I think it use to go
1) At First There Were Only Dragons the Elder Dragons and they fought a mulitplanar war leaving about half dozen left. -20,000+ or so
2) Bolas fights the Leviathan and forms the Talon gates -15,000+
3) Primeveals show up -10,000+
4) Thran vs Phyrexia -4000+
5) Urza and the Brothers War so Year 0
6) Freyalise and the World Spell 3000 years roughly.
7) Bolas falls at Madara about 500 or so years after the World Spell so 3500+
8) Mending and Bolas is Free about 4500
8) The Present is about 4560
We don't know much of what Bolas does between the Leviathan fight and falling at Madara put presumably he is killing Ugin sometime during that time period.
But who knows now we got Bolas lying about everything over focus on Ugin vs Bolas. Oh and random humanoids with pet dogs and mounted horses running around way eariler then they should be on Dominaria who can kill Elder Dragons apparently why? Cause who cares.
The only things that have changed so far are
1 which never made sense when we know about other planes existing for 60,000 years before this happens. And while disappointing that the war takes place all on Dominaria it's not a major blow to the lore. All of your other points have remained untouched
Of course some of the timeline is confusing me. When did the Battle with the Leviathan happen?
Given that the battle between Bolas and the Leviathan was stated to be the first planeswalker duel, Ugin saw no indication of planeswalkers prior to himself, and Bolas makes no mention of a fight with another planeswalker prior to his battle with Ugin, I'd be inclined to think that the battle with Ugin was his battle with the Leviathan. If not, it happened later on.
When Venser, Teferi, and company first journeyed to Madara when the time rifts were becoming an issue and unintentionally let him pull a copy of his body from the past and escape the rift.
Why does Bolas mention the trap on Ixalan as "most recently".
Because it was the most recent plot by Ugin against him. In the Ixalan story, we learned that Ugin and Azor had been plotting to pull Bolas onto Ixalan and trap him on the plane (for some unspecified endgame). Bolas learned of this when he conquered one of Azor's worlds, ambushed Ugin on Tarkir and 'killed' him in battle.
When is this story taking place (I understand 18 years after events of Fate Reforged but where in the main timeline is that?
After the imprisoning of the Eldrazi and before they first slipped their bonds (when Nahiri called for help and neither Ugin nor Sorin answered). 1280 years ago if mtg gamepedia can be trusted.
Yeah sorry I don't see an Elder Dragon even a new born going down to some primitive humanoids (who should not have mounts and domesticated animals if they should be active at all) as a good change. Nor getting a story where we miss the entire Elder Dragon War.
I think it use to go
1) At First There Were Only Dragons the Elder Dragons and they fought a mulitplanar war leaving about half dozen left. -20,000+ or so
2) Bolas fights the Leviathan and forms the Talon gates -15,000+
3) Primeveals show up -10,000+
4) Thran vs Phyrexia -4000+
5) Urza and the Brothers War so Year 0
6) Freyalise and the World Spell 3000 years roughly.
7) Bolas falls at Madara about 500 or so years after the World Spell so 3500+
8) Mending and Bolas is Free about 4500
8) The Present is about 4560
We don't know much of what Bolas does between the Leviathan fight and falling at Madara put presumably he is killing Ugin sometime during that time period.
But who knows now we got Bolas lying about everything over focus on Ugin vs Bolas. Oh and random humanoids with pet dogs and mounted horses running around way eariler then they should be on Dominaria who can kill Elder Dragons apparently why? Cause who cares.
The only things that have changed so far are
1 which never made sense when we know about other planes existing for 60,000 years before this happens. And while disappointing that the war takes place all on Dominaria it's not a major blow to the lore. All of your other points have remained untouched
Can you expand on this I am not sure why the time of the Elder Dragon War has anything to do with how long some Planes have existed. Is you argument it should taken place even early then it did?
Honestly, since Bolas thrashed the Gatewatch. I have liked little when it comes to writing of Oldwalkers besides Jaya.
Of course some of the timeline is confusing me. When did the Battle with the Leviathan happen?
From the art book (which most of the older lore people say is pretty accurate):
Mythos hisotry ~ -20,000 to Ar- 15,000 AR- This time period the elder dragons rose and fell to the war, Bolas fought the Leviathan and the Primevals and Nummena show up.
Time of the Thran and their war with Phyrexia up too -5000 AR
EDIT: Omnirahk got to me first but the rest of timeline is;
~-5,000 AR - 0 AR- Time of legends (i.e.: Dakkon Bladeblade)
0 AR- 63 AR- Brothers War
64 - 2934- Ice Age
2934-3285- Flood Age
3285-4205- Modern History
4205- 4306- Phyrexia Invasion
4306- 4500- Rift era
4500- Present Mending Era.
When was Bolas Reborn from the rift?
Right before the mending, he tricks Venser into helping him.
Why does Bolas mention the trap on Ixalan as "most recently".
The fight between Ugin and Bolas on Tarkir happened after Bolas found out Ugin and Azor had planned to trap Bolas on Ixalan.
When is this story taking place (I understand 18 years after events of Fate Reforged but where in the main timeline is that?
Sarkhan went back in time 1,280 years and its been roughly a year or less since the events happen on Tarkir, so ~1,262- 1,260 from the present is my rough guess.
“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 think it use to go
1) At First There Were Only Dragons the Elder Dragons and they fought a mulitplanar war leaving about half dozen left. -20,000+ or so
2) Bolas fights the Leviathan and forms the Talon gates -15,000+
3) Primeveals show up -10,000+
4) Thran vs Phyrexia -4000+
5) Urza and the Brothers War so Year 0
6) Freyalise and the World Spell 3000 years roughly.
7) Bolas falls at Madara about 500 or so years after the World Spell so 3500+
8) Mending and Bolas is Free about 4500
8) The Present is about 4560
We don't know much of what Bolas does between the Leviathan fight and falling at Madara put presumably he is killing Ugin sometime during that time period.
But who knows now we got Bolas lying about everything over focus on Ugin vs Bolas. Oh and random humanoids with pet dogs and mounted horses running around way eariler then they should be on Dominaria who can kill Elder Dragons apparently why? Cause who cares.
The only things that have changed so far are
1 which never made sense when we know about other planes existing for 60,000 years before this happens. And while disappointing that the war takes place all on Dominaria it's not a major blow to the lore. All of your other points have remained untouched
Can you expand on this I am not sure why the time of the Elder Dragon War has anything to do with how long some Planes have existed. Is you argument it should taken place even early then it did?
Honestly, since Bolas thrashed the Gatewatch. I have liked little when it comes to writing of Oldwalkers besides Jaya.
It has little to do with the actual war, it has a lot to do with the setting behind the war. The setting that was more or less given "At First There Were Only Dragons the Elder Dragons", this doesn't make sense when we know enough time has passed to allow multiple civilizations to rise and fall. Their being a civilization of any level of advancement makes perfect sense because we know they weren't first regardless of what the survivors claim. They could have been birthed on a plane with a level of advancement equal to modern day Ravnica and it wouldn't have been strange. The specifics of the war was never clear so not focusing on it is good because they would have definitely made some stupid error like the fact that they were all stuck on Dominaria. More focus on the actual war would have certainly resulted in worse second than what occurred. As for the writing of old walkers, that is 100% subjective. No one has ever met someone who has lived for more than a hundred years, let alone an ageless entity that has watched entire civilizations rise and fall. In my personal experience, age has little influence on a person's personality after they pass 30ish and being over 40 doesn't stop people from acting like children on occasion, even often.
I must agree on the fact that I don't like the Multiverse becoming a sort of playground between Bolas and Ugin, it gives the feeling that among almost infinite planes there are only two major players... At this pace, one day we will discover that Bolas was the creator of old Phyrexia.
I must agree on the fact that I don't like the Multiverse becoming a sort of playground between Bolas and Ugin, it gives the feeling that among almost infinite planes there are only two major players... At this pace, one day we will discover that Bolas was the creator of old Phyrexia.
*shrugs*
They're incredibly long lived, scheming dragons that appear to have been the first of a small group of beings that can easily traverse between planes. Until recently, they wielded incredible power with ease to serve their whims and bend gods to their knees. At least one of them personally conquered a multitude of planes. Oh, and they hate each other with a burning passion.
They've had the time and the motivation to influence events on a vast number of planes. I mean, Bolas and Ugin are supposed about 30000 years old (born in -25000AR, present is about 4505AR). Even if we suppose that they didn't finish battling each other as planeswalkers until -15000AR, that's still 15000 years to be spreading their influence throughout the multiverse and scheming against one another (once Bolas learned that Ugin's death didn't stick).
We know Ugin spent around 40 years working to imprison the Eldrazi on Zendikar. For argument's sake, let's assume an average of 100 years spent implementing their machinations on a given plane. That still leaves them time to influence 150 planes each (and that's disregarding the time spent on planes prior to their duel). So while I wouldn't claim that they should have a hand behind every major event in the multiverse, I'm not surprised that two beings of such age, power, and ability would have such widespread influence.
So I must ask a genuine question about this "there should have been no humans with spears and dogs back then". Is this true or just headcanon that people have developed over time? I'm actually curious, because I had never heard of it prior to the start of the Core 19 stories.
So I must ask a genuine question about this "there should have been no humans with spears and dogs back then". Is this true or just headcanon that people have developed over time? I'm actually curious, because I had never heard of it prior to the start of the Core 19 stories.
Is there anywhere in the lore where "first dragons" means "first sapient beings"? Because I can't see spears and dogs being that high-tech. We know the first dogs were domesticated during the Pleistocene.
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Card advantage is not the same thing as card draw. Something for 2B cannot be strictly worse than something for BBB or 3BB. If you're taking out Swords to Plowshares for Plummet, you're a fool. Stop doing these things!
So I must ask a genuine question about this "there should have been no humans with spears and dogs back then". Is this true or just headcanon that people have developed over time? I'm actually curious, because I had never heard of it prior to the start of the Core 19 stories.
Is there anywhere in the lore where "first dragons" means "first sapient beings"? Because I can't see spears and dogs being that high-tech. We know the first dogs were domesticated during the Pleistocene.
And mounted Horses? And by mounted I mean having mounts on them?
So I must ask a genuine question about this "there should have been no humans with spears and dogs back then". Is this true or just headcanon that people have developed over time? I'm actually curious, because I had never heard of it prior to the start of the Core 19 stories.
Is there anywhere in the lore where "first dragons" means "first sapient beings"? Because I can't see spears and dogs being that high-tech. We know the first dogs were domesticated during the Pleistocene.
And mounted Horses? And by mounted I mean having mounts on them?
I don't know what you want to hear exactly, horses were domesticated around 3500 BC in real life, but why should that stop Dominarians from doing that comparatively earlier? Dominaria was not a just-formed plane when the Ur-Dragon spawned his brood, and I don't remember any sources saying anything about other civilisations or beings not existing aside from the elder dragons. This doesn't require a retcon.
The story also doesn't say anything about Nicols fight with Ugin being the fight against the leviathan (doesn't make much sense for me anyway, since the Talon gates are on Dominaria, not the meditation plane). It was just speculation of some commenters here.
Aye, this chapter. I knew it was going to come eventually, since the theme of the whole arch seems to be twins vs twins, we had to get Bolas' version of things eventually, but UGH. There's nothing entertaining about listening to Bolas speak. Not only is he conceited to an exasperating point where he's almost becoming unbelievable as a super-villain due to his emotional/mental weakness, but the chapter has given us nothing but a heap of facts any and maybe all of which might just be lies.
It's a frustrating chapter because it doesn't accomplish much beyond characterization for a character that no one likes anyway and no one is expected to like. It's just silly to have a villain who's entire shtick revolves around how mind-boggling intelligent and powerful he is. It's very difficult to write, and like everyone keeps pointing out, every time Bolas actually appears on screen, there has to be some silly reason why he's not acting on all this power he supposedly has.
They just shouldn't keep upping the ante in regards to how far-reaching this Ugin vs Bolas feud has been, because soon it's going to end and there's no good way for the narrative to continue afterwards without feeling like it fell flat on its face. As we all already experienced with the Eldrazi. Oh, unless Magic's next super-villain will eventually turn out to be manipulating Bolas all along, and the cycle can just continue :^)
So I must ask a genuine question about this "there should have been no humans with spears and dogs back then". Is this true or just headcanon that people have developed over time? I'm actually curious, because I had never heard of it prior to the start of the Core 19 stories.
Is there anywhere in the lore where "first dragons" means "first sapient beings"? Because I can't see spears and dogs being that high-tech. We know the first dogs were domesticated during the Pleistocene.
And mounted Horses? And by mounted I mean having mounts on them?
Horses don't even appear in the first chapter (aside from in the artwork of Demanding Dragon which doesn't necessarily reflect the events of the story itself). Just hunters with dogs and sticks. Any appearance of horses afterward can probably be attributed to the civilizing advancements brought by Arcades.
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"I'd rather die speaking the truth than live a lie." --Gix, to Yawgmoth (pre-Phyrexia)
It's interesting to me that Ugin managed to visit certain planes so early, like Lorwyn. And considering how long ago the events of Kamigawa block were, it's a sign that some planes have been around for a very long time. Makes you wonder what exactly transpired on Amonkhet to make it such a desiccated wasteland? I mean Iquilor or whatever is one of the oldest planes ever, and it's not in such bad shape as Amonkhet. Perhaps age isn't the only factor in why a plane runs its course? Regardless, I must say, planes like Lorwyn and others that have been around that long seem to be in pretty good condition overall.
A new villain perhaps? Some epic Oldwalker battle I mean Ob Nixilis did make a deal with Demons that killed an entire plane so it could be something similar
It's interesting to me that Ugin managed to visit certain planes so early, like Lorwyn. And considering how long ago the events of Kamigawa block were, it's a sign that some planes have been around for a very long time. Makes you wonder what exactly transpired on Amonkhet to make it such a desiccated wasteland? I mean Iquilor or whatever is one of the oldest planes ever, and it's not in such bad shape as Amonkhet. Perhaps age isn't the only factor in why a plane runs its course? Regardless, I must say, planes like Lorwyn and others that have been around that long seem to be in pretty good condition overall.
Well the universe has been around for a long long time, I doubt Ugin/Nicol's "Life time" are long enough for a planes' natural life cycle to take it's toll.
-Naiva wanting Baishya dead again reflect Bolas, wanting everyone to forget his twin and think he's the only one (which in lore and out he was doing good until a dragon lover changed time)
-Yasova confirms that the hedrons seem to be protecting them from Bolas.
-Ugin had given each clan some secret spirit dragon magic, Jeskai got ghost fire, Temur learned how to whisper.
-Flashback! Looks like Bolas attacked Ugin first, surprise surprise.
-Ohhh I like having a planes chase game in lore, would be cool to see more of this.
-And Ugin does become a spirit dragon somehow after letting Bolas kill him once.
-Bolas takes over the Meditation Realm because of how happy he was to have killed Ugin there...wow.
-So Yasova tricks Bolas to fleeing by pretending this was a part of Ugins plan to trap him and Bolas fled not wanting to risk this...it was an okay way to end I guess, but would have worked better if Bolas hadn't shown up at all.
-Since it doesn't contract anything I think the Leviathan/Bolas battle happened
So overall I liked the writing of this arc by Kate Elliott. I didn't care for the frame story outside of the world building it did for Tarkir but Kate did a really good job that it wasn't a burden to get through. From her witting you can tell she really likes the plane so I hope they ask for back to write for Tarkir 2 story.
Well I'm assuming starting next week we will get Vivien's trilogy. A few people noted that Cassandra Khaw is more of comic horror writer so I wonder if that will play into what happens with Vivien.
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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"
Kate Elliott did awesome with this story and she definitely needs to do Tarkir 2 whenever that happens.
I really hope we see a Naiva and Baishya card similar to Mina and Denn in Tarkir 2, (or possibly a commander set since they will be long dead in Tarkir 2), or maybe even just a Naiva card as she was the main character for this story. Really good ending to the story, I didnt expect them to stay with Ugin but I wonder if Baishya will continue to draw memories from Ugin. I also wonder if we will see little helf-temur/half-Jeskai babies from Naiva and Tae Jin hahaha!
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Why is this just discarded? The fact that Bolas can read minds like a book has been not only shown repeatedly, but mentioned over and over again in this very story. And Bolas was fooled by the twins? He knows Naiva has an identical twin. That's what he was using, Naiva's resentment for her twin, to manipulate her to begin with.
I LOVED the first six chapters of this story. But these last two... what happened?
This was the line that finally ended it for me:
"He's gone," said Grandmother. "He could not take the chance it was a bluff."
You don't bluff Bolas. He looks into your eyes and sees what cards you're holding; that's why Jace has to erase Vraska's memories of their sabotage plot. And he loses now by being lied to?
If you pushed Bolas off a cliff, would he actually fly, or would he just fall to his death?
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"I'd rather die speaking the truth than live a lie." --Gix, to Yawgmoth (pre-Phyrexia)
Bolas seemed surprisingly 'dumb' in these last two chapters. As Yasova was talking and bluffing, it would have taken less than a second for Bolas to see if she was lying by swiping through her mind. Whatevs.
I just read through a lot of pages on this thread, since I was gone for a bit, but as to the leviathan that Bolas fought on Dominaria, what are the odds the thing was related to Marit Lage? Both are huge leviathan-y things that could traverse planes but weren't planeswalkers. And if there were two of them, why not more?
I wish we had gotten a look at that leviathan fight.
EDIT: Also, I was wrong a couple of weeks ago when I put forth the counter-argument that Ugin's first plane was not the Meditation Plane. Last week's story showed me my error.
Kate Elliott did a phenomenal job. I'd want her back for Theros as well. I'd love to see Greek tragedy written by her, let alone Theros world building. Her stories are so textured, with actual dimension and consequences. The characters actually labor against aspects like environment, weather, fatigue, fear, formidable creature threats, etc. It's so nice to feel like these planes are actual worlds, their characters as believable people with a relatable existence within the scope of fantasy, and actually feel immersed in the story itself all the while. I was so tired of planes serving as Planeswalker playgrounds or a simple stepping-stone stage for them. It nauseated me every time an entire universe was written secondary to a single mortal Planeswalker character, who set out and effortlessly humbled planar overlords like pushovers. Here, we see a Legendary outmaneuvering Bolas himself. And we can feel the toll of a long journey across a plane as if it's a real place and not just another backdrop for Planeswalkers.
Yeah except Bolas is suppose to be an Oldwalker is the story ie at the height of his power. This is after all the guy who fresh out of getting reborn goes to Amonkhet and while his powers are waning wrecks all the Gods on the Plane. I do agree with you on Neowalkers though showing up locals since the whole point of losing Oldwalker status was to make these other Legendaries able to stand up and Walkers easier to kill. But here Bolas was nerfed hard in the last two chapters to get bluffed by some twins he should have casually mindwrecked.
I unsurprisingly did not like this story we didn't get to see the Elder Dragon War. I was not a fan of the origin of Elder Dragons, Didn't see the Leviathan Duel and simply the story just made Nicol Bolas generic bad guy who believes his own delusions and is mostly motivated by being Jealous at Ugin while carrying the Idiot BALL. Which is fine but every time we see more of Bolas these days he just become more and more generic he peaked in Amonkhet.
I just took it all in context. They're switched twins, one he thinks has been killed, he's been foiled by Ugin before, and Bolas knows they're not Planeswalkers, so having explicit knowledge of Ixalan, the Immortal Sun and Ugin's plot, as Tarkir-bound mortals, is enough to warrant caution. Bolas fears what he can't know, and he can't know whether Ugin has manipulated him again or not. Rendering the spiteful death of two mortals who may die from his wake anyway isn't worth the risk of losing the one ability Bolas covets above all, Planeswalking.
1 which never made sense when we know about other planes existing for 60,000 years before this happens. And while disappointing that the war takes place all on Dominaria it's not a major blow to the lore. All of your other points have remained untouched
Given that the battle between Bolas and the Leviathan was stated to be the first planeswalker duel, Ugin saw no indication of planeswalkers prior to himself, and Bolas makes no mention of a fight with another planeswalker prior to his battle with Ugin, I'd be inclined to think that the battle with Ugin was his battle with the Leviathan. If not, it happened later on.
When Venser, Teferi, and company first journeyed to Madara when the time rifts were becoming an issue and unintentionally let him pull a copy of his body from the past and escape the rift.
During the lead up to and through most of the elder dragon war. Also likely after his battle with Ugin.
Because it was the most recent plot by Ugin against him. In the Ixalan story, we learned that Ugin and Azor had been plotting to pull Bolas onto Ixalan and trap him on the plane (for some unspecified endgame). Bolas learned of this when he conquered one of Azor's worlds, ambushed Ugin on Tarkir and 'killed' him in battle.
After the imprisoning of the Eldrazi and before they first slipped their bonds (when Nahiri called for help and neither Ugin nor Sorin answered). 1280 years ago if mtg gamepedia can be trusted.
Can you expand on this I am not sure why the time of the Elder Dragon War has anything to do with how long some Planes have existed. Is you argument it should taken place even early then it did?
Honestly, since Bolas thrashed the Gatewatch. I have liked little when it comes to writing of Oldwalkers besides Jaya.
From the art book (which most of the older lore people say is pretty accurate):
Mythos hisotry ~ -20,000 to Ar- 15,000 AR- This time period the elder dragons rose and fell to the war, Bolas fought the Leviathan and the Primevals and Nummena show up.
Time of the Thran and their war with Phyrexia up too -5000 AR
EDIT: Omnirahk got to me first but the rest of timeline is;
~-5,000 AR - 0 AR- Time of legends (i.e.: Dakkon Bladeblade)
0 AR- 63 AR- Brothers War
64 - 2934- Ice Age
2934-3285- Flood Age
3285-4205- Modern History
4205- 4306- Phyrexia Invasion
4306- 4500- Rift era
4500- Present Mending Era.
Right before the mending, he tricks Venser into helping him.
The fight between Ugin and Bolas on Tarkir happened after Bolas found out Ugin and Azor had planned to trap Bolas on Ixalan.
Sarkhan went back in time 1,280 years and its been roughly a year or less since the events happen on Tarkir, so ~1,262- 1,260 from the present is my rough guess.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
The problem is every change since we left Amonkhet is simply making Bolas more and more generic as a villain.
*shrugs*
They're incredibly long lived, scheming dragons that appear to have been the first of a small group of beings that can easily traverse between planes. Until recently, they wielded incredible power with ease to serve their whims and bend gods to their knees. At least one of them personally conquered a multitude of planes. Oh, and they hate each other with a burning passion.
They've had the time and the motivation to influence events on a vast number of planes. I mean, Bolas and Ugin are supposed about 30000 years old (born in -25000AR, present is about 4505AR). Even if we suppose that they didn't finish battling each other as planeswalkers until -15000AR, that's still 15000 years to be spreading their influence throughout the multiverse and scheming against one another (once Bolas learned that Ugin's death didn't stick).
We know Ugin spent around 40 years working to imprison the Eldrazi on Zendikar. For argument's sake, let's assume an average of 100 years spent implementing their machinations on a given plane. That still leaves them time to influence 150 planes each (and that's disregarding the time spent on planes prior to their duel). So while I wouldn't claim that they should have a hand behind every major event in the multiverse, I'm not surprised that two beings of such age, power, and ability would have such widespread influence.
Is there anywhere in the lore where "first dragons" means "first sapient beings"? Because I can't see spears and dogs being that high-tech. We know the first dogs were domesticated during the Pleistocene.
On phasing:
And mounted Horses? And by mounted I mean having mounts on them?
I don't know what you want to hear exactly, horses were domesticated around 3500 BC in real life, but why should that stop Dominarians from doing that comparatively earlier? Dominaria was not a just-formed plane when the Ur-Dragon spawned his brood, and I don't remember any sources saying anything about other civilisations or beings not existing aside from the elder dragons. This doesn't require a retcon.
The story also doesn't say anything about Nicols fight with Ugin being the fight against the leviathan (doesn't make much sense for me anyway, since the Talon gates are on Dominaria, not the meditation plane). It was just speculation of some commenters here.
It's a frustrating chapter because it doesn't accomplish much beyond characterization for a character that no one likes anyway and no one is expected to like. It's just silly to have a villain who's entire shtick revolves around how mind-boggling intelligent and powerful he is. It's very difficult to write, and like everyone keeps pointing out, every time Bolas actually appears on screen, there has to be some silly reason why he's not acting on all this power he supposedly has.
They just shouldn't keep upping the ante in regards to how far-reaching this Ugin vs Bolas feud has been, because soon it's going to end and there's no good way for the narrative to continue afterwards without feeling like it fell flat on its face. As we all already experienced with the Eldrazi. Oh, unless Magic's next super-villain will eventually turn out to be manipulating Bolas all along, and the cycle can just continue :^)
Horses don't even appear in the first chapter (aside from in the artwork of Demanding Dragon which doesn't necessarily reflect the events of the story itself). Just hunters with dogs and sticks. Any appearance of horses afterward can probably be attributed to the civilizing advancements brought by Arcades.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
Well the universe has been around for a long long time, I doubt Ugin/Nicol's "Life time" are long enough for a planes' natural life cycle to take it's toll.
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
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/chronicle-bolas-unwritten-now-2018-08-15?a
-Naiva wanting Baishya dead again reflect Bolas, wanting everyone to forget his twin and think he's the only one (which in lore and out he was doing good until a dragon lover changed time)
-Yasova confirms that the hedrons seem to be protecting them from Bolas.
-Ugin had given each clan some secret spirit dragon magic, Jeskai got ghost fire, Temur learned how to whisper.
-Flashback! Looks like Bolas attacked Ugin first, surprise surprise.
-Ohhh I like having a planes chase game in lore, would be cool to see more of this.
-And Ugin does become a spirit dragon somehow after letting Bolas kill him once.
-Bolas takes over the Meditation Realm because of how happy he was to have killed Ugin there...wow.
-So Yasova tricks Bolas to fleeing by pretending this was a part of Ugins plan to trap him and Bolas fled not wanting to risk this...it was an okay way to end I guess, but would have worked better if Bolas hadn't shown up at all.
-Since it doesn't contract anything I think the Leviathan/Bolas battle happened
So overall I liked the writing of this arc by Kate Elliott. I didn't care for the frame story outside of the world building it did for Tarkir but Kate did a really good job that it wasn't a burden to get through. From her witting you can tell she really likes the plane so I hope they ask for back to write for Tarkir 2 story.
Well I'm assuming starting next week we will get Vivien's trilogy. A few people noted that Cassandra Khaw is more of comic horror writer so I wonder if that will play into what happens with Vivien.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I really hope we see a Naiva and Baishya card similar to Mina and Denn in Tarkir 2, (or possibly a commander set since they will be long dead in Tarkir 2), or maybe even just a Naiva card as she was the main character for this story. Really good ending to the story, I didnt expect them to stay with Ugin but I wonder if Baishya will continue to draw memories from Ugin. I also wonder if we will see little helf-temur/half-Jeskai babies from Naiva and Tae Jin hahaha!
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CAN.
READ.
MINDS.
Why is this just discarded? The fact that Bolas can read minds like a book has been not only shown repeatedly, but mentioned over and over again in this very story. And Bolas was fooled by the twins? He knows Naiva has an identical twin. That's what he was using, Naiva's resentment for her twin, to manipulate her to begin with.
I LOVED the first six chapters of this story. But these last two... what happened?
This was the line that finally ended it for me:
You don't bluff Bolas. He looks into your eyes and sees what cards you're holding; that's why Jace has to erase Vraska's memories of their sabotage plot. And he loses now by being lied to?
If you pushed Bolas off a cliff, would he actually fly, or would he just fall to his death?
I just read through a lot of pages on this thread, since I was gone for a bit, but as to the leviathan that Bolas fought on Dominaria, what are the odds the thing was related to Marit Lage? Both are huge leviathan-y things that could traverse planes but weren't planeswalkers. And if there were two of them, why not more?
I wish we had gotten a look at that leviathan fight.
EDIT: Also, I was wrong a couple of weeks ago when I put forth the counter-argument that Ugin's first plane was not the Meditation Plane. Last week's story showed me my error.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I unsurprisingly did not like this story we didn't get to see the Elder Dragon War. I was not a fan of the origin of Elder Dragons, Didn't see the Leviathan Duel and simply the story just made Nicol Bolas generic bad guy who believes his own delusions and is mostly motivated by being Jealous at Ugin while carrying the Idiot BALL. Which is fine but every time we see more of Bolas these days he just become more and more generic he peaked in Amonkhet.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||