First, he's hot, like hotter than Yawgmoth hot. I would never cheat on Yawgmoth, but...
Blasphemy. No one is hotter than Yawgmoth.
Oko's cool and all, and I like me a stylish, flamboyant villain. But I'm secure enough in my heterosexuality to admit that even my straightness is no match for the Daddy of Machines.
"No, Rebbec, how could you??? He's perfect!" -Me at the end of The Thran.
2014, 2016 and the new cards in 2018 were the only products I really liked. O-Kagachi in 2017 was nice, but that series was plagued by Eminence.
As a die-hard Kamigawa fan who had waited for O-Kagachi to be printed for over ten years... what we got wasn't O-Kagachi. I'm worried now we won't ever get a real O-Kagachi.
The overall plot of WAR was fine. Greg Wiesman's novel however, was genuinely deprived. I couldn't believe how many cardinal sins of literature that book took the liberty of making.
...
The bullet point story moments from the cards, or condensed version of the story were good.
This. Whatever the book's issues, the actual canon of War of the Spark's story is quite good, and well worth the wait. The events that play out are suitably dramatic, fulfilling, and epic. I just think they should have given the novel to another author.
I am VERY much enjoying Wrexler's prequel overall. The characters feel real and layered, and he really captures the threat of Bolas well. Bolas looms over everything, even if he hasn't shown up yet (except in flashback).
And that was a cool flashback appearance. Bolas is genuinely frightening whenever he appears as a human. There's just something so unexpected, sinister, and uncanny about it. I love how friendly and charming he is, how he actually invites Ral for coffee.
Now I know how Bolas knew enough about sailing to teach Vraska. He has probably been a sailor on a ship before. Gee, I wonder how that voyage went.
T
The management of the story is overall a problem that dates as far back as flavour itself, according to interviews with the authors of Planeswalker and The Thran.
I am honestly confused and frustrated by Chandra's popularity. Serious question: why do people like her? To me she's just a two dimensional and grating superhero knockoff -- and I don't even feel that way about all the Gatewatch. I like Gideon and Liliana, and sometimes Jace (I'm neutral on him), and sometimes I even like their team dynamic. But Chandra seems to personify all the things I dislike. Beats up the bad guys, throws out quips, has a "tragic" past but never ends up in real danger, never sacrifices anything, never grows, never changes. All fists, cockiness, and attitude, because that's what a strong female character is.
The writing is quite good. The atmosphere, the mood, and the dialogue are all solid. Nothing feels rushed; in fact, it's methodical and takes it's time setting up the looming drama. You really do feel a storm building.
THIS is what the hardcover novel should have been.
Put my name in with those who would love to see the Urza/Weatherlight saga adapted. It had its ups, it had its downs, but it's Magic's most iconic story line featuring many of its most iconic characters.
The Weatherlight Saga got super dark at times though. The Thran, Nemesis, and the Invasion Cycle would certainly be more fit for HBO than Netflix. J Robert King in particular had a tendency to write some of the most visceral, grotesquely dark sequences I've ever seen put down on paper. The cards don't even come close to capturing the cruelty and heaviness of the novels. The Thran is a masterwork, no doubt, but it's hands down the most grotesque book I've ever read.
The thing about killing Bolas is that it just wouldn't be enough retribution. He has 25,000 years of atrocities to answer for, dozens of enslaved/destroyed worlds, and deaths on his hands numbering at least into the billions. Cutting him down with a sword and just ending him in a moment of righteous justice would feel good for a minute, but then ring hollow.
Bolas has to feel his defeat. He has to know he is beaten, pathetic, and impotent forevermore. His infinite atrocities merit an infinite punishment. Now his victims can begin to have justice.
Add in the fact that Ugin and Bolas end together as they began, and I really do love this closure to their story.
If Bolas were have his soul devoured by the Blackblade, I agree that would have been kind of cool, but ultimately way too simple and straightforward. Nothing of him would exist to experience his defeat. Now he gets to experience it forever, or until his lifespan runs out (which it eventually will, with him no longer being an oldwalker or a god).
Satan's true punishment following his fall in Paradise Lost is that, having once tasted the joy of Heaven and even the dream of Godhood itself, he has to suffer for eternity with the knowledge of everything he has lost. The flames of hell do burn him, but nothing compared to the agony of that loss. If Bolas falling from Oldwalker to Neowalker status was enough to obsess, enrage, and consume him, how much more will his fall to total and complete impotence torment him.
Better for him had he actually perished on Gideon's Blackblade - and died just once. Yet Bolas deserves not to die just once, but to die again every single day forever.
That's the most disappointing part of this to me also. Creative didn't really use Ugin for all that much. This also greatly reduces the chances we will get a legendary creature version of a pre-sparked Ugin, since he's effectively being removed from the plot forever.
Yeah this would be disappointing but I'm hoping they still give him a card. It seems like a waste after all the build up in the M19 story.
Not at all! This is the payoff to all that buildup. Their destinies are entwined, and now Ugin has manipulated events and sacrificed himself to finally vanquish Bolas once and for all. How's that not "all that much"? That's huge, and indeed it's everything.
MVP title in this finale absolutely goes to Ugin. In the end, Liliana, Gideon, and the rest of the heroes turned out to be chess pieces in his game. Bolas, like the audience, mistook those game pieces for the actual players -- but Bolas true opponent on Ravnica turned out to be Ugin all along. Bolas could not have won because he didn't understand what game he was actually playing, and on what game board, until it was too late. That's Sun Tzu 101: Know yourself, and know your enemy. Bolas did not know his true enemy. He was gloating over Gideon even as Ugin moved to checkmate him.
I too would like to see more of Ugin, but this is really everything the story requires of him. This is his role, his destiny, his long journey fulfilled. I find it immensely satisfying. What could he possibly do, what ending could he have, that's greater or more significant than this?
Regarding my own feelings about this story, I find it completely silly for a plan that’s supposedly been developed over millennia to not have prepared for something as simple as his army being turned against him.
This plan wasn't developed over millenia, just a couple decades at most. Bolas returned from the dead 60 years ago, and then the Mending happened and stripped him of most of his previous power, brilliance, and knowledge (he still retained a lot, but not nearly what he used to have).
He set the first wheels for this plan in motion on Amonkhet in 4500 AR. It's 4560 AR now. By Bolas' standards, he's been rushing.
And even then, he nearly pulled it off.
you can say it’s poetic, but it’s also redundant. This result has literally already happened to bolas albeit a different means.
This is the first time Bolas has been imprisoned in the Meditation Realm. That he has been trapped there before is a misconception, albeit a popular one. Last time he was defeated, he was lured to the Meditation Realm by Tetsuo Umezawa during their battle, rendered mortally vulnerable, and then immediately killed.
A trace of Bolas's ghost lingered in a time rift back on Dominaria however, and it was from that time rift that the remaining shred of his essence was able to eventually regain enough consciousness to manipulate his eventual rebirth. Back then, even the faded echo of a dead planeswalker could be a powerful thing.
The Meditation Realm has played an important role in both Bolas's defeats, as well it should have, being the central axis of Bolas's dominion. But the role it played each time was fundamentally different. Last time it was a killing ground. This time it is his prison.
I get it, he tried to eliminate Liliana when he saw her turn against him (in the trailer) and Gideon intervened. But c’mon, this has to be the most simple thing to prepare for. Instead, an ancient dragon with a melennia-old plan put all his eggs in one basket and didn’t protect that basket?
In fairness, this is the same sort of evil overlord oversight that Palpatine, Voldemort, and Sauron all fell for as well. It's not unique to Bolas or anything.
This is Sauron putting all his life force into a ring that he then wears on his finger for some punk to cut it off. This is Palpatine not foreseeing that Vader might turn on him for the same reasons he joined him in the first place (preventing the death of a loved one), even moments after explicitly voicing his intent to toss Vader away and replace him. This is Voldemort wearing his last Horcrux on his shoulders, protective shield down, in his moment of triumph, making it easy for Neville to cut off the snake's head and finally render him mortal. This is Yawgmoth dragging the core of his god-essence from Phyrexia into Dominaria and making himself vulnerable before the Dominarian resistance was even totally put down.
Brilliant, powerful, genius villains make tend to make dumb, last-minute mistakes that give their enemies a final opening to exploit. You don't have to like it, but there's nothing strange about it, and it's a long-running tradition by now. Bolas was far from the first to mess up this way, and as long as fantasy arch-villains continue to populate our fiction, he definitely won't be the last.
Blasphemy. No one is hotter than Yawgmoth.
Oko's cool and all, and I like me a stylish, flamboyant villain. But I'm secure enough in my heterosexuality to admit that even my straightness is no match for the Daddy of Machines.
"No, Rebbec, how could you??? He's perfect!" -Me at the end of The Thran.
Yeah, I don't think this is Zendikar.
This is really cool, though. I like it.
As a die-hard Kamigawa fan who had waited for O-Kagachi to be printed for over ten years... what we got wasn't O-Kagachi. I'm worried now we won't ever get a real O-Kagachi.
The art was awesome, though.
This. Whatever the book's issues, the actual canon of War of the Spark's story is quite good, and well worth the wait. The events that play out are suitably dramatic, fulfilling, and epic. I just think they should have given the novel to another author.
I am VERY much enjoying Wrexler's prequel overall. The characters feel real and layered, and he really captures the threat of Bolas well. Bolas looms over everything, even if he hasn't shown up yet (except in flashback).
And that was a cool flashback appearance. Bolas is genuinely frightening whenever he appears as a human. There's just something so unexpected, sinister, and uncanny about it. I love how friendly and charming he is, how he actually invites Ral for coffee.
Now I know how Bolas knew enough about sailing to teach Vraska. He has probably been a sailor on a ship before. Gee, I wonder how that voyage went.
I would love to read this. Do you have a source?
The writing is quite good. The atmosphere, the mood, and the dialogue are all solid. Nothing feels rushed; in fact, it's methodical and takes it's time setting up the looming drama. You really do feel a storm building.
THIS is what the hardcover novel should have been.
Well done, Mr. Wexler.
The Weatherlight Saga got super dark at times though. The Thran, Nemesis, and the Invasion Cycle would certainly be more fit for HBO than Netflix. J Robert King in particular had a tendency to write some of the most visceral, grotesquely dark sequences I've ever seen put down on paper. The cards don't even come close to capturing the cruelty and heaviness of the novels. The Thran is a masterwork, no doubt, but it's hands down the most grotesque book I've ever read.
Still, this story sounds excellent, and I am excited to get my copy.
Add in the fact that Ugin and Bolas end together as they began, and I really do love this closure to their story.
If Bolas were have his soul devoured by the Blackblade, I agree that would have been kind of cool, but ultimately way too simple and straightforward. Nothing of him would exist to experience his defeat. Now he gets to experience it forever, or until his lifespan runs out (which it eventually will, with him no longer being an oldwalker or a god).
Satan's true punishment following his fall in Paradise Lost is that, having once tasted the joy of Heaven and even the dream of Godhood itself, he has to suffer for eternity with the knowledge of everything he has lost. The flames of hell do burn him, but nothing compared to the agony of that loss. If Bolas falling from Oldwalker to Neowalker status was enough to obsess, enrage, and consume him, how much more will his fall to total and complete impotence torment him.
Better for him had he actually perished on Gideon's Blackblade - and died just once. Yet Bolas deserves not to die just once, but to die again every single day forever.
Not at all! This is the payoff to all that buildup. Their destinies are entwined, and now Ugin has manipulated events and sacrificed himself to finally vanquish Bolas once and for all. How's that not "all that much"? That's huge, and indeed it's everything.
MVP title in this finale absolutely goes to Ugin. In the end, Liliana, Gideon, and the rest of the heroes turned out to be chess pieces in his game. Bolas, like the audience, mistook those game pieces for the actual players -- but Bolas true opponent on Ravnica turned out to be Ugin all along. Bolas could not have won because he didn't understand what game he was actually playing, and on what game board, until it was too late. That's Sun Tzu 101: Know yourself, and know your enemy. Bolas did not know his true enemy. He was gloating over Gideon even as Ugin moved to checkmate him.
I too would like to see more of Ugin, but this is really everything the story requires of him. This is his role, his destiny, his long journey fulfilled. I find it immensely satisfying. What could he possibly do, what ending could he have, that's greater or more significant than this?
This plan wasn't developed over millenia, just a couple decades at most. Bolas returned from the dead 60 years ago, and then the Mending happened and stripped him of most of his previous power, brilliance, and knowledge (he still retained a lot, but not nearly what he used to have).
He set the first wheels for this plan in motion on Amonkhet in 4500 AR. It's 4560 AR now. By Bolas' standards, he's been rushing.
And even then, he nearly pulled it off.
This is the first time Bolas has been imprisoned in the Meditation Realm. That he has been trapped there before is a misconception, albeit a popular one. Last time he was defeated, he was lured to the Meditation Realm by Tetsuo Umezawa during their battle, rendered mortally vulnerable, and then immediately killed.
A trace of Bolas's ghost lingered in a time rift back on Dominaria however, and it was from that time rift that the remaining shred of his essence was able to eventually regain enough consciousness to manipulate his eventual rebirth. Back then, even the faded echo of a dead planeswalker could be a powerful thing.
The Meditation Realm has played an important role in both Bolas's defeats, as well it should have, being the central axis of Bolas's dominion. But the role it played each time was fundamentally different. Last time it was a killing ground. This time it is his prison.
In fairness, this is the same sort of evil overlord oversight that Palpatine, Voldemort, and Sauron all fell for as well. It's not unique to Bolas or anything.
This is Sauron putting all his life force into a ring that he then wears on his finger for some punk to cut it off. This is Palpatine not foreseeing that Vader might turn on him for the same reasons he joined him in the first place (preventing the death of a loved one), even moments after explicitly voicing his intent to toss Vader away and replace him. This is Voldemort wearing his last Horcrux on his shoulders, protective shield down, in his moment of triumph, making it easy for Neville to cut off the snake's head and finally render him mortal. This is Yawgmoth dragging the core of his god-essence from Phyrexia into Dominaria and making himself vulnerable before the Dominarian resistance was even totally put down.
Brilliant, powerful, genius villains make tend to make dumb, last-minute mistakes that give their enemies a final opening to exploit. You don't have to like it, but there's nothing strange about it, and it's a long-running tradition by now. Bolas was far from the first to mess up this way, and as long as fantasy arch-villains continue to populate our fiction, he definitely won't be the last.