Magic: The Gathering Thread XXV: 3 Vorthoses barely clinging to sanity and 45 Spikes

[enderlord99]

I was playing against an Azorius deck. I had a Lich's Mastery on the battlefield and cast Approach of the Second Sun. My opponent tried to counter it, so I tutored up a Pact of Negation with my Wishclaw Talisman, and countered their counter. Approach gains 7 life and puts itself 7th; Lich's draws 7 cards, the last of which is Approach. My opponent can see that I have an Approach in hand, knows I already cast one earlier, and (in case you forgot) is playing an Azorius deck. On their turn, they use the Talisman I had to give them to tutor up... something. Remember: they are playing an Azorius deck, know that I have a noncreature spell in hand that will win me the game if it resolves, know that I might potentially have a counterspell myself, and just tutored something.

Since I won next turn in exactly the implied fashion, the only conclusions I can think of are that either my opponent was an idiot, or they were playing an Azorius control deck that somehow didn't have Dovin's Veto in it.

Spore, Techwarrior, and Personification, what do you three think of my most-specific gameplay story yet? Others can answer too, I just know that most of those answers will be "you were both playing control so I don't care"

Please? I want to see at least some reaction to it...

[LaZodiac]

Please? I want to see at least some reaction to it...

I think it's an interesting match! I just didn't think of anything to say at the moment.

Wouldn't Dovin's Veto be out of standard, or is this not standard?

[HolyDraconus]

I think it's an interesting match! I just didn't think of anything to say at the moment.

Wouldn't Dovin's Veto be out of standard, or is this not standard?

It’s not standard. The player just didn’t have any outs. Veto could be “ countered” with cards like ashiok’s erasure, the commit half of commit//memory or mind break trap. If the player expected that then they probably gave up.

[enderlord99]

Wouldn't Dovin's Veto be out of standard, or is this not standard?

I play Historic

[LaZodiac]

It’s not standard. The player just didn’t have any outs. Veto could be “ countered” with cards like ashiok’s erasure, the commit half of commit//memory or mind break trap. If the player expected that then they probably gave up.

Aah, okay. Yeah, Enderlord just stomped this particular opponent into the dirt, then.

I play Historic

Ah. Can you tell I don't really engage with the game part of the trading card game =p?

[enderlord99]

Ah. Can you tell I don't really engage with the game part of the trading card game =p?

That's fair. I don't engage with the "Trading" part and may or may not engage with the "card" part depending on whether digital counts.

[JNAProductions]

So, what's the best place to get info on MtG lore?

[LaZodiac]

So, what's the best place to get info on MtG lore?

The MTG Wiki is a... mostly all around good source, but has some flaws here and there. Otherwise the best option is gonna depend on what lore you're after.

The easiest, and usually best, answer is... to ask me. So. Feel free to ask away!

[JNAProductions]

The MTG Wiki is a... mostly all around good source, but has some flaws here and there. Otherwise the best option is gonna depend on what lore you're after.

The easiest, and usually best, answer is... to ask me. So. Feel free to ask away!

Everything. :P

Because I was talking to a partner of mine, and they explained the Eldrazi and Phyrexia in brief. But I'm also curious about what went on with Urza and Mishra, what's Ugin's deal (he's related to Nico Bolas, right?), Karn (he's the ONLY artificial planeswalker, as far as I know-though did Phyrexian compleation change that?) and other things.

[LaZodiac]

Everything. :P

Because I was talking to a partner of mine, and they explained the Eldrazi and Phyrexia in brief. But I'm also curious about what went on with Urza and Mishra, what's Ugin's deal (he's related to Nico Bolas, right?), Karn (he's the ONLY artificial planeswalker, as far as I know-though did Phyrexian compleation change that?) and other things.

Okay *cracks knuckles* let us do this.

(please note that some of this is pithy and comedic in tone, but not misrepresented in any way. Magic lore is just, very silly sometimes.)

Spoiler: Normal Human Sibling Rivalry

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Urza and Mishra were young nobles sent to a desert archeology site as a form of both getting them out of their parents hair and teaching them something worth learning. Tocasia, the cool old lady archeologist, became a mentor figure for them, and the slowly but surely became part of the crew. Urza was always better with machines, while Mishra was more a people person, but both were great artificers and great at unearthing ancient tech. One day, in the Caves of Koilos, they found a strange gate like structure with a power stone set into the controls, and upon touching it were both zapped with energy, splitting the stone in half. This is the beginning of the end for the brothers, even if they don't realize it.

Urza calls the stones the Mightstone and the Weakstone, due to what they do. Urza's Mightstone lets him empower things, and Mishra's weakstone lets him drain the energy from things (but also power them too cause power stones just naturally do this, Urza's is just really good at it don't think about it). Mishra, annoyed at the fact that his brother is kind of better at him in some things and has the cooler rock in people's opinion, gets into a fight with him... that ends up killing Tocasia. Oops. They split up; Mishra running into the Fallaji who are desert nastymen, and Urza goes off to the (still desert but less nasty) big city to be a clockmaker, a profession that will not kill anyone. Literally millions of people will die because of this.

Time passes. Mishra people-pleases his way to top adviser to the ruler of his people (and slips into his throne nicely when he dies). Urza accidentally marries a princess and becomes the kingdom's head artificer. During a peace talk between the two nations, Mishra declares all out war, and Urza responds with even further all out war than anyone ever imagined possible. The results are ruinous, the brothers treating the world as their own personal 4X game, stripmining the continent and building a near unending machine of death and war. All of this is spurred on in the shadows by the Phyrexians, who are manipulating Mishra into not giving in to the small part of him that says hey maybe don't do this, and Urza... bluntly, Urza's autistic (one of my favorite examples of it in fiction!) and doesn't really know how to stop, at this point. It's clear he wants to, and that even as he secludes himself and focuses on the war and becomes a crueler, nastier person, there is a part of him that wants it to end too.

And then it does; Urza faces Mishra at Argive and sees the monster of machine and man he's become, and uses the Sylex to end the war, eradicating the bulk of their machine forces... and just about shattering reality in the process. This locks nine planes into the same sorta demisphere of reality, able to cross a little easier than most but otherwise completely shut off from reality. It also plunges Dominaria into a brutal ice-age.

There is more to Urza's story, but I'll call it here on Dominaria's greatest monster.

Spoiler: Normal Dragon Sibling Rivalry

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Ugin is Nicol Bolas's twin brother. Both were spawned from the Ur-dragon itself, and as such have a great deal of power behind them- though they were born rather weak, in part due to their twinning. Unlike dragons that know their name at birth, Ugin and Bolas named each other. This is the beginning of the end for the brothers, even if they don't realize it.

As they grew, Ugin became a more meditative guy, learning from humans the art of magic and philosophy, and Bolas... mostly just learned how to manipulate people. More of a people person than Ugin, who was more interested in the mechanisms of reality than the actual things that resulted from those mechanisms. Eventually the two get into conflict, due to Ugin being kind of an absent brother and Bolas being a power hungry monster that manipulated entire cultures of dragon slayers into killing his enemies for him. Ugin's spark ignited first, at the sheer horror of his brother's depths of evil, and Bolas's spark ignited out of raw jealousy and anger. They fought long and hard across the multiverse, but eventually, within the demiplane known as the Meditation Realm, Bolas slew Ugin.

Thankfully, Ugin's spirituality, his magic, and the fact that the Meditation Realm is and always has been his, meant that he didn't quite die. Old-walkers are a hell of a thing. Thus, he is reborn as the spirit dragon, and immediately sets to work on a plan to kill his brother. A plan that fails miserably due to his inability to understand mortal beings- a trait Bolas also shares and leads to his own downfall, but then they are twins. Ugin dies for real, which ruins a lot of days for everyone on Ixalan, but kinda sorta makes Tarkir (the plane they're fighting on) marginally better in every way except that dragons go extinct, a thing that realistically shouldn't have millions of people die as a result. Millions of people die as a result. Shoulda tried being a clockmaker instead.

Thankfully, Ugin's spirituality, his magic, and the fact that his bones are incredibly power, means he was able to haunt Sarkhan (long story) into time traveling back in time through his ribcage to prevent the actual dying for real part, making Tarkir marginally worse in every way except that dragons don't go extinct, which Sarkhan is fine with but mostly everyone else disagrees with both in and out of universe. But it stops Narset from dying and she's the first best autistic rep in Magic, and the first "explicitly stated" and not "so directly implied that you'd be silly not to accept it as canon".

Anyway, with Ugin no longer dead, he can now proceed to help with the Eldrazi, which you mostly know about. And my help I mean look at them, and not really do much, because there isn't much he can actually do to put the Eldrazi back in their cage, so he's just gonna observe Zendikar's destruction while planning how to deal with that. Luckily, Jace and the Gatewatch show up to murder these two beings that he believes are instrincilly tied to the fabric of the universe, and since he does not understand why mortal beings care that millions of them are dying in droves, he gets fussy about it- but since he's a nice guy unlike Bolas, he lets it slide.

Then he helps beat Bolas by making Jace fake Bolas's death so Ugin can drag him back into the meditation realm, sparkless and blind, so he can watch his brother suffer for all eternity as his immortal jailer. Because Ugin is the good brother.

Spoiler: Being Karn is Suffering

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Karn is a silver golem that Urza made during his planeswalker days. Still wracked with grief over the Everything, now that Dominaria is back on track and not doomed to die, he decides to invent time travel to go back and fix every single mistake he's ever made. Silver is the only physical material that survives going backwards in time, so he builds an entire sentient robot to do the job- and then treats said sentient robot, Karn, like an object instead of the person he is for his entire life, treating him as coldly and cruelly as you could possibly imagine. This is mostly because the time travel experiment doesn't work; it explodes the time machine, briefly rendering Karn across all time at once, blowing up the school and infesting it with time pockets. This is partly due to sabotage by a Phyrexian agent and partly because time travel is just about impossible with regards to going backwards, and nothing will change this. Shoulda got some dragon ribcages my dude.

Eventually, Urza just... kinda leaves Karn in a closet forever? He shuffles him away with all his other failed projects, and after a lot of time passes he joins up with the Weatherlight, a magical airship full of other failed experiments of Urza that I won't get too in-depth into because it is not exactly about Karn, necessarily. The long and short of it all is, when Urza finally dies, his spark goes to Karn, making him the first artificial planeswalker- and only, because while Phyrexia is compleating walkers, making them part artifice and part meat, I wouldn't necessarily say that means they're artificial. All the Phyrexian compleation advancements have done is allowed them to keep the soul tied to the compleated corpse, which is less artificial planeswalker and more "planeswalker trapped in their own body". Wildly ****ed up, but that's par for the course when it comes to the Demon Machines.

With Karn's newfound spark, he goes about exploring the multiverse as one does. Unfortunately for him, part of his creation was having Xantcha's heartstone put into him. She was Urza's trans companion during his planeswalker days, an ex phyrexian spy who is amazing and cool and great, and Urza doing this would be like The Doctor putting Rose's heart into like, a Cyberman frame to make a new person out of it. It's ****ed up. Urza what the hell. Anyway, because of that heart... a new Black Oil is being leaked out into places he goes. This is most unfortunate on his artificial plane Argentum, where a little bit of oil ****s up the entire plane entirely, first making it become Mirrodin (named after Memnarch, the Mirai turned sentient wizard robot) then, eventually, New Phyrexia. When Karn went home to try and stop this, he got got and compleated into the New Father of Machines, a replacement for old Yawgmoth. Thanks to the sacrifice of Venser, teleporting his own spark and heart into Karn using his artificier's knowledge, it turned Karn back into a regular robot person who can planeswalk again, and is immune to compleation. Hooray! Horrified with everything that had happened, Karn goes back to Dominaria to spend many years trying to find the Sylex Urza used to blow up Phyrexia so he can blow up Phyrexia.

[Lord Raziere]

Everything. :P

Because I was talking to a partner of mine, and they explained the Eldrazi and Phyrexia in brief. But I'm also curious about what went on with Urza and Mishra, what's Ugin's deal (he's related to Nico Bolas, right?), Karn (he's the ONLY artificial planeswalker, as far as I know-though did Phyrexian compleation change that?) and other things.

Well I'm not Zodi bu-aaaah ninja'd

Spoiler: shorter version of what Zodi already said

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Urza and Mishra: two brothers long ago, both great artificers, Mishra basically was once friendly but then they both got things called the mightstone and weakstone at the Cave of Koilos, Urza got the first, Mishra got the second and they grew more hostile to each other after that, Mishra when drunk tried to take the mightstone one night then ran away then they fought a whole war over those stones while Mishra was corrupted and seduced into being a phyrexian pawn and basically their final confrontation Urza blew up the continent and ushered in an ice age while also ascending to planeswalkerhood in the same blast. Mishra was jealous of Urza at some point but I don't remember if it was always there or if the Weakstone was just always corrupting Mishra. either way, Urza felt bad about his brother being a phyrexian pawn and swore to destroy Phyrexia over the loss. somehow even though the two stones became apart of Urzaas he ascended he wasn't corrupted by whispers of Phyrexia after that, I don't know why. (or maybe he did, considering Urza briefly turned traitor near the end of his assault of Phyrexia)

Ugin is a similar deal, being the twin brother of Nicol Bolas long ago both born from the Ur-Dragon, when they were young Nico Bolas saw his sister die to people and dogs killing her and wanted to avenge her while Ugin was more concerned finding their other siblings, they climbed a mountain and Ugin expressed wonder at the multiverse while Nico Bolas wanted to get stronger so he wouldn't end up like his sister, and they just kind of grew more and more apart from there.

Karn was actually invented by Urza, his original purpose was to be this silver golem to be sent back in time by Urza during the days when Urza was teaching Teferi and the Academy, because the time travel rules said that only silver could survive going back in time, but these experiments never amounted to much. Karn didn't become a planeswalker until the end of Apocalypse however, when Urza and Gerrard used that ultimate weapon to get rid of Yawgmoth which did A Thing in a big flash of light and Yawgmoth was just....gone somehow and somehow in that moment, Karn ascended to planeswalker hood? it was never really explained what Urza's weapon actually did or how it worked, it was just kind of this plot device thing made of various things he put together that somehow did what it was supposed to... then disappeared. Karn was like apart of it, and so were the two stones. and yeah he was the only artificial planeswalker due to that happening.

[JNAProductions]

Okay. More on Phyrexia and the Eldrazi, then. Also general setting conceits?

And a huge thank you-this is some great content!

[Lord Raziere]

Okay. More on Phyrexia and the Eldrazi, then. Also general setting conceits?

And a huge thank you-this is some great content!

Phyrexia? well, the old Phyrexia was different from the new one mainly in that was pure Black Mana in composition and philosophy- same "we are the perfect lifeforms through combination of flesh and metal" thinking and such, but less unity and more betrayal and ranking climbing and darwinism. It had a bunch of spheres that all worked in this hellish screwed up ecology. oddly enough, Yawgmoth didn't actually create it, it was created by some unnamed ancient evil planeswalker that died before Yawgmoth came along and wasn't too different from Mirrodin in how it looked, but Yawgmoth came along and like, started out as this human medic guy of the Thran Empire, discovered this process called Phyresis which he originally made to like cure a disease the Than had then tragedy happened involving the love of his life, and well, things spiraled downwards from there and Yawgmoth became a spirit/god of the plane at some point. Yawgmoth NEVER became a planeswalker, just to be clear.

as for the Eldrazi, didn't read those books but what I know of them is that they're basically Cthulhu monsters/eldritch abominations. they don't really fit into the normal paradigm, which is why they're colorless, they're alien, beyond in a sense.

as for general setting conceits? well there the two big ones is that the multiverse of MTG is divided into "planes" each plane being generally a single world with its own rules and magic and what not. the second conceit is that the only people who can naturally travel between the planes are planeswalkers through the Spark, and how the spark ignites for them to do that, is basically random but tends to be dramatic and planeswalkers tend to be rare. Old Planeswalkers used to be godlike beings that were like, basically made of magic, ageless and near unkillable, could create planes and such and so on, new planeswalkers that started showing up after Time Spiral are more like regular magic users but a bit more powerful and can travel between planes.

Mana in general is harnessed from the land, the type of land determines the color of magic, but colors aren't just land, they're philosophies and beliefs and things associated with each other- someone has to on some level, truly be in tune with a colors philosophy and way of doing things to wield its magic. a selfless knightly hero type is probably going to be White Mana, a scoundrel rogue type is probably going to be black mana, a scholarly sort is probably going to be Blue mana and so on. of course, color combinations can exist as well as people shifting colors and as they shift philosophies and ways of thinking and thus the magic they wield. a notable example of this is Kamahl, the protagonist of the Otaria books shifting from a Red-mana barbarian type of character to a Green-mana druid type of character.

finally it is possible for non-planeswalkers to travel between planes, but it requires powerful artifice to initiate what is called planeshifting, which has only been achieved twice in MTG canon- once by the Weatherlight an invention of Urza, and second by a gate used by Nico bolas to invade Ravnica. Well three times, if we count Yawgmoth making the entire plane of Rath to overlay onto Dominaria for the invasion....well four given the Thran made a cave-portal to Phyrexia in the first place that Yawgmoth went through to get there...

other than that, conceits and assumptions can vary widely between planes. various planes are full of specific magics and such that don't appear anywhere else. this can be great there is a lot of great settings in MtG that don't conform to normal fantasy setting assumptions.

[LaZodiac]

Okay. More on Phyrexia and the Eldrazi, then. Also general setting conceits?

And a huge thank you-this is some great content!

Okay, SO.

Spoiler: One of my favorite villains somehow.

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Long ago, before the Brother War (but after the Elder Dragon War) there was the Thran, just about world spanning civilization of super geniuses who were also very human supremacist if we're being honest. They did not care much for non humans, and their gold and white super cities were basically closed to them. They were super cool and super ****ed up but in a normal way. But then one day, Doctor Yawgmoth came to town, treating the creeping plague slowly seeping into their cities. This is an act that, reasonable, would not have killed millions of people. Unfortunately, Yawgmoth is Evil, and he was the one spreading the plague for his own scientific desires, and every city and town he went to was left an empty ruin of corpses wracked with disease so bad that it takes like a dozen of these before anyone can try to warn another city, and even then he's half way through destroying them from the inside when they do.

The city in question is the Thran capita, lead by Glacian, a powerful artificer of immense power and no social skills (are you noticing a pattern with Dominarian people?) and his incredibly hot and genius wife Rebec, who is better than him in every way except one and that one way is "completely weak to any sort of flirting at all". Yawgmoth ingratiates himself in the city, healing the sick and injured, and even becomes friends with the people of Koilos, who is anyone who is ever too sick or criminal to exist in their perfect society. They get kicked down into the caves below the town. Nothing bad will come of this.

Glacien, turbo genius that he is, has invented Power Stones, these magical crystalizations of energy that fuel their robotic empire. But he can feel something... more, that he's just on the edges of understanding. This is when Dyfed, a planeswalker who has been watching her home plane for centuries, waiting for someone to naturally come across the realization that other worlds exist. Glacien was so very nearly there that she decided to come down and push him the rest of the way... and unfortunately Yawgmoth is also there. She uses her powers as an oldwalker to teleport Glacien, Rebec, Yawg, and a variety of scientists about the multiverse to show off how cool things are, and all the while Yawgmoth (who is already jealous of Glacien, this nerd, having a hot wife) that his inner inclinations as a genuinely evil bastard come out, and he manages to sneak attac Dyfed in the secret of night. He keeps her in place with a magic knife constantly vibrating in her brain to stop her god powers from ****ing him over, and begins studying how sparks work with an unending desire to make them his. He also starts cultivating a power stone inside of Glacien, by having Gix, one of his most trusted minions, stab him with a corrupted shard of power stone.

Long story short Yawgmoth becomes the defacto ruler of the Thran, Rebec still out of reach since she just doesn't like the guy that way. He builds a portal to a plane of natural artifice (that is to say, every creature here is mechanical, but grows as a biological thing) and starts taking it over (easy given it has no sapient life) and turning the people in Koilos and the Thran capital into mutant meat robots. Eventually the rest of Dominaria stands united against him, so he starts dropping power stone bombs (devices that make power stones as a means of attack), eradicating countless lives and eventually making Rebec realize that hey, maybe this guy isn't a good friend. She tricks Yawgmoth into getting stuck on the other side of the planar portal, helps get Dyfed finally Dead For Real, and cracks the stone that was inside Glacien in half so that the portal stops working- it will later become the Might Stone and Weak Stone, and also later Urza's eyes, and also later Karn's.

Tens of thousands of years pass, and Yawgmoth continues to cultivate his hellish plane until it becomes the nine hellish spheres of Phyrexia. He's got dragon engine monstrosities, hordes of flesh-machine hybrids, newts that serve as sleeper agents due to being humanoid in appearance but machinery underneath. Thanks to Mishra and Urza crackling the portal open enough by touching the power stone, Gix got back to Dominaria, and starts compleating others using Yawgmoth science, and slowly creating the means to get other agents through- though it's always difficult, since Yawg can't come over himself, his science linking himself so purely to the plane that leaving is now fundementally impossible unless he was somehow able to start overlaying his own plane with Dominaria. Good thing that'll never happen.

Anyway, Urza does many things to stop their machinations. Creating a world wide death-noise that kills enough people in the aftereffects that it is classifiable as a world ending apocalypse, ruthlessly rampaging through the spheres like the Doom Slayer till his despair and wounds overcome his anger and he bounces, creating numerous special projects designed to exterminate Phyrexian in one way or another, creating a school that is fundementally dedicated to improving themselves at any cost for the express purpose of fighting Phyrexia... the list goes on. None of it sticks. Yawg's forces end up infecting a small plane called Rath and using it as a staging ground to begin infesting Dominaria for really real this time- Urza fights against them in a three pronged war, his own army of mutant robots that aren't quite as ****ed up as Phyrexia, the Weatherlight crew and all of the various things connected to it, and himself along with eight other oldwalkers in mech suits diving down into Phyrexia itself.

Ultimately, while the loses are high, this is a correct choice- if only because he succeeds. And by that we mean the metathran (his mutant army) get compleated and wiped out, the titans either bail, die, or are traitors (by his own intention, he wanted an excuse to use them as nukes long story) and yes this includes himself Urza gets so ****ed up even he eventually caves to Yawgmoth a bit and the Weatherlight... well, it successfully destroys Yawgmoth, saving the day! Yawgmoth is dead, never coming back, and everyone is better fore it.

There's a reason Urza is considered a good guy only be contrast, and that's because Yawgmoth really is just that worse.

Spoiler: Eldritch Horror Friend Time

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the Eldrazi are a lot simpler to explain! The three titans are eldritch creatures from the blind eternities that have no true known origin or purpose, though Ugin suspects that they are vital to the health of the multiverse. They roamed from plane to plane, reaching down into worlds and manifesting as the three Titans, Ulamog of the Ceaseless Hunger, Kozilek of the Butchered Truth, and Emrakul of the Aeons Torn. All three drain the land dry of mana, twisting and corrupting bits of it; Ulamog mutates the world and creates beasts of horrorible strength, Kozilek warps reality and time, breaking minds, and Emrakul mutates the soul, corrupting the flesh from within.

Long ago, Ugin asked Sorin and his apprentice/daughter figure/love interest (vampires *rolling eyes emoji) Nahiri the Lithomancer to help seal the Eldrazi. They wish to do it on Zendikar because Zendikar is a beefy, powerful world with a very active, living soul, and Nahiri is like "hey this is my home and I'm not too keen on this but I agree due to the destruction I've seen them cause on the condition we ensure my plane is safe". Ugin insists he will be around to help if things go bad, and Sorin says he will always be on call for her because after all they're good friends.

Ugin immediately goes off to die in battle against Bolas and Sorin immediately creates Avacyn, shielding his plane of Innistrad off from all external contact, essentially cutting his phone lines. They had one job. Nahiri meanwhile sleeps within Zendikar, awaiting the times she needs to assist... and unfortunately, these times do show up. She has to fix the network of Hedrons that keep the Eldrazi sealed. She has to deal with the eldrazi cultists formed by vampires (who are evolved form of Eldrazi spawn after many years), she has to punch Ob Nixilis in the throat until he loses his spark. The usual for a plane guardian guardian. And she has to do this alone, because no one will answer the damn phone.

Then, the worst happens; the Eldrazi seal is loosening. She can't fix it alone. She cannot call on Ugin. She goes to Sorin. Events Occur that are not necessary to delve into at this time.

But the good news is, a couple hundred years later the seal gets broken! Oops! This is good because it means now Jace and his merry band of planeswalkers can... immediately nope out for like a couple years more. But THEN, THEN they can do something about it, and they do so, devising a plan to reseal the Eldrazi since okay sure fine Ugin we'll try it, and when that fails Jace pulls the wholeness of Ulamog and Kozilek into Zendikar, which almost destroys it utterly, but the power of lesbian and pansexual fire lasers (I'm being serious) destroys the two of them utterly. Ugin is pissed at this, notes they come in threes and that the third is missing, but that's a story for another time.

Meanwhile on Innistrad, for completely reasonable but also ****ed up reasons, Nahiri has been orchestrating a way to call Emrakul to Innistrad and corrupt its guardian, Avacyn, to get revenge on Sorin for leaving her on read and dumping her in the torturous hell prison of demons for hundreds of years. This works, pulling in Emrakul, who makes the gothic horror plane go eldritch horror mad for awhile- thankfully Jace and friends save the day by sealing Emrakul inside the moon.

And be save the day I mean "Emrakul decides no one is really ready for her yet, and this resistance is annoying, so sure she'll go take a nap in the moon". It's legitimately one of the best magic stories ever written, my girlfriend's personal favorite, and a highlight of the series. Read Eldritch Moon, especially The Promised end. I'm kinder to most of the story writing in this series than most but even the most cynical of vorthos love this story, if not the surroundings.

That's the last of the Eldrazi we've seen thus far.

======

Important addendums to the "general setting conceit" stuff Raziere posted.

Every since the Great Mending 60 years ago, no one* who lacks a spark can planeswalk. As the asterisk implies there are the MOST MINOR of exceptions, which I will list at the end of this. Also any oldwalker (planeswalker before the Mending) could take people with'em to other planes, because they were effectively gods, but post mending planeswalkers are simply people who can survive the journey from plane to plane, and have the capability of doing so.

All the mana stuff is correct, though I'll note unscrupulous thief men can also be red, and horrific fascists ladies in robes can be white as well as black. Colour is not so ram rod stringent as DND alignment.

*this funky little asterisk will note the exceptions to post mending non-walkers transporting plans. The Planar Gate made on Kaladesh that can only move artificial things being used to teleport zombies encased in very very thick magical stone that is just enough to protect them. Any ghost that can possess someone who is a planeswalker, or an object they carry. Any non-walker who a ghost who happens to be a planeswalker possesses though this has the possibility of fusing their brains together and also will never ever show up again. That's it. They're VERY strict about this... until March of the Machine happens, which is going to shake things up Fiercely.

[JNAProductions]

Partner never mentioned lesbian lasers. Shame on them! :P

Also DAMN. That’s some cool stuff!

[LaZodiac]

Partner never mentioned lesbian lasers. Shame on them! :P

Also DAMN. That’s some cool stuff!

Some people don't like to bring up Chandra and Nissa's relationship for multiple reasons, primarily "the way it ends makes it all kinda sad" but that'll be for Later.

But yeah, Chandra and Nissa combine their strength and care for each other, Nissa uses her connection with the land to feed all of Zendikar's magic into Chandra, and Chandra incinerates the two Titans with a gigantic flame laser blast.

Later on in the Kaladesh story, Nissa just hugging Chandra lets her do this again (but much weaker since not fueled by an entire plane) to break them out of a prison designed to stop magic users, making effectively a welding torch of lesbian fire.

[JNAProductions]

I love that.

And now I want to cast The Promised End, find out my opponent has Imprisoned in the Moon in hand, and cast it on her.

My magic friends do have that card, but none of us have Eldrazi.

[Emmerlaus]

I love that.

And now I want to cast The Promised End, find out my opponent has Imprisoned in the Moon in hand, and cast it on her.

My magic friends do have that card, but none of us have Eldrazi.

Your solution is to proxy those cards. The MTG community has become a lot more accepting of proxies cards at the table.

[JNAProductions]

Your solution is to proxy those cards. The MTG community has become a lot more accepting of proxies cards at the table.

I mean, I’d have to cast the Eldrazi at JUST the right time to pull it off.
But is fun to muse about!

[Emmerlaus]

I mean, I’d have to cast the Eldrazi at JUST the right time to pull it off.
But is fun to muse about!

If you play the commander format, there is plenty of ways to "polymorph" a huge Eldrazi at the table.

Another solution to satisfy that urge would be to have a cute Chandra/Nissa artwork made as a card alter on Imprisonned in the Moon. So you wont need all that set up lol

[LaZodiac]

If you play the commander format, there is plenty of ways to "polymorph" a huge Eldrazi at the table.

Another solution to satisfy that urge would be to have a cute Chandra/Nissa artwork made as a card alter on Imprisonned in the Moon. So you wont need all that set up lol

Cute, but you'd want that for Fall of the Titans and/or Bonds of Mortality, since those are the cards that primarily feature Chandra and Nissa doing their thing, respectively.

Imprison in the Moon is more Nissa and Tamiyo's doing... with the caveat that their intent was to read the Iron Scroll of Serra's Song, nuking the plane and killing Emrakul along with them, and Emma modified it and puppeteered Tamiyo into reading it.

[JNAProductions]

If you play the commander format, there is plenty of ways to "polymorph" a huge Eldrazi at the table.

Another solution to satisfy that urge would be to have a cute Chandra/Nissa artwork made as a card alter on Imprisonned in the Moon. So you wont need all that set up lol

That's not exactly what I wanted.
What I want is specifically to play Emrakul, use her ability to control my opponent's next turn, then using that turn I control them, cast Imprisoned In The Moon on my own Emrakul. Just for fun, basically.

Also, does anyone have any cool RPG systems for running an MtG-style game? Freeform obviously works, but I do like systems.

[Lord Raziere]

That's not exactly what I wanted.
What I want is specifically to play Emrakul, use her ability to control my opponent's next turn, then using that turn I control them, cast Imprisoned In The Moon on my own Emrakul. Just for fun, basically.

Also, does anyone have any cool RPG systems for running an MtG-style game? Freeform obviously works, but I do like systems.

Hm.....

I'd say M&M3e personally, or its free improved fan counterpart, M&MQDe. or any other superhero system. there is a lot of things you can do with MtG magic and they can get pretty powerful, even with new walkers, so treating them as superheroes seems to be a good way to go in my mind.

[JNAProductions]

I've heard you reference M&MQDe before, but I don't recall seeing a link. Help me out and provide one? Google isn't helping me enough.

[Lord Raziere]

I've heard you reference M&MQDe before, but I don't recall seeing a link. Help me out and provide one? Google isn't helping me enough.

Here it is

but thats just my opinion, I mostly like QDe because its like normal mutants and masterminds, but separates away the points you get for power from points you get for utility for maximum character customization without sacrificing effectiveness.

[JNAProductions]

Here it is

but thats just my opinion, I mostly like QDe because its like normal mutants and masterminds, but separates away the points you get for power from points you get for utility for maximum character customization without sacrificing effectiveness.

Thank you. I won’t discuss it more here, since this ain’t the thread for it, but I’m looking at it now. :)

[LaZodiac]

Massive card and story reveal for March of the Machines. Go forward, but carefully; the demon machine is coming.

The Highlights
- basic lands that show the Realmbreaker's invasion branches, reaching through phyrexian symbol shaped portals. Each land also has a hidden phyrexian shape in it.
- Combo cards! Legendaries together, united to fight back against the machine! Drana and Linvala, Yargle and Multani, Thali and the Gitrog! No sin, no hate, no rivalry stands in the face of evil this vast.
- Invasions! These are likely the Battle cards, each showing the battle on another plane- including old favorites like Mercadia and Shandalar!
- DFC Compleation cards! Legendary creatures that has embraced the oil. The example in art they show is Ayra, the Morgan Le Fey type from Eldraine... and for card, they show Heliod. The lore team has noted the gods were compleated by compleating their worshippers, and the implication is... Theros is entirely ****ed.
- DFC Praetors! Each Praetor has shed their nom de plum, and are simply who they are: Elesh Norn, Jin-Gitaxis, and so on, and each can flip to become a saga that represents their desires for completion. We see Jin's- the Progress Engine!
- Gain lands, each showcasing one aspect of the invasion, both fighting against it and fighting for each. Each on a different plane!
- Chandra, Beacon of Hope, a flaming signal fire that'll save the multiverse... but in the process, confront and kill her love. My heart...
- Elspeth is also going to do something turbo cool!
- PLANECHASE IS BACK BABY, with the commander decks!
- And we round ot our coverage with Omnath, now fully complete with all five mana in her... and fully compleat, as she has become Sheoldred's new body. Welp.

[thethird]

Such a big opportunity missed, why is march of the machines releasing on April.

- And we round ot our coverage with Omnath, now fully complete with all five mana in her... and fully compleat, as she has become Sheoldred's new body. Welp.

By new body you mean that Sheoldred is now living within Omnath? Poor Zendikar can't catch a break, first the Eldrazi now the Phyrexian. If Omnath is a representation of Zendikar's mana and now has been compleated, what would that mean to the plane?

Ditto for what Jin Gitaxias is compleating on Theros.

[LaZodiac]

Such a big opportunity missed, why is march of the machines releasing on April.



By new body you mean that Sheoldred is now living within Omnath? Poor Zendikar can't catch a break, first the Eldrazi now the Phyrexian. If Omnath is a representation of Zendikar's mana and now has been compleated, what would that mean to the plane?

Ditto for what Jin Gitaxias is compleating on Theros.

Based on Sheoldred's art, her upper torso is currently connected to a large, bulbous orb of extreme energy, and she is crackling with dark red power... which looks quite a bit like Omnath. Not satisfied with her Dreadnaught body, she's gone full godzilla.

Omnath, while representative of mana, is not the world soul of Zendikar, and not directly tied to Zendikar's actual reserver of aether. She's more a being formed from it. This DOES seem quite bad for Zendikar, but we know the Roil is fighting back with all the relentless fury that it can muster.

Theros though, Theros seemed turbo ****ed. I think of all the planes it is getting hit the worst. Near complete destruction- and yet somehow it could be worse. Due to the influx of mana Mirrodin's suns gave the Praetor's, they have enough of a personality to not fully and loyally devote themselves to Yawg, which means no theogenesis will form a Yawgmoth god-entity on Theros... which genuinely feels scarier than just a compleat Heliod.

[thethird]

Based on Sheoldred's art, her upper torso is currently connected to a large, bulbous orb of extreme energy, and she is crackling with dark red power... which looks quite a bit like Omnath. Not satisfied with her Dreadnaught body, she's gone full godzilla.

Omnath, while representative of mana, is not the world soul of Zendikar, and not directly tied to Zendikar's actual reserver of aether. She's more a being formed from it. This DOES seem quite bad for Zendikar, but we know the Roil is fighting back with all the relentless fury that it can muster.

That would be interesting, haven't seen Sheoldred's new art, I will eventually :P But it's interesting. Would that mean that Sheoldred could get other color mana? Would make Sheoldred funny if it survives, it can bring back Old Phyrexia with it's black core, while still having some of the New Phyrexia multicolor. And Sheoldred being black, and fed up with Elesh Norn, could just simply bolt. Have every other Phyrexian be defeated, have they found ways around how to defeat them again if they ever come up again, but leave the door open.

Theros though, Theros seemed turbo ****ed. I think of all the planes it is getting hit the worst. Near complete destruction- and yet somehow it could be worse. Due to the influx of mana Mirrodin's suns gave the Praetor's, they have enough of a personality to not fully and loyally devote themselves to Yawg, which means no theogenesis will form a Yawgmoth god-entity on Theros... which genuinely feels scarier than just a compleat Heliod.

Aren't the Phyrexian compleating people in Theros, and the believe of those people influence the gods? I doubt that Yawg would form, the therosian(?) don't really worship Yawg. And Jin Gitaxias is pretty atheistic, had it been Elesh Norn going after Theros then maybe she would become a god, or a god version of her would be created.

I wonder what will happen to Ephara. On one hand she is the goddess of cities, and that's where a lot of people are going to rail to, on the other her general portfolio is the most aligned with what Jin Gitaxias (and thus the progress engine) care about.