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Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Posts: 2388 Location: Roaming Dominaria
Man, there are so many threads around here that I want to post in, but this week has kinda exhausted me and I need some positivity in my life, so I guess I'll focus on the good stuff in Commander Legends and save the complaints and criticism for another day...
First of all, it's awesome that they are doing these blurbs, and a lot of care has been taken to get the info on the established old school characters right.
Radiant has a cool new card, and I absolutely adore the artwork on that one. This is exactly what I want out of art for old school characters in particular. Just a detailed and realistic style without any obtrusive digital elements. It's what worked for most of the old school characters in Core 21 or for Feldon of the Third Path, and that one has one of my favourite pieces of artwork in all of Magic.
Gor Muldrak is just hilarious in the best way possible. I guess we don't normally see that many "political" cards in , so this one feels pretty original. I kinda want to build around this in Tiny Leaders. Plus, I've always loved the amphin and wanted to see more of them, so this makes me happy, and they even expanded on the story that was teased on the old amphin cards. (Sidenote: I wonder if those guys might end up clashing with Talrand at some point.) Heck, not only did they remember the amphin were from Shandalar, the blurb even mentions Ardestan and Lesh! Maybe one day Shandalar will get a similar treatment to Dominaria where all the old and new stuff was compiled, consolidated and turned into an awesome coherent setting. A man can dream...
The ghost of ol' Ramirez... Everything about this is awesome. I love the card, the artwork is pretty cool, and the blurb makes my head spin with excitement. I honestly need to find a way to incorporate this guy into my Dominaria D&D campaign somewhere down the line. Let's look at some of the info in there and play a little game of Fact or Fiction (or just nerd out like crazy):
Spoiler
- "This spectral pirate has been a feature of the seas off Jamuraa for centuries now, signing on with a new pirate crew whenever he feels the call of the waves. Ramirez's sense of style and ready wit make him popular among pirates who aren't prejudiced against dead people."
The seas off Jamuraa is where we met him in Legends I. I'm pretty sure Halfdane claims to have killed him near the Spice Isles in Legends II, but the blurb makes it sound like we're dealing with a very mobile and adventurous ghost here, so maybe he's returned to his old haunts (heh). This is kind of unusual for Dominaria, but I like to think that maybe the Fountain of Youth he claims to have bathed in might be what's keeping his ghost so... fresh, even in death. I'm kinda disappointed the blurb didn't mention the Fountain of Youth actually. Seems like a bit of an oversight.
- "When he's in a talkative mood (which is always), DePietro has claimed to have served on Captain Crucias's Backstab as a privateer in the South Sea during the Brothers' War"
Almost certainly a lie, although we technically don't know how old he was when he died (at least I think it's not mentioned in Legends I, though I might be wrong). Speaking of his age, though, if we look at both Legends trilogies next to each other, we can tell that he seems to have aged a lot faster than Jodah would have between the two. This could be due to several factors. 1.) We know it was a different fountain, so maybe Jodah's was just a lot more potent. Or maybe Jodah found his fountain a lot earlier than Ramirez did his, and perhaps all Fountains of Youth on Dominaria have become less potent over time. 2.) Ramirez might be a lot older than Jodah (again, not 100% sure, but I think we don't know), so maybe the power of the fountain starts wearing off more quickly eventually, although I highly doubt he is THAT old. 3.) It could be that he was a lot older than what we saw in Legends I when he bathed in the fountain, and that it turned him back into a teenager, so maybe he aged more quickly than Jodah because Jodah was actually still young when he found his fountain.
- "to have fought alongside Tor Wauki the Elder against the Robaran Mercenaries in the Sea of Serenity during Johan's War"
This one is perfectly true, and I love that they are calling that Tor Wauki "the Elder" now. This seems like just the thing that people on a 'history plane' would come up with.
- "to have raided shipping between the Edemi Isles during the Madaran reconquest"
If this is true, we didn't know about it, but I'm more interested to know what the "Madaran reconquest" is supposed to mean. Is that just a term for the events of Legends II when the Madaran forces attacked the Edemi Isles? If that's the case, I guess Ramirez is claiming Halfdane's impersonating him for himself.
"He claims variously to have died in a battle with the pirate queen Adira Strongheart, to have been assassinated by the Tolarian shapeshifter known only as Halfdane, and to have been outmatched by Gwendlyn Di Corci in Urborg."
Halfdane claims to have killed him, so that one's almost certainly true. He clearly din't die in battle with Adira. I don't think we have any definitive info on Gwendlyn or when she lived, so I guess anything is possible. She and Ramirez sound just like two characters who would get along, or at least have a fun dynamic, though.
This would have been the perfect opportunity to have him spin some yarn about the Skeleton Ship, but I guess there is only so much stuff you can cram into those blurbs. Anyway, this makes me yell "Give us aaaall the pulp adventures in Jamuraa!" even louder than before.
I don't have my copy of teeth of Akoum handy, but is Lisela the name that Sorin mumbles in his sleep in that book?
I don't own that book admittedly, but no, that's Lysene. That's why I was so upset when they leaked her a while ago.
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"Enchant me with your tale-telling. Tell about Tree, Grass, River, and Wind. Tell why Truth must fight with Falsehood, and why Truth will always win." —Love Song of Night and Day
Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Posts: 2388 Location: Roaming Dominaria
I wanted to get back to Rograkh, Son of Rohgahh for a bit, because I think it's a pretty interesting blurb. For starters, I saw some confusion online because the blurb refers to "Prossh's eggs" although he's clearly male. I simply took that to mean "eggs that Prossh fathered with a female dragon (or dragons)", no need to overcomplicate things or to see continuity errors where you don't have to. The fact that the blurb connects Rohgahh and Prossh makes me wonder about the time frame of this little backstory, though. Rohgahh of Kher Keep is a card from Legends, and the characters from that set that appeared in the storyline tend to fall into two different eras (very roughly speaking), namely at some point before the Brothers' War (e.g. Dakkon's origin story) or between the end of the Ice Age and the Mirage War (with Legends I being set early in this period and Legends II being set a few centuries later). We know Prossh was still around in Dominaria, but unless kobolds in Magic have a lifespan similar to that of elves (which I highly doubt), it's probably safe to say that Rograkh and Rohgahh are long dead and their struggle happened a long time ago (again, probably no later than Mirage or the Invasion). I'd argue it makes the most sense to assume that Prossh wasn't hanging out in the Kher Ridge in the period from the Brothers' War to the events of Ice Age block, simply because there was so much other stuff going on in Terisiare and we never heard of him. So I guess the blurb is probably happening at some point after the Ice Age. Oh, and I love that the background in Rograkh's art looks like Kher Keep.
Abomination of Llanowar is a bit odd to be honest. I don't think this "dark, twisted morass of necromantic magic" is related to anything we knew about, unless I'm missing something. I'm not saying it couldn't happen, but considering we just got an artbook with a whole section on Llanowar not too long ago, it feels pretty shoehorned in at this point, especially considering the problem has supposedly been "festering for centuries". Maybe it's supposed to reference Llanowar Wastes, although I always imagined that card to be connected to the Fors Basin on the westcoast and not to anything "deep in the heart" of the forest. Eh, who knows what the deal with all of this is...
I can't believe we got our first turtlefolk in Magic (with Archelos, Lagoon Mystic) and it's NOT a chelonian from Dominaria.
I love the blurb for Kangee, Sky Warden! It ties everything together and finally gives this guy a backstory. Also, there's this: "Kangee's aerie was based in the Skollten Mountains"! Okay, if I hadn't known that Ethan was in charge of writing the blurbs for old characters, I'd have figured it out now! It's so awesome to see the Prodigal Sorcerer parts of Otaria being used for something, even if it's just a throwaway line in a blurb. It doesn't say Kangee died in the Invasion, so now I'm wondering whether he might actually still be kicking, considering he's a wizard. If Mangara and the rest of that wizard trio from Mirage could just casually hang out in Zhalfir for 200 years, and if Barrin could live for like 500-ish years before time water was a thing, I could totally buy Kangee still being alive.
Tormod, the Desecrator also manages to sound really intriguing, especially since we don't know what became of him. It's technically possible his story happened early enough for him to cross paths with Vervamon the Elder after Dark Legacy, and you know Vervamon would have sold his right arm to interview this guy. Heck, maybe that's what actually got Vervamon into the situation we see on Martyr's Cry when people found out (I like to think that Maeveen and Quopomma swooped in seconds later to save him, though). As to what became of Tormod himself... maybe he was still around to witness the rise of Lim-Dûl, and when he refused to bend the knee to Dûl, he just disposed of him? Or maybe he got on the wrong side of Lord Ith and was just burned to cinders? If only Magic had a designated history plane that could potentially solve that mystery on our next visit there...
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"Enchant me with your tale-telling. Tell about Tree, Grass, River, and Wind. Tell why Truth must fight with Falsehood, and why Truth will always win." —Love Song of Night and Day
Joined: Nov 15, 2013 Posts: 2388 Location: Roaming Dominaria
You know, it just occurred to me that maybe Tormod ended up as a powerless talking skull on some other archmage's desk. That would be hilarious. It would also help to explain why he didn't show up in any stories, but it would leave the door open for him to have a cameo in a future set.
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"Enchant me with your tale-telling. Tell about Tree, Grass, River, and Wind. Tell why Truth must fight with Falsehood, and why Truth will always win." —Love Song of Night and Day
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