Cartel Aristocrat
General forum
Posted on April 9, 2013, 10:49 a.m. by Baddie
I was looking at the card Cartel Aristocrat and I then noticed the tapestry or painting -or whatever it is- in the background. There are only nine guild symbols. At first I had assumed that it was Dimir that was missing, but instead it is Selesnya that is absent. Why is this? Does anyone know?
Selesnya is in the bottom left.
Looks like Simic is the one missing.
April 9, 2013 11:07 a.m.
HUH. That's really interesting. There's clearly space for the tenth guild on the bottom row, a pyramid like that should have 4 items there. Simic is obviously left out on purpose...
@landgrafb, LOL. Too phallic... Well, Armada Wurm certainly doesn't hurt your point
April 9, 2013 11:26 a.m.
oops, yeah, simic. But... yeah....
Because the church doesn't believe in evolution.
April 9, 2013 12:29 p.m.
Well until recently Simic was thought to be no more. The pyramid was probably meant to be created before sinkholes that allowed the Simic to come to light. (Pardon the pun)
April 9, 2013 2:11 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #9
I'm flipflopping on this one, it could easily be explained by saying "it dates back to the time after the fall of the guildpact but before the simic reappeared," but that seems too easy.
I think it has something to do with the Hierarchy that the Orzhov plan to have when they rule. Everything on the flow-chart diagram makes sense. It's obvious what the Boros and the Azorius are doing in row two, you need military and government on your side to rule effectively. Gruul on the third row is probably the weak link to my theory, but maybe the Orzhov view themselves as the shepherds and the Gruul as the simple sheep, easily manipulated to do their bidding. This would be similar to the roles the Dimir (assassins to do the dirty work) and the Golgari (waste removal) serve to society, essential but lower class.
The bottom row is filled with heretics (selesnya nature nuts,) hedonists (rakdos demon worshippers) and scientists (izzet infrastructure experimenters)...all necessary enemies of the church, but none so threatening that they can't be reframed.
The Simic on the other hand...they are the polar opposite of the Orzhov. They serve no purpose in the Hierarchy. Evolution is in direct competition with the Church as an explanation for their existence, and with the variety of Krasis' they've created they're proving that the Church of Deals doesn't hold all the cards. The Simic don't need the Orzhov, where it could be argued that any of the other guilds could serve the Orzhovs purpose, in their quest to rule the Guildless.,,
I dunno, I like inventing subcountercanon.
April 9, 2013 3:36 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #10
Also, look at the art on Tablet of the Guilds .
If Orzhov removes Azorius from the top, moving up from the right, look what guild sits to the left...
April 9, 2013 3:39 p.m.
Another interesting thing I just noticed is that with the exception of Orzhov (which of course it at the top) if you read from right to left and top to bottom the guilds go: Azorius, Boros, Dimir, Golgari, Gruul, Izzet, Rakdos, Selesnya. They are in alphabetical order. Of course that doesn't explain the lack of Simic which would go in the bottom left, being alphabetically after Selesnya.
April 10, 2013 9:02 p.m.
It may also have something to do with the fact that all other guilds are primarily human while Simic is primarily Merfolk. Maybe it has something to do with that.
April 10, 2013 9:06 p.m.
Gruul has a lot of ogres and such, and Golgari has a lot of undead insects/zombies, and Rakdos has a lot of devils and demons.
I like jminute14's theory right now
April 10, 2013 9:36 p.m.
I know that a lot of guilds have many members of other races but they are primarily human. If jminute14's theory is correct it is one hell of a coincidence that they are alphabetical. (See post #10)
April 10, 2013 11 p.m.
MindAblaze says... #15
It's likely that Ryman was told he had to draw an Orzhov card, even some direction regarding the tapestry. He was probably told to leave the Simic out, the reason doesn't necessarily matter to the artist. If Ryman has just the names and logos to work with it makes sense he'd organize them alphabetically. Right to left just makes it slightly less obvious. I'm not sure how much direction the artists get when it comes to stuff like this.
NobodyPicksBulbasaur says... #2
Because she's Orzhov, and has close ties to the church. She's worried that the Selesnyan wurms are too phallic and will corrupt our youth.
April 9, 2013 10:58 a.m.