Were all the angels a product of Sorin's desire to maintain the balance of the plane or was that just Avacyn? If the former is true, could we speculate that after the Helvault opened, the balance is simply swaying in favor of Humans, forcing angels to turn on them. Humans being unaware of their reason see it as angels wigging out and try to protect themselves.
Then again, if the angels are purging humans for the sake of other supernatural creatures, the flavor text for "Expose Evil" seems out of place.
Maybe there is a simple explanation for Sorin being dodgy about Nahiri. Maybe he doesn't want to confront her after the Eldrazi were released. She was against imprisoning them there considering it was her home world. Maybe he's avoiding her like children avoid parents when they do something wrong.
"So, remember way back when we imprisoned those Lovecraftian Horror things and we said they weren't going to get out? Yeah... so there was this fire mage and a mind mage... and this weird dragon guy.... then this thing happened with this elf lady... long story short.... Ugin's back!"
Just once, for the sake of humor, I want WotC to print a creature with "If 3 damage would be dealt to this creature by an instant, prevent that damage" and flavor text "Still dies to Doomblade"
After reading the story, it sounds like they don't necessarily need Nahiri. They just need someone who can follow Ugin's blueprints and create the structures. Nahiri just happens to be around. Speculations...
how would New Phyrexia expand from former-Mirrodin to other planes?
One theory I have read that makes sense is that Venser will be resurrected/compleated as his body was presumably left on New Phyrexia after his sacrifice to liberate Karn.
Most likely they tossed his body in a vat and called it a day. Maybe they paused for a minute and looked at one another. "Spare parts?" They nod. "Spare parts."
I imagine the charm is like something you conjure with multiple potential uses. Yes, I conjured a little ball of fire. I could light up a room for a few seconds. I could scare the crap out of Gordon, the Jumpy and keep him from casting that stupid wurm thing. Or I could just whip it at those goblins that have been mooning me for three days straight (persistent little buggers).
Although I guess you could make the same argument for something like Fireball being used for similar purposes. Maybe the spell is defined by the intent?
I'm actually pleased with Sorin's role on Tarkir. He reinforces the impact of Ugin's death on the multiversal level, and is one of the only elements in Khans that actually conveys a sense of loss.
On the question of his overall role, Sorin feels like a character that actually does better when not center-stage. He's old enough that compelling character development will be hard to sell as believable, especially given how alien he has been shown to be. While he will probably take the spotlight when we actually start dealing with the Eldrazi, I see nothing wrong with keeping him as more of a background presence until then.
Sorin has been around for a really, really long time. I feel like he has the frame of mind to disregard most problems on planes as there are more important things to deal with. He did have that thing with Tibalt, but that was on his home plane, which he has a soft spot for (also was that canon?). I can't see him getting involved with the squabbles of the Khans. Maybe he runs into Sarkhan while Sarkhan's looking for Ugin.
Sorin's new catch phrase should be "I'm not even supposed to be here today"
Also, I think that she's dead or lost her spark, it will make Ob more important later.
This seems plausible. They could go with an enemy of my enemy direction and have Ob "help" seal the eldrit... eldrazi titans since Ob supposedly knows how the hedrons work.
I actually liked the tone of this UR. I like that Sorin immediately hates being on Tarkir and remains grumpy for its entirety. Every task seems tedious to him, which works for a walker who is almost always disappointed in those around him (cou-Nissa you suck-gh!). He wouldn't even need to be on Tarkir if Ugin would just get off his fat lazy... oh wait hes dead. Well.... crap. Now what?
What interests me about the Ugin design is the feathery wings (the couatl imagery). This kind of makes you wonder whether Tarkir is Ugin's home and their dragons can have feathery wings (since we haven't seen any Tarkir dragons) or Ugin is from a different plane with feathery winged dragons.
Or maybe Ugin glued the feathers on himself when he visited the bedazzling plane of Lisa Frank.
Another off-topic interesting tidbit is how easy it seems to defect from your clan on Tarkir (easy isn't the correct word, but I'm at a loss...). In the little we know of the plane, we already have two instances of clan defection (Sarkhan from Mardu, Taigam from Jeskai). Hope this doesn't become a trend.
I can't help but laugh super hard at this. I'm just imagining a bowl of soup with legs, running across the board and punching someone in the face for 5 every turn.
I like the idea of white. This kind of gives it a weird Hatebears feel. You can drop a griff against devotion or a revoker to turn of Polukranos. Maybe Banisher Priest for instant speed pseudo removal while its legal. A misers Deputy of Acquittals or Quickling might be decent tech as a way to save Yisan from removal/restart the counters for 1-2 drops. With white, would Spirit Bonds have potential?
For the time being, if you add a 3rd color, maybe Realmwright for a weird sort of fixing? Downside is how fragile it is. I also like Phyrexian Revoker here to turn off enemy walkers. Maybe I'm thinking too much of Yisan as a birthing pod replacement.
If that is true, why did they give him such an interesting backstory? Why waste all the creative writing on a character who was destined to be killed? Vronos could have been such an interesting character, but now, his life has been cut short before there was any tim to develop him.
~
I think the purpose of Vronos' story was not to build up a character but to stress what Garruk has become. No one would care if Garruk killed a nameless walker because... well, nobody knows him or cares about his story (save for a few). This UR shows you the life of a person. You see his struggles, his triumphs, his hopes and emotions. He's no longer just some masked nobody. He is Vronos of Innistrad. The UR wants you to care about this character. That way, the death has more of an impact. Nobody watches Star Wars and yells "That storm trooper had a family!" because they are just faceless obstacles.
I personally think this (old) UR accomplished its goal. It shows that Garruk does not care who you are or what you came to do. He can and most likely will kill you. And he will enjoy it.
Then again, if the angels are purging humans for the sake of other supernatural creatures, the flavor text for "Expose Evil" seems out of place.
"So, remember way back when we imprisoned those Lovecraftian Horror things and we said they weren't going to get out? Yeah... so there was this fire mage and a mind mage... and this weird dragon guy.... then this thing happened with this elf lady... long story short.... Ugin's back!"
Just once, for the sake of humor, I want WotC to print a creature with "If 3 damage would be dealt to this creature by an instant, prevent that damage" and flavor text "Still dies to Doomblade"
I like how Sorin is perpetually grumpy.
Most likely they tossed his body in a vat and called it a day. Maybe they paused for a minute and looked at one another. "Spare parts?" They nod. "Spare parts."
Although I guess you could make the same argument for something like Fireball being used for similar purposes. Maybe the spell is defined by the intent?
Sorin has been around for a really, really long time. I feel like he has the frame of mind to disregard most problems on planes as there are more important things to deal with. He did have that thing with Tibalt, but that was on his home plane, which he has a soft spot for (also was that canon?). I can't see him getting involved with the squabbles of the Khans. Maybe he runs into Sarkhan while Sarkhan's looking for Ugin.
Sorin's new catch phrase should be "I'm not even supposed to be here today"
This seems plausible. They could go with an enemy of my enemy direction and have Ob "help" seal the eldrit... eldrazi titans since Ob supposedly knows how the hedrons work.
One thing that caught my eye:
Or maybe Ugin glued the feathers on himself when he visited the bedazzling plane of Lisa Frank.
Another off-topic interesting tidbit is how easy it seems to defect from your clan on Tarkir (easy isn't the correct word, but I'm at a loss...). In the little we know of the plane, we already have two instances of clan defection (Sarkhan from Mardu, Taigam from Jeskai). Hope this doesn't become a trend.
Its a Souper effective strategy.
I'll see myself out....
I think the purpose of Vronos' story was not to build up a character but to stress what Garruk has become. No one would care if Garruk killed a nameless walker because... well, nobody knows him or cares about his story (save for a few). This UR shows you the life of a person. You see his struggles, his triumphs, his hopes and emotions. He's no longer just some masked nobody. He is Vronos of Innistrad. The UR wants you to care about this character. That way, the death has more of an impact. Nobody watches Star Wars and yells "That storm trooper had a family!" because they are just faceless obstacles.
I personally think this (old) UR accomplished its goal. It shows that Garruk does not care who you are or what you came to do. He can and most likely will kill you. And he will enjoy it.
Although now I'm imagining Bolas with a floating pope hat instead of the little orb thingy.