You say that and then we get multiple people saying that they're tired of seeing so many black people. So idk maybe it's not as crazy as you like to pretend it is
He wanted more Latin representation. He's correct for calling out WOTC for thinking representation is only about extremes. That said, Kaya is a Planeswalker, not a native of this plane, she can appear anywhere. And he was called out for suggesting representation is mutually exclusive, which it isn't. That was the flaw in his argument, not "racism."
Except...that wasn't what he said in full. And I think you know that.
It is perfectly reasonable to want more Latino characters and to express that desire. What is unacceptable is to then blame that lack of Latino representation on WotC's deliberate choice to try to represent more Black folks and folx better. It's not mutually exclusive.
I actually am a Canadian conservative queer, but what you and many similar commentators are communicating here isn't really conservatism, nor is it an argument grounded in logic, or good faith.
Its just rage mate.
There's nothing wrong with Kaya being the lead of this set. She's well-costumed and equipped for the plane. I adore her.
It is awesome to have a human planeswalker like Nico, who can better represent Non-binary folx. Nonbinary robots and monsters are hard to relate to.
We have a Latino Planeswalker. His name is Teyo. Teyo and Huatli will not be the last planeswalkers to better represent Latin American ethnicities. Teyo info
We have a new, red-headed, Scandinavian-looking Elven Planeswalker who is native to the plane of Kaldheim.
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I wonder if Niko really could jailbreak Nicol Bolas from his prison. We don't really know the full extent of Nico's abilities but the fact that they can transport fellow planeswalkers in-plane is interesting and I'm curious if the same can be done for the Elder Dragon between planes.
We know for certain the Ugin himself transported Nicol Bolas to the Meditation Realm and it was said that this was somehow possible due to Nicol Bolas being an Elder Dragon, which while a hand wave, is an acceptable hand-wave.
I don't want another Bolas arc right away but he's a useful narrational tool for the story and it's nice to know we may see him again.
Sooo, did annyone notice the conspicuous presence of the Undead behind that pic of a Demon?
That's why Kaya's here I bet.
I'm not too familiar with Norse but don't the sprits of Valhalla return from the dead to fight? That might explain the spirits on the plane. I do know there are zombies in Norse myth with the draugr.
I was a bit surprised that there is a greater emphasis on Elves in this set than Giants.
Huge fan of the Jötnar.
Thank you for providing me an easier way to get the proper spelling for future conversations. My phone does not like words with umlauts.
It is early in the set, Giants may have more prevalence as we continue. With the Kaldheim pathway lands being WU, BR, BG, and GU, and with confirmation that WU and BG are getting spirits and elves respectively, the Jötnar could show up in GU or BR. GU seems especially likely, given the Storm Giant from Theros.
I really hope so. We even saw a bit of Giant tribal in Eldraine too, though I think that was WG
There is more Asian walkers than black :roll eyes: lol
Well... there are more asian people than black
Niko looks like they are from Kylem and not from Theros. Their power too, very scenographic.
Between Niko and Kaya, wotc is really giving the middle finger to white supremacists. But muh vikings! Let's hope their *****ing won't **** everything up.
I actually like that explanation better as their costuming even reminds me of Kylem a bit. It reminds me of when WotC *insisted* that the Egyptian Paladin Basri Ket required a full suit of armour.
Inconsistent costuming strangely bothers me a lot.
One can advocate for greater representation of a marginalized community without taking offence at another marginalized community becoming better represented.
But back to the specific planeswalkers in question, I wonder if Niko Aris would be able to jailbreak Nicol Bolas out with their ability?
Somebody on Reddit made the suggestion and it's intriguing, as Aris wouldn't necessarily have to be a villain to find reason to do it. As a relatively new PW I could see them not knowing of the implications of such an act, and become an unwilling pawn of a Bolas agent via coercion, trickery or hostage-taking.
(on the latter, the Bolas agent could threaten a family member or friend)
Full disclosure, if this game was 98% white people in the art (as is the actual demographic that plays it and produces it), I wouldn't mind at all. What bothers me is the clear pandering and overrepresentation of Black people for obvious political reasons, while there's a much larger Latino playerbase than Black playerbase. If they truly cared about accurate representation, we would have a LOT more Latino characters.
I feel you. I don't think representation needs to be at the expense of anyone though. Let's just have it for both black and Latino people.
My only gripe is accuracy. If we're doing Ixalan, should be Latino. Kamigawa, Japanese. Theros, Greek. Aside from PW, I'd like planes to have racial identity as well, except places like Dominaria that have many continents and aren't based on real-world cultures. After the Theros art book, it finally made sense why Theros has black people, since they did expand its geography (thankfully) so it can encompass North Africa-like regions instead of just being three freaking cities. But it's awkward if we return to Kamigawa and there's anything but Asian natives for example.
Then again idk, Linden kinda worked in Edlraine despite it being European themed.
And I completely agree with that. If we returned to Kamigawa and everyone but the planeswalkers were of an Asian phenotype, that'd be completely fine by me. That's only accurate. Same thing for a Slavic-themed plane with most or only Slavic looking people. It's the fact that they're so afraid to put white people in the Scandinavian plane that they HAVE to slap a Black woman on the cover that bothers me. But hey, at least we know they would'd dare to do that in a Chinese-inspired plane...
As a white guy I'm perfectly able to advocate for myself thanks, and Kaya's presence as Kaldheim's face is a non-issue as we just had a main set where everyone was pretty pasty and I'm getting mixed messages as to your actual intent.
Go ahead. Fight without me. I'm just gonna ignore from now on. I demonstrated evidence regarding Teyo, if one doesn't like being demonstrably wrong, well that isn't my problem.
Full disclosure, if this game was 98% white people in the art (as is the actual demographic that plays it and produces it), I wouldn't mind at all. What bothers me is the clear pandering and overrepresentation of Black people for obvious political reasons, while there's a much larger Latino playerbase than Black playerbase. If they truly cared about accurate representation, we would have a LOT more Latino characters.
Except, I have met Hispanic folx that do have dark brown hair. I think it is perfectly reasonable to want greater Latin American representation but please understand that if the decision by WotC's to represent more Black people is inherently political, than it would be just as political to consciously represent more Latin American people.
Furthermore, this isn't a zero-sum issue. Having more Black people represented in MtG does not necessarily impede any greater, and more conscious decision by WotC to represent Latinos.
Edit: As ThyLordQ put it, one can argue for greater representation without the attack on other marginalized peoples.
Looking at these new PWs and artwork, TBH something that irks me is the lack of Latino representation in MTG (speaking AS as Latino from Chile, btw). I mean, South America is a whole sub-continent and arguanly everyone here who plays MTG is Latino, whereas the Black population that plays MTG (pretty much only in the US and parts of Europe) is like, what, 5% at the most IIRC? Yet it seems like most MTG characters nowadays are Black. If representation matters so much, there's like, you know, a whole subcontinent of us...
The only identifiably Latino PW is Huatli.
What about Teyo is recognizably Latino? He looks and is called the same as a generic human from, say, Star Wars.
Mike Bierek coming out and saying "hey, btw Teyo is actually Latino if you didn't know!" is the same as J.K. Rowling saying 10 years later that Dumbledore is gay despite there not being any sign of it whatsoever in the books.
I mean, the artist of the piece himself said that Teyo was the first Latino planeswalker and he receives instructions on how and what to paint from WotC themselves...
He looks Latino to me though I'm admittedly no expert on the matter either. I know that WotC has come out and said that they want to make each plane ethnically diverse regardless of the fantasy tropes that inform the world, and this especially on worlds that are based on western fantasy tropes.
It is however perfectly reasonable to want more representation than Teyo and Huatli though, in terms of Latin American and Indigenous South American cultures.
Looking at these new PWs and artwork, TBH something that irks me is the lack of Latino representation in MTG (speaking AS as Latino from Chile, btw). I mean, South America is a whole sub-continent and arguanly everyone here who plays MTG is Latino, whereas the Black population that plays MTG (pretty much only in the US and parts of Europe) is like, what, 5% at the most IIRC? Yet it seems like most MTG characters nowadays are Black. If representation matters so much, there's like, you know, a whole subcontinent of us...
Well, I guess the subtlety of Karn, Ashiok and Oko wasn't enough and we had to be hit with an anvil. Just check all the other boxes too and be done with it.
Still waiting for more planeswalkers that aren't boring human or human in all but name. I have given up hope for more that differ from humanoid body plan.
Oko goes by "he", Ashiok is cool but kinda a psychopath, and Karn is just basically a robot. I'm not entirely sure of the point being made here.
If we had another non-humanoid walker then we'd just be checking a different box, but one that you would prefer instead.
Indeed it would be.
I wonder if there'll be a cycle of Cosmo-animals?
Except...that wasn't what he said in full. And I think you know that.
It is perfectly reasonable to want more Latino characters and to express that desire. What is unacceptable is to then blame that lack of Latino representation on WotC's deliberate choice to try to represent more Black folks and folx better. It's not mutually exclusive.
I actually am a Canadian conservative queer, but what you and many similar commentators are communicating here isn't really conservatism, nor is it an argument grounded in logic, or good faith.
Its just rage mate.
There's nothing wrong with Kaya being the lead of this set. She's well-costumed and equipped for the plane. I adore her.
It is awesome to have a human planeswalker like Nico, who can better represent Non-binary folx. Nonbinary robots and monsters are hard to relate to.
We have a Latino Planeswalker. His name is Teyo. Teyo and Huatli will not be the last planeswalkers to better represent Latin American ethnicities.
Teyo info
We have a new, red-headed, Scandinavian-looking Elven Planeswalker who is native to the plane of Kaldheim.
Dear MtGSalvation users: Do you see that REPORT option below users' posted comments? If a fellow user posts discriminatory content, engages in flaming, or is otherwise being disruptive in some other way. Report it. Make it clear what is acceptable in our community, and what it is not.
We don't have to engage. We can even ignore. If you're a forum lurker, but haven't joined yet, Feel free to sign up and respectfully participate.
Help us make our gaming community even better.
We know for certain the Ugin himself transported Nicol Bolas to the Meditation Realm and it was said that this was somehow possible due to Nicol Bolas being an Elder Dragon, which while a hand wave, is an acceptable hand-wave.
I don't want another Bolas arc right away but he's a useful narrational tool for the story and it's nice to know we may see him again.
I think so?
I'm no expert on Norse Mythology lol
That's why Kaya's here I bet.
I really hope so. We even saw a bit of Giant tribal in Eldraine too, though I think that was WG
Huge fan of the Jötnar.
I actually like that explanation better as their costuming even reminds me of Kylem a bit. It reminds me of when WotC *insisted* that the Egyptian Paladin Basri Ket required a full suit of armour.
Inconsistent costuming strangely bothers me a lot.
But back to the specific planeswalkers in question, I wonder if Niko Aris would be able to jailbreak Nicol Bolas out with their ability?
Somebody on Reddit made the suggestion and it's intriguing, as Aris wouldn't necessarily have to be a villain to find reason to do it. As a relatively new PW I could see them not knowing of the implications of such an act, and become an unwilling pawn of a Bolas agent via coercion, trickery or hostage-taking.
(on the latter, the Bolas agent could threaten a family member or friend)
As a white guy I'm perfectly able to advocate for myself thanks, and Kaya's presence as Kaldheim's face is a non-issue as we just had a main set where everyone was pretty pasty and I'm getting mixed messages as to your actual intent.
Go ahead. Fight without me. I'm just gonna ignore from now on. I demonstrated evidence regarding Teyo, if one doesn't like being demonstrably wrong, well that isn't my problem.
Edit: Tyvar Kell is a Scandinavian elf.
Except, I have met Hispanic folx that do have dark brown hair. I think it is perfectly reasonable to want greater Latin American representation but please understand that if the decision by WotC's to represent more Black people is inherently political, than it would be just as political to consciously represent more Latin American people.
Furthermore, this isn't a zero-sum issue. Having more Black people represented in MtG does not necessarily impede any greater, and more conscious decision by WotC to represent Latinos.
Edit: As ThyLordQ put it, one can argue for greater representation without the attack on other marginalized peoples.
Help me understand here.
I mean, the artist of the piece himself said that Teyo was the first Latino planeswalker and he receives instructions on how and what to paint from WotC themselves...
He looks Latino to me though I'm admittedly no expert on the matter either. I know that WotC has come out and said that they want to make each plane ethnically diverse regardless of the fantasy tropes that inform the world, and this especially on worlds that are based on western fantasy tropes.
It is however perfectly reasonable to want more representation than Teyo and Huatli though, in terms of Latin American and Indigenous South American cultures.
I could be wrong but I think Teyo is Latino no?
https://twitter.com/MikeBierek/status/1112843971812704257?s=20
Oko goes by "he", Ashiok is cool but kinda a psychopath, and Karn is just basically a robot. I'm not entirely sure of the point being made here.
If we had another non-humanoid walker then we'd just be checking a different box, but one that you would prefer instead.
Live and let live dude