For those of you who care about this terrible story, the new Kaladesh campaign mode for Magic Duels adumbrates the general plot.
Dovin Baan turns out to be in league with Tezzeret, and together they twirl their moustaches and mwhahaha, and then kidnap Pia. Chandra gets mad as hell, and burns stuff. Tezzeret could easily kill Pia, but instead he twirls his moustache some more, and devises a long-winded plot to have Pia killed in the arena by one of his artifact creations. Then the Gatewatch arrive, combine their powers, and save the day. Tezzeret flees, waving his fist and screaming "I would have got away with it if it weren't for you pesky kids!"
And that's it.
Well isn't that disappointing, although I can't say it's entirely unexpected. I'm hoping there's more to it than that, but honestly, I'm far more interested in what this story sets up, than the story itself. The arrival of Ajani, the introduction and investment of the rest of the Gatewatch in Tezzeret (and by extension, Nicol Bolas), and the confirmation of Amonkhet being next, that's the block story I'm waiting on. Don't get me wrong, Kaladesh is a wonderful world, but when the only reason the group of protagonists show up at all is because one of them decides to go there on an unexplained whim, I can't shake the feeling that the entire block will amount to nothing more than a big plot device.
On another note, I find it funny you chose to characterize Tezzeret's fleeing remarks like that, I always found it odd and a little bizarre that the Gatewatch ran their group like the Scooby-Doo detective agency. I'm really banking on Aether Revolt and Amonkhet's story to kick things things into gear, but we'll see how things go. If there's one thing we learned from the Eldritch Moon story is that WotC is capable of writing twists, so I'm going to keep following every week and see where this goes.
If Ajani shows up to discuss the gatewatch with Jace and Giddeon and then the conversation gets crash d by Lili who retrieves them after trouble hits I think his placement in the story is organic enough.
I'm not really sure why Dovin would recruit the gatewatch if he was in league with trzzeret TBH. What does he have to gain... if it works the resistance is put down and they get a handful of useful gizmos and if it fails he makes 5ish absurdly powerful enemies that can follow him to other planes. I just don't think the payoff is there. I mean surely there are better ways procure technology right...theft, spies (thopter spy network much?), government mandates, etc.
If Bolas got wind of the gatewatch through Tamiyo's PW network and forces Dovin and Tezz to deal with it then sure, I can buy that. Then the gatewatch is like nah, that's some bull and takes the fight to Bolas for screwing with them. Sure I can see that. Curious how it'll all unfold but having Dovin turn out evil is kind of luke warm for me.
I feel like having characters with cloudy or undisclosed motivations hurts the story more than helps it sometimes. Dovin just kind of feels like this random wild card now. Hopefully Jace mind scrambles him for being a wet tissue.
Bhogal's summary of the story is clearly colored by the fact that he's determined to hate this story no matter what. We've already seen the part where Dovin and Tezzeret capture Pia in the story articles, and there is nothing that indicates that Dovin is on board with Tezzeret's plans—they just happen to be on the same side because they're both working for the government. Indeed, as you said yourself, if he was truly in league with Tezzeret, he wouldn't try to recruit the Gatewatch.
For those who want to take a look at the Duels spoilers themselves, they can be found here.
A bunch of quotes from A Gaze Blank and Pitiless, the story about Avacyn falling into madness, indicate that Avacyn's disappearance and return occurred within the space of last year.
Quote from A Gaze Blank and Pitiless »
The doubts had started last year, when Avacyn had mysteriously disappeared.
Quote from A Gaze Blank and Pitiless »
Ever since Avacyn's return last year, the demand for new tools and plows was high.
Quote from A Gaze Blank and Pitiless »
Avacyn's return last year had ushered in a new era of peace and tranquility.
Yes, this doesn't confirm anything, but that last comment implies they meant to keep Murder in Kaladesh. I think it's more likely for Murder to be in Kaladesh than not.
Sweet catch. However, this isn't a particularly big event, so it's not inconceivable that it wouldn't be mentioned in the artbook but would be depicted in Magic Story sometime down the line.
Perhaps Chandra will visit Kaladesh and get a swift kick of development in the character?
I agree. Chandra has potential, as shown by the few post-Origins short stories she got, but she hasn't had a lot of spotlight like Jace or Gideon, so she looks undeveloped by comparison.
It probably won't be Anje, we have a two-color legendary mythic for every tribe besides Spirits (Sigarda, Gisa/Geralf, Olivia, Ulrich) so we're due for a WU spirit.
Bhogal's summary of the story is clearly colored by the fact that he's determined to hate this story no matter what. We've already seen the part where Dovin and Tezzeret capture Pia in the story articles, and there is nothing that indicates that Dovin is on board with Tezzeret's plans—they just happen to be on the same side because they're both working for the government. Indeed, as you said yourself, if he was truly in league with Tezzeret, he wouldn't try to recruit the Gatewatch.
For those who want to take a look at the Duels spoilers themselves, they can be found here.
"Who knows what secrets we'll uncover?"
I agree. Chandra has potential, as shown by the few post-Origins short stories she got, but she hasn't had a lot of spotlight like Jace or Gideon, so she looks undeveloped by comparison.
...Like Geist of Saint Traft.
It's not the first, but all the previous ones had drawbacks.
It's about time.
Gisela, Blade of Goldnight becomes Gisela, the Broken Blade.
But they couldn't find Sigarda, Host of Herons, so we got Chittering Host instead.
Actually, he's carrying another kid on his back.