Surash, a character they mentioned on the Aether Revolt page, would be awesome. He is mentioned to control giant spiders, which will make my crappy Ishkanah very happy.
Frankly, none of the articles published for the last three weeks counts as a "Story" to me.
I'd be less annoyed if they have just said "Sorry guys, no stories between Kaladesh and Aether Revolt." than calling this.... filler "story."
It made sense when it was Savor the Flavor or Uncharted Realms. I get using the slot for creative articles, but retitling 'Magic Story' obviously doesn't help with the perception that flavor articles are okay.
I'm genuinely surprised and disappointed we aren't seeming to get a real Commander story :/
It's more disappointing than last year. We had a mere two stories, and a bunch of interesting commanders that needed more story time in my opinion. But this year, it just sucks.
Part of me suspect the real reason Ugin wanted to keep the eldrazi alive is so that he could have researched them enough to finally control them. Then he could have used them for some unknown purpose.
Honestly, I feel like we need to see more of Ms. Kord, and the general aftermath of the Promised End.
Yes.
So very much yes.
We didn't get any closure as to the welfare or standing of the plane or its inhabitants at all.
You can't just leave us hanging like that Wizards! It's mean.
Hopefully they'll do a story with Ludevic and his creation. That would give us some insight on his character, and hopefully some info on how Innistrad coped after the disaster.
I think your order for the neos is completely off. Domri is just a teenager, and I doubt Chandra is much older than twenty. Dovin, Nissa, and Tamiyo have to be older then your projections, although it is hard to tell since they aren't human.
Personally, I believe that if there is indeed a "god" and that they did create everything we know to exist in the universe, then they likely did it out of sheer amusement or for experimentation. If they had any interest in interaction, then I feel like we would have seen some positive effects by now, unless of course, the "god" was actually malevolent or just uncaring.
I know two people who play decent voltron commanders. Rafiq of the Many and Zurgo Helmsmasher.The Rafiq deck is just bull, I only know one person who can beat it, and that's with a goldari dredge deck with a massive combo. Zurgo, on the other hand, isn't quite as destructive, but will quickly get out of control if he doesn't get removed. Any good burn spell can kill him, and with only 2 health, he doesn't stand a chance.
Baseless speculation: Perhaps Bolas is simply building an army of powerful warriors. If he could get a hold of and alter Rashmi's teleportation tech, they wouldn't need sparks, and could help Bolas take planes by sheer force.
I'd be fine with a partial victory, never a total victory on Amonkhet. I understand Bolas is supposed to be the ultimate villain, with virtually no way to defeat him, but wasn't Ajani already partially victorious at the end of the Alara block? Also, we know for the sake of storytelling, someday, somehow, someone is going to take Bolas down. Its the fate of every evil villain in a story that involves heroes, and all we are doing is complaining about who actually gets to do it. Does it matter if the Gatewatch does it, perhaps after many more years of experience? I personally feel that all the Gatewatch will do on Amonkhet is figure out what Bolas's aims are and that's it, maybe slow him down a bit, but no further.
Also, Emrakul being trapped really really can't be considered a victory. Sure Innistrad is temporary safe in a sense, but consider the losses. There were thousands of deaths, the loss of Avacyn, Sorin's entrapment, Thraben's possible destruction, the fates of many main characters (Thalia, Sigarda, Arlinn, etc.) mostly unknown, Emrakul's brood possibly being still active, werewolves making a comeback, the flight of nightmares coming into being and the loss of the majority of angels, the murders caused by the Lunarch inquisition, plus a lot more. Yep, a total victory I'd say. Furthermore, from Emrakul's perspective, she got everything she wanted. The world wasn't ready for her, so she wanted a place to wait, and the Gatewatch provided her with the perfect way to do it. From the Gatewatch's perspective, a possible victory, but they have no way of knowing.
We know that Bolas currently rules the new plane Amonkhet through some means. Whether it is from behind the scenes, or openly we don't know. The first image we got shows obvious designs in the buildings' architecture that are akin to Bolas's horns. That means, to me at least, that Bolas has been present there a long time, and if Amonkhet was truly his homeworld, he could be so involved with the planes culture, images of him would pop up everywhere.
The second reason Amonkhet might be our favorite dragon's home comes from a rather odd place. Bolas's chin. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker He has a strange protrusion, a horn perhaps, extending from there. With Amonkhet's Egyptian theme, the chin horn could be a reference to the designs of pharaoh masks, which often feature a protruding beard from their chin. This perhaps gives Bolas some sort of cultural connection to the new plane. Thoughts?
I don't see how two planes would be brought into conflict, or at the very least, not these two. There hasn't been any indication that non planeswalker inhabitants have had any sort of contact, and just because they may have similar plane specific conflicts (over the power sources), doesn't mean they would be fighting with each other. Besides, the aether on Kaladesh seems to be in short supply, thus the trafficking, and the "revolt" will likely be from Kaladesh's people. This is supported by the fact that the set is called "Aether Revolt", a substance the normal citizens are deprived of, plus the plane is ruled by the consuls, which is implied to be extremely controlling of its people and displays certain aspects in common with a dictatorship. A prime example is the public, attempted execution of Chandra. So, as I said, the revolt will be from Kaladeshi people that want more freedom and access to the valuable aether to fuel their machines. Vryn is simply going through a civil war, which has likely ended since Alhemmeret's death by Jace. Without the arbiter, one side would probably have gained the upper hand seized the mage rings for themselves. If a portal is what the rings are fueling, and Kaladesh is what is controlling it, we would likely have seen some of Kaladesh technology present on Vryn.
Well, the only beings who actually know Sorin's location are Olivia, some of her bloodline, and Nahiri. None of them seem inclined to free him, and any remaining markov vampires (who might be interesting in reinhabiting the manor) have basically renounced Sorin. I don't think its likely Ugin will find him, particularly if he's still researching eldrazi bits on Zendikar. He had sent Jace to look for him, and that deal my or may not still be in effect with Ugin deciding to no longer work with Jace. Jace also may stop looking for Sorin now that Emrakul is bound. So for now, it seems our vampire friend is there to stay.
However, Sorin not being able to escape seems like bullcrap to me. If he really was in so much pain that he couldn't concentrate, how could he have coherent conversation with Olivia? Elspeth managed a planeswalk while being impaled by an obliterator, which should have been comparable in pain to the stones in Sorin's stomach. Planeswalkers in general make their first planeswalk without even thinking about it due to trauma. Because of those examples, I just don't see how Sorin could not manage to escape. If a moment of extreme emotion, like the rage and grief that Sorin must have felt then, can ingite a planewalker's spark and start their first planewalk, you would think that Sorin could simply leave on sheer force of will.
Personally, I'm hoping for a spider tribal theme in there somewhere. With the creation of Ishkanah, Grafwidow, I feel like wizards might make room for occasional spider cards that would work well with her. Certain spider-related cards already have a graveyard theme, Spider Spawningand Graverobber Spiderfor example, and thus they work with BG. Plus, and abundance of thopters in Kaladesh might be a good reason to add new spiders with reach for standard.
It's more disappointing than last year. We had a mere two stories, and a bunch of interesting commanders that needed more story time in my opinion. But this year, it just sucks.
Hopefully they'll do a story with Ludevic and his creation. That would give us some insight on his character, and hopefully some info on how Innistrad coped after the disaster.
Perhaps it only means the most ancient evil from the plane's history.
Also, Emrakul being trapped really really can't be considered a victory. Sure Innistrad is temporary safe in a sense, but consider the losses. There were thousands of deaths, the loss of Avacyn, Sorin's entrapment, Thraben's possible destruction, the fates of many main characters (Thalia, Sigarda, Arlinn, etc.) mostly unknown, Emrakul's brood possibly being still active, werewolves making a comeback, the flight of nightmares coming into being and the loss of the majority of angels, the murders caused by the Lunarch inquisition, plus a lot more. Yep, a total victory I'd say. Furthermore, from Emrakul's perspective, she got everything she wanted. The world wasn't ready for her, so she wanted a place to wait, and the Gatewatch provided her with the perfect way to do it. From the Gatewatch's perspective, a possible victory, but they have no way of knowing.
The second reason Amonkhet might be our favorite dragon's home comes from a rather odd place. Bolas's chin. Nicol Bolas, Planeswalker He has a strange protrusion, a horn perhaps, extending from there. With Amonkhet's Egyptian theme, the chin horn could be a reference to the designs of pharaoh masks, which often feature a protruding beard from their chin. This perhaps gives Bolas some sort of cultural connection to the new plane. Thoughts?
However, Sorin not being able to escape seems like bullcrap to me. If he really was in so much pain that he couldn't concentrate, how could he have coherent conversation with Olivia? Elspeth managed a planeswalk while being impaled by an obliterator, which should have been comparable in pain to the stones in Sorin's stomach. Planeswalkers in general make their first planeswalk without even thinking about it due to trauma. Because of those examples, I just don't see how Sorin could not manage to escape. If a moment of extreme emotion, like the rage and grief that Sorin must have felt then, can ingite a planewalker's spark and start their first planewalk, you would think that Sorin could simply leave on sheer force of will.