You know why we don't know why Jhoira has Teferi's spark yet? Because it hasn't come up. But next episode when she asks him to take it back he'll ask how she got it and she'll explain. Ta-da!
I do agree about the puzzle specifically to thwart Teferi though. I mean yeah I imagine Urza was salty when he found out Zhalfir had been bamf'd out but building something to fix it then building a huge puzzle to hide it away seems petty even for Urza.
At least for point 1, Urza was paranoid to the extreme, and always making numerous plans for potential paths. Based on the structure we see, this artifact's vault was designed such that basically anyone would need Urza's help to retrieve it intact. Likewise, I am unbothered by combining constructs with Necromancy, since seems like something Urza would do; we don't see many other people with significant skill at both, at least that Urza would have been aware of at the time.
And for that matter, we really have no indication this artifact is meant to be used to help phase in a chunk of the plane-Urza built backups of backups of backups, and left a tremendous amount of stuff lying around when he moved on to his next project; this particular piece may well have been something else, a 'break glass in case of emergency' sort of thing, that Teferi thinks he can repurpose.
For the rest, I am willing to wait and see if/when we get an explanation. And I think Teferi's characterization has been the highlight of the storyline so far.
The characterization was good the rest I have issues with people have covered the Urza Problems I have other issues.
1) Jhoira and Teferi seem on super good terms considering how the relationship ended in Time Spiral that needs some explanation. Along with you know how she has the spark. And why Teferi wouldn't want the spark back cause in Time Spiral he said if he had his spark he could bring Zhalfir back...but Jhoira thinks for some reason he say no. Despite him still wanting to bring Zhalfir back.
2) Apparently, Teferi had his daughter basically right after Time Spiral, she is 50+ after all? I am sorry what did he bang some random chick cause he was sad. Who is the mother here, the daughter doesn't seem special in anyway. And if all she does in the story is talk math with Jhoira and then leave what was the point of being here? Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
3) Also Wells seems to think all Teferi can do is time magic...they are running through the sand which he cannot stop? Ignoring that what Teferi forgot how to fly or put up a magic barrier? Oldwalkers are far less specialist then Neowalkers and Wells seems pretty unaware of that but those are some basic blue mage abilities. He cannot detect Spirits on his own without Lili? These seems a pretty serious degree of nerfing. I get they want the Gatewatch to be useful but again if you have Teferi, Karn and Jaya on a team. I am sorry the Gatewatch should not be all that helpful at all without Lili turning on the Chain Veil or Nissa boosting herself with Leylines.
4) My problem with Urza's trap is how this was suppose to stop an Oldwalker or the Phyrexians at all. I would definitely not use Necromancy against the Phyrexians since they are pretty good at that skill. But the timeline for the trap is weird that is for sure. Teferi deciding not to help was pretty last minute.
5) What is the timeline on Belzenlok? I see no reason why Jhoira couldn't have rounded it up a team of Old Friends and Weatherlight Descendants decades ago to go handle the Belzenlok problem way before. Did he just start invading outside of Urborg recently?
a tall well-built older man with short graying hair
I was expecting this
version of Teferi in this story...
...not this
I know it's a minor detail, but why commissioning a character's artwork in a certain way if you're ignoring it in the story? If his aspect before the return of his spark is with long hair and beard, then use that.
Anyway...I like Idris Elba (unfortunately not in all Dominaria's art Teferi looks like him XD), but the "old sage" starting version in my opinion would have been much better
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.
Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
― Roald Dahl
a tall well-built older man with short graying hair
I was expecting this
version of Teferi in this story...
...not this
I know it's a minor detail, but why commissioning a character's artwork in a certain way if you're ignoring it in the story? If his aspect before the return of his spark is with long hair and beard, then use that.
Anyway...I like Idris Elba (unfortunately not in all Dominaria's art Teferi looks like him XD), but the "old sage" starting version in my opinion would have been much better
Looks like some of future sight might still yet to come with Tarox being the pride and joy of Verix and Karoz...
"Pump your brakes, Tarox. Darigaaz is a national treasure. You about to cross a ****in' line!" - Shivan Priest Lincoln Osiris/Kirk Lazarus/Dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Looks like some of future sight might still yet to come with Tarox being the pride and joy of Verix and Karoz...
"Pump your brakes, Tarox. Darigaaz is a national treasure. You about to cross a ****in' line!" - Shivan Priest Lincoln Osiris/Kirk Lazarus/Dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Watch Tarox mouth off to Bolas and get smited.
Still I think this story is trying to fit way too much into only 12 Chapters.
And I think the problem is having to bring back all these characters but having the main villain being Belzenlok who has no prior connections to any of the old Dominaria Characters and have the Gatewatch as well.
I think Dominaria is suffering from being a single set not that having only one set for Magic's Plane with the most History and most Landmasses to deal with was smart in the first place.
Really Need A Return To Dominaria Set that deals with whats happened to the major players in the past 60 years.
Then another set which deals with the Demon Problem.
Who is Subira? I don't recognize that name does anyone else? So they really had Teferi marry and have a kid with some rando....SMFH. Yes Wells that is what every fan of Teferi wanted tell us more what a big fan you are.
Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
That is one interpretation. I am more a pessimist though.
But that doesn't change my other point. I don't see what point this daughter serves at all currently. I mean at least if she was a kid or baby you can someone not wanting to adventure, you don't want to end up like Angrath. But she doesn't even serve as a barrier to return to adventure. Its not like Teferi cannot do math himself.
Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
That is one interpretation. I am more a pessimist though.
But that doesn't change my other point. I don't see what point this daughter serves at all currently. I mean at least if she was a kid or baby you can someone not wanting to adventure, you don't want to end up like Angrath. But she doesn't even serve as a barrier to return to adventure. Its not like Teferi cannot do math himself.
Teferi didn't want to accept aid with the ruin. Niambi makes him. Teferi wants to make up for his past mistakes and wants to shoulder the entire burden along the way.
His daughter insists on accompanying him and insists he accept aid when offered. She figures out the mathematical equation, not Teferi. Niambi talks some sense into her father. She reminds him that no man, not even himself, is an island, and encourages him to go off and stop Belzenlok rather than solely obsessing over how to bring back Zhalfir. She stresses how things are interconnected, and the fact that this moves Teferi shows how he's developed a bit of white in addition to his traditional blue.
Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
That is one interpretation. I am more a pessimist though.
But that doesn't change my other point. I don't see what point this daughter serves at all currently. I mean at least if she was a kid or baby you can someone not wanting to adventure, you don't want to end up like Angrath. But she doesn't even serve as a barrier to return to adventure. Its not like Teferi cannot do math himself.
Teferi didn't want to accept aid with the ruin. Niambi makes him. Teferi wants to make up for his past mistakes and wants to shoulder the entire burden along the way.
His daughter insists on accompanying him and insists he accept aid when offered. She figures out the mathematical equation, not Teferi. Niambi talks some sense into her father. She reminds him that no man, not even himself, is an island, and encourages him to go off and stop Belzenlok rather than solely obsessing over how to bring back Zhalfir. She stresses how things are interconnected, and the fact that this moves Teferi shows how he's developed a bit of white in addition to his traditional blue.
That is point though Teferi should be able to solve the equation himself. He is after all a prodigy and knows Urza personally with a millennium plus of experience. That is my problem Teferi cannot solve the equation his daughter does, he cannot figure out the ghost Jhoira does (like Teferi doesn't know Urza doesn't play fair), he cant figure out how to get his own spark back Jhoira does...and I am suppose to believe Wells really loves this character? He cannot even put up a barrier or fly apparently. What is he actually going to get done by himself as bereft of a character they hyped up for this story?
The daughters role could easily be totally replaced by Jhoira. She is not really needed is my point. I mean Jhoira solves the puzzle after all. And its not like she cannot coax Teferi into helping.
I mean his characterization was good I guess but ability wise (magic and intelligence wise) so far I am not impressed. Much like I wasn't really impressed by Jodah in the last chapter being unable and useless at figuring out a spy in his academy. And I don't even like Jodah. This story seems to be about Jhoira showing up the Classic Men of Dominaria so far by actually getting stuff done and always being right. Which is kinda what expected when I saw Wells was taking the steering wheel. She relates to Jhoira, the most thus Jhoira gets to shine the most. But hey at least Teferi got to cast some spells to help which is more then what Jodah did.
Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
That is one interpretation. I am more a pessimist though.
But that doesn't change my other point. I don't see what point this daughter serves at all currently. I mean at least if she was a kid or baby you can someone not wanting to adventure, you don't want to end up like Angrath. But she doesn't even serve as a barrier to return to adventure. Its not like Teferi cannot do math himself.
Teferi didn't want to accept aid with the ruin. Niambi makes him. Teferi wants to make up for his past mistakes and wants to shoulder the entire burden along the way.
His daughter insists on accompanying him and insists he accept aid when offered. She figures out the mathematical equation, not Teferi. Niambi talks some sense into her father. She reminds him that no man, not even himself, is an island, and encourages him to go off and stop Belzenlok rather than solely obsessing over how to bring back Zhalfir. She stresses how things are interconnected, and the fact that this moves Teferi shows how he's developed a bit of white in addition to his traditional blue.
That is point though Teferi should be able to solve the equation himself. He is after all a prodigy and knows Urza personally with a millennium plus of experience. That is my problem Teferi cannot solve the equation his daughter does, he cannot figure out the ghost Jhoira does (like Teferi doesn't know Urza doesn't play fair), he cant figure out how to get his own spark back Jhoira does...and I am suppose to believe Wells really loves this character? He cannot even put up a barrier or fly apparently. What is he actually going to get done by himself as bereft of a character they hyped up for this story.
The daughters role could easily be totally replaced by Jhoira. She is not really needed is my point. I mean Jhoira solves the puzzle after all. And its not like she cannot coax Teferi into helping.
I mean his characterization was good I guess but ability wise (magic and intelligence wise) so far I am not impressed. Much like I wasn't really impressed by Jodah in the last chapter being unable and useless at figuring out a spy in his academy. And I don't even like Jodah. This story seems to be about Jhoira showing up the Classic Men of Dominaria so far and always being right. Which is kinda what expected when I saw Wells was taking the steering wheel. She relates to Jhoira, the most thus Jhoira gets to shine the most. But hey at least Teferi got to cast some spells to help which is more then what Jodah did.
You are neglecting how much of the ruin's puzzles Teferi and his daughter solved before Jhoira arrived. Keep in mind, they only just came up with the idea that the rocks played into an equation that solved this latest puzzle and even hypothesized something else being the key to the equation. So even before they had much time to puzzle over why it didn't work, Jhoira came in, chatted with Niambi and came up with the idea of trapped spirits (something Teferi himself expected that he should be able to see).
And as for why Teferi himself couldn't do the math: he was kind of busy defending himself from the blocks that were trying to crush him, the automatons trying to attack him, and the gusts of wind that blasted him.
Beyond that remember why Teferi was able to solve the puzzles of the temple at all: "Urza had expected Teferi to be alone here, and had geared all his defenses that way." So having his daughter aid him along the way likely played a large role in Teferi getting as far as he did in the first place. It once again highlights the development of white traits in his personality.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
That is one interpretation. I am more a pessimist though.
But that doesn't change my other point. I don't see what point this daughter serves at all currently. I mean at least if she was a kid or baby you can someone not wanting to adventure, you don't want to end up like Angrath. But she doesn't even serve as a barrier to return to adventure. Its not like Teferi cannot do math himself.
Teferi didn't want to accept aid with the ruin. Niambi makes him. Teferi wants to make up for his past mistakes and wants to shoulder the entire burden along the way.
His daughter insists on accompanying him and insists he accept aid when offered. She figures out the mathematical equation, not Teferi. Niambi talks some sense into her father. She reminds him that no man, not even himself, is an island, and encourages him to go off and stop Belzenlok rather than solely obsessing over how to bring back Zhalfir. She stresses how things are interconnected, and the fact that this moves Teferi shows how he's developed a bit of white in addition to his traditional blue.
That is point though Teferi should be able to solve the equation himself. He is after all a prodigy and knows Urza personally with a millennium plus of experience. That is my problem Teferi cannot solve the equation his daughter does, he cannot figure out the ghost Jhoira does (like Teferi doesn't know Urza doesn't play fair), he cant figure out how to get his own spark back Jhoira does...and I am suppose to believe Wells really loves this character? He cannot even put up a barrier or fly apparently. What is he actually going to get done by himself as bereft of a character they hyped up for this story.
The daughters role could easily be totally replaced by Jhoira. She is not really needed is my point. I mean Jhoira solves the puzzle after all. And its not like she cannot coax Teferi into helping.
I mean his characterization was good I guess but ability wise (magic and intelligence wise) so far I am not impressed. Much like I wasn't really impressed by Jodah in the last chapter being unable and useless at figuring out a spy in his academy. And I don't even like Jodah. This story seems to be about Jhoira showing up the Classic Men of Dominaria so far and always being right. Which is kinda what expected when I saw Wells was taking the steering wheel. She relates to Jhoira, the most thus Jhoira gets to shine the most. But hey at least Teferi got to cast some spells to help which is more then what Jodah did.
You are neglecting how much of the ruin's puzzles Teferi and his daughter solved before Jhoira arrived. Keep in mind, they only just came up with the idea that the rocks played into an equation that solved this latest puzzle. So even before they had much time to puzzle over why it didn't work, Jhoira came in, chatted with Niambi and came up with the idea of trapped spirits (something Teferi himself expected that he should be able to see).
And as for why Teferi himself couldn't do the math: he was kind of busy defending himself from the blocks that were trying to crush him, the automatons trying to attack him, and the gusts of wind that blasted them.
Beyond that remember why Teferi was able to solve the puzzles of the temple at all: "Urza had expected Teferi to be alone here, and had geared all his defenses that way." So having his daughter aid him along the way likely played a large role in Teferi getting as far as he did in the first place. It once again highlights the development of white traits in his personality.
And what was the reason he couldn't see them in Universe, outside of the Universe it was something for Lili to do. But there is no reason explained why Teferi cannot see them or sense them. I should remind you he is also telepathic.
Right due to power nerfing if you ask me. Again Teferi should simply be able to put up a barrier or fly. But he cannot cause well the plot. I mean Raff and Jhoira can put up barriers, you are telling me Teferi cannot? Raff can fly based on his card, you telling me Teferi cannot? I mean flight and hexproof/indestructible/protection are common enough white and blue abilities. You expect an Archmage to know.
Yeah you see that is the problem. None of Urza's threats are on the level of stopping Oldwalkers at all. Since you know Oldwalker are really hard to kill such that some poison darts, golems and falling blocks are not really a threat at all. So this trap would have to have Urza assume Teferi would lose his Spark to be anyway effective. And since he just left with Jhoira causing Urza to presumably build this trap, it doesn't make sense he wouldn't factor in Jhoira at all.
Basically this whole trap regardless of Urza not having enough time or reason to build it only works with some assumptions. If you assume Urza predicted Teferi lose his spark as an Oldwalker, have him inexplicably forget a whole host of abilities that he learned at Urza's Academy (abilities he learned before he ever sparked such as Telepathy, Barriers and Flight) and then have him not bring along the single most likely person he would be to bring to solve such a puzzle in Jhoira.
Your suggestion is based on the single assumption that the demons can't reach through planes.
Because that is what all of the evidence has very much suggested. The demons haven't done anything to Liliana in the DECADES since the deal was made, and she killed 2 of them before any of the 4 invoked their side of the deal, note that Prior to Bezelenok that Liliana's biggest reason for wanting to use the GW is that she was afraid of the Chain Veil.
She is more fearful of the Item she bound herself to than the demons. That tells me everything I need to know about Liliana's competency, ability to think long term and ability to examine cost vs benefits. The Argument about Autonomy and all the rest of what you posted means nothing because she has already proven that she is willing to bind her to something far worse than her original deal was.
I would also argue that Lili is a far cleverer character than Vraska
I would argue the opposite because Vraska looked at Jace said "I could kill him..but he could be useful.." Lili would never in a million years have done that in Vraska's position, Lili also -should- be more clever than Vraska by the fact that she has hundreds of years of experience and I would argue that in Liliana's place Vraska would have a far better long term time because she would keep her side of the deal..go on an errand for a demon once every century and have the other 90 years to do her own thing.
And again, Liliana already had the Loophole out of the deal set up because Giselbrand was stuck in the vault where he couldn't do anything so if she had left that alone, and killed the other 3 demons Nicol wouldn't be getting her soul, her shortsightedness caused her own downfall.
Lili creates tension within the Gatewatch, and therefore creates valuable plot points between characters and gives an opportunity to flesh out everyone better. Just look at Gideon's development in this new storyline (although one could argue that it's also because they have a far better writer this time round, having him with a buddy like Jace would just offer more of the same since Gideon's beliefs, world view, goals, opinions of a character and etc would not be challenged).
Lili doesn't create tension she creates drama, she is a token evil team mate, she hasn't created a valuable plot point at all her only contributions to the plot have been. "Hey Chandra do this really bad idea" and "Hey Gatewatch lets do this other really bad idea..that Ajani told us not to do..so I can kill oen of my demons."
Gideon's development comes from the fact for the first time ever he got his rump handed to him physically and has to wrap his head around the idea that "magic golden shield" isn't the solution to all of his problems, that was a thing that was going to happen with or without Liliana. Liliana is a character who was written as a villain in her original incarnations that was shoved in a good guy group cause she is "popular" and just like with Nissa (her being you know an outright racist originally) she doesn't work in the Group and the majority of her screen time on it is her being useless and snippy.
I do like Gideon's new approach to things. I'm actually beginning to believe we'll see a w/b Gideon in the future at this rate.
I don't think we are ever going to see a W/B Gideon, I think we are going to get..a Gideon that is less direct abilities, I imagine we will be seeing a Gideon with an Ult that has some absurd damage reflection effect in the future, or a Gideon that has a black effect as a creature..due to his using the Blackblade
Or even beyond whether she would betray him, I doubt he thinks that she could hide it from him if she did betray him. I doubt he would look super close for outside tinkering in her mind after seeing that her thoughts showed what he wanted.
He also doesn't know Jace is there with the full extent of his powers (which Nicol also doesn't know about).
Urza designing something specifically to thwart teferi rings hollow as well.
Urza certainly had the capability of doing it, purely by accident. Like purely meaning well and tinkering with something to help Teferi out with Phasing things back in..and hiding it away from Phyrexians who probably won't think of ghosts..while completely forgetting that Teferi -ALSO- wouldn't think of looking for ghosts.
The story itself was okay, Teferi was always a groovy guy. I would like to know how Jhiora has a Spark..in her pocket just carrying it around. Like..if you found that in the mana rig somehow and could identify it why wouldn't you Take it to the guy first thing instead of years later.
Lol that does make it bad...Jhoira got this when Teferi sealed the rift and decided you know what instead of giving my good friend here his spark back so he can get Zhalfir back, I am going to go makeout with Jodah and wait 60 years because reason? This really does need a good explanation.
Now the reason seems to be she doesn't think he would take it about. But again that doesn't really check with Time Spiral where he was like if I had my spark I could fix what Jeska did. And I see no reason why having a spark boosting his powers would hurt his plan to get Zhalfir back using Urza's Artifact.
Also it was weird Teferi had zero reaction to Gideon saying oh yeah once we kill this Demon, Lili will totally be able to kill Bolas...considering Teferi got rekt by Bolas.
And what was the reason he couldn't see them in Universe, outside of the Universe it was something for Lili to do. But there is no reason explained why Teferi cannot see them or sense them. I should remind you he is also telepathic.
The ghosts were just invisible. Teferi can see things that are phased out. Thus Teferi couldn't see them. Here's the explanation in story:
Teferi didn't want to be a spoilsport, but had to point out, "If there were things in this chamber out of phase, I'd see them."
"That's why I don't think they're out of phase, I think they're ghosts." Jhoira gestured around.
Right due to power nerfing if you ask me. Again Teferi should simply be able to put up a barrier or fly. But he cannot cause well the plot. I mean Raff and Jhoira can put up barriers, you are telling me Teferi cannot? Raff can fly based on his card, you telling me Teferi cannot? I mean flight and hexproof/indestructible/protection are common enough white and blue abilities. You expect an Archmage to know.
Can Teferi fly or put up a barrier? Probably. Why didn't he do that in story? Because he tried freezing the sand first, and then the Weatherlight provided a method of escape before he could try anything else. For as much as you seem to be harping away at Raff and Jhoira's ability to do such things, you also seem to be missing that they didn't try to use such abilities to save the group either (casting time, carrying capacity, and number of individuals such spells can affect may have played into this).
Yeah you see that is the problem. None of Urza's threats are on the level of stopping Oldwalkers at all. Since you know Oldwalker are really hard to kill such that some poison darts, golems and falling blocks are not really a threat at all. So this trap would have to have Urza assume Teferi would lose his Spark to be anyway effective. And since he just left with Jhoira causing Urza to presumably build this trap, it doesn't make sense he wouldn't factor in Jhoira at all.
Urza was overconfident and Jhoira had no investment in bringing back Zhalfir, so he didn't account for her. And of course we didn't see anything to stop an Oldwalker since Teferi never tackled the ruin with full Oldwalker power (which would presumably trigger such defenses to force Teferi to approach this in more mundane ways).
This all also depends on the idea that Urza actually meant to target Teferi with this puzzle, which was an assumption on Teferi's part in the first place.
Basically this whole trap regardless of Urza not having enough time or reason to build it only works with some assumptions. If you assume Urza predicted Teferi lose his spark as an Oldwalker, have him inexplicably forget a whole host of abilities that he learned at Urza's Academy (abilities he learned before he ever sparked such as Telepathy, Barriers and Flight) and then have him not bring along the single most likely person he would be to bring to solve such a puzzle in Jhoira.
Or the ruin wasn't meant for Teferi, and Teferi just jumped to that conclusion (ergo, the ruin wasn't made in the time after Teferi phased out Zhalfir).
Or Urza was overconfident and predicted that nobody would be helping Teferi/Teferi wouldn't be accepting of any help (which Teferi wasn't, it was his daughter, whom Urza never could have met, that broke Urza's supposed predictions twice and led to Teferi getting as far as he had).
Or Teferi was acting quickly and didn't have enough time to try using his other abilities before a solution presented itself.
That doesn't explain why telepathy doesn't work. Again there is no particular reason for Teferi and his daughter not to consider Ghost. Ghost and Spirits are not rare or uncommon in this universe. Is there some rule where only necromancers can sense hidden ghost I missed in MTG Lore?
Probably isn't really good enough, its clear nerfing if my book.
Also Teferi is clearly not immune to getting help since he is getting help from his Daughter not ignoring her advice.
Teferi phased out Parts of Shiv and Zhalfir at the same time before leaving with Jhoira right next to him. So sure Urza could think Jhoira wouldn't care about Zhalfir but he also thinks Jhoira doesn't give a frak about Shiv? He just assumes Jeska will come along and screw Teferi over? He assumes the Time Spiral crisis will occur forcing Oldwalkers to give up Sparks? That is my problem Urza is making way too many assumptions here and Teferi/Urza are arrogant don't really account for all of them.
I really doubt whatever Urza hid in his impossible puzzle has anything to do with Teferi phasing out Zalfir and Shiv. Teferi did that right at the start of the invasion and Urza had a lot on his plate; hordes of Phrexians, two key nations now out of play, a need to replace Teferi in his roster of Mecha Walkers.
What we have here is either something Urza invented or something he found( Thran Artifact perhaps) that he reckoned Teferi could make the most of, but didn't want him to have free reign over it, so he makes a puzzle Teferi couldn't solve, not without help
That doesn't explain why telepathy doesn't work. Again there is no particular reason for Teferi and his daughter not to consider Ghost. Ghost and Spirits are not rare or uncommon in this universe. Is there some rule where only necromancers can sense hidden ghost I missed in MTG Lore?
Why would telepathy work unless Teferi was looking for ghosts. Again, they got to try the equation theory one time before Jhoira showed up, and at the end of it Niambi was already theorizing that something else was the key to the equation. They were well on their way to solving the final puzzle and likely would have figured it out even without Jhoira. The issue would have been beating back the escalation of the ruin's defenses without the additional hands.
Probably isn't really good enough, its clear nerfing if my book.
He had very little time to act and got off one attempt before a solution presented itself. We'll likely get to see more of his abilities in future stories, but it is kind of important to show off what the character is best known for first and foremost.
Also Teferi is clearly not immune to getting help since he is getting help from his Daughter not ignoring her advice.
A daughter whom Urza couldn't have known about, likely didn't predict (given Teferi's crush on Jhoira and her not returning those feelings). A daughter whom we've seen Teferi really cares about and who he is more likely to listen to/not overly disagree with because of that. Otherwise, he was ready and willing to turn away even Jhoira whom he had a serious crush on.
Teferi phased out Parts of Shiv and Zhalfir at the same time before leaving with Jhoira right next to him. So sure Urza could think Jhoira wouldn't care about Zhalfir but he also thinks Jhoira doesn't give a frak about Shiv? He just assumes Jeska will come along and screw Teferi over? He assumes the Time Spiral crisis will occur forcing Oldwalkers to give up Sparks? That is my problem Urza is making way too many assumptions here and Teferi/Urza are arrogant don't really account for all of them.
And again, the idea that Urza did this to spite Teferi was an assumption made by Teferi.
But is it really out of the question that he knew Jhoira cared about Shiv, knew Teferi cared about Jhoira, knew that fixing it would take a planeswalker spark (or something of similar power), and concluded that Teferi would first save Shiv, lose his spark, and only come to find the ruin afterwards (Teferi did mention that it took him a long time to even find the location of this one artifact).
Yes, I think its pretty ridiculous for Urza to predict the entire events of Time Spiral to make this Puzzle Work.
Again, he didn't have to predict all of Time Spiral.
Urza knew Teferi phased out Zhalfir and parts of Shiv.
Urza knew Jhoira left with Teferi.
Urza knew Jhoira cared about Shiv.
Urza knew Teferi loved Jhoira even though she didn't return his feelings.
Urza knew Teferi cared about Zhalfir
Urza evidently researched how to repair time rifts.
We know that repairing a time rift costs a spark or something of similar power (given Urza's research, he could reasonably know this as well).
It's not all that difficult to predict how things would go down: Teferi would seek out a method to bring back Zhalfir after losing his spark bringing back the bits of Shiv for Jhoira. And, again, if Urza indeed did all this to spite Teferi, he evidently failed to predict Teferi's daughter, relying on the assumption that Teferi wouldn't accept anybody's help.
Yes, I think its pretty ridiculous for Urza to predict the entire events of Time Spiral to make this Puzzle Work.
Again, he didn't have to predict all of Time Spiral.
Urza knew Teferi phased out Zhalfir and parts of Shiv.
Urza knew Jhoira left with Teferi.
Urza knew Jhoira cared about Shiv.
Urza knew Teferi loved Jhoira even though she didn't return his feelings.
Urza knew Teferi cared about Zhalfir
Urza evidently researched how to repair time rifts.
We know that repairing a time rift costs a spark or something of similar power (given Urza's research, he could reasonably know this as well).
It's not all that difficult to predict how things would go down: Teferi would seek out a method to bring back Zhalfir after losing his spark bringing back the bits of Shiv for Jhoira.
When? He never had time to act even if he knew that. He didn’t expect Teferi to phase out Zhalfir and Shiv. Urza was in the middle of a war against Phyrexia. He died at the end of the war. Not once did he have the opportunity to set up this puzzle.
Yes, I think its pretty ridiculous for Urza to predict the entire events of Time Spiral to make this Puzzle Work.
Again, he didn't have to predict all of Time Spiral.
Urza knew Teferi phased out Zhalfir and parts of Shiv.
Urza knew Jhoira left with Teferi.
Urza knew Jhoira cared about Shiv.
Urza knew Teferi loved Jhoira even though she didn't return his feelings.
Urza knew Teferi cared about Zhalfir
Urza evidently researched how to repair time rifts.
We know that repairing a time rift costs a spark or something of similar power (given Urza's research, he could reasonably know this as well).
It's not all that difficult to predict how things would go down: Teferi would seek out a method to bring back Zhalfir after losing his spark bringing back the bits of Shiv for Jhoira.
He was knee deep in the war with Phyrexia when Teferi phased out Zhalfir. He did not have the time to research rifts, build puzzle tombs and artifacts to heal time rifts.
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“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.” —Volrath
Am i the only one bothered by the fact that Urza used ghosts? It feels like they added that so the Jacetus Leaque wouldn't be as useless as Ann Frank's drumkit in this story.
I'm not bothered by it. Urza was RGWUB. He would use ghosts if they served the purpose, and if the person he was using them against wasn't expecting it. Dude blew up Phyrexia using bombs which he powered by literally sucking the soul out of a demonic planeswalker that was nominally his ally. Urza was kind of nuts, and everyone who knew him called him insane at least once.
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I do agree about the puzzle specifically to thwart Teferi though. I mean yeah I imagine Urza was salty when he found out Zhalfir had been bamf'd out but building something to fix it then building a huge puzzle to hide it away seems petty even for Urza.
And for that matter, we really have no indication this artifact is meant to be used to help phase in a chunk of the plane-Urza built backups of backups of backups, and left a tremendous amount of stuff lying around when he moved on to his next project; this particular piece may well have been something else, a 'break glass in case of emergency' sort of thing, that Teferi thinks he can repurpose.
For the rest, I am willing to wait and see if/when we get an explanation. And I think Teferi's characterization has been the highlight of the storyline so far.
1) Jhoira and Teferi seem on super good terms considering how the relationship ended in Time Spiral that needs some explanation. Along with you know how she has the spark. And why Teferi wouldn't want the spark back cause in Time Spiral he said if he had his spark he could bring Zhalfir back...but Jhoira thinks for some reason he say no. Despite him still wanting to bring Zhalfir back.
2) Apparently, Teferi had his daughter basically right after Time Spiral, she is 50+ after all? I am sorry what did he bang some random chick cause he was sad. Who is the mother here, the daughter doesn't seem special in anyway. And if all she does in the story is talk math with Jhoira and then leave what was the point of being here? Like I really don't get the point of the daughter existing at all besides making a Teferi and Jhoira relationship hard to impossible in favor of Jodah and Jhoira.
3) Also Wells seems to think all Teferi can do is time magic...they are running through the sand which he cannot stop? Ignoring that what Teferi forgot how to fly or put up a magic barrier? Oldwalkers are far less specialist then Neowalkers and Wells seems pretty unaware of that but those are some basic blue mage abilities. He cannot detect Spirits on his own without Lili? These seems a pretty serious degree of nerfing. I get they want the Gatewatch to be useful but again if you have Teferi, Karn and Jaya on a team. I am sorry the Gatewatch should not be all that helpful at all without Lili turning on the Chain Veil or Nissa boosting herself with Leylines.
4) My problem with Urza's trap is how this was suppose to stop an Oldwalker or the Phyrexians at all. I would definitely not use Necromancy against the Phyrexians since they are pretty good at that skill. But the timeline for the trap is weird that is for sure. Teferi deciding not to help was pretty last minute.
5) What is the timeline on Belzenlok? I see no reason why Jhoira couldn't have rounded it up a team of Old Friends and Weatherlight Descendants decades ago to go handle the Belzenlok problem way before. Did he just start invading outside of Urborg recently?
version of Teferi in this story...
...not this
I know it's a minor detail, but why commissioning a character's artwork in a certain way if you're ignoring it in the story? If his aspect before the return of his spark is with long hair and beard, then use that.
Anyway...I like Idris Elba (unfortunately not in all Dominaria's art Teferi looks like him XD), but the "old sage" starting version in my opinion would have been much better
Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”
― Roald Dahl
Yeah, that is a MAJOR blunder here.
Moreover, Hallar is the kid referenced in Marwyn's story. The "they" thing with Hallar is a pain in the ass, though. Really shoehorned here.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
"Pump your brakes, Tarox. Darigaaz is a national treasure. You about to cross a ****in' line!" - Shivan Priest Lincoln Osiris/Kirk Lazarus/Dude playing a dude disguised as another dude
Watch Tarox mouth off to Bolas and get smited.
Still I think this story is trying to fit way too much into only 12 Chapters.
And I think the problem is having to bring back all these characters but having the main villain being Belzenlok who has no prior connections to any of the old Dominaria Characters and have the Gatewatch as well.
I think Dominaria is suffering from being a single set not that having only one set for Magic's Plane with the most History and most Landmasses to deal with was smart in the first place.
Really Need A Return To Dominaria Set that deals with whats happened to the major players in the past 60 years.
Then another set which deals with the Demon Problem.
Based on the stories so far, Jodah and Jhoira ran its course offscreen and Jhoira seems to have no interest rekindling their relationship.
And how does having a daughter make it more difficult for Jhoira and Teferi to get together? Given the age of Teferi's daughter and the lack of her mother's presence at any point in the story, I'd guess that said wife is likely out of the picture at this point. So Teferi is now a widower and is adventuring with his old crush who has broken up with the guy she pursued over Teferi.
If anything, it now seems more likely that Teferi and Jhoira will end up together.
That is one interpretation. I am more a pessimist though.
But that doesn't change my other point. I don't see what point this daughter serves at all currently. I mean at least if she was a kid or baby you can someone not wanting to adventure, you don't want to end up like Angrath. But she doesn't even serve as a barrier to return to adventure. Its not like Teferi cannot do math himself.
Teferi didn't want to accept aid with the ruin. Niambi makes him. Teferi wants to make up for his past mistakes and wants to shoulder the entire burden along the way.
His daughter insists on accompanying him and insists he accept aid when offered. She figures out the mathematical equation, not Teferi. Niambi talks some sense into her father. She reminds him that no man, not even himself, is an island, and encourages him to go off and stop Belzenlok rather than solely obsessing over how to bring back Zhalfir. She stresses how things are interconnected, and the fact that this moves Teferi shows how he's developed a bit of white in addition to his traditional blue.
That is point though Teferi should be able to solve the equation himself. He is after all a prodigy and knows Urza personally with a millennium plus of experience. That is my problem Teferi cannot solve the equation his daughter does, he cannot figure out the ghost Jhoira does (like Teferi doesn't know Urza doesn't play fair), he cant figure out how to get his own spark back Jhoira does...and I am suppose to believe Wells really loves this character? He cannot even put up a barrier or fly apparently. What is he actually going to get done by himself as bereft of a character they hyped up for this story?
The daughters role could easily be totally replaced by Jhoira. She is not really needed is my point. I mean Jhoira solves the puzzle after all. And its not like she cannot coax Teferi into helping.
I mean his characterization was good I guess but ability wise (magic and intelligence wise) so far I am not impressed. Much like I wasn't really impressed by Jodah in the last chapter being unable and useless at figuring out a spy in his academy. And I don't even like Jodah. This story seems to be about Jhoira showing up the Classic Men of Dominaria so far by actually getting stuff done and always being right. Which is kinda what expected when I saw Wells was taking the steering wheel. She relates to Jhoira, the most thus Jhoira gets to shine the most. But hey at least Teferi got to cast some spells to help which is more then what Jodah did.
And as for why Teferi himself couldn't do the math: he was kind of busy defending himself from the blocks that were trying to crush him, the automatons trying to attack him, and the gusts of wind that blasted him.
Beyond that remember why Teferi was able to solve the puzzles of the temple at all: "Urza had expected Teferi to be alone here, and had geared all his defenses that way." So having his daughter aid him along the way likely played a large role in Teferi getting as far as he did in the first place. It once again highlights the development of white traits in his personality.
And what was the reason he couldn't see them in Universe, outside of the Universe it was something for Lili to do. But there is no reason explained why Teferi cannot see them or sense them. I should remind you he is also telepathic.
Right due to power nerfing if you ask me. Again Teferi should simply be able to put up a barrier or fly. But he cannot cause well the plot. I mean Raff and Jhoira can put up barriers, you are telling me Teferi cannot? Raff can fly based on his card, you telling me Teferi cannot? I mean flight and hexproof/indestructible/protection are common enough white and blue abilities. You expect an Archmage to know.
Yeah you see that is the problem. None of Urza's threats are on the level of stopping Oldwalkers at all. Since you know Oldwalker are really hard to kill such that some poison darts, golems and falling blocks are not really a threat at all. So this trap would have to have Urza assume Teferi would lose his Spark to be anyway effective. And since he just left with Jhoira causing Urza to presumably build this trap, it doesn't make sense he wouldn't factor in Jhoira at all.
Basically this whole trap regardless of Urza not having enough time or reason to build it only works with some assumptions. If you assume Urza predicted Teferi lose his spark as an Oldwalker, have him inexplicably forget a whole host of abilities that he learned at Urza's Academy (abilities he learned before he ever sparked such as Telepathy, Barriers and Flight) and then have him not bring along the single most likely person he would be to bring to solve such a puzzle in Jhoira.
Because that is what all of the evidence has very much suggested. The demons haven't done anything to Liliana in the DECADES since the deal was made, and she killed 2 of them before any of the 4 invoked their side of the deal, note that Prior to Bezelenok that Liliana's biggest reason for wanting to use the GW is that she was afraid of the Chain Veil.
She is more fearful of the Item she bound herself to than the demons. That tells me everything I need to know about Liliana's competency, ability to think long term and ability to examine cost vs benefits. The Argument about Autonomy and all the rest of what you posted means nothing because she has already proven that she is willing to bind her to something far worse than her original deal was.
I would argue the opposite because Vraska looked at Jace said "I could kill him..but he could be useful.." Lili would never in a million years have done that in Vraska's position, Lili also -should- be more clever than Vraska by the fact that she has hundreds of years of experience and I would argue that in Liliana's place Vraska would have a far better long term time because she would keep her side of the deal..go on an errand for a demon once every century and have the other 90 years to do her own thing.
And again, Liliana already had the Loophole out of the deal set up because Giselbrand was stuck in the vault where he couldn't do anything so if she had left that alone, and killed the other 3 demons Nicol wouldn't be getting her soul, her shortsightedness caused her own downfall.
Lili doesn't create tension she creates drama, she is a token evil team mate, she hasn't created a valuable plot point at all her only contributions to the plot have been. "Hey Chandra do this really bad idea" and "Hey Gatewatch lets do this other really bad idea..that Ajani told us not to do..so I can kill oen of my demons."
Gideon's development comes from the fact for the first time ever he got his rump handed to him physically and has to wrap his head around the idea that "magic golden shield" isn't the solution to all of his problems, that was a thing that was going to happen with or without Liliana. Liliana is a character who was written as a villain in her original incarnations that was shoved in a good guy group cause she is "popular" and just like with Nissa (her being you know an outright racist originally) she doesn't work in the Group and the majority of her screen time on it is her being useless and snippy.
I don't think we are ever going to see a W/B Gideon, I think we are going to get..a Gideon that is less direct abilities, I imagine we will be seeing a Gideon with an Ult that has some absurd damage reflection effect in the future, or a Gideon that has a black effect as a creature..due to his using the Blackblade
He also doesn't know Jace is there with the full extent of his powers (which Nicol also doesn't know about).
Urza certainly had the capability of doing it, purely by accident. Like purely meaning well and tinkering with something to help Teferi out with Phasing things back in..and hiding it away from Phyrexians who probably won't think of ghosts..while completely forgetting that Teferi -ALSO- wouldn't think of looking for ghosts.
The story itself was okay, Teferi was always a groovy guy. I would like to know how Jhiora has a Spark..in her pocket just carrying it around. Like..if you found that in the mana rig somehow and could identify it why wouldn't you Take it to the guy first thing instead of years later.
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
Now the reason seems to be she doesn't think he would take it about. But again that doesn't really check with Time Spiral where he was like if I had my spark I could fix what Jeska did. And I see no reason why having a spark boosting his powers would hurt his plan to get Zhalfir back using Urza's Artifact.
Also it was weird Teferi had zero reaction to Gideon saying oh yeah once we kill this Demon, Lili will totally be able to kill Bolas...considering Teferi got rekt by Bolas.
The ghosts were just invisible. Teferi can see things that are phased out. Thus Teferi couldn't see them. Here's the explanation in story:
Teferi didn't want to be a spoilsport, but had to point out, "If there were things in this chamber out of phase, I'd see them."
"That's why I don't think they're out of phase, I think they're ghosts." Jhoira gestured around.
Can Teferi fly or put up a barrier? Probably. Why didn't he do that in story? Because he tried freezing the sand first, and then the Weatherlight provided a method of escape before he could try anything else. For as much as you seem to be harping away at Raff and Jhoira's ability to do such things, you also seem to be missing that they didn't try to use such abilities to save the group either (casting time, carrying capacity, and number of individuals such spells can affect may have played into this).
Urza was overconfident and Jhoira had no investment in bringing back Zhalfir, so he didn't account for her. And of course we didn't see anything to stop an Oldwalker since Teferi never tackled the ruin with full Oldwalker power (which would presumably trigger such defenses to force Teferi to approach this in more mundane ways).
This all also depends on the idea that Urza actually meant to target Teferi with this puzzle, which was an assumption on Teferi's part in the first place.
Or the ruin wasn't meant for Teferi, and Teferi just jumped to that conclusion (ergo, the ruin wasn't made in the time after Teferi phased out Zhalfir).
Or Urza was overconfident and predicted that nobody would be helping Teferi/Teferi wouldn't be accepting of any help (which Teferi wasn't, it was his daughter, whom Urza never could have met, that broke Urza's supposed predictions twice and led to Teferi getting as far as he had).
Or Teferi was acting quickly and didn't have enough time to try using his other abilities before a solution presented itself.
Probably isn't really good enough, its clear nerfing if my book.
Also Teferi is clearly not immune to getting help since he is getting help from his Daughter not ignoring her advice.
Teferi phased out Parts of Shiv and Zhalfir at the same time before leaving with Jhoira right next to him. So sure Urza could think Jhoira wouldn't care about Zhalfir but he also thinks Jhoira doesn't give a frak about Shiv? He just assumes Jeska will come along and screw Teferi over? He assumes the Time Spiral crisis will occur forcing Oldwalkers to give up Sparks? That is my problem Urza is making way too many assumptions here and Teferi/Urza are arrogant don't really account for all of them.
What we have here is either something Urza invented or something he found( Thran Artifact perhaps) that he reckoned Teferi could make the most of, but didn't want him to have free reign over it, so he makes a puzzle Teferi couldn't solve, not without help
Why would telepathy work unless Teferi was looking for ghosts. Again, they got to try the equation theory one time before Jhoira showed up, and at the end of it Niambi was already theorizing that something else was the key to the equation. They were well on their way to solving the final puzzle and likely would have figured it out even without Jhoira. The issue would have been beating back the escalation of the ruin's defenses without the additional hands.
He had very little time to act and got off one attempt before a solution presented itself. We'll likely get to see more of his abilities in future stories, but it is kind of important to show off what the character is best known for first and foremost.
A daughter whom Urza couldn't have known about, likely didn't predict (given Teferi's crush on Jhoira and her not returning those feelings). A daughter whom we've seen Teferi really cares about and who he is more likely to listen to/not overly disagree with because of that. Otherwise, he was ready and willing to turn away even Jhoira whom he had a serious crush on.
And again, the idea that Urza did this to spite Teferi was an assumption made by Teferi.
But is it really out of the question that he knew Jhoira cared about Shiv, knew Teferi cared about Jhoira, knew that fixing it would take a planeswalker spark (or something of similar power), and concluded that Teferi would first save Shiv, lose his spark, and only come to find the ruin afterwards (Teferi did mention that it took him a long time to even find the location of this one artifact).
Again, he didn't have to predict all of Time Spiral.
Urza knew Teferi phased out Zhalfir and parts of Shiv.
Urza knew Jhoira left with Teferi.
Urza knew Jhoira cared about Shiv.
Urza knew Teferi loved Jhoira even though she didn't return his feelings.
Urza knew Teferi cared about Zhalfir
Urza evidently researched how to repair time rifts.
We know that repairing a time rift costs a spark or something of similar power (given Urza's research, he could reasonably know this as well).
It's not all that difficult to predict how things would go down: Teferi would seek out a method to bring back Zhalfir after losing his spark bringing back the bits of Shiv for Jhoira. And, again, if Urza indeed did all this to spite Teferi, he evidently failed to predict Teferi's daughter, relying on the assumption that Teferi wouldn't accept anybody's help.
When? He never had time to act even if he knew that. He didn’t expect Teferi to phase out Zhalfir and Shiv. Urza was in the middle of a war against Phyrexia. He died at the end of the war. Not once did he have the opportunity to set up this puzzle.
He was knee deep in the war with Phyrexia when Teferi phased out Zhalfir. He did not have the time to research rifts, build puzzle tombs and artifacts to heal time rifts.
“I once had an entire race killed just to listen to the rattling of their dried bones as I waded through them.”
—Volrath
I'm not bothered by it. Urza was RGWUB. He would use ghosts if they served the purpose, and if the person he was using them against wasn't expecting it. Dude blew up Phyrexia using bombs which he powered by literally sucking the soul out of a demonic planeswalker that was nominally his ally. Urza was kind of nuts, and everyone who knew him called him insane at least once.