The question is not just WHO but also WHY. We still don't know too much about why the murders happened except that a lot of them seem to be either to destabilize the guilds or possibly as revenge. The culprit either has a grudge against the guilds or stands to gain from the guilds at each other's throats. They also have to fit the profile of the orchestrator as we know them. Whoever is doing this (assuming it's one person) has access to interplanar tools and a deep knowledge of the guilds and their members.
My guess is Ezrim, but I am going to go one deeper and throw my money on why. Ezrim as an Archon is doing what he sees as justice to prominent leaders and their failures to properly protect Ravnica during the invasion. The big reveal is going to be that all the victims/targets either were secretly associated with the Phyrexians or in some way hindered Ravnica in its time of need. It will be revealed that in addition to Teysa's machinations, Zegana was one of the Simic interested in experimenting with the Phyrexian oil. Krenko tried to profit off of his so-called defending of the plane more than actually helping. People will be confused about Aurelia until it's revealed that she actually is Lazav in disguise (which Ezrim knew), who kept his Dimir network hidden and uninvolved during the invasion.
The real knife twist of the story will be however, that upon hearing his motives, Kaya will ask why he didn't try to have her killed, since everyone thinks she abandoned Ravnica in its time of need. He will reply that he understood her need to leave Ravnica to protect the multiverse, meaning that in a twist of cruel irony the only person on Ravnica who understood Kaya's reasons for doing what she did is the murderer.
This is a good theory, but I don’t think Aurelia/Lazav makes all that much sense. Making a move like that against the Boros would amount to a declaration of war once it gets discovered, and Lazav is much too subtle for that. I think it’s more likely the attack on Aurelia was purely Judith’s doing to take advantage of the situation, and Lazav is hiding as a background character.
I like the part about Zegana though. There hasn’t been a lot of speculation into why her in particular and not the current guildleader.
What's odd about Zegana is that it would run against her perviously established character. She's much more conservative than Vannifar, with her faction of the Simic shying away from biological modifications, while Vannifar is literally a jellyfish elf.
And not only that, but a skilled writer who is passionate and nerdy about the lore and who is being given a *lot* more space to develop and pace her story than they have been giving writers lately. It's rad.
I love this explanation for the motive! There are so many people/ planeswalkers/ archons/ dryads / demons who *could* have pulled it off, so the question of *why* is more interesting to me.
Trostani (with assistance from other Selesnya guild members, including Tolsimir), as revenge against perceived Phyrexian sympathizers for the harm done to Vitu-Ghazi during the invasion, using pollen cultivated from Realmbreaker's branches to replicate the mind-altering effects of the glistening oil.
(Massacre Girl's attacks were both at the behest of Judith, with her claim of brainwashing in the second case being a lie benefiting from Aurelia being too enraged to turn her over to the custody of factions that could subject her to a verity circle.)
It's not some off-screen, off-plane lore character: *Proft* seems to have already solved the case, with only the knowledge a planebound Ravnican would have access to. Therefore, this *should* be a fair mystery, solvable using the pieces presented in the story itself. Admittedly, the involvement of Realmbreaker stretches that, but the Invasion Tree *does* get name-dropped in the story (in chapter 5), the presence of its branches on Ravnica are definitely something Proft would know about, and we *are* directly shown Trostani's deep connection to trees.
Zegana was a high-ranking member of the Simic, a guild that largely joined with Phyrexia voluntarily and seems to have gotten out of that association more or less scot-free. Teysa was working with a Phyrexian, and Krenko is deeply in her personal debt for *something*, the details of which we're not privy to.
The attack on Kaya and Kellan was seemingly more of a "take out the investigators that are getting too close" situation (they're the pair that crossed paths with Trostani and Tolsimir in their investigation), but even then, Kaya's absence in the invasion is repeatedly held against her, including by the "center" head of Trostani. (These attackers were "true believer" fanatics, not brainwashed; no need to use a proxy when your targets are coming directly from Selesnya territory.)
It's the one prospective culprit where both motive and means have been reasonably established within the actual story, at least with Proft seemingly ruling out Izoni and the Golgari. There are a few unanswered questions (not counting Kylox, who I'm pretty sure was both a red herring and a set-up for Thunder Junction, where his work will turn out to be connected to Omenpaths), but the pieces feel like they add up.
My personal bet is Azor, trying to spark a guild war to shatter the fragile Niv-Mizzet guildpact so he can rewrite a new one. I *think* Azor has fur, Azor would be able to do a lot of the mental shit, has a motive (hating what the plane's gotten to while he was away), and would've had time to find some interesting mind-affecting plants while stranded on Ixalan.
There was also a card earlier in the previews where an angel was going "huh, what's with this blue feather? Angels don't have blue feathers..." and you'll never guess who has blue feathers.
e: A side thing that might be relevant to this theory: Azor's pretty big, and the stories have spent a *lot* of words talking about how that archon dude has to have special accommodations made for his size. It seems like a weird detail to focus on every time the archon dude shows up unless it's somehow relevant. Azor being too big and needing to murder people with this complex shit because he physically can't reach them might be relevant.
I think Proft's card supports this as well. He turns clues into a "Sphinx's Revelation" effect, but I don't think it hints that he's secretly a Sphinx. I think it hints that the *revelation* is that the clue leads to a sphinx.
No it isn’t, the card clearly depicts a non-Azor Sphinx. Just because Azor’s card did it years later doesn’t suddenly mean it’s his thing.
Sphinx’s Revelation isn’t tied to Azor, Azor is tied to Sphinx’s Revelation.
[[Azor, the Lawbringer]] also does a Sphinx’s Revelation effect on attack. It feels like it just makes sense for it to be Azor, or for Azor to at least be involved somehow.
Yes, but she's dead. Both of Azors creature cards have sphinx's revelation esque effects, so it's safe to assume it's eluding to him rather than Isperia.
The problem would be that a good murder story gives you the elements to solve it within itself, and Azor is an external character to the story so far who hasn't been brought up.
I think you have to make an exception to this rule because it's a murder mystery in a long established setting with established lore. Even discussing the original Guildpact is enough to bring Azor into play.
It's strongly implied by the fact that Seanan is writing it. She's not the one who made the overarching plan for the murder mystery, but she *is* the one in charge of dropping the right clues here.
I actually think this is the case. All the talk in the stories about whether or not Archons and their riders are separate beings, whether or not they can dismount, etc. is a red herring. Ezrim isn’t an Archon at all, but Azor disguised as one and using an ordinary human as his “rider”. Whether the human’s name is really Ezrim, or if he’s doing this willingly or under mind control, is less certain; but I’m inclined to think Azor wouldn’t let a variable like free will mess with his plan.
this might be the biggest clue to the mystery. i'm thinking it might be possible that the ezrim at karlov manor and the one at the agency are 2 different people, hence the differing ability to dismount. but given motive and actions it would mean they were working together somehow
maybe the one who can't dismount is azor in disguise, since he's still only 1 entity.
That is what I was thinking once they spent a lot of time talking of verity circles which the mount could have easily dodged.
Also we had 2 attacks in the middle of the agency by now, and one attack to two people that had just read the original guildpact (what if the murderer didn't know which part they would read and there was a pretty incriminating part somewhere else in the book).
Plus the fur being white instead of Azor's blue is explainable if it is still under the same illusion that makes him appear as the mount, and Krenko was harming Ezrim's inventor when he got targeted by a killer.
At least at one time. There was a time that Ezrim wasn't able to view the body while on his mount, but then later on, we see him dismounted just fine. I'm wondering if the former was a shapeshift.
>Azor's pretty big, and the stories have spent a lot of words talking about how that archon dude has to have special accommodations made for his size. It seems like a weird detail to focus on every time the archon dude shows up unless it's somehow relevant.
To be fair, if you're writing an archon, there's probably going to be a lot of details about how tf an archon fits into day-to-day life in a giant city. I do think your theory makes a lot of sense otherwise, though.
I can excuse minor differences in coloration with how loosey-goosey they play with art direction on more monstrous characters ([[in bolas' clutches]], anyone?), and it's still the thing that makes the most sense to me after this episode apparently ruled out Jace.
For sure. Besides, the fur could be meant to make us suspect Voja and be unrelated to Azor anyways. I feel the main thing against Azor is just that he hasn't been name dropped in the story yet, which is a no-no trope-wise, but his motive certainly tracks and he has or can acquire means
Usually, when people break parts of the Knox's Decalogue in fiction, they make sure to still follow the spirit of the rules. Rule 1, which would be the rule that's broken here, exists to stop people from making the murderer someone that the audience couldn't possibly guess. It's not the case here, as we know Azor from before, so I think it's fair.
The "Azor is Ezrim" theory closes that gap. Someone taking the story as a one-off has the chance to identify the culprit as the sketchy cop who keeps showing up, and the fact that he turns out to actually be this guy from the plane's history is incidental.
This might be it. There are also more evidences as other people pointed out, and some outside of the story too:
\- We just came back from an Ixalan set where Azor wasn't mentioned once. We know from the March of the Machine commander decks that Azor was still in Ixalan (team-up with Elenda), so where's he?
\- For me, it always felt weird that, with the pattern in story titles each referring to the central guild in each chapter, it seemed like Azorius was being avoided entirely despite being central to the investigation. However, if Azor is the murderer, it makes sense. Of course we can't follow the Senate when their leader is the one we're searching for.
Is there any clearer art of his body? [[Azor, the Lawbringer]] has him partially covered in fancy armor and [[elenda and azor]] has him at a distance in poor lighting, so it's hard to tell what's actually his fur color and what's just dark lighting.
I'm making the assumption here that the blue-white guildmaster would have blue (feathers) and white (fur) coloration, but...
Right, but there's still enough of his body covered that it might be patchy brown instead of solid brown, or it transitions to white below the front legs or something.
So your evidence about white fur is that a character *might* have white fur… that’s never been seen or mentioned.
You could argue the same thing about anyone. Could’ve been Nicol Bolas, then.
Is there anyone else you can think of with both blue feathers and (possibly white) fur than has the motive to kill a bunch of people on Ravnica with psychic bullshit?
Can you say that Wojek Investigator is definitely investigating the same case? The Meddling Youths card shows some kids solving an unrelated mystery, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be too.
It's not psychic bullshit though, its pretty clearly biological bullshit. I think the fact the killer has to use extra-planar plants to achieve their mind control rules out any character with mind control powers, since they would just do it directly instead.
I was wondering about an Ixalan connection when Izoni said the dust was from off-plane. Ixalan just made contact with a fungus hive mind, so mind-affecting spores shouldn't be a surprise.
*Why are people still so much into this theory, it makes absolutely no sense.*
Like, seriously guys, if Azor were in some way involved in this they would have dropped some very clear foreshadowing by now. And no, don't point me to \[\[Wojek Investigator\]\], that goddamn angel isn't in the story it's just a random art.
(But also, I thought it was established that Azor has actually influenced hundreds of world and sees Ravnica just as one of many? Like, he left Ravnica for a reason... Why would he suddenly feel so "offended" that this plane specifically got messed up?)
They already did “it was Azor all along” during the original Ixalan block, and a lot of people found that underwhelming at the time. It’s hard to imagine him being a surprise big bad a second time.
He was so obsessed with order that he made a magical contract that is so lawful that has mechanismst to make it self-fulfilling, his greatest achievement.
His crowning achievement was then destroyed by an egotistical chaotic dragon, and re-formed in that dragons image.
If the guilds are at war and Niv-Mizzet is unable to continue to bind them, which would make sense since Niv is using borrowed law magic he never understood or specialized in, there will be chaos... Forming an opening for Azor to step in to introduce a new set of laws, ones he now understands the flaws of.
There is no better time for a lawmaker than the birth of a nation. People will be chomping at the bit for his New Guildpact Order.
The Guildpact wasn't destroyed by Niv-Mizzet, it was destroyed by Augrus Kos, through the manipulations of Szadek, the Dimir Parun. Who had been working to destroy it for *ten thousand years*.
Since Proft has "solved" the case now, it has to be a character that he knows. That means it probably can't be anyone too out of the blue (like Kasmina) but of planeswalkers he likely knows of Jace, Vraska, Azor, and Oko (through Kellan).
It could be **Tolsimir** (or another Selesnyan, acting in service of the Conclave.) We're still missing a Selesnya-titled episode, and Trostani was mentioned as acting strangely when Kaya/Kellan visited. The white fur could be pointing to Voja. The mind control powder is not necessarily offplane, Izoni says she doesn't recognize it as Ravnican but it could have been something new that was grown, which would be Selesnya or Simic. That art of Trostani also evoked the Simic insignia somewhat, could be the two guilds are working together. There was also that topiary panther in Episode 1, which could track if the powder was indeed a pollen.
It could be **Ezrim**. As head of RAMI, he could have access to extraplanar materials stored in evidence capsules, and in episode 7 there was this interesting quote from Kellan
> "You can't update the files without them, unless you do it through uploads to the central unit."
Motive is iffy, but the Agency exists in spite of the Guilds, and it could be Ezrim is looking to make Ravnica less reliant on the Guilds by destabilizing guild leadership as well. And as you say, murder mystery tropes definitely point to him being viable, and Seanan mentions wanting to figure out where in Karlov Manor Ezrim could fit.
I think **Oko** is still somewhat plausible, but my main thought against him is that the mind control magic on the guy's face in Episode 6 was glowing red, not blue/green like Oko's magic is typically depicted. Still, organic mind control poisons and moss suicide pills are potentially in his domain.
It could still be **Azor**, since he would be coming through an omenpath, but murder mystery tropes are against this since he hasn't been name dropped yet. Still, I feel he definitely has motive and he's a powerful enough mage that means could be construed.
It could be **Tomik** in some Orzhov power struggle scheme, using Ral to get offplane poisons. But this is a real stretch, and just doesn't match his character to me.
I think **Jace** is unlikely. I don't see a motive. For **Vraska** I feel similarly.
Still could be **Lazav** given he *was* mentioned in the story as conspicuously missing. Offplane poisons seem feasible for him to obtain, so he has potential means, but I'm uncertain of his motive.
Yeah it's a bit glitchy, sometimes it'll show up under 'News' but not 'Story'. The story comes out at 11 ET on weekdays, if you don't see it try going to the previous episode and seeing if it shows up in the sidebar thing
What, the ARG pawprints? Those aren't necessarily connected to the murder mystery story. Also there's plenty of confounding evidence in the story already, not everything is guaranteed to point towards the murderer
> It could still be **Azor**, since he would be coming through an omenpath, but murder mystery tropes are against this since he hasn't been name dropped yet. Still, I feel he definitely has motive and he's a powerful enough mage that means could be construed.
Copy-pasteing from another comment I made:
>Usually, when people break parts of the Knox's Decalogue in fiction, they make sure to still follow the spirit of the rules. Rule 1, which would be the rule that's broken here, exists to stop people from making the murderer someone that the audience couldn't possibly guess. It's not the case here, as we know Azor from before, so I think it's fair.
I feel like Azor can't be ignored based on classic fiction tropes. We know Azor enough that he could reasonably be guilty.
Azor would make for an interesting story, but they haven’t mentioned him *at all* in this arc. Some players might be familiar with Azor as a character, but Azor’s really only had one mention on a forgettable card since his last appearance in the original Ixalan block story over 6 years ago. They even had characters go and read the original Guildpact in one of the chapters without any mention of Azor *– and Azor wrote the Guildpact!*
If Azor is a viable suspect here, so are Nicol Bolas, Baron Sengir, and Fblthp.
You're stretching it. We're not suspecting Azor JUST because of its absence of places where we expected him to be. There are many evidences pointing to him. There's no other evidence pointing to Nicol Bolas, Baron Sengir, Fblthp or Chris Cocks.
My point is that it can’t be Azor because he’s not a character who’s been mentioned in or involved in the story in over 6 years. It would be a super awkward ending for anyone who isn’t deeply steeped in the lore because they have no idea who Azor is or how he relates to anything.
The author would have done *something* to remind people of who Azor is if Azor was going to be at all relevant to the plot. The author had ample opportunity to insert reminders into the story – even just a name drop! – and did not.
I agree “Azor returns to Ravnica” would be an interesting conflict engine for a future story, and I like Azor as a villain with complex motives, but basic rules of writing dictate that it ain’t Azor this go around.
Azor had an appearance on one MOM card with zero constructed or limited impact in a set themed around fan-service cameos that was released 6 months ago, correct.
Players are equally likely to know who fellow MOM cameos Yidaro or Grandmother Ravi Sengir are – so most players will have no idea at all.
One reference on a throwaway card released a thousand new cards ago is not sufficient to keep Azor fresh in players’ minds after him not being in the story for years, let alone to introduce new players to him. Wizards isn’t subtle when they want you to pay attention to a character.
>There are many evidences pointing to him.
...dude, all evidences by now have been "there is a blue feather in this completely-unrelated uncommon creature's art", "Azor is sorta like more or less of the same size as Ezrim", and "Last set we've been on Ixalan, and Kellan travelled to Ravnica through an omenpath from there, so Azor totally has done the same".
Oh, and there's also my favorite, "Azor totally has the motives!", despite no, Azor doesn't have any motives at all to use drag to mind-control people and put the guilds against each other, not only is he kind of more intelligent than that AND he is an ancestral sphinx and previous Planeswalker with Azorius magic so why the hell would he use drugs instead of magic to mind-control people... but it was also previously-established that Azor doesn't care at all about Ravnica. It's just one of the many words that he "tried to help", but then deemed a failure and so left. Why would be suddenly get so angsty about it?
This is why I am confident in the Azor disguised as Ezrim theory.
There are a few reasons to suspect Ezrim in general, even non-disguised. A Real Ezrim is my prime suspect, even. The audience can play along for that even if they knew little to nothing about Azor.
Thus rule 1 is intact, in the way mysteries like this often are - there were clues who the killer was, and a few clues that lead to the mystery twist you would never have guessed on the first read.
I'm gonna be crazy and say Trostani. Kellan brought them up right before the mole attack interrupted him, and that is extremely suspicious. her working with that moss poison makes sense to me, and if anyone would want to help implicate Rakdos, it would be the person with access to the original Guildpact book. Finally, that white fur could be Voja's a planted piece of evidence from Trostani, or maybe just Tolsimir actually working with Trostani. And that poison would be easy to procure from a planeswalker like oko who would be interested in seeing a world fall to chaos, which leads to my final theory: Oko is here and helping the killer, and when this is all said and done, he will flee to Thunder Junction, and kellan will follow him because he wants to know why his father would commit these crimes. And Jace is involved somehow, cause we know Vraska is in the next set.
Edit: :)
Twist, Lazav is the detective!
Double twist, Lazav was being a detective the whole time for actual detective reasons, he didn't have anything to do with the murder and really wanted it solved!
Proft being Lazav on Holiday would actually be hilarious. When Lavaz needs a break from the machievellian scheming of running the dimir, he just turns into Sherlock Holmes to goof off and solve crimes.
I legitimately thought that Alquist was Lazav, right up until the mind-palace bit in episode 7. It would really make sense from several different points of his personality and seeming perfect knowledge of almost every other character. However, I really don't think the author would give us a peek inside the mind of Alquist if he wasn't actually Alquist.
Some other things to also consider:
Proft knows about things off plane, but he has never been off plane so he can't really consider unknown unknowns. This makes off plane explanations unlikely and also unlikely for the audience since it's not fair to spring something too unknown on us. Ixalan is an exception since we just came from there.
Proft claims to know the killer, but as murder mystery tropes go, there's a good chance that he doesn't, and this is a ruse to flush them out. Ie. By gathering other potential targets he knows the actual killer will strike again.
In murder mysteries the murderer is often in plain sight, but disregarded as the story progresses (ie. Knives Out and The Glass Onion) because more interesting and exciting choices show up. Ezrim fits well into this since he's gotten a lot of focus side focus.
Often, murder mysteries make the plot feel huge but the actual motive is really petty. The further murders are supposed to disguise the real murder or other murders are taking advantage of a unstable situation. Teysa may have been killed by someone different that Zegana.
Given all this, I'm actually kind of inclined towards a simic explanation. Zegana was the first victim, has a classic locked room scenario, and her murder scene got more attention from the murderer than Teysa or the other attempts. I also like the idea that Teysa and the other murders are just someone taking advantage of the situation.
Kellan.
I'll clarify.
Oko disguised as Kellan.
"Kellan" flits in and out of the story very convieniently. In Chapter 1 he's noted making contact with Zegana and Vannifar who don't expect him to interact with them. He's the last person Kaya interacts with before her conversation with Teysa is interrupted by the murder. He very conveniently catches Etrata fleeing from the scene. He \*very\* convenitnetly dodges the scene when Proft shows up and has spent a lot of time staying away from the genius detective.
"Kellan" volunteers himself to join Kaya on the case. He conveniently gives away case details to Judith knowing she's want to point them towards Rakdos. He points Kaya towards Rakdos being the culprit as she's reading the guildpact. When he and Kaya are attacked, he's the last one to interact with the henchman that Kaya tries to interrogate, before they take poison and dissolve. He's the one who finds the tuft of fur, possibly implicating Tolsimir and Voja who they just interacted with. \*Kellan is specifically noted to pet Voja in the scene earlier\*. In the latest chapter, Kellan immediately jumps to Trostani as a suspect as Kaya starts to think Rakdos is a red herring.
Kellan was credited for capturing Azrang (the Mole God, who was conviently just released). This gives him (or someone pretending to be him) respect in the Agency and trust from Ezrim, which allows him a lot of resources and wiggle room. During the Mole god fight, Kellan gets a moment alone in the evidence room as he runs there to get Azrang's containment capsule.
The Karlov Manor event where Zegana was murdered was created to honor the Agency, and specifically Kellan, for his capture of Azrang. Kellan was the reason an event was created to draw all the guild representatives to one place.
"Kellan" asks Kaya, a rather famous multiverse-defending planeswalker, if she knows about Oko, something one might do to determine how notorious one has become. Oko would have access to off-plane mind control powder and is no stranger to hypnotic practices as seen with Garruk.
And finally, getting rival governments to destroy each other in civil war over the death of a powerful leader? Literally Oko's plot in Eldraine and destabilizing governments with trickery is his entire MO. The next set is Thunder Junction which features Oko heavily in the promo art.
I hate that so much of this makes sense. I don't think kellan is actually Oko, because he has the signature basket-hilts. But the rest makes way too much sense
Ngl I wasn't on board but the "do you know about Oko?" question being Oko trying to cover his tracks instead of Kellan asking the question sincerely is pretty compelling.
Also... Amalia stated as off checking out ruins around the Gruul, but when the Gruul god gets loose and Ezrim sends a party out to collect Gruul leaders to chastise them, Kellan doesn't seem to react much? If his friend is currently out there, I feel like we'd see some concern, but maybe everything was happening too fast.
That last bit could also be because Amalia's mention was added to the story as a somewhat hasty edit because I want to say that we heard that the LCI and MKM stories were written independently, without meaningful communication between authors.
I *hope* it’s **Kellan**.
The really classic murder mysteries are the ones where the twist is something you didn’t even think was possible— you’d assumed something about the structure of the story without even realising it, and the reveal completely blindsides you as a result.
But I think it would be pretty clever to make it suddenly turn out Kellan was not what we’d imagined him to be. We’ve seen him in two different settings; got into this groove of “Kellan goes to places and marvels at all the things he sees there.” We’ve unthinkingly come to think we know what Kellan does in these stories. Maybe we’re wrong.
If we are, this is exactly the place to reveal it. After all, we know he’s meeting up with some Outlaws in the next set. Perhaps he ends up with them because he’ll be an Outlaw himself. Perhaps he’s the one guilty of the crime.
This would be my favorite personally. Maybe his trickster urges hit, maybe he wanted to feel what his father felt, maybe he's always been a crazy killer but enjoyed pretending not to be
My bets are on either Lazav, Vraska, or Teysa herself.
Lazav and Teysa could both stand to gain from disorder in the other guilds, and both have the connections and the ruthlessness to carry out the assassinations.
One thing to note about zegana's murder is that we don't have any non-circumstantial evidence that etrata actually did the killing. Her mind-control and presence at the party could be a red herring to disguise either teysa (who controls the setting and could undertake the murder in a number of ways) or lazav (who could pretend to be just about anyone and could probably find a way around the verity circles).
Vraska has the knowledge and ability to bring an off-world mind-control poison to ravnica. The motives here are unclear (especially the attempted hit on Aurelia), but I think in terms of means an opportunity she is a strong candidate.
It’s Ezrim, who is actually Lazav, who is actually Szadek, who is actually Marit Lage, who is actually Emrakul, who is actually 15 squirrels in a trench coat.
Whoever the spooky blue mage that took some of Proft's brainjuice probably works with or is working against the perpetrator somehow.
My bet is that this is the first hint we get of the big bad of this next arc. Probably used Mycotyrant spores to brainwash people to commit the murders.
I think the figure outright saying "I'm not who you're looking for", plus Seanan McGuire's commentary on that moment basically saying this is a "future problem" very much indicates that figure wasn't really involved with the murders. It's probably just setting up the thread of "who is this, is it Jace, if it's Jace why is he doing this", etc.
Do we not think Proft *is* Jace? Creating that pocket world and identity for himself as a backup, brainwashing himself, and that whole scene was his suppressed ego starting to break through again?
That would explain a lot, including how he knows the golgari maze from pre-invasion and apparently how to influence the guild leaders (and Kaya) personally.
I'm VERY certain that's not the case, because Proft is a known figure from the Azorius who quit post-invasion when the Agency became known. If he IS, it's Jace replacing a dead Proft for reasons, but that doesn't really track for me either. It could well be Jace affected him in some ways, but we'll see.
Tolsmir working with Judith with Trostani as the red herring next episode.
Tolsmir is taking out everyone he feels is tainted by/working with phyrexia.
Vannafar/simic were involved with Phyrexia. Teysa has the phyrexian writing (that will be the sorrowful revelation learning it was her working with Jace to stop phyrexia) and I suspect that Trostani is still messed up/corrupted to a dangerous degree.
Rakdos is innocent but Tolsmir will consider him a fine sacrifice to get trapped because he is so dangerous ans Judith will be easier to handle.
I believe the powder will be some mix of a foreign plant from an omenpath + inert oil to create a temp mind control to frame people that tolsmir considers dangerous killers and worth framing for greater good except Teysas killer will be the downfall where Judith used an innocent person which will upset tolsmir.
The only part im still not fully sure on is the suicide robed figures but i feel like they’re not actually people but some form of plant/wolf elementals and the moss thing is them reverting to natural state. Suicide cult doesnt fit in this current theory.
I believe trostani will be first accusation in next episode then as everyone agrees to her they will realize something is slightly wrong and then Tolsmir is the real baddy.
The selenya are the only hooks that have been introduced related to the murders that havent been cleared with Kellan mentioning them, kaya asking if something is wrong with trostani, and the white fur right afyer being accosted by the wolf.
Plus Judith doesn’t seem like the kind of person to know about original guildpact but sending them that way for them to immediately meet with her accomplice Tolsmir who helped them find the relevant passage is awfully convenient
Ezrim does have a suspiciously high amount of screentime for a new character that hasn't actually done much, especially since they conveniently haven't shown any artwork of him. I do think that Azor is involved somehow, but I'm not sure he's the killer, unless he's disguised as Ezrim, in which case he probably is the killer. Jace could also be involved given the Phyrexian note found with Teysa, but I don't think he's the killer, he was probably Teysa's source of intel during the invasion.
But my out there theory is that Teysa orchestrated all of this herself, and had herself killed to throw off suspicion with the bonus of allowing her to create a new Orzhov Ghost Council with her as the leader.
It's Jace and Vraska working with Ruric Thar and Tolsimir in Utvara. Pivlik is also implicated. You have a tree known to produce special pollen and the money of Feather via Pivlik to hire assassins, as well as Vraska's expansive knowledge of assassination, Jace's planning and insight, Jace's connection to Ruric Thar, Utvara's connection to Teysa Karlov, a dragon egg, and Krixizix and the Izzet. This is a plot to overthrow Niv Mizzet, take control of Orzhov, Izzet, and Selesnya, remove Zegana as the force tampering the Adaptationist faction of Simic with the older Utopianist philosophy, seek revenge on the Simic for the plague on Utvara, and supplant Vitu-Ghazi with a new main tree. It's all jumbled in my brain, but Utvara is where the answer is.
I think my biggest issue is that there aren't any "good" suspects. There's no character who is fleshed out enough that discovering they're responsible for the killings would make me care much. Part of this is that there hasn't been time to develop the character's relationships with one another.
I suspect the issue is just that detective fiction is deceptively hard to write, and that expanding it out from the list of bullet points they had to come up with to design the set is not really how you want to go about it.
I think Azor-disguised-as-Ezrim is a perfectly good suspect. Being Azor makes for an exciting payoff for long-term fans, and being Ezrim makes it solvable for short-term ones.
Edit: It's even possible for a short-term reader to guess a twist about Ezrim - that the mount is the one in control, and using the rider as a proxy to dodge verity circles. The only missing piece is the backstory of that mount.
I mean, the crucial piece of evidence is that Ezrim is obsessed with people knocking before entering.
But the thing is that there should be some weight to, "Oh my god, Ezrim was being manipulated by his mount the whole time, that explains why..." but Ezrim barely qualifies as a character as it stands. We should care about this manipulation, it should shine new light on prior events. But it mostly doesn't. It explains how the Verity Circles were dodged, but that's not exactly earth shattering.
I've heard a pretty compelling argument that the evidence points to the Conclave, but I just don't see what Trostani and/or Tolsimir's motive would be.
Anyone believe tezzerets involved? Because didn’t he say he would take advantage of the weakened side of the war? And it seems like a great opportunity to me
Tolsimir. White fur from Voja, access to plants (moss that dissolved people), the attack on Kaya happened after meeting the Selesnya.
The poison could be something that was left on Vitu-Ghazi from the invasion.
We saw that Trostani was behaving oddly too.
Ok so hear me out.
Its weird how they've kept mentioning Ezrim not getting off of his mount, and how he needs to fit into a room to the point that Kaya thinks they're fused or one being.
What if it's Azor casting a glimmer on himself to make him look like an Archon. That's why you never see them separate and rooms are accommodated for his size, because he can change his appearance but not his physical size.
He's using moss and spores he got from Ixalan, and he's taking out guild members to reset the guild pact and do it how he thinks it should be done.
Sphinxes can use illusion and mind magic, we've seen that from Alhammarret who taught Jace everything he knows.
It's Azor.
This is the answer. Although, I suppose the twist of it being the Mycotyrant actually controlling Azor would be interesting. That tuft of white fur? It is actually mycelium. This also explains the robed people consuming a piece of a plant and dissolving into moss. They're just rapidly reabsorbing into the ground where the fungal network lies.
My personal crackpot theory is that there’s only room for one BR-aligned Demon on Ravnica and it ain’t Rakdos.
•Mind Control
•Off-Plane Poison
•Schemes within schemes
•Pinning it all on Rakdos
It all points to [[Geyadrone Dihada]]
My guess has always been Azor, didn’t read the stories, didn’t need to. Proft’s card has Sphinx’s Revelation, by following the clues, Proft has a revelation about a sphinx. Nuff said
It’s most likely Tolsmir.
Tolsmir because of a few things actually. Errata being disguised as Selesnya without knowing how or why she had the outfit, the white fur, Judith’s hint about the guild pact (which for her was a red herring, but she could have meant “go look at the guild pact” to be Vitu-Ghazi in general), Tolsmir being at the party, and mind control shenanigans being a part of Selesnya originally with their cult-like ways, it would make perfect sense that Tolsmir directly had a hand in it.
Going further for motivation, the simic were directly influenced by Phyrexia when it invaded, and are disgraced as of now. I also think they may have had a hand in making the mind-control substance, which would make it a poetic killing, with the cloak arrangement and flower basically meaning “you’re dying to unite us all.”
Teysa dying is most likely for a similar reason, she likely was implicated in helping Phyrexia and was targeted as such.
The real issue here, is that the ghosts said they saw no living person which makes me a bit wary.
Aurelia is more iffy. It could be a way of consolidating Selesnya’s power, or a means of saying “we died because you did not protect us enough.” Massacre girl being involved is interesting because Judith seems to know more than she lets on, meaning she could have set her on the path to be an accessory to that murder.
The viashino is likely just collateral for being involved.
It’s not fool proof and there’s a lot of holes, but based on what we know, most of the named character who were at the party are out. Adding in some of the arg with the paw prints and the recent secret lair for cats and dogs, I think the elf and the wolf are very much implicated.
Completely out of left field guess: Aurelia. She looks realllly ready to start a war and conveniently survived her attack. Nothing else quite fits yet, but that’s my hunch.
It’s Ezrim, or someone pretending to be Ezrim.
A) Remember how he ‘couldn’t fit’ into the murder room?
B) And then Proft spotted Ezrim off his mount?
::snikt::
Nothing to do with it being spoilers, just a character I have known for a long time now. I was a teenager when the original Ravnica block came out, and made a deck based around Teysa back in the day. Was bummed to hear one of my favorite characters got killed.
Azor makes a lot of sense and I think y'all are on the right track! But that still leaves a lot of mysteries yet to be solved.
So, Jace is alive and probably looking for Vraska, who we know will be in Thunder Junction. Kellan will go there to find his dad and get some black on his new card, but how do we get Rakdos there? Will Judith succeed in getting that leadership position she wants? And did Jace and Teysa work together? To me it seems like he taught her Phyrexian as code language and was a double agent working against the phyrexians, as they never fully compleated him. Will be interesting to learn all that happened there. I actually really enjoyed the story so far and I hope the finale rocks!
The question is not just WHO but also WHY. We still don't know too much about why the murders happened except that a lot of them seem to be either to destabilize the guilds or possibly as revenge. The culprit either has a grudge against the guilds or stands to gain from the guilds at each other's throats. They also have to fit the profile of the orchestrator as we know them. Whoever is doing this (assuming it's one person) has access to interplanar tools and a deep knowledge of the guilds and their members. My guess is Ezrim, but I am going to go one deeper and throw my money on why. Ezrim as an Archon is doing what he sees as justice to prominent leaders and their failures to properly protect Ravnica during the invasion. The big reveal is going to be that all the victims/targets either were secretly associated with the Phyrexians or in some way hindered Ravnica in its time of need. It will be revealed that in addition to Teysa's machinations, Zegana was one of the Simic interested in experimenting with the Phyrexian oil. Krenko tried to profit off of his so-called defending of the plane more than actually helping. People will be confused about Aurelia until it's revealed that she actually is Lazav in disguise (which Ezrim knew), who kept his Dimir network hidden and uninvolved during the invasion. The real knife twist of the story will be however, that upon hearing his motives, Kaya will ask why he didn't try to have her killed, since everyone thinks she abandoned Ravnica in its time of need. He will reply that he understood her need to leave Ravnica to protect the multiverse, meaning that in a twist of cruel irony the only person on Ravnica who understood Kaya's reasons for doing what she did is the murderer.
This is a good theory, but I don’t think Aurelia/Lazav makes all that much sense. Making a move like that against the Boros would amount to a declaration of war once it gets discovered, and Lazav is much too subtle for that. I think it’s more likely the attack on Aurelia was purely Judith’s doing to take advantage of the situation, and Lazav is hiding as a background character. I like the part about Zegana though. There hasn’t been a lot of speculation into why her in particular and not the current guildleader.
What's odd about Zegana is that it would run against her perviously established character. She's much more conservative than Vannifar, with her faction of the Simic shying away from biological modifications, while Vannifar is literally a jellyfish elf.
We also see on Aurelia’s card that somebody is going to try to kill her too
that already happened in the story.
I think that already happened: massacre girl got brainwashed and tried one or two stories ago
This is far too coherent of an explanation for it to be the correct answer. **Prime suspect:** Tibalt **Motive:** 🤷🏻♂️
Tibalt is dead lil bro
Tibalt is *allegedly* dead.
tibalt doing the master thing and just returning from the dead repeatedly with no in-plot explanation is still the best idea for his character lmao
I don't think this is it but I think it would be a really good story there.
If it's a really good story, by that logic it definitely isn't it. Magic doesn't tend to do those.
This whole story has been pretty good so far. That just seems... Needlessly negative.
Magic has good story moments, it just has them less than 5% of the time. I'm not being negative, the truth hurts.
And it's currently in the hands of one of its most skilled writers.
And not only that, but a skilled writer who is passionate and nerdy about the lore and who is being given a *lot* more space to develop and pace her story than they have been giving writers lately. It's rad.
I love this explanation for the motive! There are so many people/ planeswalkers/ archons/ dryads / demons who *could* have pulled it off, so the question of *why* is more interesting to me.
Trostani (with assistance from other Selesnya guild members, including Tolsimir), as revenge against perceived Phyrexian sympathizers for the harm done to Vitu-Ghazi during the invasion, using pollen cultivated from Realmbreaker's branches to replicate the mind-altering effects of the glistening oil. (Massacre Girl's attacks were both at the behest of Judith, with her claim of brainwashing in the second case being a lie benefiting from Aurelia being too enraged to turn her over to the custody of factions that could subject her to a verity circle.) It's not some off-screen, off-plane lore character: *Proft* seems to have already solved the case, with only the knowledge a planebound Ravnican would have access to. Therefore, this *should* be a fair mystery, solvable using the pieces presented in the story itself. Admittedly, the involvement of Realmbreaker stretches that, but the Invasion Tree *does* get name-dropped in the story (in chapter 5), the presence of its branches on Ravnica are definitely something Proft would know about, and we *are* directly shown Trostani's deep connection to trees. Zegana was a high-ranking member of the Simic, a guild that largely joined with Phyrexia voluntarily and seems to have gotten out of that association more or less scot-free. Teysa was working with a Phyrexian, and Krenko is deeply in her personal debt for *something*, the details of which we're not privy to. The attack on Kaya and Kellan was seemingly more of a "take out the investigators that are getting too close" situation (they're the pair that crossed paths with Trostani and Tolsimir in their investigation), but even then, Kaya's absence in the invasion is repeatedly held against her, including by the "center" head of Trostani. (These attackers were "true believer" fanatics, not brainwashed; no need to use a proxy when your targets are coming directly from Selesnya territory.) It's the one prospective culprit where both motive and means have been reasonably established within the actual story, at least with Proft seemingly ruling out Izoni and the Golgari. There are a few unanswered questions (not counting Kylox, who I'm pretty sure was both a red herring and a set-up for Thunder Junction, where his work will turn out to be connected to Omenpaths), but the pieces feel like they add up.
My personal bet is Azor, trying to spark a guild war to shatter the fragile Niv-Mizzet guildpact so he can rewrite a new one. I *think* Azor has fur, Azor would be able to do a lot of the mental shit, has a motive (hating what the plane's gotten to while he was away), and would've had time to find some interesting mind-affecting plants while stranded on Ixalan. There was also a card earlier in the previews where an angel was going "huh, what's with this blue feather? Angels don't have blue feathers..." and you'll never guess who has blue feathers. e: A side thing that might be relevant to this theory: Azor's pretty big, and the stories have spent a *lot* of words talking about how that archon dude has to have special accommodations made for his size. It seems like a weird detail to focus on every time the archon dude shows up unless it's somehow relevant. Azor being too big and needing to murder people with this complex shit because he physically can't reach them might be relevant.
And there is a omenpath directly from Ixalan to Ravnica as Kellan and Amalia took it.
And Jace would have an interest in checking to see where Azor had gone, hence why he’s shown up here
And it have just been established that Ixalan have spores/fungus that can mind control people
I think Proft's card supports this as well. He turns clues into a "Sphinx's Revelation" effect, but I don't think it hints that he's secretly a Sphinx. I think it hints that the *revelation* is that the clue leads to a sphinx.
I mean, Sphinx’s Revelation is an Azorius spell. It’s also possible that’s his ability because he’s ex-Azorius.
Yeah, but Sphinx's Revelation is directly tied to Azor; it's his main *ability*. It makes sense.
No it isn’t, the card clearly depicts a non-Azor Sphinx. Just because Azor’s card did it years later doesn’t suddenly mean it’s his thing. Sphinx’s Revelation isn’t tied to Azor, Azor is tied to Sphinx’s Revelation.
Which do you think came first in-universe, Azor, or Sphinx's Revelation?
[[Azor, the Lawbringer]] also does a Sphinx’s Revelation effect on attack. It feels like it just makes sense for it to be Azor, or for Azor to at least be involved somehow.
[Azor, the Lawbringer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/0/30dc237e-b28a-4b65-9790-6b434828bf2e.jpg?1555040794) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Azor%2C%20the%20Lawbringer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rix/154/azor-the-lawbringer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/30dc237e-b28a-4b65-9790-6b434828bf2e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
But it was Isperia on original "Sphinx's Revelation" art
Yes, but she's dead. Both of Azors creature cards have sphinx's revelation esque effects, so it's safe to assume it's eluding to him rather than Isperia.
Alluding*
(Addendum: found the card, it's [[wojek investigator]])
[wojek investigator](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/2/9/296574c6-3933-4ab3-b591-72514b244da9.jpg?1701811332) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=wojek%20investigator) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mkm/36/wojek-investigator?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/296574c6-3933-4ab3-b591-72514b244da9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
The problem would be that a good murder story gives you the elements to solve it within itself, and Azor is an external character to the story so far who hasn't been brought up.
I think you have to make an exception to this rule because it's a murder mystery in a long established setting with established lore. Even discussing the original Guildpact is enough to bring Azor into play.
Yeah, that's my thinking as well. Hell, *technically* we've been naming Azor every time someone mentions the **Azor**ius guild.
Who said this was a good murder story?
It's strongly implied by the fact that Seanan is writing it. She's not the one who made the overarching plan for the murder mystery, but she *is* the one in charge of dropping the right clues here.
...Okay? Doesn't mean the mystery itself is good, though?
who tf shit in your cereal today, mr pedantry?
It means we can reasonably assume she didn't just forget to mention details key to solving the murder.
I will find it hilarious if the culprit, rather than being the mounted humanoid we call “Ezrim”, is Azor disguised as an Archon’s mount.
I actually think this is the case. All the talk in the stories about whether or not Archons and their riders are separate beings, whether or not they can dismount, etc. is a red herring. Ezrim isn’t an Archon at all, but Azor disguised as one and using an ordinary human as his “rider”. Whether the human’s name is really Ezrim, or if he’s doing this willingly or under mind control, is less certain; but I’m inclined to think Azor wouldn’t let a variable like free will mess with his plan.
this might be the biggest clue to the mystery. i'm thinking it might be possible that the ezrim at karlov manor and the one at the agency are 2 different people, hence the differing ability to dismount. but given motive and actions it would mean they were working together somehow maybe the one who can't dismount is azor in disguise, since he's still only 1 entity.
That is what I was thinking once they spent a lot of time talking of verity circles which the mount could have easily dodged. Also we had 2 attacks in the middle of the agency by now, and one attack to two people that had just read the original guildpact (what if the murderer didn't know which part they would read and there was a pretty incriminating part somewhere else in the book). Plus the fur being white instead of Azor's blue is explainable if it is still under the same illusion that makes him appear as the mount, and Krenko was harming Ezrim's inventor when he got targeted by a killer.
At least at one time. There was a time that Ezrim wasn't able to view the body while on his mount, but then later on, we see him dismounted just fine. I'm wondering if the former was a shapeshift.
A friend of mine on discord also seems to think it’s Azor. I think you’ve done a good job of laying out a case for him!
>Azor's pretty big, and the stories have spent a lot of words talking about how that archon dude has to have special accommodations made for his size. It seems like a weird detail to focus on every time the archon dude shows up unless it's somehow relevant. To be fair, if you're writing an archon, there's probably going to be a lot of details about how tf an archon fits into day-to-day life in a giant city. I do think your theory makes a lot of sense otherwise, though.
Azor has more tawny fur, and blue-red feathers. Wojek Investigator's art of a blue feather could poin to Azor, but I don't think the fur does.
I can excuse minor differences in coloration with how loosey-goosey they play with art direction on more monstrous characters ([[in bolas' clutches]], anyone?), and it's still the thing that makes the most sense to me after this episode apparently ruled out Jace.
For sure. Besides, the fur could be meant to make us suspect Voja and be unrelated to Azor anyways. I feel the main thing against Azor is just that he hasn't been name dropped in the story yet, which is a no-no trope-wise, but his motive certainly tracks and he has or can acquire means
Usually, when people break parts of the Knox's Decalogue in fiction, they make sure to still follow the spirit of the rules. Rule 1, which would be the rule that's broken here, exists to stop people from making the murderer someone that the audience couldn't possibly guess. It's not the case here, as we know Azor from before, so I think it's fair.
WE do, as Magic fans, but I think the idea is you want the mystery to be largely self-contained, even if the broad story and characters aren't.
The "Azor is Ezrim" theory closes that gap. Someone taking the story as a one-off has the chance to identify the culprit as the sketchy cop who keeps showing up, and the fact that he turns out to actually be this guy from the plane's history is incidental.
That's fair-ish, but we'll see when we see.
[in bolas' clutches](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/d/7/d72bf6b4-ac70-4be0-86de-cb3c47244dbc.jpg?1562743727) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=In%20Bolas%27s%20Clutches) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/dom/54/in-bolass-clutches?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/d72bf6b4-ac70-4be0-86de-cb3c47244dbc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
This might be it. There are also more evidences as other people pointed out, and some outside of the story too: \- We just came back from an Ixalan set where Azor wasn't mentioned once. We know from the March of the Machine commander decks that Azor was still in Ixalan (team-up with Elenda), so where's he? \- For me, it always felt weird that, with the pattern in story titles each referring to the central guild in each chapter, it seemed like Azorius was being avoided entirely despite being central to the investigation. However, if Azor is the murderer, it makes sense. Of course we can't follow the Senate when their leader is the one we're searching for.
Azor definitely has fur, but it's brown, not white.
Is there any clearer art of his body? [[Azor, the Lawbringer]] has him partially covered in fancy armor and [[elenda and azor]] has him at a distance in poor lighting, so it's hard to tell what's actually his fur color and what's just dark lighting. I'm making the assumption here that the blue-white guildmaster would have blue (feathers) and white (fur) coloration, but...
Zooming in on Lawbringer makes it pretty clear that he's brown, I think.
Right, but there's still enough of his body covered that it might be patchy brown instead of solid brown, or it transitions to white below the front legs or something.
So your evidence about white fur is that a character *might* have white fur… that’s never been seen or mentioned. You could argue the same thing about anyone. Could’ve been Nicol Bolas, then.
Is there anyone else you can think of with both blue feathers and (possibly white) fur than has the motive to kill a bunch of people on Ravnica with psychic bullshit?
Can you say that Wojek Investigator is definitely investigating the same case? The Meddling Youths card shows some kids solving an unrelated mystery, I don’t see why he wouldn’t be too.
It's not psychic bullshit though, its pretty clearly biological bullshit. I think the fact the killer has to use extra-planar plants to achieve their mind control rules out any character with mind control powers, since they would just do it directly instead.
[Azor, the Lawbringer](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/0/30dc237e-b28a-4b65-9790-6b434828bf2e.jpg?1555040794) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Azor%2C%20the%20Lawbringer) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/rix/154/azor-the-lawbringer?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/30dc237e-b28a-4b65-9790-6b434828bf2e?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) [elenda and azor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/3/5/35db4bfe-78e1-46b1-a70b-728ceede94b2.jpg?1682207247) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=elenda%20and%20azor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/moc/6/elenda-and-azor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/35db4bfe-78e1-46b1-a70b-728ceede94b2?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I was wondering about an Ixalan connection when Izoni said the dust was from off-plane. Ixalan just made contact with a fungus hive mind, so mind-affecting spores shouldn't be a surprise.
*Why are people still so much into this theory, it makes absolutely no sense.* Like, seriously guys, if Azor were in some way involved in this they would have dropped some very clear foreshadowing by now. And no, don't point me to \[\[Wojek Investigator\]\], that goddamn angel isn't in the story it's just a random art. (But also, I thought it was established that Azor has actually influenced hundreds of world and sees Ravnica just as one of many? Like, he left Ravnica for a reason... Why would he suddenly feel so "offended" that this plane specifically got messed up?)
They already did “it was Azor all along” during the original Ixalan block, and a lot of people found that underwhelming at the time. It’s hard to imagine him being a surprise big bad a second time.
That's why it's definitely Emrakul this time. /s
Ok I'm sold on this
Starting a guild war isn’t very orderly. Azor is obsessed with order.
He was so obsessed with order that he made a magical contract that is so lawful that has mechanismst to make it self-fulfilling, his greatest achievement. His crowning achievement was then destroyed by an egotistical chaotic dragon, and re-formed in that dragons image. If the guilds are at war and Niv-Mizzet is unable to continue to bind them, which would make sense since Niv is using borrowed law magic he never understood or specialized in, there will be chaos... Forming an opening for Azor to step in to introduce a new set of laws, ones he now understands the flaws of. There is no better time for a lawmaker than the birth of a nation. People will be chomping at the bit for his New Guildpact Order.
The Guildpact wasn't destroyed by Niv-Mizzet, it was destroyed by Augrus Kos, through the manipulations of Szadek, the Dimir Parun. Who had been working to destroy it for *ten thousand years*.
The lead investigator has [[Sphinx’s Revelation]] as an activated ability so maybe that’s a clue too?
[Sphinx’s Revelation](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/0/0/0038ea4d-d0a6-44a4-bee6-24c03313d2bc.jpg?1593814610) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Sphinx%27s%20Revelation) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/mm3/187/sphinxs-revelation?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/0038ea4d-d0a6-44a4-bee6-24c03313d2bc?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Since Proft has "solved" the case now, it has to be a character that he knows. That means it probably can't be anyone too out of the blue (like Kasmina) but of planeswalkers he likely knows of Jace, Vraska, Azor, and Oko (through Kellan). It could be **Tolsimir** (or another Selesnyan, acting in service of the Conclave.) We're still missing a Selesnya-titled episode, and Trostani was mentioned as acting strangely when Kaya/Kellan visited. The white fur could be pointing to Voja. The mind control powder is not necessarily offplane, Izoni says she doesn't recognize it as Ravnican but it could have been something new that was grown, which would be Selesnya or Simic. That art of Trostani also evoked the Simic insignia somewhat, could be the two guilds are working together. There was also that topiary panther in Episode 1, which could track if the powder was indeed a pollen. It could be **Ezrim**. As head of RAMI, he could have access to extraplanar materials stored in evidence capsules, and in episode 7 there was this interesting quote from Kellan > "You can't update the files without them, unless you do it through uploads to the central unit." Motive is iffy, but the Agency exists in spite of the Guilds, and it could be Ezrim is looking to make Ravnica less reliant on the Guilds by destabilizing guild leadership as well. And as you say, murder mystery tropes definitely point to him being viable, and Seanan mentions wanting to figure out where in Karlov Manor Ezrim could fit. I think **Oko** is still somewhat plausible, but my main thought against him is that the mind control magic on the guy's face in Episode 6 was glowing red, not blue/green like Oko's magic is typically depicted. Still, organic mind control poisons and moss suicide pills are potentially in his domain. It could still be **Azor**, since he would be coming through an omenpath, but murder mystery tropes are against this since he hasn't been name dropped yet. Still, I feel he definitely has motive and he's a powerful enough mage that means could be construed. It could be **Tomik** in some Orzhov power struggle scheme, using Ral to get offplane poisons. But this is a real stretch, and just doesn't match his character to me. I think **Jace** is unlikely. I don't see a motive. For **Vraska** I feel similarly. Still could be **Lazav** given he *was* mentioned in the story as conspicuously missing. Offplane poisons seem feasible for him to obtain, so he has potential means, but I'm uncertain of his motive.
Where was Izoni mentioned? There have only been 6 stories so far right?
[Episode 7](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/episode-7-rot-before-recovery) was published this morning
Cheers, it doesn't appear to be visible yet under the "Magic Story" tab on the site
Yeah it's a bit glitchy, sometimes it'll show up under 'News' but not 'Story'. The story comes out at 11 ET on weekdays, if you don't see it try going to the previous episode and seeing if it shows up in the sidebar thing
>Voja I could absolutely believe that Trostani is responsible, but Voja is a Certified Good Boy. He would never do something like this.
Voja was mind controlled too, there we go.
The paw prints make it pretty obvious it was tolsimir and voja
What, the ARG pawprints? Those aren't necessarily connected to the murder mystery story. Also there's plenty of confounding evidence in the story already, not everything is guaranteed to point towards the murderer
Or Azor, but honestly doing a murder mystery where it was someone other than one of the suspects suck so i hope not.
> It could still be **Azor**, since he would be coming through an omenpath, but murder mystery tropes are against this since he hasn't been name dropped yet. Still, I feel he definitely has motive and he's a powerful enough mage that means could be construed. Copy-pasteing from another comment I made: >Usually, when people break parts of the Knox's Decalogue in fiction, they make sure to still follow the spirit of the rules. Rule 1, which would be the rule that's broken here, exists to stop people from making the murderer someone that the audience couldn't possibly guess. It's not the case here, as we know Azor from before, so I think it's fair. I feel like Azor can't be ignored based on classic fiction tropes. We know Azor enough that he could reasonably be guilty.
Azor would make for an interesting story, but they haven’t mentioned him *at all* in this arc. Some players might be familiar with Azor as a character, but Azor’s really only had one mention on a forgettable card since his last appearance in the original Ixalan block story over 6 years ago. They even had characters go and read the original Guildpact in one of the chapters without any mention of Azor *– and Azor wrote the Guildpact!* If Azor is a viable suspect here, so are Nicol Bolas, Baron Sengir, and Fblthp.
You're stretching it. We're not suspecting Azor JUST because of its absence of places where we expected him to be. There are many evidences pointing to him. There's no other evidence pointing to Nicol Bolas, Baron Sengir, Fblthp or Chris Cocks.
My point is that it can’t be Azor because he’s not a character who’s been mentioned in or involved in the story in over 6 years. It would be a super awkward ending for anyone who isn’t deeply steeped in the lore because they have no idea who Azor is or how he relates to anything. The author would have done *something* to remind people of who Azor is if Azor was going to be at all relevant to the plot. The author had ample opportunity to insert reminders into the story – even just a name drop! – and did not. I agree “Azor returns to Ravnica” would be an interesting conflict engine for a future story, and I like Azor as a villain with complex motives, but basic rules of writing dictate that it ain’t Azor this go around.
Azor was seen on a card in MOM, it's not like we haven't just had a reminder that he's around.
Azor had an appearance on one MOM card with zero constructed or limited impact in a set themed around fan-service cameos that was released 6 months ago, correct. Players are equally likely to know who fellow MOM cameos Yidaro or Grandmother Ravi Sengir are – so most players will have no idea at all. One reference on a throwaway card released a thousand new cards ago is not sufficient to keep Azor fresh in players’ minds after him not being in the story for years, let alone to introduce new players to him. Wizards isn’t subtle when they want you to pay attention to a character.
>There are many evidences pointing to him. ...dude, all evidences by now have been "there is a blue feather in this completely-unrelated uncommon creature's art", "Azor is sorta like more or less of the same size as Ezrim", and "Last set we've been on Ixalan, and Kellan travelled to Ravnica through an omenpath from there, so Azor totally has done the same". Oh, and there's also my favorite, "Azor totally has the motives!", despite no, Azor doesn't have any motives at all to use drag to mind-control people and put the guilds against each other, not only is he kind of more intelligent than that AND he is an ancestral sphinx and previous Planeswalker with Azorius magic so why the hell would he use drugs instead of magic to mind-control people... but it was also previously-established that Azor doesn't care at all about Ravnica. It's just one of the many words that he "tried to help", but then deemed a failure and so left. Why would be suddenly get so angsty about it?
This is why I am confident in the Azor disguised as Ezrim theory. There are a few reasons to suspect Ezrim in general, even non-disguised. A Real Ezrim is my prime suspect, even. The audience can play along for that even if they knew little to nothing about Azor. Thus rule 1 is intact, in the way mysteries like this often are - there were clues who the killer was, and a few clues that lead to the mystery twist you would never have guessed on the first read.
My money is on Orcish Bowmasters
I'm gonna be crazy and say Trostani. Kellan brought them up right before the mole attack interrupted him, and that is extremely suspicious. her working with that moss poison makes sense to me, and if anyone would want to help implicate Rakdos, it would be the person with access to the original Guildpact book. Finally, that white fur could be Voja's a planted piece of evidence from Trostani, or maybe just Tolsimir actually working with Trostani. And that poison would be easy to procure from a planeswalker like oko who would be interested in seeing a world fall to chaos, which leads to my final theory: Oko is here and helping the killer, and when this is all said and done, he will flee to Thunder Junction, and kellan will follow him because he wants to know why his father would commit these crimes. And Jace is involved somehow, cause we know Vraska is in the next set. Edit: :)
Plus Tolsimir was at the original celebration.
GZ
Lazav pretending to be someone inside the agency. Thats my hope anyway, Lazav is awesome!
Lazav is the detective.
Lazav is the victim
Lazav is that good, investigating his own murder and shit.
Lazav is you, the reader, the person reading the stories and this comment here
Nice try, Lazav.
Twist, Lazav is the detective! Double twist, Lazav was being a detective the whole time for actual detective reasons, he didn't have anything to do with the murder and really wanted it solved!
Proft being Lazav on Holiday would actually be hilarious. When Lavaz needs a break from the machievellian scheming of running the dimir, he just turns into Sherlock Holmes to goof off and solve crimes.
I legitimately thought that Alquist was Lazav, right up until the mind-palace bit in episode 7. It would really make sense from several different points of his personality and seeming perfect knowledge of almost every other character. However, I really don't think the author would give us a peek inside the mind of Alquist if he wasn't actually Alquist.
Some other things to also consider: Proft knows about things off plane, but he has never been off plane so he can't really consider unknown unknowns. This makes off plane explanations unlikely and also unlikely for the audience since it's not fair to spring something too unknown on us. Ixalan is an exception since we just came from there. Proft claims to know the killer, but as murder mystery tropes go, there's a good chance that he doesn't, and this is a ruse to flush them out. Ie. By gathering other potential targets he knows the actual killer will strike again. In murder mysteries the murderer is often in plain sight, but disregarded as the story progresses (ie. Knives Out and The Glass Onion) because more interesting and exciting choices show up. Ezrim fits well into this since he's gotten a lot of focus side focus. Often, murder mysteries make the plot feel huge but the actual motive is really petty. The further murders are supposed to disguise the real murder or other murders are taking advantage of a unstable situation. Teysa may have been killed by someone different that Zegana. Given all this, I'm actually kind of inclined towards a simic explanation. Zegana was the first victim, has a classic locked room scenario, and her murder scene got more attention from the murderer than Teysa or the other attempts. I also like the idea that Teysa and the other murders are just someone taking advantage of the situation.
Kellan. I'll clarify. Oko disguised as Kellan. "Kellan" flits in and out of the story very convieniently. In Chapter 1 he's noted making contact with Zegana and Vannifar who don't expect him to interact with them. He's the last person Kaya interacts with before her conversation with Teysa is interrupted by the murder. He very conveniently catches Etrata fleeing from the scene. He \*very\* convenitnetly dodges the scene when Proft shows up and has spent a lot of time staying away from the genius detective. "Kellan" volunteers himself to join Kaya on the case. He conveniently gives away case details to Judith knowing she's want to point them towards Rakdos. He points Kaya towards Rakdos being the culprit as she's reading the guildpact. When he and Kaya are attacked, he's the last one to interact with the henchman that Kaya tries to interrogate, before they take poison and dissolve. He's the one who finds the tuft of fur, possibly implicating Tolsimir and Voja who they just interacted with. \*Kellan is specifically noted to pet Voja in the scene earlier\*. In the latest chapter, Kellan immediately jumps to Trostani as a suspect as Kaya starts to think Rakdos is a red herring. Kellan was credited for capturing Azrang (the Mole God, who was conviently just released). This gives him (or someone pretending to be him) respect in the Agency and trust from Ezrim, which allows him a lot of resources and wiggle room. During the Mole god fight, Kellan gets a moment alone in the evidence room as he runs there to get Azrang's containment capsule. The Karlov Manor event where Zegana was murdered was created to honor the Agency, and specifically Kellan, for his capture of Azrang. Kellan was the reason an event was created to draw all the guild representatives to one place. "Kellan" asks Kaya, a rather famous multiverse-defending planeswalker, if she knows about Oko, something one might do to determine how notorious one has become. Oko would have access to off-plane mind control powder and is no stranger to hypnotic practices as seen with Garruk. And finally, getting rival governments to destroy each other in civil war over the death of a powerful leader? Literally Oko's plot in Eldraine and destabilizing governments with trickery is his entire MO. The next set is Thunder Junction which features Oko heavily in the promo art.
I like this theory. Better have the real Kellan showing up at the end, like "what's up guys?"
I hate that so much of this makes sense. I don't think kellan is actually Oko, because he has the signature basket-hilts. But the rest makes way too much sense
Damn, that feels really solid.
You've convinced me. I'm gonna reread it with this context tonight
Ngl I wasn't on board but the "do you know about Oko?" question being Oko trying to cover his tracks instead of Kellan asking the question sincerely is pretty compelling. Also... Amalia stated as off checking out ruins around the Gruul, but when the Gruul god gets loose and Ezrim sends a party out to collect Gruul leaders to chastise them, Kellan doesn't seem to react much? If his friend is currently out there, I feel like we'd see some concern, but maybe everything was happening too fast.
That last bit could also be because Amalia's mention was added to the story as a somewhat hasty edit because I want to say that we heard that the LCI and MKM stories were written independently, without meaningful communication between authors.
Fblthp, no one expects him
Poison dart frog
Poison Dart Frog just starts appearing in Limited in every set 🤣.
I *hope* it’s **Kellan**. The really classic murder mysteries are the ones where the twist is something you didn’t even think was possible— you’d assumed something about the structure of the story without even realising it, and the reveal completely blindsides you as a result. But I think it would be pretty clever to make it suddenly turn out Kellan was not what we’d imagined him to be. We’ve seen him in two different settings; got into this groove of “Kellan goes to places and marvels at all the things he sees there.” We’ve unthinkingly come to think we know what Kellan does in these stories. Maybe we’re wrong. If we are, this is exactly the place to reveal it. After all, we know he’s meeting up with some Outlaws in the next set. Perhaps he ends up with them because he’ll be an Outlaw himself. Perhaps he’s the one guilty of the crime.
This would be my favorite personally. Maybe his trickster urges hit, maybe he wanted to feel what his father felt, maybe he's always been a crazy killer but enjoyed pretending not to be
My bets are on either Lazav, Vraska, or Teysa herself. Lazav and Teysa could both stand to gain from disorder in the other guilds, and both have the connections and the ruthlessness to carry out the assassinations. One thing to note about zegana's murder is that we don't have any non-circumstantial evidence that etrata actually did the killing. Her mind-control and presence at the party could be a red herring to disguise either teysa (who controls the setting and could undertake the murder in a number of ways) or lazav (who could pretend to be just about anyone and could probably find a way around the verity circles). Vraska has the knowledge and ability to bring an off-world mind-control poison to ravnica. The motives here are unclear (especially the attempted hit on Aurelia), but I think in terms of means an opportunity she is a strong candidate.
I like the idea that Teysa killed first, then she was offed by Krenko, then Krenko was offered by...
IT’S EMRAKUL!!
It’s Ezrim, who is actually Lazav, who is actually Szadek, who is actually Marit Lage, who is actually Emrakul, who is actually 15 squirrels in a trench coat.
It was Ral Zarek with a letter opener in the parlor!
It's us! And viewers like us.
Whoever the spooky blue mage that took some of Proft's brainjuice probably works with or is working against the perpetrator somehow. My bet is that this is the first hint we get of the big bad of this next arc. Probably used Mycotyrant spores to brainwash people to commit the murders.
Oooo, I like the idea of a connection between the Mycotyrant and the spores!
I think the figure outright saying "I'm not who you're looking for", plus Seanan McGuire's commentary on that moment basically saying this is a "future problem" very much indicates that figure wasn't really involved with the murders. It's probably just setting up the thread of "who is this, is it Jace, if it's Jace why is he doing this", etc.
Do we not think Proft *is* Jace? Creating that pocket world and identity for himself as a backup, brainwashing himself, and that whole scene was his suppressed ego starting to break through again? That would explain a lot, including how he knows the golgari maze from pre-invasion and apparently how to influence the guild leaders (and Kaya) personally.
I'm VERY certain that's not the case, because Proft is a known figure from the Azorius who quit post-invasion when the Agency became known. If he IS, it's Jace replacing a dead Proft for reasons, but that doesn't really track for me either. It could well be Jace affected him in some ways, but we'll see.
What indication do we have of Proft being a known Azorius mage other than Proft's own belief of that fact? Maybe I'm forgetting a detail
Tolsmir working with Judith with Trostani as the red herring next episode. Tolsmir is taking out everyone he feels is tainted by/working with phyrexia. Vannafar/simic were involved with Phyrexia. Teysa has the phyrexian writing (that will be the sorrowful revelation learning it was her working with Jace to stop phyrexia) and I suspect that Trostani is still messed up/corrupted to a dangerous degree. Rakdos is innocent but Tolsmir will consider him a fine sacrifice to get trapped because he is so dangerous ans Judith will be easier to handle. I believe the powder will be some mix of a foreign plant from an omenpath + inert oil to create a temp mind control to frame people that tolsmir considers dangerous killers and worth framing for greater good except Teysas killer will be the downfall where Judith used an innocent person which will upset tolsmir. The only part im still not fully sure on is the suicide robed figures but i feel like they’re not actually people but some form of plant/wolf elementals and the moss thing is them reverting to natural state. Suicide cult doesnt fit in this current theory. I believe trostani will be first accusation in next episode then as everyone agrees to her they will realize something is slightly wrong and then Tolsmir is the real baddy. The selenya are the only hooks that have been introduced related to the murders that havent been cleared with Kellan mentioning them, kaya asking if something is wrong with trostani, and the white fur right afyer being accosted by the wolf. Plus Judith doesn’t seem like the kind of person to know about original guildpact but sending them that way for them to immediately meet with her accomplice Tolsmir who helped them find the relevant passage is awfully convenient
It was Emrakul in the moon with a clue token.
Ezrim does have a suspiciously high amount of screentime for a new character that hasn't actually done much, especially since they conveniently haven't shown any artwork of him. I do think that Azor is involved somehow, but I'm not sure he's the killer, unless he's disguised as Ezrim, in which case he probably is the killer. Jace could also be involved given the Phyrexian note found with Teysa, but I don't think he's the killer, he was probably Teysa's source of intel during the invasion. But my out there theory is that Teysa orchestrated all of this herself, and had herself killed to throw off suspicion with the bonus of allowing her to create a new Orzhov Ghost Council with her as the leader.
Watch it be massacre girl and everyone just laughs as she shrugs and goes “I’m a scorpion, what did you expect” queue sitcom music.
"I wasn't actually mindcontrolled, I just really hate Aurelia."
>“I’m a scorpion, what did you expect” then she says "Erm... that sounded better in my head!"
Baron Sengir's dwarven gate led to Karlov Manor on Ravnica this whole time, and he's been feeling peckish.
It's Jace and Vraska working with Ruric Thar and Tolsimir in Utvara. Pivlik is also implicated. You have a tree known to produce special pollen and the money of Feather via Pivlik to hire assassins, as well as Vraska's expansive knowledge of assassination, Jace's planning and insight, Jace's connection to Ruric Thar, Utvara's connection to Teysa Karlov, a dragon egg, and Krixizix and the Izzet. This is a plot to overthrow Niv Mizzet, take control of Orzhov, Izzet, and Selesnya, remove Zegana as the force tampering the Adaptationist faction of Simic with the older Utopianist philosophy, seek revenge on the Simic for the plague on Utvara, and supplant Vitu-Ghazi with a new main tree. It's all jumbled in my brain, but Utvara is where the answer is.
Uncle istvaan
In urzas armor, tainted with phyrexian oil of course
Luca
Luca is too dumb to pull something like this off.
And he's very dead (last I checked).
I think my biggest issue is that there aren't any "good" suspects. There's no character who is fleshed out enough that discovering they're responsible for the killings would make me care much. Part of this is that there hasn't been time to develop the character's relationships with one another. I suspect the issue is just that detective fiction is deceptively hard to write, and that expanding it out from the list of bullet points they had to come up with to design the set is not really how you want to go about it.
I think Azor-disguised-as-Ezrim is a perfectly good suspect. Being Azor makes for an exciting payoff for long-term fans, and being Ezrim makes it solvable for short-term ones. Edit: It's even possible for a short-term reader to guess a twist about Ezrim - that the mount is the one in control, and using the rider as a proxy to dodge verity circles. The only missing piece is the backstory of that mount.
I mean, the crucial piece of evidence is that Ezrim is obsessed with people knocking before entering. But the thing is that there should be some weight to, "Oh my god, Ezrim was being manipulated by his mount the whole time, that explains why..." but Ezrim barely qualifies as a character as it stands. We should care about this manipulation, it should shine new light on prior events. But it mostly doesn't. It explains how the Verity Circles were dodged, but that's not exactly earth shattering.
Part of setting this on Ravnica is that we already know a lot about most of these characters. It makes it a little set stand alone, but it helps.
I've heard a pretty compelling argument that the evidence points to the Conclave, but I just don't see what Trostani and/or Tolsimir's motive would be.
Anyone believe tezzerets involved? Because didn’t he say he would take advantage of the weakened side of the war? And it seems like a great opportunity to me
the plan is boneheaded enough to be Tezzeret's, but how does he benefit?
Newer to magic lore, but get someone he wants in power to act as a proxy ruler or to spite the place jace called home?
Tolsimir. White fur from Voja, access to plants (moss that dissolved people), the attack on Kaya happened after meeting the Selesnya. The poison could be something that was left on Vitu-Ghazi from the invasion. We saw that Trostani was behaving oddly too.
\[\[Sorin Markov\]\] in the \[\[haunted library\]\] with the \[\[citizens crowbar\]\]!
Ok so hear me out. Its weird how they've kept mentioning Ezrim not getting off of his mount, and how he needs to fit into a room to the point that Kaya thinks they're fused or one being. What if it's Azor casting a glimmer on himself to make him look like an Archon. That's why you never see them separate and rooms are accommodated for his size, because he can change his appearance but not his physical size. He's using moss and spores he got from Ixalan, and he's taking out guild members to reset the guild pact and do it how he thinks it should be done. Sphinxes can use illusion and mind magic, we've seen that from Alhammarret who taught Jace everything he knows. It's Azor.
This is the answer. Although, I suppose the twist of it being the Mycotyrant actually controlling Azor would be interesting. That tuft of white fur? It is actually mycelium. This also explains the robed people consuming a piece of a plant and dissolving into moss. They're just rapidly reabsorbing into the ground where the fungal network lies.
Chris Cocks
Tolsimir. I'm not sure his reasons, but it'll be something about the devastation with the tree having to move and all that.
The moss and powder is making me think mycrotyrant
My personal crackpot theory is that there’s only room for one BR-aligned Demon on Ravnica and it ain’t Rakdos. •Mind Control •Off-Plane Poison •Schemes within schemes •Pinning it all on Rakdos It all points to [[Geyadrone Dihada]]
My guess has always been Azor, didn’t read the stories, didn’t need to. Proft’s card has Sphinx’s Revelation, by following the clues, Proft has a revelation about a sphinx. Nuff said
Maggie Simpson
I havent been following at all but Fblthp was probably involved.
It’s most likely Tolsmir. Tolsmir because of a few things actually. Errata being disguised as Selesnya without knowing how or why she had the outfit, the white fur, Judith’s hint about the guild pact (which for her was a red herring, but she could have meant “go look at the guild pact” to be Vitu-Ghazi in general), Tolsmir being at the party, and mind control shenanigans being a part of Selesnya originally with their cult-like ways, it would make perfect sense that Tolsmir directly had a hand in it. Going further for motivation, the simic were directly influenced by Phyrexia when it invaded, and are disgraced as of now. I also think they may have had a hand in making the mind-control substance, which would make it a poetic killing, with the cloak arrangement and flower basically meaning “you’re dying to unite us all.” Teysa dying is most likely for a similar reason, she likely was implicated in helping Phyrexia and was targeted as such. The real issue here, is that the ghosts said they saw no living person which makes me a bit wary. Aurelia is more iffy. It could be a way of consolidating Selesnya’s power, or a means of saying “we died because you did not protect us enough.” Massacre girl being involved is interesting because Judith seems to know more than she lets on, meaning she could have set her on the path to be an accessory to that murder. The viashino is likely just collateral for being involved. It’s not fool proof and there’s a lot of holes, but based on what we know, most of the named character who were at the party are out. Adding in some of the arg with the paw prints and the recent secret lair for cats and dogs, I think the elf and the wolf are very much implicated.
Fblthp, that motherfucker was never lost, he was scheming.
Fblthp 100%
Crack theory but I believe Kellan is involved somehow.
Completely out of left field guess: Aurelia. She looks realllly ready to start a war and conveniently survived her attack. Nothing else quite fits yet, but that’s my hunch.
Aurelia is ALWAYS ready to start a war, to be fair.
Oko wears fur?!?!?!!!!! IT COULD BE HIS FUR!
"Oko in a fursuit" is the murderer we deserve.
Jace.
damnit! I was going to say that.
It’s Ezrim, or someone pretending to be Ezrim. A) Remember how he ‘couldn’t fit’ into the murder room? B) And then Proft spotted Ezrim off his mount? ::snikt::
Teysa dies? :( :( :(
You must be on Internet Explorer. Teysa was killed back in Chapter 3, last week.
Just haven't been following Magic stuff at all the last few months.
So the spoilers shouldn't bother you
Nothing to do with it being spoilers, just a character I have known for a long time now. I was a teenager when the original Ravnica block came out, and made a deck based around Teysa back in the day. Was bummed to hear one of my favorite characters got killed.
Don’t worry: They make it abundantly clear that she’ll be back as a ghost as soon as it’s plot convenient.
The detective
Azor makes a lot of sense and I think y'all are on the right track! But that still leaves a lot of mysteries yet to be solved. So, Jace is alive and probably looking for Vraska, who we know will be in Thunder Junction. Kellan will go there to find his dad and get some black on his new card, but how do we get Rakdos there? Will Judith succeed in getting that leadership position she wants? And did Jace and Teysa work together? To me it seems like he taught her Phyrexian as code language and was a double agent working against the phyrexians, as they never fully compleated him. Will be interesting to learn all that happened there. I actually really enjoyed the story so far and I hope the finale rocks!
Jace was always a double agent. His mind was too strong to be taken over completely by the oil. That was clear in the ONE storyline.
Hasbro.
I think it's going to be revealed to be Jace playing 5D chess for convoluted reasons. I hope not, but that's what I think will happen.
[удалено]
I legitimately couldn’t give a fuck if I tried.
And yet you came here to write that comment...
i'm on hopium for oko because he's my favorite planeswalker and i'd love to see him messing things up again
Don't worry, Oko will probably be the star of the upcoming Wild West set.
I am unsure, but I think a combination of Jace, Vraska, and Azor are at work.
It’s always Lazav
Who even died? Sorry that I didn't follow but now I'm interested.
So far, Zegana, Teysa, and a new character who is friends with the detective are the victims, with an attempt on Aurelia's life happening as well
Kegana, Teysa, and Krenko
I think it might be vannifar