Finding out that Odric is still on the humans' side made me tear up in relief. Lunarch Marshall was the first legendary creature I've opened in a booster pack so he has a special place in my heart.
Yeah cuz I thought it would've been another signature "Innistrad Gut Punch" (The term I use to describe whenever something happens in innistrad that targets the good guys in the story and makes things worse for them. e.g. Sorin unmaking Avacyn; Olivia swooping in and stopping the ritual at the last minute; the morbid fate of the two Angelic sisters; Sorin trapped in stone and abandoned; and many more) if he turned randomly evil because he became a vampire....I think this is more epic, he's a vampire and all they did was make him younger so he's more of a combatant against the forces of the night, to quote another vampire with these words of wisdom "You dun goofed!"
Sam, I would love your take on the magic mana symbols. Their origin and change throughout the history of the game. For instance the swamp symbol used to have longer teeth. It kind of looked like a jellyfish if you compare it to the modern one. Or even how they offcenter the symbols inside their little grey circles now, giving it depth. All that stuff and much more, but told better by you :) Can't wait to see what masterpiece you created this time btw, but I wanted this comment out there fast. Cheers
Looking at the new card, it feels like wizards knows they cant kill a fan favorite, but wizards have no love for the character. It must have taken the like 2 minutes to design the new card. Copy pasted half the text from Lunarch marshall and not given any thought to how backwards and insignificant such an ability is compared to his previous cards. New Odric is pretty much useless, something Odric should never be.
@@Wistbacka they did him no justice. Protection from vampires would have been such an awesome bit of flavour that wouldnt really have made the card better in anyway
*Arvad the Cursed* was Magic’s trial run for the knight-turned-vampire. He lacks Odric’s pathos, but he does have this pithy exchange aboard the Weatherlight: “The others trust your sigils, but if you touch anyone I’ll personally gut you like a fish.” “That probably won’t kill me.”
Hello Rhystic Studies! Although it doesn't really matter, I would point out that there is a slight mistake in the video. At 2:00 you call Nearheath a town, but according to Art of Innistrad, Nearheath is a region in Gavony consisting of the Videns, Wittal and Effalen parishes. Great video as always!
That Odric’s sword still glows even with his religion collapsed and deity dead shows it’s power comes from a source that transcends Avacyn, that transcends religion itself, a deeper source that all white mana flows from. It just took him awhile to find that place inside himself again.
As a side note about the REM song, "Losing my Religion": The phrase "losing my religion" actually means "to be at the end of your rope" according to the artist
I think you hit the nail right on the head with this one regarding Odric's transformation. Him staring at the moon is what really hit me, very close to the classic motifs like living to see the sunrise or more so "in the light of day we are reborn" etc but flipped; and I think so very impactful because it is, as the moon, gentle.
We've gotten too used to the resource creation and the payoff being stapled together on the same card. It's not a terrible card, just needs other pieces to make him good. There have been far, far worse cards created.
As a classical studies major, I was hooked the moment you said hamartia. As for Odric, I do wish the card in Vow had a little more punch to it, but he's still cool enough that I'm not too sore about it. I'm a sucker for reversals of fortune and reversals of expectation, so that he hasn't turned to evil is just neat, to me.
Would've fit him more if he actually did turn evil, but then realized he still has good left in him and perform a cathartic(pun intended) action, redeeming himself in the process, possibly by sacrificing his life again. That would be more intresting than his almost immediate realization "Oh, I'am actually not a bad guy", which feels like a lazy writing decision, but could be justified with Odric's stalwart and stubborn character, that even the curse of vampirism didn't crush his resolve.
Odric was always one of my favorites characters, and i cannot express the sadness I felt when i found out he had been turned. Thank you for doing this video, he truly is a unappreciated character in MTG
@@ferdithetank7535 I feel like if we were going for a pure redemption route they could have just had him die instead of being turned Honestly that felt less like the culmination of the tragic hero story and more kicking a man while he was down
Odric's vampire conversion breaks the Innistrad's lore. Vampire converts must be willing, otherwise it will only create a mindless thrull. The WoTC lore staff are too lazy to read their own lore from a couple of years ago.
Yeah, this only 'contradicts' if you assume everything is literal, and don't see the metaphor of Odric's own loss of humanity that has already happened.
Odric is one of my favorite characters in MTG Lore, so I'm really excited to see this new chapter of his story. Shame his card is a steaming pile of dogass.
I just hope he’s able to retain his humanity in the long run. If we went through all this, just to see him tearing life from the innocent next time he appears, it’ll be crushing.
Odric! My boy! Was so sad to see that the vampires got him 😭 his Lunarch Marshal printing inspired my first EDH deck, human tribal of course. Im a biiig fan of tragic heroes even outside of MTG, so this was such a cool analysis of his story to see!!
I loved this so much! I've had an Odric deck for like 4 years now, and even though it's my favorite out of the many I've built over the years, I never actually knew his backstory. I can't help but say that it's definitely given me a whole new appreciation for the card and the character himself. Really great story, and in absolutely excellent narration. Keep up the amazing work my friend.
I don't read any of the books, but I love the story! It's amazing how they can tell such complex stories through just a few hundred cards. When you're constantly discovering new parts of the story, and especially when you're playing with the pieces themselves, it feels like you are right there in the action. Magic the Gathering is a wonderful and unique storytelling medium, and I love it!
I was incredibly moved and inspired by this story when I read it, and this video just deepens my adoration of both the character and the writers telling his tale
The story hit me like a truck, the beats of it were so hard hitting I teared up several times. To hell with the playability of the card, this character has become much greater than a game piece. Your video was gorgeous, as always your analysis was moving as well. Another fantastic job!
Makes me all the sadder that the new Odric is card is so shit. I get that he's a vampire, but it's a flavor fail that he only makes a bunch of Blood tokens, which are just shitty Clues unless you are playing vampires that care about Blood. There's some artifact synergy possible, but it would still probably have too many hoops to jump through to be worthwhile.
I honestly REALLY like the card. It's not a self fulfilling powercard, but it interacts with a lot of different things in different ways. It rewards you for a diverse battlefield of creatures, it rewards artifact generation synergies, it rewards discard based strategies like reanimation or madness, it rewards blink synergies by giving you more and more blood... I think people are too hard on it. As a commander it's a very complicated card to build around and that's what I like about it, you can lean into one aspect of it's design or you can try to juggle all of them together.
@@hrd2h1t You're definitely in the minority on that opinion (not that that is bad). I personally am really sad that the one card I was looking forward to was utterly ruined. His ETB ability is way too clunky and requires way too much set up for very little and specific pay off. :/ I wanted an even better version of the last Odric we got, interacting with keywords in a meaningful way, but instead we got a WR bulk rare that no one will ever play with unless it's a super Odric fan or in limited (and even in Limited there are better options).
@@hrd2h1t it's a vanilla 3/3 for 3. Really, the blood token mechanic isn't even that good in limited, especially considering Odric's ability will usually produce 0, 1, or 2 tokens in any given deck.
@@TheEvilCheesecake This is not an obvious take by any means. The video does not speak to the new cards abilities or what it does as a card. It purely speaks to the lore. The original comment is a sentiment shared by many, but not all. Some love the lore aspect to the new card, and some such as myself and OP, really dislike the card mechanically.
Doric’s transformation reminds of the classic “He who hunts monsters” quote. It’s just a little disappointing reading the story and it being great but swing the card and it being absolute garbage
Sam, you are by far my favorite content creator. The level of quality you put into every video is astounding. Thank you for all that you do, you're truly a gift to the Magic community.
I really like the way they use common tropes to really hold out that he there's still hope for him. We all know vampires don't have a reflection, for example, and using that small little detail to show he is still human is something I find really cool.
On Innistrad, vampires do have a reflection, but when reflected in silver-backed mirrors or moonlit running water, they appear as they would if they were mortal.
i loved his story as i read it, and I'd say the tragedy is heightened further by the fact that not only is his card woefully bad, it also does nothing to convey his tragic story,
Huh, reread The Blessing of Blood and then needed to look up Innistrad Vampires. Their reflections is how they would be in normal life as if they weren't ever a vampire, but Odric saw himself as a notably younger man with vampire features.
So many people (me included) were bummed and even upset about Odric turning into a vampire. So I really appreciate this analysis in the overall story. Really puts into prespective how good the Magic story can be and is!
Cool story but as an Odric fan man was I disappointed by the card. I got no end of roasting from the lads at my LGS about it, I loved Lunarch Marshal but this one is just dogwater.
2:31 I swear, if they ever get around to doing the _Magic_ movie, if they don't cast en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Connolly as Odric, I'm going to be very upset!
I like in the art it shows the flips of Avacyn’s symbol on his sword throughout the different stages of the story. when Odric is most similar to Avacyn the collar is faced the right direction but when he is opsonising her his sword has the collar upside down
the line about odric seeing his reflection in the sword may be refencing the fact that in a lot of vampire mythos, vampires do not have a reflection. him seeing a reflection symbolizes him still having his humanity
Love the video, love the short story, love what they did with Odric by making him Blade, love having a cool red white vampire card Just kind of disappointed with how underwhelming the actual card is :(
Thanks for this one! Great video on a great character. I hope you'll do more of this type of content, analysing characters' journeys over several cards depicting them. BTW I always loved Odric's story and cards, but never thought he had so many fans out there. Not too many Vorthoses where I play. The new card seems rather 'meh 'crunch-wise, but it depicts such a key moment in his arc that I will get a copy anyway :P .
I gotta say, this story doesn't at all sound like a tragedy. What was Odric's flaw, really? The vampiric conversion seemed detached from any of his decisions. He didn't lose anything, not even his humanity. He did heroic things up to the very end. Where is the tragedy? He didn't kill his friend or cross any moral event horizon. I'm baffled. Did Wizards give you a script to read or something? This doesn't pass muster.
I was thinking this too. I’m happy for Sam with the sponsorship, but he really seems to be grasping at air to come up with any depth to this thinly veiled twist on Blade. Makes it hard for him to meet the standard he’s set in previous videos where he got to build the whole vehicle. This feels much more like wizards gave him the keys to a beat up car and he had to drive it as best he could.
Well then WotC failed in my case because I have nothing but disgust and contempt for Odric's transformation. I'm sick of WotC's treatment of their white characters, the only praise I can offer for this sad state of offers is at least they didn't make him mentally a monster as well.
As someone whose favourite color pair is Boros I identify myself so much with this comment. They are just missing the mark by far on what we like and want :(
Thank you so much for covering this. When I learned that Odric had turned, I worried that he had lost he humanity and become a monster. I'm relieved to hear that that's not completely true. Here's hoping for an epic, Alucard-esque Odric.
This channel presents the blend of mtg and humanities elements with amazing narration/editing, for me without fail I am moved to tears. From Rhystic Studies it has solidified art as my favorite aspect of MTG.
4:03 Hey, that's the classical variation of the Pirc defense! That's my main opening with black, though I like Pawn c6 rather than Knight. Rhystic, any particular reason you picked that or was it just generic chess for the metaphor?
this is the beautiful game Tal vs Petrosian from Moscow 1974, in which Tal sacrifices his knight to set up a mating net against one of the greatest defenders in chess history. I chose it because white wins, which metaphorically mirrors Odric's struggle against the darkness. I also wanted to parallel Odric's sacrifice to Henrika to the knight sacrifice, but it didn't exactly pan out in editing.
@@RhysticStudies Ah yes, I just pulled up the game and see exactly what you mean. It'd bog down the video to fully explain that metaphor. It's tough for a layperson to see why that Knight sacrifice was so strong since it's threatening a mate ~6 moves out. Amusingly, my engine says it's still forced mate in 18 moves after black develops their Knight to stop the Queen's mate in 4. Tal is an incredible attacker.
It’s not a tragedy. Trying to poison your enemy and instead killing your wife is tragic. Trying to shoot a burglar and hitting your wife is tragic. Sacrificing yourself to save your friend is NOT tragic. That’s just being a hero. Tragedy is a result of poor planning, misguided rage, or impetuousness, that results in unintended consequences because you indulged yourself or were lazy. Odric did nothing wrong here. That makes his story unfortunate, but not tragic.
I should say “he did nothing wrong in the chapel”, because he did do wrong things in the past, but imprisoning Thalia does not causally result in the consequence of vampirism. Rather, his vampirism results from his heroic actions.
@@joelthejedi1 ya I think this video is more a result of wizards saying “this is a tragic story. Please delve into how it is!” than it is Sam misaligning it as such. It definitely felt a little off though, I agree.
J S., I feel I should agree to your comment. Also the part of Henrika getting the blade, wielding it that good for someone possibly untrained, Odric not being able to parry the blow when jumping in front, and after he was already slashed she going to transform him are a plethora of things that doesn't make sense to me narrative-wise :/
Odric, Master Tactician: steep requirement, but controlling combat is cool Odric, Lunarch Marshal: keywords matter, can snowball if you can stick the right creatures down Odric, Blood-Cursed: have a bunch of keywords already in play for a very underwhelming benefit that only really works in Vampire tribal decks tooled to make it work. I mean, you could conceivably have a bigger flavor fail, but you'd have to really try.
The deck containing "Odric the Master Tactician" was my first set of MtG Cards I possessed, my very first cards that were just mine to look at and play with. I still love that card. Later on, I bought the "Krenko, Mob Boss" deck (from the same set), kindling my love for collecting TCGs again
Dear Sam, My Girlfriend and I love to listen to you. I play since 1998 / Urzas Saga and she was thought by her brother during thr first Ravnica Block. She especially like your art oriented videos, because she herself loves to paint and even had art class as an graduation exam from high school. Your videos on the story and background of Magic do bring us more together as players and thanks to you we can appreciate the art, lore, and flavor of Magic always even more. Thanks you. But, as Germans (from the northwest) we have to ask, how did you come up with Großweil. We never heard of it.
![ได้เวลา! พาน้องแฝดฉีดวัคซีนครบ 1 เดือน🫣 [cc] แดนแพทตี้ SS2 | EP.52 |](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IzeLtaXBLNE/mqdefault.jpg)
I like how Rhystic Studies's analyses are so good, Wizards is paying him to explain their lore for them.
They need it, for making vampire Odric so bad
Accurate
@@andrewhartnett5271 geedubs WISHES they had a Rhystic Studios...
What is Sam going to do when he has to explain how furbies make sense in the lore?
@@dagreen92 honestly it should have been sac a non creature token: creatures you control get one of Lunarch Marshall's keywords until end of turn.
I like how Odric filling his veins with holy water is what made him keep his mind and maintain control over himself
I can't believe how good this video is, you keep outdoing yourself
Can you do an artist episode on Jerry Tiritilli? He's been with Magic since the beginning and I think it'd make a really cool episode.
Finding out that Odric is still on the humans' side made me tear up in relief. Lunarch Marshall was the first legendary creature I've opened in a booster pack so he has a special place in my heart.
Yeah cuz I thought it would've been another signature "Innistrad Gut Punch" (The term I use to describe whenever something happens in innistrad that targets the good guys in the story and makes things worse for them. e.g. Sorin unmaking Avacyn; Olivia swooping in and stopping the ritual at the last minute; the morbid fate of the two Angelic sisters; Sorin trapped in stone and abandoned; and many more) if he turned randomly evil because he became a vampire....I think this is more epic, he's a vampire and all they did was make him younger so he's more of a combatant against the forces of the night, to quote another vampire with these words of wisdom "You dun goofed!"
Jeez just got spoiled for the video and didn’t even click on the comments lmao
@@CustodialDaniel Sorry about that, guess it was the comment preview on mobile?
@@Rukalin not your fault lol
And yeah
My theory is that he is partially immune
Sam, I would love your take on the magic mana symbols. Their origin and change throughout the history of the game. For instance the swamp symbol used to have longer teeth. It kind of looked like a jellyfish if you compare it to the modern one. Or even how they offcenter the symbols inside their little grey circles now, giving it depth. All that stuff and much more, but told better by you :)
Can't wait to see what masterpiece you created this time btw, but I wanted this comment out there fast. Cheers
Cool idea, there would probably also be room to mention the Hybrid and Phyrexian mana symbols, and also potentially the change of the Tap symbol.
@@NrgSpoon Absolutely! Though, knowing how meticulous Sam makes his videos, this would make for a 5-part series or more haha. Bring it on :)
Big bump to this idea, sounds great.
Magic's most foolish card is the friends we found along the way
you mispelt Vizzerdrix
They couldn't kill him off, they knew he'd look too badass as a vampire.
Looking at the new card, it feels like wizards knows they cant kill a fan favorite, but wizards have no love for the character. It must have taken the like 2 minutes to design the new card. Copy pasted half the text from Lunarch marshall and not given any thought to how backwards and insignificant such an ability is compared to his previous cards.
New Odric is pretty much useless, something Odric should never be.
@@Wistbacka they did him no justice. Protection from vampires would have been such an awesome bit of flavour that wouldnt really have made the card better in anyway
@@Wistbacka I mean they clearly WANTED to kill him off last set. He wanted to die after he saw Avacyn go mad, but Thalia wouldn't let him.
If that didn't ignite his planeswalker spark nothing ever will 😔
Odric is a character whose depictions I've always loved. He's exactly the character I often try to play in Dungeons & Dragons.
Damn, we got a Wizard's sponsorship bois
Thats some progress
This video is good and all but it leaves me wondering: What is magic's most foolish card?
"I want a banana this big"
Something goblin related?
One of the bunny cards. Maybe one of the piranha cards
It would have to be something absurdly foolish, like a 6/6 for 7 mana
It's definitely Odric, Blood-Cursed.
*Arvad the Cursed* was Magic’s trial run for the knight-turned-vampire. He lacks Odric’s pathos, but he does have this pithy exchange aboard the Weatherlight:
“The others trust your sigils, but if you touch anyone I’ll personally gut you like a fish.”
“That probably won’t kill me.”
Now i need to make a deck with them as partners.
It's a good thing their new typing is vampire because I don't think either card is ever going to see the light of day again.
Hello Rhystic Studies! Although it doesn't really matter, I would point out that there is a slight mistake in the video. At 2:00 you call Nearheath a town, but according to Art of Innistrad, Nearheath is a region in Gavony consisting of the Videns, Wittal and Effalen parishes. Great video as always!
You see this? THIS IS HOW YOU BUILD CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM!
That Odric’s sword still glows even with his religion collapsed and deity dead shows it’s power comes from a source that transcends Avacyn, that transcends religion itself, a deeper source that all white mana flows from. It just took him awhile to find that place inside himself again.
That should be flavor text
its analyses like these that makes me love myself for being a white player
"The sword of avacyn glowing brighter than ever before" what a line
Light grows brighter when deep in darkness
Everything on Innistrad is a Gothic masterpiece. Tragic, or made ironic in sorrow.
As a side note about the REM song, "Losing my Religion": The phrase "losing my religion" actually means "to be at the end of your rope" according to the artist
Odric was at the end of his rope indeed
Yes, but some people take it literally and that's okay. It's especially relevant in Poland as more and more people leave the corrupt church.
I agree. It works both literally and figuratively, i just found it interesting is all
I think you hit the nail right on the head with this one regarding Odric's transformation. Him staring at the moon is what really hit me, very close to the classic motifs like living to see the sunrise or more so "in the light of day we are reborn" etc but flipped; and I think so very impactful because it is, as the moon, gentle.
Hi Mr. Study!
Thats professor Mr. study to you
The biggest tragedy is his terrible and uninspired Vampire card.
Eh I’ve seen worse, I think it’s just the other two cards were much cooler and more interesting
@@Kaanfight it carried me in inistrad limited
We've gotten too used to the resource creation and the payoff being stapled together on the same card. It's not a terrible card, just needs other pieces to make him good. There have been far, far worse cards created.
There's some ludo narrative dissonance there since it synergises much better with other vampires than with humans.
@@anthonydelfino6171 It's a terrible card because blood tokens are a terrible mechanic.
As a classical studies major, I was hooked the moment you said hamartia. As for Odric, I do wish the card in Vow had a little more punch to it, but he's still cool enough that I'm not too sore about it. I'm a sucker for reversals of fortune and reversals of expectation, so that he hasn't turned to evil is just neat, to me.
Would've fit him more if he actually did turn evil, but then realized he still has good left in him and perform a cathartic(pun intended) action, redeeming himself in the process, possibly by sacrificing his life again.
That would be more intresting than his almost immediate realization "Oh, I'am actually not a bad guy", which feels like a lazy writing decision, but could be justified with Odric's stalwart and stubborn character, that even the curse of vampirism didn't crush his resolve.
His card really sucks though, seems to be a terrible irony of being a vampire.
Odric was always one of my favorites characters, and i cannot express the sadness I felt when i found out he had been turned. Thank you for doing this video, he truly is a unappreciated character in MTG
Turned, but not broken. He has a great opportunity for redemption.
@@ferdithetank7535 I feel like if we were going for a pure redemption route they could have just had him die instead of being turned
Honestly that felt less like the culmination of the tragic hero story and more kicking a man while he was down
I used to like Odric's character over the years, but MAN do I love him more now :D
Odric's vampire conversion breaks the Innistrad's lore. Vampire converts must be willing, otherwise it will only create a mindless thrull. The WoTC lore staff are too lazy to read their own lore from a couple of years ago.
Maybe he was so desperate of changing that he wanted it to some extent
Yeah, this only 'contradicts' if you assume everything is literal, and don't see the metaphor of Odric's own loss of humanity that has already happened.
Odric is one of my favorite characters in MTG Lore, so I'm really excited to see this new chapter of his story. Shame his card is a steaming pile of dogass.
WotC sponsored?! You deserve it man.
Top notch. Glad wizards has finally decided to support you. You’ve enriched their game and world for so long with your amazing videos
The real tragedy is how bad his new card is
yawn. cool opinion bro.
lmao i'm sorry but henrika transforming odric and than booking it has very "fuck go back" vibes
Is this how you think people talk
A great character!
Just wish he had a better card...
Just like anyone else. . .
Was it too much to give him some evasion ; so he could at least "do" something by himself ?
I just hope he’s able to retain his humanity in the long run. If we went through all this, just to see him tearing life from the innocent next time he appears, it’ll be crushing.
I honestly don’t think they’ll do that. It seems like the story has recovered, and that includes characters.
...this just makes the actual card they did of him even more infuriating! D:
Regardless, excellent video Sam.
Agreed, a shameful waste of a character.
@@eightywight Waste of a character? We will see Odric again, doubly so after all the complaining.
Odric! My boy! Was so sad to see that the vampires got him 😭 his Lunarch Marshal printing inspired my first EDH deck, human tribal of course. Im a biiig fan of tragic heroes even outside of MTG, so this was such a cool analysis of his story to see!!
I loved this so much! I've had an Odric deck for like 4 years now, and even though it's my favorite out of the many I've built over the years, I never actually knew his backstory. I can't help but say that it's definitely given me a whole new appreciation for the card and the character himself. Really great story, and in absolutely excellent narration. Keep up the amazing work my friend.
i’ve been learning about greek tragedy for months in school but the way you tell this story gives it a whole new life, amazing video.
The true tragedy was the trash card they gave my man. That truly made tremble, although with contempt rather than fear
what a coincidence, just finished rewatching all your vids for the 5th time yesterday
I don't read any of the books, but I love the story! It's amazing how they can tell such complex stories through just a few hundred cards. When you're constantly discovering new parts of the story, and especially when you're playing with the pieces themselves, it feels like you are right there in the action. Magic the Gathering is a wonderful and unique storytelling medium, and I love it!
You know what Rhystic, your only sin is that your videos end.
Finally, Wizards of the coast is supporting this great channel.
Honestly the thing about Odric turning into a vampire that really hurts me, is that his card its so bad.
Ugh yeah that card is so disappointing
Every time you upload it's like a gentle reminder that sometimes I can just drop everything to enjoy what I love.
I was incredibly moved and inspired by this story when I read it, and this video just deepens my adoration of both the character and the writers telling his tale
The story hit me like a truck, the beats of it were so hard hitting I teared up several times. To hell with the playability of the card, this character has become much greater than a game piece.
Your video was gorgeous, as always your analysis was moving as well. Another fantastic job!
Makes me all the sadder that the new Odric is card is so shit. I get that he's a vampire, but it's a flavor fail that he only makes a bunch of Blood tokens, which are just shitty Clues unless you are playing vampires that care about Blood. There's some artifact synergy possible, but it would still probably have too many hoops to jump through to be worthwhile.
The true tragedy of Odric is that his new card isn't that good.
I honestly REALLY like the card. It's not a self fulfilling powercard, but it interacts with a lot of different things in different ways. It rewards you for a diverse battlefield of creatures, it rewards artifact generation synergies, it rewards discard based strategies like reanimation or madness, it rewards blink synergies by giving you more and more blood... I think people are too hard on it. As a commander it's a very complicated card to build around and that's what I like about it, you can lean into one aspect of it's design or you can try to juggle all of them together.
@@hrd2h1t You're definitely in the minority on that opinion (not that that is bad). I personally am really sad that the one card I was looking forward to was utterly ruined. His ETB ability is way too clunky and requires way too much set up for very little and specific pay off. :/ I wanted an even better version of the last Odric we got, interacting with keywords in a meaningful way, but instead we got a WR bulk rare that no one will ever play with unless it's a super Odric fan or in limited (and even in Limited there are better options).
Baffling that the only thing you got from this video was a need to post this obvious take.
@@hrd2h1t it's a vanilla 3/3 for 3. Really, the blood token mechanic isn't even that good in limited, especially considering Odric's ability will usually produce 0, 1, or 2 tokens in any given deck.
@@TheEvilCheesecake This is not an obvious take by any means. The video does not speak to the new cards abilities or what it does as a card. It purely speaks to the lore. The original comment is a sentiment shared by many, but not all. Some love the lore aspect to the new card, and some such as myself and OP, really dislike the card mechanically.
Odric's another tragedy is how underwhelming his new card is. But we must imagine Odric happy.
Doric’s transformation reminds of the classic “He who hunts monsters” quote. It’s just a little disappointing reading the story and it being great but swing the card and it being absolute garbage
Reminds me of Arvad the Cursed a Benalish Knight turned vampire who still upholds his knightly devotion despite hungering for blood
Sam, you are by far my favorite content creator. The level of quality you put into every video is astounding. Thank you for all that you do, you're truly a gift to the Magic community.
I really like the way they use common tropes to really hold out that he there's still hope for him. We all know vampires don't have a reflection, for example, and using that small little detail to show he is still human is something I find really cool.
On Innistrad, vampires do have a reflection, but when reflected in silver-backed mirrors or moonlit running water, they appear as they would if they were mortal.
This.. was incredible
i loved his story as i read it, and I'd say the tragedy is heightened further by the fact that not only is his card woefully bad, it also does nothing to convey his tragic story,
Huh, reread The Blessing of Blood and then needed to look up Innistrad Vampires. Their reflections is how they would be in normal life as if they weren't ever a vampire, but Odric saw himself as a notably younger man with vampire features.
Rhystic studies has officially won at life, getting sponsored by wizards of the coast, so cool.
And I thought you were going to talk about the disappointing card.
So many people (me included) were bummed and even upset about Odric turning into a vampire. So I really appreciate this analysis in the overall story. Really puts into prespective how good the Magic story can be and is!
Man these videos are always a piece of art, I love it so much! Beautifully summarised and narrated. What a shame the card is so badly designed...
Odric, Sorin, Avacyn, Bruna&Gisela
constant change in Innistrad.
Only one thing remains constant, your non-creature spells cost (1) more to cast.
Cool story but as an Odric fan man was I disappointed by the card. I got no end of roasting from the lads at my LGS about it, I loved Lunarch Marshal but this one is just dogwater.
Odric's story is so good, amazing video. to bad his newest version is now magic most foolish card
Oh, I see, so the jankness of Odric's new card is also part of his tragedy!
everything makes sense now
2:31 I swear, if they ever get around to doing the _Magic_ movie, if they don't cast en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Connolly as Odric, I'm going to be very upset!
I like in the art it shows the flips of Avacyn’s symbol on his sword throughout the different stages of the story. when Odric is most similar to Avacyn the collar is faced the right direction but when he is opsonising her his sword has the collar upside down
the line about odric seeing his reflection in the sword may be refencing the fact that in a lot of vampire mythos, vampires do not have a reflection. him seeing a reflection symbolizes him still having his humanity
This makes me even more upset about the card they gave him. I really enjoyed the video and I hope we get another, better Odric someday.
I wanna see more of this! Great video: amazing that it is sponsored by WotC
All I want is for them to stop making a tragic ending for a monowhite character every block, or what feels like it.
Love the video, love the short story, love what they did with Odric by making him Blade, love having a cool red white vampire card
Just kind of disappointed with how underwhelming the actual card is :(
Odric puts the cathar in catharsis.
Glad Wizards finally found the best damn MTG lore master out there and partnered with him. Wizards if you read this Do more with Rhystic!!
I am honestly relieved Odric didn't become another Glissa situation. As always a very impressive and satisfying video.
Just for opinions, should I make an Odric commander deck?
Thanks for this one! Great video on a great character. I hope you'll do more of this type of content, analysing characters' journeys over several cards depicting them. BTW I always loved Odric's story and cards, but never thought he had so many fans out there. Not too many Vorthoses where I play. The new card seems rather 'meh 'crunch-wise, but it depicts such a key moment in his arc that I will get a copy anyway :P .
A tragedy of the highest caliber for sure.
I gotta say, this story doesn't at all sound like a tragedy. What was Odric's flaw, really? The vampiric conversion seemed detached from any of his decisions. He didn't lose anything, not even his humanity. He did heroic things up to the very end. Where is the tragedy? He didn't kill his friend or cross any moral event horizon. I'm baffled. Did Wizards give you a script to read or something? This doesn't pass muster.
I was thinking this too. I’m happy for Sam with the sponsorship, but he really seems to be grasping at air to come up with any depth to this thinly veiled twist on Blade. Makes it hard for him to meet the standard he’s set in previous videos where he got to build the whole vehicle. This feels much more like wizards gave him the keys to a beat up car and he had to drive it as best he could.
Every one of these videos are relaxing, fascinating, professional, and hypnotizing. Always gotta watch when a Rhystic Studies video comes out.
Well then WotC failed in my case because I have nothing but disgust and contempt for Odric's transformation. I'm sick of WotC's treatment of their white characters, the only praise I can offer for this sad state of offers is at least they didn't make him mentally a monster as well.
As someone whose favourite color pair is Boros I identify myself so much with this comment. They are just missing the mark by far on what we like and want :(
His card is terrible
So is ormandahl released in both inistrsd blocks?
Petition for Sam to be in charge of all future magic lore explainer videos. Absolutely top notch my dude.
You videos are a blessing and a treasure. As always, thank you.
Instant classic again dr.rhystic
They did Odric so dirty with his story and his new card.
What's wrong with the story?
Thank you so much for covering this. When I learned that Odric had turned, I worried that he had lost he humanity and become a monster. I'm relieved to hear that that's not completely true. Here's hoping for an epic, Alucard-esque Odric.
This channel presents the blend of mtg and humanities elements with amazing narration/editing, for me without fail I am moved to tears. From Rhystic Studies it has solidified art as my favorite aspect of MTG.
SPONSORED BY WIZARDS LETS GOOOOOO SAM
This video was absolutely incredible and opened my eyes to how remarkable Odric's story is!
4:03 Hey, that's the classical variation of the Pirc defense! That's my main opening with black, though I like Pawn c6 rather than Knight. Rhystic, any particular reason you picked that or was it just generic chess for the metaphor?
this is the beautiful game Tal vs Petrosian from Moscow 1974, in which Tal sacrifices his knight to set up a mating net against one of the greatest defenders in chess history. I chose it because white wins, which metaphorically mirrors Odric's struggle against the darkness. I also wanted to parallel Odric's sacrifice to Henrika to the knight sacrifice, but it didn't exactly pan out in editing.
@@RhysticStudies Ah yes, I just pulled up the game and see exactly what you mean. It'd bog down the video to fully explain that metaphor. It's tough for a layperson to see why that Knight sacrifice was so strong since it's threatening a mate ~6 moves out. Amusingly, my engine says it's still forced mate in 18 moves after black develops their Knight to stop the Queen's mate in 4. Tal is an incredible attacker.
It will be badass if Odric, Thalia, and Sorin team up against the forces of evil of Innistrad
1:21 Dude. Spoilers.
It’s not a tragedy. Trying to poison your enemy and instead killing your wife is tragic. Trying to shoot a burglar and hitting your wife is tragic.
Sacrificing yourself to save your friend is NOT tragic. That’s just being a hero.
Tragedy is a result of poor planning, misguided rage, or impetuousness, that results in unintended consequences because you indulged yourself or were lazy. Odric did nothing wrong here. That makes his story unfortunate, but not tragic.
I should say “he did nothing wrong in the chapel”, because he did do wrong things in the past, but imprisoning Thalia does not causally result in the consequence of vampirism.
Rather, his vampirism results from his heroic actions.
@@joelthejedi1 ya I think this video is more a result of wizards saying “this is a tragic story. Please delve into how it is!” than it is Sam misaligning it as such. It definitely felt a little off though, I agree.
J S., I feel I should agree to your comment. Also the part of Henrika getting the blade, wielding it that good for someone possibly untrained, Odric not being able to parry the blow when jumping in front, and after he was already slashed she going to transform him are a plethora of things that doesn't make sense to me narrative-wise :/
Broooooooooo dat sponsorship tho
The Tragic Hero reminds me of a character called Guts from Berserk 😮
My dream is for you and Frederick Knudson to do a podcast on literature
Odric, Master Tactician: steep requirement, but controlling combat is cool
Odric, Lunarch Marshal: keywords matter, can snowball if you can stick the right creatures down
Odric, Blood-Cursed: have a bunch of keywords already in play for a very underwhelming benefit that only really works in Vampire tribal decks tooled to make it work. I mean, you could conceivably have a bigger flavor fail, but you'd have to really try.
The deck containing "Odric the Master Tactician" was my first set of MtG Cards I possessed, my very first cards that were just mine to look at and play with. I still love that card. Later on, I bought the "Krenko, Mob Boss" deck (from the same set), kindling my love for collecting TCGs again
Dear Sam,
My Girlfriend and I love to listen to you. I play since 1998 / Urzas Saga and she was thought by her brother during thr first Ravnica Block. She especially like your art oriented videos, because she herself loves to paint and even had art class as an graduation exam from high school. Your videos on the story and background of Magic do bring us more together as players and thanks to you we can appreciate the art, lore, and flavor of Magic always even more.
Thanks you.
But, as Germans (from the northwest) we have to ask, how did you come up with Großweil. We never heard of it.
Another stellar video, this one really got me emotional. Bravo sir 🔥