As Helga said "the kings in the dark will return, The mage in blue will bring about the end".
Guessing Jace reality breaking lets the Fomori return/brought back to life, maybe due to Loots memories manifesting them. While "the kings in the dark will return" could be a number of things, again the story has seemed to be setting up the Fomori. Maybe be the next 4 sets have whomever our protagonists will be trying to undo whatever Jace broke, which could get rid of the fomori.
Also makes sense for Edge to be our next set, if Jace broke a part of reality I could see how the echo would hit The Edge.
I do think this will let Bolas slip out but I don't think hes the big bad of this arc. I think this will just let him be out and plotting something and keep that on the back burner for a future story arc.
i don't know how do you know the kings in the dark isn't reference to ugin and bolas
because The ending is that everyone has to run for it because the meditation realm is now falling apart like as if the eldrazi consumed enough on a plane
And plus tezzert is in the edge set, so he’s gonna have such a hissy fit when he learns that bolas is alive and likely has to go back to right hand man,
and bolas could find the aetherspark and harvest the spark from that to get his planeswalker status back
Though now I’m really intrigued to find out the eldrazi’s involvement in the edge since it looks like it’s the “the not so blind eternities” zone of “the blind eternites”
It would be funny if the unwinding of time at the Meditation Realm and elsewhere does in fact unleash the Fomori (e.g. a fearful Loot wishes for his birth parents back, Fomori stuff ensues), and then Nicol Bolas has to temporarily ally with the party to get rid of them. Who knows who those "kings in the dark" are at this rate...
Well for later in the lore, it will be interesting to see if the eldrazi’s will be related to this plot that Jace just started (which is now offically thee dumbest mistake he has ever made yet,) all because of refusing to accept what happened in the past to vraska and everyone kept telling him you can't do this even vraska said no, heck liliana almost went this route with gideon but she chose to accept that he’s gone.
“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"
bolas… has offically gotten his jailbreak so clearly he’s gonna work on getting his powers back and get another spark inside him, and after thwt he will probably try again on getting a god spark back/again.
and with Tezzert in “The Edge” we shall see if Bolas appears in The Edge as well and if he does boy tezzert is gonna be furious/have a temper tantrum that he finds out bolas is alive and now is probably gonna be forced to be back under his thumb
Bolas and Ugin are back, Sarkhan is likely dead (seems like he got swallowed by the storm like the dragons lords so they imo gives some room to leave him alive if they want too) and Jace is likely now a spirit human like Ugin is a spirit dragon. Seemly those who die in the Meditation Plane (and likely have a connection to it as Ugin did and how Jace was plugged into it when he died) become spirit beings.
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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"
In Episode 7, and hopefully this time we can actually keep the big plot points not already foreshadowed in previous episodes in spoiler tags...
Sarkhan continuously feels the dragon's heart he took into himself guilt-tripping him, but he cannot tell and he does not care whether it's merely his own guilt instead that's triggering him
Sarkhan feels both that the Tarkiri dragons now worship him and he "would not fail them" and he would do his best to "ensure that Tarkir was ruled by dragons again"
Sarkhan thinks the same change that happened to the Dragonstorms also changed its dragons' allegiance to follow someone like him
Sarkhan feels that the Dragonstorm temple is his only rival to control over Tarkir's dragons, then assaults it
The rest of the Meditation Realm collapses; Nicol Bolas and Ugin seemingly disappear
Elspeth carries Narset, Loot, and Vraska into the remaining Omenpath as the Meditation Realm collapses
Narset gives Loot to Vraska and then fights Sarkhan's dragon army with Elspeth
Ajani also heads off to fight the dragons and rescues Narset; Felothar takes Ajani there with an Abzan band of clan dragons
Narset presumes Sarkhan also used the Stormnexus Ritual to empower himself and that Taigam indeed gave its contents to him, but Sarkhan gave it someone else's (we know it's a dragon's) life instead of his own and that's how the Ritual got corrupted
Ajani retains sympathy for Sarkhan, who had been used by superiors before, but think he isn't behaving himself
The Abzan dragon eventually under Narset's command notably cracks, "I'll never hear the end of it from the ancestors when I see them." when suggested to that it can escape without the party, implying that clan dragon spirits also have afterlives and maybe even enter kin-trees
Ugin finally arrives in Tarkir, and just like some of the newest dragons in Sarkhan's command seem formless, Sarkhan suddenly looks formless next to Ugin
Ugin, along the lines of regretfully disciplining a very unruly child, severely burns Sarkhan with ghostfire, then Sarkhan dives into a Dragonstorm to end the pain
Ugin thinks to himself, "The Dragonstorms behave like whelps when I'm not there to keep them in line...I was remiss in my disciplining.", implying the Stormnexus Ritual amplifying the Dragonstorms may have just been the Dragonstorms realizing they no longer have their parent's supervision when the Ritual first got used
Ugin reveals that Nicol Bolas escaped
The end of the episode implies that the Meditation Realm eventually repairs itself enough to resurrect Jace in a scene very reminiscent of Ugin's resurrection as the Spirit Dragon
Loot notably basically doesn't change or reveal his Fomori alignment more fully in this episode - in fact, the word "Fomori" is not in this episode
EDIT: Personal speculation for how Nicol Bolas can get a spark back:
Nicol Bolas probably still remembers once ruling over Amonkhet. As much as the people of Amonkhet think they have escaped the God-Emperor's legacy...Amonkhet will likely be among the first planes Bolas checks on. And then Bolas will find out that Amonkhet has the Aetherspark.
Huh, Wizards was smarter than I thought in handing the Aetherspark to a seeming semi-backwater plane that would otherwise be sequestering that artifact to where the plot won't reach it. This is one of the only planes that Bolas will propel the storyline towards first-thing.
In Episode 7, and hopefully this time we can actually keep the big plot points not already foreshadowed in previous episodes in spoiler tags...
Sarkhan continuously feels the dragon's heart he took into himself guilt-tripping him, but he cannot tell and he does not care whether it's merely his own guilt instead that's triggering him
Sarkhan feels both that the Tarkiri dragons now worship him and he "would not fail them" and he would do his best to "ensure that Tarkir was ruled by dragons again"
Sarkhan thinks the same change that happened to the Dragonstorms also changed its dragons' allegiance to follow someone like him
Sarkhan feels that the Dragonstorm temple is his only rival to control over Tarkir's dragons, then assaults it
The rest of the Meditation Realm collapses; Nicol Bolas and Ugin seemingly disappear
Elspeth carries Narset, Loot, and Vraska into the remaining Omenpath as the Meditation Realm collapses
Narset gives Loot to Vraska and then fights Sarkhan's dragon army with Elspeth
Ajani also heads off to fight the dragons and rescues Narset; Felothar takes Ajani there with an Abzan band of clan dragons
Narset presumes Sarkhan also used the Stormnexus Ritual to empower himself and that Taigam indeed gave its contents to him, but Sarkhan gave it someone else's (we know it's a dragon's) life instead of his own and that's how the Ritual got corrupted
Ajani retains sympathy for Sarkhan, who had been used by superiors before, but think he isn't behaving himself
The Abzan dragon eventually under Narset's command notably cracks, "I'll never hear the end of it from the ancestors when I see them." when suggested to that it can escape without the party, implying that clan dragon spirits also have afterlives and maybe even enter kin-trees
Ugin finally arrives in Tarkir, and just like some of the newest dragons in Sarkhan's command seem formless, Sarkhan suddenly looks formless next to Ugin
Ugin, along the lines of regretfully disciplining a very unruly child, severely burns Sarkhan with ghostfire, then Sarkhan dives into a Dragonstorm to end the pain
Ugin thinks to himself, "The Dragonstorms behave like whelps when I'm not there to keep them in line...I was remiss in my disciplining.", implying the Stormnexus Ritual amplifying the Dragonstorms may have just been the Dragonstorms realizing they no longer have their parent's supervision when the Ritual first got used
Ugin reveals that Nicol Bolas escaped
The end of the episode implies that the Meditation Realm eventually repairs itself enough to resurrect Jace in a scene very reminiscent of Ugin's resurrection as the Spirit Dragon
Loot notably basically doesn't change or reveal his Fomori alignment more fully in this episode - in fact, the word "Fomori" is not in this episode
EDIT: Personal speculation for how Nicol Bolas can get a spark back:
Nicol Bolas probably still remembers once ruling over Amonkhet. As much as the people of Amonkhet think they have escaped the God-Emperor's legacy...Amonkhet will likely be among the first planes Bolas checks on. And then Bolas will find out that Amonkhet has the Aetherspark.
Huh, Wizards was smarter than I thought in handing the Aetherspark to a seeming semi-backwater plane that would otherwise be sequestering that artifact to where the plot won't reach it. This is one of the only planes that Bolas will propel the storyline towards first-thing.
thoughts on theory
oh yea seeing bolas escape I can easily guess he nabs the aetherspark and harvest the spark from it to get back to his planeswalker self back.
As a matter of fact the Chitin Court is probably gonna be his ticket of getting the aetherspark
I think it's a bit lame we see Bolas freed so soon again. It was how many arcs he was imprisoned? The phyrexian arc, so, one. Don't we have more villains we can use? What happened to Ob? Or the ominous voice in the Ozolith?
I kinda feel like we all knew Bolas would be back eventually when Ugin wouldn't allow him to be killed off at the end of War of the Spark.
Now that the Phyrexians have finally been dealt with (albeit ALSO in a manner that could allow them to return down the line), creative finally had the "Break glass in case of not having a BBEG" moment that was inevitably coming.
In Episode 7, and hopefully this time we can actually keep the big plot points not already foreshadowed in previous episodes in spoiler tags...
Spoiler tags are for leaks, unofficial info and when cards where shown before the story was all out. If you are in this thread there are open spoilers, frankly idk who would be coming in here who hasn't been reading the story. If you become a mod and wanna change this feel free.
I think it's a bit lame we see Bolas freed so soon again. It was how many arcs he was imprisoned? The phyrexian arc, so, one. Don't we have more villains we can use? What happened to Ob? Or the ominous voice in the Ozolith?
I'm hoping spirit Jace might still be the big bad, otherwise ya its lame to bring him back so soon.
I kinda feel like we all knew Bolas would be back eventually when Ugin wouldn't allow him to be killed off at the end of War of the Spark.
Now that the Phyrexians have finally been dealt with (albeit ALSO in a manner that could allow them to return down the line), creative finally had the "Break glass in case of not having a BBEG" moment that was inevitably coming.
I don't mind Bolas being back I just think its too soon. And its a shame since as Flisch said they have other villains we could have some focus on before bring back Bolas.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I don't mind Bolas being back I just think its too soon. And its a shame since as Flisch said they have other villains we could have some focus on before bring back Bolas.
I tend to agree. Valgavoth honestly had some potential to be an interesting recurring baddie or BBEG, but evidently they just wanted to string him out long enough to be mentioned in the Death Race set.
I don't mind Bolas being back I just think its too soon. And its a shame since as Flisch said they have other villains we could have some focus on before bring back Bolas.
I tend to agree. Valgavoth honestly had some potential to be an interesting recurring baddie or BBEG, but evidently they just wanted to string him out long enough to be mentioned in the Death Race set.
I'm guessing they wanted to wait and see the reaction to valgavoth and Duskmourn first. Considering atm it looks like both went over well I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't get valgavoth as a big bad for an arc.
And I think that is where a bit of my disappoint lies. The big bads we had where all set up 2008 and just got wrapped up in 2023, it would be nice to have something new for a bit. And I felt like they where setting up some interesting character for big bads; Rowans villain turn, Okos gang feeling like the spiritual successor to the gatewatch as our Legion of Doom, Jace plan here (which overall I do like in a lot of ways), both the Mycotyrant and Aclazotz from Ixalan now more dangerous with access to omenpaths and valgavoth (and Winter as his "avatar".
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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"
At this rate, Tarkir's old dragonlords aren't dead, either. At least Narset feels outright conflicted about Ojutai and Taigam remains even more loyal - imagine how the other dragonlords would react to their charges (Kolaghan would be the kindest in practice, Dromoka is flipping a lid).
I don't mind Bolas being back I just think its too soon. And its a shame since as Flisch said they have other villains we could have some focus on before bring back Bolas.
I tend to agree. Valgavoth honestly had some potential to be an interesting recurring baddie or BBEG, but evidently they just wanted to string him out long enough to be mentioned in the Death Race set.
I'm guessing they wanted to wait and see the reaction to valgavoth and Duskmourn first. Considering atm it looks like both went over well I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't get valgavoth as a big bad for an arc.
And I think that is where a bit of my disappoint lies. The big bads we had where all set up 2008 and just got wrapped up in 2023, it would be nice to have something new for a bit. And I felt like they where setting up some interesting character for big bads; Rowans villain turn, Okos gang feeling like the spiritual successor to the gatewatch as our Legion of Doom, Jace plan here (which overall I do like in a lot of ways), both the Mycotyrant and Aclazotz from Ixalan now more dangerous with access to omenpaths and valgavoth (and Winter as his "avatar".
Of these, I think only Jace, Valgavoth, and the Mycotyrant work as multiverse-spanning big bads (the Mycotyrant needs to get a move on to make a more convincing big bad, IMO, but hiding in plain sight is to its/his/their advantage).
Rowan needs serious help to reach enough planes, and I feel she'll concentrate her entire attention on Eldraine and then not bother to go any further. Whatever gang Oko can rustle up feels like an Ocean's Eleven group, and any of that group that sticks together after the initial heist (e.g. Rakdos and Tinybones given the choice) are only sticking together because they want to do something together that is not crime. Looks like Aclazotz escaped to Ixalan's surface, but Aclazotz still has unfinished business with Chimil and will concentrate too hard on Ixalan.
Huh? I'm confused by that statement, because to me the text was very clear that Sarkhan died:
Ugin parted his great maw. The ghostfire pouring out had neither color nor heat, but Sarkhan screamed as it enveloped him. Narset could only watch as he thrashed in the air, unable to escape the fire, his scales burning to pink muscle, to black char. With a howl, Sarkhan dove through the storm, and then, it was done.
His scales were burned off his body and then his muscles were burned to black coals. And at the end it says "it was done". What is "it" referring to if not Ugin incinerating Sarkhan???
Like the problem with the text wasn't ambiguity, but rather lack of it in the wrong direction.
Re villains:
I'm most interested in seeing Ob as a villain. He's a pretty interesting blend of a standard villain, but also has an interesting side in that he doesn't want to rule, he just wants to conquer and then destroy. It's a very different take from Bolas, but also from purely chaotic villains that only want to destroy.
Valgavoth I'm not sure about. The whole idea about Duskmourn doesn't really work for me. The setting as a whole is just too dysfunctional for me to register Valgavoth as anything that exists.
Oko's gang could be a fun ambiguous group sometimes serving as a villain and sometimes helping the heroes, like an antihero sort of. Unfortunately I dislike using existing characters that have no business being part of a gang, like Rakdos or Vraska. Yes, Vraska did have a motive, which she kept from Oko, but that isn't a longterm motivation for staying in the group. It would be more interesting if he collected new characters but from existing worlds. Like he has the Kamigawan lockpick, the Ravnican troll muscle, the Gastal escape driver, the Bloomburrow raccoon comedic relief. You know, let them be their own characters instead of just "Hey, remember Rakdos? He's a petty criminal now, isn't that cool?!". Then I think I might even like the idea.
Mycotyrant has the problem that it works a little bit like Phyrexia, in the sense that it physically and mentally corrupts beings into a hivemind. You can probably make it work, but it requires some conscious effort to keep the two feeling distinct. Don't get me wrong I love this type of villain. Maybe the Mycotyrant could become more like the Zerg and less like the Borg.
One thing that unsettles me in terms of what Tarkir mysteriously isn't doing anymore is the complete lack of Morph in Tarkir this time around. Tarkir had semi-ghostfire Morph balls in Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir, and no storyline explanation was given for why Tarkir, all 5 clans, quit using them completely in this set - not even a nod to wanting to wash their hands completely of "the dragons' magic" or something like that (admittedly, I get the sense that the Abzan had the strongest and most enduring anti-dragon rebellion going by fairly far, what with Anafenza already successfully becoming an outlawed kin-tree spirit in Dragons of Tarkir). I get that throwing a set with Morph into a Standard with Disguise, Cloak, and Manifest (Dread) will produce headaches, but shouldn't we get a better explanation for why Tarkir quit using Morph balls cold turkey (a la the stories and Saga we got for the Orochi design changes between Kamigawa sets)?
Huh? I'm confused by that statement, because to me the text was very clear that Sarkhan died:
Ugin parted his great maw. The ghostfire pouring out had neither color nor heat, but Sarkhan screamed as it enveloped him. Narset could only watch as he thrashed in the air, unable to escape the fire, his scales burning to pink muscle, to black char. With a howl, Sarkhan dove through the storm, and then, it was done.
His scales were burned off his body and then his muscles were burned to black coals. And at the end it says "it was done". What is "it" referring to if not Ugin incinerating Sarkhan???
Like the problem with the text wasn't ambiguity, but rather lack of it in the wrong direction.
"It was done" is the battle. Ugin hurt Sarkhan enough that Sarkhan ran off so the battle ended.
Personally I read it Sarkhan got swallowed up by the dragons storms similar to the dragonlords.
Valgavoth I'm not sure about. The whole idea about Duskmourn doesn't really work for me. The setting as a whole is just too dysfunctional for me to register Valgavoth as anything that exists.
With how the story has it set up imo Valgavoth is easly as dangerous as any of the other big bads. You'd have the house growing into other planes and having the planes people trying to figure out how to stop or push it back. You also don't even need a full set of Duskmourn to do this as it could just be an aspect of the set similar to Aetherdrift.
Oko's gang could be a fun ambiguous group sometimes serving as a villain and sometimes helping the heroes, like an antihero sort of. Unfortunately I dislike using existing characters that have no business being part of a gang, like Rakdos or Vraska. Yes, Vraska did have a motive, which she kept from Oko, but that isn't a longterm motivation for staying in the group. It would be more interesting if he collected new characters but from existing worlds. Like he has the Kamigawan lockpick, the Ravnican troll muscle, the Gastal escape driver, the Bloomburrow raccoon comedic relief. You know, let them be their own characters instead of just "Hey, remember Rakdos? He's a petty criminal now, isn't that cool?!". Then I think I might even like the idea.
I disagree about the Rakdos stuff but I said my bit in OJT and I don't really rehash something in this thread. That said I think the group being ever changing but with a few core people would be neat and yes for them playing into sometimes antagonists sometimes anti-heroes. And ya I doubt Vraska, Breeches and Malcom would come back and neither would Annie or Kellan, so you have a few more spots. Oko, Eriette, the Innistradi twins and Tiny bones would be my core cast with maybe Rowan added in and a few (new character or known ones) joining up.
Person I wouldn't be shocked if Oko and some of his gang show up again in the capstone set if spirit Jace is still the antagonist for the arc (creative team memebers on social media have been keeping ambiguous what the arc is still and kinda done a "ooohhh we did leave a few open threads didn't we?" for the moment) to get revenge on him.
Mycotyrant has the problem that it works a little bit like Phyrexia, in the sense that it physically and mentally corrupts beings into a hivemind. You can probably make it work, but it requires some conscious effort to keep the two feeling distinct. Don't get me wrong I love this type of villain. Maybe the Mycotyrant could become more like the Zerg and less like the Borg.
I see the Mycotyrant as a more traditional hive mind (where they all share a mind) vs phyrexia where some figures retain a personality or the planeswalkers whose personalities where wrapped to fit phyrexia.
One thing that unsettles me in terms of what Tarkir mysteriously isn't doing anymore is the complete lack of Morph in Tarkir this time around. Tarkir had semi-ghostfire Morph balls in Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir, and no storyline explanation was given for why Tarkir, all 5 clans, quit using them completely in this set - not even a nod to wanting to wash their hands completely of "the dragons' magic" or something like that (admittedly, I get the sense that the Abzan had the strongest and most enduring anti-dragon rebellion going by fairly far, what with Anafenza already successfully becoming an outlawed kin-tree spirit in Dragons of Tarkir). I get that throwing a set with Morph into a Standard with Disguise, Cloak, and Manifest (Dread) will produce headaches, but shouldn't we get a better explanation for why Tarkir quit using Morph balls cold turkey (a la the stories and Saga we got for the Orochi design changes between Kamigawa sets)?
In the ghost fire frames? You can see them using the spirit dragon magic that represented morph stuff. Tho looking back thru the lore that was rarely brought up outside of "Ugin taugh the clans some stealth magics" so def more a card thing then something the lore ever really digged into.
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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"
One thing that unsettles me in terms of what Tarkir mysteriously isn't doing anymore is the complete lack of Morph in Tarkir this time around. Tarkir had semi-ghostfire Morph balls in Fate Reforged and Dragons of Tarkir, and no storyline explanation was given for why Tarkir, all 5 clans, quit using them completely in this set - not even a nod to wanting to wash their hands completely of "the dragons' magic" or something like that (admittedly, I get the sense that the Abzan had the strongest and most enduring anti-dragon rebellion going by fairly far, what with Anafenza already successfully becoming an outlawed kin-tree spirit in Dragons of Tarkir). I get that throwing a set with Morph into a Standard with Disguise, Cloak, and Manifest (Dread) will produce headaches, but shouldn't we get a better explanation for why Tarkir quit using Morph balls cold turkey (a la the stories and Saga we got for the Orochi design changes between Kamigawa sets)?
There was simply too much going on mechanically in Tarkir. There's not much more to that. Also, morph and its variants have never been particularly well integrated into the lore, as 5colors mentioned. Any tie in to the lore was just the barest of lip-service being paid. "Ixidor's dream magic spreads across Dominaria or sth." or "Ugin taught the non-dragons some of his magic to give them an edge." Because being a 2/2 is super advantageous against a dragon, y'know.
Also personally I hope they never bring back morph, now that we have manifest, which is doing all the things morph does (in terms of intent) but better and is more flexible. But morph is apparently very popular because of Exalted Angel so whatever I guess. (Has there ever been a powerful manifest card?)
Looking at the spoiled cards, I realized I have quite a problem to distinguish Sultai from Abzan, especially on cards like Dusyut Earthcarver, depicting them in forest instead of steppe/desert. Both clans use gold, green and violet, with Sultai leaning a bit to blue. But see below - these cards have totally the same color palette, yet one is Abzan and the other Sultai. This is a fail in my book.
That said, I have no problems with the "glow-up" of the clans. Khans era Tarkir was a dying world with scarce resources that has been stripped of dragonstorms, the source of its vitality. Here it is not, it pretty much have the opposite problem, so the more lively clans are logical.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Yeah, I'm not big on the visual direction of some of the clans. The Temur are mainly green with some blue/purple tones as well.
I have to admit I'm confused about some of the clans ideologies and themes. Like, I don't mind turning the clans into more complex societies and expanding the Sultai beyond the backstabbing caste (which was only ever implied in Khans, but never shown) makes a lot of sense, but it's a bit weird how much the Sultai have gotten rid of their backstabbing ways. BLACK-green-blue is like the prime color combination for darwinian politics. black-green is all about survival and pragmatism and blue-black is about perfection and power through knowledge. Putting these together would result in a society that is most concerned about being on top. And Teval passes judgement? Seems more white/red than anything else, which is funny because those colors are explicitly missing from the Sultai.
Also not a fan of the Sultai doing kinda the same thing as Amonkhet now does with the whole "revered dead". Why do the same thing back to back? Also using "slave" sibsig would have still worked with the new Sultai ideology if the mind of the dead person isn't brought back. Basically you let the soul rest and only use the body as it's just a tool and nothing more. Would also nicely contrast the Sultai use of necromancy with that of the Abzan and further highlight their lack of emotional attachment to dead bodies (since they're lacking red and white, see).
I do think it is cool that they are focusing on the central color of the wedge this time to guide the clan identities than in the original Tarkir set where they focused on just the first color, which was a design mistake imo. So it makes sense for things like the Abzan getting more ambitious since Black is its core wedge color as opposed to being the White focused clan like in OG Tarkir. Same for the shift with Temur to Blue and Sultai to Green, those are their core wedge colors and we are seeing the clans embrace them both in the stories and in card designs. This is why the Temur land is the one with a Blue land with an uncounterable ability and the Sultai get a Green land that Scries. It is nice to see the Wedges get this update, we saw a little bit of it in Ikoria when Creative refocused the Wedges. I feel this time will be even better for solidifying Wedge identities similar to the Shards.
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i don't know how do you know the kings in the dark isn't reference to ugin and bolas
because The ending is that everyone has to run for it because the meditation realm is now falling apart like as if the eldrazi consumed enough on a plane
And plus tezzert is in the edge set, so he’s gonna have such a hissy fit when he learns that bolas is alive and likely has to go back to right hand man,
and bolas could find the aetherspark and harvest the spark from that to get his planeswalker status back
Though now I’m really intrigued to find out the eldrazi’s involvement in the edge since it looks like it’s the “the not so blind eternities” zone of “the blind eternites”
Tarkir: Dragonstorm | Episode 7: Return by Cassandra Khaw
https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/tarkir-dragonstorm-episode-7-return
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
as of episode 7
Ugin and bolas are offically……back
bolas… has offically gotten his jailbreak so clearly he’s gonna work on getting his powers back and get another spark inside him, and after thwt he will probably try again on getting a god spark back/again.
and with Tezzert in “The Edge” we shall see if Bolas appears in The Edge as well and if he does boy tezzert is gonna be furious/have a temper tantrum that he finds out bolas is alive and now is probably gonna be forced to be back under his thumb
Sarkhan……… is now dead
Ugin incinerated him with Ghostfire
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
EDIT: Personal speculation for how Nicol Bolas can get a spark back:
Nicol Bolas probably still remembers once ruling over Amonkhet. As much as the people of Amonkhet think they have escaped the God-Emperor's legacy...Amonkhet will likely be among the first planes Bolas checks on. And then Bolas will find out that Amonkhet has the Aetherspark.
Huh, Wizards was smarter than I thought in handing the Aetherspark to a seeming semi-backwater plane that would otherwise be sequestering that artifact to where the plot won't reach it. This is one of the only planes that Bolas will propel the storyline towards first-thing.
thoughts on theory
As a matter of fact the Chitin Court is probably gonna be his ticket of getting the aetherspark
Now that the Phyrexians have finally been dealt with (albeit ALSO in a manner that could allow them to return down the line), creative finally had the "Break glass in case of not having a BBEG" moment that was inevitably coming.
Spoiler tags are for leaks, unofficial info and when cards where shown before the story was all out. If you are in this thread there are open spoilers, frankly idk who would be coming in here who hasn't been reading the story. If you become a mod and wanna change this feel free.
I'm hoping spirit Jace might still be the big bad, otherwise ya its lame to bring him back so soon.
I don't mind Bolas being back I just think its too soon. And its a shame since as Flisch said they have other villains we could have some focus on before bring back Bolas.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
I tend to agree. Valgavoth honestly had some potential to be an interesting recurring baddie or BBEG, but evidently they just wanted to string him out long enough to be mentioned in the Death Race set.
but You got to remember is nicol bolas is pretty much Magic the gatherings darth Vader of popular villians
but I’m sure we will see Valgavoth again he’s potential for a phyrexian/eldrazi/bolas level villains
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKFQ7Q38/ a book based on Lusitanian Mythology
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DKFQ7Q38/ a book based on Lusitanian Mythology
I'm guessing they wanted to wait and see the reaction to valgavoth and Duskmourn first. Considering atm it looks like both went over well I wouldn't be shocked if we didn't get valgavoth as a big bad for an arc.
And I think that is where a bit of my disappoint lies. The big bads we had where all set up 2008 and just got wrapped up in 2023, it would be nice to have something new for a bit. And I felt like they where setting up some interesting character for big bads; Rowans villain turn, Okos gang feeling like the spiritual successor to the gatewatch as our Legion of Doom, Jace plan here (which overall I do like in a lot of ways), both the Mycotyrant and Aclazotz from Ixalan now more dangerous with access to omenpaths and valgavoth (and Winter as his "avatar".
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
At this rate, Tarkir's old dragonlords aren't dead, either. At least Narset feels outright conflicted about Ojutai and Taigam remains even more loyal - imagine how the other dragonlords would react to their charges (Kolaghan would be the kindest in practice, Dromoka is flipping a lid).
Of these, I think only Jace, Valgavoth, and the Mycotyrant work as multiverse-spanning big bads (the Mycotyrant needs to get a move on to make a more convincing big bad, IMO, but hiding in plain sight is to its/his/their advantage).
Rowan needs serious help to reach enough planes, and I feel she'll concentrate her entire attention on Eldraine and then not bother to go any further. Whatever gang Oko can rustle up feels like an Ocean's Eleven group, and any of that group that sticks together after the initial heist (e.g. Rakdos and Tinybones given the choice) are only sticking together because they want to do something together that is not crime. Looks like Aclazotz escaped to Ixalan's surface, but Aclazotz still has unfinished business with Chimil and will concentrate too hard on Ixalan.
Huh? I'm confused by that statement, because to me the text was very clear that Sarkhan died:
His scales were burned off his body and then his muscles were burned to black coals. And at the end it says "it was done". What is "it" referring to if not Ugin incinerating Sarkhan???
Like the problem with the text wasn't ambiguity, but rather lack of it in the wrong direction.
Re villains:
I'm most interested in seeing Ob as a villain. He's a pretty interesting blend of a standard villain, but also has an interesting side in that he doesn't want to rule, he just wants to conquer and then destroy. It's a very different take from Bolas, but also from purely chaotic villains that only want to destroy.
Valgavoth I'm not sure about. The whole idea about Duskmourn doesn't really work for me. The setting as a whole is just too dysfunctional for me to register Valgavoth as anything that exists.
Oko's gang could be a fun ambiguous group sometimes serving as a villain and sometimes helping the heroes, like an antihero sort of. Unfortunately I dislike using existing characters that have no business being part of a gang, like Rakdos or Vraska. Yes, Vraska did have a motive, which she kept from Oko, but that isn't a longterm motivation for staying in the group. It would be more interesting if he collected new characters but from existing worlds. Like he has the Kamigawan lockpick, the Ravnican troll muscle, the Gastal escape driver,
the Bloomburrow raccoon comedic relief. You know, let them be their own characters instead of just "Hey, remember Rakdos? He's a petty criminal now, isn't that cool?!". Then I think I might even like the idea.Mycotyrant has the problem that it works a little bit like Phyrexia, in the sense that it physically and mentally corrupts beings into a hivemind. You can probably make it work, but it requires some conscious effort to keep the two feeling distinct. Don't get me wrong I love this type of villain. Maybe the Mycotyrant could become more like the Zerg and less like the Borg.
"It was done" is the battle. Ugin hurt Sarkhan enough that Sarkhan ran off so the battle ended.
Personally I read it Sarkhan got swallowed up by the dragons storms similar to the dragonlords.
With how the story has it set up imo Valgavoth is easly as dangerous as any of the other big bads. You'd have the house growing into other planes and having the planes people trying to figure out how to stop or push it back. You also don't even need a full set of Duskmourn to do this as it could just be an aspect of the set similar to Aetherdrift.
I disagree about the Rakdos stuff but I said my bit in OJT and I don't really rehash something in this thread. That said I think the group being ever changing but with a few core people would be neat and yes for them playing into sometimes antagonists sometimes anti-heroes. And ya I doubt Vraska, Breeches and Malcom would come back and neither would Annie or Kellan, so you have a few more spots. Oko, Eriette, the Innistradi twins and Tiny bones would be my core cast with maybe Rowan added in and a few (new character or known ones) joining up.
Person I wouldn't be shocked if Oko and some of his gang show up again in the capstone set if spirit Jace is still the antagonist for the arc (creative team memebers on social media have been keeping ambiguous what the arc is still and kinda done a "ooohhh we did leave a few open threads didn't we?" for the moment) to get revenge on him.
I see the Mycotyrant as a more traditional hive mind (where they all share a mind) vs phyrexia where some figures retain a personality or the planeswalkers whose personalities where wrapped to fit phyrexia.
In the ghost fire frames? You can see them using the spirit dragon magic that represented morph stuff. Tho looking back thru the lore that was rarely brought up outside of "Ugin taugh the clans some stealth magics" so def more a card thing then something the lore ever really digged into.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
There was simply too much going on mechanically in Tarkir. There's not much more to that. Also, morph and its variants have never been particularly well integrated into the lore, as 5colors mentioned. Any tie in to the lore was just the barest of lip-service being paid. "Ixidor's dream magic spreads across Dominaria or sth." or "Ugin taught the non-dragons some of his magic to give them an edge." Because being a 2/2 is super advantageous against a dragon, y'know.
Also personally I hope they never bring back morph, now that we have manifest, which is doing all the things morph does (in terms of intent) but better and is more flexible. But morph is apparently very popular because of Exalted Angel so whatever I guess. (Has there ever been a powerful manifest card?)
That said, I have no problems with the "glow-up" of the clans. Khans era Tarkir was a dying world with scarce resources that has been stripped of dragonstorms, the source of its vitality. Here it is not, it pretty much have the opposite problem, so the more lively clans are logical.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I have to admit I'm confused about some of the clans ideologies and themes. Like, I don't mind turning the clans into more complex societies and expanding the Sultai beyond the backstabbing caste (which was only ever implied in Khans, but never shown) makes a lot of sense, but it's a bit weird how much the Sultai have gotten rid of their backstabbing ways. BLACK-green-blue is like the prime color combination for darwinian politics. black-green is all about survival and pragmatism and blue-black is about perfection and power through knowledge. Putting these together would result in a society that is most concerned about being on top. And Teval passes judgement? Seems more white/red than anything else, which is funny because those colors are explicitly missing from the Sultai.
Also not a fan of the Sultai doing kinda the same thing as Amonkhet now does with the whole "revered dead". Why do the same thing back to back? Also using "slave" sibsig would have still worked with the new Sultai ideology if the mind of the dead person isn't brought back. Basically you let the soul rest and only use the body as it's just a tool and nothing more. Would also nicely contrast the Sultai use of necromancy with that of the Abzan and further highlight their lack of emotional attachment to dead bodies (since they're lacking red and white, see).
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)