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    posted a message on Uncharted Realms Discussions
    Quote from Duke Daemon »
    I hope not, it took way too long to finally get a kor walker. Tired of always getting human walkers. It's as if they are special and so get all the good things. I mean we finally got a zombie walker (i assume due to flavour) in Theros, Ashiok.
    Ashiok isn't a zombie. If anything, Ashiok would qualify as a horror or nightmare.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 2

    posted a message on Return To Zendikar Confirmed!
    Battle for Zendikar confirmed! Discuss!
    To be honest... glad we're finally getting back to it, but I find it hard to care at this point. Just because the Eldrazi have kind of been hanging around for so long that they aren't novel anymore and conceptually, it's starting to show the cracks in how they've approached them.
    Other imp. stuff learned: Dual-faced PW cards in Origins
    Gimmick is gimmicky. I dunno, it just seems uninteresting to me even if they do work it out mechanically.
    New Sarkhan Card is Temur Coloured!
    Out of everything, this is the most nonsensical unless we get a sufficient reason he adopts blue. Something half decent at least other than "oh, he's smarter". Then again, the blue in the Temur was almost entirely magical rather than philosophical.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 1

    posted a message on Gideon Jura is confirmed from Theros
    Quote from Arwin_Rand »
    My apologies for misunderstanding you then.

    Regardless though, I still don't see why Narset and Sarkhan need to be romantically involved or how their relationship (in the we know each other sense) can't be viewed as kindred spirits but platonic ones.
    It certainly could be read as that and that is how I read it.
    But there are also those who read it as a romantic relationship and that is valid too because the interpretations are independent to each reader. The Death of the Author provides that the the personal experience people read into a passage is valid to them and we pretty much just have to come up with a popular consensus. Which is why I worry because if the consensus seems to fluctuate between the romantic and the platonic and if it sways too far to a "soul mate" situation, I fear we're going to get stuck with it in the fandom.

    Essentially, it comes down to perception is reality, and that worries me.

    But Red is the color of loyalty and I can see Sarkhan especially latching on to someone new as a friend without much time elapsing.
    red certainly can be loyal, but I'm not sure I'd call it the color of loyalty... Loyalty is a trait that can really manifest in any color just because of what it is. Even Toshiro Umezawa was loyal to the Hyozan Reckoners, and he was mono-black.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 3

    posted a message on Gideon Jura is confirmed from Theros
    Quote from Gutterstorm »
    As for Narset and Sarkhan I don't see any difference between they're "random hookup" and a romantic relationship between Chandra and Gideon. Narset made Sarkhan feel peaceful in his otherwise ravaged mind. Chandra makes Gideon question his alliances and his beliefs. I think either of these relationships is fine but I don't think calling one a random hookup while thinking the other is fine is a good way to look at it. Personally I think Sarkhan deserves a nice lady to accompany him after all the crap he's been through. And if Chandra can get Gideon to lighten(heh) up a little then great. I do think it would be interesting if they explored planeswalkers relationships with each other more which it seems is what they will be doing in the future. I mean we know that Jace and Lilli were a thing once upon a time.
    I suppose I should respond to this too.
    The difference between Chandra and Gideon and Narset and Sarkhan is the sort of chemistry and tension that was present.
    Narset and Sarkhan lacked pretty much all of that. They met and got along, but there wasn't really anything there that made sense as a relationship. Sarkhan went all agog and smitten with her, but it was very much a projection onto Narset instead of a mutually built relationship. To quote Barbara Streissand from a movie (I honestly don't remember which one) "You aren't in love with me, you're in love with the idea of me."

    Gideon and Chandra, on the other hand, had an obvious tension and worked together well. The fact that they didn't want to admit it, and finally the pair confided in each other felt much more developed than the few days Sarkhan and Narset spent with each other even though it was probably roughly the same amount of time spent together. I mean, part of that might have genuinely been the difference between a foxhole romance and roadtrip buddy, but ultimately, there seemed to be genuine chemistry between Gideon and Chandra that was totally missing from Mister crazy pants and his bride to be.

    Essentially, I just don't see how Sarkhan could actually be in a relationship because he IS crazy. And not functionally either, but completely outside society crazy.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 2

    posted a message on Gideon Jura is confirmed from Theros
    Quote from Arwin_Rand »
    his... complicated relationship with Chandra.
    I'll be honest, I really wish they'd come back to that. I haven't been terribly happy with the random hookups we've been getting on our walkers as of late. (Narset/Sarkhan, Elspeth/Daxos)

    Quote from Vorthospike »
    Wow those people who called that Kytheon Iora was Gideon were right on the money.
    ... that was a thing? Geez.
    I have complicated feelings about that then. Because it just kind of fuels the crazier speculations and that doesn't do some of us any favors.
    Good on the people that worked that out though...
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 1

    posted a message on Gideon Jura is confirmed from Theros
    Quote from Arwin_Rand »
    Man likes his Red/White aligned factions
    And yet he doesn't trust red magic. Not that it's not understandable why.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 3

    posted a message on Gideon Jura is confirmed from Theros
    Incidentally, I am deeply amused by the fact that he comes from Akros and is probably going to end up getting dropped into Akrasa during his tenure on Bant.

    Out of all of the Bantish nations, that one just feels most likely to me. Valeron already had Elspeth and Topa and Jhess just don't feel right to me. Could have ended up in Eos, but... I mean, come on, Akros and Akrasa is just too funny.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 1

    posted a message on Uncharted Realms Discussions
    Quote from Perkunas687 »

    So at the end of the day, I'm not going to nod and stroke my chin, saying one or the other dragonlord isn't that oppressive. They set into motion these new Laws which people were forced to obey (or die, from what I understand). I think they should be repulsive.
    I think that might come down to expectations informing how we look at the dragonlords vs how we interpret them from other sources.
    I mean, really, none of them are demanding virgin sacrifices, and in the past we've seen far far less reasonable dragonlords that basically all acted like Silumgar. (The Primeval Empire, for example)

    Now, I'm not defending them or refuting your point, but I think it might be an issue of perspective and past experience shaping how we regard their actions in comparison to others.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 2

    posted a message on Uncharted Realms Discussions
    Quote from Jivanmukta »
    Quote from Barinellos »

    Partly, I'll admit, I just don't want to deal with everyone trying to decide what color some world is every time we see a new one.


    Frankly, people being bad at planar understanding isn't a reason to overstate something. Chastise those who do it incorrectly.
    I think you underestimate how many people look at something like the Soul cycle and draw false conclusions and then propagate them. Heck, this entire discussion is a branch of the entire Ravnica is blue because... that we were dealing with earlier.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
  • 2

    posted a message on Uncharted Realms Discussions
    Quote from Vorthospike »
    I meant that Mirrodin originally had a sun for each color except green.
    Argentum didn't have any moons to begin with. Each of the moons sprang out of the core when it destabilized. Green was just the last one to happen (and from what we gather, it was overdue because of Memnarch)
    Given how often Magic goes to artificial or altered planes is seems like a mistake to exclude them when discussing whether or not a plane can have a bias toward one color or another.

    Since the shards of Alara shows that its possible for colors to severely suppressed so it hardly seems unreasonable that much smaller biases may exist on other planes.
    I find artificial data points skew the results and lead to biased conclusions about how the nature of the multiverse is supposed to function.
    Partly, I'll admit, I just don't want to deal with everyone trying to decide what color some world is every time we see a new one.
    Posted in: Magic Storyline
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