I'm kind of puzzled by many of the reactions here. Some people feel that the fact that Alesha is transgender wasn't focused on more, but isn't it better to show that it's simply yet another part of her? Personally, I like it when they don't make a big deal out of it (same for gay characters, if we ever get there) because if you mention it "by the way" it makes it feel much more normal.
At any rate, I find many other reactions hilarious, or should I say sad:
"It was too hamfisted!"
"It wasn't obvious enough until halfway in!"
"It wasn't focused enough on the transgender part!"
"It was too focused on the transgender part!"
Etc.
I guess my last word on the subject is, if the writers intended the story to show that a trans person's experience of identity is meaningfully different than a cis person's, then in that respect I feel the writing failed because I didn't catch that at all.
If the writers intended to show that the Mardu are highly egalitarian in that they show no differentiation between cis men, cis women, and trans/genderqueer people when it comes to status-earning potential, then sure, but somehow I don't actually think that's what the writers were going for.
Uh, neither?! It was just a story about the Mardu Khan, who happened to be transgender. (Which is also the entire reason why I believe it was well-handled.) Everyone who tries to see anything else in this story is just trying to find political propaganda where there is none.
Okay, I have to be honest here, I had to read the line
"You tell me this? A human boy who thinks he's a woman?"
multiple times before I connected it to what Doug said about transgender characters in Tarkir.
Having that said, this was a great story, clearly one of my favourites, and I don't even care about the Mardu to begin with.
Also, I consider this the first LGBT representation in Magic, because the Guardians of Meletis really don't count at all.* Even if you blow up the art and squint real hard, it's far from obvious that both are supposed to be male. I mean if you have to hide your "controversial" content in such a way that nobody really gets it unless it's stated by word of god, then you have no right to claim "omg were so progressive m i rite".
The only downer for me is that a transgender gets into Magic before a gay character does, so unfair. (I'm kidding here, ...I think.)
*Ok fine, there was that one story back then with Erebos, but I was mostly speaking about cards or characters having cards.
Okay but no one uses the word to the extreme you seem to want.
So I prefer accuracy of language. It doesn't invalidate my position.
It makes the entire concept of the word rather meaningless though.
Not even the universe itself is immortal (or eternal, since it's a non-living thing to begin with). And it may be argued that the multiverse, too, may not exist forever. If you take the word "immortal" to it's most literal meaning, you might just as well erase it from the vocabulary, because there will never be a situation where you can use it.
Immortality should always be looked upon under a condition. Something can be immortal under the condition that the universe does not die a heat death eventually; and a diety can be immortal under the condition that they do not simply fade away due to a lack of belief. (I do agree however, that the gods of Theros are not immortal. They are immensely powerful, sure, but I bet a being like Nicol Bolas can destroy them. Else Kruphix wouldn't be that afraid of him.)
What is even most unusual is that Mark Rosewater even acknowledge, in an article today, that time travel is a dangerous element that should never be toyed with, yet that is exactly what happens in this set. Why is he not taking his own advice?
Since when are story writers not letting their characters do things that they themselves would never do?
I wasn't going off Heliod's claim. I know he's full of it, but I do remember having read somewhere that the five mono-coloured gods were supposed to be the major ones. But then again what does word of god really mean considering the whole Elder Dragon Ugin thing.
The only reason the gods of theros were portrayed so powerful is because Theros was relatively isolated from the multiverse. They never really seen walkers or transdimensional being of great magnitude. And since much of their magic stems from believing in their gods, then that makes sense if there aren't many creatures stronger than them.
to further complicate this, the most powerful of their number is already wary of the rogue's gallery. Bolas and the Eldrazi especially make Kruphix sweat.
Is Kruphix really the most powerful though? I know he's the oldest, but do we have confirmation that he's also more powerful than the mono-coloured gods, that were always described as the main ones?
I love how people think the Theros Gods should be very powerful cause they are gods. Technically magic has loads of Gods, from the Lorwynn-Shadowmoor ones to the legacy ones. They may not have had the subtype but they were refered and worshiped the same.
Calling someone a god and worshipping them does not make them a god. Wether you admit it or not, the Theros gods are canonically gods. Period.
As far as regeneration, couldn't a new but similar keyword be along the lines of;
Undead Zombie BB
Recreate (The next time this creature would be destroyed this turn, it isn't. Remove all combat damage from it. A creature can only be recreated once a turn.)
2/2
I think this would be simpler for an evergreen mechanic. It doesn't have any timing issues by being an activated ability and removes the extra tapping part. I think it also would make it slightly more interactive as it's similar to Kira, Great Glass-Spinner.
This is like better persist/undying. It should have a cost associated with it.
Maybe something like "Heal 1G (If this creature would be destroyed, you may bay 1G and tap it. If you do, remove all damage from it and remove it from combat instead.)" (I like Heal better as a name for it. Recouperate and Rejuvinate also came to mind. Something a bit more organic than Recreate, ya know?)
How is that different from Regenerate functionally? The point I was making was to attempt to simplify Regenerate as WOTC stated their possible interest in possibly replacing it as they feel Regenerate is slightly complicated. It has timing issues and also causes it to tap. I merely made a suggestion to fix those, I'm not trying to create a new fantasy mechanic and try to balance it out. (Undying is actually better than it and requires no cost but that doesn't really matter.)
The most problematic thing about regeneration is that it's unintuitive. You have to regenerate your creature before anything happens. If you use deidarakoon's keyword, the game would check the regeneration ability at the very moment the creature would be destroyed and you would pay the cost of the regeneration exactly when you have to. This would also make away with the "hovering regen shield" thing, which is just not possible to explain to a new player without adding "no really, I'm not messing with you".
We can say with some confidence that the Theros gods have power that is at best slightly greater than most neo-walkers. Elspeth totally resists Heliod's magic and I think there was a UR where Ashiok manipulates Phenax or Ephara.
I doubt this is true.
First off, the gods are gods in a very literal sense. It stands to reason that they have a very great control over their specific domain (on Theros). If they are at the power level of the neowalkers, they simply wouldn't be gods.
And yet Elspeth, who is not particularly powerful, easily stops Heliod from incinerating her early in the Theros book. Thassa obviously sees Kiora as a legitimate threat and rival, not someone who can be easily gotten rid of. If the Theroes gods are more powerful than neowalkers it isn't by very much. They could probably overpower Domri or Tibalt but experienced walkers are repeatedly shown dealing with the Theros gods as equals.
Surviving the attempt of getting killed is not the same as being more powerful. If I try to swat a fly and the fly gets away before the newspaper hits, is the fly more powerful than me?
As for Kiora, I don't actually know how much Thassa cares at the moment. With all the other stuff going on, including Xenagos' attempt at usurping the gods' position and Ajani continuing his work in a way, I'm not sure if Thassa really cares that much about Kiora at the moment. It's not like Kiora's tentacled pets can harm Thassa in Nyx anyway.
We can say with some confidence that the Theros gods have power that is at best slightly greater than most neo-walkers. Elspeth totally resists Heliod's magic and I think there was a UR where Ashiok manipulates Phenax or Ephara.
I doubt this is true.
First off, the gods are gods in a very literal sense. It stands to reason that they have a very great control over their specific domain (on Theros). If they are at the power level of the neowalkers, they simply wouldn't be gods.
As for the Ashiok thing. He didn't manipulate the gods per se. He manipulated their worshippers which in turn created a new entity. This entity however was nigh infinitely small compared to Ephara, as seen when she simply just absorbs that entity without much trouble.
There are powerful planeswalkers, no doubt, and some may even challenge gods in terms of power, but the gods of Theros are still gods and 99% of all planeswalkers couldn't even scratch them. Just note how Elspeth was only able to kill Xenagos due to help from multiple other gods (Nylea, Purphoros, Heliod and even Kruphix). There is no way your average neowalker could even make a dent to a god, unless they don't take them on directly. (Like what Ajani is doing or what Ashiok would be capapable of, if he continues tainting the gods with nightmare concepts.)
Sarkhan returns to the present day, but things aren't yet as he intended. He finds that Ugin's unconsciousness has led him to lose control of the dragon storms, and they've become the same tyrants that the Khans were without Ugin to guide them. Thus, Sarkhan has to return to the Crucible (with the help of the de-throned Khans who no longer recognize him) once more and release Ugin, restoring order to Tarkir.
You know, I think that is an actual possibility. I think it's too early to tell either way, but having Sarkhan go to awaken Ugin in order to return the dragons to their more "predatory" nature is a very convenient way for wizards to leave open the possibility of either revisiting the Khans or the dragons in a future revisit, or even keep both at the same time.
Kolaghan is female (that’s just a typo in the article), although gender is a bit of an interesting issue when it comes to Tarkir dragons, as we’ll see when we learn more about their life cycle.
I may be way off, but it seems like he's saying that dragons may change genders after a certain amount of time, so when we get back to the "present" in Dragons of Tarkir, all the brood mothers are now patriarchs of the clans.
Doug also said a while back that we will see a transgender character in Tarkir block.
So, I guess that semi-confirms the dragons changing their gender? I mean, semi-confirm is probably too much of a statement, but if you take both of those answers together, what else could it be.
It's worth noting that "Hunt Caller" is a position in the current Temur.
From the Planeswalkers Guide to Tarkir Pt. 2
"Hunt Caller: This person is responsible for the clan's pursuit of food animals, directing each family group to handle a particular area. He or she also commands raids against neighboring clans (typically Mardu) to seize supplies. The mantle of Hunt Caller can be held by anyone. It is earned rather than conferred, during the night of the Great Hunt. The hunter who brings back the greatest number of beasts, or the most formidable opponent, gains this title for the next year. The Hunt Caller is usually human, although ainok have sometimes held this position."
It's not all that farfetched to believe that whatever has evolved from the Temur kept some of the names, titles and habits from them.
Again, I'm just speculating here, but honestly I don't think any of the clans are going to be around in DTK, at least not in the way we know them.
But either way, I think he can be considered one and his design strongly sugests that. I would love to see Bolas family resdesignedd to look like him either, that would be nice.
Bolas looks nothing like his relatives
He also doesn't look anything like his former incarnation, so that point is kind of moot.
If I'd had to take a guess, I'd say Surrak becomes the most prominent human person in the soemwhat-temur-but-not-temur faction that will be composed of the former Temur people and the Atarka brood. So in a sense, we get our Khans, just that they're not khans per se, but just some sort of important persons under the command of the dragons.
At any rate, I find many other reactions hilarious, or should I say sad:
"It was too hamfisted!"
"It wasn't obvious enough until halfway in!"
"It wasn't focused enough on the transgender part!"
"It was too focused on the transgender part!"
Etc.
Uh, neither?! It was just a story about the Mardu Khan, who happened to be transgender. (Which is also the entire reason why I believe it was well-handled.) Everyone who tries to see anything else in this story is just trying to find political propaganda where there is none.
"You tell me this? A human boy who thinks he's a woman?"
multiple times before I connected it to what Doug said about transgender characters in Tarkir.
Having that said, this was a great story, clearly one of my favourites, and I don't even care about the Mardu to begin with.
Also, I consider this the first LGBT representation in Magic, because the Guardians of Meletis really don't count at all.* Even if you blow up the art and squint real hard, it's far from obvious that both are supposed to be male. I mean if you have to hide your "controversial" content in such a way that nobody really gets it unless it's stated by word of god, then you have no right to claim "omg were so progressive m i rite".
The only downer for me is that a transgender gets into Magic before a gay character does, so unfair. (I'm kidding here, ...I think.)
*Ok fine, there was that one story back then with Erebos, but I was mostly speaking about cards or characters having cards.
It makes the entire concept of the word rather meaningless though.
Not even the universe itself is immortal (or eternal, since it's a non-living thing to begin with). And it may be argued that the multiverse, too, may not exist forever. If you take the word "immortal" to it's most literal meaning, you might just as well erase it from the vocabulary, because there will never be a situation where you can use it.
Immortality should always be looked upon under a condition. Something can be immortal under the condition that the universe does not die a heat death eventually; and a diety can be immortal under the condition that they do not simply fade away due to a lack of belief. (I do agree however, that the gods of Theros are not immortal. They are immensely powerful, sure, but I bet a being like Nicol Bolas can destroy them. Else Kruphix wouldn't be that afraid of him.)
Since when are story writers not letting their characters do things that they themselves would never do?
Is Kruphix really the most powerful though? I know he's the oldest, but do we have confirmation that he's also more powerful than the mono-coloured gods, that were always described as the main ones?
Calling someone a god and worshipping them does not make them a god. Wether you admit it or not, the Theros gods are canonically gods. Period.
The most problematic thing about regeneration is that it's unintuitive. You have to regenerate your creature before anything happens. If you use deidarakoon's keyword, the game would check the regeneration ability at the very moment the creature would be destroyed and you would pay the cost of the regeneration exactly when you have to. This would also make away with the "hovering regen shield" thing, which is just not possible to explain to a new player without adding "no really, I'm not messing with you".
Surviving the attempt of getting killed is not the same as being more powerful. If I try to swat a fly and the fly gets away before the newspaper hits, is the fly more powerful than me?
As for Kiora, I don't actually know how much Thassa cares at the moment. With all the other stuff going on, including Xenagos' attempt at usurping the gods' position and Ajani continuing his work in a way, I'm not sure if Thassa really cares that much about Kiora at the moment. It's not like Kiora's tentacled pets can harm Thassa in Nyx anyway.
I doubt this is true.
First off, the gods are gods in a very literal sense. It stands to reason that they have a very great control over their specific domain (on Theros). If they are at the power level of the neowalkers, they simply wouldn't be gods.
As for the Ashiok thing. He didn't manipulate the gods per se. He manipulated their worshippers which in turn created a new entity. This entity however was nigh infinitely small compared to Ephara, as seen when she simply just absorbs that entity without much trouble.
There are powerful planeswalkers, no doubt, and some may even challenge gods in terms of power, but the gods of Theros are still gods and 99% of all planeswalkers couldn't even scratch them. Just note how Elspeth was only able to kill Xenagos due to help from multiple other gods (Nylea, Purphoros, Heliod and even Kruphix). There is no way your average neowalker could even make a dent to a god, unless they don't take them on directly. (Like what Ajani is doing or what Ashiok would be capapable of, if he continues tainting the gods with nightmare concepts.)
You know, I think that is an actual possibility. I think it's too early to tell either way, but having Sarkhan go to awaken Ugin in order to return the dragons to their more "predatory" nature is a very convenient way for wizards to leave open the possibility of either revisiting the Khans or the dragons in a future revisit, or even keep both at the same time.
Doug also said a while back that we will see a transgender character in Tarkir block.
So, I guess that semi-confirms the dragons changing their gender? I mean, semi-confirm is probably too much of a statement, but if you take both of those answers together, what else could it be.
It's not all that farfetched to believe that whatever has evolved from the Temur kept some of the names, titles and habits from them.
Again, I'm just speculating here, but honestly I don't think any of the clans are going to be around in DTK, at least not in the way we know them.
He also doesn't look anything like his former incarnation, so that point is kind of moot.