I really, REALLY don't think Jace is going to lose his memories. Its just boring storytelling to make the guy who is already missing a chunk of his memories jist lose more memories. More stories can be told than just that.
5. More specifically, Jace is going to end up on Ixalan as a "castaway." I suspect Bolas will "mindsculpt" him, and he might forget who he is.
Or maybe, he ends up remembering who he really is.
That would be vastly more interesting.
I'm very curious to see what will end up happening.
While I still think the story and storytelling especially are very flawed, they have a good hook again. I say again, because I always end up caring towards the end of the story for some reason.
BFZ was hardly interesting, but when Ob Nixilis showed up things did get interesting for me again. The Innistrad mystery was also really cool (although we saw Emrakul coming from miles away). The twist at the end of Eldritch Moon is one of my favorite things to ever happen in the MtG storyline (I should mention that I am very familiar with the old lore, too, so that is saying something, but I'm a huge sucker for Lovecraftian themes). I loved the Kaladesh setting but I honestly couldn't be bothered reading those stories after a while. I scanned through them to get the gist of things. And now, with Amonkhet I feel like the BFZ pattern was repeated: everything leading up to Hours was...meh. But the premise keeps me engaged this time. I think that's why Kaladesh failed to keep me into the story, the premise simply didn't do it for me. A strong premise can compensate for a lot of things.
Obviously just my opinion though.
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I'm very curious to see what will end up happening.
While I still think the story and storytelling especially are very flawed, they have a good hook again. I say again, because I always end up caring towards the end of the story for some reason.
BFZ was hardly interesting, but when Ob Nixilis showed up things did get interesting for me again. The Innistrad mystery was also really cool (although we saw Emrakul coming from miles away). The twist at the end of Eldritch Moon is one of my favorite things to ever happen in the MtG storyline (I should mention that I am very familiar with the old lore, too, so that is saying something, but I'm a huge sucker for Lovecraftian themes). I loved the Kaladesh setting but I honestly couldn't be bothered reading those stories after a while. I scanned through them to get the gist of things. And now, with Amonkhet I feel like the BFZ pattern was repeated: everything leading up to Hours was...meh. But the premise keeps me engaged this time. I think that's why Kaladesh failed to keep me into the story, the premise simply didn't do it for me. A strong premise can compensate for a lot of things.
Obviously just my opinion though.
I can see that. I think the individual Amonkhet stories each had their own merit which made them way better than BFZ in general. But yeah, if you were to summarize everything lead in up to Hour of Revelation it wouldn't sound to great.
I feel the strength of the Kaladesh story-line was in it's character interaction while the strength (or lack thereof) of BFZ was in the setting. In BFZ the stories were, for the most part, just ok (with a few awesome exceptions) however the world with the titans and Ob Nixilus coming in kept me interested. Kaladesh as a world/setting felt pretty bland to me, but interesting characters like Yahenni and Dovin Baan alongside plot-hooks like the "you know it's coming" Chandra/Baral fight made the story interesting. Ideally, I'd like magic stories to have a sweet spot of engaging setting and interesting story-lines taking place within those settings. I think they've kind of been hitting that with Amonkhet and I really feel like they're story department has been doing an overall amazing job since the initial fumbles of BFZ
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I really, REALLY don't think Jace is going to lose his memories. Its just boring storytelling to make the guy who is already missing a chunk of his memories jist lose more memories. More stories can be told than just that.
Oooh, yeah, that would be way more fun! Good idea!
I'm pretty sure that we know why Tezzeret was seeking a Planar Bridge now: to move NB's army of Eternals off of Amonkhet. From the KLD stories, we know that Tezzeret was under extreme time pressures by NB to accomplish what he was supposed to do, and apparently that was to get a Planar Bridge. We also know that the only 'timed' event that we know about is the second sun on Amonkhet. Since we now know NB's plan (create an entire army of super-zombies), and unless you posit that lazotep allows PWing--which does not seem plausible--the Planar Bridge is NB's army's ticket off of Amonkhet.
We also know that the core of the Bridge is installed in Tezzeret's etherium arm. So he is going to be the general of the Eternal army?
13. Hey, I forgot about Samut! She ignites when Djeru is killed, and planeswalks to...I dunno, let's say Alara. Or maybe Dominaria? She devotes her life to getting revenge on Bolas.
Samut can summon planeswalkers to her as her ultimate.
I don't think that ultimate is completely without flavor.
I wonder if she's going to be instrumental in saving the Gatewatch from Bolas; maybe pulling some of them out of exile.
10. Bolas will leave with his army of Immortals, which I predict can move between planes due to their Lazotep armor. He'll consider his objectives fulfilled, and won't bother completely obliterating all life on the plane. The only victories anyone will score against him will be simply surviving the apocalypse.
If he's not moving those soldiers from plane to plane with the Planar Bridge, I will eat my hat.
If he's not moving those soldiers from plane to plane with the Planar Bridge, I will eat my hat.
Yeah, I can pretty much guarantee that's how it's going to go down. Now that we know Bolas was controlling the movement of the Second Sun, it's clear that the events of Amonkhet are happening directly after Aether Revolt because Tezzeret acquired the Bridge.
1) Tezz didn't know he was going to find a planar bridge when he got to Kaladesh.
2) Wasn't it destroyed when Tezz and Lili fought?
Tezzeret has the core of the Planar Bridge--presumably with full functionality--in his etherium arm. And while Tezzeret did not know if he could find a planar bridge, it seems very clear from the KLD stories that finding a form of transplanar travel is exactly the task that NB assigned Tezzeret.
Ken Nagle article today hints thats the gods are tied to the next three hours, with The Locust God bringing the Hour of Promise.
I'm guessing The Scorpion God will bring the Hour of Glory and kill the god, The Locust God will destroy the Hekma and The Scarb God will bring the Eternals during the Hour of Eternity.
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Ken Nagle article today hints thats the gods are tied to the next three hours, with The Locust God bringing the Hour of Promise.
I'm guessing The Scorpion God will bring the Hour of Glory and kill the god, The Locust God will destroy the Hekma and The Scarb God will bring the Eternals during the Hour of Eternity.
To add to this, we know that the Scorpion God kills Rhonas (or at least it's hinted at on the diabolic edict invocation). Moreover, the corrupted gods seem to awaken in order rather than at once, as evidenced by their invocation artworks. Additionally it would fit for the scarab god to create/summon/lead/bring/whatever the eternals due to its blueish colour scheme.
I also just realized that it works well with their associated bugs. The scoprion kills, the locust swarm tears down and invites more plagues (zombies) into the city while the scarab (dung beetle) 'recycles' dead matter into something usable.
I also just realized that it works well with their associated bugs. The scoprion kills, the locust swarm tears down and invites more plagues (zombies) into the city while the scarab (dung beetle) 'recycles' dead matter into something usable.
This is an interesting parallel to the Eldrazi titans and their apparent purposes.
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I also just realized that it works well with their associated bugs. The scoprion kills, the locust swarm tears down and invites more plagues (zombies) into the city while the scarab (dung beetle) 'recycles' dead matter into something usable.
This is an interesting parallel to the Eldrazi titans and their apparent purposes.
Yeah, the two groups have their similarities, but unfortunately for the multiverse, the Gatewatch burninated two of the titans.
Speaking of purpose, what are the corrupted Gods even going to do after Bolas is done with Amonkhet?
I also just realized that it works well with their associated bugs. The scoprion kills, the locust swarm tears down and invites more plagues (zombies) into the city while the scarab (dung beetle) 'recycles' dead matter into something usable.
This is an interesting parallel to the Eldrazi titans and their apparent purposes.
Yeah, the two groups have their similarities, but unfortunately for the multiverse, the Gatewatch burninated two of the titans.
Speaking of purpose, what are the corrupted Gods even going to do after Bolas is done with Amonkhet?
A little late in coming here. So the Gatewatch try to gang up on Bolas, and they get beaten easily. Would have been a nice surprise if Ugin suddenly showed up to help them.
A little late in coming here. So the Gatewatch try to gang up on Bolas, and they get beaten easily. Would have been a nice surprise if Ugin suddenly showed up to help them.
Only if Ugin then gets beaten too. This trashing was exactly what the gatewatch needed to stay ''believable''. They can't keep Deus Ex Machina'ing their way trough the story and stay unscathed. A good loss now and again helps build character and puts things in perspective.
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Ok, fair enough reason. I guess they can't just keep on winning. They already had some success in Zendikar, Innistrad, and the Chandra story in Kaladesh.
Just one thing had me thinking... why did Liliana help them fight Bolas here? Well, she's a black mage so she must have helped them to gain something in return. Hmm, would it be a huge benefit to her if they somehow defeated him here in Amonkhet?
I also just realized that it works well with their associated bugs. The scoprion kills, the locust swarm tears down and invites more plagues (zombies) into the city while the scarab (dung beetle) 'recycles' dead matter into something usable.
This is an interesting parallel to the Eldrazi titans and their apparent purposes.
Yeah, the two groups have their similarities, but unfortunately for the multiverse, the Gatewatch burninated two of the titans.
Speaking of purpose, what are the corrupted Gods even going to do after Bolas is done with Amonkhet?
I noted this similarity as well, and wondered... is this why Bolas originally conspired to set the Eldrazi free? To level Amonkhet? The parallels are quite clear, particularly for a game whose 'magic number' (NPI) is 5, not 3.
Ok, fair enough reason. I guess they can't just keep on winning. They already had some success in Zendikar, Innistrad, and the Chandra story in Kaladesh.
Just one thing had me thinking... why did Liliana help them fight Bolas here? Well, she's a black mage so she must have helped them to gain something in return. Hmm, would it be a huge benefit to her if they somehow defeated him here in Amonkhet?
And here is the explanation (story plotwise) why Razaketh could 'take over' Liliana. It was to ensure that Liliana would realize the benefits of staying with the Gatewatch. She fights Bolas--though I am on record as believing she is the one who gets them all out of dodge at the first opportunity--because she has clear evidence now that they will help her take out demons even when she blindsides them, and there was no way (as written) that she could have defeated Razaketh on her own.
Smaller point here is that she is huge on being Unfettered, and 'you saved my life when you really didn't have to' is a huge fetter on most people.
The Gatewatch gets thrashed, that we already know. But the defeats are not Spotlights.
Basically, the Gatewatch switches into "Empire Strikes Back" part of the story.
Nobody is killed, even Gideon. Despite overwhelming hints, the people who say his story should eventually close on Theros, are right. Samut's ascension might have something to do with it. As compared to mercilessly effective, no-nonsense Bolas presented in the flashback, NB is again pompous and likes to trashtalk the defeated GW members. Might be that Samut somehow intervenes, and Bolas will go "screw it, I got what I wanted, and leaving you alive is maybe better punishment than killing you"...
Nissa's epithet "Genesis Mage" and the various naga-related rebuilding flavortexts make me think she is gonna stay here for some time, helping to rebuild new vestiges of civilization. She might be also able to reweave the killed gods back into existence.
Jace, mind-wrecked by Bolas, planeswalks uncontrollably and blindly and ends up on Ixalan, probably at least partially amnesiac.
Chandra, Liliana and Gideon...well, Lili's gonna have hard time, because without her, they would probably not be so ardent to go to Amonkhet and face Bolas. I guess both Chandra and Liliana will like to find and help Jace, and the logical choice will be to go to the world Ajani suggested - Dominaria. Lili's homeplane, btw. So they probably would like to have her as guide. Gideon, if alive, will join.
Ajani rescues Jace in Rivals of Ixalan (his art was on "Conquest of Power" boosters, no reasons to believe he will not be there.
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Or maybe, he ends up remembering who he really is.
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That would be vastly more interesting.
I'm very curious to see what will end up happening.
While I still think the story and storytelling especially are very flawed, they have a good hook again. I say again, because I always end up caring towards the end of the story for some reason.
BFZ was hardly interesting, but when Ob Nixilis showed up things did get interesting for me again. The Innistrad mystery was also really cool (although we saw Emrakul coming from miles away). The twist at the end of Eldritch Moon is one of my favorite things to ever happen in the MtG storyline (I should mention that I am very familiar with the old lore, too, so that is saying something, but I'm a huge sucker for Lovecraftian themes). I loved the Kaladesh setting but I honestly couldn't be bothered reading those stories after a while. I scanned through them to get the gist of things. And now, with Amonkhet I feel like the BFZ pattern was repeated: everything leading up to Hours was...meh. But the premise keeps me engaged this time. I think that's why Kaladesh failed to keep me into the story, the premise simply didn't do it for me. A strong premise can compensate for a lot of things.
Obviously just my opinion though.
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I can see that. I think the individual Amonkhet stories each had their own merit which made them way better than BFZ in general. But yeah, if you were to summarize everything lead in up to Hour of Revelation it wouldn't sound to great.
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"
Oooh, yeah, that would be way more fun! Good idea!
... Wat?
Although I think this might be what makes Samut spark.
Also, this means Nicol Bolas is going to have TEN full cards dedicated to him kicking the crap out of some Legendary character.
At least under the current 2-block paradigm we didn't have to wait long for the inevitable!
We also know that the core of the Bridge is installed in Tezzeret's etherium arm. So he is going to be the general of the Eternal army?
Samut can summon planeswalkers to her as her ultimate.
I don't think that ultimate is completely without flavor.
I wonder if she's going to be instrumental in saving the Gatewatch from Bolas; maybe pulling some of them out of exile.
If he's not moving those soldiers from plane to plane with the Planar Bridge, I will eat my hat.
Yeah, I can pretty much guarantee that's how it's going to go down. Now that we know Bolas was controlling the movement of the Second Sun, it's clear that the events of Amonkhet are happening directly after Aether Revolt because Tezzeret acquired the Bridge.
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2) Wasn't it destroyed when Tezz and Lili fought?
Tezzeret has the core of the Planar Bridge--presumably with full functionality--in his etherium arm. And while Tezzeret did not know if he could find a planar bridge, it seems very clear from the KLD stories that finding a form of transplanar travel is exactly the task that NB assigned Tezzeret.
I'm guessing The Scorpion God will bring the Hour of Glory and kill the god, The Locust God will destroy the Hekma and The Scarb God will bring the Eternals during the Hour of Eternity.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Oops, quoted the wrong post. I meant Jace getting his memories back would be way more fun than him getting mindwiped again. Sorry!
To add to this, we know that the Scorpion God kills Rhonas (or at least it's hinted at on the diabolic edict invocation). Moreover, the corrupted gods seem to awaken in order rather than at once, as evidenced by their invocation artworks. Additionally it would fit for the scarab god to create/summon/lead/bring/whatever the eternals due to its blueish colour scheme.
I also just realized that it works well with their associated bugs. The scoprion kills, the locust swarm tears down and invites more plagues (zombies) into the city while the scarab (dung beetle) 'recycles' dead matter into something usable.
This is an interesting parallel to the Eldrazi titans and their apparent purposes.
Yeah, the two groups have their similarities, but unfortunately for the multiverse, the Gatewatch burninated two of the titans.
Speaking of purpose, what are the corrupted Gods even going to do after Bolas is done with Amonkhet?
Evil god frat party, duh.
Why you think Razaketh turned the river to blood?
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Only if Ugin then gets beaten too. This trashing was exactly what the gatewatch needed to stay ''believable''. They can't keep Deus Ex Machina'ing their way trough the story and stay unscathed. A good loss now and again helps build character and puts things in perspective.
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
Just one thing had me thinking... why did Liliana help them fight Bolas here? Well, she's a black mage so she must have helped them to gain something in return. Hmm, would it be a huge benefit to her if they somehow defeated him here in Amonkhet?
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I noted this similarity as well, and wondered... is this why Bolas originally conspired to set the Eldrazi free? To level Amonkhet? The parallels are quite clear, particularly for a game whose 'magic number' (NPI) is 5, not 3.
And here is the explanation (story plotwise) why Razaketh could 'take over' Liliana. It was to ensure that Liliana would realize the benefits of staying with the Gatewatch. She fights Bolas--though I am on record as believing she is the one who gets them all out of dodge at the first opportunity--because she has clear evidence now that they will help her take out demons even when she blindsides them, and there was no way (as written) that she could have defeated Razaketh on her own.
Smaller point here is that she is huge on being Unfettered, and 'you saved my life when you really didn't have to' is a huge fetter on most people.
The Gatewatch gets thrashed, that we already know. But the defeats are not Spotlights.
Basically, the Gatewatch switches into "Empire Strikes Back" part of the story.
Nobody is killed, even Gideon. Despite overwhelming hints, the people who say his story should eventually close on Theros, are right. Samut's ascension might have something to do with it. As compared to mercilessly effective, no-nonsense Bolas presented in the flashback, NB is again pompous and likes to trashtalk the defeated GW members. Might be that Samut somehow intervenes, and Bolas will go "screw it, I got what I wanted, and leaving you alive is maybe better punishment than killing you"...
Nissa's epithet "Genesis Mage" and the various naga-related rebuilding flavortexts make me think she is gonna stay here for some time, helping to rebuild new vestiges of civilization. She might be also able to reweave the killed gods back into existence.
Jace, mind-wrecked by Bolas, planeswalks uncontrollably and blindly and ends up on Ixalan, probably at least partially amnesiac.
Chandra, Liliana and Gideon...well, Lili's gonna have hard time, because without her, they would probably not be so ardent to go to Amonkhet and face Bolas. I guess both Chandra and Liliana will like to find and help Jace, and the logical choice will be to go to the world Ajani suggested - Dominaria. Lili's homeplane, btw. So they probably would like to have her as guide. Gideon, if alive, will join.
Ajani rescues Jace in Rivals of Ixalan (his art was on "Conquest of Power" boosters, no reasons to believe he will not be there.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)