She desserves to be in a cage for ruining two societies, not join the heroes.
I liked her as a concept in Conspiracy 2, a lot actually, but repeating the same "naive girl ruins everything" thing while destroying one of Ravnica's most interesting and unique features and getting a bunch of quotes that make her sound like Rocket Raccoon's less funny and more sociopathic sister has wore out her welcome.
And to add insult to injury she keeps stealing legendary creature spots from my favorite color combination.
Ye don't make me remember the slots that could have gone to legendary creatures.
First Ravnica block without Obzedath (when it dies, but no card for them), no card for Borborygmos (when it gets defeated), no card for Isperia (ye the scene of her dying was done on guilds :\ ). They should have just made one of each walker in the block and saved up space for more beloved characters.
I may come as a hater at this point but if it wasn't for the power level of some cards in this block, it would have been a easy pass (will buy one or two boxes of war) considering alot on skiping sets from now on, just buying the singles i want mtg arena is here for standard play, just gonna focus on modern and commander from now on, will stop following the story for a while, go full hermit and only look back at mtg past
So is Kaya just stupid? How many evil monsters can one accidentally work for? She put Marchesa in power on one plane then paved the way for Bolas. WOTC really likes giving Females who are evil or support it free passes.
But then she decides to release the indebted dead from their servitude.
Which she did for what ammounts to racism. After being told plenty that it was a terrible idea. Bolas counted on her to be a self-righteous ******** and she delivered.
It’s only terrible because the Orzhov was using them as slave labor, and instead of trying to do anything else they just tried to tax the living immensely. Crazy that people are defending the Orzhov as though they aren’t a very good example of the bad in Ravnica.
Well taxing the living was also Kaya's decision. So again, she didn't fix a corrupt system, she made it worse. As she acted as not only an assassin but as the guild's leader which meant she had control over how to actually fix the system.
EDIT: Also the easiest manner to handle the issue with the indebted dead is to consider knocking out two birds with one stone. The way to do this is to have the indebted perform at charity functions to work off their debt. Because the church currently doesn't do charities, since they emphasis wealth. Having the church be reformed in that matter actually would help their image while also strengthening what they already do of helping the community they have fostered. Think the Amonhket mummies within the city state but less nefarious.
But then she decides to release the indebted dead from their servitude.
Which she did for what ammounts to racism. After being told plenty that it was a terrible idea. Bolas counted on her to be a self-righteous ******** and she delivered.
It’s only terrible because the Orzhov was using them as slave labor, and instead of trying to do anything else they just tried to tax the living immensely. Crazy that people are defending the Orzhov as though they aren’t a very good example of the bad in Ravnica.
Well taxing the living was also Kaya's decision. So again, she didn't fix a corrupt system, she made it worse. As she acted as not only an assassin but as the guild's leader which meant she had control over how to actually fix the system.
EDIT: Also the easiest manner to handle the issue with the indebted dead is to consider knocking out two birds with one stone. The way to do this is to have the indebted perform at charity functions to work off their debt. Because the church currently doesn't do charities, since they emphasis wealth. Having the church be reformed in that matter actually would help their image while also strengthening what they already do of helping the community they have fostered. Think the Amonhket mummies within the city state but less nefarious.
I mean, Orzhov as it was wouldn’t go for that. It’s a super corrupt guild to the core. Kaya may not have made things better but honestly taking out the Obzedat is a pretty good thing all in all, even if it didn’t go smoothly.
I’m also guessing that the increased taxes was a suggestion by living members and more evidence of the Orzhov needing reform honestly.
As a very simple summary, slavery = bad. If the only way the Orzhov can function is enslaving people then it needs to be reformed. And if the only other solution they could come up with was “tax people even more” then that just emphasizes my point. Orzhov as it is just serves itself, it needs to take an active role in actually helping the community. The issue isn’t what Kaya did, it’s that Bolas used her, which is hardly surprising given that’s his thing. Doesn’t make her a villain, nor is she naive.
Orzhov helps the community. They are the attorneys, advisors and accountants. They intercede for the guildless when they cross the other guilds. They buy and develop land after the others destroy it. And the indentured dead are indebted, not owned. The ghosts were they fulcrum of Ravnican economy not an evil plot that only benefited the Orzhov, and they don't hoard all the wealth either, the smart and disciplined become rich and powerful thanks to them. Feather is a millionaire because Pivlic the imp managed her wages.
Stop judging them by the standards of american politics and pay attention to the actual lore. Kaya has done more damage than Bolas to Ravnican society and I already cringe at the thought of how they'll deus ex machina this economic catastrophe away.
Orzhov helps the community in such a way that they line their pockets more than it costs to help. And the dead are owned, that it helps other people doesn’t change that the Orzhov give out loans people can’t pay back and then force them into servitude for their life and then some. It’s not a morally sound system, plain and simple.
You’re also using a specific character as justification for the entire guild, which isn’t how guilds work. The guild as a whole is corrupt, even if every member isn’t (though that’s arguable).
Given all of this, I wouldn't mind if they found a way to banish all walkers from the plane and prevent them from returning. Yes, it would mean Vraska and Ral would have to go as well, but it would allow for a walker free set focused on Niv as the Guildpact using his knowledge to help rebuild Ravnica better, reestablishing Guild roles and making a strong, enforceable system of checks and balances that ensures each Guild is allowed to flourish as intended (not encroaching on the Gruul wilds for instance) while fostering a stronger community due to the events of WAR
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Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
The Orzhov Syndicate was a glorified mafia. They didn't just hunt down defaulting loans, they ran protection rackets. If you didn't take out a debt with them willingly, they'd try to make you go into debt. They'd strong-arm anyone unable to fight back.
As for Kaya, I say let's find out more about the story. At some point, she gets a chance to talk to Gatewatch, find out about their mission, and decide to join. And heck, they recruited Liliana, so Kaya really isn't that egregious.
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MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
Orzhov helps the community. They are the attorneys, advisors and accountants. They intercede for the guildless when they cross the other guilds. They buy and develop land after the others destroy it. And the indentured dead are indebted, not owned. The ghosts were they fulcrum of Ravnican economy not an evil plot that only benefited the Orzhov, and they don't hoard all the wealth either, the smart and disciplined become rich and powerful thanks to them. Feather is a millionaire because Pivlic the imp managed her wages.
Stop judging them by the standards of american politics and pay attention to the actual lore. Kaya has done more damage than Bolas to Ravnican society and I already cringe at the thought of how they'll deus ex machina this economic catastrophe away.
A question here is whether the lore team remembered those nuances of Orzhov. Never mind that Ravnican society as a whole is supposed to be poorly wrought, courtesy Azor's excessive faith in his systems and inability to believe they could need adaptation down the line.
One thing I worry about is whether WotC is banking too much (mostly with the Gatewatch portrayal) on Rule of Cool. I can understand that appealing to the 13-19 year-old crowd, but beyond that? (Note that I'm 41 myself.) This may explain why Nicol Bolas was portrayed as he was (or, depending on how you view things, why he was pulled out of oblivion during the events of Time Spiral)--exploiting the Love to Hate trope. But it doesn't really allow for a major villain who's a Well-Intentioned Extremist (and note that none of the primary candidates for next major villain--Garruk, Tezzeret, and Elesh Norn--fit that description), or even the unflappable, mostly non-action sort of villain that David Xanatos of Gargoyles was.
I also remember that I've voiced concerns whether the very conceit of a massive Multiverse even allows for good storytelling/worldbuilding while keeping that scale. Dominaria is well-developed because of how much time was spent there. Successive worlds have had much briefer story exposure, and probably in turn don't get as much detail work during the worldbuilding phase. But during the Dominaria-primary time, how much sense was really developed of how profuse and diverse the Multiverse was? I do get the feeling that Ulgrotha, Rath, and Mercadia wouldn't look that out of place compared to much of Dominaria.
Of course, I seriously doubt Garfield expected the game to play host to an ongoing storyline of this length.
Point being, you probably have to choose between one to a few worlds in noticeable detail, or you many Planets of Hats. Never mind that Hat-reliance could also extend to decisions on how to let characters grow, with colors and their combinations being the Hats. In fact, I'm guessing (slavish?) adherence to ideas of how the colors' good side would act is why Nissa's personality was remade--WotC corporate wanted an "obviously" green-good character for the Gatewatch's green slot, and for whatever reason didn't want the lore team to make a new character.
And yet, for all this, the Gatewatch, at-least-near-to-one-note portrayals of characters, etc. still have popular appeal. And it's not something I can imagine relentless marketing explaining, not by itself...
EDIT: Bah, of course I'd forget one of my Rule of Cool concerns while writing this out. The Mending was vectored in because the writing team (and, I'm guessing, the fans) were having trouble writing/relating to hyper-powerful planeswalkers, so they decided to scale them more down to earth. Yet it didn't take long for character planeswalkers to be shown as prodigies. I think that, too, is due to desire for the creations to be "cool". I feel like it ties in to an answer I noticed on Blogatog, about how WotC (or at least Rosewater) gets plenty of requests for planeswalkers that reflect the querent's semblance in some fashion. What wasn't listed, philosophy, was what stuck out to me. It does seem a bit strange that you could fit yourself in someone's shoes even if their outlook on life didn't match yours, so long as the semblance did. Is it just a desire for glory by proxy?
Poorly Wrought it went 10,000 Years without Collapse. No Institution on Earth has existed that long. So that always been BS. Is the government perfect no but come on now.
The whole Gatewatch Era has been out about moving away from Shades of Grey. And asking us to forget stuff we learned about in the past. Like I am suppose to forget what Lili spent her time doing before signing that Demon Contract with Bolas Helps.
I don't mind choosing worlds with detail the problem is we are reducing the details in Ravnica Case and in Dominaria's Case it was basically the same with no Zhalfir.
Orzhov helps the community. They are the attorneys, advisors and accountants. They intercede for the guildless when they cross the other guilds. They buy and develop land after the others destroy it. And the indentured dead are indebted, not owned. The ghosts were they fulcrum of Ravnican economy not an evil plot that only benefited the Orzhov, and they don't hoard all the wealth either, the smart and disciplined become rich and powerful thanks to them. Feather is a millionaire because Pivlic the imp managed her wages.
Stop judging them by the standards of american politics and pay attention to the actual lore. Kaya has done more damage than Bolas to Ravnican society and I already cringe at the thought of how they'll deus ex machina this economic catastrophe away.
A question here is whether the lore team remembered those nuances of Orzhov. Never mind that Ravnican society as a whole is supposed to be poorly wrought, courtesy Azor's excessive faith in his systems and inability to believe they could need adaptation down the line.
One thing I worry about is whether WotC is banking too much (mostly with the Gatewatch portrayal) on Rule of Cool. I can understand that appealing to the 13-19 year-old crowd, but beyond that? (Note that I'm 41 myself.) This may explain why Nicol Bolas was portrayed as he was (or, depending on how you view things, why he was pulled out of oblivion during the events of Time Spiral)--exploiting the Love to Hate trope. But it doesn't really allow for a major villain who's a Well-Intentioned Extremist (and note that none of the primary candidates for next major villain--Garruk, Tezzeret, and Elesh Norn--fit that description), or even the unflappable, mostly non-action sort of villain that David Xanatos of Gargoyles was.
I also remember that I've voiced concerns whether the very conceit of a massive Multiverse even allows for good storytelling/worldbuilding while keeping that scale. Dominaria is well-developed because of how much time was spent there. Successive worlds have had much briefer story exposure, and probably in turn don't get as much detail work during the worldbuilding phase. But during the Dominaria-primary time, how much sense was really developed of how profuse and diverse the Multiverse was? I do get the feeling that Ulgrotha, Rath, and Mercadia wouldn't look that out of place compared to much of Dominaria.
Of course, I seriously doubt Garfield expected the game to play host to an ongoing storyline of this length.
Point being, you probably have to choose between one to a few worlds in noticeable detail, or you many Planets of Hats. Never mind that Hat-reliance could also extend to decisions on how to let characters grow, with colors and their combinations being the Hats. In fact, I'm guessing (slavish?) adherence to ideas of how the colors' good side would act is why Nissa's personality was remade--WotC corporate wanted an "obviously" green-good character for the Gatewatch's green slot, and for whatever reason didn't want the lore team to make a new character.
And yet, for all this, the Gatewatch, at-least-near-to-one-note portrayals of characters, etc. still have popular appeal. And it's not something I can imagine relentless marketing explaining, not by itself...
EDIT: Bah, of course I'd forget one of my Rule of Cool concerns while writing this out. The Mending was vectored in because the writing team (and, I'm guessing, the fans) were having trouble writing/relating to hyper-powerful planeswalkers, so they decided to scale them more down to earth. Yet it didn't take long for character planeswalkers to be shown as prodigies. I think that, too, is due to desire for the creations to be "cool". I feel like it ties in to an answer I noticed on Blogatog, about how WotC (or at least Rosewater) gets plenty of requests for planeswalkers that reflect the querent's semblance in some fashion. What wasn't listed, philosophy, was what stuck out to me. It does seem a bit strange that you could fit yourself in someone's shoes even if their outlook on life didn't match yours, so long as the semblance did. Is it just a desire for glory by proxy?
Outside of colors (which are pretty broad so they only count so much) I don’t think philosophy is a terribly reasonable thing to ask of WotC, and probablt not really sensible to request either. It’s a lot easier to get someone who shares more specific characteristics than something as broad and amorphous as philosophy.
Apparently Kaya cost the guild millions for just her slaying Obzedat, because the guild uses their ancestor spirits to hold onto coins for their entrenched families, without the ghost council all that coin went away. Plus because the indentured dead are gone, that means a lot of their workforce is gone which means they lost a lot of the debts they collected.
Also because of Kaya the tithe percentage of 10%, which was before Obzedat's death and is the percentage of your salary that you pay normally to the guild, went up 30%, then after seventeen days that went up to 40%. That after being raised to 40% and 15 days passing, the guild had to suspend tithe takings for 34 days. In this time span of the tithes being raised and eventually lowered there is also numbers that tell a bit of a story on how the citizens reacted to the Orzhov being forced to increase tithes. Also that the numbers for each category 30/40/18 are from different locations and combined.
At 30% tithe only 359 in total were willing to pay full tithe, at 40% tithe only 34 citizens paid in full, and at 18% tithe 551 citizens paid in full.
At 30% tithe 214 submitted partial payments with debt promises, at 40% tithe 339 citizens submitted partial payments with debt promises, and at 18% tithe 65 citizens submitted partial payments with debt promises.
At 30% tithe 50 citizens opted for public flogging and indentured servitude instead of paying the tithe, at 40% tithe 34 citizens opted for public and indentured servitude instead of paying the tithe, and at 18% tithe 5 citizens opted for public flogging and indentured servitude instead of paying the tithe.
At 30% tithe 9 citizens refused to pay tithe, at 40% tithe 29 citizens outright refused to pay, and at 18% tithe 0 citizens refused to pay tithe.
Don't we need to wait for another return to Ravnica to see if Kaya actually hurt the Orzhov? It could turn out that Teysa is a much better leader than the Obzedat.
Don't we need to wait for another return to Ravnica to see if Kaya actually hurt the Orzhov? It could turn out that Teysa is a much better leader than the Obzedat.
No need for more sets to find out that. Can confirm we get our answer from the War of the Spark book coming out.
All these evil ladies finally doing the right thing after all these people be dying. Golly they're solid people. Sure glad they grew a conscience right at the last possible second they could.
I may come as a hater at this point but if it wasn't for the power level of some cards in this block, it would have been a easy pass (will buy one or two boxes of war) considering alot on skiping sets from now on, just buying the singles i want mtg arena is here for standard play, just gonna focus on modern and commander from now on, will stop following the story for a while, go full hermit and only look back at mtg past
I am under the same impression too. At first I was going to go bonkers on boxes for this but now I think it's worth it more to buy singles other than that I acquire during drafts.
But this is an interesting arrangement here. We're faced with the knaive villains who were lured into a false promise by a more influential villain only to see that what they bought into was a ruse and now they regret their choice and either a) realize their mistake but it's too late (Domri) or b) see the light and make a quick flip (Kaya).
Predictable outcome. Great card but predictable outcome.
'buster
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HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset. Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
All these evil ladies finally doing the right thing after all these people be dying. Golly they're solid people. Sure glad they grew a conscience right at the last possible second they could.
Again, more really poor story telling.
The question becomes, what understanding of storytelling lies at the root of the poor quality? And why do people latch onto it despite the poor quality? I'd at least like to believe that quality is one of the foremost things listeners/readers seek out in a story.
Sadly Wizards wants to sell cards first and foremost, which is fine, but are trying to appear like this story could go any way possible. The reality is much less uninspired and predictable. No matter how many "reasons" are given, we all know friendship wins the day.
MTGS Wikia Article about "New World Order"
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
PSA to everyone who keeps forgetting about the Reserved List:
You're on a website dedicated to talking about MtG. You're only a few keystrokes away from finding out what cards are on the Reserved List. You're also only a few keystrokes away from finding out why some cards on the Reserved List got foil printings in FtV, as Judge promos, or whatnot, as well as why that won't happen again. Stop doing this.
An elder dragon who has harvested more power than any being we know of in the multiverse, who spent years getting his plan together, will fall because of an egg that was PREVIOUSLY unreachable, by his born again brother that he killed.
An elder dragon that plotted against everyone, made sure to make every thing that could kill him be unable to do so forgets that the wealpons he created and thus have his power now can damage hin.
A weakness of a character that teoricaly maintened it alive could be given to another one without consequences.
A lot of things happening off scream
The rules for when a eternal touches a walker changes depending on who it is touching
A possible character development is undone because the character who accomplished it is not the real deal.
I wonder if part of the problem is trying to hit every "epic" note in existence (which, by the way, arguably includes late Heel-Face Turns). I realize the reborn Phyrexia is still going to be out there, but after that, maybe we could scale down the threats? Think the Suikoden games, where crises were never world-threatening. (All right, I think 2 and 3 ultimately were, but I'm pretty sure you got to quell the threats before they could even begin to actually threaten the world.)
I understand FF12 was like this, too, although only from hearsay. Not "save the world", but "prevent the deployment of the fantasy equivalent of a nuke".
Maybe not as awe-inspiring, but that probably leaves more room for proper character development et al.
I miss the old days when, as a player, I could by-and-large remain more-or-less ignorant of the storyline without mentally redacting card names and flavor text. I was aware that there was a story taking place in a world, but felt more like I was exploring and discovering that world too, that I was a part of it and had my own parallel story to experience and/or tell, one that diverged from the narrative. Now I feel like I’ve been strapped to a chair with my eye lids duct-taped open in front of an iMax screen playing Wizard’s endless, terrible Gatewatch movie.
Oh yeah, the card. It’s mechanically good.
Which reminds me, I really, really wish that WotC had flavored Kaya to be a little more (visually/stylistically) gothic.
It's the fact that worst-case-scenario can't happen because the core of this story isn't story-telling, it's card-selling. They spent too much time building a villain who is suppose to be all-knowing-patient-powerful-elder dragon-brilliant-ruthless-near godlike just lose to a forced feel good plot device. Friendship and self-destruction because he's not the "real deal". He's conquered planes and planeswalkers. Nobody more real in the multiverse when it comes to harvesting power.
Also, I want to be wrong and I want to be surprised.
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Ye don't make me remember the slots that could have gone to legendary creatures.
First Ravnica block without Obzedath (when it dies, but no card for them), no card for Borborygmos (when it gets defeated), no card for Isperia (ye the scene of her dying was done on guilds :\ ). They should have just made one of each walker in the block and saved up space for more beloved characters.
I may come as a hater at this point but if it wasn't for the power level of some cards in this block, it would have been a easy pass (will buy one or two boxes of war) considering alot on skiping sets from now on, just buying the singles i want mtg arena is here for standard play, just gonna focus on modern and commander from now on, will stop following the story for a while, go full hermit and only look back at mtg past
That said card doesn't look too bad.
EDIT: Also the easiest manner to handle the issue with the indebted dead is to consider knocking out two birds with one stone. The way to do this is to have the indebted perform at charity functions to work off their debt. Because the church currently doesn't do charities, since they emphasis wealth. Having the church be reformed in that matter actually would help their image while also strengthening what they already do of helping the community they have fostered. Think the Amonhket mummies within the city state but less nefarious.
I mean, Orzhov as it was wouldn’t go for that. It’s a super corrupt guild to the core. Kaya may not have made things better but honestly taking out the Obzedat is a pretty good thing all in all, even if it didn’t go smoothly.
I’m also guessing that the increased taxes was a suggestion by living members and more evidence of the Orzhov needing reform honestly.
Stop judging them by the standards of american politics and pay attention to the actual lore. Kaya has done more damage than Bolas to Ravnican society and I already cringe at the thought of how they'll deus ex machina this economic catastrophe away.
You’re also using a specific character as justification for the entire guild, which isn’t how guilds work. The guild as a whole is corrupt, even if every member isn’t (though that’s arguable).
Standard - Some kind of control
Modern - UB Mill (casual)
EDH - Meren's Grave Shenanigans
As for Kaya, I say let's find out more about the story. At some point, she gets a chance to talk to Gatewatch, find out about their mission, and decide to join. And heck, they recruited Liliana, so Kaya really isn't that egregious.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
A question here is whether the lore team remembered those nuances of Orzhov. Never mind that Ravnican society as a whole is supposed to be poorly wrought, courtesy Azor's excessive faith in his systems and inability to believe they could need adaptation down the line.
One thing I worry about is whether WotC is banking too much (mostly with the Gatewatch portrayal) on Rule of Cool. I can understand that appealing to the 13-19 year-old crowd, but beyond that? (Note that I'm 41 myself.) This may explain why Nicol Bolas was portrayed as he was (or, depending on how you view things, why he was pulled out of oblivion during the events of Time Spiral)--exploiting the Love to Hate trope. But it doesn't really allow for a major villain who's a Well-Intentioned Extremist (and note that none of the primary candidates for next major villain--Garruk, Tezzeret, and Elesh Norn--fit that description), or even the unflappable, mostly non-action sort of villain that David Xanatos of Gargoyles was.
I also remember that I've voiced concerns whether the very conceit of a massive Multiverse even allows for good storytelling/worldbuilding while keeping that scale. Dominaria is well-developed because of how much time was spent there. Successive worlds have had much briefer story exposure, and probably in turn don't get as much detail work during the worldbuilding phase. But during the Dominaria-primary time, how much sense was really developed of how profuse and diverse the Multiverse was? I do get the feeling that Ulgrotha, Rath, and Mercadia wouldn't look that out of place compared to much of Dominaria.
Of course, I seriously doubt Garfield expected the game to play host to an ongoing storyline of this length.
Point being, you probably have to choose between one to a few worlds in noticeable detail, or you many Planets of Hats. Never mind that Hat-reliance could also extend to decisions on how to let characters grow, with colors and their combinations being the Hats. In fact, I'm guessing (slavish?) adherence to ideas of how the colors' good side would act is why Nissa's personality was remade--WotC corporate wanted an "obviously" green-good character for the Gatewatch's green slot, and for whatever reason didn't want the lore team to make a new character.
And yet, for all this, the Gatewatch, at-least-near-to-one-note portrayals of characters, etc. still have popular appeal. And it's not something I can imagine relentless marketing explaining, not by itself...
EDIT: Bah, of course I'd forget one of my Rule of Cool concerns while writing this out. The Mending was vectored in because the writing team (and, I'm guessing, the fans) were having trouble writing/relating to hyper-powerful planeswalkers, so they decided to scale them more down to earth. Yet it didn't take long for character planeswalkers to be shown as prodigies. I think that, too, is due to desire for the creations to be "cool". I feel like it ties in to an answer I noticed on Blogatog, about how WotC (or at least Rosewater) gets plenty of requests for planeswalkers that reflect the querent's semblance in some fashion. What wasn't listed, philosophy, was what stuck out to me. It does seem a bit strange that you could fit yourself in someone's shoes even if their outlook on life didn't match yours, so long as the semblance did. Is it just a desire for glory by proxy?
The whole Gatewatch Era has been out about moving away from Shades of Grey. And asking us to forget stuff we learned about in the past. Like I am suppose to forget what Lili spent her time doing before signing that Demon Contract with Bolas Helps.
I don't mind choosing worlds with detail the problem is we are reducing the details in Ravnica Case and in Dominaria's Case it was basically the same with no Zhalfir.
Outside of colors (which are pretty broad so they only count so much) I don’t think philosophy is a terribly reasonable thing to ask of WotC, and probablt not really sensible to request either. It’s a lot easier to get someone who shares more specific characteristics than something as broad and amorphous as philosophy.
Also because of Kaya the tithe percentage of 10%, which was before Obzedat's death and is the percentage of your salary that you pay normally to the guild, went up 30%, then after seventeen days that went up to 40%. That after being raised to 40% and 15 days passing, the guild had to suspend tithe takings for 34 days. In this time span of the tithes being raised and eventually lowered there is also numbers that tell a bit of a story on how the citizens reacted to the Orzhov being forced to increase tithes. Also that the numbers for each category 30/40/18 are from different locations and combined.
At 30% tithe only 359 in total were willing to pay full tithe, at 40% tithe only 34 citizens paid in full, and at 18% tithe 551 citizens paid in full.
At 30% tithe 214 submitted partial payments with debt promises, at 40% tithe 339 citizens submitted partial payments with debt promises, and at 18% tithe 65 citizens submitted partial payments with debt promises.
At 30% tithe 50 citizens opted for public flogging and indentured servitude instead of paying the tithe, at 40% tithe 34 citizens opted for public and indentured servitude instead of paying the tithe, and at 18% tithe 5 citizens opted for public flogging and indentured servitude instead of paying the tithe.
At 30% tithe 9 citizens refused to pay tithe, at 40% tithe 29 citizens outright refused to pay, and at 18% tithe 0 citizens refused to pay tithe.
Source: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/ledger-hidden-fortunes-2019-02-20
Again, more really poor story telling.
I am under the same impression too. At first I was going to go bonkers on boxes for this but now I think it's worth it more to buy singles other than that I acquire during drafts.
But this is an interesting arrangement here. We're faced with the knaive villains who were lured into a false promise by a more influential villain only to see that what they bought into was a ruse and now they regret their choice and either a) realize their mistake but it's too late (Domri) or b) see the light and make a quick flip (Kaya).
Predictable outcome. Great card but predictable outcome.
'buster
HR Analyst. Gamer. Activist | Fearless, and forthright | Aggro-control is a mindset.
Elspeth and Jhoira rock my world.
The question becomes, what understanding of storytelling lies at the root of the poor quality? And why do people latch onto it despite the poor quality? I'd at least like to believe that quality is one of the foremost things listeners/readers seek out in a story.
Sadly Wizards wants to sell cards first and foremost, which is fine, but are trying to appear like this story could go any way possible. The reality is much less uninspired and predictable. No matter how many "reasons" are given, we all know friendship wins the day.
Every time I read a comment about "Well if this card had card draw/trample/haste/indestructible/hexproof/life gain...", I think "You're missing the point." They're armchair developer comments that fail to take into account the card's role in the greater Limited and Standard environment. No, it may not be as good as whatever card you're comparing it to. There's a reason for that. Not every burn spell is Lightning Bolt, nor does it need to be or should be.
An elder dragon who has harvested more power than any being we know of in the multiverse, who spent years getting his plan together, will fall because of an egg that was PREVIOUSLY unreachable, by his born again brother that he killed.
A weakness of a character that teoricaly maintened it alive could be given to another one without consequences.
A lot of things happening off scream
The rules for when a eternal touches a walker changes depending on who it is touching
A possible character development is undone because the character who accomplished it is not the real deal.
Maybe not as awe-inspiring, but that probably leaves more room for proper character development et al.
Oh yeah, the card. It’s mechanically good.
Which reminds me, I really, really wish that WotC had flavored Kaya to be a little more (visually/stylistically) gothic.
Also, I want to be wrong and I want to be surprised.