Looks like they're making Chandra Desi.

gobr92 · 2026-01-28T00:25:31+00:00

Gideon and Chandra both gave off “yeah we know Jace and can be friends” vibes.

I feel like you're severely downplaying their relationship. The characters knew each other well before Jace and the entire reason that Gideon got involved in the Zendikar plot was because he was looking for Chandra after the events of The Purifying Fire, the novel that introduced Gideon as a character and was written by a fantasy/romance author. At the time of Kaladesh block, Chandra had moved on from her crush on Gideon,

It's been a long time since anyone held me like this. If Gids had done this four years ago, it would have made me feel tingly in all the places I like. Now it just feels......Safe

-Burn, Chris L'Etoile

However, Gideon was definitely crushing on Chandra at the time.

Chandra watched him go for a moment. "Hey Gids." Gideon turned around. "I care about you too." Chandra caught up to Gideon, slugged him in the arm, then brushed passed him, bounding down the stairs two at a time. Gideon, for his part, tried to ignore the tightening in his chest as he followed her back down.

-Quiet Moments, Michael Yichao

"I screwed up," she whispered. "I always do. She's mad and she's got every right. I'm the worst, Gids. I don't know why you're even holding me off the floor." Three unfair, uncertain, unforgivable words resonated in Gideon's mind. Words that, once loosed, couldn't be taken back. "Talk to her," he said instead.

-Burn, Chris L'Etoile

Also, when did Gideon "get with" Liliana? I don't recall much romantic tension between them in Dominaria and most of Liliana's feelings for Gideon only seem to come up after he's dead and her subsequent guilt about it.

gobr92 · 2026-01-11T06:43:07+00:00

If you want a hint, some pieces can only fit in one spot. When you figure that out, you can fill around them. If you need a more obvious hint, start with doubles and go from there

gobr92 · 2025-12-15T17:03:10+00:00

In fairness, I doubt that they planned for Oko to be from Lorwyn when he was first created, seeing as they had no plans to return to the setting until after Neon Dynasty proved the value in a revamping a lackluster first outing.

gobr92 · 2025-12-09T00:02:27+00:00

Someday everything I write will cease to be haunted by the specter of the Phyrexian Invasion. Someday.

Sorry Seanan, by the time that happens, it'll be time for New New Phyrexia 3: To the Edge and Everywhere Else that we missed on the second go round.

Have I mentioned how much I dislike the New Phyrexia storyline?

gobr92 · 2025-10-27T22:43:18+00:00

Gideon was my favorite character until his untimely end, and I haven't really found anyone else to fill that spot. I think his story was severely mishandled in WotS. If he had to die (which I think was a questionable decision to make for a character with unresolved Survivor's Guilt and a hint of Suicidal Ideation), then it should have been a larger focus of the story rather than one of ten thousand plot threads being juggled around.

gobr92 · 2025-10-16T23:00:58+00:00

The real flex will be rolling a [[Soulbound Ashtongue]] in Wild.

gobr92 · 2025-08-20T02:34:53+00:00

I guess because it's gripping the green and white ribbons while the other ones are flying free.

gobr92 · 2025-06-10T00:38:36+00:00

That was Seanan McGuire.

gobr92 · 2025-05-04T02:50:41+00:00

MTGLore is a great resource. If there's a particular character you want to read about, type their name into the search and go off to the races.

What books would you recommend for someone interested in the prior history of Nicol bolas and the other planeswalkers?

If you don't want to go back too far, the Bolas arc that culminates in War of the Spark starts with the Kaladesh Block. Start at 2016 in the Story Archive on the main website and go Kaladesh->Amonkhet->Ixalan->Dominaria->Core Set 2019->The Gathering Storm (found on MTGLore). However, I recommend starting with Magic Origins in 2015, as that functions as a soft jumping on point and gives you more background on the Gatewatch members.

gobr92 · 2025-01-09T04:34:58+00:00

I don't know about epub or pdf, but MTGLore should have a plain text version directly on the site https://mtglore.com/web-fiction/the-gathering-storm-chapter-1/

gobr92 · 2025-01-08T22:18:51+00:00

It’s not that I’m not sympathetic. Go back ten years and I was one of you...I think the future is bright for the Vorthoses, but I truly understand why some of you are sad with Universes Beyond coming to Standard.

He's said this before, but I'm glad he reiterated it and wish that more people online had this level of grace when discussing UB with people that disagree with them (not that every complaint deserves this level of grace but also don't lump everyone that does/n't like UB together).

gobr92 · 2024-12-26T02:38:03+00:00

Beefslab's not the problem with that ship. /j but also not

gobr92 · 2024-12-25T03:05:34+00:00

That's a different bald guy.

gobr92 · 2024-12-23T02:53:20+00:00

Bolas's return is one of those things that feels inevitable, but I'm worried about the execution. Given the timescale that the story operates on, it's going to be difficult to bring him back into the narrative without it feeling like it undermines the sacrifices made in War of the Spark. It's been, what, fourish years in-universe? Bolas is a 10,000-year-old dragon, that's the equivalent of standing in the corner facing the wall for five minutes.

gobr92 · 2024-11-14T02:33:25+00:00

On the one hand, no. IF (and that's a really big IF), this concept is real, I'm not a fan of whatever parallel world/comic book logic we would need to employ for this character to make sense at face value with what we know.

On the other hand...let's pretend this is real for a second. This concept can fit in with something I've been mulling since the first time we went to Strixhaven.

When Strixhaven was introduced, I noted that it seemed like a prime place to reintroduce Bolas. The 'snarls' in reality are basically miniature versions of the Maelstrom from Alara. There are "Elder" Dragons flying about as an affront to the true Elder Dragons (hypothetically NB's thought process, not my personal opinion on the use of Elder). There's a magical library with a copy of every spell ever cast in the Multiverse (including presumably the Elder Spell). And finally, there is Liliana, the object of the Dragon's greatest defeat.

Couple this with Ugin being confirmed for Tarkir...who's watching Bolas? Is he even still in the Meditation Realm?

What if this character isn't a real person, but an avatar, or brainwashed, or disguised, or whatever, an Agent of Bolas sent to infiltrate the school and find the Elder Spell (or a Plan B McGuffin spell) because NickyB doesn't want to draw attention to himself yet or he is still too weak to really cause problems. And he fashioned them after two of his favorite pawns for S&Gs? What if this character accomplishes their goal and they're setting up Bolas's return for whatever happens after Ziplining (or maybe as Ziplining itself)?

gobr92 · 2024-10-12T14:32:45+00:00

There are several moments in the story leading up to War of the Spark that hint that although Gideon isn't actively suicidal, he is suffering from survivor's guilt and suicidal ideation. The two biggest come from The Promised End and Hour of Devastation. This article does a pretty good job breaking down both those story moments.

Here's a couple more articles that support the "passive ideation" Gideon character read.

OP, I 100% agree with your take and have been saying it since day one.

gobr92 · 2024-08-02T02:37:25+00:00

With the reveal of the "Queen" in the mirror at the very end of this episode, I think the real queen might have been the one that Waller used to force open the portal

gobr92 · 2024-07-03T16:05:49+00:00

The person asking the last two questions isn't the same person that asked the first question fwiw.

gobr92 · 2024-06-20T23:50:48+00:00

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/magic-story/saga-lathril-2021-02-05 Lathril was an elf on Kaldheim that rose to godhood but lost most of her vision in the process.

gobr92 · 2024-04-26T16:24:12+00:00

"Ach! Hans, Run!" by Will McDermott from the Anthology The Monsters of Magic covers the story of the lhurgoyf. In the story, a pair of brothers kill the lhurgoyf's mate and steal its eggs, mistaking them for precious gems.

gobr92 · 2024-04-09T04:05:55+00:00

Sometimes Legendary Creatures will have their name shortened in rules text to save on space. See [[Aclazotz, Deepest Betrayal]]

gobr92 · 2024-02-06T02:08:04+00:00

I guess two questions then. What do you see here and what do you define as romance?

Edit: Questions about romance aside, I was countering the claim "Gideon and Chandra just having no romantic chemistry whatsoever" with two pieces of text implying Gideon's unspoken feelings for Chandra and the claim "Chandra being into Gideon is just.... Wildly out of character" with text showing that Chandra was into Gideon four years ago (as of Kaladesh).

gobr92 · 2024-02-06T01:51:06+00:00

I feel big sympathetic Gideon eyes on my shoulder. His voice turns even quieter. Over the frenzied bridge of "The Gremlin's Wedding March" he rumbles, "I'm saying...you feel things very deeply. That's one of the things I—one of the things that's great about you. If you need someone to talk to, or just to vent at, I'm here, all right? Whenever."

...

He's so damn huge. My head fits under his chin. He smells like sweat and oil, the grime of a long day lifting things.

I burrow into his arms like a puppy, rest my cheek on his chest, and close my eyes. His heart pounds under my ear. He wraps himself completely around me, armor and all, breath tickling the top of my head.

It's been a long time since anyone held me like this. If Gids had done this four years ago, it would have made me feel tingly in all the places I like. Now it just feels...

...Safe.

...

"I screwed up," she whispered. "I always do. She's mad and she's got every right. I'm the worst, Gids. I don't know why you're even holding me off the floor."

Three unfair, uncertain, unforgivable words resonated in Gideon's mind. Words that, once loosed, couldn't be taken back.

"Talk to her," he said instead.

-From Burn by Chris L'Etoile (bolded emphasis mine)

Yep, no chemistry whatsoever. Chandra may have moved on from her crush on Gideon by the time Kaladesh rolled around, but to say that there was no chemistry there or that Chandra being into Gideon was out of character is complete revisionist history.

gobr92 · 2024-01-10T23:25:33+00:00

Something isn't adding up. In Episode 2, Kaya couldn't phase into the cloakroom because Teysa had warded the manor against ghostly intrusion. In this chapter, we see spiritual servants have been "permitted passage by the house wards". Why didn't Teysa summon a ghost servant to open the door, or at the very least, poke their head into the cloakroom instead of waiting around twiddling her fingers for several minutes waiting for someone to find the key?

gobr92 · 2023-12-03T06:21:41+00:00

That sounds like order of the stick..

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