Timeline troubles
Lore forum
Posted on July 5, 2017, 1:05 p.m. by Ice_Water
A friend of mine seems to think that because of the Tarkir block & time travel, that everything prior to Tarkir is non-canon. He also refuses to believe that the original innistrad block and original Zendikar block existed in the story. can someone feed me info?
In reference to the original innistrad block, Ugin and Bolas didn't really have their hands in that, so essentially that went unchanged. The timeline change wouldn't have mattered there.
As for the original Zendikar block, there's no evidence that would've been changed either since Ugin was still slumbering and wouldn't have been able to prevent Bolas' plans to release the eldrazi.
July 5, 2017 1:38 p.m.
If I remember correctly, Wizards basically came out and said that the events of the Tarkir timeline being altered were a pocket dimension so to speak and that what Sarkhan did to help revive Ugin only altered time space for the plane of Tarkir. This did not affect the things that had already happened outside of the plane.
At least that's what I heard. They basically gave themselves a creative license pass so they didn't have to rewrite history.
July 5, 2017 4:52 p.m.
TMBRLZ do you think you could find a link to that? If not it's cool; I appreciate the information
July 5, 2017 6:15 p.m.
pizzagod13 says... #6
If I recall the devs wrote an article saying that everything outside of that block is unchanged, I don't remember where it is though
July 5, 2017 8:18 p.m.
I mean, the only thing canonically that changed (which they addressed) was the change in Ugin's live or dead status and Tarkir's new dragon habitat.
However, there was a bit of change to in Nissa from Elf supremacist to hippie with social problems, which they never addressed.
July 5, 2017 8:22 p.m.
pizzagod13 says... #8
I found the article here it isDa Link
Time travel is always confusing, and the rules in this case are a little different than previous instances of time travel in Magic owing to the unique circumstances of Sarkhan's journey. For example, only objects made of silver could pass through the time portals created by Urza Planeswalkera restriction that doesn't apply here because the time portal was created naturally, by Ugin's death, rather than artificially.
So, to paraphrase the questions we've gotten during this block, what the heck just happened, and what does it mean for the Magic storyline as a whole?
Khans of Tarkir never happened.This is the most obvious and lasting effect of Sarkhan's actions. Although the cards certainly still exist, the setting of Khans of Tarkir has been erased from history, along with all of the stories that took place there. (Although "The Lithomancer" ran during the Khans of Tarkir storyline and appears in the Khans of Tarkir section above, it was a flashback that takes place long before Sarkhan's change to history, and is therefore unaffected.) There was no Zurgo Helmsmasher, no Dragon Throne of Tarkir, no Surrak Dragonclaw. Sorin's visit to Tarkir never happenedhe doesn't remember finding Ugin's bones, and Ugin was never dead.
Fate Reforged did happen, but most people on Tarkir don't know about it.The five original clansthe same clans from Khans of Tarkirdid exist in Tarkir's past, as seen in Fate Reforged, but the dragonlords have outlawed or stamped out nearly all knowledge of them. Narset, Sarkhan, and Ugin are among the few people on Tarkir who know the names of the original clans.
Dragons of Tarkir is the true and final timeline.Other than Sarkhan Vol, no one anywhere in the Multiverse has direct experience with the timeline of Khans of Tarkir. As far as both Tarkir and the Multiverse are concerned, there's only one timeline, and it's this one.
Sarkhan Vol was never born.Although many of the same people were born in the alternate timelinedue perhaps to destiny, or perhaps to a sort of path of least resistance in historySarkhan Vol was not. Perhaps this was because he was involved in the change, and therefore, in a sense, already existed. He appeared one day on whatever world he first planeswalked to, remembering a full life history that never truly happened. There are different ways to look at this; one could say that he arrived from the alternate timeline, or one could say that he appeared out of nowhere, remembering a world that never existed.
The Eldrazi were still released.After his sudden appearance, Sarkhan went on to play a tangential role in the events of Shards of Alara block and a crucial role in the events of Zendikar block, not to mention precipitating the change that erased his own homeworld from history. Everything he did while away from Tarkir, and everything that resulted from that, still happened.
Ugin never died and is aware of the Eldrazi threat.Sorin Markov has awakened Ugin and agreed to meet him on Zendikar and deal with the Eldrazi.
dbpunk says... #2
I'm pretty sure anything not involving Tarkir is still canon, since Bolas managed to get away and Ugin slept for thousands of years instead of immediately getting back up to prevent Bolas' schemes.
Essentially, the time line changed but in a miniscule way, since Bolas' schemes still did happen (thousands of years after the timeline change) and Ugin hasn't been around doing any changes to the planes.
This is pretty much revealed by how Tezzeret was recognized by Liliana and Jace on Kaladesh, who wouldn't have known who Tezzeret was if the Alara block wasn't canon. If Alara wasn't canon, they'd need to explain all that. Not to mention Jace is referred to as the Guildpact before and after Tarkir.
July 5, 2017 1:36 p.m.