There is nothing villainous about cultures finding the most effective means of satisfying their needs over the course of centuries of adaptation. Humans are exceptionally brilliant creatures that will find solutions to their problems. Sometimes, the best available solution is beautiful, sometimes, it's horrifying, but that doesn't make it any less ingenious.
It is pretty intriguing when that need transforms into superstition or simple tradition to the point where the practice is carried out when there's no longer any need for it. That can also have beautiful or horrific consequences.
I'm not sure if you're trying to make a broader point, so I'll simply agree with your statement. It is fascinating how different cultures' traditions develop.
Waging war to gain captives to sacrifice and eat isnt evil?
Is it better to let your child die of malnutrition?
I'm not saying the conquistadors or the Aztecs were blameless saints or depraved villains. They were nothing more or less than you or me - people doing the best they could with the knowledge and resources they had.
There is nothing villainous about cultures finding the most effective means of satisfying their needs over the course of centuries of adaptation. Humans are exceptionally brilliant creatures that will find solutions to their problems. Sometimes, the best available solution is beautiful, sometimes, it's horrifying, but that doesn't make it any less ingenious.
It is pretty intriguing when that need transforms into superstition or simple tradition to the point where the practice is carried out when there's no longer any need for it. That can also have beautiful or horrific consequences.
I'm not sure if you're trying to make a broader point, so I'll simply agree with your statement. It is fascinating how different cultures' traditions develop.
The broader point is we're good at adapting to the situation, but as far as ancient civilizations go, we seem to have a bad track record with realizing when we can move away from said adaptation.
Waging war to gain captives to sacrifice and eat isnt evil?
The aztec had two kinds of wars: the normal "conquer other guys wars" (that were very diferent from what we usually asociate with conquers) and the "floral wars" to get people to sacrifice, sometimes the floral wars where betwen allies. And yes they eat a SMALL PART of the flesh of SOME of the captives, also they usually teatred the persons that were goin to be sacrified very wellbecause they were grateful because with their deaths the rest of humanity will survive
On an unrelated note, the dinosaurs and probably the sun empire apears to be only in green, white and red, the colors of the mexican flag. Probably just a huge coincidence but still vey cool to me
Waging war to gain captives to sacrifice and eat isnt evil?
The aztec had two kinds of wars: the normal "conquer other guys wars" (that were very diferent from what we usually asociate with conquers) and the "floral wars" to get people to sacrifice, sometimes the floral wars where betwen allies. And yes they eat a SMALL PART of the flesh of SOME of the captives, also they usually teatred the persons that were goin to be sacrified very wellbecause they were grateful because with their deaths the rest of humanity will survive
On an unrelated note, the dinosaurs and probably the sun empire apears to be only in green, white and red, the colors of the mexican flag. Probably just a huge coincidence but still vey cool to me
Whether the Flowers wars were really ritualized combat or simply the Aztec way of excusing inability to conquer neighbors is up for debate.
What archeological evidence provides is that children were used frequently as sacrifices and their skeletons have butcher marks on them.
There is nothing villainous about cultures finding the most effective means of satisfying their needs over the course of centuries of adaptation. Humans are exceptionally brilliant creatures that will find solutions to their problems. Sometimes, the best available solution is beautiful, sometimes, it's horrifying, but that doesn't make it any less ingenious.
It is pretty intriguing when that need transforms into superstition or simple tradition to the point where the practice is carried out when there's no longer any need for it. That can also have beautiful or horrific consequences.
I'm not sure if you're trying to make a broader point, so I'll simply agree with your statement. It is fascinating how different cultures' traditions develop.
The broader point is we're good at adapting to the situation, but as far as ancient civilizations go, we seem to have a bad track record with realizing when we can move away from said adaptation.
Very true, but that apparent irrationality can, in fact, be quite rational. When you lack the tools to form cause-and-effect explanations, it is foolish to abandon what worked for your ancestors. Why waste resources looking for new solutions (which may not exist) when solutions have already been found? This is what makes modern ideas like the scientific method and free market entrepreneurial capitalism so powerful - they allow us to expend relatively small amounts of resources to search for new ideas in a systematic manner.
Waging war to gain captives to sacrifice and eat isnt evil?
The aztec had two kinds of wars: the normal "conquer other guys wars" (that were very diferent from what we usually asociate with conquers) and the "floral wars" to get people to sacrifice, sometimes the floral wars where betwen allies. And yes they eat a SMALL PART of the flesh of SOME of the captives, also they usually teatred the persons that were goin to be sacrified very wellbecause they were grateful because with their deaths the rest of humanity will survive
On an unrelated note, the dinosaurs and probably the sun empire apears to be only in green, white and red, the colors of the mexican flag. Probably just a huge coincidence but still vey cool to me
Whether the Flowers wars were really ritualized combat or simply the Aztec way of excusing inability to conquer neighbors is up for debate.
What archeological evidence provides is that children were used frequently as sacrifices and their skeletons have butcher marks on them.
Children where sacrificed to water related gods (more tears=more rain=more food), and usually the parents ofer their children, but they usually only eat some parts of the warriors/war prisioners sacrificed to the war/sun god
burning_paladin, im sorry are you really trying to play off the people who committed genocide, instituted slavery, and practised brutal economic exploitation for centuries as the victims in this conflict?
History is seldom as black-and-white as people like to imagine. Any time different peoples come into conflict, you can find heroes and villains on both sides. It is also important to bear in mind that the most powerful weapon in the conquistadors' arsenal was one they didn't know they had, and, having met humans from a wide variety of backgrounds, I suspect that most of the Spaniards would have been horrified at what the microbes they carried could do to the people they met. Cortez and his comrades were initially heroes to many natives who they helped to overthrow the oppressive Triple Alliance that dominated much of northern Mexico. Then introduced European diseases began to ravage native populations, and the Spanish found that they were dealing with peoples that had lost the ability to govern themselves. Wave after wave of disease kept disrupting these societies. How could a good person not step in, take over, to try to help these people whose social fabric had been torn apart, and continued to be torn apart? How could a selfish person not take advantage of the situation? We are all motivated by a complex web of selfish and altruistic impulses, and this was an unparalleled moment in human history where the most benign of intentions could lead to great evil, and opportunities for self-enrichment were unbounded. It would take many extraordinary people on the Spanish side to prevent what happened, but like every human society, the vast majority of people available to them were quite ordinary. That is, in my mind, the greatest tragedy of contact - it was inevitable.
of course every conquistador wasnt horrible and every mesoamerican was not a saint. however, what burning paladin is fundamentally arguing, i believe, is that the conquistadors are being treated unfairly, which i strongly disagree with. he is trying to depict (or seems like he is trying to depict) the aztecs and their neighbors and their cultures as brutal, savage, violent cultures and the conquistadors as simply honorable soldiers who tried to write the cultural ills they saw and who's own centuries of brutality, the repercussions of which people alive today still endure, were somethings that could not be helped or were misunderstood. i think that sort of thinking is deeply, deeply flawed.
burning_paladin, im sorry are you really trying to play off the people who committed genocide, instituted slavery, and practised brutal economic exploitation for centuries as the victims in this conflict?
History is seldom as black-and-white as people like to imagine. Any time different peoples come into conflict, you can find heroes and villains on both sides. It is also important to bear in mind that the most powerful weapon in the conquistadors' arsenal was one they didn't know they had, and, having met humans from a wide variety of backgrounds, I suspect that most of the Spaniards would have been horrified at what the microbes they carried could do to the people they met. Cortez and his comrades were initially heroes to many natives who they helped to overthrow the oppressive Triple Alliance that dominated much of northern Mexico. Then introduced European diseases began to ravage native populations, and the Spanish found that they were dealing with peoples that had lost the ability to govern themselves. Wave after wave of disease kept disrupting these societies. How could a good person not step in, take over, to try to help these people whose social fabric had been torn apart, and continued to be torn apart? How could a selfish person not take advantage of the situation? We are all motivated by a complex web of selfish and altruistic impulses, and this was an unparalleled moment in human history where the most benign of intentions could lead to great evil, and opportunities for self-enrichment were unbounded. It would take many extraordinary people on the Spanish side to prevent what happened, but like every human society, the vast majority of people available to them were quite ordinary. That is, in my mind, the greatest tragedy of contact - it was inevitable.
of course every conquistador wasnt horrible and every mesoamerican was not a saint. however, what burning paladin is fundamentally arguing, i believe, is that the conquistadors are being treated unfairly, which i strongly disagree with. he is trying to depict (or seems like he is trying to depict) the aztecs and their neighbors and their cultures as brutal, savage, violent cultures and the conquistadors as simply honorable soldiers who tried to write the cultural ills they saw and who's own centuries of brutality, the repercussions of which people alive today still endure, were somethings that could not be helped or were misunderstood. i think that sort of thinking is deeply, deeply flawed.
The Aztecs and Mayans waged war to gather slaves to sacrifice to their gods.
They practiced ritual cannibalism of the sacrificed.
They tortured children before they sacrificed them because they thought tears could cause the rains.
The Spanish conquered, just like Nations did in the Old and New world before and after.
The idea of falsely portraying history because it might hurt peoples feelings is the warped view.
The first set will have all colors represented. Judging from Angrath's Marauders flavor text, he/she is certainly chaotic, grudging and destructive, which fills all my criteria for a Rakdos character. Also we have not seen this color combination since 2009 and Sarkhan.
So, who do you think will be the deus ex-machina, if any? Ugin, Kiora??? W, G and U are all open. Any thoughts?
Guys can you like talk about literally anything else but the topic that has gone on for pages? You guys are going about in a giant circle of complete stupidity and ignoring actually interesting things like.
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
Guys can you like talk about literally anything else but the topic that has gone on for pages? You guys are going about in a giant circle of complete stupidity and ignoring actually interesting things like.
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
Jace getting his memories of Vryn back are critical for an actual visit to the plane, so it would be nice if that did happen.
We may also have Jace be more powerful as a mage as a result too, since all his experience and memories of his training under Alhammaret and tasks on Vryn (among other things) would come flooding back. It could also present an interesting personal dilemma, because he'd now know where he comes from, and that might conflict with his duties as The Living Guildpact (well, in addition to his activities as part of the Gatewatch anyway).
I don't know if Jace will regain his memories by the end of Ixalan block, but seeing him actually survive on his own on an alien world he can't leave without much clue about who he is can be potentially interesting.
I would argue though that Jace isn't the only interesting bit about the story, since we don't know why Vraska is there, or why Bolas gave her the compass.
Guys can you like talk about literally anything else but the topic that has gone on for pages? You guys are going about in a giant circle of complete stupidity and ignoring actually interesting things like.
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
K.
Jace is going to go dancing with wolves but with merfolk, very original and fresh.
And hes going to be fine.
I get that wizards of the coasts wants jace to be interesting, but his character is going to learn some lesson about being humble and be just as annoyingly invincible as ever.
Guys can you like talk about literally anything else but the topic that has gone on for pages? You guys are going about in a giant circle of complete stupidity and ignoring actually interesting things like.
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
K.
Jace is going to go dancing with wolves but with merfolk, very original and fresh.
And hes going to be fine.
I get that wizards of the coasts wants jace to be interesting, but his character is going to learn some lesson about being humble and be just as annoyingly invincible as ever.
Except that Jace hasn't been that arrogant in recent times, so humility isn't his weakest suit. Agents of Artifice Jace isn't the same as post-Origins Jace. If you mean with regards to Bolas, even then he was fairly cautious about facing Bolas, and chances are he and the rest of the Gatewatch will actually enlist help the next time to throw down with the guy.
Also, I've said it before on this forum, but until Vryn is visited and Return to Return to Ravnica happens, Jace shouldn't die as his personal story isn't over yet. He can lose and suffer trauma as he did at the hands of Bolas, but it's not his time to die, and to be perfectly honest, death is overrated as a compelling consequence.
Guys can you like talk about literally anything else but the topic that has gone on for pages? You guys are going about in a giant circle of complete stupidity and ignoring actually interesting things like.
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
K.
Jace is going to go dancing with wolves but with merfolk, very original and fresh.
And hes going to be fine.
I get that wizards of the coasts wants jace to be interesting, but his character is going to learn some lesson about being humble and be just as annoyingly invincible as ever.
Except that Jace hasn't been that arrogant in recent times, so humility isn't his weakest suit. Agents of Artifice Jace isn't the same as post-Origins Jace. If you mean with regards to Bolas, even then he was fairly cautious about facing Bolas, and chances are he and the rest of the Gatewatch will actually enlist help the next time to throw down with the guy.
Also, I've said it before on this forum, but until Vryn is visited and Return to Return to Ravnica happens, Jace shouldn't die as his personal story isn't over yet. He can lose and suffer trauma as he did at the hands of Bolas, but it's not his time to die, and to be perfectly honest, death is overrated as a compelling consequence.
Guys can you like talk about literally anything else but the topic that has gone on for pages? You guys are going about in a giant circle of complete stupidity and ignoring actually interesting things like.
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
K.
Jace is going to go dancing with wolves but with merfolk, very original and fresh.
And hes going to be fine.
I get that wizards of the coasts wants jace to be interesting, but his character is going to learn some lesson about being humble and be just as annoyingly invincible as ever.
Except that Jace hasn't been that arrogant in recent times, so humility isn't his weakest suit. Agents of Artifice Jace isn't the same as post-Origins Jace. If you mean with regards to Bolas, even then he was fairly cautious about facing Bolas, and chances are he and the rest of the Gatewatch will actually enlist help the next time to throw down with the guy.
Also, I've said it before on this forum, but until Vryn is visited and Return to Return to Ravnica happens, Jace shouldn't die as his personal story isn't over yet. He can lose and suffer trauma as he did at the hands of Bolas, but it's not his time to die, and to be perfectly honest, death is overrated as a compelling consequence.
Really, then what is his "flaw".
I think one of the main ones is that he's been dependent on others for his survival, to the point where he would have in fact died in all the actual fights he had been involved with in recent times if the opponent was actually trying to kill him (Bolas, Liliana, Garruk, Vraska, Emrakul), or if the other Gatewatch members weren't around to save his hide (Ob Nixilis). There were a few exceptions like Ral and that one werewolf pack that was chasing him on Innistrad.
Despite the apparent plot armour, that is a very real issue I've noticed that he has. It's all down to the fact that his powers lately have displayed limited offensive capabilities, and post-Origins at least, he hasn't really used his mind magic to the extent where he's actively mindsculpting people.
And those are far more apparent then when lion yoda told him he wasnt ready to confront dragon vader but he still did anyhow but he thought he could and jeopardized his life and his teams?
I find discussing the lore of the plan and its historical background far more interesting then pretending like Jaces story is going anywhere that is unexpected.
And those are far more apparent then when lion yoda told him he wasnt ready to confront dragon vader but he still did anyhow?
That wasn't just his decision though. Everyone else agreed to it (though Liliana had her personal reasons, so I guess she's excused there).
After they touched down on Amonkhet, he started to have doubts about what they were doing, and it ended up being Gideon in the final stretch who insisted that they throw down with an ancient dragon planeswalker.
Am I the only one thinking that Jace surviving for a long time by himself in a place filled with dinosaurs is just a little too much suspension of disbelief?
The only way I would believe he can survive for longer than a week on Ixalan is either if he walked into an island completely deserted of dinosaurs or if someone picked him up.
That depends on how long he's actually been there, but yes, it would be strange if he didn't become an ooze on the ground if he's been there for quite a while. Or maybe he just uses Illusions to defend himself, as suggested by his Castaway card.
Now... Having Jace side with the vampires in some kind of 3-ways battle between the sun empire, the pirates and the vampires (each one with their own planeswalkers) would be nice to see.
Wouldn't the pirates have two planeswalkers on their side, namely Vraska and Angrath?
He was pretty blatantly following Luke Skywalker and every other hero that ignored advice and rushed off to face "the big bad".
He had doubts but still went through with it.
This is just like the Star Wars prequels and sequels, just because you can come up with a theory to excuse bad writing doesnt mean thats what the authors meant.
He ca use illusions to defend himself, yes, but if his fight with werewolves is any indication, wild beasts can "see through the illusions" pretty quickly. As for the pirates having 2 walkers, yeah, there is that. I don't really see him going around with pirates, unless he brainwashes the captain of a ship and having one gatewatch member siding with "not the good guys" cound be a nice change for once.
On the other hand, Vraska, seeing that he is amnesic might try to recruit and manipulate him (before killing him), but I would imagine that she would kill him directly instead of risking him regaining his memory and mindwiping her, so... Pirates aren't an option (imo).
He shown learning all of the colors of the water with merfolk in several of the duel box cards.
He shown learning all of the colors of the water with merfolk in several of the duel box cards.
Added the edit about merfolks before refreshing the page and reading your comment
Too bad that they didn't try to give him another color like they did to Nissa, but two simic walkers in a row would have been a bit too much, I suppose.
To be honest, I doubt Jace is ever stepping out of mono-blue. If he is, I think white is the most likely color to dabble in, since he's used white magic before, he's taken some on-the-job training in leadership via the Gatewatch, and he's practically the law on Ravnica (whenever he's actually there anyway).
He ca use illusions to defend himself, yes, but if his fight with werewolves is any indication, wild beasts can "see through the illusions" pretty quickly. As for the pirates having 2 walkers, yeah, there is that. I don't really see him going around with pirates, unless he brainwashes the captain of a ship and having one gatewatch member siding with "not the good guys" cound be a nice change for once.
Bolas did do a decent sized mind wipe on Jace so he doesn't know he wouldn't go with Pirates.
Angrath is what I'm watching out for more than even Vraska. We know literally nothing about him apart from his being a pirate captain planeswalker who wants to leave Ixalan and has knowledge of dragons (which doesn't narrow any plane down).
I'm not sure if you're trying to make a broader point, so I'll simply agree with your statement. It is fascinating how different cultures' traditions develop.
Is it better to let your child die of malnutrition?
I'm not saying the conquistadors or the Aztecs were blameless saints or depraved villains. They were nothing more or less than you or me - people doing the best they could with the knowledge and resources they had.
RWU
GUB
WBR
URG
BGW
The broader point is we're good at adapting to the situation, but as far as ancient civilizations go, we seem to have a bad track record with realizing when we can move away from said adaptation.
The aztec had two kinds of wars: the normal "conquer other guys wars" (that were very diferent from what we usually asociate with conquers) and the "floral wars" to get people to sacrifice, sometimes the floral wars where betwen allies. And yes they eat a SMALL PART of the flesh of SOME of the captives, also they usually teatred the persons that were goin to be sacrified very wellbecause they were grateful because with their deaths the rest of humanity will survive
On an unrelated note, the dinosaurs and probably the sun empire apears to be only in green, white and red, the colors of the mexican flag. Probably just a huge coincidence but still vey cool to me
Whether the Flowers wars were really ritualized combat or simply the Aztec way of excusing inability to conquer neighbors is up for debate.
What archeological evidence provides is that children were used frequently as sacrifices and their skeletons have butcher marks on them.
Very true, but that apparent irrationality can, in fact, be quite rational. When you lack the tools to form cause-and-effect explanations, it is foolish to abandon what worked for your ancestors. Why waste resources looking for new solutions (which may not exist) when solutions have already been found? This is what makes modern ideas like the scientific method and free market entrepreneurial capitalism so powerful - they allow us to expend relatively small amounts of resources to search for new ideas in a systematic manner.
RWU
GUB
WBR
URG
BGW
Children where sacrificed to water related gods (more tears=more rain=more food), and usually the parents ofer their children, but they usually only eat some parts of the warriors/war prisioners sacrificed to the war/sun god
of course every conquistador wasnt horrible and every mesoamerican was not a saint. however, what burning paladin is fundamentally arguing, i believe, is that the conquistadors are being treated unfairly, which i strongly disagree with. he is trying to depict (or seems like he is trying to depict) the aztecs and their neighbors and their cultures as brutal, savage, violent cultures and the conquistadors as simply honorable soldiers who tried to write the cultural ills they saw and who's own centuries of brutality, the repercussions of which people alive today still endure, were somethings that could not be helped or were misunderstood. i think that sort of thinking is deeply, deeply flawed.
The Aztecs and Mayans waged war to gather slaves to sacrifice to their gods.
They practiced ritual cannibalism of the sacrificed.
They tortured children before they sacrificed them because they thought tears could cause the rains.
The Spanish conquered, just like Nations did in the Old and New world before and after.
The idea of falsely portraying history because it might hurt peoples feelings is the warped view.
1st Set:
Jace U
Huatli WR
Vraska BG
2nd Set:
Friendly Ally
Angrath BR
The first set will have all colors represented. Judging from Angrath's Marauders flavor text, he/she is certainly chaotic, grudging and destructive, which fills all my criteria for a Rakdos character. Also we have not seen this color combination since 2009 and Sarkhan.
So, who do you think will be the deus ex-machina, if any? Ugin, Kiora??? W, G and U are all open. Any thoughts?
"Hey we learned that Jace, for the first time since his inception may be an actually compelling protagonist because he is stuck without his memories."
Which has lots of actually interesting implications to it like. "If he gets his memories back..will he get the stuff he erased back when he left Vyrn back too?" as opposed to the utterly uninteresting garbage like "OMG IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING SPANISH VAMPIRES!" and "OH MY GOD IT IS MAGIC THE GATHERING MAYAN MERFOLK" cause magic has been ripping off cultures forever and it really isn't anything new.
Yes, the story has fallen so far that Jace is the most compelling part of it.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Jace getting his memories of Vryn back are critical for an actual visit to the plane, so it would be nice if that did happen.
We may also have Jace be more powerful as a mage as a result too, since all his experience and memories of his training under Alhammaret and tasks on Vryn (among other things) would come flooding back. It could also present an interesting personal dilemma, because he'd now know where he comes from, and that might conflict with his duties as The Living Guildpact (well, in addition to his activities as part of the Gatewatch anyway).
I don't know if Jace will regain his memories by the end of Ixalan block, but seeing him actually survive on his own on an alien world he can't leave without much clue about who he is can be potentially interesting.
I would argue though that Jace isn't the only interesting bit about the story, since we don't know why Vraska is there, or why Bolas gave her the compass.
K.
Jace is going to go dancing with wolves but with merfolk, very original and fresh.
And hes going to be fine.
I get that wizards of the coasts wants jace to be interesting, but his character is going to learn some lesson about being humble and be just as annoyingly invincible as ever.
Except that Jace hasn't been that arrogant in recent times, so humility isn't his weakest suit. Agents of Artifice Jace isn't the same as post-Origins Jace. If you mean with regards to Bolas, even then he was fairly cautious about facing Bolas, and chances are he and the rest of the Gatewatch will actually enlist help the next time to throw down with the guy.
Also, I've said it before on this forum, but until Vryn is visited and Return to Return to Ravnica happens, Jace shouldn't die as his personal story isn't over yet. He can lose and suffer trauma as he did at the hands of Bolas, but it's not his time to die, and to be perfectly honest, death is overrated as a compelling consequence.
Really, then what is his "flaw".
I think one of the main ones is that he's been dependent on others for his survival, to the point where he would have in fact died in all the actual fights he had been involved with in recent times if the opponent was actually trying to kill him (Bolas, Liliana, Garruk, Vraska, Emrakul), or if the other Gatewatch members weren't around to save his hide (Ob Nixilis). There were a few exceptions like Ral and that one werewolf pack that was chasing him on Innistrad.
Despite the apparent plot armour, that is a very real issue I've noticed that he has. It's all down to the fact that his powers lately have displayed limited offensive capabilities, and post-Origins at least, he hasn't really used his mind magic to the extent where he's actively mindsculpting people.
I find discussing the lore of the plan and its historical background far more interesting then pretending like Jaces story is going anywhere that is unexpected.
That wasn't just his decision though. Everyone else agreed to it (though Liliana had her personal reasons, so I guess she's excused there).
After they touched down on Amonkhet, he started to have doubts about what they were doing, and it ended up being Gideon in the final stretch who insisted that they throw down with an ancient dragon planeswalker.
That depends on how long he's actually been there, but yes, it would be strange if he didn't become an ooze on the ground if he's been there for quite a while. Or maybe he just uses Illusions to defend himself, as suggested by his Castaway card.
Wouldn't the pirates have two planeswalkers on their side, namely Vraska and Angrath?
He had doubts but still went through with it.
This is just like the Star Wars prequels and sequels, just because you can come up with a theory to excuse bad writing doesnt mean thats what the authors meant.
He shown learning all of the colors of the water with merfolk in several of the duel box cards.
To be honest, I doubt Jace is ever stepping out of mono-blue. If he is, I think white is the most likely color to dabble in, since he's used white magic before, he's taken some on-the-job training in leadership via the Gatewatch, and he's practically the law on Ravnica (whenever he's actually there anyway).
Bolas did do a decent sized mind wipe on Jace so he doesn't know he wouldn't go with Pirates.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan