Frankly, it feels like Raising Steam, Terry Pratchett's second-to-last novel snd a farewell to Ankh-Morpork characters. The characters like Moist, Vetinari, Vimes are all there, but feel weird.
By the way...
Any excuse to reference Terry Pratchett and Discworld is a good one.
that is all.
Sometimes plot holes and inconsistencies are just that. Having to bend over backwards to explain them with mostly headcannon is a sign in and on itself.
Tbh, these have plagued the game’s story ever since the mending (and even before that). I’ve...gotten use to it. My own headcannon is that we’re seeing alternate timelines sometimes (which we know are a thing since Planar Chaos). Applying this to basically every story is a cheap copout, I know, but it makes it so I can enjoy them for what they are. I’m way too nitpicky otherwise.
Also, about the story itself, I love the Gideon~Liliana parts, just as I loved the Vraska~Jace parts. Way more than the rest of the story, anyway.
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Modern
Affinity
UW Control
Commander
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Dragonlord Ojutai
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
The Ur-Dragon
I saw a lot of good posts and points I want to respond to, so, sorry for the wall of text!
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So in the story, Teferi says that Urza left behind artifacts that may be useful in sealing time rifts. He then says twice, unambiguously, that Urza made these traps and all for Teferi. I think when an author for a weekly story writes something like that, we should take them at their word. Its not a novel so there's not a lot of time for games like that. There's no one alive to contradict his statement that Urza did this specifically for him, so I think that what the author wrote is the 'truth' of the story.
Taking the author at their word, all these monuments and their artifacts that *may* help in closing time rifts had to be made before or after Teferi phased out Shiv and Zhalfir (obviously). The reason I choose that as the time (BZ, AZ, before/after Zhalfir) will become clear.
BZ, there were two time rifts: Madara, and Tolaria. All the rest happened AZ. And the situation worsened when all the other time rifts happened. So, if Urza built all these monuments with artifacts that *may* help close time rifts BZ, then he was aware of the danger of time rifts but decided to hide the tools in monuments that could kill or incapacitate an oldwalker who may try to get them to heal time rifts. Which, even though Urza was a crazy dick, doesn't make sense. Why dedicate your life to saving Dominaria, only to substantially increase the odds it will be damaged later by putting helpful tools out of reach, even for godlike walkers? So I'm not a fan of the BZ proposition.
If they were made AZ, we run into the problems many of us mentioned. Urza simply didn't have time to make all these monuments, let alone design artifacts in each that *may* help close time rifts. The events of the Invasion block are very fast. And if he targetted these monuments at Teferi, as Teferi tells us, that too makes no sense given the timing. So I'm not a fan of the AZ proposition.
What solves these problems? Teferi says these monuments were made to thwart him, but he says the artifacts *may* help close time rifts. *That's* the part he doesn't know. If the artifacts aren't for time rifts, then we resolve the issue as to why Urza made these things for time rifts. But then we're still left with the issue as to why they were specifically designed to thwart Teferi.
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As for slow-aging Teferi, as soon as he became a planeswalker (while on fire in slow time), he didn't need to eat, drink, sleep, anything. And anything he did eat or drink, even poison, would have no impact. His body was just a physical manifestation of his spark. So even if he drank slow time water (which he could only do after he sparked), it wouldn't do anything to him whatsoever. He is energy, until he wants physical form. If someone shot him with an arrow, he could reappear somewhere else sans arrow. If he drank poison, he could reappear somewhere else without poison.
And since Tolaria was obliterated before he lost his spark, he would not have a source for slow time water after he became mortal again. Since his mortal body never once ingested slow time water, there is no reason for his slow aging. It makes no sense. I dunno guys. It makes no sense. And where's bearded old man Teferi?? And where's the art of Teferi tossing the baby daughter??
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The author does something that annoys me. She writes that conversations happen, and doesn't relate those conversations! What! The Shanna/Jhoira convos flying on the Weatherlight I could live without. But Teferi's daughter relating what's happened over the years . . . I WANT TO READ ABOUT THAT, WHY YOU NOT TELL US?!?!?! Ugh!
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Ghosts trapped in the thing, I dunno. I don't recall Urza manipulating ghosts, but I guess he could if he wanted to. It was weird, but okay. Just seemed really weird and contrived.
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I will wait to see what Jhoira did to get that spark. But from all available data, I'm assuming it won't make much sense. If Wizards wants someone to have a spark again, they'll do it. Like giving Karn a flesh and blood heart (???). Nixilis was more or less believable. He just needed to juice up again.
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They're rushing the author. I have no doubt she could write a decent novel about all this. But she rushes through the passage of time and rushes to the ending of every story. Wizards has to figure themselves out for this. If you want to hire on novel authors, let them write novels.
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Apologies for any typos, and sorry again for the wall of text.
Am I the only one who feels that Martha Wells's talent is hindered by WotC's need for haste?
I love how Wells does relationships and dialogues, yet the story remain fast paced, too fast, for its own good. They should've hired her for a book, even if it has to be a pdf instead of paper. Why get a real writer only to force plot holes and urgency onto her?
One thing I think to remember is that Dominaria was two sets before they decide it would be one set and thus I think creative had to condense the storyline. This might be why the pacing is on the fast track.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I'm kind of surprised that the nicol bolas name drop didn't phase teferi. (Hur hur puns). He knows who he is and his temperament. Maybe not the full extent but I would think enough to raise concern.
As for teferi being slow aging, he's a time mage. If he can instinctively slow time a golem that is popping out to kill him, I'm sure he could focus those magics with on himself during some down time to turn back the hands of time. Maybe it's just like 12ish hours a day or something, who knows, but I don't feel like the answer would impact the story.
I didn't put together Jhoira's acquisition of his spark and intended use as a back up plan for jet fuel. That is...unfortunate. I agree this feels like a departure from the rest of her character thus far. Especially given the importance of friendship for her entire characater building before this set. That's pretty cold, I gotta say.
As for teferi being slow aging, he's a time mage. If he can instinctively slow time a golem that is popping out to kill him, I'm sure he could focus those magics with on himself during some down time to turn back the hands of time. Maybe it's just like 12ish hours a day or something, who knows, but I don't feel like the answer would impact the story.
I like the idea. Problems: 1) The explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal, thus he ages slowly. 2) Why is he not slowing aging for his daughter? Who wants to watch their own kid grow old and die? 3) Speaking of death, and here I am assuming, but I'm guessing his wife is dead. Why not slow time for her too?
Answer to #2 could be she chooses not to be slowed down. Same for #3. But again, the explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal. And again, there's not a lot of time in these stories to be cryptic and playful with facts. I doubt we're going to get answers for #2 and 3. Thus I think we'll be stuck with 'used to be immortal,' which didn't work for Liliana. I'm trying to think of what other oldwalkers got hit with the change. Nahiri, but she was locked up. Bolas, but he's an elder dragon. Jaya, but she's old.
As for teferi being slow aging, he's a time mage. If he can instinctively slow time a golem that is popping out to kill him, I'm sure he could focus those magics with on himself during some down time to turn back the hands of time. Maybe it's just like 12ish hours a day or something, who knows, but I don't feel like the answer would impact the story.
I like the idea. Problems: 1) The explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal, thus he ages slowly. 2) Why is he not slowing aging for his daughter? Who wants to watch their own kid grow old and die? 3) Speaking of death, and here I am assuming, but I'm guessing his wife is dead. Why not slow time for her too?
Answer to #2 could be she chooses not to be slowed down. Same for #3. But again, the explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal. And again, there's not a lot of time in these stories to be cryptic and playful with facts. I doubt we're going to get answers for #2 and 3. Thus I think we'll be stuck with 'used to be immortal,' which didn't work for Liliana. I'm trying to think of what other oldwalkers got hit with the change. Nahiri, but she was locked up. Bolas, but he's an elder dragon. Jaya, but she's old.
So, shrug.
With them making a point of his flaw being meddling in someone else's affairs (phasing people out that didn't ask to be phased out) I wouldn't be surprised if he's just never offered it or can't? It could be a byproduct of his magic that only impacts him? Whatever the case I feel like their explanation offers just as much weight to the story as anything else. Whatever the method, unless it can be replicated will likely have low to no impact on the story.
Dont get me wrong, I'm a big fan of how far the stories have come, honestly. I do think they need someone assigned to proofread for continuity among all products. These issues aren't even stemming from translation errors on tense or sentenance structure; we've literally been seeing divergence in art, flarvor text, and story as recently as rivals. I think there is room for improvement.
As for teferi being slow aging, he's a time mage. If he can instinctively slow time a golem that is popping out to kill him, I'm sure he could focus those magics with on himself during some down time to turn back the hands of time. Maybe it's just like 12ish hours a day or something, who knows, but I don't feel like the answer would impact the story.
I like the idea. Problems: 1) The explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal, thus he ages slowly. 2) Why is he not slowing aging for his daughter? Who wants to watch their own kid grow old and die? 3) Speaking of death, and here I am assuming, but I'm guessing his wife is dead. Why not slow time for her too?
Answer to #2 could be she chooses not to be slowed down. Same for #3. But again, the explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal. And again, there's not a lot of time in these stories to be cryptic and playful with facts. I doubt we're going to get answers for #2 and 3. Thus I think we'll be stuck with 'used to be immortal,' which didn't work for Liliana. I'm trying to think of what other oldwalkers got hit with the change. Nahiri, but she was locked up. Bolas, but he's an elder dragon. Jaya, but she's old.
So, shrug.
With them making a point of his flaw being meddling in someone else's affairs (phasing people out that didn't ask to be phased out) I wouldn't be surprised if he's just never offered it or can't? It could be a byproduct of his magic that only impacts him? Whatever the case I feel like their explanation offers just as much weight to the story as anything else. Whatever the method, unless it can be replicated will likely have low to no impact on the story.
Dont get me wrong, I'm a big fan of how far the stories have come, honestly. I do think they need someone assigned to proofread for continuity among all products. These issues aren't even stemming from translation errors on tense or sentenance structure; we've literally been seeing divergence in art, flarvor text, and story as recently as rivals. I think there is room for improvement.
Agreed, we've come a long way since the New Phyrexia book. I miss the novel days way back when, but I don't think we'll ever get back there. The discrepancies even between the official art book and the official stories are annoying. If anything, those two things should work in concert.
I think it would be better for the story(maybe not thw marketing, though) if they disconnected the pace of the story and the pace of the sets. If the story could take place at the pace it needed to instead of needing to jam in a huge amount in sets like Dominaria, but take the same amount of time for a set that didn't need as much like Amonkhet and Hour they could allow it to be more organic. Especially with the core set that could free up some time in the storytelling calendar. Use the core set time to tell more Dominaria stuff or fall set stuff but if one of those sets doesn't need as much narrative space they cpuld give that to one off worldbuilding stories.
As for teferi being slow aging, he's a time mage. If he can instinctively slow time a golem that is popping out to kill him, I'm sure he could focus those magics with on himself during some down time to turn back the hands of time. Maybe it's just like 12ish hours a day or something, who knows, but I don't feel like the answer would impact the story.
I like the idea. Problems: 1) The explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal, thus he ages slowly. 2) Why is he not slowing aging for his daughter? Who wants to watch their own kid grow old and die? 3) Speaking of death, and here I am assuming, but I'm guessing his wife is dead. Why not slow time for her too?
Answer to #2 could be she chooses not to be slowed down. Same for #3. But again, the explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal. And again, there's not a lot of time in these stories to be cryptic and playful with facts. I doubt we're going to get answers for #2 and 3. Thus I think we'll be stuck with 'used to be immortal,' which didn't work for Liliana. I'm trying to think of what other oldwalkers got hit with the change. Nahiri, but she was locked up. Bolas, but he's an elder dragon. Jaya, but she's old.
So, shrug.
With them making a point of his flaw being meddling in someone else's affairs (phasing people out that didn't ask to be phased out) I wouldn't be surprised if he's just never offered it or can't? It could be a byproduct of his magic that only impacts him? Whatever the case I feel like their explanation offers just as much weight to the story as anything else. Whatever the method, unless it can be replicated will likely have low to no impact on the story.
Dont get me wrong, I'm a big fan of how far the stories have come, honestly. I do think they need someone assigned to proofread for continuity among all products. These issues aren't even stemming from translation errors on tense or sentenance structure; we've literally been seeing divergence in art, flarvor text, and story as recently as rivals. I think there is room for improvement.
I am not sure what your saying here, enemies sure but Zhalfir and Shiv was not really unwanted meddling. Zhalfir and Shiv technically asked to be phased out. I say technically because Dominaria was basically run on a system where every Planeswalker and Assorted Other Immortals has a sphere of influence where very few would challenge them. Urza was the shadow king of Benalia allowing him to do Eugenics unopposed. Teferi basically reorganized the Government of Zhalfir into 5 Guilds to keep order. Freyalise Patron Saint of the Elves and 3 Different Major Forest. Windgrace, Protector of Urborg. Jhoira was a dominate force in Shiv but was far less hands on then the rest. Even Bolas was God Emperor of Madara and everyone basically stayed out of each others way for the most part and ran their territory how they saw fit.
What is weird is Teferi having a kid with some rando almost immediately after Zhalfir goes and having a kid he knows will die before he does. Cannot think of any reason to do that, I am not parent but knowing your kid is going to die before you sounds pretty hard.
Honestly, I think part of the problem here is Lili and I don't mean her character persay. I mean her total lack of knowledge or connection to the major players on the Plane of Dominaria. She seems remarkably uninformed on anyone important on this plane. Which makes sense she knows more players on Innistrad but here she doesn't seem to know **** not that this is new. She didn't know how powerful Bolas was when she met him and will no doubt be surprised when he screws her. She doesn't seem to know much about Urza, Teferi, Jhoira, or the Weatherlight. Its remarkable. I suppose it plays into her vanity. But this is why people call Lili Dumb.
Still main point this story was too ambitious and we are spending far too much time getting the gang back together on this plane. Where I don't think anyone would have thought it weird if Ajani had TP'd into a room and just had Teferi, Jhoira and Karn all sitting there already. Of course, the problem with having the gang already together is explaining how Belzenlok got so strong. Which again has gone unanswered so far and seems to be more a matter of everyone being too busy or distracted. Teferi is trying to get Zhalfir back and raising a daughter, Jaya is probably off Plane at the Keep, Karn was hunting Oil I guess for awhile but again leaves the matter of why Jodah has done nothing and Jhoira is just now taking any action.
Especially Jodah...They make him look like such a hypocrit =/ Really sad, he's by far my favourite character in MtG.
I don't like Jodah at all and even I think he was poorly written. All the Oldwalkers are gone. Most are Dead. Teferi is desparked and off the grid. Jaya is off plane presumed dead. Karn was off plane cleaning up his mess mostly with the Oil Spills. Jodah is the most powerful active mage on Dominaria, he finally gets to show his way is the right way and that all the Oldwalker were wrong.
Belzenlok Rises and what does Jodah do about it? As far as I can tell absolutely nothing. He cannot catch a spy/thief despite this being how he met Jaya. Does he cast any spells to help matters? No heck I went back and read the story he didn't cast a single damn spell in the whole chapter. He is the Archmage Eternal, 3000+ Years of Experience. I thought Teferi was bad forgetting how to Fly, Shield or Use Telepathy. But Jodah cannot even be bothered to put some Wards to prevent any random Belzenok agent from breaking in to steal dangerous artifacts nor can he even cast spells to defend himself (once again Jhoira to the rescue) or stop a Cabal Agent (Gideon, Lili and Shanna). I guess Jodah slept in this morning and forgot to prep his Spells like a good DnD Wizard? Here is hint Jodah use telepathy if you cannot read their mind easily they are probably a Belzenlok Agent.
He is worried some planeswalkers are taking advantage of Jhoira? He does know Neowalkers are far weaker then Oldwalkers right? He is still prejudiced against Walkers okay then why is he teaching at a school named after a school created by Urza, a guy he hates? It doesn't really compute. As far as I can tell he looks bad so Jhoira can look good by being the only actually getting things done and so Belzenlok can be threat due to inaction by anyone who could stop him until now.
I don't like Jodah at all and even I think he was poorly written. All the Oldwalkers are gone. Most are Dead. Teferi is desparked and off the grid. Jaya is off plane presumed dead. Karn was off plane cleaning up his mess mostly with the Oil Spills. Jodah is the most powerful active mage on Dominaria, he finally gets to show his way is the right way and that all the Oldwalker were wrong.
Belzenlok Rises and what does Jodah do about it? As far as I can tell absolutely nothing. He cannot catch a spy/thief despite this being how he met Jaya. Does he cast any spells to help matters? No heck I went back and read the story he didn't cast a single damn spell in the whole chapter. He is the Archmage Eternal, 3000+ Years of Experience. I thought Teferi was bad forgetting how to Fly, Shield or Use Telepathy. But Jodah cannot even be bothered to put some Wards to prevent any random Belzenok agent from breaking in to steal dangerous artifacts nor can he even cast spells to defend himself (once again Jhoira to the rescue) or stop a Cabal Agent (Gideon, Lili and Shanna). I guess Jodah slept in this morning and forgot to prep his Spells like a good DnD Wizard? Here is hint Jodah use telepathy if you cannot read their mind easily they are probably a Belzenlok Agent.
He is worried some planeswalkers are taking advantage of Jhoira? He does know Neowalkers are far weaker then Oldwalkers right? He is still prejudiced against Walkers okay then why is he teaching at a school named after a school created by Urza, a guy he hates? It doesn't really compute. As far as I can tell he looks bad so Jhoira can look good by being the only actually getting things done and so Belzenlok can be threat due to inaction by anyone who could stop him until now.
Pretty sure you misread cuz Jodah cast the Hold Person spell that stopped the fight against the cabal agent.
Also what feats does Jodah have that would designate him the most powerful mage? He's immortal. He apparently had a decent collection of artifacts. But no one talks about what Jodah actually did to earn all this aclaim.
Jodah seems to have a somewhat distorted recollectionperception of time considering he mistakes Shanna for Sisay (he should well know that Sisay should be long dead by this point). This could explain his lack of urgency in taking the fight to Belzenlok. That, or he considers the teaching of future magic users and preservation of knowledge/techniques to be more of a priority than dropping everything to go try and deal with Belzenlok (and force his way through Belzenlok's armies in the process).
He didn't yet catch the spy because the spy only revealed their presence very recently. Until Jhoira arrived, Jodah was busy seeing if the students that had been killed could be resurrected.
Jodah did cast a spell in the story, paralyzing the cultist:
Abruptly Thom's struggles stopped and his body went rigid.
Gideon glanced back to see Jodah stood beside him, one hand raised. "He's harmless now," Jodah said.
It's subtle, but it is there. He also did have wards to keep the such agents from getting into certain areas:
Jodah considered it. "Healers were summoned to make sure there was no hope of revival. At the same time, the archives were searched thoroughly, and we made sure . . . certain seals remained intact.
The cultist snuck in while aiding the transport of the deceased students to the tower alongside at least 17 other attendants. And as Jhoira points out later:
"[Jodah] can't personally check all the students."
How many students are in the academy? Can you really expect him to try and read the mind of every student he passes by? Can you really expect that no legitimate students in a magic academy would think to obfuscate their thoughts from potential thought reading peers? It just doesn't seem that feasible a solution.
I don't like Jodah at all and even I think he was poorly written. All the Oldwalkers are gone. Most are Dead. Teferi is desparked and off the grid. Jaya is off plane presumed dead. Karn was off plane cleaning up his mess mostly with the Oil Spills. Jodah is the most powerful active mage on Dominaria, he finally gets to show his way is the right way and that all the Oldwalker were wrong.
Belzenlok Rises and what does Jodah do about it? As far as I can tell absolutely nothing. He cannot catch a spy/thief despite this being how he met Jaya. Does he cast any spells to help matters? No heck I went back and read the story he didn't cast a single damn spell in the whole chapter. He is the Archmage Eternal, 3000+ Years of Experience. I thought Teferi was bad forgetting how to Fly, Shield or Use Telepathy. But Jodah cannot even be bothered to put some Wards to prevent any random Belzenok agent from breaking in to steal dangerous artifacts nor can he even cast spells to defend himself (once again Jhoira to the rescue) or stop a Cabal Agent (Gideon, Lili and Shanna). I guess Jodah slept in this morning and forgot to prep his Spells like a good DnD Wizard? Here is hint Jodah use telepathy if you cannot read their mind easily they are probably a Belzenlok Agent.
He is worried some planeswalkers are taking advantage of Jhoira? He does know Neowalkers are far weaker then Oldwalkers right? He is still prejudiced against Walkers okay then why is he teaching at a school named after a school created by Urza, a guy he hates? It doesn't really compute. As far as I can tell he looks bad so Jhoira can look good by being the only actually getting things done and so Belzenlok can be threat due to inaction by anyone who could stop him until now.
Pretty sure you misread cuz Jodah cast the Hold Person spell that stopped the fight against the cabal agent.
Also what feats does Jodah have that would designate him the most powerful mage? He's immortal. He apparently had a decent collection of artifacts. But no one talks about what Jodah actually did to earn all this aclaim.
What does Belzenlok do to make himself a threat to the whole Plane? How did he earn his acclaim? Why should I consider him a threat? He was too much of coward to do much when Oldwalkers domianated.
As for Jodah, he has a few books about him feel free to read them. Major feats though are mostly centered around fighting Marsail and Helping Freyalise cast the World Spell. But again I am not the one who decided to put Archmage in their titles and I don't think its too much that WOTC make sure they measure up to that title. Instead they are getting hit with the nerf bats in skill and intelligence so Weatherlight 2.0, Gatewatch and especially Jhoira can shine.
As for Jodah, he knows healing magic he has used it before. So he shouldn't need Healers to make sure there is no hope of revival.
I never said he should read every student but a student who he recognizes is in location they should not be...yeah read that ones mind. I think its sad some random cabal cultist getting the first spell off him and him needing to be bailed out by Jhoira with a shield is pretty pathetic. Lili and Gideon also get of some actions before he does his Hold Person.
The point about him being hypocrite boils down to him always saying the Oldwalkers didn't care about the normals enough and thought they were always right. So Belzenlok arises and Jodah decides you know what let him steal a bunch of artifacts, kill people and conquer the plane that will show those Oldwalkers.
But again I can see Wells loves Jhoira. I cannot really say she loves any other classic character. Cause we have seen two guys with Archmage in their title and they don't seem much better then Raff. Meanwhile Jhoira is Saint gets everything done and solves every problem while always being right. Well a saint for now will see how this I Have Teferi's Spark Storyline goes.
As for slow-aging Teferi, as soon as he became a planeswalker (while on fire in slow time), he didn't need to eat, drink, sleep, anything. And anything he did eat or drink, even poison, would have no impact. His body was just a physical manifestation of his spark. So even if he drank slow time water (which he could only do after he sparked), it wouldn't do anything to him whatsoever. He is energy, until he wants physical form. If someone shot him with an arrow, he could reappear somewhere else sans arrow. If he drank poison, he could reappear somewhere else without poison.
I don't think that's how it worked. Oldwalkers had physical bodies and were dependent on those bodies to exist. Their bodies were extensions of their will, in the sense that they had near-absolute control over their physical forms, allowing them to heal their wounds instantly, prevent themselves from aging, and shapeshift (though the shapeshifting was never portrayed consistently even in the old stories, and has been completely absent from flashbacks to before the Mending in the new stories). But they would still die if their body was completely destroyed or damaged faster than they could heal their injuries. They weren't energy beings who were completely unaffected by the physical world; in fact, it's an established rule of the multiverse that incorporeal entities like spirits and elementals can't planeswalk (presumably because the mana/aether that comprises them would just immediately dissolve back into the Blind Eternities).
Nicol Bolas, possibly the single most powerful oldwalker, was killed when his body was vaporized by the Meteor Hammer spell. The only reason he even 'survived' as a disembodied spirit was because of his connection to the Madaran time rift, and he still couldn't do anything but communicate with people telepathically until he got his physical body back from an earlier point in time due to the temporal crisis. Ugin, another candidate for the most powerful oldwalker of all time, was killed by mundane physical trauma at the claws of Bolas and a handful of mind-controlled dragons (and as a spirit dragon, you'd think he would be more resistant to physical damage than most oldwalkers). It wasn't even like he was instantaneously destroyed by one powerful attack like Bolas was; a continual barrage of wounding strikes was enough to do him in. He couldn't just "reappear somewhere else" without the several dozen claw and bite wounds he'd suffered (or more specifically, he wasn't given enough time or concentration to be able to do so). Sorin (who's an elder vampire capable of regenerating almost instantly even without oldwalker powers) considered himself to be in mortal danger from Nahiri, who was attacking him with nothing more than blades and rocks; for that matter, Nahiri considered herself to be in mortal danger from Avacyn, who wasn't even a fellow planeswalker. And while Teferi was able to survive after being dismembered and decapitated by Bolas, he was clearly dying, and would have perished if Bolas hadn't given him a chance to heal himself. It's not like he could've survived indefinitely as a severed head like Urza could (and the only reason Urza could is because his soul was contained in the dual powerstones embedded in his eyes; he was a unique case and not at all representative of all oldwalkers). I'm not even sure that they were completely immune to poison, the whole reason the Nine Titans had to wear Power Armor was because the atmosphere of Phyrexia was too toxic for them to survive otherwise. So it's not unthinkable that a near-endless supply of robots and traps and poison darts could eventually kill or at least incapacitate an oldwalker.
Also, just because oldwalkers didn't need to eat or drink anything doesn't mean they couldn't, or that eating/drinking magical substances would have no effect on them. There's no reason to assume that oldwalkers didn't undergo the same metabolic processes as other members of their species. Hell, Sorin needed to drink blood even before the Mending. So the claim that Teferi couldn't have benefited from the slow time water before losing his spark is completely baseless.
Lets compare Teferi to another former Oldwalker, who needed to get his spark back. Ob Nixilis first he punks Nissa a few times. But he gets his own spark then Ob Nixilis shows up the Gatewatch. Wipes out troops with a wave of his hand, cast a spell that cripples Jace and Drowns Gideon in a pool, some tentacle spell, takes control of some Eldrazi and I think binds someone in a trap. That is the type of spell casting prowess I expect to see from an Oldwalker and can do attitude.
But I am suppose to be impressed with Teferi struggling in a sand maze and needing all this help, needing Jhoira to give him his spark back and solve the puzzle for him, and him struggling to hold platforms in time before failing to stop a wave a sand. While being restricted to time spells only and not even especially powerful ones at that. Yeah No Just No. Not frakking Good Enough for the return of a major character and the face character of this set. And the first non white character to join the Gatewatch. WOTC wants praise for their diversity push I am going to need a bit more then that. I am not saying a hero should never need help but goddamit I expect some feats of power and not needing to be hand held on everything. I can't wait to read Saint Jhoira save him from himself by convincing him to take his spark back.
Oh and obviously they should print some better cards that are at least guaranteed to be standard playable so you know 3-4 CMC, Protection, Card Advantage, and Backbreaking Ult. Latest Teferi is okay, Although you know for a hyped return and title like Hero of Dominaria, I expect better then that. But he could be worse he could be Samut or ugh even worse the embarrassment that is Huatli.
As for slow-aging Teferi, as soon as he became a planeswalker (while on fire in slow time), he didn't need to eat, drink, sleep, anything. And anything he did eat or drink, even poison, would have no impact. His body was just a physical manifestation of his spark. So even if he drank slow time water (which he could only do after he sparked), it wouldn't do anything to him whatsoever. He is energy, until he wants physical form. If someone shot him with an arrow, he could reappear somewhere else sans arrow. If he drank poison, he could reappear somewhere else without poison.
I don't think that's how it worked. Oldwalkers had physical bodies and were dependent on those bodies to exist. Their bodies were extensions of their will, in the sense that they had near-absolute control over their physical forms, allowing them to heal their wounds instantly, prevent themselves from aging, and shapeshift (though the shapeshifting was never portrayed consistently even in the old stories, and has been completely absent from flashbacks to before the Mending in the new stories). But they would still die if their body was completely destroyed or damaged faster than they could heal their injuries. They weren't energy beings who were completely unaffected by the physical world; in fact, it's an established rule of the multiverse that incorporeal entities like spirits and elementals can't planeswalk (presumably because the mana/aether that comprises them would just immediately dissolve back into the Blind Eternities).
Nicol Bolas, possibly the single most powerful oldwalker, was killed when his body was vaporized by the Meteor Hammer spell. The only reason he even 'survived' as a disembodied spirit was because of his connection to the Madaran time rift, and he still couldn't do anything but communicate with people telepathically until he got his physical body back from an earlier point in time due to the temporal crisis. Ugin, another candidate for the most powerful oldwalker of all time, was killed by mundane physical trauma at the claws of Bolas and a handful of mind-controlled dragons (and as a spirit dragon, you'd think he would be more resistant to physical damage than most oldwalkers). It wasn't even like he was instantaneously destroyed by one powerful attack like Bolas was; a continual barrage of wounding strikes was enough to do him in. He couldn't just "reappear somewhere else" without the several dozen claw and bite wounds he'd suffered (or more specifically, he wasn't given enough time or concentration to be able to do so). Sorin (who's an elder vampire capable of regenerating almost instantly even without oldwalker powers) considered himself to be in mortal danger from Nahiri, who was attacking him with nothing more than blades and rocks; for that matter, Nahiri considered herself to be in mortal danger from Avacyn, who wasn't even a fellow planeswalker. And while Teferi was able to survive after being dismembered and decapitated by Bolas, he was clearly dying, and would have perished if Bolas hadn't given him a chance to heal himself. It's not like he could've survived indefinitely as a severed head like Urza could (and the only reason Urza could is because his soul was contained in the dual powerstones embedded in his eyes; he was a unique case and not at all representative of all oldwalkers). I'm not even sure that they were completely immune to poison, the whole reason the Nine Titans had to wear Power Armor was because the atmosphere of Phyrexia was too toxic for them to survive otherwise. So it's not unthinkable that a near-endless supply of robots and traps and poison darts could eventually kill or at least incapacitate an oldwalker.
Also, just because oldwalkers didn't need to eat or drink anything doesn't mean they couldn't, or that eating/drinking magical substances would have no effect on them. There's no reason to assume that oldwalkers didn't undergo the same metabolic processes as other members of their species. Hell, Sorin needed to drink blood even before the Mending. So the claim that Teferi couldn't have benefited from the slow time water before losing his spark is completely baseless.
I'm about to fall asleep, but as a minor point, if someone provides a base for something, it's not 'completely baseless.'
Anyway, it's long established that oldwalker bodies were manifestations of their center of conciousness. Meaning, that center was who they were, all else was what they made. That's why they could become huge in size, change species or shape, heal their chosen shape instantaneously, etc. Of importance: Their chosen body/shape/form was physical flesh.
Why's that important? The way to kill an oldwalker was to essentially paralyze their 'center.' Yawgmoth stabbed Dyfed in the brain. As long as her brain kept being scrambled, since she gave herself a physical brain, she couldn't think to planeswalk because Yawgmoth's stirring machine just kept on going. She chose to die when she had the chance. Ugin was set upon by surprise with fire and lightning, which were damaging his chosen physical form, until, like Dyfed, he couldn't gather his conciousness to do anything about it and remained in his chosen form as he healed. Szat was immobilized by surprise electronics and sucked away into a powerstone. Notably, no physical body was left behind, because he was the energy of his center of conciousness, or his spark. EDIT: His body may have remained and his spark and conciousness absorbed. Will have to check. Note further that Glacian's unsparked planeswalker spark was absorbed into a powerstone. And he remained concious in the stone.
The suits Urza gave were for walker protection because, again, things could happen to their chosen forms that would keep them from being able to react. If they breathed poison air, and chose to have lungs, the pain and impact could actually kill them before they could make the concious choice to leave. Notably, Windgrace and Freyalise end up ditching their suits because they didn't want Urza to suck them into powerstones. And they survived despite the lack of suits. In fact, they did a whole lot of killing on Phyrexia without their suits.
So if they chose to have physical forms, those physical forms were susceptible to damage and the like like anything else. But if that damage didn't prevent them from being able to *think* or *focus*, then they could likely survive. It's why it's largely only planeswalkers that could do in planeswalkers. I remember having a discussion with someone about this years ago. This is a link to our back and forth, hopefully that's allowed in forum rules: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-storyline/537465-question-about-urzas-planeswalker-spark
And also, when Teferi became mortal, he notably said he needed to eat and get used to needing to eat again.
Several times in the books I've read, oldwalkers are described as centers of conciousness, thought/energy existing without form, until they take a form. They're also described as taking forms because they're used to being that way and it's easier to interact with the world that way. Even traveling through the Blind Eternities they were described in that 'energy' way.
So I would say it's pretty much not baseless to say slow time water would have no effect on Teferi. He could become a wombat, with all different non-human physical pieces. Meaning all new cells and whatnot. Which means no part of him would still be impacted by the water since no part of him that ingested that water existed while he was a wombat. Which means that everytime he changed form or took form, that new form was not the body that ingested the water or anything else. It's the same reason it was the height of stupidity that Karn had Phyrexian oil still after sparking.
I could likely get receipts given enough time for the energy/center of conciousness thing, but I have a wedding to go to this weekend and I'm confident in my memory and recollection. But if you'd like, I can eventually track down where I read it all.
EDIT: This back and forth is obviously the same problem Wizards had with godlike walkers. Trying to humanize what is no longer human leads to a lot of debate as to what is, and what is not. I miss the oldwalkers, and yet, sometimes I don't.
Since Origins there are definite moments around the newalkers that show there's an active and passive version of their particular magics. A thing since each newwalker has a gimmick. The most volatile versions of this are Chandra and Nissa, but we've also seen Gideon, Baan, and Jace reflexivley use their particular talents. It's likely that any aging manipulation on Teferi's part isn't conscious. The same way Chandra doesn't 'decide' to attract cats to her (because her body temp is higher than normal people), and how Nissa doesn't always decide to talk to the plane they're on.
And a conscious act of magic is, of course, more work than just accidentally being magical. So Teferi aging slowly might just be 'a thing he can't help but do.'
I mean... How long was Teferi in that time bubble? If just passing through it effects water enough to make someone who drinks it immortal whats to say spending a substantial amount of time in one doesn't effect a person physically?
Lets compare Teferi to another former Oldwalker, who needed to get his spark back. Ob Nixilis first he punks Nissa a few times. But he gets his own spark then Ob Nixilis shows up the Gatewatch. Wipes out troops with a wave of his hand, cast a spell that cripples Jace and Drowns Gideon in a pool, some tentacle spell, takes control of some Eldrazi and I think binds someone in a trap. That is the type of spell casting prowess I expect to see from an Oldwalker and can do attitude.
Sure, he punks Nissa. In the process, however, he lost the Khalni Heart and all the time (at least a century by his own words) and effort he put into trying to reignite his spark and was then promptly trounced by Nissa.
In the face of such a setback, he gave up on getting his spark back for the time and concluded that he'd at least need to save Zendikar first and then could work on reigniting again. The only reason he was able to get his spark back at all was by taking advantage of the the work done by the Gatewatch and Zendikari in trapping Ulamog.
You claim he wiped out troops with a wave of his hand, but neglect to mention that he only did so by releasing Ulamog and directing Kozilek (otherwise, you are referencing an energy bolt that killed all of 6 'stragglers and wounded'). And it is very clearly the power of the titans that wipes out those troops, while Nixilis just does some nudging. That Eldrazi use continues. How does he beat Nissa? Kozilek's spawn. How does he trap Jace, Gideon, and Nissa? Kozilek's spawn. By his own admission he's not even taking full control of the spawn in question as Kozilek would drive him mad if he did. He's just directing them and Kozilek to do things in the titan's interest anyway.
Beyond that, he doesn't even take Jace or Gideon out with spells. He figures out which Jace isn't illusion with a sphere of agony, but Jace only goes down when Nixilis punches him hard enough to break his cheekbone. He beats Gideon in hand to sural combat by shear melee prowess.
So Nixilis' great claim to casting fame is some life draining magic (which Chandra overcame with shear willpower), a sphere of pain (which only revealed Jace amongst his duplicates), directing eldrazi to do things (that they already want to do), and a bolt attack (that killed 6 people that were injured and/or stragglers). For some reason, I find Teferi's time magic more impressive (Nixilis' strength lies in his tactical mind and physical prowess, not magical ability).
But I am suppose to be impressed with Teferi struggling in a sand maze and needing all this help, needing Jhoira to give him his spark back and solve the puzzle for him, and him struggling to hold platforms in time before failing to stop a wave a sand. While being restricted to time spells only and not even especially powerful ones at that. Yeah No Just No. Not frakking Good Enough for the return of a major character and the face character of this set. And the first non white character to join the Gatewatch. WOTC wants praise for their diversity push I am going to need a bit more then that. I am not saying a hero should never need help but goddamit I expect some feats of power and not needing to be hand held on everything. I can't wait to read Saint Jhoira save him from himself by convincing him to take his spark back.
Teferi had time to make one attempt at dealing with the sinking plateau, and didn't immediately succeed. He needed the help of Jhoira and others to complete the last of an entire ruin's worth of traps and puzzles that are seemingly designed to need many people to complete.
For Pete's sake, there are more stories to come, and we know that the new Weatherlight crew's plan to assault and defeat Belzenlok depends entirely on Teferi's ability to stop time in a large area. He will have time to shine, rather than just succeeding at everything he does on the very first time he tries. Because, again, Teferi and Niambi had one attempt at the equation idea before Jhoira showed up and Teferi only got to try and deal with the sinking plateau once before the Weatherlight made for a ready escape.
In regards to oldwalkers' physical form debate, some examples:
- By Planar Chaos, Karn's body was made out of metals other than silver, which he reverted his body back to in order to travel through time.
- There was this one (recently sparked) planeswalker who decided to look like a castle. She was then blown up and killed while in that form.
- Urza was almost killed when his bird constructs were reverse engineered by the phyrexians trapped in gorge with the fast time bubble. One of them dug into his chest and did so much damage so quickly that he was only bearly holding on to his physical manifestation. It was all he could do. He was very close to passing out and it was explicitely said he was going to die as a result.
- In Planar Chaos, Windgrace becomes giant sized, but when a phyrexian energy cannon strikes him in the back he reverts back to his original form.
- Teferi gets stabbed in the head by Radha and this knocks him unconscious.
In other words, there's clear evidence that oldwalkers had pretty impressive shapeshifting capacities. Their physical manifestations (I won't even call them bodies e.g. the castle example) being damaged severely also clearly did cause them to suffer trauma and this could eventually lead to death, although it would take a lot of damage.
Also I still don't see why it would be unreasonable for us to think Jodah and Teferi being way more powerful and useful than they are.
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He was too much of coward to do much when Oldwalkers domianated.
How did you reach so far to get Belzenlok was "trapped in Dominaria hell after a war" to him being a coward?
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
By the way...
Any excuse to reference Terry Pratchett and Discworld is a good one.
that is all.
Click the pic for more info.
Tbh, these have plagued the game’s story ever since the mending (and even before that). I’ve...gotten use to it. My own headcannon is that we’re seeing alternate timelines sometimes (which we know are a thing since Planar Chaos). Applying this to basically every story is a cheap copout, I know, but it makes it so I can enjoy them for what they are. I’m way too nitpicky otherwise.
Also, about the story itself, I love the Gideon~Liliana parts, just as I loved the Vraska~Jace parts. Way more than the rest of the story, anyway.
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So in the story, Teferi says that Urza left behind artifacts that may be useful in sealing time rifts. He then says twice, unambiguously, that Urza made these traps and all for Teferi. I think when an author for a weekly story writes something like that, we should take them at their word. Its not a novel so there's not a lot of time for games like that. There's no one alive to contradict his statement that Urza did this specifically for him, so I think that what the author wrote is the 'truth' of the story.
Taking the author at their word, all these monuments and their artifacts that *may* help in closing time rifts had to be made before or after Teferi phased out Shiv and Zhalfir (obviously). The reason I choose that as the time (BZ, AZ, before/after Zhalfir) will become clear.
BZ, there were two time rifts: Madara, and Tolaria. All the rest happened AZ. And the situation worsened when all the other time rifts happened. So, if Urza built all these monuments with artifacts that *may* help close time rifts BZ, then he was aware of the danger of time rifts but decided to hide the tools in monuments that could kill or incapacitate an oldwalker who may try to get them to heal time rifts. Which, even though Urza was a crazy dick, doesn't make sense. Why dedicate your life to saving Dominaria, only to substantially increase the odds it will be damaged later by putting helpful tools out of reach, even for godlike walkers? So I'm not a fan of the BZ proposition.
If they were made AZ, we run into the problems many of us mentioned. Urza simply didn't have time to make all these monuments, let alone design artifacts in each that *may* help close time rifts. The events of the Invasion block are very fast. And if he targetted these monuments at Teferi, as Teferi tells us, that too makes no sense given the timing. So I'm not a fan of the AZ proposition.
What solves these problems? Teferi says these monuments were made to thwart him, but he says the artifacts *may* help close time rifts. *That's* the part he doesn't know. If the artifacts aren't for time rifts, then we resolve the issue as to why Urza made these things for time rifts. But then we're still left with the issue as to why they were specifically designed to thwart Teferi.
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As for slow-aging Teferi, as soon as he became a planeswalker (while on fire in slow time), he didn't need to eat, drink, sleep, anything. And anything he did eat or drink, even poison, would have no impact. His body was just a physical manifestation of his spark. So even if he drank slow time water (which he could only do after he sparked), it wouldn't do anything to him whatsoever. He is energy, until he wants physical form. If someone shot him with an arrow, he could reappear somewhere else sans arrow. If he drank poison, he could reappear somewhere else without poison.
And since Tolaria was obliterated before he lost his spark, he would not have a source for slow time water after he became mortal again. Since his mortal body never once ingested slow time water, there is no reason for his slow aging. It makes no sense. I dunno guys. It makes no sense. And where's bearded old man Teferi?? And where's the art of Teferi tossing the baby daughter??
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The author does something that annoys me. She writes that conversations happen, and doesn't relate those conversations! What! The Shanna/Jhoira convos flying on the Weatherlight I could live without. But Teferi's daughter relating what's happened over the years . . . I WANT TO READ ABOUT THAT, WHY YOU NOT TELL US?!?!?! Ugh!
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Ghosts trapped in the thing, I dunno. I don't recall Urza manipulating ghosts, but I guess he could if he wanted to. It was weird, but okay. Just seemed really weird and contrived.
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I will wait to see what Jhoira did to get that spark. But from all available data, I'm assuming it won't make much sense. If Wizards wants someone to have a spark again, they'll do it. Like giving Karn a flesh and blood heart (???). Nixilis was more or less believable. He just needed to juice up again.
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They're rushing the author. I have no doubt she could write a decent novel about all this. But she rushes through the passage of time and rushes to the ending of every story. Wizards has to figure themselves out for this. If you want to hire on novel authors, let them write novels.
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Apologies for any typos, and sorry again for the wall of text.
One thing I think to remember is that Dominaria was two sets before they decide it would be one set and thus I think creative had to condense the storyline. This might be why the pacing is on the fast track.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
As for teferi being slow aging, he's a time mage. If he can instinctively slow time a golem that is popping out to kill him, I'm sure he could focus those magics with on himself during some down time to turn back the hands of time. Maybe it's just like 12ish hours a day or something, who knows, but I don't feel like the answer would impact the story.
I didn't put together Jhoira's acquisition of his spark and intended use as a back up plan for jet fuel. That is...unfortunate. I agree this feels like a departure from the rest of her character thus far. Especially given the importance of friendship for her entire characater building before this set. That's pretty cold, I gotta say.
I like the idea. Problems: 1) The explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal, thus he ages slowly. 2) Why is he not slowing aging for his daughter? Who wants to watch their own kid grow old and die? 3) Speaking of death, and here I am assuming, but I'm guessing his wife is dead. Why not slow time for her too?
Answer to #2 could be she chooses not to be slowed down. Same for #3. But again, the explanation in the story is that he used to be immortal. And again, there's not a lot of time in these stories to be cryptic and playful with facts. I doubt we're going to get answers for #2 and 3. Thus I think we'll be stuck with 'used to be immortal,' which didn't work for Liliana. I'm trying to think of what other oldwalkers got hit with the change. Nahiri, but she was locked up. Bolas, but he's an elder dragon. Jaya, but she's old.
So, shrug.
With them making a point of his flaw being meddling in someone else's affairs (phasing people out that didn't ask to be phased out) I wouldn't be surprised if he's just never offered it or can't? It could be a byproduct of his magic that only impacts him? Whatever the case I feel like their explanation offers just as much weight to the story as anything else. Whatever the method, unless it can be replicated will likely have low to no impact on the story.
Dont get me wrong, I'm a big fan of how far the stories have come, honestly. I do think they need someone assigned to proofread for continuity among all products. These issues aren't even stemming from translation errors on tense or sentenance structure; we've literally been seeing divergence in art, flarvor text, and story as recently as rivals. I think there is room for improvement.
Agreed, we've come a long way since the New Phyrexia book. I miss the novel days way back when, but I don't think we'll ever get back there. The discrepancies even between the official art book and the official stories are annoying. If anything, those two things should work in concert.
I am not sure what your saying here, enemies sure but Zhalfir and Shiv was not really unwanted meddling. Zhalfir and Shiv technically asked to be phased out. I say technically because Dominaria was basically run on a system where every Planeswalker and Assorted Other Immortals has a sphere of influence where very few would challenge them. Urza was the shadow king of Benalia allowing him to do Eugenics unopposed. Teferi basically reorganized the Government of Zhalfir into 5 Guilds to keep order. Freyalise Patron Saint of the Elves and 3 Different Major Forest. Windgrace, Protector of Urborg. Jhoira was a dominate force in Shiv but was far less hands on then the rest. Even Bolas was God Emperor of Madara and everyone basically stayed out of each others way for the most part and ran their territory how they saw fit.
What is weird is Teferi having a kid with some rando almost immediately after Zhalfir goes and having a kid he knows will die before he does. Cannot think of any reason to do that, I am not parent but knowing your kid is going to die before you sounds pretty hard.
Honestly, I think part of the problem here is Lili and I don't mean her character persay. I mean her total lack of knowledge or connection to the major players on the Plane of Dominaria. She seems remarkably uninformed on anyone important on this plane. Which makes sense she knows more players on Innistrad but here she doesn't seem to know **** not that this is new. She didn't know how powerful Bolas was when she met him and will no doubt be surprised when he screws her. She doesn't seem to know much about Urza, Teferi, Jhoira, or the Weatherlight. Its remarkable. I suppose it plays into her vanity. But this is why people call Lili Dumb.
Still main point this story was too ambitious and we are spending far too much time getting the gang back together on this plane. Where I don't think anyone would have thought it weird if Ajani had TP'd into a room and just had Teferi, Jhoira and Karn all sitting there already. Of course, the problem with having the gang already together is explaining how Belzenlok got so strong. Which again has gone unanswered so far and seems to be more a matter of everyone being too busy or distracted. Teferi is trying to get Zhalfir back and raising a daughter, Jaya is probably off Plane at the Keep, Karn was hunting Oil I guess for awhile but again leaves the matter of why Jodah has done nothing and Jhoira is just now taking any action.
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I don't like Jodah at all and even I think he was poorly written. All the Oldwalkers are gone. Most are Dead. Teferi is desparked and off the grid. Jaya is off plane presumed dead. Karn was off plane cleaning up his mess mostly with the Oil Spills. Jodah is the most powerful active mage on Dominaria, he finally gets to show his way is the right way and that all the Oldwalker were wrong.
Belzenlok Rises and what does Jodah do about it? As far as I can tell absolutely nothing. He cannot catch a spy/thief despite this being how he met Jaya. Does he cast any spells to help matters? No heck I went back and read the story he didn't cast a single damn spell in the whole chapter. He is the Archmage Eternal, 3000+ Years of Experience. I thought Teferi was bad forgetting how to Fly, Shield or Use Telepathy. But Jodah cannot even be bothered to put some Wards to prevent any random Belzenok agent from breaking in to steal dangerous artifacts nor can he even cast spells to defend himself (once again Jhoira to the rescue) or stop a Cabal Agent (Gideon, Lili and Shanna). I guess Jodah slept in this morning and forgot to prep his Spells like a good DnD Wizard? Here is hint Jodah use telepathy if you cannot read their mind easily they are probably a Belzenlok Agent.
He is worried some planeswalkers are taking advantage of Jhoira? He does know Neowalkers are far weaker then Oldwalkers right? He is still prejudiced against Walkers okay then why is he teaching at a school named after a school created by Urza, a guy he hates? It doesn't really compute. As far as I can tell he looks bad so Jhoira can look good by being the only actually getting things done and so Belzenlok can be threat due to inaction by anyone who could stop him until now.
Pretty sure you misread cuz Jodah cast the Hold Person spell that stopped the fight against the cabal agent.
Also what feats does Jodah have that would designate him the most powerful mage? He's immortal. He apparently had a decent collection of artifacts. But no one talks about what Jodah actually did to earn all this aclaim.
He didn't yet catch the spy because the spy only revealed their presence very recently. Until Jhoira arrived, Jodah was busy seeing if the students that had been killed could be resurrected.
Jodah did cast a spell in the story, paralyzing the cultist:
Abruptly Thom's struggles stopped and his body went rigid.
Gideon glanced back to see Jodah stood beside him, one hand raised. "He's harmless now," Jodah said.
It's subtle, but it is there. He also did have wards to keep the such agents from getting into certain areas:
Jodah considered it. "Healers were summoned to make sure there was no hope of revival. At the same time, the archives were searched thoroughly, and we made sure . . . certain seals remained intact.
The cultist snuck in while aiding the transport of the deceased students to the tower alongside at least 17 other attendants. And as Jhoira points out later:
"[Jodah] can't personally check all the students."
How many students are in the academy? Can you really expect him to try and read the mind of every student he passes by? Can you really expect that no legitimate students in a magic academy would think to obfuscate their thoughts from potential thought reading peers? It just doesn't seem that feasible a solution.
What does Belzenlok do to make himself a threat to the whole Plane? How did he earn his acclaim? Why should I consider him a threat? He was too much of coward to do much when Oldwalkers domianated.
As for Jodah, he has a few books about him feel free to read them. Major feats though are mostly centered around fighting Marsail and Helping Freyalise cast the World Spell. But again I am not the one who decided to put Archmage in their titles and I don't think its too much that WOTC make sure they measure up to that title. Instead they are getting hit with the nerf bats in skill and intelligence so Weatherlight 2.0, Gatewatch and especially Jhoira can shine.
As for Jodah, he knows healing magic he has used it before. So he shouldn't need Healers to make sure there is no hope of revival.
I never said he should read every student but a student who he recognizes is in location they should not be...yeah read that ones mind. I think its sad some random cabal cultist getting the first spell off him and him needing to be bailed out by Jhoira with a shield is pretty pathetic. Lili and Gideon also get of some actions before he does his Hold Person.
The point about him being hypocrite boils down to him always saying the Oldwalkers didn't care about the normals enough and thought they were always right. So Belzenlok arises and Jodah decides you know what let him steal a bunch of artifacts, kill people and conquer the plane that will show those Oldwalkers.
But again I can see Wells loves Jhoira. I cannot really say she loves any other classic character. Cause we have seen two guys with Archmage in their title and they don't seem much better then Raff. Meanwhile Jhoira is Saint gets everything done and solves every problem while always being right. Well a saint for now will see how this I Have Teferi's Spark Storyline goes.
I don't think that's how it worked. Oldwalkers had physical bodies and were dependent on those bodies to exist. Their bodies were extensions of their will, in the sense that they had near-absolute control over their physical forms, allowing them to heal their wounds instantly, prevent themselves from aging, and shapeshift (though the shapeshifting was never portrayed consistently even in the old stories, and has been completely absent from flashbacks to before the Mending in the new stories). But they would still die if their body was completely destroyed or damaged faster than they could heal their injuries. They weren't energy beings who were completely unaffected by the physical world; in fact, it's an established rule of the multiverse that incorporeal entities like spirits and elementals can't planeswalk (presumably because the mana/aether that comprises them would just immediately dissolve back into the Blind Eternities).
Nicol Bolas, possibly the single most powerful oldwalker, was killed when his body was vaporized by the Meteor Hammer spell. The only reason he even 'survived' as a disembodied spirit was because of his connection to the Madaran time rift, and he still couldn't do anything but communicate with people telepathically until he got his physical body back from an earlier point in time due to the temporal crisis. Ugin, another candidate for the most powerful oldwalker of all time, was killed by mundane physical trauma at the claws of Bolas and a handful of mind-controlled dragons (and as a spirit dragon, you'd think he would be more resistant to physical damage than most oldwalkers). It wasn't even like he was instantaneously destroyed by one powerful attack like Bolas was; a continual barrage of wounding strikes was enough to do him in. He couldn't just "reappear somewhere else" without the several dozen claw and bite wounds he'd suffered (or more specifically, he wasn't given enough time or concentration to be able to do so). Sorin (who's an elder vampire capable of regenerating almost instantly even without oldwalker powers) considered himself to be in mortal danger from Nahiri, who was attacking him with nothing more than blades and rocks; for that matter, Nahiri considered herself to be in mortal danger from Avacyn, who wasn't even a fellow planeswalker. And while Teferi was able to survive after being dismembered and decapitated by Bolas, he was clearly dying, and would have perished if Bolas hadn't given him a chance to heal himself. It's not like he could've survived indefinitely as a severed head like Urza could (and the only reason Urza could is because his soul was contained in the dual powerstones embedded in his eyes; he was a unique case and not at all representative of all oldwalkers). I'm not even sure that they were completely immune to poison, the whole reason the Nine Titans had to wear Power Armor was because the atmosphere of Phyrexia was too toxic for them to survive otherwise. So it's not unthinkable that a near-endless supply of robots and traps and poison darts could eventually kill or at least incapacitate an oldwalker.
Also, just because oldwalkers didn't need to eat or drink anything doesn't mean they couldn't, or that eating/drinking magical substances would have no effect on them. There's no reason to assume that oldwalkers didn't undergo the same metabolic processes as other members of their species. Hell, Sorin needed to drink blood even before the Mending. So the claim that Teferi couldn't have benefited from the slow time water before losing his spark is completely baseless.
But I am suppose to be impressed with Teferi struggling in a sand maze and needing all this help, needing Jhoira to give him his spark back and solve the puzzle for him, and him struggling to hold platforms in time before failing to stop a wave a sand. While being restricted to time spells only and not even especially powerful ones at that. Yeah No Just No. Not frakking Good Enough for the return of a major character and the face character of this set. And the first non white character to join the Gatewatch. WOTC wants praise for their diversity push I am going to need a bit more then that. I am not saying a hero should never need help but goddamit I expect some feats of power and not needing to be hand held on everything. I can't wait to read Saint Jhoira save him from himself by convincing him to take his spark back.
Oh and obviously they should print some better cards that are at least guaranteed to be standard playable so you know 3-4 CMC, Protection, Card Advantage, and Backbreaking Ult. Latest Teferi is okay, Although you know for a hyped return and title like Hero of Dominaria, I expect better then that. But he could be worse he could be Samut or ugh even worse the embarrassment that is Huatli.
I'm about to fall asleep, but as a minor point, if someone provides a base for something, it's not 'completely baseless.'
Anyway, it's long established that oldwalker bodies were manifestations of their center of conciousness. Meaning, that center was who they were, all else was what they made. That's why they could become huge in size, change species or shape, heal their chosen shape instantaneously, etc. Of importance: Their chosen body/shape/form was physical flesh.
Why's that important? The way to kill an oldwalker was to essentially paralyze their 'center.' Yawgmoth stabbed Dyfed in the brain. As long as her brain kept being scrambled, since she gave herself a physical brain, she couldn't think to planeswalk because Yawgmoth's stirring machine just kept on going. She chose to die when she had the chance. Ugin was set upon by surprise with fire and lightning, which were damaging his chosen physical form, until, like Dyfed, he couldn't gather his conciousness to do anything about it and remained in his chosen form as he healed. Szat was immobilized by surprise electronics and sucked away into a powerstone. Notably, no physical body was left behind, because he was the energy of his center of conciousness, or his spark. EDIT: His body may have remained and his spark and conciousness absorbed. Will have to check. Note further that Glacian's unsparked planeswalker spark was absorbed into a powerstone. And he remained concious in the stone.
The suits Urza gave were for walker protection because, again, things could happen to their chosen forms that would keep them from being able to react. If they breathed poison air, and chose to have lungs, the pain and impact could actually kill them before they could make the concious choice to leave. Notably, Windgrace and Freyalise end up ditching their suits because they didn't want Urza to suck them into powerstones. And they survived despite the lack of suits. In fact, they did a whole lot of killing on Phyrexia without their suits.
So if they chose to have physical forms, those physical forms were susceptible to damage and the like like anything else. But if that damage didn't prevent them from being able to *think* or *focus*, then they could likely survive. It's why it's largely only planeswalkers that could do in planeswalkers. I remember having a discussion with someone about this years ago. This is a link to our back and forth, hopefully that's allowed in forum rules: https://www.mtgsalvation.com/forums/magic-fundamentals/magic-storyline/537465-question-about-urzas-planeswalker-spark
And also, when Teferi became mortal, he notably said he needed to eat and get used to needing to eat again.
Several times in the books I've read, oldwalkers are described as centers of conciousness, thought/energy existing without form, until they take a form. They're also described as taking forms because they're used to being that way and it's easier to interact with the world that way. Even traveling through the Blind Eternities they were described in that 'energy' way.
So I would say it's pretty much not baseless to say slow time water would have no effect on Teferi. He could become a wombat, with all different non-human physical pieces. Meaning all new cells and whatnot. Which means no part of him would still be impacted by the water since no part of him that ingested that water existed while he was a wombat. Which means that everytime he changed form or took form, that new form was not the body that ingested the water or anything else. It's the same reason it was the height of stupidity that Karn had Phyrexian oil still after sparking.
I could likely get receipts given enough time for the energy/center of conciousness thing, but I have a wedding to go to this weekend and I'm confident in my memory and recollection. But if you'd like, I can eventually track down where I read it all.
EDIT: This back and forth is obviously the same problem Wizards had with godlike walkers. Trying to humanize what is no longer human leads to a lot of debate as to what is, and what is not. I miss the oldwalkers, and yet, sometimes I don't.
Since Origins there are definite moments around the newalkers that show there's an active and passive version of their particular magics. A thing since each newwalker has a gimmick. The most volatile versions of this are Chandra and Nissa, but we've also seen Gideon, Baan, and Jace reflexivley use their particular talents. It's likely that any aging manipulation on Teferi's part isn't conscious. The same way Chandra doesn't 'decide' to attract cats to her (because her body temp is higher than normal people), and how Nissa doesn't always decide to talk to the plane they're on.
And a conscious act of magic is, of course, more work than just accidentally being magical. So Teferi aging slowly might just be 'a thing he can't help but do.'
Sure, he punks Nissa. In the process, however, he lost the Khalni Heart and all the time (at least a century by his own words) and effort he put into trying to reignite his spark and was then promptly trounced by Nissa.
In the face of such a setback, he gave up on getting his spark back for the time and concluded that he'd at least need to save Zendikar first and then could work on reigniting again. The only reason he was able to get his spark back at all was by taking advantage of the the work done by the Gatewatch and Zendikari in trapping Ulamog.
You claim he wiped out troops with a wave of his hand, but neglect to mention that he only did so by releasing Ulamog and directing Kozilek (otherwise, you are referencing an energy bolt that killed all of 6 'stragglers and wounded'). And it is very clearly the power of the titans that wipes out those troops, while Nixilis just does some nudging. That Eldrazi use continues. How does he beat Nissa? Kozilek's spawn. How does he trap Jace, Gideon, and Nissa? Kozilek's spawn. By his own admission he's not even taking full control of the spawn in question as Kozilek would drive him mad if he did. He's just directing them and Kozilek to do things in the titan's interest anyway.
Beyond that, he doesn't even take Jace or Gideon out with spells. He figures out which Jace isn't illusion with a sphere of agony, but Jace only goes down when Nixilis punches him hard enough to break his cheekbone. He beats Gideon in hand to sural combat by shear melee prowess.
So Nixilis' great claim to casting fame is some life draining magic (which Chandra overcame with shear willpower), a sphere of pain (which only revealed Jace amongst his duplicates), directing eldrazi to do things (that they already want to do), and a bolt attack (that killed 6 people that were injured and/or stragglers). For some reason, I find Teferi's time magic more impressive (Nixilis' strength lies in his tactical mind and physical prowess, not magical ability).
Teferi had time to make one attempt at dealing with the sinking plateau, and didn't immediately succeed. He needed the help of Jhoira and others to complete the last of an entire ruin's worth of traps and puzzles that are seemingly designed to need many people to complete.
For Pete's sake, there are more stories to come, and we know that the new Weatherlight crew's plan to assault and defeat Belzenlok depends entirely on Teferi's ability to stop time in a large area. He will have time to shine, rather than just succeeding at everything he does on the very first time he tries. Because, again, Teferi and Niambi had one attempt at the equation idea before Jhoira showed up and Teferi only got to try and deal with the sinking plateau once before the Weatherlight made for a ready escape.
- By Planar Chaos, Karn's body was made out of metals other than silver, which he reverted his body back to in order to travel through time.
- There was this one (recently sparked) planeswalker who decided to look like a castle. She was then blown up and killed while in that form.
- Urza was almost killed when his bird constructs were reverse engineered by the phyrexians trapped in gorge with the fast time bubble. One of them dug into his chest and did so much damage so quickly that he was only bearly holding on to his physical manifestation. It was all he could do. He was very close to passing out and it was explicitely said he was going to die as a result.
- In Planar Chaos, Windgrace becomes giant sized, but when a phyrexian energy cannon strikes him in the back he reverts back to his original form.
- Teferi gets stabbed in the head by Radha and this knocks him unconscious.
In other words, there's clear evidence that oldwalkers had pretty impressive shapeshifting capacities. Their physical manifestations (I won't even call them bodies e.g. the castle example) being damaged severely also clearly did cause them to suffer trauma and this could eventually lead to death, although it would take a lot of damage.
Also I still don't see why it would be unreasonable for us to think Jodah and Teferi being way more powerful and useful than they are.
Affinity
UW Control
Commander
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Dragonlord Ojutai
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
The Ur-Dragon
How did you reach so far to get Belzenlok was "trapped in Dominaria hell after a war" to him being a coward?
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
Affinity
UW Control
Commander
Sidisi, Undead Vizier
Purphoros, God of the Forge
Dragonlord Ojutai
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
The Ur-Dragon
Teferi is a hero in my books, and a waay better man than Urza. This story only further solidified my position on Teferi and Urza.
The Vorthos community will await the consequences of the Eldrazi Titans' deaths/sealing. We will keep the watch.
“The wind whispers, ‘come home,’ but I cannot.”
— Teferi