Hello fellow Vorthos. It has been a while since I have posted anything on here. One of my more popular posts was back with Magic Origins where I took each of the cards and put them in lists of which Plane each card was representing.
This time around, since the mechanics article for Ixalan, for your viewing pleasure here, revealed the different factions for Ixalan, I thought of reviving this type of thread, and organizing the cards into their different factions. This is all open for debate and re arranging, my hope is to provide a way for people that like to stick to a faction to be able to collect and talk about all the cards of that faction.
As a disclaimer, rather than posting the the photos of each card, I'll just provide the link for you to view the card, if this is also an incorrect method of posting then I shall change it. I'll also provide a bit of logic for non-creature cards of why they would represent the faction they are under.
Honestly I wouldn't mind the Gatewatch setting up a "prison world" where they dump all those evildoers. It sounds a bit silly in concept but could potentially be nice if done right. I just don't know how to pull it off cosndiering the logistics behind planeswalkers etc.
Plus side is, this way we could get some "prison break" block in the future featuring most of the past villains, somewhat like a Time Spiral lite.
One way they could have a prison, is Jace being the Guildpact can probably make into law on Ravnica that a certain room or area cannot be planes walked out of, or even that planeswalkers cannot use any sort of magic so Lavinia or whoever else would be up to it could guard the cells without a lot of retaliation.
Now for my take, this is the first story in a while that made me cry like a little girl, but also at the same time make me giddy with excitement about all the timeline confirmation and references to past stories (being an avid timeline theorist). I agree that leaving Ajani a mystery at the beginning was a mistake, I ended up being confused thinking Nashi was somehow the mystery person on Kaladesh. Otherwise I fully enjoyed the story and can't wait for more Ajani.
Also, as a side note, in my prerelease packs I went with Black/Green Fabricate-Artificers (x3 Inventor's Goggles) and had Oviya Pashiri in my deck, and I've been calling her Grandma Pashiri ever since, one of my favorite Kaladesh characters for sure.
I'm pretty excited about this plane being our next location. I even can boast a bit about guessing right that this was where we were heading when i discussed Magic with one of my classmates.
Although weirdly enough, I'm very odd color wise, I think UR but act RG. So the plane being red is awesome, and blue gets my brain going, but I've never been a big fan of artifacts so I hope it isn't too heavily artifact centric. Although, if there are a lot of artifacts, I'll probably end up trying to figure out the most creative way to destroy everything. EDIT: A.k.a. Temur but less reliant on blue.
The Enervants are whatever they are described as in the Purifying Fire. We've never been to Kephalai officially in any card block, though it is a plane card in plane chase, and we only go there in that novel, and in a web comic. Though the Enervants never show up in the comic.
Like you I've been on the Chideon (whoh nope) Chandra/Gideon train for a while. Jace and Lili is pretty supported but I'd prefer Jace ends up with someone else and Liliana dies somewhere. I don't want Narset and Sarkhan to happen, they're fine as friends and they have they're both "really focused on my job right now" e.g. looking as scrolls and geeking out about dragons. I like the idea of Elspeth and Koth if they make it out of Underworld/New Phyrexia.
Ooo Elspeth and Koth, I'd enjoy that as well. (Now i'm thinking of Elspeth as Jessica Jones and Koth as Luke Cage lol)
And yes, Sarkhan and Narset shouldn't happen, but if it does I won't be surprised, nor thrilled.
Lol Chideon, Giddra? no... Team Too Bright? (Light + Fire magic).
So in light of the newest MTG story, a lot was revealed and discussed, but a popular topic in our thread and probably on other sites, is the strong relationships among our four oath keeping planeswalkers. So strong as to start a mini-conversation about potential romantic pairings, or as the lingo calls is, Ships. So I thought having a thread for this topic would be a good idea (though I'm pretty sure romance in MTG threads have happened before, a revisit couldn't hurt).
So the question is, if you are "Shipping" any characters, romantically or otherwise, share in the thread and lets discuss more about that topic here. (they don't have to be anything hinted by Wizards either, go crazy).
For me, I've been shipping Gideon and Chandra since I've read Purifying Fire, I've been looking for any hints as to PF being canon enough to remember the adventures of these two. With their first meeting since back when Gideon and Jace came to get Chandra from Regatha, to the newer stories with Chandra on Zendikar, I'm confident with this ship.
As to other ships that I see, Jace and Liliana is the most canon, but I'm not a big fan, Sarkhan and Narset I could see but it doesn't need to happen, I'd laugh if Jace and Nissa start being a thing because of Jace's failed romance with Emmara back in RTR block.
Teysa is a better character to use as a reference, since we know how old she is and we also know that she was alive in the events of the first storyline.
Do we? Ever since we got that age, I've been wracking my brain, trying to recall if we ever got anything like a specific age back in Guildpact. I'd assumed "vague early 20s," but I couldn't actually recall a textual confirmation that she wasn't, say, 70 years old, and just hiding it the same way she does now.
I'd made that assumption too. So I went back to my ebooks and search for any combination of words I could think of for someone to mention their age (years, old, age, etc) and Teysa's age is never outright stated. She's youngish, but young on Ravnica could mean 40.
She is also a pureblood Orshov, i'd have to re-read the text but I believe that how young she looks for her age has something to do with her bloodline, with the crippling side-effect literally being a crippling leg.
The issue is that the original Guildpact prevent planeswalkers from entering the plane, so if the original Guildpact was still in effect, Jace shouldn't have been able to planeswalk there - much less Tezzeret or Bolas to set up the Consortium.
If my theory is true though, Jace would have been able to Planeswalk to Ravnica after Agrus arrested Szadek in the first novel, since if I'm not mistaken that incident was the reason the Guildpact had been dissolved in the first place.
Also, sorry for the mixed information. Generally I tend to double check all of my info before posting, but I was pressed for time for family holiday cooking reasons. The centuries to decades thing does indeed foil my theory a bit. I think when I said centuries I was briefly remembering other discussions in the forum, so I apologize for that. I still think my theory has some ground though.
EDIT:
Besides, the Dimir quote you posted disproves the thoery - Dimir isn't believed to exist at all during the early Ravnica cycle - the guildpact magically prohibited its existence from being disclosed by the signatories. It only becomes exposed later, at the Dissension, which was part of Szadek's plan.
I don't believe it disproves it, if the Guildpact was dissolved because of Agrus arresting Szadek in the first novel, then Jace could have been able to land on Ravnica, and the Dimir could have begun to be more active in secret. The fact that Dimir would still be widely believed to not exist during the Guildpact and Dissension novels would indeed probably still be true.
Not in his Origin story, but here: The Worlds of Magic Origins
It was an Arcana that talked about the state of affairs among each of the planes of the Magic: Origins set. And its two paragraphs in particular that stand out as to a possible retcon/clarification.
Later, the Guildpact would be broken, the guilds would be thrown into turmoil, and Jace Beleren would be empowered as the Living Guildpact—the arbiter of the ten guilds' conflicts. At the time of his first visit, however, all of that was still years in the future.
This paragraph implies that upon Jace's first visit, which would be at the end of his Origin story, that the events of some if not all of the original Ravnica trilogy would have happened some time after Jace's first visit to Ravnica.
House Dimir, aligned with blue and black mana, is a highly secretive group of infiltrators, assassins, and information brokers. At the time of Jace's arrival, it was widely believed that House Dimir had long ago ceased to exist. In fact, its agents were still very much active. Here, you can see one of them stealing the memories of a priest of the Orzhov Syndicate, a group aligned with white and black mana that's somewhere between a church, a bank, and a crime ring.
This statement furthermore presents the theory that Jace was a Planeswalker during the some, if not all, of the ordeal of the original trilogy.
Now, my personal theory is, considering the time gap between the first novel Ravnica: City of Guilds and the second novel Guildpact was 12 years, that provides a good amount of time for Jace to have first arrived on Ravnica at the age of around 13-14 after the events of Ravnica: City of Guilds, and then a couple years later, the events of Guildpact and Dissension occur. The only thing I've been meaning to double check is that in the original Ravnica: City of Guilds, that the whole ordeal with Szadek didn't spread as wide across the plane, which I can believe considering how huge Ravnica is. Then perhaps the tale of Agrus didn't get popular for theater until after all three novels.
The potential logic against this would be, there is was so much destruction during Dissension, how could have it all possibly been fixed within a few years? Simple, Magic, and man-power, and Ravnica has plenty of that.
And now, there is one great evidence potentially proving that the original Ravnica trilogy now resides in the Post-Mending era. The newest UR, Ob Nixils mentioned that it had ben centuries since the Mending, and considering Teysa is declared as 192 years old in her newest UR, I believe confirms that Teysa's whole life would be within the Post-Mending world of Magic.
(TBH I tend to think through theories a lot for Ravnica specifically, I love Ravnica)
I do wonder if it should be noted that the Ravnica trilogy has possibly been retconned to be a Post-Mending story in timeline, although it was published Pre-Mending. There were subtle hints in an Arcana from Magic: Origins that suggests that Jace was around for at least the Guildpact and Dissension novels during his early Planeswalking days.
Soooooo, I just asked the writer of this UR on Twitter about the Karlov ghosty (don't go asking her any other questions, your technically not supposed to) and she answered a question I asked about the Karlov ghost. It is in fact, not Uncle Karlov, but grandpa Karlov, Uncle Karlov's father and Teysa's grandfather. Woo!
This time around, since the mechanics article for Ixalan, for your viewing pleasure here, revealed the different factions for Ixalan, I thought of reviving this type of thread, and organizing the cards into their different factions. This is all open for debate and re arranging, my hope is to provide a way for people that like to stick to a faction to be able to collect and talk about all the cards of that faction.
As a disclaimer, rather than posting the the photos of each card, I'll just provide the link for you to view the card, if this is also an incorrect method of posting then I shall change it. I'll also provide a bit of logic for non-creature cards of why they would represent the faction they are under.
The Sun Empire - Dinosaurs with Humans
Ashes of the Abhorrent - Flavor Text and Art
Bellowing Aegisaur
Goring Ceratops
Huatli's Snubhorn
Kinjalli's Sunwing
Priest of the Wakening Sun
Tocatli Honor Guard
Wakening Sun's Avatar
Burning Sun's Avatar
Huatli's Spurring
Star of Extinction - Flavor Text
Sun-Crowned Hunters
Sunbird's Invocation - Sun reference, plus Bird like Dinos
Tilonalli's Skinshifter
Carnage Tyrant
Deathgorge Scavenger
Drover of the Mighty
Emperor's Vanguard
Ripjaw Raptor
Savage Stomp
Verdant Sun's Avatar
Belligerent Brontodon
Gishath, Sun's Avatar
Hualti, Dinosaur Knight
Hualti, Warrior Poet
Raging Swordtooth
Regisaur Alpha
Sun-Blessed Mount
Vanquisher's Banner - The flag art is actually the Sun Empire logo according to the Ixalan Panel at Pax
Rootbound Crag - Art
Stone Quarry
Sunpetal Grove - Flavor Text
Woodland Stream
The Brazen Coalition - Pirates
Arcane Adaptation - Art, looks like a Pirate
Daring Saboteur
Deadeye Quartermaster
Deeproot Waters
Dreamcaller Siren
Entrancing Melody - In Art, caster of Melody is a Siren Pirate
Opt
Prosperous Pirates
Boneyard Parley - Pirate Casting in Artwork
Deadeye Tormentor
Deadeye Tracker
Dire Fleet Ravager
Fathom Fleet Captain
Fathom Fleet Plundering
Kitesail Freebooter
Revel in Riches
Ruin Raider
Walk the Plank
Wanted Scoundrels
Angrath's Marauders
Captain Lannery Storm
Lightning Strike
Rowdy Crew
Storm Fleet Arsonist
Unfriendly Fire
Wily Goblin
Admiral Beckett Brass
Deadeye Plunderers
Dire Fleet Captain
Hostage Taker
Marauding Looter
Dusk Legion Dreadnought
Pirate's Cutlass
Sleek Schooner
Sorcerous Spyglass - Art
Treasure Map/Treasure Cove
Dragonskull Summit - Angrath has Raiders, he or she is probably a Pirate
Drowned Catacomb - Art
Glacial Fortress - Art
The River Heralds - Merfolk
Grasping Current
Headwater Sentries
Herald of Secret Streams
Jace's Sentinel
Kopala, Warden of Waves
Siren Stormtamer
Spell Swindle
Storm Fleet Aerialist
Deeproot Champion
Kumena's Speaker
Shapers' Sanctuary - Merfolk in Art
Slice in Twain
Tishana's Wayfinder
Waker of the Wilds
Wildgrowth Walker
Shapers of Nature
Tishana, Voice of Thunder
Primal Amulet/Primal Wellspring
The Legion of Dusk - Vampires
Bishop of Rebirth
Duskborne Skymarcher
Mavren Fein, Dusk Apostle
Sanguine Sacrament
Bloodcrazed Paladin
Deathless Ancient
Queen's Bay Soldier
Sanctum Seeker
Call to the Feast
Conqueror's Galleon/Conqueror's Foothold
Neutral
Settle the Wreckage
Castaway's Despair
Favorable Winds - Text is Sun Empire, but is the art Dinos? or Drakes? waiting for Drakes to be an official revealed.
Fleet Swallower
Jace, Cunnning Castaway - He's on a pirate ship but later is teaming with the Heralds so I'm saying neutral for now.
Jace, Ingenious Mind-Mage
Duress Can't tell if a Vamp or just a Pirate
Old-Growth Dryads
Pillar of Origins
Sentinel Totem
Unclaimed Territory
Plains,Island,Swamp,Mountain,Forest
Story Spotlight - Keeping Separate since they are important to story
Ixalan's Binding
Vraska's Contempt
River's Rebuke
Thaumatic Compass/Spires of Orazca
One way they could have a prison, is Jace being the Guildpact can probably make into law on Ravnica that a certain room or area cannot be planes walked out of, or even that planeswalkers cannot use any sort of magic so Lavinia or whoever else would be up to it could guard the cells without a lot of retaliation.
Now for my take, this is the first story in a while that made me cry like a little girl, but also at the same time make me giddy with excitement about all the timeline confirmation and references to past stories (being an avid timeline theorist). I agree that leaving Ajani a mystery at the beginning was a mistake, I ended up being confused thinking Nashi was somehow the mystery person on Kaladesh. Otherwise I fully enjoyed the story and can't wait for more Ajani.
Also, as a side note, in my prerelease packs I went with Black/Green Fabricate-Artificers (x3 Inventor's Goggles) and had Oviya Pashiri in my deck, and I've been calling her Grandma Pashiri ever since, one of my favorite Kaladesh characters for sure.
Although weirdly enough, I'm very odd color wise, I think UR but act RG. So the plane being red is awesome, and blue gets my brain going, but I've never been a big fan of artifacts so I hope it isn't too heavily artifact centric. Although, if there are a lot of artifacts, I'll probably end up trying to figure out the most creative way to destroy everything. EDIT: A.k.a. Temur but less reliant on blue.
That makes total sense considering what they do to poor Chandra.
Good choices! Teysa and Tajic would be interesting.
Sarkahn and Dragons, of course! Best Ship
Ooo Elspeth and Koth, I'd enjoy that as well. (Now i'm thinking of Elspeth as Jessica Jones and Koth as Luke Cage lol)
And yes, Sarkhan and Narset shouldn't happen, but if it does I won't be surprised, nor thrilled.
Lol Chideon, Giddra? no... Team Too Bright? (Light + Fire magic).
So the question is, if you are "Shipping" any characters, romantically or otherwise, share in the thread and lets discuss more about that topic here. (they don't have to be anything hinted by Wizards either, go crazy).
For me, I've been shipping Gideon and Chandra since I've read Purifying Fire, I've been looking for any hints as to PF being canon enough to remember the adventures of these two. With their first meeting since back when Gideon and Jace came to get Chandra from Regatha, to the newer stories with Chandra on Zendikar, I'm confident with this ship.
As to other ships that I see, Jace and Liliana is the most canon, but I'm not a big fan, Sarkhan and Narset I could see but it doesn't need to happen, I'd laugh if Jace and Nissa start being a thing because of Jace's failed romance with Emmara back in RTR block.
Oh please, I've been on team Gideon x Chandra since I read the Purifying Fire.
Anyways, the story was great
She is also a pureblood Orshov, i'd have to re-read the text but I believe that how young she looks for her age has something to do with her bloodline, with the crippling side-effect literally being a crippling leg.
If my theory is true though, Jace would have been able to Planeswalk to Ravnica after Agrus arrested Szadek in the first novel, since if I'm not mistaken that incident was the reason the Guildpact had been dissolved in the first place.
Also, sorry for the mixed information. Generally I tend to double check all of my info before posting, but I was pressed for time for family holiday cooking reasons. The centuries to decades thing does indeed foil my theory a bit. I think when I said centuries I was briefly remembering other discussions in the forum, so I apologize for that. I still think my theory has some ground though.
EDIT:
I don't believe it disproves it, if the Guildpact was dissolved because of Agrus arresting Szadek in the first novel, then Jace could have been able to land on Ravnica, and the Dimir could have begun to be more active in secret. The fact that Dimir would still be widely believed to not exist during the Guildpact and Dissension novels would indeed probably still be true.
Not in his Origin story, but here: The Worlds of Magic Origins
It was an Arcana that talked about the state of affairs among each of the planes of the Magic: Origins set. And its two paragraphs in particular that stand out as to a possible retcon/clarification.
This paragraph implies that upon Jace's first visit, which would be at the end of his Origin story, that the events of some if not all of the original Ravnica trilogy would have happened some time after Jace's first visit to Ravnica.
This statement furthermore presents the theory that Jace was a Planeswalker during the some, if not all, of the ordeal of the original trilogy.
Now, my personal theory is, considering the time gap between the first novel Ravnica: City of Guilds and the second novel Guildpact was 12 years, that provides a good amount of time for Jace to have first arrived on Ravnica at the age of around 13-14 after the events of Ravnica: City of Guilds, and then a couple years later, the events of Guildpact and Dissension occur. The only thing I've been meaning to double check is that in the original Ravnica: City of Guilds, that the whole ordeal with Szadek didn't spread as wide across the plane, which I can believe considering how huge Ravnica is. Then perhaps the tale of Agrus didn't get popular for theater until after all three novels.
The potential logic against this would be, there is was so much destruction during Dissension, how could have it all possibly been fixed within a few years? Simple, Magic, and man-power, and Ravnica has plenty of that.
And now, there is one great evidence potentially proving that the original Ravnica trilogy now resides in the Post-Mending era. The newest UR, Ob Nixils mentioned that it had ben centuries since the Mending, and considering Teysa is declared as 192 years old in her newest UR, I believe confirms that Teysa's whole life would be within the Post-Mending world of Magic.
(TBH I tend to think through theories a lot for Ravnica specifically, I love Ravnica)