It's a problem I sometimes get as well. Best solution is character name, pronoun, other character name, pronoun.

So... *groans* ...I've finally caught up with that Arlinn story... *gnashes teeth*

Wow, they almost had me fooled there, I actually thought the stories might be worth reading again... *slams forehead on table*

To start with the absolutely worst thing, they basically gave the Magic Origins treatment to Arlinn Kord's backstory (although it's slighty less awful than those, admittedly). Here are both stories side by side, the new one and the original one:

The Motives of the Wolf: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2021-09-08

The Archmage of Goldnight: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2016-06-08

The Tolarian Professor even released it as a really good audio drama back in the day if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yArLv__zuk8

None of the characters that were present in the original version of the story are involved anymore even though at least some of them were pretty important for Arlinn's arc, the circumstances of how her spark ignited are completely different, Tovolar was supposedly somehow involved all of a sudden... In short, they replaced a much better and more meaningful story with whatever new whims they had in mind. Again. Midnight Hunt is a great set, but I'm just done with this story, and it has bitten a sizeable chunk out of my excitement for the set. It took me about five seconds to remember the name of the original story and track it down, it's not like this was in any way an obscure source that was hard to find and that nobody has read. This wasn't an accident, they are doing this kind of crap deliaberately and unashamedly these days.


Oh, and then they had Arlinn visit the Gatewatch HQ on Ravnica like this was 2016 or something. With Jace no longer being the Guildpact, their old HQ destroyed, Bolas sealed away, and Kaya supposedly being off with Liliana, Brat and the kid with the triangle rulers, you'd think this kind of "storytelling" wasn't a thing anymore, but nope. I guess I'll have to keep skimming this rubbish for news of Teferi and his plans for Zhalfir, although the Gatewatch connection doesn't exactly fill me with confidence the next Dominaria set isn't going to be a Gatewatch fest just like the last one.

Episode 3:

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2021-09-15

"They have plenty of uses, you know; try thinking creatively."

-Liliana Vess, 2021

I love the bit with Sorin's wall
I also love the bit with grumpy Sorin...grumpy Sorin is great. I really like his character exactly because he is such an egotistical bastard.

I like the implications that the whole Emrakul episode had on the plane and how that is conveyed in the story: it had very real consequences.

I thought Sigarda dropping in and wanting a word with Sorin was a pretty great moment.

The rest of the story was pretty bad though....shallow, haphazard and Gatewatch-esque.

I just wish we got a proper motivation for his change of heart. As it is written t's just "whelp, guess I'm evil now".

The whole having to kill Avacyn seems reasonable change, she was his "daughter" and it seems afterwards his jackass and nihilism levels where at max.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2021-09-16

Feature article on las leyendas.

VERY badly written:

- It often reads like a teen wrote this (see the final senteces from Wilhelt's bio and Old Stickfingers' bio and the entire bio of Olag, which is particularly badly written.)

- I get that they try to add some light-hearted humor to these bios like they did with most of the light-hearted feeling previous couple of sets, but it REALLY doesn't work here....STOP TRYING TO MAKE EVERYTHING INTO TEEN FICTION! With the last couple of fun but forgettable planes I didn't mind thát much, but keep your fingers off of Innistrad. It is a dark plane; let it remain just that.

- The use of both 'you' and 'thee' in the Old Stickfingers rhyme annoys me to no end.

I used to really look forward to these articles to learn more about the new characters, but in my opinion most bios are getting shallower and shallower. I get that the ever-increasing number of legendary creatures to feed the commander crowd means that they have to make up more and more bios, but this article just disappoints me.
I could forget the shallowness if it would be well written.
Alas.

I'm still grateful for them: Wizards don't have any obligation to make these bios. I'm just a bit sadened by the overal quality.

Fun fact about Kurbis, Harvest Celebrant: 'Kurbis' is spelled almost like 'Kürbis', which is German for 'pumpkin'. I find that kind of jarring to be honest...

This feels like Jerren, Corrupted Bishop but otherwise unnamed characters.

I like how this shows the werewolves' perspective of why they would reject human civilization outside of just being evil killers.

I also think Innistrad's characters should default to more Germanic accents. I think Magic falls into the English accent = Generic Fantasy Accent. They could even do like more German accents in like Stensia and Kessig and more English accents in Nephalia and Thraben, or something. (Ravnica should also have more Slavic accents.)

A true return to form to Magic trailers. Loved it.

That trailer was great!

I never thought that werewolves on innistrad were all evil killers....some definitely are, like the members of the Vildin-pack. Most are just turning from human by day into savage nature spirit by night: on Innistrad people used to become werewolves by being possessed by a nature spirit if memory serves.

Even Tovolar isn't really 'muhahaha' evil. His ultimate goal is to be free to roam and hunt and to be guided by his natural whims. That certainly isn't morally righteous, but neither is it pure evil.

The werewolves serve as the antagonists in this story, but to my mind they aren't evil in the same sence that most of the vampires of Innistrad are.

I do still consider most werewolves to be evil (their default alignment according to Planechase is Chaotic Evil, after all) and vampires similarly have had 'benevolent'/pragmatic members like the Stromkirks and now Florian taking blood tithes in exchange for protection. They can be pretty sympathetic especially when the curse is outside their coontrol, but most seen so far are basically cannibals with an evil luddite complex.

Those are valid points.

One of the reasons I love this plane so much is that it is all grey; it's never just a matter of good vs. Evil.

Also, the evils from this world were all human once: zombies, vampires, spirits and werewolves. Two of those are denied the Blessed Sleep (zombies and spirits) and two are humans that get corrupted (vampires and werewolves).
So most of the evils on Innistrad (apart from devils and demons) come from the ranks of the people who try to vanquish said evils.

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2021-09-17

Returning leyendas

Weird choice to include Jerren (both in the set and in the trailer) when he died during the Travails, but whatever, trailers have never really been "canon" anyway.

Liesa's mana: "You're tearing me apart Liesa!"

https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2021-09-17

Also a new story. I have to say, I like that is the official gay male combination now.

Okay, I just found something interesting on Twitter. Someone pointed out to the author of that Arlinn story that the origin story presented there contradicts the established origin story. Here's her response:



https://twitter.com/ArsenaultRivera/sta ... 7772262400

...WHAT? Okay, first of all, as I pointed out above, this was by no means obscure information, so she's either lying about this being an accident and doesn't want to admit that WotC is actively erasing established canon whenever they please, or the people on the story team she was working with didn't do their job. Like, at all. And besides, how can they both be "components of the same memory"? Is this supposed to insult our intelligence, or does it establish Arlinn as clinically insane?


Oh, and someone else pointed to this information on Tovolar from the original Planeswalker's Guide: https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/a ... 2011-10-05

"Their alpha Tovolar is a mute, silver-furred werewolf who leads his pack on revels of carnage and howling songs, and who never seems to revert to human form."

I'll just let that speak for itself.

On Arlinn, her alternate artwork and the third story both indicate she still served the church, so either it truly was a bizarre slip up in the second story or the friend incident is congruent with her sparking (Innistrad werewolves go through a first hunt according to the planeswalker's guide, so realistically she can't first have exploded in the angel incident). I think these inconsistencies can be easily ironed out.

On Tovolar, I was wondering about that as well, but on the mute thing they seem to be consistent since he barely speaks anyways, so it'd be easily to assume he's mute. His transformation is the issue, but I assume this is Emrakul's doing.