#oath of the gatewatch

[sylvan-librarian]

Oath of the Gatewatch (2016)

#jace beleren #chandra nalaar #gideon jura #nissa revane #gatewatch #kiora #general tazri #zendikar #oath of the gatewatch #magic the gathering

[prosperity-post]

#mtg #magic the gathering #fantasy #tcg #gaming #fantasy card game #battle for zendikar #oath of the gatewatch #shadows over innistrad #eldritch moon #wotc #wizards of the coast

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Mina & Den, Wildborn by Izzy Medrano

#Magic the Gathering #MtG #Zendikar #MtGOGW #Oath of the Gatewatch #Mina & Den Wildborn #Fantasy #Art #Izzy Medrano #Wizards of the Coast

[lordofgayos]

Recently I’ve been rereading the Battle for Zendikar and Oath of the Gatewatch story and it is striking how much more I enjoy reading the non-Gatewatch stories. Like, Memories of Blood and The Blight We Were Born For are some of my favorites and several others are interesting, and then I just don’t care at all about Gideon or Jace. Despite the varying quality, I feel like the story works well largely because of the overall tone of hopelessness. Events like massacres of hundreds of Zendikari or the fall of a continent are standard and it is made abundantly clear that there isn’t really a plan beyond survive one more day. Every glimmer of hope is brutally quenched by the knowledge that Zendikar is on defense and is losing badly. Even when they trap Ulamog and it seems like they might have won, Ob Nixilis shows up and fucks it all up so he can reignite his spark and leave and summons Kozilek, making the already dire situation apocalyptic. After all this happens, the characters just decide that actually just burning two ancient godlike beings, who may or may not be part of the life cycle of planes, that live outside of space to death is a great plan AND THEN IT WORKS. The Eldrazi were strong enough that three pre-mending walkers were barely able to seal them away and the new guard are capable of touching them at all? I don’t know if the correct narrative choice would have been to have Zendikar be destroyed and to start the Gatewatch with a major loss under their belt, but the way it did end felt like a let down given how powerful the Titans are supposed to be. Anyway, that’s my exceedingly long take on an almost 7 year old story about a children’s card game.

#magic the gathering #battle for zendikar #mtg story #oath of the gatewatch #vorthos

[sixthoctavarium]

It's the first day of class, and the first day of the next stage of everyone's lives.

#destruction flag otome #my next life as a villainess #hamefura #magic the gathering #mtg #catarina claes #gatewatch #sienna nelson #oath of sienna #final chapter #fanfic #bakarina

[markrosewater]

Why is it that premier sets occasionally reference teammates but not commander mechanics?

Only two premier sets have ever referred to teammates (Oath of the Gatewatch & Future Sight). The first was playing into the larger theme of the story of the Gatewatch teaming up and it was part of a mechanic, and the second was a single futureshifted card teasing what future Magic might do.

[jeskaim]

Outlaws of Thunder Junction

I would say by now most of the set has been spoiled and I think it's time for me to share my thoughts.

First of all I like the "Joins Up" cycle. It seems fitting for a setting like Thunder Junction with villains from all sorts of different planes joining together for one huge heist. From what I ready on the MTG Wiki This set was a villains set before it was a Wild West set. These are definitely a callback to the "Oath" cycle from the Gatewatch arc and it'll be interesting to see if we get any more in the future. These definitely have a lot of potential in commander since they support legendary creatures.

With this being a set that focuses on villains from across the Multiverse thanks to Omenpaths it's not surprising we have some familiar faces in this set but some of them surprised me. Of course we have characters like Rakdos, Oko, Tinybones, and even Eriette but to me the characters that stand out are some of the ones from non-standard sets like Marchesa from Conspiracy and Bruse Tarl from the first wave of commanders with the Partner mechanic. The Cecani siblings I was surprised to see in this set but they seem to be a perfect fit. I also love how in MaRo's traditional teasers he teased at Gisa by referring to her as "a typical card for Skeletons and Zombies" because besides Liliana she's probably the most likely character to be associated with zombies.

Now onto reprints. I definitely wasn't expecting to see enemy fast land reprints in this set but they're overdue so they're more than welcome. I like how we have the allied fast lands in Phyrexia: All Will Be One and now with enemy we're going to have all ten in standard at the same time. With these reprints the prices are sure to go down.

Here are two more welcome reprints. With Archangel of Tithes at around $20 right now this is one reprint I wasn't expecting. I wasn't playing standard back when Origins came out so I don't know how much play it saw but I can definitely see it being used. I still prefer the original printing because of how special it is to me. Terror of the Peaks is also a solid reprint. It was a beast when it first came out and now it's back. I'm definitely expecting it to see play in standard now that it's back.

That's all for now. Next time I'll talk about the mechanics and other miscellaneous cards.

#mtg #magicthegathering #magic the card game #outlaws of thunder junction

[stareyedesper]

The superhero-fication of Magic: The Gathering has been incredibly detrimental to its storylines. Small scale, plane-centered conflicts are gone, and now every story has to center around some extraplanar cock causing mischief, usually as a settup for a bigger villain later on. This frustrates me to no end, because it means that any new places we go to have to push their worldbuilding to the side for a larger story, a new character to be introduced, or for an earlier storyline to wrap up. Let me explain what i mean by showcasing every new plane we got post-Oath of the Gatewatch:

Kaladesh: Settup for War of the Spark

Amonkhet: Not only was it a settup for War of the Spark, Wizards built an entire civilization and culture for Nicol Bolas to destroy. Until they do anything else with it, it was nothing but a rollercoaster ride

Ixalan: Settup for War of the Spark, Jace & Vraska story

Eldraine: Kenrith twins origin story, Oko as the main antagonist, AND Garruk story x3 combo!

Ikoria: An actual storyling involving the plane and its inhabitants. The Ozolith settup was so vague it could be anything

Kaldheim: Settup for March of the Machine, Tibalt story

Arcavios (Strixhaven): Kenrith twins story, Liliana story

Kamigawa, Neon Dynasty (Old Kamigawa is dead this is a new plane): Settup for March of the Machine, Wanderer story

New Capenna: Settup for March of the Machine, Ob Nixilis story

Not to mention all the old, previously visited planes who were also usurped for an MCU treatment. Now i wonder, with March of the Machine on the horizon, where do we go from here? To a palette cleanser from all of this, hopefully, but what then? Are we gonna keep doing this song and dance forever? Are new planes no longer intresting places to visit, but quick detours to the ACTUAL plot? This doesn't even go into the fact that March of the Machine has raised the stakes as far as they will go. This is IT. When you make a story about how EVERYONE we know is being driven to the brink of death, there's nothing else you can put on the line and have the playerbase care.

All this said, i don't hate March of the Machine (yet). I like what i see from the previews and it looks fun. I'm just really tired of Wizards stringing the playerbase along with hooks and cliffhangers and higher machinations that might not even lead to anything satisfying (fuck you War of the Spark). I just hope we can go back to having smaller stories for a while, and it's not just me. I started playing at around the time Ravnica Allegiance was coming out, and at the time, every person i talked to or Magic creator i watched did not care for the Gatewatch at all, and so it was mercifully put out of its misery by the writers. I just hope we can get more low stakes, plane centered stories for a while, maybe go back to Alara or Amonkhet or Lorwyn and make something new with them already.

#MTG #Long post #Postagem #Ingles

[thecornwall]

Cornwall's Random Card of the Day #769: Dazzling Reflection

Dazzling Reflection is a common from Oath of the Gatewatch.

Damage prevention on a card is never really good enough. Life gain on a card is never really good enough. But together? Probably still pretty bad, but it is INTERESTING, which is a factor far more valued in earlier Magic(pause to feel old for Oath of the Gatewatch being earlier Magic) than currently. The felidars are strange mythical antlered lions from Zendikar which have a connection to lifegain, ever since Felidar Sovereign made its debut in OG Zendikar block. I hear it's broken in commander.

#mtg

[inventors-fair]

The Power of Superfriendship Entries 1-10

Defensive Measures by @jerdle

Loyal Researcher by @bergdg

Omenpath Rescue Squad by @reaperfromtheabyss

Sparktouched Kestral by @spooky-bard

Consortium Escort by @bread-into-toast

Chronicler of the Free by @mmmmmin

And Thus, A Protector by @hypexion

Oath of the Gatewatch by @aethernalstars

Trusty Moloc by @i-am-the-one-who-wololoes

Spark Harvester by @hiygamer

#mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventors' fair #entries #superfriends contest

[sylvan-librarian]

I know it's been memed to hell and back during the last decade (and that the story does a good job of explaining what his role really is here), but I'm never not going to laugh at Gideon in the Bonds of Mortality/Fall of the Titans extended artwork:

Like, what'cha doing there Gids? It's such a beautiful piece depicting the epic end of a long saga for these characters, with Jace mentally directing the battle, the gruulfriends channel-fireballing two entire Cthulhus into hell, and poor little Gideon there waving his hands at a couple of monsters larger than the sky. It's always going to crack me up.

#gideon jura #nissa revane #jace beleren #chandra nalaar #gatewatch #oath of the gatewatch #magic the gathering

[mtg-cards-hourly]

Steppe Glider

It glides over the landscape. It also happens to be one.

Artist: John Severin Brassell TCG Player Link Scryfall Link EDHREC Link

#mtg #magic the gathering #tcg #$0.03 #john severin brassell #steppe glider #oath of the gatewatch #creature #elemental

[prosperity-post]

68 Ulamog's Reclaimer, by Svetlin Velinov for "Battle for Zendikar"

69 Essence Depleter, by Chase Stone for "Oath of the Gatewatch"

#mtg #magic the gathering #fantasy #tcg #gaming #fantasy card game #expansion set #card number #zendikar #battle #eldrazi #gatewatch #oath #wotc #wizards of the coast #road to 100

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Immolating Glare (Game Day Ver) by Ryan Alexander Lee

#Magic the Gathering #MtG #Zendikar #Oath of the Gatewatch #Promo Card #Game Day Promo #Immolating Glare #Eldrazi #Fantasy #Art #Ryan Alexander Lee

[wielderofmysteries]

Why is Jace Beleren my favorite character? (An essay on Jace’s character development)

Okay what started out as a response that was slightly too long for a Tumblr ask turned into several thousands of words of character analysis that gets progressively more emotional and less coherent as it does on, but I think this does a pretty good job of explaining why Jace is my favorite character.

There are a lot of people who hate Jace because they've only seen early Flavor Text Jace and have a third or fourth-hand knowledge of Magic Story, so they think he's only a smartass jerk who thinks he's better than other people and destroys minds without hesitation. But there are also a lot of people who like Jace because they've basically only read Ixalan block, so they think that Flavor Text Jace was always wrong and that Jace is actually a soft little cinnamon roll baby who has never done anything wrong. These are both incorrect.

He’s my favorite because they’re the same Jace.

The truth is that Jace is a nuanced character, and his character arc from Origins to Agents of Artifice to Ixalan spans like 14 years of his fictional character lifetime, and was written across 9 years of IRL time by several different writers.

What I like about Jace is that across all these different stories and writers, he's still one Jace. It's all true. It’s all Jace. And when you look at the bigger picture, combining everything Jace has done and said and been through, you see this wonderfully complex character whose flaws and wrongdoings make his triumphs and moments of positive growth so much sweeter.

My name is Jace Beleren.

So there was something in there, waiting for him to dig it out.

And who is Jace Beleren? Is he a good man? Is he kind?

He willed away the shape and sat, alone, farther from home than he’d even known was possible.

He’d have to wait and see.

(Jace’s Origin: Absent Minds)

This part from the very ending of Jace’s story in Origins is one of my favorite character moments for him, and it really sets the guiding question for analyzing Jace. Jace’s story is all about The Self, and because he’s lived half of his life with amnesia, he has to ask himself, Who is Jace Beleren? Is he a good man? Is he kind?

Jace was created to be the archetypal mono-Blue Planeswalker, but I would say that unlike the other members of the original 5 Gatewatch, for example, his primary motivation, on a surface level, actually isn’t that easy to understand right away. This contrast is shown in the difference between Jace’s Gatewatch oath and the others.

Gideon: “For justice and peace, I will keep watch.”

Chandra: “If it means that people can live in freedom, yeah, I’ll keep watch.”

Nissa: “For the life of every plane, I will keep watch.”

Liliana: “I’ll keep watch. Happy now?”

While every other Gatewatch member is a complex character as well, you could get a very oversimplified, but not incorrect idea of what they value and what their motivation is, even if you had no idea who these characters are. Just from the shortened flavor text versions of their oaths, you can see that Gideon is mono-White and fights for justice; Chandra is mono-Red and fights for freedom; Nissa is mono-Green and fights for nature; and Liliana is mono-Black and she’s just there to get what she wants.

The full version of Jace’s oath says this:

Jace returned her smile. "Fine. I've seen..." His brow furrowed and the smile faded from his lips. "I have seen a greater danger than I could have imagined. The Eldrazi don't threaten just Zendikar. If we leave here, if we leave them alone, they could consume plane after plane until even Ravnica is laid waste. At this moment, Emrakul could be drifting through the Blind Eternities, looking for another plane to devour."

[...]

Jace nodded decisively. "Never again. For the sake of the Multiverse, I will keep watch."

(Oath of the Gatewatch)

But “For the sake of the Multiverse” doesn’t really say anything about Jace’s personal values or his values as a mono-Blue planeswalker. He doesn’t say he wants to defend the Multiverse because of its endless possibilities or the knowledge within it, like you might think a Blue planeswalker would say. Instead, he speaks of the unimaginable danger that threatens the Multiverse. To understand what Jace values and what motivates him, you actually need to read what he says right before he formally took his oath.

Jace took a step forward, looking at Chandra. "Gideon's right," he said. "The four of us have extraordinary power. We have a unique opportunity—a responsibility, even—to use that power against threats like this. The Eldrazi, yes, but there are other threats that go beyond a single plane. I've heard it said that a Planeswalker is someone who can always run from danger. But we are also the ones who can choose to stay."

(Oath of the Gatewatch)

Jace’s Blue philosophy is focused on self-improvement and the choices we make with our free will. It was partially Jace’s fault that the Eldrazi were feed, and he wants to take responsibility for his actions because he’s seen how his irresponsibility and inaction have led to people getting hurt on a scale he’d previously never considered.

But I wouldn’t love Jace this much if he were just a good guy. I love Jace because he’s all about choosing to become a better person even though it’s not easy.

Jace’s moral journey has had a lot of ups and downs. He’s chosen many times to be a coward, and has knowingly chosen to do wrong. Jace struggled for a long time with his rage and resentment, and how cathartic it felt to give in to those feelings.

In Jace’s origin story, he threatens a classmate who bullied him, and Alhammarret foreshadows the dark path Jace would later find himself on.

He looked Tuck in the eyes. “And if you harm my family, I’ll take your mind apart, one squalid little memory at a time.”

Tuck flinched.

[...]

“That was unkind,” said Alhammarret.

Jace winced.

“You…?” He stopped. Alhammarret hadn’t given him leave to speak normally and, in any case, the wind made spoken conversation impossible. “You heard that?”

[...]

“I was just trying to scare him.”

“Tread that path carefully,” said the sphinx. “In time, you will become more terrifying than you can imagine. And fear, once inspired, can seldom be eased.”

(Jace’s Origin: Absent Minds)

After his spark ignited, Jace spent his young adult years on Ravnica as a criminal with no memories and no past. In Agents of Artifice, Jace spirals downward into apathy and darkness, struggling to keep his morals and compassion as his life becomes a living hell. He joins the Infinite Consortium to become Tezzeret’s apprentice, but Tezzeret tortures and abuses Jace to get him to use his powers to harm others and alter their minds-- a line Jace was previously unwilling to cross.

Jace found himself shaking, and he felt the first stirring of bile rising up the back of his throat.

“Don’t just read his thoughts!” Tezzeret urged, so close now that Jace could feel the artificer’s breath on his neck. “Control them! He lies unconscious, but you hold his mind in yours!”

“No …”

“This is what power over the mind truly means, Beleren! Reading thoughts? That’s child’s play, a feeble game for the man who can control thoughts! You can make him move as you wish. You can shape his memories!”

“No!”

Jace staggered away, his eyes flying open, and allowed all contact with the limp form before him to lapse. He spun on Tezzeret, fists clenched.

“No?” Tezzeret asked, his voice deceptively mild.

Could he make Tezzeret understand? Could he possibly explain how revolting a notion it was, the thought of reaching into someone’s thoughts and stirring them like a pot of soup? Could he make Tezzeret understand just how horrifying Jace found the idea of losing his will to another? How filthy it made him feel, to the depths of his soul, to contemplate doing it to someone else?

(Agents of Artifice)

Disgusted by the person he’s become, Jace leaves the Consortium to escape Tezzeret, and he tries for as long as he can to run away instead of fighting, but so much damage had already been done. Through Tezzeret’s abuse and Liliana’s manipulation, Jace goes from wanting to vomit at the mere thought of hurting another person to carelessly breaking minds and torturing others with the very same knife Tezzeret had used to torture him.

There was no finesse, no care, only power and purpose. Jace slashed through thoughts and memories like underbrush, leaving a wake of devastation behind him. The unconscious fellow twitched and shuddered as entire swathes of his life were frayed. He wouldn’t die of this. Jace had no taste for killing, not with memories of the Lurias marketplace fresh in his mind. But neither would he leave one of Semner’s thugs behind, unpunished for his sins. The result was a drooling imbecile, a man who might be trusted to push carts or carry boxes in exchange for food and shelter. A grim life, but a life nonetheless, and perhaps more than the bastard deserved.

Deeper Jace delved, without sympathy or compunction; he cared about one thing only, held to but one objective. Yet no matter how thoroughly he sifted through the shreds of what had lately been a sentient mind, he couldn’t find it. Eventually he had to concede that it was never there.

(Agents of Artifice)

In the end, Jace is able to defeat Tezzeret, destroying his mind and sawing off his etherium arm to take as a trophy. It’s cathartic, but it doesn’t feel good. There is no real triumph for Jace, because he was only able to free himself from the forces that abused him through the brutality and violence that Tezzeret taught him-- by becoming the unfeeling weapon they wanted him to be. And a part of Jace liked it.

Taking an unwholesome glee in every mental scream, allowing Tezzeret a full awareness of what he was doing, Jace reached out and crushed the artificer’s mind.

(Agents of Artifice)

In the aftermath of Agents of Artifice, Jace is left broken-- but not completely.

Something I admire about Jace is that despite all his trauma, despite how horrible he knew he had been, he refused to let his experiences harden his heart. It would have been easy for him to continue on that path of darkness, but he instead chose to start rebuilding himself.

He shows his sense of responsibility in stopping Ravnica’s destruction by the Supreme Verdict at the end of the Implicit Maze. He shows it by accepting being forced into his responsibilities as the Living Guildpact. He shows it by joining the Gatewatch to save Zendikar. He shows it in the way he’s willing to face Nicol Bolas head-on, for the good of the Multiverse.

He shows his sense of compassion by defying Ugin, telling him that Zendikar is worth saving because it’s someone’s home, and people are fighting for their lives. He shows it by inviting the Gatewatch to live in his home, sharing it with them because he cares. He shows it in the way he uses his telepathy to help Nissa with her sensory overloads.

Jace gritted his teeth. Enough of this. Enough.

"You're speaking in abstractions," he said.

He fired off a counterspell to tear through Ugin's illusion, and sent up a few of his own. Sea Gate at its height, when Jace had visited it shortly after the Eldrazi rose. The survivors' camp when he'd been there weeks ago, where the same scholars, now diminished in number and in hope, huddled around campfires. Gideon, standing tall, inspiring people. Nissa communing with the land.

"Zendikar isn't a puzzle to be solved," said Jace. "It's a place. It's somebody's home. And those people are out there, right now, fighting for their world and wondering if anybody's going to help them kill what's killing them."

He showed scenes of suffering, then—of families mourning the lost, of landscapes ravaged by Ulamog, of even the skies and seas teeming with the Eldrazi menace.

(Revelation at the Eye)

Throughout this new chapter of Jace’s life, he continues to make mistakes. And the reason he makes mistakes is because he’s not perfect. Being good doesn’t come easily to him, but he’s trying his best. He gets frustrated by feelings of inadequacy and he wants to prove to others that he’s competent and can be trusted.

This vision appeared whenever the man was struggling at a task.

His shoulders were broad, and his olive skin had a sheen of sweat underneath the shine of his armor. The hallucination was looking over the man's shoulder as he tried to carve a fishing hook.

"Listen, you aren't really suited to this task. Let me handle it." The vision's voice was gruff but friendly.

It came off as condescending.

The man was annoyed.

"I can do it myself."

The hallucination sighed. "You and I both know you're not suited to this. Let me handle it, you go philosophize on the other end of the beach."

"I said I can do it myself." The man let his irritation reach his voice.

"No, you can't. I call the shots and execute, you stand to the side. That's how this works."

The man responded by throwing his hook at the hallucination. It went straight through the figure's eye and landed behind him on the sand.

(Jace, Alone)

The part of himself that carries his rage and resentment and his desire to lash out still shows itself. I understand what it’s like to have those feelings, and wath it’s like to enjoy indulging in them. And it’s okay to have those feelings, because Jace believes that no matter what you do, you have to forgive yourself in order to make the choice to be a better person. That change doesn’t happen all at once. Be better today than you were yesterday. Be better tomorrow than you were today.

On Ixalan, when Jace has amnesia again and is free of his trauma and his insecurities, he’s able to fully express his philosophy.

Jace chose his words carefully.

"Existence is adaptation to changing circumstances. The self is an accumulation of what one has learned from those changing circumstances . . . Our agency gives us the means to alter our own path. You are who you decide to be. And who you will become depends only on how you choose to adapt."

Jace realized Vraska had been looking at him.

His face felt flushed, and he was thankful his blush did not show in the starlight.

The waves lapped against the side of the ship.

"Is your past truly that unimportant?" she asked.

Jace shrugged to himself. "It has to be. If I can do what I think I can, I've hurt a lot of people. But it's the future that makes me who I am, because my choices will influence who I become."

(Something Else Entirely)

When Jace’s memories return, he finally lets go of his fears and insecurities because he sees how his trauma has poisoned and warped him. He feels like this free Jace is the real Jace. He’s more confident than ever, and his conscience and morals have become stronger.

He used to enter and alter people’s minds without hesitation, but he now stays out of Vraska’s mind unless given consent, and recoils in disgust at the thought of changing her memories, even with her explicit permission to do so. Previously, he would allow his allies to kill as long as he wasn’t the one doing the killing, but he stops Vraska from killing Azor and chooses mercy, using his power as the Living Guildpact to exile him instead.

So when we come back to those guiding questions -- Who is Jace Beleren? Is he a good man? Is he kind? -- we can see that Jace Beleren is always trying his best.

Jace’s character development in Ixalan would not be nearly as impactful without the stories that came before it, and that’s the reason I love all of Jace. Jace is my favorite because he’s a character who has been wrong and has enjoyed revenge and hurting and intimidating others, and has grown and changed for the better. It makes him feel a lot more human and relatable to me. I love the fearful, violent, depressed, and insecure Jace just as much as I love the brave, merciful, happy, and confident Jace. He wasn’t created just to be a good guy or a bad guy. He’s been both a hero and a villain in his own story. Basically, Jace is my favorite because he’s so much more complex than most people give him credit for. He is so flawed and so perfect.

I don’t have a proper conclusion for all this because it’s uh, almost 3am at the time I’m posting this. I love Jace Beleren. He is an autistic bisexual trans man and that’s epic.

#mtg #jace beleren #analysis #my posts

[markrosewater]

Listening to your apes and monkeys podcast, and I want to point out two things. 1, you mention that how regenerate works was changed in the 6th Edition rules change, but the mechanic was still evergreen through Oath of the Gatewatch (2016). 2, you question whether apes are carnivorous. Most primates are omnivorous, and larger apes actually eat a lot of meat, and will hunt smaller primates

FYI