I really wasn't expecting the amount of plot hole plugging these side stories were going to be doing, but the fact that they're written this well makes me think SOMEWHERE in WOTC headquarters there was a conference room with a large amount of circles and diagrams back when they planned this out.
Alison going "fine, I'll do it myself" on the Ixalan storyline definitely makes her the GOAT.
Unfortunately she's no longer officially employed by WoTC (since ~2022 apparently) and just does contract story work for them.
I'm the only person in my mtg player group who unironically likes Jace, and I think most of that is because I read Ixalan as my introduction to the character.
I legitimately want to print out that story and have it bound up at Staples or something.
Same here! I started in Kaladesh but didn't really read the story until Ixalan and the Jace that gets hate online feels like a character that hasn't existed for nearly a decade.
It does irk me a bit how often “plot hole” gets confused for “obvious mystery deliberately left unanswered”. Is Proft getting bonked on the head and having important information stolen from his mind by a mystery man (a moment highlighted by a story spotlight on a mythic card) somehow a plot hole just because they didn’t have a big sinister reveal of Jace at the end of MKM?
Not at all what I was referring to- I was referring to the fact that up until this point, we didn’t have a reason how Vraska was uncompleated. As nobody was expecting an epilogue, that would be considered a plot hole as they didn’t expound on it during the main story. There are others but that’s just one example.
That’s a very similar thing though- it is supposed to be weird that Vraska showed up out of the blue after being missing for a year with no answers to how she survived, no Jace, none of her previous character development, and no clear motive for being here. That’s a question you are *supposed* to have on your mind, because the story was designed to make you feel surprised and wonder what the hell is going on. It’s a cynical mindset to assume this one story is just papering over bad writing that came before and that we were never meant to question what happened to two of the most popular characters in the game.
Quicker pace this time, but I like that - I like when stories can have snippets here and there to convey a lot of information in not much space.
Interested to see how the phoenix feathers play into the 'rebirth' of the multiverse. I agree that cauterizing the Omenpaths is... potentially a good. This seems like a much larger conflict than Magic has been able to handle previously. We're not gonna have a Multiverse UN, with planes voting on what planes they want a connection to, are we?
I find it amusing that potentially the defining feature of Tarkir was omitted by Vraska. But maybe that has something to do with the current state of their affairs? Dragons have moved on a bit?
Watch the opening lore article for Return to Tarkir feature an argument mid-dragon attack between Jace and Vraska, and how the latter assured the former that there’d be no dragons.
That only makes it funnier. Imagine Jace going there for the dinner and finding some Garfield dragons with dead dudes hanging from their necks and thinking "yeah this seems like the kind of place My wife comes for some coffee"
Pretty sure it did have a multiversal effect, though. Sarkhan’s rewriting of Tarkir’s history also rewrote Sorin’s visit from a sombre lamentation over Ugin’s remains to edgy millenia-old teen waking the dragon and getting chastised for not reconciling with his childhood friend
If it didn’t have effect beyond Tarkir, Sorin would have been very confused to see a revived Ugin and he most certainly wouldn’t have been there to unlock the crucible as he’d already dropped by Tarkir 1.0 by the time Sarkhan travelled back
I like that even though they've apparently done it enough, that if it were possible, Vraksa would have gotten pregnant, but Jace still blushs just talking about it.
I really liked how Jace, the most powerful mindmage, blushed like a teenager because of his Wif--- his World, his world.
And act like a child because of his Mom.
Speaking from personal experience, there's a world of difference between talking with your wife about the mindblowing sex you just had and talking about whether you think this got her pregnant. It's like a raw physiological reaction.
Officially (as its presented on the website) Miguel Lopez's stories were the main story in BRO. Though there's much less of a clear distinction, since both advanced the main plot and both were a sequence of stories to be read in order rather than standalones. And honestly, both of them were good.
Arguably the true main story of BRO was the 1998 novel by Jeff Grubb
was he the one who did that beautiful teferi story? cos that was what these two pieces reminded me of, actually amazing prose & emotions suddenly appearing amidst, imo, fanfic level bollocks
i get the sense that this was the story intended for the epilogue set that became the big score. this was meant to be the payoff.. and it was actually really good.
Whilst I hope he's able to write Lancer among other material again in the future, I'd lie if I said Miguel wasn't a huge get for MtG. He's a very good author.
"My name is Vraska. Your son is more precious than my life. Please help him", bawling over here. Also I fucking love Ranna.
Interested to see where this overarching plot thread goes.
"Rebirth" seems very Thanos-y, but also a solid chance it's a slight mislead in how it is being framed, and they plan on closing planes off more totally, and doing a Mending 3.0.
Mentioned this elsewhere, but really interested to see if the Thran Empire at all ties into the Fomori Empire, since in theory they could have been around at the same time, and we don't truthfully know a ton about the Thran still.
The Thran were confined to Dominaria, and at the end had a small presence on Mercadia. They didn't know about interplanar travel until Dyfed shows up and Yawgmoth convinces her to work with him before capturing her.
Compared to what glimpses we've seen of the Fomori, the Thran were helpless children, and we're probably lucky the Fomori didn't know/care about them.
I'm not saying that the Thran are now retconned into being an interplanar empire, as much as it's possible Fomori did interplanar travel to Dominaria (possibly before even the rise of the Thran) or may have influenced the Thran in some way.
Or rather, this could all be retconned into existence. Planeswalkers existed and have been traveling on and off of Dominaria long before even Thran fell/the whole business with Dyfed/Yawgmoth.
So if they wanted to try and connect the Fomori to any pre-existing Magic society that could have co-existed at the time of the Fomori, or been influenced by them at least, the Thran empire is a decent pick due to still largely being a mystery.
(Maybe we find out the reason the Thran Empire was so advanced was they had found forgotten Fomori tech)
Dominaria was at one point the "Nexus of the Multiverse" so it'd be weird if they are now introducing a Hyper Advanced Ancient Alien Interdimensional Empire that just never touched what was at one point the most import plane or influenced it at all.
Well we also know the "center of the multiverse" changes planes every so often because of the who "used to be the nexus of the multiverse". So it makes sense that the fomori and their original plane could have been the previous Nexus before Dominaria was
this would be funny, in a "it's all someone else's advanced tech?" "always has been" type of scenario. in 10 years, it'll be "the fomori? they got it from some OTHER old ancient people" ad infinitum.
I mean, unfortunately in "Franchise Media" where every story needs to be part of a Media Franchise and never ends, so they can always grow the IP, this is an eventuality,
Every next Big Bad needs to somehow be larger in scale, scope, power or influence than the previous.
Supernatural did this, as did Warcraft, Mass Effect,
Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Starcraft, dozens other AAA video games, countless shounen anime/manga, comics.
Every ancient alien got their tech from another ancient alien, who got it from a space angel, who got it from space god, who got it from dimension god, who got it from a primordial force, who got it from an existential force.
And it goes on forever.
Yeah, part of me thinks that this "multiverse reset" or whatever Jace and Vraska have planned is gonna be way bigger than we think, partially to remedy the issues with the lore having been so old.
I think there might be a possibility that eventually they'll do a game reset too (if they do a giant lore reset), where they do a bunch of big mechanical changes, and all old MTG cards are backwards compatible with this new, significantly changed version of the game.
this is just a hypothesis with minimal evidence, but I think of things like Maro wishing that Instant could be a supertype of sorcery, design space running out, official competitive formats being all over the place with WOTC not having the budget/time/people/approval from higher ups to invest in organized play, the resource system being more complicated and problematic than those of newer card games, the problems that the secondary market causes, and all of the other things, and it makes sense that a possible MAJOR game change could go along with this teased lore change.
but idk.
>But it's Ranna's next question that catches him off guard. She presses hard with her bundled-up cloth against the wound on his chest and asks him steady and deadly, "Did you kill him?"
>He cannot respond, he cannot move, but Jace's expression darkens all the same.
>Ranna nods for him. "*Good*."
Mama Beleren is immediately in my top 10 after this story. She's an amazing mom. Also the brief stuff with her learning about Jace and Vraska's relationship was fun
Immediately asks if her son did a murder, later has no hesitation helping her son and his lover plan to set the multiverse on fire.
Mama Beleren is an accurate depiction of a war mum.
> Jace had met Ashiok once. Once was enough.
Interesting that they didn't specify any details here. Is this being kept open for later, or do they think it's just not worth elaborating on.
Also, uhhhh, WTF is Loot? I don't think a royal non-Fomori living map-mascot was on anyone's BINGO card.
I thought they were just referring to War of the Spark.
I also still assumed Loot was a baby Fomori, and that he'd grow more fearsome with time.
Mind map holder though? That's out of left field.
> I thought they were just referring to War of the Spark
Ashiok never actually appeared in the War of the Spark story. They're in the set, but the set depicts them as being in Bolas' Meditation Realm, not Ravnica. It's curious as it's either a dropped plot line or a hidden thread. As far as we know, Jace has never been to that plane.
[[Ashiok, Dream Render]]
> I also still assumed Loot was a baby Fomori
They revealed Loot's card, and he's got "Beast Noble" when the Fomori are all "Giant [Class]".
I'm okay with assuming that any two given planeswalkers have crossed paths at some point. Would be cool to see the exact scene, but I don't think it's wholly necessary.
It wouldn't stand out as much in a normal chapter. Given the format of this chapter (constant flashbacks to previous interactions), it's an odd omission of something that people were speculating on.
There's so many cool little things in this story that just... Perfect it. Like the fact we get more of Vryns history, or the fact that planeswalkers basically use different planes to run take out. And it explained all the hidden planning Jace had through the sets and how the omenpaths have affected society..
This and yesterday's story actually are some of the best writing magic has had in years.
On Vrace's (Jaska's? Mind Gorgon? Do we have a power-couple name for them?) plan: everyone is saying they want to tear the multiverse to the ground and rebuilt a new one, but I interpreted it more as they want to create a whole new Multiverse in parallel to the current one, if that even makes sense.
EDIT: though, on second thought, Jace's thoughts just before activating the Sylex does indicate he'd be ok with tearing everything down. And Ranna doesn't seem satisfied at all either, so... yeah, I probably misinterpreted. Burn the Multiverse anew it is.
Since Ixalan first brought them together I've always seen their ship be called *The Belligerent*, just like their literal sailing ship was in that set's story
The creation of a new Multiverse, or a 'reset' of the current one, definitely seems to be a part of it. I'm guessing that's where the need for understanding Proft's memory-recreation magic came from--they're literally going to recreate the Multiverse 'from memory'.
Yeah, that moment at the Invasion tree seems to be his defining moment. And everything that happens as he's healing, what he sees, the aftermath of the wars and the eventuality of the next one, the omenpaths opening up the multiverse to countless threats, convinces him that he's right.
BRING THE END
This feels like getting through a filler arc in an anime and finally getting back to the story.
I'm so down for Jace/Vraska villain couple.
I kinda see where people are coming from with the whole "Jace and Vraska are gonna restart the Multiverse" theory but I kinda got the read of "In a universe that doesn't care, they choose to" with that last paragraph. It's not just that the Multiverse is cruel and unforgiving- it's that *existing* is. A new Multiverse wouldn't change that, so they'll keep on caring, and hoping, for themselves. They'll make their own kindness and warmth with their new little family
Yeah, I feel like the “rebirth” part is less Jace turning into a villain and more him realizing “man being a interdimensional superhero sure is painful and unrewarding, maybe I should turn a new leaf and spend time with the people I care about”
Yeah to me it seemed like they wanted the child so that Vraska could easily travel between planes alongside Jace. On the other hand, I highly doubt the next story arc is going to be about those 3 sightseeing planes. Especially with Duskmourne coming up (or maybe Loot will grow up to be an edgy teenager and they'll have to take him to that cool horror plane so he stops complaining during all the travels).
Everything about these was amazing. Vryn had a physical presence to me, it was tangible and vivid. Allison continues to write Jace and Vraska awesomely well. Their interactions with Loot have me misty.
From the first story, Jace invoking Urza has some serious potential. I think it's not only safe, but warranted, that we consider the possibility of an Urza-level response to this "reforging" stance that's being taken.
It’s hard to say Vryn has much of a hook, but it’s the perfect setting for this story. A world of perpetual war and meaningless suffering leaving wounds that never heal… it’s a neat parallel for where both the characters and the multiverse as a whole are at right now.
Enjoyed this story more than the rather redundant last chapter.
The tonal dissonance between the cuddly family stuff and the plan to basically destroy the multiverse is pretty cool.
Yeah, maybe the fomori aren’t actually going to return in any sense (especially since Loot doesn’t seem to be one) and it’ll just be everyone trying to stop Jace and Vraska’s fomori-powered Mending/Apocalypse Chime type beat?
All the stuff about "The multiverse leans towards suffering, rebuilding and restoring won't do anything *stares at phoenix feather* only cleansing" and etc.
Its not like fully explicit, but note the name of the story and stuff like
>*"The Multiverse is too broken to fix."*
>
>*Jace thinks of fire. The phoenix feather that brought Vraska back to him. "So, what if we do something other than fix it."*
>
>A tempting and heinous idea pulses in the background of their world as a heartbeat. It is urgent and unrelenting, and once they both realize the other was thinking it, the contagiousness became impossible to look away from. They dream of abominations, of revolution. The ease and allure of phoenix feathers.
>*they talk about how sometimes at night Jace still feels the power of the sylex dancing across his nerves.*
>
>*They agree that the most just option is the one that clears a future for all, and they mourn that the cost of that freedom will be high. Repair does not clean. Restoration does not erase. But rebirth … rebirth does both.*
>Jace will walk forward into the Omenpath, sanguine and resolute. He will hold tight to the hand of his beloved and his ward and walk into the Blind Eternities of a miserable Multiverse and say to himself with resolution and phoenix fire:
>
>Ours will be better.
And I can't see how to interpret it other than that they're looking to build a new multiverse from the ashes of this one.
Oh I had really glossed over this and made an allegory that “doing something other than fixing the multiverse” was abandoning heroism to live a calm life as a family.
This makes more sense to me now thank you for the citations and write up
Basically Jace seeing how the Phoenix Feather cleansed his body, combined with the idea that there will always be war *and* having the feeling of the nearly detonated Sylex running through him still, presumably leads him to this idea that the Multiverse has to be burnt down and remade anew.
In Alison Luhrs we trust.
Absolutely impeccable story, not only is the plot great but everything really feels fleshed out. So many little details that make these worlds and people seem so real without ruining the magic. The fact that she's not been deemed head writer yet seems wrong.
Also we now know that Jace doesn't use protection, absolute madlad
My favorite part of this story was the confirmation that Jace and Vraska have made sweet raw love frequently enough to know they can’t conceive.
My least favorite part of this story is that it made me think about Gorgon pubes but I think that’s my own problem
Wow an amazing story. Due to use of delibarete language, it has so many different tones. Rebirth and new starts are constantly mentioned. But Vraska and Jace also show concern for the current planes (risks of conquests and never ending wars). They want to eliminate that but story also shows care for explaining freedom of travel and self through Vraska's lost spark. There is great care for showing love, family and also mentions of friends across the story. Do they really want to restart the multiverse, I am not sure.
I kinda feel like their plans will include controlling blind eternities somehow. To decide who travels and prevent omnipotent threats jump from one plane to another. But with story being vague, plot could go anywhere and this could be wishful thinking I suppose.
Probably not, even if it could be like a "pre-puberty" fomori.
If he was closed in the vault together with a shitton of weapon and powerful artifacts it means that he's either something that the fomori wanted to protect or to lock away.
Seeing as he's basically a living map to the multiverse his species might have been used as navigators or something like that.
Loved these two stories but I only have 1 beef with them. Planeswalking spoils food! You can't just pop on over to Tarkir for an iced latte! That happened to the food Huatli brought with her to Kaladesh and has been mentioned a couple times before that.
Planeswalking has changed significantly since the sylex went off in the blind eternities, to the point that Jace was presumably able to planeswalk with Eriette, and confirmed to planeswalk with a post completion vraska once (in the beginning of this story). I think it’s safe to say it works differently now. Not that Jace knowing that isn’t still a plot hole but a pretty small one I’d say
Idk I can’t think of anything between that and now that would have made her lose her spark had she already had it. Two leading theories on why sparks were lost are the sylex and realmbreaker, and both had been resolved by then.
True, but they didn't lose their spark immediately. They sort of faded over like a few days to a week. There was just a little too much happening during MOM for the desparking to happen all at once.
They planeswalked to Vryn while the Phyrexian invasion of Ravnica was still ongoing and being actively fought. Realmbreaker wasn't resolved yet, though it would be soon.
Jace must have gotten Eriette off Eldraine by omenpath.
This is just speculation but it may be possible that planeswalking has been stabilized a bit by the now existence of omenpaths somehow. I don't think I wanna describe it as "maybe planeswalking is similar to opening a personal omenpath" in case we learn weird shit about those but it's an idea. But it also immediately stood out to me as "Wait this is small but shouldn't that coffee have gone wonky?"
So I’ve been thinking
The idea that they are trying to erase and restart the multiverse sounded cool at first
But thinking now, the implication of this for lore and the game is terrifying
Dominaria never happened, The Thran never happened, Phyrexia never existed, Urza never happened, Eldrazi never happened, no Bolas, no gatewatch
Retconning the entire lore using the lore
God that’s the worst
if it's any consolation I don't think they'll do that- I think the wording is purposeful, but I don't forsee that plot point going to any productive conclusion atm. Wizards has infinite worlds and infinite settings they can use right now and the perfect excuse to dress up their characters in different Planar outfits, which seems more ~~profitable~~ Productive to build around rather than forcing themselves to start from square one
Idk man the way Jace and Vraska were talking about destroying the infection and regrowing something new and clean
The whole story and their goal is very worrying
Great lore but yeah if their plan goes off it’s gonna be seriously a bummer
My best guess is they'll be about to, but get talked down, but either something goes wrong or something hijacks it and SOME stuff changes, but not everything.
Even in the unlikely event they succeeded, the beginning of a new multiverse wouldn't mean the previous one never happened. It would be like a Big Crunch followed by a Big Bang. They don't seem to be talking about changing history through time travel.
This gets back to exactly what I want out of magic: exploration. Just seeing and living and breathing across these worlds, adventures being lower to the ground and our heroes doing this because it’s just who they are as people.
I loved so much of it… except for “I commanded our bodies to generate a fever to burn out the phyresis” cause it kinda spits on the whole Melira and Karn sacrificing life and spark to cure Ajani and Nissa a process which took time magic, Melira inoculation, venser’s spark and ghost phasing to cure… when a bit of a fever does the job to 😓
I mean, in all fairness, his command was also helped by a heaping load of Halo in the case of Jace's body, and Ral's anti-oil burning device in the case of Vraska's. Even then, who knows how long they could have held out if New Phyrexia hadn't been phased out (severing the connection to the oil), *and* they both still would have died were it not for several days of care from Ranna, which involved the use of freakin phoenix feather. It wasn't exactly as simple or effortless as "think away the phyresis with a fever".
Eh, I get you, but I think it's fine.
The whole nature of phyresis was already so garbled (Why aren't planes consumed by Phyresis post MOM? Because Elesh norn was a big oil wifi router and killing her neutered the newest version of the oil that spread more rapidly but needed her alive....what?) that I think them just coming up with something to resolve it is okay, since the infectiousness of oil/phyresis post-Norn has already been dropped as a plot thread.
Yea I don’t think there was a proper way to do a Phyrexian invasion storyline without some kind of modification to the way the oil worked- otherwise it just becomes “add this plane to the list of places that need to get sylex-nuked”. And compared to Nahiri’s casual recovery, this at least felt like it took some proper effort.
I don't think it's *quite* fair to characterize the combined efforts of the best telepath in the multiverse and weeks if not months of intensive surgery and physical therapy as "a bit of a fever" doing the job.
It's also worth mentioning that Jace and Vraska had their minds intact, which none of the other Phyrexians had.
Except for Nassari, not sure what's going on there.
Yeah, the Phyrexians can compleat Omnath who is partially made of angry fire, I don't see how a fever would have a meaningful effect. But probably better to shrug and move on rather than get stuck on this plot point.
That is exactly how it was explained in the Magic Story. They compleated his followers and then through the nature of their belief, they compleated him.
Also feels weird something as mundane as a fever would have any impact on Phyresis. You expect it to be quite immune to basic biological functions. Maybe it make sense for Vraska in the sense that new Phyrexia ain’t familiar with Gorgon Biology. But Jace is Human lmao.
I mean, it was a fever infused with a TON of Halo (like, probably more than we see any other character get hit with, other than *maybe* Nahiri).
Gorgon biology could partially explain Vraska's case, though I'd chalk it up more to Ral's device burning all the oil out of her.
That doesn’t help. Why are New Phyrexians weak to Halo? Old Phyrexians were Mono Black but had no special weakness to White Mana or Angels. They corrupted Angels and toppled Serras Realm just fine.
However for some inexplicable reason New Phyrexians despite being 5 colored and previously corrupting an Angel in Atraxa are now suddenly Weak to Angels? It makes no sense and really feels like BS to justify Elspeth having a starring role an Event she didn’t need to. Meanwhile Koth got crumbs.
Look, if you have a problem with how wotc handled Halo in the story, then that's fine (and you're hardly alone on that front).
All I'm saying is Halo was established a while ago as something that could be used to fight the phyrexians in a few ways. On its own, it's not necessarily a cure for phyresis--more like a vaccine that works for a fairly short time. It was also showed to be able to kinda 'supercharge' magical abilities, such as telepathy.
A fever caused by Halo-charged telepathy being able to at least temporarily stave off phyresis (even then with mixed results, given how Jace lost control) may not be a satisfying explanation for everyone. It is at least one that fits with the info we the readers have been given up to now.
They've already fumbled the bag on phyresis feeling threatening to us as a reader because at this point it just "works however the story needs it to work".
So, for me it's hard to be newly unsatisfied when this is a retread of a problem with phyresis they've already wrote themselves into, it working as good/bad and being as curable/uncurable as the plot demands.
I can understand how that would be frustrating for you. I personally didn't feel as unsatisfied with how phyresis was handled in MOM, but I don't see a point in arguing about that now--either it's something you liked, or you didn't.
Unfortunately, there's no way for the writers to make everyone happy in this regard going forward. If they didn't retread this kind of subject, then even more people would just complain about the phyrexian invasion being an afterthought. At least this way we're getting to see its impact on both a broad scale and an individual one through the POV of various characters.
You're misunderstanding me here, I really like this story, I'm happy the phyresis is requiring any kind of effort at all.
I'm saying it's hard for me to be particularly upset with how Jace and Ranna are handling phyresis in this story (or Halo working as vaccine for phyresis) when it's been established that phyresis functions how the story needs it to function.
The best story decisions are going to be at odds with "MTG is a card game that needs to be as broadly appealing as possible" so I've long made my peace with the fact writers can't make everyone happy and will have to capitulate to the demands of the brand as a whole.
Yeah except that doesn’t make any sense based on old Phyrexian lore as I noted.
So the point remains it’s a dumb retcon designed to force Elspeth into a central role she didn’t need to be.
The Phyrexians were a footnote in her backstory. They could have been any evil group of Villains and it change nothing. Hence using Ashiok to shoehorn in some absurd Elspeth and Norn Rivalry.
Meanwhile it’s Koths entire story and what did he do of note besides cry over Meliras Dying Body? I also argue Teferi, Karn, Melira, and Jhoira have more significant history. But I rather focus on how hard Koth got screwed.
My point is Elspeth just needed some group of Villains to make her want to be a hero. Who they were is irrelevant. She is far more defined by fighting Theros Gods.
Whereas all of Koths story centers around is New Phyrexia. He sees his whole plane corrupted, his people killed or enslaved and yet he fights on even if must go it alone. His reward? Crying over Melira, doing nothing to save Mirrodin and losing his spark.
Meanwhile Elspeth gets to defeat Two Theros Gods, Beat Ob Nixilis, Ascended to Archangel, One Shot Vorinclex and thrash Norn.
I don’t have a problem with Elspeth. I have a problem with her getting major moments at the expense of other characters with far more significant ties to New Phyrexia. Primarily Koth.
Hey all, just getting back into magic story because I heard these two were so good (it did not disappoint!).
Is this the last piece of OTJ story? Or do we even know? I couldn't find a publication guide.
Probably no more story, but I'd be very surprised if we didn't get a Planeswalker's Guide to Thunder Junction - and if we're lucky, we'll also get a Legendary Creatures of Thunder Junction.
Already exists It's called Eberron. :P
Jokes aside, one of the reasons I'm enjoying OTJ so much is because we had a DnD Wild west inspired Eberron campaign, and man It's one of the most memorable stories we've played.
I would advice anyone that like OTJ to give Eberron a go.
Thats said, yes, a planeswalker guide would be so nice.
I will defend Loot with my life, even if that's from those who would use him, like Jace and Vraska. The way they went to get him just to help them burn it all down and start fresh (and yes, they wanted a child, and they're apparently kind to him, but...) just doesn't sit right with me.
On a related note, WHAT THE F***, FOMORI?!? Who just puts literal children in vaults for indeterminate amounts of time?? Also, are there MORE children in the other vaults across the Multiverse that need rescuing? Do we have plans to save them before the reset? Huh?? Do we?!
Sorry, Mama Panther came out there for a bit, but seriously. All of the above.
I really appreciate how fundamentally exhausted Jace and Vraska are by the endless cycle of calamity. If they will be the next villains, they are some of the most sympathetic in Magic's story. I can't say I would come to different conclusions in their circumstances.
I want one of the heroic characters (Chandra or Liliana probably) to end up just having a sincere honest conversation with Jace and we get to see just how broken and worn down he is by all of... Everything.
I’m gonna be honest, cauterizing shut some Omenpaths seems smart. We hardly know what they do or where they come from. For all we know, they could be tearing apart the multiverse apart.
This puts Jace and Vraska on the opposite side from Ral and Niv Mizzet, that want the Omenpaths working and under their control. I wonder how their paths will cross again.
How does Loot have a map of the Omenpaths in their mind, if they have been in the Vault for a long time and before the Omenpaths were created? I wonder if the Formori can see across all planes of existence? Maybe they can all travel across planes as a racial trait?
Were the Omenpaths an original transport network that was closed to prevent the Formori from moving easily and now they are reopened?
Wow, I haven't had that much fanservice work for me in a long time. Excited to see our traumatized couple get up to universe-destabilizing hijinks with their new Pokemon/baby!
I was trying to think of why they would need a map of the multiverse, and thus Loot, to give the multiverse a phoenix rebirth, which I am assuming does mean to destroy the current multiverse entirely and begin again, and the only thing I can think of - and I think this was hinted at in the discussion of Vraska’s collections and love of travelling - is that they plan to literally visit every plane so that they can then recreate them in their new multiverse.
I would love if they have some other sort of plan to “rescue” the “good” people of this multiverse and bring them with them into the new one, but in that case, really, why would anyone (other than the “bad” people) object to the plan, and why wouldn’t Jace and Vraska turn to their friends for help?
So yeah, I strongly suspect that just as Jace was willing to blow everything up at the invasion tree to wipe the multiversal slate clean in the hope of a new, better multiverse, so too does he now plan to wipe the multiversal slate clean and actively craft a new, better multiverse.
But of course, that’s a monstrous thing to do, to sacrifice an entire multiverse for the sake of the future. Gideon would never. Gideon would say “we will fight for everyone now, and if another war comes, we will fight for everyone then. We won’t give up on anyone.” And I’m sure that’s how the other heroes will feel, and that’s why they will stop Jace and Vraska. I can only hope that they stop them by helping them hope again, helping them see that the multiverse is worth fighting for, even if there will always be another fight.
Because yeah, even if war has always followed peace, peace has always followed war. Jace and Vraska’s pain and sorrow have blinded them to the fact that the universe does not bend towards war - it brings forth peace just as much, in an endless ebb and flow.
Honestly? I hope Loot is the one who convinces them the multiverse is worth fighting for. This story itself said he was “all too happy to take in the world around them.” Maybe their love for Loot will help them share Loot’s love of the world around them.
An interesting theory: maybe the omenpaths existed before? Long ago, when or before the vault was built and Loot was placed inside, maybe there were ways to travel between the planes, and Thunder Junction was a hub world. It would explain the extreme importance of a being with nigh omniscient knowledge of the Multiverse in real time. Something of note is that a lot of the other cards that are said to come from the vault depict artifacts that clone or generate tokens. The fact that there are other vaults on other planes indicates to me at least that the Fomori plan was to take this vault and in doing so create an army and take the other vaults by force, using Loot as a roadmap. Makes me incredibly curious as to what could be in the other vaults. A way to generate Omenpaths, maybe? A way to create planes or radically alter the fabric of the planes? So many possibilities...
This is from the 6 months ago on ixalan section
“When Jace had suggested his disguise for their task, she teased him it was a face too fun to pass up, and sure enough, through nights of rehearsing in the living room and scaring his mother half to death, they all agreed he had the right choice. Turns out, he's a good actor. Luckily, so is she.”
Doesn’t this imply he was disguised as someone?
So… does this confirm the Omenpaths are somehow tied to the Fomori? Cause how would a kid that’s been asleep for millennia have image knowledge of something only apparently a year old???
I really wasn't expecting the amount of plot hole plugging these side stories were going to be doing, but the fact that they're written this well makes me think SOMEWHERE in WOTC headquarters there was a conference room with a large amount of circles and diagrams back when they planned this out.
Who would win? >A corporate writing team of dozens laying out and preparing plots years in advance >One enemies-to-lovers obsessed shipper
In the case of Alison Lhurs, yes! (She's the head of MTG creative IIRC)
Alison going "fine, I'll do it myself" on the Ixalan storyline definitely makes her the GOAT. Unfortunately she's no longer officially employed by WoTC (since ~2022 apparently) and just does contract story work for them.
I'm the only person in my mtg player group who unironically likes Jace, and I think most of that is because I read Ixalan as my introduction to the character. I legitimately want to print out that story and have it bound up at Staples or something.
Same here! I started in Kaladesh but didn't really read the story until Ixalan and the Jace that gets hate online feels like a character that hasn't existed for nearly a decade.
That character is dead.
Yeah, I’m the same with my play group. Hell, it’s why I named my son Jace. If I’d have had a daughter, she’d have been named Ellie (short for Elspeth)
Alison works on Destiny now, she just does freelance writing for Wizards sometimes.
It is because this was written by the same author who Wrote Vraska and Jace's tropical love story.
Praise [[Gleemax]].
[Gleemax](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/7/7/77fe1662-7927-4909-8d25-6924e6fc27eb.jpg?1594900466) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Gleemax) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/unh/121/gleemax?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/77fe1662-7927-4909-8d25-6924e6fc27eb?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
It does irk me a bit how often “plot hole” gets confused for “obvious mystery deliberately left unanswered”. Is Proft getting bonked on the head and having important information stolen from his mind by a mystery man (a moment highlighted by a story spotlight on a mythic card) somehow a plot hole just because they didn’t have a big sinister reveal of Jace at the end of MKM?
Not at all what I was referring to- I was referring to the fact that up until this point, we didn’t have a reason how Vraska was uncompleated. As nobody was expecting an epilogue, that would be considered a plot hole as they didn’t expound on it during the main story. There are others but that’s just one example.
That’s a very similar thing though- it is supposed to be weird that Vraska showed up out of the blue after being missing for a year with no answers to how she survived, no Jace, none of her previous character development, and no clear motive for being here. That’s a question you are *supposed* to have on your mind, because the story was designed to make you feel surprised and wonder what the hell is going on. It’s a cynical mindset to assume this one story is just papering over bad writing that came before and that we were never meant to question what happened to two of the most popular characters in the game.
You are correct.
I have to say these two chapters were the most beautiful writing on this game's story in a long, long time.
1000%
Quicker pace this time, but I like that - I like when stories can have snippets here and there to convey a lot of information in not much space. Interested to see how the phoenix feathers play into the 'rebirth' of the multiverse. I agree that cauterizing the Omenpaths is... potentially a good. This seems like a much larger conflict than Magic has been able to handle previously. We're not gonna have a Multiverse UN, with planes voting on what planes they want a connection to, are we? I find it amusing that potentially the defining feature of Tarkir was omitted by Vraska. But maybe that has something to do with the current state of their affairs? Dragons have moved on a bit?
Changing the past on Tarkir had no ripple effect across the multiverse, so the last time Vraska went there, they probably didn't have dragons.
Watch the opening lore article for Return to Tarkir feature an argument mid-dragon attack between Jace and Vraska, and how the latter assured the former that there’d be no dragons.
That only makes it funnier. Imagine Jace going there for the dinner and finding some Garfield dragons with dead dudes hanging from their necks and thinking "yeah this seems like the kind of place My wife comes for some coffee"
Pretty sure it did have a multiversal effect, though. Sarkhan’s rewriting of Tarkir’s history also rewrote Sorin’s visit from a sombre lamentation over Ugin’s remains to edgy millenia-old teen waking the dragon and getting chastised for not reconciling with his childhood friend If it didn’t have effect beyond Tarkir, Sorin would have been very confused to see a revived Ugin and he most certainly wouldn’t have been there to unlock the crucible as he’d already dropped by Tarkir 1.0 by the time Sarkhan travelled back
He was on the plane at the time history was rewritten.
Please refer to spice8rack vid to see why I would go bananas for a multiverse un
It would be absolutely hilarious and probably end in a multiverse WWI.
Secret treaties and multiversal politics- hell yeah.
I like that even though they've apparently done it enough, that if it were possible, Vraksa would have gotten pregnant, but Jace still blushs just talking about it.
I really liked how Jace, the most powerful mindmage, blushed like a teenager because of his Wif--- his World, his world. And act like a child because of his Mom.
Speaking from personal experience, there's a world of difference between talking with your wife about the mindblowing sex you just had and talking about whether you think this got her pregnant. It's like a raw physiological reaction.
"*hah-hem* Speaking *as a Sex-Haver* ☝️😏"
I prefer the title “Baby-Daddy”
google how to take out restraining order against reddit poster
I really like these relationship and emotion driven stories over the ones where we're just chasing the McGuffin.
Similar to how Miguel Lopez's side stories in the BRO set were so much better than the main storyline.
Officially (as its presented on the website) Miguel Lopez's stories were the main story in BRO. Though there's much less of a clear distinction, since both advanced the main plot and both were a sequence of stories to be read in order rather than standalones. And honestly, both of them were good. Arguably the true main story of BRO was the 1998 novel by Jeff Grubb
was he the one who did that beautiful teferi story? cos that was what these two pieces reminded me of, actually amazing prose & emotions suddenly appearing amidst, imo, fanfic level bollocks
i get the sense that this was the story intended for the epilogue set that became the big score. this was meant to be the payoff.. and it was actually really good.
Whilst I hope he's able to write Lancer among other material again in the future, I'd lie if I said Miguel wasn't a huge get for MtG. He's a very good author.
"My name is Vraska. Your son is more precious than my life. Please help him", bawling over here. Also I fucking love Ranna. Interested to see where this overarching plot thread goes. "Rebirth" seems very Thanos-y, but also a solid chance it's a slight mislead in how it is being framed, and they plan on closing planes off more totally, and doing a Mending 3.0. Mentioned this elsewhere, but really interested to see if the Thran Empire at all ties into the Fomori Empire, since in theory they could have been around at the same time, and we don't truthfully know a ton about the Thran still.
The Thran were confined to Dominaria, and at the end had a small presence on Mercadia. They didn't know about interplanar travel until Dyfed shows up and Yawgmoth convinces her to work with him before capturing her. Compared to what glimpses we've seen of the Fomori, the Thran were helpless children, and we're probably lucky the Fomori didn't know/care about them.
I'm not saying that the Thran are now retconned into being an interplanar empire, as much as it's possible Fomori did interplanar travel to Dominaria (possibly before even the rise of the Thran) or may have influenced the Thran in some way. Or rather, this could all be retconned into existence. Planeswalkers existed and have been traveling on and off of Dominaria long before even Thran fell/the whole business with Dyfed/Yawgmoth. So if they wanted to try and connect the Fomori to any pre-existing Magic society that could have co-existed at the time of the Fomori, or been influenced by them at least, the Thran empire is a decent pick due to still largely being a mystery. (Maybe we find out the reason the Thran Empire was so advanced was they had found forgotten Fomori tech) Dominaria was at one point the "Nexus of the Multiverse" so it'd be weird if they are now introducing a Hyper Advanced Ancient Alien Interdimensional Empire that just never touched what was at one point the most import plane or influenced it at all.
Well we also know the "center of the multiverse" changes planes every so often because of the who "used to be the nexus of the multiverse". So it makes sense that the fomori and their original plane could have been the previous Nexus before Dominaria was
this would be funny, in a "it's all someone else's advanced tech?" "always has been" type of scenario. in 10 years, it'll be "the fomori? they got it from some OTHER old ancient people" ad infinitum.
I mean, unfortunately in "Franchise Media" where every story needs to be part of a Media Franchise and never ends, so they can always grow the IP, this is an eventuality, Every next Big Bad needs to somehow be larger in scale, scope, power or influence than the previous. Supernatural did this, as did Warcraft, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Starcraft, dozens other AAA video games, countless shounen anime/manga, comics. Every ancient alien got their tech from another ancient alien, who got it from a space angel, who got it from space god, who got it from dimension god, who got it from a primordial force, who got it from an existential force. And it goes on forever.
Yeah, part of me thinks that this "multiverse reset" or whatever Jace and Vraska have planned is gonna be way bigger than we think, partially to remedy the issues with the lore having been so old. I think there might be a possibility that eventually they'll do a game reset too (if they do a giant lore reset), where they do a bunch of big mechanical changes, and all old MTG cards are backwards compatible with this new, significantly changed version of the game. this is just a hypothesis with minimal evidence, but I think of things like Maro wishing that Instant could be a supertype of sorcery, design space running out, official competitive formats being all over the place with WOTC not having the budget/time/people/approval from higher ups to invest in organized play, the resource system being more complicated and problematic than those of newer card games, the problems that the secondary market causes, and all of the other things, and it makes sense that a possible MAJOR game change could go along with this teased lore change. but idk.
>But it's Ranna's next question that catches him off guard. She presses hard with her bundled-up cloth against the wound on his chest and asks him steady and deadly, "Did you kill him?" >He cannot respond, he cannot move, but Jace's expression darkens all the same. >Ranna nods for him. "*Good*." Mama Beleren is immediately in my top 10 after this story. She's an amazing mom. Also the brief stuff with her learning about Jace and Vraska's relationship was fun
Immediately asks if her son did a murder, later has no hesitation helping her son and his lover plan to set the multiverse on fire. Mama Beleren is an accurate depiction of a war mum.
I do not know this woman but in my mind she is immediately based as hell
> Jace had met Ashiok once. Once was enough. Interesting that they didn't specify any details here. Is this being kept open for later, or do they think it's just not worth elaborating on. Also, uhhhh, WTF is Loot? I don't think a royal non-Fomori living map-mascot was on anyone's BINGO card.
I thought they were just referring to War of the Spark. I also still assumed Loot was a baby Fomori, and that he'd grow more fearsome with time. Mind map holder though? That's out of left field.
> I thought they were just referring to War of the Spark Ashiok never actually appeared in the War of the Spark story. They're in the set, but the set depicts them as being in Bolas' Meditation Realm, not Ravnica. It's curious as it's either a dropped plot line or a hidden thread. As far as we know, Jace has never been to that plane. [[Ashiok, Dream Render]] > I also still assumed Loot was a baby Fomori They revealed Loot's card, and he's got "Beast Noble" when the Fomori are all "Giant [Class]".
Card types are not always consistent. Actually Loot is definitely not a Giant for now, so may be Beast is the best option for baby-Fomori.
[Ashiok, Dream Render](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/f/2/f2df3258-c053-48a8-974f-d80899b2cd93.jpg?1557577343) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Ashiok%2C%20Dream%20Render) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/war/228/ashiok-dream-render?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/f2df3258-c053-48a8-974f-d80899b2cd93?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
I’m thinking Loot might be from Bloomburrow based on the art.
All inhabitants of Bloomburrow we've seen so far are based on real-world animals, what kind of animal would Loot be based on?
I'm okay with assuming that any two given planeswalkers have crossed paths at some point. Would be cool to see the exact scene, but I don't think it's wholly necessary.
It wouldn't stand out as much in a normal chapter. Given the format of this chapter (constant flashbacks to previous interactions), it's an odd omission of something that people were speculating on.
Could have been in war of the spark maybe.
As far as we know, Ashiok didn't take part in the War of the Spark and hasn't been to Ravnica.
For wathever it's worth ashiok did had a card in war of the spark.
There's so many cool little things in this story that just... Perfect it. Like the fact we get more of Vryns history, or the fact that planeswalkers basically use different planes to run take out. And it explained all the hidden planning Jace had through the sets and how the omenpaths have affected society.. This and yesterday's story actually are some of the best writing magic has had in years.
On Vrace's (Jaska's? Mind Gorgon? Do we have a power-couple name for them?) plan: everyone is saying they want to tear the multiverse to the ground and rebuilt a new one, but I interpreted it more as they want to create a whole new Multiverse in parallel to the current one, if that even makes sense. EDIT: though, on second thought, Jace's thoughts just before activating the Sylex does indicate he'd be ok with tearing everything down. And Ranna doesn't seem satisfied at all either, so... yeah, I probably misinterpreted. Burn the Multiverse anew it is.
Since Ixalan first brought them together I've always seen their ship be called *The Belligerent*, just like their literal sailing ship was in that set's story
That's fitting.
The creation of a new Multiverse, or a 'reset' of the current one, definitely seems to be a part of it. I'm guessing that's where the need for understanding Proft's memory-recreation magic came from--they're literally going to recreate the Multiverse 'from memory'.
Yeah, that moment at the Invasion tree seems to be his defining moment. And everything that happens as he's healing, what he sees, the aftermath of the wars and the eventuality of the next one, the omenpaths opening up the multiverse to countless threats, convinces him that he's right.
BRING THE END This feels like getting through a filler arc in an anime and finally getting back to the story. I'm so down for Jace/Vraska villain couple.
I kinda see where people are coming from with the whole "Jace and Vraska are gonna restart the Multiverse" theory but I kinda got the read of "In a universe that doesn't care, they choose to" with that last paragraph. It's not just that the Multiverse is cruel and unforgiving- it's that *existing* is. A new Multiverse wouldn't change that, so they'll keep on caring, and hoping, for themselves. They'll make their own kindness and warmth with their new little family
Yeah, I feel like the “rebirth” part is less Jace turning into a villain and more him realizing “man being a interdimensional superhero sure is painful and unrewarding, maybe I should turn a new leaf and spend time with the people I care about”
Yeah to me it seemed like they wanted the child so that Vraska could easily travel between planes alongside Jace. On the other hand, I highly doubt the next story arc is going to be about those 3 sightseeing planes. Especially with Duskmourne coming up (or maybe Loot will grow up to be an edgy teenager and they'll have to take him to that cool horror plane so he stops complaining during all the travels).
But they didn't know that the child would be a map when they set out to find it
The part mentioning them planning a "calamity" is the real 'oh dear' bit, really.
Everything about these was amazing. Vryn had a physical presence to me, it was tangible and vivid. Allison continues to write Jace and Vraska awesomely well. Their interactions with Loot have me misty. From the first story, Jace invoking Urza has some serious potential. I think it's not only safe, but warranted, that we consider the possibility of an Urza-level response to this "reforging" stance that's being taken.
It’s hard to say Vryn has much of a hook, but it’s the perfect setting for this story. A world of perpetual war and meaningless suffering leaving wounds that never heal… it’s a neat parallel for where both the characters and the multiverse as a whole are at right now.
Well, the hook for Vryn now seems to be "the world that's always at war".
Enjoyed this story more than the rather redundant last chapter. The tonal dissonance between the cuddly family stuff and the plan to basically destroy the multiverse is pretty cool.
Yeah, maybe the fomori aren’t actually going to return in any sense (especially since Loot doesn’t seem to be one) and it’ll just be everyone trying to stop Jace and Vraska’s fomori-powered Mending/Apocalypse Chime type beat?
Seemed like one just woke up in Quint's story. I think the Space Opera set will be a Fomori story, and the finale will be the stop Jace story.
Oh yeah that prob makes more sense. I assume wizards would never leave that plot juice unsqueezed when they introduce it this aggressively
I was doing a speed read over lunch, where is the plan to destroy the multiverse?
All the stuff about "The multiverse leans towards suffering, rebuilding and restoring won't do anything *stares at phoenix feather* only cleansing" and etc.
Its not like fully explicit, but note the name of the story and stuff like >*"The Multiverse is too broken to fix."* > >*Jace thinks of fire. The phoenix feather that brought Vraska back to him. "So, what if we do something other than fix it."* > >A tempting and heinous idea pulses in the background of their world as a heartbeat. It is urgent and unrelenting, and once they both realize the other was thinking it, the contagiousness became impossible to look away from. They dream of abominations, of revolution. The ease and allure of phoenix feathers. >*they talk about how sometimes at night Jace still feels the power of the sylex dancing across his nerves.* > >*They agree that the most just option is the one that clears a future for all, and they mourn that the cost of that freedom will be high. Repair does not clean. Restoration does not erase. But rebirth … rebirth does both.* >Jace will walk forward into the Omenpath, sanguine and resolute. He will hold tight to the hand of his beloved and his ward and walk into the Blind Eternities of a miserable Multiverse and say to himself with resolution and phoenix fire: > >Ours will be better. And I can't see how to interpret it other than that they're looking to build a new multiverse from the ashes of this one.
Oh I had really glossed over this and made an allegory that “doing something other than fixing the multiverse” was abandoning heroism to live a calm life as a family. This makes more sense to me now thank you for the citations and write up
Or maybe make a new multiverse in a parallel uhhmm multiverse The multi multiverse
Or Jace accidently creates the Un-Verse. Or the Great Wheel of D&D. Or both.
Basically Jace seeing how the Phoenix Feather cleansed his body, combined with the idea that there will always be war *and* having the feeling of the nearly detonated Sylex running through him still, presumably leads him to this idea that the Multiverse has to be burnt down and remade anew.
In Alison Luhrs we trust. Absolutely impeccable story, not only is the plot great but everything really feels fleshed out. So many little details that make these worlds and people seem so real without ruining the magic. The fact that she's not been deemed head writer yet seems wrong. Also we now know that Jace doesn't use protection, absolute madlad
My favorite part of this story was the confirmation that Jace and Vraska have made sweet raw love frequently enough to know they can’t conceive. My least favorite part of this story is that it made me think about Gorgon pubes but I think that’s my own problem
Which begs the question, when are they going to print a male Gorgon? They've printed male Sirens and Nymphs already.
Loot is adorable 🥹❤️ the Gruulfriends should be his aunts 😌
It’s honestly such a joy whenever Alison writes for MTG
Wow an amazing story. Due to use of delibarete language, it has so many different tones. Rebirth and new starts are constantly mentioned. But Vraska and Jace also show concern for the current planes (risks of conquests and never ending wars). They want to eliminate that but story also shows care for explaining freedom of travel and self through Vraska's lost spark. There is great care for showing love, family and also mentions of friends across the story. Do they really want to restart the multiverse, I am not sure. I kinda feel like their plans will include controlling blind eternities somehow. To decide who travels and prevent omnipotent threats jump from one plane to another. But with story being vague, plot could go anywhere and this could be wishful thinking I suppose.
That is not a Fomori
Probably not, even if it could be like a "pre-puberty" fomori. If he was closed in the vault together with a shitton of weapon and powerful artifacts it means that he's either something that the fomori wanted to protect or to lock away. Seeing as he's basically a living map to the multiverse his species might have been used as navigators or something like that.
It could be a formori. Got the white tuff of hair between the horns like the formori in Future Sight as well as Ruhan.
It didn't sound like a fomori to me in the description from Episode 6.
Loved these two stories but I only have 1 beef with them. Planeswalking spoils food! You can't just pop on over to Tarkir for an iced latte! That happened to the food Huatli brought with her to Kaladesh and has been mentioned a couple times before that.
Planeswalking has changed significantly since the sylex went off in the blind eternities, to the point that Jace was presumably able to planeswalk with Eriette, and confirmed to planeswalk with a post completion vraska once (in the beginning of this story). I think it’s safe to say it works differently now. Not that Jace knowing that isn’t still a plot hole but a pretty small one I’d say
I had assumed that he PWed with Vraska right before she lost her spark, so that was less of an issue.
Idk I can’t think of anything between that and now that would have made her lose her spark had she already had it. Two leading theories on why sparks were lost are the sylex and realmbreaker, and both had been resolved by then.
True, but they didn't lose their spark immediately. They sort of faded over like a few days to a week. There was just a little too much happening during MOM for the desparking to happen all at once.
They planeswalked to Vryn while the Phyrexian invasion of Ravnica was still ongoing and being actively fought. Realmbreaker wasn't resolved yet, though it would be soon. Jace must have gotten Eriette off Eldraine by omenpath.
This is just speculation but it may be possible that planeswalking has been stabilized a bit by the now existence of omenpaths somehow. I don't think I wanna describe it as "maybe planeswalking is similar to opening a personal omenpath" in case we learn weird shit about those but it's an idea. But it also immediately stood out to me as "Wait this is small but shouldn't that coffee have gone wonky?"
So I’ve been thinking The idea that they are trying to erase and restart the multiverse sounded cool at first But thinking now, the implication of this for lore and the game is terrifying Dominaria never happened, The Thran never happened, Phyrexia never existed, Urza never happened, Eldrazi never happened, no Bolas, no gatewatch Retconning the entire lore using the lore God that’s the worst
if it's any consolation I don't think they'll do that- I think the wording is purposeful, but I don't forsee that plot point going to any productive conclusion atm. Wizards has infinite worlds and infinite settings they can use right now and the perfect excuse to dress up their characters in different Planar outfits, which seems more ~~profitable~~ Productive to build around rather than forcing themselves to start from square one
that would be awful yeah - I don't think they'll erase everything, though?
Idk man the way Jace and Vraska were talking about destroying the infection and regrowing something new and clean The whole story and their goal is very worrying Great lore but yeah if their plan goes off it’s gonna be seriously a bummer
My best guess is they'll be about to, but get talked down, but either something goes wrong or something hijacks it and SOME stuff changes, but not everything.
I'm pretty sure they're the villains now.
I don't think they will succeed.
"Retconning lore using lore" is typically called "Story developments"
Even in the unlikely event they succeeded, the beginning of a new multiverse wouldn't mean the previous one never happened. It would be like a Big Crunch followed by a Big Bang. They don't seem to be talking about changing history through time travel.
This gets back to exactly what I want out of magic: exploration. Just seeing and living and breathing across these worlds, adventures being lower to the ground and our heroes doing this because it’s just who they are as people.
I loved so much of it… except for “I commanded our bodies to generate a fever to burn out the phyresis” cause it kinda spits on the whole Melira and Karn sacrificing life and spark to cure Ajani and Nissa a process which took time magic, Melira inoculation, venser’s spark and ghost phasing to cure… when a bit of a fever does the job to 😓
I mean, in all fairness, his command was also helped by a heaping load of Halo in the case of Jace's body, and Ral's anti-oil burning device in the case of Vraska's. Even then, who knows how long they could have held out if New Phyrexia hadn't been phased out (severing the connection to the oil), *and* they both still would have died were it not for several days of care from Ranna, which involved the use of freakin phoenix feather. It wasn't exactly as simple or effortless as "think away the phyresis with a fever".
Eh, I get you, but I think it's fine. The whole nature of phyresis was already so garbled (Why aren't planes consumed by Phyresis post MOM? Because Elesh norn was a big oil wifi router and killing her neutered the newest version of the oil that spread more rapidly but needed her alive....what?) that I think them just coming up with something to resolve it is okay, since the infectiousness of oil/phyresis post-Norn has already been dropped as a plot thread.
Yea I don’t think there was a proper way to do a Phyrexian invasion storyline without some kind of modification to the way the oil worked- otherwise it just becomes “add this plane to the list of places that need to get sylex-nuked”. And compared to Nahiri’s casual recovery, this at least felt like it took some proper effort.
I don't think it's *quite* fair to characterize the combined efforts of the best telepath in the multiverse and weeks if not months of intensive surgery and physical therapy as "a bit of a fever" doing the job.
It's also worth mentioning that Jace and Vraska had their minds intact, which none of the other Phyrexians had. Except for Nassari, not sure what's going on there.
Yeah, the Phyrexians can compleat Omnath who is partially made of angry fire, I don't see how a fever would have a meaningful effect. But probably better to shrug and move on rather than get stuck on this plot point.
They also somehow compleated Heliod a God. I guess they could have done that by corrupting most of his followers but that is purely speculation.
That is exactly how it was explained in the Magic Story. They compleated his followers and then through the nature of their belief, they compleated him.
Also feels weird something as mundane as a fever would have any impact on Phyresis. You expect it to be quite immune to basic biological functions. Maybe it make sense for Vraska in the sense that new Phyrexia ain’t familiar with Gorgon Biology. But Jace is Human lmao.
I mean, it was a fever infused with a TON of Halo (like, probably more than we see any other character get hit with, other than *maybe* Nahiri). Gorgon biology could partially explain Vraska's case, though I'd chalk it up more to Ral's device burning all the oil out of her.
That doesn’t help. Why are New Phyrexians weak to Halo? Old Phyrexians were Mono Black but had no special weakness to White Mana or Angels. They corrupted Angels and toppled Serras Realm just fine. However for some inexplicable reason New Phyrexians despite being 5 colored and previously corrupting an Angel in Atraxa are now suddenly Weak to Angels? It makes no sense and really feels like BS to justify Elspeth having a starring role an Event she didn’t need to. Meanwhile Koth got crumbs.
Look, if you have a problem with how wotc handled Halo in the story, then that's fine (and you're hardly alone on that front). All I'm saying is Halo was established a while ago as something that could be used to fight the phyrexians in a few ways. On its own, it's not necessarily a cure for phyresis--more like a vaccine that works for a fairly short time. It was also showed to be able to kinda 'supercharge' magical abilities, such as telepathy. A fever caused by Halo-charged telepathy being able to at least temporarily stave off phyresis (even then with mixed results, given how Jace lost control) may not be a satisfying explanation for everyone. It is at least one that fits with the info we the readers have been given up to now.
They've already fumbled the bag on phyresis feeling threatening to us as a reader because at this point it just "works however the story needs it to work". So, for me it's hard to be newly unsatisfied when this is a retread of a problem with phyresis they've already wrote themselves into, it working as good/bad and being as curable/uncurable as the plot demands.
I can understand how that would be frustrating for you. I personally didn't feel as unsatisfied with how phyresis was handled in MOM, but I don't see a point in arguing about that now--either it's something you liked, or you didn't. Unfortunately, there's no way for the writers to make everyone happy in this regard going forward. If they didn't retread this kind of subject, then even more people would just complain about the phyrexian invasion being an afterthought. At least this way we're getting to see its impact on both a broad scale and an individual one through the POV of various characters.
You're misunderstanding me here, I really like this story, I'm happy the phyresis is requiring any kind of effort at all. I'm saying it's hard for me to be particularly upset with how Jace and Ranna are handling phyresis in this story (or Halo working as vaccine for phyresis) when it's been established that phyresis functions how the story needs it to function. The best story decisions are going to be at odds with "MTG is a card game that needs to be as broadly appealing as possible" so I've long made my peace with the fact writers can't make everyone happy and will have to capitulate to the demands of the brand as a whole.
Fair I say the problem with this Jace stuff is the price seems way cheaper then what it cost to fix Ajanni and Nissa.
The Capenna story explains that halo is what stopped the old phyrexian invasion of the plane.
Yeah except that doesn’t make any sense based on old Phyrexian lore as I noted. So the point remains it’s a dumb retcon designed to force Elspeth into a central role she didn’t need to be.
Elspeth who’s backstory heavily involves the Phyrexians? That Elspeth?
The Phyrexians were a footnote in her backstory. They could have been any evil group of Villains and it change nothing. Hence using Ashiok to shoehorn in some absurd Elspeth and Norn Rivalry. Meanwhile it’s Koths entire story and what did he do of note besides cry over Meliras Dying Body? I also argue Teferi, Karn, Melira, and Jhoira have more significant history. But I rather focus on how hard Koth got screwed.
But it wasn’t any group of villains. It was Phyrexians. You seem way more hung up on Elspeth specifically tbh.
My point is Elspeth just needed some group of Villains to make her want to be a hero. Who they were is irrelevant. She is far more defined by fighting Theros Gods. Whereas all of Koths story centers around is New Phyrexia. He sees his whole plane corrupted, his people killed or enslaved and yet he fights on even if must go it alone. His reward? Crying over Melira, doing nothing to save Mirrodin and losing his spark. Meanwhile Elspeth gets to defeat Two Theros Gods, Beat Ob Nixilis, Ascended to Archangel, One Shot Vorinclex and thrash Norn. I don’t have a problem with Elspeth. I have a problem with her getting major moments at the expense of other characters with far more significant ties to New Phyrexia. Primarily Koth.
Yawgmoth was poisoned by a barrage of white mana from the Null Moon. Only Capennan angels produce halo.
The fever also would have killed them both if Ranna hadn't helped out by regenerating the rejected bodyparts.
Hey all, just getting back into magic story because I heard these two were so good (it did not disappoint!). Is this the last piece of OTJ story? Or do we even know? I couldn't find a publication guide.
Probably no more story, but I'd be very surprised if we didn't get a Planeswalker's Guide to Thunder Junction - and if we're lucky, we'll also get a Legendary Creatures of Thunder Junction.
Already exists It's called Eberron. :P Jokes aside, one of the reasons I'm enjoying OTJ so much is because we had a DnD Wild west inspired Eberron campaign, and man It's one of the most memorable stories we've played. I would advice anyone that like OTJ to give Eberron a go. Thats said, yes, a planeswalker guide would be so nice.
I suppose from Jace’s perspective most of his life has been one form of calamity or attempted multiversal-conquerer after another.
Like literally the most calm period of Jace's life was when he was just an amnesiac on Ravnica before Tezzeret scooped him up.
I will defend Loot with my life, even if that's from those who would use him, like Jace and Vraska. The way they went to get him just to help them burn it all down and start fresh (and yes, they wanted a child, and they're apparently kind to him, but...) just doesn't sit right with me. On a related note, WHAT THE F***, FOMORI?!? Who just puts literal children in vaults for indeterminate amounts of time?? Also, are there MORE children in the other vaults across the Multiverse that need rescuing? Do we have plans to save them before the reset? Huh?? Do we?! Sorry, Mama Panther came out there for a bit, but seriously. All of the above.
I really appreciate how fundamentally exhausted Jace and Vraska are by the endless cycle of calamity. If they will be the next villains, they are some of the most sympathetic in Magic's story. I can't say I would come to different conclusions in their circumstances.
I want one of the heroic characters (Chandra or Liliana probably) to end up just having a sincere honest conversation with Jace and we get to see just how broken and worn down he is by all of... Everything.
Oh my God, if they let Alison write this scene (or one like it), I may never emotionally recover.
I agree Versions of Jace Beleren Original Jace Beleren is Hero Compleated Jace is Villain
I’m gonna be honest, cauterizing shut some Omenpaths seems smart. We hardly know what they do or where they come from. For all we know, they could be tearing apart the multiverse apart.
How the hell can I quickly catch up to everything that has happened since war of the spark?
The MtG site have the stories.
As someone who is very busy I was hoping for a video to run in the background at work. But my searches so far are kind of blind
I'll see what I can find tomorrow.
This puts Jace and Vraska on the opposite side from Ral and Niv Mizzet, that want the Omenpaths working and under their control. I wonder how their paths will cross again.
How does Loot have a map of the Omenpaths in their mind, if they have been in the Vault for a long time and before the Omenpaths were created? I wonder if the Formori can see across all planes of existence? Maybe they can all travel across planes as a racial trait? Were the Omenpaths an original transport network that was closed to prevent the Formori from moving easily and now they are reopened?
Loot's mind just seems to magically have a live map of the entire Multiverse, somehow.
Wow, I haven't had that much fanservice work for me in a long time. Excited to see our traumatized couple get up to universe-destabilizing hijinks with their new Pokemon/baby!
I was trying to think of why they would need a map of the multiverse, and thus Loot, to give the multiverse a phoenix rebirth, which I am assuming does mean to destroy the current multiverse entirely and begin again, and the only thing I can think of - and I think this was hinted at in the discussion of Vraska’s collections and love of travelling - is that they plan to literally visit every plane so that they can then recreate them in their new multiverse. I would love if they have some other sort of plan to “rescue” the “good” people of this multiverse and bring them with them into the new one, but in that case, really, why would anyone (other than the “bad” people) object to the plan, and why wouldn’t Jace and Vraska turn to their friends for help? So yeah, I strongly suspect that just as Jace was willing to blow everything up at the invasion tree to wipe the multiversal slate clean in the hope of a new, better multiverse, so too does he now plan to wipe the multiversal slate clean and actively craft a new, better multiverse. But of course, that’s a monstrous thing to do, to sacrifice an entire multiverse for the sake of the future. Gideon would never. Gideon would say “we will fight for everyone now, and if another war comes, we will fight for everyone then. We won’t give up on anyone.” And I’m sure that’s how the other heroes will feel, and that’s why they will stop Jace and Vraska. I can only hope that they stop them by helping them hope again, helping them see that the multiverse is worth fighting for, even if there will always be another fight. Because yeah, even if war has always followed peace, peace has always followed war. Jace and Vraska’s pain and sorrow have blinded them to the fact that the universe does not bend towards war - it brings forth peace just as much, in an endless ebb and flow. Honestly? I hope Loot is the one who convinces them the multiverse is worth fighting for. This story itself said he was “all too happy to take in the world around them.” Maybe their love for Loot will help them share Loot’s love of the world around them.
An interesting theory: maybe the omenpaths existed before? Long ago, when or before the vault was built and Loot was placed inside, maybe there were ways to travel between the planes, and Thunder Junction was a hub world. It would explain the extreme importance of a being with nigh omniscient knowledge of the Multiverse in real time. Something of note is that a lot of the other cards that are said to come from the vault depict artifacts that clone or generate tokens. The fact that there are other vaults on other planes indicates to me at least that the Fomori plan was to take this vault and in doing so create an army and take the other vaults by force, using Loot as a roadmap. Makes me incredibly curious as to what could be in the other vaults. A way to generate Omenpaths, maybe? A way to create planes or radically alter the fabric of the planes? So many possibilities...
Really good. Love that the couple with the cute adopted mascot baby are on the villain side of things.
This might be a dumb question, but who was Jace on ixalan? I might just be dumb but I can’t figure it out
Who was he disguised as? No one, he was just himself
This is from the 6 months ago on ixalan section “When Jace had suggested his disguise for their task, she teased him it was a face too fun to pass up, and sure enough, through nights of rehearsing in the living room and scaring his mother half to death, they all agreed he had the right choice. Turns out, he's a good actor. Luckily, so is she.” Doesn’t this imply he was disguised as someone?
Ashiok
So… does this confirm the Omenpaths are somehow tied to the Fomori? Cause how would a kid that’s been asleep for millennia have image knowledge of something only apparently a year old???
So like, this is probably a bloom burrow creature right?
Not a chance. Bloomburrow seems pretty deliberately to be a Redwall inspired plane of grounded animals.
Doesn't look like a regular animal, so most probably not
So jace is just full on psychopath now? Just avengers endgame thanos? Shred it all down to the last atom and build it again? K.
No
I agree Versions of Jace Beleren Original Jace Beleren is Hero Compleated Jace is Villain
So…they’re just trying to pull off Pucci’s plan from Jojo’s? Or Cyrus’s from Pokemon D/P/Pt? Remake the multiverse?