M/tg/ Flavor, Lore, and general bullshitting thread

I think he's the only one acting like a grown up so far.

Ah yes, more Gideon's Adventures in Planeswalkerland

I hope you don't stop making these, if you're the same guy who did the previous ones

He's the most responsible and adult, yes

They lured them to one location, Nissa used a spell to try and make Zendikar one large hedron to seal them in. This had the effect of pulling their entire form into Zendikar proper instead of just part of it.
They started chowing down on all the mana the gatewatch was using to trap them and it became clear the titans would have one that eating contest. So Nissa, having cast bonds of mortality, took her leylines and started running them through Chandra who then surged Fall of the Titans for "yes", targeting Kozilek and the now destructible Ulamog
Simpler version is that the leylines were still connected to the mana the titans were slurping and Chandra used all of that to make them explode.

...

The cringe is real in this thread

>"What did he do to you?"

>Gideon's words stopped her, and Liliana turned back, an eyebrow arched into a question.

>"The way you speak. He must have done something to you. Taken something personal from you." Gideon returned her gaze, his face a mask of calm conviction.

>"He was the leader of an interplanar criminal organization that smuggled dangerous goods across worlds. His cruelty and madness is only outstripped by his propensity to manipulate and murder friends and foes alike. He's burned villages just to make a point."

>Gideon shook his head. "That's why you think I would want to stop him. Why do you want to stop him? To kill him?"

>For a moment, Liliana looked genuinely speechless.

Necro whore BTFO

>shitting street joke

Never gets old

Let's start with the good parts. I get Gideon trying not to become a tyrant (a W BBEG would rule lawfully, yes, but what would the laws be?), and I like the classic paladin dilemma of lawful or good. Gideon's being written rather well, and I appreciate that (even if I think Elspeth deserved the mono-W PW slot more than he did). Liliana's not being portrayed poorly either - she's fighting Tezzeret because he took and broke something of hers and she wants revenge, very mono-B motivation. It's even more mono-B that she doesn't care who dies along the way, so long as it isn't her - Consulate guards, renegade forces, all are resources to be sacrificed to her goal.

As for the bad...in the past few Kaladesh/Aether Revolt stories, Nissa has basically been transformed into a moeblob. She's accomplished next to nothing on her own, and has basically become a security blanket for Yahenni and Chandra. This isn't as much the fault of the writers as it is the fault of WotC. For some reason, they chose Nissa, but removed her status as Elf Hitler. Without her "muh superior elves," she's really not got anything to her character but generic mono-G "muh nature," and not even that - she's the PETA version of nature, not the Darwinian "red in tooth and claw" version. Oh, and green is inherently a non-confrontational color so long as you aren't going around burning down forests, so that makes her even worse. Just once, I want to read about her realizing that she has no motivation to stay with the Jacetice League now that Zendikar has been saved and Emrakul rekt, but deciding to stay anyway because mono-G enjoys having a "pack." Give her some motivation, dammit!

are we not going to talk about the fucking doge meme, Wizards' writers just get worse and worse in their attempts at humour

>Be Liliana
>Walking pile of meat and useless regulations is complaining about me killing people
>When he's the one walking around in full armor drawing attention to us
>wonder briefly why none of us ever change our clothes.

It was a cute remark on Liliana's part. It wasn't immersive but it let us know that Keks, dark god of memes, exists in every possible reality.

And then there's Chandra. Poor Chandra. You had a solid personality before Chris L'Etoile shat all over everyone and everything, and now the other writers feel obliged to follow his lead on you. You've been transformed from "impulsive, confident, maybe a few issues from seeing your parents arrested and (you believed) killed because of you" to "15-year-old girl who would probably run like Sonic, if you knew of Sonic, and honestly believes in the "kill it with fire" meme." Actually, check that - just "15-year-old girl," full stop, the rest is redundant. And when a character's personality can be summed up in a single clause - not even a full sentence, a clause - that's a problem. Bring back the Chandra of Purifying Fire, or - more recently, even - Offers to the Fire. Bring back the Chandra who knew how to accept responsibility, despite wanting no part of it. Bring back the Chandra who understood that actions have consequences, even if she didn't care about them. And most importantly, bring back the Chandra that didn't call Gideon fucking Gids, Beefslab, or any shit like that. She's a planeswalker at around 25. She is NOT a 15-year-old on Tumblr.

When will hot elven bikini gals be a thing again?

Question about the Planeswalker spark. Are there any limitations or stipulations with regard to a spark being transfered from one being into another? We've seen Urza give his to Karn and we saw Glissa and Slobad play hot potato for a while but I'm wondering if there is any particular lore there.

it's a fictional magical concept

any limitations exist on it can be broken by three simple words

Wizard did it

How did Chandra go from being the most based of the Gatewatch to being the most obnoxious of them? How did we get here?

Doge meme? What?

She is now the focus therefore the bad writers in creative get to fuck her stupid now.

During EMN, Jace asks Lili what he is to her (as in friend, friend-with-benefits etc.). She compares him to a dog. Insignificant, but you would feel sad if it died.

>"No, the large cat-man doesn't kill." Liliana threw open the wardrobe Yahenni had set aside for the Gatewatch and began rifling through it. "Not anymore," she said, doing an eerily accurate imitation of the Planeswalker. She rolled her eyes. "So righteous. Much mystery."
>She rolled her eyes. "So righteous. Much mystery."

Man i just noticed this too. Fucking dammit.

Oh please she actually has feeling for the retard, she's just too proud and DINDU to admit it. Fucking Christ alive.

Mtg lore is a meme. Please god. Please kill it.

It's called tsundere, and it's cute as fuck.
>"Stupid cloak-boy, it's not like I brought my zombie army out to save you or anything!"

>Man i just noticed this too. Fucking dammit.
It's meta. Lili is breaking the third wall to mock Wizards 2-bit writing team.

>Dat slow decent into niggerdom.
Being Gideon is fucking suffering.

i personally like that they've finally decided on a consistent look for him

previously they had artists drawing him as "greasy, grizzled old man" with no consistency between the facial structures of each piece

now when you see gideon in art, you actually know it's him from his face, not just his armor and sural

>tsundere
>Fucking worthless DINDU NUFFINS.
Yeah no its not fucking cute. You didn't even do the fucking stutter to try and prove your point.

Also if Wizards own writing team is mocking itself then they will NEVER fucking improve. Fucking shit man i mean come the fuck on. Its not fucking cute or funny. Its fucking sad.

>Also if Wizards own writing team is mocking itself then they will NEVER fucking improve. Fucking shit man i mean come the fuck on. Its not fucking cute or funny. Its fucking sad.
It's meta. Lili is breaking the third wall to mock Wizards 2-bit writing team.

Never. SJWs infest WOTC now and that is illegal according to their version of Sharia law.

Honestly I'll miss Gideon and his squad of stunt doubles.

>Dripping with Sarcasm
No honestly I'd fucking believe it at this point. Its utterly stupid that they cant even keep characterization consistent between the fucking blocks now. Used to be the "heroes" of our story at LEAST pretended to have consistent characters and motives. Now we have bullshit like Ajani suddenly being a fucking pacifist unless i missed something, Chardra going "LOL XD" at everything and Jace actually making up with/still crushing on a woman that tried to kill him twice. Fucking dammit.

I only play the game and enjoy the pretty artwork but never cared about the lore. Is it true that they try to force diversity and sjw topics and add gays and transsexuals and brown people to the story even if it doesn't make sense? Or is this just a meme exaggerated by bitter nerds?

Both.

In recent years, they've been adding more race/gender diversity for sure, but it's never "not made sense". At least not yet. It's just minor details that add more inclusiveness to the game and don't really detract from anything else.

Can spooky cursed Garruk just show up and kill everyone except Gideon so we can get on with our lives?

Alright /mtglore/, time for a writing prompt. You are tasked with making a planeswalker that embodies a player type as best as possible, either with a short story or a custom card. Winner is judged by popular vote probably.

It's pretty much canon that gay people in love are immune to Emrakul's influence, so you tell me.

>spooky cursed Garruk shows up
>kills Lilliana
>forcibly takes her place on the gatewatch, but all he does is kill whatever the problem is without waiting for other options
>the rest of the gatewatch doesn't like this but are too scared to speak up against him because of threat of death by murder-hermit with retard demon strength

I approve.

It's mostly exaggerated by bitter nerds. They tossed in a side character with a side story on the website here and there- I recall one story about a random soldier in Khans taking his grandmother's name out of admiration and it amounted to "He was nervous, he proclaimed it, and it was treated like business as usual." Nothing so far that really applies to the core cast.

There is, IIRC, an art direction principle that says to try and include some diversity in the people they draw if possible but it's hardly overintrusive to decide that, say, Mesa Enchantress will be drawn as a black woman.

It depends on what doesn't make sense to you
They've added a lot more non straight/ non white characters recently but it's never really been a big deal.
The most it was brought up irrc is in Alesha's story that she was trans but the Mardu respected her choice because she had confidence and she had killed a motherfucking dragon. Even then it was the tale of her telling an orc to stop being so hard on himself because he went for the assist rather than the kill.
and that orc was named Albert Einstein

Sort of/kind of. There's a tranny and in, but (s)he wins the right to be called she by being a badass during battle, so it's more of a 'fuck yeah brutal meritocracy' then 'f**k yeah, safe spaces for LGBTQ'.

There's also a gay couple as the commander of one of the recent pre-constructed decks. It might just be a group hug joke though.

The one agregious thing that SJW's have gotten away with is censoring the Garruk Wins card of the Garruk vs. Lili combo. Lili Wins shows Zombies about to nom on Garruk.

Garruk wins was going to show Garruk about to punch Lili's face in, but "muh violence against womyn!" wouldn't let it happen.

So are old ladies and moon bunnies.

No flakes, plz. Kthnks

Vorthos (and Melvin) are on a different axis than the three others there.

>about a random soldier in Khans

It was one of the Khans.

Except it's not? The tracker felt herself slipping and had to use her connection to keep herself from doing so and fight back against the madness. She was in no way immune to it, just was able to resist the call.

Actually, it was more condemned for having a sexually suggestive pose or something than it was for showing an act of violence against a woman.

Still think it was absolutely blown out of proportion, mind. If you ask me the greater crime was having a card called "Triumph of Ferocity" have a particularly sterile and undynamic pose and composition.

Shame on me, with thanks for the correction. (I wasn't actively playing then)

It was also that it looked a bit rapey with the whole spread legs thing

Nobody liked elf hitler either. she has been shit before, is shit now, stop complaining as if before were greater times
>Plenty good B characters for the jacetice league
>Chose liliana
Sorin should have his own Jacetice league with Garruk, Koth, tamiyo and karn,

The card is right here, what did they censor?

Subsequent reprints used different art.

Here's the new one

The worst part is that she's not even a thematically appropriate fifteen year old girl.

Before now, we've seen no evidence of Chandra's language of choice being used in the lore. Then suddenly, she's talking like her entire vocabulary was learned from a teen's Twitter feed. Everything she does is random and off-of-the-wall.

>But it's a multiverse with unlimited potential, of course there's bound to be people that talk like that somewhere! You're taking this too seriously.

Until now, no one's acted or behaved the way she does. No one's talked the way she does. It clashes with the established setting and drags me right out of the narrative. At least if other people spoke like that on Kaladesh, Regatha or anywhere else she's been, I could forgive its inconsistency but there's no sign of that. She might as well go full Deadpool and smash the fourth wall.

Do you think it's because the age and/or maturity level of mtg players has plummeted in the last 5 years?

Aren't most of the new players nerdy 20-somethings rather than kids these days?

I actually like the new Chandra but only because of the Gatewatch as a whole. Everyone's character has become more stylized and exaggerated and while one might argue they've all become caricatures of their former selves, I'm all for stylization. Everyone's traits are contrasting and supplementing one another's making the group more enjoyable.

Yes, the new Charda could not drive the plot for shit but that's okay because she's not the protagonist, the Gatewatch is and if that means having to remove some from characters in exchange for a better group dynamic, I'm all for it.

People like you (and Tumblr) are why we're in this situation. If they can't drive the plot without reducing characters to caricatures, then either it's a shit plot, the characters are shit, or the writers are shit. Pick one. Or, even better, pick none at all and don't get into this situation.

>Liking new chandra
>When the only respectable character is gideon, and not by a lot
>Liking a living meme
>A character who literally is what we are suposed to think "red is not defined by"
>The main red character acting like a retard, to emphasize that red is full of retards
Are you a lesbian teenager or what?

OR maybe this is not the type of story you're using to reading. Not everything has to be a Drizzt story knockoff to be enjoyable, god knows there's enough of that. You may want to lie down for this; some people actually enjoy a lighter story.
We got enough grimdark, oh-there's-so-much-more-we're-not-telling-you on Innistrad. You'll find you'll enjoy a great deal more things if you try to appreciate them for what they are instead of bashing them for what they aren't.

>Stop liking things I don't like

It's either teenagers, or people with the emotional maturity of teenagers.

>I literally want 2D caricatures
>I'm happy they removed Chandra's maturity
>I'm glad they took away her darker tendencies
>I'm glad we no longer see her self-hate
>I'm glad she's as hyper as an ADHD 15 year old with daddy problems
Fucking. Kys.

The gay couple in the commander deck thing is more following up on a bit of flavor text from Theros, and really if there hadn't been any mention of gayness in a set based on Ancient Greece we would've been making jokes about it anyway.

It seemed to be more of a something to hold onto element. The angels despaired when they felt Avacyn die and so Emrakul's power either killed or took them, but people that hadn't fallen into hysteria and despair on Innistrad during the inquisition and Avacyn's madness remained themselves and fought against the Eldrazi.

Hal and Alesha were nearly mind-woogied but kept each other sane, while some humans went full Shaman King to shield their minds with spirits.

And Rem Motherfucking Karolus was immune to eldrazi influence with no outside assistance because he was too fucking determined to kill monsters to become one. I don't see the point in lovers being able to be each others' rock in one story and a man defeating alien indoctrination with sheer bloody-minded refusal to give up even at the end of the world in another.

You know your argument's falling apart when you resort to greentext. You could have stated all those like a normal fucking human but that would mean you acknowledge this conversation is happening. Come back when you've realized that being ironic doesn't make you right all along.

We've got a big boy here folks. He's a big boy with emotional maturity. He only likes big boy stuff now because hes big and mature.

Welcome to ad hominem, where the logic is made up and the intent doesn't matter!

Come back when you can explain why destroying the internal consistency of the writing in exchange for Tumblr-tier fanfiction is a good thing, without resorting to "lol maturity is stupid and overdone, and you're too stupid to like immature writing."

>You know your argument's falling apart when you resort to greentext. You could have stated all those like a normal fucking human but that would mean you acknowledge this conversation is happening
Are you for real?

>We've got a big boy here folks. He's a big boy with emotional maturity. He only likes big boy stuff now because hes big and mature
Pfft

....it's showing how different people are resisting Emrakul's influence in different ways? It's mainly about not losing your identity through overwhelming despair/hopelessness: the hunters used their connection to each other, the order of Saint Traft used ghosts to shield their minds from it, and Rem used his own rage (emrakul killed his bunny).

Did you read the story or are you still just mad about that slice of life ur?

All of the above, fampai

Not that user, but I read the story AND I'm still mad about Homesick. The recent URs have been much better, but even the newest one has been corrupted by it (Gids and beefslab, again).

Again, Gids is a nickname like Tami, Lili, Chanders, or elf hitler.
And did Liliana use beef slab again?

You have to realize that somewhere between the characters' conception and today the story has shifted to a more comedy-drama than the removed high-fantasy it once was. You're upset they're writing a lighter story because it's not what you're used to and that somehow messes with the internal consistency of the canon. I say I like this shift in genre and along with it the changes in the characters because it serves the purpose of the story. If you want to tell different stories your characters will inevitably vary, even more so in a multi-author project like Magic Story.

Again, once you realize you're reading a different genre and try to appreciate for what it is instead of what it isn't, you'll find yourself enjoying a lot more things. If not, wait until Amonkhet comes for some sword-and-sandal action. You don't have to call tumblr on everyone who disagrees with you.

what's a UR?

And do they call themselves Tami, Lili, Chanders, or Elf Hitler in story?

If, as you say, they're really deciding to write a lighter story, then the problem is that they're marketing it as the swords-and-sandals action that it has been before now. Also, the core plot itself (a rebellion against Kaladeshi authorities) isn't any lighter to suggest what you're saying, and many of the stories and characterizations HAVEN'T been any lighter (see: Yahenni, Ajani's first story with the Talewatch, etc) to confirm your claims. So either they're lightening parts of the story at random, or they're writing a lighter story now and adding heavier parts at random. Neither makes sense, which is why I'm calling out the writing team.

Also, your claim entails an entire paradigm shift on the part of the lore writers. Mine involves only poor writing.

Uncharted Realms. It's what the lore used to be called, not sure if it is still or not.

Rem Karlous for Lunarch 2016.

Reminder about Chandra's vocab in Homesick:

>Super gross
>Beefslab
>Gids
>hell no
>Come the hell on
>Jerk
>Easy, big fella. Not attacking mom.
>Sowwy
>The hell.
>punchybag
>blah blah blah
>FFFFFFFFF...
>super embarrassing
>super dog noses
>freaking idiot
>SHUT UP SHUT UP.
>WHAT IS COMING OUT OF MY FACE?
>super pi—uh, real angry,
>WHAT THE HELL DID I JUST SAY?
>...I think I'm gonna puke.
>made you feel weird
>SorryIblewupyourthingy
>Big Sis

All of these things were either said by Chandra or thought by her when she was the perspective character.

Does he call himself Gids in the story?
Do you get mad when Liliana calls Chandra 'sweetie' or Yaheni calls people 'darling'?

Yes, Chandra is cute as fuck.

We clearly have different perspectives of what's cute then.

I don't see how they're advertising the story as a heavy epic. Maybe the source of the confusion is that they didn't explicitly come out and say 'hey we're trying a lighter story this time'. The way I see it, wizards handle their story the same way the same way they handle card art; commission a bunch of artists on a central theme while allowing them the freedom to stylize as they see fit.

I think the lighter tone is a directed move and not a communal screw-up of the writing team. So far we've seen less big-picture narration and more characters having moments that other stories. That's not to say one style is better than the other or that they'll stick with this style forever but I like seeing them try new stuff. For me, self-doubt Chandra is a lot more relatable than self-hatred Chandra and Gideon having a coffee pondering the nature of justice only adds to his character.

Why are MTG lore buffs some of the most sensitive people on Veeky Forums? Seriously, you guys are as bad as /co/.

This. I really hate how these threads always quickly degenerate into "muh sjw character pandering, reeeeeeeeee!!"

Fuck that. Let's talk about the actual storyline developing here and how it's going to flow over into Amonkhet.

I really hope we're not steering towards more phyrexians again. They're a good villian but I've been playing since Tempest and am kinda done with phyrexians.

Still, what else would a planeswalker need a planeswalking device for?

KALADESH IS BORING GIVE ME AMONKHET ALREADY

Bring back Urza

To have his own personal planeswalking ship. He could be plotting to overthrow bolas, and use it to bring weapons and armies with him.

that filename

I'm with , overthrowing Bolas is the most Tezzeretty thing I can think of. Like some random soldier said in one of the stories, 'first it's vases, then it's gearhulks'. He could drop a mana vault on Bolas to seal him in or bring some hedrons from zendikar or bring the FUCKING MOON FROM INNISTRAD. Looking forward to it.

>shitting streets
kek

Also
>tfw one of the few half decent characters on Innistrad is barely given any lore because Muh Angels, Muh Eldrazi, and Jace League gay shit.

>Story about Thalia, Odric, Sigarda, Rem Karolus, Gisa/Geralf, those two lesbians, Arlinn Kord fighting against horrors that put the vampires and demons they're used to to shame
>Dealing with what happens when your entire faith is uprooted
>Sigarda dealing with being the last remaining Archangel and losing her sisters

Nope lol here's Liliana throwing some zombies at what looks to be a twenty story tall giant space monster while Jace spazzes out in everyones minds until Emrakul sticks herself in the moon

You should write the new stories user.

>transporting the moon from Innistrad
As much of a cool idea this is The Eldrazi have had enough printings for a bit. I personally hope that Bolas just wrecks the Jace league so we can start over with some better non shitter planeswalkers and who knows maybe come up with a original plane rather than revisit other ones.