Good thing Stella is in today's story so at least we can extract some purpose out of it. I do not like the part where Wizards published a story with a foregone conclusion that they could easily have published before the episode that revealed the conclusion.
On yesterday's episode, it's increasingly looking like there will be no duel between Kellan and Oko (although there are definitely signs that the relationship will sour). Might Wizards pull a last-minute twist and make the two duel after all?
Yesterday's episode reports that the Big Score is in Maag Taranau. Bizarrely for the theory that the Big Score was crafted by the Fomori (who have an Irish-origin name), Taranau is a word in Welsh, not Irish.
Would have been nice to learn this earlier - according to the Outlaws of Thunder Junction Preview Panel, the Atiin are a Navajo-like nomadic people possibly not native to Thunder Junction, and Annie Flash and Stella are members. Admittedly, Stella looks rather like a similarly nomadic Roma, so maybe she (and Annie's nephew Tommy) are only part Atiin...
Yup, there's definitely stuff to chew on in Episode 2:
Ashiok seems extremely and unusually interested in the treasure here, despite their previous lack of interest in material bling and great interest in mental manipulation - is Ashiok's definition of treasure, in fact, not the material items of the Big Score but any ethereal constructs of pure magic? Were some of Ashiok's belongings previously taken away from them and put in Thunder Junction? If the speculation that the Big Score is Fomori-constructed is true, is Ashiok from the same plane as the Fomori? Might Ashiok even be related by blood to the Fomori?
Unlike some speculation here, Oko and Kellan's first meeting doesn't include a gunfight at all. Something's going to go wrong between the two of them here later...will the heist go wrong?
This arguably might be the most interesting part of Yuma's backstory:
Trust me, I tried hard to be a girl for a certain number of years. It takes skill. You have to function through the pressure of all that being looked at—the way people look at women, assessing, selecting, all without regard to whether you're selecting back. It's not why I had to remake myself as a man, but I have to admit, I was also bad at it.
Yuma later reports being a "city boy" in a passing remark, so I assume he's just referring to the few years he worked in drag...right?
Yuma is a trans-man.
Give me an example of a transsexual woman-turned-man who has a moustache. (Note the moustache in Yuma's art.) My searches only resulted in transsexual men-turned-women.
Aydian Dowling
Brian Michael Smith
Jamie Wilson
Freddie Lewis
Laith Ashley
Petey Gibson
There's six for you idiot.
Thanks - I wasn't aware of any of them before. Huh, none of these names appeared in my initial searches...
This arguably might be the most interesting part of Yuma's backstory:
Trust me, I tried hard to be a girl for a certain number of years. It takes skill. You have to function through the pressure of all that being looked at—the way people look at women, assessing, selecting, all without regard to whether you're selecting back. It's not why I had to remake myself as a man, but I have to admit, I was also bad at it.
Yuma later reports being a "city boy" in a passing remark, so I assume he's just referring to the few years he worked in drag...right?
Yuma is a trans-man.
Give me an example of a transsexual woman-turned-man who has a moustache. (Note the moustache in Yuma's art.) My searches only resulted in transsexual men-turned-women.
This arguably might be the most interesting part of Yuma's backstory:
Trust me, I tried hard to be a girl for a certain number of years. It takes skill. You have to function through the pressure of all that being looked at—the way people look at women, assessing, selecting, all without regard to whether you're selecting back. It's not why I had to remake myself as a man, but I have to admit, I was also bad at it.
Yuma later reports being a "city boy" in a passing remark, so I assume he's just referring to the few years he worked in drag...right?
Does banning violent outburst even do anything since people are dropping fully buffed scion of draco turn 2 with the new leyline?
It'll harm Living End's match-up with blue decks since it can't pull off Violent Outburst at opposing EOT into regular Cascade spell next turn, but Crashing Footfalls never leaned on that tactic as much. Cascade decks combined I can see as being dominant...just nowhere near as much of a problem at this ban time as BR Evoke was just prior to Fury getting banned.
...So Living End takes the bigger plunge. If we're lucky, RUG Crashing Footfalls turns into Bant. If we're not, Wizards just killed a deck sub-archetype because only Domain variants of Crashing Footfalls live. Brilliant.
Looks like we got our answer why Oko and Kellan will duel. Kellan is part of Ral's security and Oko's team might get in the way of the Sterling company at some point. (Or the other way around, whichever way you wanna look at it.)
Probably to help make his involvement in Bloomburrow look more in-character, Ral Zarek already prominently appears in the Outlaws of Thunder Junction storyline.
Malcolm will bring the Mycotyrant there with him. At the last paragraph of Ixalan story, "someone" has been infected, but only visible symptoms were eyes, hidden behind googles...
A new body stood on the deck of a ship—such useful things, ships—and watched as it approached High and Dry. This one retained its original form in most ways, except for its eyes, covered by dark lenses. Better to hide, and plan, and spread.
A leaked card has the name "Malcolm, the Eyes". Ominous.
Didn't expect the ban in Modern at all; RUG Crashing Footfalls, the quoted problem deck, doesn't look BR Evoke-with-Fury levels of dominant in tournaments lately from my observations (the latter took up the entire Top 3 of some tournaments I looked up; RUG Footfalls never got that dense). I suppose the RUG variant dies (or turns into Bant, which means that the RUG version still dies), the Domain variant(s) switch to Ardent Plea, and so does Living End because the alternatives suck that much.
Honestly, I remember Teferi, Time Raveler being such a big problem for RUG Footfalls (including after resolving a Crashing Footfalls) that I stabilized on 2 maindeck Cryptic Coat to off the guy quickly and consistently enough; it doesn't look like anyone else ever tried that tech.
Why do I have a hunch that all the calamity beasts want to do is drive out a certain extraplanar invader, then go back to sleep...
...complicating things is that, thanks to Bloomburrow's morphic field, every extraplanar visitor looks like a talking animal.
(On another note, I agree that Zoraline the bat likely isn't from Bloomburrow. That style of dress looks way too fancy, and this is considering that Mabel looks like an Embereth knight from far off. A little bit of me is still convinced that Bloomburrow is an Eldrainian enchanted book-turned-plane that fell off Eldraine at some point Immersturm-the-plane-fell-off-Kaldheim style.)
Hm...2-mana, 3-toughness non-legendary with flying and vigilance, that gets beefier as you draw. Good deal! Its ability to beef itself isn't that great, but you pair it up with the right things and you can pack a wallop for cheap.
Actually, the more I look at this card, the more I'd rather have Ledger Shredder. It isn't long before Ledger Shredder ties this duelist power-wise post-Brainstorm (often 1-2 turns after you play the Shredder). Both of them have the exact same mana cost. Both of them likely loot around as often. Ledger Shredder's buff boost is permanent.
On yesterday's episode, it's increasingly looking like there will be no duel between Kellan and Oko (although there are definitely signs that the relationship will sour). Might Wizards pull a last-minute twist and make the two duel after all?
Yesterday's episode reports that the Big Score is in Maag Taranau. Bizarrely for the theory that the Big Score was crafted by the Fomori (who have an Irish-origin name), Taranau is a word in Welsh, not Irish.
"Brawler" is an unusual and blasé creature type to just add to MTG - they've conventionally been Warriors before, as shown in Streets of New Capenna.
It'll probably be a cactusfolk bard. Wizards has already released art of cactusfolk for this set.
I thought Annie Flash looked like a Métis equivalent (i.e. at least part native).
...Which does beg the question of how old Thunder Junction is, or if it broke off a different plane recently a la Immersturm.
Thanks - I wasn't aware of any of them before. Huh, none of these names appeared in my initial searches...
Give me an example of a transsexual woman-turned-man who has a moustache. (Note the moustache in Yuma's art.) My searches only resulted in transsexual men-turned-women.
Yuma later reports being a "city boy" in a passing remark, so I assume he's just referring to the few years he worked in drag...right?
It'll harm Living End's match-up with blue decks since it can't pull off Violent Outburst at opposing EOT into regular Cascade spell next turn, but Crashing Footfalls never leaned on that tactic as much. Cascade decks combined I can see as being dominant...just nowhere near as much of a problem at this ban time as BR Evoke was just prior to Fury getting banned.
...So Living End takes the bigger plunge. If we're lucky, RUG Crashing Footfalls turns into Bant. If we're not, Wizards just killed a deck sub-archetype because only Domain variants of Crashing Footfalls live. Brilliant.
...Or will Kellan and Oko just end the duel with no contest? The mothership's A First Look at Outlaws of Thunder Junction ominously says this:
And given that he's gonna be called "Kellan, the Kid"....
Honestly, I remember Teferi, Time Raveler being such a big problem for RUG Footfalls (including after resolving a Crashing Footfalls) that I stabilized on 2 maindeck Cryptic Coat to off the guy quickly and consistently enough; it doesn't look like anyone else ever tried that tech.
...complicating things is that, thanks to Bloomburrow's morphic field, every extraplanar visitor looks like a talking animal.
(On another note, I agree that Zoraline the bat likely isn't from Bloomburrow. That style of dress looks way too fancy, and this is considering that Mabel looks like an Embereth knight from far off. A little bit of me is still convinced that Bloomburrow is an Eldrainian enchanted book-turned-plane that fell off Eldraine at some point Immersturm-the-plane-fell-off-Kaldheim style.)
Actually, the more I look at this card, the more I'd rather have Ledger Shredder. It isn't long before Ledger Shredder ties this duelist power-wise post-Brainstorm (often 1-2 turns after you play the Shredder). Both of them have the exact same mana cost. Both of them likely loot around as often. Ledger Shredder's buff boost is permanent.