UR/MS: Renegade Prime

Lore forum

Posted on Sept. 14, 2016, 11:40 a.m. by PhotogenicParasympathetic

Consider yourselves

Hmm. Link not working? Here it is. http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/renegade-prime-2016-09-14

September 14, 2016 11:41 a.m.

RussischerZar says... #3

"Consider yourselves" what?

Also: Link.

September 14, 2016 11:45 a.m. Edited.

RicketyEng says... #4

I can't imagine the Gatewatch will be getting any good reviews or recommendations from Dovin. He sought them out to hire them but then not only did they turn him down, but half of them are going to add to his problems instead.

September 14, 2016 12:09 p.m.

AgentGreen says... #5

Well since Lili reconizes the threat that Tezz represents; and Dovin's ignorance, he may be more willing to give the Gatewatch if they save his plane from the whatever threat Tezz has

September 14, 2016 12:29 p.m.

Faytl says... #6

Pia is a great character, I like her already. Honestly REALLY surprised Baral survived, I've been under the impression he was flambe'd to death since Origins.

Kind of surprised Nissa also found the two so quickly, tbh. That as lucky.

September 14, 2016 12:39 p.m.

DarkLaw says... #7

We need more Tezzeret. The Pia stuff just seems like filler.

September 14, 2016 12:40 p.m.

RicketyEng says... #8

I think Tezzeret is there to steal technology (matter transporter) but won't actually pose much threat to plane itself. Chandra et al are about to get themselves involved in a full scale revolution of the people against the government. I can't imagine Dovin being too pleased at the Gatewatch stepping in to upset a government in which he has such a large amount of influence and power.

We have not yet seen just how much influence Dovin has in the government (or not necessarily the government itself but its establishment or administration), but I feel certain that it is enough that most people would fight to keep it. I foresee Dovin as an enemy of the Gatewatch.

September 14, 2016 12:50 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #9

I liked the focus that this story had on Pia, and I am certain that she shall escape from her prison, and I doubt that she shall actually die, since the story writers already had her appear to die, and then revealed that she was alive.

Was the first scene in this story, when Pia was speaking to Baral, set before or after the rest of the story? If it was set before, how did she escape from prison?

I wonder what Tezzeret is doing on Kaladesh, and how much of a role he shall have in the block? I myself imagine that he shall be only a minor presence, since the main story seems to be focusing on the Consulate and their tyrannical rule of the plane.

September 14, 2016 1:46 p.m.

DarkLaw says... #10

I hope Pia dies, if only to move on from such mundane drama.

September 14, 2016 2:01 p.m.

Chubbub says... #11

My prediction is that tezz will somehow kill pia in aether revolt, then planeswalk to amonkhet back to bolas, where an enraged Chandra will follow him to exact revenge on tezz and bolas.

September 14, 2016 4:42 p.m.

nfcnorth says... #12

I am interested to know why the kaldesh government kept Pia alive for as long as they did. Attempting to kill Chandra as they did before her parents makes some amount of sense as clearly Chandra has the most potential for damage but killing just Kirian and not Pia is weird to me. Why kill Kirian and Chandra (who survived her attempted execution) but not Pia?

I get Pia was probably scheduled to be executed during her initial capture but I don't know the order of their executions schedules seems weird to me. Either Chandra should have been first or they should have gotten rid of both parents at the same time. And this UR proves that they intended for Pia to be the last Nalar to die as the excerpt with the Baral was set after Chandra's spark ignited. And if they wanted Pia dead before Chandra that interaction could have never taken place.

I dunno I just find the order Kiran>Chandra>Pia a weird one for the elimination of the Nalars unless the were purposely keeping Pia alive for some reason. So I think it is more than possible the government might be keeping her alive for some reason or another but see her as to dangerous to be free.

September 14, 2016 5:54 p.m.

Yeah, I was a little bummed out by this story. It was sloppily written, and gave us uninteresting backstory instead of relevant content in the here and now. I mean, did we really need to know Pia didn't like Baral?

Mostly though, I'm disappointed that five planeswalkers gather, several of whom are openly hostile to each other, and all we get is "Chandra kinda burns some automatons while her mother is taken into custody." Seems like such a poor release of tension - a larger fight (especially one without a resolution about which side is stronger) would have built excitement for the story much better.

September 14, 2016 6:07 p.m.

MindAblaze says... #14

I have to say I disagree with the general consensus. I think it was valuable character building that will lead to Pia's death. It was convenient how quickly Nissa found them, but it wouldn't have made for very good story telling if they'd just shoe-horned her into the story at the end.

September 14, 2016 7 p.m.

RicketyEng says... #15

Keep in mind that Nissa would have been following Dovin to Kaladesh. Both of them arrived at the same time so I think they arrived on the plane together then the Renegades' demonstration happened. Then they would have set out along with Tezzeret and a bunch of soldiers in search of Renegade Prime.

Alternatively, I think it would be neat if that was the moment and location that they planeswalked to together. It would explain the confusion on Nissa's face. Maybe Dovin just guided the two of them straight to Tezzeret.

DemonDragonJ, the part with Pia in jail being taunted by Baral is shortly after Chandra's ignition. I think it is plausible that Pia simply served out a full jail term. If she got out via other means then I expect a typical jail break scenario which wouldn't require its own story to tell.

nfcnorth, Chandra's father, Kiran, was not captured or executed. He was killed at the time that Chandra and Pia were captured. However, Chandra was not aware that her mother was captured because she found her mother's singed shawl outside a burning house they had been staying in and assumed the worst.

September 14, 2016 10:36 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #16

This is now the second consecutive story in which a character uses vulgar language, but the exact details of what they said are not revealed; why is it that these stories have no trouble with having violent content, but contain very little obscene language or sexual content? Does WotC think that their audiences cannot handle such content?

September 15, 2016 12:20 a.m.

DemonDragonJ: I think it's a narrative technique that is not being applied very eloquently. It's supposed to get across the point of "Wow, that was imaginative and creative cussing" without actually forcing the author to come up with something that the audience will find imaginative and creative and crude. It's the difference between -

1) "Damn it," she said. "I wish I had seen that coming."

and

2) She swore angrily under her breath. "I wish I had seen that coming."

One option lets (or rather, makes) the reader fill in their own cursing, which (in theory, at least) makes the character more relatable to the reader.

The downside is that, as in this case, it can sometimes come across as an unwillingness on the author's part to curse.

September 15, 2016 2:20 a.m.

nfcnorth says... #18

It has been a while since I read chandra's back story so I wouldn't doubt me being wrong about details.

That aside in a more general tone about this weeks story I have to say something just feels off about this story and how it connects to last week. I had no problems with Pia's back story or its placement it was the current stuff that didn't seem to matchip with last week very well.

Like the whole Pia surrending thing felt like Pia was all by herself and Chandra and Liliana weren't there at all. Yeah they had Chandra screaming but it felt to in the background to me and was barely commented on.

Plus the capture of Pia itself feels very forced. Just my opinion on the story though.

September 15, 2016 2:54 a.m.

CChaos says... #19

The majority of the this story was boring, I skimmed most of it until I got to the part where Tezzeret clamps down on Pia's arm.

October 9, 2016 4:16 a.m.

This discussion has been closed