I have to admit I kinda agree with Tiro in principle. Not about Kaya specifically but about how planeswalkers are treated in the story.
Focusing on only one instance of planeswalker-environment interaction leads a bit to a distorted picture. In a vacuum planeswalkers being able to kill/overshadow/supplant native legendary creatures is fine. It's not a problem, but it happens again and again and again. If a certain pattern happens too often, it stops being a story event and starts being a way the narrative is approached by the authors. Even War of the Spark would have been fine, even though three of the guilds were usurped by extra-planar agents. In fact it would have served as a major contrast to the other stories and underline Nicol Bolas' influence. It could have served to enhance the story. Except stuff like this happens constantly. Even if the planeswalkers weren't necessarily the means to solve the story, like in Shadows over Innistrad, they still overshadowed everything and everyone else.
I think the main reason why I loved the Amonkhet storyline so much despite it being qualitatively kinda average was because for once the planeswalkers were more of a backdrop, only there to lead up to the next storyline, and the real drama was how the environment reacted to the plot.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Magic storytelling is best when it is environmental. It just doesn't lend itself well to character-centric storytelling, simply due to the game's own internal structure.
I understand why Magic does it. And the success seems to speak in their favour. But that does not make it a good approach to storytelling (which, fair, is only secondary to the game) and it also doesn't mean I have to like it.
Focusing on only one instance of planeswalker-environment interaction leads a bit to a distorted picture. In a vacuum planeswalkers being able to kill/overshadow/supplant native legendary creatures is fine. It's not a problem, but it happens again and again and again. If a certain pattern happens too often, it stops being a story event and starts being a way the narrative is approached by the authors. Even War of the Spark would have been fine, even though three of the guilds were usurped by extra-planar agents. In fact it would have served as a major contrast to the other stories and underline Nicol Bolas' influence. It could have served to enhance the story. Except stuff like this happens constantly. Even if the planeswalkers weren't necessarily the means to solve the story, like in Shadows over Innistrad, they still overshadowed everything and everyone else.
I think the main reason why I loved the Amonkhet storyline so much despite it being qualitatively kinda average was because for once the planeswalkers were more of a backdrop, only there to lead up to the next storyline, and the real drama was how the environment reacted to the plot.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Magic storytelling is best when it is environmental. It just doesn't lend itself well to character-centric storytelling, simply due to the game's own internal structure.
I understand why Magic does it. And the success seems to speak in their favour. But that does not make it a good approach to storytelling (which, fair, is only secondary to the game) and it also doesn't mean I have to like it.