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Journey's End [Magic the Gathering Spoilers]
11 years ago
General
Sooooo yeah, this is a Magic rant, and as such will be full of nonsensical yammering by me, so don't worry about reading this too much, though I'd appreciate hearing back any thoughts from folks =O
You guys might have seen the pretty awesome pic Misao/Surfersquid doodled for me for my new Magic the Gathering addiction recently, if not, here it is again, lol...
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13481644/
Yup, it felt rather damn awesome; the more events you played at Magic, the more rewards you would claim on the Hero's Path storyline that accompanied the card game and created a narrative and quest you would follow until Step 9 of the path, Game Day 24-24th May, a standard rules tournament with prizes to win and also the free to enter final challenge against the big bad Xenagos himself, the end of the Theros campaign
Most people had known the inevitable for the canon, thanks to the card Deicide which actually shows the main character Elspeth GETTING the killing blow on Xenagos as it all came to a head
http://www.planeswalkerslibrary.com.....ou/art/037.jpg
But not everyone read the official novel 'Godsend' to read what happened next
Xenagos dead, both Elspeth and her mentor Ajani are wounded and exhausted on the ground and realise they need to leave the Gods realm quickly to avoid some almighty wrath
When Mr-Head-of-the-Gods Heliod appears out of the aether and declares that even if Elspeth hadn't made a deal with the devil to get there (trading her soul for a friend/randomly sudden lover Daxos) he didn't plan on letting her get out of there alive, that Elspeth was like Xenagos as a planeswalker, and that he as head of the Pantheon would not allow a mortal to live who had more knowledge than a God, the Planeswalkers and their multiverse knowhow and all
Before anything can tweak, Heliod unleashes a burst of sunlight that blinds both Elspeth and Ajani, then grabs Elspeth's own weapon and stabs her through with it
And that's it.
End of the story, our heroes dead - and in typical deal with the devil style, her deal with Erebos is a monkey paw wish anyhow - and no comeuppance for Heliod. Ajani only survives because Heliod doesn't realise HE can jump realities like both Xenagos and Elspeth could have done.
The first book was wonderful and world building! The second... was just horrible, with an ending George RR Martin must have been guest writing for.
Some folks say it's what it is, a greek tragedy, but usually in Greek tragedies, the heroes downfall is usually one of their own ill characteristics like Icarus' pride and the wax wings, but here Elspeth did EVERYTHING she should have to the tee, always helping fight for the people despite her urge to hang up her sword somehow
And they kill her off, not in a valiant battle to the end with the big bad, but a back stab right out of left field from the God she was supposed to be his champion, whilst exhausted and injured. It all seems so unnecessary and overly dramatic, like it's trying to be controversial for the sake of doing so.
I almost wish I hadn't read the book, now, but I'm glad I did and didn't end up learning this second hand or even worse, in summary form like here today on Magic.com...
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazi.....ly/feature/301
It just feels kind of horrible, and I don't get what point it serves having Elspeth die like this, especially considering this means out of like 80 Planeswalkers, there are now only 6 females left
Overall, the storyline, the world, I still loved Theros? But this ending, I really just don't know how to describe it...
So yeah. Game day!
Having made a challenge with my cousin for both of us to use the same deck type, I went out with my weird Red/Green/White deck and got further than I had dared expect!
Round 1, Heroic Blue/White deck, I was assaulted by tiny weenie creatures being buffed again and again by different enchantments, I managed to survive by using big bulky cards and ramping up so I could bring out heavier hitters
It was just a pity that he was able to turn EVERYTHING into a flier nearly, or unblockable thanks to Stratus Walk or Aquaeous form, even my Planeswalker cards weren't safe! But an Archangel of Thune was more than a match in the sky powered up!
2-1 victory!
Round 2
Black Devotion deck, the poor guy got mana starved round 1, and as soon as I saw the cards he was forced to discard, I brought in a pithing needle in the next round and named Pack Rat, to stop him building up forces, after Domri Rade helped me kill his quickly before he could swarm me in rodents! Overall, I got a lucky win out of this one =o
2-0 victory!
Round 3
Esper control, used a bunch of enchantment removal and a well placed Polis Crusher to keep battering away until finally he just didnt have anything left, had a second match I botched and took us to a decider won by Brimaz and his entourage of cats alone
2-1 victory!
Round 4
Junk Constellation, this was just scary, a deck built around 'Strength From the Fallen', every time an enchantment hit the field, his monsters gained points for EVERY monster in the graveyard
Couple that with creatures that WERE enchantments triggering them every turn, and then a SECOND strength of the fallen into play, suddenly I had a Master of Feasts over 20 attacking me for a one turn kill, I fell just as quickly in the second round as he milled things, then whip of erebos-ed them back to have them bash me again
But, 3 out of 4 victories was enough to land me fifth place, some packs of cards [Including a Brimaz!] and put me in the top 8 for the elimination tournament!
Saaaaaadly this is where my run of luck ended, lol
I met the same Junk Constellation deck in my elimination round and even packing a bundle of enchantment destruction couldn't get me past, especially when Brain Maggot would keep appearing and exiling things from my hand to stop him
With that, my Game Day on the main tournament was over, but it was enough to net me a special promotional version of an existing card, which was a very fun little prize:
http://cdn.magicspoiler.com/wp-cont.....yx-Spoiler.jpg
Although, that wasn't quiiiiite good enough to outdo my cousin, who rocked a five Planeswalker deck to victory against the odds, lol, so, congrats to Fox if he's reading this too, may he use that Champion playmat with honor and much folks envy XD
Business wasn't done either, because the final challenge deck still rang out, and truth be told, I'd already beat it during a test run at the store they asked me to help them get used to using the deck as a trial before the tournament, but it didn't really feel like it was over without doing it on the official day
So, that said, we proceeded and began swinging blows, I don't stress enough that they ratcheted the difficulty up a few levels, with Xenagos swinging at players from turn 1 whether or not they'd managed to build up any solid defense, luckily my bulky lilttle 1 and 2 cost monsters were bulky as anything with Nyx-Fleece Ram and Lagonna Band Trailblazer - How can such cheap monsters be so bulky and wonderful AND have lovely flavor text all at the same time?! - let me build myself up to bring out Brimaz, who ended up holding the line all by himself nearly, before finally Xenagos stood alone, his revellers destroyed, and luckily enough, I had indeed one of my copies of Deicide in hand for the final blow! (Ironic enough, lol)
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=380395&type=card
So, that was it. Hero's Path over with, and the storyline of Theros complete, it was nice to be able to go the distance, especially with the difficulty level on the final challenge, I heard that day's end Xenagos had an 80%+ Victory rate, less than a fifth of the days challengers managed to defeat him, it really did feel like a victory earned
I'm left a little bittersweet about the fate of Elspeth, more unhappy by the manner they killed her off than anything else, but I'm not sure if the response they received may have them looking for a way to bring her back considering the text from the summary page of the whole storyline
I really did enjoy Theros and how involved I felt playing it, it was a far better experience than YuGiOh where there wasn't any storyline to follow it up, and I'm hoping they do a Return to Theros story some point to put some closure on Elspeth, as well as some comeuppance on Heliod for everything him and the other Gods did
(Actually kinda glad I sided with Karametra, since her and Nylea... and Thassa to an extent were about the only decent members of the Pantheon... more I think about it, only the female Gods are given very benevolent portrayals o.o)
I do wanna commemorate this somehow, like what I did with the picture by Misao, but not quite sure how yet... or that if I did something it'd end up looking like an ego-trip trying to think of the RP narrative of everything XP
Buuuut, we'll see I guess
For now, this'll be the biggest Magic moment for me for a good many months, lol
You guys might have seen the pretty awesome pic Misao/Surfersquid doodled for me for my new Magic the Gathering addiction recently, if not, here it is again, lol...
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/13481644/
Yup, it felt rather damn awesome; the more events you played at Magic, the more rewards you would claim on the Hero's Path storyline that accompanied the card game and created a narrative and quest you would follow until Step 9 of the path, Game Day 24-24th May, a standard rules tournament with prizes to win and also the free to enter final challenge against the big bad Xenagos himself, the end of the Theros campaign
Most people had known the inevitable for the canon, thanks to the card Deicide which actually shows the main character Elspeth GETTING the killing blow on Xenagos as it all came to a head
http://www.planeswalkerslibrary.com.....ou/art/037.jpg
But not everyone read the official novel 'Godsend' to read what happened next
Xenagos dead, both Elspeth and her mentor Ajani are wounded and exhausted on the ground and realise they need to leave the Gods realm quickly to avoid some almighty wrath
When Mr-Head-of-the-Gods Heliod appears out of the aether and declares that even if Elspeth hadn't made a deal with the devil to get there (trading her soul for a friend/randomly sudden lover Daxos) he didn't plan on letting her get out of there alive, that Elspeth was like Xenagos as a planeswalker, and that he as head of the Pantheon would not allow a mortal to live who had more knowledge than a God, the Planeswalkers and their multiverse knowhow and all
Before anything can tweak, Heliod unleashes a burst of sunlight that blinds both Elspeth and Ajani, then grabs Elspeth's own weapon and stabs her through with it
And that's it.
End of the story, our heroes dead - and in typical deal with the devil style, her deal with Erebos is a monkey paw wish anyhow - and no comeuppance for Heliod. Ajani only survives because Heliod doesn't realise HE can jump realities like both Xenagos and Elspeth could have done.
The first book was wonderful and world building! The second... was just horrible, with an ending George RR Martin must have been guest writing for.
Some folks say it's what it is, a greek tragedy, but usually in Greek tragedies, the heroes downfall is usually one of their own ill characteristics like Icarus' pride and the wax wings, but here Elspeth did EVERYTHING she should have to the tee, always helping fight for the people despite her urge to hang up her sword somehow
And they kill her off, not in a valiant battle to the end with the big bad, but a back stab right out of left field from the God she was supposed to be his champion, whilst exhausted and injured. It all seems so unnecessary and overly dramatic, like it's trying to be controversial for the sake of doing so.
I almost wish I hadn't read the book, now, but I'm glad I did and didn't end up learning this second hand or even worse, in summary form like here today on Magic.com...
http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazi.....ly/feature/301
It just feels kind of horrible, and I don't get what point it serves having Elspeth die like this, especially considering this means out of like 80 Planeswalkers, there are now only 6 females left
Overall, the storyline, the world, I still loved Theros? But this ending, I really just don't know how to describe it...
So yeah. Game day!
Having made a challenge with my cousin for both of us to use the same deck type, I went out with my weird Red/Green/White deck and got further than I had dared expect!
Round 1, Heroic Blue/White deck, I was assaulted by tiny weenie creatures being buffed again and again by different enchantments, I managed to survive by using big bulky cards and ramping up so I could bring out heavier hitters
It was just a pity that he was able to turn EVERYTHING into a flier nearly, or unblockable thanks to Stratus Walk or Aquaeous form, even my Planeswalker cards weren't safe! But an Archangel of Thune was more than a match in the sky powered up!
2-1 victory!
Round 2
Black Devotion deck, the poor guy got mana starved round 1, and as soon as I saw the cards he was forced to discard, I brought in a pithing needle in the next round and named Pack Rat, to stop him building up forces, after Domri Rade helped me kill his quickly before he could swarm me in rodents! Overall, I got a lucky win out of this one =o
2-0 victory!
Round 3
Esper control, used a bunch of enchantment removal and a well placed Polis Crusher to keep battering away until finally he just didnt have anything left, had a second match I botched and took us to a decider won by Brimaz and his entourage of cats alone
2-1 victory!
Round 4
Junk Constellation, this was just scary, a deck built around 'Strength From the Fallen', every time an enchantment hit the field, his monsters gained points for EVERY monster in the graveyard
Couple that with creatures that WERE enchantments triggering them every turn, and then a SECOND strength of the fallen into play, suddenly I had a Master of Feasts over 20 attacking me for a one turn kill, I fell just as quickly in the second round as he milled things, then whip of erebos-ed them back to have them bash me again
But, 3 out of 4 victories was enough to land me fifth place, some packs of cards [Including a Brimaz!] and put me in the top 8 for the elimination tournament!
Saaaaaadly this is where my run of luck ended, lol
I met the same Junk Constellation deck in my elimination round and even packing a bundle of enchantment destruction couldn't get me past, especially when Brain Maggot would keep appearing and exiling things from my hand to stop him
With that, my Game Day on the main tournament was over, but it was enough to net me a special promotional version of an existing card, which was a very fun little prize:
http://cdn.magicspoiler.com/wp-cont.....yx-Spoiler.jpg
Although, that wasn't quiiiiite good enough to outdo my cousin, who rocked a five Planeswalker deck to victory against the odds, lol, so, congrats to Fox if he's reading this too, may he use that Champion playmat with honor and much folks envy XD
Business wasn't done either, because the final challenge deck still rang out, and truth be told, I'd already beat it during a test run at the store they asked me to help them get used to using the deck as a trial before the tournament, but it didn't really feel like it was over without doing it on the official day
So, that said, we proceeded and began swinging blows, I don't stress enough that they ratcheted the difficulty up a few levels, with Xenagos swinging at players from turn 1 whether or not they'd managed to build up any solid defense, luckily my bulky lilttle 1 and 2 cost monsters were bulky as anything with Nyx-Fleece Ram and Lagonna Band Trailblazer - How can such cheap monsters be so bulky and wonderful AND have lovely flavor text all at the same time?! - let me build myself up to bring out Brimaz, who ended up holding the line all by himself nearly, before finally Xenagos stood alone, his revellers destroyed, and luckily enough, I had indeed one of my copies of Deicide in hand for the final blow! (Ironic enough, lol)
http://gatherer.wizards.com/Handlers/Image.ashx?multiverseid=380395&type=card
So, that was it. Hero's Path over with, and the storyline of Theros complete, it was nice to be able to go the distance, especially with the difficulty level on the final challenge, I heard that day's end Xenagos had an 80%+ Victory rate, less than a fifth of the days challengers managed to defeat him, it really did feel like a victory earned
I'm left a little bittersweet about the fate of Elspeth, more unhappy by the manner they killed her off than anything else, but I'm not sure if the response they received may have them looking for a way to bring her back considering the text from the summary page of the whole storyline
I really did enjoy Theros and how involved I felt playing it, it was a far better experience than YuGiOh where there wasn't any storyline to follow it up, and I'm hoping they do a Return to Theros story some point to put some closure on Elspeth, as well as some comeuppance on Heliod for everything him and the other Gods did
(Actually kinda glad I sided with Karametra, since her and Nylea... and Thassa to an extent were about the only decent members of the Pantheon... more I think about it, only the female Gods are given very benevolent portrayals o.o)
I do wanna commemorate this somehow, like what I did with the picture by Misao, but not quite sure how yet... or that if I did something it'd end up looking like an ego-trip trying to think of the RP narrative of everything XP
Buuuut, we'll see I guess
For now, this'll be the biggest Magic moment for me for a good many months, lol
Win anything fun? [As well as your Tormented Hero promo?]
But congrats to you and to the skunk as well. I'm rooting for you.
I never did very well in the tournys when I was a kid. I didn't have the money to spend on 4 Rishadan Ports to make my typical blue control perfect. I never metagamed or anything of that sort. I just went to have fun. I kinda wanna get back into it, but I don't wanna spend money again on yet another unending arms race.
You were running G/R/W... Green for boosting and trample, red for flying fatties and quick targeted destruction, and white for enchantment removal? Shoot, I remember my own G/W deck... Wish I would have played with it in a tournament once. Used skyship weatherlight and elvish piper to get out some otherwise difficult to get out cards like Rushwood elemental. Invasion block was so good... as was the masquerade cycle and Urza block before it...
And YuGiOh does have a story... it just doesn't follow the cards at all. :p
Fat packs GAVE you the novel each time in the older sets?! Damn ebooks...
But yes! GWR, Mana ramping for my expensive cards including my Planeswalkers, red was a little more of a splash, but it gave me access to Polis Crusher to deal with control, Domri Rade for some draw power and insane ultimate, or Stormbreath Dragon for air superiority, aaaaand white for life link whilst building up my forces =B (Although Unflinching Courage as a GW a aura combined life link AND trample, lol)
Although I may not recognise many of your cards, I know a few, including of course the Weatherlight... Damnit I hated what happened to Mirri D=
But yes! While YuGiOh has a story in it's manga and anime, players don't get to enjoy a narrative feel for it, whereas in Magic I love the RP side of it and how you feel much more involved in the game and the characters
That's just me though <3
I'd say to you that if you'd like to get back in, check out the new set 'Conspiracy', it's not good to buy packs individually? But see if your local store has a draft event for it, you don't need to worry about other people spending more money on their decks since it's random constructed from what you pull in packs, and it's a very involved multiplayer experience, not to mention the set reprints a lot of powerful older cards like Swords to Plowshares or Fact or Fiction
It's an easy way to have fun and maybe win some pretty powerful cards =D
GGGGG, Summon elemental
Trample
During your upkeep, put a +1/+1 counter on rushwood elemental
4/4
and I dunno if I wanna get into that money sink again. xD
It's nice economy that for like the price of three packs you have a pooled chance at rarer cards, and get to enjoy a challenging format playing against multiple players all at once =D
Can't force you to try it, but I'd heavily recommend it to you ^^
Way I figure it, if you look at the spoiler list for the set you can figure out the main mechanics of what you want, what your opponents might play, etc
The ONLY wild card is an artifact called Cogwork Lore Seeker, if a player drafts it face up, they can ask the shopkeep for an EXTRA pack to be added into the draft pool, but the pack can be ANY pack of Magic, it doesn't need to be the same set =B
Conspiracy is a one shot set, outside the normal blocks, it really is a set made purely for enjoyment, I'm looking forward to it for a little one shot fun, lol