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inventors-fair · 2 years

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The Sin of Syntax: Some common mistakes

This is a bit of a big one, innit.

Now, I don’t have the time to go through every single mistake that anyone’s ever made, because we’d have to start with myself and that would last until the end of time. Specifically with Magic design, I mean. Instead, I’ll go through some big ones, common ones, ones that are recent, and how to fix them. Let’s begin!

1. Use Gatherer and Scryfall to find common precedent.

Are you doing something weird? Are you making something with a unique ability, reduction, interaction, etc.? Check the text of cards that do similar things, and ensure that you have your timing down right. I’ve had to use this for type-changing, spell timing, when things can be returned, when combat ends, etc.

2. Non-evergreen abilities need reminder text.

You are not the audience for your card. Sometimes it’s obvious what a card does because it says so, but if a card just says, I don’t know, “[NAME] explores” with no explanation of what it does... Well, what does that do? You’re building a card as if it was being printed. Assume what a player audience with minimal resources might need. Cards need reminder text.

3. Capitalize subtypes. Do not capitalize types.

A creature card does not need to be capitalized because it’s a type. Something that is legendary does not need to be capitalized because it’s a supertype. If you’re affecting something like a Human, Wizard, Shrine, Food, etc., then that subtype needs to be capitalized. Proofread. I’m still guilty of this, too.

4. Flavor text with a quote and speaker has specific positioning.

If a character is saying something in your flavor text, put it in quotes. If the quote is attributed to someone, use shift+enter to put it on a new line without an extra space, as your program allows. On MSE, use “--” to make a dash, then don’t add a space afterwards before entering the name (e.g. “—Jace Beleren”). If that doesn’t work out, well, at least try to put it on a new line. Emdashes are weird; Macs use option+shift+minus, apparently, and on Windows you use alt+0151, which is how I do it. Some card creators... I dunno, but hey, try to do your best?

5. Keep up to date on your oracle text!

Just like finding precedent, look at oracle text for specific abilities and how they’ve changed. “Comes into play” is now “enters the battlefield.” “Is unblockable” is not “can’t be blocked.” “Put a token into play” is now “Create a token” and hoo boy, do pay attention to the kinds of syntax tokens have. They go P/T-color-Subtype-type-keyword-abilities. For example, “Create a 4/4 white and blue Construct artifact creature token with flying, vigilance, and “Whenever a an opponent casts a black or green spell, draw a card.””

6. Costs go before a colon in activated abilities.

This is a weird one, but if you need to pay the cost for a thing, it goes before a colon. “Pay two life to draw a card” doesn’t mean anything; “Pay 2 life: Draw a card” is now an activated ability. This is more proofreading, but yeah, just double-check with extra eyes. Seriously, cards that make sense to you are not necessarily the ones that are most correct. Massive weird mistakes can happen. The stakes are low, true, but I hope that all these nitpicky things help train your brain at the very least to have a detailed eye and an urge to workshop.

7. Use complete sentences when necessary. Keep things ordered.

This is also one of those things where modern Magic and old-school Magic have kinda parted ways, you know? Clarity is the most important part of a card. Obviously you want a card that works but it also should say all the things it does with minimal interference. Assume that your audience knows how to play the game, but also assume that they're readers who will pick up on when there’s unnecessary shorthand.

8. Know the difference between “If” and “When.”

Replacement abilities replace things. If something would happen, something else happens INSTEAD of that. Triggered abilities look for when things happen, and BECAUSE of that, the ability goes off. Which one do you want? Depends on the card, but keep in mind that if you’re replacing something, it’ll need to say that it happens INSTEAD of the other thing.

9. Use your resources, and help others!

This isn’t a ‘Abelzumi-being-nitpicky’ thing so much as it is a reminder of why we do the things we do. We get the good brain juice from making cards and from showing off cards and from getting feedback on our designs. If you enjoy the challenge, then that’s wonderful! Part of improving, though, to whatever degree you’d like to improve, means that your fellow designers are resources for you. The judge of the week can’t stop or correct things, but we do have other judges, and some players who are actual Magic judges on top of that! Ask for feedback. And when you’re giving feedback yourself, consider intent, ask questions, and see where your gut is taking you.

I found a notebook recently of a whole bunch of card designs from before I discovered MSE. These were literally just boxes of random designs from the before-time, when I piled them into disorganized playtest categories, printed them out with no regard for draft environments, tried to get a power level, and—well, clearly I didn’t stop. But I was designing in a vacuum. I was also, like, fifteen, but that’s besides the point.

Collaborative sets are hard. Design is difficult. Designing singular cards for a contest prompt where a card might fit into an environment instead of being by itself... That’s super hard. But you’re never designing alone. Besides, you gotta submit for commentary and critique, right? You already know that. I’m glad you do. We’re glad you’re here.

-@abelzumi

#monday blog #mtg #magic the gathering #custom magic card #inventor's fair

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greater-chungus-of-nurgle · 2 years

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Top 10 Hottest Female Magic Character’s

Jace Beleren. One of the greatest and most attractive characters ever thought up. He can read minds, summon illusions in a flash, and best of all, he's blue aligned and knows how to handle the females. Speaking of females, the Magic multiverse might also be classified as "Hot Chick Heaven" because there's such a mess of very beautiful and tough women that it will make you love the franchise even more! And since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I've been inspired to make a top 10 list of the most beautiful female Magic characters. Grab yourself a snack and a glass of orange juice, and try not to reach through the screen because HERE WE GO!

10: Try this question on for size. Who chases and hugs Jace all the time and wields a powerful chain veil? Why it's Liliana Vess of course! Though more of a granny than a hottie, you can't deny the fact that she's still attractive. Two things that make her attractive are the fact that she wears a dress, and when have you ever seen 4 big, very menacing demonic contracts etched into someone’s skin? I haven't! So once again, Liliana Vess is lovely; that is until she goes berserk and starts reanimating stuff with her magic.

Who's at number 9? It's this alien moonfolk girl from a distant plane, Tamiyo, from Avacyn Restored. She arrived on the plane of Innistrad to deliver a message saying that the galaxy was under attack by a force called the Eldrazi. She doesn't do much except tell people to stop fighting and focus on the real matter at hand. The real reason she lands at the #9 is that she becomes Jin “Core Augur” Gitaxias’s sweetheart, something Phyrexia needed for a long while.

Numero Ocho. Chandra Nalaar's mother, Pia. She's attractive and the size of an average human mother. What really surprises me about her is that the leader of Team Gatewatch, Gideon the Of The Trials, falls in love with her. Kinda silly, don't you think? She's another character that doesn't do much, but chapter 3 of the Kaladesh story, she helps Yahenni get into space to fight Tezzeret along with Jace and friends.

What number's next? Seven, of course. Tsabo Tavoc from Phyrexia, of course. People always root for the good guys, but sometimes, the bad guys steal the show. Her mechanical IQ is equal to Daretti’s. She also happens to be the smartest member of the Phyrexian invasion. I wonder why she isn't the leader. Like Ascendant Evincar and Commander Greven, her specialty is riding the air-ships called "Predator". With eight very long and smooth legs extending from her body to below her and a shiny head, Tsabo will rock your socks. If only we could see her spin a web.

Numero Six. Alesha from Fate Reforged. Named after her grandmother of the same name, Alesha is the daughter of her mother.. She's yet another character that hardly does a thing except fight dragons. She also dies. When you're an important figure in the Mardu, you need to look your best and Alesha delivers perfectly. That's why she's #6!

#1, #2, #3, #4, #5! Ah-Ah-Ahhh! Vraska from the IDW comics. How could you go wrong with a girl that looks like this? She can kill as fast as Liliana and she went from being a pirate to being a guildmaster. Next to Nissa she looks more humanoid than the other characters.

Who could top someone who has short fiery hair? This female standing at number 4: Chandra Nalaar. One word: Pyromancy. How would you like to have that superpower? I mean Chandra could play around in Kaldheim for hours and she would be perfectly fine! Also, those fiery eyes make her look like a Native American. I really like the fact that her love interest is the decidedly male Gideon. The combination of invincibility and fire superpowers make these two a reliable couple. But what really lands Chandra in the #4 spot is that her attitude’s apparently more different from the other females.

Next up is #3. What's better than having a female with dark magic? How about a female with dark magic and attitude? Gisa the Ghoulcaller, another Innistra character has that feature. She's smart, knows exactly what to do as a necromancer, and even worked with Nahiri once. She's also the girl of Sorin’s' dreams. Heh, lucky him. Her older self in the series Midnight Hunt just downright hot! Just look at that long dress! Now we're talkin'!

1, 2, button my shoe! Princess Michiko Konda. There's a lot to say about this character. She's the heir to the throne, Toshiro’s first official romance, the only character that used to not wear clothes, brave and athletic, the most humanoid character, and is like a mother to the kami. In the set, Saviors of Kamigawa, one Kami, the cowardly Kami of the Crescent Moon constantly tries to woo Michiko, but doesn't succeed because... he's a coward! The Princess is also a semi-perfect example of an excellent love interest, although there were a couple of times when she really snapped and acted like a lunatic; in the story, that is. But overall, Michiko really stands out amongst the slew of females not just because she's Toshiro’s first official love interest, or because she's the only one who didn't wear clothes, but because in the saga rendtiion, she grew very long hair, and married The Taken One in the future, becoming the Queen.

So, you've seen a pyrokinetic redhead, a phyrexian, two gorgeous necromancers, and even a princess! Who could possibly top those kinds of females?

Well, get ready folks; this is the #1 hottest Magic the Gathering female character. Jaya Ballard. If anybody denies it, how dare you? This woman can crack a whip, she's as fiery as Chandra, and is a femme fatale, burninating other characters into getting what she wants. Instead of having one love interest, she has two! Teferi, and Karn. Being a taskmage, she's only interested in one object set; magic, especially fire magic, the magic she uses. There actually have been situations where Jaya’s cleavage has been exposed, but it eventually got censored. What a price to pay. I think the best part about this beauty is that she wears three different outfits unlike the other female characters. And who wouldn't want to burn the landscape while saying witty one liners, and flirt with any female, anytime, anywhere. These three traits make Jaya Ballard triumph over all of the Magic the Gathering females. My hat goes off to you, Wizards of the Coast. You oughta be proud.

There ya have it folks. Those were the hottest female chicks in the Magic Multivere. I hope you enjoyed it, happy Valentine's Day, and I'll see you later. HERE WE GO!

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teatime-with-owl · 3 years

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For some reason Sophia's backstory from her first campaign disappeared so I am reposting it

Sophia is the daughter of two powerful mages an Azorius Functionary (father) and an Orzhov Representative (mother), but she herself could not use magic. After failing in her mother’s guild for not agreeing with its practices, which caused a further rift in her relationship with them, she was moved to her father’s guild as an Azorius law enforcer. She was still unhappy but hoped that she could try and really help people like her idol Aurelia of the Boros Legion, a guild she wanted to be apart of all her life. On her first day of the job she gets caught up in a explosion of an experimental portal. She survived but she started getting headaches and visions through out the days following. As she goes on with her life she makes friends in Azorius with others who would also be happier in other guilds, Travis who enjoys collecting secrets, Strava an inventor, and Sirri a woman with no recorded past. As they work together on different jobs they start to notice something was not right. They discover the possibility of an underground organization in Azorius that might even be spreading to the other guilds, all while Sophia slowly starts to realize she might be late blooming into her magic, as she is able to see into other peoples minds at times. Not trusting her parents not to use her for her new abilities to gain power, she seeks out the help of Jace Beleren. He is reluctant at first to help her but after some convincing helps her learn more about her powers and how to control them.

Sophia then starts to gain more clues on the secret organization and begins to suspect her own family may be behind it. She then looks into her fathers mind looking for proof, finding nothing on the organization but everything about herself. She discovered that she could use magic since she was a child, but her powers where uncontrollable and dangerous. Her father used his own mind mage ability to erase her knowledge of having the ability to use magic every time she would show signs of learning it again. Distraught and overwhelmed she ran away and goes to Jace again, who helps her calm down and helps her not make the same mistakes he did. He offers to help her get the rest of her lost memories back, and after some time and many magic lessons she becomes his apprentice. She continues to look for the organization, and gains the approval of her guild master Lavinia. She is made her champion and now has better access to all the guilds for her investigation. More access helps her make even more friends, like a talented Simic Biomancer who helps her get the thing she has always wanted: Angel wings. But as Sophia starts to reveal the identities of different members and the location of the organization, things get more dangerous. Her friends get abducted and she choices to rush in to save them but falls right into a trap. She is the key to all of their plans, an energy source to a portal to other planes. But with her friends help she is able to destroy the portal and fight the members but as they try and get out of a collapsing building Sophia is last to leave and is tackled by the leader of the organization. She urges her friends to go on without her before it is too late. The building collapses on both her and leader and when she opens her eyes, she is in a place she’s never seen before. Theros.

#fanwalker #sophia #oc #sophia's backstory #dnd #The game is still going but this is the first campaign #reposting

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ravnicaforgoblins · 3 years

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Ravnica for Goblins

Goals

Ravnica is a big city. Ravnica is the Big City. The biggest, craziest, strangest, wildest, most awe-inspiring city ever built. It yields to no one, not even the Living Guildpact. They have power, yes, and their words carry with them the most powerful magic on this plane; but only within the written laws that have been in place for thousands of years. Ravnica is not a sandbox for Jace to mold to his will; it is a living, breathing organism that Jace is charged with looking after. Not to keep bullying the Mind Mage, but he has a pretty poor track record of doing a job that effectively boils down to “stay in one place and read books”.

At its core, Ravnica will always do what Ravnica has done for millennia. Mainly claw and scratch for any advantage in the ten-way Tug-Of-War that has been raging since the Guilds first found the end of a rope. The game never ends and never will. Temporary alliances can cause certain Guilds to pull together against other Guilds for a time, but the game always goes back to every Guild making snarky comments about the others eventually. In desperate situations against seemingly all-powerful new threats, the Guilds can put aside their differences to pull together for a time, but always with the understanding that once the threat is over they will all take their places again and resume where they left off. This can be frustrating for players used to or even enthralled by the idea of becoming the Savior(s) of the World.

Ravnica is not something that can be fixed because it doesn’t need to be. Barely-constrained chaos is and will always be the natural order of things. The Azorius Senate will come up with new laws. The Boros Legion will fight. House Dimir will poke its head into other people’s business. The Izzet League will invent. The Gruul Clans will resist. The Golgari Swarm will farm. The Simic Combine will experiment. The Orzhov Syndicate will scheme. The Selesnya Conclave will grow. The Cult of Rakdos will party. Your characters are never going to change any of these things, and that’s all right. Your goals should never be to change this world into something besides what it already is. Doing so would take away the fun of this crazy world.

So let’s talk about what kind of goals you, your characters, and your campaign should shoot for.

Short-Term Goals

If you’re just doing a Ravnica One Shot, or even if you just don’t know how much people are going to able to commit, Ravnica is full to the brim with possibilities. Literally, you can just draw Ravnica-themed MTG cards into a hand and piece together a story from whatever you get.

In these circumstances, your goals can be fairly short-term. Find someone/something, retrieve someone/something, stop someone/something, fight someone/something, do it, have a drink & celebrate. Your character goals can be as simple as just doing their jobs (Azorius maintaining order, Dimir finding information, Selesnya preserving life, Gruul rebelling against authority, Rakdos having a good time, etc). If you want something more personal, finding a connection between each of the party’s Guilds and the target is not only easy but fun to write.

The thing that makes Ravnica such a fun campaign atmosphere is the same thing that can make it frustrating; constant conflict. Any two Guilds can have a thousand reasons not to like each other, or, alternatively, a thousand reasons to work together. It can be differing Guild lifestyles, differences in opinion, shared interests, shared passions, old debts, past favors, or just trust/distrust in an individual. No two Guilds are required to get along, but at the same time, no two Guilds are required to hate each other. If your party has an Azorius Lawmage and a Rakdos Blood Witch, they can be at each other’s throats or they can be old friends who took different paths somewhere down the line. Your Guild is a choice, not a fate. Jace the Mind Mage was raised by Gruul. To this day, he still wears their tattoos.

*Be warned, once you’ve realized the unlimited possibilities this affords your character, you’re gonna want more.

Mid-Range Goals

If your group wants to commit to a longer stay in Ravnica, then it’s time to really flesh out your character and where they stand. It may even be necessary to retcon your characters into another Guild at this point, or begin a storyline to switch over. Anything can be fun short-term, but if you’re determined to go 6-12 levels in a Guild, you’ll want to be sure they are a good fit with your character. All ten of Ravnica’s Guilds come from Magic The Gathering’s 5-color wheel, coinciding with each possible two-color combination, meaning each Guild has common ground with others, but also important distinctions.

The Azorius, Boros, and Orzhov all have law & order as a central theme, but very different interpretations for it. The Azorius Senate write laws and prioritize order, whereas the Boros Legion enforce the laws but prioritize justice. The Orzhov Syndicate value neither and work to subvert each to their own ends.

Both the Simic Combine and Izzet League are built around creativity and invention. However, the Simic are much more rooted in biological (aka, walking, breathing) science, such as the Krasis iconic to their Guild. The Izzet are much more theoretical in their experimenting, endlessly curious to try something to see what will happen. They like playing with elements and physics. Simic experiments are long-term commitments, Izzet are spontaneous bursts of inspiration.

The Gruul, Golgari, Simic, and Selesnya Guilds all have a foundation in the natural world. Their interpretations of such are where the differences come out. Selesnyans build their lives around nurturing and revitalizing nature, while the Combine seeks to improve upon it. The Golgari apply the natural order to everything, including themselves, becoming a walking (possibly shambling) depiction of the plant life cycle in action. Life & death intertwined in an almost infinite cycle. And the Gruul Clans, while once the caretakers and preservers of Ravnica’s natural environments, have over time had those duties diverted from them into the Simic and Selesnya Guilds, leaving them to ferociously preserve the few untamed wilds Ravnica has left after 10,000 years of urbanization and to oppose any attempted encroachment on it from ambitious developers.

The Cult of Rakdos and Gruul Clans are both chaotic, violent, and revel in opposing authority. The Gruul do it out of anger and fairly justified resentment towards the city while the Cult does it literally for shits & giggles. Strangely enough, the savage rock-smashers can have more complexity to them than the daredevil street artists.

House Dimir and the Orzhov Syndicate both thrive on their dealings outside the law and under the table. Strangely enough, while both claim it’s just business, only House Dimir really stick by that code. They are the true embodiment of Neutral Evil, willing to stealing from anyone (including their own Guild members) for the right price. The Orzhov Syndicate, on the other hand, will exploit any loophole they can devise to avoid doing anything they don’t want. While the Dimir know to never be found near the scene of a crime, the Orzhov’s preferred method is to negotiate, lawyer, or bribe their way out of any & all consequences, and call themselves innocent. They are the literal worst.

Orzhov, Golgari, Rakdos, and Dimir all offer assassination services. The distinction comes from whether you want to send a message, erase an undesirable, make a spectacle, or never get caught; respectively.

For new players still learning about Ravnica, a distinct adventure focusing on each Guild is a great way to get comfortable with the setting. It helps how distinctive each Guild is from all the others; your players will quickly learn the differences between a Selesnyan Healer, a Simic Healer, and a Golgari Healer (Hint: one’s organic, one’s bioengineering, and one’s necromancy). By the time you’ve hit all ten, you should have a good foundation for the state of the city worked out for the campaign. Keeping all ten Guilds in line is an adventure all its own, just ask Jace Beleren. There’s always something going on.

Alternatively, you can aim for stopping plans originating from a single Guild. This city has a group for everyone, no matter how strange their beliefs, and the winds of change stop for no one, so taking down one problem is extremely unlikely to stop the higher purpose. There will always be another, bigger, problem. Bring in a spy, his handler steps in. Stop the handler, the cell leader gets involved. Defeat the cell leader, a cleaner gets called. Expose the cleaner, Assassins riding Nazgul descend upon thee. Kill that, and you become a problem for the entire organization.

The BBEG for a mid-range campaign can include a Guildmaster. Depending on which Guildmaster that is, the amount of preparation that will be required to triumph can range from “a shit ton” to “a fucking deus ex machina”. Regardless of Challenge Rating, they are going to be hard. If you think Zegana, Prime Speaker is going to battle without her personal entourage of gigantic Krasis, you are dead in the water. If you think Lazav the Multifarious will be a pushover once he has nowhere left to hide, you are falling right into his trap. If you think you can beat Borborygmos, Mightiest of the Mighty, by flying out of his range and chucking spells at his low AC, there’s a rock with your name on it. If you think Trostani, Chorus of the Conclave, are just a trio of singing tree-worshippers, they live inside the biggest sentient tree in existence.

If you think Niv-Mizzet is just a Dragon or Rakdos is just a Demon; you deserve the humiliating death they bestow you. Honestly, you want to do everything you can do avoid fighting those two if your campaign isn’t planning on going all the way. They are both top-tier monsters; manipulative, intelligent, durable, moody, and terrifyingly powerful. Even worse, they’re smug and masters of gloating. Beating a smug bastard feels awesome, but getting wrecked by them SUCKS.

Long-Haul Goals

If your party is determined to see a full campaign through start to finish, the stakes get bigger. To maintain conflict and challenge all the way to level 20, the threats reflect the amount of power you will be wielding. The Big Bads you are facing will be attempting to upset the chaotic status quo that has existed in Ravnica since its creation. If the Living Guildpact is around, someone is probably trying or has succeeded in killing/replacing them. If the Living Guildpact isn’t around, war has likely broken out in the streets. One Guild may be making a vie for power that will finally give them a conclusive edge over the other Guilds in the endless tug-of-war. Two or more Guilds may be pushing to eradicate several other Guilds whose antics and constant interference has been getting in their way for too long. Or an outside invading force may be materializing on Ravnica’s doorstep with the goal of either subjugating or erasing Ravnica itself. It’s the end of the world as we know it, and that’s not fine. Anything strong enough to challenge a planet-sized city of ten armies on their home turf is going to be, by necessity, seriously nasty.

The Living Guildpact makes for a good MacGuffin. It’s something supremely powerful but also complex enough to develop over a long period of time. They are the most powerful being on Ravnica, but becoming the LG is not as simple as poisoning Jace Beleren’s tea and taking unlimited power from his corpse. Going by the lore, losing one Guildpact will likely necessitate another Maze Run to choose the next. If you want to homebrew another method of transferring the power to an usurper, other problems present themselves. A rogue LG means nothing if the other Guilds refuse to comply. The power of the LG comes directly from Ravnica’s laws. They do not make the laws, they are the force that makes specific laws unbreakable. The process of putting new laws into effect requires the compliance of a recognized representative from every single Guild. Any would-be LG will need powerful influence within each of the other Guilds to make any creative changes to the Guildpact. They can’t just grab a Tom, Dick, or Sue from every Guild and make them say “you’re the Guildpact, Big Bad”. You’re looking for lieutenants powerful enough to be problematic on their own.

If your Big Bad is one or more Guilds going rogue, something will need to happen to upset the stalemate that’s existed among the Guilds for 10,000 years. If the angels of the Boros Legion could just kill Rakdos the Defiler, they would have done it 10,000 years ago, believe me. But not only have they failed to kill the Demon Lord of Riots, they have signed into an agreement with him & his in the name of actual peace. Some Guilds may be more inclined towards Big Bad behavior than others, but every Guild has the capacity to be the Big Bad.

A Big Bad Azorius will basically look like the Roman Empire.

A Big Bad Boros will basically be the Rapture. And/or the Crusades.

A Big Bad Dimir will look like 1984.

A Big Bad Golgari is a zombie apocalypse, plus Medusa.

A Big Bad Gruul is a Mad Max Thunderdome post-apocalypse.

A Big Bad Izzet is whatever Niv-Mizzet has been plotting towards for the last 16,768 years. Think The Matrix, but instead of machines, a Giant Ancient Dragon Wizard.

A Big Bad Orzhov is basically the Spanish Inquisition.

A Big Bad Rakdos is Rakdos actually acting like a Demon Lord.

A Big Bad Selesnya is the armies of the Elves & Ents from Lord of the Rings, and you’re the orcs at Saruman’s tower.

A Big Bad Simic is literally Godzilla.

Taking on something of this scale is going to require your character(s) to draw on every relationship they’ve built within every Guild. Whatever personal goals you might have started with are likely resolved; now you fight for Ravnica’s survival. You are fighting to restore this pain-in-the-ass city of constant conflict to the same barely-functioning status quo it started with. Because by now, you’ve kinda grown attached to it. The thing that makes Ravnica so good at drawing new players in is the fantastic variety of philosophies, lifestyles, and personalities that make up the city. It’s confusing to start, yes, but once you’ve been around long enough, a sort of natural order starts to become apparent. You stop seeing any Guild as good or evil and start seeing them as just different paths for people to take. As crazy as it might seem sometimes, the city works. It may not be perfect, but it will never be boring.

#ravnica for goblins #goblins #ravnica #dnd #D&D #dungeons and dragons #roleplaying #campaign #goals #guilds #living guildpact

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venser · 3 years

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Ooh tell me your vryn theory 👀

this crackpot theory is not going to be coherent ok all coherency i had for the day went into the fic i posted an hour ago so just. know that

ok so we all know alhammarret right? jace’s stinky cat man mentor that he killed accidentally, an action that would set him on this path of causing problems on accident and fixing things on purpose?

yeah he’s not dead and he is actively plotting revenge on jace

“uhhhh tumblr user venser that cant b right!!! it had to have been legit, that’s what ignited his spark!!!”

first of all u fake jace fan, his spark ignited YEARS earlier. that’s the whole fuckin reason jace lost all trust in him!!! and while the origin story doesn’t explicitly state it, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that jace picked up other things and added it to his lil paper of secrets (and wotc isnt above doing another recon!!! next thing u know jace speaks with a thicc texan accent and calls everyone pardner and they will act like he has ALWAYS done that)

and alhammarret he’s a fuckin. he’s a sphinx. a powerful mind mage. he HAS to know that jace knows something. HAS to. i cannot accept that this old fart is just IGNORANT to what this shrimpy little fifteen year old with the muscle mass of an angry chihuahua knows, but maybe he’s just waiting until his chance to just. wipe it outta his mind

he doesnt tho because??? of course jace would know??? he is also a mind mage??? so things kinda play out as they do until the very end.

now, one of two things might happen: alhammarret either immerses jace in a convincing enough illusion that it shocks him into planeswalking, or he truly does get hurt. the former probably wouldnt make much sense, but the latter DEFINITELY would. if alhammarret is such a great mind mage, would it have been possible for him to wipe his memory, leaving himself with a mental command to just pretend you’re fucking choking for like two minutes or something idk?

so jace goes poof alhammarret has no memory for maybe a week and when he gets everything back he’s FURIOUS bc this punk kid was making him some money AND he’ll expose him if he comes back. what’s a guy to do?

fake your own death, use illusions to install yourself in a position of power within the ampryn, manipulate ur subordinates, and declare jace beleren an enemy of the state, of course!

#i do NOT accept constructive criticism #this isnt legit anyway its just. something that would be funny #like father of machines venser #except that one makes me sad and may actually happen #Anonymous

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oldtumblhurgoyf · 5 years

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Lauren Orsini wants to kiss a cat man and that’s wrong*

Here’s a ranking of All 36 'Magic: The Gathering' War of the Spark Planeswalkers Ranked By Dateability in Forbes no less. But it’s so terribly wrong. Here’s my Empirically Correct List of Planeswalkers Ranked By Dateability.

*this is all very silly and Orsini’s list is fine, I’m sure... for her.

36-28 Undateable

36 and 35. Tie between Gideon Jura and Domri Rade (with an honorable mention to Dack Fayden).

Dudes are all literally dead. Sorry, but I’m not dating a corpse. Also, before Gideon’s death, he was running himself ragged hopping from plane to plane to save the world. He didn’t have the time for a relationship. Domri is an obnoxious child (emphasis on child too). Of the three, Dack had the most potential but even alive he’d be lucky to break the top 20 of my list. Good for a few fun weekends and that’s probably it. Tempting to hope your love could reform him but that’s just a good way to have your heart stolen.

34. Nicol Bolas

He’s downright evil and self-centered to an unfathomable degree. Hard pass, no thank you. Literally no redeeming qualities.

33. Ob Nixilis

The obvious date for him is someone into BDSM, right? Wrong. He’s not going to respect your boundaries or practice good after care. He’ll use and abuse you for what he wants and then probably murder you. That’s not a date.

32. Dovin Baan

This dude’s whole deal is that he sees the flaws in everything. He’d probably outright refuse to date and if not, he’d constantly be nitpicking your relationship and you. There’s probably a decent amount of built up angst and stuff and if he ever cut loose there could be some fun, but it would be very fleeting and comes at too great a cost (months later thinking “what did he mean by ‘your forehead is adequate, but your nose is not the ideal shape’?”).

31. Tibalt

See Ob Nixilis. Kind of crazy how similar these two are.

30. Ashiok

We don’t know a whole lot about them, but I’m envisioning they’re like Ob Nixilis/Tibalt except it’s all mental/psychological harm. It’s Dovin Baan but instead of an ostensible pursuit of perfection, the mental anguish is its own reward.

29. Ugin

Like dating a dad, but a really boring dad. And like any other dragon, he’s still very full of himself, he’s just a little more subtle about it. Besides, apparently you’d do all your dating in the Prison Realm and Bolas would be there trying to ruin your (already pretty miserable) date as some small payback for being trapped.

28. Sorin Markov

Things will be okay, but he gives me weird unwanted daddy vibes and he’s just going to ghost you anyway.

27-19 Redeeming Qualities, Not Long-Term Material

27. The Wanderer

Not much to go on here but we do know she’s gonna ghost you though probably not voluntarily.

26. Teyo Verada

He seems nice enough but he’s pretty young and super naive. He’s got some things to figure out and some growing to do before you’d want to date him.

25. Jiang Yanggu

What I said for Teyo goes for Yanggu as well. Plus side, every date with him there is a really cute pupper coming along.

24. Kaya

She’s giving me Gideon vibes. I think she’d be more fun than Gids, but she’s too devoted to her career to have time for a relationship.

23. Teferi

It’s a common refrain I’m running into here, but Teferi is also too dedicated to his job to make for a good relationship. Additionally he’s got lifetimes of experiences that make him “The Most Interesting Man in the Multiverse” and you’re always going to feel like a second fiddle to him, not an equal. This is a case where he’s almost too perfect.

22. Jaya

Jaya’s got distinct mother vibes for me. There’s just no way I could see a date with her that isn’t weird. It wouldn’t even be a bad date per se, but it’s not gonna happen.

21. Samut

I’m intimidated by Samut. I mean, who wouldn’t be? She’s been through Amonkhet’s trials and stood ready in front of Hazoret’s spear. That’s such a singular dedication that few others can match. I think I’d shrivel in front of her love.

20. Kiora

She’s a playful trickster and kind of flighty. You’ve got one good date with her and then maybe a follow up fling at some point, but there’s no building a relationship here. I mean, unless you’re really lucky, but I wouldn’t count on it.

19. Karn

Karn’s got plenty going for him. He’s done some really interesting stuff, he’s motivated, and deeply invested even if he doesn’t always show it. He can certainly show you a lot of cool things. But long term the lack of humanity creates distance and problems.

18-10 A Good Time, Let’s See How it Works Out

19. Liliana Vess

She’s a toss up to me at this point. She’s been through a whole helluva lot and this is the point where she could go completely good, or take her get out of demon-contract-death jail free card and double down on all her worst attributes. She’ll be a fun date, you just can’t be sure it should be more than that.

17. Angrath

Dude’s super dedicated to his family but he gets incredibly frustrated and pretty damn easily. His name’s literally angry wrath so you kind of have to expect that. If you think going to a dive bar and getting into a fight with a biker is a good date then Angrath is going to be a fun time.

16. Vivien Reid

Maybe I just haven’t been paying a whole lot of attention, but I know less about Vivien Reid than any other planeswalker on this list I think (which is wild when you consider exactly how little we know about the Wanderer or Kasmina). But as the Steve Irwin of the multiverse, there’s no way this date isn’t fun. You’ve just perhaps bitten off more than you can chew.

15. Ajani Goldmane

Ajani is a total sweetheart who will care for you like no other. The flip side of that is he is always pushing you to be your better self and, hon, that’s just a little much for me. Like can’t we just stay in and cuddle for once? I do NOT want to go to the gym again this week.

14. Arlinn Kord

Unlike Jaya, I don’t have mom vibes here. She’s a good looking lady who definitely seems to be here for a good time.

13. Huatli

This one is totally an “it’s not you, it’s me situation.” She’s so big on community and sharing stories--I’m more of a homebody. There’s nothing wrong exactly, we just won’t be compatible, I don’t think. But somebody out there is, and the two of you will get along famously. Another list would totally rank her as marriage material.

12. Narset

This is another case of such dedication and perfectionism that I just don’t think I could measure up in a relationship with her. She’ll come home from exploring the multiverse and meditation and combat training and reading ancient scrolls to find all I’ve done is take out the trash and do some dishes before playing some games and... not be disappointed exactly, but it won’t inspire respect and desire in her. Another one where there’s incredible potential there... for the right person.

11. Kasmina

Mysterious as she is, I’m getting young Jaya vibes from Kasmina. Not as in, when Jaya was actually young and all fiery temper and stuff. But rather, current Jaya without the creepy (to me) mom vibes. There’s potential here but so much mystery it’s impossible to say for sure without taking a chance.

10. Nahiri

I can’t imagine anyone I’d have a better single date with. Like a real good time. She’s planned it out perfectly and she’s ready to go. It might not last, but you’ll enjoy it while it does. Keep the lines of communication clear, respect boundaries, and be aware she can hold a grudge, and I think this actually has a chance.

9-1 Marriage Material

9. Jace Beleren

He’s sort of what I see Yanggu or Teyo needing. He’s done that growing and learning and he’s a pretty solid guy. He’s learned a lot of lessons the hard way but he’s definitely better for it.

8. Tamiyo

She’s literally married and raising kids in a happy home. The potential is there (if we ignore her canon marriage and assume she is available to date), not to mention her chosen career of essentially multiverse astronomer is pretty damn cool and relatively safe compared to what these other planeswalkers have devoted themselves to. (Sure, there’s Innistrad and Emrakul, but I imagine most planes’ moons are much safer to observe than that.)

7. Sarkhan Vol

Like Jace, he’s worked through a lot and is a pretty awesome person because of it. Unlike Jace, he’s been attractive the whole time. He’s tender and vibrant and aware and just cool as all hell. Bringing him home would be like dating Brendan Frasier in his prime.

6. Vraska

Downside to Vraska is that she’s pretty clique-ish and suspect of anyone from outside her group. Her views have expanded recently, but I think she’s still going to put up a rock hard exterior. If you can chisel your way through that then you’ve got a heart of gold.

5. Davriel Cane

Forget the demon contracts and all that nonsense. What this guy wants deep down is to just be left alone. Let’s retire to a nice estate on the countryside and enjoy our time together.

4. Saheeli Rai

Creative and inspiring, Saheeli is an absolute sweetheart. And she’s dedicated to a craft that she can do at home. She doesn’t have go trooping about the multiverse on dangerous missions without you. She can work on amazing marvels in her workshop then come next door to take you out for ice cream.

3. Nissa Revane

Nissa is a bit aloof and distant, but don’t let that fool you. She’s nurturing in every way you could want and then some. She’s great if you can get past that stoic exterior.

2. Ral Zarek

Ral’s more romantic than I ever woulda thought. He’s dedicated and thoughtful, but not so stuffy that things get boring. Actually the biggest detractor here is that things will never be boring with Ral, but he’ll make it worth your while to stick beside him through it all.

1. Chandra Nalaar

Full of warmth and passion, Chandra’s got what it takes to make the strongest connection. And she’s another character who has made some incredible personal growth recently. She’s ready to take the next step with someone special and if that were you, the two of you are in for a long-burning love.

#mtg #planeswalkers #forbes #lauren orsini #dateability #this is a really silly list #but it was fun

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mishas-workshop · 5 years

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Strategy Showcase: Group Hugs

When playing Magic: the Gathering, or any other game for that matter, the goal should be to have fun. Sure, winning is great, but unless you are playing in a hyper competitive meta, enjoying the game is going be of paramount importance. What better way to have fun than to make sure everyone is having a good time? The strategy known as “Group Hugs” is one of the most basic to understand, but difficult to master strategies in all of Magic: the Gathering. That being said, it is one of my favorites, so today, let’s explore this strateigy and some of the best ways to support it in Commander.

So, a quick explanation of Group Hugs: Play cards that benefit everyone at the table thus to make yourself an ally to all other players. Generally speaking, other players won’t inflict unnecessary harm on you so long as you are providing them with something that they need. Because of this, there are not that many ways to actually finish the game in 1st, playing for 2nd is something that people tend to think when it comes to Group Hugs. However, there are ways to win. Outlasting your opponents’ struggles and winning through political maneuvering is generally the best way to try to not only stay alive, but come out on top.

Let’s look at some of the Commanders for this strategy. Kynaios & Tiro were made to helm Group Hug decks. With huge toughness and an ability that benefits everyone at the table, plus access to four colors, this power couple is perfect. Since they have Red, unlike most of the commanders on this list, you get access to cards like Insurrection, which takes everything everyone has been working for and makes it yours for one turn. One of the best finishers in any group hug deck that can run it. I had this deck for a really long time and only took it apart to support the next commander on this list, Angus Mackenzie.

I’ll get this out of the way, Angus Mackenzie is EXPENSIVE. But if you are a collector or happen to have one laying around from your childhood days of Magic, it can be built as an effective pillowfort-hugs commander. Pillowfort, if you are unfamiliar, is another strategy that goes hand in hand with group hugs. Basically you make it really difficult for your opponents to interact with you through the use of protective cards like Propaganda and Damage prevention effects. Both of these are essential to the survival of group hugs decks, and with Angus’ ability to negate combat, he can protect you from any attacks while you sit back and try to help everyone.

If you want to use another Bant commander, that doesn’t cost upwards of $200, I suggest Phelddagrif. This purple hippo is the quintessential group hugs commander, everything it does benefits your opponents in some way or another. Winning with Phelddagrif is going to be more of a challenge than with almost any other commander on this list. That being said, remember, in Group Hugs, winning is not your primary goal, your goal is to have fun!

The last commander I want to mention is Karona, the False God. She gives you access to all five colors and yes, there are group hug cards in black. Karona will float around the table every turn and give people access to a commander that can be used as an offensive threat. Certainly, a more offensive take one the hugs strategy, but it is Karona’s uniqueness that is alluring to someone looking to build a group hug deck that can actually get Kos with its commander.

There are a plethora of cards throughout Magic’s history which work well in group hug decks. Luckily, someone put together a list of them, so feel free to check then out if you wish! (http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mh-group-hug/). I want to highlight some of the more important cards and a couple that tend to get overlooked.

Rites of Flourishing is maybe the best group hugs card in all of Magic. It only costs three mana and allows each player to draw an additional land on top of giving all players an extra draw. Ghirapur Orrery is very similar in how it interacts with the table. Throw in a Horn of Greed and players can draw after they play their lands. If you want to just directly give everyone land, New Frontiers, Traverse the Outlands and Collective Voyage are all excellent choices. For more extra draws, look for Howling Mine, Temple Bell, Jace Beleren and Font of Mythos. Anvil of Bogarden is also fantastic, as it gives an additional draw, plus no maximum hand size for all players. Of course, Prosperity and Skyscribing can get you wins if you force mass draw on the table.

Aside from additional land drops and draws, there are other ways to benefit everyone at the board. Homeward Path os a land that will give everyone their things back, so it can help if you are in a meta or game where someone likes to steal your cards. Hunted Wumpus allows all of your opponents to put any creature from their hand into play. Charmed Griffin does the same thing, except for an artifact or enchantment. If you want to give everyone a chance to tutor for any card they want, Noble Benefactor is a card that exists. However, if you have the desire to lean completely into the hugs aspect and throw all caution to the wind, Tempting Wurm is a two drop that will allow all of your opponents to dump their hands onto the field.

There are a few overlooked cards that I would like to examine before I wrap up this already long article. The three Bant colored “oath” cards are great. Scholars, Lieges and Druids all greatly benefit the table as a whole. Nullmage Advocate and the other advocates all have different effects that give a player of your choice card advantage in one way or another, but as a trade off, deal with threats, raise your creatures, etc. Horn of Plenty, Well of Knowledge and Unified Theory all give players the choice to pay additional mana while casting spells or drawing cards to draw even more cards! This can also be helpful in slowing down your opponents, as sometimes, they really need to draw “that card” and pump out extra mana, leaving you and other players open to cast spells without fear of an immediate response.

I could honestly write even more about this archetype, but I feel I have made my point. Group Hugs is one of my favorite styles to play in all of Magic: the Gathering. The sheer versatility and volume of unique cards is what has always been so great about this game to me and this format in particular. No matter how you want to play the game, there are cards that exist to support that endeavor and foster a rich and uniquely interactive play experience.

#mtg #mtgcommander #mtgcommunity #edh #strategy #magic the card game #magic the gathering #group hug

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nonbinarylatula · 5 years

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Jace Beleren - Bard of Mind

Jace is undoubtedly a Hero of Mind. He has mind powers, and in terms of personality, he's quintessentially Blue. (Also Jace is a valid kid name.)

Art by Aleksi Briclot

Blue/Mind is the most simple color-to-aspect mapping there is between the color pie and aspect wheel, at least in terms of philosophy (blue's air magic goes to Breath). Mind is all about choice and how our identities are shaped by the choices of ourselves and others, and it's diametrically opposed to Heart, the aspect of the True Self. Blue is also inherently opposed to the idea that there might be something about one's self that they couldn't change, and it and black care greatly about personal agency.

In addition to Jace's almost on-the-nose Mind powers, he's an excellent tactician, as well as becoming the Living Guildpact - a physical embodiment of the legal system of the city of Ravnica. Law and order are a big motif of the Mind aspect, if only because the tealbloods of Alternia are linked with the aspect. (Tealblooded trolls as a class are expected to work in the legal system.)

As much as his mind-reading abilities might make one want to place Jace as one of the oracle classes, the fact that his entire character arc is riddled with instances of people's minds getting wiped (his own and others) makes me think he's a destroyer class. Homestuck’s class system has two destroyer classes: The active Prince, and the passive Bard.

I would say he's a passive player, especially if you look at how destruction of the mind plays into his story. As a student of the sphinx Alhammaret, he trains his abilities for years before finding out that his teacher had been sending him on clandestine political missions and wiping his memories of them afterwards, as well as wiping other important memories that he didn't want Jace to have. When he discovers this, he starts plotting against his teacher, wiping his own memories that he doesn’t want the sphinx to see and keeping the records on paper. Eventually, when the conflict escalates into a full-on psychic battle between Jace and Alhammaret, Jace is victorious. It’s a hollow victory, though, because although his teacher’s mind is completely destroyed, Jace also loses most of his memory.

This happens a lot. I mean, seriously. Just head over to his wiki article and read through it, noting every time someone’s mind gets wiped. And the sad thing is he hardly ever has any choice about it. It’s always part of someone else’s plan, or it happens by accident, or it’s his only way of survival. And when he does choose to do it on his own, he doesn’t use it for personal gain - it’s to help his friends, and specifically Vraska. He’s got passive destroyer player written all over him.

If not a Bard, I’d say he’s a Rogue, since he does a lot of memory manipulation as well, and his illusions play a very Rogue-like role. His removal of specific memories could also be construed as “stealing” rather than “destroying.” But it’s a pretty distant second for me.

Anyways, Jace Beleren is a Bard of Mind! His role could be described as “one who invites the destruction of Mind, or one who uses Mind to invite destruction.” Bards are a tricky class, since we only have two canonical examples: One of character with maybe twenty lines of dialogue max, and another who is... Gamzee. Anyways, if Jace were to reach godtier, he would be awarded with a nice set of blue-green pajamas and a massive codpiece. (And conditional immortality.) God powers, at least according to my reading of the comic, aren’t necessarily awarded post-godtier, so those would just be manifested as Jace’s normal telepathic abilities. Keep in mind that even two characters with the same class and aspect combination might manifest them differently - so not every Bard of Mind would act like Jace or have the same powers.

Please tell me what you think of this post, and if there are any other characters you’d like me to classpect! I could also do color pie analysis, although this is primarily a Homestuck blog. If I don’t get requests for other characters, I’m going to be working my way through the Gatewatch, then maybe start doing color identities for some Homestuck characters or classpects for other MTG characters.

#Homestuck #Bard of Mind #Magic: the Gathering #mtg color pie #jace beleren #classpect

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thercoon-blog · 6 years

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Liliana, Crumbling Oppressor

Let’s move on to another one of the nu-Origin five walkers, one that takes on the role of Persecutor in our Karpman Drama Triangle. Here we dive into the seriously mentally ill persona of Liliana Vess, whom I can find numerous mental health parallels in history, most notably in John Nash, the famous Mathematician. In order for the Drama Triangle to arise, a person must take on the role of Victim or Persecutor. Our first example of this occurrence is between our focus character, Liliana, and future Victim, Jace Beleren. Persecutors typically blame everyone else for everything, insisting something is their fault. Persecutors are typically controlling (Liliana has successfully bent the Gatewatch to her desires), blaming, critical, oppressive, angry and superior (we know Liliana has a serious god complex stemming from her dabbling in the dark arts). Each participant in this triangle takes on their role by acting upon their own selfish needs – something Liliana has done since day 0.

Let’s begin.

Liliana grew up on the most important (arguably) plane in the multiverse, Dominaria. Her father was a general and ruler, possibly for the Forward Order (a load of chaps fighting some dark force, possibly Belzenlok’s cabal). She had a name for herself as a bit of a hussy (that’s slang for hoe), and because of daddy’s extremely high ranking profile, this would inevitably bring on family meetings of “you’re bringing shame to my name”. Liliana cared little of her reputation, so from her absolute origins, we’re told she pretty much doesn’t care about anyone or anything other than herself. We also discover she’s a somewhat gifted sorceress/wizard whatever you want to classify her as. Possibly a cleric, I guess? She learned the healing arts from a lass called Lady Ana, similar to Gideon’s Hixus, however being the blasé cleric that she was, she thought necromancy would assist in her healing career. It’s an odd parallel to draw between two opposites but then I know nothing of the dark arts or restoration so who am I to judge her conclusions. She wanted a shortcut to be better, because that’s just Liliana. The shortest and simplest solution is always best, a self-destructive behaviour that will follow her and essentially rule her life from this point onwards.

Her father’s enemies corrupted her brother Josu with some sort of curse. Now this is where a crackpot theory comes in. If indeed her father’s enemies were the cabal under the rule of Belzenlok, then it ties one of Liliana’s four demons into her storyline long before she makes her pacts with them. One might posit that Liliana’s life had already been woven by a scheme spanning her entire life. This leads her to a test by Lady Ana, which in turn leads her to the Raven Man. That leads her to Bolas, who then brokers the deals with her four demons, including Belzenlok, which then follows on to the Chain Veil storyline where the Raven Man then takes charge of her future interests. So whose scheme is Liliana’s life led by? Bolas, or this mysterious Lim DulRaven Man? Anyway, Lady Ana tells her she needs to acquire Esis root to cure her brother. Her father’s enemies have conveniently burned down the grove where this tree grows.

She learns this when a curious man appears with the information. He then encourages Liliana to use her necromantic powers to revive the tree and make a potion out of it. Seems legit. It is at this point we can conclude Liliana is quite young and naïve, since undoubtedly a present day Liliana would have easily seen past this and probably let her brother die before raising him as a servant. Unfortunately Liliana loves her shortcuts, and loves to prove people wrong, so despite warnings from Lady Ana, she uses it on her brother. It cures him, but basically turns him into a shambling horror.

Pause.

A late teens early twenties girl, with little to no care for reputation or anyone but herself, zero desire for strict rules and guidelines, has taken her first massive shortcut. This in turn has forced her to witness her own family in a state of undeath, then forcing her to kill said undead brother. This is akin to you saying “damn the doctors” and giving your big sister cancer with the “best intentions”, then being forced to euthanize her. That is entirely fucked up, and very much easy to gloss over as a reader interpreting fantasy fiction. She sparks, and ends up on Innistrad – plane of zombies, stitched abominations and general gloom and doom horror. If any plane epitomises a person’s past nightmares, it is a perfect fit for Liliana. But she embraces it instead of running away. Despite her trauma she remains headstrong, it seems.

She studies under vampires and liches, becomes a master necromancer, but she stops short. They recommend she joins them in death fully to master necromancy, but the trauma of what her brother became stops her from fully committing to her path. She is not entirely without sense, and like Tezzeret, is living life by pure instinct for survival.

Eventually Sorin discovers she’s on Innistrad, and Sorin is a very old, very powerful and very solitary planeswalker that suffers no fools. He utterly stomps Liliana, to the point he deems her too paltry a threat to deal with. He allows her to be a guest on his home plane and play nice, or he’ll kill her. Just ask Nahiri how that goes. So the plane she’s adopted as her home is now yet another metaphorical set of rules that will remind her of her father. She returns to Dominaria after she’s confident she’s powerful enough to take on the Raven Man, but he miraculously escapes. Yet another failure for Vess.

Between then and Ravnica, it’s revealed that the mending happened, and Liliana is no longer all powerful, or immortal. Being the vain, shortcut taker that she is, she mixes up with Bolas and brokers a deal with a demon for more power. She uses that deal to make another, and another until her soul is eventually beholden by no more than four demons. In exchange for youth and power, she must serve the demons, and this is where she gets her tattoos from, eternally reminder her and everyone else that Liliana sold her soul for life eternal.

After some time, Liliana becomes mixed in with Bolas’/Tezzeret’s Infinite Consortium, sort of as a freelancer I suppose. After Jace defects from the group, Liliana is tasked with tracking him down. She befriends Jace and his accomplice Kallist (whom Jace will later swap consciousness with), and then has an affair with Jace. She stays loyal to Jace through a number of bizarre happenings, including ye olde consciousness swap story. It’s then revealed she was using Jace in order to remove Tezzeret as the leader of the Infinite Consortium. Liliana had sold her soul to Nicol Bolas of all people (just ask Tezzeret how that went), and this was one of her many tasks.

Liliana is altruistic. She dislikes rules and regulations, but now finds herself under the thumb of a 25,000 year old elder dragon planeswalker, and four demons that lay claim to her soul. In true Liliana fashion, she has ideas on how she can most easily escape said deals in the bluntest ways imaginable, but she hasn’t quite had the push to get her ego that big yet. Enter Kothophed and the Chain Veil.

Kothophed calls in a favour, and Liliana must obey. She’s sent to retrieve the Chain Veil, and ancient artifact from the now extinct Onnake civilisation on Shandalar. On her way, she’s attacked by one of Garruk’s Packleaders and kills it. My main man Garruk witnesses this, and decides she’s a target. Liliana retrieves the Veil and then Garruk attacks. Using the surprisingly powerful artifact, Liliana very easily sends Garruk on a Shandalar escape trajectory, and begins to muse at how much power is at her fingertips now. She wanders to a fortress on a random plane and utterly annihilates it, because the best way to test an artifact belonging to a race that is now entirely dead is to use it to wipe out another. She considers, and the urges to release herself from the thrall of Kothophed is too great, so she planeswalks and blast the demon to high hell. Her tattoos begin to bleed, which disturbs her somewhat. In true “simplest solution is best” she resolves that in order to make this pain stop, she’ll just kill the rest of her demons.

So, Liliana has gone from accidentally killing her brother with good intentions, to an egotistical maniac hell bent on returning her old power to her by any means necessary, even if it means permanently scarring her young but otherwise immortal body. That includes senselessly dispatching a demon that had a claim to your soul. Long term plans are not Liliana’s strong suit. Unlike Bolas, Liliana is a very short sighted, short term planner. What makes Liliana different from every other oldwalker is that she simply wants to be left alone to her own devices. While she doesn’t initially crave for the rule of planes or infinite power and wiping out all other rivals, she does want to live forever and be beautiful at that. She just wants to do what she wants as and when she decides to do it. Liliana Vess of origins is what we’d call a sociopath. Liliana Vess of post mending is what we call a psychopath. The key difference? Sociopaths don’t know what they’re doing is wrong. Psychopaths do, they simply don’t care.

Concerned by the bleeding of her tattoos, the Chain Veil, and her fate thus far, she returns to the plane of the Onnake. She resurrects the body of an old wise man who knew of them. The town is none too pleased with a necromancer, and do what any other old time populace would do: they chase her into a pile of wood (a barn) and burn it down. The man she raised begins speaking cryptic riddles about Liliana while preventing the flames from taking her. Just as she’s about to release her body to the sweet abyss, the corpse is revealed to actually be the Raven Man. He uses what appears to be the same potion as the one Liliana used on her brother, and her tattoos all turn the same colour and she is healed. In typical grateful Liliana fashion, she thanks the Raven Man by stabbing him and planeswalking away with the Chain Veil. I mean, stabbing your saviour is a bit of a dick move.

Liliana, enthralled by her experience decides to annihilate some more demons because she doesn’t have a better idea right now. She heads back to Innistrad to kill Griselbrand but can’t find him since he’s stuck in the Helvault. Garruk shows up and tries to splat her, but Innistrad isn’t short of local meatshields, so she sends a few dozen zombies to keep the guy occupied and escapes. At this stage Garruk is simply a nuisance in comparison to her other problems. Like a big, meaty bad penny with an axe the size of a tree. She heads to Thraben for answers while its under siege by the duo Gisa and Geralf. Mikaeus the Lunarch has already been killed in the battle, and so with her usual respect for the fallen, Liliana raises him from the dead to get her answers. She learns of the Helvault.

Flavourfully black cannot do anything to artifacts unless your name is Geth. It can however demand sacrifices. Liliana casts a spell that forces Thalia, the acting commander of the defence of Thraben, to either sacrifice her soldiers, or crack open a cold one the Helvault. Being the white-white character she is, Thalia smashes open the vault and all the demons (and Avacyn) are freed. Oh and Nahiri. Yeah, you can blame memerakul on Lilana kind of. Liliana tracks down big old G, slaughtering everything in her path (including angels, Liliana really hates angels). Using the Chain Veil, Griselbrand is no more. Easy? Nope.

The Chain Veil starts whispering to her, and this is when our all-powerful necromancer begins to remind me of the woes that beset John Nash. Now John Nash was a peculiar bloke in the beginning, but he was also a mathematical prodigy. This led him to massive success in his field, but the guy strived for more. Eventually people began approaching him for some pretty wild and exotic uses of his services, and wanting more to his life than occasionally teaching and working on cryptography, he agreed. This went on for many years, until eventually he was committed. It turned out that all these years, he had been working for people in his mind, doing jobs that didn’t exist, even imagining up his own roommate who he talked to and about to others frequently. He was utterly convinced that these people were real for years. Imagine having a best friend for a decade and then being told he didn’t exist. After stints in an out of psychiatric help, he maintained his sharp intelligence, but was besieged on a daily basis by his own brain, trying to convince him these people were real and these tasks he wanted to work on were a fabrication. Now, John Nash wasn’t aware of this until somebody else told him and convinced him. He had work colleagues, doctors, and a wife. Liliana has nothing, nobody. She’s hearing voices from the Chain Veil, she keeps seeing this Raven Man, so she’s convinced that the spirits in the Veil are real, and the Raven Man is some kind of planeswalking capable asshole of some kind. Like John Nash, Liliana is powerful, driven, and convinced of herself.

She heads back to Shandalar to find her own answers. She’s then confronted by an angel guarding the entrance and basically melts the thing, all the while it mumbles than Liliana has become a vessel of the Onnake spirits wanting to release themselves. She then has a vision of the Onnake’s extinction event, again seeing the Raven Man as an architect of their destruction. She indicates to the spirits talking to her that she’d quite like to learn such a spell. Her cockiness only grows from this point. She reaches the alter where she found the veil, but her own body refuses to put it back. She raises an Onnake skeleton to obey her command to return the artifact, but it also refuses to comply. Upon de-animating the skeleton, it throws the veil back onto her. By now Liliana should probably recognise when her body is being hijacked. An Onnake spirit materialises in front of her and tells her she’s the vessel of the veil of deceit. She tries to kill the spirit using the Chain Veil, and at long last realises that the thing is slowly damaging her body. Mentally defeated, she planeswalks away. For once, Liliana accepts her fate. Briefly.

She heads back to Jace to manipulate her Victim once more, trying to persuade him to help her kill her two final demons. Back to that old chestnut. He’s angry with the way she dealt with Garruk at this stage however, as he and Nahiri have separately tried to help the cursed beast master. She invites Jace to dinner, but it’s interrupted by Gideon begging for help on Zendikar. Jace immediately accepts, and then Liliana moans how he’ll spare time for his friends but not his wife – in essence. She’s furiously jealous that somebody else can manipulate him to their every whim. Jace informs her bluntly, that Gideon asked nicely, whereas Liliana tried to seduce him. Liliana’s façade begins to crumble from here on, and when a chronically narcissistic person loses the power of their fake front, things begin to unravel. They begin to see a need to reaffirm their role to themselves and others. As a necromancer and narcissist, Liliana is beginning to develop a god complex, and the combined presence of the Chain Veil and the coming Emrakul are only too keen to feed it.

Back on Innistrad Liliana is sulking in her mansion. Jace tries to escape two werewolves after arriving on the plane, and Liliana uses some zombies to drive them off. Jace informs her that he’s searching for Sorin, and being a human of pure survival, Liliana warns Jace that that may not be such a good idea. Jace goes to the manor, goes a bit insane, and then returns to blame Liliana for everything that happened. He tries to break her brain a bit, but the Raven Man that is quite obviously inside her head protects her and tells her to kill Jace. As it happens, the Raven Man is quite afraid of Jace, because of course he’s a mind mage, and might find him lurking inside Liliana’s head should he delve too deeply. Liliana then tries to get some generic geistmage to exorcize the Onnake spirits from the Chain Veil with a witchbane orb, but unsurprisingly it does sweet F.A. Honestly at this point she’s desperate, and I think even she didn’t believe it would work, but she’s willing to try anything to escape attachments to anything. Vess just doesn’t like to be tied down, unless it’s with Jace’s cloak. Giggity.

Emrakul arrives, and the Gatewatch and Thraben are under attack by masses of Eldrazi horrors. Convincing herself that she doesn’t need Jace, Liliana tells herself that she needs the Gatewatch to need her, so that she can use them to kill her final two demons. Realistically both of these are true. She’s desperate, but also an Oppressor. A team of four young neo-walkers are probably just as easily impressed upon as she was when she was younger. Equally four mages with their own specialties are a handy tool for killing demons and not getting your hands too dirty. That is how an Oppressor sees these people – tools. Liliana raises a colossal army of zombies to drive back the horrors and Emrakul, she even thinks so highly of herself that she can take on the titan, calling herself Innistrad’s “Last Hope”. As it turns out, she quickly learns that the Chain Veil isn’t quite that powerful, and Emrakul begins to overpower her. The Chain Veil as well as the Raven Man pretty much begs her to escape with her life, thinking that they can’t possibly win against this thing. Multiple personality disorder aside, Liliana chooses her own fate. Miraculously Emrakul uses Tamiyo to seal herself into Innistrad’s moon and the whole group survives. Jace asks Tamiyo to join the Gatewatch (she thankfully declines) and instead, as second choice, they ask Liliana to join. That worked out well didn’t it Vess? She agrees to their childish terms, knowing full well she has no intention of following their code unless it happens to coincide with some demons.

Liliana is short on patience however, and has a subtle distaste for wasting time on things that don’t concern her. The Kaladesh story comes to fruition, and Liliana notes a possibly entry into the good books of the highly impressionable and entirely chaotic Chandra Nalaar. The arrival of Dovin Baan triggers Chandra’s fury at the Consulate on her home plane, and Liliana plays on it. She takes Chandra under her wing, concealing the usual Oppressor tendencies, and instead takes on a role of Rescuer. She encourages Chandra to share her story, and then tells Chandra she should take revenge on Baral, Emperor Palpatine style.

They come across Tezzeret and Liliana pretty much flips her lid. She tells Chandra that Tezz is dangerous (and we know he’ll do just about anything to survive, same as Liliana), and they need to retreat. The rest of the Gatewatch arrive and scald Liliana for flying off with Chandra so fleetingly. Not wanting to risk her importance in the group, she heads back to her favourite tool and vouch man Jace, convincing him and Gideon to come to Kaladesh. Basically Jace will stick up for her when she does Liliana things. Who needs to convince a team themselves when they can have the defacto leader do it for them?

They join forces with the rebel scumrenegades and take on the consulate, blowing up some ships, confronting Tezzeret in the arena, only to have him escape and rob all the inventions from the fair. Liliana dispatches some troops rather too permanently for Gideon, he moans, but she snaps back at him as though he were a naïve child. You were like him too Vess, at some stage. She says she needs to strike at Tezzeret directly, because he won’t fight fair. She reveals that she’s a little more than weak in the knees for Jace, and wants to hurt Sucker-T for hurting Jace all those years ago. Liliana has somehow grown empathy. She heads off with Saheeli and finds Rashmi, the creator of the planar bridge, and brings her back to the renegades. The Gatewatch are now aware that Tezzeret has interplaner travel tech.

She convinces Gids to let her take on Tezzeret, as a cunning distraction for the Gatewatch to destroy the Planar Bridge. Suddenly she opts to use undead minions to “scare away” the consulate soldiers instead of killing them, leading us to briefly believe she’s taking the Gatewatch’s non-lethal approach some serious consideration. She makes it to Tezzeret and they then commence the most underwhelming planeswalker battle in the history of Magic™. Tezzeret initially believes Bolas sent Liliana to check on his progress. He then informs him He then tells Liliana Bolas is hidden on Amonkhet, where her third demon Razaketh is located. Before she can finish him off, the Gideon-Chandra missile hits and blows the whole fucking spire to bits. Tezzeret escapes with the core of the planar bridge. Liliana then suggests they head straight to Amonkhet to take Bolas on without giving him chance to prepare. What she actually means is, come to this god forsaken plane so I can kill my demon and escape while you all get fisted by the most powerful (known) planeswalker in the multiverse.

On Amonkhet more Chain Veil shenanigans ensue. Liliana gets eaten by a giant worm, but reveals to the Gatewatch that she used the Chain Veil to decompose the worm from the inside. What actually happened was the Raven Man assumed control over her body to prevent her death, using the power of the Chain Veil to kill it. They come across the gods, and the city of Naktamun, and she takes note of the mummified servants. She also derides the gods, as the only gods she knew were hubristic planeswalkers. She should know, she was one of them pre-mending.

The Gatewatch continues with the story, while Liliana… gets fed grapes and uses the mummified servants to her advantage. The Raven Man returns, warning her that she had gotten soft. The voice inside her head has noticed her change from egotistical psychopath to egotistical psychopath with a developing conscience. Jace approaches and he vanishes again, hoping to avoid his cover being blown. They follow one of Liliana’s shades and discover Razaketh’s true involvement in the afterlife and the plane itself. The mummies set upon them and they escape.

The gate opens when the Second Sun rests between Bolas’ horned statue, and Razaketh is revealed. This demon is vastly more powerful than the previous two. He can assume direct control over Liliana’s body (it’s become the town bicycle at this point). It’s a brutal reminder that Liliana is never truly free until every person involved in her soul’s enslavement is ended. He toys with her, but the Gatewatch come to her aid. They distract her long enough to raise some undead crocodiles and tear apart and eat the demon. It’s noted viscerally that Liliana actively relishes the act of consuming the demon via the animals she has raised, and brings us back to the harsh reality that despite all the pretence, Liliana is still cracked mentally. Bolas appears, whips the Gatewatch’s collective asses, and gives Liliana the option to betray her friends and await his command, or die. Liliana is a being of selfish desires, but most importantly, the raw desire to simply survive. She escapes, with other members of the Gatewatch as witnesses to her betrayal. A harsh reminder that she is not allowed attachments to potential Rescuers, and any attempts to do so will be met by harsh consequences. It’s also a blunt reminder that she is still at the mercy of Bolas and her remaining demon, Belzenlok.

She planeswalks to Dominaria to kill her final demon. As a writer, I am fully aware that the death of Belzenlok may not yield the results she hopes; in fact things may only grow more complicated for our psychopathic Oppressor. She is so singularly focused on one goal; she cannot see the forest for the trees. The only solution to the actors of the Drama Triangle is to deprive them of their payoff. Liliana’s superiority is crumbling, her authority is waning in the face of multiple actors within the group, and the blame has shifted significantly since their encounter with Bolas. Liliana’s role as an Oppressor is coming to an end. Three solutions remains – she leaves the triangle as a better person, she becomes a Victim, or, most likely, she ceases living.

#MTG MTG Story Dominaria Liliana Vess

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genderferrofluid · 6 years

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Unintuitive ideas in MTG for beginners

Hey everyone! Recently I have been foraying into the complex world of magic the gathering rules and regulations and I figured I would take anyone who, like me, is trying to get better but is just learning the complexities of the game on the journey with me.

This time we will be talking about Statebased Actions. State based actions are neutral game actions that arise whenever a set of improper conditions has arisen within the game. They are sort of the clean up and checklist crew of magic, making sure the things that go wrong get put back right. State based actions occur many times within magic, and we do the vast majority of them ourselves, however becoming more aware of what specifically they are doing and how it interacts within the game is always an advantage. State based actions occur each time a player passes priority and before the next player would receive priority, as well as between each phase or section of a turn. They exist in the nothing spaces between where we are allowed to actually act. State based actions are broken up into several not official categories.

Game Ending State Based Actions:

When a player has 0 or less life, they lose the game

When a player tries to draw from an empty library, they lose the game (Note you do not loose the turn your library is gone, but when you attempt to draw from an empty one)

When a player has 10 or more poison counters, they lose the game.

Removal State Based Actions:

If a token or copy of a card is put anywhere but the battlefield (the graveyard, exile, to hand or library) it ceases to exist

If a copy of a spell is taken off the stack and put anywhere (the graveyard, exile, to hand or library) it ceases to exist

If a creature has toughness 0 or less it goes to the graveyard, Regeneration has no effect here.

Ex. A 3/3 creature gets -0/-4 and becomes a 3/-1

If damage would kill a creature, i.e. lethal damage, a 3/3 dealt 3 damage. Regeneration has an effect here.

If a creature above 0 toughness has been dealt damage by a creature that has ‘deathtouch’ this turn, it will be destroyed

If a planeswalker reaches 0 loyalty or less

The ‘Legend rule’ and ‘Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule’ If two legendries are on the same side of the battlefield at the same time one of those legendries must be sacrificed and the other may be kept. This is the same for two planeswalkers that share the exact same name but not the same type.

Ex. A Jace Beleren, and a Jace the Mind Sculptor will not trigger the ‘Planeswalker Uniqueness Rule’ but two Jace Belerens will.

Cleanup Effects:

If an aura is attached to an illegal target or becomes unattached it would go to the graveyard

If an equipment or fortification is attached to an illegal target or becomes unattached, or the creature it is equipped to would die it unattaches and remains on the battlefield.

If a permanent has +1/+1 counters and -1/-1 counters on it, then X counters are removed from that creature where X is the smaller of the two.

Ex. A creature has three +1/+1 counters and receives two -1/-1 counters. After state based actions two of these counters will go away, leaving us with a total of one +1/+1 counter on the creature.

If a permanent can’t have more then N counters on it, and it has more then N counters, then the difference is removed

“Unlike triggered abilities, state-based actions pay no attention to what happens during the resolution of a spell or ability.

Example: A player controls a creature with the ability “This creature’s power and toughness are each equal to the number of cards in your hand” and casts a spell whose effect is “Discard your hand, then draw seven cards.” The creature will temporarily have toughness 0 in the middle of the spell’s resolution but will be back up to toughness 7 when the spell finishes resolving. Thus the creature will survive when state-based actions are checked. In contrast, an ability that triggers when the player has no cards in hand goes on the stack after the spell resolves, because its trigger event happened during resolution”(mtg comprehensive rules 704.4).

Knowing rulings like the above can be critical in matches where the results of state based actions and when they actually occur can determine your board state. We know now what State Based Actions are and what they manage, however, how do they actually do what they do?

Whenever a player would receive priority the game will automatically check for any of the items listed above, note each one, and then preform all state based actions simultaneously as one event. Then the check is redone, and state based actions are done again until eventually the checklist runs clean. Next, all triggered abilities, such as “when a creature dies” will go onto the stack, and between each priority pass state based actions will run through. This process also occurs during the cleanup step except that if no state based actions are performed as the result of the step’s first check and no triggered abilities are waiting to be put on the stack, then no player gets priority and the step ends. Also it is important to note that if a state-based action results in a permanent leaving the battlefield at the same time other state based actions were performed, that permanent’s last known information is taken from the game state before any of those state based actions were performed.

Example: You control Young Wolf, a 1/1 creature with undying, and it has a +1/+1 counter on it. A spell puts three -1/-1 counters on Young Wolf. Before state-based actions are performed, Young Wolf has one +1/+1 counter and three -1/-1 counters on it. After state based actions are performed, Young Wolf is in the graveyard. When it was last on the battlefield, it had a +1/+1 counter on it, so undying will not trigger

Thats all for state based triggers! I hope you enjoyed it, next time we’ll be talking about a subject I know I have mentioned before but greatly glossed over, APNAP!

#MtG #mtg rules #mtg tutor

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gryffnwing-blog · 7 years

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Gate Watch and their Stands.

With Amonkhet over, and the JoJo memes never ending. I thought I’d bring up each “song title” stand name, with our Fine Gate Watch members. I don’t remember seeing any posts like it, and it’s all just preference. So here it goes. Also I’ll link each song as well.

Stand user: Liliana Vess; Stand Name: [ Living Dead Girl ] Stand user: Gideon Jura; Stand Name:[ Danger Zone ] Stand User: Chandra Nalaar; Stand Name: [ Beat It ] Stand User: Nissa Revane; Stand Name: [ Around the World ] Stand User: Jace Beleren; Stand Name: [ Brick in the Wall ] Stand User: Ajani Goldmane; Stand Name: [ Peace Train ]

#Amonkhet #JJBA #Gate Watch #Music #Stand #mtg #Magic the Gathering #Planeswalker

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vorthosjay · 7 years

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Catching-Up for Amonkhet

Whelp, we’re about to get started on our fourth story arc following the Magic: Origins paradigm shift, so it’s probably time for a new Catching-up. Given that the new story definitely includes Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas, and we’ve got some serious weight in terms of lore piling up, I’m going to be diving a bit further than usual. Let’s dive in!

Art by Titus Lunter

The Name is Bolas, Nicol Bolas

Nicol Bolas Profile

So first of all, who is Nicol Bolas and why should the Gatewatch be afraid of him? Bolas is an Elder Dragon, a member of a precursor race of dragons whose lore is tangled, but whose power rivaled planeswalkers. When Nicol Bolas ascended as a planeswalker in addition to his other abilities, he was for all intents and purposes a god. He once ruled a country on Dominaria called Madara as God-Emperor, but he was defeated by his own champion, Tetsuo Umezawa, and languished in the Meditation Realm until just before the mending. Before his semi-death, he showed up on Tarkir to kill Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, for unknown reasons. He was revived shortly before the Mending, but gave Dominaria up for lost, leaving to enact his own plans. He took his revenge on the Umezawa clan, the Myojin of Night’s Reach (who transported the Umezawa’s ancestor from Kamigawa), and captured rival planeswalker Leshrac in the Mask of Night’s Reach, presumably killing him to seal a rift.

Oh, and his mere touch shreds minds.

Crux of Fate by Michael Komarck

Once, We Were Gods

The Fourth Pact

Agents of Artifice

Alara Unbroken

Enter the Eldrazi

Dark Discoveries

The Story of Tarkir Block

Greatly diminished by the Mending, Bolas began a number of plans to recapture his lost power - typically working through agents. He brokered demonic deals for Liliana Vess (including Razaketh on Amonkhet), who was also facing her mortality following the Mending. Later Vess assisted him in returning control of the Infinite Consortium, which had been stolen by Tezzeret. Vess failed to convince Jace Beleren to help her after betraying him, effectively having nothing to offer, and so Bolas would not help her get out of her deals. He regained control of Tezzeret anyway, taking his former agent’s all-but-dead body to be repaired. In her desperation, Liliana turned to the power of the Chain Veil, haunted by the spirits of the dead Onakke in the Veil,

On Alara, he engineered conflicts with each shards’ factions to ensure an all-out magic war when the plane reunited. Those magics fueled the powerful Maelstrom, a magical storm at Alara’s heart, that Bolas siphoned away to restore much of his lost power. It was only the intervention of Ajani Goldmane, using a sliver of power Bolas left behind, that kept Bolas from destroying Alara just to test his newfound might.

Using his new agent Sarkhan Vol, and through various manipulations, he engineered a conflict between Sarkhan, Jace, and Chandra Nalaar to unlock the Eye of Ugin, setting into motion events that would free the Eldrazi. Again, for unknown reasons. After, he sent a restored Tezzeret to New Phyrexia to determine if the New Phyrexians posed a threat. Sarkhan eventually broke free of his Bolas’ control and succeeded in saving Ugin from Bolas’ assassination attempt in the past. Restored, Ugin first move was to undo the damage Bolas had wrought.

After the keep reading line, the summaries of BFZ, SOI, and KLD!

Zendikar Resurgent by Chris Rallis

Battle for Zendikar

Past events brought together the planeswalkers Gideon Jura, Nissa Revane, Chandra and Jace on to Zendikar. While Gideon was merely there to save people, Chandra, Jace, and Nissa all played a role in the Eldrazi’s release and wished to make amends. Jace encountered Ugin at the Eye, and a plan was formed to re-imprison the Eldrazi.

Thanks to Ob Nixilis, that plan failed. Instead, they hastily formed a hail mary plan, using Jace’s knowledge of how the Hedron Network worked with Nissa’s connection to Zendikar’s Leylines, and Chandra’s Pyromancy. Together, they nearly destroyed the plane but succeeded in defeating the Titans. Ugin, enraged, warns the Gatewatch that their actions have consequences they may not see for eons.

Imprisoned in the Moon by Ryan Alexander Lee

Shadows Over Innistrad

While the rest of the Gatewatch helps the clean-up on Zendikar, Jace sets out in pursuit of Sorin Markov (who Ugin had previously mentioned to him), for aid tracking down Emrakul. He heads to Innistrad and finds Liliana, unwilling to help and looking to rid herself of the Chain Veil. He stumbles across Markov Manor and Tamiyo’s Journal, and it leads him to a seaside project and eventually back to Thraben - where he meets Tamiyo and they’re saved from Avacyn by Sorin himself.

Of course, this was all part of what Nahiri - the third member of Ugin and Sorin’s Eldrazi-sealing team - wanted. Avacyn was the last piece of Sorin’s protection for Innistrad from extraplanar threats, allowing the third Titan, Emrakul, through. In the end, Jace and the rest of the Gatewatch were powerless to stop her, even with the aid a Chain Veil powered Liliana, and it was only Emrakul’s desire to seal herself in the moon (controlling Tamiyo) for unknown reasons that saved the day.

Kaladesh

Unsure how to move forward, the Gatewatch returns to Ravnica with Jace. They’re approached by Dovin Baan, who wants aid against a renegade plot against the Inventor’s Fair. Chandra has a personal history there, and her anger and Liliana’s manipulations lead her back to the plane, where they both discover something they don’t expect: Chandra mother is alive, and so is Tezzeret. Worse, Tezzeret has seemed to usurp control of the governing body, the Consulate. Ajani has come to Kaladesh as well, and allies himself with the Gatewatch. He’s tracking Tezzeret in the hopes of figuring out what Bolas’ plans are.

Chandra frees her mother from Tezzeret’s clutches in the midst of Tezzeret’s coup, and the Gatewatch joins the renegade’s revolution. Tezzeret has seized the invention of a Kaladeshi native - the Planar Bridge - which is the first working portal between planes since the Mending. Knowing the danger of such a device (imagine if they accidentally went to New Phyrexia), the Gatewatch vows to destroy it. In a final battle with Tezzeret, Chandra and Gideon succeed in destroying the bridge while Tezzeret duels with Liliana. In their duel, he reveals that Bolas is located on Amonkhet - the same place Liliana’s third demon, Razaketh, resides.

Dark Intimations by Chase Stone

Afterwards, Ajani joins the Gatewatch as well, but warns them about confronting Bolas directly without more help. Drunk on their recent victories, the Gatewatch decides to proceed while Ajani goes to find more allies in their fight.

#vorthos #mtgakh #archive trap blog

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askkrenko · 7 years

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Magic Story Abridged: Limited Time Offer

(Episode 7; Battle for Zendikar Episode 1; Original Stories HERE and HERE )

When Gideon Jura wields his swift sural All those who chose to oppose his sural fall When there’s crime to thwart or a war to fight You can count on the man who is mono-white When Gideon Jura wields his swift sural.

Art by Dan Scott

PRESENT DAY ZENDIKAR

(We open on Kytheon Iora, now a man, fighting a number of Eldrazi spawn. In the background, a group of Kor, Humans, Elves, and Goblins watch patiently.)

Munda, a large, muscular Kor: (Quietly, to the others in his group) ...Here we see a wild Gideon Jura, latin name Kytheon Iora, taking down its prey. Though the beasts are larger and more powerful than he, his glowing golden aura protects him from all known forms of attack. His Sural, also known as an Urumi or Whip-Blade, can cut through the flesh of even the toughest of Eldrazi, though it may take many such blows to cause one to fall. Though Eldrazi meat is inedible, this kill with give the Gideon great renown. If the hunt is successful, he will not have difficulty finding a mate this season.

Kytheon, now going by Gideon full time: (Calling over) I know you’re there, Munda! Are you going to lend a hand or not?

Munda: You’re doing fine, bro! They can’t even scratch you!

Gideon: I’d still like to finish up sometime today!

Munda: Fine, fine! Everyone, attack!

(Munda and his party help Gideon dispatch the Eldrazi.)

Gideon: Really wished you’d shown up earlier. I’ve been fighting those things for hours. Literally hours.

Munda: Sorry, bro, but we just came from our own fights. Bala Ged’s overrun. Gone the way of Sejiri. Everyone’s running to Sea Gate, but who knows if we can hold that.

Gideon: Sea Gate… Right… I’ll meet you there. Right now I need to… go place.

Munda: You need to sleep. Maybe have something to eat. You look exhausted.

Gideon: Can’t. Gotta be at work in an hour.

Munda: What work? We’re in an apocalyptic situation and all society in that general direction has collapsed.

Gideon: Well, the thing about that is THERE’S A BALOTH BEHIND YOU!

Munda: Wha-

(Gideon planeswalks away.)

Art by Richard Wright

THE MILLENNIAL RAVNICA

(Gideon bursts into the Millennial, one of the finest, most expensive restaurants in the entire city-plane of Ravnica. He’s still covered in dirt and Eldrazi ichor.)

Maitre’d: Sir, you can’t just-

Gideon: (Flashes a badge) Official Boros business, stand aside, civilian.

(Gideon marches up to a table full of finely dressed goblins)

Krenko, the devilishly handsome goblin leader in a homemade crown: Can I help you, officer?

Gideon: You’re under arrest for arson and six counts of murder… And that’s just today.

Krenko: Sorry, officer, but this crown means I don’t have to listen to you.

Gideon: And why is that?

Krenko: Because it’s made of knives.

Gideon: (Sigh)

Art by Richard Wright

A BOROS GARRISON RAVNICA

Dars, a real, actual Boros Soldier: Great work as always, Jura!

Gideon: (heavy breathing) Thanks. I try.

Krenko, in cuffs, covered in blood: Seemed a bit unprofessional if you ask me.

Dars: We don’t. You’re going straight into lockup… After medical care, of course.

Gideon: He’s fine… The blood’s mine.

Dars: Aren’t you invincible?

Gideon: I’d thought so...

Dars: Then how…

Gideon: Krenko must’ve been tougher than the other criminals I’ve fought… and the Eldrazi… and that vampire… and the pyromancer… and the titan… and Erebos, God of the Dead.

Dars: He must be as powerful as he is handsome.

Gideon: He is very handsome.

Real, actual photograph by Empire State Photography Also Karl Kopinski and Winona Nelson

(STRANGE OBJECT THROWN THROUGH THE WINDOW!)

Dars: IT’S A BOMB!

Gideon: It’s a letter.

Dars: A letter bomb?

Gideon: It’s from Rikkig and Gardagig, two of the Shattergang goblins. They want us to hand over Krenko for murdering their brother, or… then the bomb.

Dars: Why do these goblins insist on killing each other?

Krenko: Well, when we kill non-goblins, your pink asses call us racist.

Gideon: ...I’ll go deal with them. As soon as I run some errands first.

Art by Vincent Proce

ZENDIKAR

(Gideon fights some Eldrazi on Zendikar. Munda’s there, too. And a random sorceress who shoots lightning bolts.)

Munda: Hey, Gideon, buddy, pal, bro… Remember when I said everyone was running to Sea Gate?

Gideon: Yes…

Munda: Turns out that includes the Eldrazi.

Gideon: Well, slith. On my way. After goblins.

Art by Michael Komarck

RAVNICA

(Gideon busts down the door to a warehouse)

Gideon: It’s over, Rikkig! I already captured your brother offscreen!

Rikkig’s voice, from somewhere inside the building: Didn’t bring Krenko, huh? And here I was going to exchange my hostages for yours.

(Light goes on in back, revealing a group of old women, children, and kittens tied up.)

Gideon: I can’t just hand over a prisoner! He’s been lawfully arrested, just like you’ll be!

(Rikkig steps out, wearing twelve layers of padding, a helmet, and goggles)

Rikkig: Well, if you don’t have a Krenko for me, I still have something for you.

(Rikkig throws a bomb)

(Things explode)

(Rikkig is padded. Gideon is indestructible. The hostages scream. The building begins burning and collapsing.)

Gideon: Damn damn damn!

(Gideon rushes to save the hostages. There’s a lot of them. He can only carry a few at a time. The building continues to burn.)

Dars: NEVER FEAR! THE BOROS LEGION IS HERE!

(Boros rush the building, rescue hostages, put out the fire. Rikkig escapes.)

Gideon: How did you get here so fast?

Dars: Followed you. You seemed like you were biting off a bit more than you can chew.

Gideon: I can handle it myself:

Dars: No. No, you can’t. We’re a Legion. We use tactics and teamwork so screw ups like this don’t happen. We’re going to go send a bunch of guys to catch that one goblin, and you’re going to sleep.

Gideon: But if I do that, who’s going to fight the giant monsters?

Dars: What?

Gideon: Bye. (Gideon planeswalks away.)

Art by Nic Klein

Art by Igor Kieryluk

SEA GATE, A BIG DAM CITY ZENDIKAR

(ALL THE ELDRAZI ATTACK THE CITY! Hundreds of Eldrazi. Thousands of Eldrazi. Millions and billions and… okay, maybe not that many. In the center: Gideon, indestructible and kicking ass.)

Gideon: I don’t care how many of you I have to kill! I can do this all day! I haven’t slept in a week and I’m not about to start now!

Jori En, a mermaid who is evenly distributed human and fish: HELP! HELP!

(Gideon bursts into a burning building, scoops up the mermaid, and runs off as it collapses behind them)

Gideon: Why didn’t you evacuate with the others?

Jori En: My friend Kendrin and I were checking for records about the Hedrons! She almost figured out what they do and how they’re supposed to stop the Eldrazi!

Gideon: That’s wonderful! Where is she?

Jori En: Uhh… In that building.

Gideon: Oh.

Jori En: Yeah…

Gideon: So…

Jori En: But I have all her notes! Unfortunately, she was a complete nerd and I don’t understand any of them.

Gideon: …. Go. Run. Get to safety. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can.

Jori En: You have a plan?

Gideon: I have a nerd.

Art by Adam Paquette

JACE’S SANCTUM RAVNICA

(We cut to Jace Beleren, a blue cloak with a wizard inside it. With him is Lavinia, his assistant and bodyguard.)

Lavinia: That was your last meeting for today. Time to have a healthy dinner, and then get to bed early.

Jace Beleren: Or I’ll fill myself with coffee and stay up until three in the morning solving Sudoku. Sudokus? Sudoki.

Lavinia: You’re going to be grouchy all day tomorrow if you do that.

Jace: You can’t tell me what to do. You’re not my mom. I think. I honestly don’t remember.

Lavinia: I distinctly remember not being your mother.

Jace: Then I’ll see you at work first thing in the morning!

Lavinia: ...Of course. Goodnight, Jace. (Lavinia heads off)

(Jace starts to fetch his coffee when… there’s a knock on the bookshelf)

Jace: WHO IS- … wait. Who even knows about my secret passage? (Jace magically opens the bookshelf from a distance, preparing for trouble)

Liliana Vess, hasn’t aged a day in years: Jace! Snookums! (Walks right in.)

Jace: No.

Liliana: How are you, dear! I’ve missed you! You never showed for our last date!

Jace: That’s probably because you tried to kill me.

Liliana: Oh, pish posh. That was on Nicol Bolas’ orders. I’m freelance now.

Jace: You killed my best friend.

Liliana: And I killed my brother. This isn’t a competition, you know.

Jace: What do you want?

Liliana: I missed you! Can’t a girl visit her lover without getting the third degree?

Jace: (incredulous) You came all the way to Ravnica, presumably went to a lot of effort to find my secret passage, and showed up here unannounced because you missed me?

Liliana: I thought we could catch up. Spend some time together. Talk about our feelings.

Jace: You’re a murderer and a liar, and that’s not even bringing up that you managed to turn Garruk into some sort of superpowered psychopath hunting ‘the most dangerous game’ from plane to plane.

Liliana: Yeah, that was fun.

Jace: Go away.

Liliana: Take me to dinner.

Jace: ...You’re not leaving if I don’t play along, are you?

Liliana: I am not.

Jace: Fine.

Art by Dave Kendall

(Jace and Liliana start walking down the street)

Little Old Lady: Sir! Buy a flower for your girlfriend?

Jace: She’s not my girlfriend! She’s some sort of insufferable hell-witch who refuses to leave me alone for arcane purposes she won’t tell me about.

Little Old Lady: Oh, of course! Buy a flower for your wife?

Jace: Grrrrrrrrrr…..

THE MILLENNIAL RAVNICA

Maitre’d: Please forgive the mess, Sir Guildpact. We had an incident the other day… Of course, we’ll make sure it doesn’t inconvenience you. (He shows Jace and Liliana to a table)

Jace: It’s fine, it’s fine. Just… It’s fine.

Liliana: That Guildpact title is useful. How is it being grand high king of Ravnica?

Jace: I’m not the King. I’m just a grand high Judge. I uphold the law. I don’t create it.

Liliana: Well, that sounds positively boring. You should become king. I’m sure you could pull it off.

Jace: I really don’t want to be king… And speaking of what I want, what do you want?

Liliana: The lobster looks positively-

Jace: I meant with me. Why are you making me take you out to dinner?

Liliana: Because I wanted to see you. Why would you think there was anything else? Do you think I can’t handle my demons on my own?

Jace: They are four particularly large-

Liliana: Two. I already killed Kothophed and Griselbrand. With the Chain Veil. It’s a wonderful artifact that grants ultimate power that is working out great for everybody involved.

Jace: Uh...huh.

Liliana: It certainly doesn’t have some sort of magical hooks in me that I need help understanding.

Jace: Of course not.

Liliana: And I’ll be perfectly fine studying it on my own.

Jace: Great.

Liliana: I can handle this.

Jace: Good to know. So you just want to sit with me and eat dinner?

Liliana: Yes.

Jace: And nothing else?

Liliana: Why? What are you implying.

Maitre’d: (at the entrance) SIR! NO! NOT AGAIN!

Jace: Hmm?

Art by David Rapoza

Gideon Jura, covered in Eldrazi goop: Need to see the Guildpact.

Maitre’d: Sir, you are covered in I don’t know what! We can’t afford another-

Gideon: Zendikar! It’s about Zendikar!

Jace: (softly) Damn it. (loudly) Send him in!

Maitre’d: Oh, all right…

Gideon: (staggers in) Beleren. Zendikar.

Jace: I’m sort of in the middle of something right now. What do you want?

Liliana: Right, he’s on a date! Go away!

Gideon: (Deep breath) Zendikar is being overrun by the Eldrazi, and we have notes on how the Hedrons might be able to stop them, but I need help from someone with skills I don’t have. Will you please help me?

Jace: … Say that last part again?

Gideon: ...Will you please help me?

Jace: You know what? Sure!

Gideon: Great, we can leave right-

Jace: In the morning. I need to have a healthy dinner and get to bed on time or I’ll be grouchy all day, and you need to get to a healer and rest as well. That’s the offer, take it or leave it.

Gideon: I… alright. Thank you.

Liliana: What the falkenrath, Jace? Here I come, all the way from Innistrad, with my magical artifact and two demons left to kill, and you’re willing to just run off with this oversized slab of beef with barely any explanation?

Jace: Is that a problem?

Liliana: Of course it’s a problem! You were supposed to come and help me!

Jace: Really? Huh. You should’ve said something.

Art by Jaime Jones

#magic story abridged #limits #catching up #jace beleren #liliana vess #gideon jura #mtg #mtgbfz

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