Beyond the Horizon

Yesterday on Twitter, Trick Jarret let us know that things are in the works to better introduce the MTG Community to Nic Kelman, who is now the person at @wizardsmagic primarily responsible for Magic narrative. 

But with emotions running among fans high after this week’s story, I worry that Nic’s first impression of us is that we’re a bunch of rabid fans out for blood at the slightest mistake or story hiccup. 

And that’s not what we want!! We want a good, open relationship of communication and trust. So let’s see if we can get things going with our best foot forward. 

Perhaps Nic will be more comfortable introducing himself to us, if we give him a chance to get to know us first. So I thought some introductions might be in order.  

With that in mind, I’m asking my fellow Vorthos and MTG fans to reblog this post with an brief greetings and introduction (and be sure to tag @wizardsmagic so they can pass it along to Nic.) 

Since I’m writing this post, I suppose I should go first… 

Hi Nic! I’m Dave. 

I’ve been playing Magic on and off since 1996, though I only became really active in the online MTG community around 2015 when I started this Tumblr blog. 

Some of the things I love about Magic stories are the wide range of interesting characters, the diversity of locations among the different planes in the Multiverse, and the bountiful opportunities for speculation, discussion, and collaboration among the community. 

I also appreciate Magic stories because even though I’m not a very skilled player, they allow me to still feel strongly connected to the game, and be part of the conversation when new sets and cards are revealed. It adds a dimension where I can still be relevant and valued in the community, even when I rarely win games. 

Some quick facts about me: 

First set - Ice Age 

Favorite format - Commander 

Favorite plane - Lorwyn 

Favorite card - Vigor 

Favorite Planeswalker - Tamiyo (though Angrath is really close) 

Favorite story article - “Release” (Aether Revolt) 

Personal Color Identity - Bant (Green/White/Blue) 

@wizardsmagic 

OK, that’s me. Now who wants to go next?! 

I’m Sonja, mostly known as Rudjedet both here and on Twitter. This blog is actually a side blog, because @wizardsmagic finally gave me (us) my precious Egypt-based plane with the Amonkhet block and I wanted a place to nerd out with abandon. 

I’ve been playing Magic since 2007; mostly casual, kitchen table stuff though I’ve visited a fair few (pre-)releases, FNMs and GPs. I’ll be honest and say I’ve always been critical of Magic’s fiction, both the novels and the online Magic Fiction. It’s partly because I’m critical of every book I read, and partly because fantasy isn’t entirely my genre. 

So why am I still invested in the storyline? Because I enjoy seeing cards “come to life”. I enjoy building flavour decks centered around a character, subtype or theme, and giving them stupid names to reflect their background. Some of my horrible brews include “Sorin’s Thirsty”, “Curses, Foiled (Again)”, “Bitch These Are Hags” and “What Are All These Sexy Vampires Doing On My Side of the Battlefield I Can’t Focus On Winning Now”. 

I used to write humorous articles tangentially related to Magic, and dabbled a bit in cosplay. I had to give up both because of mental health and time constraints. At the moment, I’m desperately trying to hold on to the Amonkhetu days by working on three papers combining my profession (Egyptologist) with Magic. 

I’ll move on to the quick facts now, because I can’t trust myself to talk about Egypt/Amonkhet without going way overboard:

First set: Lorwyn

Favourite format: Casual constructed

Favourite plane: Amonkhet

Favourite plane that isn’t Amonkhet because of course it’s Amonkhet: Innistrad

Favourite card: Master Transmuter / Stalking Vampire (I can’t choose don’t make me)

Favourite planeswalker: I have a soft spot for Tezzeret don’t judge me

Favourite story: The Writing on the Wall (Amonkhet)

I wish I could make every 12-13 year old read The Left Hand of Darkness.

As Mr Gaiman says, her depiction of gender on the world she created, it’s mind-blowing to young brains.  It is a whole new idea.

Hey @wizardsmagic, I’m sorry but we really need to talk.

Since quite some times now, you have been giving previews of cards for most upcoming sets to the French website http://www.jeuxvideo.com/. It was Duskborne Skymarcher for Ixalan, Start to Finish for Amonkhet, Toolcraft Exemplar for Kaladesh and Inexorable Blob for Shadows over Innistrad.

In order for all the non-French people here to understand why this is problematic, I think a little context is needed. jeuxvideo.com is the main and biggest website about video games in France. It is huge. So huge in fact, that, over the course of the years, it had killed almost serious concurrence. For many, it’s the entry point for video games related content on the Internet.

One of the many reasons of its success lays in its forums. They are probably the biggest ones written primarily in French. There are hundreds and hundreds of people using them, to talk about video games of course, but also about anime, books, movies, politics and almost everything.

However, the main things that those forums have become known for is to be a meeting point for all kind of harassers and a platform for far right propaganda. Several harassment campaigns targeting women (and especially feminists and trans women) have previously originated from those forums. Even worse, Webedia, the company behind the site, have demonstrated numerous times they didn’t care about what happens on their forums.

Last week, when Clara Gonzales and Elliot Lepers, made public an anti-harassment phone number that women can give to man asking them their number, people from those forums flooded the line with hate calls and messages until the service had to close. They then proceeded to harass the two creators on Twitter, sending them death threats.

When the journalist Nadia Daam made a chronic about this incident earlier this week, she instantly became the new target of the harassment campaign. After receiving multiple rape and death threats, after having her child threatened online, she deleted her Twitter account.

Since then, numerous people have raised their voice against this website and its lackluster moderation. Barilla has announced that it will not advertise on jeuxvideo.com anymore and the French secretary of state for women rights, Marlene Schiappa, has sent a letter to both Twitter and Webedia to ask them to take appropriate measures.

J'ai demandé à @Twitter et à @WebediaFR de prendre leurs responsabilités pour que cesse le cyber-harcèlement @claranote @nadiadaam pic.twitter.com/7TYvfBZ04s

— MarleneSchiappa (@MarleneSchiappa)

3 novembre 2017

But the problem isn’t new. In fact, it has been denounced for years by various feminists activists, some of them having been target by similar campaign in the past. In 2013, an article published on Machisme Haute Fréquence (French for “High Frequency Machismo”), already accused the editor of not moderating its forum and summarized the various harassment campaign that happened so far. This is well sumarized in this message, posted on Mastodon by a trans women and feminist activist:

Je suis super amère sur ce qui se passe autour du 18/25 en ce moment.

Ça fait des années que ces ordures harcèlent et doxxent des féministes, préférablement des trans et/ou des racisées bien sûr, sans qu'il ne se passe absolument rien.

Et maintenant qu'ils se sentent plus pisser et qu'ils s'en prennent à une journaliste, là on a des tribunes signées par le gratin médiatique parisien, des cris d'orfraies, le président de Webedia, qui fait mine de tout découvrir, convoqué au secrétariat de l'égalite femmes/hommes.

Où ils étaient tous ces gens il y a 3 ans quand on se faisait raider MHFreq ? Quand ils doxxaient des meufs trans ? Où ils étaient l'an dernier quand le harcèlement était tel que j'ai du faire et partager une blocklist de 6000 comptes Twitter pour avoir la paix ? Et cet été quand ils ont harcelé un⋅e non-binaire pour simplement être passé⋅e à la télé ?

Justice à deux vitesses…

http://www.letelegramme.fr/france/europe-1-plainte-apres-le-harcelement-d-une-journaliste-par-des-membres-d-un-forum-03-11-2017-11727361.php

“For now, I read novels to an audience convinced they don’t like reading. I can’t teach my students anything serious until I’ve dispelled that illusion and done my work as matchmaker.”

You have it backwards. Me understanding that all Magic players don’t think the same way and thus we have to be careful about how we word things is me demonstrating that I’m taking other viewpoints into account.

I understand how banding works. I was a level 4 judge for years. I’ve been designing cards and mechanics longer than some readers have been alive. I understand the intricacies of the rules (well, most of them).

The fact that I’m going out of my way to make things that the majority of players understand is me expanding my world view to encompass that how I think isn’t how everyone thinks.

One, how am I being a straw man? What *do* Ice Age and Mirage have to do with one another? Them being on the same world is no different than us saying Kaladesh and Amonkhet are on the same world.

They weren’t designed to go together. They were designed as if they were two different worlds by two different external design teams that were working in isolation.

It is *exactly* like us taking two worlds that weren’t designed to go together and then just saying they were on the same world. That’s what happened.

Two, a Mary Jane is defined, on Wikipedia, as

“an idealized and seemingly perfect fictional character. Often this character is recognized as an author insert or wish-fulfillment.”

Jace is a person obsessed with information missing the knowledge of his own past. He’s horrible in a physical fight. He reluctantly became the Living Guildpact, a role he neither wants nor is good at.

He has one very awkward relationship with Liliana. He constantly bickers with Gideon who both believe they’re leading the Gatewatch. He’s a neurotic mess in almost every aspect of his life.

He lost the fight he had on Zendikar with Ob Nixilis. He lost the fight he had on Innistrad with Nahiri/Avacyn. He lost the fight he had on Amonkhet with Bolas.

How in the world is he a Mary Sue?

So if you believe that Dominaria is somehow not a hodgepodge or Jace is a Mary Sue, I would love to argue over the facts.

The owner of the drone was so impressed by the brilliant attack that he suggested organizing a competition for bringing down “dragons” with short spears next year.

to me, the reason the magic set about ancient Egypt has angles and winged sphinxes is because magic has angels and winged sphinxes. When you marry the two ideas both sides bring something to the table. This is the same reason, again to me, that Kaladesh has Angels; magic has angels.

Magic also has Eldrazi. So it would make sense if we get Eldrazi in Hour of Devastation.

Snark aside, I am well aware of the game logic behind including angels and winged sphinxes. However, I only agree with that logic in terms of the sphinxes having wings. As an iconic flying race, it would be weird to suddenly have sphinxes be wingless on Amonkhet. I can even, however much it pains me, deal with minotaurs, because at least they gave them ram’s heads. The naga: fine. Egypt had a lot of snakes. Aven and dragons/drakes - they made attempts to fit them into the overal “evoke Egypt” theme by making them look like ibises/hawks and crocodiles, so OK. 

However, I can find no similar logic or effort to make palatable the presence of angels on Amonkhet (nor on Kaladesh, since you brought that up), neither in their background nor their design. Literally the only reason they’re in the set as far as I can see is because they are, in fact, “in Magic”. That is not a sufficient reason. They needed something big, white and wing-y, fine - with all the other Magic-known races already in Amonkhet, they could have made up a new race with those attributes. 

Can’t really give a substantive comment on this until I know the whole storyline, tbh. The Gatewatch feels pretty White Savior Complex-y to me, and I’ve yet to see if they’re going to violate the Prime Directive again. 

Based on what we do know, I think it’s kind of fun that Bolas is actually a usurper, which is a thing that happens in ancient Egyptian history, as opposed to his having created the world from scratch (that would’ve been problematic and a pity for a good many reasons).

Approximately a hundred-ish years? I think?

There’s no clear clear answer that I know of (though somebody like @vorthosjay or @sarpadianempiresvol-viii may have a better idea.)

It was long enough ago that most human oldwalkers would have died from natural causes without an answer to aging (like Liliana’s pacts or Venser’s time water) but not so long ago that it would be considered ancient history.

We also know from Liliana’s origin, “The Fourth Pact,” that enough time had passed between the Mending and her pact with Kothophed that she had become old and wrinkled. Not just middle aged, but OLD.

What are you going on about!? This is not as a big of a deal as you think.

Nothing changed. Nothing. Chandra is still Bisexual. Nissa is still uncomfortable with the idea of having friends. Chandra still expressed her feelings. I can’t see what the big deal is. Nothing changed!

The extra wordiness of “…about the limit of what you feel comfortable with right now?” Is not in Chandra’s character. It isn’t like her to phrase herself so particularly or with so much elaboration. Her asking: “Friendship?” is exactly the same. Why?

Because I have done the same thing in my own dating life. Having a deep conversation about where we stand among our friends and our peers. I would turn to the woman I’m interested in, look her in the eyes, and emphasize that one word. “Friends?” My posture. My tone. My gaze. The inflection of a question. The woman I was interested in knew exactly what I was asking. I didn’t have to outright ask her to be my girlfriend. The way that I said what I did was enough for her to hear the question and the disappointment and anxiety that I was meaning.

When they answered with “Yes, friends.” That told me pretty clearly that she wasn’t interested in going anywhere past friendship.

Listen people. Nothing. Happened. The stealth edit did nothing. Chandra is still Bisexual. Nissa is still barely able to grasp the idea of friendship, much less romance. Chandra still expressed her desires and affection for Nissa. Nothing changed.

Just because this isn’t the way you would ask a woman to be your girlfriend doesn’t mean it isn’t a valid way. I’ve done it myself and seen it done several times. More importantly, it is entirely within Chandra’s character to ask in this shortened way. The wordiness simply didn’t match her and was unnecessary. I know when I used to ask women out (before I found my current girlfriend) I was too nervous to formulate more than a few words coherently- much less in the specific way the old version of her asked.

Please people. Stop trying to start fires where there is nothing to burn.

It’s Wednesday!

The Writing on the Wall by Alison Luhrs

I do not like being jaded.

My whole life as a writer, as a critic, as a citizen and observer of the world, has been marked by a quest. I think it common of anyone with artistic inclination; we’re out in search of something in the art we create and the art we consume. Ourselves, some thinkers would argue, but, I would say, also more. We are a fickle kind, never satisfied, who quickly tire and grow disillusioned, languishing in the misery of one who seeks and rarely finds. We take up what’s all too often the work of others’ hearts, given form in art and put out there, exposed, and we seek in it that fleeting glimpse, the glimmer of deeper joys beyond the easy, cheap thrills of the world. And we’re cool and distant, judging, dispassionate, because the heart is jaded, and the joy grows ever more difficult in the finding.

There comes a time, though, when we find something. When the heart long dormant flutters, and a glimmer of that secret joy we once had flares into being.

It came today in the form of this short story. All that I was seeking in Amonkhet, there for the heart’s sampling, like a sumptuous banquet. All my complaining and griping and despair laid to waste in a singular moment, like only Alison Luhrs’ style can provide.

This story is phenomenal. Let me tell you why.