Not a Moderator (please don't kill me) but I figured we deserved this Thread.
As we are not expecting main plotline stories for Ravnica Allegiance (RNA) set anymore than we did GRN, and because much of the War of the Spark (WAR) set's story will be revealed on paperback and through online stories, I figured we could consolidate them no?
On the main plotline revealed by RNA's cards so far, I realized I was in the right guild for me when my first reaction to Kaya's Ethereal Absolution of the indentured Orzhov spirits was TO REEL BACK IN HORROR!!
It was perhaps the moral thing to do, but not very strategic for the guild's overall wellbeing, Without debt, consequences, and the power that the dead provide for the guild, the Syndicate has lost a lot of power. While I'm all for reforming the guild and making the indentured living and dead's repayment easier and more ennobling, even a shallow understanding of economics points to negative externalities when market forces are so blatantly ignored.
And maybe as someone in another thread pointed out, this was Bolas's plan all along. Mass inflation to increase the chaos of the plane. I believe Kaya is onto something and her ethics bears a point but even ethical action can have dangerous, and negative consequences. Road to hell is paved by good intentions.
And knowing Bolas he knew this would happen if he made Kaya guild master, ghosts would be a problem the eternal would have issues with.
Thinking on it, Amonkhet didn't have any spirits so even the eternal mages might not have magics to deal with them unless Bolas could add in knowledge to them afterwards.
Well, he managed to load all that is there to know about seafaring into Vraska's brain, I think he could load the knowledge of ghosts and how to deal with them into a bunch of zombies...
Does anyone else think that Jace trapping Azor on Useless Island was foreshadowing? The Gatewatch could definitely trap Bolas on Ravnica, which I think would be hilarious if Bolas regains his ultraspark and then gets stuck. I do think Bolas's plan is to use Ral's Project Lightning Bug to track planeswalkers on Ravnica so he can merge their sparks into one to make him an oldwalker.
No. Just no. Jace pulling some guildpact crap like he did on Azor and trapping Bolas would be an exceptionally lame ending.
And yeah, the Bridge is for the Eternals to get to Ravnica… but no one has really given a good explanation for why the Eternals are needed on Ravnica. Are they simply added insurance to keep the Ravnicans off of him? (Along with the 5 guilds he's suborned.) Another possibility is that Bolas knows that at a certain point all of his pawns are going to turn on him. Particularly if he's planning on collapsing Ravnica with all of his pawns on it, they're not going to take kindly to that. Another question is whether Tezzeret will allow himself to become trapped on Ravnica. (While we know that the Bridge can move the Immortal Sun, we don't know whether it can 'push' as well as 'pull' the Bridge.
The bigger question is why Ravnica? If his plan is simply to collapse a plane, he could do that to any plane. I think there's some specific reason he needs it to be Ravnica. I really hope it's not some stupid revenge kick against Azor, though.
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The Entities seem to be different depending on what plane they came from (Davriel has a black one while the girl has a green one, for example). Maybe Bolas is after some specific property. Or it could be something stupid, it has been stated that he is more emotion-driven than he admits...
Regardless of who may or may not die, I think there is a higher issue here.
Presumably, Bolas's plan boils down to:
1) Create oldwalker spark.
2) Get oldwalker spark.
3) Profit.
Replace 'oldwalker spark' with 'very much more powerful spark' if you don't think that an oldwalker spark can or will be made.
Regardless, the best plan is to stop 1, because 1 stops 2. However, if that cannot be done, and the Gatewatch & Co. can only stop 2 (that is, the spark is created but Bolas doesn't get it)… what do you do with it? If anyone you give it to would become on par with an oldwalker in power, that's an awful amount of power.
That would lead to a huge MacGuffin to fight over.
Something else I've thought of is that we know one plane where PWs can die and at least 'stick around' if not keep their sparks: Theros, with Elspeth. Currently, my bet is that Liliana will indeed turn on Bolas at a key moment in the war, and Bolas sics the contract on her, which would presumably age her to her 'correct' age and (possibly) depower her somewhat. (We literally don't know everything involved in her contract.) Teferi intervenes and puts her in a slow-time bubble to prevent her death, and Gideon and Ajani (and possibly Teferi) bring her to Theros, where she descends into the Underworld. All of this may possibly be part of an effort to get back Elspeth or not.
Don't forget about what we have learned with Children of the Nameless - about the Entities and stuff. Bolas' plan might well be to collapse Ravnica - along with any planeswalkers trapped there by the Immortal Sun - and claim the resulting Entity for himself.
Um. I must have missed that. Where can I find this information?
And yeah, the Bridge is for the Eternals to get to Ravnica… but no one has really given a good explanation for why the Eternals are needed on Ravnica. Are they simply added insurance to keep the Ravnicans off of him? (Along with the 5 guilds he's suborned.) Another possibility is that Bolas knows that at a certain point all of his pawns are going to turn on him. Particularly if he's planning on collapsing Ravnica with all of his pawns on it, they're not going to take kindly to that. Another question is whether Tezzeret will allow himself to become trapped on Ravnica. (While we know that the Bridge can move the Immortal Sun, we don't know whether it can 'push' as well as 'pull' the Bridge.
The novella by Brandon Sanderson, Children of the Nameless. You can download it from the mothership for free and it's actually quite good.
Regardless of who may or may not die, I think there is a higher issue here.
Presumably, Bolas's plan boils down to:
1) Create oldwalker spark.
2) Get oldwalker spark.
3) Profit.
Replace 'oldwalker spark' with 'very much more powerful spark' if you don't think that an oldwalker spark can or will be made.
Regardless, the best plan is to stop 1, because 1 stops 2. However, if that cannot be done, and the Gatewatch & Co. can only stop 2 (that is, the spark is created but Bolas doesn't get it)… what do you do with it? If anyone you give it to would become on par with an oldwalker in power, that's an awful amount of power.
That would lead to a huge MacGuffin to fight over.
Something else I've thought of is that we know one plane where PWs can die and at least 'stick around' if not keep their sparks: Theros, with Elspeth. Currently, my bet is that Liliana will indeed turn on Bolas at a key moment in the war, and Bolas sics the contract on her, which would presumably age her to her 'correct' age and (possibly) depower her somewhat. (We literally don't know everything involved in her contract.) Teferi intervenes and puts her in a slow-time bubble to prevent her death, and Gideon and Ajani (and possibly Teferi) bring her to Theros, where she descends into the Underworld. All of this may possibly be part of an effort to get back Elspeth or not.
I wonder if that's the reason why he wants the Planar Bridge...
Regardless of who may or may not die, I think there is a higher issue here.
Presumably, Bolas's plan boils down to:
1) Create oldwalker spark.
2) Get oldwalker spark.
3) Profit.
Replace 'oldwalker spark' with 'very much more powerful spark' if you don't think that an oldwalker spark can or will be made.
Regardless, the best plan is to stop 1, because 1 stops 2. However, if that cannot be done, and the Gatewatch & Co. can only stop 2 (that is, the spark is created but Bolas doesn't get it)… what do you do with it? If anyone you give it to would become on par with an oldwalker in power, that's an awful amount of power.
That would lead to a huge MacGuffin to fight over.
Something else I've thought of is that we know one plane where PWs can die and at least 'stick around' if not keep their sparks: Theros, with Elspeth. Currently, my bet is that Liliana will indeed turn on Bolas at a key moment in the war, and Bolas sics the contract on her, which would presumably age her to her 'correct' age and (possibly) depower her somewhat. (We literally don't know everything involved in her contract.) Teferi intervenes and puts her in a slow-time bubble to prevent her death, and Gideon and Ajani (and possibly Teferi) bring her to Theros, where she descends into the Underworld. All of this may possibly be part of an effort to get back Elspeth or not.
Don't forget about what we have learned with Children of the Nameless - about the Entities and stuff. Bolas' plan might well be to collapse Ravnica - along with any planeswalkers trapped there by the Immortal Sun - and claim the resulting Entity for himself.
I'm a little tired of the Super Friends story arc, so I'm hoping this spells the deaths of a lot of planeswalkers.
Though I know it won't.
It probably will, but they will just be some randos who show up on either side. Or some lesser but interesting characters while the main but bland ones stay...
This card stands out to me as surprisingly complex for a common, enough so that I'm surprised it's being printed in a standard set in the "new world order"
Could it be that this is a rare example of a card having its rarity lowered for limited play?
That would seem to be the case, it would be completely useless in limited at uncommon.
Advisor tribal mill Relentless Rats variant. Even with all of the craziness in this set, I think this is the weirdest card spoiled yet.
EDIT: Hold on, nickname idea:
Relentless Bureaucrats
The type was likely chosen specifically to be non-tribal, just like crested sunmare. As it is, it's almost as if it required copies of itself with some slight room for other cards. Imagine this in a tribe that is actually supported, like merfolk...
Forgotten gods... So does the Apocalypse Pig have some divine buddies who could play a role in the next set? That would be an interesting turn of events. After all, Bolas has used gods as a tool before...
Well, he managed to load all that is there to know about seafaring into Vraska's brain, I think he could load the knowledge of ghosts and how to deal with them into a bunch of zombies...
No. Just no. Jace pulling some guildpact crap like he did on Azor and trapping Bolas would be an exceptionally lame ending.
The Entities seem to be different depending on what plane they came from (Davriel has a black one while the girl has a green one, for example). Maybe Bolas is after some specific property. Or it could be something stupid, it has been stated that he is more emotion-driven than he admits...
The novella by Brandon Sanderson, Children of the Nameless. You can download it from the mothership for free and it's actually quite good.
He needs it to get the Eternals to Ravnica.
Don't forget about what we have learned with Children of the Nameless - about the Entities and stuff. Bolas' plan might well be to collapse Ravnica - along with any planeswalkers trapped there by the Immortal Sun - and claim the resulting Entity for himself.
Jace is safe because "market research".
It probably will, but they will just be some randos who show up on either side. Or some lesser but interesting characters while the main but bland ones stay...
That would seem to be the case, it would be completely useless in limited at uncommon.
The type was likely chosen specifically to be non-tribal, just like crested sunmare. As it is, it's almost as if it required copies of itself with some slight room for other cards. Imagine this in a tribe that is actually supported, like merfolk...