At Eldrazi being anchored to Zendikar: oh, how I'd wanted for this being the reason for wild zendikari mana, achieveable without retcons. But no, mana was wild before the Eldrazi and the Roil was caused by other reason (Nahiri not entirely correctly fixing the hedron network?..). What a pity.
Edit: I'm just weirded out by Eldrazi remaining near Zendikar while at least several known planeswalker traveled around the place. They didn't notice something unusual? How it must feel, to pass near eldritch abomination while in place which defies logic?
Liked good old cowardly fallible Jace. Nice to see main hero whose defining characteristics is being smart not being automatically correct. Better still was seeing him to work through differences with Ugin.
Loved Zada, especially the part about Tuktuk. Btw, who "down, foul thing" was directed at?..
Kinda liked Ugin. Just finished Artifacts cycle, and ancient walker who has patience to slow down and explain things is certainly welcome. Although I highly doubt Ugin doesn't have a hidden agenda.
The story as a whole also became far better now when it sped up.
One thing, though:if Jace wants to pull Ulamog on the Zendikar, does it mean Eldrazi weren't fully imprisoned before? Like, when titans got locked up by Ugin and co, did their aethereal forms hang around in Blind Eternities near Zendikar?
So about Nissa, I think the problem with her is that creative over invested in her greeness. What I read from Nissa's URs is a character that embodies the archetype of green's focus on the communal and interconnection. This could work as a great basis for a fully fleshed character but there's nothing else to Nissa (other than hinting at a past that doesn't exist anymore?).
Coming off that, she has no small scale. She doesn't have any little habits or smaller investments that help to really define someone. Jace loves a good puzzle and can be snark master supreme, Gideon has Munda and the Boros crew, Kiora tells the rules to go screw themselves and has her sister to worry about. There just isn't anything on that level for Nissa, she's got Ashaya but Ahsaya is literally Zendikar which is literally everything in the story that isn't white, chalky or Ob Nixilis.
Also hello, did you know ranting is a terrible way of introducing yourself?
Ranting is perfectly normal way of introduction to forum. Strong emotions are often what it takes for lurker to start posting.
My current biggest problem with Nissa is that I can't figure out which traits and motivations are central for her and which are there for one story. Latest article messed up with why she's searching for Ashaya, how self-centered she is and introduced a whole new internal conflict. Should I take that new info as true description of Nissa, or the next installment will take her in another direction as well?
Btw it's showing how, for all the moping about her past self being flawed, she embraced her "wilder side" when fighting Ob Nixilis, felt she became in-between her past and present self when preparing to restore the power, but never thought about that again? Not even a line in conclusion, just riding in sunset.
Cartoon villains tend not to be outright nihilists. It's night and day his previous story and this one.
Wait... Nihilist... Nixilis... coincidence!?
EDIT: MY PREVIEW FIX IS SATIATED!!!
Next Episode is called Revelation at the Eye
After an arduous journey, Jace Beleren has nearly reached the Eye of Ugin, the center of Zendikar's hedron network and, hopefully, the key to stopping the Eldrazi titan Ulamog. But the situation at the Eye has changed since Jace's last visit, and unexpected encounters yield complications—and opportunities.
Then the episode after is called Shaping an Army. Ugin HYPE!
Though again, Nissa is quite strange here as well, I am still trying to wrap my head around what this Essence or Magic of her old self there was.
my best guess at what happened is Nissa remembered that, as a planeswalker, she is connected with other planes, and drew mana from there. No idea about why she thinks that power comes from her older version, though.
Btw, who writes that prefaces. Not that "Nissa scoured the continent of Tazeem in search of any sign of Zendikar" isn't hilarious turn of phrase, but she totally didn't do that. Hope that's not author herself.
Finished and regained my ability of coherent speech.
Plot is moving, yay!
Now, to less happy thoughts.
Nissa separating her past self and her current self, then claiming her past self made mistakes, was reckless, etc. but her current self is completely different, was uncomfortably new. As I recall, before this story she mostly talked about her failing during the event which led to her ascension, and never in terms that was "different her". Or she did but that was lost in boredomfest?
Her running through white eldrazi corruption. Look even at the picture in article: do those things look like stable footing? Because it looks like ankle twisting nightmare to me.
Moss growing on corrupted stuff: will leave that to "eldrazi aren't lovecraftian enough" people
Entirety of what Ob said: "shut up and don't sour the image of cunning and effective demon you was in previous stories!".
The ending: I wonder if plan elementals can die from insufficient watering. Either that, or that's very small continent.
I'll take a deep breath at level of selfishness which is this:
"In that moment, Nissa realized that she had come here to Bala Ged to save the world's soul not just for the land, for the plane, for the people, and not just for its power: She had come here to save the world's soul so she could save herself. Without it she would once again become the elf she had been the last time she was here—wild, reckless, and sure to misstep."
Does anyone here actually want to (or know someone else who wants to) a) spend less money on Magic or b) not buy story-related products you previously intended to buy because you don't like how they're handing the URs?
I wouldn't buy less because of one storyline aspect for one set being handled badly, but if quality of all things flavor would drop, I easily might. I play Magic just to experience storyline, art and flavor of particular cards in one more form, not over way around. If those won't deliver, might just dedicate that time to, say, Arkham Horror/Eldritch Horror and spare myself from pain of playing competitive duels.
Remember, Jace is using the hedrons differently. Ugin wanted to preserve the Eldrazi, while Jace wants to destroy them. The Aligned Hedron Network must be having a different effect on the world.
So what you're saying is Jace figured out how to make a better/more effective lock in a week than three oldwalkers did in decades.
Of course, he's Jace.
If those are exactly same hedrons, just aligned differently, then my first thought will be that Ugin knew all along how to do that, he just didn't want to. That's just too big for a coincidence. Of course, need to see actual story, because there are plenty of ways this revelation to turn insulting for parties involved.
Edit: How valid are these though? It also said Kiora's fight with Thassa was a standstill. I got a different impression.
Scans also say that "although Jace resisted Gideon's attempts to recruit him, he soon journeyed to Zendikar". Which, for my understanding of english, isn't exact representation of what happened. Hope it's fatpack guide being inaccurate and not start of minor retcons to BFZ story.
My problem with such "release day cometh!" spoilers is that my curiositystarts battling the desire for normal pacing. Because doing what storyline lover is used to do, hunting for every bit of lore, turns story into some kind of "Episode 1 to 9: introduction of hero, training sequence, dead mentor, hero leaving home on vengeance quest. Episode 10: bunch of plot twists, important battles, near death experiences, final battle". Introduction gets the spotlight, "meat" gets summarized.
Similar problem with full spoiler day: first it's secrecy and outcries for leaks, then on the last day bunch of stuff gets thrown out in a heap.
Maybe we have different opinions on what counts as filler, but this is still plot and world's better then the filler stories from khan's block, save for Aleshas. Even if the plot is slow moving, I don't think that's inherently a bad thing, and I wouldn't call it filler. If it weren't for the week break in between chapters, I don't think you all would feel the plot is moving as slow. When they inevitably make this an E-boom collection, I'm going to read it all at once and see how it compares to the urzas saga books, which I'm currently reading now.
I, for example, liked Khans' stories more. Maybe because of different PoVs, maybe because each story had its end in which something was achieved. Now it feels like we're cycling through Gideon, who is protecting some survivors and going to retake Sea Gate, Nissa, who feels connection to Zendikar and is heading to Khalni Heart, and some random people most of whom don't achieve anything either.
No, I wouldn't complain as much if the stories weren't weekly but were, say, daily. But right now such plot-light stories do nothing while taking that little slots which are there. That's not what I hoped for when Wizards talked about intensification of storyline; I thought "Cool, now we don't have to wait years to hear news about Tamiyo, Tibalt, Vraska, Domri and the likes".
Hope the delay in plot development is there because the previous set was the last core set and we won't have such lags in future but will have the proper endings of previous storylines in transition periods. Otherwise, if revealing major plot points about incoming sets is not allowed before the release, why not dedicating space to another characters or planes?
"In the teeth of Akoum" had moments so silly it's funny. Said Sorin's songs, which kill closest living things (the closest portrayal of "singing voice which causes birds to drop dead" I've ever seen). Nissa using summoned bird as throwing knife. Nissa again, defeating some random monster by forcing bacteriae in its digestive tract to rebel. This book is not unreadable, it's just better when not taken seriously.
Edit: I'm just weirded out by Eldrazi remaining near Zendikar while at least several known planeswalker traveled around the place. They didn't notice something unusual? How it must feel, to pass near eldritch abomination while in place which defies logic?
Loved Zada, especially the part about Tuktuk. Btw, who "down, foul thing" was directed at?..
Kinda liked Ugin. Just finished Artifacts cycle, and ancient walker who has patience to slow down and explain things is certainly welcome. Although I highly doubt Ugin doesn't have a hidden agenda.
The story as a whole also became far better now when it sped up.
One thing, though:if Jace wants to pull Ulamog on the Zendikar, does it mean Eldrazi weren't fully imprisoned before? Like, when titans got locked up by Ugin and co, did their aethereal forms hang around in Blind Eternities near Zendikar?
So hello
Btw it's showing how, for all the moping about her past self being flawed, she embraced her "wilder side" when fighting Ob Nixilis, felt she became in-between her past and present self when preparing to restore the power, but never thought about that again? Not even a line in conclusion, just riding in sunset.
Plot is moving, yay!
Now, to less happy thoughts.
Nissa separating her past self and her current self, then claiming her past self made mistakes, was reckless, etc. but her current self is completely different, was uncomfortably new. As I recall, before this story she mostly talked about her failing during the event which led to her ascension, and never in terms that was "different her". Or she did but that was lost in boredomfest?
Her running through white eldrazi corruption. Look even at the picture in article: do those things look like stable footing? Because it looks like ankle twisting nightmare to me.
Moss growing on corrupted stuff: will leave that to "eldrazi aren't lovecraftian enough" people
Entirety of what Ob said: "shut up and don't sour the image of cunning and effective demon you was in previous stories!".
The ending: I wonder if plan elementals can die from insufficient watering. Either that, or that's very small continent.
I'll take a deep breath at level of selfishness which is this:
"In that moment, Nissa realized that she had come here to Bala Ged to save the world's soul not just for the land, for the plane, for the people, and not just for its power: She had come here to save the world's soul so she could save herself. Without it she would once again become the elf she had been the last time she was here—wild, reckless, and sure to misstep."
And will go back to reading.
Similar problem with full spoiler day: first it's secrecy and outcries for leaks, then on the last day bunch of stuff gets thrown out in a heap.
No, I wouldn't complain as much if the stories weren't weekly but were, say, daily. But right now such plot-light stories do nothing while taking that little slots which are there. That's not what I hoped for when Wizards talked about intensification of storyline; I thought "Cool, now we don't have to wait years to hear news about Tamiyo, Tibalt, Vraska, Domri and the likes".
Hope the delay in plot development is there because the previous set was the last core set and we won't have such lags in future but will have the proper endings of previous storylines in transition periods. Otherwise, if revealing major plot points about incoming sets is not allowed before the release, why not dedicating space to another characters or planes?