New headcanon that will probably be disproved like tomorrow: Scion of the Ur-Dragon represents Ugin trying to figure out what happened with their birth.
-Looks like some of the ways of the Jeski where saved since they had wanders through the plane. While not a huge fan of the frame story I'm liking the bridging of what happened between Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir since the jump between the two time periods was a bit rushed, as well as the info that all the clans survive in small ways wasn't that well explained for all the clan.
-Ugin and Bolas meet Chromium Rhuell in human form fist showing his ability to hide out as a human. We also see the first part of how Bolas will take things (words) from others and twist it to his own uses.
-So Bolas tricks the many heirs of the dragon village to kill each other and he swooped in and took control. More set up for future Bolas character and could this be the origins of Madara?
-Ugin realizes Bolas only cares for himself and power and was planning on using Ugin as his own pawn, which causes his to spark and first walked to Tarkir which confirms he didn't make the plane.
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“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"
-Looks like some of the ways of the Jeski where saved since they had wanders through the plane. While not a huge fan of the frame story I'm liking the bridging of what happened between Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir since the jump between the two time periods was a bit rushed, as well as the info that all the clans survive in small ways wasn't that well explained for all the clan.
I'm hoping that they're using this as a setup for the plot of the eventual return to Tarkir: Revolt against the Dragons and some return to the old ways. Wizards repeatedly said that the world of Khans of Tarkir was more popular than the world of Dragons of Tarkir.
-So Bolas tricks the many heirs of the dragon village to kill each other and he swooped in and took control. More set up for future Bolas character and could this be the origins of Madara?
My first thought when I figured out what Bolas was doing was that this was the start of the Empire of Madara.
In general, the story has been pretty good. Apparently we're not going to get details of the Elder Dragon War, though?
Really? Once again WOTC drops the ball on storytelling we are going to do a Bolas Origin and not cover the Elder Dragon War? Really? SMFH.
And I thought Dominaria was disappointing.
Maybe Nicol Bolas does the same among his elder siblings and that's what sparks the elder dragon war. God I cant wait til he gets his.
And re: Wizards resetting tarkir back to a khan-led world, I definitely wouldn't put it past them. With the way they reversed Innistrad after Avacyn Restored. I hope it's done much better than that was and they can find a balance for those who actually do like the dragonlords and their broods, like myself.
-Looks like some of the ways of the Jeski where saved since they had wanders through the plane. While not a huge fan of the frame story I'm liking the bridging of what happened between Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir since the jump between the two time periods was a bit rushed, as well as the info that all the clans survive in small ways wasn't that well explained for all the clan.
I'm hoping that they're using this as a setup for the plot of the eventual return to Tarkir: Revolt against the Dragons and some return to the old ways. Wizards repeatedly said that the world of Khans of Tarkir was more popular than the world of Dragons of Tarkir.
They left that open for a return already, just looks they pushing more to that conflict. Helps that Tarkir after Theros would be the next plane up for a return.
-So Bolas tricks the many heirs of the dragon village to kill each other and he swooped in and took control. More set up for future Bolas character and could this be the origins of Madara?
My first thought when I figured out what Bolas was doing was that this was the start of the Empire of Madara.
In general, the story has been pretty good. Apparently we're not going to get details of the Elder Dragon War, though?[/quote]
Where was that said? If we get the story from Ugin POV and he's not a part of the war I could see why they skipped it.
And re: Wizards resetting tarkir back to a khan-led world, I definitely wouldn't put it past them. With the way they reversed Innistrad after Avacyn Restored. I hope it's done much better than that was and they can find a balance for those who actually do like the dragonlords and their broods, like myself.
I think a more positive reverse would happen, with the humanoids taking over the dragons clans, the dragons gaining a third color and bring back the old ways into the dragon clans.
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“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"
I'm pretty sure chapter 5 will pick up with Ugin exploring Tarkir for the first time, but I hope they surprise us with Bolas' POV right when Ugin sparks. This would be a nice break from the current story frame and give us our much needed Bolas oriented story. This way we can use the next two or three chapters to flesh out Bolas more, I'd love to see his reaction to his twin disappearing. He would def search for Ugin with a mixture of concern and jealousy. And we could also use this time to cover his sparking, the Madaran Empire, and the Elder Dragon War with out rushing things too much. Then we can use the final chapter to tie up Ugin's plot on Tarkir, his and Bolas' fight, and the set up for whatever comes next.
When they do return to Tarkir I think they’ll have to make the clans 3 colored.
I actually found Bolas somewhat sympathetic. If I saw Wolves kill my sibling I’d like to find a way to kill those wolves and then get them to serve me.
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Modern
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RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
To be honest, this story was a bit convoluted at best, with some elements happening in the space of a few seconds, whilst the later elements occurred over the course of a few days at least- but the teller does not specify.
A serviceable story but nothing more.
I hope the Elder Dragon War was not just retconned as having been the ‘Dragon Killers War’ all along.
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Wizards. listen. 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
To be honest, this story was a bit convoluted at best, with some elements happening in the space of a few seconds, whilst the later elements occurred over the course of a few days at least- but the teller does not specify.
A serviceable story but nothing more.
I hope the Elder Dragon War was not just retconned as having been the ‘Dragon Killers War’ all along.
Actually I believe that the Elder Dragon War was started by Bolas shortly after Ugin left. He already mentions using his new power to put their siblings into place, can't see the other Elders being very happy about that. I doubt we'll see more of it, though I actually think that's for the better. We just don't have enough literary space to show it in its entirety.
All in all I like the story of the two twin dragons very much and even though Ugin later on became sort of an uncaring manipulator himself (when it comes to individuals at least) his disgust and sadness about Bolas actions and their broken bond (which was broken much earlier than he thought at first) causing him to spark was a nice touch that made him much more sympathetic in my eyes. I really hope we'll see him in Ravnica again.
Having Ugin spark first is a good call, it's interesting in that it is triggered by the emotion of betrayal rather than explosions and near-death like a lot of others.
The most confusing thing for me was how the action on the mountain took place - I thought it was dangerous for them to be within ballista range, but they were what - just watching from the peak with super good eyesight? And the armies were going to march their ballistae up to the top of the mountain to shoot them?
Also vaguely annoying that the arts don't have card tags after the set already came out. I get that they might be using the art liberally to describe a mood more than what is going on exactly in the art, but I just like to have the tags to remember what cards they are.
The most confusing thing for me was how the action on the mountain took place - I thought it was dangerous for them to be within ballista range, but they were what - just watching from the peak with super good eyesight? And the armies were going to march their ballistae up to the top of the mountain to shoot them?
This is exactly what was going on. They brought 4 ballista up the mountain and they left before they got close enough. It even goes out of its way to mention the dragons exceptional eye sight as Chromium flies away.
I've been out of the story for the core set and just jumped back in. Is there any indication what plane they are on? I've seen lots of people claim its Dominaria, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that it is Dominaria. Also unless they retcon a lot of stuff this isn't Madara right? I'm shaky on my knowledge of that time but Bolas didn't found Madara but swooped in and usurped the royalty long after the elder dragon war.
I'll be honest, while Bolas certainly seems devious, I'm hard pressed to find anything particularly heinous in this story. His thoughts regarding humans are completely understandable--they've started an entire culture built on killing dragons, and display the corpses of Bolas's own siblings in their architecture. Ugin's sympathy toward these violent bipeds is a lot more difficult to understand than Bolas's malevolence.
We feel horror at Bolas' killing and abuse of humans because we just happen to be humans as well. But Bolas is reacting to the killing and abuse of dragons by humans. He is dominating creatures who he knows would otherwise be happy to hunt him, kill him, drink his blood, and hang his skull above their gate. Nothing about Bolas's response so far seems disproportionate or wanton. If he is "evil" at this point, it's only in a purely subjective sense, and only because humans judge him to be evil from their point of view. And why should he care about their judgment?
I actually found Bolas somewhat sympathetic. If I saw Wolves kill my sibling I’d like to find a way to kill those wolves and then get them to serve me.
We've been there and done that. That's how we got dogs.
And wolves don't even go out of their way to kill humans, much less build civilizations around murdering us.
I think Ugin recognizes that a fight between dragons and humans is intellectually and morally pointless, and in contrast, Bolas' obsession with "who's the strongest" shows him to be emotionally weak and ultimately fallible because of that. The obsession with his sister's death is framed as a revenge story, and in this way he seems sort of sympathetic, or at least, not entirely morally wrong. But I believe Bolas' obsession wasn't actually on behalf of his sister, it was about calming his own insecurities about his own mortality, proving to himself that he is indeed the superior creature.
The theme of teamwork has been interesting. From day 1 Bolas recognized that weaker beings can accomplish a lot through teamwork, but instead of thinking to harness that power, he is determined to undermine it. He wants to be the only one at the top of the food chain, and he's not interested in playing nice with the other dragons. Deep down he doesn't even want Ugin as a partner, only as a pawn.
His first magic has been revealed to be telepathy, and I think that speaks a lot towards his motivations. Even though raw red or black mana would be more powerful, Bolas is all about destroying groups of people from the inside out. He wants to take humanity's one strength and use it against them. He wants to prove that even with teamwork, lesser creatures still can't match his individual might.
Anyway, Bolas is evidently a super-telepath, since it is his OG magic. Anyone else suspect that maybe Jace's manipulation of Vraska's memories didn't exactly go as undetected as they thought? Pretending not to know about a plan, allowing their hopes to rise, and then squashing it triumphantly at an opportune moment is exactly something Bolas would do.
Bolas reminds me of Envy from Full Metal Alchemist.
SPOILER ALERT
Envy took great pleasure in undermining human unity, mock their love and use their emotions as weapons, but deep down he's envious of human beings always manage to climb back up after their failure. Even when Envy had a "father" and six "siblings", he never truly had a family, he never knew the feeling of companionship and complete trust. Bolas was plagued by his self doubt and fear since day one, he became blind even to Ugin's loyalty, ended up only trusting himself and would only rely on those he could manipulate, including himself. He's a typical case of mind-over-emotions we see in a lot of so-call athletic masculinity, playing tough to hide insecurity, believing that only power could bring faithful followers/friends.
The greatest downfall with Bolas is that his draconic might is great enough to compensate his fear. Perhaps his defeat at Umezawa's hand was the first time he actually admit to his failure and fear.
Well, the fist act of Merrevia Sal was saying to the human hunters: "I am Merrevia Sal. Give me the meat, or I will kill you." I don't think she was such a good girl after all; if the actions of Bolas can be justified, so the killing of the dragon by the humans can. Yes, they maybe took things too far with creating a culture based after killing dragons, but after their first encounter was a violent one, they really haven't had a good reason not to kill dragons.
I'll be honest, while Bolas certainly seems devious, I'm hard pressed to find anything particularly heinous in this story. His thoughts regarding humans are completely understandable--they've started an entire culture built on killing dragons, and display the corpses of Bolas's own siblings in their architecture.
Ugin and Chromium proposed a very rational solution to the problem of the dragon-killers - a surgical strike that only removed those humans with the knowledge/skill of the dragon-killing tradition, while sparing the rest.
Bolas, on the other hand, wanted to cause pain and misery to those who he believe threatened his existence. He could have just ended things quickly, but he wanted to cause as much suffering as possible.
And let's not delude ourselves into thinking that Bolas was considering the welfare of his siblings and cousins when he took the actions that he did. He did so because he saw the humans as a threat to himself. And he relished the misery he caused because he is a petty little **** who uses his power to control and oppress others to compensate for his own deep insecurities.
Everything he did was due to his fear of death. Ugin, on the other hand, accepted his relative insignificance early on in the story arc:
Sometimes the denseness of this living web comforted me. Sometimes the sheer weight of living things crowded about me like an incessant thunder that never ceases. At those times, life's jangling and roaring troubled my spirit. Sometimes its clamor humbled me, for among these teeming multitudes, I was but a single creature whose existence could be rubbed out and forgotten in an instant. A sapling oak may be crushed by the steps of passing aurochs, and no one would be the wiser. A hatchling chick may fall from the nest and be lost in the grass as if it had never existed. Not that a dragon is so insignificant as an oak or a sparrow, or so I thought, not understanding then that even the smallest, briefest life has its place. That even a dragon's name may be swallowed by the passage of time and vanish into the abyss of oblivion. [emphasis added]
Ugin's sympathy toward these violent bipeds is a lot more difficult to understand than Bolas's malevolence.
Not really. Ugin understands that all life has its purpose and place. When the dragons were discussing how to deal with the dragonkillers, Ugin only wanted to get rid of those within the village who would continue the dragon-killing practices. He wanted to spare those who had no part in the practices and thus were unable to continue the tradition once the leaders were gone; those who were only trying to exist and life their lives without actively destroying other life.
Ugin respects all life, while Bolas only respects his own. How is Bolas more understandable than Ugin?
Ugin respects all life, while Bolas only respects his own. How is Bolas more understandable than Ugin?
Bolas is more understandable because his is the usual opinion. The stance "my life is the most precious" is not strange. Neither is "all life is precious". However "all life is equally precious" is a strange thought. The stance of me and/or mine is more important than 'others' is a commonly visible theme in history and entertainment; it is the start of 99-100% of all conflicts. It is the common human stance.
Bolas was justified, from a draconic perspective, in destroying that particular civilization, because they were dragon hunters, full stop. That isn't what troubled Ugin, though that Bolas wanted to do more than just kill those most responsible was somewhat troubling to him, he was still willing to let it play out. Its war, bad things happen in war. Bolas wanting to rule the humans as his own personal army, rather than to cultivate them like Arcades, was much more troubling to Ugin. Wanting to control a gang for the purpose of wrecking destruction is reminiscent of Vaevictis Asmadi, who seems to be reviled by not only Bolas and Ugin but Arcades and Chromium as well. What truly disturbed Ugin, and caused him to spark, was the realization that Bolas was trying to use mind magic to make HIM a pawn in his plans. That Bolas viewed not only his fellow dragons, but his own devoted twin as his rightful slave was the height of arrogance. He outright says that he wants to knock his siblings down to peg, to put them in their place. He is actively plotting war against his kin solely to establish his dominance, a war that will be ruinous not only to his fellow dragons but to countless humanoids.
Bolas wants to be at the top of the food chain, will do anything to achieve that, and is incapable of respecting any other being.
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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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I really liked the story.
Although I thought this was supposed to be more of a Bolas origin story and it seems we are getting more Ugin origin??
There are a few left (and it seems we are still headed for more Ugin stories now on Tarkir) but so far there seems to be a big disconnect on the story and how we did Not get an Ugin card in M19.
Just from this story we should have had a Flip Walker card from Ugin.
It would only make sense if we return back to Bolas point of view and his new "kingdom"
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Been a member here for over a dozen years. Playing since '95 just got lost in the twitch shuffle.
Chromium and I guess Ugin leaned toward surgical strikes, you could call them. But it still would run the risk of the humans spreading out with some knowledge and strategy to kill dragons. You can't pick and choose the innocents. You can't unsee, or unlearn something. Chromium and Ugin would leave the door open for more dragon killers in the future. As long as the legend of dragon killing = power persisted in the thoughts of the humans, they would eventually try it again.
Bolas' solution is arguably better. Keep in mind that he didn't slaughter all the innocents. He made the strongest of the humans fight and kill each other. Then, he took power over them. The minds behind the magic and 'science' were gone. Now, instead of dead dragon = power, it has become dragon = power. Which means future generations will be raised without the previous connection. Bolas' plan is arguably safer for the Elder Dragons than Chromium's.
Was Bolas cruel? Yes. He sees the Bones of his kind being used in this way, his kind's blood used this way. Who wouldn't want vengeance? But he didn't kill all the humans. He simply took over them.
So from a dragon perspective, Bolas' plan was better, but the execution was a bit more ruthless than necessary. If I were an Elder Dragon, I'd probably annihilate them all, so that no memory of them remains. It would be the only absolutely sure way to stop the spread of the dangerous information.
But as a human, with human morality, I leab toward Chromium's plan.
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|| 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 ||
Scion of the Ur-Dragon represents Ugin trying to figure out what happened with their birth.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/chronicle-bolas-whispers-treachery-2018-07-11
-Looks like some of the ways of the Jeski where saved since they had wanders through the plane. While not a huge fan of the frame story I'm liking the bridging of what happened between Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir since the jump between the two time periods was a bit rushed, as well as the info that all the clans survive in small ways wasn't that well explained for all the clan.
-Ugin and Bolas meet Chromium Rhuell in human form fist showing his ability to hide out as a human. We also see the first part of how Bolas will take things (words) from others and twist it to his own uses.
-So Bolas tricks the many heirs of the dragon village to kill each other and he swooped in and took control. More set up for future Bolas character and could this be the origins of Madara?
-Ugin realizes Bolas only cares for himself and power and was planning on using Ugin as his own pawn, which causes his to spark and first walked to Tarkir which confirms he didn't make the plane.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
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I'm hoping that they're using this as a setup for the plot of the eventual return to Tarkir: Revolt against the Dragons and some return to the old ways. Wizards repeatedly said that the world of Khans of Tarkir was more popular than the world of Dragons of Tarkir.
My first thought when I figured out what Bolas was doing was that this was the start of the Empire of Madara.
In general, the story has been pretty good. Apparently we're not going to get details of the Elder Dragon War, though?
And I thought Dominaria was disappointing.
And re: Wizards resetting tarkir back to a khan-led world, I definitely wouldn't put it past them. With the way they reversed Innistrad after Avacyn Restored. I hope it's done much better than that was and they can find a balance for those who actually do like the dragonlords and their broods, like myself.
They left that open for a return already, just looks they pushing more to that conflict. Helps that Tarkir after Theros would be the next plane up for a return.
My first thought when I figured out what Bolas was doing was that this was the start of the Empire of Madara.
In general, the story has been pretty good. Apparently we're not going to get details of the Elder Dragon War, though?[/quote]
Where was that said? If we get the story from Ugin POV and he's not a part of the war I could see why they skipped it.
I think a more positive reverse would happen, with the humanoids taking over the dragons clans, the dragons gaining a third color and bring back the old ways into the dragon clans.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I actually found Bolas somewhat sympathetic. If I saw Wolves kill my sibling I’d like to find a way to kill those wolves and then get them to serve me.
JundBGR
RW Blood MoonRW
Pauper
Delver U
Elves G
Control B
Commander
Edgar Markov BRW
Captain Sisay GW
Niv-Mizzet, Parun UR
Tymna and Ravos WB
A serviceable story but nothing more.
I hope the Elder Dragon War was not just retconned as having been the ‘Dragon Killers War’ all along.
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
Actually I believe that the Elder Dragon War was started by Bolas shortly after Ugin left. He already mentions using his new power to put their siblings into place, can't see the other Elders being very happy about that. I doubt we'll see more of it, though I actually think that's for the better. We just don't have enough literary space to show it in its entirety.
All in all I like the story of the two twin dragons very much and even though Ugin later on became sort of an uncaring manipulator himself (when it comes to individuals at least) his disgust and sadness about Bolas actions and their broken bond (which was broken much earlier than he thought at first) causing him to spark was a nice touch that made him much more sympathetic in my eyes. I really hope we'll see him in Ravnica again.
The most confusing thing for me was how the action on the mountain took place - I thought it was dangerous for them to be within ballista range, but they were what - just watching from the peak with super good eyesight? And the armies were going to march their ballistae up to the top of the mountain to shoot them?
Also vaguely annoying that the arts don't have card tags after the set already came out. I get that they might be using the art liberally to describe a mood more than what is going on exactly in the art, but I just like to have the tags to remember what cards they are.
I've been out of the story for the core set and just jumped back in. Is there any indication what plane they are on? I've seen lots of people claim its Dominaria, but I haven't seen anything to suggest that it is Dominaria. Also unless they retcon a lot of stuff this isn't Madara right? I'm shaky on my knowledge of that time but Bolas didn't found Madara but swooped in and usurped the royalty long after the elder dragon war.
We feel horror at Bolas' killing and abuse of humans because we just happen to be humans as well. But Bolas is reacting to the killing and abuse of dragons by humans. He is dominating creatures who he knows would otherwise be happy to hunt him, kill him, drink his blood, and hang his skull above their gate. Nothing about Bolas's response so far seems disproportionate or wanton. If he is "evil" at this point, it's only in a purely subjective sense, and only because humans judge him to be evil from their point of view. And why should he care about their judgment?
We've been there and done that. That's how we got dogs.
And wolves don't even go out of their way to kill humans, much less build civilizations around murdering us.
The theme of teamwork has been interesting. From day 1 Bolas recognized that weaker beings can accomplish a lot through teamwork, but instead of thinking to harness that power, he is determined to undermine it. He wants to be the only one at the top of the food chain, and he's not interested in playing nice with the other dragons. Deep down he doesn't even want Ugin as a partner, only as a pawn.
His first magic has been revealed to be telepathy, and I think that speaks a lot towards his motivations. Even though raw red or black mana would be more powerful, Bolas is all about destroying groups of people from the inside out. He wants to take humanity's one strength and use it against them. He wants to prove that even with teamwork, lesser creatures still can't match his individual might.
Anyway, Bolas is evidently a super-telepath, since it is his OG magic. Anyone else suspect that maybe Jace's manipulation of Vraska's memories didn't exactly go as undetected as they thought? Pretending not to know about a plan, allowing their hopes to rise, and then squashing it triumphantly at an opportune moment is exactly something Bolas would do.
SPOILER ALERT
Envy took great pleasure in undermining human unity, mock their love and use their emotions as weapons, but deep down he's envious of human beings always manage to climb back up after their failure. Even when Envy had a "father" and six "siblings", he never truly had a family, he never knew the feeling of companionship and complete trust. Bolas was plagued by his self doubt and fear since day one, he became blind even to Ugin's loyalty, ended up only trusting himself and would only rely on those he could manipulate, including himself. He's a typical case of mind-over-emotions we see in a lot of so-call athletic masculinity, playing tough to hide insecurity, believing that only power could bring faithful followers/friends.
The greatest downfall with Bolas is that his draconic might is great enough to compensate his fear. Perhaps his defeat at Umezawa's hand was the first time he actually admit to his failure and fear.
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
Ugin and Chromium proposed a very rational solution to the problem of the dragon-killers - a surgical strike that only removed those humans with the knowledge/skill of the dragon-killing tradition, while sparing the rest.
Bolas, on the other hand, wanted to cause pain and misery to those who he believe threatened his existence. He could have just ended things quickly, but he wanted to cause as much suffering as possible.
And let's not delude ourselves into thinking that Bolas was considering the welfare of his siblings and cousins when he took the actions that he did. He did so because he saw the humans as a threat to himself. And he relished the misery he caused because he is a petty little **** who uses his power to control and oppress others to compensate for his own deep insecurities.
Everything he did was due to his fear of death. Ugin, on the other hand, accepted his relative insignificance early on in the story arc:
Not really. Ugin understands that all life has its purpose and place. When the dragons were discussing how to deal with the dragonkillers, Ugin only wanted to get rid of those within the village who would continue the dragon-killing practices. He wanted to spare those who had no part in the practices and thus were unable to continue the tradition once the leaders were gone; those who were only trying to exist and life their lives without actively destroying other life.
Ugin respects all life, while Bolas only respects his own. How is Bolas more understandable than Ugin?
Bolas wants to be at the top of the food chain, will do anything to achieve that, and is incapable of respecting any other being.
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!
Although I thought this was supposed to be more of a Bolas origin story and it seems we are getting more Ugin origin??
There are a few left (and it seems we are still headed for more Ugin stories now on Tarkir) but so far there seems to be a big disconnect on the story and how we did Not get an Ugin card in M19.
Just from this story we should have had a Flip Walker card from Ugin.
It would only make sense if we return back to Bolas point of view and his new "kingdom"
Chromium and I guess Ugin leaned toward surgical strikes, you could call them. But it still would run the risk of the humans spreading out with some knowledge and strategy to kill dragons. You can't pick and choose the innocents. You can't unsee, or unlearn something. Chromium and Ugin would leave the door open for more dragon killers in the future. As long as the legend of dragon killing = power persisted in the thoughts of the humans, they would eventually try it again.
Bolas' solution is arguably better. Keep in mind that he didn't slaughter all the innocents. He made the strongest of the humans fight and kill each other. Then, he took power over them. The minds behind the magic and 'science' were gone. Now, instead of dead dragon = power, it has become dragon = power. Which means future generations will be raised without the previous connection. Bolas' plan is arguably safer for the Elder Dragons than Chromium's.
Was Bolas cruel? Yes. He sees the Bones of his kind being used in this way, his kind's blood used this way. Who wouldn't want vengeance? But he didn't kill all the humans. He simply took over them.
So from a dragon perspective, Bolas' plan was better, but the execution was a bit more ruthless than necessary. If I were an Elder Dragon, I'd probably annihilate them all, so that no memory of them remains. It would be the only absolutely sure way to stop the spread of the dangerous information.
But as a human, with human morality, I leab toward Chromium's plan.