MTG Salvation

Quote from TheMartianGeek »

I want to go back in time, find whoever came up with the idea of Phyrexia, and get them stuck in a traffic jam or accident or something so that they miss their interview and never work for Wizards of the Coast.

Idiot

Quote from cyberium_neo »

Despite being ten years apart, and multiple planes visited, Kaito doesn't seem to have grown up at all, or develop a more holistic wisdom on how system works.

And imagine, an imperial palace where climbing the walls can lead you to the god-leader's chamber, unhindered.

Blue/Black teenagers with an obsession to find a lost friend are well known for introspection and seeing the bigger picture.

Creative seems to be tying as much as possible to the mending. If this is the case then Kamigawa developed its modern age alongside Kaladesh.

That and it doesn't want to lose its access to sunlight

Sorin "I studied the blade" Markov

Pretty intense cliffhangers.

Quote from 5colors »

Vow world building story 2 By Marcus Terrell Smith
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/blessing-blood-2021-11-05

Enobified Odric

"Not plot relevant"? The whole deal with SOI was that the angels went cuckoo for some reason and that we get to see them from the perspective of their purging targets. Avacyn's corruption and fall was positively necessary for the story to work as it did.

And personally, I find Sigarda much more interesting than the angel robot doll. She's a veteran from the big bang that saw cilizations rise and fall, saw the rise of this strange angel, saw her sisters die one by one and still endures.

While not outside possibility, I sincierily hope not. It'd destroy the impact her death in SOI had. I hope both Sigarda and Liesa live, ideally in a not-unified church to show their ideological oppositions.

Quote from Lord Gyor of Dark Pleasures »

Quote from Caranthir »

Quote from OrzhovPlaneswalker »

I dunno why but these Innistrad stories seem kinda Campy so far.


I think it’s due to the passing and lack of depth to some of the wider storytelling elements.


Everyone has heard of or knows one another already. Character knowledge or motivations are sometimes left unexplained or vague.


it’s like the unfinished sketch of visuals/scenes meant for a movie (or Netflix show…) to flesh out more fully with derper dialogue, combat and world building.

Yeah, exactly espressed. But this is the same persisting problem since the stories "restarted" with Zendikar Rising, and the main story is always crammed up into about six episodes.

Kaldheim: Big battles happening offscreen or just seen in passing.

Strixhaven: Big time jumps.

But this is all the same - pacing and shallowness problems, just in different forms.

The main stories suffer from several major problems.

1. New Planes central story should not star the Planeswalkers, because the plane gets eclipsed during its introduction by Planeswalker Drama.

2. The side stories keep being better then the main story. Better writing, more interesting characters, and feel more tied to the people of the plane instead of tourists. Many of these side stories could have been blown up into trilogies. In the main stories they plane feels like a mere back drop for Planeswalker conflict, the side stories usually don't suffer from this and midnight hunt's story doesn't either, as it's centrally focuses on Arlinn whose native to the plane. The other planeswalkers are largely MINOR characters which helps the story.

3. The main Tovalar is a green character who doesn't understand basically ecology. If there is no sun and there is no plant life and without plant life all the stuff Werewolves hunt does and Innistrad becomes barren and lifeless leaving werewolves nothing to hunt, with only starvation to look forward too.

He's way more Red Black then Red Green.

Nope, he's red/green. Green is all about embrassing your basic instincts, regardless of how sane they are. The Atarka from Tarkir are also green yet their dragon lords are outright stated to be a threat to the life on all of the plane since their hunger is neverending.

Quote from Ryperior74 »

Quote from 5colors »

Final Midnight Hunt world building story; The Dusk Reborn by Rhiannon Rasmussen
https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/dusk-reborn-2021-10-01

Looks likes all those wanting the other archangels to be reborn/return will be disappointed.

let me put it this way


is liesa evil from the demons/revenge thirsty from her death…… not even close it looks like she severely regretted doing that and even saved a human and killed the demon she made the deal with. (Well not kill more like prevent him from resurrecting at all)

I smell a easy redemption arch for her and also reunited with Sigarda and helping her and the Gatewatch/Arllin and somewhat sorin to stop Olivia and her wedding in crimson vow.

I definitely see her helping in Crimson Vow, but less of a redemption arc. I don't think she really was shown to need redeeming in the first place. She did something Avacyn didn't like, but Avacyn was not infallible, Avacyn was blinded by the drive to wipe out the darkness without compromise, Leisa had the same goal of bringing goodness, she just tried to be smarter about it.

Quote from Mullerornis »

My guess is that it has something to do with the Celestus, since that ***** fixes the balance between day and night. The ritual to bring back the day will probably fail based on Olivia's ambush, but it will generate enough light energy to ressurect Liesa.

I like this theory. It’s simple yet perfectly demonstrates how Green can sometimes infer what problems and solutions are without fully understanding both their details and/or consequences.

Quote from Lord Gyor of Dark Pleasures »

Quote from Mullerornis »

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/mentor-2021-04-16

Quint's turn.

Really loved this one.

By FAR the best part of the Strixhaven stories, this story is so good it deserved to be expanded into a trilogy, with the other students stories interwoven with it.

The main story has its good points, but it has too much CW teen drama vibe going on, although Professor Onyx is awesome in it. I simply see nothing in Lukka's character motivating him to do this kind of stuff and that is the other week point of the main story.

The setting itself seems amazing, not just Strixhaven, but Arcavios, it deserves a trilogy with the Plane itself as the star with the five students the main characters, without all the Planeswalker drama. So much potential, an insane amount of potential with this incredible taste of what this Plane could be, that gets one so excited, but then we quickly move on.

This is the problem with WotC deciding its not in the novel writing business anymore. Vast wasted potential. I really loved Quint's story (and the other 2) and especially Quint's story and I wanted more of that.

Imagine these 5 characters and in a full sized novel, or better yet a trilogy.

Proves that a world can have good stories without the meddling of PWs. I don't mind having PWs around so long as they respect the rules of the plane they're on. Despite Garruk's personality, he at least changes his attire base on the plane. He does it to better blend in, to hunt, but it's still more appropriate than Jace showcasing the same style blue robe everywhere he goes, or Liliana baring her breast regardless of custom.

I'd totally read a story of the five students. They represent young people who're still seeking their growth and destiny, instead of adults who behave like children, such as some PWs. If anything, Liliana being a reformed black mage is perfect to guide young people of potential mistakes; she learned it the hard way. Five students would also make a great team given their magic, background, and personalities we see so far.

Out of the five students, Killian is likely going to be the group leader. He's disciplined, introspective, and never stop improving, not to mention he already had experience in leading his peers. A leader must learn to question oneself, but not in a self-hindering fashion like Rootha. A leader needs to take charge, where I believe Quintorius prefers to stay back and provide support. A leader needs to have a stronger sense of right and wrong, and Dina is too playful (and daring) for that role. I don't know about Zimone yet, but I suspect she's more interested in academic study of unraveling the real world, rather than making improvement to it; constructive changes requires someone who had suffered intimately. It'd be nice to watch Kilian proves himself outside of his father's regulation, even if Embrose regards Kilian's success a result of fatherly tutelage.

Quote from Mullerornis »

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/mentor-2021-04-16

Quint's turn.

Really loved this one.

By FAR the best part of the Strixhaven stories, this story is so good it deserved to be expanded into a trilogy, with the other students stories interwoven with it.

The main story has its good points, but it has too much CW teen drama vibe going on, although Professor Onyx is awesome in it. I simply see nothing in Lukka's character motivating him to do this kind of stuff and that is the other week point of the main story.

The setting itself seems amazing, not just Strixhaven, but Arcavios, it deserves a trilogy with the Plane itself as the star with the five students the main characters, without all the Planeswalker drama. So much potential, an insane amount of potential with this incredible taste of what this Plane could be, that gets one so excited, but then we quickly move on.

This is the problem with WotC deciding its not in the novel writing business anymore. Vast wasted potential. I really loved Quint's story (and the other 2) and especially Quint's story and I wanted more of that.

Imagine these 5 characters and in a full sized novel, or better yet a trilogy.

Quote from Mullerornis »

Will and Rowan make up easily and we still don't know why the Oriq throw their lives away when their boss just keeps killing them.

It's to show how eeeeevul Extus is.
Honestly, that part where he sacrificed his oriq agent from that student literally made me roll my eyes. Sigh.

The plot of Strixhaven in general is pretty... weak. I don't understand why they felt the need to have another "invasion plot". It distract from Strixhaven too much and there was more than enough plot to be had in Strixhaven (Liliana's growth as a person, Kasmina, the Kenrith twins, all of which is now taking a backseat.) It's a shame because I was actually warming up to the setting itself.

Anyway, I'm curious if Kasmina abandoned Strixhaven or is trying to call for backup offworld.

Quote from Tiro of Meletis »

Quote from cyberium_neo »

I'm tired of PWs being the catalysts and answers to all crisis on every plane. God, how I missed Kamigawa storyline.

Agreed on all counts.

You mean the story that put into motion due to rifts caused by planeswalkers and the whole thing ended up not meaning anything to the wider magic lore beside being backstory/set up for Bolas?

Nice story was nice, imo really shows what side stories should be.

From the story page;

A shadowy organization known as the Oriq is trying to fulfill a prophecy and awaken the legendary Blood Avatar. A group of young mages of Strixhaven must root out the conspiracy before time runs out.

And a few cards say something to the tune of "the elder dragons ended the blood wars/blood age".

Why does the description of the bird masked person on the end fit the description pretty well for Jin?

I really wish Rootha was a thick, hulking girl.

And base on the description, Witherbloom remains boring as ever. They could've made it a department that cast magic through physical exercise; weight lift, gymnastic, martial arts, yoga, etc. Individual training and betterment (black) fuels the vital force (green) needed to generate mana. Instead, we get a Golgari lite.