I agree with @mapcuu. The Rakdos as they are being portrayed right now are just unbelievable. There is a point in the story where the main character is complaining about the Azorius getting upset when Rakdos performances spill onto the lawns of regular citizens. No *****. If I lived in Ravnica and woke up to dead bodies on my lawn I would be upset and tried to call the police (Boros/Azorius). And the way the story presents it is like the Azorius are trying to mess with the Rakdos way of life instead of just doing their job. Ravnica is supposed to be a huge city, and here is this guild where everything it does is just in opposition to what a functioning society would allow. The ''vice parade'' is just dumb. Why would other guilds allow this? Atleast have the decency to write them as crazy bastards that are at odds with the rest of the society, instead of presenting them as some sort of oppressed poor guys that are just trying to live their life while the bad guys (police) are keeping them down.
The main character was dumb as well. Centuries old demon with many talents that can't talk to a girl he already had sex with. How quirky and funny. And utterly dumb as well. Also why is this guy doing poetry with social commentary? What can this demon who likes Rakdos festivals with orgies and people killing themselves tell about society? ''Police bad, killing good''. I actually think the style of writing was very good, but the story overall was just very dumb. I wonder what the author thought when people told her she needs to write a sympathetic demon that likes torture, pain and orgies.
I'm not saying its a reflection of things that are part of our normal. I'm saying that in a fantasy setting, in which we have Demons part of 'normal' society, well considering our own history, I just dont have much difficulty making that leap?
In the latest story, the Azorius were doing everything in their power to arrest Rakdos cultists for even the most trivial crimes, like graffiti. And they were very quick to crack down on more serious crimes like the production, sale, and usage of blight paper (as much as the protagonists view it as a harmless prank, it is a form of torture). Yet they don't do anything to shut down the actual shows or arrest the performers, despite the fact that those shows feature things you'd expect would be illegal (people being burned, flayed, impaled, and so forth). So the performances themselves must be legal, which seems strange but it was probably one of the conditions of the original Guildpact. Presumably there must be some kind of consent on behalf of the victims, even if it's as broad and specious as "anyone entering the performance zone automatically consents to anything the performers may do to them."
I think these are both good points, in that the Cult of Rakdos as an institution (strangely, it qualifies) likely enjoys some measure of cultural and legal protection that defines where and when the spectacles are deemed 'appropriate' andwith an understanding that even attending an event may remove certain liabilities.
But as others mentioned/hinted and as I previously said: I think I can empathize with people like Tajic who'd rather see the Cult severely curtailed or even destroyed.
Kink and fetish deserve appropriate limits and spaces conductive to consent, public health, and the emancipation of human life and expression. They are NOT the celebration of forcibly and prematurely ending any of these, or the failure to take precautions that would limit undue risk and permanent harm. True Freedom therefore requires a level of self-restraint and likewise accountability for one's actions. There's no reason why nontraditional relationships cannot be both fun, spicy and conductive towards self- and other's preservation/lives.
True Freedom therefore requires a level of self-restraint and likewise accountability for one's actions.
I'm not sure I agree on that one, especially from a Black/Red 'magic philosophy' perspective, but its been a VERY long time since I've done any reading on that kind of topic. :]
Kink and fetish deserve appropriate limits and spaces conductive to consent, public health, and the emancipation of human life and expression. They are NOT the celebration of forcibly and prematurely ending any of these, or the failure to take precautions that would limit undue risk and permanent harm. True Freedom therefore requires a level of self-restraint and likewise accountability for one's actions. There's no reason why nontraditional relationships cannot be both fun, spicy and conductive towards self- and other's preservation/lives.
Jeez dude. It's just a forum for the (increasingly *****ty) story in a children's card game.
Cool.story today posted about the Rakdos. Definitely shows the, uh, warmer side of red and black.
Also nice foreshadowing of what the Azorius is up to in the background.
While I agree, I am kinda disappointed with one thing. They keep ignoring the Slavic inspiration of Ravnica in RtR and here. And when they don't, they bungle it. Where Cory Herndon actually used Czech-English vocabulary to find proper names for his characters and other things (like the name Devkarin), Secretist and these stories used completely made-up names (for example, the elves in the kraul story), sounding generic English.
This story, like it was trying to amend, uses two. The minotaur from Dimir story named Jitka...okay. That is Czech version of Judith. Can do, it is even a bit funny. But in the other instance, it fails spectacularly. "Lucinka" is verbatim "Baby Lucy", a name you'd call a toddler daughter. Not a half-amorphous divination-talented female sack of meat in a skin too big for her.
Bah, I miss the days when the authors cared...
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I think these are both good points, in that the Cult of Rakdos as an institution (strangely, it qualifies) likely enjoys some measure of cultural and legal protection that defines where and when the spectacles are deemed 'appropriate' andwith an understanding that even attending an event may remove certain liabilities.
But as others mentioned/hinted and as I previously said: I think I can empathize with people like Tajic who'd rather see the Cult severely curtailed or even destroyed.
Kink and fetish deserve appropriate limits and spaces conductive to consent, public health, and the emancipation of human life and expression. They are NOT the celebration of forcibly and prematurely ending any of these, or the failure to take precautions that would limit undue risk and permanent harm. True Freedom therefore requires a level of self-restraint and likewise accountability for one's actions. There's no reason why nontraditional relationships cannot be both fun, spicy and conductive towards self- and other's preservation/lives.
Back in the Victorian era, there were underground sex clubs and orgies where simply by attending, you were implicitly giving your consent to potentially have sex with anyone else at the party. This was largely a response to the sexual repression of mainstream society at the time, and it doesn't really happen anymore because modern society has a more developed understanding of sexual consent. Still, there's some real world precedent to the idea that simply attending an event can be considered a form of consent in its own right, and even today, there are situations where you see less extreme forms of that. I remember hearing about a local punk concert where the band sprayed fake blood on the crowd, and when some people got upset about their clothes being ruined, the band's response was basically "well, you shouldn't have been there if you didn't want that happening."
And in the modern kink scene, there are plenty of parties where you can watch people being tied up, suspended, beaten, whipped, cut, burned, shocked, etc. Granted, the "victims" are all consenting volunteers, and the performers are always very careful to keep things within reasonably safe limits. But if you combine that with the Victorian sex club norms I mentioned, with the "shouldn't have been there" logic of that punk band, with the cruelty that circuses displayed toward animals and performers until very recently, and with the total disregard for safety that's been present in a lot of combat sports (particularly in pre-modern times and in some developing countries today), you get something that would look a lot like Rakdos culture. I could see something like that existing here on Earth in an alternate timeline, so I definitely don't see it as unrealistic in a world that has an institutionalized faction of literal torture demons with 10,000 years of cultural history enshrining its place in society.
I'm not saying I approve of it, or think it's a sane or moral or healthy arrangement. I'd be a hell of a lot less likely to attend parties if there was a chance I could randomly be dragged on stage and flayed alive at any time! I'm just saying that I can see the twisted logic behind it, and it's honestly not that far off from things we've seen in the real world.
If all the walkers have sided (whether directly or indirectly with Bolas), how come the Azorius are trying to hold back the Gruul? Shouldn't they be more worried about the Simic and Rakdos? Also, it would make more sense for the Boros to be stopping the Gruul instead since the Boros are also similar in function to the police of Ravnica.
I'm guessing that Bolas' plan requires the guilds to be at odds with each other, and it's easier to set up conflict between two groups that are under your control. Bolas' planeswalkers don't necessarily know that all of the other planeswalkers on the plane are working for Bolas too.
We saw in the M19 story that Bolas fears cooperation by his enemies because he knows it allows weaker beings to defeat more powerfull ones. So it makes sense that he has the guilds resort to infighting so they won't band together against him. I think that's as deep as that part of the plot goes. All of the non-bolas aligned guilds are the more seclusive ones. Bolas took control of all the guilds that keep society at large going - infrastructure, commerce, law, waste management and the gruul as a match to start the fire.
That's probably why the Gatewatch and friends are the only "faction" with enough power to challenge Bolas (And i fully expect them to get their asses kicked anyway, only for Ugin to show up with Azor at the end to save the day. Probably by Azor retaking control of the Azorius and it's law magic, then using that against Bolas.)
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Kink and fetish deserve appropriate limits and spaces conductive to consent, public health, and the emancipation of human life and expression. They are NOT the celebration of forcibly and prematurely ending any of these, or the failure to take precautions that would limit undue risk and permanent harm. True Freedom therefore requires a level of self-restraint and likewise accountability for one's actions. There's no reason why nontraditional relationships cannot be both fun, spicy and conductive towards self- and other's preservation/lives.
Jeez dude. It's just a forum for the (increasingly *****ty) story in a children's card game.
</blockquote>
1. MTG is actually marketed to a maturer audience than kids, hence why they can push the boundaries a lil with more mature content.
2. You cared enough about the game that you made an account, and cared enough about the story to comment on the story forum, so What’s your point?
The issue doesn’t matter to you, that’s fine. But if that’s the point you’re trying to make you’re gonna waste a lot of your time telling people why the stuff they care about doesn’t matter instead of doing what stuff you enjoy and care about.
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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
I think Rakdos is just a grand BDSM society, and the story itself probably didn’t do the REAL events justice due to age rating of this game.
Consider that there are safe words even amongst Rakdos members, I think even they themselves (outside of spells) had standards. After all, the longer you live the more fun you can enjoy.
And please don’t be too hard on the demon. This may be the first time he’s in love and anyone experiencing first love could be bashful. A grand achievement for a soulless creature, he deserves cheers, not scrutiny.
I wished Rakdos was potrayed as more a source of adult enteritanment and a place of luxury. I don't mind having a murder circus been the more extreme part of the Cult, but have things like Cassinos and brothels be associated with Rakdos. it definitly fits the color pie and gives Rakdos a place in society that makes sense, instead just a crazy cult of psychos. If the ya re indeed associated with it, atleast show them more in the cards.
I wished Rakdos was potrayed as more a source of adult enteritanment and a place of luxury. I don't mind having a murder circus been the more extreme part of the Cult, but have things like Cassinos and brothels be associated with Rakdos. it definitly fits the color pie and gives Rakdos a place in society that makes sense, instead just a crazy cult of psychos. If the ya re indeed associated with it, atleast show them more in the cards.
Adult entertainment would be troublesome to show in actual cards though. Rakdos's design in Ravnica 1 was mentioned to be the plane's entertainment hub, and far less circus-y too.
EDIT: Tajic mentioned in the flavor of Bedevil about naughty amusement, perhaps he's been to one.
only for Ugin to show up with Azor at the end to save the day
Unless Ugin is keeping a proper Planar Bridge from us, that can not happen.
”Everything is impossible until it is done” -Nelson Mandela
Who knows what Ugin’s spirit Magic is capable of?
Probably not arbitrarily undoing the entire point of the mending, sort of like how the Planar Bridge specifically can't transport "living" matter explicitly so that Planeswalkers retain their specialness of being able to hop from plane to plane.
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I wished Rakdos was potrayed as more a source of adult enteritanment and a place of luxury. I don't mind having a murder circus been the more extreme part of the Cult, but have things like Cassinos and brothels be associated with Rakdos. it definitly fits the color pie and gives Rakdos a place in society that makes sense, instead just a crazy cult of psychos. If the ya re indeed associated with it, atleast show them more in the cards.
Adult entertainment would be troublesome to show in actual cards though. Rakdos's design in Ravnica 1 was mentioned to be the plane's entertainment hub, and far less circus-y too.
EDIT: Tajic mentioned in the flavor of Bedevil about naughty amusement, perhaps he's been to one.
You can still show cards depicting a red light district without suggestive clothing. You can show amusement in things other than gore. The guild mechanic is spectacle and the article falls pretty flat during many of the acrobatic parts from the viewpoint of the audience. They don't come off as performers than generally society would waste time viewing. Why would the a random joe of ivy lane be caught at any form of rakdos entertainment? Draw the link for me in how this guild conforms to society. ivy lane denizen FYI.
While I understand the link to a lot of the darker forms of entertainment historically, many of those were tests of strength, martial expertise, dominance, and tradition - which all feel gruul and deservedly so.
None of the guilds conform to an idealized society. Look at the flavor text of Supreme Verdict. You call that civilized? What about locking people up for crimes they might commit in the future? The Boros engage in police brutality on a regular basis. The Orzhov have slaves. The Orzhov, Rakdos, and Selesnya are all cults. The Golgari unleash plagues on civilization while the Gruul smash buildings. The Simic and Izzit engage in reckless experiments. The Dimir I don’t think anyone would defend.
That’s the point of Ravnica. 10 guild which each have their own culture and laws existing together in the same city. It’s fantastical, and it’s the reason why some people love Ravnica and others hate it.
I also don’t know if starting a war with the Rakdos would be wise. It would also probably take a long time, given how much of a bureaucracy the Azorius is. I also don’t think that all members of the Azorius would agree that they have the legal authority to declare war on another guild.
While I understand the link to a lot of the darker forms of entertainment historically, many of those were tests of strength, martial expertise, dominance, and tradition - which all feel gruul and deservedly so.
I'm not going to post a bunch of NSFW links here, but look at the motivations of Gruul vs Rakdos, and even things which are 'tradition' such as say First Nations Sun Dance.
"Typically, the sun dance is a gruelling ordeal for the dancers, a physical and spiritual test that they offer in sacrifice for their people. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, young men dance around a pole to which they are fastened by "rawhide thongs pegged through the skin of their chests."
This is bloody spectacle. Dress it up as endurance, as mental strength, there is something about this which is a lot more Rakdos, than Gruul. The show's that took that kind of stuff into the modern Suspension Body Modification scene? Thats what we are talking about here.
Im getting kind of annoyed that we still dont have any main plot stories but by the time I finish with each of Nicky Drayden's stories im better. The ending seemed a bit rushed but I enjoyed this story, and thought it was cool the giant coming back was released from the events in the last story.
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Rakdos's design in Ravnica 1 was mentioned to be the plane's entertainment hub, and far less circus-y too.
This is what irks me about most of the guilds of Ravnica (though msot of all with Rakdos). With each iteration they become more and more like a caricature of themselves. In the first Ravnica, the Rakdos were the entertainers of the plane, but also the miners. They had various layers, because they literally only existed to please Rakdos. They were basically scraping at the bottom of the barrel (inlore) for a purpose other than to die for Rakdos' amusement, which was only a small part really. They were not only depraved suiciders/homiciders. That was only a small part. They also had brothels, but also such innocent things as restaurants and clubs. Rakdos knew how to have fun and that gave them a niche.
Over the time fun has been redefined into death and suffering and... it's really offputting? People compare the modern Rakdos to some historical rituals and events, but honestly the Rakdos are unsustainable. Where do they get their volunteers from, who even would volunteer? Safe for plane-wide mind control, which raises a whole host of cans of worms.
Honestly, I didn't quite enjoy the story as much. I disliked the beginning of the caricaturist description of the guild (they serve horror meat, really?). The middle, with the prison break, was enjoyable and the end was really weird for the same reason the other NuNuRavnica stories were weird. It may be just me, but this quirky "And everything worked out in the end." which reminds of french movies (which was actually WotC's inspiration) is not my cup of tea.
I found that interesting too. I must say this was a terrible setup then. If you specifically set up characters to fill a spot in the story and it still feels unnatural for those characters to fill that story, then you've literally done your job the worst way possible.
I also dislike Domri taking over the guild. A aliteral teenager taking over one of the absolute most powerful institutions of the whole plane? Yeah, right, whatever.
Rakdos's design in Ravnica 1 was mentioned to be the plane's entertainment hub, and far less circus-y too.
This is what irks me about most of the guilds of Ravnica (though msot of all with Rakdos). With each iteration they become more and more like a caricature of themselves. In the first Ravnica, the Rakdos were the entertainers of the plane, but also the miners. They had various layers, because they literally only existed to please Rakdos. They were basically scraping at the bottom of the barrel (inlore) for a purpose other than to die for Rakdos' amusement, which was only a small part really. They were not only depraved suiciders/homiciders. That was only a small part. They also had brothels, but also such innocent things as restaurants and clubs. Rakdos knew how to have fun and that gave them a niche.
Over the time fun has been redefined into death and suffering and... it's really offputting? People compare the modern Rakdos to some historical rituals and events, but honestly the Rakdos are unsustainable. Where do they get their volunteers from, who even would volunteer? Safe for plane-wide mind control, which raises a whole host of cans of worms.
Honestly, I didn't quite enjoy the story as much. I disliked the beginning of the caricaturist description of the guild (they serve horror meat, really?). The middle, with the prison break, was enjoyable and the end was really weird for the same reason the other NuNuRavnica stories were weird. It may be just me, but this quirky "And everything worked out in the end." which reminds of french movies (which was actually WotC's inspiration) is not my cup of tea.
I found that interesting too. I must say this was a terrible setup then. If you specifically set up characters to fill a spot in the story and it still feels unnatural for those characters to fill that story, then you've literally done your job the worst way possible.
I also dislike Domri taking over the guild. A aliteral teenager taking over one of the absolute most powerful institutions of the whole plane? Yeah, right, whatever.
Agreed entirely, except that if there would be a guild that decided to follow some rabble rousing punk kid, it would be the Gruul. All he'd need to do is challenge Borboryblahblah and wreck his ***** with a fireball. Boom, he's the new big *****. Then what he's preaching is really popular with the Gruul. Is it a good idea? Hell no, but the Gruul are all about dumb decisions.
As for the story, there is no way you can make the Selesnya out to be the bad guys here. The Gruul's whole thing is invading other guilds territory, killing people, destroying everything, and then driving out the survivors. F the Gruul.
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Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
Because Rakdos himself can 1v9 the other guild leaders, specially now that Niv and the Obzedat are gone.
I also got from the Rakdos story that they are trying to pull the Rakdos away from the all murder all the time thing. I mean, the feature was a Demon doing bad poetry and stand up, so its like they are moving back into their original role as described by Flisch, just without the mining and smelting.
It also seems like the Guild functions as a containment mechanism for the demons and devils of Ravnica, both literal and figurative. It keeps most of their violence focused on each other, isolates them from the rest of the populace, and manages to channel some of their energy into somewhat productive pursuits. Its basically the purge, but limited geographically rather than to a certain night. Apparently they actually have to follow laws and regulations, it just seems like those are all meant to keep them from screwing with non Rakdos and they get to do whatever they want to each other. We see the demon poet think about how he used to be more savage and brutal before joining the Rakdos and channeling his energy into creative pursuits. Even the absurdity of him complaining about the Azorious getting mad about Rakdos murder parties spilling over onto their lawns makes sense when you think about it through this lens: the area was Rakdos territory for literally thousands of years, there shouldn't be anybody else there, and its a very recent development that the Azorious have been taking properties and giving them to civilians, to the point where its clear that this was meant to provoke a reason to crack down on the Rakdos. If you think about Rakdos territory as essentially a nuclear exclusion zone, then doing this would be like putting up a new development in Pripyat and wondering why people are getting cancer.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
There's also the fact that Dissension's Rakdos Cult was Lyzolda's cult. RTR and RNA are Rakdos when Rakdos is awake. Also Judith may be jealous and a popular artist, but Exava is still alive and still the blood witch so it wouldn't be so strange for the Rakdos to be more spread and subcultural in their goals, means and priorities than other guilds. There's supposedly multiple revues even if we've only heard of Juri's in the flavor text, there's clubs owned by demons, there's Massacre Girls' gang. It is in BR's identity to tribalize and even if almost everyone looks at Rakdos himself for inspiration it's not so impossible to think that just like IRL there'll be dozens of performers like KISS, Alice Cooper and Marylin Manson where the shock mostly stays in the stage for every DMX and G.G. Allin that are genuinelly dangerous to see live. WotC just focuses on the conflictive members because they need to sell a story about people's reasons to fight for their combat-focused game.
Because Rakdos himself can 1v9 the other guild leaders, specially now that Niv and the Obzedat are gone.
I also got from the Rakdos story that they are trying to pull the Rakdos away from the all murder all the time thing. I mean, the feature was a Demon doing bad poetry and stand up, so its like they are moving back into their original role as described by Flisch, just without the mining and smelting.
And even then the art book and planeswalker guide all also mention thats still the main purpose of the guild. Its not gone its just hasn't been in focus in any of the Ravnica sets.
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The main character was dumb as well. Centuries old demon with many talents that can't talk to a girl he already had sex with. How quirky and funny. And utterly dumb as well. Also why is this guy doing poetry with social commentary? What can this demon who likes Rakdos festivals with orgies and people killing themselves tell about society? ''Police bad, killing good''. I actually think the style of writing was very good, but the story overall was just very dumb. I wonder what the author thought when people told her she needs to write a sympathetic demon that likes torture, pain and orgies.
I think these are both good points, in that the Cult of Rakdos as an institution (strangely, it qualifies) likely enjoys some measure of cultural and legal protection that defines where and when the spectacles are deemed 'appropriate' andwith an understanding that even attending an event may remove certain liabilities.
But as others mentioned/hinted and as I previously said: I think I can empathize with people like Tajic who'd rather see the Cult severely curtailed or even destroyed.
Kink and fetish deserve appropriate limits and spaces conductive to consent, public health, and the emancipation of human life and expression. They are NOT the celebration of forcibly and prematurely ending any of these, or the failure to take precautions that would limit undue risk and permanent harm. True Freedom therefore requires a level of self-restraint and likewise accountability for one's actions. There's no reason why nontraditional relationships cannot be both fun, spicy and conductive towards self- and other's preservation/lives.
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
I'm not sure I agree on that one, especially from a Black/Red 'magic philosophy' perspective, but its been a VERY long time since I've done any reading on that kind of topic. :]
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Jeez dude. It's just a forum for the (increasingly *****ty) story in a children's card game.
While I agree, I am kinda disappointed with one thing. They keep ignoring the Slavic inspiration of Ravnica in RtR and here. And when they don't, they bungle it. Where Cory Herndon actually used Czech-English vocabulary to find proper names for his characters and other things (like the name Devkarin), Secretist and these stories used completely made-up names (for example, the elves in the kraul story), sounding generic English.
This story, like it was trying to amend, uses two. The minotaur from Dimir story named Jitka...okay. That is Czech version of Judith. Can do, it is even a bit funny. But in the other instance, it fails spectacularly. "Lucinka" is verbatim "Baby Lucy", a name you'd call a toddler daughter. Not a half-amorphous divination-talented female sack of meat in a skin too big for her.
Bah, I miss the days when the authors cared...
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Back in the Victorian era, there were underground sex clubs and orgies where simply by attending, you were implicitly giving your consent to potentially have sex with anyone else at the party. This was largely a response to the sexual repression of mainstream society at the time, and it doesn't really happen anymore because modern society has a more developed understanding of sexual consent. Still, there's some real world precedent to the idea that simply attending an event can be considered a form of consent in its own right, and even today, there are situations where you see less extreme forms of that. I remember hearing about a local punk concert where the band sprayed fake blood on the crowd, and when some people got upset about their clothes being ruined, the band's response was basically "well, you shouldn't have been there if you didn't want that happening."
And in the modern kink scene, there are plenty of parties where you can watch people being tied up, suspended, beaten, whipped, cut, burned, shocked, etc. Granted, the "victims" are all consenting volunteers, and the performers are always very careful to keep things within reasonably safe limits. But if you combine that with the Victorian sex club norms I mentioned, with the "shouldn't have been there" logic of that punk band, with the cruelty that circuses displayed toward animals and performers until very recently, and with the total disregard for safety that's been present in a lot of combat sports (particularly in pre-modern times and in some developing countries today), you get something that would look a lot like Rakdos culture. I could see something like that existing here on Earth in an alternate timeline, so I definitely don't see it as unrealistic in a world that has an institutionalized faction of literal torture demons with 10,000 years of cultural history enshrining its place in society.
I'm not saying I approve of it, or think it's a sane or moral or healthy arrangement. I'd be a hell of a lot less likely to attend parties if there was a chance I could randomly be dragged on stage and flayed alive at any time! I'm just saying that I can see the twisted logic behind it, and it's honestly not that far off from things we've seen in the real world.
That's probably why the Gatewatch and friends are the only "faction" with enough power to challenge Bolas (And i fully expect them to get their asses kicked anyway, only for Ugin to show up with Azor at the end to save the day. Probably by Azor retaking control of the Azorius and it's law magic, then using that against Bolas.)
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Unless Ugin is keeping a proper Planar Bridge from us, that can not happen.
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1. MTG is actually marketed to a maturer audience than kids, hence why they can push the boundaries a lil with more mature content.
2. You cared enough about the game that you made an account, and cared enough about the story to comment on the story forum, so What’s your point?
The issue doesn’t matter to you, that’s fine. But if that’s the point you’re trying to make you’re gonna waste a lot of your time telling people why the stuff they care about doesn’t matter instead of doing what stuff you enjoy and care about.
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
Consider that there are safe words even amongst Rakdos members, I think even they themselves (outside of spells) had standards. After all, the longer you live the more fun you can enjoy.
And please don’t be too hard on the demon. This may be the first time he’s in love and anyone experiencing first love could be bashful. A grand achievement for a soulless creature, he deserves cheers, not scrutiny.
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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
Who knows what Ugin’s spirit Magic is capable of?
If my post has no tags, then i posted from my phone.
Adult entertainment would be troublesome to show in actual cards though. Rakdos's design in Ravnica 1 was mentioned to be the plane's entertainment hub, and far less circus-y too.
EDIT: Tajic mentioned in the flavor of Bedevil about naughty amusement, perhaps he's been to one.
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
Probably not arbitrarily undoing the entire point of the mending, sort of like how the Planar Bridge specifically can't transport "living" matter explicitly so that Planeswalkers retain their specialness of being able to hop from plane to plane.
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Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/odds-ends-ravnica-allegiance-2019-01-28
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
You can still show cards depicting a red light district without suggestive clothing. You can show amusement in things other than gore. The guild mechanic is spectacle and the article falls pretty flat during many of the acrobatic parts from the viewpoint of the audience. They don't come off as performers than generally society would waste time viewing. Why would the a random joe of ivy lane be caught at any form of rakdos entertainment? Draw the link for me in how this guild conforms to society. ivy lane denizen FYI.
While I understand the link to a lot of the darker forms of entertainment historically, many of those were tests of strength, martial expertise, dominance, and tradition - which all feel gruul and deservedly so.
That’s the point of Ravnica. 10 guild which each have their own culture and laws existing together in the same city. It’s fantastical, and it’s the reason why some people love Ravnica and others hate it.
I also don’t know if starting a war with the Rakdos would be wise. It would also probably take a long time, given how much of a bureaucracy the Azorius is. I also don’t think that all members of the Azorius would agree that they have the legal authority to declare war on another guild.
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I'm not going to post a bunch of NSFW links here, but look at the motivations of Gruul vs Rakdos, and even things which are 'tradition' such as say First Nations Sun Dance.
"Typically, the sun dance is a gruelling ordeal for the dancers, a physical and spiritual test that they offer in sacrifice for their people. According to the Oklahoma Historical Society, young men dance around a pole to which they are fastened by "rawhide thongs pegged through the skin of their chests."
This is bloody spectacle. Dress it up as endurance, as mental strength, there is something about this which is a lot more Rakdos, than Gruul. The show's that took that kind of stuff into the modern Suspension Body Modification scene? Thats what we are talking about here.
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This is what irks me about most of the guilds of Ravnica (though msot of all with Rakdos). With each iteration they become more and more like a caricature of themselves. In the first Ravnica, the Rakdos were the entertainers of the plane, but also the miners. They had various layers, because they literally only existed to please Rakdos. They were basically scraping at the bottom of the barrel (inlore) for a purpose other than to die for Rakdos' amusement, which was only a small part really. They were not only depraved suiciders/homiciders. That was only a small part. They also had brothels, but also such innocent things as restaurants and clubs. Rakdos knew how to have fun and that gave them a niche.
Over the time fun has been redefined into death and suffering and... it's really offputting? People compare the modern Rakdos to some historical rituals and events, but honestly the Rakdos are unsustainable. Where do they get their volunteers from, who even would volunteer? Safe for plane-wide mind control, which raises a whole host of cans of worms.
Honestly, I didn't quite enjoy the story as much. I disliked the beginning of the caricaturist description of the guild (they serve horror meat, really?). The middle, with the prison break, was enjoyable and the end was really weird for the same reason the other NuNuRavnica stories were weird. It may be just me, but this quirky "And everything worked out in the end." which reminds of french movies (which was actually WotC's inspiration) is not my cup of tea.
I found that interesting too. I must say this was a terrible setup then. If you specifically set up characters to fill a spot in the story and it still feels unnatural for those characters to fill that story, then you've literally done your job the worst way possible.
I also dislike Domri taking over the guild. A aliteral teenager taking over one of the absolute most powerful institutions of the whole plane? Yeah, right, whatever.
Agreed entirely, except that if there would be a guild that decided to follow some rabble rousing punk kid, it would be the Gruul. All he'd need to do is challenge Borboryblahblah and wreck his ***** with a fireball. Boom, he's the new big *****. Then what he's preaching is really popular with the Gruul. Is it a good idea? Hell no, but the Gruul are all about dumb decisions.
As for the story, there is no way you can make the Selesnya out to be the bad guys here. The Gruul's whole thing is invading other guilds territory, killing people, destroying everything, and then driving out the survivors. F the Gruul.
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!
I also got from the Rakdos story that they are trying to pull the Rakdos away from the all murder all the time thing. I mean, the feature was a Demon doing bad poetry and stand up, so its like they are moving back into their original role as described by Flisch, just without the mining and smelting.
It also seems like the Guild functions as a containment mechanism for the demons and devils of Ravnica, both literal and figurative. It keeps most of their violence focused on each other, isolates them from the rest of the populace, and manages to channel some of their energy into somewhat productive pursuits. Its basically the purge, but limited geographically rather than to a certain night. Apparently they actually have to follow laws and regulations, it just seems like those are all meant to keep them from screwing with non Rakdos and they get to do whatever they want to each other. We see the demon poet think about how he used to be more savage and brutal before joining the Rakdos and channeling his energy into creative pursuits. Even the absurdity of him complaining about the Azorious getting mad about Rakdos murder parties spilling over onto their lawns makes sense when you think about it through this lens: the area was Rakdos territory for literally thousands of years, there shouldn't be anybody else there, and its a very recent development that the Azorious have been taking properties and giving them to civilians, to the point where its clear that this was meant to provoke a reason to crack down on the Rakdos. If you think about Rakdos territory as essentially a nuclear exclusion zone, then doing this would be like putting up a new development in Pripyat and wondering why people are getting cancer.
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!
And even then the art book and planeswalker guide all also mention thats still the main purpose of the guild. Its not gone its just hasn't been in focus in any of the Ravnica sets.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"