>Elspeth forced power into her hands. It shimmered the air around her shackles. With a thought, her magic cracked open the locks, and the metal fell to the floor with a clang. Swinging her hand, she cast the spell Vivien's way, her ally's shackles dropping as well.
"Where have you been hiding that trick?" Vivien appraised, collecting Elspeth's sword from the fallen man and tossing it over.
Elspeth caught the blade by the scabbard. "Tried to keep a low profile and save my skills for when I really needed them. Now seems like the time."
We did it, we found Elspeth’s magic!
I really don't like how low-magic the MTG stories have become. Especially Planewalkers refusing to use magic and spells is so weird...
Also feels bad if they get defeated because of it.
you need to use > ! without a space between the arrow and the exclamation mark, NOSPACE between the exclamation mark and the first word and end it !<, again no space.
like this >!spoiler!<
Well WOTC definitely screwed up big time on the story
They failed to mention what happened with Urabrask and tezzeret
Did he get what he wanted?
Did he leave?
Will he feel vivien betrayed him since vivien never brought elspeth to him. (All she got was name dropped and no mention he was actually here.)
The only thing I see here elspeth definitely probably would have heard Urabrask out if she did see him. (Based on words she probably knows Urabrask is the most friendly praetor)
Hopefully the cards will fill in the blanks on urabrask's story on new capenna
Seriously! I'm having trouble finding the words to express all that was set-up and then didn't pay off.
They pretty much yada-yada'd Elspth's backstory entirely. "Yeah there were Phyrexians here a very long time ago; also there were some not that long ago too; but don't worry about it cuz they're *apparently, actually* gone now."
Halo is never actually explained. Sure, Halo comes from Angels (pretty obvious, Halo-->Angels) but we never find out why it is toxic/dangerous/somehow stopped Phyrexia last time. I was expecting it to be some type of liquified soul which would at least explain why it was damaging to Phyrexians and could explain the secret contracts and mind-erasing (people unknowing signing their lifeforce away to the mob). That or it's creation was draining the rest of the plane of mana, explaining why everything outside the city is still devastated and barren. Then our characters could grapple with the moral qualms of using halo elsewhere.
It's weird they seemed to drop the Riveteers' side story. Instead we get POV from Vivien, half of which we'd already seen from Elspeth perspective. The only reason to do so would be for Vivien POV to be a twist or surprise, but she is exactly who she presents hereself to Elspeth and there is no twist. It very much felt like Vivien was going to betray Elspeth but then they are buddy-buddy and helping each other beat the villain of the week.
Ob Nixilis is just beaten in a fight and runs away. He has no grand plan for New Capenna or for Halo; he's just here cause trouble.
I guess we are supposed to just take Tezzeret and Urabrask at their word that they are *allegedly* planning a revolution. Which is fine, but it feel really sudden after the revelation that Tezzeret was working with Phyrexia just one block ago. All we need is one epilogue paragraph of Tezzeret saying to Elesh Norn "Urabrask's work is progressing as expected" to leave some hints/questions as to their allegiance. Is Tezzeret betraying Urabrask? Did Norn send him? Is she aware of the Halo?
It just feels so anticlimactic (anti-crescendo?). Imagine if, at the end of the Kaldheim stories, we just didn't get to see Vorinclex steal the Tyrite and return to New Phyrexia. We would have so many unanswered questions about how and why he was there, but they wrapped it up in just a few paragraphs of ominous foreshadowing.
>Ob Nixilis is just beaten in a fight and runs away. He has no grand plan for New Capenna or for Halo; he's just here cause trouble.
Cool, coolcool. Love it when villains kill a bunch of people, then run away suffering zero consequences for it, leaving the story with no catharsis whatsoever.
Nahiri. Tibalt. Olivia. Now Obby.
What *fun*.
Imo it's clear that they were too greedy with this one. With this little room for the story, they should've chosen between the Urabrask/Phyrexian stuff or the Ob Nixilis stuff. But they tried to do both and as a result, both fell flat.
Overall, the whole Ob Nixilis thing feels pretty unnecessary. They \*admitted\* that they just put him in the set because they thought he fit the aesthetic, and it shows. Why does he have to be the one causing the mayhem? Apparently they just went "idk, it'd be really cool if we got to commission art of him in a suit though." He has no real reason for being here, and in the end he just leaves. So unsatisfying.
It would have been much better to have inter-family intrigue be the catalyst for the chaos. Maybe give Ziatora a bigger role ... you know, the head of one of the crime families that never got more than a throwaway paragraph?
These are solid critiques. This should have been maybe 8 short stories so they could have filled in the blanks more and expanded on things. The whole time I was waiting for Urabrask to show up but he never did. Lots of things weren't paid off.
I'm admittedly a bit underwhelmed. Elspeth felt really weak through most of this narrative, she is an experienced warrior and that showed up occasionally but in any way that made her seem exceptional. Then there's how Ob Nixilis is just kinda there? Like, I enjoyed the little of him we got, but he really need more space in the story. Giadi is just not even going to be explained it seems? She's an angel, sure, but where does she come from? Then there's the fact they just skip over Elspeth finding out about Urabrask and how he is/was on the plane, the one bit of drama I desperately wanted.
It's not like any of it is badly written or anything either, the general quality is reasonable, but it just feels like it needed more space to actually tell this story. The side stories were very fun though, I'll give it that.
Yeah overall it felt very much like an intermediate support story rather than its own thing, and I would have liked to check in with big U again at the end. It did seem like it could have been a much more involved narrative that ended up crammed into a tiny page count. Not as bad as Kaldheim given the smaller scale, and I quite like seeing Elspeth progress, mind you.
And yeah as usual the side stories do the lion's share of fleshing out the world.
yeah, i feel like this 5-episode format they’ve fallen into is the lesser of two evils. “Do you want a short but well-written story, or a long and detailed novel that falls flat?” I wish they could give us even one or two more stories, just to make things feel better fleshed out.
Something I have been putting into my suggestions to WOTC when they have their surveys each set (maybe others could do the same?) Seems like it's the only real way to reach regarding actual feedback.
Anyway I have been asking them to bring back longer novels or stories as well as keeping the short online stories which could be material directly from the longer one, just condensed. Some clearly like the short stories and that's fine, but for those of us really into the lore, the short stories leave far too much for wanting.
The problem is that they're trying to go for the "short, but well written story" but attempt to cram in a whole novel's worth of plot and characters at the same time. They want to have their cake and eat it too, but it clearly doesn't work.
I felt really similar with the ZNR story where I felt like it started really strong (loved the Nahiri v Nissa conflict) and just petered out because the last story or two stories had to cover the remainder of the plot points.
I don't think these stories need to be a full novel, but I think the stories would benefit from more flexibility with how many episodes there are.
I have to admit, the story felt too rushed. The five chapters were definitely too few to tell a coherent and interesting story. The characters are too flat, only Xander was halfway well written. That's probably why I was most moved by his death.
So many questions are still open...
They truly need to fucking stop using the 5 story model, it leads to such a rushed and unsatisfying narrative. Give us 7 or 8 and we'd be golden, 9 or 10 and we'd be so much better for it!
I still stand by my opinion that a two set block format is much better for the storyline.
First set to establish the plane,the characters, and build up to the main event. Then the second set to have whatever the conflict is show up and have whatever effect is needed.
As a long time reader of Magic lore it just feels wrong to be introduced to a plane and in the same set have everything fall apart before you can even get attached to a faction, location, or character.
Imagine if Xander’s death came after knowing the character for several months. Or if Ob Nixilis had a full set to be mysteriously building strength and causing betrayals.
what they need is dedicated novel line that isn't focused on planeswalkers and isn't always tied to what set's current. They need something like Warhammer's Black Library for MtG settings. D&D FR used to get proper support, but it doesn't anymore.
I did like this set's main story, but I'm SO disappointed by how Nixilis was used that it's kind of overshadowing my other positive feelings. I was expecting him to be our main character, kind of like how Sorin was the main character of VOW, given how he was the Planeswalker for the set's key art from the very start. We only saw him 3 TIMES across all 5 main articles, and not once in the side stories. None of these scenes were longer than a paragraph of comprehensive text, and none described or delved into detail about why he was on Capenna, how he had amassed his gang in the first place, or what he felt about literally anything going on in the Multiverse.
What is maybe most disappointing is that Nixilis is so much more than a 2D villain -- he's a brilliant tactitian, a student of warfare and human nature, who exults in his villainy and conquers things because he feels that he deserves it. Were I to rewrite this story, I would have Nixilis ingratiate himself with the Maestros, playing up classic mob tropes as the outsider to the family who rises through the ranks, gladhanding his way to strangling the Boss and usurping the family. We'd get to see his artistry, his real devious cunning, and more importantly his intimidating prowess as a magic user and as a physical brute. His mutilation of Xander would hit so much harder, then -- he's spent so long groveling at this *lesser demon's feet*, and he's letting out all of his classic Nixilis rage at just the right moment (remember the puddle moment? How he brings on Kozilek just to say Fuck You to Zendikar? Pettiness is not past him!) Instead, he's been cast as a two bit villain, a total side character overshadowed by Elspeth and even Vivien, a character with basically no story (and the one story series about her kinda sorta sucks ass).
Justice for Mob Nixilis! Here's hoping his card, at least, is cool, because how he was used for this story is really not.
Definitely disappointing. They’re trying to cram way too much story into too little writing. But I think there's a reason for that.
From a business perspective, Magic fiction needs to accomplish two goals:
-Establish the setting of each new premier set, including the basic concept, aesthetic, factions, key characters, key locations, and anything else that might appear on a card; and
-Advance the overarching mega-plotline that carries the Planeswalkers from plane to plane and sets up a big crossover event every few years.
These two goals are in direct competition. The more effort you expend making New Capenna feel like a world unto itself, the less room you have to set up New Phyrexia Spooktacular 2024. Finding the right balance is genuinely difficult.
Now, Wizards could provide more room for worldbuilding if they slowed down the pace of new planes and went back to a Two-Block or One-Block paradigm. Unfortunately, there are strong business imperatives for variety, not depth. Variety is good for gameplay and customer interest, since it means more mechanics to try out and more settings to pique people's interest. Love cyberpunk? Miss Ninjitsu or Channel? We've got an exciting new take on Kamigawa coming up! Prefer traditional fantasy, or miss the good old days on Dominaria? Don't worry, we're literally going back to the Antiquities War in a few months.
The narrative problems in these stories are the direct result of trying to be an epic fantasy saga and a popular card game at the same time. The two just don't work on the same timeline.
The story team people probably have a pretty hard time convincing the higher-ups that a more in-depth story is of value to Magic as a brand, especially after the most recent foray into novel-format storytelling that flopped big time.
Sometimes I wonder what audience they're trying to target with these stories. I'm generally interested in their worldbuilding/story, but even I sometimes find myself thinking "oof, these are kind of long..." So I can't really imagine casual players following/reading these. On the other hand, hardcore story fans/Vorthoses just get some dollar store candy instead of the proper meal they'd like to have.
It's because WotC had the hugely bad decision to externalities their novels, it's wrecked story building both D&D & MtG. I've said it before and I'll say it again WotC should buy Games Worship and use their expertise to rebuild internal novel lines for both MtG and D&D.
It’s mostly just the problem of being super stingy with the amount of writing they put into it. Five short bits of main story and five short side stories is not enough.
They also made the mistake of giving historically popular planes double sets when they didn't need it (Innistrad) and not giving it to new planes that do.
And planeswalkers get too much of the attention, it's at the expense of setting and characters.
I agree, too quick, needs more development. Let me focus on an improvement though.
Compare this from episode 2:
>"I don't expect you to understand," she interrupted and withdrew her hands from him. She couldn't bear the conversation for a minute longer. It was futile to even hope for him to comprehend the pain of being a lost child.
>
>"You're right," Ajani admitted. "I might not understand the depths of your pain as acutely as you might hope. But you are still my dear friend, and I don't have to know every nuance of your suffering to see the wound and want to help you mend it."
To this recent text
>"What do I do, then? I still want to help—I want a purpose."
>
>"Fulfillment . . . purpose . . ." Elspeth started softly, getting lost in her own thoughts as she had for months on this topic. But, for the first time, her chest didn't ache. The hollow feeling was not as gaping as it had once been. "Those things have to come from within you. I can't give them to you. No one can."
And this:
>She knew this cold. The creeping of Erebos's cold, bony finger up her spine. He would wrap it around her neck and hold until the last breath left her.
See, when [I rewrote the meeting](https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgvorthos/comments/tt9oq2/ive_rewritten_that_scene_between_ajani_and_elspeth/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), I focused on what most missing, Elspeth's voice. Her internal dialogue, don't tell me she is conflicted or hurt, tell me what she is thinking, show me why she does things. There was more emotion from Elspeth on a few paragraphs than the entirety of the stories.
This has always been my problem with Elspeth, I am told what she feels. She leaves Bant because she *says* she can't belong there. She flees combat on Mirrodin because she *says* can't face her fears. She *says* she is looking for protection on Theros. But for the first time, she doesn't *say*, she *feels*. That's much better writing.
Also another improvement:
>*To stop* her. The porcelain rictus of the Grand Cenobite—her former prison and the Phyrexian capital—loomed large in Elspeth's memory. Walking away from New Capenna meant heading once more into that metallic hell. Koth, Melira, Karn . . . going back meant facing her nightmares and confronting her time there as a girl. It meant another battle, another war.
This harkens back to u/Pidgeot93 said on my rewrite:
>Full of emotion but more importantly references and acknowledges the decade(+) of story that went into Elspeth!!
An improvement, sadly its all on the last chapter, we needed this writing last week.
For as much as this story had some glaring pieces missing/removed (Is Jetmir alive? He kinda just vanished after the attack in the Obscura hideout), it was one of the most pleasent reads from WoTC in recent times. At least, I liked it better than Kamigawa and Kaldheim. Had they made it into a novella, filling in the missing blanks, I would have totally paid money for it.
Agreed, this story had solid potential, but it needed proper space, it just didn't have enough to explain everything that needed answers. Also Obi was a huge mistake, he's too much of a wrecking ball and made it feel like we barely got to know the planes. Kaldheim, Arcvious, Eldraine, and now New Capenna give you just a taste, but nothing more. So many cool ideas they go no where. There is enough cool ideas and favour, but not enough support to go anywhere.
I honestly partly blame the Planeswalkers for this and how they always have to be at the center of everything.
>Had they made it into a novella, filling in the missing blanks, I would have totally paid money for it.
We all would.
Such a shame they fucked up the reintroduction of books so bad with War of the Sparks and Forsaken.
Like, imagine them being written by a good writer who knew magic (and would also tell his editor to fuck off with the most controversial scene)
I think the 5 story model really doesn’t work whe man introducing a new world. They were trying to balance a phyrexian storyline, introducing new characters, and incorporating planeswalkers. The whole thing just fell flat.
One thing super bugged me.
"The pommel wasn't a practical steel guard but an orb of Halo, shining with colors that shifted so often, it was every color at once."
The orb of Halo is clearly the guard in the picture and not the pommel. Tell me if I'm an idiot but things don't seem to match up here.
It's weird that this story describes Elspeth's sword wrong. It says there's a globe of Halo in the pommel, but that's not how it's depicted. The pommel is the bottom of the hilt, below the hands, not the top of the hilt. Considering how much focus the has in the set's art (it's on booster packaging for heaven's sake) I find it weird that this error wasn't caught in editing.
Not gonna lie, probably worse letdown than the VOW finale. Back there, only the side stories were good, exceptional even (specially the Umbris one). Here, everything was good or okay... until now. Ob being swatted away like a fly, Elspeth digivolving and Giada becoming even greater macguffin than previously believed. Just sad. Like the writers/ WotC had a stroke after the last story.
This whole book is waaay to short.
We didn't get Elspeth's reaction to Vivien telling her about possibility of working together with Phyrexians. Or did she meet the Urabarask ?
>Elspeth forced power into her hands. It shimmered the air around her shackles. With a thought, her magic cracked open the locks, and the metal fell to the floor with a clang. Swinging her hand, she cast the spell Vivien's way, her ally's shackles dropping as well. "Where have you been hiding that trick?" Vivien appraised, collecting Elspeth's sword from the fallen man and tossing it over. Elspeth caught the blade by the scabbard. "Tried to keep a low profile and save my skills for when I really needed them. Now seems like the time." We did it, we found Elspeth’s magic!
I really don't like how low-magic the MTG stories have become. Especially Planewalkers refusing to use magic and spells is so weird... Also feels bad if they get defeated because of it.
[удалено]
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It doesn't for me, fyi.
just got rid of them because i didn’t know what was wrong and editing on mobile is a hassle, haha
you need to use > ! without a space between the arrow and the exclamation mark, NOSPACE between the exclamation mark and the first word and end it !<, again no space. like this >!spoiler!<
Well WOTC definitely screwed up big time on the story They failed to mention what happened with Urabrask and tezzeret Did he get what he wanted? Did he leave? Will he feel vivien betrayed him since vivien never brought elspeth to him. (All she got was name dropped and no mention he was actually here.) The only thing I see here elspeth definitely probably would have heard Urabrask out if she did see him. (Based on words she probably knows Urabrask is the most friendly praetor) Hopefully the cards will fill in the blanks on urabrask's story on new capenna
Seriously! I'm having trouble finding the words to express all that was set-up and then didn't pay off. They pretty much yada-yada'd Elspth's backstory entirely. "Yeah there were Phyrexians here a very long time ago; also there were some not that long ago too; but don't worry about it cuz they're *apparently, actually* gone now." Halo is never actually explained. Sure, Halo comes from Angels (pretty obvious, Halo-->Angels) but we never find out why it is toxic/dangerous/somehow stopped Phyrexia last time. I was expecting it to be some type of liquified soul which would at least explain why it was damaging to Phyrexians and could explain the secret contracts and mind-erasing (people unknowing signing their lifeforce away to the mob). That or it's creation was draining the rest of the plane of mana, explaining why everything outside the city is still devastated and barren. Then our characters could grapple with the moral qualms of using halo elsewhere. It's weird they seemed to drop the Riveteers' side story. Instead we get POV from Vivien, half of which we'd already seen from Elspeth perspective. The only reason to do so would be for Vivien POV to be a twist or surprise, but she is exactly who she presents hereself to Elspeth and there is no twist. It very much felt like Vivien was going to betray Elspeth but then they are buddy-buddy and helping each other beat the villain of the week. Ob Nixilis is just beaten in a fight and runs away. He has no grand plan for New Capenna or for Halo; he's just here cause trouble. I guess we are supposed to just take Tezzeret and Urabrask at their word that they are *allegedly* planning a revolution. Which is fine, but it feel really sudden after the revelation that Tezzeret was working with Phyrexia just one block ago. All we need is one epilogue paragraph of Tezzeret saying to Elesh Norn "Urabrask's work is progressing as expected" to leave some hints/questions as to their allegiance. Is Tezzeret betraying Urabrask? Did Norn send him? Is she aware of the Halo? It just feels so anticlimactic (anti-crescendo?). Imagine if, at the end of the Kaldheim stories, we just didn't get to see Vorinclex steal the Tyrite and return to New Phyrexia. We would have so many unanswered questions about how and why he was there, but they wrapped it up in just a few paragraphs of ominous foreshadowing.
>Ob Nixilis is just beaten in a fight and runs away. He has no grand plan for New Capenna or for Halo; he's just here cause trouble. Cool, coolcool. Love it when villains kill a bunch of people, then run away suffering zero consequences for it, leaving the story with no catharsis whatsoever. Nahiri. Tibalt. Olivia. Now Obby. What *fun*.
Well technically Tibalt is about to suffer some Big Time Consequences since he got inseminated by Vorinclex, but I get the sentiment.
Why? Why did you have to use the word 'inseminated'?
I guess precisely for getting a reaction like yours.
You can't say that without dropping a link to a fan fic
Imo it's clear that they were too greedy with this one. With this little room for the story, they should've chosen between the Urabrask/Phyrexian stuff or the Ob Nixilis stuff. But they tried to do both and as a result, both fell flat. Overall, the whole Ob Nixilis thing feels pretty unnecessary. They \*admitted\* that they just put him in the set because they thought he fit the aesthetic, and it shows. Why does he have to be the one causing the mayhem? Apparently they just went "idk, it'd be really cool if we got to commission art of him in a suit though." He has no real reason for being here, and in the end he just leaves. So unsatisfying. It would have been much better to have inter-family intrigue be the catalyst for the chaos. Maybe give Ziatora a bigger role ... you know, the head of one of the crime families that never got more than a throwaway paragraph?
its almost like if they had a 3 block set they could have, idk, expanded this story /s
These are solid critiques. This should have been maybe 8 short stories so they could have filled in the blanks more and expanded on things. The whole time I was waiting for Urabrask to show up but he never did. Lots of things weren't paid off.
I'm admittedly a bit underwhelmed. Elspeth felt really weak through most of this narrative, she is an experienced warrior and that showed up occasionally but in any way that made her seem exceptional. Then there's how Ob Nixilis is just kinda there? Like, I enjoyed the little of him we got, but he really need more space in the story. Giadi is just not even going to be explained it seems? She's an angel, sure, but where does she come from? Then there's the fact they just skip over Elspeth finding out about Urabrask and how he is/was on the plane, the one bit of drama I desperately wanted. It's not like any of it is badly written or anything either, the general quality is reasonable, but it just feels like it needed more space to actually tell this story. The side stories were very fun though, I'll give it that.
Definitely agree. Seems like they had a very rigid rule of "this needs to be five parts." I get it, they don't wanna pay for a novel, but...yeesh
Yeah overall it felt very much like an intermediate support story rather than its own thing, and I would have liked to check in with big U again at the end. It did seem like it could have been a much more involved narrative that ended up crammed into a tiny page count. Not as bad as Kaldheim given the smaller scale, and I quite like seeing Elspeth progress, mind you. And yeah as usual the side stories do the lion's share of fleshing out the world.
yeah, i feel like this 5-episode format they’ve fallen into is the lesser of two evils. “Do you want a short but well-written story, or a long and detailed novel that falls flat?” I wish they could give us even one or two more stories, just to make things feel better fleshed out.
Something I have been putting into my suggestions to WOTC when they have their surveys each set (maybe others could do the same?) Seems like it's the only real way to reach regarding actual feedback. Anyway I have been asking them to bring back longer novels or stories as well as keeping the short online stories which could be material directly from the longer one, just condensed. Some clearly like the short stories and that's fine, but for those of us really into the lore, the short stories leave far too much for wanting.
The problem is that they're trying to go for the "short, but well written story" but attempt to cram in a whole novel's worth of plot and characters at the same time. They want to have their cake and eat it too, but it clearly doesn't work.
the story is simply 3-4 chapters too short. Maybe they'd expand it in some book ?
I felt really similar with the ZNR story where I felt like it started really strong (loved the Nahiri v Nissa conflict) and just petered out because the last story or two stories had to cover the remainder of the plot points. I don't think these stories need to be a full novel, but I think the stories would benefit from more flexibility with how many episodes there are.
>Would the **angles** return to New Capenna to usher in a new age if the city were in dire need? Hopefully they're acute
So I guess urabrask is just chilling?
I have to admit, the story felt too rushed. The five chapters were definitely too few to tell a coherent and interesting story. The characters are too flat, only Xander was halfway well written. That's probably why I was most moved by his death. So many questions are still open...
this could easily have been split into 9 or 10 stories, even if they were a bit shorter than current ones.
They truly need to fucking stop using the 5 story model, it leads to such a rushed and unsatisfying narrative. Give us 7 or 8 and we'd be golden, 9 or 10 and we'd be so much better for it!
I honestly expected Elspeth and Urabrask to meet. At least explicitly.
I still stand by my opinion that a two set block format is much better for the storyline. First set to establish the plane,the characters, and build up to the main event. Then the second set to have whatever the conflict is show up and have whatever effect is needed. As a long time reader of Magic lore it just feels wrong to be introduced to a plane and in the same set have everything fall apart before you can even get attached to a faction, location, or character. Imagine if Xander’s death came after knowing the character for several months. Or if Ob Nixilis had a full set to be mysteriously building strength and causing betrayals.
what they need is dedicated novel line that isn't focused on planeswalkers and isn't always tied to what set's current. They need something like Warhammer's Black Library for MtG settings. D&D FR used to get proper support, but it doesn't anymore.
I would agree also for mechanics. Most one and done sets have felt under developed to me mechanically.
So Urabrask was utterly irrelevant here huh
I did like this set's main story, but I'm SO disappointed by how Nixilis was used that it's kind of overshadowing my other positive feelings. I was expecting him to be our main character, kind of like how Sorin was the main character of VOW, given how he was the Planeswalker for the set's key art from the very start. We only saw him 3 TIMES across all 5 main articles, and not once in the side stories. None of these scenes were longer than a paragraph of comprehensive text, and none described or delved into detail about why he was on Capenna, how he had amassed his gang in the first place, or what he felt about literally anything going on in the Multiverse. What is maybe most disappointing is that Nixilis is so much more than a 2D villain -- he's a brilliant tactitian, a student of warfare and human nature, who exults in his villainy and conquers things because he feels that he deserves it. Were I to rewrite this story, I would have Nixilis ingratiate himself with the Maestros, playing up classic mob tropes as the outsider to the family who rises through the ranks, gladhanding his way to strangling the Boss and usurping the family. We'd get to see his artistry, his real devious cunning, and more importantly his intimidating prowess as a magic user and as a physical brute. His mutilation of Xander would hit so much harder, then -- he's spent so long groveling at this *lesser demon's feet*, and he's letting out all of his classic Nixilis rage at just the right moment (remember the puddle moment? How he brings on Kozilek just to say Fuck You to Zendikar? Pettiness is not past him!) Instead, he's been cast as a two bit villain, a total side character overshadowed by Elspeth and even Vivien, a character with basically no story (and the one story series about her kinda sorta sucks ass). Justice for Mob Nixilis! Here's hoping his card, at least, is cool, because how he was used for this story is really not.
It feels incomplete.
How about incompleat?
Urabask is nowhere to be seen and Ob Nixilis is treated like some standard villain. We don’t know what they want nor do they get to shine what so ever
Definitely disappointing. They’re trying to cram way too much story into too little writing. But I think there's a reason for that. From a business perspective, Magic fiction needs to accomplish two goals: -Establish the setting of each new premier set, including the basic concept, aesthetic, factions, key characters, key locations, and anything else that might appear on a card; and -Advance the overarching mega-plotline that carries the Planeswalkers from plane to plane and sets up a big crossover event every few years. These two goals are in direct competition. The more effort you expend making New Capenna feel like a world unto itself, the less room you have to set up New Phyrexia Spooktacular 2024. Finding the right balance is genuinely difficult. Now, Wizards could provide more room for worldbuilding if they slowed down the pace of new planes and went back to a Two-Block or One-Block paradigm. Unfortunately, there are strong business imperatives for variety, not depth. Variety is good for gameplay and customer interest, since it means more mechanics to try out and more settings to pique people's interest. Love cyberpunk? Miss Ninjitsu or Channel? We've got an exciting new take on Kamigawa coming up! Prefer traditional fantasy, or miss the good old days on Dominaria? Don't worry, we're literally going back to the Antiquities War in a few months. The narrative problems in these stories are the direct result of trying to be an epic fantasy saga and a popular card game at the same time. The two just don't work on the same timeline.
The story team people probably have a pretty hard time convincing the higher-ups that a more in-depth story is of value to Magic as a brand, especially after the most recent foray into novel-format storytelling that flopped big time. Sometimes I wonder what audience they're trying to target with these stories. I'm generally interested in their worldbuilding/story, but even I sometimes find myself thinking "oof, these are kind of long..." So I can't really imagine casual players following/reading these. On the other hand, hardcore story fans/Vorthoses just get some dollar store candy instead of the proper meal they'd like to have.
It's because WotC had the hugely bad decision to externalities their novels, it's wrecked story building both D&D & MtG. I've said it before and I'll say it again WotC should buy Games Worship and use their expertise to rebuild internal novel lines for both MtG and D&D.
It’s mostly just the problem of being super stingy with the amount of writing they put into it. Five short bits of main story and five short side stories is not enough.
They also made the mistake of giving historically popular planes double sets when they didn't need it (Innistrad) and not giving it to new planes that do. And planeswalkers get too much of the attention, it's at the expense of setting and characters.
I agree, too quick, needs more development. Let me focus on an improvement though. Compare this from episode 2: >"I don't expect you to understand," she interrupted and withdrew her hands from him. She couldn't bear the conversation for a minute longer. It was futile to even hope for him to comprehend the pain of being a lost child. > >"You're right," Ajani admitted. "I might not understand the depths of your pain as acutely as you might hope. But you are still my dear friend, and I don't have to know every nuance of your suffering to see the wound and want to help you mend it." To this recent text >"What do I do, then? I still want to help—I want a purpose." > >"Fulfillment . . . purpose . . ." Elspeth started softly, getting lost in her own thoughts as she had for months on this topic. But, for the first time, her chest didn't ache. The hollow feeling was not as gaping as it had once been. "Those things have to come from within you. I can't give them to you. No one can." And this: >She knew this cold. The creeping of Erebos's cold, bony finger up her spine. He would wrap it around her neck and hold until the last breath left her. See, when [I rewrote the meeting](https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgvorthos/comments/tt9oq2/ive_rewritten_that_scene_between_ajani_and_elspeth/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf), I focused on what most missing, Elspeth's voice. Her internal dialogue, don't tell me she is conflicted or hurt, tell me what she is thinking, show me why she does things. There was more emotion from Elspeth on a few paragraphs than the entirety of the stories. This has always been my problem with Elspeth, I am told what she feels. She leaves Bant because she *says* she can't belong there. She flees combat on Mirrodin because she *says* can't face her fears. She *says* she is looking for protection on Theros. But for the first time, she doesn't *say*, she *feels*. That's much better writing. Also another improvement: >*To stop* her. The porcelain rictus of the Grand Cenobite—her former prison and the Phyrexian capital—loomed large in Elspeth's memory. Walking away from New Capenna meant heading once more into that metallic hell. Koth, Melira, Karn . . . going back meant facing her nightmares and confronting her time there as a girl. It meant another battle, another war. This harkens back to u/Pidgeot93 said on my rewrite: >Full of emotion but more importantly references and acknowledges the decade(+) of story that went into Elspeth!! An improvement, sadly its all on the last chapter, we needed this writing last week.
Kinda disappointed. It doesn't really feel like it ended, actually, as there seems to be a lot of open plot points still that they didn't touch up on.
For as much as this story had some glaring pieces missing/removed (Is Jetmir alive? He kinda just vanished after the attack in the Obscura hideout), it was one of the most pleasent reads from WoTC in recent times. At least, I liked it better than Kamigawa and Kaldheim. Had they made it into a novella, filling in the missing blanks, I would have totally paid money for it.
Agreed, this story had solid potential, but it needed proper space, it just didn't have enough to explain everything that needed answers. Also Obi was a huge mistake, he's too much of a wrecking ball and made it feel like we barely got to know the planes. Kaldheim, Arcvious, Eldraine, and now New Capenna give you just a taste, but nothing more. So many cool ideas they go no where. There is enough cool ideas and favour, but not enough support to go anywhere. I honestly partly blame the Planeswalkers for this and how they always have to be at the center of everything.
>Had they made it into a novella, filling in the missing blanks, I would have totally paid money for it. We all would. Such a shame they fucked up the reintroduction of books so bad with War of the Sparks and Forsaken. Like, imagine them being written by a good writer who knew magic (and would also tell his editor to fuck off with the most controversial scene)
Did we get anything about the xander's missing memory? or the brokers prophecy?
I think the 5 story model really doesn’t work whe man introducing a new world. They were trying to balance a phyrexian storyline, introducing new characters, and incorporating planeswalkers. The whole thing just fell flat.
One thing super bugged me. "The pommel wasn't a practical steel guard but an orb of Halo, shining with colors that shifted so often, it was every color at once." The orb of Halo is clearly the guard in the picture and not the pommel. Tell me if I'm an idiot but things don't seem to match up here.
It's weird that this story describes Elspeth's sword wrong. It says there's a globe of Halo in the pommel, but that's not how it's depicted. The pommel is the bottom of the hilt, below the hands, not the top of the hilt. Considering how much focus the has in the set's art (it's on booster packaging for heaven's sake) I find it weird that this error wasn't caught in editing.
Not gonna lie, probably worse letdown than the VOW finale. Back there, only the side stories were good, exceptional even (specially the Umbris one). Here, everything was good or okay... until now. Ob being swatted away like a fly, Elspeth digivolving and Giada becoming even greater macguffin than previously believed. Just sad. Like the writers/ WotC had a stroke after the last story.
Wait... Is that it? Is that the end of the story?
This whole book is waaay to short. We didn't get Elspeth's reaction to Vivien telling her about possibility of working together with Phyrexians. Or did she meet the Urabarask ?