MS: Impact
Lore forum
Posted on March 29, 2017, 12:02 p.m. by AgentGreen
The season premiere of the Amonket storyline is here
http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/impact-2017-03-29
No plan, no knowledge of the plane, and no real understanding on what Bolas is capable of, the Gatewatch arrives on Amonket
Ok, so here's something that confused me:
Why did the gods intervene? If they knew what the 'Watch was up to, they would've let them die. Either they don't know, or they don't fancy Bolas.
Oh, and it should've been Jace that got swallowed by the wurm. Damn it.
March 29, 2017 12:41 p.m.
Glad to see it confirmed that Vengeful Pharaoh is that missing demon in Liliana's story!
March 29, 2017 12:46 p.m.
AgentGreen says... #5
But let's all be real here
The Gatewatch, going to Amonkhet; a plane they never been to (Lili doesn't count), created by the most evil entity in the multiverse, without a plan, is all kinds of stupid
March 29, 2017 12:56 p.m.
By being there before, it confirms that Liliana has met with the pharaoh: the Lost demon from her Origins story.
March 29, 2017 1:36 p.m.
Don't you mean Razaketh? Or am I missing something (I already know the card is from Amonkhet)?
March 29, 2017 2:38 p.m.
I loved Chandra's reaction to the wurms xD That was perfect!
March 29, 2017 4 p.m.
I feel like Bolas brainwashed everything to intentionally kill intruders, like other PW's..........almost similar to a "House of Horrors" or a "Boss Level"
March 29, 2017 4:11 p.m. Edited.
Homura_Akemi says... #14
Although I enjoyed this story, I can't help but think of why it was written. Clearly an exposition is needed to Amonkhet, but I feel like there are more questions I have than answers I received about this story. My summary: Gatewatch minus Ajani planeswalks to Amonkhet, gets attacked by wurms, and survives because a goddess intervenes (if anyone understands that allusion please tell me!). The most valuable information from this story was how Nissa explained how Amonket's leylines focus is on death, and how living beings, ironically naturally, become undead after dying. I enjoyed seeing the relationships of our Gatewatch members and their individual perspectives. I feel like Nissa is the only one of the Gatewatch who has her shit together at this point. She's focusing on building trust and understanding with the other members, which they are doing in addition to their own problems. Liliana the Chain Veil and demons, Gideon PTSD with gods and letting friends die, Jace being Jace, and Chandra acting impulsively on an entirlely new plane (Ajani still weeping). Anyway, my problem is just with more filler stories, imo like this one, because I would rather be seeing more plot development. I think this is a fair point. In the end I enjoy most stories, but for example, when Chandra and Nissa got trapped with Mrs. Pashiri by Baral and then were freed, what was the point of that? Why spend so much time on one thing when it is just negated by the storyline? I still loved that story, but just saying.
March 29, 2017 6:28 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #15
I think maybe the gods exist because Bolas created the plane, as a result of the people needing to believe in something other than the life>death>undeath cycle.
March 29, 2017 8:22 p.m.
bennybubbles says... #16
After MILENNIA of magic story podcast, we finally get a real story and it's a cracker. I loved the POVs, I loved the description of planeswalking, I loved all the little stuff we found out about the plane. 11/10 would read again. Homura_Akemi I think you explained in your own comment why this story was written, it gave us an insight into the life/undeath cycle and it let us see a lot of information about the Gatewatch and where they are all at following Kaladesh. Not every story can be part of the main arc, and this one gave us some good stuff at a nice pace instead of abandoning character in exchange for plot.
March 29, 2017 9:41 p.m.
DemonDragonJ says... #17
I am excited by this story, as it was a great way to start the Amonkhet block; if the Gatewatch thought that this planes was deadly and dangerous, I cannot wait to see how they react if they ever encounter Phyrexia. On that subject, I am glad that the members of the Gatewatch apparently have not yet heard of Phyrexia, because, if they eventually do, it should be in a dramatic scene, not as a passing reference.
Where did Ajani go? Is WotC really going to focus on only the original five members of the Gatewatch?
I hope that the gods of Amonkhet are different from the gods of Theros, so that each pantheon will feel unique, since the gods from Egyptian mythology were very different than those from Greek mythology.
I definitely think that the two suns will be important to the plot somehow, or else WotC would not have bothered to give Amonkhet two suns (after all, the five suns of Mirrodin were central to the plot of that block).
March 29, 2017 11:02 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #18
The fact the one sun doesn't move has to be relevant somehow
March 29, 2017 11:22 p.m.
RicketyEng says... #19
Based on the flavour text of a couple of the cards revealed on Monday, I have a couple of things to point out. The cat god is likely named Oketra as she is referred to on Graceful Cat. I also suspect that the unmoving sun has a direct link to Bolas (whether it is him or connected in some other manner). The flavour text of Mighty Leap says, "I feel the presence of the God-Pharaoh in the second sun," and I believe that it makes sense that Bolas would be the God-Pharaoh. I have also observed that the gods each have a primary colour as evidenced in which of the masterpiece cards they are depicted in. I still think they'll be tri-coloured, but they'll have a primary one.
Cat God - White
Crane God - Blue
Crocodile God - Black
Jackal God - Red
Cobra God - Green
The Gatewatch was actually saved by two gods: the jackal god, and the cat god. Gideon only saw one of them but he noted that there seemed to be an unseen archer. Oketra is depicted holding a bow.
Some people may find today's story lacking in substantial development, but I disagree. We have been given a lot of first insight into what kind of world Amonkhet is. We have also been given about as much foreshadowing as a writer can give without outright telling that the Gatewatch are going to suffer some sort of consequence for their haste in coming to Amonkhet.
Something else come to mind when I put a few clues together. Nissa said the leylines all felt wrong; the Masterpieces depict enemy-colour gods working together (W/B, B/G); the two gods who worked together to save the Gatewatch were the white and red gods. I wonder if there is going to be a strong emphasis on enemy colour pairs. Another way-outside-the-box idea that occurred to me was what if the problem with the leylines and mana and cooperation of enemy colours is due to Amonkhet obeying an inverted colour pie? I don't actually think that's likely to be the case but the thought was intriguing enough to write down anyway.
What I didn't like about the story was that it started in past tense and then shifted to present tense for one section before switching back again.
March 30, 2017 12:57 a.m.
Homura_Akemi says... #20
RicketyEng I like your inverted color pie idea, would you mind elaborating on it?
March 30, 2017 6:06 a.m.
AgentGreen says... #21
The enemy color focus would be interesting; but with the last set the lands being the enemy fast lands; I don't think there is going to be alot of receptive fans if they continue to focus on enemy land pairs; especially with the recent run of combo, snake, and vehicles (all requiring enemy land pairings); and very little movement on the allied pairs
March 30, 2017 8:27 a.m.
RicketyEng says... #22
I agree that the enemy pairs doesn't fully make sense from a block-to-block perspective. I actually still think (and hope) the Amonkhet gods will be shard colours. Each shard does include one enemy pair, but wedges make more sense for enemy pair focus.
You can get the inverted colour pie by rearranging the colour pie such that each colour is adjacent to its enemies instead of its allies. Interestingly enough, the wedges and shards of the two pies are simply inversions of each other. That is the regular shards are wedges when inverted and the regular wedges are shards when inverted. These are just properties of rearranging a diagram.
It is because of these patterns that a magic set could be said to obey the inverted colour pie but all that means is that the enemy pairs will act like allies and vice versa. In terms of triple colours it just means the difference between shard focus or wedge focus. My point here is that mechanically there is no reason to ever talk about an inverted colour pie.
From a lore perspective, I imagine that the difference between a plane with enemy colour focus and a plane obeying an inverted colour pie could plausibly be what makes Nissa claim the leylines are so strange. It could also explain why life and death are so closely connected since black and white and also black and green would be inverted-allies and working so well together.
Atony1400 says... #2
MS: Impact
March 29, 2017 12:33 p.m.