As far as the released novels go, the Highlights to me have always been:
- Thran
- Artifacts Cycle (Brothers War, Planeswalker, Time Streams, Bloodlines)
- Ice Age Cycle (Gathering Dark, Eternal Ice, Shattered Alliance)
- Nemesis
- Invasion Cycle (I know they're not great but they were the first ones I read as a kid and I've always had a soft spot for them)
- Chainer's Torment
- Kamigawa Cycle
- Ravnica Cyle
As far as I'm concerned, the quality dropped off a cliff after Ravnica, even though there had previously been some definite lowlights like the Mirrodin and Onslaught block books. But even those lowlights beat the hell out of the mishmash we are given now.
I really dig the alternate frame looking like a charcoal etching. Also, the fact that this in a weird way has a mutant form of the Dash ability is just adorable.
I'm not exaggerating when I say these final stories have not only snuffed out my enthusiasm for the MOM set, but for Magic Lore for the foreseeable future. I've been a fan of the story for 20+ years and so I don't say this lightly, but depending on how Aftermath shakes out, I may just need to take a long, long break from all this.
Phyrexia is not supposed to be a joke. It is the ultimate evil, the most dangerous malevolent power in the Multiverse. Magic has been building up to this climactic showdown for 13 years, so now that it's time for the Phyrexians to lose, defeating them should feel truly difficult and desperate, an effort worthy of the danger they (supposedly) pose. This last clash should feel not just worthy of Phyrexia, but of the Multiverse, which is at stake.
Yet Phyrexia's power starts collapsing long before the end. Sheoldred, Urabrask, Vorinclex, Jin-Gitaxias - these long-iconic faces of Phyrexia - are killed off with minimal effort and without ceremony. The praetors devolve into almost comical incompetents, while Norn herself spends the last handful of stories as a frightened, shrieking thing, flailing desperately to hold her crumbling Phyrexia together. There was no suspense in this story after Elspeth's return; the villains didn't rally to put up a good final fight, and their defeat, when it came, felt inevitable, preordained, and banal. Phyrexia is not scary here. It is not formidable. Phyrexia and its praetors are mere props and stepping stones for the heroes to have their Big Moments and to look cool.
Yet even those moments fall short, for in the end, these heroes don't feel like they're fighting any threat of stature.
All that work that went into designing New Phyrexia - the language, the factional aesthetic, the praetor designs, the seeds of this conflict being laid across multiple worlds over multiple years - all of that comes together in the final accounting to yield... this. A mediocre faceplant that diminishes Phyrexia, diminishes the Multiverse, and diminishes my faith that Magic can still tell a well-crafted story again in the current era.
Perhaps it was the nostalgia for Dominaria, Phyrexia, and Mirrodin that got me so invested over this past year, but I wanted this story to succeed so bad.
K. Rivera has written some excellent stories in the past, and yes, some of her installments for MOM were very well done (particularly Chapters 3, 6, and 8). She writes the Planeswalker characters stirringly well, and she did a great job with Chandra and Nissa. That said, she seems to have little interest whatsoever in the villains and reduces them to trivial, often cartoonish figures. Doing that to the likes of Olivia Voldaren is one thing. Doing that to Elesh Norn and Jin-Gitaxias is another matter entirely, and it severely blunts the impact of what should be an epic story. Nevertheless, if Wizards had only given her another two chapters to work with, I'm sure she'd have fleshed out a somewhat more satisfying final showdown.
In any case, I'm going to go back and read the story again to see if I feel any differently the second time around. The resolution to the Phyrexian story was something I've been looking forward to for over a decade, and as recently as last week things still looked so promising. But seeing the end handled like this(especially after the lackluster conclusion of the Bolas arc) finally makes me think... what's the point of investing myself in the story at all?
I'm not to the point of giving up in general on story, but you have a lot of very valid points here. It's legitimately depressing to me to see how much work and care goes into the WORLDBUILDING before a set. They make living. breathing, functioning worlds and settings with legitimately interesting characters and ideas... and then when it comes time to tell a story within those worlds, it feels like an afterthought at times. Everything feels rushed, there are generally gaping plot or logic holes that are never addressed, the endings are usually lackluster or contrived, and we get outright contradictions or omissions between the story presented on the cards and the story that we're told. And then we're whisked off to the next setting and told to get excited for the deep lore of this next location like it won't just happen again.
For all the excitement WotC tries to drum up for each set in terms of big, epic stories and high adventure, it's pretty blatantly obvious that it's the one of their lower priorities at this point.
I certainly didn't hate the ending chapters, but it does feel very odd that so much of the advertising ahead of time showed Multiversal characters teaming up and then having virtually nothing of the sort happening.
I REALLY wanted an explanation for Baral and Chandra working together, and his name wasn't even mentioned once.
Oddly, the first thing I thought of was Brion Stoutarm.
Torbran, Thane of Red Fell LOVES this.
- Thran
- Artifacts Cycle (Brothers War, Planeswalker, Time Streams, Bloodlines)
- Ice Age Cycle (Gathering Dark, Eternal Ice, Shattered Alliance)
- Nemesis
- Invasion Cycle (I know they're not great but they were the first ones I read as a kid and I've always had a soft spot for them)
- Chainer's Torment
- Kamigawa Cycle
- Ravnica Cyle
As far as I'm concerned, the quality dropped off a cliff after Ravnica, even though there had previously been some definite lowlights like the Mirrodin and Onslaught block books. But even those lowlights beat the hell out of the mishmash we are given now.
They also sell sets well. WotC learned from the Baldur's Gate set.
Also, shoutout to Marchesa for still holding onto the Monarchy.
This has happened with Forbes before? You would think WotC would clamp down on them after the first time.
I'm not to the point of giving up in general on story, but you have a lot of very valid points here. It's legitimately depressing to me to see how much work and care goes into the WORLDBUILDING before a set. They make living. breathing, functioning worlds and settings with legitimately interesting characters and ideas... and then when it comes time to tell a story within those worlds, it feels like an afterthought at times. Everything feels rushed, there are generally gaping plot or logic holes that are never addressed, the endings are usually lackluster or contrived, and we get outright contradictions or omissions between the story presented on the cards and the story that we're told. And then we're whisked off to the next setting and told to get excited for the deep lore of this next location like it won't just happen again.
For all the excitement WotC tries to drum up for each set in terms of big, epic stories and high adventure, it's pretty blatantly obvious that it's the one of their lower priorities at this point.
I REALLY wanted an explanation for Baral and Chandra working together, and his name wasn't even mentioned once.