By the beard of Keranos you people are insatiable.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
Seriously. This story was excellent. All the heartache of the people(except that first chick. She cray). They were fighting loved ones, friends, brothers in arms, heroes. The heartbreak was palpable.
Agreed. What a bunch of inconsistent and contradictory whining.
Loved it, excellent storytelling. I really wish Amonkhet didn't have this fate. Between the gods, djeru, samut, hapatra, and the general populace of Naktamun; haven't had this many interesting plane-natives for me since Ravnica. The peoples' fighting spirit is so beautiful and sad to watch. **** all the market research saying we want more destruction and Nicol Bolas. Been bored of him since the first previews of his slimy ass mark on this world. Can't wait til he gets fridged.
By the beard of Keranos you people are insatiable.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
Seriously. This story was excellent. All the heartache of the people(except that first chick. She cray). They were fighting loved ones, friends, brothers in arms, heroes. The heartbreak was palpable.
No.
Last I checked, everyone was praising Hapatra's story.
The last time we got a story like this, it was Shadows over Innistrad. And everyone loved it. Feel free to find my post praising Emrakul Eises. Which was written by Kimberly Krienes no less - who we all bemoaned in BFZ.
In Emrkaul Rises we checked in on the utter devastation Emrakul was wreaking over Innistrad. Hal and Elena and Elder Kolman attacking them, Gisela and Bruna, the cultist Edith, Emrkaul herself, etc. We saw the despair and havoc everywhere.
Then we saw Jace and Tamiyo's reactions to Emrakul's arrival, and we saw Jace depart to retrieve the remaining Gatewatch, with Tamiyo remaining behind. The plot advanced, and we saw examples of Innistrad's state from local Legends.
This story was uninspired interlude filler with nobody characters. It broke from the momentum of delivering solid stories week after week. Remove today's article and literally nothing is lost from the overall arc. That's a sign of how relevant it was.
You mean no advancement besides the whole army of Eternals showing up alongside the Scarab God? This story was one of the big five hours. Just because it doesn't directly involve the protagonists doesn't mean it's irrelevant to the plot.
By the beard of Keranos you people are insatiable.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
Seriously. This story was excellent. All the heartache of the people(except that first chick. She cray). They were fighting loved ones, friends, brothers in arms, heroes. The heartbreak was palpable.
No.
Last I checked, everyone was praising Hapatra's story.
The last time we got a story like this, it was Shadows over Innistrad. And everyone loved it. Feel free to find my post praising Emrakul Eises. Which was written by Kimberly Krienes no less - who we all bemoaned in BFZ.
In Emrkaul Rises we checked in on the utter devastation Emrakul was wreaking over Innistrad. Hal and Elena and Elder Kolman attacking them, Gisela and Bruna, the cultist Edith, Emrkaul herself, etc. We saw the despair and havoc everywhere.
Then we saw Jace and Tamiyo's reactions to Emrakul's arrival, and we saw Jace depart to retrieve the remaining Gatewatch, with Tamiyo remaining behind. The plot advanced, and we saw examples of Innistrad's state from local Legends.
This story was uninspired interlude filler with nobody characters. It broke from the momentum of delivering solid stories week after week. Remove today's article and literally nothing is lost from the overall arc. That's a sign of how relevant it was.
The Gitrog Monster story and a few similar ones from SOI and EMN were also pretty well received if memory serves right... and they had just as much to do with the main story as this one did. At least in this one, the eternals and the scarab god finally appear. So no, actually there would have been something lost if we'd just jumped to the next one. Also both the Hapatra story and the other stories from the last weeks focussed very much on either legendaries or the gods and didn't give us much insight into the reaction of the common Amonkhetu. And while I liked the story, I was starting to wonder about them. In such an indoctrinated society, I would expect a variety of reactions to this disaster and I wanted to know more about it. Now, with this story I got it. And it was every bit of tragic as the death of the gods and the like. I actually found this story emotionally heart-wrenching. These small views into the demise and lost hopes of random Amonkhetu also served as world-building: Like the fact that lovers aren't allowed to stay together and that parents might meet their children, but they are expected to stay away from them. All this drives home how devastating all of this is, not only rationally but also emotionally: Their whole society has sacrificed everything, from having families to being lovers for one singular goal which promised them the things they lost this way in an eternal afterlife... and now there is no afterlife, their sacrifices were for absolutely nothing, their city is destroyed, the gods are dead and the god-pharaoh doesn't even see them as worthy of his attention anymore. They have literally lost everything. No wonder some of them have been driven into insanity.
In short: This story might not have advanced the plot much, but it made me really care for not only the gods or legends like Hapatra or Samut, but also the normal people of Amonkhet. BFZ wasn't able to make me care for more than the planeswalkers or certain individual characters, SOI was better in that regard, but the Innistradi were still more or less there to become Eldrazi mutants or to be killed by Angels. Here I really care for the inhabitants of the whole plane. I liked it.
A lot of people are making a great point. If you take out the fact that we knew what was going to happen thanks to the cards and the artbook, the existence of the Eternals would actually be a huge shock. If you were to read the stories, and pay no attention to the actual cards being spoiled, this is the point where you'd learn just what the previous champions have turned into.
By the beard of Keranos you people are insatiable.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
Seriously. This story was excellent. All the heartache of the people(except that first chick. She cray). They were fighting loved ones, friends, brothers in arms, heroes. The heartbreak was palpable.
No.
Last I checked, everyone was praising Hapatra's story.
The last time we got a story like this, it was Shadows over Innistrad. And everyone loved it. Feel free to find my post praising Emrakul Eises. Which was written by Kimberly Krienes no less - who we all bemoaned in BFZ.
In Emrkaul Rises we checked in on the utter devastation Emrakul was wreaking over Innistrad. Hal and Elena and Elder Kolman attacking them, Gisela and Bruna, the cultist Edith, Emrkaul herself, etc. We saw the despair and havoc everywhere.
Then we saw Jace and Tamiyo's reactions to Emrakul's arrival, and we saw Jace depart to retrieve the remaining Gatewatch, with Tamiyo remaining behind. The plot advanced, and we saw examples of Innistrad's state from local Legends.
This story was uninspired interlude filler with nobody characters. It broke from the momentum of delivering solid stories week after week. Remove today's article and literally nothing is lost from the overall arc. That's a sign of how relevant it was.
The Gitrog Monster story and a few similar ones from SOI and EMN were also pretty well received if memory serves right... and they had just as much to do with the main story as this one did. At least in this one, the eternals and the scarab god finally appear. So no, actually there would have been something lost if we'd just jumped to the next one. Also both the Hapatra story and the other stories from the last weeks focussed very much on either legendaries or the gods and didn't give us much insight into the reaction of the common Amonkhetu. And while I liked the story, I was starting to wonder about them. In such an indoctrinated society, I would expect a variety of reactions to this disaster and I wanted to know more about it. Now, with this story I got it. And it was every bit of tragic as the death of the gods and the like. I actually found this story emotionally heart-wrenching. These small views into the demise and lost hopes of random Amonkhetu also served as world-building: Like the fact that lovers aren't allowed to stay together and that parents might meet their children, but they are expected to stay away from them. All this drives home how devastating all of this is, not only rationally but also emotionally: Their whole society has sacrificed everything, from having families to being lovers for one singular goal which promised them the things they lost this way in an eternal afterlife... and now there is no afterlife, their sacrifices were for absolutely nothing, their city is destroyed, the gods are dead and the god-pharaoh doesn't even see them as worthy of his attention anymore. They have literally lost everything. No wonder some of them have been driven into insanity.
In short: This story might not have advanced the plot much, but it made me really care for not only the gods or legends like Hapatra or Samut, but also the normal people of Amonkhet. BFZ wasn't able to make me care for more than the planeswalkers or certain individual characters, SOI was better in that regard, but the Innistradi were still more or less there to become Eldrazi mutants or to be killed by Angels. Here I really care for the inhabitants of the whole plane. I liked it.
You make an excellent point here.
One of the biggest horrors of the Eternals is that, at the end of the day this is what it turns out you had spent your entire life preparing and striving to become. This is the glorious afterlife you were promised.
It's going to be especially jarring for poor Djeru, who was literally a milisecond away from this fate himself.
Yep. The eternals are super relevant to the story. If by now someone can't recognize that some (most?) major plot advancements in the story articles will be known before they happen (due to the nature of preview season), then that's your own fault. Calling the unleashing of the eternals and the reaction of the actual denizens of the plane irrelevant is quite simply a mistake. It's always important to know how the actual world is experiencing the story that the main players are interwoven in. By the way, they're also the entire reason Nicol Bolas set this whole thing up, remember?
I do wonder who the woman was at the end, though. It seemed odd that it was kept vague.
Yep. The eternals are super relevant to the story. If by now someone can't recognize that some (most?) major plot advancements in the story articles will be known before they happen (due to the nature of preview season), then that's your own fault. Calling the unleashing of the eternals and the reaction of the actual denizens of the plane irrelevant is quite simply a mistake. It's always important to know how the actual world is experiencing the story that the main players are interwoven in. By the way, they're also the entire reason Nicol Bolas set this whole thing up, remember?
I do wonder who the woman was at the end, though. It seemed odd that it was kept vague.
I'm guessing it will be Chandra, Nissa, or Samut, and the next story will start from their point of view. Could be wrong though, it's just a hunch.
By the beard of Keranos you people are insatiable.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
It's almost like a bunch of people aren't a monolithic group. If you were to actually divide the comments across the people who made them you would realize that most people are rather consistent with their wishes and complaints.
I really liked today's story, it was quite sad at parts but i think it was important to have a story from the pov of average Amonkhetu. Not everyone can be a pw or a god and the hours are happening to them too.
Interesting things we learned:
-love and parent/child relations were forbidden.
-eternals can speak (the naga's whispered mind control commands) we knew they retained their previous skill and power but speech and maybe even personality is interesting.
-eternals can be destroyed..but the only one we saw killed was done in by a god weapon. If you aren't a divinity you may have a rough time w/ these guys.
Private Mod Note
():
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"
ITT: If you're not a planeswalker or a legendary, you're nobody and should just die behind the scenes or in a brief 5-second scene like the nobody you are. Unless there's a planeswalker or a legend sharing space in the story; then you can have more screen-time. Also, story is irrelevant even though this is the story that actually introduces the Eternals.
Also ITT: This story helped flesh out the ordinary people and their reactions to this whole fiasco, which is part of what world-building is about.
I don't know, I'm kind of sick of these stories. Everyone is always pissing and moaning about the Gatewatch and all, but this plotline has just been getting darker and darker. Starting with Rhonas' brutal and "shocking" death, stuff like Kefnets' followers listening for profundity in Kefnet's last moments and only hearing confused death gurgling (or something), and now ending with this piece. Maybe the last bit of this piece just really affected me because it made me think of my own kids (pretty sure the child is dead, too, and the "savior" was about to say that but decided not to spare Amenakhte). It wasn't bad by any means, and I guess it gets some of the points across like Mister M mentioned, but I was also a little disappointed that it was light on plot progression. I don't know, I'll keep tuning in every week to follow the story, but I really hope this satiates the bloodlust of some of those clamoring for death to everyone and the Gatewatch and we can move on with something less dark.
Maybe I'm just at the stage in my life where I need a little less brutality in my escapism which hasn't traditionally had that much overt brutality in it. If I wanted stuff like this I'd go partake in something billed as such. I understand that I can always just not read it, and there are people that enjoy this kind of wanton destruction, but if people are allowed to voice their utter contempt for the Gatewatch I can voice my dislike for what they are doing here.
Totally agree with you. Sick to death of the destruction porn, and especially since I've had kids, I've gotten more turned off by random people getting slaughtered -- ESPECIALLY kids themselves. I was also really bothered by Bolas's eradication of all of the adults on Amonkhet thereby leaving behind a bunch of kids to be raised by mummies. After this, I'm not going to be satisfied with Magic's storyline until Bolas gets the proper p****r-slapping he deserves.
I really liked today's story, it was quite sad at parts but i think it was important to have a story from the pov of average Amonkhetu. Not everyone can be a pw or a god and the hours are happening to them too.
Interesting things we learned:
-love and parent/child relations were forbidden.
-eternals can speak (the naga's whispered mind control commands) we knew they retained their previous skill and power but speech and maybe even personality is interesting.
-eternals can be destroyed..but the only one we saw killed was done in by a god weapon. If you aren't a divinity you may have a rough time w/ these guys.
In teh game, Eternals are basically 4/4s that kept their abilities. Flavorwise, 4/4 humanoids are pretty dang powerful. (Even the two living characters that were easily worthy enough to be Eternalized are weaker- Samut is 3/4, Djeru is 4/3). So yeah, Joe Amonkheti isn't going to really stand a chance.
I'm gonna be blatantly honest here: I was excited for Hour of Devastation because I wanted to see the Gatewatch take an L. In the end, I'm going to get what I wanted. I believe I've been consistent with that thought since they beat all the Eldrazis a year ago.
I'll admit that I was wrong in saying that this story didn't accomplish much in the overall plot. It introduced the Eternals. The writers wanted to make them look strong by attacking the general public and in turn, make us understand what kind of hell the people are going through now. I just felt like they could have chosen a better opponent for the eternals. Where were the Gatewatch when all of this was happening? You'd think they would be the first to intercept the eternals. Did the Scarab not use the front door like the other Bugs when the gate opened to reveal all that desert? Were the writers afraid that it would make the eternals seem like a non-threat if they rumbled against planeswalkers? It's a bit contradictory but I felt like this story could have been more palatable if Gatewatch were there fervently defending these people and failing occasionally like they did in Zendikar. The eternals would still retain their threat status without all this snuff. That said, maybe the Gatewatch are fighting the eternals somewhere else. I just really hope that they aren't sitting on their asses and gesturing like Strategic Planning would suggest.
The writers did give us less Gatewatch and more stories about the people on the plane. The Hapatra, Samut, and Gods stories were all amazing and the people here enjoyed them. This story left a bad taste in my mouth which I guess was the point. In that case, the story is well-made. It made me feel awful about what's happening to the people of Amonkhet. I mean, I already did before but now it left a lasting impression on the rest of my day. When people wanted "the deaths to matter," I'm gonna hazard a guess and say that they expected Zendikar to go because, at the time, the Eldrazi were huge threats. They more or less pulled the same stuff they did here but with eternals instead of eldrazi. As far as this supposed "desire for death" thought that's been going around, I think there's too many damn (human) planeswalkers and Creative could write off one every two years or something but that's neither here nor there.
Creative didn't need to get rid of the Gatewatch completely, just use them better and not as often. Quality over quantity. I'd say they've done well in that regard recently. As far as wanting the Gatewatch to die, I'm not that far into hating them just yet (well, maybe I want Liliana to die). After most of the gods bit it, I'm kinda warming up to Nissa and her leyline memes. Maybe she can revive them down the line (I just really miss Oketra ).
I feel saying "the eternals aren't that impressive, they can get killed by a god-weapon" is like saying "that jiu jitsu master isn't that impressive, he can get killed by a nuke." Gods, and by extension their weaponry, are OP by definition, anything too powerful to be taken down by a god weapon (Bolas, the scorpion god) should be viewed as a whole different level of badass all on its own. Now if we see Gideon mowing through eternals the same way he plowed through Ulamog spawn then they will gain cannon-fodder status but until then I think that, in a city full of peak combatants, the fact that the only eternal we see brought down needed a godweapon to be killed is a very telling sign of their power and threat level.
Private Mod Note
():
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"
I feel saying "the eternals aren't that impressive, they can get killed by a god-weapon" is like saying "that jiu jitsu master isn't that impressive, he can get killed by a nuke." Gods, and by extension their weaponry, are OP by definition, anything too powerful to be taken down by a god weapon (Bolas, the scorpion god) should be viewed as a whole different level of badass all on its own. Now if we see Gideon mowing through eternals the same way he plowed through Ulamog spawn then they will gain cannon-fodder status but until then I think that, in a city full of peak combatants, the fact that the only eternal we see brought down needed a godweapon to be killed is a very telling sign of their power and threat level.
As far as assesing threat level goes:
These are combatants with a lifetime of dedication to training for combat prowess. Other combatants can reach the same level (but obviously they will be few and far between).
The advantage their eternalhood gives them is that they don't grow tired so they can fight at peak level indefinitly. This means that a non-eternal combatant of the same level of training needs to have some magic aid, as they will eventually be defeated when worn down.
We don't know what benefits the Lazotep armor has combatwise, though it's probably effectively full plate armor without the encumbrance that normally goes with it.
Since it's the Lazotep that makes them retain their skills post mortem, it stands to reason to think that if the Lazotep is damaged enough, the eternal will be destroyed as well.
In conclusion, I don't think you need to be of a divine power level to defeat them, but a human(oid) or anything weaker will need the assistance of magic to be able to overcome one. A Giant is probably able to defeat one, though I can easily see a group of a few eternals overcoming a Giant whem working together.
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The secret to enjoyable Commander games is not winning first, but losing last.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Now if we see Gideon mowing through eternals the same way he plowed through Ulamog spawn then they will gain cannon-fodder status but until then I think that, in a city full of peak combatants, the fact that the only eternal we see brought down needed a godweapon to be killed is a very telling sign of their power and threat level.
Gids is a 4/4,5/5,6/6 Indestructable to be fair. One on one he'd be fine mechanically - he'd probably get tired and PW away eventually.
Not to be THAT guy, but I can see and agree with both sides of the argument to some degree when it comes to the latest story.
I liked it. I really did... but at the same time when I got to the end, I was like "...that's it?".
I feel like they could have removed any of those one points of views for more continuation. The Bolas moment was on point.
I completely understand why people would dislike it though. The big hype of the Bolas fight or finding out what the purpose of the eternals are has been hanging over our head for a while now.
Now being the sick person in the group, was anyone else more sad to see that one eternal die? Like Bolas only has so many of them. For them to start dropping right out of the gate... man. I donno I've always been stingy about my resources.
The one thing that did irk me about the story... which granted is another nit pick.... how sentient are these eternals?
They of course know their attacks and skills from their previous lives. They can cast spells through whispering incantations... so they can speak on some level.
I wonder if we'll see them talk at all. I don't expect full blown personalities and more of a hive mind thing, but it's clear they can do more then moan. Now I'm thinking about this
By the beard of Keranos you people are insatiable.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
Seriously. This story was excellent. All the heartache of the people(except that first chick. She cray). They were fighting loved ones, friends, brothers in arms, heroes. The heartbreak was palpable.
My favorite part of these little one-off stories was that it told the tales behind some of the minor cards. It was really cool seeing Oketra's Avenger get indestructible - and then lose it. I was sorting my prerelease cards last night and paused on Oketra's Avenger. The card doesn't give you much clue about the grim situation surrounding that woman, but thanks to this week's story, I doubt I'll ever be able to forget it. Same goes for the other cards featured in these stories. Pretty sure it will be a while before I forget what happened after the images shown on those cards.
Agree regarding the Eternals being a major threat and how falling victim to god weapons of all things is hardly a shame, but reasonable and expected.
Gideon - I don't know though. This is the guy who whipped surral back and forth to hold off Ulamog the Infinite Gyre. Because you know, Annihilator be a pushover for Planeswalkers. How is Bolas the one to pierce his indestructibility and not Ulamog? Oh well, at least someone did. This will make some interesting story potential on Theros, where Gideon can begin to ponder just what he is. Not a god, as Hazoret both pointed out and demonstrated, and not quite a mortal, as his experiences with many encounters have shown. I suspect demigod as the son of the Sun, Heliod. Can't wait for that arc to be explored! And Gideon still thinks Kiora defeated Thassa :\ Some fishy propaganda right there.
It would be sick if Gideon returns to Theros, hears of Elspeth and overthrows his father the way Zeus did and Chronos did before him. A common trope in Greek mythology.
Gideon - I don't know though. This is the guy who whipped surral back and forth to hold off Ulamog the Infinite Gyre. Because you know, Annihilator be a pushover for Planeswalkers. How is Bolas the one to pierce his indestructibility and not Ulamog?
Ulamog was never shown trying to hurt Gideon, yes the whole "Gideon tanks Ulamog" is bull, but when a Titan focused on Gideon his protection was worthless(In Tazri's future). It is nice that we will get to see something other than his own exhaustion can get through his invulnerability.
Gideon - I don't know though. This is the guy who whipped surral back and forth to hold off Ulamog the Infinite Gyre. Because you know, Annihilator be a pushover for Planeswalkers. How is Bolas the one to pierce his indestructibility and not Ulamog?
Ulamog was never shown trying to hurt Gideon, yes the whole "Gideon tanks Ulamog" is bull, but when a Titan focused on Gideon his protection was worthless(In Tazri's future). It is nice that we will get to see something other than his own exhaustion can get through his invulnerability.
I just want to add once again that not only does Ulamog not concentrate on Gideon (who barely "tanked" one single tentacle) but that the planeswalker spark (which gives a certain amount of protection from the influence of the Eldrazi), not his indestructibility saved him, otherwise he would have turned to dust by the mere touch of Ulamog. His indestructibility just let him hold of that tentacle a little longer. Kozilek most likely found a way around it easily by warping space and physics in Tazris bad future.
Also Bolas is a powerful sorcerer while Ulamog is much more akin to a natural desaster. Of course he knows a way to deal with indestructibility. Most likely he already fought someone with similar abilities. He is after all the oldest living character we know of.
"We hate the Gatewatch. We want fewer planeswalkers, more stories about the people of the plane."
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"No we still want it to be plot relevant!"
"We want the deaths to matter. Make us feel damnit!"
WotC: "K. Here ya go."
"Noooo! That's just grimdark for grimdarks sake!"
WotC: *exasperated sigh*
Seriously. This story was excellent. All the heartache of the people(except that first chick. She cray). They were fighting loved ones, friends, brothers in arms, heroes. The heartbreak was palpable.
Loved it, excellent storytelling. I really wish Amonkhet didn't have this fate. Between the gods, djeru, samut, hapatra, and the general populace of Naktamun; haven't had this many interesting plane-natives for me since Ravnica. The peoples' fighting spirit is so beautiful and sad to watch. **** all the market research saying we want more destruction and Nicol Bolas. Been bored of him since the first previews of his slimy ass mark on this world. Can't wait til he gets fridged.
Last I checked, everyone was praising Hapatra's story.
The last time we got a story like this, it was Shadows over Innistrad. And everyone loved it. Feel free to find my post praising Emrakul Eises. Which was written by Kimberly Krienes no less - who we all bemoaned in BFZ.
In Emrkaul Rises we checked in on the utter devastation Emrakul was wreaking over Innistrad. Hal and Elena and Elder Kolman attacking them, Gisela and Bruna, the cultist Edith, Emrkaul herself, etc. We saw the despair and havoc everywhere.
Then we saw Jace and Tamiyo's reactions to Emrakul's arrival, and we saw Jace depart to retrieve the remaining Gatewatch, with Tamiyo remaining behind. The plot advanced, and we saw examples of Innistrad's state from local Legends.
This story was uninspired interlude filler with nobody characters. It broke from the momentum of delivering solid stories week after week. Remove today's article and literally nothing is lost from the overall arc. That's a sign of how relevant it was.
|| 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 ||
The Gitrog Monster story and a few similar ones from SOI and EMN were also pretty well received if memory serves right... and they had just as much to do with the main story as this one did. At least in this one, the eternals and the scarab god finally appear. So no, actually there would have been something lost if we'd just jumped to the next one. Also both the Hapatra story and the other stories from the last weeks focussed very much on either legendaries or the gods and didn't give us much insight into the reaction of the common Amonkhetu. And while I liked the story, I was starting to wonder about them. In such an indoctrinated society, I would expect a variety of reactions to this disaster and I wanted to know more about it. Now, with this story I got it. And it was every bit of tragic as the death of the gods and the like. I actually found this story emotionally heart-wrenching. These small views into the demise and lost hopes of random Amonkhetu also served as world-building: Like the fact that lovers aren't allowed to stay together and that parents might meet their children, but they are expected to stay away from them. All this drives home how devastating all of this is, not only rationally but also emotionally: Their whole society has sacrificed everything, from having families to being lovers for one singular goal which promised them the things they lost this way in an eternal afterlife... and now there is no afterlife, their sacrifices were for absolutely nothing, their city is destroyed, the gods are dead and the god-pharaoh doesn't even see them as worthy of his attention anymore. They have literally lost everything. No wonder some of them have been driven into insanity.
In short: This story might not have advanced the plot much, but it made me really care for not only the gods or legends like Hapatra or Samut, but also the normal people of Amonkhet. BFZ wasn't able to make me care for more than the planeswalkers or certain individual characters, SOI was better in that regard, but the Innistradi were still more or less there to become Eldrazi mutants or to be killed by Angels. Here I really care for the inhabitants of the whole plane. I liked it.
That alone makes this relevant.
You make an excellent point here.
One of the biggest horrors of the Eternals is that, at the end of the day this is what it turns out you had spent your entire life preparing and striving to become. This is the glorious afterlife you were promised.
It's going to be especially jarring for poor Djeru, who was literally a milisecond away from this fate himself.
I do wonder who the woman was at the end, though. It seemed odd that it was kept vague.
I'm guessing it will be Chandra, Nissa, or Samut, and the next story will start from their point of view. Could be wrong though, it's just a hunch.
It's almost like a bunch of people aren't a monolithic group. If you were to actually divide the comments across the people who made them you would realize that most people are rather consistent with their wishes and complaints.
Not knowing much about a person is a reason not to care about whether or not they die and/or suffer? That's a sad notion.
A thinly veiled ad hominem towards those who don't share your opinion? Classy!
Interesting things we learned:
-love and parent/child relations were forbidden.
-eternals can speak (the naga's whispered mind control commands) we knew they retained their previous skill and power but speech and maybe even personality is interesting.
-eternals can be destroyed..but the only one we saw killed was done in by a god weapon. If you aren't a divinity you may have a rough time w/ these guys.
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"
Also ITT: This story helped flesh out the ordinary people and their reactions to this whole fiasco, which is part of what world-building is about.
Totally agree with you. Sick to death of the destruction porn, and especially since I've had kids, I've gotten more turned off by random people getting slaughtered -- ESPECIALLY kids themselves. I was also really bothered by Bolas's eradication of all of the adults on Amonkhet thereby leaving behind a bunch of kids to be raised by mummies. After this, I'm not going to be satisfied with Magic's storyline until Bolas gets the proper p****r-slapping he deserves.
In teh game, Eternals are basically 4/4s that kept their abilities. Flavorwise, 4/4 humanoids are pretty dang powerful. (Even the two living characters that were easily worthy enough to be Eternalized are weaker- Samut is 3/4, Djeru is 4/3). So yeah, Joe Amonkheti isn't going to really stand a chance.
I'll admit that I was wrong in saying that this story didn't accomplish much in the overall plot. It introduced the Eternals. The writers wanted to make them look strong by attacking the general public and in turn, make us understand what kind of hell the people are going through now. I just felt like they could have chosen a better opponent for the eternals. Where were the Gatewatch when all of this was happening? You'd think they would be the first to intercept the eternals. Did the Scarab not use the front door like the other Bugs when the gate opened to reveal all that desert? Were the writers afraid that it would make the eternals seem like a non-threat if they rumbled against planeswalkers? It's a bit contradictory but I felt like this story could have been more palatable if Gatewatch were there fervently defending these people and failing occasionally like they did in Zendikar. The eternals would still retain their threat status without all this snuff. That said, maybe the Gatewatch are fighting the eternals somewhere else. I just really hope that they aren't sitting on their asses and gesturing like Strategic Planning would suggest.
The writers did give us less Gatewatch and more stories about the people on the plane. The Hapatra, Samut, and Gods stories were all amazing and the people here enjoyed them. This story left a bad taste in my mouth which I guess was the point. In that case, the story is well-made. It made me feel awful about what's happening to the people of Amonkhet. I mean, I already did before but now it left a lasting impression on the rest of my day. When people wanted "the deaths to matter," I'm gonna hazard a guess and say that they expected Zendikar to go because, at the time, the Eldrazi were huge threats. They more or less pulled the same stuff they did here but with eternals instead of eldrazi. As far as this supposed "desire for death" thought that's been going around, I think there's too many damn (human) planeswalkers and Creative could write off one every two years or something but that's neither here nor there.
Creative didn't need to get rid of the Gatewatch completely, just use them better and not as often. Quality over quantity. I'd say they've done well in that regard recently. As far as wanting the Gatewatch to die, I'm not that far into hating them just yet (well, maybe I want Liliana to die). After most of the gods bit it, I'm kinda warming up to Nissa and her leyline memes. Maybe she can revive them down the line (I just really miss Oketra ).
"Kiora is the Aquaman of planeswalkers."
"Useless and everyone pretends to like her?"
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"
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Gids is a 4/4,5/5,6/6 Indestructable to be fair. One on one he'd be fine mechanically - he'd probably get tired and PW away eventually.
Modern:R 8Whack R|W White Knights W
I liked it. I really did... but at the same time when I got to the end, I was like "...that's it?".
I feel like they could have removed any of those one points of views for more continuation. The Bolas moment was on point.
I completely understand why people would dislike it though. The big hype of the Bolas fight or finding out what the purpose of the eternals are has been hanging over our head for a while now.
Now being the sick person in the group, was anyone else more sad to see that one eternal die? Like Bolas only has so many of them. For them to start dropping right out of the gate... man. I donno I've always been stingy about my resources.
The one thing that did irk me about the story... which granted is another nit pick.... how sentient are these eternals?
They of course know their attacks and skills from their previous lives. They can cast spells through whispering incantations... so they can speak on some level.
I wonder if we'll see them talk at all. I don't expect full blown personalities and more of a hive mind thing, but it's clear they can do more then moan. Now I'm thinking about this
My favorite part of these little one-off stories was that it told the tales behind some of the minor cards. It was really cool seeing Oketra's Avenger get indestructible - and then lose it. I was sorting my prerelease cards last night and paused on Oketra's Avenger. The card doesn't give you much clue about the grim situation surrounding that woman, but thanks to this week's story, I doubt I'll ever be able to forget it. Same goes for the other cards featured in these stories. Pretty sure it will be a while before I forget what happened after the images shown on those cards.
Gideon - I don't know though. This is the guy who whipped surral back and forth to hold off Ulamog the Infinite Gyre. Because you know, Annihilator be a pushover for Planeswalkers. How is Bolas the one to pierce his indestructibility and not Ulamog? Oh well, at least someone did. This will make some interesting story potential on Theros, where Gideon can begin to ponder just what he is. Not a god, as Hazoret both pointed out and demonstrated, and not quite a mortal, as his experiences with many encounters have shown. I suspect demigod as the son of the Sun, Heliod. Can't wait for that arc to be explored! And Gideon still thinks Kiora defeated Thassa :\ Some fishy propaganda right there.
It would be sick if Gideon returns to Theros, hears of Elspeth and overthrows his father the way Zeus did and Chronos did before him. A common trope in Greek mythology.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I just want to add once again that not only does Ulamog not concentrate on Gideon (who barely "tanked" one single tentacle) but that the planeswalker spark (which gives a certain amount of protection from the influence of the Eldrazi), not his indestructibility saved him, otherwise he would have turned to dust by the mere touch of Ulamog. His indestructibility just let him hold of that tentacle a little longer. Kozilek most likely found a way around it easily by warping space and physics in Tazris bad future.
Also Bolas is a powerful sorcerer while Ulamog is much more akin to a natural desaster. Of course he knows a way to deal with indestructibility. Most likely he already fought someone with similar abilities. He is after all the oldest living character we know of.
-Take a drink every time someone uses "that time Gideon didn't die against Ulamog" as evidence towards something completely unrelated.