed, perhaps to squeeze as much information in without needing another update, but that's kinda silly. If you need the length, do the length, don't half-arse it.
And again, why would Bolas permit any old glyphs to survive, did he leave in a hurry or something? That's not very Bola-like
I would love it if his next planeswalker card was Nicol Bolas, the Trespasser. I'm sure it'll make reference to God-Pharaoh instead but Trespasser is an awesome title for a planeswalker IMO
Now we know the true meaning of Trespasser's Curse, it's not about the people who entered the tomb, but Bolas himself.
The end was rushed, perhaps to squeeze as much information in without needing another update, but that's kinda silly. If you need the length, do the length, don't half-arse it.
And again, why would Bolas permit any old glyphs to survive, did he leave in a hurry or something? That's not very Bolas-like
They could have been carved by someone who remembered what the world was like before Bolas, or just before Bolas left. Gotta agree with the ending feeling terribly rushed - was it written just before deadline or something?
Okay story, feel like it will be something that sets up a future interactions between Samut and Djeru and as the story says, the pair of them will have a role to play in the fate of Amonkhet.
Also total tease about what the forgotten gods animal head was.
Also (since I've personally seen it) it shows a very real example how a tragic event can push two people on different paths, since it set up Djeru udder devotion to the system while for Samut it set up the seed of disbelief.
And again, why would Bolas permit any old glyphs to survive, did he leave in a hurry or something? That's not very Bola-like
I see 3 possibilities;
1) Arrogance: thinking his system would keep anyone from finding out about, since they always be focused on training and the gods teaching them, as well as being stuffed in a coffin and banished to the desert if you question it. So far its worked for the most part. A number of people are dissenters but they seem to be the minority.
2) He missed it: Could be he missed a few room, as the ones Samut found that are ones even Bontu didn't really go into. Many old walker had their ages catch up to them so maybe he had to set things up On Amonkhet as he felt the years hit him, which relates to what you asked;
3) He was in a rush: Since the mending was hitting, he might have set up Amonkhet "hastily" and retreated to his plane to see how he was standing.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Today's story had some poor writing, but I think this is the same author who had first person/third person issues in another story article months ago. Also, the story didn't seem to move the ball much. We know Bolas did something to the plane, but the story doesn't add much of anything new. We know Samut is a dissenter and Djeru is a true believer, but we also knew this already, and their past could have been presented as flashbacks in 'present day' articles. Otherwise, not much new, not much movement of anything. I can't think of anything we read that wasn't already known, though my brain is also tired right now.
As for planeswalkers, either Samut or Djeru could ignite, tough call. One will be freed from a physical prison, one from a spiritual prison, and as I wrote that, damn, what a moment it would be if they both sparked?
I'm still holding out hope for an Ashiok planeswalker, but I have my doubts now, as there's no indication of their presence.
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I oticed that, too, and it might be that the Gods/plane itself are steering certain Gatewatch members into directions to resolve the unnatural state of Amonkhet.
But right now I would rather guess that the Gods - being able to see a persons true self - realize a flaw in Gideon. It would be natural to his character arc that after the hubris that caused the death of his friends Gideon tries to be a servant and the Gods sensing his wasted potential want him to find his pride and power: Hence he gets steered directly to the Trial that confronts him most directly with his flaw. Oketra knows his history and doesn't think he has to prove his Solidarity or Strength - but also that he will not fall from failig the trial, but be able to grow from it).
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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Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
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I'd like to see one of their D&D sourcebook thingies done on Amonkhet, and specifically, a part describing the trials.
Click the pic for more info.
Ignoring Samut/Gideons 20th slot we learn bits and pieces of 15 of the 19 remaining initiates (14 of them named and an unnamed female Minotaur that doesn't seem to be any of the other characters mentioned - except maybe other unnamed characters that were killed of and not described).
The most interesting part is that we learn the names and races of the four surviving members of the original Tah crop:
Basetha has left behind her crop-mates by the time of the event depicted in Cruel Reality - and everyone who wouldn't survive but the drowning Meris are dead already. This means according to the story the two crop-mates in the illustration holding back Gideon should be a male Minotaur and a female of an unspecified species.
Well, maybe Neit is a human woman and Gideon was in a better position to tell than me from that art, but neither of the depicted initiates really passes for a Minotaur. Maybe I'm just trans-speciist-o-phobic for noticing this.
You and me both. I can only hope that I don't have to wait for months this time until someone points out that they posted it in a very hidden away manner. Or that they stop producing this stuff due to lack of positive feedback after they mismanaged announcing them repeatedly.
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."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I think this was a clear case of Writer's can't do math.
Nine people entered. We knew that (There's also the little matter of them going, after losing 8 guys in the first three rooms, for "hours and through numerous challenges" by only losing three people, but let's gloss over that.)
- One dies from Neit backstabbing him. Basetha gets his heart.
- One dies from Nassor smashing his head in. Nassor gets his heart
- One fought with Neit over the first heart which Basetha stole, and was killed by Neit, who got his heart.
So there, three dead. Six left. Basetha's on the other side sitting pretty with a cartouche. Nassor and Neit are getting their own hearts. Gideon's standing there looking horrified. And Djeru and Meris face each other.
They then have their conversation, and embrace.
Then
WHAT OTHER CLASHES?! WHO THE **** WAS STILL FIGHTING?!
I don't know if some numbers got changed in editing, but I think its clear the writer was thinking there were going to be more survivors than the ones named, and those were the ones who'd hold Gideon back.
Not the worst issue of WCDM I've seen, but definitely a glaring one.
What more gets me is how badly the little book that came with the Amonkhet bundle got it wrong. It talks about how crops go 10 at a time (20 started), you're increasingly given incentive to betray your teammates (It was more about making sacrifices than out and out betrayal), and the final room has three doors, Bontu telling you the doors determine where you start in the final trial, and then unleashing flesh-eating scarabs (the scarabs were the room before, and the final trial was nothing like that at all). Its not the first time the stories, mini-book, and artbook all have contradicted each other either. Really wish they'd put a bit more effort into consistency.
I was under the impression that Gideon didn't stop Ulamog really. I would like to have a citation for that. I only remember him holding of a single one of Ulamogs tentacles. Also: Some people do stop for a second if a fly tries to fly in their face repeatedly. Which reasons were dumb? The only one I can think of is that Chandra was able to channel all that mana without crippling herself at least, but otherwise... The reasons why Ulamog and Kozilek were defeated were:
a) The Hedron network being used to imprison them and slowly stripping them of their mana. Without it they would have been as powerful as they were when they were imprisoned, e.g. unstoppable for the Gatewatch.
b) Ugin's Insight: Without it the Gatewatch couldn't have possibly known how to attack the real forms of the two titans.
c) Zendikars sentience, connection to Nissa and especially potent mana: Without the help of the plane, even with all these preparations it wouldn't have been possible.
d) Emrakul being gone: The strongest titan was already elsewhere (and they REALLY couldn't defeat her at all on Innistrad later on, which makes perfect sense considering the amount of help they had on Zendikar. Emrakul remains a huge threat.)
e) And Chandra being able to channel all that mana to reduce them to ash.
I admit: The stories were pretty weak and, all in all, the Eldrazi were misused in the BFZ block (but not in the SOI block I would argue), but the reasons for why they were capable of doing this were internally consistent with what came before, didn't require a deus ex machina (since all of this (except for Chandras part maybe) was already established) and didn't need the Gatewatch to be OP to be able to do this.
The real problem that needed to be hidden by Bolas was the fact that he wiped out a whole generation prior and he twisted the entire plane itself. Samut's dissent seems to come from discovering the wipeout prior (rather than any indication of the Afterlife being a lie of any sort). Sure, Samut shouts about the entire system being a lie, which it is (being artificial and all), but the nothing indicates the afterlife portion was inconsistent with the entire lie of the system (even Samut doesn't specify on that). The leylines pretty much explained the plane-twisting part clearly and honestly that is a more justifiable reason for Nissa to wreck the entire system / Bolas than Gideon has right here.
Of course, problem being lack of information for the sake of suspense, Samut could still be correct - the trials were always a natural part of the plane and Bolas only twisted the end (perhaps the 3 missing Gods are linked to that), but here's the catch, if that was the case, the Trial of Ambition could possibly been natural all along and Gideon will be doubly-wrong (and extra-judgmental) in this story.
But they only went from twelve to nine over course of those "many rooms" and if they literally "more often" lost mates than "making it across intact" (i. e. the number of rooms causing at least one loss is strictly greater than the number of rooms passed without loss) while losing three people this "many" would be at most five rooms - one more than the number of rooms that cut their numbers almost by half.
It seems like Bontu grew lenient after the first rooms.
Yeah, I was actually hoping that he would realize such and simply step forward.
---
Okay ignoring all the silliness that was in the details of the story, I think the greatest missed opportunity comes from the indirect story-telling and the weird choice to have Gideon "cheat" his way into Bontu's challenge. Any sane story-telling would have grasped the opportunity to join Gideon into a crop as they go through their trials one-by-one so there is an actual opportunity to bond and learn about the characters first-hand rather than informed by the sometimes awkward way everyone compliments each other.
Even if it was just flashbacks interlaced with the story of Bontu's trial explaining that Gideon past the second and third trial at the time the previous stories of Nissa and Liliana/Jace respectively happened that would have been nice. What I really would have loved would be to have met at least half of the named characters of the Tah crop in an earlier story. That way the return to the crop during the fourth trial would actually affect chracters that I haven't just met as a reader.
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."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I don't know if they'll do the online Planeswalker's guide or not, but as of the last few blocks, the "Art of" books have also done a solid job of acting as those guides. The Amonkhet one should be out around the time Hour of Devastation releases.
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"
Verifiably true, actually. Being buried alive is what triggered Domri Rade's spark.
I think you're taking that a bit too literally. I don't think he meant to imply that she is Flash level fast. Maybe faster than human. Faster even than non-human humanoids. But not so fast that she would have wanted to have reach because she can make tornados with her hands.
It was important for Gideon and Nissa to discover personal reasons to hate on Bolas.
Chandra hates him for manipulating her accidental release of the Titans and possibly having been behind Tezz's machinations on Kaledesh.
Jace has personally met and also been the un-consenting pawn of the Dragon.
Bolas was the one who Brokered Lillianna's dealings with Demons. A service she's grateful for but with her killing of her masters I doubt she looks upon the Elder Dragon as anything other than a more powerful and dangerous rival, and potential foil to her desired eternal youth- without the consequences of enslavement.
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
That's kind of what I'm expecting tbh, it was just a surprising way for him to decribe it and it stood out to me. I'm very interested in meeting her in-story now.
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"
No one but Sarkhan knows that Bolas orchestrated the release of the Eldrazi. Right now Chandra hates Bolas because the others say so and maybe because he might have been behind Tezz on Kaladesh.
I was pretty sure it was revealed to her that some PW named Bolas was associated with Ramaz in the orchestration.
But even without this, Bolas's connection with Tezz, the man who tried to kill her mother and did much damage to her people and plane is more than enough of a reason for her to hate him no?
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
Seems like Nissa's vision of the three children disappearing into the desert was literal.
Would't be surprised to see a Djeru card in the next set.
As for the story, it had some decent parts, but a bit too much exposition for my liking. You'd think Samut discovering the truth about Bolas would have more resonance.
Click the pic for more info.
It's really sloppy to leave remnants of the initial perspective. Multiple times the story abruptly says "I" and then switches back to "his" or "him."
"He kept MY hands held tight, trying to maintain focus as he flew higher..."
That's awful. Oh, and then the part with "Suddenly, sudden dread..."
Outside of that, while the dialogue is pretty standard and shallow, I like the idea and I am glad that we get a chance to see what caused Samut's dissension. Honestly, the last couple paragraphs are pretty fun to read. It's nothing that we didn't know or speculate but it still sent chills down my back as I pictured the scene.
Hopefully next week the Second Sun finally centers itself.
The end was rushed, perhaps to squeeze as much information in without needing another update, but that's kinda silly. If you need the length, do the length, don't half-arse it.
And again, why would Bolas permit any old glyphs to survive, did he leave in a hurry or something? That's not very Bola-like
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
I would love it if his next planeswalker card was Nicol Bolas, the Trespasser. I'm sure it'll make reference to God-Pharaoh instead but Trespasser is an awesome title for a planeswalker IMO
They could have been carved by someone who remembered what the world was like before Bolas, or just before Bolas left. Gotta agree with the ending feeling terribly rushed - was it written just before deadline or something?
Also total tease about what the forgotten gods animal head was.
Also (since I've personally seen it) it shows a very real example how a tragic event can push two people on different paths, since it set up Djeru udder devotion to the system while for Samut it set up the seed of disbelief.
I see 3 possibilities;
1) Arrogance: thinking his system would keep anyone from finding out about, since they always be focused on training and the gods teaching them, as well as being stuffed in a coffin and banished to the desert if you question it. So far its worked for the most part. A number of people are dissenters but they seem to be the minority.
2) He missed it: Could be he missed a few room, as the ones Samut found that are ones even Bontu didn't really go into. Many old walker had their ages catch up to them so maybe he had to set things up On Amonkhet as he felt the years hit him, which relates to what you asked;
3) He was in a rush: Since the mending was hitting, he might have set up Amonkhet "hastily" and retreated to his plane to see how he was standing.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
As for planeswalkers, either Samut or Djeru could ignite, tough call. One will be freed from a physical prison, one from a spiritual prison, and as I wrote that, damn, what a moment it would be if they both sparked?
I'm still holding out hope for an Ashiok planeswalker, but I have my doubts now, as there's no indication of their presence.