When? He never had time to act even if he knew that. He didn’t expect Teferi to phase out Zhalfir and Shiv. Urza was in the middle of a war against Phyrexia. He died at the end of the war. Not once did he have the opportunity to set up this puzzle.
He was knee deep in the war with Phyrexia when Teferi phased out Zhalfir. He did not have the time to research rifts, build puzzle tombs and artifacts to heal time rifts.
Again, the idea of it not being hard to predict the events leading to Teferi losing his spark prior to returning Zhalfir is under the assumption that Urza did this all to spite Teferi. I don't think he did, but the possibility is there (albeit in a rather cramped timeframe).
Personally, I think it's more likely that these artifacts were Urza's anti-Teferi protocol in the event that Teferi ever became a threat in Urza's eyes. Urza was insane and paranoid enough that I could easily see him setting up such protocols for all of his allies (sort of like how the overly paranoid Batman has a plan to kill each member of the Justice League).
Its obvious the Ghost are there to make Lili useful. The question is more why is Lili the only one that can detect these Ghost. Ghost Detection to my knowledge has never been Lili Specific or a Necromancer Only ability or Black Mana User. And none of that is good for protection against Phyrexians who had plenty of Necromancers and were all Black Mana Users. Unless this detection specifically calls for a Black Mana Using Planeswalker which again is not explained in story. There seems to be a lot of that in this story. Catching Up With Old Characters while solving Lili's Demon Problem is too much ground.
Based on what Logic is this an Anti-Teferi Protocol. Not that I don't think Urza would make Anti Planeswalker Protocols, he clearly made suits that do just that. I simply see no reason why this artifact would be an Anti Teferi Weapon.
Despite being well-written, even an actual fantasy author in Martha Wells can't bypass mtg creative's mandate of feeding us stories that fit too conveniently together.
Was still enjoyable tho. 7/10. Nice seeing Teferi again.
Despite being well-written, even an actual fantasy author in Martha Wells can't bypass mtg creative's mandate of feeding us stories that fit too conveniently together.
Was still enjoyable tho. 7/10. Nice seeing Teferi again.
Probably would have been best to go back to using authors on a brand new plane.
I mean again the characterization was strong but everything else...
Its obvious the Ghost are there to make Lili useful. The question is more why is Lili the only one that can detect these Ghost. Ghost Detection to my knowledge has never been Lili Specific or a Necromancer Only ability or Black Mana User. And none of that is good for protection against Phyrexians who had plenty of Necromancers and were all Black Mana Users. Unless this detection specifically calls for a Black Mana Using Planeswalker which again is not explained in story. There seems to be a lot of that in this story. Catching Up With Old Characters while solving Lili's Demon Problem is too much ground.
Based on what Logic is this an Anti-Teferi Protocol. Not that I don't think Urza would make Anti Planeswalker Protocols, he clearly made suits that do just that. I simply see no reason why this artifact would be an Anti Teferi Weapon.
Liliana was used to pinpoint the ghosts' locations for the purposes of the equation. Jhoira dealt with the block locations and defended Teferi. Niambi did the calculations. Teferi input the results into the grid and defended himself. And literally everybody else was tied up dealing with the harshly escalating defenses of the ruins. Others could have potentially tracked the spirits, but they were also busy on defense. And given that Liliana's techniques don't tend to be very useful on machines, I can see why she did so. Why can she see them? I dunno.
As for why it could be part of an Anti-Teferi Protocol, it's one artifact of many that we are told are used to repair Time Rifts. That essentially undoes/inhibits a chunk of Teferi's time magic (one of the more threatening aspects of Teferi's power set). It's not like Urza would really struggle to deal with Teferi, but it takes away one of Teferi's few advantages in fight between the two.
Despite being well-written, even an actual fantasy author in Martha Wells can't bypass mtg creative's mandate of feeding us stories that fit too conveniently together.
Was still enjoyable tho. 7/10. Nice seeing Teferi again.
Yes, I agree that this is probably the reason the stories are feeling rushed at this point. She was commissioned to do twelve chapters on the nose, whereas the novelists they used to hire had the leeway to decide the page count as they deemed necessary to tell the story properly. And I bet one of their staff has editorial control over the actual plot. Good prose isn't the only measure of good writing. Pacing and planning are also necessary.
I liked Teferis personalityand the interactions with Niambi. I gotta be with AUTUMNTWILIGHT though on the convaluted puzzle thing. It just seemed kinda lame. Oh there are ghosts, never noticed in the hundreds or more times ive been down here. It didnt make much sense except Lilliana plot point. There are also many other of these artifacts but he hasnt found where any other one could be?Also agree that I hope the next story revels When Jhoira "found" Teferis spark (it better be very recently or else she looks bad for just holding on to it for what reason?)
Also agree on the whole Bezlenok thing not being especially scary or doom invoking. Why havent some of these powerful people dealt with him before and why now does it seem not to big a deal to just go and take him out now. A little dissapointed.
Story didnt seemed rushed this week just short.
The artwork disconnect is shocking as well. So he looks the same before and after he gets his spark back? Strange.
I had high hopes for a new author but the non communication between Wizards teams seems just as evident as before the "changes"
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Yeah Belzenlok is just not scary or creating a sense of urgency in this story. Part of that is simply he is retcon threat.
I get they wanted to make Lili's Last Demon less of a joke since you know he is an Elder Demon despite being not an especially powerful card.
But justifying where Belzenlok came from and how he got so powerful while no one stopped him is an issue.
Your suggestion is based on the single assumption that the demons can't reach through planes.
I would like to know how Jhiora has a Spark..in her pocket just carrying it around. Like..if you found that in the mana rig somehow and could identify it why wouldn't you Take it to the guy first thing instead of years later.
I think it's implied in the fourth chapter that she would have used it to reactivate/replace the Weatherlight's powerstone if Tiana hadn't been able to get it functioning again.
All that was left was the skyship's Thran metal skeleton, nearly two hundred feet long, and the bulky coils of its engines. The rest of its hull and interior had decayed away or been destroyed in the battle that had sent it to the bottom of the sea. Jhoira's mechanical owl flew over it, giving her an overhead view of the wreck through its eyes. It looks worse than it is, Jhoira thought. She touched the locket around her neck, reminding herself that she had options, if the ship's core was more damaged than she hoped.
and
"Well, it's still here," Hadi said dubiously.
"That's a good sign," Tien added, standing on tiptoe to see the teardrop-shaped crystal. "Isn't it?"
Jhoira wasn't so sure. The Powerstone seemed inert. It had been created by Urza, who had collapsed Serra's Realm into the stone. Which was the reason Tiana had been sent here; the stone was a sacred object for the Church, so they had wanted an angel present to oversee its reclamation, and to return it if it no longer functioned. Jhoira had a backup plan if the stone had been destroyed or drained, but it was something she would rather hold in reserve.
Yeah again that doesn't make Jhoira a good person...that makes her a certain word that rhymes with witch...the Weatherlight is more important then your friend...and they say Teferi is too much like Urza but I don't remember him screwing over a friend for an inanimate object. A Weatherlight I should note that cannot even Planeshift anymore. How bad of person she is still highly dependent on when she got this spark though....
Which is probably why they are going with Teferi not wanting the spark back despite all logic in order to make Jhoira not a horrible person. Friend Zone The Guy and then use his spark to restart a ship while being all friendly to the guy that is Evil. And Teferi forgiving her would make him a Simp, I say worse but u know it get blocked. So they should be pretty careful with the direction they go.
I'm thinking Urza just developed the artifact as an emergency device for Time Rifts (he probably studied or hypothesized on that) and set up the defenses to counter the type of mage/planeswalker who would most likely go out to search for this artifact... and as he interacted with Teferi he probably went "here's the prime example of someone who's going to want this" and modified his defenses accordingly when he still had time, hence it looks like it counters Teferi specifically. By the time Teferi actually phased out Zhalfir and Urza was too busy, he was already done with the artifact and hence wasn't too concerned about the after-effects (of course he was still angry with Teferi since he wanted Zhalfir as the scapegoat battlegrounds, but at least with regards to the artifact and its potential uses, be it if Teferi turns on him or whatsoever, I think he was comfortable with what he already pre-programmed beforehand).
I love how Jhoira is sure the hard part is getting Teferi to accept the Spark again, but I have this feeling Urza's relic isn't quite up to its task (it is old and if it was built on a hypothesis there's a chance it's a work-in-progress that never got tested) and then it becomes a matter of "What if you could find the solution in other planes?" argument that Teferi will find a harder time to refuse... especially if Urza did bother hiding more of such things across the multiverse. Throw in "Bolas might want them too - Jace can vouch for the Immortal Sun" and that's how we get his Oath.
Yes, I agree that Belzenlok is getting side-tracked hard for the story he's needing to establish himself (since we know his eventual fate), but on the other hand, I suppose Dominaria has the penchant for "ignoring threats until they get too big to ignore" and that's how Belzenlok got to where he is now but simultaneously is still "bring ignored" to some degree because the relevant people who can counterattack still didn't think he was too big to ignore (those who know he's a threat are too busy defending to be able to launch a counterattack). I mean, this is the plane the Time Rifts were the most severe on after all, wasn't it?
Look as I said there are lot of reasons why Teferi not wanting his spark back makes zero sense. Time Spiral having him explicitly say he needed it to restore Zhalfir. Artifacts, Spells, Knowledge and Allies on other planes that could exist. The power boost being a Planeswalker provides. The reasons for wanting it back if his mission is to fix his mistake and save Zhalfir are obvious.
The reasons for him not wanting it are basically nonexistent plot contrivances. Hence why I think the main reason he is being written as not wanting it back is so Jhoira doesn't look like a monster for not telling her friend she had it and planning to use it to rez a Weatherlight that cannot even Planeswalk anymore. Made even worse by a certain plane, Kaladash has hundreds of airships all without stabbing your best friend in the back. That is before adding the reason Zhalfir is lost is cause Shiv is back and assorted relationship drama. They had her crying for Venser who she knew for 60 years max with Karn so broken he cannot tell her about it but being totally fine trading Teferi's spark, a person who she has been friends with for about 1300 years? Laughable. So really it has to be written this way or Jhoira is a pretty horrible person. At least when Urza did horrible crap he could say For The Greater Good.
At first I thought the daughter would be super young as reason for him not to want it back at this time.
I think it's weird that people are debating why Teferi didn't think to look for ghosts/wasn't able to see them, rather than what I think is a much better question--Why in the world did Jhoira immediately jump to the conclusion that there were ghosts in the ruin, and they were key to solving the puzzle? Am I the only one that thought that was completely out of left field?
I think it's weird that people are debating why Teferi didn't think to look for ghosts/wasn't able to see them, rather than what I think is a much better question--Why in the world did Jhoira immediately jump to the conclusion that there were ghosts in the ruin, and they were key to solving the puzzle? Am I the only one that thought that was completely out of left field?
That is a good point. There is no reason Urza would use Ghost or Predict that Teferi wouldn't think he would use Ghost.
Urza knew that Teferi wouldn't be able to detect ghosts, since he wasn't a necromancer. And while the Phyrexians are familiar with black magic and necromancy, they tend to be heavily focused on the corporeal forms of necromancy, rather than the spiritual kinds. With their intense focus on biology and anatomy, I find it probable that they wouldn't be able to detect ghosts either.
I'm also not sure why people are saying that Urza would've had to know that Teferi would lose his spark. Being able to planeswalk wouldn't be particularly helpful in getting through the ruins, otherwise Gideon or Liliana could've retrieved the artifact on their own. And while oldwalkers were notoriously hard to kill, I'm not sure how that would've helped Teferi make it through the ruins either. Urza wasn't necessarily trying to kill Teferi, just hinder him, and oldwalkers could still be hurt or incapacitated by physical damage. The robots and poison darts and falling blocks and bottomless pits were likely meant to be a distraction more than a serious threat.
And there's no reason to assume Teferi can't do anything other than time magic. There was just never any reason for him to bother using any other type of magic, since his time magic was more than sufficient to get him past all of the obstacles he faced. Sure, he tried to stop the sand with time magic and it failed, but he didn't have a chance to try anything else before the Weatherlight rescued him. I'm sure he could've found a way to escape regardless, it's not like he seemed particularly scared when the ruins were collapsing.
Your suggestion is based on the single assumption that the demons can't reach through planes.
Because that is what all of the evidence has very much suggested. The demons haven't done anything to Liliana in the DECADES since the deal was made, and she killed 2 of them before any of the 4 invoked their side of the deal, note that Prior to Bezelenok that Liliana's biggest reason for wanting to use the GW is that she was afraid of the Chain Veil.
Just a point of clarification, Liliana made those deals just a few years before the current story, not decades ago. She didn't make them as soon as the Mending happened, she waited until she'd already aged ~60 years. (She originally sparked when she was a young adult, so it would've taken her a few decades to become as old as she looked when she initially made the deals.)
Despite being well-written, even an actual fantasy author in Martha Wells can't bypass mtg creative's mandate of feeding us stories that fit too conveniently together.
Was still enjoyable tho. 7/10. Nice seeing Teferi again.
Yeah. She is a good writer, but I think that in this format, even bringing back the old writers (not King, but ScottMcG, for example) would make this return work.
It is just too rushed, too simple in contrast to anything we were used to with this characters.
Frankly, it feels like Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett's second-to-last novel snd a farewell to Ankh-Morpork characters. The characters like Moist, Vetinari, Vimes are all there, but feel weird.
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2) How is Teferi aging slowly? The same time bomb (ha) that created the slow-time water that kept Jhoira perpetually young also trapped Teferi and sparked his planeswalker spark. From then on, he was essentially a god whose physical form was a manifestation of his thoughts. Which means, he didn't need slow-time water, and his physical form would become energy and so it wouldn't have any effect anyway. But when he loses his spark . . . he ages a decade maybe in the time it takes his daughter to hit her 50s? That doesn't make sense to me. Liliana needed to recoup her youth through demon pacts because she turned into an old hag, in what seems to me from what I've read to be the normal aging process. So what gives with Teferi? "I was immortal once" is not a good explanation.
My theory;
Maybe when he got trapped in the time bomb it slowed down his "moral self" aging similar to how the time water slows Jhoria. He became a planeswalker but when he lost his spark he became his "moral self" again, but was able to survive his age catching up with him since his that was a trait of his "moral self", similar now Sorin still ages as Innistrad vampire after the mending.
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Since when does Ghost Detection require Necromancy when has that ever been a rule in mtg?
And again why would Jhoira jump to the conclusion that Urza is using Ghost? But Teferi wouldn't put it together.
There is no particular reason for Urza to think Teferi wouldn't consider Ghost which is what makes it ring the hollow.
This is Urza he is not exactly known for moral limits. So there is no reason to take anything off the table.
The problem with the traps is simple. Oldwalker Teferi should easily be able to fly and put up shield such that any of these golems dont matter or simple freeze or phase out all threats no problem. I argue current Teferi should be able to at least put up a shied and fly rendering all traps mute.
Its not even that this story has to cover way too much character wise.
Old School: Jhoira, Teferi, Karn, Jaya, Jodah
Gatewatch: Lili, Gideon, Chandra, Jace, Ajani
The above it has to reintroduce and fill in some of what they have been doing for 60 years while also tying in Lili's Plot and even Bolas. It has to establish Belzenlok as a threat cause we don't want Lili's last demon to be a chump. Which it really hasnt done yet. I think the problem is they made it harder on themselves then it had to be by spending time on stuff you really didn't need to do ie make a New Weatherlight crew or have all the Heroes of Old on Dominaria scattered to the Nine Winds. Such that a good portion of this story is getting the band back together. It took 5 chapters out of 12 to get to Jodah who was unhelpful. Took 6 chapters to get to Teferi. And we still need to get to Karn and Jaya. And see Belzenlok for the first time. When I saw the key art for this set I certainly did not expect it to take over 6 chapters to have Teferi, Jhoira and Karn in a scene together.
Therefore, we have Belzenlok not established as threat and it seems he is getting stuff done more because no one of note can be bothered to oppose him at all. You can say Teferi has a reason. Jaya is probably off Plane. But Jodah what his excuse? I don't think a reason was given why he hasn't flown out to fight Belzenlok. Karn just came from a plane that was corrupted leaving Koth to fight on alone. He is really doing nothing while Dominaria falls to Darkness? Cause he is sad about Venser?
Honestly, I rather a story focused on these mage academies or something. Have some magic tournament or something to get everyone in one place and have Belzenlok taking over an academy to use as a staging ground for Bolas to build in army of mages.
Or pick a main threat that doesn't need to be established and have Belzenlok being the typical side character its too late to make these Demons count. There is something poetic about Bolas using some weak demons in order to make it easy for Lili to default and getting him a Planeswalker servant. Bring back a Baron Sengrir as the main bad, he isn't offically dead and was a major threat. No reason Bolas couldn't have made a deal with him and brought him back to Dominaria either right before he fought Lesherac or more recently with his new planar portal tech.
Teferi aging slowly isn't a problem. Its actually good continuity: I think I said this already dozens of pages back, but all of the major Tolarian scholars were into drinking Slow Time water, not just Jhoira. Barrin, for instance, lived hundreds of years thanks to Jhoira's discovery of the effect. And Teferi was among the Tolarian scholars and researchers who got the privledge, before he found out he was a planeswalker. The only reason there aren't more Tolarian mages as old as Jhoira and Teferi is that during the Phyrexian invasion Urza abandoned the place and the Phyrexians overran it; then Barrin cast Obliterate on the island (a spell which he specifically developed to mimic the Sylex blast) because there was no salvaging the situation, and with his family dead he had nothing left to live for.
As one of the last two living students at Urza's original college, Teferi should indeed still be benefiting from his years of drinking time water. Just not as much as Jhoira does, because she lived at Tolaria longer and drank waaaay more of it. After all, in those days it was "no planeswalker spark, no natural immortality."
Teferi aging slowly isn't a problem. Its actually good continuity: Ithink I said this already dozens of pages back, but all of the major Tolarian scholars were into drinking Slow Time water, not just Jhoira. And Teferi was among them, even before he knew he was a planeswalker. The only reason there aren't more Tolarian mages as old as Jhoira and Teferi is that during the Phyrexian invasion Urza abandoned the place and the Phyrexians overran it; then Barrin cast Obliterate on the island (a spell which he specifically developed to mimic the Sylex blast) because there was no salvaging the situation, and with his family dead he had nothing left to live for.
As one of the last two living students at Urza's original college, Teferi should indeed still be benefiting from his years of drinking time water. Just not as much as Jhoira does, because she lived at Tolaria longer and drank waaaay more of it. After all, in those days it was "no planeswalker spark, no natural immortality."
I think the question is the rate of aging. Its been 60 years and he looks 50. And apparently he has been stuck at basically 50 for Decades so He aged from what 25-30 to 50 normally and then started going super slowly that seems weird. If it is slow water though looks like its not causing genetic changes since the daughter is going at a normal rate.
Still I would agree that Teferi aging slowly is not really a problem especially compared to other issues in this story. Slow Water or His Powers as a Time Mage provide simple enough answers. What is more weird is the plot hole that is Venser not aging at all over basically the same time period with no excuse.
See my way of reading it is that Urza is the kind of guy who would make an elaborate complex deathtrap for one of his students as a way to unwind from a long day of fighting the Phyrexian incursion.
Like, some people play sudoku, some build tiny ships in bottles. Urza makes elaborate dangerous booby trapped ruins.
Am I the only one who feels that Martha Wells's talent is hindered by WotC's need for haste?
I love how Wells does relationships and dialogues, yet the story remain fast paced, too fast, for its own good. They should've hired her for a book, even if it has to be a pdf instead of paper. Why get a real writer only to force plot holes and urgency onto her?
I enjoy Wells’s writing except for how she approaches sentences that contain dialogue. The dialogue is great, but I don’t like seeing the word “said” almost every time someone speaks.
I agree, Neo. If they had her write a book, I would definitely have bought some for myself and friends. Missed opportunity, imo.
Since when does Ghost Detection require Necromancy when has that ever been a rule in mtg?
And again why would Jhoira jump to the conclusion that Urza is using Ghost? But Teferi wouldn't put it together.
There is no particular reason for Urza to think Teferi wouldn't consider Ghost which is what makes it ring the hollow.
This is Urza he is not exactly known for moral limits. So there is no reason to take anything off the table.
They never claimed that ghost detection needed necromancy. Liliana just happened to be a necromancer who could likely do so and whose powers are largely useless against the ruin's machine-based defenses. Everyone else was put in the role of defending Teferi (which became more necessary when the defense's escalated.
Jhoira made the jump because Teferi and Niambi had already put together most of the puzzle. Niambi was even theorizing that there was something else that was key to the equation.
Teferi didn't put it together because they had literally only just put the equation theory to the test for the first time. Had Jhoira and company shown up a few days later, it seems very likely that Teferi would have figured that part out and would have just needed help with the ruin's defenses.
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Again, the idea of it not being hard to predict the events leading to Teferi losing his spark prior to returning Zhalfir is under the assumption that Urza did this all to spite Teferi. I don't think he did, but the possibility is there (albeit in a rather cramped timeframe).
Personally, I think it's more likely that these artifacts were Urza's anti-Teferi protocol in the event that Teferi ever became a threat in Urza's eyes. Urza was insane and paranoid enough that I could easily see him setting up such protocols for all of his allies (sort of like how the overly paranoid Batman has a plan to kill each member of the Justice League).
Based on what Logic is this an Anti-Teferi Protocol. Not that I don't think Urza would make Anti Planeswalker Protocols, he clearly made suits that do just that. I simply see no reason why this artifact would be an Anti Teferi Weapon.
Was still enjoyable tho. 7/10. Nice seeing Teferi again.
Probably would have been best to go back to using authors on a brand new plane.
I mean again the characterization was strong but everything else...
Liliana was used to pinpoint the ghosts' locations for the purposes of the equation. Jhoira dealt with the block locations and defended Teferi. Niambi did the calculations. Teferi input the results into the grid and defended himself. And literally everybody else was tied up dealing with the harshly escalating defenses of the ruins. Others could have potentially tracked the spirits, but they were also busy on defense. And given that Liliana's techniques don't tend to be very useful on machines, I can see why she did so. Why can she see them? I dunno.
As for why it could be part of an Anti-Teferi Protocol, it's one artifact of many that we are told are used to repair Time Rifts. That essentially undoes/inhibits a chunk of Teferi's time magic (one of the more threatening aspects of Teferi's power set). It's not like Urza would really struggle to deal with Teferi, but it takes away one of Teferi's few advantages in fight between the two.
Yes, I agree that this is probably the reason the stories are feeling rushed at this point. She was commissioned to do twelve chapters on the nose, whereas the novelists they used to hire had the leeway to decide the page count as they deemed necessary to tell the story properly. And I bet one of their staff has editorial control over the actual plot. Good prose isn't the only measure of good writing. Pacing and planning are also necessary.
Also agree on the whole Bezlenok thing not being especially scary or doom invoking. Why havent some of these powerful people dealt with him before and why now does it seem not to big a deal to just go and take him out now. A little dissapointed.
Story didnt seemed rushed this week just short.
The artwork disconnect is shocking as well. So he looks the same before and after he gets his spark back? Strange.
I had high hopes for a new author but the non communication between Wizards teams seems just as evident as before the "changes"
I get they wanted to make Lili's Last Demon less of a joke since you know he is an Elder Demon despite being not an especially powerful card.
But justifying where Belzenlok came from and how he got so powerful while no one stopped him is an issue.
I think it's implied in the fourth chapter that she would have used it to reactivate/replace the Weatherlight's powerstone if Tiana hadn't been able to get it functioning again.
and
Which is probably why they are going with Teferi not wanting the spark back despite all logic in order to make Jhoira not a horrible person. Friend Zone The Guy and then use his spark to restart a ship while being all friendly to the guy that is Evil. And Teferi forgiving her would make him a Simp, I say worse but u know it get blocked. So they should be pretty careful with the direction they go.
I love how Jhoira is sure the hard part is getting Teferi to accept the Spark again, but I have this feeling Urza's relic isn't quite up to its task (it is old and if it was built on a hypothesis there's a chance it's a work-in-progress that never got tested) and then it becomes a matter of "What if you could find the solution in other planes?" argument that Teferi will find a harder time to refuse... especially if Urza did bother hiding more of such things across the multiverse. Throw in "Bolas might want them too - Jace can vouch for the Immortal Sun" and that's how we get his Oath.
Yes, I agree that Belzenlok is getting side-tracked hard for the story he's needing to establish himself (since we know his eventual fate), but on the other hand, I suppose Dominaria has the penchant for "ignoring threats until they get too big to ignore" and that's how Belzenlok got to where he is now but simultaneously is still "bring ignored" to some degree because the relevant people who can counterattack still didn't think he was too big to ignore (those who know he's a threat are too busy defending to be able to launch a counterattack). I mean, this is the plane the Time Rifts were the most severe on after all, wasn't it?
The reasons for him not wanting it are basically nonexistent plot contrivances. Hence why I think the main reason he is being written as not wanting it back is so Jhoira doesn't look like a monster for not telling her friend she had it and planning to use it to rez a Weatherlight that cannot even Planeswalk anymore. Made even worse by a certain plane, Kaladash has hundreds of airships all without stabbing your best friend in the back. That is before adding the reason Zhalfir is lost is cause Shiv is back and assorted relationship drama. They had her crying for Venser who she knew for 60 years max with Karn so broken he cannot tell her about it but being totally fine trading Teferi's spark, a person who she has been friends with for about 1300 years? Laughable. So really it has to be written this way or Jhoira is a pretty horrible person. At least when Urza did horrible crap he could say For The Greater Good.
At first I thought the daughter would be super young as reason for him not to want it back at this time.
That is a good point. There is no reason Urza would use Ghost or Predict that Teferi wouldn't think he would use Ghost.
I'm also not sure why people are saying that Urza would've had to know that Teferi would lose his spark. Being able to planeswalk wouldn't be particularly helpful in getting through the ruins, otherwise Gideon or Liliana could've retrieved the artifact on their own. And while oldwalkers were notoriously hard to kill, I'm not sure how that would've helped Teferi make it through the ruins either. Urza wasn't necessarily trying to kill Teferi, just hinder him, and oldwalkers could still be hurt or incapacitated by physical damage. The robots and poison darts and falling blocks and bottomless pits were likely meant to be a distraction more than a serious threat.
And there's no reason to assume Teferi can't do anything other than time magic. There was just never any reason for him to bother using any other type of magic, since his time magic was more than sufficient to get him past all of the obstacles he faced. Sure, he tried to stop the sand with time magic and it failed, but he didn't have a chance to try anything else before the Weatherlight rescued him. I'm sure he could've found a way to escape regardless, it's not like he seemed particularly scared when the ruins were collapsing.
Just a point of clarification, Liliana made those deals just a few years before the current story, not decades ago. She didn't make them as soon as the Mending happened, she waited until she'd already aged ~60 years. (She originally sparked when she was a young adult, so it would've taken her a few decades to become as old as she looked when she initially made the deals.)
Yeah. She is a good writer, but I think that in this format, even bringing back the old writers (not King, but ScottMcG, for example) would make this return work.
It is just too rushed, too simple in contrast to anything we were used to with this characters.
Frankly, it feels like Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett's second-to-last novel snd a farewell to Ankh-Morpork characters. The characters like Moist, Vetinari, Vimes are all there, but feel weird.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
My theory;
Maybe when he got trapped in the time bomb it slowed down his "moral self" aging similar to how the time water slows Jhoria. He became a planeswalker but when he lost his spark he became his "moral self" again, but was able to survive his age catching up with him since his that was a trait of his "moral self", similar now Sorin still ages as Innistrad vampire after the mending.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
And again why would Jhoira jump to the conclusion that Urza is using Ghost? But Teferi wouldn't put it together.
There is no particular reason for Urza to think Teferi wouldn't consider Ghost which is what makes it ring the hollow.
This is Urza he is not exactly known for moral limits. So there is no reason to take anything off the table.
The problem with the traps is simple. Oldwalker Teferi should easily be able to fly and put up shield such that any of these golems dont matter or simple freeze or phase out all threats no problem. I argue current Teferi should be able to at least put up a shied and fly rendering all traps mute.
Its not even that this story has to cover way too much character wise.
Old School: Jhoira, Teferi, Karn, Jaya, Jodah
Gatewatch: Lili, Gideon, Chandra, Jace, Ajani
The above it has to reintroduce and fill in some of what they have been doing for 60 years while also tying in Lili's Plot and even Bolas. It has to establish Belzenlok as a threat cause we don't want Lili's last demon to be a chump. Which it really hasnt done yet. I think the problem is they made it harder on themselves then it had to be by spending time on stuff you really didn't need to do ie make a New Weatherlight crew or have all the Heroes of Old on Dominaria scattered to the Nine Winds. Such that a good portion of this story is getting the band back together. It took 5 chapters out of 12 to get to Jodah who was unhelpful. Took 6 chapters to get to Teferi. And we still need to get to Karn and Jaya. And see Belzenlok for the first time. When I saw the key art for this set I certainly did not expect it to take over 6 chapters to have Teferi, Jhoira and Karn in a scene together.
Therefore, we have Belzenlok not established as threat and it seems he is getting stuff done more because no one of note can be bothered to oppose him at all. You can say Teferi has a reason. Jaya is probably off Plane. But Jodah what his excuse? I don't think a reason was given why he hasn't flown out to fight Belzenlok. Karn just came from a plane that was corrupted leaving Koth to fight on alone. He is really doing nothing while Dominaria falls to Darkness? Cause he is sad about Venser?
Honestly, I rather a story focused on these mage academies or something. Have some magic tournament or something to get everyone in one place and have Belzenlok taking over an academy to use as a staging ground for Bolas to build in army of mages.
Or pick a main threat that doesn't need to be established and have Belzenlok being the typical side character its too late to make these Demons count. There is something poetic about Bolas using some weak demons in order to make it easy for Lili to default and getting him a Planeswalker servant. Bring back a Baron Sengrir as the main bad, he isn't offically dead and was a major threat. No reason Bolas couldn't have made a deal with him and brought him back to Dominaria either right before he fought Lesherac or more recently with his new planar portal tech.
As one of the last two living students at Urza's original college, Teferi should indeed still be benefiting from his years of drinking time water. Just not as much as Jhoira does, because she lived at Tolaria longer and drank waaaay more of it. After all, in those days it was "no planeswalker spark, no natural immortality."
I think the question is the rate of aging. Its been 60 years and he looks 50. And apparently he has been stuck at basically 50 for Decades so He aged from what 25-30 to 50 normally and then started going super slowly that seems weird. If it is slow water though looks like its not causing genetic changes since the daughter is going at a normal rate.
Still I would agree that Teferi aging slowly is not really a problem especially compared to other issues in this story. Slow Water or His Powers as a Time Mage provide simple enough answers. What is more weird is the plot hole that is Venser not aging at all over basically the same time period with no excuse.
Like, some people play sudoku, some build tiny ships in bottles. Urza makes elaborate dangerous booby trapped ruins.
I love how Wells does relationships and dialogues, yet the story remain fast paced, too fast, for its own good. They should've hired her for a book, even if it has to be a pdf instead of paper. Why get a real writer only to force plot holes and urgency onto her?
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
I agree, Neo. If they had her write a book, I would definitely have bought some for myself and friends. Missed opportunity, imo.
They never claimed that ghost detection needed necromancy. Liliana just happened to be a necromancer who could likely do so and whose powers are largely useless against the ruin's machine-based defenses. Everyone else was put in the role of defending Teferi (which became more necessary when the defense's escalated.
Jhoira made the jump because Teferi and Niambi had already put together most of the puzzle. Niambi was even theorizing that there was something else that was key to the equation.
Teferi didn't put it together because they had literally only just put the equation theory to the test for the first time. Had Jhoira and company shown up a few days later, it seems very likely that Teferi would have figured that part out and would have just needed help with the ruin's defenses.