MTG Salvation

Quote from ryuplaneswalker »

Quote from user_938036 »

Obviously Dovin simply filled out the proper paperwork (in triplicate) and filed it with the proper people and thus became grand arbiter. Hoesntly it seems the easiest of the bunch to usurp as you don't have to be strong or intelligent, just be told what to do by Bolas.

Joking aside I feel this may actually be almost exactly what happened. Kind of like the south park episode where people keep coming in going "who's in charge here...not any more you're not." And by rules of the azorious if you speak the proper phrase at the proper time to the proper people everything works out as you want.

Given that they are Vogon Style Lawful Neutral it is entirely possible that Dovin just needed a week with all the laws and found "Obscure Rule number 454184088904980948094 that allows him to be Grand Arbiter."

Quote from ilovesaprolings »

Quote from AUTUMNTWILIGHT »

Dovin is next up, he was mean to Chandra so he must be "EVIL".

Honestly i felt they did the same to Azor. He had to appear evil and unconsiderate just because... he likes rules and Jace need his spotlight?
Suddenly the guildpact is evil, even if it lasted 10k years and helped Ravnica become one of the most advanced plane, and suddenly also we learn that Azor screwed many planes, all of them off-screen and without giving details, just to paint him as the bad guy.

Meanwhile, Jace never stays on Ravnica and that apparently means that the guildpact doesn't work. Nice way to screw up a plane Jace.

Quote from ChrisBP7 »

Quote from Flisch »

Quote from KarnTerrier »

I'd say Phyrexia definitely still has some of that White/Black tribalism. Also, it's only the Red faction of New Phyrexia that was forced into hiding, the Black faction submitted to the White faction's rule. That's why Atraxa is every color but Red, she was created by all four of the remaining Praetors after they'd forged their alliance. I actually see New Phyrexia as being four-colored, you can basically view it as combining Esper-style technocracy with Bant-style collectivism with Sultai-style expansionism.

On a semi-related note, I originally thought about listing the Borg Collective as an example of a Bant-colored organization, but I wasn't sure whether it should be considered White/Blue/Green (because it seeks to incorporate everyone into its 'perfect' society) or Blue/Black/Green (because it seeks to consume and absorb everyone else that exists, making everything into a part of itself). Mark Rosewater originally listed them as typical Blue/Black expansionist conquerors, but later considered them an example of the Green/Black plague-bearer archetype, and admitted that they could be seen as White/Green collectivists if you assumed their motives were benevolent (i.e. if they genuinely believed that the people and species they assimilated were better off as part of the Collective). Ultimately I'd say that, like the New Phyrexians, they're White/Blue/Black/Green. Given that the Borg's defining trait is that they completely lack individuality, I'd say that having them be Non-Red fits perfectly.

I don't think the Borg understand themselves as benevolent bringers of perfection as evidenced by the idea that they see some species as unfit to "enhance the collective". They are, even to themselves, just an organism that grows by incorporating other things into itself in order to grow and survive, not to grant those beings a better life.

It has been some time since I saw Star Treks Borg episodes, but if I remember correctly, they are definitely seeing themselves as "bringer of perfection", they are usually just not very preachy about it (and why should they?). At least the Borg Queen made several statements in this direction. They assimilate others without making moral arguments for it because in their mind they just know that they are right, and everyone else will just see it as they see it once they are part of the collective. I think arguments can be made about the Borg being any color other than black, but I would actually say that black is also a weaker influence since they reject individualism so utterly.

Quote from AUTUMNTWILIGHT »

Even guilds not under Bolas control have sides that don't agree with the company line...Tajic and Aurelia are clearly not on the same page. Trostani cannot agree at all.

So I don't think its Bolas Faction Specific.

Quote from Onering »

A chaotically aligned guild would simply be more willing than a guild aligned with order to take actions to change the system.

Quote from Caranthir »

Anyway, here is a sneak peek at Azorius land. My money is on Hallowed Fountain (it is the same scene as on RtR art)

Quote from Xeruh »

Given that, again, the intent is not to cause harm and every action he takes is to avoid it, he is not malicious. That is the crux of the argument. Arguing about how good or bad his actions are, or any number of side tangents, are certainly interesting subjects (although also a bit off topic given we have no evidence Dovin will even show up in Ravnica) but not related to a willful desire to cause harm. That harm happens as part of his actions does not mean harm was the intent, and for him to be malicious you can’t judge him by anything but that. Which, again, all of his internal dialogue shows an intent to minimize harm to the best of his ability. That it doesn’t go as he hopes is irrelevant.

Quote from Trinite0 »

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Quote from Trinite0 »

I certainly think Vivien comes off as more interesting and believable than Huatli did, despite the flaws in this story. That's a fairly low bar, though. Khaw's work, whatever its qualities, is far better than the casualty-of-committee embarrassment that was the non-Jace-Vraska parts of the Ixalan story.

Here I'll vehemently disagree. I read all of the Ixalan stories end to end, even the bad ones. I read the first Vivien story, skimmed over many parts of the second, and couldn't even force myself to finish the third.

It's a matter of taste, certainly, and thus subjective as to a better or worse comparison, but at least for some of us Khaw's work is simply unpalatable.

That's perfectly fair. But she can maintain a consistent verb tense, and not copy/paste the same sentence into two different places, so in my book she beats the Ixalan spread.