Yeah the mass desparking is very random and the kind of stakes nobody asked for.
I wonder if they tried to emulate Time Spiral with this, which also changed a lot. But the desparking that happened in Time Spiral was a direct consequence of individual actions the characters took, not just something that randomly happened to a bunch of walkers.
I think there would be more investment in this desparking if there wasn’t the potential of reversing it quickly. I’m glad I’ll get legendary creature version of a couple of my favorite Walkers, but I am predicting that this is resolved by the end of the upcoming Ixalan set.
I'm fine with planeswalkers desparking. Planebound characters are more interesting anywhere, and random omenpaths crisscrossing the multiverse lead to a bigger sense of adventure (instead of everyone who matters just being able to go everywhere on a whim). I just wish there was any explanation/hint for why the desparking happened, and why some were unaffected. Maybe we'll still get this?
Anyway, I hope they do some interesting stuff with the planes now. Looking forward to seeing more of Eldraine, New Capenna, and even Ravnica (*gasp*). I'm not getting up my hopes too much, because branding dictates that most planes will more or less go back to what they were before. I hope they wait a few years until the next "big bad" shows up and do more small-scale storytelling for the time being. That works better with the current story format anyway.
If Path of the Enigma and the Nahiri story are any indication, I assume the next story arc is going to revolve around the suppression of interplanar travel.
I'm fine with planeswalkers desparking. Planebound characters are more interesting anywhere, and random omenpaths crisscrossing the multiverse lead to a bigger sense of adventure (instead of everyone who matters just being able to go everywhere on a whim). I just wish there was any explanation/hint for why the desparking happened, and why some were unaffected. Maybe we'll still get this?
Anyway, I hope they do some interesting stuff with the planes now. Looking forward to seeing more of Eldraine, New Capenna, and even Ravnica (*gasp*). I'm not getting up my hopes too much, because branding dictates that most planes will more or less go back to what they were before. I hope they wait a few years until the next "big bad" shows up and do more small-scale storytelling for the time being. That works better with the current story format anyway.
If Path of the Enigma and the Nahiri story are any indication, I assume the next story arc is going to revolve around the suppression of interplanar travel.
I'm excited for New Capenna simply for its aesthetic. Love me some flapper girl styles.
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'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset. Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
I'm fine with planeswalkers desparking. Planebound characters are more interesting anywhere, and random omenpaths crisscrossing the multiverse lead to a bigger sense of adventure (instead of everyone who matters just being able to go everywhere on a whim). I just wish there was any explanation/hint for why the desparking happened, and why some were unaffected. Maybe we'll still get this?
Anyway, I hope they do some interesting stuff with the planes now. Looking forward to seeing more of Eldraine, New Capenna, and even Ravnica (*gasp*). I'm not getting up my hopes too much, because branding dictates that most planes will more or less go back to what they were before. I hope they wait a few years until the next "big bad" shows up and do more small-scale storytelling for the time being. That works better with the current story format anyway.
If Path of the Enigma and the Nahiri story are any indication, I assume the next story arc is going to revolve around the suppression of interplanar travel.
1. While the obvious conclusion is that the mass desparking was some combination of Realmbreaker and the Cylex blast in the Blind Eternities (MaRo even named the former as the cause), I do wonder if the Nahiri story is pointing to the the fact that maybe the missing sparks were drawn away by the Blind Eternities as an attempt to repair itself, the same way the Mending required sparks to heal the rifts. If that is the case, it's possible the sparks weren't entirely expended, and can be found and reclaimed. Which would be an interesting set-up for the next big story line - what happened to the sparks, and where are they?
2. On a more pragmatic (cynical?) note, Planeswalker design space was clearly getting thin (at least for some characters) and with Commander emphasizing Legendary Creatures over Planeswalkers, this decision (for good or ill) allows WotC to print more (former) Planeswalkers as cards more often without all of the baggage of printing Planeswalker (the permanent type) cards.
3. Plus or minus Kaya and Elspeth, I almost expect WotC to decide that only Chandra, Jace, Garruk, Liliana, and Ajani retain their sparks, as a nod to them being the original "neowalkers".
4. I think even WotC realizes that some planes (*cough*Ravnica*cough*) were getting a bit stale as a setting, and the post-Invasion multiverse gives WotC an excuse (and yes, they never technically needed one because they write the narrative) to mix things up the next time we inevitably return to e.g., Dominaria, Innistrad, Zendikar, or Ravnica. I just hope we see the consequences for years to come, not just in the next Ixalan and Eldraine sets.
3. Plus or minus Kaya and Elspeth, I almost expect WotC to decide that only Chandra, Jace, Garruk, Liliana, and Ajani retain their sparks, as a nod to them being the original "neowalkers".
For a long while, Ajani didn't answer, long enough that Nahiri thought he wasn't going to. "She survived as well," he said at last, "but she's been damaged. I don't know what happened; some part of the process when we were cleansed of Phyrexia, but she can no longer planeswalk. I can, but . . . it took everyone. Teferi, Kaya, Melira . . . so many others. They saved me. They cleansed me of the taint of Phyrexia and kept me intact." A shudder passed through him. "The others . . . weren't so lucky as you and I."
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Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
For a long while, Ajani didn't answer, long enough that Nahiri thought he wasn't going to. "She survived as well," he said at last, "but she's been damaged. I don't know what happened; some part of the process when we were cleansed of Phyrexia, but she can no longer planeswalk. I can, but . . . it took everyone. Teferi, Kaya, Melira . . . so many others. They saved me. They cleansed me of the taint of Phyrexia and kept me intact." A shudder passed through him. "The others . . . weren't so lucky as you and I."
Completely missed that - thanks! Maybe the Lorwyn 5 + Elspeth really are the only walkers left?
Let's say the missing sparks are out there somewhere in the multiverse, waiting to be found. That sounds like a solid story hook for a great many characters (heroes, villains, and all points beyond) that could be built out in many ways.
And what if those sparks could be found and gained by other people? We already know sparks can be transferred. (What happens if Bolas escapes the Meditation Plane, and learns that there are sparks out there, just waiting to be claimed...?)
I get the feeling they meant Karn in that story, and it got switched to Kaya by accident. There's a shocking number of planeswalkers whose names start with K that were integral to the Phyrexia storyline.
“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"
They created planeswalkers, only to despark them and build portals for everybody... how stupid. Some characters had nearly no screentime at all, bevor beeing depowered again - like Narset, Samut, Calix, ...
Some other characters are used over and over - like Nahiri. I really like her personally, but let the poor soul rest. She should have died during the Invasion of New Phyrexia in a final blast... but she got resurected as phyrexian, buried as such, survived again, ripped her metal parts out of her body - which is complete nonsense! She was compleated, so first of all she should be unconscious like Nissa and Ajani when Elesh Norn fell. Secondly you can't just tear phayrexia out of your body - because you body IS phyrexian. Third, she would bleed to death, given how the spikes on her shoulders and the blades on her arms were.
And even in this new story, she should have died from the fall... but no - we need her, because we don't have any other characters? And how can she know, what Ajani did to the gods? She wasn't there as Elesh gave him the task to do so, and noone told her on Zendikar, because it didn't matter during her invasion of Zendikar...
Ajani ist so out of character. He would talk to Elspeth - not search Nahiri. How could he find her anyway? And after her fall - he disappears? Why? He didn't even look if she survived?
And why the desparking? Normally, most planeswalkers die during this process. And it doesn't serve any purpose. I get, that the new omenpaths help wizard connect places and therefore make new exiting stories and sets. But planar portal aren't new and could have coexisted next to the walkers. And the walkers would be more statik in the future anyway, as the rebuilding process will take a lot of time, and most of them would - as nahiri and sorin, would serve more or less as guardians of their homeworlds in the future (like Serra did in distant past). Koth now has neither home nor the possibility to wander in search for a new one... how dumb. Just that someone can build a Sarkhan commander deck? Really? They do know that Oathbreaker exists and more so that this characters are liked because they aren't just another legendary creture?
That's lousy and depressing. Just stupid "write around" and no actual deep fantasy story.
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For all you have done for the game we love.
Glen Angus, Magic Artist, 1970-2007 ; Richie Proffitt, MTG Salvation Mod (PolarBearGod), 1977-2008
Rest in Peace.
The Kaya casually slitting Heliod's throat moment dropped in a passing statement was reason enough not to engage in the lore, if there weren't already so many other reasons. But I should have known that Surral vs. Ulamog couldn't stand forever as the penultimate story pitfall.
One moment he can dispatch a legion of angels with just a glance, the next, lol dis knife
3. Plus or minus Kaya and Elspeth, I almost expect WotC to decide that only Chandra, Jace, Garruk, Liliana, and Ajani retain their sparks, as a nod to them being the original "neowalkers".
I could see this. I also expect Quintorius to keep his newly acquired spark though. They're clearly not planning to retire the planeswalker card type, so they're going to slowly build a new cast of characters. Quint could be the first member of the "new generation."
I guess they could also do the "shipwrecked explorer" trope with him in Ixalan 2.0. They already did that with Jace though...
I could see this. I also expect Quintorius to keep his newly acquired spark though. They're clearly not planning to retire the planeswalker card type, so they're going to slowly build a new cast of characters. Quint could be the first member of the "new generation."
I guess they could also do the "shipwrecked explorer" trope with him in Ixalan 2.0. They already did that with Jace though...
I did forget about Quintorius. And now that you bring it up, I could see WotC doing a riff on Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Quintorius as a lost explorer protagonist.
And a question for the lore-savvy - does the Phyrexian invasion mark the beginning of general awareness of the existence of the multiverse throughout the multiverse? Some worlds (e.g. Ravnica, Dominaria, Kaldheim) were already aware of other worlds, but my understanding has always been that the existence of the multiverse, like planeswalkers, was a secret known only to a select few on most worlds.
And if this is the beginning of mass awareness of the multiverse - any idea what some of the consequences could be?
They created planeswalkers, only to despark them and build portals for everybody... how stupid. Some characters had nearly no screentime at all, bevor beeing depowered again - like Narset, Samut, Calix, ...
Some other characters are used over and over - like Nahiri. I really like her personally, but let the poor soul rest. She should have died during the Invasion of New Phyrexia in a final blast... but she got resurected as phyrexian, buried as such, survived again, ripped her metal parts out of her body - which is complete nonsense! She was compleated, so first of all she should be unconscious like Nissa and Ajani when Elesh Norn fell. Secondly you can't just tear phayrexia out of your body - because you body IS phyrexian. Third, she would bleed to death, given how the spikes on her shoulders and the blades on her arms were.
And even in this new story, she should have died from the fall... but no - we need her, because we don't have any other characters? And how can she know, what Ajani did to the gods? She wasn't there as Elesh gave him the task to do so, and noone told her on Zendikar, because it didn't matter during her invasion of Zendikar...
Ajani ist so out of character. He would talk to Elspeth - not search Nahiri. How could he find her anyway? And after her fall - he disappears? Why? He didn't even look if she survived?
And why the desparking? Normally, most planeswalkers die during this process. And it doesn't serve any purpose. I get, that the new omenpaths help wizard connect places and therefore make new exiting stories and sets. But planar portal aren't new and could have coexisted next to the walkers. And the walkers would be more statik in the future anyway, as the rebuilding process will take a lot of time, and most of them would - as nahiri and sorin, would serve more or less as guardians of their homeworlds in the future (like Serra did in distant past). Koth now has neither home nor the possibility to wander in search for a new one... how dumb. Just that someone can build a Sarkhan commander deck? Really? They do know that Oathbreaker exists and more so that this characters are liked because they aren't just another legendary creture?
That's lousy and depressing. Just stupid "write around" and no actual deep fantasy story.
Indeed. I think that her ripping the whole Coliseum our of Sheoldred's realm and dropping it down would be a great ending for the character, going down in a blaze of glory. Instead we have the tormented soul going to became a vengeful protector of her plane for what...third time in a row?
Ntw, why there was no story yesterday? After the dumpster fire that the Aftermath set turned out to be, I hoped for more stories. Certainly there are more than two... right?
They have shown us very little in the set despite the teasing (ironically the most of the planes WE ARE GOING TO VISIT THIS YEAR ANYWAY), and with more of the teasing (you did not find what you wanted in the MOM story - then it might be resolved in the Aftermath story)...they better have some more to offer.
They don't. Two stories and two days of previews was all that was announced.
it was changed to a single day of previews because that leaker ruined everything for wotc
Regarding the lack of stories, I'm guessing Aftermath had a tiny advertising budget. (I believe MaRo has stated in the past that the online fiction is considered advertisement, and is paid for - either in money or employee work hours - out of their advertising budget.) Still, given the purpose of Aftermath, it's a huge disappointment. I would have much rather had a story that give us a series of brief cutaways showing the various worlds and people and how they were handling the post-Invasion.
Also - I might be reading too much into this, but MaRo had indicated in the past that the decision to make the main narrative characters be Planeswalkers (the impetus behind the Mending) was driven by their need to have marketable and identifiable reoccurring characters - their "Mickey Mouse", as MaRo put it. On Blogatog on Tuesday, MaRo was asked:
Quote from krinstranger » »
You've talked about planar portals as drawing attention away from the Planeswalkers that are a major focus of Magic. Now we have the Omenpaths. What changed?
And MaRo responded:
Quote from Mark Rosewater » »
Magic changed.
Am I reading too much into this, or is this tacit confirmation that the mass desparking was driven by the popularity of Commander and the de-emphasizing of Planeswalkers in favor of Legendary creatures?
For all you have done for the game we love.
Glen Angus, Magic Artist, 1970-2007 ; Richie Proffitt, MTG Salvation Mod (PolarBearGod), 1977-2008
Rest in Peace.
LRR and Rhystic studies at 12 minutes of the video revealed something
the wanderer lost her spark… merry christmas the wanderer and kamigawa fans shes cured and can finally stay on kamigawa now we wait till kaito finds her again.
Now on the modern kamigawa revist when it happens, I will legitmately be upset if we don't get a card/art/lore of the wanderer reuniting with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
and another thing
Elesh horn, urabrask, sheoldred, and jin gitaxias all truely dead………………but not vorinclex,
Vorinclex is getting repaired. They will stop at nothing at urabrask getting bad lore (he should have been the one rebuilt.)
but i will be on my guard though
Well for a real miss from lore hualti and saheeli likely lost their sparks as well from the thopteryx flavor text
I wonder if they tried to emulate Time Spiral with this, which also changed a lot. But the desparking that happened in Time Spiral was a direct consequence of individual actions the characters took, not just something that randomly happened to a bunch of walkers.
Anyway, I hope they do some interesting stuff with the planes now. Looking forward to seeing more of Eldraine, New Capenna, and even Ravnica (*gasp*). I'm not getting up my hopes too much, because branding dictates that most planes will more or less go back to what they were before. I hope they wait a few years until the next "big bad" shows up and do more small-scale storytelling for the time being. That works better with the current story format anyway.
If Path of the Enigma and the Nahiri story are any indication, I assume the next story arc is going to revolve around the suppression of interplanar travel.
I'm excited for New Capenna simply for its aesthetic. Love me some flapper girl styles.
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
1. While the obvious conclusion is that the mass desparking was some combination of Realmbreaker and the Cylex blast in the Blind Eternities (MaRo even named the former as the cause), I do wonder if the Nahiri story is pointing to the the fact that maybe the missing sparks were drawn away by the Blind Eternities as an attempt to repair itself, the same way the Mending required sparks to heal the rifts. If that is the case, it's possible the sparks weren't entirely expended, and can be found and reclaimed. Which would be an interesting set-up for the next big story line - what happened to the sparks, and where are they?
2. On a more pragmatic (cynical?) note, Planeswalker design space was clearly getting thin (at least for some characters) and with Commander emphasizing Legendary Creatures over Planeswalkers, this decision (for good or ill) allows WotC to print more (former) Planeswalkers as cards more often without all of the baggage of printing Planeswalker (the permanent type) cards.
3. Plus or minus Kaya and Elspeth, I almost expect WotC to decide that only Chandra, Jace, Garruk, Liliana, and Ajani retain their sparks, as a nod to them being the original "neowalkers".
4. I think even WotC realizes that some planes (*cough*Ravnica*cough*) were getting a bit stale as a setting, and the post-Invasion multiverse gives WotC an excuse (and yes, they never technically needed one because they write the narrative) to mix things up the next time we inevitably return to e.g., Dominaria, Innistrad, Zendikar, or Ravnica. I just hope we see the consequences for years to come, not just in the next Ixalan and Eldraine sets.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Let's say the missing sparks are out there somewhere in the multiverse, waiting to be found. That sounds like a solid story hook for a great many characters (heroes, villains, and all points beyond) that could be built out in many ways.
And what if those sparks could be found and gained by other people? We already know sparks can be transferred. (What happens if Bolas escapes the Meditation Plane, and learns that there are sparks out there, just waiting to be claimed...?)
EDIT: I do think it would be cute if we did have the Lorwyn 5 being some of the remaining planeswalkers.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
They created planeswalkers, only to despark them and build portals for everybody... how stupid. Some characters had nearly no screentime at all, bevor beeing depowered again - like Narset, Samut, Calix, ...
Some other characters are used over and over - like Nahiri. I really like her personally, but let the poor soul rest. She should have died during the Invasion of New Phyrexia in a final blast... but she got resurected as phyrexian, buried as such, survived again, ripped her metal parts out of her body - which is complete nonsense! She was compleated, so first of all she should be unconscious like Nissa and Ajani when Elesh Norn fell. Secondly you can't just tear phayrexia out of your body - because you body IS phyrexian. Third, she would bleed to death, given how the spikes on her shoulders and the blades on her arms were.
And even in this new story, she should have died from the fall... but no - we need her, because we don't have any other characters? And how can she know, what Ajani did to the gods? She wasn't there as Elesh gave him the task to do so, and noone told her on Zendikar, because it didn't matter during her invasion of Zendikar...
Ajani ist so out of character. He would talk to Elspeth - not search Nahiri. How could he find her anyway? And after her fall - he disappears? Why? He didn't even look if she survived?
And why the desparking? Normally, most planeswalkers die during this process. And it doesn't serve any purpose. I get, that the new omenpaths help wizard connect places and therefore make new exiting stories and sets. But planar portal aren't new and could have coexisted next to the walkers. And the walkers would be more statik in the future anyway, as the rebuilding process will take a lot of time, and most of them would - as nahiri and sorin, would serve more or less as guardians of their homeworlds in the future (like Serra did in distant past). Koth now has neither home nor the possibility to wander in search for a new one... how dumb. Just that someone can build a Sarkhan commander deck? Really? They do know that Oathbreaker exists and more so that this characters are liked because they aren't just another legendary creture?
That's lousy and depressing. Just stupid "write around" and no actual deep fantasy story.
For all you have done for the game we love.
Glen Angus, Magic Artist, 1970-2007 ; Richie Proffitt, MTG Salvation Mod (PolarBearGod), 1977-2008
Rest in Peace.
One moment he can dispatch a legion of angels with just a glance, the next, lol dis knife
|| 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 guess they could also do the "shipwrecked explorer" trope with him in Ixalan 2.0. They already did that with Jace though...
I did forget about Quintorius. And now that you bring it up, I could see WotC doing a riff on Journey to the Center of the Earth, with Quintorius as a lost explorer protagonist.
And a question for the lore-savvy - does the Phyrexian invasion mark the beginning of general awareness of the existence of the multiverse throughout the multiverse? Some worlds (e.g. Ravnica, Dominaria, Kaldheim) were already aware of other worlds, but my understanding has always been that the existence of the multiverse, like planeswalkers, was a secret known only to a select few on most worlds.
And if this is the beginning of mass awareness of the multiverse - any idea what some of the consequences could be?
Indeed. I think that her ripping the whole Coliseum our of Sheoldred's realm and dropping it down would be a great ending for the character, going down in a blaze of glory. Instead we have the tormented soul going to became a vengeful protector of her plane for what...third time in a row?
Ntw, why there was no story yesterday? After the dumpster fire that the Aftermath set turned out to be, I hoped for more stories. Certainly there are more than two... right?
They have shown us very little in the set despite the teasing (ironically the most of the planes WE ARE GOING TO VISIT THIS YEAR ANYWAY), and with more of the teasing (you did not find what you wanted in the MOM story - then it might be resolved in the Aftermath story)...they better have some more to offer.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
it was changed to a single day of previews because that leaker ruined everything for wotc
Regarding the lack of stories, I'm guessing Aftermath had a tiny advertising budget. (I believe MaRo has stated in the past that the online fiction is considered advertisement, and is paid for - either in money or employee work hours - out of their advertising budget.) Still, given the purpose of Aftermath, it's a huge disappointment. I would have much rather had a story that give us a series of brief cutaways showing the various worlds and people and how they were handling the post-Invasion.
Also - I might be reading too much into this, but MaRo had indicated in the past that the decision to make the main narrative characters be Planeswalkers (the impetus behind the Mending) was driven by their need to have marketable and identifiable reoccurring characters - their "Mickey Mouse", as MaRo put it. On Blogatog on Tuesday, MaRo was asked:
And MaRo responded:
Am I reading too much into this, or is this tacit confirmation that the mass desparking was driven by the popularity of Commander and the de-emphasizing of Planeswalkers in favor of Legendary creatures?
I am lost for words.
And Yawgmoth knows that not in a good way.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Magic changed.
:-(
For all you have done for the game we love.
Glen Angus, Magic Artist, 1970-2007 ; Richie Proffitt, MTG Salvation Mod (PolarBearGod), 1977-2008
Rest in Peace.
LRR and Rhystic studies at 12 minutes of the video revealed something
Now on the modern kamigawa revist when it happens, I will legitmately be upset if we don't get a card/art/lore of the wanderer reuniting with Yoshimaru, Ever Faithful
and another thing
Vorinclex is getting repaired. They will stop at nothing at urabrask getting bad lore (he should have been the one rebuilt.)