MS: Favor

Lore forum

Posted on July 5, 2017, 12:29 p.m. by AgentGreen

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/magic-story/favor-2017-07-05 (article linking doesn't work for me)

In today's episode, Bontu and Hazoret are the last Gods left standing, as the God-Pharaoh finally makes his appearance in full form. One the surviving gods though embraces her color identity to its fullest

brokendwarf says... #2

July 5, 2017 12:43 p.m.

dbpunk says... #3

Bontu knew the whole time. Which is a great bit of black flavor for the character since it shows Bontu being as greedy as possible.

Also this story kinda makes it seem more clear why we have a bunch of cards that show survivors of the assault now hiding in the desert.

July 5, 2017 12:56 p.m.

iBleedPunk says... #4

I really liked this story. The fact that Bontu had known the whole time of Nicol Bolas' deceit was a nice twist as well. Sad that Bontu has now perished, leaving Hazoret to her lonesome, made me slightly worried as to the fate of Amonkhet but at the same time I am happy the Gatewatch isn't saving another plane. Every now and then we need a villain to succeed for the lore to be more interesting in my opinion.

On that note where is the Gatewatch at this moment in the lore? Nicol hasn't confronted them yet but I am surprised that they haven't tried to get in the middle of the devastation that is Nicol's return

July 5, 2017 1:07 p.m.

AgentGreen says... #5

What Bontu did was very much what a character is supposed to do. That was a nice touch. Too bad Bolas had the final say

July 5, 2017 2:01 p.m.

dbpunk says... #6

Faceless_Being they're probably on their way or trying to help people. This is probably on the other side of the city or at least further away than the Gatewatch's puny legs could get them prior to the attack.

July 5, 2017 2:25 p.m.

DemonDragonJ says... #7

Wow, this story certainly was dark, darker than any stories have been, in recent years; even the two Innistrad blocks were not this dark.

I liked the twist that Bontu willingly collaborated with Bolas, unlike all the others, who were deceived, but Bolas certainly was cruel to betray the only deity who was truly loyal to him.

The situation is looking very grim for Amonkhet, now, so I am fearing that this block will end with the plane being utterly destroyed.

July 5, 2017 5:23 p.m.

Dredge4life says... #8

Not sure why Bolas would kill Bontu while there is still a resistance going on, but he's the God-Pharoah, so whateves.

July 5, 2017 5:54 p.m.

DarkLaw says... #9

Kinda disappointed that Bontu didn't use all those years to think of a way to drain Bolas' power. Just siding with him doesn't seem all that ambitious to me. Bolas would win, of course, but Bontu may figure out a way to stand a chance, and is a life of servitude better?

Hazoret did some nice red business though. Helping people as much as she can because she felt for them.

Of course, you can loosely say just about anything fits within the color pie. For example, there's the direct contrast of Chandra making an obligation to form a team and try to manage the multiverse, explained with pretty much "friends lmao". Which is exactly why I think the whole concept of a color pie, while 100% necessary, is still nonsense. It's almost impossible to draw any distinct lines.

Anyway, did Bontu actually help Hazoret there at her end? Using the last of her strength to kill anything nearby (mostly just zombies and stuff) and freeing Hazoret from the tar, even giving her a cheeky dying glance? We need more interesting moments like that. One thing's for sure, indulging in your power at the last second and using it to try and prod fate in your preferred direction is definitely a move black would be proud of.

July 5, 2017 6:05 p.m.

_Delta_ says... #10

I don't think it will be utterly destroyed, look at cards like Ramunap Excavator, Hope Tender, Oasis Ritualist, and Survivors' Encampment.

July 5, 2017 6:07 p.m.

_Delta_ says... #11

I meant to tag you there above DemonDragonJ. Wish I could edit posts.

July 5, 2017 6:08 p.m.

pizzagod13 says... #12

Well the red god most certainly survives. All the other gods had a card were they died but not Hazoret; Hazoret's Undying Fury ... It wouldn't post as a card for whatever reason

July 5, 2017 8:39 p.m.

tempest says... #13

DarkLaw- i think it's good that the color pie exists but that characters of certain colors don't strictly follow their color's traits. It allows for more flexibility and character development instead of making every character 1-dimensional.

And yeah, pretty sure that as Bontu was about to die, the lies unraveled like they did for all the other gods right before they died. When he realized the truth, he tried to give hazoret an easier time doing what he could't - saving Amonkhet

July 5, 2017 9:50 p.m.

pizzagod13 says... #14

I'm pretty sure Bontu only helped Hazoret was because Bolas betrayed him. He knew from the start what Bolas was doing and only wanted to save himself.

July 5, 2017 10:17 p.m.

Dredge4life says... #15

I shouldn't care, I really shouldn't, but the Vorthos in me absolutely needs to point out that Bontu is female.

July 5, 2017 10:41 p.m.

DuTogira says... #16

Hang on... bontu maintained the leylines in all the Gods... in unraveling Hazoret's, she COULD have shown the truth of the world to the other three Gods too. Probably not, but it'd be interesting to see hazoret and the undying three fight bolas, with the gatewatch just sorta there to get pwned

July 6, 2017 10:38 p.m.

sonnet666 says... #17

DarkLaw

"Kinda disappointed that Bontu didn't use all those years to think of a way to drain Bolas' power. Just siding with him doesn't seem all that ambitious to me."

When Bolas first came to Amonkhet it was just before the Mending. At that point he had more power than a god could ever hope to compete with.

Bontu couldn't have known he was less powerful than before due to the Mending. She must have thought it wasn't possible for her to beat him, and that if she tried, he definitely would have killed her.

July 11, 2017 3:54 a.m.

DarkLaw says... #18

sonnet666 Well, the mending thing is more speculation than anything.

Plus, Tetsuo Umezawa killed pre-mending Bolas. He's a mere human.

July 11, 2017 5:21 a.m.

sonnet666 says... #19

DarkLaw, He tricked him into a pocket dimension and then destroyed his mindless body with a meteor.

Pre-mending PW's could only be killed by mortals by being taken by surprise. They were essentially omnipotent other than the fact that they had to think at mortal speeds. Bolas was always OP because of that since dragons can think faster than other beings.

In a fair fight pre-mending PW's could only be taken on by other PW's or beings of extreme power like Yawgmoth. The gods of Amonkhet don't seem that powerful by comparison.

July 11, 2017 5:30 a.m.

DarkLaw says... #20

sonnet666 Did Liliana take on her demons in a fair fight? Bontu wouldn't necessarily need to. There's no real reason Bontu couldn't manipulate the other gods into believing that Bolas was evil or something and plan for all those years to trick Bolas. There must also be a way to deal with the forgotten gods that the 5 can think of.

Bontu would do all this, then defect at the last moment to drain Bolas' essence or something. It seems plausible at worst, with how Umezawa figured out how to kill Bolas in little enough time.

July 11, 2017 11:55 a.m.

sonnet666 says... #21

DarkLaw, You see, the problem with that theory is that the only reason Umezawa was able to trick Bolas into the meditation plane is because Bolas himself made it. Only pre-mending PW's had the power to make planes, and it's very difficult to trick a 10,000 year old dragon without the proper set up.

As far as we know, no other PW had visited Amonkhet before Bolas, so there wouldn't be anything available to make Bontu think she had a chance of beating Bolas.

Had she known Bolas's power would be severely diminished by the time he came back, maybe she would have revolted, but there's no way she could have known.

Also, Bolas is an accomplished telepath. If he'd demonstrated that on his last visit, Bontu might have thought he'd instantly know on his return of any rebellious schemes she'd cooked up, and thwart them.

Lastly, there's the possibility that Bolas actually DID alter Bontu's mind along with the others, but just enough that she'd think trying to serve him would be her best option. She might have been unknowingly maintaining the spell of her own altered memory along with her siblings.

July 11, 2017 12:42 p.m.

DarkLaw says... #22

sonnet666 I'm not suggesting that Bontu uses the exact same method. That seems a little silly. I never suggested that anyone should make a new plane or something to trap Bolas. There are evidently alternate options, what with hedrons and the helavault (which, obviously, I'm not suggesting either is the method that they should use, but a method that they could hypothetically use, along with many others). But hell, if a mere mortal thought he could kill Bolas when nobody had done it before, why not a god? It matters not whether Bontu knows about any of this, but whether she knows something like this is possible.

Which is why the telepathic arguments are more interesting. I don't think he demonstrated his capabilities in that area in the story he originally visited Amonkhet, but Bontu might have even been able to guess that he was. Unfortunately, we don't know all that much about telepathy, whether there's some magic preventative measure you can take, etc. Ral Zarek or whatever his name is showed that there perhaps kind of is? He knew Jace was a telepath and prepared a vague countermeasure which effectively gave him infinite minds to have to pierce through, if memory serves. So there are certainly steps that could be taken to prevent this, even assuming Bolas would be cautious rather than arrogant as he is in more recent stories about him.

As for removing Bontu's free will, even if Bolas did do it (which went without mention in any story), and it was impossible to pick up on, it then wouldn't be Bontu fully embracing the color identity of black. Because Bontu's will is actually Bolas' in this instance.

TLDR: Basically a lot of "not necessarily"s.

July 12, 2017 1:57 a.m.

sonnet666 says... #23

I wasn't saying any of that either. Simply the Bontu did not have the resources to kill a pre-mending planewalker on Amonkhet. She really didn't, and probably would have known that.

As for Bolas's telepathy, he's usually more of a brute force kind of guy. Where Jace tries to slip in without being noticed, Bolas just finds an opening and uses to sheer weight of his mind to break his opponent's thoughts apart. Jace and Bolas have squared off before this when Tezzeret wanted to meet with Bolas without getting his mind read, and Jace really didn't stand a chance.

Bontu probably would have been able to protect against his telepathy now, but she wouldn't have been able to pre-mending.

July 12, 2017 3:53 a.m.

DarkLaw says... #24

sonnet666 See, this is the awkward part where I realise that at this point there's no real way we can know for sure. But still, a life of servitude without even a promise of power, without a chance of overcoming your master? Most black-aligned characters I know of would rather die.

Besides which, didn't Yawgmoth before he became an almighty cloud god (I know he didn't really) just stab a planeswalker while their back was turned using a powerstone? The godlike old planeswalkers seem weaker than they actually were in hindsight. This isn't going anywhere, I just thought I'd make a comment on it.

July 12, 2017 12:05 p.m.

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