MTG Salvation

Frankly, I do not think that Wizards care anymore, and could practically do anything without deeper explanation, if it has a high cool factor.

He's apparently one of lost Stitch's cousins.

Quote from Flisch »

Okay, that was really really good. Consider some of my faith in the writing team restored.

Well, Alison is no longer working for Wizards for some time, I think she was offered this to give her Jace&Vraska story (that she began with Ixalan) some sense of closure.

And that is great, because what she began, Wexler and Weisman took probably in a whole different direction than she envisioned. It is actually amazing they allowed her to write this, but I would not make any conclusions in relation to the creative/writing team from that.

Aside from that, yeah, it was top quality. One of the best in recent years, maybe even overall in the short stories epoch.

Quote from 5colors »

-Insert One Last Job but with Alison Lührs instead of Annie and the flavor text is "I heard the internet was disrespecting Jace and Vraska"-

Sobbing as I read this story, like damn Alison.

My words exactly.

That was ****ing worth the 2-year wait (in total silence about their whereabouts), if you ask me.

Quote from Spaz350 »

1) WHY is there a random Homarid on a DESERT plane?
2) Did this really need the "once per turn" clause?
3) Good lord, that flavor text is awful.

So that they could make the "surf and turf" reference...

What exactly is the Gold Rush guy supposed to be? Azra? Some other, yet unseen Magic kind of tiefling?

Quote from pierrebai »

Sometimes, I feel magic has become a parody of itself. Loan shark is a card that would fit in an unset, but in an official set? A land grubbing shark? How does that makes any sense? It's not even a simic mutant or hybrid, which at least made some sense in the past.

Yeah, this set feels a lot like the REAL Unhinged I'll take it that it is a tongue-in-cheek parody of the "fantastic stories" from Wild West. With villains around the Multiverse converging here for seemingly no reason (than boredom, maybe), seeing this card bothers me (flavorwise and lorewise) negligibly. I just decided to enjoy this ride and not think much about it.

Someone already did the mashup.

Quote from Flisch »

Quote from Pokerkingdave »

Clearly, this is wiley e coyote. Let’s hope roadrunner gets a card too.

Actually, looking at the art again, you see feathers on the right side. So the two cards probably form a panorama.

Came to make exactly the same remark. There are tailfearters visible in the right and we know that there is a "Resilient Roadrunner" card from MaRo's hints.

Okay, after the initial disappointment, this one was actually good...and rather well-presented, including the well, indeed a bit unexpected twists.

And I want to see an Amalia illustration in the style of Wild West saloon girl

Well...

If I try to have an open mind and tell myself that this is trying to emulate the typical dime stories, that used to be cheesy, it is borderline acceptable.

It just seems they took a handful of villains across the planes and get them together. No motivations, no reference to previous lives, etc. Just for the cool. Looks to me like the Secret Wars from animated Spider-Man series, when the Beyonder just pulled several villains to his dimension and let them fight Spidey and his friends (to prepare Spidey and co. for their multiverse-saving task).

It really feels like a half-baked fanfic "what would happen if you took the biggest baddies and get them work together". Why the heck would Satoru Umezawa, a pragmatic crime lord, want to leave his world for this? What is the ****ing motivation of these characters to even work together?

It seems to me that they are now using established characters (Vraska, Kaervek) and tossing them around for "cool" short, shallow stories.

The shallowness is, in fact, what bothers me the most here. The previous stories (Eldraine, Ixalan, Karlov Manor) had at least some clear reason and motivations present. This is just "yee haw, boys, let's make Ocean's Eleven in Magic. Wild West time!"

Quote from sckazinski »

And a minor nitpick that makes me laugh a little, but: Where does Rakdos bougth Rakdos-sized vest, bandanna anda bandolier?

Exactly. Even with the vest and other equipment "to blend in", everybody would kinda see he's not exactly local.

Quote from sckazinski »

And who made Kaervek's hat-crown?

Dunno, but I'd check around for some asbestos-processing textile mill...

Quote from Flisch »

Looks like we got our answer why Oko and Kellan will duel. Kellan is part of Ral's security and Oko's team might get in the way of the Sterling company at some point. (Or the other way around, whichever way you wanna look at it.)

Aaaaaand they forgot what's-her-face-vampire-map-girl exists, lol.

Quote from Andethir »

It's quite possible that

Malcolm will bring the Mycotyrant there with him. At the last paragraph of Ixalan story, "someone" has been infected, but only visible symptoms were eyes, hidden behind googles...

A new body stood on the deck of a ship—such useful things, ships—and watched as it approached High and Dry. This one retained its original form in most ways, except for its eyes, covered by dark lenses. Better to hide, and plan, and spread.

I'm pretty sure it's not supposed to be Malcolm and instead just some random pirate. Just a potential setup for the future that might or might not lead anywhere, like always.

IIRC, Malcolm and Breeches were the only ones who faced the Mycotyrant and escaped to tell the tale.


Lectrys, the "the Eyes" epithet has probably the same reasoning why Rakdos is called "the muscle". Malcolm observes, Rakdos bashes.

More offworld characters confirmed by a prerelease kit leak:

Quote from 5colors »

Quote from Caranthir »

I just wonder why Ajani has both eyes intact on the box art.

Cause its showing him before he lost his eye.

Yeah, serves me right to get this answer when I did not elaborate. This is the very first time we see him without his eye, and we know that he did not lose it in his ignition event. He's already one-eyed in Alara Unbroken.

Maybe we will see the so far unspecified event when he lost it.

I just wonder why Ajani has both eyes intact on the box art.