Edit: I for one like planesalkers and planeswalker characters being strongly enmeshed in the story. MtG's story requires cohesion as there really isn't anything tying these worlds together besides the multiverse. planeswalkers and The Five main fonts of mana themselves.
Well what tied together the beloved lore was very human characters who were written well. One of the biggest threats to the multiverse wasn't even a planeswalker, but instead a mortal who ascended in power and would later be known as The Father of Machines. Such was his power that he threatened and invaded and assimilated the denizens of other planes under his vision of glorious perfection. And it took a coalition of powerful godlike planeswalkers and mortals to combat such a threat that had no spark and even then the fight was an uphill battle.
What also tied the lore was not just the five colors, but how their mana would transcend across worlds to these planeswalkers based on the connections these planeswalkers formed with the land.
What also tied the lore was not simply summoned beasties like a fire cat or a skeleton, but actually sapient and sentient beings who would travel alongside planeswalkers to other worlds. What Kaya did with Rat wouldn't be wrong Pre-Mending and wouldn't even require Kaya making Rat temporally dead to do so.
What seems forgotten is that planeswalkers were not the only ones capable of traversing to other planes. Just take the Djinn and Efreet of the plane known as Wildfire such as Emberwilde Captain who were capable of traveling through planar portals constructed by their kind and the most prominent of these portals would be linked to Rabiah and Dominaria. It would be remiss for me to not even mention such things as the Weatherlight which was a technological marvel capable of traveling to other planes. Yet the Phyrexians of New Phyrexians who lack this technology are not a credible threat like their predecessors because of the mending.
Planeswalkers yes meddled and created messes pre-mending, they also could be just a force to drive the plot or fully fleshed out characters, but the real power behind them was watching how non-planeswalkers would respond to changes. A gripping story for at least the first three books was when Karn placed the Mirari on Otaria as a simple satellite to analyze Dominaria, and this inadvertently results in the masses fighting over it when realizing that it can amplify their magics and grant them their deepest wishes. That is simply a drop in the ocean of a planeswalker's power and intrigue, but that single drop created great waves.
Kaleidoscope Killers is an absolute beast of a bargain deal
Eldraine Wonderland is a neutral purchase (until the secondary market gets too much)
OMG Kitties is bad for the MSRP (but fine in secondary market)
Bitterblossom Dreams is a bargain
Restless in Peace is a minor loss
Serum Visions is a minor loss (but its only a one time purchase)
<Explosion Sounds> [see OMG Kitties]
@5colors: If its true about black magic, then I will concede that point. Currently rereading the story for her and playing through Nissa's Origins campaign again, as I could be remembering the fate of the Joraga differently. If I am also wrong on this, I will also concede that point.
@Whalaqee: Wouldn't be surprised if she became a hermit. And yes that was part of my point emphasizing the bad hand she has been dealt. As Chandra was her main reason to go plane hopping and helping other planes even before the relationship went romantic, like when an extroverted friend talks their introverted friend into coming along.
Also something to chew on, the other things on why the breakup seems really rough:
1) Nissa already lost most of her own people, The Joraga, who were her actual kith and kin. Also the Joraga lived before getting retconed to dying horribly to the Eldrazi. As this now does make Nissa one of the few survivors of that culture which wasn't a thing before retconning.
2) The Tajuru elves of Zendikar, where she met with their leader and learned to love music with Hiba (Tajuru musician) got retconned out when they retconned her lore for Origins.
3) The Lorwyn elves who she previously visisted on her planeswalking adventures, even got really well along with as she even dabbled in their black-side of magic. Now that got retconned so she had a falling out with them and would find their use of black magic abhorrent.
4) Her literal first love, Chandra, got retconned. As Chandra would rather be with men than her.
Her culture and people? Dead.
Her friend from the Tajuru? Nonexistent.
Her friendship with the Lorwyn elves? Dissolved.
Her first love? Rejected.
All of it from retcons.
3/4s of those aspects that were retconned? They were also from Wintermute's Novel "In the Teeth of Akoum". Sure its not a great novel, but the alternative that we get to live with is far more awful.
As they want ways to grow Nissa's character? How about focusing on how much loss, isolation, betrayal, and rejection she has actually experienced. All of it when away from her truest friend: Ashaya. Which is an elemental who is a fragment of the world soul of Zendikar. Oh and everytime she left Zendikar, a world that she is trying to help regrow and by extension spend time with Ashaya, it wound up in pain. Sometimes immediate, sometimes very delayed like with Chandra. Using the novel Forsaken, she doesn't want to leave Zendikar again or be involved in helping any other planes.
That even the first person who she fell in love with and professed her love to, they lost interest in her within a single week.
This is such a magnitude level of messed-up that I don't think anyone was even thinking about when it came to writing and retconning Nissa's story.
I personally hate romance being shoved into stories that aren't about romance. It sometimes seems like writers think that throwing in romantic relationships is the only way they can make us care about their characters or the overall story, but I can honestly not recall a single thing I've ever read/watched/played/whatever where I've legitimately cared about whatever romance has been shoved in. I've never once thought "Man I really hope those characters get together" or "Wow their romantic relationship is really on the rocks, I wonder if it'll survive this new development".
I wouldn't go so far as to say it's an inherently bad thing, I just wish it'd stopped being used as a cheap "Care about these characters now" button.
Which I get, there is a few others like a person having a dog so it forces the audience to care more.
I think the more silly thing is writers seem to have it down pat the ability to build up a romance, but then when the characters are finally in a relationship, the writers tend to flounder about and are unsure where to take it from there.
I'm frankly disgusted by the reaction of some of the community. I have seen people attacking Weisman under his tweets saying he is a "crap writer" and a "terrible person overall". People claiming "freedom of speech" and "right to voice their disagreement" as an apology to behave like stupid jerks bashing the author in a rude and arrogant way. People writing below every single status and tweet repeating tirades about Chandra and Nissa.
People goes crazy about shipping. I really couldn't care any less, but there are many out there that watch shows just to see which character could be put in a relationship together (a lot of times without caring if they are straight, homo or queer). They'll put romance in the story even when there isn't. Putting a romance in a story is always a bad thing, because there will be someone who'll be rubbed the wrong way. Magic did a smart thing in the past not putting romance in its story (or keeping it a minimum, like Gerrard and Hannah).
Even intentional ones have pitfalls based on the views of a writer.
A little infamous one was Spiderman's One More Day. The writer believed that Peter Park being married to Mary Jane meant the story couldn't grow and would also result in accessibility of the character, so the best plan to him was to break them up. That way Peter Parker was more relatable as a high schooler entering college, effectively resetting his character. It didn't matter that the fans were unhappy about this development of a character they grew attached to, the person who had the control wanted Peter Parker to be in other relationships. Marvel Comics would years later admit that One More Day was basically a travesty as it ruined characters that had been built up over several years.
And its not just the shippers look for ships in a story when there isn't clearly one, which can be called a "crack-ship" in which the pair is so awfully matched. There is also the audience intended one which can also get horribly mangled in the process.
So no, putting a romance in a story isn't the bad thing by itself. Magic was also doing just fine with the Vraska x Jace story with writers who cared about the characters being in a happy relationship. Then it started falling apart with War of the Spark.
Hell hath no fury like a shipper scorned. Sure there are good elements in the book I will give you that, but one needs to be careful with character romances.
Nobody talks about Zahid being in the book for example, a minor genie character with a card. Yet people will talk about the breakup of that one romance in particular. That its the unfortunate negative reputation that the book has earned. Especially if its true from the writer that there was no internal plans to actually make the pair a couple to begin with and that what he did was essentially ripping off the band aid. So nobody really wins.
Are the shippers wrong for thinking like this? Some yes, others no. For the majority, the romance originally blooming was just something pleasant, something to keep their interest as they wanted to see more cozy moments of the pair together.
For the vocal minority, its a mix of some form of the prior group who are understandably unhappy with the development. However the rest are ones who wanted it as a tool for their agendas. The rude ones can be minority or majority.
And its not a small crowd either who just enjoys romance stories, as there is an entire genre of fiction that tends to sell well for the previously stated reasons. Conflicts can happen in a romance story, the couple not seeing eye to eye or external forces at work, but the best ones are of love enduring despite the setbacks. Is it unrealistic? To an extent yes, but its also what people crave. As what is often being sold is that romantic escapism.
Even the deconstruction of the "happily ever after" ending has felt like its overstayed its welcome as its less interesting to the average person and also feels quiet overplayed.
So when the novel's reputation is "couple immediately have a falling out and eventually breakup after getting together at the end of previous book" that is what happens when a writer plays with that kind of fire. And its not just for the LGBT romances. Such a reputation can form from the breakup of a straight couple as well or a straight pair of characters that were hinted at forming a romantic relationship, but it never happening instead.
Hopefully that helps you understand some of the underlying elements at play when it comes to that topic at hand.
Wait why no regular equip also? Thats dumb. I should be able to attach it to my own creatures as well.
It’s cool and flavorful, but I totally agree. Wasn’t there a batch of Auras that made sure creatures couldn’t attack you?
The blade having something like the Vow of Duty effect would be redundant unless you are the only opponent that the goaded creature could attack.
However what you could do is use it with Xantcha, Sleeper Agent or a creature equipped with an Assault Suit for example if you wanted a commander attached with it.
when there's so many different websites, channels, and feeds getting previews that you need to publish an article to track them all, its time to rethink how you ******* preview things.
sweet ******* jesus. no one is going to go to all that ***** to see some damn spoilers. they're going to just go somewhere that shows them all at once.
their spoiler strategy sucks so much dick and is beyond obnoxious now.
I dunno about following everyone, but I just follow a few of the major people on twitter and occasionally check the MTG Reddit.
Also considering that the mythological creature, the Serpopard, is also in Arthurian myth. Which is also something that is quiet obscure and was included in Amonkhet.
On one hand it will result in people catching more bad interactions among card synergies. On the other hand, this could result in too many cooks. Only time will tell how the team doubling in size will actually affect the game.
Likely would be better. It would be very hard to top the train wreck of the War of the Spark novel. This looks like a more traditional fantasy novel than "endgame: the novel".
Hopefully a new multi-colored version of Ixidor. I really wouldn't mind if its just the same as Ixidor, Reality Sculptor version but its got extra colors.
If I recall, the most demanded for plane that also won the voting was Lorwyn if they were to ever go back and return to one of these highly desired planes. With Kamigawa and Theros trailing not far behind. Plus the way this teaser is designed, its like a formal invitation to a castle than it is to a plane. Though this might might just be wishful thinking as its instead revealed to be Not-Lorwyn with similar themes and tribes.
What also tied the lore was not just the five colors, but how their mana would transcend across worlds to these planeswalkers based on the connections these planeswalkers formed with the land.
What also tied the lore was not simply summoned beasties like a fire cat or a skeleton, but actually sapient and sentient beings who would travel alongside planeswalkers to other worlds. What Kaya did with Rat wouldn't be wrong Pre-Mending and wouldn't even require Kaya making Rat temporally dead to do so.
What seems forgotten is that planeswalkers were not the only ones capable of traversing to other planes. Just take the Djinn and Efreet of the plane known as Wildfire such as Emberwilde Captain who were capable of traveling through planar portals constructed by their kind and the most prominent of these portals would be linked to Rabiah and Dominaria. It would be remiss for me to not even mention such things as the Weatherlight which was a technological marvel capable of traveling to other planes. Yet the Phyrexians of New Phyrexians who lack this technology are not a credible threat like their predecessors because of the mending.
Planeswalkers yes meddled and created messes pre-mending, they also could be just a force to drive the plot or fully fleshed out characters, but the real power behind them was watching how non-planeswalkers would respond to changes. A gripping story for at least the first three books was when Karn placed the Mirari on Otaria as a simple satellite to analyze Dominaria, and this inadvertently results in the masses fighting over it when realizing that it can amplify their magics and grant them their deepest wishes. That is simply a drop in the ocean of a planeswalker's power and intrigue, but that single drop created great waves.
Eldraine Wonderland is a neutral purchase (until the secondary market gets too much)
OMG Kitties is bad for the MSRP (but fine in secondary market)
Bitterblossom Dreams is a bargain
Restless in Peace is a minor loss
Serum Visions is a minor loss (but its only a one time purchase)
<Explosion Sounds> [see OMG Kitties]
@Whalaqee: Wouldn't be surprised if she became a hermit. And yes that was part of my point emphasizing the bad hand she has been dealt. As Chandra was her main reason to go plane hopping and helping other planes even before the relationship went romantic, like when an extroverted friend talks their introverted friend into coming along.
[I concede]
1) Nissa already lost most of her own people, The Joraga, who were her actual kith and kin. Also the Joraga lived before getting retconed to dying horribly to the Eldrazi. As this now does make Nissa one of the few survivors of that culture which wasn't a thing before retconning.
2) The Tajuru elves of Zendikar, where she met with their leader and learned to love music with Hiba (Tajuru musician) got retconned out when they retconned her lore for Origins.
3) The Lorwyn elves who she previously visisted on her planeswalking adventures, even got really well along with as she even dabbled in their black-side of magic. Now that got retconned so she had a falling out with them and would find their use of black magic abhorrent.
4) Her literal first love, Chandra, got retconned. As Chandra would rather be with men than her.
Her culture and people? Dead.
Her friend from the Tajuru? Nonexistent.
Her friendship with the Lorwyn elves? Dissolved.
Her first love? Rejected.
All of it from retcons.
As they want ways to grow Nissa's character? How about focusing on how much loss, isolation, betrayal, and rejection she has actually experienced. All of it when away from her truest friend: Ashaya. Which is an elemental who is a fragment of the world soul of Zendikar. Oh and everytime she left Zendikar, a world that she is trying to help regrow and by extension spend time with Ashaya, it wound up in pain. Sometimes immediate, sometimes very delayed like with Chandra. Using the novel Forsaken, she doesn't want to leave Zendikar again or be involved in helping any other planes.
That even the first person who she fell in love with and professed her love to, they lost interest in her within a single week.
This is such a magnitude level of messed-up that I don't think anyone was even thinking about when it came to writing and retconning Nissa's story.
I think the more silly thing is writers seem to have it down pat the ability to build up a romance, but then when the characters are finally in a relationship, the writers tend to flounder about and are unsure where to take it from there.
A little infamous one was Spiderman's One More Day. The writer believed that Peter Park being married to Mary Jane meant the story couldn't grow and would also result in accessibility of the character, so the best plan to him was to break them up. That way Peter Parker was more relatable as a high schooler entering college, effectively resetting his character. It didn't matter that the fans were unhappy about this development of a character they grew attached to, the person who had the control wanted Peter Parker to be in other relationships. Marvel Comics would years later admit that One More Day was basically a travesty as it ruined characters that had been built up over several years.
And its not just the shippers look for ships in a story when there isn't clearly one, which can be called a "crack-ship" in which the pair is so awfully matched. There is also the audience intended one which can also get horribly mangled in the process.
So no, putting a romance in a story isn't the bad thing by itself. Magic was also doing just fine with the Vraska x Jace story with writers who cared about the characters being in a happy relationship. Then it started falling apart with War of the Spark.
Nobody talks about Zahid being in the book for example, a minor genie character with a card. Yet people will talk about the breakup of that one romance in particular. That its the unfortunate negative reputation that the book has earned. Especially if its true from the writer that there was no internal plans to actually make the pair a couple to begin with and that what he did was essentially ripping off the band aid. So nobody really wins.
Are the shippers wrong for thinking like this? Some yes, others no. For the majority, the romance originally blooming was just something pleasant, something to keep their interest as they wanted to see more cozy moments of the pair together.
For the vocal minority, its a mix of some form of the prior group who are understandably unhappy with the development. However the rest are ones who wanted it as a tool for their agendas. The rude ones can be minority or majority.
And its not a small crowd either who just enjoys romance stories, as there is an entire genre of fiction that tends to sell well for the previously stated reasons. Conflicts can happen in a romance story, the couple not seeing eye to eye or external forces at work, but the best ones are of love enduring despite the setbacks. Is it unrealistic? To an extent yes, but its also what people crave. As what is often being sold is that romantic escapism.
Even the deconstruction of the "happily ever after" ending has felt like its overstayed its welcome as its less interesting to the average person and also feels quiet overplayed.
So when the novel's reputation is "couple immediately have a falling out and eventually breakup after getting together at the end of previous book" that is what happens when a writer plays with that kind of fire. And its not just for the LGBT romances. Such a reputation can form from the breakup of a straight couple as well or a straight pair of characters that were hinted at forming a romantic relationship, but it never happening instead.
Hopefully that helps you understand some of the underlying elements at play when it comes to that topic at hand.
However what you could do is use it with Xantcha, Sleeper Agent or a creature equipped with an Assault Suit for example if you wanted a commander attached with it.
I know I am running Kadena only for the colors, with Ixidor as the true commander.