Pattern Recognition #168 - Nahiri

Features Opinion Pattern Recognition

berryjon

17 September 2020

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Hello everyone! Welcome back to Pattern Recognition! This is TappedOut.net's longest running article series. In it, I aim to bring to you each week a new article about some piece of Magic, be it a card, a mechanic, a deck, or something more fundamental or abstract. I am something of an Old Fogey and part-time Smart Ass, so I sometimes talk out my ass. Feel free to dissent or just plain old correct me! I also have a Patreon if you feel like helping out.

So, Nahiri. As I'm writing this before the story to Zendikar Rising has been completed, please note that some of the things I discuss here may be wrong or out of date. For that, I apologize. But with that out of the way, on with the show!

Nahiri, the Lithomancer was first introduced to us not directly, but rather in the story of Innistrad, where local protagonist (but most definitely not a hero), Sorin Markov, mused about a person he knew called The Lithomancer. This person was mysterious and not much was noted about them, save that Sorin had picked up a couple of tricks from them at some point.

Moving forward to 2014, the themes of the five Commander Sets that year were revealed. Each deck was going to be a mono-coloured deck, headlined by a Planeswalker. The mono- one turned out to be Teferi, Temporal Archmage, and I include myself among those who really hoped that the mono- one would be led by Serra, Planeswalker (whom would go on to actually, finally get a card in Modern Horizons as Serra the Benevolent). What was got was a new character, Nahiri, the Lithomancer.

Nahiri led an Equipment Matters / Voltron styled deck (link to my article about Voltron) where the deck was built around putting out all sorts of neat equipment and swinging with them.

Our next view of Nahiri, alive and well, was on our second trip to Innistrad. Here, we see that Nahiri, the Harbinger, is letting her colours shine through as she carves a path of destruction across Innistrad with the goal of _screwing over Sorin Markov]], the explanation I'll get to later.

Here, she is far more destructive, losing her focus on Equipment and instead fully embracing her side by allowing for looting and for destroying things. She also gives haste to a creature as part of her ultimate.

Her third card is Nahiri, Storm of Stone from War of the Spark. This version of her reminds herself of her Equipment roots, making Equip costs less on your turn. She can also loose lyalty to deal damage to a tapped creature, which is very .

Her most recent iteration, from Zendikar Rising, is Nahiri, Heir of the Ancients. Here, she again creates Creature tokens to equip Equipment too, in addition to maintaining her direct damage aspect by tying it to the number of Equipment you control. She can also filter the top of you library for a Warrior or Equipment, which is handy.

Mechanically, Nahiri has always been Equipment focused, with one side digression on Innistrad. But she had a good reason for that, so we're cool. Due to this, she has found herself as a leader in a developing archetype that I think found its best footing with a different Legendary Creature - Tiana, Ship's Caretaker. This archetype being Voltron. A deck that has a heavy use of Equipment (and Enchantments) to build up your creatures and beat face with them.

But enough about that, let's talk the important part to a Vorthos like me. Let's talk about Nahiri as a character.

We don't know how old Nahiri is, but based on her interactions with Sorin Markov, and Ugin, the Spirit Dragon, we know that she is at least 6000 years old, which means that she was born at least 1500 years before Urza, and this makes her one of the oldest known living characters in the game. She was born on Zendikar, though we do not know exactly when or where. We do know that she was born before the arrival of the Eldrazi, and thus, before the birth of the ever-changing landscapes and the Roil. She was a Lithomancer, that is, a wizard who specialized in the manipulation or rocks and soil.

The woman depicted on Stoneforge Mystic is NOT Nahiri, the Lithomancer, but rather the two of them shared the same art direction. Personally, I am in the camp that says that Nahiri was a Stoneforge Mystic before her Spark awakened, but that's just me, and I'm the guy with the soapbox here, so I could be totally wrong.

As a Lithomancer, Nahiri made objects for use, including her Ultimate on Nahiri, the Lithomancer, the Stoneforged Blade, When you see her holding a sword in her hands, assume she just made one of those and is about to open a can of whoop-ass on someone. Despite this, she has never really shown any skill with the weapons and things she makes, preferring to be a crafter and creator.

In the old days of Magic, was one of the pro-Artifact colours, and Nahiri was a direct callback to that. Something that is definitely turned back toward in the current era after something of a dry spell.

We do not know how her Spark ignited, but given that she was an Old Planeswalker, it probably wasn't pretty or clean. We do know that soon after she ignited, she encountered Sorin Markov of Innistrad, another, older Planeswalker. He took her as something akin to an apprentice, and they traveled the Planes for a while. They shared some techniques between the two of them, including the Lithomancy that Sorin would later use to create the Helvault.

During one of these trips, they encountered Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre. This creature that existed in the Bline Eternities - something that is normally impossible, but these Eldrazi were native to there, was in the process of destroying and devouring a dead Plane. While further investigating these creatures, they encountered Ugin, the Spirit Dragon who was also conducting his own investigation.

The three of them compared notes and realized that the Eldrazi - Ulamog, Emrakul and Kozilek - would not stop, and thus posed a threat to the Multiverse. Taking it upon themselves to protect the rest of existence, they concocted a plan to ensnare, materialize and contain the Eldrazi so that they would not threaten anyone or anywhere else.

Short on time, they realized that Nahiri's home plane of Zendikar had the necessary qualities that they needed to enact their trap. Knowing the sacrifice that she would have to go through for the greater good, Nahiri helped Ugin created the Aligned Hedron Network, with Ugin laying down the plans and locating the Hedrons that Nahiri created.

As soon as Sorin was able to herd the Eldrazi to Zendikar, the three Planeswalkers created their cage, and placed the lock in a hidden location known as the Eye of Ugin. The plan worked perfectly, and the three Planeswalkers went their separate ways. Sorin and Ugin left Zendikar, while Nahihi stayed to help defend Zendikar from those who would accidentally release the Eldrazi deliberately or accidentally.

This was important as the nature of Zendikar and its mana, which made it the ideal trap for the Eldrzai, also made it a tempting target for other interplanar problems. Of these, the only one we got any sort of detail about was Ob Nixilis of the Black Oath, who made his own attempt to conquer Zendikar, and got a Hedron the forehead, sealing his spark, for his trouble.

Eventually though, Nahiri developed severe ennui. She taught apprentices how to maintain the Hedron Network in her absence, then entered into a meditational slumber. Personally, I think she just turned off her alarm clock, rolled over and napped for a few centuries.

As she napped, her teachings became distorted. This was to be expected as time was a thing, and when you see how stories in the real world change over time, it's only natural. The result was that when Nahiri woke up, the three Eldrazi had somehow become the Gods of Zendikar, and Nahiri herself was seen as the Prophet of Kozilek, or Talib as he was known.

She... uh... wasn't happy about that development.

Regardless, her somnolence was interrupted when Vampires found the Eye of Ugin, and placed a temple over it, disrupting the mana lines through it, and cracking the seal on the Eldrazi. This released some of their lesser spawn, the Brood Lineages. Nahiri called for help from Ugin and Sorin as they promised to respond should something happened. Neither of them replied, and she was forced to resolve the problem on her own accord. She did so, then went to find out why her two allies hadn't responded to her call.

First stop was Innistrad, where her closest friend and mentor, Sorin, resided. There, she accused Sorin of going back on his word, and Sorin countered that he had, in her absence, created the Helvault as his own interplanar prison, and that her signal for help was probably distorted or absorbed by it. He didn't apologize for his lack of a response, but he did explain it.

Nahiri then tried to guilt-trip him into admitting he was sorry, but Sorin would have none of it, as he had responsibilities of his own, and that her elder and mentor, maybe she should listen to him. Oh, and go bother Ugin because he didn't respond either.

Nahiri didn't take being talked down to like this well, and quickly escalated to threats of physical violence. This resulted in Archangel Avacyn  ^Flip interceding, and the three of them fought until Sorin trapped Nahiri in the Helvault.

Look, they were both assholes, but they were both correct. Nahiri needed help, and was within her right to call upon the people who promised. Sorin was correct in that he never heard her call, and that while he would have helped, coming into his house to accuse him of being a bastard wasn't called for. In the end, this broke their friendship, not because of what they did but because their morality had finally taken its toll. Sorin broke his word to Nahiri, and Nahiri held him to task for things that he was not responsible for.

She was released when the Helvault was broken open as the result of the actions of Lilianna Vess, who freed the demon Griselbrand in order to destroy him and free herself of him.

Nahiri didn't care about that, instead fleeing back to Zendikar, where she saw that the Eldrazi had finally been freed. She would never find out the how or the why, but such things didn't matter to her. She swore vengeance on Sorin and Ugin, but mostly Sorin as she would later find out that Ugin had come down with a slight case of being dead at the time, and thus, was absolved of guilt.

At this point, she went from mono- to in nature as her chosen path of vengeance is pretty darned . In her mind, harm must be met with equal harm, an Eye for an Eye so to speak. Thus, if Sorin had failed to help her, and thus by neglect, destroyed Zendikar, well, the only thing for her to do would be to destroy Innistrad using the Eldrazi.

This was a decision that was perfectly moral to her, and except for the sheer scale involved, and that she was acting on incomplete information - that Sorin had tried to protect Zendikar in her absence, that he had discovered the now-alive Ugin and got him to help, and that he was trying. But this was something that Nahiri didn't know about, and didn't know to even look for it in the first place.

Nahiri, with the assistance Ghoulcaller Gisa, created the Drownyard Temple in order to draw one of the Eldrazi from Zendikar - Emrakul, the Aeons Torn to Innistrad to kill it. However, her plans were discovered by Tamiyo, Field Researcher, and by some random ptz named Jace, who carried Tamiyo's Journal after she dropped it.

Nahiri then attacked Markov Manor, Sorin not present. She singlehandedly wiped out the Markov clan of Vampires, entombing those she didn't kill in the stone walls of the manor, trapping them in eternal torment.

While this happened, Sortn was forced to kill Avacyn in response to the changes in the leylines of Innistrad, and in doing so, he was informed of Nahiri's actions. Thinking Innistrad lost, he discovered Nahiri's attack and in his own rage, summoned his allies to attack Nahiri and her army of cultists and undead horrors, creatures twisted by the power of the Eldrazi.

It was a brutal battle, and while Nahiri lost the larger fight, she was able to overcome Sorin and impale him and trap him in the stone of Marvok Manor as well. Heavily wounded, she fled the battle and Innistrad itself, knowing that Emrakul would finish her vengeance for her.

Except Nissa and Tamiyo happened, and they were able to imprison Emrakul in Innistrad's Moon like champs.

She rested and recovered, and when we next saw her, was during War of the Spark, where she was drawn to Ravnica as part of the plan of Nicol Bolas to achieve godhood (again) thanks to The Elderspell. She was quick to act in defense of Ravnica, joining in the plans to preserve the Plane and the other Planeswalkers.

Then Sorin arrived.

Nahiri and Sorin went to war. Forget Bolas. Forget, you know, the Dreadhorde Invasion. The two of them dropped everything to engage in Single Combat across the Tenth District of Ravnica in order to kill each other.

It was epic, I got that card in my pre-release and I loved it as the Vorthos in me approved of the notion that even in the face of impending doom, some people just won't let go of their personal feuds.

It was only with the arrival of the God-Eternals that the two of them realized that - hey, maybe they should help deal with this problem first, then get back to murderizing each other afterward. They successfully defended Ravnica, and went their separate ways, accepting this encounter as a draw. For those of you keeping score at home, that's Sorin: 1. Nahiri: 1. Tie: 1.

During a break in this conflict, Nahiri learned the Zendikar had actually survived thanks to the efforts of the Gatewatch, and she returned home to see what she could do to help.

Seeing that the Plane was still suffering from the long term effects of binding the Eldrazi, she took responsibility and helped fund the Sea Gate Expiditionary House in order to coordinate the search for resources that she could use as a Lithomancer and Planeswalker to calm the Roil and restore Zendikar.

This gave her a lead on an object called the Lithoform Core, a device that when at full power, can reshape the surrounding world. Like Terraforming, but Lithoforming, because it's Zendikar. She asked for help from Nissa, who saw the quest to help restore Zendikar as a good one, and the two of them found an activation tile for the Engine. Testing it out, it worked to Nahiri's delight, but to Nissa's horror as she realized that restoring Zendikar would by association, kill the existing life that had grown and evolved over the course of millennium to adapt to the changing landscape, including the Elementals that she had come to associate with.

The two did not part happy.

And so, Nahiri's quest to restore Zendikar keeps going, as come hell or high water (though I suspect both), she's going to make things right.

Two summers ago, I wrote an article about about the nature of villainy in Magic: The Gathering, and in the back half of the article, I argued that Nahiri was the best Villain in Magic at the time. I maintain this statement two years later as her actions here on Zendikar are perfectly in line with the characterization I described at the time. She, as a victim of the Eldrazi and of Sorin, is in turn a victimizer of others in her pain.

But what I think is one of her character flaws is something that someone else has said in my presence. I don't remember who, let alone when or where. And that is, Nahiri doesn't know she's not an Old Planeswalker anymore, but she is still acting like one.

The old God'Walkers were forces unto themselves, a power infinite that could easily destroy all that they touched. She doesn't see other people as more than just pawns or pieces in her plans. Look at how she treated her adventuring party to gain the Lithoform Core. They are just ... well, they're Equipment to her to use and discard at needed.

Nahiri is still the villain, and she's tragic in the process. She's blinded by her anger and her rage to the consequences of her actions, direct or indirect unless those consequences are what she's after in the first place.

She doesn't know how to make friends or allies, seeing only useful resources to be used and discarded, much like how she used to be able to discard and draw a card.

I think Zendikar Rising is a good step for her. It shows how she's acting in a way that is objectively correct and right - stop the Roil and stabilize Zendikar - but in doing so, her actions and her results are what makes her a villain rather than a hero.

And with Sorin probably coming back with Innistrad next year, I can only see Wizards setting up for their final showdown. Because when these two go at it, neither of them expects the other to walk away. I just hope that it's Nahiri that emerges the winner, as we can use a good villain. And Sorin just doesn't cut it as hero or villain.

Join me next week when I talk about something. Not sure what yet, but it should be fun!

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