Good story this week, the shoe thing aside. I wonder if Bolas knows Ixalan is a Planeswalker gravity well and knows if the Sun is what makes it that.
Yes he does, and yes he does. Here are the relevant quote:
"Depart for your voyage. You will not be able to return until your task is complete."
It shows that he knows planeswalkers can't leave (You will not be able to return) and that he knows his mission for her will remove that restriction (until your task is complete).
Good story this week, the shoe thing aside. I wonder if Bolas knows Ixalan is a Planeswalker gravity well and knows if the Sun is what makes it that. I really like the Vraska characterization, ends justifies the means but she still has standards and morals and for all the freedom she could have in the Muliverse, she still wants to lead her Guild to a better place.
Jace continues to be a better character( and I had no issues with him before), now that his baggage has been removed, for now. Hope when he gets his memories back he'll be closer to who he is now( and it looks like that's more likey, given the 1st Ixalan story), than his old Living Guildpact self.
Somewhat off topic, but are first time planeswalk more, energetic i guess is the best term, than others? Because Huatli manaaged to 'see' Kaladesh before she got pulled back, while Jace didn't seem to see anything in particular, just "light and color and the idea of being away"
Could be that natives get just a little further before the binding kicks in? But I do remember from other stories that the first time is erratic and wild because they don't know what they're doing and I would imagine memory-less Jace should have had a similar experience then?
While Jace lacks his personal memories, on some fundamental level, he's still Jace, Planeswalker, Illuionist, Mind Mage. At his core, he knows haw to 'Walk, so there's less of the super erratic nature of the 'Walk.
Somewhat off topic, but are first time planeswalk more, energetic i guess is the best term, than others? Because Huatli manaaged to 'see' Kaladesh before she got pulled back, while Jace didn't seem to see anything in particular, just "light and color and the idea of being away"
I have to wonder if we won't get a traditional villain in Rivals. The set name indicates to me we'll get the various factions racing to find/use the Immortal Sun, with some having really bad intentions on getting it.
On that note, if the Sun is what Bolas sent Vraska to Ixalan for, I bet it is/ can be used as a power source he needs for the Planar Bridge.
If he is from an already-known plane, my money is on Dominaria.
I'd wager that's what we've got here:
His name is similar in formation to Tahngrath
His chain magic is evocative of Chainers
A number of Dominarian Minotars went to Otarai after the Invastion
Given how each time a god dies, they refernece the lay lines snapping. So I think Bolas has to kill the gods, so the plane's mana will become unstable and he can use it, either like the Conflux to boost his power or to transport the Eternals.
Is it a coincidence that the Gatewatch ahowed up just before the hours began? Or is it possible that their presence alerted Bolas prompting his return? It would help explain why hes doing this now.
I think he was planning to unleash the Hours soon, as he most likey has a Planar Gate about to go online. He may have pushed up the timetable so he could wrap up the Gatewatch in the choas and throughly wreck them.
About planeswalkers working together, there are precedents, like the Nine Titans or the closing of the Time Rift (which Bolas obviously knew). Not forgetting Sorin, Nahiri and Ugin. So it could happen, but it is a very rare event... Not worthy of building a plane around it, in my opinion.
I think that the cunning of Bolas has been vastly overrated (from fans and creative alike): it's difficult to give him a really brilliant plan in the long run, more even so if creative didn't think of his motivation before.
Let's not forget that was went Walkers for 'all-powerful' and Bolas was shown to be able to take on any one-on-one. He bested Teferi in his own field of time magic and Leshrac need a trump card from a similar powerful entity to stand a chance against him. But now he, and every other Walker, is mortal, more or less. It's more likely that he figured that now that they are killible flesh and blood, they'd be more likely to team up. So he needed somewhere where he could have a force devoted to him that eh could use as a meat shield. The fact that he could make the Eternals is more of an after the fact benifit
So I guess I should qualify that hypothesis. I have not read a scrap of Mirrodin/New Phyrexia lore outside of summaries anx bits ive managed to pull from more seasoned Vorthosi here on this forum.
My idea was that Karn shaped everything that was Argentum from an empty bubble, so the suns and maybe the core as well would probably hold MASSIVE amounts of power similar in scale to the maelstrom of the Conflux. Unfortunately, at the very least, the core is corrupted by Phyrexia. And now that walkers are not immune Bolas doesn't want to risk himself so he's building an army to take on the Praetors and their armies.
I should also say that I'm still not convinced that the zombie army was his ultimate goal on Amonkhet. There's just to much assumption going into that theory.
That would make for an interesting parallel if Bolas wants to 'eat' Mirrodin/New Phyrexia's core what with Sera's Realm, after Phyrexian invaded it, was colapsed to power the Weatherlight, the ship Karn served on.
Gven that only about 60 years has pasted since the Mending, how restored can Dominaria be. And forgive me if I'm wrong, but the only post Mending thing we've seen so far is a bit of Urborg in the lead up to Scars of Mirrodin, right?
Man, Jace lost his fancy hood. That's got to sting. On the other hand, I approve of this new low-shirt look and await other planeswalkers to follow suit.
Jace continues to be a better character( and I had no issues with him before), now that his baggage has been removed, for now. Hope when he gets his memories back he'll be closer to who he is now( and it looks like that's more likey, given the 1st Ixalan story), than his old Living Guildpact self.
On that note, if the Sun is what Bolas sent Vraska to Ixalan for, I bet it is/ can be used as a power source he needs for the Planar Bridge.
I'd wager that's what we've got here:
His name is similar in formation to Tahngrath
His chain magic is evocative of Chainers
A number of Dominarian Minotars went to Otarai after the Invastion
Let's not forget that was went Walkers for 'all-powerful' and Bolas was shown to be able to take on any one-on-one. He bested Teferi in his own field of time magic and Leshrac need a trump card from a similar powerful entity to stand a chance against him. But now he, and every other Walker, is mortal, more or less. It's more likely that he figured that now that they are killible flesh and blood, they'd be more likely to team up. So he needed somewhere where he could have a force devoted to him that eh could use as a meat shield. The fact that he could make the Eternals is more of an after the fact benifit