Well for everyone who was trying to say the Gatewatch aren't going through character development Nissa has become so introspective she had entered into being blue.
So, Nissa's gone from a mono-Green Elven supremacists who'd started dabbling in Black (in-story, after having visited Lorwyn, and seen the Elves that essentially ruled there), to a tree-hugging mono-Green not-racist-Elf in time for BfZ, and now she's become an introvert who's starting to drift into Simic territory because "I don't get people".
... I'm still pissed they took away Golgari-Nissa from me.
I'd like to see physical development in the characters. Time should pass, and they should age, and receive scars for difficult things they do. I'd be able to take the characters more seriously if Gideon's hand was crushed by Ulamog, and Jace's hair was going grey. As is, we're on the "Batman is always 30" model of storytelling, which isn't helpful here. If every block occurs an average of 5 years after the previous, it's been 50 years since they first popped up (as adults) in Lorwyn. I know they actively refuse to use such direct time-stamps, and I know they intend the blocks to fall closer together than that, but the stories that take place from block to block are not stories that happen overnight. Often they are plane-wide wars and cataclysms that would take months, or years to play out. For everything to have happened to these characters in these worlds, it seems like it would have had to have taken at least a decade of constant crap happening, and probably more. That takes a toll. And you're telling me Gideon still has all his eyes, fingers, and toes after jumping into every battle he can planeswalk to? Nonsense. I know they want to keep their main characters sexy, but physical indicators of time passage feel more genuine, and give players a way to track characters that they like, without causing stagnancy.
Sarkhan is an example of a character who you can really track fromiterationtoiteration, given only the cards. Not to say these were handled perfectly, but each card does represent the character at an important point in his arc, and each feels meaningfully different from the last. This is true of none of the Gatewatch members.
All that aside, any major loss for the Gatewatch will lend credibility to the story, and I think we can expect one in the next block. Or this:
The thing is, blocks don't take place years apart. Each block will (usually) lead into the next, and, before the Gatewatch, multiple consecutive block stories might have been happening simeltaneously. There's no reason why RTR, Theros, and Tarkir couldn't have been happening at the same time. Or maybe not. Idk. Creative has been very evasive as far as an official timeline. Or official maps. Probably so that they don't contradict themselves. They have plenty of contradictions and retcons even without having to juggle maps or timelines.
But yeah, scars and injuries should definitely show up at least on occasion. These are characters who are constantly involved in violent conflicts, after all.
The other thing that bothers me is how planeswalkers often wear the same outfit all the time. Even on planes where it would look out of place. As if the Gatewatch characters didn't feel cartoonish enough already, they need to have exactly one outfit to wear constantly to top it off!
Gideon seems to have new armor for Amonkhet, which is a step in a right direction, but Chandra and Nissa still have only worn one set of clothing ever, despite their extremely high numbers of cards. Then there's Jace, who put on a jacket once for SOI. Other than that, nothing. Liliana seems to have two different dresses, which is better than most characters, but it still seens really out of character for her not to have a lot more than that. Ajani at least gained Elspeth's cloak (and then lost it for the art on the Conquest of Power packaging). Off the top of my head, the only walkers to actually change appearancw and clothing appropriately over time and across planes would be Tezzeret (younger and original arm for 1st card, older with Bolas markings on head and rebuilt arm for 2nd card, Consulate robes for 3rd and 4th) and Sarkhan (as you said, he actually shows change over time).
On the other hand, they also need to keep characters consistent in certain ways. You can't honestly say that Jace, Memory Adept and Oath of Jace look anything alike. That's just an artistic screw up though, which happens when you have different artists. But the artists probably should copy previous cards' art to get a character's face and hair right, for consistency's sake. However, copying the clothing time after time is just lazy and makes it really unrealistic. I'm sorry, but you can't expect me to believe that Jace, who is super rich and basically runs an entire plane's government, can't get himself or his friends a secomd outfit. Seriously.
It's a little troubling from a story perspective as well, since they're still maintaining the "masquerade" that they're not planeswalkers when on other planes, yet do nothing to try and blend in with local fashions. It's kind of hard to believe that you're native to Amonkhet when you're dressed like a Bantian knight, Kaladeshi engineer, or Innistradi noblewoman respectively.
And if the characters aren't recognizable without their clothes, then they're poorly designed characters in the first place.
The Kraul bugdude from C16 comes to mind. He is, yet again, something with sacrifice.
Or Kambal. Yet again WB has something to do with lifegain/lifeloss. They really need to shake things up.
It's getting annoying.
That's a game mechanic, though. This is about how the Gatewatch are implemented in the story.
The concept is interesting but execution is terrible. Nobody is ever truly in danger. And nobody's particularily fleshed out. Gideon's answer to the Eldrazi titans was "MORE SURRAL!" and Chandra's answer was "MORE FIRE!" The problem is that they could be replaced and they wouldn't be missed. They don't have anything particularily interesting about them. The problem with basing characters in the color pie is that they become interchangable to a large extent. Gideon and Serra may be two different people, but they have the same values and ideals.
The more I think about it, the more I feel that having just five colors is far too restrictive.
Then you don't pay much attention to the color pie. There is a lot of versatility in each of the five colors. The issue is that they purposely made the Gatewatch as generic as possible, but that doesn't mean there isn't more depth. It's like basing all Mexican food off of tacos.
Yeah, the color pie isn't the problem: the Gatewatch being the most generic interpretations of the five colors are. I wouldn't be surprised if the design docs for the Gatewatch's personalities literally just lists their respective colors generic attributes (White = Moral, Order, Uncreative, Peace, Law, etc).
Come to think of it, the "uncreative" part would certainly explain Gideon's actions in BfZ (MOAR SURRAL!!1)...
Reading how they killed something gods couldn't is like reading a children's novel on how a teenager defeats Chronos where Zeus could not.....
I liken it to having Batman's origin-story pitting him against Darkseid - it's incredibly difficult to make the hero winning, much less winning a non-phyrric victory, look plausible because the villain has been built up as being in an entirely different league. The initial buildup was that Neowalkers are not the borderline omnipotent godlike beings that the Oldwalkers were, and when Nahiri and Sorin couldn't kill the Titans (let's presume that they at least tried Before Ugin suggested the sealing, otherwise the story makes even less sense)... the Gatewatch are ants, and the Eldrazi Titans are boots.
My biggest problem with the Gatewatch is that they're being written as comicbook characters (again, Jacetus League), but the wins they got early on were too big - what's the point in pitting Spider-man against Kingpin, a human crimelord, when he's already fought Thanos the Mad Titan and beaten him clean? Any fear that they could lose has already been thoroughly squashed.
... am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that Gideon's outfit got redesigned, and Nissa's still wearing the same outfit she's worn since BfZ? At least try to have her blend in!
I agree that something bad is likely to happen to Gideon, but I think "killing the indestructible guy to show Bolas' power" is too simple. Control magic is a key Bolas ability. If you are faced with a powerful walker who is indestructible, why kill him? Seems like a waste, just take over his mind, make him your servant, and send him back at the gatewatch.
This is why I would have liked to have read something from Tezzeret's perspective. Sarkhan didn't have Bolas tattoos on his forehead, but he was working for Bolas. Tezzeret has the tattoos, but does that mean the tattoos are magic that keeps him under control and in line?
If so, can Bolas apply those markings to anyone to make them his? That would be a tragic outcome for Gideon that wouldn't require his death.
Using the word god in italics as I'm not sure if these are god-gods or planeswalkers-posing-as-gods.
That would be pretty neat, Bolas' planeswalker pawns living as 'gods' on Amonkhet until Bolas sends them out on a task here or there. I still want to see wildman Ramaz as a card somewhere!
EDIT: It would also be hilarious to have the Gatewatch go there, only to be met by another crew of planeswalkers led by Bolas. "Whoops."
I see Ajani being kept out of the loop, the Gatewatch goes, they are losing, he comes back and helps them win, but is fatally injured in the process, before dying he tells them about Elspeth and eventually they go save her, with Gideon sacrificing himself and Elspeth being the new white walker.
Obviously that won't happen because the members of the Gatewatch have plot armor so strong you can't take any threat to them seriously and since primal gods are chumps now no threat matters even a little bit and they are immortal, but that is how I see an arc written with ANY attempt to be taken seriously going.
this week's chapter was actually quite good, well written and the bit with Nissa was cute
chapters can be good, but the ARCS are written pretty much for children, no threat, no engagement, playing it extremely safe, and a little bit of language doesn't disguise that
Which gods are chumps?
The first ones that come to mind are the Eldrazi. They were sold to us as Lovecraftian, so above gods, all-powerful, you can fight the spawn but never even get the attention of the titans, much less hurt them in any way. 3 oldwalkers (who have been called gods in their own right) and three fairly serious ones at that took DECADES to build a prison that would barely contain shadows of the Eldrazi, the idea that what, 4(?) planeswalkers of the modern age could KILL 2 of them just by adding more fire is honestly an insult to the intelligence of readers, even modern Sorin could just walk into the room and kill the entire Gatewatch. and the whole 'the energy of all of Zendikar' doesn't change things, the Eldrazi should have been trapped with what was already made. better, they should have won, destroyed Zendikar and driven the Gatewatch away, maybe with a death. I'm actually a fan of Chandra, my favorite of the Gatewatch by a mile, and i like Nissa, but on their very best day with every pyromancer from Keral Keep helping them, Ulamog should have been 'oh look, a sparkler, OM NOM NOM!!!'
I'll be honest, this really bothered me:
"Well," said Gideon quietly. "What do you all think? Is he right? Do we need more information and more allies before we go to Amonkhet?"
There was a moment of dead silence.
"No," said Chandra. "We beat three Eldrazi and we beat Tezzeret. Let's hit him hard, now."
Because now, there are only two ways ths can go, and neither works for me. Either:
A) they lose to Bolas, which is ridiculous when you consider that they managed to KILL two of the Eldrazi - creatures so powerful it took THREE of Bolas' Oldwalker peers just to contain them. Not kill them, but stick them in what's basically the Cthulhu version of a drunk tank.
or
B) they defeat Bolas, and we have no villains left that can be taken seriously - WotC will have to start Villain Sue-ing it out the ears to create a credible threat for the GW.
And it all ties back to how they built up the Eldrazi to be these borderline unstoppable Eldritch Abominations, only to then have two of them get killed by four meddling kids, who didn't even have the decency to bring along a mangy dog for the occassion - yes, BFZ was so poorly handled it's poisoned the well for me.
... also, did Chandra equate f***ing Tezzeret with the Eldrazi?!
Pretty much this. No one is arguing that evil in rakdos is not the norm, myself included. The inclination is there, yes. Aggression in red, self-indulgence and "power at all costs" mentality in black. Combining those will always predispose those characters to hedonistic, anarchic behavior. But a predisposition does not 100% of the time translate to reality. Exceptions may be unlikely, but not impossible. I'm lorwyn illiterate though since I quit during that time, so I didn't know boggarts were not evil. Then again, an "auntie" already sounds like they deviated from normal B/R characters.
Wort, Boggart Auntie is the first good character in that has gotten a card, although there is no real backstory to Wort so make of that what you will. Also, yes, Aunties do deviate from the norm of that dual color. They are literally like a parental figure to the other boggarts.
Boggart warrens are led by nominal leaders called Aunties. The Auntie is usually the oldest boggart in the warren, and is usually female (some are male, yet are still called "Auntie"). The Auntie knows many tales, like fables, that they tell to educate their warren, pass on crucial boggart teachings, and adjudicate disputes. The most famous Auntie fables are about Auntie Grub, a folk hero to the boggarts and probably a real ancestor. Auntie Grub's tales are particularly helpful for informing young boggarts about racial enemies, dangerous predators, poisonous plants and fungus, and the like.
It's also funny that, for all that being the colors of "opposition to norms and society", even the Boggarts had laws. Well, A law: no object or sensation shall be hoarded by an individual boggart upon pain of exile.
That new recipe-pie that you stole from the Kithkin? Gotta share it, or you're booted out of the warren.
You're absolutely right about Amonkhet though. We don't know Bola's relationship with the plane. We know it's ruled by him, but we don't know anything about the people there. Even if they do want to be saved from his clutches, it doesn't change the fact that Amonkhet is Bolas's home turf.
I think it's more likely that they actually like Bolas. Wouldn't that be a culture shock?
Yeah, that'd be a subversion, wouldn't it, if the people of Amonkhet actually view Bolas as a good guy.
I would be sooo thrilled if we got something that was thematically like the end of Superman's fight with Darkseid: even when the good guys win, they lose.
I would say the gatewatch are great. I would like more small moments with them like we had with Nissa and Chandra as it was quite heartwarming. Chandra being RG makes sense.
The following is spoiler-tagged in order to not heavily derail the discussion and keep it politely and neatly small for other forum-goers experience.
RB will not always be villains. Kolaghan was arguably the least villainous of the Dragonlords, and was rather decent overall.
They care about the law when breaking it means they dont get what they want. They care about what they want, but part of that is the ones they love.
I think you are mixing RG philosophy with RB. The least villainous of the dragonlords is Atarka. Atarka's brood cares about one thing: Food. As long as that condition is satisfied, they are by and large the least harmful to the humans. The dragons spend most of the their time, aside from eating, fighting amongst themselves in order to make themselves stronger. Dissent has only started amongst this clan because of visions. Not exactly by the doing of the dragons within this tribe.
"The dragonlord became a fearsome leader, using violence, cruelty, and her trademark unpredictability to keep the clan in line... Unlike the Mardu, the Kolaghan follow no code of honor. Their ambitions are to raze the other Clans down and bring ruin wherever they go. The Kolaghan pine for freedom, from civilization, from limits, from any form of honor or law."
RB is selfish and cares about itself.
Even Dromoka's brood is not necessarily the nicest in town. As remember Anafenza? She had the gall to take part in her families old traditions and what was her sentence? Execution. Because she died the way she did as a martyr, their is now a quiet growing amount of dissent going amongst the people as they now partake in the old traditions like Anafenza did and she watches over them as a kin-tree spirit.
I do get the "not all as*holes are bad people argument", and yeah it will be a stretch to say that ALL r/b characters will always be villains. But given the nature of rakdos colors, there may be situations wherein they may not necessarily be villains, but they will always be villainized by those who do not share their ideals.
Oh? The majority of RB cards are filled with some of the most evil stuff out there. The only character who even matches close to Phantom King's description is Olivia Voldaren BUT even she enjoys and partakes in bloodsports.
RB is the the most villainous color. You want more? The only two cards in the entire game that aren't even about such things are Ghostflame and Ghostflame Slivir. As far as I am concerned Qaanglaagix is actually correct on this matter. RB is not something misunderstood like B tends to be, it is in fact perfectly understood. Its about: Hedonism, pain, mayhem, violence, arson, torture, blood, cruelty, revenge, suffering, desecration, demons, bombing, fearmongering, ritualistic sacrifices, spitefulness, destruction of public property. If MTG was a game marketed to an older demographic, it would include a lot more unsavory things in there that would make people squirm.
, WB, BU or GB are more likely to get heroes(/anti-heroes) than RB and some of those have already had heroes(/anti-heroes). RB is and always has been the villain's color for the past 20+ years of MTG.
Also to nip this in the bud: Luffy's Gang as BR? Yeah I will agree with you here. I would argue that with the crew's combined traits they are WUBRG.
Also to nip in the bud ahead of time: characters doesn't necessarily get along with characters and their can be differences on how things are handled. Such as with Heliod and Elspeth who are both mono-white but held different views and the Leonin of Theros who also held different views from both of those two who are also mono-white. Lets also not forget Ajani who at that time is GW and went all iconoclast on the gods after what they did to his friend Elspeth and hated them, particularly Heliod, for what happened to his beloved friend. Yes that is right. A character can break laws and traditions if they believe that those very things put in place by another character is unhealthy and hinders society as a whole and that society would be better off.
BR breaks laws and traditions because it hindered THEM, not those AROUND them.
I don't disagree with any of your points. B/R is the most villainous color by nature. But all B/R CHARACTERS being villains is not a generalization I want to make as of now. If you can help me prove kolaghan is a straight up villain in the khan's arc, then I'm with you all the way lol!
Aside from using cruelty and unpredictability to turn the Mardu people into a roving band of honorless bloodthirsty cannibals who seek to ruin civilization? Where they must abandon their sick, crippled and old aet Kolaghan's request? Where they are browbeated by Kolaghan and her brood with getting electrified by their breaths if they fail to keep up with the dragons or try to become a deserter?
None of the Dragon Broods are good. They are all a kind of evil in one the various forms. Oujtai's evil for instance is a strict and regimented learning through philosophy and education that prohibits creative thinking. (aka brain washing youths through education and teaching them not to expand their minds to the possibilities.)
Oh wow I didn't know Kolaghan did those things. Where was that explicitly stated? I'd love to read up that lore.
I should note - with regards to the Rakdos/ - that MaRo's said in the past that viewing the Guilds of Ravnica as being the only way a Color Pair can be interpreted is wrong, and that, since Magic is a combat-oriented game, you'll usually see the more violent elements of the Guilds displayed in the cards. The Rakdos have been stated to run quite a few legitimate businesses around Ravnica (restaurants and the like), and in the original Ravnica books, one of Agrus Kos' allies is a Rakdos Imp/Goblin, if memory serves.
RB will not always be villains. Kolaghan was arguably the least villainous of the Dragonlords, and was rather decent overall.
They care about the law when breaking it means they dont get what they want. They care about what they want, but part of that is the ones they love.
I do get the "not all as*holes are bad people argument", and yeah it will be a stretch to say that ALL r/b characters will always be villains. But given the nature of rakdos colors, there may be situations wherein they may not necessarily be villains, but they will always be villainized by those who do not share their ideals.
So, heroic would be the Strawhat Crew from One Piece?
A LOT of her actions are fueled by hotheaded, instinctual and emotion-driven reactions and she often dislikes/hates authority as they tend to take away various freedoms from her.
Chandra is way too much of a rebellious person to be part of Boros or Iroas ( ) . Which is what Gideon is like. Soldiers, martial prowess, order, etc.
She also is not very Rakdos or Mogis ( ). Which is kind of known for sadistic pleasure, brutal maimings, wanton violence, etc.
She is not really an Izzet or Keranos person ( ) . Because she does not have the personality of Dack Fayden or Ral Zarak.
So where does that leave her? She would be right at home among the Gruul or maybe in one of Xenagos's revels if she was into that.
Quote from Gruuls Biggest Strengths and Weaknesses »
Red/Green's greatest strength is the force of its brutality. With nothing making it hold anything back, Red/Green packs a powerful punch. Even colors with answers to Red/Green often fall to the speed and raw power of Red/Green. To paraphrase a famous pro player (Dave Price): "There are wrong answers; there are never wrong threats."
Red/Green's greatest weakness is its complete lack of foresight or preparation. If Red/Green's Plan A doesn't work, Red/Green has problems because it didn't bother to come up with a Plan B. Heck, plan A wasn't that well thought out either. In addition, Red/Green has problems solving things that aren't straight-forward. Once the option of blowing it up and then hitting it are exhausted, Red/Green starts to run out of options.
Probably. My orignal post putting her in ( ) was mostly pigeonholing for the sake of color balance (though I do seem to recall Chandra being a little grabby with tings that weren't hers...Fuel for the Fire?), and she'd more than likely be ( ) or ( ). Though, now that I think about it, Ajani not being WRG strikes me as a little weird; last I remember, he was becoming something of an iconoclast on Theros, wich sounds VERY R.
Well, that position would have probably been filled by either Liliana (pretty self-explanatory) or Nissa (who was originally presented as an Elvish supremacist ("Nissa was first presented as as a proud nature-mage who believed that elves are the pinnacle race of the multiverse, and the Joraga the greatest of them all.") with ties to the elves of Lorwyn, and who dabbled in black mana ("Her planar travels took her to the sunny world of Lorwyn where elves thrived and ruled uncontested. There she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its deadly shadow to assert their primacy. This encounter led Nissa to experiment with black mana on her own terms, in secret, using it to complement her own elvish teachings."), before that all got retconned). But Wizards unwillingness to keep those traits leave the groups interactions feeling a bit... toothless.
Right?! The fact they're trying to retcon that is so ridiculous. That alone is what made Nissa so interesting. She went from an actual racist, to realizing her ways of thinking were wrong, and (if they hadn't tried messing with it) would eventually lead to her joining the Gatewatch, where she'd be helping people from other planes (and races), and working alongside people of a different race than her! It would mean such huge important character development, and something we could admire and believe in. When you take her entire backstory and retcon it, she literally just becomes another boring token green mana character..
Agreed. Supremacist Nissa and her integration into the Gatewatch could have had so much potential. It's a crying shame.
Agreed! Apart from not particularly liking the majority of the Gatewatch characters, I firmly believe that color shifts are the best way to show character growth and make characters interesting. Not that mono colored characters can't be interesting, but when a character just so typically embodies what they're supposed to represent, it's just predictable and boring. Had we gotten a green/black version of a young Nissa in Origins, I would've loved it! This is in part why Ajani is one of my favorite planeawalkers. He's grown as a character and his cards and color shifts in his cards show it. He's gone from being a shunned member of his pride, to an angry and vengeful warrior, to a leader and mentor. That's been in the past 4-5(?) years of in universe time? Sarkhan, too, has shown character growth, emphasized by his color shifts - each card representing a new outlook, but still being the same dragon obsessed character. I understand the need to start with and make sure all 5 colors were represented, but as we get more characters I really do hope to see color shifts among the origins 5. That, or to see them replaced and/or killed off.
... what do you think the Gatewatch characters personalities would have been if they were all multicolored? Like...
Don't you guys think gatewatch would be way cooler if they added more interesting anti-hero characters? Even some episodic or temporary ones. For example a Phyrexian planswalker (This has to be a thing) that got tired of their crappy ideology and now wants to fight corruption on any world. Or some shady guy that is eager to help but always wants something in return. Or even a typical antagonist that just joins them because there is greater menace to purge. Something that spices up that pure, feelgood justice league flair.
Well, that position would have probably been filled by either Liliana (pretty self-explanatory) or Nissa (who was originally presented as an Elvish supremacist ("Nissa was first presented as as a proud nature-mage who believed that elves are the pinnacle race of the multiverse, and the Joraga the greatest of them all.") with ties to the elves of Lorwyn, and who dabbled in black mana ("Her planar travels took her to the sunny world of Lorwyn where elves thrived and ruled uncontested. There she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its deadly shadow to assert their primacy. This encounter led Nissa to experiment with black mana on her own terms, in secret, using it to complement her own elvish teachings."), before that all got retconned). But Wizards unwillingness to keep those traits leave the groups interactions feeling a bit... toothless.
So, Nissa's gone from a mono-Green Elven supremacists who'd started dabbling in Black (in-story, after having visited Lorwyn, and seen the Elves that essentially ruled there), to a tree-hugging mono-Green not-racist-Elf in time for BfZ, and now she's become an introvert who's starting to drift into Simic territory because "I don't get people".
... I'm still pissed they took away Golgari-Nissa from me.
It's a little troubling from a story perspective as well, since they're still maintaining the "masquerade" that they're not planeswalkers when on other planes, yet do nothing to try and blend in with local fashions. It's kind of hard to believe that you're native to Amonkhet when you're dressed like a Bantian knight, Kaladeshi engineer, or Innistradi noblewoman respectively.
And if the characters aren't recognizable without their clothes, then they're poorly designed characters in the first place.
That's a game mechanic, though. This is about how the Gatewatch are implemented in the story.
Yeah, the color pie isn't the problem: the Gatewatch being the most generic interpretations of the five colors are. I wouldn't be surprised if the design docs for the Gatewatch's personalities literally just lists their respective colors generic attributes (White = Moral, Order, Uncreative, Peace, Law, etc).
Come to think of it, the "uncreative" part would certainly explain Gideon's actions in BfZ (MOAR SURRAL!!1)...
I liken it to having Batman's origin-story pitting him against Darkseid - it's incredibly difficult to make the hero winning, much less winning a non-phyrric victory, look plausible because the villain has been built up as being in an entirely different league. The initial buildup was that Neowalkers are not the borderline omnipotent godlike beings that the Oldwalkers were, and when Nahiri and Sorin couldn't kill the Titans (let's presume that they at least tried Before Ugin suggested the sealing, otherwise the story makes even less sense)... the Gatewatch are ants, and the Eldrazi Titans are boots.
My biggest problem with the Gatewatch is that they're being written as comicbook characters (again, Jacetus League), but the wins they got early on were too big - what's the point in pitting Spider-man against Kingpin, a human crimelord, when he's already fought Thanos the Mad Titan and beaten him clean? Any fear that they could lose has already been thoroughly squashed.
... am I the only one who's bothered by the fact that Gideon's outfit got redesigned, and Nissa's still wearing the same outfit she's worn since BfZ? At least try to have her blend in!
Great, it's the InJacetus League.
I'll be honest, this really bothered me:
Because now, there are only two ways ths can go, and neither works for me. Either:
A) they lose to Bolas, which is ridiculous when you consider that they managed to KILL two of the Eldrazi - creatures so powerful it took THREE of Bolas' Oldwalker peers just to contain them. Not kill them, but stick them in what's basically the Cthulhu version of a drunk tank.
or
B) they defeat Bolas, and we have no villains left that can be taken seriously - WotC will have to start Villain Sue-ing it out the ears to create a credible threat for the GW.
And it all ties back to how they built up the Eldrazi to be these borderline unstoppable Eldritch Abominations, only to then have two of them get killed by four meddling kids, who didn't even have the decency to bring along a mangy dog for the occassion - yes, BFZ was so poorly handled it's poisoned the well for me.
... also, did Chandra equate f***ing Tezzeret with the Eldrazi?!
It's also funny that, for all that
That new recipe-pie that you stole from the Kithkin? Gotta share it, or you're booted out of the warren.
Yeah, that'd be a subversion, wouldn't it, if the people of Amonkhet actually view Bolas as a good guy.
I would be sooo thrilled if we got something that was thematically like the end of Superman's fight with Darkseid: even when the good guys win, they lose.
The Planeswalkers guide to Dragons of Tarkir might be a good start.
I should note - with regards to the Rakdos/
So, heroic
Probably. My orignal post putting her in (
... what do you think the Gatewatch characters personalities would have been if they were all multicolored? Like...
W/g Gideon?
U/w Jace?
B/r Liliana?
R/u Chandra?
G/b Nissa?
Well, that position would have probably been filled by either Liliana (pretty self-explanatory) or Nissa (who was originally presented as an Elvish supremacist ("Nissa was first presented as as a proud nature-mage who believed that elves are the pinnacle race of the multiverse, and the Joraga the greatest of them all.") with ties to the elves of Lorwyn, and who dabbled in black mana ("Her planar travels took her to the sunny world of Lorwyn where elves thrived and ruled uncontested. There she met elves who fully embraced their role as the pinnacle of nature, using both life magic and its deadly shadow to assert their primacy. This encounter led Nissa to experiment with black mana on her own terms, in secret, using it to complement her own elvish teachings."), before that all got retconned). But Wizards unwillingness to keep those traits leave the groups interactions feeling a bit... toothless.