Eh if Jace getting his memories back in the dumbest way possible is the worst thing we can say, this will be the greatest block story line they have had since Origins by a mile and a half.
I don't really get your hatred of Amonkhet's story, to be honest, as I actually did like that storyline.
I think Ixalan is done relatively well though, so we can agree on that much.
Jace getting some memories back does not neccesarily have to mean he gets everything back. Vraska has been telling him about Ravnica AND it was his adopted home so it makes sense those memories come back first. Selective memory recurrence seems like to good a story tool to waste.
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Jace getting some memories back does not neccesarily have to mean he gets everything back. Vraska has been telling him about Ravnica AND it was his adopted home so it makes sense those memories come back first. Selective memory recurrence seems like to good a story tool to waste.
The reason why Vryn is brought up again is that he did see Alhammaret in his mind a few stories back, which could have been foreshadowing. So the possibility that he gets everything coming back to him is there, though it might not be all at once.
It doesn't really seem like Bolas to create a lock that he doesn't have the key to. As for the importance, thats not really what its about. More so just expedience. At the end of HOD he told Tezz to get Ral to speed things along with whatever it is he is working on. So if Bolas is behind the sun to begin with he would presumably know where Orazca is too. So he could just walk in right there rather than sending someone else. And mind that he couldn't just tell Vraska how to get there he had to gove her a compass. A broken one at that. I think it points to Ugin, maybe as a prototype for Eldrazi imprisonment or trying to make a problematic Planeswalkers prison, or a third, yet unknown party.
My angle was that he created the lock before the Mending, and the Mending didn't give him enough time to go unlock all the locks he made before he lost the required power to unlock them. Ixalan/The Immortal Sun was one of the things he didn't prioritize as much and from what little we've seen of Bolas for this plot so far, it doesn't seem mighty important to him now either. I won't be surprised if the entire thing was just a test run for Tezz's Planar Bridge to see if it can transport objects of power across planes (before he actually starts transporting Eternals coated with similar materials over... although why he didn't bother testing with some of the Eternals would be a quite the oversight...)
It would be a laugh if The Immortal Sun is just a powerful mana rock (for the test runs above) and Jace/Vraska were right about Lord Nicolas being a rock collector (and preparing for the most epic EDH game ever...)
I'll be honest, I feel like the entire Ixalan plot is just a "set-up for the long run planeswalker development-wise", with Jace losing then regaining his memories and potentially introducing other planeswalkers who might have direct issues (Huatli, Angrath) with Jace/the Gatewatch in the future who are not Bolas or Bolas-related (so no Tezz). Ob-Nixilis was the closest, but BFZ pretty much established his priority was still escape and he had more issues with the oldwalkers, Dovin might be second, but honestly I'm not sure where he stands now (might have even opted to be neutral, his nature was quite bland and partially awkward honestly). Arlinn, Saheeli and Samut are neutral for most part.
To be fair, Ixalan is the first true isolated plane we had for a long time (Zendikar and Innistrad were returning planes and feature Eldrazi which linked them to the main cast by default, Kaladesh had Chandra's past linked to it and while Amonkhet doesn't, the very "inverse" impact of Bolas being directly involved gives much more at stake from the beginning then the typical "It's a Bolas Scheme but he's not bothered to come down here himself" we had for some stories).
Jace getting some memories back does not neccesarily have to mean he gets everything back. Vraska has been telling him about Ravnica AND it was his adopted home so it makes sense those memories come back first. Selective memory recurrence seems like to good a story tool to waste.
The reason why Vryn is brought up again is that he did see Alhammaret in his mind a few stories back, which could have been foreshadowing. So the possibility that he gets everything coming back to him is there, though it might not be all at once.
Him remembering his childhood would leave a link open to a Vryn set or two.
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Eh if Jace getting his memories back in the dumbest way possible is the worst thing we can say, this will be the greatest block story line they have had since Origins by a mile and a half.
I don't really get your hatred of Amonkhet's story, to be honest, as I actually did like that storyline.
I think Ixalan is done relatively well though, so we can agree on that much.
Mostly because it was a largely pointless waste of potential and time because Bolas could have showed up five seconds after they showed up and largely the same amount of relevant plot would have happened.
Jace getting some memories back does not neccesarily have to mean he gets everything back. Vraska has been telling him about Ravnica AND it was his adopted home so it makes sense those memories come back first. Selective memory recurrence seems like to good a story tool to waste.
However, him remembering Vyrnn is also too good of a plot line to leave unexplored.
I won't try to predict Bolas's plans because frankly, we tried that with the Eldrazi and got a huge disappointment out of it all.
I will say that I found it interesting when Jace admitted he thinks the Immortal Sun doesn't belong on Ixalan, after many of us were wondering whether or not it was even from Ixalan as a plane, and if it could be the Mirari. With the alluring way it's being pursued, and the havoc we know the Mirari wreaked before, it's starting to sound convincing again. I'm mostly interested in what the Immoral Sun is, and what Orazca itself will mean. I feel like beyond the Immortal Sun, the city itself is its own seat of power too. Controlling Orazca is mentioned at times, not just owning the Sun.
I think we're long overdue to a visit to Vryn. I'd love it to be the set after Dominaria. The foreshadowing with Jace's memories earlier suggests it. Bolas may have undone a lot in Jace's mind, include mental blocks and erasures that, for a being like Bolas, were not as permanent as Jace might have liked. Even Tamiyo had sensed how Jace has erased many things.
Honestly I think Vryn works better as a side plane to be mentioned rather than somewhere to be focused on. It's all built around one gimmick, the Mage Rings, and the world outside that seems pretty generic. Not sure it could support a whole set.
Honestly I think Vryn works better as a side plane to be mentioned rather than somewhere to be focused on. It's all built around one gimmick, the Mage Rings, and the world outside that seems pretty generic. Not sure it could support a whole set.
That would be assuming the Mage-Rings are all Vryn has. (IIRC) We had no idea that Kaladesh had gremlins and aetherborn in Origins, but there we were. Also speaking mechanically, if Vryn's one plane card is anything to go by, Vryn would be an instant-and-sorcery focused world, which is a pretty broad theme.
Just like how aether-tech was the main focus of Kaladesh, the mage-rings would definitely be the main focus of Vryn, but that doesn't mean the plane would have nothing else to offer. Also, the mage-rings themselves are pretty old with blue-collar workers who have nothing more to look forward to keeping the spice mana flowing for an elite that doesn't give a **** about them. Many of the rings look like they could collapse at any moment, and on top of that, we have two continent-wide warring factions that could topple the entire infrastructure whenever they feel they can't win, and the only thing preventing this are a group of corrupt officials who keep the war going to sustain themselves. Jace's homeplane is depressing.
Honestly I think Vryn works better as a side plane to be mentioned rather than somewhere to be focused on. It's all built around one gimmick, the Mage Rings, and the world outside that seems pretty generic. Not sure it could support a whole set.
You could say Kaladesh was the same. Creative and design hasn't even figured out the energy mechanic/ aether swirls (basically the hedrons of Kaladesh) and they knew we where going to see Kaladesh a a few years after Origins. The bare bones and generic parts gives creative more room to add stuff to Vryn as well. Could be all we saw in Origins was one Jace home kingdom and the other kingdom also has stuff going on.
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I won't try to predict Bolas's plans because frankly, we tried that with the Eldrazi and got a huge disappointment out of it all.
I will say that I found it interesting when Jace admitted he thinks the Immortal Sun doesn't belong on Ixalan, after many of us were wondering whether or not it was even from Ixalan as a plane, and if it could be the Mirari. With the alluring way it's being pursued, and the havoc we know the Mirari wreaked before, it's starting to sound convincing again. I'm mostly interested in what the Immoral Sun is, and what Orazca itself will mean. I feel like beyond the Immortal Sun, the city itself is its own seat of power too. Controlling Orazca is mentioned at times, not just owning the Sun.
I think we're long overdue to a visit to Vryn. I'd love it to be the set after Dominaria. The foreshadowing with Jace's memories earlier suggests it. Bolas may have undone a lot in Jace's mind, include mental blocks and erasures that, for a being like Bolas, were not as permanent as Jace might have liked. Even Tamiyo had sensed how Jace has erased many things.
As much as I think I'll enjoy a Vryn set if/when they do it, I very much doubt it's coming right after Dominaria. I think that would be too many Jace-centered stories coming back-to-back. It seems to me that Creative is working through sets focusing on the consequences for each of the defeated Gatewatch members: Jace here, Liliana in Dominaria, etc. So my money would be on a story about Nissa being next, or maybe Gideon with a Return to Theros. But anyway, that's probably more fit for the Speculation subforum.
I'm very interested to see how the pacing of the Rivals of Ixalan stories compares to the pacing of this set's. I think it might have been better to start the stories in media res with the race for the city already under way, then maybe flash back to all the setup bits. Or at least get to it quicker, so as to have more space for the core action than they ended up having.
I won't try to predict Bolas's plans because frankly, we tried that with the Eldrazi and got a huge disappointment out of it all.
I will say that I found it interesting when Jace admitted he thinks the Immortal Sun doesn't belong on Ixalan, after many of us were wondering whether or not it was even from Ixalan as a plane, and if it could be the Mirari. With the alluring way it's being pursued, and the havoc we know the Mirari wreaked before, it's starting to sound convincing again. I'm mostly interested in what the Immoral Sun is, and what Orazca itself will mean. I feel like beyond the Immortal Sun, the city itself is its own seat of power too. Controlling Orazca is mentioned at times, not just owning the Sun.
I think we're long overdue to a visit to Vryn. I'd love it to be the set after Dominaria. The foreshadowing with Jace's memories earlier suggests it. Bolas may have undone a lot in Jace's mind, include mental blocks and erasures that, for a being like Bolas, were not as permanent as Jace might have liked. Even Tamiyo had sensed how Jace has erased many things.
As much as I think I'll enjoy a Vryn set if/when they do it, I very much doubt it's coming right after Dominaria. I think that would be too many Jace-centered stories coming back-to-back. It seems to me that Creative is working through sets focusing on the consequences for each of the defeated Gatewatch members: Jace here, Liliana in Dominaria, etc. So my money would be on a story about Nissa being next, or maybe Gideon with a Return to Theros. But anyway, that's probably more fit for the Speculation subforum.
I'm very interested to see how the pacing of the Rivals of Ixalan stories compares to the pacing of this set's. I think it might have been better to start the stories in media res with the race for the city already under way, then maybe flash back to all the setup bits. Or at least get to it quicker, so as to have more space for the core action than they ended up having.
Yes, I do agree they'll want to follow up with the Gatewatch members after their defeat first, most likely. I love the idea of Gideon being a window back into Theros, which could be in the next few sets. The only issue is a pull on focus between him, Elspeth, Ashiok (?) and even the gods and their meddling. We'll have to see. But I could see Jace at least departing for Vryn from here, or to Ravnica from Ixalan, and Vryn after that. Might be nice if we actually don't know how much of his memory he's recovered until after Ravnica 3. Then at the end, when the Jace and Vraska arc resolves, he feels liberated enough from his debt to Ravnica and his new friend, we discover has has indeed recovered his Vryn memories, and aims to resolve a few things back on his original home. And the Jace redemption arc can end with Jace fulfilling the lost promise to his mother, and leaving her a better world to live in. At last she'll be proud of the son she always supported.
I do wonder where Nissa will end up. Lorwyn again? I doubt Zendikar so soon. Vryn strikes me as Harry Potter world, in a way.
I am not sure we are going to see a full set of "what happened to the gatewatch after Bolas beat them." blocks simply because that would drag that particular plot thread on for at least another year.
I am not sure we are going to see a full set of "what happened to the gatewatch after Bolas beat them." blocks simply because that would drag that particular plot thread on for at least another year.
We're already seeing it with Jace, and it's the most likely plot for Liliana. Three more would bring us into early 2019.
The issue is that Kaladesh was likely going to be this plotline for Chandra, but when it was switched around with Amonkhet that has obviously fizzled out. So I honestly don't know what plot they'd follow-up on her with.
Well yes we are going to see it for Jace, cause we are. I think we will touch upon it for Liliana (cause of how she just noped out of it) but Gideon, Nissa and Chandra are probably chilling on Zendikar or Ravnica trying to figure out where Jace went while being real mad at Lili.
Well yes we are going to see it for Jace, cause we are. I think we will touch upon it for Liliana (cause of how she just noped out of it) but Gideon, Nissa and Chandra are probably chilling on Zendikar or Ravnica trying to figure out where Jace went while being real mad at Lili.
Chandra could be possibly on Kaladesh. That's where I would go in her position.
I'm thinking dominaria is going to be the rest of the humble pie for liliana, which imo is more profound for her than other storyline spotlight characters because of how arrogant she's been written before HOU.
As for Ixalan I'm kinda scratching my head on where the story can go with Jace getting his memories back. If he gets ALL back then he really has no reason to help Vraska further. I don't think he'll hurt her or anything...just not opt to help bolas. I think their past is water under the bridge more than likely because she did show him an undue amount of kindness given the history. She didn't have to save him from the 2nd island - clearly she is not all that bad.
I don't like how everyone required the compass to find orazca except Kumena...which it's heavily implied someone has reached it before everyone else. So this guy just shows up and Sherlock Holmes his way in like it's nothing? He's probably going to get thrashed after everyone else shows up. I don't think it's going to end up like the hobbit where a handful of dwarves fortify themselves and successfully defend against a huge army. I think he's going to get straight murdered seconds after getting there...which is a shame.
Vona may live, and I hope she does as the story has everyone fighting for no real reason. she can keep the fight going. Basically angrath, Vraska and Jace just want to leave. They could simply kill kumena and huatli, let the pirates take some gold for coming out, and walk away. The city stays hidden and safe, pirates make money, and the conflict is resolved with no impact to the peeps of the plane of the city goes back to being hidden (if it can).
Huatli is a hard character for me to like. She's spent the whole story following everyone and trying to find her way. She single handedly DESTORYS one of the strongest vampire generals in seconds? Why is she this strong? You're telling me a centuries old war general can't beat a 20ish year old and a single raptor? I don't really see the RW coming out of her much as I just don't see much red. I get white and I would even say green because her reliance on/community with dinos (thinking garruk and his beasts and their bond). Where is the red coming in? Her passion for poetry? Jokes aside, she is not very head strong (defers to her king and tishana pretty easily), she's not chaotic in any sense, she's not overly passionate because I can't tell you what she cares about. She basically shows none of the "red" characteristics we've seen to date from other red characters (thinking krenko, Chandra, jaya, feldon). Meh.
One thing I will say, I think this story has too much going on. I think merfolk could have been left out entirely and it wouldn't change the block from a story perspective much and it wouldn't even super feel impactful for constructed. They just feel like a super big after thought all around. I can't see the vampire bat god thing in arguel's blood fast and angrath getting appropriate screen time with all the loose ends that have to be tied up.
Couldn't Chandra, Nissa, and Gideon be on planes that we haven't been to yet? Or at least planes they haven't been to yet? We had never heard of Ixalan and Jace had never been to Ixalan before, but that's where he ended up.
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Couldn't Chandra, Nissa, and Gideon be on planes that we haven't been to yet? Or at least planes they haven't been to yet? We had never heard of Ixalan and Jace had never been to Ixalan before, but that's where he ended up.
The others planeswalked away with full lucidity. When Jace bailed it was midway through having his mind obliterated. There's also theories that cropped up once Ral Zarek was revealed to be a minion of Bolas that believe that Bolas had Jace go there on purpose for some reason as Zarek had mentioned Vraska's then enigmatic destination. I'm not so sold on that one as what purpose would that serve? But there's really no reason for the others to have dropped into random planes they've never been to before.
Lilly probably went to Dominaria as its be the easiest way for Bolas to contact her(and also the easiest tie in to the next set being on Dominaria.) I'd guess that Chandra went back to Kaladesh since she just discovered her mom was alive and wanted to stay but felt obliged elsewhere. We'll probably get her back in a relatively short scene during the final reunification of the gatewatch. Nissa is probably similar. Zendikar is rebuilding, now without the influence of the Eldrazi. She'll probably be found there working to help her home convalesce. Gideon is the difficult one. Not really a reason for him to go back to Theros. He may go back to Ravnica and take his frustrations out by helping the Boros again. But maybe he does go back to Theros. I don't know, to find himself or something since Bolas basically shattered a central part of who he was to himself. I dount see this happening because I don't see them killing him just yet. Hazoret predicted his death and he's already set up pretty well to go up against the gods of Theros. I think that the Theros return will be set up when Ajani feels comfortable enough with the gatewatch that he tells them Elspeths story.
I'm thinking dominaria is going to be the rest of the humble pie for liliana, which imo is more profound for her than other storyline spotlight characters because of how arrogant she's been written before HOU.
As for Ixalan I'm kinda scratching my head on where the story can go with Jace getting his memories back. If he gets ALL back then he really has no reason to help Vraska further. I don't think he'll hurt her or anything...just not opt to help bolas. I think their past is water under the bridge more than likely because she did show him an undue amount of kindness given the history. She didn't have to save him from the 2nd island - clearly she is not all that bad.
His goal will still be to get to Orazca and get the Immortal Sun, in order to leave the plane and to keep it away from Bolas. The Gatewatch wanted to stop plane wide level dangers and the Immortal Sun is looking more like that, more so now we know it might be off world.
I don't like how everyone required the compass to find orazca except Kumena...which it's heavily implied someone has reached it before everyone else. So this guy just shows up and Sherlock Holmes his way in like it's nothing? He's probably going to get thrashed after everyone else shows up. I don't think it's going to end up like the hobbit where a handful of dwarves fortify themselves and successfully defend against a huge army. I think he's going to get straight murdered seconds after getting there...which is a shame.
The merfolk knew the general location of the city just not exact location.
Vona may live, and I hope she does as the story has everyone fighting for no real reason. she can keep the fight going. Basically angrath, Vraska and Jace just want to leave. They could simply kill kumena and huatli, let the pirates take some gold for coming out, and walk away. The city stays hidden and safe, pirates make money, and the conflict is resolved with no impact to the peeps of the plane of the city goes back to being hidden (if it can).
They also all hate each other. Pirates and vampires invade and raid the merfolk and the sun Empire, pirates are the the something grandchildren of the survivors from Torrezon when the vampires took over, the sun empire pushes all other, invaders and refugee from thier lands (and feed them to dinos) and they all want the Immortal Sun except the Merfolk who want to protect it. They don't want a compromise they want to win.
Mavren is also still a factor for the vampires.
Huatli is a hard character for me to like. She's spent the whole story following everyone and trying to find her way. She single handedly DESTORYS one of the strongest vampire generals in seconds? Why is she this strong? You're telling me a centuries old war general can't beat a 20ish year old and a single raptor? I don't really see the RW coming out of her much as I just don't see much red. I get white and I would even say green because her reliance on/community with dinos (thinking garruk and his beasts and their bond). Where is the red coming in? Her passion for poetry? Jokes aside, she is not very head strong (defers to her king and tishana pretty easily), she's not chaotic in any sense, she's not overly passionate because I can't tell you what she cares about. She basically shows none of the "red" characteristics we've seen to date from other red characters (thinking krenko, Chandra, jaya, feldon). Meh.
Red is creative, see why Saheeli has red as well, so yes her poetry is an element of her being red. She is also a warrior so she falls into that Boros stereotype. I do agree thought her red elements could be and should be shown some more.
She also show she is not green. She talks about how she doesn't view her dinosaurs as pets or children but tool of a warrior, although She respects them as living beings (might show more red since mono-white might be less empathic). Garruk view his beasts like his pack, he is very anti-people and while he was mono-green his pack was the closet thing to his family.
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Huatli is a hard character for me to like. She's spent the whole story following everyone and trying to find her way. She single handedly DESTORYS one of the strongest vampire generals in seconds? Why is she this strong? You're telling me a centuries old war general can't beat a 20ish year old and a single raptor?
Keep in mind that was after a nine hour pursuit with Vona on foot and Huatli on a raptor. Vona would have been much more exhausted than either Huatli or her dinosaur.
I really hope we are building up for a "master plan" of Bolas being put into effect using the trinkets he has been collecting or inventing. And, I hope it works. None of this "haha my master plan whoops the Justice League broke it damn" nonsense.
What is he collecting so far?
1. A planar portal from Kaladesh;
2. An army of immortals from Amonkhet;
3. A device that prohibits planeswalking.
Is it just as simple as a plan to trap walkers in one plane and wipe them out? Or keep them out while he conquers planes one at a time?
Speaking of which, it's pretty clear that the thing at the Golden City is Feroz's Ban.
I really hope we are building up for a "master plan" of Bolas being put into effect using the trinkets he has been collecting or inventing. And, I hope it works. None of this "haha my master plan whoops the Justice League broke it damn" nonsense.
What is he collecting so far?
1. A planar portal from Kaladesh;
2. An army of immortals from Amonkhet;
3. A device that prohibits planeswalking.
Is it just as simple as a plan to trap walkers in one plane and wipe them out? Or keep them out while he conquers planes one at a time?
Speaking of which, it's pretty clear that the thing at the Golden City is Feroz's Ban.
Return to Homelands confirmed.
We still don't know what Ral Zarek is doing for him, and that's another piece to his ultimate plan.
I really hope we are building up for a "master plan" of Bolas being put into effect using the trinkets he has been collecting or inventing. And, I hope it works. None of this "haha my master plan whoops the Justice League broke it damn" nonsense.
What is he collecting so far?
1. A planar portal from Kaladesh;
2. An army of immortals from Amonkhet;
3. A device that prohibits planeswalking.
Is it just as simple as a plan to trap walkers in one plane and wipe them out? Or keep them out while he conquers planes one at a time
If this is the case, I hope resolving it will take more than one set worth of stories. No "Bolas goes all out with his masterplan in Madara block" and wins or loses and that's it.
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Agreed. I'm hoping Bolas gets treated more like Yawgmoth did, being an existential threat that spanned many, many blocks and required the heroes to carry out an equally long-term, complicated plan to defeat him.
None of this "whoops we just formed a team and locked Emrakul in the moon yay story's over" bull crap.
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I don't really get your hatred of Amonkhet's story, to be honest, as I actually did like that storyline.
I think Ixalan is done relatively well though, so we can agree on that much.
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The reason why Vryn is brought up again is that he did see Alhammaret in his mind a few stories back, which could have been foreshadowing. So the possibility that he gets everything coming back to him is there, though it might not be all at once.
My angle was that he created the lock before the Mending, and the Mending didn't give him enough time to go unlock all the locks he made before he lost the required power to unlock them. Ixalan/The Immortal Sun was one of the things he didn't prioritize as much and from what little we've seen of Bolas for this plot so far, it doesn't seem mighty important to him now either. I won't be surprised if the entire thing was just a test run for Tezz's Planar Bridge to see if it can transport objects of power across planes (before he actually starts transporting Eternals coated with similar materials over... although why he didn't bother testing with some of the Eternals would be a quite the oversight...)
It would be a laugh if The Immortal Sun is just a powerful mana rock (for the test runs above) and Jace/Vraska were right about Lord Nicolas being a rock collector (and preparing for the most epic EDH game ever...)
I'll be honest, I feel like the entire Ixalan plot is just a "set-up for the long run planeswalker development-wise", with Jace losing then regaining his memories and potentially introducing other planeswalkers who might have direct issues (Huatli, Angrath) with Jace/the Gatewatch in the future who are not Bolas or Bolas-related (so no Tezz). Ob-Nixilis was the closest, but BFZ pretty much established his priority was still escape and he had more issues with the oldwalkers, Dovin might be second, but honestly I'm not sure where he stands now (might have even opted to be neutral, his nature was quite bland and partially awkward honestly). Arlinn, Saheeli and Samut are neutral for most part.
To be fair, Ixalan is the first true isolated plane we had for a long time (Zendikar and Innistrad were returning planes and feature Eldrazi which linked them to the main cast by default, Kaladesh had Chandra's past linked to it and while Amonkhet doesn't, the very "inverse" impact of Bolas being directly involved gives much more at stake from the beginning then the typical "It's a Bolas Scheme but he's not bothered to come down here himself" we had for some stories).
Him remembering his childhood would leave a link open to a Vryn set or two.
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Mostly because it was a largely pointless waste of potential and time because Bolas could have showed up five seconds after they showed up and largely the same amount of relevant plot would have happened.
However, him remembering Vyrnn is also too good of a plot line to leave unexplored.
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I will say that I found it interesting when Jace admitted he thinks the Immortal Sun doesn't belong on Ixalan, after many of us were wondering whether or not it was even from Ixalan as a plane, and if it could be the Mirari. With the alluring way it's being pursued, and the havoc we know the Mirari wreaked before, it's starting to sound convincing again. I'm mostly interested in what the Immoral Sun is, and what Orazca itself will mean. I feel like beyond the Immortal Sun, the city itself is its own seat of power too. Controlling Orazca is mentioned at times, not just owning the Sun.
I think we're long overdue to a visit to Vryn. I'd love it to be the set after Dominaria. The foreshadowing with Jace's memories earlier suggests it. Bolas may have undone a lot in Jace's mind, include mental blocks and erasures that, for a being like Bolas, were not as permanent as Jace might have liked. Even Tamiyo had sensed how Jace has erased many things.
|| 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 ||
That would be assuming the Mage-Rings are all Vryn has. (IIRC) We had no idea that Kaladesh had gremlins and aetherborn in Origins, but there we were. Also speaking mechanically, if Vryn's one plane card is anything to go by, Vryn would be an instant-and-sorcery focused world, which is a pretty broad theme.
Just like how aether-tech was the main focus of Kaladesh, the mage-rings would definitely be the main focus of Vryn, but that doesn't mean the plane would have nothing else to offer. Also, the mage-rings themselves are pretty old with blue-collar workers who have nothing more to look forward to keeping the
spicemana flowing for an elite that doesn't give a **** about them. Many of the rings look like they could collapse at any moment, and on top of that, we have two continent-wide warring factions that could topple the entire infrastructure whenever they feel they can't win, and the only thing preventing this are a group of corrupt officials who keep the war going to sustain themselves. Jace's homeplane is depressing.You could say Kaladesh was the same. Creative and design hasn't even figured out the energy mechanic/ aether swirls (basically the hedrons of Kaladesh) and they knew we where going to see Kaladesh a a few years after Origins. The bare bones and generic parts gives creative more room to add stuff to Vryn as well. Could be all we saw in Origins was one Jace home kingdom and the other kingdom also has stuff going on.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
As much as I think I'll enjoy a Vryn set if/when they do it, I very much doubt it's coming right after Dominaria. I think that would be too many Jace-centered stories coming back-to-back. It seems to me that Creative is working through sets focusing on the consequences for each of the defeated Gatewatch members: Jace here, Liliana in Dominaria, etc. So my money would be on a story about Nissa being next, or maybe Gideon with a Return to Theros. But anyway, that's probably more fit for the Speculation subforum.
I'm very interested to see how the pacing of the Rivals of Ixalan stories compares to the pacing of this set's. I think it might have been better to start the stories in media res with the race for the city already under way, then maybe flash back to all the setup bits. Or at least get to it quicker, so as to have more space for the core action than they ended up having.
I do wonder where Nissa will end up. Lorwyn again? I doubt Zendikar so soon. Vryn strikes me as Harry Potter world, in a way.
|| 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 ||
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
The issue is that Kaladesh was likely going to be this plotline for Chandra, but when it was switched around with Amonkhet that has obviously fizzled out. So I honestly don't know what plot they'd follow-up on her with.
TerribleBad at Magic since 1998.A Vorthos Guide to Magic Story | Twitter | Tumblr
[Primer] Krenko | Azor | Kess | Zacama | Kumena | Sram | The Ur-Dragon | Edgar Markov | Daretti | Marath
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Chandra could be possibly on Kaladesh. That's where I would go in her position.
As for Ixalan I'm kinda scratching my head on where the story can go with Jace getting his memories back. If he gets ALL back then he really has no reason to help Vraska further. I don't think he'll hurt her or anything...just not opt to help bolas. I think their past is water under the bridge more than likely because she did show him an undue amount of kindness given the history. She didn't have to save him from the 2nd island - clearly she is not all that bad.
I don't like how everyone required the compass to find orazca except Kumena...which it's heavily implied someone has reached it before everyone else. So this guy just shows up and Sherlock Holmes his way in like it's nothing? He's probably going to get thrashed after everyone else shows up. I don't think it's going to end up like the hobbit where a handful of dwarves fortify themselves and successfully defend against a huge army. I think he's going to get straight murdered seconds after getting there...which is a shame.
Vona may live, and I hope she does as the story has everyone fighting for no real reason. she can keep the fight going. Basically angrath, Vraska and Jace just want to leave. They could simply kill kumena and huatli, let the pirates take some gold for coming out, and walk away. The city stays hidden and safe, pirates make money, and the conflict is resolved with no impact to the peeps of the plane of the city goes back to being hidden (if it can).
Huatli is a hard character for me to like. She's spent the whole story following everyone and trying to find her way. She single handedly DESTORYS one of the strongest vampire generals in seconds? Why is she this strong? You're telling me a centuries old war general can't beat a 20ish year old and a single raptor? I don't really see the RW coming out of her much as I just don't see much red. I get white and I would even say green because her reliance on/community with dinos (thinking garruk and his beasts and their bond). Where is the red coming in? Her passion for poetry? Jokes aside, she is not very head strong (defers to her king and tishana pretty easily), she's not chaotic in any sense, she's not overly passionate because I can't tell you what she cares about. She basically shows none of the "red" characteristics we've seen to date from other red characters (thinking krenko, Chandra, jaya, feldon). Meh.
One thing I will say, I think this story has too much going on. I think merfolk could have been left out entirely and it wouldn't change the block from a story perspective much and it wouldn't even super feel impactful for constructed. They just feel like a super big after thought all around. I can't see the vampire bat god thing in arguel's blood fast and angrath getting appropriate screen time with all the loose ends that have to be tied up.
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
The others planeswalked away with full lucidity. When Jace bailed it was midway through having his mind obliterated. There's also theories that cropped up once Ral Zarek was revealed to be a minion of Bolas that believe that Bolas had Jace go there on purpose for some reason as Zarek had mentioned Vraska's then enigmatic destination. I'm not so sold on that one as what purpose would that serve? But there's really no reason for the others to have dropped into random planes they've never been to before.
Lilly probably went to Dominaria as its be the easiest way for Bolas to contact her(and also the easiest tie in to the next set being on Dominaria.) I'd guess that Chandra went back to Kaladesh since she just discovered her mom was alive and wanted to stay but felt obliged elsewhere. We'll probably get her back in a relatively short scene during the final reunification of the gatewatch. Nissa is probably similar. Zendikar is rebuilding, now without the influence of the Eldrazi. She'll probably be found there working to help her home convalesce. Gideon is the difficult one. Not really a reason for him to go back to Theros. He may go back to Ravnica and take his frustrations out by helping the Boros again. But maybe he does go back to Theros. I don't know, to find himself or something since Bolas basically shattered a central part of who he was to himself. I dount see this happening because I don't see them killing him just yet. Hazoret predicted his death and he's already set up pretty well to go up against the gods of Theros. I think that the Theros return will be set up when Ajani feels comfortable enough with the gatewatch that he tells them Elspeths story.
His goal will still be to get to Orazca and get the Immortal Sun, in order to leave the plane and to keep it away from Bolas. The Gatewatch wanted to stop plane wide level dangers and the Immortal Sun is looking more like that, more so now we know it might be off world.
The merfolk knew the general location of the city just not exact location.
They also all hate each other. Pirates and vampires invade and raid the merfolk and the sun Empire, pirates are the the something grandchildren of the survivors from Torrezon when the vampires took over, the sun empire pushes all other, invaders and refugee from thier lands (and feed them to dinos) and they all want the Immortal Sun except the Merfolk who want to protect it. They don't want a compromise they want to win.
Mavren is also still a factor for the vampires.
Red is creative, see why Saheeli has red as well, so yes her poetry is an element of her being red. She is also a warrior so she falls into that Boros stereotype. I do agree thought her red elements could be and should be shown some more.
She also show she is not green. She talks about how she doesn't view her dinosaurs as pets or children but tool of a warrior, although She respects them as living beings (might show more red since mono-white might be less empathic). Garruk view his beasts like his pack, he is very anti-people and while he was mono-green his pack was the closet thing to his family.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Keep in mind that was after a nine hour pursuit with Vona on foot and Huatli on a raptor. Vona would have been much more exhausted than either Huatli or her dinosaur.
What is he collecting so far?
1. A planar portal from Kaladesh;
2. An army of immortals from Amonkhet;
3. A device that prohibits planeswalking.
Is it just as simple as a plan to trap walkers in one plane and wipe them out? Or keep them out while he conquers planes one at a time?
Speaking of which, it's pretty clear that the thing at the Golden City is Feroz's Ban.
Return to Homelands confirmed.
We still don't know what Ral Zarek is doing for him, and that's another piece to his ultimate plan.
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
None of this "whoops we just formed a team and locked Emrakul in the moon yay story's over" bull crap.