I hope it won't be that linear but based on the name of the storyline spotlights, it will be mostly a Liliana story:
1. The non-jace gatewatch gathers on dominaria, but there are tensions because of Lilianas "betrayal". There is a Broken Bond.
2. They may or may not travel together for a while, but when Liliana again tries to manipulate the group to help her kill Demonlord Belzenlok there will be a fallout, forcing her to go her own way in a Final Parting. This one may have something to do with her brother instead, we don't know yet what the card does.
3. Liliana manages to kill her final nemesis on her own to Settle the Score.
4. Her win doesn't have the results she hoped. It might even backfire on her in some way. Not wanting to return to the gatewatch to admit her mistake, she goes to the only other party she knows for help. She ends In Bolas's Clutches.
Sideplot: the remaining gatewatch recruits Teferi and acquires a boat.
Epilogue: Jace is alive and back.
Sounds feasible. the only caveat is that Martha said Gideon would be Accompanying Liliana on her journey to rid herself of the final demon. That seems to fly in the face of the Gatewatch ostracizing her.
yeah to piggyback on that, the archive traps articles at this site have been great at providing comprehensive summaries of each of MTG's most important stories. in lieu of hunting down the books, these are great sources.
So in this site's latest flavor article, one of the creators of the Ixalan storyline says this:
Ixalan is structured as a farce. A farce is built on physical humor, clambering characters, exaggeration and horseplay. After the serious nature of Amonkhet, we wanted to deliver a completely different tone, hence the farcical structure. The plot doesn’t really matter in a farce – what matters is the characters and the relationships between them, and that was true in Ixalan; the point isn’t the race, it’s the themes. Power is rewarded with punishment in a farce, and our two most powerful characters in the narrative (Kumena and Azor) are rewarded for their hubris with comic defeats. Kumena in particular had a comically short reign because in a farce, he’s the comically incompetent character – the bodacious up-and-comer who thinks he is a great revolutionary, only to be cut short by literally being thrown out the window. There are plenty of other fun tropes to play with, too! Angrath is the furious and tone-deaf patriarch, Huatli is the naïve youth, Mavren Fein is the obnoxious puritan, and what happens to Jace and Vraska is a play on the trope of lovers with mistaken identities. Playing with genre in fantasy is fun, and opened up new spaces we wouldn’t have found without approaching it with farcical playfulness.
So if anybody was wondering about the decisions they made with storytelling ....and Why Kumena, Azor and Vona got PWNED so comically... this should explain things a bit.
Also, if you can get your hands on them, I strongly recommend revisiting Kamigawa and the first 3 Ravnica books. they may not fit into your traditional idea of Magic: The Gathering lore, but they are excellent self-contained stories which actually exemplify some of the best writing amongst the Magic novels. And Kamigawa actually does have an easter egg that ties that world intrinsically to Dominaria - specifically, to Nicol Bolas.
Are we still pretending that the winner wasn't planned? When the story reasons for this ending were so clear that people called the details of it?
The "voting" and geocaching was a marketing ploy. It was always going to the sun Empire and the next set was always going to be them invading the Legion. This was set up in stories released before the "results" were in. Not that I'm complaining about the outcome, it will be interesting to see the reverse Invasion, but this was the plan all along.
yeah that kinda reeks of Scars of Mirrodin: they give you the illusion of actually having a say in the outcome, when it was determined when they first concepted the set.
Cool way of setting up Dominaria, with delivering Jaya and Weatherlight 2.0 right off the bat. and now we have to wait two months for the Dominaria stories to start up? bummer.
Huatl and Saheeli becoming fast friends is cool. and of course it totally sidetracks Huatl from returning to her homeplane. Like others hinted at, i would love to see both her and Saheeli as part of Tamiyo's story circle. they'd be perfect fits.
for those wondering where the big battle for the city is, don't forget there's one more story to be told before we shift focus to Dominaria. it'll probably happen next week.
This story (and probably the next one too) is basically just tying up loose ends.
the story is indeed weaker than the ones before it, but in reality, the strength of all of those previous stories was the developing relationship between Jace and Vraska. take that element away, and the stories were at about the same level as this one.
I do like Angarth cursing everybody out and planeswalking away as soon as he could. he is a very entertaining character
the dusk legion setup seems intriguing, and something that I can see fully explored if they were to ever return to Ixalan. a Vampire civil war would be fascinating.
and I do like how Huatl's character arc was resolved. the fact that she is planeswalking away with unfinished business at home seems a bit odd...but also kind of familiar (*couch* Jace *cough*).
but as it stands, principal players are being taken off the board so they can finally answer the question of who will control the city. And Jace is still unaccounted for. we don't know if he already left for Dominaria, or if he is still on Ixalan for some unforetold reason.
this story isn't spectacular to em, but it's servicable.
The problem with the guildlaw vs. Bolas theory is that Nicol Bolas is not bound in anyway to Ravnican law. The Guildpact only works against people directly under its authority, and Bolas is not, nor has he ever been, affiliated with any of the guilds. Of course, I could be mistaken. if you're just saying the guilds all team up to bring Bolas down, then that is feasible.
Kamigawa is one of MTG's most beloved stories for a reason (actually, many reasons). Toshiro is a well-written, likeable antihero, and the war between Konda and O-Kagachi is suitably epic in scope. the books also do a great job of incorporating many of the cards from the set into the story.
Not to mention, much of the flavor text on the cards allude to a history of the war that the books can only scratch the surface of telling. It was a masterpiece, and this synopsis is a great way to bring those that missed the books up to speed.
Sounds feasible. the only caveat is that Martha said Gideon would be Accompanying Liliana on her journey to rid herself of the final demon. That seems to fly in the face of the Gatewatch ostracizing her.
If you're wondering why XXX bit of nostalgia hasn't been referenced, just stay tuned. you might be in for a pleasant surprise.
...Almost.
So if anybody was wondering about the decisions they made with storytelling ....and Why Kumena, Azor and Vona got PWNED so comically... this should explain things a bit.
your thoughts?
read the alternate endings to Rivals of Ixalan here.
yeah that kinda reeks of Scars of Mirrodin: they give you the illusion of actually having a say in the outcome, when it was determined when they first concepted the set.
Huatl and Saheeli becoming fast friends is cool. and of course it totally sidetracks Huatl from returning to her homeplane. Like others hinted at, i would love to see both her and Saheeli as part of Tamiyo's story circle. they'd be perfect fits.
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/introducing-martha-wells-dominaria-magic-story-author-2018-02-14
the story is indeed weaker than the ones before it, but in reality, the strength of all of those previous stories was the developing relationship between Jace and Vraska. take that element away, and the stories were at about the same level as this one.
I do like Angarth cursing everybody out and planeswalking away as soon as he could. he is a very entertaining character
the dusk legion setup seems intriguing, and something that I can see fully explored if they were to ever return to Ixalan. a Vampire civil war would be fascinating.
and I do like how Huatl's character arc was resolved. the fact that she is planeswalking away with unfinished business at home seems a bit odd...but also kind of familiar (*couch* Jace *cough*).
but as it stands, principal players are being taken off the board so they can finally answer the question of who will control the city. And Jace is still unaccounted for. we don't know if he already left for Dominaria, or if he is still on Ixalan for some unforetold reason.
this story isn't spectacular to em, but it's servicable.
what guarantee do we have that Bolas will actually keep up his end of the bargain with Vraska?