The absolute and genuine horror that crests over Jace when he connects what Tamiyo was telling him to what he saw when speaking with "Emrakul," in his vision. It turned a triumph into a foreboding dread that Magic's story hasn't touched for me since.
I've never been a huge fan of Jace, but the Ixilan chapter of him first waking up and learning to survive and realize aspects of who he was, and his interaction with Emrakul and and then Tamiyo were so excellent and honestly couldn't have been done so effective if it weren't for his stuck up superiority complex. As an aside to echo someone else's top pick, Liliana's attack on Emrakul and the spirits in the chain veil absolutely losing their sh*t and telling her to gtfo like they not only knew what we know about the Eldrazi but likely much more was an excellent insight into the greater lore of both the Eldrazi and the chain veil creators.
@@Red-Tower Yeah, the whole Gatewatch arc really helped flesh Jace out even more. Before he was a mostly unlikeable little baby pretending to be a big boy. The online stories of this era, and especially on Ixalan, really made him into a likeable main protagonist. Also, I loved that scene with Lilli versus Emrakul. Both the ancient and powerful Chain Veil spirits and the Raven Man (who here in 2023 we now know is Lim-Dul cultivating her as the next in line to... the Avatar but for necromancers on Dominaria, I guess) both saying "fuck fuck fuck, run girl, we are OUTCLASSED HERE" and her going "You know what? No. Fuck y'all, fuck everyone, no one tells me what to do, I'm Lilliana fucking-Vess" and just throwing volleys of necrotic magic at the titan was peak Lilliana
I like the moment Liliana engaged Emrakul and the Onakke Spirits from the chain veil were trying to convince her to flee from "the world ender" and " the world creator". What so they know I wonder?
I saw a theory that when it’s a plane’s time to end, ulamog reduces it to its base, kozilek creates the geography, and emrakul remakes life to essentially restart the plane
One thing I loved about Tamiyo here is that her scrolls aren't just your usual wizard's magic scrolls - they are magical retellings of historical events in other planes, events that Tamiyo can channel into a spell by creating a link to the past. The best part is, of course, years after we learned how Tamiyo's magic works, we actually got it in gameplay form in Sagas!
At the time, I actually REALLY enjoyed the complex, interweaving tales of this set. Magic was able to capitalize upon its older lore and what happened on Innistrad, while it was quite a lot, was believable in the context of the story. This was around the time when I read ever single Magic Story online and my friends and I were invested enough to discuss them. I miss those days.
It was the first big pivotal pull-everything-together plotline, like would be done again during war of the spark. Though they could execute that one a bit better, because with long term planning, they could foreshadow and hint at things to come (tezzeret being alive and stealing the planar bridge from kaladesh, azor and the immortal sun on ixalan, the mystery of bolas' private plane...)
Cosmic Horror was definitely the right way to go with Innistrad and having it be due to Emrakul's influence was also awesome. Kind of disappointing that we didn't get a third set in the block. Also nice to know that there are creatures worse than Bolas. Magic needs more iconic world ending villains outside of the Phyrexians and Bolas.
Well, they've had the Eldrazi for a while now, building them up to one day be the greatest threat ever, but I feel they have plans later for them. We've seen so far they're far too powerful to be dealt with by normal means, and while Kozilek and Ulamog were destroyed, its suggested that may not have truly killed them, that they might potentially return, while Emrakul meanwhile has continued to show her dominance. Personally, I think that with Bolas gone and recent hints, the Phyrexians will return as the next great threat, lasting a long time, before finally being taken care of somehow, and then finally the Eldrazi will return once more, revealing Emrakul's true plan for trapping herself on the moon and likely bringing back Kozilek and Ulamog in some new forms, if not more titans. This will be the longest lasting main villain, longer than even the Phyrexians and Bolas have lasted, might result in the release of Bolas as more of a minor threat in comparison (they do eat planes, after all), and will likely finally finish with another massive event equivalent to the Mend, if not greater. They're just letting the protagonists learn to get powerful enough to actually stop them first, and I believe the twins will play a big role in that as well.
@@jonathankkennedy Slivers need to be played up more as a threat, the Rath cycle had them as kind of a strange creature but I'd love to see them as like the Tyranids, maybe not as mass eating monsters that'll devour everything across the world but if irritated they leave nothing behind and are a good army for some mad scientist.
I really wish Shadows had gotten a third set. The theme is one of my favorites of all time and there was so much potential for cool Eldrazi corrupted cards but we only ever got one set worth :(
As a Lovecraftian theme enthusiast, I wanted that as well. Unfortunately, the vast majority has had enough of the Eldrazi at that point after all the mayhem they have caused in nearly every constructed format.
I think if we take your analogy to tamia's promise being about the reserve list to its logical conclusion wizards is saying they won't reprint cards on the reserve list unless outside and stronger Force ( Hasbro) forces them to break the promise.
great video! my favourite part of the story is that reveal at the end. ace move by wizards, leaves emrakul open and stays true to tamiyo's character all the while not letting the gatewatch get another cheesy win
Favorite moment is a toss-up. Either when Sorin returns to Markov Manor after Nahiri has been there or when Liliana shows up in Thraben as the Gatewatch are getting their backsides kicked.
I was going to say Liliana showing up too. I enjoyed her feelings of power as she fought back directly against Emrakul followed by the realization that it just wasn't enough. Liliana is such a complex character and that roller coaster ride of being the hero and fighting toe to toe with a titan followed by the rapid descent into desperation foreshadows her feelings as she eliminates the demons only to be enslaved to Bolas.
The moment when Tamiyo refused to deus ex machina everything when Jace was begging her too was amazing thinking about it. Listening to the story again it's as if there were a lot of pacts being broken, between the angels and humans and such even if it wasn't of their free will. Though I think it's most relevant when Sorin takes the normal "this has nothing to do with me" attitude for problems outside his own plane and causes Nahiri to go berserk and cause the problem here. To Nahiri, Ugin and Sorin broke their pact to help take down the eldarazi again simply due to convenience. Just a thought from someone who values promises a lot.
my favourite moment was the short story of the gitrog monster. It was so well written with the creepy cult vibe due to the mind control. And the ending was perfect
My favourite moment is probably just the card "Gisa and Geralf" and what it depicts, showing the siblings working together to survive while also making comments to each other. Really captures the feel of siblings well :)
Even better how Gisa and Geralf is also a payoff to a short story from Shadows over Innistrad, "Games", that details a series of letters between the siblings. After constant bickering between the two, Gisa gets arrested by the cathars, Geralf sends some help in the form of skaabs and Gisa berates him saying she didn't need any help, escalating the fight as both stop talking to each other and Geralf forms a friendship with Ludevic while Gisa does the same with Nahiri (which is in fact just using her to create the cryptoliths to summon Emrakul). After things go to the deep south in Eldritch Moon, seeing Gisa and Geralf cooperating isn't just a cool moment, it's also an act of reconciliation between the two siblings in their direst hour, and that's just storytelling perfection. That story also has the line "Here is a foot covered in gout. It reminded me of your personality" which is probably one of the best lines ever written by anyone period.
I don't even know what my favorite part of this was. Holy crap you had some fun with this one. I guess that's what we get when a full length video is a mustache minute!
I like jaces dream where he sees all of the gatewatch die and faces Emrakul in chess and the implication that it’s just in jaces head and Emrakul wasn’t involved in any of his visions but it was Jace trying to process and work out what was happening
i definitely thought the interaction of jace in emrakul's mind was the best. it shows these titans are not mindless, there is something behind them, and that they are not afraid of the planeswalkers. i hope that the next encounter reveals more in depth with where they come from and who or what they are/were.
To be fair, crunchy stories with fifty different elements in play like this are better when all those elements ARE pre-explained than when half the story of the plane is just giving you the cliff's notes on what the heck all this stuff is (lookin' at you, Eldraine). Although retconning Nahiri into the Helvault doesn't *quite* fall under that umbrella...
This is the ritual I perform every time Magic arcanum releases a new lore video: brew a hot cup of tea, prepare snacks, get blanket if it’s chilly, sit in bed, put on headphones, and lastly… enjoy magic lore and the mustache minute. Edit: also, like the video before the video even starts
Eldritch moon was one of my first sets and the first sorts prerelease, I have so much love for Innistrad, especially madness. I hope we see some cool vampires in Crimson Vow
After watching a few of these videos, I'm actually a little more interested in the story building/lore of the game than playing the game. I really can't wait to hear how Crimson Vow and Midnight Hunt ties in with the previous visitations of Innistrad
Great video! Innistrad has always been my favorite setting, and so I've loved this little series you've done. I also definitely agree that George Clooney would make a great Odric, it's a shoe-in!
This was the set that I started playing magic in, and I mostly had the story figured out, minus the background of who any of these people actually were, so I love this set
Really fun to have a payoff video for all of the content that you have put out. I loved the "watch this in their own video" moments, because I have watched everything on your channel, and my reaction was yes you did!
A truly convoluted block and story indeed, but still one of the best out there. Great story-telling and explanation as always, Ryan. Keep up the great work!
If I may recommend, you would probably be best served to wait for the story of Crimson Vow to be released before making a "What happened on..." video. Great work Ryan and Nicole; absolutely love the channel!
That quote about promises reminds me of this scene from Law & Order: SVU (of all things) that I’ll likely never forget. It was a “Very Special Episode” in that a doctor was put on trial for the murder of a man who died from complications he had suffered under her “enhanced interrogations” (yes this was the late 00’s in case you couldn’t tell). The scene in question is when the medical examiner confronts the doctor and chews her out for breaking the hippocratic oath and the Geneva Conventions. She says “we made those rules not for when they would be easy to uphold but specifically for when they would be difficult to. It speaks more to our moral character when we stick to them in times like these than when they’re easy to.” It was honestly the best argument against the controversial tactic that I ever heard (and I certainly never got it from the news or any politician). It pretty much sealed which side I was on from then on out, easy. Of course, now all the war stuff hits different but that’s something else entirely. Anyways, thanks for reading my barely coherent rant on a cop show spinoff that is not only somehow still on the air but has more episodes than the original, random person! Have a nice day!
Oh and you need to know about Kamigawa to understand Tamiyo's motivations to never interfere, just to add to the confusion. The Soratami of Kamigawa live in the clouds and take their literal position above the other races more figuratively and regularly meddle in there affairs for fun (including assisting in starting the Kami War.) Tamiyo vowed never to interfere in the affairs of other races for these reasons. With Neon Dynasty coming I thought it prudent to bring this out as we will most likely see everyone's favorite anthropomorphic bunny happily unlocking iron bound scrolls of her own free will while dealing with issues her own people started.
God I love these video! Amazing take on the RL cards,from Tamiyo words! I agree 100%! You can make 10 hours video on the lore i'd watch every minute like there is no tomorrow,i love it soooo much! Thanks for your work,for real!
My friends got me into magic during the Shadows block so it has a special place in my heart. My first prerelease was Eldritch Moon and I remember my promo was Ulrich and I even pulled an Emrakul in one of my packs. I built a werewolf deck and went 4-1 and did the best out of my friend group. Was a memorable time. The storyline was amazing to me, and I think it was Jace’s interaction with Emrakul and the precedence it set for Eldrazi as a whole was my favorite part of the whole story. Emrakul is beyond anyone’s comprehension of power and even holds a candle over Nicol Bolas to me - and the level of self-awareness and patience she exhibits is frightening. Truly an eldritch horror.
The fight between Sorin and Nahiri was amazing to me. I love those two Planeswalker. I want to do a deck based on them at some point cause why not lol.
"The constant pain and pressure prevents him from planeswalking out" - So, what about in hour of devastation? Is Wizards being very inconsistent with their planeswalking rules?
You mean War of the Spark? We know somehow Sorin did get out of the wall, but so far we have not been told how. My personal theory was that his grandfather, Edgar Markov, released him, but we might have to wait until Crimson Vow to know for sure.
@@MagicArcanum I think he refers to the moment in hour of devastation when Nicol bolas is torturing the members of the gatewatch and they planeswalk away.
Ah. Well in that case, I would say Nicol Bolas actually wanted them to flee, and was only toying with them. Plus they weren't physically pinned in one spot, so they just had to overcome his mental attacks.
The other part that I think made it harder for Sorrin was because the leylines were shifted by Nahiri, so collecting and focusing mana was much more difficult. Even though the gatewatch did mention that something about Ammonkhet made tapping into its mana harder, it probably wasn't to the same extent. Because you know, high level lithomancy is basically bullshit.
Thank you for this video! I love all the Innistrad stuff in MTG because I'm a huge fan of old gothic horror films, primarily Hammer Horror, but even though I might be in the minority, the Shadows Over Innistrad block has been my favorite block because I'm also a huge fan of Lovecraft and the Eldrazi.
My favorite creature type is Angel, so it was devastating for me, breaking down in tears and desperation, like it happened to Sigarda, as I could do nothing but watch in pain when Bruna and Gisela have died and melted into this horrible and unnatural abomination.
Overall, angels are treated bad in MTG. The fall of Serra's Realm, Selinia, being helpless against the Eldrazi, the fall of the church of Avacyn, the near extinction of the firemane angels. Kaldheim finally had angels who were treated well by the story.
It's really hard to pick one moment to be my favorite, first because I read that story a long time ago (when it released actually), and also because I think it is awesome overall. Nahiri is among my favorites characters from the MTG multiverse, and the broken promises, the desperation felt by the people of Innistrad, then the Gatewatch, then Liliana when she was tapping into the power of the veil too much, and then Jace and Tamiyo when realizing what Emrakul did, I think all of this was really well done.
OMG! I couldn't stop laughing for like 10 minutes with the reserved list rant... 🤣🤣🤣 Thanks Ryan and Nicole for sharing this video! I love this channel...
I collect the story spotlight cards from each set, and I use your videos to put them in chronological order in my binder. I hope you can cover innistrad, midnight hunt soon!
I would love to see a separate video on the Falkenraths!! Knowing more about them and how it was they were so willing to succumb to Emrakuls corruption as a bid for power would be amazing!(or at least that's what I assume happened)
"The Promised End", which describes the last few moments before Emrakul's imprisonment, is one of my favorite pieces of media, period. I highly recommend anyone read it if they have not already.
Ryan, that was a nice pull from the story to relate it to the reserved list. That they won't break a promise, even if it was easy for them to or not. But, as soon as I heard it, I thought about how Tamiyo was manipulated into breaking her promise by a powerful outside force. I can't help but think Hasbro over Wizards. We'll see what happens I guess.
In all fairness, that one missed call was about the Eldrazi (greatest threat in the multiverse) escaping their jail and asking for backup. And the call was missed because Sorin put his phone on silent, to avoid this call.
Counterpoint: The eldrazi didn't actually escape, and Nahiri was able to handle it alone, meaning she didn't even need help (that time.) I understand it set a bad precedent for future calls, but all Nahiri had to say was "hey can we adjust your barriers so that I can still reach you next time in case it really is crucial?"
Agreed. Sorin could also have apologized to Nahiri and tried to make amends. But their friends-to-enemies is contrasted with The Gatewatch who come together to do the right thing.
It was actually this set, and the stories that went with them, that made me really want to build a human tribal EDH deck. It was only amplified when mauch later Ikoria came out and I just had to build it. Innistrad is absolutly my favorite set, and the stories that go with it are pretty fantastic.
I joined the mtg comunity during this block. I absolutely fell I love with the gothic horror feel. When the eldrazi came to be well that as a whole other story. Glad to be back for midnight hunt.
I'm just more surprised that Shadows over Innistrad came out in 2016, cause I remember that in high school it was a huge deal that we were returning to Innistrad.
I have a great idea for the reserve list. Make a draft set using the cards from the reserve list. But they are all silver border and call the set "UN reserved"
Funny because most reserve cards are not that good. I think people really just want ABUR duels, which are not even necessary in commander. Mox diamond, bazaar of Baghdad, Mishra's Workshop,lion's eye diamond and maybe grim monolith too.
I feel it might be a reference to the reserve list but it probably is supposed to reflect how tamiyo and jace were how nahiri and sorin turned out. They were working together but tamiyo refused to break a promise she made while jace just saw what was best for them at that moment. Mimicing how sorin did what was best for his plane at the moment but ignoring nahiri and causing the promise he made to break and all of shadows over innistrad block to happen
I think that its appropriate for a story like that to have a lot going on. When cthulu attacks it's never a simple thing. But maybe that's emrakul talking who knows
I like how the stories were connected back in the day, each set adding something. Since War of the Spark they seem disconnected except for Vorinclex in Kaldheim, which still has yet to be added to. I fear I may die of old age before they revisit some of the plot threads every five years.
It does feel like there was a pretty big shift in how they told stories after War of the Spark, and after they changed from the three-sets-in-a-block structure to "whatever we want to do" and I agree, it has created some weirdly dangling threads now.
In the midst of all the big earthshaking events, one of my favorite parts was Jace trying to get help from his wicked ex-girlfriend. (It didn't go so smoothly.)
3:30 I have never seen this as intentional, I don’t think he meant for the barriers to stop messages to him and it was accidental, but his pride and arrogance prevented him from admiring to Nahiri he made a mistake
I just realized after you said it, Olivia's not helping for the sake of survival. Chapter 7 of Shadows shows the deal Sorin and Olivia struck for the sake of defeating Nahiri. "Oh, Sorin," she said as regained her composure. "I will help you. But first you will help me." We never got to see what the exchange was where Sorin helped Olivia.....I think this will be revealed in Crimson Vow
Thanks for this video. I never really knew what happened during this set anyway, so this was very helpful. And don't apologize about not mentioning my third favorite werewolf because I don't remember that either. I probably covered that in another video. Oh yeah, I don't have any other videos or any videos at all... right. P.S.: Sorin _is_ a big jerk.
My favorite moment has to be when emrakul uses tamiyo to displace herself from everyone. It’s like emmy just wants to live her life without all the drama lmao
I just want to point out how awesome it would be to see you as guest on an EDH channel like Andrew's, or Playing With Power, heck even Game Knights even though you're way too cool for those guys. And by guys I mean solely JLK. Heck even if you just played one match of Historic Brawl with LVD or CGB I'd lose my collective shit. Ok now I'm going to admit that if I'm ever fortunate enough to see your glorious stache in real life I would mark out. HARD. Please, for the sake of humanity keep up the awesome work.
@@MagicArcanum Thank you so much! Really, I sincerely appreciate all the hard work you all do to produce these videos. Learning the lore and story behind this game has caused me to grow much closer to it than I was before. I'm still bummed that Chandrissa was all-but permanently denied.
The level of… well I would say sarcasm, but thats not right, the level of delirium in explaining the plot is just amazing. I’ll always say it, they did bruna (I guess the other angels too) dirty.. Edit: forgot to say. Tamiyo is one of my 2 favorite plaineswalkers. Some of my first cards were from kamigawa and I’ve love the set since.
I'd like to make an argument that Nahiri is the most evil Magic character. Yes, Nicol Bolas unleashed destruction and death on more Planes, but everything he caused was relatively under control; the Hour of Devastation on Amonkhet and the Dreadhorde invasion on Ravnica were both threats contained on both of those respective Planes, and if something did trickle out and cause problems elsewhere, it's nothing that couldn't be fixed, either by Bolas or by someone else. Also, while both of the aforementioned events caused insane amounts of death, (most) of it wasn't deliberate, since Bolas was targeting the Gods of Amonkhet/Planeswalkers, and wasn't intentionally trying to get civilians killed. Nahiri, however, knew exactly what she was doing in unleashing Emrakul. While her anger was placed on Sorin, there's no way she was so peeved she forgot what the Eldrazi are capable of, and for some reason, she decides that attracting an indestructible death/insanity machine is a perfectly reasonable idea in addition to destroying the one thing that gave the entire Plane some form of hope. She also didn't think of a failsafe for when Emrakul was finished; what if she moved somewhere like Ikoria or Lorwyn that doesn't have easily accessible zombies? Lilliana and Tamiyo being there at the same time was nothing short of luck. I don't think there's any (alive) characters besides those two who could really deal with a threat like that. Also, she doesn't even think to try and fight them off of Zendikar, and as soon as she finds out it's safe, she immediately tries to drop floating continents out of the sky. In short, Nahiri is stupid and petty at best, and malicious and evil at worst.
Here's hoping that Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow pull a 180 and the Eldrazi show up again... that'd make for a pretty rad set, Eldrazi crashing a vampire wedding and all of that!
I don't think so. I see 30th Anniversary Edition as being more like a commemorative t-shirt with a black lotus on it, rather than an actual game piece. So far as I'm concerned they have still upheld their promise to not reprint the actual cards.
To be fair to Nahiri, it wasn't just that Sorin didn't come when she called, it was also that she thought her own world had been destroyed (since she saw the Eldrazi free again), and also she'd been tortured in the Helvault for like a thousand years.
"Realizing neither of them can block fliers" fucking LMAO
Literally spit coke zero on my keyboard.
😂
But jace can bounce it.
That’s a great joke! Honestly, yeah you have to be a magic player to get it. But for the target demographic there is Zero fat on that joke.
The absolute and genuine horror that crests over Jace when he connects what Tamiyo was telling him to what he saw when speaking with "Emrakul," in his vision. It turned a triumph into a foreboding dread that Magic's story hasn't touched for me since.
I've never been a huge fan of Jace, but the Ixilan chapter of him first waking up and learning to survive and realize aspects of who he was, and his interaction with Emrakul and and then Tamiyo were so excellent and honestly couldn't have been done so effective if it weren't for his stuck up superiority complex.
As an aside to echo someone else's top pick, Liliana's attack on Emrakul and the spirits in the chain veil absolutely losing their sh*t and telling her to gtfo like they not only knew what we know about the Eldrazi but likely much more was an excellent insight into the greater lore of both the Eldrazi and the chain veil creators.
@@Red-Tower Yeah, the whole Gatewatch arc really helped flesh Jace out even more. Before he was a mostly unlikeable little baby pretending to be a big boy. The online stories of this era, and especially on Ixalan, really made him into a likeable main protagonist.
Also, I loved that scene with Lilli versus Emrakul. Both the ancient and powerful Chain Veil spirits and the Raven Man (who here in 2023 we now know is Lim-Dul cultivating her as the next in line to... the Avatar but for necromancers on Dominaria, I guess) both saying "fuck fuck fuck, run girl, we are OUTCLASSED HERE" and her going "You know what? No. Fuck y'all, fuck everyone, no one tells me what to do, I'm Lilliana fucking-Vess" and just throwing volleys of necrotic magic at the titan was peak Lilliana
I like the moment Liliana engaged Emrakul and the Onakke Spirits from the chain veil were trying to convince her to flee from "the world ender" and " the world creator". What so they know I wonder?
Maybe the Eldrazi were the reason the Onakke were so obsessed with gathering dark powers to fight against
Oh, that's right! I forgot about that tidbit!
I saw a theory that when it’s a plane’s time to end, ulamog reduces it to its base, kozilek creates the geography, and emrakul remakes life to essentially restart the plane
One thing I loved about Tamiyo here is that her scrolls aren't just your usual wizard's magic scrolls - they are magical retellings of historical events in other planes, events that Tamiyo can channel into a spell by creating a link to the past.
The best part is, of course, years after we learned how Tamiyo's magic works, we actually got it in gameplay form in Sagas!
At the time, I actually REALLY enjoyed the complex, interweaving tales of this set. Magic was able to capitalize upon its older lore and what happened on Innistrad, while it was quite a lot, was believable in the context of the story.
This was around the time when I read ever single Magic Story online and my friends and I were invested enough to discuss them. I miss those days.
It was the first big pivotal pull-everything-together plotline, like would be done again during war of the spark. Though they could execute that one a bit better, because with long term planning, they could foreshadow and hint at things to come (tezzeret being alive and stealing the planar bridge from kaladesh, azor and the immortal sun on ixalan, the mystery of bolas' private plane...)
Same. It's a shame they stopped doing the story. We'll never get something like this again, and it really sucks.
Cosmic Horror was definitely the right way to go with Innistrad and having it be due to Emrakul's influence was also awesome. Kind of disappointing that we didn't get a third set in the block. Also nice to know that there are creatures worse than Bolas. Magic needs more iconic world ending villains outside of the Phyrexians and Bolas.
Well, they've had the Eldrazi for a while now, building them up to one day be the greatest threat ever, but I feel they have plans later for them. We've seen so far they're far too powerful to be dealt with by normal means, and while Kozilek and Ulamog were destroyed, its suggested that may not have truly killed them, that they might potentially return, while Emrakul meanwhile has continued to show her dominance.
Personally, I think that with Bolas gone and recent hints, the Phyrexians will return as the next great threat, lasting a long time, before finally being taken care of somehow, and then finally the Eldrazi will return once more, revealing Emrakul's true plan for trapping herself on the moon and likely bringing back Kozilek and Ulamog in some new forms, if not more titans. This will be the longest lasting main villain, longer than even the Phyrexians and Bolas have lasted, might result in the release of Bolas as more of a minor threat in comparison (they do eat planes, after all), and will likely finally finish with another massive event equivalent to the Mend, if not greater. They're just letting the protagonists learn to get powerful enough to actually stop them first, and I believe the twins will play a big role in that as well.
I've always liked the idea of seeing Slivers return in a big way.
@@jonathankkennedy Slivers need to be played up more as a threat, the Rath cycle had them as kind of a strange creature but I'd love to see them as like the Tyranids, maybe not as mass eating monsters that'll devour everything across the world but if irritated they leave nothing behind and are a good army for some mad scientist.
I really wish Shadows had gotten a third set. The theme is one of my favorites of all time and there was so much potential for cool Eldrazi corrupted cards but we only ever got one set worth :(
As a Lovecraftian theme enthusiast, I wanted that as well. Unfortunately, the vast majority has had enough of the Eldrazi at that point after all the mayhem they have caused in nearly every constructed format.
I think if we take your analogy to tamia's promise being about the reserve list to its logical conclusion wizards is saying they won't reprint cards on the reserve list unless outside and stronger Force ( Hasbro) forces them to break the promise.
Way to make me root for Hasbro :/
Funny enough, that actually make sense XD
@@LegendLeaguer wait no that wasn't the point. I have truly errored.
great video! my favourite part of the story is that reveal at the end. ace move by wizards, leaves emrakul open and stays true to tamiyo's character all the while not letting the gatewatch get another cheesy win
There are some many hilarious words or descriptions Ryan uses to explain the story to us. My favorite so far is the expression "meat shield".
This is my favorite story block, thanks for the sick video!
Favorite moment is a toss-up. Either when Sorin returns to Markov Manor after Nahiri has been there or when Liliana shows up in Thraben as the Gatewatch are getting their backsides kicked.
I was going to say Liliana showing up too. I enjoyed her feelings of power as she fought back directly against Emrakul followed by the realization that it just wasn't enough. Liliana is such a complex character and that roller coaster ride of being the hero and fighting toe to toe with a titan followed by the rapid descent into desperation foreshadows her feelings as she eliminates the demons only to be enslaved to Bolas.
The passage describing Emmy just "flipping" the chess board while she chats with Jace is one of my all-time favorite pieces of media.
TH-cam notified me this time! Such a great way to start my day!
Thanks Ryan and Nicole!
Nice when stuff works how it is supposed to, isn't it?
I am the opposite as its after I get off work and its a nice way to relax after work.
@@jordanbrulez717 night shift bois unite
@@willgiesbrecht9318 haha I feel that, and after watching the video we have to watch out for Eldrazis.
The moment when Tamiyo refused to deus ex machina everything when Jace was begging her too was amazing thinking about it. Listening to the story again it's as if there were a lot of pacts being broken, between the angels and humans and such even if it wasn't of their free will. Though I think it's most relevant when Sorin takes the normal "this has nothing to do with me" attitude for problems outside his own plane and causes Nahiri to go berserk and cause the problem here. To Nahiri, Ugin and Sorin broke their pact to help take down the eldarazi again simply due to convenience. Just a thought from someone who values promises a lot.
“Not only did Nahiri play Jenga with Sorin’s house” is the funniest and best way I’ve ever heard anyone describe anything. 100/10 good sir!
my favourite moment was the short story of the gitrog monster. It was so well written with the creepy cult vibe due to the mind control. And the ending was perfect
My favourite moment is probably just the card "Gisa and Geralf" and what it depicts, showing the siblings working together to survive while also making comments to each other. Really captures the feel of siblings well :)
Even better how Gisa and Geralf is also a payoff to a short story from Shadows over Innistrad, "Games", that details a series of letters between the siblings. After constant bickering between the two, Gisa gets arrested by the cathars, Geralf sends some help in the form of skaabs and Gisa berates him saying she didn't need any help, escalating the fight as both stop talking to each other and Geralf forms a friendship with Ludevic while Gisa does the same with Nahiri (which is in fact just using her to create the cryptoliths to summon Emrakul).
After things go to the deep south in Eldritch Moon, seeing Gisa and Geralf cooperating isn't just a cool moment, it's also an act of reconciliation between the two siblings in their direst hour, and that's just storytelling perfection.
That story also has the line "Here is a foot covered in gout. It reminded me of your personality" which is probably one of the best lines ever written by anyone period.
I don't even know what my favorite part of this was. Holy crap you had some fun with this one. I guess that's what we get when a full length video is a mustache minute!
9:04 'Realizing neither of them can block fliers' - Arcanum you bald genius!
Man ! I love your videos so much (btw I'm a new member to this channel), it's easy to understand, well explained and very easy to follow
I like jaces dream where he sees all of the gatewatch die and faces Emrakul in chess and the implication that it’s just in jaces head and Emrakul wasn’t involved in any of his visions but it was Jace trying to process and work out what was happening
i definitely thought the interaction of jace in emrakul's mind was the best. it shows these titans are not mindless, there is something behind them, and that they are not afraid of the planeswalkers.
i hope that the next encounter reveals more in depth with where they come from and who or what they are/were.
To be fair, crunchy stories with fifty different elements in play like this are better when all those elements ARE pre-explained than when half the story of the plane is just giving you the cliff's notes on what the heck all this stuff is (lookin' at you, Eldraine). Although retconning Nahiri into the Helvault doesn't *quite* fall under that umbrella...
"You get nothing! Good day sir!" This got me 🤣
This is the ritual I perform every time Magic arcanum releases a new lore video: brew a hot cup of tea, prepare snacks, get blanket if it’s chilly, sit in bed, put on headphones, and lastly… enjoy magic lore and the mustache minute.
Edit: also, like the video before the video even starts
Eldritch moon was one of my first sets and the first sorts prerelease, I have so much love for Innistrad, especially madness. I hope we see some cool vampires in Crimson Vow
After watching a few of these videos, I'm actually a little more interested in the story building/lore of the game than playing the game. I really can't wait to hear how Crimson Vow and Midnight Hunt ties in with the previous visitations of Innistrad
Great video! Innistrad has always been my favorite setting, and so I've loved this little series you've done. I also definitely agree that George Clooney would make a great Odric, it's a shoe-in!
This was the set that I started playing magic in, and I mostly had the story figured out, minus the background of who any of these people actually were, so I love this set
Same
Really fun to have a payoff video for all of the content that you have put out. I loved the "watch this in their own video" moments, because I have watched everything on your channel, and my reaction was yes you did!
A truly convoluted block and story indeed, but still one of the best out there. Great story-telling and explanation as always, Ryan. Keep up the great work!
If I may recommend, you would probably be best served to wait for the story of Crimson Vow to be released before making a "What happened on..." video. Great work Ryan and Nicole; absolutely love the channel!
That quote about promises reminds me of this scene from Law & Order: SVU (of all things) that I’ll likely never forget. It was a “Very Special Episode” in that a doctor was put on trial for the murder of a man who died from complications he had suffered under her “enhanced interrogations” (yes this was the late 00’s in case you couldn’t tell). The scene in question is when the medical examiner confronts the doctor and chews her out for breaking the hippocratic oath and the Geneva Conventions. She says “we made those rules not for when they would be easy to uphold but specifically for when they would be difficult to. It speaks more to our moral character when we stick to them in times like these than when they’re easy to.” It was honestly the best argument against the controversial tactic that I ever heard (and I certainly never got it from the news or any politician). It pretty much sealed which side I was on from then on out, easy.
Of course, now all the war stuff hits different but that’s something else entirely. Anyways, thanks for reading my barely coherent rant on a cop show spinoff that is not only somehow still on the air but has more episodes than the original, random person! Have a nice day!
Oh and you need to know about Kamigawa to understand Tamiyo's motivations to never interfere, just to add to the confusion.
The Soratami of Kamigawa live in the clouds and take their literal position above the other races more figuratively and regularly meddle in there affairs for fun (including assisting in starting the Kami War.)
Tamiyo vowed never to interfere in the affairs of other races for these reasons. With Neon Dynasty coming I thought it prudent to bring this out as we will most likely see everyone's favorite anthropomorphic bunny happily unlocking iron bound scrolls of her own free will while dealing with issues her own people started.
God I love these video! Amazing take on the RL cards,from Tamiyo words! I agree 100%!
You can make 10 hours video on the lore i'd watch every minute like there is no tomorrow,i love it soooo much! Thanks for your work,for real!
My friends got me into magic during the Shadows block so it has a special place in my heart. My first prerelease was Eldritch Moon and I remember my promo was Ulrich and I even pulled an Emrakul in one of my packs. I built a werewolf deck and went 4-1 and did the best out of my friend group. Was a memorable time.
The storyline was amazing to me, and I think it was Jace’s interaction with Emrakul and the precedence it set for Eldrazi as a whole was my favorite part of the whole story. Emrakul is beyond anyone’s comprehension of power and even holds a candle over Nicol Bolas to me - and the level of self-awareness and patience she exhibits is frightening. Truly an eldritch horror.
The fight between Sorin and Nahiri was amazing to me. I love those two Planeswalker. I want to do a deck based on them at some point cause why not lol.
Thanks! we loved the video and it was my first time knowing anything about Innistrad. I started playing at about Throne of Eldraine.
"The constant pain and pressure prevents him from planeswalking out" - So, what about in hour of devastation? Is Wizards being very inconsistent with their planeswalking rules?
You mean War of the Spark? We know somehow Sorin did get out of the wall, but so far we have not been told how. My personal theory was that his grandfather, Edgar Markov, released him, but we might have to wait until Crimson Vow to know for sure.
@@MagicArcanum I think he refers to the moment in hour of devastation when Nicol bolas is torturing the members of the gatewatch and they planeswalk away.
Ah. Well in that case, I would say Nicol Bolas actually wanted them to flee, and was only toying with them. Plus they weren't physically pinned in one spot, so they just had to overcome his mental attacks.
The other part that I think made it harder for Sorrin was because the leylines were shifted by Nahiri, so collecting and focusing mana was much more difficult. Even though the gatewatch did mention that something about Ammonkhet made tapping into its mana harder, it probably wasn't to the same extent. Because you know, high level lithomancy is basically bullshit.
@@MagicArcanum I think the explanation that he let them get away makes the most sense.
Thank you for this video! I love all the Innistrad stuff in MTG because I'm a huge fan of old gothic horror films, primarily Hammer Horror, but even though I might be in the minority, the Shadows Over Innistrad block has been my favorite block because I'm also a huge fan of Lovecraft and the Eldrazi.
My favorite creature type is Angel, so it was devastating for me, breaking down in tears and desperation, like it happened to Sigarda, as I could do nothing but watch in pain when Bruna and Gisela have died and melted into this horrible and unnatural abomination.
Overall, angels are treated bad in MTG. The fall of Serra's Realm, Selinia, being helpless against the Eldrazi, the fall of the church of Avacyn, the near extinction of the firemane angels. Kaldheim finally had angels who were treated well by the story.
@@danielbretado7660 don't forget how dirty they did Feather back on Ravnica.
Same. I remember nearly choking up when I really sat down and tried to contemplate what it must've been like for her to see her sisters like that.
It's really hard to pick one moment to be my favorite, first because I read that story a long time ago (when it released actually), and also because I think it is awesome overall. Nahiri is among my favorites characters from the MTG multiverse, and the broken promises, the desperation felt by the people of Innistrad, then the Gatewatch, then Liliana when she was tapping into the power of the veil too much, and then Jace and Tamiyo when realizing what Emrakul did, I think all of this was really well done.
Last time I was this early the moon was still free real estate
OMG! I couldn't stop laughing for like 10 minutes with the reserved list rant... 🤣🤣🤣
Thanks Ryan and Nicole for sharing this video!
I love this channel...
Our pleasure!
Thank you for this video, it was really well explained!
Just a reminder that your video intro music fills me with JOY.
That meltdown about the reserved list was beautiful 👌🏻 GOOD DAY SIR!
Great video. I love your work!
Thank you very much!
I know what happened in SOI but i'm stoked to watch any damn way
I really want a story that delves into the grief of the last Archangel towards seeing her sisters become this... mass of horror.
I collect the story spotlight cards from each set, and I use your videos to put them in chronological order in my binder. I hope you can cover innistrad, midnight hunt soon!
As soon as the weekly chapters for the new story are done being published, I can work on my recap video. Should be another week or two.
I would love to see a separate video on the Falkenraths!!
Knowing more about them and how it was they were so willing to succumb to Emrakuls corruption as a bid for power would be amazing!(or at least that's what I assume happened)
That GOOD DAY SIR got me.
Great story telling as always!
"The Promised End", which describes the last few moments before Emrakul's imprisonment, is one of my favorite pieces of media, period. I highly recommend anyone read it if they have not already.
Ryan, that was a nice pull from the story to relate it to the reserved list. That they won't break a promise, even if it was easy for them to or not.
But, as soon as I heard it, I thought about how Tamiyo was manipulated into breaking her promise by a powerful outside force. I can't help but think Hasbro over Wizards. We'll see what happens I guess.
In all fairness, that one missed call was about the Eldrazi (greatest threat in the multiverse) escaping their jail and asking for backup. And the call was missed because Sorin put his phone on silent, to avoid this call.
Counterpoint: The eldrazi didn't actually escape, and Nahiri was able to handle it alone, meaning she didn't even need help (that time.) I understand it set a bad precedent for future calls, but all Nahiri had to say was "hey can we adjust your barriers so that I can still reach you next time in case it really is crucial?"
Agreed. Sorin could also have apologized to Nahiri and tried to make amends. But their friends-to-enemies is contrasted with The Gatewatch who come together to do the right thing.
Totally love the effects of Emrakul over the plane! A great plane, great stories
It was actually this set, and the stories that went with them, that made me really want to build a human tribal EDH deck. It was only amplified when mauch later Ikoria came out and I just had to build it. Innistrad is absolutly my favorite set, and the stories that go with it are pretty fantastic.
Between you and Aetherhub, I get my story line fixes. I've enjoyed your takes on the characters a LOT.
The Lorebrarians are another good MTG lore channel to check out.
DARK SALVATION is the best moment! Thanks for another awesome video!
Now a want a comic strip of Jace and Emrakul playing chess while everyone else is fighting in the background.
GREAT freaking story! Thanks mustache guy! 👍🏿
my fav moment is the anguished unmaking.
I joined the mtg comunity during this block. I absolutely fell I love with the gothic horror feel. When the eldrazi came to be well that as a whole other story. Glad to be back for midnight hunt.
I gotta ask… will we get a Lore prediction for 2022 video? Last year’s video was very interesting, as I love theory-crafting!
I have not done one this year but if that's something people want to see, I would consider it.
@@MagicArcanum do what you feel like doing, of course
just in time with my breakfast !!! i was missing this !!!
Can't wait for the mustache minute on how Sorin scaped the rock.
I'm just more surprised that Shadows over Innistrad came out in 2016, cause I remember that in high school it was a huge deal that we were returning to Innistrad.
10:28 Not gonna lie that was a killer Wonka impression. I was transported.
I have a great idea for the reserve list. Make a draft set using the cards from the reserve list. But they are all silver border and call the set "UN reserved"
UN-black lotus, artifact, 0 cost, Un-tap: sacrifice un-black lotus to add three mana of any color to you mana pool
@@tiraund20 yep this was 100% my idea. I really can't see people being mad. Even get new art made up for every card.
Funny because most reserve cards are not that good. I think people really just want ABUR duels, which are not even necessary in commander. Mox diamond, bazaar of Baghdad, Mishra's Workshop,lion's eye diamond and maybe grim monolith too.
Oh great video this explains alot of questions I had about the story haha.
Obv the reserved list needs some...eldrazi influence. :3
I feel this video being a "nightmare" is perfect for the Innstrad video
God I love your videos! You have the best voice for narration!
Wow, thank you!
I feel it might be a reference to the reserve list but it probably is supposed to reflect how tamiyo and jace were how nahiri and sorin turned out. They were working together but tamiyo refused to break a promise she made while jace just saw what was best for them at that moment. Mimicing how sorin did what was best for his plane at the moment but ignoring nahiri and causing the promise he made to break and all of shadows over innistrad block to happen
I think that its appropriate for a story like that to have a lot going on. When cthulu attacks it's never a simple thing. But maybe that's emrakul talking who knows
I like how the stories were connected back in the day, each set adding something. Since War of the Spark they seem disconnected except for Vorinclex in Kaldheim, which still has yet to be added to. I fear I may die of old age before they revisit some of the plot threads every five years.
It does feel like there was a pretty big shift in how they told stories after War of the Spark, and after they changed from the three-sets-in-a-block structure to "whatever we want to do" and I agree, it has created some weirdly dangling threads now.
Given what's just gone down on Kamigawa, I feel like the story is finally starting to come together.
In the midst of all the big earthshaking events, one of my favorite parts was Jace trying to get help from his wicked ex-girlfriend. (It didn't go so smoothly.)
3:30 I have never seen this as intentional, I don’t think he meant for the barriers to stop messages to him and it was accidental, but his pride and arrogance prevented him from admiring to Nahiri he made a mistake
I just realized after you said it, Olivia's not helping for the sake of survival. Chapter 7 of Shadows shows the deal Sorin and Olivia struck for the sake of defeating Nahiri.
"Oh, Sorin," she said as regained her composure. "I will help you. But first you will help me."
We never got to see what the exchange was where Sorin helped Olivia.....I think this will be revealed in Crimson Vow
It's funny because It may be one of the more convoluted stories but it is one of the only MTG stories I still remember beat for beat.
Can't wait to watch. :)
Thanks for this video. I never really knew what happened during this set anyway, so this was very helpful. And don't apologize about not mentioning my third favorite werewolf because I don't remember that either. I probably covered that in another video. Oh yeah, I don't have any other videos or any videos at all... right.
P.S.: Sorin _is_ a big jerk.
4:41 "so just like me during this global pandemic induced quarantine she went kind of crazy" You got a good chuckled out of me XD
I like the fact that Sigarda is resistant if not immune to Emrakul's influence because she's Hexproof.
this block was the first time i really took an interest in the story of mtg. i really enjoyed the Hal and Alena parts.
Thank you for the "You get nothing! Good day, sir." 😂
Aww yeah more Arcanum!
My favorite moment has to be when emrakul uses tamiyo to displace herself from everyone. It’s like emmy just wants to live her life without all the drama lmao
And also we lost the Wolfir and our big fluffy bois turned back into Werewolves.
Sadge.
Why exactly did this happen? I can’t find anything that explains why we are back to spooky werewolves again
@@Zaketh_ tl;dr no more avacyn meant the curse took hold on them again
@@Zaketh_ The cursemute faded.
I just want to point out how awesome it would be to see you as guest on an EDH channel like Andrew's, or Playing With Power, heck even Game Knights even though you're way too cool for those guys. And by guys I mean solely JLK. Heck even if you just played one match of Historic Brawl with LVD or CGB I'd lose my collective shit.
Ok now I'm going to admit that if I'm ever fortunate enough to see your glorious stache in real life I would mark out. HARD. Please, for the sake of humanity keep up the awesome work.
Alright. Now I'm all caught up, and I'm ready for the video about the new Innistrad block, Midnight Hunt.
As soon as they are done publishing the weekly story chapters I will start on my video :-)
@@MagicArcanum Thank you so much! Really, I sincerely appreciate all the hard work you all do to produce these videos. Learning the lore and story behind this game has caused me to grow much closer to it than I was before. I'm still bummed that Chandrissa was all-but permanently denied.
Good start to my day
finally, i have been waiting for this
The level of… well I would say sarcasm, but thats not right, the level of delirium in explaining the plot is just amazing.
I’ll always say it, they did bruna (I guess the other angels too) dirty..
Edit: forgot to say. Tamiyo is one of my 2 favorite plaineswalkers. Some of my first cards were from kamigawa and I’ve love the set since.
I'd like to make an argument that Nahiri is the most evil Magic character. Yes, Nicol Bolas unleashed destruction and death on more Planes, but everything he caused was relatively under control; the Hour of Devastation on Amonkhet and the Dreadhorde invasion on Ravnica were both threats contained on both of those respective Planes, and if something did trickle out and cause problems elsewhere, it's nothing that couldn't be fixed, either by Bolas or by someone else. Also, while both of the aforementioned events caused insane amounts of death, (most) of it wasn't deliberate, since Bolas was targeting the Gods of Amonkhet/Planeswalkers, and wasn't intentionally trying to get civilians killed.
Nahiri, however, knew exactly what she was doing in unleashing Emrakul. While her anger was placed on Sorin, there's no way she was so peeved she forgot what the Eldrazi are capable of, and for some reason, she decides that attracting an indestructible death/insanity machine is a perfectly reasonable idea in addition to destroying the one thing that gave the entire Plane some form of hope. She also didn't think of a failsafe for when Emrakul was finished; what if she moved somewhere like Ikoria or Lorwyn that doesn't have easily accessible zombies? Lilliana and Tamiyo being there at the same time was nothing short of luck. I don't think there's any (alive) characters besides those two who could really deal with a threat like that.
Also, she doesn't even think to try and fight them off of Zendikar, and as soon as she finds out it's safe, she immediately tries to drop floating continents out of the sky.
In short, Nahiri is stupid and petty at best, and malicious and evil at worst.
I wasn't ready for that reserved list comment though. I hear ya
Here's hoping that Midnight Hunt and Crimson Vow pull a 180 and the Eldrazi show up again... that'd make for a pretty rad set, Eldrazi crashing a vampire wedding and all of that!
@10:00 the reserve list comment compared to the iron bound scrolls is hilarious now in 2022
I don't think so. I see 30th Anniversary Edition as being more like a commemorative t-shirt with a black lotus on it, rather than an actual game piece. So far as I'm concerned they have still upheld their promise to not reprint the actual cards.
Liliana becomes a very important part of the Gateswatch, Betrays the Gatewatch AND COMES OUT ON TOP. At least compared to the other members :D
To be fair to Nahiri, it wasn't just that Sorin didn't come when she called, it was also that she thought her own world had been destroyed (since she saw the Eldrazi free again), and also she'd been tortured in the Helvault for like a thousand years.