I play mono-blue so my entire group hates me for countering their "fatties" when they finally get the chance to play them, and keeping my hand stuffed to the brim with Consecrated Sphinx, Blue Sun's Zenith/Pull From Tomorrow et al. Then High Tide shenanigens ensue.
I then play mono-red gobbos which rush out 50 odd 1/1's and then sac them with Skirk Fire Marshal (even if this means I die too) or Goblin War Strike, so I'm the least battlecruiser player imaginable.
In my defence my playground plays cEDH. I feel no remorse countering narsetti four-card spaghetti or food chain nonsense.
The kind of growth you're expecting is the sort of thing that takes years of these kinds of stories (like how the Origins 5 have grown), or require novel lengths to expand on.
While I do agree that the creative team are doing an excellent job given the time constraints and the detrimental format they're forced into (and believe me, I know from first-hand experience the pain of having to be creative while meeting a deadline), I must disagree with the quoted bit. Again, I point you at Drana for an example of character that was well developed in the span of just a single episode: all it took was focusing the entire episode on her, instead of switching the focus back and forth between three or four points of view.
I am not asking for long-term, book-quality character development. I'm just asking for a reason to care about these people. Something that goes beyond "oh hey, there goes Elenda" or "oh hey, there's an elder dino over there".
I must admit Alenda's reveal was hurrendous, as was Kumena's demise. From the cards I expected some massive vampire procession to raise Alenda from her sleep.
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step if it has converted mana cost 3 or less.
Angrath to Huatli after abandoning her: I want to kill you, but you're too hefty.
Huatli: Huh?
On a more serious note though: am I the only one who feels the "multiple stories of multiple individuals going on in each episode" format is doing more harm than good?
This is primarily an issue with short story writing and the format that Creative are pushed into. In fairness they do very well with the scope they're given. We have significant character growth from not a lot of dialogue and exposition. The kind of growth you're expecting is the sort of thing that takes years of these kinds of stories (like how the Origins 5 have grown), or require novel lengths to expand on. The issue also stems from the fact that we get 6 walkers a set, and people keep wanting to see new walkers(!), not to mention people want to see more legends on each new plane we visit.
Hal and Alena were a success despite only receiving one and a half stories. We can't have a hypnotoad story ever other week otherwise the main plot doesn't get where it needs to be fast enough, then you end up with a thin main plot for some compelling side plots. The plot from the viewpoints of legendaries interacting with the gatewatch are perfect however, a la Yahenni.
Can't tell if half of these comments are sarcasm or not. Meta was stale, they made a choice that will hopefully benefit it. Everybody assumed Attune would get banned and everybody said RamRed needed a good hiding to keep it in line too. I personally expected Attune and Hazoret to get banned. Not that I play standard anymore anyway, this crap has been on repeat for years.
We need to stop begging for characters to be made into planeswalkers in order for them to remain relevant/interesting. Some of the best characters in MTG are non-planeswalkers, and it is also wise for a writer to know when to let a character "go". Better to die as a well developed character than live on as a below average name pasted on paper a few times without any meaningful progression, simply to please a couple of fans of the initial idea long ago.
By this logic we'd have an Avacyn planeswalker, a Yahenni Planeswalker etc. PW creep is bad for the story.
To quote one of the most famous authors to date: "Kill your darlings."
EDIT: And creative have said beings made of mana can't have sparks. Until they retcon this entire basis, it'll never be possible anyway. It's also worth noting creative doesn't simply kill off walkers to feed others. The last planeswalker death's we had were Vronos in OG Innistrad and Venser in NPH (Elspeth doesn't count, because she's not dead-dead). Venser's death and subsequent spark transfer was a shoddy plotpoint in a badly written novel almost universally grumbled about by everyone, and Vronos was never really fleshed out - he was almost explicitly written into the story to feed Garruk's ability as PW hunter. Basically Wizards didn't spend Creative hours producing Samut to kill her off on a whim.
Kumena's piece of the story left a lot to be desired.
Things I took away from this story:
Kumena isn't dead - they threw him off a ledge and didn't wait to see him hit the floor.
Alhammarret isn't dead - he's unable to breathe involuntarily. Again, Jace left without seeing him dead.
Also Jace looks nothing like his mother.
is Azor actually a prisoner in Orazca? And if so, who trapped him? Bolas? Is that how Bolas even knew about Ixalan?
And then used Azor's spark to power the Sun. It's a fitting way to deal with a powerful rival planeswalker, and serve as a dumping ground for planeswalkers you need to dispose of.
The state of standard has really put me off the game and buying product in general. I used to play standard regularly but of the last six events every top 4/8 spots have been energy or RDW. Since Amonkhet I haven't bought a single booster or any sealed product in general. I've just found myself investing in Modern/EDH and just don't bother turning up to Standard events. I don't know if other people's experiences are similar, but this energy thing has been ongoing for an incredibly long time. The lack of interactability with energy pretty much kills much of a strategy and it's just a case of "win fast" or deal with their threats, empty their hand and hope they don't top deck a glorybringer/god while you find a way to whittle them down.
My fellow Vorthi, This is the opportunity we've been waiting for!
This time we REALLY DO get to decide the fate of a Plane.
Let us get off of our computers and
W: Organize an adventuring party to collect emblems and advance your Faction.
U: Configure our navigation gadgets, solve the Geocache riddles, and locate the secret emblems of your Faction.
B: Sieze victory at any cost by locating and eliminating the emblems of your Rivals.
R: Run around like a madman, looking for emblems, entertaining spectators, and employing questionable shortcuts to arrive where your Faction (and heart) leads you.
G: Appreciate the world around you as you locate and place your Faction's emblems, all the while basking in nature and pondering the need for increased ecological responsibility.
Edit: Vampires are winning so far...
Wow, yeah thus far Vampires are winning by a HUGE margin (double the 2nd place [Merfolk]). I realize this is far from final, but I'm honestly surprised that Vampires and Merfolk are in the lead (Go Merfolk, Go!). I'd have thought for sure that Dinosaurs would sweep it, but they're actually in last place atm.
Dinosaurs, or Sun Empire? That's an important distinction. If the option was to vote for dinosaurs, and the city would be effectively reclaimed by nature with wild dinosaurs roaming it, I'd vote for that in a heartbeat. Sun Empire, on the other hand, with their scheming emperor, and the weird martial code that Huatli follows? Definitely less appealing to me.
Well, it simply says "Dinosaurs" but I'd assume that they meant "Sun Empire" by it in the same way that "Merfolk" means "River Heralds," "Pirates" means "Brazen Coalition" and "Vampires" means "Legion of Dusk."
Interesting note: I just checked that page again, and the number are completely different than they were yesterday, which one would assume to be the case since they should be gaining more miles as we go, except that the total for Vampires has gone DOWN from where it was last night/this morning. It was at 50.7k, this time it was at 48.9k. Pirates also gained nearly 20k miles in just over half a day, quintupling their total (which had been a shade under 6k).
How... accurate... is this thing supposed to be?
The reality is it's probably fixed to a certain degree to allow a more "tense" feeling race to the bitter end. Usually when these things are allowed to play out by themselves one team steams ahead and wins, but a lot of companies "fix" it to a certain degree(Steam team holiday events, Warframe invasions etc) and have it self correct at certain stages.
So now Bolas has the Eternal army, the Planar Bridge (in Tezzeret's arm) and the Immortal Sun.
I guess the final piece to this Rube Goldberg machine of a scheme is whatever it is Ral is working on for Bolas.
One would assume Bolas wants Project Lightning Bug, or, at the very least, already has access to it given the ease with which he manages to track down planeswalkers.
By the time a player has successfully met the requirements of Azor's Gateway in my EDH meta, somebody has already won. The chances of it happening in standard with Ram Red and Temur Energy stomping around are slim to none. It's flavourful, but it's a bad card.
Evil men prevail when good men do nothing. The fact that there are people on here that see what he did as OK should be widely shunned by everyone. The people saying it should have been resolved as adults by privately having a conversation seem to conveniently gloss over the fact that he made this public by doing it on YouTube and Twitter to all of his/her followers and subscribers. He would have made money off of those videos too. He made this a public issue. That is not acceptable.
If you find anything about this situation acceptable other than the fact that action is being taken against him, you are unequivocally wrong, and will simply ensure this world gets a little bit worse, day by day.
I then play mono-red gobbos which rush out 50 odd 1/1's and then sac them with Skirk Fire Marshal (even if this means I die too) or Goblin War Strike, so I'm the least battlecruiser player imaginable.
In my defence my playground plays cEDH. I feel no remorse countering narsetti four-card spaghetti or food chain nonsense.
I must admit Alenda's reveal was hurrendous, as was Kumena's demise. From the cards I expected some massive vampire procession to raise Alenda from her sleep.
This is primarily an issue with short story writing and the format that Creative are pushed into. In fairness they do very well with the scope they're given. We have significant character growth from not a lot of dialogue and exposition. The kind of growth you're expecting is the sort of thing that takes years of these kinds of stories (like how the Origins 5 have grown), or require novel lengths to expand on. The issue also stems from the fact that we get 6 walkers a set, and people keep wanting to see new walkers(!), not to mention people want to see more legends on each new plane we visit.
Hal and Alena were a success despite only receiving one and a half stories. We can't have a hypnotoad story ever other week otherwise the main plot doesn't get where it needs to be fast enough, then you end up with a thin main plot for some compelling side plots. The plot from the viewpoints of legendaries interacting with the gatewatch are perfect however, a la Yahenni.
Story is up boys. We're goin' to Kaldheim!
By this logic we'd have an Avacyn planeswalker, a Yahenni Planeswalker etc. PW creep is bad for the story.
To quote one of the most famous authors to date: "Kill your darlings."
EDIT: And creative have said beings made of mana can't have sparks. Until they retcon this entire basis, it'll never be possible anyway. It's also worth noting creative doesn't simply kill off walkers to feed others. The last planeswalker death's we had were Vronos in OG Innistrad and Venser in NPH (Elspeth doesn't count, because she's not dead-dead). Venser's death and subsequent spark transfer was a shoddy plotpoint in a badly written novel almost universally grumbled about by everyone, and Vronos was never really fleshed out - he was almost explicitly written into the story to feed Garruk's ability as PW hunter. Basically Wizards didn't spend Creative hours producing Samut to kill her off on a whim.
Rivals of Ixalan on Gatherer
Things I took away from this story:
Kumena isn't dead - they threw him off a ledge and didn't wait to see him hit the floor.
Alhammarret isn't dead - he's unable to breathe involuntarily. Again, Jace left without seeing him dead.
Also Jace looks nothing like his mother.
MTG writers do these things very much on purpose.
And then used Azor's spark to power the Sun. It's a fitting way to deal with a powerful rival planeswalker, and serve as a dumping ground for planeswalkers you need to dispose of.
Came here to find ankle shanker, was not disappointed. Still don't know why this card was overlooked. Not sure it deserves its mana cost either.
The reality is it's probably fixed to a certain degree to allow a more "tense" feeling race to the bitter end. Usually when these things are allowed to play out by themselves one team steams ahead and wins, but a lot of companies "fix" it to a certain degree(Steam team holiday events, Warframe invasions etc) and have it self correct at certain stages.
One would assume Bolas wants Project Lightning Bug, or, at the very least, already has access to it given the ease with which he manages to track down planeswalkers.