Well, as expected, old ancient 10K old sphinx that doesn't really feel much like a 10K old sphinx again. Beaten by his own failsafe. Lunging when he's more of a mind mage. Pathetic. And seriously, reading his part gives me the impression that he is not a 10K old planeswalker, he's a robot. Where oh where can I find a story of a 10K old character who's not so damn single-mindedly automatic like this little beardie?
Sad that the only thing I can say I like from this story is Angrath roasting Huatli's pet...
Though on the other hand, at least the community have their fun by being proven right about Azor and Ugin being involved in the Immortal Sun. The only question I have, then, is how exactly Bolas found out about the Immortal Sun, and how and most importantly why Bolas came to Tarkir.
Though on the other hand, at least the community have their fun by being proven right about Azor and Ugin being involved in the Immortal Sun. The only question I have, then, is how exactly Bolas found out about the Immortal Sun, and how and most importantly why Bolas came to Tarkir.
Bolas pried information from Ugin's mind prior to "killing" Ugin, so how do you think he found out about it?
Also Ugin intended to lure Bolas, so while that is still a valid question, I'm gonna guess that Bolas learned of the plan somehow.
There are only three story cards in this set right? That's why Sphinx's Decree or Shake the Foundations aren't happening in the story. The art is just meant to depict the magic.
the prison where I suffered needlessly on Ravnica, where my people were subjugated, was ultimately of your making... A leader cannot abandon their responsibilities.
All my whats. Yes, her suffering was made because something Azor did 10000+ years ago, not because of trashy people doing trashy things. Also a leader can retire and find a suitable replacement. Seeing how the Azorius had plenty of guild leaders throughout the Guildpact's 10000 year term, I'm sure the guild had someone in charge even if it wasn't the OG guild leader.
And arguably those things only happened to her because the Guildpact was deactivated at the time. The Azorious trying to genocide the Golgari is exactly the sort of thing the Guildpact was meant to stop, and DID stop for 10000 years.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Maybe it's just my political beliefs but I found Azor's preaching, while interesting from a characterization standpoint, to be unbearable and I found little sympathy for him outside of his apparent mental health issues from being in isolation for a thousand years.
Another self righteous person preening over the virtues of forced order and how authoritarianism has cleaned up these "savage" lands. Ugh. How many of those have I seen online? And how many has the world dealt with?
Seeing Jace make him squirm made me like Jace more.
Personally, it did the opposite for me, which is a shame cause I was really starting to like him.
Hipocracy is a surefire way to get me to hate a character and Jace's justifications absolutely felt hipocritical to me.
As an aside; can people please stop calling the guildpact a failed government. It really cheapens it when you consider that even with its flaws and the forces working against it it still lasted for Ten Thousand Years. Even the most successful civilization in all of recorded human history don't even comes close to that.
For those of you who think Azor, the Lawbringer didn't deserve any punishment, remember that he set up a spell that would murder millions of people in case the winner of his Implicit Maze didn't want the job of Living Guildpact.
Maybe it's just my political beliefs but I found Azor's preaching, while interesting from a characterization standpoint, to be unbearable and I found little sympathy for him outside of his apparent mental health issues from being in isolation for a thousand years.
Another self righteous person preening over the virtues of forced order and how authoritarianism has cleaned up these "savage" lands. Ugh. How many of those have I seen online? And how many has the world dealt with?
Seeing Jace make him squirm made me like Jace more.
Personally, it did the opposite for me, which is a shame cause I was really starting to like him.
Hipocracy is a surefire way to get me to hate a character and Jace's justifications absolutely felt hipocritical to me.
As an aside; can people please stop calling the guildpact a failed government. It really cheapens it when you consider that even with its flaws and the forces working against it it still lasted for Ten Thousand Years. Even the most successful civilization in all of recorded human history don't even comes close to that.
Lasting long doesn't mean it was a good form of governance. The Guildpact created an oligarchy where murder was legal as long as it didn't impede guild business.
And side note: Jace shirking his duties as Guildpact, a responsibility that was forced on him with the option of either taking it or having the entire Tenth District get blown up by the Supreme Verdict is not remotely the same as showing up on planes and upending the entire status quo because you think things are too chaotic.
There are only three story cards in this set right? That's why Sphinx's Decree or Shake the Foundations don't aren't happening in the story. The art is just meant to depict the magic.
That was my thinking. It seems the only cards that we should take at face value where the story is concerned are the story spotlight cards.
And arguably those things only happened to her because the Guildpact was deactivated at the time. The Azorious trying to genocide the Golgari is exactly the sort of thing the Guildpact was meant to stop, and DID stop for 10000 years.
I think it's worth mentioning that the Guildpact basically dissolved itself. We say that it was the fault of the people why it broke, and that's true, but you have to remember that the Dimir's purpose was specifically to try to break the Guildpact in order to test it. If the original Guildpact didn't mandate that the Dimir be kept secret, Agrus Kos arresting Szadek wouldn't have caused it to crumble.
Well, colonialism was never about intervening to make the lives of the natives better, or to install good governance. It was about pillage, and occasionally territorial expansion aided by some degree of genocide. That's it. So the holding the idea that sometimes intervention can be necessary to improve conditions in a territory should not only not be taken to construe that you may support colonialism in some degree, it is actually not at all related to colonialism.
De facto, you're right, that's what it tended to turn into. But there was a lot of ideology behind it, and most of it was based precisely on the idea that introducing proper Western government and society would help the natives.
The "White Mans Burden" was a retroactive "justification" (in quotes because it didn't really justify it). Colonialism existed prior. The whole system was evolutionary. It began as an extension of the expansion of European nation states on the European continent. Conquest was the goal. France never really left that stage, considering all of its colonies as integral parts of France, though it did give up on outright replacing the natives. The Dutch were similar. The Boers set out to have their own independent white country, and where more than happy to drive out the native tribes. Ditto every Carribean colony, native populations were generally exterminated whenever Europeans decided to make an island white, and the same when they decided to make an island a plantation. For much of colonial history, the native population was not seen as a burden the white man needed to carry, but as either a resource to be exploited or a nuisance to be driven out or exterminated. Only when European morality began to shift, especially after Europeans abandoned slavery, did they start to use the white Mans Burden as an excuse. They still wanted colonies, which brought wealth and power, but naked exploitation was no longer acceptable. They had to at least be able to argue that they were providing some benefit to the natives, although in many cases (India) the natives weren't any less advanced than the conquerors (The Brits just were a superpower that played weak states against each other then took over those that remained after they were spent), and if the natives rebelled then they had an excuse for a brutal response. Or they were Leopold, and the colony was his private demense, and he just ran it like a southern plantation mixed with a nazi death camp, but bigger than France. That ******* guy, does not get nearly enough hate. He was even more of a mustache twirling villan than Bolas, not least of all because he actually twirled his damn mustache.
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
I think much of the frustration here could all have been properly avoided had Creative taken the time to do more than hole-filling for convenience’s sake. Despite all the good of the Ixalan story-arc such as the Vraska and Jace characterization, this was a sloppy collection of narrative, probably endemic to the new system of having to create multiple worlds and arcs per year.
It’s not that I blame Creative for being poor writers (though I think some of them would qualify as this) but rather the system that makes a more careful approach to the story more difficult.
Edit: I have come to the conclusion, after considering the story-blocks from Origins-present that it would be in the best interest of the company and consumers for Wizards to hire an independent consultant with expertise in writing, narrative and branding to conduct a review and analysis of the recent lore and consumer response, and then provide an in-house workshop for Magic the Gathering’s Creative department
There is frankly a lot we do not see in terms of how the creation of a game impacts the creation of its story, both positively and negatively-
However, if Hasbro/Wizards intends to create a seamless, competitive brand and franchise that includes future blockbusters, games and fiction, then they need to do a better job at ensuring narrative quality, because as it stands, it looks a bit like a potpourri mess-
With all due respect
Even the art book and Writers can’t form a coherent, uniform narrative between them right now as someone mentioned.
Still hope Breeches gets a card in a future commander product
So could Bolas plan just be a "reversed" version of Azor/Ugins plan?
Step 1: Find a suitable plane and transfer all eternals there
Step 2: Track "Heroes" with Project Lightning Bug
Step 3: Unleash some cosmic threat "near" the heroes and let them gather (like the eldrazi plan)
Step 4: Lure them to the plane and seal them there to be killed by an eternal army
Step 5: Profit! A way to get rid of all annoying planeswalkers who might get into his way (even thought he could just crush them)
I'm not so sure. Again, why doesn't Bolas just crush the people he wants dead. Hour of Devastation wasn't just about Bolas thinking the Gatewatch was so far beneath him they weren't worth killing. It pretty much said flat out that he felt they were more useful alive. Seems weird to intentionally go out of his way to not kill them on Amonkhet just to kill them later. No, this is more deeper than that, I think.
If he sets it up right he wouldn’t need to do anything about them anymore, sure he can wreck them all, but then again he would need to find them, time he could spend on more scheming. Imagine the following, Bolas sets the sun to Amonkhet, agents of him spread word of threats trough the multiverse, groups gather and come to Amonkhet, a world that will surely kill you one way or another, without having the chance to leave.
I agree that Azor wasn't treated fairly. I dearly hope he's revisited soon.
I don’t think it is the last we saw of Azor, as Teysa showed the wording of the Living Guildpact needs to be really precise and is “easy” to break. A pirate could come to useless island, claim it as his own, rename it and Azor would be free, because there wouldn’t be any island named useless island anymore. If not I hope we see a land card in the future called useless island, which generates a legendary sphinx token
Azor did nothing wrong.
Of course, he was supposed to get his spark back somehow, and then presumably be able to leave Ixalan, so maybe the plan wasn't to just use the sun to stop planeswalks away from Ixalan, and that is just a side effect, but rather to trap him IN the sun, or steal his spark, or something else. We really don't know what the damn thing is capable of yet, and he wasn't exactly given the chance to explain the plan in detail. The plan failed of course, but because Ugin failed, not because of anything Azor did.
After thinking about that part again it makes me wonder, how was he supposed to leave, even if he got his spark back? The sun should have trapped him anyway, so why did he agree and why did he believe getting his spark back would allow him to leave
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Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
I don’t think it is the last we saw of Azor, as Teysa showed the wording of the Living Guildpact needs to be really precise and is “easy” to break. A pirate could come to useless island, claim it as his own, rename it and Azor would be free, because there wouldn’t be any island named useless island anymore. If not I hope we see a land card in the future called useless island, which generates a legendary sphinx token
No, if it spawned Azor, it would more likely be a flip-land that flips into Azor, or it would be a Gate to the Afterlife-esque card that fetches Azor with an activated ability.
After thinking about that part again it makes me wonder, how was he supposed to leave, even if he got his spark back? The sun should have trapped him anyway, so why did he agree and why did he believe getting his spark back would allow him to leave
Now that we know Ugin and Azor intended to trap Bolas with it specifically and then give Azor his spark back, I'm wondering if maybe through hieromancy mumbo-jumbo, they somehow manage to make Ixalan's Binding only work on Bolas once they got him trapped. If that was the case, this never happened because Ugin never got a chance to see it through.
Of course, that is speculation on my part, and there are only three characters who might be able to fill in that gap (Ugin, Azor and Bolas, since the latter might have learned the full details of the plan from Ugin).
I don’t think it is the last we saw of Azor, as Teysa showed the wording of the Living Guildpact needs to be really precise and is “easy” to break. A pirate could come to useless island, claim it as his own, rename it and Azor would be free, because there wouldn’t be any island named useless island anymore. If not I hope we see a land card in the future called useless island, which generates a legendary sphinx token
No, if it spawned Azor, it would more likely be a flip-land that flips into Azor, or it would be a Gate to the Afterlife-esque card that fetches Azor with an activated ability.
After thinking about that part again it makes me wonder, how was he supposed to leave, even if he got his spark back? The sun should have trapped him anyway, so why did he agree and why did he believe getting his spark back would allow him to leave
Now that we know Ugin and Azor intended to trap Bolas with it specifically and then give Azor his spark back, I'm wondering if maybe through hieromancy mumbo-jumbo, they somehow manage to make Ixalan's Binding only work on Bolas once they got him trapped. If that was the case, this never happened because Ugin never got a chance to see it through.
Of course, that is speculation on my part, and there are only three characters who might be able to fill in that gap (Ugin, Azor and Bolas, since the latter might have learned the full details of the plan from Ugin).
A flip land would also be a cool idea, it really needs a flavor text with Azor being "get off my lawn" like grumpy
Ugin seems to have presented him a way, or else he wouldn't have agreed in the first place, or Ugin manipulated him into thinking that there is a way. If there was one, the whole hieromancy way, as you said, seems to be the most logical one, we need to know more about how the sun works, if it really needs the spark inside to hold anything. The next meeting between Jace and Ugin could be really interesting.
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Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
It could be that th binding portion of the Sun needed the spark to work. So if Azor had taken his spark back from the Sun the binding would be released. But alas we'll never know because he was very uncerimoniously sent away. I guess not every super-ancient walker maintains his power beyond the mending. Or hell maybe we've just had expectations set up since Bolas and Ugin are really powerful but likely would have always been well beyond Azor even if the spark wasn't a factor for them.
Still hope Breeches gets a card in a future commander product
So could Bolas plan just be a "reversed" version of Azor/Ugins plan?
Step 1: Find a suitable plane and transfer all eternals there
Step 2: Track "Heroes" with Project Lightning Bug
Step 3: Unleash some cosmic threat "near" the heroes and let them gather (like the eldrazi plan)
Step 4: Lure them to the plane and seal them there to be killed by an eternal army
Step 5: Profit! A way to get rid of all annoying planeswalkers who might get into his way (even thought he could just crush them)
I'm not so sure. Again, why doesn't Bolas just crush the people he wants dead. Hour of Devastation wasn't just about Bolas thinking the Gatewatch was so far beneath him they weren't worth killing. It pretty much said flat out that he felt they were more useful alive. Seems weird to intentionally go out of his way to not kill them on Amonkhet just to kill them later. No, this is more deeper than that, I think.
If he sets it up right he wouldn’t need to do anything about them anymore, sure he can wreck them all, but then again he would need to find them, time he could spend on more scheming. Imagine the following, Bolas sets the sun to Amonkhet, agents of him spread word of threats trough the multiverse, groups gather and come to Amonkhet, a world that will surely kill you one way or another, without having the chance to leave.
I agree that Azor wasn't treated fairly. I dearly hope he's revisited soon.
I don’t think it is the last we saw of Azor, as Teysa showed the wording of the Living Guildpact needs to be really precise and is “easy” to break. A pirate could come to useless island, claim it as his own, rename it and Azor would be free, because there wouldn’t be any island named useless island anymore. If not I hope we see a land card in the future called useless island, which generates a legendary sphinx token
Azor did nothing wrong.
Of course, he was supposed to get his spark back somehow, and then presumably be able to leave Ixalan, so maybe the plan wasn't to just use the sun to stop planeswalks away from Ixalan, and that is just a side effect, but rather to trap him IN the sun, or steal his spark, or something else. We really don't know what the damn thing is capable of yet, and he wasn't exactly given the chance to explain the plan in detail. The plan failed of course, but because Ugin failed, not because of anything Azor did.
After thinking about that part again it makes me wonder, how was he supposed to leave, even if he got his spark back? The sun should have trapped him anyway, so why did he agree and why did he believe getting his spark back would allow him to leave
This is why I highly doubt that the plan was simply to use the sun to trap Bolas on Ixalan, at least the way it currently works. It could have done that UNTIL they finished him off, maybe by stealing his spark or trapping him in the sun like a Helvault, or by outright killing him while he's trapped on Ixalan (Bolas beats Ugin 1v1 with dragons go call on, but Ugin and Azor tag teaming him with no dragon backup for Bolas AND no way to escape they could have killed him and scoured his remains from existence). It's also possible that the Sun worked differently on Oldwalkers than Neowalkers. The nature of the spark has changed, and we don't know if the sun stopped Oldwalkers from planeswalking. Azor couldn't leave because he gave up his spark. Of course, this is all speculation because the story hasn't yet revealed everything, and we don't know if it will be revealed by the end of this story, whether loose ends will be intentionally left open, or whether the loose ends are just the result of plot holes, bad writing, and poorly done retcons.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
And still no one noticed that Huatli's cousin is probably dead.
Because nobody cares. I forgot she had one until you mentioned him, because his contribution to the story has been roughly equivalent to a random marine from Halo. Huatli is a mediocre character as is, so I can't even bring my self to give a damn based on how his death could effect her. She was more concerned about her random dini getting flambéd by Angrath and acting unreasonably indignant about it.
And speaking of Angrath, they sure don't know how to write him. He gets so close to being interesting, he has a pretty fleshed out perspective on the world and a family, he has values and even a degree of wisdom, but they keep resetting him to HULK SMASH. It's frigging whiplash seeing him go from thoughtfully challenging Huatlis naivate and having a layered personality to "I AM ANGRY. MY CHARACTER TRAIT IS ANGRY. I AM ALSO IMPATIENT. I AM LITERALLY ANNOUNCING MY EMOTIONS. MY NAME IS A PORTMANTEAU OF ANGER AND WRATH." Seriously, his name has less subtlety than a Sith Lord's.
Private Mod Note
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Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
1) How old is Hixus (from Theros)? In Gideon's origin story, Hixus clearly implies (or outright states) that he knows what Planeswalkers are. Hixus is the person who taught Gideon hieromancy. So a narrative shortcut would be that Hixus learned hieromancy from Azor. Low-probability scenario given the 1000+ years Hixus would have to be to make this work, but it would be interesting.
Hieromancy is a type of magic as much as pyromancy and telepathy, it existed before Azor though he is one of the prominent users.
We all agree that Azor deserves some lesson for his arrogance and meddling with planes, but Jace's banishment is hardly the right option, and Vraska was wrong to blame the individual who actually brought Ravnica peace once upon a time, for her suffering and guilds' current politics.
MtG stories are a little too much like a Hollywood hero movie these days, where creators want to please the audience by mete out extreme justice, but history taught us that nothing extreme ever leads to good result; wasn't that precisely what Jace/Vraska criticized Azor for?
One of the best moments in this chapter was a very subtle and overlooked one, but I felt it was extremely moving. That was, Tishana crying out in despair for Kumena, catching him when he fell, and then having her followers tend to him. This was the guy who defied her, broke with centuries of tradition, and physically attacked her -- but to Tishana, he is still her former apprentice, "the one student she failed the most."
She could have been angry. She could have lectured him, cursed him, banished him, or even just let him splatter. But instead she did everything that Kumena, in her place, surely would not have done.
That sequence was short, but it was probably my favorite moment from Rivals so far.
1) How old is Hixus (from Theros)? In Gideon's origin story, Hixus clearly implies (or outright states) that he knows what Planeswalkers are. Hixus is the person who taught Gideon hieromancy. So a narrative shortcut would be that Hixus learned hieromancy from Azor. Low-probability scenario given the 1000+ years Hixus would have to be to make this work, but it would be interesting.
Hieromancy is a type of magic as much as pyromancy and telepathy, it existed before Azor though he is one of the prominent users.
Certainly, but I wasn't focusing solely on the same magic type... I was focusing on the fact that Hixus clearly knows about Planeswalkers. You could also point out that hieromancy as a type of magic has not been seen much on Theros--though this might be in the books and I haven't seen it--and yet 'lawmage' is a profession on Ravnica. (Besides cards, Teysa is one.)
We all agree that Azor deserves some lesson for his arrogance and meddling with planes, but Jace's banishment is hardly the right option, and Vraska was wrong to blame the individual who actually brought Ravnica peace once upon a time, for her suffering and guilds' current politics.
Er, Azor is the one who started that crap. 'I tried to build the best government I could, but I'm not perfect and there are always cracks,' is a line of argument that I am fairly sure would have at least been listened to by Vraska. 'I'm a god and my systems are always perfect and therefore ipso facto you're wrong and my system couldn't have been to blame,' is not going to fly against Vraska or (apparently) Jace.
A system that relies on 10 different entities all with different agendas and yet having to work together to keep it together is a terrible basis for a system of government. </MP> The fact that Azor cannot admit that is the main issue, mainly because if they somehow got him off the plane he'd clearly just keep doing this crap.
MtG stories are a little too much like a Hollywood hero movie these days, where creators want to please the audience by mete out extreme justice, but history taught us that nothing extreme ever leads to good result; wasn't that precisely what Jace/Vraska criticized Azor for?
Um. Why is what happened to Azor 'extreme'? He was banished to an island. An island that we know can support life. He wasn't killed. He wasn't stripped of being a PW by the judgment.
'Extreme' would have been for Jace to let Vraska execute him. 'Extreme' is depowering him and letting Nicol Bolas flay him alive for daring to try to trap him and for working with his nemesis Ugin. He's alive. His exile isn't even permanent. Jace can--assuming the Sun leaves the Plane, which we know at least will happen--come back at any time and remove the binding... not that it will do a lot of good, as Azor can't really leave the Plane.
MtG stories are a little too much like a Hollywood hero movie these days, where creators want to please the audience by mete out extreme justice, but history taught us that nothing extreme ever leads to good result; wasn't that precisely what Jace/Vraska criticized Azor for?
Um. Why is what happened to Azor 'extreme'? He was banished to an island. An island that we know can support life. He wasn't killed. He wasn't stripped of being a PW by the judgment.
'Extreme' would have been for Jace to let Vraska execute him. 'Extreme' is depowering him and letting Nicol Bolas flay him alive for daring to try to trap him and for working with his nemesis Ugin. He's alive. His exile isn't even permanent. Jace can--assuming the Sun leaves the Plane, which we know at least will happen--come back at any time and remove the binding... not that it will do a lot of good, as Azor can't really leave the Plane.
Really, what is so extreme about Azor's fate?
If this was a human, it might be, since isolation does take its toll on the average human. We saw that happening with Jace on the very same Useless Island, and it was his resolve to leave that saved him.
With a Sphinx though, it's apparently different, since Azor spent a thousand years in his chamber alone and Sphinxes are generally fans of solitude. So who knows.
Certainly, but I wasn't focusing solely on the same magic type... I was focusing on the fact that Hixus clearly knows about Planeswalkers. You could also point out that hieromancy as a type of magic has not been seen much on Theros--though this might be in the books and I haven't seen it--and yet 'lawmage' is a profession on Ravnica. (Besides cards, Teysa is one.)
I wonder if Elspeth is the PW in question here, given she was trained on Theros under Setessa and became reknown.
Er, Azor is the one who started that crap. 'I tried to build the best government I could, but I'm not perfect and there are always cracks,' is a line of argument that I am fairly sure would have at least been listened to by Vraska. 'I'm a god and my systems are always perfect and therefore ipso facto you're wrong and my system couldn't have been to blame,' is not going to fly against Vraska or (apparently) Jace.
A system that relies on 10 different entities all with different agendas and yet having to work together to keep it together is a terrible basis for a system of government. </MP> The fact that Azor cannot admit that is the main issue, mainly because if they somehow got him off the plane he'd clearly just keep doing this crap.
I wasn't defending Azor's arrogance, he's clearly a self deluding A-Hole and incapable of understanding the flow and ebb of change, but his system ended the chaos on Ravnica. Without his interference, Ravnica we know today might not even exist. It was perfect for temporarily stopping the mess, something none of the residents at the time was able to do. Knowing how fragile politics in real life can be even after a decade, I will not hold Azor responsible for his system crumbling after TEN THOUSAND years because of dirty intents outside of his own, and he is most certainly not responsible for Vraska's personal imprisonment like the way she phrased it.
And understand, ten guilds is actually a very fair arrangement. Most first world nations today have more than two major parties, multiple political views is meant for diversity and civility, to speak for different citizens, U.S. having only two is a backward system bent on control and manipulating voters instead of democracy. Ten Ravnica guilds, each with a pair of the known mana, creates the balance needed while covering most diversities, is not a bad system, the only issue I have with it is after 10,000 years it became an oligarchy, which I don't believe Azor would want it had he foresaw it. I will not fault an individual for not predict things happening after that long period.
Um. Why is what happened to Azor 'extreme'? He was banished to an island. An island that we know can support life. He wasn't killed. He wasn't stripped of being a PW by the judgment.
'Extreme' would have been for Jace to let Vraska execute him. 'Extreme' is depowering him and letting Nicol Bolas flay him alive for daring to try to trap him and for working with his nemesis Ugin. He's alive. His exile isn't even permanent. Jace can--assuming the Sun leaves the Plane, which we know at least will happen--come back at any time and remove the binding... not that it will do a lot of good, as Azor can't really leave the Plane.
Really, what is so extreme about Azor's fate?
You think death is the worst fate?
Imagine yourself living on an island, knowing that there are worlds out there, friends and foes needing your attention, yet not being able to do anything to leave or interact with them, forever ALONE. Imagine you yourself knowing the potential inside you, how much you can accomplish, yet stuck working as a slave for the rest of your life, no progress, no change, how would you feel about it?
Given Azor's intellect and eons of experience in multiverse, now stuck as a warden over a piece of land, living a responsibility that doesn't serve any true purpose aside from spite, boiling with hatred and regret, for the rest of his immortality without any chance of redemption. An oaf like Angrath couldn't stand it, how do you think someone like Azor could?
Tell me, do you still think death is the worst fate?
This is why I call recent stories Hollywoodish, when death is considered the ultimate punishment and hero "not killing" deemed a worthy action, how naive and juvenile. There are many fates worse than death, many many more and much much worse.
Azor chose to give up his spark to imprison the multiverse's greatest threat, locked himself on Ixalan for that noble purpose, it's cruel to subjugate him to uselessness, and unwise because how his power could be put to use against Bolas. Jace made a wrong decision, plain and simple.
Well, colonialism was never about intervening to make the lives of the natives better, or to install good governance. It was about pillage, and occasionally territorial expansion aided by some degree of genocide. That's it. So the holding the idea that sometimes intervention can be necessary to improve conditions in a territory should not only not be taken to construe that you may support colonialism in some degree, it is actually not at all related to colonialism.
De facto, you're right, that's what it tended to turn into. But there was a lot of ideology behind it, and most of it was based precisely on the idea that introducing proper Western government and society would help the natives.
The "White Mans Burden" was a retroactive "justification" (in quotes because it didn't really justify it). Colonialism existed prior. The whole system was evolutionary. It began as an extension of the expansion of European nation states on the European continent. Conquest was the goal. France never really left that stage, considering all of its colonies as integral parts of France, though it did give up on outright replacing the natives. The Dutch were similar. The Boers set out to have their own independent white country, and where more than happy to drive out the native tribes. Ditto every Carribean colony, native populations were generally exterminated whenever Europeans decided to make an island white, and the same when they decided to make an island a plantation. For much of colonial history, the native population was not seen as a burden the white man needed to carry, but as either a resource to be exploited or a nuisance to be driven out or exterminated. Only when European morality began to shift, especially after Europeans abandoned slavery, did they start to use the white Mans Burden as an excuse. They still wanted colonies, which brought wealth and power, but naked exploitation was no longer acceptable. They had to at least be able to argue that they were providing some benefit to the natives, although in many cases (India) the natives weren't any less advanced than the conquerors (The Brits just were a superpower that played weak states against each other then took over those that remained after they were spent), and if the natives rebelled then they had an excuse for a brutal response. Or they were Leopold, and the colony was his private demense, and he just ran it like a southern plantation mixed with a nazi death camp, but bigger than France. That ******* guy, does not get nearly enough hate. He was even more of a mustache twirling villan than Bolas, not least of all because he actually twirled his damn mustache.
There's a limited amount I can say to this besides 'not really'.
It's true that the phrase itself comes from the poem, which was written at the tail end of the colonial period (and may have been ironic). But the concept of 'our civilization is better so we are benefitting these people by imposing it on them goes back to the Ancient Greeks and the word 'barbarian'. And the idea that people and civilizations in certain geographical locations might be superior goes back to ancient China.
'Turned into' was probably a poor choice of words, you're right that colonial nation states never intended to be helping the natives they ruled, for the most part. But even when the native populations were being used as resources, there was always a strand of benevolent colonialism which believed that they were helping the natives by enslaving or killing them (France is a perfect example - even as it exterminated natives, it claimed it was merely acting on a holy duty, the mission civilisatrice, to help unicivilised people civilise themeselves).
It's worth noting, too, that Leopold had to give up the Congo because neither the Dutch people nor the other colonial powers were OK with what he was doing there. There were limits.
Also, he was only letting people draw one card a turn, and that's just unforgivable.
One or the interesting bits of this story is that we've kind of got two sides of colonialism. We have Azor', who acts pretty close to how colonists are supposed to act according to the 'best' (which is really not saying much) versions of the ideology. And then we've got the Legion of Dusk, who are closer to embodying the worst possible version of it.
If I didn't know better, I would suspect this story of subtle symbolism.
Except it was never the motivating factor for colonization, it was always an excuse plastered on later. Obviously many cultures thought they were superior to others, duh. It doesn't change that the colonial expansion of every European power was driven by a desire to expand their territory, reap the resources of the places they conquered, and rise in power vis a vis their rivals. What country do you think started colonies to "civilize" the natives? It was always an excuse, never the motivating factor. You seemed to miss the point of the Leopold example, its not what the general public approved of that mattered, it was the motivations of the people starting the colonies, those in power. Leopold spoke of how he was bringing civilization to the Congolese, but he never even tried, because he only meant it as propaganda to bolster his image.
You have to separate the excuses people use to justify, often retroactively, their horrible actions in the pursuit of simple power and greed. It's relevant to the story because this conversation stems from Azors actions being compared to colonialism. Azor actually was motivated byba desire to improve the planes be visited, whether he succeeded or not. Colonialism was never motivated by that desire, despite paying lip service to it.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
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You'll tell me that Azor is primarily a hieromancer not a mind mage. Fine. But he is also a 10,000 year old sphinx. He brought order to many planes. He made the frigging Guidpact. He made yhe immortal sun. This implies tremendous skill and knowledge of spellcasting not just raw power. Power might have faded with the loss of his spark but his knowledge and expeerience should still be there. My point is, Azor is no small fry, oldwalker or not. Jace entered his mind way too easy.
This would be a problem, except that Jace is the Guildpact so it is Azor playing himself as the fool, by the time Jace was reading Azor's mind he had already set down just who was in charge by Azor's own set of rules, Azor is the Parun of the Azorious Guild..that means he is bound to the Guildpact.
Just to say, this is the second time Huatli has been annoyed at Angrath for killing a dino that she was using as part of an attack on him that she started. What the hell? You attacked him! You don't get to be angry about him fighting back!
And people wonder why I think Hualti is a Hypocrite? "HOW DARE you kill this wild animal I set commanded to attack you."
Imagine yourself living on an island, knowing that there are worlds out there, friends and foes needing your attention, yet not being able to do anything to leave or interact with them, forever ALONE. Imagine you yourself knowing the potential inside you, how much you can accomplish, yet stuck working as a slave for the rest of your life, no progress, no change, how would you feel about it?
Except that Azor -is not human- and may very well not require people to interact with.
Of note with Azor - Azor could be the first Oldwalker that we have seen that isn't insane because of being an immortal god being who had no emotional connections and was a screwball because he delved way to deep in the deep end of the W/U pool.
There are only three story cards in this set right? That's why Sphinx's Decree or Shake the Foundations aren't happening in the story. The art is just meant to depict the magic.
It's possible, probable in fact, that this is case. But it still doesn't sit well with me.
For one thing, we've had cards in the past that depict specific story moments despite lacking the story spotlight watermark, such as Impeccable Timing in Kaladesh and Hour of Devastation's defeat cycle. This is what I assumed that Sphinx's Decree and Shake the Foundations would be in this set. Apparently they aren't. They show main characters doing things that they don't actually do in the story, which is new. I guess we've seen it a little bit in plameswalker decks but those have to stretch to create tie-ins between the face of the product and the deck theme (Jace + Merfolk for instance). But cards in the actual set are ALWAYS going to be assumed to be canon.
And that's just for those of us who are invested in the story. What about players who aren't? Many people thought that the Gatewatch had died after the defeat cycle, and many thought Jace had died again after seeing the card where he fell down a waterfall. Granted, some of that may have been wishful thinking, but the cards were ambiguous. If cards that, strictly speaking, represent the story accurately (if ambiguously) can mislead people like that, imagine the damage that cards depicting the story inaccurately could cause. And all of this could have been avoided had they just flavored the cards differently, even just different art.
The fact that they made what seems like such a sloppy and easily avoidabld mistake leads me to believe that some kind of last minute change was made. For example, perhaps they had originally planned for Azor to regain his spark and appear in the next Ravnica block (which will inevitably be very soon) as a WU planeswalker. But maybe after seeing the popularity of Dovin Baan, they decided to make him the WU planeswalker instead. As a result, they hastily rewrote Azor as a blatant antagonist and changed his ultimate fate in this block, which didn't require any actual changes to the cards themselves. By this point, however, the art was already done and they were forced to print a card art depicting a scene that had been removed. That's just one possibility of many, but you get the idea: there very well might have been a last minute story change involved.
This would also explain why they included only three story spotlight cards, and why this story has a serious case of Journey into Nyx sydrome: that being a card depicting what looks like the climax/conclusion of the block (Deicide, Mastermind's Acquisition, but with more important information being ommitted from the cards entirely. People who didn't read the story won't know that Elspeth died, and now they won't know important details like Ugin's involvement, Azor's banishment, who controls the city, etc. This seems to completely contradict their policy of showing the story through the cards, so I think it's likely that they were forced to do so from a last-minute change. We already know that something similar happened in Eldritch Moon.
I could be wrong, but a lot of things feel off about this story and its representation in the cards, and a last minute change would explain a lot of that.
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Sad that the only thing I can say I like from this story is Angrath roasting Huatli's pet...
Though on the other hand, at least the community have their fun by being proven right about Azor and Ugin being involved in the Immortal Sun. The only question I have, then, is how exactly Bolas found out about the Immortal Sun, and how and most importantly why Bolas came to Tarkir.
Bolas pried information from Ugin's mind prior to "killing" Ugin, so how do you think he found out about it?
Also Ugin intended to lure Bolas, so while that is still a valid question, I'm gonna guess that Bolas learned of the plan somehow.
And arguably those things only happened to her because the Guildpact was deactivated at the time. The Azorious trying to genocide the Golgari is exactly the sort of thing the Guildpact was meant to stop, and DID stop for 10000 years.
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Personally, it did the opposite for me, which is a shame cause I was really starting to like him.
Hipocracy is a surefire way to get me to hate a character and Jace's justifications absolutely felt hipocritical to me.
As an aside; can people please stop calling the guildpact a failed government. It really cheapens it when you consider that even with its flaws and the forces working against it it still lasted for Ten Thousand Years. Even the most successful civilization in all of recorded human history don't even comes close to that.
Lasting long doesn't mean it was a good form of governance. The Guildpact created an oligarchy where murder was legal as long as it didn't impede guild business.
And side note: Jace shirking his duties as Guildpact, a responsibility that was forced on him with the option of either taking it or having the entire Tenth District get blown up by the Supreme Verdict is not remotely the same as showing up on planes and upending the entire status quo because you think things are too chaotic.
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That was my thinking. It seems the only cards that we should take at face value where the story is concerned are the story spotlight cards.
I think it's worth mentioning that the Guildpact basically dissolved itself. We say that it was the fault of the people why it broke, and that's true, but you have to remember that the Dimir's purpose was specifically to try to break the Guildpact in order to test it. If the original Guildpact didn't mandate that the Dimir be kept secret, Agrus Kos arresting Szadek wouldn't have caused it to crumble.
The "White Mans Burden" was a retroactive "justification" (in quotes because it didn't really justify it). Colonialism existed prior. The whole system was evolutionary. It began as an extension of the expansion of European nation states on the European continent. Conquest was the goal. France never really left that stage, considering all of its colonies as integral parts of France, though it did give up on outright replacing the natives. The Dutch were similar. The Boers set out to have their own independent white country, and where more than happy to drive out the native tribes. Ditto every Carribean colony, native populations were generally exterminated whenever Europeans decided to make an island white, and the same when they decided to make an island a plantation. For much of colonial history, the native population was not seen as a burden the white man needed to carry, but as either a resource to be exploited or a nuisance to be driven out or exterminated. Only when European morality began to shift, especially after Europeans abandoned slavery, did they start to use the white Mans Burden as an excuse. They still wanted colonies, which brought wealth and power, but naked exploitation was no longer acceptable. They had to at least be able to argue that they were providing some benefit to the natives, although in many cases (India) the natives weren't any less advanced than the conquerors (The Brits just were a superpower that played weak states against each other then took over those that remained after they were spent), and if the natives rebelled then they had an excuse for a brutal response. Or they were Leopold, and the colony was his private demense, and he just ran it like a southern plantation mixed with a nazi death camp, but bigger than France. That ******* guy, does not get nearly enough hate. He was even more of a mustache twirling villan than Bolas, not least of all because he actually twirled his damn mustache.
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Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
It’s not that I blame Creative for being poor writers (though I think some of them would qualify as this) but rather the system that makes a more careful approach to the story more difficult.
Edit: I have come to the conclusion, after considering the story-blocks from Origins-present that it would be in the best interest of the company and consumers for Wizards to hire an independent consultant with expertise in writing, narrative and branding to conduct a review and analysis of the recent lore and consumer response, and then provide an in-house workshop for Magic the Gathering’s Creative department
There is frankly a lot we do not see in terms of how the creation of a game impacts the creation of its story, both positively and negatively-
However, if Hasbro/Wizards intends to create a seamless, competitive brand and franchise that includes future blockbusters, games and fiction, then they need to do a better job at ensuring narrative quality, because as it stands, it looks a bit like a potpourri mess-
With all due respect
Even the art book and Writers can’t form a coherent, uniform narrative between them right now as someone mentioned.
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi
If he sets it up right he wouldn’t need to do anything about them anymore, sure he can wreck them all, but then again he would need to find them, time he could spend on more scheming. Imagine the following, Bolas sets the sun to Amonkhet, agents of him spread word of threats trough the multiverse, groups gather and come to Amonkhet, a world that will surely kill you one way or another, without having the chance to leave.
I don’t think it is the last we saw of Azor, as Teysa showed the wording of the Living Guildpact needs to be really precise and is “easy” to break. A pirate could come to useless island, claim it as his own, rename it and Azor would be free, because there wouldn’t be any island named useless island anymore. If not I hope we see a land card in the future called useless island, which generates a legendary sphinx token
After thinking about that part again it makes me wonder, how was he supposed to leave, even if he got his spark back? The sun should have trapped him anyway, so why did he agree and why did he believe getting his spark back would allow him to leave
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No, if it spawned Azor, it would more likely be a flip-land that flips into Azor, or it would be a Gate to the Afterlife-esque card that fetches Azor with an activated ability.
Now that we know Ugin and Azor intended to trap Bolas with it specifically and then give Azor his spark back, I'm wondering if maybe through hieromancy mumbo-jumbo, they somehow manage to make Ixalan's Binding only work on Bolas once they got him trapped. If that was the case, this never happened because Ugin never got a chance to see it through.
Of course, that is speculation on my part, and there are only three characters who might be able to fill in that gap (Ugin, Azor and Bolas, since the latter might have learned the full details of the plan from Ugin).
A flip land would also be a cool idea, it really needs a flavor text with Azor being "get off my lawn" like grumpy
Ugin seems to have presented him a way, or else he wouldn't have agreed in the first place, or Ugin manipulated him into thinking that there is a way. If there was one, the whole hieromancy way, as you said, seems to be the most logical one, we need to know more about how the sun works, if it really needs the spark inside to hold anything. The next meeting between Jace and Ugin could be really interesting.
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This is why I highly doubt that the plan was simply to use the sun to trap Bolas on Ixalan, at least the way it currently works. It could have done that UNTIL they finished him off, maybe by stealing his spark or trapping him in the sun like a Helvault, or by outright killing him while he's trapped on Ixalan (Bolas beats Ugin 1v1 with dragons go call on, but Ugin and Azor tag teaming him with no dragon backup for Bolas AND no way to escape they could have killed him and scoured his remains from existence). It's also possible that the Sun worked differently on Oldwalkers than Neowalkers. The nature of the spark has changed, and we don't know if the sun stopped Oldwalkers from planeswalking. Azor couldn't leave because he gave up his spark. Of course, this is all speculation because the story hasn't yet revealed everything, and we don't know if it will be revealed by the end of this story, whether loose ends will be intentionally left open, or whether the loose ends are just the result of plot holes, bad writing, and poorly done retcons.
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Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Because nobody cares. I forgot she had one until you mentioned him, because his contribution to the story has been roughly equivalent to a random marine from Halo. Huatli is a mediocre character as is, so I can't even bring my self to give a damn based on how his death could effect her. She was more concerned about her random dini getting flambéd by Angrath and acting unreasonably indignant about it.
And speaking of Angrath, they sure don't know how to write him. He gets so close to being interesting, he has a pretty fleshed out perspective on the world and a family, he has values and even a degree of wisdom, but they keep resetting him to HULK SMASH. It's frigging whiplash seeing him go from thoughtfully challenging Huatlis naivate and having a layered personality to "I AM ANGRY. MY CHARACTER TRAIT IS ANGRY. I AM ALSO IMPATIENT. I AM LITERALLY ANNOUNCING MY EMOTIONS. MY NAME IS A PORTMANTEAU OF ANGER AND WRATH." Seriously, his name has less subtlety than a Sith Lord's.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
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Hieromancy is a type of magic as much as pyromancy and telepathy, it existed before Azor though he is one of the prominent users.
We all agree that Azor deserves some lesson for his arrogance and meddling with planes, but Jace's banishment is hardly the right option, and Vraska was wrong to blame the individual who actually brought Ravnica peace once upon a time, for her suffering and guilds' current politics.
MtG stories are a little too much like a Hollywood hero movie these days, where creators want to please the audience by mete out extreme justice, but history taught us that nothing extreme ever leads to good result; wasn't that precisely what Jace/Vraska criticized Azor for?
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She could have been angry. She could have lectured him, cursed him, banished him, or even just let him splatter. But instead she did everything that Kumena, in her place, surely would not have done.
That sequence was short, but it was probably my favorite moment from Rivals so far.
Certainly, but I wasn't focusing solely on the same magic type... I was focusing on the fact that Hixus clearly knows about Planeswalkers. You could also point out that hieromancy as a type of magic has not been seen much on Theros--though this might be in the books and I haven't seen it--and yet 'lawmage' is a profession on Ravnica. (Besides cards, Teysa is one.)
Er, Azor is the one who started that crap. 'I tried to build the best government I could, but I'm not perfect and there are always cracks,' is a line of argument that I am fairly sure would have at least been listened to by Vraska. 'I'm a god and my systems are always perfect and therefore ipso facto you're wrong and my system couldn't have been to blame,' is not going to fly against Vraska or (apparently) Jace.
A system that relies on 10 different entities all with different agendas and yet having to work together to keep it together is a terrible basis for a system of government. </MP> The fact that Azor cannot admit that is the main issue, mainly because if they somehow got him off the plane he'd clearly just keep doing this crap.
Um. Why is what happened to Azor 'extreme'? He was banished to an island. An island that we know can support life. He wasn't killed. He wasn't stripped of being a PW by the judgment.
'Extreme' would have been for Jace to let Vraska execute him. 'Extreme' is depowering him and letting Nicol Bolas flay him alive for daring to try to trap him and for working with his nemesis Ugin. He's alive. His exile isn't even permanent. Jace can--assuming the Sun leaves the Plane, which we know at least will happen--come back at any time and remove the binding... not that it will do a lot of good, as Azor can't really leave the Plane.
Really, what is so extreme about Azor's fate?
If this was a human, it might be, since isolation does take its toll on the average human. We saw that happening with Jace on the very same Useless Island, and it was his resolve to leave that saved him.
With a Sphinx though, it's apparently different, since Azor spent a thousand years in his chamber alone and Sphinxes are generally fans of solitude. So who knows.
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I wonder if Elspeth is the PW in question here, given she was trained on Theros under Setessa and became reknown.
I wasn't defending Azor's arrogance, he's clearly a self deluding A-Hole and incapable of understanding the flow and ebb of change, but his system ended the chaos on Ravnica. Without his interference, Ravnica we know today might not even exist. It was perfect for temporarily stopping the mess, something none of the residents at the time was able to do. Knowing how fragile politics in real life can be even after a decade, I will not hold Azor responsible for his system crumbling after TEN THOUSAND years because of dirty intents outside of his own, and he is most certainly not responsible for Vraska's personal imprisonment like the way she phrased it.
And understand, ten guilds is actually a very fair arrangement. Most first world nations today have more than two major parties, multiple political views is meant for diversity and civility, to speak for different citizens, U.S. having only two is a backward system bent on control and manipulating voters instead of democracy. Ten Ravnica guilds, each with a pair of the known mana, creates the balance needed while covering most diversities, is not a bad system, the only issue I have with it is after 10,000 years it became an oligarchy, which I don't believe Azor would want it had he foresaw it. I will not fault an individual for not predict things happening after that long period.
You think death is the worst fate?
Imagine yourself living on an island, knowing that there are worlds out there, friends and foes needing your attention, yet not being able to do anything to leave or interact with them, forever ALONE. Imagine you yourself knowing the potential inside you, how much you can accomplish, yet stuck working as a slave for the rest of your life, no progress, no change, how would you feel about it?
Given Azor's intellect and eons of experience in multiverse, now stuck as a warden over a piece of land, living a responsibility that doesn't serve any true purpose aside from spite, boiling with hatred and regret, for the rest of his immortality without any chance of redemption. An oaf like Angrath couldn't stand it, how do you think someone like Azor could?
Tell me, do you still think death is the worst fate?
This is why I call recent stories Hollywoodish, when death is considered the ultimate punishment and hero "not killing" deemed a worthy action, how naive and juvenile. There are many fates worse than death, many many more and much much worse.
Azor chose to give up his spark to imprison the multiverse's greatest threat, locked himself on Ixalan for that noble purpose, it's cruel to subjugate him to uselessness, and unwise because how his power could be put to use against Bolas. Jace made a wrong decision, plain and simple.
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Except it was never the motivating factor for colonization, it was always an excuse plastered on later. Obviously many cultures thought they were superior to others, duh. It doesn't change that the colonial expansion of every European power was driven by a desire to expand their territory, reap the resources of the places they conquered, and rise in power vis a vis their rivals. What country do you think started colonies to "civilize" the natives? It was always an excuse, never the motivating factor. You seemed to miss the point of the Leopold example, its not what the general public approved of that mattered, it was the motivations of the people starting the colonies, those in power. Leopold spoke of how he was bringing civilization to the Congolese, but he never even tried, because he only meant it as propaganda to bolster his image.
You have to separate the excuses people use to justify, often retroactively, their horrible actions in the pursuit of simple power and greed. It's relevant to the story because this conversation stems from Azors actions being compared to colonialism. Azor actually was motivated byba desire to improve the planes be visited, whether he succeeded or not. Colonialism was never motivated by that desire, despite paying lip service to it.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
This would be a problem, except that Jace is the Guildpact so it is Azor playing himself as the fool, by the time Jace was reading Azor's mind he had already set down just who was in charge by Azor's own set of rules, Azor is the Parun of the Azorious Guild..that means he is bound to the Guildpact.
And people wonder why I think Hualti is a Hypocrite? "HOW DARE you kill this wild animal I set commanded to attack you."
Except that Azor -is not human- and may very well not require people to interact with.
Of note with Azor - Azor could be the first Oldwalker that we have seen that isn't insane because of being an immortal god being who had no emotional connections and was a screwball because he delved way to deep in the deep end of the W/U pool.
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
It's possible, probable in fact, that this is case. But it still doesn't sit well with me.
For one thing, we've had cards in the past that depict specific story moments despite lacking the story spotlight watermark, such as Impeccable Timing in Kaladesh and Hour of Devastation's defeat cycle. This is what I assumed that Sphinx's Decree and Shake the Foundations would be in this set. Apparently they aren't. They show main characters doing things that they don't actually do in the story, which is new. I guess we've seen it a little bit in plameswalker decks but those have to stretch to create tie-ins between the face of the product and the deck theme (Jace + Merfolk for instance). But cards in the actual set are ALWAYS going to be assumed to be canon.
And that's just for those of us who are invested in the story. What about players who aren't? Many people thought that the Gatewatch had died after the defeat cycle, and many thought Jace had died again after seeing the card where he fell down a waterfall. Granted, some of that may have been wishful thinking, but the cards were ambiguous. If cards that, strictly speaking, represent the story accurately (if ambiguously) can mislead people like that, imagine the damage that cards depicting the story inaccurately could cause. And all of this could have been avoided had they just flavored the cards differently, even just different art.
The fact that they made what seems like such a sloppy and easily avoidabld mistake leads me to believe that some kind of last minute change was made. For example, perhaps they had originally planned for Azor to regain his spark and appear in the next Ravnica block (which will inevitably be very soon) as a WU planeswalker. But maybe after seeing the popularity of Dovin Baan, they decided to make him the WU planeswalker instead. As a result, they hastily rewrote Azor as a blatant antagonist and changed his ultimate fate in this block, which didn't require any actual changes to the cards themselves. By this point, however, the art was already done and they were forced to print a card art depicting a scene that had been removed. That's just one possibility of many, but you get the idea: there very well might have been a last minute story change involved.
This would also explain why they included only three story spotlight cards, and why this story has a serious case of Journey into Nyx sydrome: that being a card depicting what looks like the climax/conclusion of the block (Deicide, Mastermind's Acquisition, but with more important information being ommitted from the cards entirely. People who didn't read the story won't know that Elspeth died, and now they won't know important details like Ugin's involvement, Azor's banishment, who controls the city, etc. This seems to completely contradict their policy of showing the story through the cards, so I think it's likely that they were forced to do so from a last-minute change. We already know that something similar happened in Eldritch Moon.
I could be wrong, but a lot of things feel off about this story and its representation in the cards, and a last minute change would explain a lot of that.