The Azorius Filekeeper

Home to my occasional Vorthos musings on MtG

[mtgtips]

Magic the Gathering tip: make more friends so you have a larger magic playgroup

[azoriusfilekeeper]

All I Need Is A Miracle: Miracle Worker

I'm going to try something new this week. Please, bear with me.

So, let us take in the card first:

Some sort of saintly man, his eyes hidden from the unholiness before him, holding aloft a religious symbol while reading an(memorized) incantation from a book, which looks to have the same religious symbol on it. And while his torso appears chiseled, it looks like he doesn't care much for leg days.

The idea for The Dark expansion was a great one, in my opinion. Following the devastation of the war between Urza and Mishra(The Brothers War), the general populace turned away from magic and embraced superstition, entering a dark age. There are a lot of great cards in this set, from a Vorthos standpoint, that lend themselves to have a story crafted around them, and the Miracle Worker is no exception.

The Dark had a lot of negative enchantments in it. Though it might have been a dark age in this part of Dominaria, a lot of magic was still being practiced, albeit more of a malevolent nature. You had Psychic Allergy, Curse Artifact, Season of the Witch; no wonder "tainted souls" were looking for comfort from someone who could take away their pain, their fear. This man probably traveled far and wide to bring peace to any person, any creature, who required it. His methods were simple(he requires only to be tapped to do his thing), but the results brought peace of mind and an end to pain. And he was only a man(a 1/1 creature) that could easily be destroyed by forces looking to spread terror among a frightened populace.

With this being a time of zealotry, there were probably many of his kind. But he was not a Preacher, or an Exorcist, and he was not given over to Fasting or crusades; he was just a man who sought to bring healing to those in need. Perchance, one day we may know the name of one like him and his tales; but for now he is to remain nameless, faceless, and only know him by his powers.

Thank you for reading my article. I have read online about the withering of the Vorthos community, and thought I would move towards a more abstract, creative read of the cards, rather than what tickled a Vorthosian nerve within me. Please, let me know what you think. I will see you all next week, and until then, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Genie Out of the Bottle: Mahamoti Djinn

I started playing Magic at the tender age of fifteen. Like most teenagers, I was a snotty pain in the tuchus, but I was not yet the know-it-all pain in the tuchus that I am today(okay, yes I was, but I’d like to think that I wasn't as snobbish as I am now). But one thing that has not changed from then to the present day is my desire to soak up and learn things unknown to me.

Not only did Magic expand my way of thinking by showing me a new game that had a new way of playing(it engrossed me into the world of CCG’s: from Vampire to Spellfire, Wyvern, Mythos and even the SimCity CCG), but also fully immersed me into the world of fantasy that I had tiptoed around up until that point. “Orc,” “Goblin” and “Merfolk” became regular parts of my vocabulary. I started reading fantasy books that hadn't really interested me before. I even started peaking into D&D sourcebooks, wanting to soak up as much of that knowledge as I could.

But it didn't stop there. Early on, Magic cards would have snippets of literature as their flavor text. It is proof of Richard Garfield’s intelligence, as well as of the many people who got a hold of the game at Wizards, that you could read the names, Chaucer, Tennyson and Shakespeare on a Magic card. It is my sincere hope that someone read a piece of flavor text from an author unknown to them which led them to discover the works of that author and expanded their love of reading.

And the reason I say this is because I fell down a rabbit hole with a story introduced to me by Magic cards and flavor text. I had heard about The Arabian Nights, and of course, seen Aladdin(I also played a piece of “Scherazade” for cello in eighth grade); I was vaguely aware of the stories, but had never read any of them. But suddenly I had Ali Baba, the Bird Maiden, City of Brass; all these cards exciting my Vorthos and referencing a classic piece of literature. I went out and purchased said book, devouring the stories. And my Vorthos self ended up focusing on beings referenced in some of these stories.

And being a blue player, I had one already in my possession. Sure, it was a mid to late game card; but if you still were alive and had enough life left to make it, casting a 5/6 flyer was a pretty good sign that your opponent was in trouble.

Yes, I am talking about the Mahamoti Djinn.

We know them more commonly as “genies,” but they are referred to as djinns in more recent translations. These creatures are spirits; neither good, like angels, but neither bad, like demons. They are powerful yet independent, as capable of enslaving humans as much as they could be called to serve a master. And they can represent many different elements, which is why they come in all five colors in Magic.

The bad thing is that, in Magic, they mostly come from the plane of Dominaria, so djinns are few and far between in card sets from other planes. I can only hope that Magic will do for djinns(and ifrits) what they have recently done for elementals in the game. Maybe a visit to the plane of Rabiah, where the Arabian Nights expansion was set, is in order.

Thank you for coming to read my article. It is greatly appreciated. I will see you all again next week. Until then, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

In a Box, With a Mox? Moxes!

As those of you who have read some of my previous articles know, I started playing Magic with Revised Edition cards, having missed out on Alpha, Beta and Unlimited(or 1st and 2nd Edition, as I’ve seen them referred as in certain articles). As such, I gained a reverence for some of those cards that would never see print again(except in certain one-off sets): Forcefield, Ancestral Recall, Black Lotus, Lich, Time Walk. Even Chaos Orb is one of those cards I wouldn't mind having, just from a Johnny standpoint.

Now, when my friends and I would get together to play, and someone would have a slow start, we’d invariably say, “Man, if only I had a Black Lotus.” Black Lotus was the be-all end-all of the older cards we missed out on. And, mind you, in all the LCS’s I’ve been to, I have never seen one for sale; not even at the store where I bought my precious Revised(3rd) Edition Vesuvan Doppelgänger(that will be a story for another time).

But close behind in the pantheon of mythic cards, underneath the Black Lotus as Zeus, were the Moxes. The moxes would only get mentioned if someone was running more than one color and was getting land hosed on both. The zero casting cost Moxes would then be dreamt of, especially for us blue-artifact inclined, to alleviate our mana woes(now keep in mind the the Moxes have been restricted for quite some time, so the possibility of one Mox not doing much to resolve our mana problem was never brought up).

And you're probably asking yourself right now; “What does this have to do with Vorthos?” I am glad you asked.

The Black Lotus is a flower(artifact?), a rare flower that can only be used once. But the Moxes are artifacts that can be used over and over again, turn after turn. What kind of sorcery is this?! Especially at a zero casting cost, this makes this very rare and powerful magic!

Off the top of my head, most of the cards I know, post Mox, that are zero casting cost are very weak cards(I don't care if I’ve just upset all the kobold fanatics out there, all three of you). And yes, Black Lotus is the rising and the setting sun in this scenario because, as well as being a zero casting cost, it gives you three mana to boot. But the lotus has to be sacked to get your mana, while the Moxes have to be Shatter-ed away.

What kind of fevered mind invented these precious jewels, infusing them with so much elemental power that they are just fonts of mana? What kind of sacrifice was needed in order to enervate them(I imagine something like the Philosopher’s Stone from Fullmetal Alchemist…or Harry Potter)? And how would someone in the possession of an artifact like this not be murdered on the spot(I wouldn't murder anyone fir a Mox…anymore)?

This is something Wizards has never tackled in-story. The only thing in-game as powerful as the Moxes were the lodestones Urza created to power the Weatherlight. And Wizards has also made Lotus-Lites and Almost Moxes to whet the appetites of us new players, but few even approach these original beauties.

Thank you all for reading my article! It is greatly appreciated. If you enjoy it, tell your friends about me. And you can even tweet about my articles(I do: @AzoriusChris). Until next week! And as always, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

A Storm Bringer: Thryx

Greetings! I have to start this week by issuing a correction from my article last week. On Tumblr, user “Comstocker” pointed out to me that Kiora was not from Theros, as I stated, but was originally from Zendikar. I apologize for that error, but am a bit excited that we might see more Kiora later this year.

Part of what is fascinating about Magic for us Vorthoses(Vorthi?) is that they set expansion sets on different planes of existence, each one with their own history, mythology, ecology and so on. It gives players a chance to immerse themselves in a unique world and, if we’re lucky, experience a one-of-a-kind story. And if the world is not very unique, or the story not gripping, we players need wait only a few months before a new set comes along.

But if the world is fascinating, not only does it leave the players wanting more(especially if there are facets of mechanics open to explore on the world), but it gives the set designers at Wizards a ready-made plane that already has the groundwork laid out, leaving them only the job of crafting a story to set on the plane. In the game’s twenty-six years, there have been many planes that us planeswalkers have visited in that time, and few of those have been visited more than once(despite our wishes to do otherwise). However, in 2020, Wizards will be taking us to two planes already visited(and one plane already re-visited). Today, we are focusing on the plane of Theros.

Theros is a world based on Ancient Greece and it’s mythology. Wizards released the Theros expansion in 2013, and it was instantly a favorite, both with regular players and with Vorthoses. Theros revealed to us indestructible enchantment gods and introduced us to a future member of the Gatewatch, Kytheon Iora(known better as the now-deceased Gideon Jura). And, we were mildly teased with a return to Theros as the planeswalker Elspeth was sent to the underworld and kept on the plane. And returned, we have, with this week’s release of the latest set; Theros, Beyond Death.

Last week, I talked about Kiora trying, and failing, to usurp the place of the goddess Thassa. This week, we learn just how vicious Thassa really is.

Not only is Thassa the goddess of the sea, we learn in this new set that Thassa is also the goddess of storms. “…the Akroans have learned not to anger Thassa,” reads the flavor text of this card. Because when you anger Thassa, she gathers up all her storm-making prowess and gives life to a massive legendary being.

Thryx is listed as a legendary elemental giant. Not only that, but he has Flash, meaning that he can spring upon you at any time. He has the ability that makes expensive[Read: Big] spells just a bit cheaper, so, story-wise, he calls other big creatures and big effects to his side. When you draw the ire of Thassa, she is certainly not gentle with you.

Game-wise, Wizards has been giving us more and more elementals since War of the Spark came out, culminating in the release of Core Set 2020. When you pair those guys with Thryx, it has the potential to make games very interesting. Not only that, but Blue is the home to big spells requiring lots of mana, so Stryx will be able to help players that love playing with Air Elementals and the like.

There’s the blue-loving part of me that wishes that Thassa would be revealed as a planeswalker, like Xenagos was, so that we could see Thassa’s brand of big baddies in future sets. But, as I pointed out last week, this space is already taken up by Kiora, just with a lot less elemental conjuring. And, the chance that we will make a third visit to Theros is likely, and will be the third plane to be visited a thrice time.

Thank you all for coming and reading my article. It is greatly appreciated. If you didn't take part in the Theros: Beyond Death prerelease this past weekend, I hope that you run out this upcoming weekend and buy many packs. And until next week, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Not that anyone has asked me, but here is what I think the Gatewatch will look like at the end of the year.

Garruk

Kaya

Elspeth

The Kenrith Twins

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Kiora is from Zendikar, so maybe we’ll see her in the upcoming Zendikar set

Kiora is from Zendikar, as another friendly blogger advised me of.

Based on the power they usually give Kiora and the kind of blue-green cards that are coming out in TBD, it would be nice to have a version of her better than the one from WotS.

That being said, I don't think we'll see Kiora in this year's Zendikar set because I remember reading somewhere that Wizards wants to use it to bid farewell to Nissa. With Kytheon dead and Liliana gone, it is my belief that Wizards wants to cycle through the Gatewatch to keep it fresh. I even theorized that with the return to Theros, Elspeth would somehow return and take Kytheon's place in the Gatewatch.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Kraken Releaser: Kiora

This weekend is Theros Beyond Death Pre-release. In honor of that, and the fact that I plan on bringing you a Vorthos column on one of the new cards I obtain during pre-release, I am making this week’s column about a card from the original Theros block.

I have to admit, I had stepped away from Magic around the time Theros came out. Of course, I was heavily invested in the Return to Ravnica block, and I was intrigued by a set based on Greek myth(and the dragon-heavy set that would come after that, Tarkir), but I had too much going on personally and didn't visit the game store all that often. I bought a few packs of each of those blocks, but nothing near the volume of what I had bought before, or what I am buying now. And before I knew it, Wizards was introducing a set based on Mesoamerican myth and culture(which I covered last week).

However, in digging through the sets that I had slept through, I looked at the card lists for the Theros sets and my Vorthos was thoroughly blown away. I went on to my card buying website(not revealing their name in case I end up getting sponsored by a rival company) and started buying singles and packs. I was so excited to get these cards in my collection(Johnny through and through) and I can now say that I have a healthy amount of Theros block cards in my set.

What made me the happiest, upon opening the packs of cards I had purchased, was finding an ultra-rare planeswalker. For someone who grew up playing blue, and ended up getting an uncommon amount of Simic cards from the two Ravnica sets so far, getting a blue-green planeswalker that could fog a permanent and let you draw cards made me positively giddy. To this day, I still try to create decks centered around Kiora, The Crashing Wave.

But that doesn’t begin to cover my Vorthos fascination. In reading the story behind Theros, I found out that Kiora tried passing herself off as the sea goddess, Thassa, in order to build up a cult for her to ascend to god status; there is nothing about that last phrase I don't love. Give me a good female antagonist any day of the week(and twice on Sundays), especially one that tries to take on a god.

And the flavor aspect gets better when you realize that Kiora’s ultimate ability plays into the Theros story aspect of her trying to use the gargantuan denizens of the deep to try to best Thassa. Even when she was defeated and planeswalked away from Theros, she kept the ability to bend massive sea creatures to her will. With the blue and green creatures teased for the latest Theros set, its a shame that Kiora won't return to her homeworld to wreck more havoc and once more be a thorn in Thassa’s side.

I want to thank you for reading. I also hope that you all have a great pre-release weekend. May you all get the cards that you desire most. I will see you all next Wednesday, and may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Querida y Linda: Huatli

I was a Vorthos before there was even a term for it. These articles, so far, have been about some of the first few cards I had ever seen that got that Vorthos spark ignited(planeswalker pun intended). But then I got to thinking that you all don't want to hear me recount days of yore with all the cards I collected in my early days. Plus, I remember reading once that the average Magic player has only been playing for five years, so you’re really not interested in twenty-six years ago. So I will attempt to mix the old with the new.

Being Mexican-American, I was very excited when the Ixalan set was announced; a Magic set flavored by Meso-American myth and culture. The reality was even better! The native-looking denizens of the Sun Empire against the conquistador vampires of the Legion of Dusk: throw in merfolk, dinosaurs and pirates and you have got one heck of a romp. Even if it was all just for Bolas to acquire the Immortal Sun via Tezzeret, the set was a whole lot of fun. This set made Jace likable and turned Vraska into a charming rogue. I hope we get to come back to this world one day.

But what really excited my Vorthos about this set was the newest planeswalker; Huatli. Inclusion is a very important thing and to have someone who looks like you and people you know can make all the difference in the world. This princess(Zapotec, Olmec, Aztec, Maya and all the other Native tribes that have added to the tapestry of Mexico’s culture), with her historical sci-fi armor and standing next to a majestic dinosaur(many pre-columbian civilizations revered a plumed serpent and dinosaurs, with their feathers, could be considered plumed serpents) is forever etched onto the story of this game. And while it doesn't guarantee her a prime place in the future stories that Wizards will craft, maybe making her wait until the next tale that brings multiple planeswalkers together, it is hoped that she will star in, and add to, many more awesome adventures in the story of Magic.

And what makes Huatli that more impressive is that she is the only stand-out that is a Native. The bad guys are a minotaur and a cyborg, and the main protagonists are a gorgon and Tuxedo Mask(as my niece refers to Jace as). The vampires on Ixalan are white(as the set’s stand-ins for Spaniards), but even the leader of the pirates is an Anglo. It would have been nice to have even one more primary character from Ixalan be a Native to show that Wizards was all-in with representation.

Even as Huatli stands as Magic’s only Mexican/Native planeswalker, she has already had four planeswalker cards(two in Ixalan, one in Rivals of Ixalan and one in War of the Spark). What I find extra special about this is that it gave Wizards the chance to put her in her true color combination of green and white. Move over Mat Selesnya because Huatli might be coming for you to become queen of green/white.

Thank you for coming and reading my article! I hope you all have a happy 2020 and that the year bring everything you hope for. Until next week, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

The First Shall Be The Last: Urza

Being a Vorthos Magic player way back when was to scour the flavor text of cards and try to piece together the lore. Mostly, us creative Vorthoses had to invent our own stories behind the cards[I still maintain that Wizards should have created a cartoon series, with each cartoon telling a different story from one of the cards; like one week the Shivan Dragon and the next week the Force of Nature]. Sometimes, Wizards would reward us Vorthoses by releasing a collection of stories or a novel. And they created one of the most enduring characters of the Magic: The Gathering world, a character that would become the very first planeswalker and a veritable god: Urza.

Urza, and his brother Mishra, were introduced in the original set of Magic cards but with no flavor text(so we didn't know that they were brothers, yet). Then, Wizards gave us the Antiquities set, with even more Urza and Mishra, and we found out some more about the duo, like the fact that they were brothers[Artifact Blast] and that they waged war on each other[Strip Mine]. We also got to read about characters like Ashnod and Tawnos, and how each one assisted one of the brothers. We even got to learn an important piece of lore; that with their master, Tocasia, in the cave of Koilos, Urza found the Mightstone and Mishra found the Weakstone(I could have sworn it was the Meekstone he found; I will have to find my copy of The Brothers War and double-check)(and I would have posted a picture of each of the stones but the picture on the Weakstone is creepy as all get out; kudos to artist Justin Hampton for making such a memorable piece). The rest of the story of the brothers got fleshed out in an entertaining and Vorthos-friendly novel by Jeff Grubb where we find that Urza destroyed a continent just to win a war.

But Urza’s role in the greater Magic world did not come to an end with the destruction of his brother Mishra, and the whole of Argoth. Urza would go on to start the Tolarian Academy, created a race of creatures, dabbled in genetic engineering and turned his head into a weapon. However, he did defeat Yawgmoth and the forces of Phyrexia, so you can argue if it was all worth it.

Per the story line of the game, Urza is dead; his final act being his severed, yet living, head being part of the weapon needed to destroy Yawgmoth once and for all. But Wizards did finally give us an Urza card(after the card in the Vanguard set and the planeswalker card that came out in Unstable), albeit not a planeswalker card; we received the Lord High Artificer of Yotia. And, as Mark Rosewater has stated before, Urza is blue and(OF COURSE!) artifact-centered.

I have a feeling that we have not seen the last of Urza. A figure of his magnitude, and Wizards penchant for time travel; and who knows what kind of chaos is going to be realized when Teferi finally phases Zhalfir back into reality, we will see the spectre of Urza rise once more. Plus, while this card was just for people to make Commander decks out of, I’m sure fans of Commander and the history of the game would have wanted a multicolored Urza card, much like the one Mishra got in Time Spiral. But seeing as there is so much out of Urza’s life that can be mined, Urza will be back.

Thank you for coming and reading my article. I truly appreciate every eye that scans across these words. I hope you all had a Happy New Year, and that 2020 brings you everything you hope for. Until next week, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Dragon, Dragon, Burning Bright: Elder Dragon Nicol Bolas

So, as I have stated numerous times already in these articles; although I started playing Magic when the Legends set was available, I did not start collecting until after that set had finished its run. I had to sit back and watch as the older players in my home group busted out cards like Dakkon Blackblade and Recall, while I had to sit back with my Icatian Javelineers, their point of damage already expended. Yeah, I was able to procure Ice Age cards when the time came, but by then Wizards had learned their lesson and were starting to make less crazy powerful cards(twenty-five years later, Wizards is still making crazy powerful cards, they now just do one or two a set).

Apparently, I was just one of a large number of players who came onto the Magic scene around 4th Edition/Fallen Empires. Magic had taken off in a big way. But now players like me were reading about cards from the first four expansion sets(to be referred from this point in time on as The First Four) and feeling somewhat disappointed that we had missed the Magic bus in the game’s first two years.

But then, as now, Wizards listened. And Chronicles was their answer.

A reprinting of a handful of cards from Arabian Nights, Antiquities and Legends and The Dark sets. You could call this the very first Masters Edition, but only a handful of the powerful cards from these sets were printed. It gave some of the newer players, like myself, a chance to play with, and collect, some of the game's more unique cards.

For me, from a Vorthos level, the newer cards allowed me to delve into the older storylines of the game. The Antiquities War(now known as The Brothers War) came to fascinate me, as well as the curtain of superstition against magic that came to pass after the destruction wrought by the Golgothian Sylex, a period that came to be known as “The Dark.” The cards led me down the rabbit hole to the point of reading The Arabian Nights. And I started memorizing the names of one-of-a-kind characters from the Legends set.

Of the characters from that set I focused my imagination on were these five dragons; elder dragons. And I know you won't believe me and you’ll think I am only saying this because of recent events; but the one that always caught my attention was the elder dragon Nicol Bolas.

Look at him; all old and grizzled, with his book collection, just chilling and reading. The story that Wizards ended up telling was that the five dragons ended up at war with each other and only Bolas ended up alive. This bookish ancient thing, who probably farts dust and called shotgun on Noah’s Ark?!?!

But despite his exterior, he still costs eight mana, requires three of upkeep every turn and is a 7/7 flyer with a discard ability. With stats like those, it is easy to see how he could win a dragon war.

But even without that dragon war, the art always got me! Are those his wings, or the wear on the leather upholstery of his couch? Sitting there with his books, he resembles some younger dragon’s grandfather. All he was missing was reading glasses.

I guess it was Vorthoses like me that fixated on this guy, and not any of his siblings, that made Wizards turn him into the biggest villain this side of Darth Vader. This old man wrecked two worlds and caused the death of one of the Gatewatch.

After reading all those books, I guess he still had enough gas left in the tank.

Thank you for reading my article! I will see all of you again on the first day of the new year! And until then, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

A Real Red Baron: Baron Sengir

The art doesn't make sense. Its supposed to be a vampire feeding, but the art is of a creature gazing with longing at the carotid artery of a creature(its the carotid and not the jugular because it is carrying red, freshly-oxygenated blood). This implies that either the feeder is minuscule and the victim is of normal size, or the offender is of normal size and the blood provider is humongous. When we consider that the vampire has a five casting cost, and is a 4/4 creature, it can only be surmised that this “Sengir Vampire” is the normal-sized one.

Back when I first started to play Magic, very few people played mono-colored, and the dual-colored decks of the people I knew lacked a strategy, other than get my creatures out and obliterate my opponent before he does it to me. The key to these games was a heavy hitter that you had a reasonable chance in getting when you bought a deck box or booster AND didn't cost an arm and a leg to cast. After all, why spend seven on Island Fish Jasconius(with Islandhome, to boot) when you could spend four on a Phantasmal Forces or Phantom Monster and tag your opponent for three flying damage(and were of lower rarity).

And that's exactly where Sengir Vampire fit. Yeah, he wasn't as cool as a Lord of the Pit; but Sengir was two mana cheaper, was an uncommon as compared to the Lord being a rare and didn't require a sacrifice every turn. Most people I knew that played black ran at least two Sengirs in their decks. And I would be surprised if I didn't have at least four Sengirs from Revised or 4th Edition.

But all of this meant that Sengir was not very Vorthos worthy. Heck, he didn't even have flavor text.

And then Wizards released Homelands in ‘95.

Someone on the design team decided to increase Sengir’s profile. If the Sengir is a vampire, and every vampire has a master(see: Dracula), where is the Sengir’s master? And, does this master have other thralls at his disposal?

Meet the master!

As a fan of White Wolf’s World of Darkness games, I wonder if Wizards was influenced by these games, and the WoD CCG they released; Vampire(full disclosure: my Magic friends and I also played the Vampire CCG). Here was a big bad for their little expansion set, referenced in almost half of the black cards of the set. He had family(Grandmother Sengir), thralls(Irina Sengir, Veldrane of Sengir, Sengir Autocrat), a home(Castle Sengir) and animal familars(Sengir Bats).

Homelands suffers as one of the, hands-down, least favored expansion made by Wizards ever, and part of me suspects that the reason is that the set was made top-down; they had this story about the followers of Serra in Aysen being in opposition to Baron Sengir and his servants, with the key being Ihsan, a former Serra paladin, who betrayed his fellows and whose ghost now serves the Baron. Flavor-wise, that's a great place to start a story from. But that story had the other three colors as mere bystanders, and therefore the set has no cohesion.

If not for my Vorthos fascination with Serra and her angels, I would like to think that Grandmother Sengir rang the Apocalypse Chime and sent the plane of…Ulgrotha?…to the dustbin of the universe(The flavor text on Serra Aviary reads, “[Serra’s] her spirit shall survive as long as the Homelands do.”). Alas, the spirit of Serra has survived long enough for Wizards to give us a Serra planeswalker card this year(thank you!). And while I think it will be a cold day in Phoenix before we revisit the plane of the Homelands, it is only a matter of time before the good Baron gets a brand new reprint in a set, if only to make a bigger splash in the Commander format. And when he does, I hope he gets some good flavor text to let us know what happened after we left the Homelands.

Thank you for coming and reading my article. I will see you all again next week, and until then, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[thecollectibles]

Art for Magic: The Gathering by Even Amundsen

[thecollectibles]

Art for Magic: The Gathering by Victor Adame

[drendari]

Not sure what we are playing but next turn I am all in.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Only thing that would make it better is if that Yugioh card was an Egyptian God Card.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

Lo Sarpadia: Fallen Empires

If I had gotten into Magic earlier than I had, I would be fanatical about The Dark, Arabian Nights, Legends or Antiquities expansions(to be fair, I am slightly fanatical about these expansions, partly because they are “before my time,” but mostly because they have great flavor)(and, while Legends and The Dark were still on sale when I started playing, I didn't start buying until 1995). But my Vorthos was first triggered like an immune response by the history recorded in the volumes of The Sarpadian Empires; Fallen Empires.

Icatia, Vodalia, Havenwood, Trokair, Delif, Oliver Farrel, Endrik Sahr, Tourach, Leitbur, Svyelune, Thelon, Humans vs. Goblins, Merfolk vs. Homarids, Elves vs. Thallids, Orcs vs. Dwarves, Thrulls versus everybody! This set hinted at so much flavor! Civilizations, religions, battles, new organisms; a lot to spark your imagination, especially since the cards barely hinted at the things that happened. And, not only was it hinting at past events, it hinted of an ominous future(Ice Age!)!

To many Magic fans I know, this set is right up there near Homelands in terms of its popularity, especially since, I believe, it existed in the shadow of two great, and big, sets; Legends and Ice Age. But in the Vorthos recesses of our minds(I believe dear Maro himself said that everyone is a little Vorthos and a little Mel), this set, and what it introduced, has continued to resonate with us Magic players. And it resonates with the designers at Wizards, still. While the rest of us Homarid fans believed that Wizards was never going to give us walking crustaceans again(and volume suggests that they are reticent to do so), they kept throwing us bones, or carapaces, in Alliances, Time Spiral and Dominaria. Thallid and Saproling fans were much luckier, being that they are the Fungus creature type, and have seen more sets with cards that create Saprolings; Dominaria even gave Fungus lovers a Legendary Fungus creature to build Commander decks around(“There can be only on…fungus!”).

Further triggering the Vorthos gland is that many questions arise from this set alone. Was Farrel radicalized before Icatia was set upon? What was the cause of the schism that led to the creation of the following of Leitbur and the following of the Ebon Hand? Are you telling me the Elves were overrun by the very Thallids that they were farming? And, if the cooling climate favored the Homarids, why have they been so limited in expansions since?

To be fair, it has been a while since I have read the Magic novels, and all my burning questions might be answered in Jeff Grubb’s great book, The Gathering Dark, or some other piece of MTG literature(which still pleases my Vorthos to this day). A piece of me even hopes that this will reach the eyes of a Magic designer and we will get a plane, not filled with Merfolk, but with loads of Homarids!

Thank you for coming and reading my Vorthos blurbs. Tune in next week when I will rant for another 500 words. Until then, may Svyelun and her tides favor you.

[azoriusfilekeeper]

#NEVERAGAIN

There was a mass shooting in El Paso, Texas on Saturday. An angry young man drove across the state of Texas to a Wal-Mart located next to a shopping mall, walked in with a semiautomatic rifle and started to shoot people aisle by aisle. It was the weekend before school started, so the place was packed. When he was done and he fled the scene, TWENTY people lay dead; two more would die at the hospital.

It has been twenty years since the Columbine High School Tragedy. And it seems like every day since, there are news reports of some (usually) angry man taking some type of firearm, walking into a public place and opening fire on innocent people. 

I never thought it would be El Paso. My hometown was too small, too homogeneous, too Hispanic, to ever fall victim to an outrageous act such as this.

And of course, it was, because this young man, unsure about himself and his place in the world, and therefore filled with rage that people, and we know who those people are and may their maker have mercy on their souls when the time comes for stoking the aimless ire in others and focusing it on the poor and innocent; this young man filled with rage that people turned on to foreigners came from outside the community, my community. My community didn’t create him, my community suffered at his hands.

And that’s the point. You may say to yourself that you live in a nice place, filled with nice people and nothing bad will ever happen there.

I used to think that, too.

No matter if you go to a gym (Pittsburgh, August 4, 2009), to the airport (Los Angeles, November 1, 2013), to church (Charleston, July 17, 2015), to the hair salon (Seal Beach, October 12, 2011), to an outdoor concert (Las Vegas, October 1, 2017), to Wal-Mart (El Paso, August 3, 2019), to the movies (Aurora, July 20, 2012), to a nightclub (Orlando, June 12, 2016), to work (Manchester, August 3, 2010), to school (Virginia Tech, April 16, 2007; Parkland, February 14, 2018; Sandy Hook Elementary, December 14, 2012), even walking down the street (Santa Barbara, May 23, 2014); you’re not safe. This is the greatest country in the world, and you, your loved ones, your kids, never have a moment of security.

Oh look, one each year, going back 11 years.

So, we can’t build walls around each and every community. And everyone from age 16 to 60 gets angry from time to time; trying to eliminate anger is like trying to turn lead into gold...without a knowledge of advanced nuclear chemistry. So what can we do to protect wall-less communities from angry men with guns?

Think about it, I’ll wait.

Yes! Remove the guns from the equation, that’s it!

I know, I know; there’s a Second Amendment in the U.S. Constitution that says that Americans have the right to own firearms. I don’t want to mess with that. Besides, there are people that need single-action rifles, and the Supreme Court said that people can have handguns for protection. But the Supreme Court has also said that the Second Amendment does not extend to every kind of weapon. They have also ruled that the Second Amendment is not unlimited.

And limits are definitely needed. How about a national background check database that can flag someone from purchasing a firearm if they’ve ever been convicted of a violent offense anywhere in the country? How about a ban on the sale and import on automatic and semiautomatic weapons? How about compelling the states to require firearm owners to be licensed and pay a registration fee for owning a handgun, because we do it for automobiles? And then Congress can appropriate more funds to the ATF to enforce these and existing laws, like at gunshows.

Look, you might be one of those types that says, “If we infringe on gun rights, what are the next rights to be infringed upon.” Or, you could just be one of those “Live, and let live” types.

But that’s not an option any more. If this hasn’t happened to your community, you should fear for your community, because I do. I never thought it would happen in my community and now I realize that any community is at threat.

And you know what?

I don’t want it to happen to any community ever again!

I actually wanted El Paso to be the last, but there was another angry man in Dayton that would not be denied his Second Amendment right to a mass shooting.

I want you to know that I will be taking an active role in making sure that August 3rd, 2019 will be the last day we fear an angry man with an overabundance of bullets, but I want you to do your part, as well. After all, we have the power. A million people in Puerto Rico forced the corrupt governor and his cronies to resign, just by protesting. Think of what we can do if we demand of our lawmakers that we want to live our lives free of this kind of fear.

So go to local meetings your lawmakers have and ask them what they are doing to take these weapons of war out of ordinary people’s hands. Ask them if they take money from the NRA, and care about guns and reelection more than they do the lives of their own constituents. Demand that they work across partisan lines to advance gun control legislation, even above the veto of a president who offers only hollow words and can’t even be bothered to remember the name of a city that has just suffered a tragedy.

What kind of a civilized society are we when we allow our daughters, sons, mothers, fathers, husbands, wives; to be snatched away from us all because a man was able to purchase a weapon made for an army, for a battlefield? This has to end now!