[MtG] [SOI] Daily Spoilers - Mar 22

[Delibirb]

I agree that it would be too soon for Emrakul from a narrative basis, but Wizards is a business, and frankly only makes sense to deal with Emrakul sooner rather than later. Your 'too soon' is nowhere Wizards 'too soon'.

Why does it make sense to deal with Emrakul sooner rather than later business-wise?

 

I think it would be much more appropriate to keep Emrakul back as a looming "we have something in the closet we can bring out when we think Eldrazi will make us money again."

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

The issue with emrakul is that it becomes "What could it possibly be... Something strange and powerful is affecting this plane... Oh. It is those things we dealt with 6 months ago. Why were we even wondering, this is funking obvious. Silly us."

 

It's an honestly underwhelming and obvious answer to the wonderful mystery they have built up.

[.Rai]

Why does it make sense to deal with Emrakul sooner rather than later business-wise?

 

I think it would be much more appropriate to keep Emrakul back as a looming "we have something in the closet we can bring out when we think Eldrazi will make us money again."

As Vronos puts it, and he's usually always right about Creative issues, the Creative team did not hype up the Eldrazi this much to drop it for the next 5 years. Did you notice how in the art book, they gave you a bunch of new info on Emrakul even though she wasn't in BFZ? No-one's remembering that very specific info in 5 years. Next set though, where all the info seems mysteriously relevant?

 

Making money doesn't work like that. They will be much less willing to drop storylines like the Eldrazi like that. Especially with the conflux of new player from Duels, and just general rise in popularity, relatively linear storytelling and doing it quickly, is their priority. How are they going to make money on Eldrazi if the maximmum Eldrazi hype is now?

 

Obviously, this doesn't mean that it's definitely Emrakul. But, from a business point of view, this is what they would do.

 

 

The issue with emrakul is that it becomes "What could it possibly be... Something strange and powerful is affecting this plane... Oh. It is those things we dealt with 6 months ago. Why were we even wondering, this is funking obvious. Silly us."

 

It's an honestly underwhelming and obvious answer to the wonderful mystery they have built up.

Well, it's not obvious. The fact that we're speculating about it and seeing how any of the plot threads link together demonstrates that. I don't see how it ending up to be Emrakul ruins this buildup. I'd be more disappointed if it's something completely new making all the speculation of established characters misled.

 

And to be honest, even if it is Emrakul, what's wrong with it being Emrakul? If it is, then we've just showed that an Eldrazi can give us something other than mindless fighting as in BFZ. We can't possibly spend BFZ complaining that the Eldrazi weren't Lovecraftian enough, and if it is Emrakul, then spend SOI complaining that they've executed a perfect mystery Lovecraft-inspired plotline with the Eldrazi.

 

I don't it's underwhelming if it's Emrakul at all. Maybe a shame that they didn't space it out into the future narratively, but that's not fair to expect, but in essence, absolutely nothing wrong with the answer to a mystery being Eldrazi.

[Delibirb]

Eh, I disagree. I think it makes sense both in narrative and business to hold Emrakul in their pocket. Now, it wont be for five years, but a couple of sets or blocks would make sense, I think. But if Vronos thinks im dumb, Im ok with that.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

If it is emrakul, they are doing it right, and the entire mystery has been wonderfully put together.

 

Honestly, I think a lot of the non-emrakul theories exist simply because people are working really hard to make it not emrakul.

 

Even so, the stuff that doesn't quite fit, such as the pain on the back of Avacyn's neck and the sensation of a bug crawling up the back discussed by the hunters. I mean, it is blatantly obvious that Nahiri aims to summon emrakul, given the name, ult, not!hedrons, it is super clear. 

 

And honestly, I am okay with that. 

 

I said it in another thread, I believe that all these things, Avacyn's descent, Nahiri's rage, the following of Ormendahl, are all results of something hidden. May it be licids, or just parasitic madness bugs, they are the real thing going on here, not just Emrakul.

 

Or so I hope.

[Delibirb]

If it is emrakul, they are doing it right, and the entire mystery has been wonderfully put together.

 

Honestly, I think a lot of the non-emrakul theories exist simply because people are working really hard to make it not emrakul.

 

Even so, the stuff that doesn't quite fit, such as the pain on the back of Avacyn's neck and the sensation of a bug crawling up the back discussed by the hunters. I mean, it is blatantly obvious that Nahiri aims to summon emrakul, given the name, ult, not!hedrons, it is super clear. 

 

And honestly, I am okay with that. 

 

I said it in another thread, I believe that all these things, Avacyn's descent, Nahiri's rage, the following of Ormendahl, are all results of something hidden. May it be licids, or just parasitic madness bugs, they are the real thing going on here, not just Emrakul.

 

Or so I hope.

I agree definitely that Emrakul is present on Innistrad and again, will have minor presence or clues to her presence in the next few sets until the showdown, but she I do not think she's the main threat.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

There was a theory about how these were the effects of Emrakul having simply passed through, but that is kinda killed by "The Harbinger"

[.Rai]

Eh, I disagree. I think it makes sense both in narrative and business to hold Emrakul in their pocket. Now, it wont be for five years, but a couple of sets or blocks would make sense, I think. But if Vronos thinks im dumb, Im ok with that.

 

To an extent, I agree, but I don't think Wizards think that way at all. Just the way the general shift in marketing has been, they likely think they gain more from doing it now. Which is fair enough.

 

 

If it is emrakul, they are doing it right, and the entire mystery has been wonderfully put together.

 

Honestly, I think a lot of the non-emrakul theories exist simply because people are working really hard to make it not emrakul.

 

Even so, the stuff that doesn't quite fit, such as the pain on the back of Avacyn's neck and the sensation of a bug crawling up the back discussed by the hunters. I mean, it is blatantly obvious that Nahiri aims to summon emrakul, given the name, ult, not!hedrons, it is super clear. 

 

And honestly, I am okay with that. 

 

I said it in another thread, I believe that all these things, Avacyn's descent, Nahiri's rage, the following of Ormendahl, are all results of something hidden. May it be licids, or just parasitic madness bugs, they are the real thing going on here, not just Emrakul.

 

Or so I hope.

My least favourite theory of all people have presented this season is the licid theory. There's basically zero concrete evidence for it, and it's so unsatisfying. "...And everyone was being controlled by a non-sapient species of weird bug that didn't exist before. How weird. Ah well, let's move on."

 

Anyway, Reddit solved the clue puzzle. It 100% relates to Ugin's Insight now. https://www.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/4bm66i/soi_puzzle_clue_token_flavor_texts/

 

Edit: I'd also say that I'm a fan of the 'Emrakul passed over' theory myself, because it introduces her here, and also keeps her for later. Nahiri tries to summon Emrakul, but Emrakul leaves immediately. Doesn't know why, immediately sets up another plot.

[Delibirb]

There was a theory about how these were the effects of Emrakul having simply passed through, but that is kinda killed by "The Harbinger"

Yeah It's very likely she's summoning Emrakul, though it isnt out of the question that she isn't.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

Yeah It's very likely she's summoning Emrakul, though it isnt out of the question that she isn't.

I am 100% sure that she is.

[bury the year]

Honestly, I think a lot of the non-emrakul theories exist simply because people are working really hard to make it not emrakul.

Pretty much what I've thought since day 1. I think that people were really dissatisfied with how the BFZ block plot and the general situation on Zendikar was handled, and so they don't want to see anything related to Eldrazi for a long while. Hence the shoehorning together of alternatives.

 

But yeah, rereading the different flavor texts makes it pretty obvious that Wizards was forcing it. For example, in the "For every answer, three questions" flavor text, it's translated in Japanese as すべての問いは答えを３体で起すことができるだろう, the word for three they use meaning more like "three bodies" than "three questions." But whatever, I'm fine with it being Emrakul. Her presence in the block and how Wizards seems to be handling it is miles above what was done in BFZ.

[Flame Dragon]

Honestly, I think a lot of the non-emrakul theories exist simply because people are working really hard to make it not emra

IMO the only non-emrakul theory I've seen that I like is Marit since thats the only thing that would really fit the bill.  I do agree with Rai that having it be something we don't already know would be a massive miss.

 

Edit: I'd also say that I'm a fan of the 'Emrakul passed over' theory myself, because it introduces her here, and also keeps her for later. Nahiri tries to summon Emrakul, but Emrakul leaves immediately. Doesn't know why, immediately sets up another plot.

See, one of the problems with using Emrakul (and I'd assume Marit too) is that you need some way to beat them/drive them off. It took all 4 to beat the titans on Zendikar and it only worked BECAUSE they were on Zendikar. I have no idea how they would go about facing a multi-planer threat like that.

[(GigaDrillBreaker)]

inb4 it actually funking is bolas and we are all too small-minded to make the needed connections

[Rodrigo]

inb4 it actually funking is bolas and we are all too small-minded to make the needed connections

 

PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE

 

I've been wanting to see Nicol Bolas again for so long.

[Delibirb]

PLEASE LET THIS BE TRUE

 

I've been wanting to see Nicol Bolas again for so long.

I've been considering it being Bolas, it certainly answers my question of how could whatever is causing Avacyn's madness be putting words in her head unless it were sentient, but I think that, barring new planes, we wont see Bolas again until a return to New Phyrexia, where he sent Tezzeret to keep an eye on the Praetors.

 

Again with the narrative issues of Emrakul being Innistrad's villain, I said that a while ago on tappedout, Flame, yeah, that there'd be no point in creating something like the Gatewatch, to only have one of its members be present in the fight against the very threat they were united to fight against in the first place. As much as I'm sure the other Planeswalkers on Innistrad could potentially help, it would essentially be saying "So we have this thing called the Gatewatch but the only member that matters is Jace and as long as there's other Planeswalkers to help him he can do whatever." which I think isn't what Wizards was planning with the creation of the Gatewatch.

[.Rai]

Even if it is Emrakul, the chance that they defeat Emrakul this block is basically 0. They're obviously not putting Emrakul in this first and they have no time to both introduce and resolve a new conflict in a small set.