Red would make sense if you're creating a true individual instead of a mindless zombie. Frankenstein's monster wasn't just a robot or a corpse that moved around, he had thoughts and feelings of his own. Black wouldn't have any interest in imbuing its creation with things that may make it dangerous to control, and blue probably wouldn't either, since an experiment in emotion would be out of character for a blue person without some red in them.
If you're constantly holding dead removal in your hand because your opponent doesn't play creatures, why haven't you sided it out by game 2? And if they're killing or countering your creatures, you need to have more creatures than they have counterspells or spot removal. You still have to watch out for mass removal, so keeping your numbers to something like 1-2 creatures at a time is a safe bet.
Even in the original Innistrad, there were enemy color themes, with some cards being monocolor but having an enemy flashback cost. I think this is just a callback to that. Innistrad has included enemy color themes, but they were nowhere near as important as the five ally tribes. W/R humans was pretty big in Avacyn restored too. But I don't think there will be permanent color shifting. A BG toad and a WR Avacyn are similar to how planeswalkers have their colors determined by their personality, not for the consideration of gameplay. They have these cool ideas for legendary creatures, so they make their color based on their personality, since they are also characters within the story.
I must say that in my opinion, this was one of the best stories written in recent memory. It legitimately had me feeling unsteady, shaken, and sad. As I was reading each of the "chapters" I found myself dreading each sentence and the one that followed it. The author had me feeling such sadness for Kelse and Maeli while simultaneously making me so angered at Avacyn in the last few lines. I found myself thinking, RUN little boy and hoping so much that he would escape the angels' wrath. But Avacyn's final lines, made me lose all that hope.
The reawakening of the wolf inside Liont...oh man. If that story doesn't make you feel anything, you either are not a husband or father, or you're heart is a ball of ice. It made me feel for him but also had me so entranced with his dream. I knew what was coming...I had the anticipation for what was on the other side of the door, but it was written so well that it just didn't matter.
The sadness he felt, the mercy he pleaded for his family to receive from his doings, his hope to go back to the prior day, and his shock at the resurgence of what he thought he had escaped...it brought so much depth to the werewolves of this world.
SO WELL DONE!!!
While I do think the writing was very good, the way Avacyn's corruption was portrayed felt extremely forced. You get the tiniest snippet of the corruption starting, and then it immediately skips to her almost killing that guy, then her going completely genocidal on humans, with the help of the other angels. It doesn't give the reader a chance to understand why it was happening, or even how, just an abrupt jump to the portrayal of evil as if they HAD to show it as soon as possible. It was at that moment that the story lost its suspense, and its horror, for me. I think this may just be because, as I said, they don't want to make it too suspenseful because they want the reader to know the stakes of the story, and will probably give more information when the story moves to Jace and Tamiyo investigating. But a big component of the horror isn't just WHY something is happening, but dreading WHAT will happen and HOW. And the story definitely took a lackluster approach to those parts towards the end.
Saving her woudn't matter since her name has already been tainted and people already lost their trust and hope on her
This is a very strong point for why killing Avacyn would make sense, and why Jace and Tamiyo, who may be looking to solve the problem but save Avacyn, wouldn't understand. Sorin is white, and understands the importance of the appearance of authority. Jace and Tamiyo are blue, and wouldn't care much about Avacyn's reputation, just her functionality. Sorin needs a figure that can be trusted by the people. If there was no guardian angel to believe will save them, the humans may start looking for their own methods of protecting themselves from vampires, and that would be a huge problem. In fact, to spice up the scene even more, this could be happening after Jace and Tamiyo fixed Avacyn, only to have Sorin come in and kill her anyway because she isn't as useful as promoting or creating a new angel.
Jenrik: Yes, there's nothing to protect humanity if Avacyn is destroyed. (Of course, she's not protecting them now, but that was a story decision and the creative team can be judged for it.)
However, there is no evidence that Sorin won't do something similar to creating Avacyn to ensure that his plane doesn't go kaput.
In fact, there's this organization (the Gatewatch) who has sworn to protect planes from threats. Just like Liliana could bargain to join the Gatewatch to get help from her personal demons, Sorin could bargain to join to get help for Innistrad now that Avacyn isn't there to protect the humans.
Another crazy development came to me after reading this. What if Liliana found a way to coerce some demons into doing the watching on Innistrad? Instead of being watched over by some angels who may appear benevolent but really don't give a damn about humanity, people have to rely on the charity of demons to protect them from the other monsters. Of course, I'm sure that in turn, they would require a few offerings as well, to sweeten the deal.
The biggest obstacle to this is that it rules out any returns to Innistrad. Even if all the humans die but the monsters are not dead yet, WOTC would believe that a plane without humans would not be relateable. Because WOTC wants to keep popular planes around for future sets, this sort of massive, permanent change would be unlikely.
I'm really happy with the quality of the UR this week, especially since it was written by Kimberly Kreines. I had a bad feeling when I remembered all the Nissa UR's, but maybe she just wasn't suited for that kind of character. (In which case, why did they let her keep writing for Nissa?) Here's hoping the quality of the story remains of a similar caliber, compared to BFZ.
There are really 3 parts to the conversation, and not all of them may pertain exactly to the same situation.
The first, by Councilman Reade. "As a community, we must come together. If we are to survive as a safe haven, we must separate ourselves from the dangers inside and outside Thraben with an effective deterrence."
The second, by Councilwoman Larssen. "The Bishop has asserted we need not worry. Our faith has been tested before, and we shall endure the test once more!" This line is specifically referred to as "inciting a rabble with [her] own evidence," meaning this is meant to contradict the first line by Reade.
The last, by Hettienne Millard, who was credited as an attack-survivor. "When they went for the Krallenhorde, I thought I was safe, but my one remaining arm says otherwise. We have all been betrayed."
Reade seems to have the same position as Hettienne; that there is danger in and outside the community. As Hettienne shows, whatever caused her to lose her arm is something that she trusted, that she considers having betrayed her. Reade and Hettienne agree that it is just as dangerous in the community as it is outside. This is in contrast to Larssen, who believes that these seemingly harmful actions are only tests of faith. The fact that they use the word "betrayal," and specifically refer to danger within the community, strongly implies that this isn't danger due to error, but instead due to actual disregard for safety or harmful intent.
It's funny that Wizards can claim they know what players want out of modern, when they don't even test the cards they're introducing into the format. Where are they getting this data from? Are they just assuming that people who like draft or standard are the same audience for modern? And if so, how do they expect standard and draft players to transition into modern when almost none of the cards they open will have any value in their new format?
What needs to stop is the attitude of "WOTC knows what you want better than you do." I don't think players wanted to see what's happening now. And I'm expecting some sort of shifting of the blame by WOTC; to whom, or what, I don't know. They will probably blame the cards somehow, instead of the designers, or the players who dared to use the cards printed when they are so clearly broken.
I don't think when they said that the story was completely unrelated, that it would never have any relation to the main story. More likely, it means that it will appear tangential, but the second half will reveal some important connection to the main story.
And for everyone saying that 4chan isn't reliable, remember that anyone can post whatever they want elsewhere too. I can make a new MTGS or Twitter account and claim to be a leaker, just like anyone on 4chan can do anonymously. Do you really think that notice on 4chan saying not to take things seriously means that everything is a guaranteed lie, or that the absence of that notice on this site means everything should be assumed to be true?
My instncts tell me if they tried this they may just create evil versions of the Origins 5 and throw them together, and save the established villains for other roles.
Calling Sorin will be in the story but not the set. Wizards has stated that you can be a walker in the story and have no card. So I'm banking on Nahiri, Jace and Tibalt as my easy bets with Lilianna close behind. I don't think they'd make two whole sets without her after stating her importance in Origins. Maybe not in Shadows but certainly in the second set. Tamiyo wouldn't surprise me but the 5th walker I actually expect to be either someone new or unexpected.
Oh, for the love of...
Seriously people, stop with the Lily speculation. She has no reason to show up on Innistrad, quite contrary, it would be hazardous to her health to show up. So why would she? And don't say "because she loves/wants to help Jace". She doesn't, contrary to what some people believe, she couldn't care less about Jace if she tried. He is convenient if she can get him to help her with little to no effort on her part, that's it. Liliana Vess cares about exactly one person, and one person only, herself. Her showing up in SOI block to help out would be completely counter to her characterization and personality.
Not like WOTC will consider past personalities of characters if they view them as a hindrance to their future story plans...
I don't think Liliana SHOULD be there either, but story coherence or logic doesn't seem to be a factor for WOTC when writing stories.
While I do think the writing was very good, the way Avacyn's corruption was portrayed felt extremely forced. You get the tiniest snippet of the corruption starting, and then it immediately skips to her almost killing that guy, then her going completely genocidal on humans, with the help of the other angels. It doesn't give the reader a chance to understand why it was happening, or even how, just an abrupt jump to the portrayal of evil as if they HAD to show it as soon as possible. It was at that moment that the story lost its suspense, and its horror, for me. I think this may just be because, as I said, they don't want to make it too suspenseful because they want the reader to know the stakes of the story, and will probably give more information when the story moves to Jace and Tamiyo investigating. But a big component of the horror isn't just WHY something is happening, but dreading WHAT will happen and HOW. And the story definitely took a lackluster approach to those parts towards the end.
This is a very strong point for why killing Avacyn would make sense, and why Jace and Tamiyo, who may be looking to solve the problem but save Avacyn, wouldn't understand. Sorin is white, and understands the importance of the appearance of authority. Jace and Tamiyo are blue, and wouldn't care much about Avacyn's reputation, just her functionality. Sorin needs a figure that can be trusted by the people. If there was no guardian angel to believe will save them, the humans may start looking for their own methods of protecting themselves from vampires, and that would be a huge problem. In fact, to spice up the scene even more, this could be happening after Jace and Tamiyo fixed Avacyn, only to have Sorin come in and kill her anyway because she isn't as useful as promoting or creating a new angel.
Another crazy development came to me after reading this. What if Liliana found a way to coerce some demons into doing the watching on Innistrad? Instead of being watched over by some angels who may appear benevolent but really don't give a damn about humanity, people have to rely on the charity of demons to protect them from the other monsters. Of course, I'm sure that in turn, they would require a few offerings as well, to sweeten the deal.
The first, by Councilman Reade. "As a community, we must come together. If we are to survive as a safe haven, we must separate ourselves from the dangers inside and outside Thraben with an effective deterrence."
The second, by Councilwoman Larssen. "The Bishop has asserted we need not worry. Our faith has been tested before, and we shall endure the test once more!" This line is specifically referred to as "inciting a rabble with [her] own evidence," meaning this is meant to contradict the first line by Reade.
The last, by Hettienne Millard, who was credited as an attack-survivor. "When they went for the Krallenhorde, I thought I was safe, but my one remaining arm says otherwise. We have all been betrayed."
Reade seems to have the same position as Hettienne; that there is danger in and outside the community. As Hettienne shows, whatever caused her to lose her arm is something that she trusted, that she considers having betrayed her. Reade and Hettienne agree that it is just as dangerous in the community as it is outside. This is in contrast to Larssen, who believes that these seemingly harmful actions are only tests of faith. The fact that they use the word "betrayal," and specifically refer to danger within the community, strongly implies that this isn't danger due to error, but instead due to actual disregard for safety or harmful intent.
What needs to stop is the attitude of "WOTC knows what you want better than you do." I don't think players wanted to see what's happening now. And I'm expecting some sort of shifting of the blame by WOTC; to whom, or what, I don't know. They will probably blame the cards somehow, instead of the designers, or the players who dared to use the cards printed when they are so clearly broken.
And for everyone saying that 4chan isn't reliable, remember that anyone can post whatever they want elsewhere too. I can make a new MTGS or Twitter account and claim to be a leaker, just like anyone on 4chan can do anonymously. Do you really think that notice on 4chan saying not to take things seriously means that everything is a guaranteed lie, or that the absence of that notice on this site means everything should be assumed to be true?
Not like WOTC will consider past personalities of characters if they view them as a hindrance to their future story plans...
I don't think Liliana SHOULD be there either, but story coherence or logic doesn't seem to be a factor for WOTC when writing stories.