#though I guess Ral Zarek no-diffing Vraska was kinda hilarious

[shallow-wordsalad]

mtg story spoilers ahead.

...in stark contrast to my last gigantic rant about MtG's story, the stories for March of the Machine were actually really good. by simple virtue of having more time and space to tell them, the consequences felt more real, the character's motivations and states were more explored, and the events that happened felt earned and were delivered well. characters actually died, and some lived - but not without cost. Nissa and Ajani get to live on, but at the cost of Karn's spark and Melira's life. Jace and Vraska's fates are unknown. Nahiri and Lukka are just plain dead (couldn't have happened to better people, tbh), and Tamiyo is...a...text-ghost?? which I presume is kind of like being dead - I can't imagine she still has her spark or her magic like that. it all feels very much like there was an *actual* gigantic battle, and it was costly to win, but there was a victory unquestionably.

the vignettes about the invasions of various planes were, on the whole, very good and really brought up the tension and fear of the Phyrexian invasions - making absolute monsters out of the invading zombie-robots that rightly inspire terror in everyone unfamiliar with them. the one about Zendikar was the Big Suck, but I'm gonna gloss over that one because it was mostly about Nahiri and honestly she gets what she deserves - not just narratively, but in quality of writing as well.

despite a really, *and I mean really* rough lead-in, I think March of the Machine is MtG finally getting the "epic, grand-scale battle" story right. Battle for Zendikar felt tropey and overhyping of the Gatewatch, taking out Ulamog and Kozilek *way* too early and frankly too easily. War of the Spark was--actually you know what let's just pretend War of the Spark never happened. but MoM felt good. The length of the story was just right, with plenty of ups and downs, rises and falls for the heroes, and - and this part is key - a lot of characters getting to matter. characters normally relegated to being B-list actors got to be major players and do things that were huge for them - Wrenn speaking with Realmbreaker and convincing it to save the planes (what a great moment, so obvious and yet I didn't think of it), Karn fighting his pacifism and guilt to kill a true evil that absolutely needed to die for the sake of everyone (yes!), Ral Zarek whopping Vraska in one blow (my boy), and all the legends of the planes fighting against the invasion in their own ways and in ways that fit the themes and tropes of those planes - not just throwing spells on a battlefield.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I really enjoyed reading this, and I hope we retain this level of quality for any future stories. and for god's sake please give the writers this much room to breathe for *everything* from here on - letting the writers have more chapters to write and more space to explore makes the writing *so* much better.

#mtg story #magic the gathering #march of the machine #i don't have any funny tags this time #it was actually good #though I guess Ral Zarek no-diffing Vraska was kinda hilarious #wrenn and teferi working together was cool #put Phyrexia in the time prison #for plane crimes #give the writers a raise #except whoever wrote that nahiri story #put them in the time prison for plane crimes #mtg #rant over