Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

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Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 22 Jul 2015, 08:48

I've been really enjoying the Uncharted Realms recently with the stories leading up to Battle for Zendikar, so I thought I'd try to start some discussion. Anyone else?

Sorin's Restoration

So, at the end of the Tarkir block story, Sorin (again? depending on how you see alternate timelines) visits Tarkir, looking for Ugin to help combat the released Eldrazi titans. This time, Ugin is alive. Ugin wants to help repair the hedron network that was holding the titans imprisoned, and asks that Sorin get Nahiri and meet him at the Eye of Ugin on Zendikar.

The most interesting part of this one, I think, is that Sorin is both vague and guilty about where Nahiri the Lithomancer is - she's not on Zendikar, Sorin knows where she is, but he doesn't want to tell Ugin. We've seen that planeswalker lifespan has been an issue after the Mending - Ugin's a dragon who will live (apparently) forever, Sorin's undead and doesn't age, and the whole point of Liliana's demon-dealing was to restore her to eternal youth and power. Nahiri is ancient, but as far as I know, Kor lifespans are not any longer than human ones, so what happened after the Mending to keep her alive and not aging?

This will be a big reveal at some point. It's something that Sorin feels guilty about for the first time in thousands of years, that he doesn't want to reveal to Ugin (probably for fear of getting his skin flayed off by ghost-fire). He says that she's not on Zendikar, so most likely, if he's involved, she's on Innistrad.

One theory is that he turned her into Avacyn, but I think it's much more likely that he turned her into a Wampire, probably against her will.

And probably because he loves her and didn't want to see her die of old age. Awwww. I mean, ick. Both.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 22 Jul 2015, 09:03

Next one, by publication date (but way before, in story-time):

Stirring From Slumber

A pre-Mending Nahiri story! Nahiri spent a long time after the Eldrazi were imprisoned living among her people, then grew tired, disillusioned, and bored after several mortal lifetimes. She sat down in the Eye of Ugin and waited, for thousands of years.

A thousand years in the past, so around the time on Tarkir where Sarkhan went back and saved Ugin, there was a small breakout of Eldrazi spawn, and Nahiri awakes to do some godlike-power-crushing, but finds that the people of Zendikar had been worshiping the titans as gods, forgetting that they were terrible monsters.

Notably, she had called out to the others - Sorin and Ugin - for help, as agreed when the three had imprisoned the Eldrazi, but none came. Ugin, of course, is probably recently 'dead' and healing within the hedron cocoon brought by Sarkhan. We don't know why Sorin didn't come to the call, but she misses him, and it seems like she has more feelings for him than just an un-aging kindred spirit, so she planeswalks off to look for him.

Two things are notable from this story, beyond the world-wrecking power of pre-Mending planeswalkers:

One, this sets up Sorin and Nahiri getting together around a thousand years in the past, so whatever happened between the two of them that Sorin is guilty over had a long time to happen (assuming they found each other quickly). My suspicion that he vamped her to save her from post-Mending aging means that they hung out for a long-ass time before that happened, since the Mending is not long in the past comparatively.

Two, vampires appeared on Zendikar between the time that Nahiri went to sleep in the Eye of Ugin and when she awoke. Whether this is related to Sorin or not is unclear, but I've heard that Zendikar vampires are pretty different from the classic horror Innistrad vampires of Sorin. Anyone have more info on that?
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 22 Jul 2015, 09:19

Neeeext! Some underwater fun.

Drop for Drop

Kiora time. Kiora's a Zendikari merfolk, but she's been on Theros, pretending to be Callaphe to Ajani and Elspeth, and pretending to be Thassa to the local Theros merfolk (I think? or was she pretending to be Callaphe to them too? Gotta find that story...).

In any case, she's there to find sufficient weapons to fight the Eldrazi, so she's trying to trick Thassa and steal some of her great krakens and other monsterous sea critters. They fight, and Thassa, being a giant jerkface like all of the Theros gods, kills a bunch of her own followers and blames it on Kiora. Thassa makes a huge whirlpool-arena and throws her bident, trapping Kiora around the neck against a rock on the exposed seafloor.

The god isn't aware of planeswalking, though, and Kiora goes vwwmmmmp! and shifts off Theros with her powerful new tool - Thassa's Bident.

I enjoyed how tricky it showed Kiora being - a combination of devious plans and instinct that fits a blue-green planeswalker well. It also has in-universe descriptions of summoning and 'getting creatures into your library' - Kiora summons a bunch of off-world sea critters and also works to get some of Thassa's behemoths to 'come when she calls'.

And obviously, she'll have a new toy when fighting the Eldrazi...

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(Also, is that a Kor, Humans, and Vampires working together with Gideon and Kiora? CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER...MASS HYSTERIA!)
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 22 Jul 2015, 09:42

Ravnica time!

Project Lightning Bug

The Izzet mages are trying to track down where Jace (pronounced "Yake" in my head, thanks a ton Cam and Paul), the Living Guildpact, is going when he disappears. Ral Zarek, who is in charge of the project, is trying to sabotage it so that guildleader Niv-Mizzet doesn't discover planeswalking.

The dragon would probably dissect planeswalkers to find the secret of their travel. Or just eat them.

Ral Zarek manages to discredit the project at the cost of his own standing. However, there's an issue - they've been detecting the signs of another planeswalker who is regularly making trips in and out of the plane near the Boros.

It's pretty clear that the mystery planeswalker is Gideon, and he learns that the Guildpact is a planeswalker as well. We'll see, but I don't think that Ral Zarek will be called on to help in Zendikar - he's deeply Ravnican and unless his home plane is directly threatened, it seems unlikely that he'd help. Then again, blue-red. Who knows, he might go off just to learn about the Eldrazi, just on a whim.

An interesting story with a lot of Ravnica politics and ambitions, with a little bit of setup for the overall story as well. I liked it.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 22 Jul 2015, 15:17

OK, almost caught up. I assume that pretty much all of the UR articles from now until the end of September will relate to this.

Limits

Gideon is splitting his time between fighting the Eldrazi on Zendikar and helping out the guildless on Ravnica, leaving almost no time for healing or rest.

The fight on Zendikar is large and world-spanning: Gideon's allies let him know that a second continent has been completely overrun and fallen to the Eldrazi. The survivors are landing at the Sea Gate, but the Eldrazi spawn are close behind.

The fight on Ravnica is a smaller, more personal one. The Boros guild is not solving the problems of the guildless, which is leading to revenge murders and arson.

The refugees on Zendikar reveal to Gideon that they were on the brink of a discovery that would link the hedron network with the Eldrazi: the puzzle of leylines.

Well, if there's anyone who can solve a puzzle...
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 27 Jul 2015, 10:07

Now, for Magic: the Awkward Exes!

Catching Up

Yake the Lyving Gildpast wraps up his duties for the day, which he finds a lot of work but not at all challenging (also, what plane does coffee grow on? If nothing else, apparently it's a thing on Ravnica), but an old 'friend' shows up at his door - Liliana.

He doesn't try to read her mind; from previous experience, he knows that she can spoof his telepathy (did this come up in previous stories?). They discuss what she did to Garruk with the Chain Veil and Jace learns that Liliana has taken care of 2 of the 4 demons she made a pact with for power and eternal life. Small-talk about legendary demons and unspeakably powerful artifacts aside, Jace tries to get her to reveal the real reason she's there, and of course...

...they end up going on a date at a fancy restaurant. Liliana shows Jace the Chain Veil, and we're reminded that she can't actually put it down or get rid of it. He sees this as a puzzle worth solving (and clearly why she's actually there to see him) and is willing to help if she'll stoop low enough to actually ask for help when they are rudely interrupted.

By Gideon. He presents an alternate puzzle for the mind-mage to solve: the puzzle of the leylines on Zendikar, and he's of course direct enough to ask for Jace's help. Liliana, of course, won't have anything to do with it as it doesn't directly benefit her (as far as she can see). Jace goes to get his notes, prepare for a leave of absence as Guildpact, and get Gideon to rest and heal before they leave for Zendikar.

I liked the interpersonal stuff between Liliana and Jace. They're both the type to be indirect and try to hide their motives and what they really want. The Gideon/Jace thing feels like the New Superteam getting started, if the Old Superteam is Ugin, Sorin, and Nahiri. Who else is likely to show up for Team Jace/Gideon?

Well, we know that Kiora is a local, fighting for her home with a brand-new pilfered bident. Nissa is a local too and will be a likely New Superteam member.

Ajani is still on Theros, as far as I know, looking for the Returned Elspeth. Dunno if either will show up, but having a resolution to Elspeth's story would be cool. Kinda doubt it until later.

Sarkhan and Narset have just finished their story with a happy (if dangerously dragony) ending on Tarkir. I don't think we'll see either for a while.

Chandra was involved (with Sarkhan and Jace) in releasing the Eldrazi in the first place, but I think at this point Jace would have to search her out, and I'm not sure she'd get involved if he did.

Anyone I'm missing? Will Garruk and Liliana get involved, or was this story a way to show that she's not going to be guilted into it?
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby MowDownJoe » 27 Jul 2015, 16:33

Wizards was pretty upfront during the SDCC panel that Lili isn't getting involved in the BFZ plot line. The rest of the Origins 5 will be, though. So, somehow Chandra's going to get roped up in this thing. (As is Nissa. But she's a native and responsible for the whole mess, so not unexpected.)
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 28 Jul 2015, 08:20

Oooh - I had watched the Pax East panel, but forgot about the SDCC one. (link if anyone else is interested).

Another update tomorrow, assuming the Uncharted Realms stories continue to build for BFZ.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby Atifexe » 28 Jul 2015, 14:10

Thank you, The Martini. As much as I love the Uncharted Realms articles, this format is far easier to read on my breaks at work. The personal opinion/theory/inference commentary makes it even better.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 28 Jul 2015, 14:18

So, additional theorystuff from the SDCC panel:

As MowDownJoe noted, Liliana won't be involved, but Chandra will. She's been put into a position of authority (assuming on Regatha with the fire-monks) which "goes about as well as you'd expect."

There was spoiler art of Ugin and Jace talking, so the New Zendikar Avengers (retconned team name) will at least consult with the old guard.

The art with Nissa + Bident and Gideon fighting was shown, too, though I had seen that one before.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby Phi » 29 Jul 2015, 00:06

The fact that Ulamog is still on Zendikar makes me wonder if we will be getting a new Ulamog card.

"Ulamog, the Infinitier Gyer"
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 29 Jul 2015, 08:14

Ulamog, the Infinite-Plus-One Gyre! Ulamog, the Aleph-One Gyre (math joke)! Ulamog, the "Oh god, guys, I really couldn't eat another plane, I'm so full, ok just this one" Gyre! :D

Unkindness of Ravens

Following Liliana right after she stomps off from her date with Jace, she considers changing her mind and helping Jace, in the hope that he might help her when he's done. She's amused by the thought of raising huge monsters as zombies (ZOMBIE ELDRAZI), but realizes that she either uses the Chain Veil to help in the (which will kill her, either directly or by sapping her power so much that she can't face the last two demons), or she doesn't (which will kill her very directly via Eldrazi stomping).

She then runs into the Raven Man again (from her Origin story) in an empty courtyard. They talk, he taunts her with various truths, and then they fight. She blasts him, but he retreats into a flock of ravens, to which she raises her own flock of undead ravens and drives him away.

Liliana decides that she doesn't need help solving her problems, or to help anyone else solve their problems, and planeswalks off Ravnica.

Two things with this article:

1) The Raven Man. She accuses him of being a planeswalker as he's been on Dominaria (when she got the root of her downfall into black magic - haha root), on Shandalar (when she got the Chain Veil), and now on Ravnica, but he doesn't respond. He seems to be unaging, as her awakening was well over 100 years ago. Pale, unaging dudes who emerge from clouds of ravens sounds vampire-y, but Liliana doesn't note it - seems like something she'd be able to recognize. Maybe it's just unremarkable to her?

B) Unassigned art. There are three pieces of art that are not from cards.

The first is maybe supposed to be the Raven Man showing up in the courtyard? It looks more like the edge of an overgrown garden, and I never got the sense of her lounging or looking that self-satisfied during the scene, but her dress matches the third art which is CERTAINLY the confrontation in this story so I guess it is. Art direction for the...something.

The second is the Raven Man in front of the tree, also used in her Origin story, but unlike most of the rest of the art in that story, it didn't find its way to a card. Extra commission? One that did't fit a card and got replaced, but they kept for other use?

The third is Liliana throwing death-energy at the flock of ravens from the end of this story. Show story points on cards, go! Looks like a hard one to crop, though.

So, will these end up on cards in BFZ? Never end up on cards (shift to more art just for articles)? End up in some other set?

Also, I thought that Liliana's demonic contract showed up on her skin all the time as a sort of tattoo/scarification-looking thing and flared with purple light when she uses her power, but apparently it only shows at allwhen she is being particularly powerful (and bleeds, of course, when she is using the Chain Veil)? The more you know...
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby lazylantern » 29 Jul 2015, 09:54

I read a fan theory that the raven man is Urza (or a manifestation of Urza from Liliana's mind)
His art in from of a tree is eerily similar to Urza's Guilt and Urza's rage
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby Asthanius » 29 Jul 2015, 10:34

The Raven Man can't actually be Urza (though that doesn't really mean that he can't be a manifestation based on him, I guess), since Urza is super dead and his spark is in Karn, meaning that even if he wasn't beheaded and still had the Mightstone and Weakstone (which contained his life force, but were used to activate the Legacy Weapon), he still wouldn't be able to planeswalk.

Also, according to mtgsalvation, Liliana was born about 100 years after Urza's death, so she wouldn't even know him.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby Phi » 29 Jul 2015, 11:36

So we have our first spoiler card, and it's an eldrazi:

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From a Vorthos perspective, I like how the ability basically says "this Eldrazi eats the opponent's mana". Flavor win. The name is a bit weird though. Makes me imagine an eldrazi wearing a straw hat and sowing seeds in its field.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 29 Jul 2015, 11:55

"Hunger without limit" says Ulamog, as does the split limbs and the lower tentacles. I think that, rather than eating an opponent's mana, it's literally draining the power from the land into itself, before the mage can even connect to it to draw mana from it. Neat! Also, gross.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby lazylantern » 29 Jul 2015, 13:28

We literally just had a time travel set
Time magic has bern a part of the game forever (Time Walk)
Teferi's schtick was practically all Time manipulation... Is it that unbelievable that a planeswalker as powerful as Urza once met Liliana?
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby Asthanius » 29 Jul 2015, 14:15

I'm saying that it's literally impossible for Urza to appear in Standard. Mark Rosewater has said on his blog that Urza's not coming back and he doesn't lie. He sometimes plays coy (he constantly answers "maybe :)" to a lot of questions about the future, but he outright says that Urza's dead.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby AdmiralMemo » 29 Jul 2015, 15:42

But... he doesn't say Urza won't reappear. Just that he's dead. If they ever do a set that is from that time period... It will not be a Standard-legal set, too. It'd likely be some sort of special set. (That's what I'm reading in the "not in black-border" comment.)
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby lazylantern » 29 Jul 2015, 15:59

I also never said that Urza would be a card in standard.
let me paint a picture for you: Urza was time travelling and sensed the spark in a young healer. He helps her find what she is looking for, manipulating the background events to ensure that her spark ignites.
Now that necromancer, going insane due to the influence of an artifact of unimaginable hallucinates that old gheezer as a manifestation of her own sanity trying to steer her back on path.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 05 Aug 2015, 08:29

It's Chandra week, so let's see what out favorite planeswalker-on-fire is up to.

Offers to the Fire

Chandra's back on Regatha with the fire-monks of Keral Keep. They are doing some ritual chanting, because they are monks. They are doing it in the middle of a lava floe, because they are badass fire monks.

Chandra's not great at coordinated chanting. Like, real bad. This matters, because the ritual is creating a fire-wall that is protecting them from the *rolls on random encounter table* Embermaw Hellion! Without her help, the fire-wall falls, but Chandra jumps on the creature and then weaves her own fire bolt with those of all the other monks into one MEGABOLT, which slays the hellion.

Apparently, this is a rare talent. Chandra is compared to Jaya Ballard a lot.

Wandering monster defeated, the a-hole Dungeon Master then decides to motivate the players by killing off a beloved NPC - the Abbot of Keral Keep dies of old age. Chandra is sad. She gets offered the position of Abbot. She is angry, then resolute - it will give her purpose and perhaps make her feel better. "Being a fire-blasting abbot could be fun!"

Then, Gideon and Jace storm in and yell "I OBJECT!" like a cliche soap opera wedding. Well, actually, they just ask her to help with the Eldrazi situation on Zendikar, which she sorta-kinda had a hand in releasing. Chandra is snarky, and sends the two planeswalkers packing. They tell her that if she changes her mind, meet them at the Sea Gate.

I give her about 2 days of having all the responsibilities of the Abbot before she says "screw it" and bails. As MaRo said in the SDCC panel, Chandra is put in a position of responsibility, which "goes about as well as you'd expect." If it wasn't made of stone and kind of already on fire, I think Keral Keep would be burned to the ground veeeeery shortly.

Snarky summary aside, a good story. I enjoyed it! A+++ would be on fire again
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby Asthanius » 05 Aug 2015, 11:13

I was recently reading old comics on the Wizards site and found the series of three comics that detailed Liliana's early adventures. The third comic contained proof that the Raven Man is 100% real, and is most likely more than just a shapeshifter: he's a spirit. He inhabited the body of a dead man that Liliana resurrected and he also mentioned that person we saw before was him in a different body.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 13 Aug 2015, 10:14

A day late, but not a snark short; it's Nissa time!

For Zendikar

Nissa's in Vastwood Forest, talking to herself. I mean, there's a giant elemental that keeps following her around, but it doesn't seem to understand or listen to her. Nissa decides to name it Ashaya.

Linguistic Vorthos time: one of Nissa's companions had called her Shaya, which means Worldwaker in the Greypelt tongue. Nissa adds a prefix to make Ashaya, which means the Awoken World. That also means that the token creature is called (translated) "The Awoken World, the Awoken World" (a la "Manos: the Hands of Fate" but even more redundant) :lol:.

Ashaya seems to have personality and life of its own, in comparison to Nissa's usual summoned elementals that move and fight only due to her magical will. Unfortunately, it only communicates with a single hand gesture, and Nissa doesn't speak Zendikari Sign Language.

10:1 it's the interpretive-dance equivalent of "I am Groot."

Nissa gives up on trying to understand her woody companion when she hears a scream from nearby. The forest has been under attack from spawn of Ulamog, and someone nearby is obviously in trouble. Nissa and Ashaya try to help a group of kor, elves, and human fight off three sizable Eldrazi. The Planeswalker and her elemental are able to kill one and drive off the other two, but not before they kill or fatally injure all of the other Zendikari.

Well, not all of them - a vampire survived, and (to Nissa surprise) is caring for the doomed human on the verge of death. She's wary, as the vampire race has long been the slaves of the Eldrazi, and the rebel vampires lead by Anowon haven't exactly been her friends either. This vampire has been on a quest (as any proper adventurer on Zendikar should be!) to find a Planeswalker. Anowon has lost hope that Zendikar can be saved, and has sent a gift to be taken off-world: four seeds from native plants, so that something of Zendikar will survive.

Nissa tries to argue that the world's end is not yet assured, but she can't reconcile that with the fact that she's been telling Ashaya, representing the land itself, that she can't do what it's asking of her. Ashaya ignores Nissa's commands to return to the land as she prepares to leave Zendikar with the seeds and instead repeats the gesture it's been doing.

Nissa, in an attempt to understand, repeats the gesture, and discovers that she can tap into the leylines, the power of the land of Zendikar itself. She realizes that she isn't being tasked to defend Zendikar alone, but instead is just one of the billions of interconnected parts of the land that is coming together as one to defend itself. The passage here is very well done and quite stirring, and I suggest you read it!

Using her newfound Oneness with the land, she bounds through the forest after the escaped Eldrazi. Rock and bramble form a giant spear around her hand, and Nissa and Ashaya stab and crush the foul creature. From atop Ashaya's head, she summons an army of huge elementals, and they go gallumphing off to find their prey: an Eldrazi titan.

For Zendikar!

Hard not to be pumped by the end of this one. Great job, Kimberly J. Kreines.
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 26 Aug 2015, 06:36

What what? Double lore all the way this week, with both the Uncharted Realms and a Checking In on the Planeswalkers article (which I won't go over but is good reference).

And then I let the post sit in draft. DEAR READERS (all 2 of you), I LET YOU DOWN!

Slaughter at the Refuge

After a few days of resting, healing, and fruitlessly trying to get Chandra to help, Gideon and Jace return to Zendikar. The camp that the survivors of the attack on Sea Gate established when Gideon left is destroyed. Gideon beats himself up for taking so long to, you know, sleep for more than 5 minutes, see a healer, other unimportant stuff like that.

Eldrazi spawn attack. Gideon is badass. Jace is a weenie helpless nerd. I am annoyed.

The rest of the story essentially continues this way - Gideon fights spawn and wails about how he should have been there, and Jace is kinda pathetic instead of a powerful telepathic illusion-wizard.

Gideon, after much fighting and gnashing of teeth, leads the survivors up onto a series of floating hedrons. He and Jace head into the ruins of Sea Gate to try to find Jori En, the scholor researching the puzzle of the leylines.

Blech. Not one of my favorites, especially after the great one last week. I guess some interesting things to take from it is (if you're up on your color philosophy) how much Gideon is shifting towards red. Will we have red-white Gideon in BFZ?
Gin. Vermouth. Olives.
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The Martini
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Re: Vorthos Story Corner: Battle for Zendikar

Postby The Martini » 26 Aug 2015, 09:11

I don't know if I'll be able to catch the livestreams, but hopefully I'll be able to watch the BFZ panels from PAX Prime and get a summary of what we learn before next week's UR. In the meantime, it's...

The Silent Cry

Back to the Adventures of Nissa and Ashaya! It's been some time (not clear how much) since Nissa connected with Zendikar and she an Ashaya have been tracking down the Eldrazi titan that is causing the infestation. Nissa's been learning a ton about the land. Killer mantises love birdsong! The Vastwood heart trees hold hands and mate for life! Gnarlids sneak to the tops of the canopy to laugh at the stars! Distributed humans living like Ewoks comminucate via gossiping sloths!

She intercepts one of these sloth-o-grams and moves to help with the two Eldrazi that are threatening a tree village. When Nissa and Ashaya show up, though, there are three instead. Nissa chooses to go after the two that are threatening the human village, and hopefully destroy them quickly before the third gets to the heart tree grove. She and Ashaya smash those two, but then of course are too late to save most of the trees. Only two are left, and the last Eldrazi manages to corrupt the vine-link between the pair before the monstrosity is destroyed.

Nissa is sad for trees.

She and Ashaya continue through the Vastwood for days, following the highest concentration of Eldrazi spawn and looking for the source. They near the sea, when the two feel as if they are stabbed through the heart. Nissa's connection to Zendikar is gone, and Ashaya falls to her component pieces. Nissa wanders towards the ruins of Sea Gate, but is tackled by an injured merfolk before she's trampled in the swarm of Eldrazi that surrounds it.

Reduced to merely fighting with a sword instead of the land itself, the two are nearly killed before they are rescued by some Kor...and Gideon. She recognizes him as a planeswalker by his unfamiliar look and strange armor and is amazed that, given the ability, he hasn't left Zendikar.

The injured merfolk, of course, is Jori En - the one Gideon has been looking for. He leads Nissa, Jori, and the other surviving Zendikari back to their floating hedron base.

So, now we have Gideon, Jace, and Nissa (de-enZendikar'ed, if you will) together. We know that Kiora will join up at some point, too, and theoretically Chandra will show up.

"What about Keral Keep, Chandra?"

"Well, it kind of...burned to the ground."

"It's made of stone!"

"I KNOW! I SAID I WAS SORRY!"
Gin. Vermouth. Olives.

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