- Etherium Sage
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Member for 6 years, 10 months, and 11 days
Last active Sat, May, 11 2019 07:18:40
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BlueTronFTW posted a message on You shouldn't buy Master 25Stop saying the majority agrees with you unless you have a means of proving it, axman.Posted in: Magic General -
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Antiantiserum posted a message on Pact of Negation .:. Elle Osili-Wood Spoilerhttps://twitter.com/ElleOsiliWood/status/969187209998987264Posted in: The Rumor Mill
First printed in Future Sight.
Number Crunch .:. Spreadsheet: Cards per Set -
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Gutterstorm posted a message on Author Martha Wells To Write Stories For DominariaBy the gods the boohooing and entitlement in this thread is unbelievable. They spent more than half of Magics's history on Dominaria in the same story. Lord forbid they try amd so something else that not only keeps with the current story but harkens back to the old stories. Not everyone is a fan of Urza. As a matter of fact the majority of magic players probably aren't as the majority are newer players who weren't around for the early stuff. I started in RTR. I don't give a damn about Urza. The shoutouts and callbacks are cool and all but I wouldn't miss them if they weren't there. Nothing satisfies you people.Posted in: The Rumor Mill
"I want old magic back!"
-"k here's Jaya, Jhoira, Karn, Teferi all on Dominaria fighting the cabal with the Gatewatch."
"Gatewatch! No this is awful now WotC why do you hate everything good?"
Seriously people. Chill out, let them tell the story they want to tell. If you don't like it don't like it go read something else or go tell the story you want told. -
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OrzhovPlaneswalker posted a message on Author Martha Wells To Write Stories For DominariaPosted in: The Rumor MillQuote from EstravenEternal »I can't believe they are doing yet another Gatewatch story for Dominaria. I don't get it. 25 years of magic and all we get is this failure over and over.
Speak for yourself. I actually enjoy the characters of the Gatewatch and Planeswalkers being the lens through which we explore the multiverse. There is nothing to complain about from what we know so far about the return trip to Dominaria, as we are having a meeting of both New AND Old magic here, Weatherlight meets Gatewatch.
I'm kind of sick of the all the complaining. Yes there was much good in the Old stories and some weaknesses in the New but even just reading and trying to sort out Old magic the gathering stories informs me that the storytelling was imperfect then too; lots of continuity issues, author vanities, character inconsistencies and tired tropes as well.
Each period of Magic Storytelling is a reflection of its time. If things stayed the same, cardwise or lorewise, the game would die.
What the announcement is telling fans however is that the company accepts that the stories of Magic the Gathering deserves a higher quality of writing than it received in the past. Magic's story team has done their best but they're stretched thin and TBH they aren't and shouldn't have to be professional writers. They are World- and Arc-builders, and that's ok.
The meeting of both Amateur and Professional writers and storytellers is something that ought be celebrated just as the meeting of Old and New MTG, because like it or not, sometimes the amateur writers understand us fans better than the Professional, the Sophisticated.
They just can't always express it quite as well. I like Doug and his team, I am happy they are getting allies. -
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5colors posted a message on Dominaria ReturnsPosted in: Magic StorylineQuote from Bartel_Runeaxe »No to exploring a plane with such a deep lore and history through the lenses of characters that have zero connection (emotional or otherwise) to the places visited. Just the thought of Liliana going around places I wished to see again for over a decade acting snarky, dismissive and know-it-all, not giving a single damn about what are those places she visits and what has transpired there, makes my eyes roll.
You do realize Liliana is from Dominaria right?
You said it yourself, I think its too soon to cry out that the gatewatch is stealing all the spotlight in this set, all we have is the hook, Gideon and Liliana go to kill her last demon and explore the plane. From the end of todays story we do know Gideon is on the rebuilt weatherlight with Jaya so the more reasonable guess is that Gideon and Liliana end up crossing paths with the old characters and they all become a party of sorts. -
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5colors posted a message on Author Martha Wells To Write Stories For DominariaPosted in: The Rumor MillQuote from SavannahLion »It's too bad they'll keep their prized Planeswalkers. Magic can allow an infinite number of planes so it would behoove WotC to introduce side stories or sets that really don't have their main characters appearing. Hitler may get all the attention for WWII but his isn't the only story.
So everyone can then complain that creative is wasting story time on filler stories/characters who we won't see until the return set?
Side storylines and such are being told in the supplement sets, like Conspiracy or Commander, as well as core sets being used for background/set up for the major storyline (i.e. all of nahiri backstory before SoI could have been the storyline of a core set). -
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Chalsis posted a message on Ixalan General Discussion^ This is one more thing that's so vexing. They actually conveyed the moral nuance quite well in the artbook and supplementary materials. It was THERE; they had a compelling conflict laid out between four factions whose virtues and flaws were well thought out. But again, like practically everything in the story aside from the Jace and Vraska arc, the great ideas laid out in the creative boardroom did not translate to the keyboard of whoever ended up writing the online fiction.Posted in: Magic Storyline
As someone else here already observed, it feels like this world and it's story were planned out by a team that really took the effort and cared, only for the writing to be handed off to people who didn't really care much at all.
All the ingredients for a wild, amazing story were right there! It's almost like a perverse imp troll was sitting on the writers' shoulder:
"Exciting adventure world to explore? Cut the adventure and exploration parts. Just make it a race, people loved that in Dragon's Maze."
"Realistic, morally nuanced villain?(*) Delete his coolest parts, relegate him to a side character, and chuck him out a window in the first scene of RIX."
"Badass guardian golem mechs? Cut 'em."
"Five newly-awakened Elder Dinosaurs, one for each color? Mention them briefly, then move on."
"A SIXTH Elder Dinosaur? A Super three headed Cerberus Rex Primal Calamity? Make it a Taxi."
"Four factions locked in an epic battle for the Immortal Sun? Make it a seven-person playground brawl with no casualties or sacrifices."
"Dangerous and powerful doomsday artifact that's difficult to control? Phase it out before anyone mishandles it and we see what it's truly capable of. Whew, that was close."
"A couple villains are slated to claim the Immortal Sun regardless? Eh, just have them stand on it for a bit without actually using it's power."
"Zacama blasting through the Temple of the Sun? Yawn. No one wants to read about that."
"Intense emotions to capture in prose? Hit caps lock. The readers will get it."
(EDIT: I love Ixalan. I love the world, the art, the factions, and the feathered Dinosaurs. I admire the creativity and inspiration that went into its design and mythology, and it truly is one of my favorite planes. But I abhor, and in fact deeply resent, the amateur and dishonest way the story has been presented to us.)
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(*)Note: The artbook shows Kumena as originally set up to be the Big Bad, who the other factions had to fight through as he (along with a band of renegade River Heralds!) wielded the might of the Immortal Sun and tried to stop them from reaching the temple. But that would have been cool, so it had to go. -
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chochky posted a message on Combat Spell Cost ReductionCombat tricks seem an avenue that fits RW (It feels right but I'll have to get concrete examples later) as a potential archetype, akin to Heroic. What are your thoughts on possibly allowing some highly specific cost reduction as a facet of this?Posted in: Custom Card Creation
Monk of the Silver Feather 1W
Creature - Bird Monk
Instants you cast during combat cost 1 less to cast.
Prowess
1/2
Akroan Aspirants 2RR
Creature - Human Soldier
Instants you cast during combat cost 1 less to cast.
Heroic - Whenever you cast a spell that targets Akroan Aspirants, put a +1/+1 counter on Akroan Aspirants.
3/3
Boros Spellsword 1RW
Creature - Human Cleric
Instants you cast during combat cost 1 less to cast.
3/2
EDIT - templating -
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Chalsis posted a message on Ixalan General DiscussionOne of the best moments in this chapter was a very subtle and overlooked one, but I felt it was extremely moving. That was, Tishana crying out in despair for Kumena, catching him when he fell, and then having her followers tend to him. This was the guy who defied her, broke with centuries of tradition, and physically attacked her -- but to Tishana, he is still her former apprentice, "the one student she failed the most."Posted in: Magic Storyline
She could have been angry. She could have lectured him, cursed him, banished him, or even just let him splatter. But instead she did everything that Kumena, in her place, surely would not have done.
That sequence was short, but it was probably my favorite moment from Rivals so far. -
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cyberium_neo posted a message on Ixalan General DiscussionAngrath, the Flame-ChainedPosted in: Magic Storyline
Gain control of target creature until end of turn. Untap it. It gains haste until end of turn. Sacrifice it at the beginning of the next end step if it has converted mana cost 3 or less.
Angrath to Huatli after abandoning her: I want to kill you, but you're too hefty.
Huatli: Huh? - To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
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Also this is one of the few planeswalker deck walkers which I prefer the art for over their "normal" versions.
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This is probably the most positive comment I've seen about this story. I'm also interested to see where they go with this backstory, and this does shed some light on why Bolas thinks and acts the way he does. He clearly had the capacity to care about his family, and we see a lot of the "red" side of him with his impatience, lust for revenge and recklessness. However, as the flashback progressed, we start to see the more calculating and introspective side of him. Instead of just being hellbent on revenge, he stops for a moment and considers that maybe that's just how things are and he just has to be as high in the food chain as possible. This is more like the Bolas we currently know.
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This twin relationship makes that line even more interesting.
Each of them controls the destiny of the other. So no matter how much they hate each other, their fates are too tightly linked for one to just dispose of the other. Bolas's murder of Ugin failed because of time shenanigans, and Ugin's plan to trap Bolas on Ixalan also failed because Azor couldn't stop bragging to people.
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Is there a particular reason you keep spelling "Angrath" as "Angarth", despite seeing the first spelling in other posts?
Angrath became desperate. He tried more civilized means first (IIRC, he sought help from the Sun Empire, and like with the Torrezon refugees, they ignored his pleas for help), and those didn't work, so he turned to the means we see him employ in the story. Most people in his situation would likely devolve in a similar manner, because unlike the other people you listed, Angrath has children he needed to get back to. Also, he's been there for over a decade, which would drive anyone in his situation insane. Also, unlike Liliana, Angrath's problems weren't caused by him. He had no idea Ixalan would trap him, and he wasn't the one who created the Immortal Sun.
Liliana's problems, on the other hand, have all been due to her actions. She was the one who took shortcuts to heal her brother, subsequently turning him into a lich. The Raven Man encouraged her, but she ultimately made the decision. She was the one who abandoned her family, and by extension Caligo Forest, to their fate. She was the one who agreed to the demon pacts with Bolas as the broker. She decided to hang on to the Chain Veil and to mistreat Jace.
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She lost her entire family though.
Besides that, what makes her losing her brother any less painful than Gideon losing his 4 Irregulars? Statistics?
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Reminder that this is a planeswalker deck planeswalker, which is supposed to be "garbage".
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Tezzeret the Schemer looked more subdued because he was trying not to attract too much suspicion about what he was doing on Kaladesh. We see it in the art, but he often kept his Etherium arm hidden.
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Maybe I missed something, but most of the complaints I've seen of Vivien had less to do with her being playable, and more to do with her being relatively dull.
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One thing to consider here is that planeswalker characters need to have their cards do things that differentiate themselves from the others, or they'll eventually look too similar to tell apart.
Liliana, outside of one card, does necromancer things. Sorin usually has drain effects or creates Vampire tokens, because he's a vampire. Vraska routinely kills things because she's a Gorgon assassin.
Ob Nixilis Reignited was so generic that it didn't really establish what his cards are supposed to do as a rule of thumb.