So I saw this was by Krienes and became pretty pensive but I have to say this one was good and I enjoyed reading it. I liked the multiple points of view, the interaction between multiple main characters, and the characterization of most everyone. Like others here, I'm not pleased with how Ulamog seems like just a random giant with no special abilities since he should be much more than that, but my head-canon is Gideon and everyone else there using their respective magic to shield themselves and others from his obliteration aura. All in all, fun read and made me excited for next week, good on you Kimberly.
Yeah, I highly enjoyed this story. There would have been better ways to write Ulamog's interactions with Gideon, for sure, but I don't feel that this detail was enough to ruin an otherwise very fun story. I'm willing to accept that Ulamog is basically tentacle godzilla if Kozilek and Emrakul are more "unfathomable cosmic horror-esque". Also, Ob's two lines in this were great! A big improvement over every line he had in the last UR he was in.
@sanmarco82 He spilt the scene before Emrakul even got to him. Whatever number of spawn are in the art of Near Death Experience, Emrakul herself isn't in there. It's a common misconception, surprisingly.
You know what I found interesting about this story? I loved it overall, but the way Teysa referred to Karlov in the story. Here were my feelings trough when I was reading.
Teysa is reading the law book she wrote (oh cool! no retcon here yet). Teysa calls Karlov Grandfather (Huh? Isn't that her Uncle? Canon error?). When their in the gaudy tomb of Obzedat corpses and she refers to the newest one as Uncle (So it is Uncle Karlov!). Then when Karlov appears again they go back to using Granddaughter and Grandfather talk.
So now my theory is, if the original 3 novels are still canon with Karlov being her Uncle, then I think Uncle Karlov after becoming a member of the Ghost Council has been making Teysa call him grandfather instead of Uncle, maybe reflecting how more stern he has become now that he is part of the council.
Also, Teysa is 112 years old eh? Well now I must go and re-examine my data to see if I can figure out any new information about timelines.
Is it possible that Teysa has both an Uncle Karlov and a Grandfather Karlov?
I see that in your mind, Sarkhan will never be anything more than "dragons". So there's not much point in turning this into a petty argument. Whether you didn't read the uncharted realms articles for Tarkir block or just didn't notice Sarkhan's characterization that happened there, I don't know, so I'm not going to say you did one or the other.
Have a nice day.
Even in the few instances where dragons are not involved, it is very hard to identify with him because he is essentially a raving lunatic. He left his home because it had no dragons, served Nicol Bolas because he was dragon, went to Tarkir because he was hearing voices in his head, saved Ugin because that would mean more dragons, and ends up being someone who was never born.
I'm fine with Sarkhan as a character, but he is too alien to be a protagonist.
And I would avoid ending a reply with "Have a nice day", it makes you look very arrogant.
We have different takes on the character. I found him to be a very relatable, yet flawed protagonist. I don't want to imply that everyone, or even most people have to like Sarkhan as a protagonist, but rather to imply that is not impossible to relate to him and that there is more to his character than just "dragons and generic fantasy madness".
And I apologize if that came off as arrogant. I was sincerely wishing them a nice day.
I see that in your mind, Sarkhan will never be anything more than "dragons". So there's not much point in turning this into a petty argument. Whether you didn't read the uncharted realms articles for Tarkir block or just didn't notice Sarkhan's characterization that happened there, I don't know, so I'm not going to say you did one or the other.
What I don't understand is this "Sarkhan is impossible to relate to as a protagonist" thing.
It's just been a long time since "dragons" was the reasoning behind an important moral decision of mine.
I feel like this is a bit of an oversimplification of Sarkhan's character and ignores his motivations of existentialism and identity, purpose, and desire to heal his mental trauma. It's really easy to say Sarkhan is the dragon guy, and he is, but that's not his sole motivation.
@VorthosSpike He later backtracked and said there could be one or two wedge cards in the set. If you're going to spread information around, make sure it's up to date.
How would Nissa's +1 work with Ambush Commander's "Forests you control are 1/1 green elf creatures that are still lands?" What would the P/T be, what types would the land have?
Ajani has deep hatred for the Gods of Theros
Chandra has given up the leads on Ramaz
Gideon hasn't given up on Zendikar
Eldrazi have possibly broken free of Zendikar and are in the blind eternities
Koth is alive and in the Furnace Layer
Ral Zarek holds his grudge against Jace
Sarkhan Vol might just be hearing Ugin himself (could just be insanity)
Tezzeret no longer on New Phyrexia
EDIT: I posted a link to the article but it's not showing up
Gideon would *****slap Heliod all across the plane, this is a man who survived an encounter with ******* Emrakul. If he was blue, crazy to the bone, full of himself and delved in artifice, he'd be our new Urza.
It wasn't so much "survived" as "ran from emrakul the moment she appeared on the horizon".
Is it just me, or does the whole Daxos/Returned thing reek of Phenax? Phenax is the god of the returned and Erebos isn't too fond of them. The cruel "monkey's paw wish gone wrong" thing seems a lot more like Phenax's style, as is tricking elspeth into murdering Daxos. Not to mention it was his initially his priest who elspeth spoke to and his priest that drove her through her worst fears (even though it said he was now a priest of Erebos)
Yeah, I highly enjoyed this story. There would have been better ways to write Ulamog's interactions with Gideon, for sure, but I don't feel that this detail was enough to ruin an otherwise very fun story. I'm willing to accept that Ulamog is basically tentacle godzilla if Kozilek and Emrakul are more "unfathomable cosmic horror-esque". Also, Ob's two lines in this were great! A big improvement over every line he had in the last UR he was in.
Is it possible that Teysa has both an Uncle Karlov and a Grandfather Karlov?
The webcomics, specifically, the one where Josu was cursed in the first place.
We have different takes on the character. I found him to be a very relatable, yet flawed protagonist. I don't want to imply that everyone, or even most people have to like Sarkhan as a protagonist, but rather to imply that is not impossible to relate to him and that there is more to his character than just "dragons and generic fantasy madness".
And I apologize if that came off as arrogant. I was sincerely wishing them a nice day.
Have a nice day.
I feel like this is a bit of an oversimplification of Sarkhan's character and ignores his motivations of existentialism and identity, purpose, and desire to heal his mental trauma. It's really easy to say Sarkhan is the dragon guy, and he is, but that's not his sole motivation.
Say you targeted a basic forest.
Ajani has deep hatred for the Gods of Theros
Chandra has given up the leads on Ramaz
Gideon hasn't given up on Zendikar
Eldrazi have possibly broken free of Zendikar and are in the blind eternities
Koth is alive and in the Furnace Layer
Ral Zarek holds his grudge against Jace
Sarkhan Vol might just be hearing Ugin himself (could just be insanity)
Tezzeret no longer on New Phyrexia
EDIT: I posted a link to the article but it's not showing up
It wasn't so much "survived" as "ran from emrakul the moment she appeared on the horizon".