Really late to the discussion (about the last story), but I really like Vraska's characterization here (sure there's a bit of confusion, but honestly I've reached the point I gave up, every time they bring back a planeswalker to the spotlight I think there's going to be some minor re-alignments, as long as none of them are as jarring as Nissa's I don't think I want to waste energy going on about it).
Vraska's characterization here really establishes her as GB (as opposed to BG). Yes, she's pragmatic when it comes to deciding to keep Jace and wouldn't hesitate to dispose of him if he turns on her later on. But she entertains the thoughts of reasoning with Jace and dreams of perhaps actually making him a "balanced" Guildpact (mileage and opinion on "balanced" may vary) and the way she interacted with Jace so far has been genuine. The interaction itself may be lacking evidence (anyone could act nice with a sinister motive), but her internal thoughts do align with her actions and unlike with Emrakul, there's no inkling that Vraska could potentially ever touch (let alone breach) the fourth wall to deceive us (and if she suddenly turns "evil" with no real reason, then all these thought processes will be really bad writing in my opinion, because it was building suspense in a way that Vraska had no real reason to do so in-universe if she isn't aware of us).
Vraska here is showing the caring, nurturing side of G which is often just written off G characters as unimportant/uninteresting regardless of the character's other alignments. Nissa does display hints of this, but its mostly to elementals and leylines we're even less invested in and when it comes to character-relationship, she's the one who needs the nurturing instead, so it's admittedly deservedly overlooked there to some degree. But with Vraska it's there and it's pretty authentic as far as the story goes (for now at least).
In fact if it weren't for her circumstances/environment, Vraska might have even have been G in character, but Ravnica certainly wasn't forgiving and to survive she had to develop B characteristics, but Ixalan (ironically) for once gave her free rein and she actively chose her G methods rather than her B ones (she did keep them in mind, although to be fair her entire life so far needed to rely on it).
If she stayed this friendly all the way to the conclusion of Ixalan (and its immediate aftermath) I would even argue that she was effectively just G for the block, but we're far from the ending of the block to know if anything changes.
Question: How does the story work with the Ixalan map? Because the two don't seen to line up.
First of all, looking at the map, I have no idea where the Great River with its nine tributaries is supposed to be.
But another thing I can't figure out: Chapter 4 (The Shapers) took place at The Primal Wellspring. On the map, that's marked way to the south. Kumena and Tishana heard the enemy ships arriving to the east, and raced to the coast to intercept them. As such, we can gather that they wrecked The Belligerent either somewhere in Queen's Bay or just north of The Conqueror's foothold.
So here's what I don't get. How did Jace and Vraska, sailing from The High and Dry way to the north, wind up that far south if their compass was pointing them toward Orazca?
(I know Wizards likes to avoid making maps for precisely this reason, to avoid geographical inconsistencies in their storytelling. But seriously, since they went through all that trouble to make a map this time, you'd think the creative team would take a bit more care in making it work with the story?)
Well, there's a few different things that could've happened, I think.
1) High and Dry is a floating city. That means it's location likely isn't as absolute as the map might make it seem. It probably moves around a bit, otherwise it'd be a pretty key target for the vampires.
2) Even with a compass, you don't exactly get to choose where you go. They probably can't get too close to the Spitfire Bastion, so they might need to sail further south. And if the gameplan is to sail as long as possible, then the pirates will want a river entrance of some kind to get inland. But even if the plan is to make ground, and then walk the rest of the way inland to Orazca, they need to have the ship located in an area that let's it be relatively hidden. Landing on the Sun Coast would mean leaving the ship basically alone in Sun Empire territory, and that would be a bad move.
Plus, I mean, I don't think anyone on the boat had wind magic that let them always have the wind at their back. And it's not like the mountains aren't visible from sea. The thought likely went through someone's head that "The mountains probably don't go all the way 'round the island. Let's find a spot where they're not a problem."
Really late to the discussion (about the last story), but I really like Vraska's characterization here (sure there's a bit of confusion, but honestly I've reached the point I gave up, every time they bring back a planeswalker to the spotlight I think there's going to be some minor re-alignments, as long as none of them are as jarring as Nissa's I don't think I want to waste energy going on about it).
Vraska's characterization here really establishes her as GB (as opposed to BG). Yes, she's pragmatic when it comes to deciding to keep Jace and wouldn't hesitate to dispose of him if he turns on her later on. But she entertains the thoughts of reasoning with Jace and dreams of perhaps actually making him a "balanced" Guildpact (mileage and opinion on "balanced" may vary) and the way she interacted with Jace so far has been genuine. The interaction itself may be lacking evidence (anyone could act nice with a sinister motive), but her internal thoughts do align with her actions and unlike with Emrakul, there's no inkling that Vraska could potentially ever touch (let alone breach) the fourth wall to deceive us (and if she suddenly turns "evil" with no real reason, then all these thought processes will be really bad writing in my opinion, because it was building suspense in a way that Vraska had no real reason to do so in-universe if she isn't aware of us).
Vraska here is showing the caring, nurturing side of G which is often just written off G characters as unimportant/uninteresting regardless of the character's other alignments. Nissa does display hints of this, but its mostly to elementals and leylines we're even less invested in and when it comes to character-relationship, she's the one who needs the nurturing instead, so it's admittedly deservedly overlooked there to some degree. But with Vraska it's there and it's pretty authentic as far as the story goes (for now at least).
In fact if it weren't for her circumstances/environment, Vraska might have even have been G in character, but Ravnica certainly wasn't forgiving and to survive she had to develop B characteristics, but Ixalan (ironically) for once gave her free rein and she actively chose her G methods rather than her B ones (she did keep them in mind, although to be fair her entire life so far needed to rely on it).
If she stayed this friendly all the way to the conclusion of Ixalan (and its immediate aftermath) I would even argue that she was effectively just G for the block, but we're far from the ending of the block to know if anything changes.
Ironically, I see this story arc emphasizing her Black aspects over her Green, and her Black aspects are what is letting her bond with Jace. From her backstory, Vraska has always been told that she has a place, and she must fit in her place. This is the green side of the green/black tension, the conflict of predestination vs. free will. Vraska wants to believe in free will and her ability to choose her own path, but the options available to her before now have all been Green... which requires living the life she was born into, and that life, on Ravnica, is one of murder and exile.
Then Jace comes in and offers--damn near proclaims--the blue argument of nurture vs. the green argument of nature. This argument resonates with Vraska's core wish of having her own life and directly argues against the green circumstances she's lived under before now.
Small wonder that they're becoming friends (at least).
Vraska here is showing the caring, nurturing side of G which is often just written off G characters as unimportant/uninteresting regardless of the character's other alignments. Nissa does display hints of this, but its mostly to elementals and leylines we're even less invested in and when it comes to character-relationship, she's the one who needs the nurturing instead, so it's admittedly deservedly overlooked there to some degree. But with Vraska it's there and it's pretty authentic as far as the story goes (for now at least).
small argument on the Nissa thing. i think she showed quite a bit of caring and nurturing during Kaladesh block. her treatment of Chandra, and in the end, of Yahenni, showed a very caring side of Green.
Ironically, I see this story arc emphasizing her Black aspects over her Green, and her Black aspects are what is letting her bond with Jace. From her backstory, Vraska has always been told that she has a place, and she must fit in her place. This is the green side of the green/black tension, the conflict of predestination vs. free will. Vraska wants to believe in free will and her ability to choose her own path, but the options available to her before now have all been Green... which requires living the life she was born into, and that life, on Ravnica, is one of murder and exile.
Then Jace comes in and offers--damn near proclaims--the blue argument of nurture vs. the green argument of nature. This argument resonates with Vraska's core wish of having her own life and directly argues against the green circumstances she's lived under before now.
Small wonder that they're becoming friends (at least).
I guess each of us processes the situations differently, but I feel like your usage of "tension" is quite awkward. On Ravnica, Vraska was told that she had a place and must fit in it, which is G indeed, but that describes the environment (Ravnica), not Vraska, who despite being a BG character, felt that was too much G and therefore relied on her B side as a coping mechanism to survive on the plane, hence creating the tension.
Ixalan is the complete opposite, being a plane of pretty much free will, the environment is technically B for Vraska. She was presented with Jace after spending enough time on Ixalan to not immediately fall back on her B mechanisms despite Jace arguably being the representative of the other environment (Ravnica) that triggers it. In fact, it's arguable there Ixalan presented her "too much" free will in a way that her "usual" coping mechanisms of the past felt redundant (but her pragmatism didn't completely discard it) and in fit of irony took the chance the free will of the environment gave to her to develop her other characteristics (which on a technicality is the coping mechanism on the other end, although realistically it's hard to word it as such against something like free will).
As for nurture vs nature, I don't feel like the direct conflict is there at all - U nurtures with the objective of the end development and would skip the lengthy process in between if it can. G is fully capable of nurturing as well, but to it the process is part of the end development and doesn't believe that there's a way to skip it. If anything, Jace's general okay-ness with his memory loss and his (more-than-usual) caution with his mind-reading skills makes him more GU this block (and hence getting along with Vraska).
What I'm saying tension technically is a minor conflict between a character and his/her environment (to me, at least) and your phrasing sort of makes it sound like Vraska didn't have any issues with any of her environments and has a conflict with Jace, while the way I see it she has been conflicting with her environments (even Ixalan, but she needed Jace for the exposition) and getting along with Jace.
Jace himself hasn't really done much for Vraska, his position (as Guildpact), not his character, did tempt her to utilize her B mechanisms, but the important point/development here is that she ultimately didn't choose it despite being able to because Ixalan (the environment) provided much more options that she actually made the decision that shocked everyone (including Vraska herself), because up to now not even she thought she was capable of choosing that.
Like I said, each of us probably views the situations differently so while I do have somewhat an idea of how you're viewing it, I can't wrap around it as I think my own view is more "logical" (to me at least). I don't think there's any right-and-wrong way to view this, but I still had to type out my entire thought process to establish the "logic"/"way" I saw the situation played out.
small argument on the Nissa thing. i think she showed quite a bit of caring and nurturing during Kaladesh block. her treatment of Chandra, and in the end, of Yahenni, showed a very caring side of Green.
She did, but I think the crux of her character doesn't really lie in the caring, nurturing side of G. To me, what I appreciate about Nissa is the portrayal of introversion as a natural (neither-wrong-nor-right) aspect of character instead of being painted negatively as media (as a naturally extroverted medium) have a tendency to usually paint. The issue is that introversion will naturally hide her other natures, which the caring and nurturing part is part of, which is why elemental emphasis is so important - it's the only time Nissa isn't "introverted". I won't deny that Nissa's overall reception will suffer (like I said media is a extroverted medium by nature), but I really appreciate that for now it's a price the story/game is willing to pay for accurate portrayal.
Which brings to the main point - I don't want them to have Nissa suddenly lose that introverted nature and be capable of expressing her care and concern for people without taking a substantial amount of time knowing them first, which is why I like Vraska (being a totally different character) taking that role instead (granted she already knows Jace, but they definitely weren't close/friendly enough prior to Ixalan). They both essentially have the same G aspects, expresssed through different sides of the introvert/extrovert spectrum (it's arguable whether Vraska is on the extrovert end, but given she leads a crew quite well, she has to be tilting towards the extrovert-side of an ambivert at the very least, which is far enough from Nissa to matter for me at least).
So it looks like Huatli and Tishana have formed a tentative alliance, which is neat. We also get our introductions to Mavren and Vona here. My only major qualm is that Vona is clearly not a white character in terms of personality. Her card should have been mono black.
New story is up. Not so good this week but it might be because they crammed almost all of the cast in this one story.
Thoughts:
-Mavren Fein looks fairly interesting. Pitty he wasnt in it long enough.
- Vona is insane and reads more like a rakdos than orzhov.
- Jace and Vraska were good as always, but when Jace started blabbing about aetheric stuff I got compeltely lost. What in the world is aetheric north and how does he know what it is, considering he's been mindwiped and this is the first time such a thing's been mentioned?
- Huatli's section was the worst for me. It was very hard to read, the geography and the pacing are a mess, I have no idea who half of the people mentioned are and I no desire to learn. Huatli herself is boring sadly, Tishana was alright though.
- Apparently Angrath is there as well but he didnt have his own section, same as Kumena. Saving the best for part 2?
Finally things get going. Things felt kinda slow for me, but I think it the nature of magic story since we already knew that the 4 faction would at some point meet up and start the race to the golden city and this story picks things up. As a general note I think this story since it reminded about on of the few cool things they did in BTZ stores, seeing the same event/ around the time from the different POV character and how they inter-lock.
-Got a pov section on the vampires
-From the mad Mavren we learn about how the vampires on Ixalan came to be. I really think the first vampire learned how to become a vampire from the bat god.
-Vona defiantly feels more black, maybe the white side of her is she is loyal to the crown and church?
-Jace and Vraska is getting good and interesting Vraska said no secrets from then on, yet has mention her had tried to kill Jace.
-Vraska caring for people have been hard to explain but this story kinda clears it up. She view others kinda like a pack (green) but more based on survival of the fittest. She cares for them but also leaves them to thier own survial and trust they can take care of themselves (black).
- I think it is safe to say that the Immortal Sun is an off plane "artifact" since Jace figured out that is gives off the same energy that planeswalekr do when they walk.
-I wanna go back and re-read how other walkers walk between worlds, Vraskas seems dramatic in a fun way lol
-This explains that Huatli is looking for a guide and found in Tishana. Anyone thinking that from the Rival art that Huatli is going to break their pact?
-Her cousin is going to end up dead right? The vampire they trying to track is Vona so.....
-Huatli basically been told that she a planeswalker twice and still doesn't realize it...smh
“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
While Ugin as a Quetzalcoatl (sp?) figure seems not unlikely, we should keep in mind that we already have a winged (presumably) figure in the setting: Aclazotz. I wonder... instead of Ugin, could we be seeing a Minion of Leshrac? That's the most 'iconic' bat-like thing we've ever seen, no?
Im starting to be more sold on the Ugin thing, even if only because I'm selling myself on the idea that Ugin getting to represent Quetzalcoatl sounds pretty neat.
I enjoyed the story but it was certainly not as focused as many of the stories so far have been. The only vampire pov's we've seen are at least decently interesting. They don't paint the vampires as monsters or anything villainous. Yeah they are religious fanatics but they have rules. They play BW super well here as they are the faction most opposed to those outside of itself. Even then, glad there isn't really a clear villain here.
The most interesting bit of the story, for me, is Angrath. I'm curious if he will encounter Vrace and learn that they are walkers. If he does, I'm pretty sure he would be helping them. We've already learned that he really just wants to leave
They don't paint the vampires as monsters or anything villainous
Vona straight up slaughtered (and presumably fed upon) ordinary innocent people who were her subjects and she clearly enjoyed it. She made a game of it. Thats both pretty monstrous and villainous.
Also any vampire that goes on a bloodfast ends up a superhuman killing machine that attacks anything that moves. I'd say that is pretty monstrous too.
They don't paint the vampires as monsters or anything villainous
Vona straight up slaughtered (and presumably fed upon) ordinary innocent people who were her subjects and she clearly enjoyed it. She made a game of it. That's both pretty monstrous and villainous.
Also, any vampire that goes on a blood fast ends up a superhuman killing machine that attacks anything that moves. I'd say that is pretty monstrous too.
I'd contend that the "WHY" behind taking a blood fast is just as important and that it demonstrates the dichotomy between Mavren's white alignment and Vona's White-Black alignment. Mavren is a crazed homicidal beast while he is fasting yes. And, look at why he chose to take that fast. It wasn't for his own personal interest or ambition, it was for the greater good of his collective. He chose this 'curse' because he wished to walk the path of Saint Elenda. Is this path one filled with violence and potential to harm innocents? Yes, it is, and I am guessing Mavren would be the first to admit he can, and has, made mistakes.
Now, Vona. Vona is, as many pointed out, a monster. She may have decided to join a cause larger than herself, (that would be the white side of her alignment) only she doesn't care about the greater good/betterment of her group. She said so herself when thinking about her time as an administrator after the Apostasine Wars. She got bored when her responsibilities were no longer concerning her own needs and wants. She got bored, and in that boredom decided to hunt. That sort of naked selfishness would fall squarely into black's philosophy. I agree that she is certainly far more weighted to the black end of the White-Black design space and perhaps could have been reflected better in a 2WBB mana cost.
Still, I like having that divergence of characters in the Legion of Dusk. It shows what you'd find in any culture/organized religion/community, a divergence of motives that guide people under the same affiliation.
Vona is indeed a monster. However, the Vampires as a whole are not villains, which is a nice thing.
Mavren Fein is, perhaps, my favorite character in the entire story. I'm surprised that Arguel's Blood Fast doesn't reference him, though. We need to meet Arguel to know how important Aclazotz is...
Vampires are my favorite tribe. Interesting story, loved the multiple POV approach. Jace and Vraska alliance continues to be the highlight of the story, but Tishana and Huatli was interesting too. I hope we get more glimpses of Terrazon someday. That said, I'm curious about the difference between Orazca and the Immortal Sun. The latter seems like it may be an otherwordly artifact. Some talk about using the Immortal Sun, others about claiming Orazca. I assumed they were the same thing, but it's hard to say.
I have a point to make regarding the Immortal Sun and the likely entity that stole/took/whatevered it.
Correct me if I'm wrong--my Mesoamerican mythology is not at all developed--but wasn't the Sun myth for them that it was taken by a bat-god every night? Wouldn't that point to the bat-god Aclazotz being the one who took an artifact called the Immortal Sun?
Edit: There's also the fact that Saint Elenda only became a vampire after going after the Immortal Sun and spread vampirism after she returned. Sounds like a 'gift' from a bat-god, no?
Okay let me be the first to do this: Saint Elenda is the Myojin of Night's Reach, "Hair like a raven's wings and nails like lightning's edge" gave it away
But joke aside, good story, if it just focused on Mavren alone it might have been better, he is hilarious
Can’t wait to play him in my Edgar EDH, I will be throwing away my lifecounter while yelling "I KNEW WE DID NOT NEED THESE TOOLS OF DECEPTION!" and „My faith in Elenda will guide me to victory!"
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Okay let me be the first to do this: Saint Elenda is the Myojin of Night's Reach, "Hair like a raven's wings and nails like lightning's edge" gave it away
Mavren and Vona's PoV's were much needed to get the vampires represented. I like that they show different sides of the Legion, his fervent religiosity and her more classic vampire tendancies.
Mavren's history lesson gave some cool insight into how and why vampires manifested on Ixalan. It seems to confirm that the Immortal Sun does grant immortality/extended life and that the Torrezon ruling class had to turn to vampirism through St. Elenda to maintain their power. This is a nice touch, reminding me a little of Edgar Markov turning to dark forces to survive.
Vona is a good example of why you need to keep busy if you are immortal. Especially if you are an immortal vampire with a powerful thirst and prone to boredom.
Jace and Vraska were good this week, and did confirm the workings of the compass.
I do like how Vraska was described by Huatli; it is fun to see the various characters be described by other characters that haven't met yet.
I liked Tishana's description of planeswalking (a dolphin trying to breach the surface) and wonder just how much she knows about 'walkers.
Mavren is the most entertaining mono-white character we’ve had in a long time. The thing with the navigator’s tools was hilarious. I agree with everyone saying that Vona feels too black and not enough white. I think it would have been better if she had tried to rationalize her feeding habits: something like “I only feed on the guilty, but all humans are guilty.” Similar to Avacyn’s “the seeds of men are rotten”. I’m not sure why they didn’t go that route, maybe they wanted to further differentiate Vona from Mavren? I did like how Mavren talks about how patient he is and then shortly after Vona talks about how she isn’t patient at all. There’s a nice compare and contrast between the two vampires going on here.
Tishana continues to prove that GU characters are ten times more likely to figure out the existence of planeswalkers on their own than characters of other color combinations. First Kruphix, then Rashmi, and now her. Or maybe she didn’t figure it out on her own, but instead Ugin told the merfolk leaders about it. He could have told them and enlisted them to protect Orazca centuries ago, with the current merfolk remembering their mission, the nature of planeswalkers, and that there was a “Guardian”, but not who exactly that “Guardian” was.
It seems incredibly likely the bat god is the source of vampirism on Ixalan (the plane, not the continent). The only question now is who stole the Immortal Sun in the first place: Aclazotz (to bait the Dusk Legion to go to Ixalan and turn them into vampires) or Ugin (presumably to protect it because it was some type of threat). I also want to know which characters will get cards in Rivals. For the Dusk Legion in particular, it seems particularly competitive: each faction will probably only get two new legends at most in the second set, but the Dusk Legion has Arguel, Adrian Adanto, Aclazotz (why do they all start with A?), and Elenda. Perhaps either Arguel or Elenda will somehow represent the bat god and Adanto won’t get a card because he doesn’t seem super relevant to the story.
So the finale of the first set’s story will involve Jace, Vraska, Angrath, Huatli, Tishana, Kumena, and Vona. Technically Adrian could appear as well, but Jace only sensed one vampire so I think that Adrian will team up with some combination of Arguel, Aclazotz, and/or Elenda in the second set to try and take Orazca after Vona fails. I’m guessing that the second set will have Vona kill Huatli’s cousin, but then get defeated by Huatli and Tishana, who then proceed to find Orazca. Jace and Vraska will probably talk some more and I assume that Vraska will reveal why they had a duel deck against each other, which Jace will forgive her for because he doesn’t remember it and he considers himself (and her) a new person now. Then Jace will fall off a waterfall as Orazca rises from the ground after Huatli discovers it, but Jace won’t die, of course, because he’s Jace. And thus the first set ends on an (almost) literal cliffhanger.
My extremely general prediction for the Rivals of Ixalan story is this: Jace finds Kumena after his fall and goes with him to Orazca. Angrath finds Vraska and they also work together because Angrath really, really wants to escape and he’s willing to work with another planeswalker to do it. Meanwhile, a group of vampires, led by some combination of Adrian, Arguel, and Elenda, also seek Orazca. The vampires, the pirates (Angrath and Vraska, possibly joined by Vraska’s surviving crew), and the merfolk (Kumena, his followers, and Jace) all reach Orazca, where Huatli and Tishana already are. There’s a big fight, and in the end the antagonists (the vampires and Kumena) are all defeated. (There might be multiple seperate fights instead, for example, Vraska and Angrath beat Kumena and rescue Jace, while Huatli and Tishana defeat the vampires, but the end result is the same: good guys win, bad guys lose.)
Now all four planeswalkers plus Tishana are in Orazca. Ugin appears, explains everything, restores Jace’s memories (because somebody has to do it), and takes down the barrier (maybe only temporarily) so that the four planeswalkers can leave. Before they leave, Jace, with his memories restored, might try to recruit Vraska (and maybe Huatli) to the Gatewatch, and they may or may not accept. One of the planeswalkers might take the Immortal Sun (whatever it is) with them or they might leave it on Ixalan, depending on what Ugin wants. Tishana is the only one remaining, so Ugin tasks her with restoring Orazca to its original state and keeping it protected from everyone, just like he probably told her ancestors to do originally.
(No idea how the agent of Bolas who Vraska is supposed to call is involved in this, but Tezzeret setting up the portal and letting Jace (who he hates) and Huatli (who would never work with/for Tezzeret/Bolas) seems wrong. The thing I'm most confident about is the four 'walkers all being together in Orazca and leaving in the end, which Tezzeret would probably prevent. Maybe it's Ral Zarek?)
Vraska's characterization here really establishes her as GB (as opposed to BG). Yes, she's pragmatic when it comes to deciding to keep Jace and wouldn't hesitate to dispose of him if he turns on her later on. But she entertains the thoughts of reasoning with Jace and dreams of perhaps actually making him a "balanced" Guildpact (mileage and opinion on "balanced" may vary) and the way she interacted with Jace so far has been genuine. The interaction itself may be lacking evidence (anyone could act nice with a sinister motive), but her internal thoughts do align with her actions and unlike with Emrakul, there's no inkling that Vraska could potentially ever touch (let alone breach) the fourth wall to deceive us (and if she suddenly turns "evil" with no real reason, then all these thought processes will be really bad writing in my opinion, because it was building suspense in a way that Vraska had no real reason to do so in-universe if she isn't aware of us).
Vraska here is showing the caring, nurturing side of G which is often just written off G characters as unimportant/uninteresting regardless of the character's other alignments. Nissa does display hints of this, but its mostly to elementals and leylines we're even less invested in and when it comes to character-relationship, she's the one who needs the nurturing instead, so it's admittedly deservedly overlooked there to some degree. But with Vraska it's there and it's pretty authentic as far as the story goes (for now at least).
In fact if it weren't for her circumstances/environment, Vraska might have even have been G in character, but Ravnica certainly wasn't forgiving and to survive she had to develop B characteristics, but Ixalan (ironically) for once gave her free rein and she actively chose her G methods rather than her B ones (she did keep them in mind, although to be fair her entire life so far needed to rely on it).
If she stayed this friendly all the way to the conclusion of Ixalan (and its immediate aftermath) I would even argue that she was effectively just G for the block, but we're far from the ending of the block to know if anything changes.
Well, there's a few different things that could've happened, I think.
1) High and Dry is a floating city. That means it's location likely isn't as absolute as the map might make it seem. It probably moves around a bit, otherwise it'd be a pretty key target for the vampires.
2) Even with a compass, you don't exactly get to choose where you go. They probably can't get too close to the Spitfire Bastion, so they might need to sail further south. And if the gameplan is to sail as long as possible, then the pirates will want a river entrance of some kind to get inland. But even if the plan is to make ground, and then walk the rest of the way inland to Orazca, they need to have the ship located in an area that let's it be relatively hidden. Landing on the Sun Coast would mean leaving the ship basically alone in Sun Empire territory, and that would be a bad move.
Plus, I mean, I don't think anyone on the boat had wind magic that let them always have the wind at their back. And it's not like the mountains aren't visible from sea. The thought likely went through someone's head that "The mountains probably don't go all the way 'round the island. Let's find a spot where they're not a problem."
Ironically, I see this story arc emphasizing her Black aspects over her Green, and her Black aspects are what is letting her bond with Jace. From her backstory, Vraska has always been told that she has a place, and she must fit in her place. This is the green side of the green/black tension, the conflict of predestination vs. free will. Vraska wants to believe in free will and her ability to choose her own path, but the options available to her before now have all been Green... which requires living the life she was born into, and that life, on Ravnica, is one of murder and exile.
Then Jace comes in and offers--damn near proclaims--the blue argument of nurture vs. the green argument of nature. This argument resonates with Vraska's core wish of having her own life and directly argues against the green circumstances she's lived under before now.
Small wonder that they're becoming friends (at least).
small argument on the Nissa thing. i think she showed quite a bit of caring and nurturing during Kaladesh block. her treatment of Chandra, and in the end, of Yahenni, showed a very caring side of Green.
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I guess each of us processes the situations differently, but I feel like your usage of "tension" is quite awkward. On Ravnica, Vraska was told that she had a place and must fit in it, which is G indeed, but that describes the environment (Ravnica), not Vraska, who despite being a BG character, felt that was too much G and therefore relied on her B side as a coping mechanism to survive on the plane, hence creating the tension.
Ixalan is the complete opposite, being a plane of pretty much free will, the environment is technically B for Vraska. She was presented with Jace after spending enough time on Ixalan to not immediately fall back on her B mechanisms despite Jace arguably being the representative of the other environment (Ravnica) that triggers it. In fact, it's arguable there Ixalan presented her "too much" free will in a way that her "usual" coping mechanisms of the past felt redundant (but her pragmatism didn't completely discard it) and in fit of irony took the chance the free will of the environment gave to her to develop her other characteristics (which on a technicality is the coping mechanism on the other end, although realistically it's hard to word it as such against something like free will).
As for nurture vs nature, I don't feel like the direct conflict is there at all - U nurtures with the objective of the end development and would skip the lengthy process in between if it can. G is fully capable of nurturing as well, but to it the process is part of the end development and doesn't believe that there's a way to skip it. If anything, Jace's general okay-ness with his memory loss and his (more-than-usual) caution with his mind-reading skills makes him more GU this block (and hence getting along with Vraska).
What I'm saying tension technically is a minor conflict between a character and his/her environment (to me, at least) and your phrasing sort of makes it sound like Vraska didn't have any issues with any of her environments and has a conflict with Jace, while the way I see it she has been conflicting with her environments (even Ixalan, but she needed Jace for the exposition) and getting along with Jace.
Jace himself hasn't really done much for Vraska, his position (as Guildpact), not his character, did tempt her to utilize her B mechanisms, but the important point/development here is that she ultimately didn't choose it despite being able to because Ixalan (the environment) provided much more options that she actually made the decision that shocked everyone (including Vraska herself), because up to now not even she thought she was capable of choosing that.
Like I said, each of us probably views the situations differently so while I do have somewhat an idea of how you're viewing it, I can't wrap around it as I think my own view is more "logical" (to me at least). I don't think there's any right-and-wrong way to view this, but I still had to type out my entire thought process to establish the "logic"/"way" I saw the situation played out.
She did, but I think the crux of her character doesn't really lie in the caring, nurturing side of G. To me, what I appreciate about Nissa is the portrayal of introversion as a natural (neither-wrong-nor-right) aspect of character instead of being painted negatively as media (as a naturally extroverted medium) have a tendency to usually paint. The issue is that introversion will naturally hide her other natures, which the caring and nurturing part is part of, which is why elemental emphasis is so important - it's the only time Nissa isn't "introverted". I won't deny that Nissa's overall reception will suffer (like I said media is a extroverted medium by nature), but I really appreciate that for now it's a price the story/game is willing to pay for accurate portrayal.
Which brings to the main point - I don't want them to have Nissa suddenly lose that introverted nature and be capable of expressing her care and concern for people without taking a substantial amount of time knowing them first, which is why I like Vraska (being a totally different character) taking that role instead (granted she already knows Jace, but they definitely weren't close/friendly enough prior to Ixalan). They both essentially have the same G aspects, expresssed through different sides of the introvert/extrovert spectrum (it's arguable whether Vraska is on the extrovert end, but given she leads a crew quite well, she has to be tilting towards the extrovert-side of an ambivert at the very least, which is far enough from Nissa to matter for me at least).
So it looks like Huatli and Tishana have formed a tentative alliance, which is neat. We also get our introductions to Mavren and Vona here. My only major qualm is that Vona is clearly not a white character in terms of personality. Her card should have been mono black.
Thoughts:
-Mavren Fein looks fairly interesting. Pitty he wasnt in it long enough.
- Vona is insane and reads more like a rakdos than orzhov.
- Jace and Vraska were good as always, but when Jace started blabbing about aetheric stuff I got compeltely lost. What in the world is aetheric north and how does he know what it is, considering he's been mindwiped and this is the first time such a thing's been mentioned?
- Huatli's section was the worst for me. It was very hard to read, the geography and the pacing are a mess, I have no idea who half of the people mentioned are and I no desire to learn. Huatli herself is boring sadly, Tishana was alright though.
- Apparently Angrath is there as well but he didnt have his own section, same as Kumena. Saving the best for part 2?
UBarrin, Master WizardU
USticher GeralfU
UIxidor, Reality SculptorU
UWNoyan Dar, Roil ShaperUW
-Got a pov section on the vampires
-From the mad Mavren we learn about how the vampires on Ixalan came to be. I really think the first vampire learned how to become a vampire from the bat god.
-Vona defiantly feels more black, maybe the white side of her is she is loyal to the crown and church?
-Jace and Vraska is getting good and interesting Vraska said no secrets from then on, yet has mention her had tried to kill Jace.
-Vraska caring for people have been hard to explain but this story kinda clears it up. She view others kinda like a pack (green) but more based on survival of the fittest. She cares for them but also leaves them to thier own survial and trust they can take care of themselves (black).
- I think it is safe to say that the Immortal Sun is an off plane "artifact" since Jace figured out that is gives off the same energy that planeswalekr do when they walk.
-I wanna go back and re-read how other walkers walk between worlds, Vraskas seems dramatic in a fun way lol
-This explains that Huatli is looking for a guide and found in Tishana. Anyone thinking that from the Rival art that Huatli is going to break their pact?
-Her cousin is going to end up dead right? The vampire they trying to track is Vona so.....
-Huatli basically been told that she a planeswalker twice and still doesn't realize it...smh
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Also, the winged beats people are describing is starting to look more and more like Ugin. WOuldn't be surprised if there were a swerve, tho.
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Reading the story now...
I enjoyed the story but it was certainly not as focused as many of the stories so far have been. The only vampire pov's we've seen are at least decently interesting. They don't paint the vampires as monsters or anything villainous. Yeah they are religious fanatics but they have rules. They play BW super well here as they are the faction most opposed to those outside of itself. Even then, glad there isn't really a clear villain here.
The most interesting bit of the story, for me, is Angrath. I'm curious if he will encounter Vrace and learn that they are walkers. If he does, I'm pretty sure he would be helping them. We've already learned that he really just wants to leave
Vona straight up slaughtered (and presumably fed upon) ordinary innocent people who were her subjects and she clearly enjoyed it. She made a game of it. Thats both pretty monstrous and villainous.
Also any vampire that goes on a bloodfast ends up a superhuman killing machine that attacks anything that moves. I'd say that is pretty monstrous too.
UBarrin, Master WizardU
USticher GeralfU
UIxidor, Reality SculptorU
UWNoyan Dar, Roil ShaperUW
I'd contend that the "WHY" behind taking a blood fast is just as important and that it demonstrates the dichotomy between Mavren's white alignment and Vona's White-Black alignment. Mavren is a crazed homicidal beast while he is fasting yes. And, look at why he chose to take that fast. It wasn't for his own personal interest or ambition, it was for the greater good of his collective. He chose this 'curse' because he wished to walk the path of Saint Elenda. Is this path one filled with violence and potential to harm innocents? Yes, it is, and I am guessing Mavren would be the first to admit he can, and has, made mistakes.
Now, Vona. Vona is, as many pointed out, a monster. She may have decided to join a cause larger than herself, (that would be the white side of her alignment) only she doesn't care about the greater good/betterment of her group. She said so herself when thinking about her time as an administrator after the Apostasine Wars. She got bored when her responsibilities were no longer concerning her own needs and wants. She got bored, and in that boredom decided to hunt. That sort of naked selfishness would fall squarely into black's philosophy. I agree that she is certainly far more weighted to the black end of the White-Black design space and perhaps could have been reflected better in a 2WBB mana cost.
Still, I like having that divergence of characters in the Legion of Dusk. It shows what you'd find in any culture/organized religion/community, a divergence of motives that guide people under the same affiliation.
Mavren Fein is, perhaps, my favorite character in the entire story. I'm surprised that Arguel's Blood Fast doesn't reference him, though. We need to meet Arguel to know how important Aclazotz is...
Dammit i wanted something about Angrath. Atleast hes nerby so maybe enxt aprt will get him.
|| 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 ||
Wonder what other alliances will be forged in this chase to the goblet of fire. Kumena/Angrath/Vona? Could see two "sides" racing to the finish.
The Rivals of Ixalan key art seems to show Huatli at Orazca though, with some defeated vampire in the foreground.
|| 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 ||
Correct me if I'm wrong--my Mesoamerican mythology is not at all developed--but wasn't the Sun myth for them that it was taken by a bat-god every night? Wouldn't that point to the bat-god Aclazotz being the one who took an artifact called the Immortal Sun?
Edit: There's also the fact that Saint Elenda only became a vampire after going after the Immortal Sun and spread vampirism after she returned. Sounds like a 'gift' from a bat-god, no?
But joke aside, good story, if it just focused on Mavren alone it might have been better, he is hilarious
Can’t wait to play him in my Edgar EDH, I will be throwing away my lifecounter while yelling "I KNEW WE DID NOT NEED THESE TOOLS OF DECEPTION!" and „My faith in Elenda will guide me to victory!"
Thanks to DarkNightCavalier from Heroes of the Plane Studios for this sick Signature.
|| 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 ||
Mavren and Vona's PoV's were much needed to get the vampires represented. I like that they show different sides of the Legion, his fervent religiosity and her more classic vampire tendancies.
Mavren's history lesson gave some cool insight into how and why vampires manifested on Ixalan. It seems to confirm that the Immortal Sun does grant immortality/extended life and that the Torrezon ruling class had to turn to vampirism through St. Elenda to maintain their power. This is a nice touch, reminding me a little of Edgar Markov turning to dark forces to survive.
Vona is a good example of why you need to keep busy if you are immortal. Especially if you are an immortal vampire with a powerful thirst and prone to boredom.
Jace and Vraska were good this week, and did confirm the workings of the compass.
I do like how Vraska was described by Huatli; it is fun to see the various characters be described by other characters that haven't met yet.
I liked Tishana's description of planeswalking (a dolphin trying to breach the surface) and wonder just how much she knows about 'walkers.
Cannot wait for Part 2!
Tishana continues to prove that GU characters are ten times more likely to figure out the existence of planeswalkers on their own than characters of other color combinations. First Kruphix, then Rashmi, and now her. Or maybe she didn’t figure it out on her own, but instead Ugin told the merfolk leaders about it. He could have told them and enlisted them to protect Orazca centuries ago, with the current merfolk remembering their mission, the nature of planeswalkers, and that there was a “Guardian”, but not who exactly that “Guardian” was.
It seems incredibly likely the bat god is the source of vampirism on Ixalan (the plane, not the continent). The only question now is who stole the Immortal Sun in the first place: Aclazotz (to bait the Dusk Legion to go to Ixalan and turn them into vampires) or Ugin (presumably to protect it because it was some type of threat). I also want to know which characters will get cards in Rivals. For the Dusk Legion in particular, it seems particularly competitive: each faction will probably only get two new legends at most in the second set, but the Dusk Legion has Arguel, Adrian Adanto, Aclazotz (why do they all start with A?), and Elenda. Perhaps either Arguel or Elenda will somehow represent the bat god and Adanto won’t get a card because he doesn’t seem super relevant to the story.
So the finale of the first set’s story will involve Jace, Vraska, Angrath, Huatli, Tishana, Kumena, and Vona. Technically Adrian could appear as well, but Jace only sensed one vampire so I think that Adrian will team up with some combination of Arguel, Aclazotz, and/or Elenda in the second set to try and take Orazca after Vona fails. I’m guessing that the second set will have Vona kill Huatli’s cousin, but then get defeated by Huatli and Tishana, who then proceed to find Orazca. Jace and Vraska will probably talk some more and I assume that Vraska will reveal why they had a duel deck against each other, which Jace will forgive her for because he doesn’t remember it and he considers himself (and her) a new person now. Then Jace will fall off a waterfall as Orazca rises from the ground after Huatli discovers it, but Jace won’t die, of course, because he’s Jace. And thus the first set ends on an (almost) literal cliffhanger.
My extremely general prediction for the Rivals of Ixalan story is this: Jace finds Kumena after his fall and goes with him to Orazca. Angrath finds Vraska and they also work together because Angrath really, really wants to escape and he’s willing to work with another planeswalker to do it. Meanwhile, a group of vampires, led by some combination of Adrian, Arguel, and Elenda, also seek Orazca. The vampires, the pirates (Angrath and Vraska, possibly joined by Vraska’s surviving crew), and the merfolk (Kumena, his followers, and Jace) all reach Orazca, where Huatli and Tishana already are. There’s a big fight, and in the end the antagonists (the vampires and Kumena) are all defeated. (There might be multiple seperate fights instead, for example, Vraska and Angrath beat Kumena and rescue Jace, while Huatli and Tishana defeat the vampires, but the end result is the same: good guys win, bad guys lose.)
Now all four planeswalkers plus Tishana are in Orazca. Ugin appears, explains everything, restores Jace’s memories (because somebody has to do it), and takes down the barrier (maybe only temporarily) so that the four planeswalkers can leave. Before they leave, Jace, with his memories restored, might try to recruit Vraska (and maybe Huatli) to the Gatewatch, and they may or may not accept. One of the planeswalkers might take the Immortal Sun (whatever it is) with them or they might leave it on Ixalan, depending on what Ugin wants. Tishana is the only one remaining, so Ugin tasks her with restoring Orazca to its original state and keeping it protected from everyone, just like he probably told her ancestors to do originally.
(No idea how the agent of Bolas who Vraska is supposed to call is involved in this, but Tezzeret setting up the portal and letting Jace (who he hates) and Huatli (who would never work with/for Tezzeret/Bolas) seems wrong. The thing I'm most confident about is the four 'walkers all being together in Orazca and leaving in the end, which Tezzeret would probably prevent. Maybe it's Ral Zarek?)