I've finished reading the book and I'd say it was... okay. It feels like an improvement from the previous book and also sowed seeds for future story lines. This is gonna be a very high level overview, mostly touching on the important plot points in each chapter. There will be things missing, so if you want more you'll have to read the book. Now, without further ado, here's a chapter by chapter summary.
Chapter 1: This chapter is billed as an epilogue. Cue rehash of the end of the War of the Spark novel. Assembled Planeswalkers agree to take Gideon's armor back to Theros. Guild leaders appoint Kaya, Ral, and Vraska their targets.
Chapter 2: Liliana arrives on Dominaria, despondent and borderline suicidal. Nearly drowns herself in the swamp but sees a delusion of Gideon and drags herself out and heads home.
Chapter 3: Back on Ravnica, everyone is tired and the Guild Leaders agree to let the Planeswalkers start hunting their targets in the morning. Rat is sad that Kaya and Teyo will leave.
Chapter 4: Planeswalkers decide to go to Khaladesh for a night to rest before going to Theros. Jace goes home with Vraska to bone down.
Chapter 5: Raven Man tries to tempt Lili. She engages in more self-flagellation but doesn't want to be used anymore.
Chapter 6: In Orzhova, Rat flirts with Teyo. Chief servitor Blaise, an old lady serving the Guildmaster, can't see her but really, really wants to because she's ever so kind and helpful!
Chapter 7: Tezzeret returns to his stronghold, glad to be free of Bolas to start his own machinations and prepares traps for whoever is sent to find him.
Chapter 8: Ral wants some post-war coitus. Tomik wants to study law magic to free Kaya. Ral prevails.
Chapter 9: Kaya attends to Orzhov business with the Triumvirate, basically the Orzhov Council. Rat puts on a brave face but is sad. Hekara shows up for some reason but still can't see her.
Chapter 10: Jace and Vraska make plans to visit Vryn. They resume boning down.
Chapter 11: Dovin Baan arrives on Khaladesh and immediately starts coming up with plans to leave.
Chapter 12: Rat slips out of Orzhova in the night and cries in an alley alone
Chapter 13: Chandra is dead inside and can't sleep so she goes to Dovin Baan's house. Saheeli and Huatli are there after having split with the rest of the Planeswalkers and gone to Saheeli's (shippers take note). Huatli finds some blood and tracks him a ways before losing the trail.
Chapter 14: Teyo and Kaya realize Rat ran away. Teyo goes to find her and Kaya goes to the Guildmaster summit.
Chapter 15: Planeswalkers arrive on Ravnica to pick up Jace and head to Theros. Kiora and Jaya duck out.
Chapter 16: Teysa plots.
Chapter 17: Teyo goes to Gruul lands. Rat isn't there.
Chapter 18: Planeswalkers build a cairn next to a river near Akros. Nissa RAISES A MIGHT OAK (it's in all caps in the book...). Huatli uses her Warrior Poetry. Nissa states Gideon would want to redeem Liliana.
Chapter 19: Lili berates herself some more. Uh oh, something's up at the Vess Manor!
Chapter 20: Guildmasters meet and Jaya. Vivien, and The Wanderer are there for some reason. Jaya puts up a feeble defense of Lili before accepting their judgment. She apparently followed Chandra and knows where Dovin was. The Wanderer followed Lili and knows where she is and can apparently track the damaged Planar Bridge's... emissions. Tomik reveals he knows a way to temporarily transfer the contracts from Kaya.
Chapter 21: Teyo finds Rat at the Promenade they first met at. He convinces her to come home to try to convince Kaya not to kill Liliana because they're both too pure-hearted to kill.
Chapter 22: Ral and Tomik are cute. The Wanderer has some history with Tezzeret and volunteers to guide Ral to find Tezz.
Chapter 23: Jaya brings Vivien and Vraska to Dovin's home before going back to bring Kaya to Dominaria. Vivien helps Vraska track Dovin.
Chapter 24: Tomik takes on the contracts. Kaya reveals she can use her ghost powers to take one living being with her when she planeswalks. Rat and Teyo rejoice and Team Kaya convince a tired Jaya to go to Teyo's home of Gobakhan first.
Chapter 25: Jace looks for Vraska and realizes she's keeping secrets and has his suspicions.
Chapter 26: Lili stumbles across a servant of the Vess Manor who has a collar that burns her if she defies her master. She reveals that Liliana Vess did it to her. Lili mad!
Chapter 27: Rat temporarily melds with Kaya in a passage that rivals We'mrakul awfulness of readability. Teyo meets up with his monk buddies.
Chapter 28: Lili talks to some more servants and goes home to kick some imposter butt.
Chapter 29: Ral and The Wanderer arrive on Amonkhet. The Wanderer gives some exposition about her weird inability to stop Planeswalking without willing it. Samut leads them to where they fought Tezz and The Wanderer follows the trail with Ral in tow.
Chapter 30: Vivien continues tracking Dovin. Vraska plays marbles with random girl in the street and dubs her a Princess. She receives a marble. Vivien loses the trail where he planeswalked away so Vraska goes home.
Chapter 31: Dovin goes the the last place anyone would expect! Obviously Ravnica.
Chapter 32: Teysa plots. Now with more Triumvirate!
Chapter 33: Karn returns to finding a way to fight the Phyrexians. Ajani and Teferi agree to help him plan. Ajani reveals Elspeth's backstory. Nissa returns to Zendikar. Chandra is like, way too edgy to go with her.
Chapter 34: The abbot bullies Teyo and makes fun of Jaya and Kaya's similar sounding names. A diamondstorm approaches.
Chapter 35: Lavinia is keeping secrets from Jace. Jace leaves to find someone who he's okay with mind crushing.
Chapter 36: Vraska is too clever for Dovin!
Chapter 37: Teyo sucks at Geometry again until Rat is in danger. He proceeds to single-handedly protect everyone. The abbot remembers something and tells Teyo to leave and never return.
Chapter 38: Ral prods The Wanderer to learn her history with Tezz. Then he prods her to show him her face. She reveals a golden mask. Reddit prints headline: The Wanderer is Elspeth! They track Tezz to Esper.
Chapter 40: Zoltan, a vampire and one of the Triumvirate, attempts to seduce Tomik.
Chapter 41: The abbot reveals Teyo is a natural born Shieldmage and it's the monestary's teaching that was screwing him up. He's so super proud of him, but Teyo must still leave and never return. But in a nice way. Jaya brings Team Kaya to Dominaria before peacing out.
Chapter 42: Vraska confronts Dovin who offers to help her with her Devkarin problem in exchange for keeping him alive.
Chapter 43: Jace senses Vraska's back. He meets up with Chandra and mind crushes Exava to find out the truth about the Guildmasters' plan. Chandra goes to a Giant bar to drown her sorrows.
Chapter 44: Tezzeret drops some backstory and name-drops some random Esper nemesis. A stormcloud rolls in that must obviously mean Ral is coming.
Chapter 45: Rat counts the diamonds she picked up from the diamondstorm. She flirts with Teyo some more. They arrive at Vess manor and see some servants in the garden. One of them turns around and it's Lili!
Chapter 46: Zoltan fails. Teysa plots.
Chapter 47: Vraska plays marbles with random Devkarin girl. Gasp, "someone" attempted to assassinate Jarad's son and it turns out to be none other than the leader of the Devkarin! Vraska magnanimously offers to protect him.
Chapter 48: Ral and The Wanderer fight some gargoyles. Tezz leaves the front door open. We know it's a trap but let's just walk in!
Chapter 49: Lili has been mind crushed! Attempting to remove her collar, which causes it to burn her, somehow brings her memories back.
Chapter 50: Jace confronts Vraska. They talk a bit before she leaves him to deal with guild business. Jace is contemplative.
Chapter 51: Rat infiltrates Vess Manor. A party of cabalists is being held by "Liliana". Rat can't smell the rot of her zombie guards and tries to touch one to reveal it's an illusion! Fakeiana's sapphire necklace glows and she realizes there's an intruder. Rat sees the Gem of Becoming and touches it and becomes visible! She drops it, becomes invisible again, and runs away.
Chapter 51: Lili fights Kaya. Teyo protects Lili in a shield sphere. Lili raises zombies to attack Kaya and Teyo. Rat whacks Lili with a log, knocking her out and disabling the zombies.
Chapter 52: Dovin tells Vraska that he hasn't given her the full plan, which he'll reveal step by step to keep her from killing him. He offers a plan to trick the Guildmasters into thinking he's dead utilizing Chandra.
Chapter 53: Team Kaya argue about what to do with Lili. Rat realizes she smelled djinn-smoke in the manor. Kaya agrees to put off killing Lili to save the servants. Lili agrees to die after they do her a favour.
Chapter 54: Ral and The Wanderer fight through Tezz's minions and machines. The Wanderer uses sick planeswalking tricks. Nothing personal, kid.
Chapter 55: Lili remembers how she became captured. She had allowed herself to be mind crushed rather than let the Raven Man and the Onakke use her more. Random Kor woman (Dominaria has Kor now?) revealed she knew who the Lili-mposter is and got wrecked by djinn magic. Present Lili agrees to die if they take down the fake and necrotizes her own neck to remove the collar. But wait, leave it on since it won't work if it senses it's around dead flesh? Sure!
Chapter 56: Tomik confronts Teysa after each of the Triumvirate fail to seduce/bribe/intimidate him. But this was her plan all along! She was just proving a point. She WANTS him to be the permanent acting Guildmaster so Kaya can leave whenever she wants and he agrees. Lazav appears after Tomik leaves. Just as planned. Teysa is now the puppet-master and in cahoots with the Dimir.
Chapter 57: Team Kaya execute their plan. Teyo traps the djinn and Rat destroys the sapphire.
Chapter 58: Ral fights Tezz. The Wanderer fights Boss Gargoyle. Ral unleashes a storm and accidentally knocks out The Wanderer who planeswalks away since she can't focus on staying if she's unconsious. Tezz beats Ral up but doesn't kill him and offers him his etherium arm to trick the Guildmasters into thinking he's dead so he can be free to be Bolas Lite.
Chapter 59: Rat breaks the sapphire and releases the djinn, who immediately swears vengeance upon everybody present. Oops!
Chapter 60: Tomik returns home just before Ral planeswalks in, beat to hell but apparently victorious. Tomik goes to get a healer.
Chapter 61: Rat tosses the Gem of Becoming nee Spirit Gem to Lili. Turns out it was Ugin's all along! It links Lili to Ugin who reminds her that Gideon believed in her. Now she has to believe in herself!
Chapter 62: Kaya gets punched by a djinn. Lili uses the Chain Veil to fight it. Rat and Teyo remind it that they freed it and only the fake Lili is its enemy. Lili taunts her imposter before she is burned alive. Kaya puts her out of her misery.
Chapter 63: Vraska finds Chandra and tells her Dovin is on Regatha for some reason. Chandra confronts him, fighting him to the edge of a lava stream. Vraska chops his hand off and Chandra lights him up. She sees his burnt corpse sinking into the lava. Jace finds Chandra when she's back on Ravnica and tells her Jaya had been helping the Guilds. Chandra is confused.
Chapter 64: Team Kaya argue about what to do about Lili. Cut back to Rat when she grabbed the Spirit Gem, Ugin told her that the Gem reveals the holder's true self, which is why she became visible. Ugin tells her to give it to Lili, but leaves the decision to Rat. Rat is tempted with the chance to be visible but relinquishes the Gem. Back to the present, Rat convinces everyone to give Lili a second chance. Her infectious optimism convinces Lili to give herself a second chance.
Chapter 65: Jace and Chandra find Jaya who takes them to Dominaria. She reveals that she was just protecting Chandra, but you're like, not my real mom! They find the freed servants burning Liliana's corpse. A hiliarious misunderstanding leads Jaya to believe that the servants are talking about Rat instead of Lili when they recount the story of what happened. Jace reads their minds and they are telling the truth. They search the corpse and don't find the Chain Veil but the servants tell them Team Kaya took it as proof of Lili's death. Lili would never voluntarily give it up!
Chapter 66: Ana Iora checks into an inn on Fiora. Cut back to Dominaria where Team Kaya want to take the Chain Veil as proof. After much internal conflict and mental goading by Raven Man, Lili willingly decides to give it away. That was the magic word for the Spirit Gem to poof into nothing, taking the curse of the Chain Veil with it. Rat is sad she will never be visible. Kaya tells Lili to go to Fiora and wait for them.
Chapter 67: Back on Ravnica, Teyo and Rat flirt some more before he tucks her into bed. Blaise wants to see Rat without help, darn it! Oops, Rat escaped again, but left a note this time that she's going to see her mom.
Chapter 68: Dimir assassin and vampire, Atkos Tarr, receives orders from Lazav to assassinate someone during the Guildmaster meeting set to take place the next day.
Chapter 69: Tomik meets with Kaya and explains the plan to become the de facto Guildmaster. Kaya rejoices.
Chapter 70: At the Guildmaster meeting, Kaya reports her success and hands over the Chain Veil to Niv, who locks it away. Chandra confirms she saw the body. Vraska reports that Dovin is dead and presents the hand as evidence. Lavinia uses magic to CSI that %$#%. Chandra takes the credit, but the Guildmasters just care that he's dead.
Chapter 71: A one-handed Dovin plots. He senses a change in air temperature but nobody's there.
Chapter 72: Ral raises two middle fingers and reveals that he failed to kill Tezz. The Wanderer confirms since she had returned to Tezz's stronghold offscreen and found it suspiciously abandoned. She is unable to track him and realizes that Tezz was intentionally letting himself be tracked earlier? Okay... Niv is disappointed. Chamberlain Maree is ecstatic. Tomik is pitying. Ral is sad.
Chapter 73: Chandra goes to Zendikar to see Nissa. Greg Wiesman murders the Channel Fireball ship and dances on its grave. Seriously, this section is very long and very on the nose, spelling out in no uncertain terms that its carcass is buried deep and rotting. Like, absolutely-removed-from-the-freaking-game-forever zone gone. Chandra decides she wants to become more like Gideon and is now set up for her since cancelled comic series.
Chapter 74: Jace waits impatiently for Vraska to return from the meeting. He's sure Vraska is keeping secrets and it spells choppy waters for their relationship.
Chapter 75: Vraska finds Dovin's corpse (maybe? probably?) with his other hand missing. Well, %$#%. All that plotting for nothing and now someone knows what she did.
Chapter 76: Rat returns to Orzhova and is almost run over by Blaise. She gets revenge by playing a prank of hiding a sugarbowl, but gives it back. Blaise accepts the gentle ribbing with good cheer.
Chapter 77: Blaise goes home. Oops, she was actually Lazav! Oops, Rat is actually a Dimir sleeper agent who thinks she's a vampire name Atkos Tarr! Oops, the sugarbowl was actually Dovin's hand with an illusion on it! Oops, Vraska is now in Lazav's pocket!
Chapter 78: Chamberlain Maree calls an Izzet meeting and attempts to overthrow Ral. She fails. This really came from nowhere and amounted to nothing, but I guess it shows discord in the Izzet League? Ral goes home hoping to find Tomik now that he's not needed as acting Guildmaster, but finds he's out on Guild business.
Chapter 69: Tezz arrives in a safehouse. The Wanderer appears and they begin revealing their plot. Just kidding, it was Lazav! Now that the Orzhov and Golgari are under Dimir influence - oh wait, Simic too somehow - they have set up Return to Return to Return to Ravnica nicely.
Chapter 80: Ana Iora awakens on Fiora. She has an internal debate about whether to believe in herself and wait for Team Kaya or bounce and face the consequences. She waits and joins Gatewatch 2.
Chapter 81: Jace and Vraska bone down. He again offers to go to Vryn together, but Vraska decides to stay to protect the Golgari. Jace realizes their relationship is doomed. They bone down again trying to hold onto their love. Apparently main characters aren't allowed to be in relationships. Jace goes to Vryn.
Chapter 82: Team Kaya have a bonding sesh. Kaya realizes she and Lili are more alike than they think, both relying on the innocence of the other two teammates to bring out the best in them. They decide to go to Kaya's home plane of Tolvada. This chapter is billed as a prologue, meaning there will be another book to come.
Aaaaaand we out. This book was similar to the previous, in that anytime he was writing "new" characters it read alright and when it was established characters it suffered. There was also some really schlocky passages that made me actually cringe. You can definitely feel his YA roots. Overall I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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100% Vorthos Spike and Storyline Expert
Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Kaya reveals she can use her ghost powers to take one living being with her when she planeswalks.
...what now? After how constantly and heavily they've been bashing our skulls in with "Non-planeswalkers cannot cross planes under any circumstances no exceptions"? After taking away the Weatherlight's iconic ability specifically because they don't want that sort of thing to happen ever? Some rando in a non-card-set-based sequel to a book nobody liked can just do it, just like that?
I guess this is just another victim of "Thing X is impossible until plot convenience says it isn't".
I know i should not say that and have no merit to say soo but can wotc plz pick up old autors for those books/URs. I mean the story is going downhill in the last 4 years. The last good ones were from maybe Amonkhet and Ixalan even if not the best but those last 2 years..... man i m glad i didn't pick the book yet.
A sleeper agent that thinks she is a vampire what lol? If the gem of Ugin let she see her true self or has a similar efect then why don't show this? And again killing planeswalker villains instead of developing them, i mean dovin was kinda meh but killing off a character without a card showing it? I hope we don't return to ravnica ever again at least don't give us another block in Ravnica. Can't care anymore about this plane.
Dovin had a lot of potential as a non-villainous antagonist, which was completely squandered by making him a Bolas lackey. To then go an kill him off OFFSCREEN no less, was an utter and pointless waste.
I know i should not say that and have no merit to say soo but can wotc plz pick up old autors for those books/URs. I mean the story is going downhill in the last 4 years. The last good ones were from maybe Amonkhet and Ixalan even if not the best but those last 2 years..... man i m glad i didn't pick the book yet.
Lots of old authors were horrible as well, so it makes no difference.
I'd say the book is not at the level of Wintermute's piles of dross (Teeth of Akoum and Quest for Karn). It is closer to Alara Unbroken, that was a result of Doug Beyer horribly overestimating his real writing skills in regard to writing a whole book, not just short stories.
On the other hand...looking in retrospect, Invasion block was less than satisfactory ending to Weatherlight saga. Full of violence and unnecessary gore, established characters dying left and right, sometimes unnecessarily again, some deus ex machinas (stone dwarves), and WTF moments like Yawgmoth reanimating the topsoil into hummus warriors. And do not even mention the trainwreck of Onslaught-Legions-Scourge. So it is not that all old books were good, even those from Weatherlight Saga...
It definitely falls short of expectations. People hoped that after War that had to handle so much, Weisman (not an overeager fanfiction writer that Doug Beyer resembled the most when writing AU) will show different writing style here, handling less characters and less cosmic-scale events. It turned out that this is just his style no matter what the topic.
All summarized... the biggest grudge I have with this book in the end is the deliberate destruction of something other writers established and Weisman himself either developed or even renewed in War.
At least Django Wexler's prequels were great. That was a treat to read.
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Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Like I said, one shouldn't look at the past with rose tinted glasses. I say flavour quality as a whole had been on the rise until War of the Spark and even then Eldraine's novel was good.
Many magic story articles have been phenomenal.
Scott McGough with Kamigawa, Jenna Helland with Godsend and Kate Elliott truly all delivered. I enjoyed the Wrexler prequels and the Innistrad short with Davriel.
BFZ had its hiccups with Nissa and Gideon but was otherwise amazing, especially Kelly Digges and The Blight We Were Born For. Innistrad, great. They did the Emrakul arc so remarkably. Amonkhet had some flubs but was overall enjoyable. Kaladesh was great, Yahenni arc made me emotional at times. I adore Ixalan and how it developed my favorite character Jace. And who doesn’t just love Magic Origins, that silenced even the Jace haters? I Actually really loved the Gatewatch focus. With or without it we’re great. Don’t even get me started on the brilliance of Ajani comforted by Tamiyo and her children after Elspeth’s loss.
This game has had phenomenal writers and brilliant stories. Not just for a card game or a game, but literally some truly remarkable material. Stories I’ve personally actually loved and even at times deeply identified with and cherished. Theros and Kamigawa especially harbor fond places in my memory.
But the atrocity of Greg Weisman and his two novels are something I can never forgive. Even if they de-canonize them both, as they should, I will hold a grudge over this perversion of respect for years of dedication and hard work on behalf of so many talented and caring authors that created this universe for us to love. Once.
Honesty I blame Nic Kelman and the switch to outside authors more so then Weisman. From comments on twitter it clear that the creative team dose give a draft to Kel and the author but after that is out of their hands. I feel really sorry for Luhrs and Diggs who basically wrote all of Ixalan stuff and basically where the two who begun the Vraska and Jace ship.
It really feels like Kel and the franchise team came in forced the story into a new direction from what the creative team before had been going for.
Just my thoughts and venting, said some on nexus but had some time to think more;
- I hate that after getting such a good path for Vraska we saw in Ixalan as a abuse victim realizing they don't have to be a monster, we now have her now being under the thumb of the Dimir. Really puts Luthrs and Diggs last big mark on the story with them writing Ixalan into the trash.
-The chain veil and Ravenman plot being tossed out with out a good resolution.
-How the writing of Chandra and Nissa breaking up cements it into queer baiting hardcore. The original draft for their relationship might have included a break up but this was a mess.
-I figured out the reason Kaya ghost walker ability doesn't work for me. I like Rat but honesty it felt like Weisman way break the walker rule for her and It too open for any legendary character to travel planes and too easy feeling (even with the risk) and never a ability Kaya was set up to have (which is why I feel like Yanggu and Wren prolly work better)
-As OathboundOne said Dovin death robs him as potential as a non-villainous antagonist (almost like just killing off character for stake isn't the best wiring :o). Also with such a important event we didn't get on a card when we could have in War where his death could have worked just as well. Deck at least got a trailer.
-The Wanderer, a cool new unknown character with an asian influence being Elspeth seems lame and literally the only thing good I can hope for is Theros Beyond Death takes place before War of the Spark and we might get a last Dack card and step closer to nearly having every living walker being in standard at once.
-Dimiar as the big bads on Ravnica...again is boring, more so after seeing them as heroic during Ravnica 3.
Other thoughts
-So we got the walkers and plot lines for a few sets in the future I'm guessing. Elspeth/Wanderer :P, Ashiok. and Dack on Theros?, Ajani, Karn and Teferi on New Phyrexia (with maybe Koth), Kaya, Liliana and Teyo on Tolvada and Jace on Vryn?
-While Jace x Vraska and Chandra x Nissa ships dead at least the Saheeli x Huatli ship is going stronger.
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“There are no weak Jews. I am descended from those who wrestle angels and kill giants. We were chosen by God. You were chosen by a pathetic little man who can't seem to grow a full mustache"
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
It’s not enough. De-canonize both novels immediately before this hemorrhages our faith In WOTC out any longer.
I agree, it's not enough. They had yet to even allude to other complaints with the story (like about Jace and Vraska) and for this one they put it as 'not meeting expectations' when it is was more of a case of straight-up queerbaiting and bury-your-gays erasure, which is a lot more than not meeting expectations. I hope there will be more to come on this and this was just an initial statement to make sure they get something out there. But, even still, they could have done better.
So I'm glad Mark actually mentioned the words 'diverse' and 'inclusive'— unlike the official apology, which didn't use any such language— which does go some way toward acknowledging that this was a serious failing on meeting up to their goals with diversity and inclusivity.
I like that, despite being a game which has a significant, fairly vocal 'anti-SJW' crowd (as most games do), WotC has been bold enough to be very explicitly in favour of diversity and inclusion and has delivered on that front definitely with female characters, but this whole debacle does have the air of not wanting to push the envelope any further for fear of backlash, and I really hope that's not true.
Has it ever been confirmed that she is bisexual? I've been reading the stories since KTK and never got this confirmation. I understand why people might interpret it so as there were some passages that did make you wonder but nothing definitive. Her only obvious interest to me was Gideon. Is there any parts I missed or is it all speculation?
Has it ever been confirmed that she is bisexual? I've been reading the stories since KTK and never got this confirmation. I understand why people might interpret it so as there were some passages that did make you wonder but nothing definitive. Her only obvious interest to me was Gideon. Is there any parts I missed or is it all speculation?
The Forsaken novel includes these two notable passages in it.
On Ravnica, in the wake of Gideon’s death and Bolas’, they had admitted to each other that they loved. But both of them knew deep down they were only speaking platonically.
That first bit referring to the previous novel.
Chandra had never been into girls. Her crushes — and she’d had her fair share — were mostly the brawny (and decidedly male) types like Gids. But there had always been something about Nissa Revane specifically, something the two of them shared in that great chemical mix — arcing between them like one of Ral Zarek’s lightning bolts — that had thrilled her. From the moment they first met.
Now everything’s different.
It was over. Before it had ever had a chance to begin. Maybe, maybe they had missed their moment.
So even if you haven't read the previous story content in which it is made pretty clear that there is definitely something going on with Chandra and Nissa, the story here reiterates that, before telling us it wasn't actually real though whoops.
WotC's apology says that "Chandra will love and be involved with many characters as her story unfolds—regardless of gender", which makes it sound like Chandra is going to be written as bi or pan going forward. I really hope that's what they mean, because it would be massively *****ty and massively stupid of them to say that while apologizing for queerbaiting otherwise, because then you're just layering queerbaiting on top of queerbaiting.
They only see money. Those trash novels were only bestsellers because of the hard work and dedication of actual WOTC creative (including Kelly Digges) over the years. These novels destroyed that. I fully anticipated an announcement to remove these horrid books from canon and promise to never work with Weisman again. I’m appalled by his deprived, elementary and downright insulting “writing.” Just when I thought his repulsive lack of talent had been the worst of it, he shattered everything the lore has built over all this time, right down to the foundation and even through it. I vehemently loathe the entire WAR project outside of the actual set itself. I actually teared up a bit when I realized some marketing team or CEO is too ashamed of Chandra being bisexual as their main character. I haven’t been made to feel repulsive to society like that since a Baptist woman told my mother I needed an exorcism for being gay.
Thank Thassa we are returning to Theros. I hope someone competent handles my favorite set, plane and story of all time in this game. Because Weisman is capable of making me hate even Theros.
Can someone spare me from reading this book and let me know the specifics of what went down with Chandra and Nissa? Spoiler drop down would be fine. I'm seeing a lot of smoke but don't know for sure the fire.
They only see money. Those trash novels were only bestsellers because of the hard work and dedication of actual WOTC creative (including Kelly Digges) over the years. These novels destroyed that. I fully anticipated an announcement to remove these horrid books from canon and promise to never work with Weisman again. I’m appalled by his deprived, elementary and downright insulting “writing.” Just when I thought his repulsive lack of talent had been the worst of it, he shattered everything the lore has built over all this time, right down to the foundation and even through it. I vehemently loathe the entire WAR project outside of the actual set itself. I actually teared up a bit when I realized some marketing team or CEO is too ashamed of Chandra being bisexual as their main character. I haven’t been made to feel repulsive to society like that since a Baptist woman told my mother I needed an exorcism for being gay.
Thank Thassa we are returning to Theros. I hope someone competent handles my favorite set, plane and story of all time in this game. Because Weisman is capable of making me hate even Theros.
Oh, a post from our resident drama expert Frankly, Jenrik, when you read these lines again, with all these "horrid", "deprived", "repulsive", "loathe", "appalled" adjectives, verbs and nouns, do you feel proud? Do you feel better?
Not to mention you are (once again) probably barking on the wrong tree (ridiculously and childishly insulting Weisman), because there are hints that this might actually not been entirely his fault, but that Nic Kelman, the guy responsible for outsourcing the stories and serving as director and overseer to that, might cause some of that. Especially when you put into context the prominence of a juvenile relationship between Rat and Teyo in Forsaken, and Kelman's history. Read these from A.E.Marling to know what I am talking about.
You are naïve if you think that some "CEO" or "marketing team" was "too ashamed" about whether Chandra is bisexual. A more realistic assumption is that they simply do not care at all and left in in the hands of responsible middle management. Hence, Kelman.
And an obligatory ceruleaphiliac note on the end. Well, regarding Theros, we will probably have something along the lines of Wildered Quest, so it could be good. Though, when reading how are you presenting your posts, I sometimes wish it ended up bad, like when they killed off your original namesake in SoI
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Former Fact Prospector of the Greek Alliance.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
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I've finished reading the book and I'd say it was... okay. It feels like an improvement from the previous book and also sowed seeds for future story lines. This is gonna be a very high level overview, mostly touching on the important plot points in each chapter. There will be things missing, so if you want more you'll have to read the book. Now, without further ado, here's a chapter by chapter summary.
Chapter 1: This chapter is billed as an epilogue. Cue rehash of the end of the War of the Spark novel. Assembled Planeswalkers agree to take Gideon's armor back to Theros. Guild leaders appoint Kaya, Ral, and Vraska their targets.
Chapter 2: Liliana arrives on Dominaria, despondent and borderline suicidal. Nearly drowns herself in the swamp but sees a delusion of Gideon and drags herself out and heads home.
Chapter 3: Back on Ravnica, everyone is tired and the Guild Leaders agree to let the Planeswalkers start hunting their targets in the morning. Rat is sad that Kaya and Teyo will leave.
Chapter 4: Planeswalkers decide to go to Khaladesh for a night to rest before going to Theros. Jace goes home with Vraska to bone down.
Chapter 5: Raven Man tries to tempt Lili. She engages in more self-flagellation but doesn't want to be used anymore.
Chapter 6: In Orzhova, Rat flirts with Teyo. Chief servitor Blaise, an old lady serving the Guildmaster, can't see her but really, really wants to because she's ever so kind and helpful!
Chapter 7: Tezzeret returns to his stronghold, glad to be free of Bolas to start his own machinations and prepares traps for whoever is sent to find him.
Chapter 8: Ral wants some post-war coitus. Tomik wants to study law magic to free Kaya. Ral prevails.
Chapter 9: Kaya attends to Orzhov business with the Triumvirate, basically the Orzhov Council. Rat puts on a brave face but is sad. Hekara shows up for some reason but still can't see her.
Chapter 10: Jace and Vraska make plans to visit Vryn. They resume boning down.
Chapter 11: Dovin Baan arrives on Khaladesh and immediately starts coming up with plans to leave.
Chapter 12: Rat slips out of Orzhova in the night and cries in an alley alone
Chapter 13: Chandra is dead inside and can't sleep so she goes to Dovin Baan's house. Saheeli and Huatli are there after having split with the rest of the Planeswalkers and gone to Saheeli's (shippers take note). Huatli finds some blood and tracks him a ways before losing the trail.
Chapter 14: Teyo and Kaya realize Rat ran away. Teyo goes to find her and Kaya goes to the Guildmaster summit.
Chapter 15: Planeswalkers arrive on Ravnica to pick up Jace and head to Theros. Kiora and Jaya duck out.
Chapter 16: Teysa plots.
Chapter 17: Teyo goes to Gruul lands. Rat isn't there.
Chapter 18: Planeswalkers build a cairn next to a river near Akros. Nissa RAISES A MIGHT OAK (it's in all caps in the book...). Huatli uses her Warrior Poetry. Nissa states Gideon would want to redeem Liliana.
Chapter 19: Lili berates herself some more. Uh oh, something's up at the Vess Manor!
Chapter 20: Guildmasters meet and Jaya. Vivien, and The Wanderer are there for some reason. Jaya puts up a feeble defense of Lili before accepting their judgment. She apparently followed Chandra and knows where Dovin was. The Wanderer followed Lili and knows where she is and can apparently track the damaged Planar Bridge's... emissions. Tomik reveals he knows a way to temporarily transfer the contracts from Kaya.
Chapter 21: Teyo finds Rat at the Promenade they first met at. He convinces her to come home to try to convince Kaya not to kill Liliana because they're both too pure-hearted to kill.
Chapter 22: Ral and Tomik are cute. The Wanderer has some history with Tezzeret and volunteers to guide Ral to find Tezz.
Chapter 23: Jaya brings Vivien and Vraska to Dovin's home before going back to bring Kaya to Dominaria. Vivien helps Vraska track Dovin.
Chapter 24: Tomik takes on the contracts. Kaya reveals she can use her ghost powers to take one living being with her when she planeswalks. Rat and Teyo rejoice and Team Kaya convince a tired Jaya to go to Teyo's home of Gobakhan first.
Chapter 25: Jace looks for Vraska and realizes she's keeping secrets and has his suspicions.
Chapter 26: Lili stumbles across a servant of the Vess Manor who has a collar that burns her if she defies her master. She reveals that Liliana Vess did it to her. Lili mad!
Chapter 27: Rat temporarily melds with Kaya in a passage that rivals We'mrakul awfulness of readability. Teyo meets up with his monk buddies.
Chapter 28: Lili talks to some more servants and goes home to kick some imposter butt.
Chapter 29: Ral and The Wanderer arrive on Amonkhet. The Wanderer gives some exposition about her weird inability to stop Planeswalking without willing it. Samut leads them to where they fought Tezz and The Wanderer follows the trail with Ral in tow.
Chapter 30: Vivien continues tracking Dovin. Vraska plays marbles with random girl in the street and dubs her a Princess. She receives a marble. Vivien loses the trail where he planeswalked away so Vraska goes home.
Chapter 31: Dovin goes the the last place anyone would expect! Obviously Ravnica.
Chapter 32: Teysa plots. Now with more Triumvirate!
Chapter 33: Karn returns to finding a way to fight the Phyrexians. Ajani and Teferi agree to help him plan. Ajani reveals Elspeth's backstory. Nissa returns to Zendikar. Chandra is like, way too edgy to go with her.
Chapter 34: The abbot bullies Teyo and makes fun of Jaya and Kaya's similar sounding names. A diamondstorm approaches.
Chapter 35: Lavinia is keeping secrets from Jace. Jace leaves to find someone who he's okay with mind crushing.
Chapter 36: Vraska is too clever for Dovin!
Chapter 37: Teyo sucks at Geometry again until Rat is in danger. He proceeds to single-handedly protect everyone. The abbot remembers something and tells Teyo to leave and never return.
Chapter 38: Ral prods The Wanderer to learn her history with Tezz. Then he prods her to show him her face. She reveals a golden mask. Reddit prints headline: The Wanderer is Elspeth! They track Tezz to Esper.
Chapter 40: Zoltan, a vampire and one of the Triumvirate, attempts to seduce Tomik.
Chapter 41: The abbot reveals Teyo is a natural born Shieldmage and it's the monestary's teaching that was screwing him up. He's so super proud of him, but Teyo must still leave and never return. But in a nice way. Jaya brings Team Kaya to Dominaria before peacing out.
Chapter 42: Vraska confronts Dovin who offers to help her with her Devkarin problem in exchange for keeping him alive.
Chapter 43: Jace senses Vraska's back. He meets up with Chandra and mind crushes Exava to find out the truth about the Guildmasters' plan. Chandra goes to a Giant bar to drown her sorrows.
Chapter 44: Tezzeret drops some backstory and name-drops some random Esper nemesis. A stormcloud rolls in that must obviously mean Ral is coming.
Chapter 45: Rat counts the diamonds she picked up from the diamondstorm. She flirts with Teyo some more. They arrive at Vess manor and see some servants in the garden. One of them turns around and it's Lili!
Chapter 46: Zoltan fails. Teysa plots.
Chapter 47: Vraska plays marbles with random Devkarin girl. Gasp, "someone" attempted to assassinate Jarad's son and it turns out to be none other than the leader of the Devkarin! Vraska magnanimously offers to protect him.
Chapter 48: Ral and The Wanderer fight some gargoyles. Tezz leaves the front door open. We know it's a trap but let's just walk in!
Chapter 49: Lili has been mind crushed! Attempting to remove her collar, which causes it to burn her, somehow brings her memories back.
Chapter 50: Jace confronts Vraska. They talk a bit before she leaves him to deal with guild business. Jace is contemplative.
Chapter 51: Rat infiltrates Vess Manor. A party of cabalists is being held by "Liliana". Rat can't smell the rot of her zombie guards and tries to touch one to reveal it's an illusion! Fakeiana's sapphire necklace glows and she realizes there's an intruder. Rat sees the Gem of Becoming and touches it and becomes visible! She drops it, becomes invisible again, and runs away.
Chapter 51: Lili fights Kaya. Teyo protects Lili in a shield sphere. Lili raises zombies to attack Kaya and Teyo. Rat whacks Lili with a log, knocking her out and disabling the zombies.
Chapter 52: Dovin tells Vraska that he hasn't given her the full plan, which he'll reveal step by step to keep her from killing him. He offers a plan to trick the Guildmasters into thinking he's dead utilizing Chandra.
Chapter 53: Team Kaya argue about what to do with Lili. Rat realizes she smelled djinn-smoke in the manor. Kaya agrees to put off killing Lili to save the servants. Lili agrees to die after they do her a favour.
Chapter 54: Ral and The Wanderer fight through Tezz's minions and machines. The Wanderer uses sick planeswalking tricks. Nothing personal, kid.
Chapter 55: Lili remembers how she became captured. She had allowed herself to be mind crushed rather than let the Raven Man and the Onakke use her more. Random Kor woman (Dominaria has Kor now?) revealed she knew who the Lili-mposter is and got wrecked by djinn magic. Present Lili agrees to die if they take down the fake and necrotizes her own neck to remove the collar. But wait, leave it on since it won't work if it senses it's around dead flesh? Sure!
Chapter 56: Tomik confronts Teysa after each of the Triumvirate fail to seduce/bribe/intimidate him. But this was her plan all along! She was just proving a point. She WANTS him to be the permanent acting Guildmaster so Kaya can leave whenever she wants and he agrees. Lazav appears after Tomik leaves. Just as planned. Teysa is now the puppet-master and in cahoots with the Dimir.
Chapter 57: Team Kaya execute their plan. Teyo traps the djinn and Rat destroys the sapphire.
Chapter 58: Ral fights Tezz. The Wanderer fights Boss Gargoyle. Ral unleashes a storm and accidentally knocks out The Wanderer who planeswalks away since she can't focus on staying if she's unconsious. Tezz beats Ral up but doesn't kill him and offers him his etherium arm to trick the Guildmasters into thinking he's dead so he can be free to be Bolas Lite.
Chapter 59: Rat breaks the sapphire and releases the djinn, who immediately swears vengeance upon everybody present. Oops!
Chapter 60: Tomik returns home just before Ral planeswalks in, beat to hell but apparently victorious. Tomik goes to get a healer.
Chapter 61: Rat tosses the Gem of Becoming nee Spirit Gem to Lili. Turns out it was Ugin's all along! It links Lili to Ugin who reminds her that Gideon believed in her. Now she has to believe in herself!
Chapter 62: Kaya gets punched by a djinn. Lili uses the Chain Veil to fight it. Rat and Teyo remind it that they freed it and only the fake Lili is its enemy. Lili taunts her imposter before she is burned alive. Kaya puts her out of her misery.
Chapter 63: Vraska finds Chandra and tells her Dovin is on Regatha for some reason. Chandra confronts him, fighting him to the edge of a lava stream. Vraska chops his hand off and Chandra lights him up. She sees his burnt corpse sinking into the lava. Jace finds Chandra when she's back on Ravnica and tells her Jaya had been helping the Guilds. Chandra is confused.
Chapter 64: Team Kaya argue about what to do about Lili. Cut back to Rat when she grabbed the Spirit Gem, Ugin told her that the Gem reveals the holder's true self, which is why she became visible. Ugin tells her to give it to Lili, but leaves the decision to Rat. Rat is tempted with the chance to be visible but relinquishes the Gem. Back to the present, Rat convinces everyone to give Lili a second chance. Her infectious optimism convinces Lili to give herself a second chance.
Chapter 65: Jace and Chandra find Jaya who takes them to Dominaria. She reveals that she was just protecting Chandra, but you're like, not my real mom! They find the freed servants burning Liliana's corpse. A hiliarious misunderstanding leads Jaya to believe that the servants are talking about Rat instead of Lili when they recount the story of what happened. Jace reads their minds and they are telling the truth. They search the corpse and don't find the Chain Veil but the servants tell them Team Kaya took it as proof of Lili's death. Lili would never voluntarily give it up!
Chapter 66: Ana Iora checks into an inn on Fiora. Cut back to Dominaria where Team Kaya want to take the Chain Veil as proof. After much internal conflict and mental goading by Raven Man, Lili willingly decides to give it away. That was the magic word for the Spirit Gem to poof into nothing, taking the curse of the Chain Veil with it. Rat is sad she will never be visible. Kaya tells Lili to go to Fiora and wait for them.
Chapter 67: Back on Ravnica, Teyo and Rat flirt some more before he tucks her into bed. Blaise wants to see Rat without help, darn it! Oops, Rat escaped again, but left a note this time that she's going to see her mom.
Chapter 68: Dimir assassin and vampire, Atkos Tarr, receives orders from Lazav to assassinate someone during the Guildmaster meeting set to take place the next day.
Chapter 69: Tomik meets with Kaya and explains the plan to become the de facto Guildmaster. Kaya rejoices.
Chapter 70: At the Guildmaster meeting, Kaya reports her success and hands over the Chain Veil to Niv, who locks it away. Chandra confirms she saw the body. Vraska reports that Dovin is dead and presents the hand as evidence. Lavinia uses magic to CSI that %$#%. Chandra takes the credit, but the Guildmasters just care that he's dead.
Chapter 71: A one-handed Dovin plots. He senses a change in air temperature but nobody's there.
Chapter 72: Ral raises two middle fingers and reveals that he failed to kill Tezz. The Wanderer confirms since she had returned to Tezz's stronghold offscreen and found it suspiciously abandoned. She is unable to track him and realizes that Tezz was intentionally letting himself be tracked earlier? Okay... Niv is disappointed. Chamberlain Maree is ecstatic. Tomik is pitying. Ral is sad.
Chapter 73: Chandra goes to Zendikar to see Nissa. Greg Wiesman murders the Channel Fireball ship and dances on its grave. Seriously, this section is very long and very on the nose, spelling out in no uncertain terms that its carcass is buried deep and rotting. Like, absolutely-removed-from-the-freaking-game-forever zone gone. Chandra decides she wants to become more like Gideon and is now set up for her since cancelled comic series.
Chapter 74: Jace waits impatiently for Vraska to return from the meeting. He's sure Vraska is keeping secrets and it spells choppy waters for their relationship.
Chapter 75: Vraska finds Dovin's corpse (maybe? probably?) with his other hand missing. Well, %$#%. All that plotting for nothing and now someone knows what she did.
Chapter 76: Rat returns to Orzhova and is almost run over by Blaise. She gets revenge by playing a prank of hiding a sugarbowl, but gives it back. Blaise accepts the gentle ribbing with good cheer.
Chapter 77: Blaise goes home. Oops, she was actually Lazav! Oops, Rat is actually a Dimir sleeper agent who thinks she's a vampire name Atkos Tarr! Oops, the sugarbowl was actually Dovin's hand with an illusion on it! Oops, Vraska is now in Lazav's pocket!
Chapter 78: Chamberlain Maree calls an Izzet meeting and attempts to overthrow Ral. She fails. This really came from nowhere and amounted to nothing, but I guess it shows discord in the Izzet League? Ral goes home hoping to find Tomik now that he's not needed as acting Guildmaster, but finds he's out on Guild business.
Chapter 69: Tezz arrives in a safehouse. The Wanderer appears and they begin revealing their plot. Just kidding, it was Lazav! Now that the Orzhov and Golgari are under Dimir influence - oh wait, Simic too somehow - they have set up Return to Return to Return to Ravnica nicely.
Chapter 80: Ana Iora awakens on Fiora. She has an internal debate about whether to believe in herself and wait for Team Kaya or bounce and face the consequences. She waits and joins Gatewatch 2.
Chapter 81: Jace and Vraska bone down. He again offers to go to Vryn together, but Vraska decides to stay to protect the Golgari. Jace realizes their relationship is doomed. They bone down again trying to hold onto their love. Apparently main characters aren't allowed to be in relationships. Jace goes to Vryn.
Chapter 82: Team Kaya have a bonding sesh. Kaya realizes she and Lili are more alike than they think, both relying on the innocence of the other two teammates to bring out the best in them. They decide to go to Kaya's home plane of Tolvada. This chapter is billed as a prologue, meaning there will be another book to come.
Aaaaaand we out. This book was similar to the previous, in that anytime he was writing "new" characters it read alright and when it was established characters it suffered. There was also some really schlocky passages that made me actually cringe. You can definitely feel his YA roots. Overall I don't regret reading it, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
I concur... I got a bit tired of reading sometime around chapter 40 or so. It seems to be catered towards teens?
Also...
I guess this is just another victim of "Thing X is impossible until plot convenience says it isn't".
In Gobakhan there are diamond storms. Its why Teyo has hard light barrier powers.
A sleeper agent that thinks she is a vampire what lol? If the gem of Ugin let she see her true self or has a similar efect then why don't show this? And again killing planeswalker villains instead of developing them, i mean dovin was kinda meh but killing off a character without a card showing it? I hope we don't return to ravnica ever again at least don't give us another block in Ravnica. Can't care anymore about this plane.
Lots of old authors were horrible as well, so it makes no difference.
On the other hand...looking in retrospect, Invasion block was less than satisfactory ending to Weatherlight saga. Full of violence and unnecessary gore, established characters dying left and right, sometimes unnecessarily again, some deus ex machinas (stone dwarves), and WTF moments like Yawgmoth reanimating the topsoil into hummus warriors. And do not even mention the trainwreck of Onslaught-Legions-Scourge. So it is not that all old books were good, even those from Weatherlight Saga...
It definitely falls short of expectations. People hoped that after War that had to handle so much, Weisman (not an overeager fanfiction writer that Doug Beyer resembled the most when writing AU) will show different writing style here, handling less characters and less cosmic-scale events. It turned out that this is just his style no matter what the topic.
All summarized... the biggest grudge I have with this book in the end is the deliberate destruction of something other writers established and Weisman himself either developed or even renewed in War.
At least Django Wexler's prequels were great. That was a treat to read.
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)
Scott McGough with Kamigawa, Jenna Helland with Godsend and Kate Elliott truly all delivered. I enjoyed the Wrexler prequels and the Innistrad short with Davriel.
BFZ had its hiccups with Nissa and Gideon but was otherwise amazing, especially Kelly Digges and The Blight We Were Born For. Innistrad, great. They did the Emrakul arc so remarkably. Amonkhet had some flubs but was overall enjoyable. Kaladesh was great, Yahenni arc made me emotional at times. I adore Ixalan and how it developed my favorite character Jace. And who doesn’t just love Magic Origins, that silenced even the Jace haters? I Actually really loved the Gatewatch focus. With or without it we’re great. Don’t even get me started on the brilliance of Ajani comforted by Tamiyo and her children after Elspeth’s loss.
This game has had phenomenal writers and brilliant stories. Not just for a card game or a game, but literally some truly remarkable material. Stories I’ve personally actually loved and even at times deeply identified with and cherished. Theros and Kamigawa especially harbor fond places in my memory.
But the atrocity of Greg Weisman and his two novels are something I can never forgive. Even if they de-canonize them both, as they should, I will hold a grudge over this perversion of respect for years of dedication and hard work on behalf of so many talented and caring authors that created this universe for us to love. Once.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
It really feels like Kel and the franchise team came in forced the story into a new direction from what the creative team before had been going for.
Just my thoughts and venting, said some on nexus but had some time to think more;
- I hate that after getting such a good path for Vraska we saw in Ixalan as a abuse victim realizing they don't have to be a monster, we now have her now being under the thumb of the Dimir. Really puts Luthrs and Diggs last big mark on the story with them writing Ixalan into the trash.
-The chain veil and Ravenman plot being tossed out with out a good resolution.
-How the writing of Chandra and Nissa breaking up cements it into queer baiting hardcore. The original draft for their relationship might have included a break up but this was a mess.
-I figured out the reason Kaya ghost walker ability doesn't work for me. I like Rat but honesty it felt like Weisman way break the walker rule for her and It too open for any legendary character to travel planes and too easy feeling (even with the risk) and never a ability Kaya was set up to have (which is why I feel like Yanggu and Wren prolly work better)
-As OathboundOne said Dovin death robs him as potential as a non-villainous antagonist (almost like just killing off character for stake isn't the best wiring :o). Also with such a important event we didn't get on a card when we could have in War where his death could have worked just as well. Deck at least got a trailer.
-The Wanderer, a cool new unknown character with an asian influence being Elspeth seems lame and literally the only thing good I can hope for is Theros Beyond Death takes place before War of the Spark and we might get a last Dack card and step closer to nearly having every living walker being in standard at once.
-Dimiar as the big bads on Ravnica...again is boring, more so after seeing them as heroic during Ravnica 3.
Other thoughts
-So we got the walkers and plot lines for a few sets in the future I'm guessing. Elspeth/Wanderer :P, Ashiok. and Dack on Theros?, Ajani, Karn and Teferi on New Phyrexia (with maybe Koth), Kaya, Liliana and Teyo on Tolvada and Jace on Vryn?
-While Jace x Vraska and Chandra x Nissa ships dead at least the Saheeli x Huatli ship is going stronger.
"You can tell how dumb someone is by how they use Mary Sue"
"That bad, huh?" - Han Solo
"Oops" — WotC
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
I agree, it's not enough. They had yet to even allude to other complaints with the story (like about Jace and Vraska) and for this one they put it as 'not meeting expectations' when it is was more of a case of straight-up queerbaiting and bury-your-gays erasure, which is a lot more than not meeting expectations. I hope there will be more to come on this and this was just an initial statement to make sure they get something out there. But, even still, they could have done better.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
So I'm glad Mark actually mentioned the words 'diverse' and 'inclusive'— unlike the official apology, which didn't use any such language— which does go some way toward acknowledging that this was a serious failing on meeting up to their goals with diversity and inclusivity.
I like that, despite being a game which has a significant, fairly vocal 'anti-SJW' crowd (as most games do), WotC has been bold enough to be very explicitly in favour of diversity and inclusion and has delivered on that front definitely with female characters, but this whole debacle does have the air of not wanting to push the envelope any further for fear of backlash, and I really hope that's not true.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
The Forsaken novel includes these two notable passages in it.
That first bit referring to the previous novel.
So even if you haven't read the previous story content in which it is made pretty clear that there is definitely something going on with Chandra and Nissa, the story here reiterates that, before telling us it wasn't actually real though whoops.
WotC's apology says that "Chandra will love and be involved with many characters as her story unfolds—regardless of gender", which makes it sound like Chandra is going to be written as bi or pan going forward. I really hope that's what they mean, because it would be massively *****ty and massively stupid of them to say that while apologizing for queerbaiting otherwise, because then you're just layering queerbaiting on top of queerbaiting.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Thank Thassa we are returning to Theros. I hope someone competent handles my favorite set, plane and story of all time in this game. Because Weisman is capable of making me hate even Theros.
|| UW Jace, Vyn's Prodigy UW || UG Kenessos, Priest of Thassa (feat. Arixmethes) UG ||
Cards I still want to see created:
|| Olantin, Lost City || Pavios and Thanasis || Choryu ||
You have no idea what you are talking about. Sorry for being blunt. And that is coming from a man who read literally every Magic novel ever released.
Oh, a post from our resident drama expert Frankly, Jenrik, when you read these lines again, with all these "horrid", "deprived", "repulsive", "loathe", "appalled" adjectives, verbs and nouns, do you feel proud? Do you feel better?
Not to mention you are (once again) probably barking on the wrong tree (ridiculously and childishly insulting Weisman), because there are hints that this might actually not been entirely his fault, but that Nic Kelman, the guy responsible for outsourcing the stories and serving as director and overseer to that, might cause some of that. Especially when you put into context the prominence of a juvenile relationship between Rat and Teyo in Forsaken, and Kelman's history. Read these from A.E.Marling to know what I am talking about.
https://medium.com/@aemarling/nic-kelman-hypocrisy-80d9c1edca71
https://medium.com/@aemarling/the-consequences-of-kelman-1de51a513982
You are naïve if you think that some "CEO" or "marketing team" was "too ashamed" about whether Chandra is bisexual. A more realistic assumption is that they simply do not care at all and left in in the hands of responsible middle management. Hence, Kelman.
And an obligatory ceruleaphiliac note on the end. Well, regarding Theros, we will probably have something along the lines of Wildered Quest, so it could be good. Though, when reading how are you presenting your posts, I sometimes wish it ended up bad, like when they killed off your original namesake in SoI
Let this great clan rest in peace (2001-2011)