With the caveat that I haven't read the novel yet, I actually quite like the story elements that led to Bolas's downfall - Liliana choosing to go willingly to death rather than be at Bolas's command for the rest of her existence, and Gideon choosing to sacrifice himself to free Liliana from that end. The first he may have been expected to anticipate as a possibility, but the second, and especially the combination of the two, maybe less so. Both are choices outside of Bolas's way of thinking, and he was pretty confident he knew Liliana inside out. Everyone decrying this as 'Oh, Bolas is meant to be *so* smart, he should have anticipated everything' are, I think, overplaying his ability to empathise with those who hold different values and do things very differently to him. In his defence, he did at least anticipate that Gideon would attempt something heroic with the Blackblade, but what Gideon did next was too far outside of Bolas's ability to comprehend. B villains tend to sneer at W's propensity for self-sacrifice and think they can just manipulate it as a tool, but sometimes they misjudge just how potent it can be.
With the caveat that I haven't read the novel yet, I actually quite like the story elements that led to Bolas's downfall - Liliana choosing to go willingly to death rather than be at Bolas's command for the rest of her existence, and Gideon choosing to sacrifice himself to free Liliana from that end. The first he may have been expected to anticipate as a possibility, but the second, and especially the combination of the two, maybe less so. Both are choices outside of Bolas's way of thinking, and he was pretty confident he knew Liliana inside out. Everyone decrying this as 'Oh, Bolas is meant to be *so* smart, he should have anticipated everything' are, I think, overplaying his ability to empathise with those who hold different values and do things very differently to him. In his defence, he did at least anticipate that Gideon would attempt something heroic with the Blackblade, but what Gideon did next was too far outside of Bolas's ability to comprehend.
Entirely on point, my friend. That was very good.
I haven't read the novel either, but from looking at the cards we also see that Bolas loses his gem, probably when Liliana attacks it in "Finale of Eternity," and "Finale of Revelation" suggests Ugin discovers it has something important to do with Bolas's power.
I've seen a couple posts scoff that Bolas's gem was just sitting there between his horns to be destroyed, but really, the fact that the gem was at all significant to defeating him, and that Lily should risk using the Chain Veil again to target it, is new knowledge for the characters, and must have been revealed to Liliana by Ugin once he found out. And likely, nothing less powerful than the Chain Veil could have destroyed it.
None of the characters realized it was that important - it's not like it was stamped with a "WEAK SPOT, ATTACK HERE!" label. (Some story fans suspected it was crucial for Bolas's power, including myself, but after the Core 2019 story neglected to explain its origin and significance, I dismissed those old theories about the gem and decided it must not be important after all. Though it had once been central to my own speculations on Bolas's future, I had honestly forgotten about it until just this week).
If I were Liliana, then without Ugin explaining the gem to me, I would not have thought to attack it either and would probably have just attacked Bolas's face.
I wonder, if Ugin had not been around behind the scenes, how would this story have ended?
The main reason this story is so bad isn't because Bolas fell. It's because he fell to such a forced technicality after being a literal genius for years to set all this up. He literally controlled planes and Planeswalkers. No one even comes close to the power he awoken in himself. Yeah he's ruthless and selfish, but he gets ***** done. There was hardly a war. It was all building up for a soft ending. Hell we have more Planeswalkers than we did when we started this set. If Bolas was as really as smart and bad as these writers built him up to be for like several years and sets, it should have been more difficult and bloody to bring him down.
But nah, Lily feels bad for all her sins, turns the army BOLAS GAVE HER, Ugin appears (Karn could sense Ugin but NOT HIS TWIN BROTHER) to point at the egg, and whatever else story line they made up because they need to sell more cards.
Heh at 'they need to sell more cards'. Of course they do. Magic is principally a card game, and everything about it is always going to be driven by this fact. Expecting it to provide award-winning fantasy story content is a recipe for disappointment. All things considered, I don't think this arc's been too bad (SOI/EMN aside).
True, having expectations for a Magic Story is a little hopeful to say the least.
Oh wait that might have been true BEFORE they created a Lore team to tighten things up and BEFORE they brought in PROFFESSIONAL writers to actually make this a supposed good story.
So after they told us about this overhaul to the way Story/Lore was to be done, having higher expectations for a story to end a ten year arc doesnt seem unreasonable. I think we can be justifiably let down a bit after what we get seems to be the same lazy predictable hole laden terrible fan fiction that we ended up with here.
I WAS really pumped. I guess I should just give up on the story then? I shouldnt expect anything but crap? Sad but true I guess. Oh well. At least the Cards are good.
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There is a spot between the two ends of the scale you know? Pretty good, but not ground-breaking is about where I'd expect. And subjectively, I don't think this was bad. Certainly not 'lazy predictable hole laden terrible fan fiction'. *And* I haven't read Greg Weisman's story yet. Brandon Sanderson's tale for Davriel was great. I think the overall story is bound to be patchy, because actually, writing an entirely internally consistent fantasy fiction is a hard enough job for one excellent, dedicated, professional author. Managing it amongst a creative team of varying degrees of ability, all whilst tying it in to a card game whose needs trump those of the story when necessary, is near enough impossible.
ETA: And I'm saying this as someone who utterly detested the SOI/EMN story, so it's not like I'm a complete suck-up to the creative team. This one I'd give maybe 6 to 6.5/10, which is better than I think Magic's story has been at times, and not bad for a bolt-on to a card game.
When judging the story, you also have to consider the professional authors that were brought in again later on had to deal with a lot of the baggage from previous block/set story lines. Even a professional can only do so much to completely turn a story around, especially when its not the main focus of the product. The end of the "Bolas storyline" may not be the most satisfying, but imo there were some clear improvements and I'd rather have it end here and be a little disappointed than follow it for another three years or so and have a "proper finale" (that may not turn out to be as great as anticipated anyway).
The story was rather enjoyable for me, as they revealed it through spoilers little by little .. but the mood was a bit ruined when Planar celebration was leaked. Although all in all, it was still a fun ride. The unexpected sacrifice of Gideon to save Lily from her doom surprised me as well. My score on enjoyment for WAR is a 7/10 - it should have been 6/10, but bumped to 7/10 because Domri died.
B villains tend to sneer at W's propensity for self-sacrifice and think they can just manipulate it as a tool, but sometimes they misjudge just how potent it can be.
Entirely on point, my friend. That was very good.
I haven't read the novel either, but from looking at the cards we also see that Bolas loses his gem, probably when Liliana attacks it in "Finale of Eternity," and "Finale of Revelation" suggests Ugin discovers it has something important to do with Bolas's power.
I've seen a couple posts scoff that Bolas's gem was just sitting there between his horns to be destroyed, but really, the fact that the gem was at all significant to defeating him, and that Lily should risk using the Chain Veil again to target it, is new knowledge for the characters, and must have been revealed to Liliana by Ugin once he found out. And likely, nothing less powerful than the Chain Veil could have destroyed it.
None of the characters realized it was that important - it's not like it was stamped with a "WEAK SPOT, ATTACK HERE!" label. (Some story fans suspected it was crucial for Bolas's power, including myself, but after the Core 2019 story neglected to explain its origin and significance, I dismissed those old theories about the gem and decided it must not be important after all. Though it had once been central to my own speculations on Bolas's future, I had honestly forgotten about it until just this week).
If I were Liliana, then without Ugin explaining the gem to me, I would not have thought to attack it either and would probably have just attacked Bolas's face.
I wonder, if Ugin had not been around behind the scenes, how would this story have ended?
That is literally the saddest, most flaccid-looking Bolas I've ever seen.
But nah, Lily feels bad for all her sins, turns the army BOLAS GAVE HER, Ugin appears (Karn could sense Ugin but NOT HIS TWIN BROTHER) to point at the egg, and whatever else story line they made up because they need to sell more cards.
Oh wait that might have been true BEFORE they created a Lore team to tighten things up and BEFORE they brought in PROFFESSIONAL writers to actually make this a supposed good story.
So after they told us about this overhaul to the way Story/Lore was to be done, having higher expectations for a story to end a ten year arc doesnt seem unreasonable. I think we can be justifiably let down a bit after what we get seems to be the same lazy predictable hole laden terrible fan fiction that we ended up with here.
I WAS really pumped. I guess I should just give up on the story then? I shouldnt expect anything but crap? Sad but true I guess. Oh well. At least the Cards are good.
ETA: And I'm saying this as someone who utterly detested the SOI/EMN story, so it's not like I'm a complete suck-up to the creative team. This one I'd give maybe 6 to 6.5/10, which is better than I think Magic's story has been at times, and not bad for a bolt-on to a card game.
I was being a little hyperbolic but just dissapointment is still with me.
;:: Funny thing is I actually liked the way EMN ended with Emrakuls self sealing.
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