The entries are in, and the points are tallied. For those of you who didn’t catch my contest featured here some weeks back, take a look at it now. I now present to you the questions complete with answers:
People
1 – Who were the brothers responsible for the oncoming of the Ice Age?
Urza and Mishra. Their mentor, Tocasia, always encouraged their sibling rivalry… Until it got out of hand, costing her life and the lives of countless others.
2 – What Master Wizard co-ran the Tolarian Academy with Urza?
That’d be Barrin.
3 – What planeswalker has read the entire history of the multiverse, both what has happened and what is yet to happen?
Commodore Guff. Interestingly enough, he’s also the one who has to approve said history, and before he erased it from the book, the outcome of the Phyrexian Invasion was to be victory in favor of Yawgmoth!
4 – What was the given name of Gerrard’s brother?
Gerrard’s brother’s name was Vuel, though they were brothers only by adoption. As luck would have it, Vuel later came to be known as Volrath. A cliché, yes, but still interesting.
5 – Who was splintered into five parts, each part corresponding to a color in Magic?
Oops! The answer I was looking for was Taysir. I originally chose not to accept Ramos, as Ramos was originally a creation of Mishra and therefore not qualified as a”who.” However, I was recently found this information:
“Taysir originally hails from the far-off plane of Rabiah, a desert plane full of magic. He started out as five separate people, a city bazaar merchant of white, a desert nomad of red, a forest dweller of green, a young babe of blue hidden in a city in a bottle, and a wicked man of black under the tutelage of the evil Sorceress Queen Nailah.”
The rest of the essay about Taysir makes it unclear if Taysir was indeed split in five parts before this, so I’ve decided to accept Ramos as a correct answer. I still maintain that Taysir is the best answer – but I’ve decided to allow Ramos as an answer because of the definite possibility that I could be wrong. This doesn’t change the finalists, though, and I’ll be adding back the points I took away two of the contestants while leaving intact the points of the contestant who answered Taysir.
Places
1 – On what continent does the Odyssey Cycle take place?
2 – What is the artificial plane used as a bridge between Phyrexia and Dominaria?
Rath. I must admit that this place got a lot more important than I ever thought it would during the Rath Cycle!
3 – What inverted mountain served as the refuge of several Thran citizens?
Although the”refuge of several Thran citizens” was a bit tricky, the”inverted mountain” part seemed to give the answer of Mercadia away fairly well.
4 – What swamp served as a pivotal battle site in the Phyrexian Invasion?
5 – On what collection of planes does the Arabian Nights expansion take place?
This would be Rabiah, a collection of 1001 planes that are very closely connected.
Things
1 – What item drove Emperor Aboshan to create a gargantuan tidal wave?
The Mirari.
2 – What does Kamahl claim his sword used to be?
Urza’s battle-staff, forged into a sword by Balthor.
3 – What two items drove Urza and Mishra into contention?
The Mightstone and the Weakstone. Several entrants answered the Mightstone and the Meekstone – but the Meekstone and the Weakstone are very different artifacts.
(As an aside, Urza has the Mightstone, and Mishra had the Meekstone; each was vying for the other’s stone in order to recombine them into one.)
4 – Tawnos’s coffin saved him from the power of what cataclysmic artifact?
That artifact was the Golgothian Sylex. I didn’t accept”the Sylex” because this was a Level Four question deserving of the full title. Plus, a sylex is just a sylex, while the Golgothian Sylex is much more.
5 – What material makes a wall around the base of Mercadia?
Trash, refuge, garbage – however you want to say it, that’s the answer.
Events
1 – What Weatherlight crewman was accidentally abandoned on Rath?
Ertai was that crewman. Although Mirri didn’t leave Rath, that was because she died there, and Crovax wasn’t”accidentally abandoned” – he stayed on of his own free will.
2 – The defeat of Yawgmoth in the Phyrexian Invasion came as a result of what Thran artifact?
This was another oft-missed question. The answer required knowledge of both the Brothers’ War and the Phyrexian Invasion. Although the Legacy and Weatherlight played important roles in defeating Yawgmoth, neither of these answers are Thran. The closest Thran artifact involved in his defeat was the Null Moon, a Thran artifact originally designed to control all other Thran artifacts and deposited in space shortly before Yawgmoth’s departure from Dominaria.
3 – By whom was Starke killed?
The murderer was Volrath disguised as Starke’s daughter, Takara.
4 – What was Teferi’s response to the oncoming Phyrexian Invasion?
He phased out large portions of Shiv and Zhalfir in order to avoid the whole mess.
5 – In a poignant moment of understanding, the leader of whom made peace with the Weatherlight crew on Rath?
The answer I was looking for was”the slivers,” though only one entrant ([email protected]) got that answer. Almost everyone else answered that the leader was Eladamri and the people he lead were the Skyshroud Elves. Upon review, I also accepted this as a valid answer.
Miscellaneous
1 – What is the name given to the collection of all planes in existence?
Dominia, not Dominaria. I did not accept the Multiverse, as that’s like calling the Milky Way simply the Galaxy.
2 – Who was the first holder of the Mirari as far as Magic players currently know?
It was Chainer, who quickly gave it to the First.
3 – To what nation of barbarians did Gatha defect?
Keld.
4 – What is the trial of passage taken by Pardic Barbarians?
Balthor’s Judgment. It’s a series of tests that show that the test-taker is truly ready to be an adult among the harsh Pardic environment.
5 – Urza is to Tawnos as Mishra is to whom?
Tawnos was Urza’s apprentice as Ashnod was Mishra’s apprentice.
So, that’s what I was looking for. Our final three contestants are (with the Taysir Point Modifications included):
- [email protected] (Tim Bartik) with 70 points
- [email protected] with 73 points
- [email protected] (Jamie Holzhauer) with 75 points
Here’s how final Jeopardy will work. In a moment, I will announce the category to the general public. Then, I will contact each finalist separately and ask for his wager. I will then contact the contestants via AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger with a thirty-second response time for answering the question. Should any contestant not be available to participate in a timely amount of time, or should any contestant fail to adhere to these guidelines, I will contact the first runner up ([email protected]) to take his place.
The prize will be determined by the amount of points accumulated. For every five game points achieved, I will award one dollar in www.StarCityGames.com store credit.
Without further ado, here is the Final Jeopardy category:
Ulgrotha
Tune in next time to see who our big winner is!
Daniel Crane
[email protected]
www.londes.com