From what has been hinted its Azorius wtih Dovin from the stream, Orzhov with Kaya from stuff revealing Kaya is around and she is able to kill ghosts and Gruul with Domri since its hinted at he is on plane and I'd find it odd that they would mention he was on plane without a card.*
*I know walkers can be in the story without a card, but considering Domri hasn't gotten a card in years I think its likely he would get one.
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I find it hard to believe Kaya is a) working for Bolas and b) leading a guild, you know, the two prerequisites for the walkers in the first two sets. (Unless Ravnica Allegiance has 4 walkers of course. But that'd still not solve the problem of who'd be in charge of Orzhov.)
Plot twist: The ghost council originally struck a deal with Bolas, siding with him, but Teysa hires Kaya to assassinate them as Kaya, being a planeswalker, isn't bound by the guildpact magic, which allows Teysa to take control of the Orzhov and oppose Bolas.
My guess based on WotC wanting to color balance everything is Dovin Baan for Azorius, Domri Rade for Gruul, and Kaya (or Liliana?) for Orzhov. Kaya's on the cover for the Ravnica book, but she doesn't look like she's Team Bolas unless she starts out with Bolas and has a change of heart.
Domri Rade has already been referenced in flavor text in GRN on Street Riot, so we know he's at least around.
This ends up balancing the guilds such that each of the 5 colors of magic is represented twice on Team Bolas and Team Not-Bolas.
My thought is Kaya is, like Vraska, an assassin and will do whatever she is paid to do. Kaya has a moral center but if she doesn't know Bolas is evil and he hires her to kill the Obzedat, I bet she would and seeing how corrupt the ghosts are wouldn't have an issue.
And this me having no hard evidence but I also wonder if Kaya is from Ravnica and from an Orzhov family. She mentions in her pov story she is from a noble family but have had a falling out and her clothing also seems kinda urban and won't seem out of place on Ravnica.
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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"
My guess based on WotC wanting to color balance everything is Dovin Baan for Azorius, Domri Rade for Gruul, and Kaya (or Liliana?) for Orzhov. Kaya's on the cover for the Ravnica book, but she doesn't look like she's Team Bolas unless she starts out with Bolas and has a change of heart.
Domri Rade has already been referenced in flavor text in GRN on Street Riot, so we know he's at least around.
This ends up balancing the guilds such that each of the 5 colors of magic is represented twice on Team Bolas and Team Not-Bolas.
Hadn't noticed the Street Riot flavor text. He certainly sounds older and with an axe to grind. While I didn't want Orzhov to go Bolas, the color balancing thing makes sense.
My thought is Kaya is, like Vraska, an assassin and will do whatever she is paid to do. Kaya has a moral center but if she doesn't know Bolas is evil and he hires her to kill the Obzedat, I bet she would and seeing how corrupt the ghosts are wouldn't have an issue.
I don't even think Bolas will hire her directly. More likely, Bolas will make some kind of deal with Teysa to find someone who can kill the Ghost Council and introduce her to Kaya. He might not even do that much directly, he could just use Tezzeret as a middleman instead.
When I'm writing a short story first person, it feels really weird to say/write the person's name or describe them until someone else does. How often do you walk around telling yourself your name, or describing yourself to yourself? Feels strange. The author might feel the same way. If you don't go around thinking "I'm Bob, and I'm a human," why would a first person character do that?
Define describing, but I think "God I am fat" quite often.
I often think about specific aspects of my physical appearance and look at myself in just about every reflective surface I can find. ("I feel really pretty today, I love how this dress shows off my hourglass figure," or "I look like a total mess right now, my hair is all frizzy and I have bags under my eyes.") Sometimes I mentally refer to myself by name too. ("Come on Sarah, get it together.")
So yeah, I wouldn't see anything weird about the main character describing herself and mentioning her name in a first person narrative. But I'm also a bit of a narcissist (when I was writing my description of the Blue/Black/Red mentality in the Identity of Shards thread, some parts felt almost autobiographical), so maybe most people don't think that way?
Hadn't noticed the Street Riot flavor text. He certainly sounds older and with an axe to grind. While I didn't want Orzhov to go Bolas, the color balancing thing makes sense.
If it's any consolation, I don't think it'll matter which guilds side with Bolas in the long run. In the end, he'll conquer the plane and take over all of them, with the loyalist remnants of every guild banding together to overthrow him. Likewise, I don't think Dovin, Kaya, and Domri are villains for serving Bolas, especially since most of them probably don't even realize they're helping further his plans (like Ral) or don't realize how evil he is (like Vraska). Once they realize what his actual agenda is, I'd imagine most or all of them would turn against him. I don't see Tezzeret or Liliana staying loyal either.
I'm fairly sure the third act will basically be "everyone vs. Bolas," the question is who'll be fighting who in the second act.
I mean is Kaya good? She seems anti ghost more then she seems good. She did put Marchesa on the throne after all. She seems to like being on the payroll of Grixis Tyrants.
I find it hard to believe Kaya is a) working for Bolas and b) leading a guild, you know, the two prerequisites for the walkers in the first two sets. (Unless Ravnica Allegiance has 4 walkers of course. But that'd still not solve the problem of who'd be in charge of Orzhov.)
Plot twist: The ghost council originally struck a deal with Bolas, siding with him, but Teysa hires Kaya to assassinate them as Kaya, being a planeswalker, isn't bound by the guildpact magic, which allows Teysa to take control of the Orzhov and oppose Bolas.
That would be really cool to see, but one thing. Isn't Teysa still locked up in the jail? I thought only Tajic got freed my Aurelia.
From what we've seen so far, the Mythic character has been aligned with the overall direction of the guild, and the rare character has been the opposing faction. They confirmed that whichever side a guild chooses, there is a faction within going against that choice. Aurelia seems to be going pro Guildpact, while Tajic doesn't trust any non Boros and seems likely to be pushed to cause dissent by Bolas. Vraska is with Bolas, but the Golgari legendary is a Devkarin Elf, the Golgari faction on the outs after Vraska took over. Ral is working for Bolas, and the legendary is Niv Mizzet himself, who suspected something and fled, as he tends to do. Lazav is suspicious and too clever to get looped into Bolas' schemes, but the legendary vampire is representative of a group of Dimir who want to get rid of the old guard and take over the guild. The guilds next set will likely follow the same path. When Dovan, or whatever walker, takes over the Azorious, we'll see Livinia most likely as the legendary creature, running the resistance. If Domri takes over the Gruul, we'll see a Gruul legendary resistance leader. I suspect that if Kaya takes over the Orzhov, we'll see Teysa as the resistance leader.
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In Selesnya however, all three parts of Trostani are in disagreement, symbolizing the guild being split, without the rare legendary involved. :T
The split here might be a bit different: From what I can gather Trostani and its disagreement show the Selesnya that is unable to act in this crisis, favoring to isolate itself somewhat from outside problems while dealing with the internal conflict, leading to a passive guild which in turn plays into Bolas' hands. Emmara on the other hand seems to be much more proactive, trying to reach out to the other guilds. Sadly that means that if the theory that the "majority" of a guild is symbolized by its mythic this time around is true, then Selesnya is too lost in its internal disagreements to be much of a help in the war against Bolas...
Maro outright confirmed that there are "pro-Bolas" and "anti-Bolas" guilds, two in this set and three in the next. The guilds might have internal conflicts, but some are completely within his control.
Maro outright confirmed that there are "pro-Bolas" and "anti-Bolas" guilds, two in this set and three in the next. The guilds might have internal conflicts, but some are completely within his control.
That’s...not exactly what he said.
Maro confirmed that 5 Guilds would fall to Bolas but he also wrote of contrary movements within the guilds.
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Maro outright confirmed that there are "pro-Bolas" and "anti-Bolas" guilds, two in this set and three in the next. The guilds might have internal conflicts, but some are completely within his control.
That’s...not exactly what he said.
Maro confirmed that 5 Guilds would fall to Bolas but he also wrote of contrary movements within the guilds.
Just to expand on this, Maro said:
natsoumal asked: Hi mark! I was curious about one thing: the fact that there are two versions of each gate (even with phrases of different characters) show that in all the guilds there are two groups in conflict on supporting Nicol Bolas?
MaRo: Every guild is fighting the influence of Bolas.
So even the guilds that are under Bolas's control aren't "Completely within his control." There are factions of every guild that are fighting his influence. Some are just being more successful than others.
Even guilds not under Bolas control have sides that don't agree with the company line...Tajic and Aurelia are clearly not on the same page. Trostani cannot agree at all.
Even guilds not under Bolas control have sides that don't agree with the company line...Tajic and Aurelia are clearly not on the same page. Trostani cannot agree at all.
So I don't think its Bolas Faction Specific.
Quite right. All guilds are split between doing Bolas' bidding and not (whether knowingly, accidentally, or otherwise), it only varies in which group is the one officially in charge. No one guild is completely for or against Bolas, some are just more or less so than others.
Do you think there's any significance to Lazav having a representation of Niv-Mizzet in his new art? Almost seemed to me to be saying he could impersonate Niv if he wanted to, if he hasn't already.
I'm leaning toward the art being that way just for fun, but I'm not sure.
I liked this story, it seemed to keep up the idea of paranoia going around Ravnica. I was a little let down that it was just one elemental causing these problems, I thought as the stories went on we would get a ramping up of problems that indicate bigger conspiracies.
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I like the new Boros story, and it added more depth to the otherwise very straightforward (albeit unnecessarily so) guild. Every guild should be more than one dimensional, and it's high time Boros receive some details since the first Ravnica novel. I expect Gruul story to have some feels too, instead of the usual aggression.
Thats who I thought of for the whole story, but considering what they have the author doing, I don't think she would know if Feather was coming back. I think she just wanted to use the similar idea of a borors angel on pentence.
Also did we ever learn if Aurelia was a clone or came somewhere else?
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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"
One of my major gripes (continuing from RtR) is almost abandoning the Slavic inspiration when it comes to names. I miss Cory Herndon creating names for his original trilogy using English-Czech, Polish and Russian vocabularies....
Instead of names Zlovol ("malicious"), Pierakor (pierko - feather), Cisarzim (cesarz - emperor), Razia (raid, bust) we are getting Merrett, Leighbet, Tamsyn, Skormak, Ossett Weslyn, Aresaan, Baas Solvar Radley (sounds like something from Harry Potter), Devin Sidian (Star Wars?!) , Rook Atalay (a TURKISH surname...)
I know it's the Boros connection and all, but this really brought me back to the original Ravnica novel and Kos. With that being my favorite of all the Magic books, this definitely made me smile.
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*I know walkers can be in the story without a card, but considering Domri hasn't gotten a card in years I think its likely he would get one.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Plot twist: The ghost council originally struck a deal with Bolas, siding with him, but Teysa hires Kaya to assassinate them as Kaya, being a planeswalker, isn't bound by the guildpact magic, which allows Teysa to take control of the Orzhov and oppose Bolas.
Domri Rade has already been referenced in flavor text in GRN on Street Riot, so we know he's at least around.
This ends up balancing the guilds such that each of the 5 colors of magic is represented twice on Team Bolas and Team Not-Bolas.
Bolas:
White: Azorius, Orzhov
Blue: Azorius, Izzet
Black: Orzhov, Golgari
Red: Gruul, Izzet
Green: Gruul, Golgari
Not-Bolas:
White: Selesnya, Boros
Blue: Dimir, Simic
Black: Dimir, Rakdos
Red: Rakdos, Boros
Green: Selesnya, Simic
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And this me having no hard evidence but I also wonder if Kaya is from Ravnica and from an Orzhov family. She mentions in her pov story she is from a noble family but have had a falling out and her clothing also seems kinda urban and won't seem out of place on Ravnica.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Hadn't noticed the Street Riot flavor text. He certainly sounds older and with an axe to grind. While I didn't want Orzhov to go Bolas, the color balancing thing makes sense.
I don't even think Bolas will hire her directly. More likely, Bolas will make some kind of deal with Teysa to find someone who can kill the Ghost Council and introduce her to Kaya. He might not even do that much directly, he could just use Tezzeret as a middleman instead.
I often think about specific aspects of my physical appearance and look at myself in just about every reflective surface I can find. ("I feel really pretty today, I love how this dress shows off my hourglass figure," or "I look like a total mess right now, my hair is all frizzy and I have bags under my eyes.") Sometimes I mentally refer to myself by name too. ("Come on Sarah, get it together.")
So yeah, I wouldn't see anything weird about the main character describing herself and mentioning her name in a first person narrative. But I'm also a bit of a narcissist (when I was writing my description of the Blue/Black/Red mentality in the Identity of Shards thread, some parts felt almost autobiographical), so maybe most people don't think that way?
If it's any consolation, I don't think it'll matter which guilds side with Bolas in the long run. In the end, he'll conquer the plane and take over all of them, with the loyalist remnants of every guild banding together to overthrow him. Likewise, I don't think Dovin, Kaya, and Domri are villains for serving Bolas, especially since most of them probably don't even realize they're helping further his plans (like Ral) or don't realize how evil he is (like Vraska). Once they realize what his actual agenda is, I'd imagine most or all of them would turn against him. I don't see Tezzeret or Liliana staying loyal either.
I'm fairly sure the third act will basically be "everyone vs. Bolas," the question is who'll be fighting who in the second act.
That would be really cool to see, but one thing. Isn't Teysa still locked up in the jail? I thought only Tajic got freed my Aurelia.
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Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
The split here might be a bit different: From what I can gather Trostani and its disagreement show the Selesnya that is unable to act in this crisis, favoring to isolate itself somewhat from outside problems while dealing with the internal conflict, leading to a passive guild which in turn plays into Bolas' hands. Emmara on the other hand seems to be much more proactive, trying to reach out to the other guilds. Sadly that means that if the theory that the "majority" of a guild is symbolized by its mythic this time around is true, then Selesnya is too lost in its internal disagreements to be much of a help in the war against Bolas...
That’s...not exactly what he said.
Maro confirmed that 5 Guilds would fall to Bolas but he also wrote of contrary movements within the guilds.
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
Just to expand on this, Maro said:
So even the guilds that are under Bolas's control aren't "Completely within his control." There are factions of every guild that are fighting his influence. Some are just being more successful than others.
So I don't think its Bolas Faction Specific.
Quite right. All guilds are split between doing Bolas' bidding and not (whether knowingly, accidentally, or otherwise), it only varies in which group is the one officially in charge. No one guild is completely for or against Bolas, some are just more or less so than others.
I'm leaning toward the art being that way just for fun, but I'm not sure.
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Thats who I thought of for the whole story, but considering what they have the author doing, I don't think she would know if Feather was coming back. I think she just wanted to use the similar idea of a borors angel on pentence.
Also did we ever learn if Aurelia was a clone or came somewhere else?
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Instead of names Zlovol ("malicious"), Pierakor (pierko - feather), Cisarzim (cesarz - emperor), Razia (raid, bust) we are getting Merrett, Leighbet, Tamsyn, Skormak, Ossett Weslyn, Aresaan, Baas Solvar Radley (sounds like something from Harry Potter), Devin Sidian (Star Wars?!) , Rook Atalay (a TURKISH surname...)
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