I'm very interested in the resolution of the Theros Elspeth saga too. But even more interested in Thassa vs. Kiora. I have a feeling the block after Khans is going to be Return to Zendikar, and we might get a few details on Theros through Kiora's fate. Although... would that be too soon to have Kiora reappear with a new card?
If I had to choose just one character to receive a card, I would want Arixmethes. Close call with Jenrik though. Fortunately both are at least still alive unlike some of the other past characters. And there are Planeswalkers associated with both. But still, I don't know how likely it'll be that WOTC would make them cards. I wish I could ask. Perhaps at a panel someday. Jenrik feels a lot less likely. Lunar Mystic was probably AVR's Jenrik without it having to be a Legendary. So that leaves Mr. Sea Monster. <3
Kiora is going to get wrecked. If the best you can do is a god hunter octopus against Arixmethes and an immortal god, you're finished. She'll probably escape with a lesson about tackling superior beings (knowledge that will be valuable against the Eldrazi someday) and send her to the drawing board to reconsider her approach.
She definitely didn't have a godhunter octopus against Thassa.
And really, if we're going to go that route, then all I have to say is Kiora can bounce things.
It was a joke bro. I'm team Thassa. I can see either one winning and the story making sense: Thassa wins and teaches her a lesson about going against gods/titans, or Kiora wins and we see her in Return to Zendikar with some baddies of the deep from Theros and other planes. Either way, Thassa can't die, and it likely won't be the end of Kiora either by virtue of her having just been introduced.
Kiora is going to get wrecked. If the best you can do is a god hunter octopus against Arixmethes and an immortal god, you're finished. She'll probably escape with a lesson about tackling superior beings (knowledge that will be valuable against the Eldrazi someday) and send her to the drawing board to reconsider her approach.
Generally, in our area, anyone with a deck that's degenerate only wins once. After the first win that way, the entire table goes in on them every game afterward until they're casual.
She didn't get killed. She traded her life to Erebos for Daxos. She saw her quest through to the end, and sacrificed herself to ensure Theros was safe from Xenagos and that Daxos, who died at her hands, would be restored. She died doing the right thing.
(Let's set aside for the moment how royally Erebos screwed her over by letting Daxos go as a Returned.)
(Let's also set aside for the moment how much of a tool Heliod is for dealing the deathblow in the first place.)
I wondered at first why Elspeth traded her life for Daxos' rather than requesting Daxos to live again at no cost, since Erebos owed her anything.
Perhaps it's because she knew Heliod would kill her. And that Daxos would become a Returned. So by trading her life rather than dying, she doesn't actually die. And by Daxos being a Returned instead of a complete being (as she had observed with him at the death lands with the centaur), she could call him out on having cheated their deal, and thus cheat death?
Still though, Theros *is* the ideal place to kill a major character and bend the laws of death because death is not absolute in Greek Mythology. So far, they've been very true to Greek myth in that the only true recourse for a mortal to receive immortality, outside of it being granted by gods, is to become a hero and be remembered. Elspeth has done that there. Now it's a matter of what becomes of her story in the underworld. I mentioned before how disappointing it was that Godsend had no scenes in the underworld as Greek myth often did - but it looks like the next installment of Elspeth's story is going to begin there. Will she pull an Orpheus? Is Rescue From the Underworld more than just a reference to myth? Makes me wonder if Theros has an Elysian Fields though. Or just what the nature of the underworld there is, beyond being escapable at great cost. That may be what Elspeth discovers next herself. And Daxos' mother is still there.
All I can say is JOU should have been a large set like AVR. And I feel we should have spent more time on Theros, with a third Godsend book. Greek myth is just too popular to abandon until a Return to Theros in over a decade. I can't believe Khans of Fail is going to be the big set instead of Theros. I admit to bias here though.
Don't forget that when Elspeth first entered the underworld with Daxos, she wanted to Planeswalk out of there, and actually began casting that spell. Nothing definitive. Whether she's retained her spark is a bigger controversy.
I was as happy to read your lines indicating Xenagos is likely over and done than sad to read that Elsepth is probably suffering the same fate.
Anyway, this whole block story showed that not only Heliod but all Theros gods are villains, and I hope that one day they'll be overthrown (read: destroyed).
I can't say ALL of them are bad. Ephara and Karametra were as good as good gets.
Concur. They were holding the world together single handedly for a while.
I was wrong earlier. Jenna confirmed that Heliod's blow was, as expected, lethal and that Elspeth did indeed die. However, she ended by saying "But this is Theros and that's not the end of the story." Or something of that nature. Check the end of this video:
I think it's blatantly obvious that the Duel Deck will be Elspeth vs. Xenagos. For the planeswalker decks from Large Small Small blocks, it seems like they prefer to pick 'wslkers from the big set as to not make it less worth it to bust backs of the small sets.
Which is lame, predictable and not what we want.
Jace vs. Vraska managed to stay as close to the trend as possible while being in a nontraditional block by reprinting the 'walkers. Sorin vs. Tibalt was a matter of them not wanting to do another Liliana vs. Garruk (which they couldn't do, as Garruk was a DFC in Innistrad). Venser vs. Koth was the first Planeswalker Duel Deck set to be released in the spring, and it follows the pattern too. Sorry guy, but it's gonna be Elspeth vs. Xenagos. They'll want to play up the epic conflict and give Elspeth one last hurrah before she leaves Standard forever (barring Elspeth the Returned, of course).
And Elspeth vs. Xenagos was the main conflict of the block. But despite that, I think most of us are actually more interested in Thassa vs. Kiora. I just don't want to wait years and years to find out what happens next with those two. IDK how soon Kiora will re-appear in Standard again, but I feel like she'll be back in a Return to Zendikar, which feels only a few years off.
Actually, this article is the entire problem. Neo-Nazis? Really? Way to buy into propaganda. And the Trump reference about "locker room talk" - way to push your political agendas on a card game forum and assume your opinions are the status quo, and the only right way to think. That's why everyone is sick of liberals and SJWs. Arrogance and ignorance. No one gives a damn bro, we're here for card games. Get over yourselves and off your righteous soapbox.
It was a joke bro. I'm team Thassa. I can see either one winning and the story making sense: Thassa wins and teaches her a lesson about going against gods/titans, or Kiora wins and we see her in Return to Zendikar with some baddies of the deep from Theros and other planes. Either way, Thassa can't die, and it likely won't be the end of Kiora either by virtue of her having just been introduced.
I wondered at first why Elspeth traded her life for Daxos' rather than requesting Daxos to live again at no cost, since Erebos owed her anything.
Perhaps it's because she knew Heliod would kill her. And that Daxos would become a Returned. So by trading her life rather than dying, she doesn't actually die. And by Daxos being a Returned instead of a complete being (as she had observed with him at the death lands with the centaur), she could call him out on having cheated their deal, and thus cheat death?
All I can say is JOU should have been a large set like AVR. And I feel we should have spent more time on Theros, with a third Godsend book. Greek myth is just too popular to abandon until a Return to Theros in over a decade. I can't believe Khans of Fail is going to be the big set instead of Theros. I admit to bias here though.
Arixmethes, the Lost City from Theros
Callaphe from Theros
The Monsoon from Theros
Choryu from Kamigawa
Chiyo from Kamigawa (student of Uyo)
Kyodai was represented on That Which Was Taken (granted an actual creature version of her would be nice).
PW Fblthp confirmed.
Concur. They were holding the world together single handedly for a while.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_FBlsg1PBZI
And Elspeth vs. Xenagos was the main conflict of the block. But despite that, I think most of us are actually more interested in Thassa vs. Kiora. I just don't want to wait years and years to find out what happens next with those two. IDK how soon Kiora will re-appear in Standard again, but I feel like she'll be back in a Return to Zendikar, which feels only a few years off.