Sweet Tweets: #MTGIVG

At last I have it.

When I was a young boy my parents would take me to the City Library. That was paradise. All of Ravnica’s histories, comedies, tragedies, poems, songs, myths, and legends were there for me to examine. Like any good Izzet Guildmages, my parents valued the Pursuit of Knowledge. Next to a steady job working as a thankless intern in Nivix, Aerie of the Firemind or some crazed scientist’s laboratory, they valued the awareness of the world around us above all else. They engendered a tenacious Thirst for Knowledge in me. I will always love them for that.

And so for the better part of my life I’ve struggled to collect every bit of information that I could. And though it has cost me many friends, loves, and perhaps most importantly to my parents a nice cushy position at Nivix, it is clear to me that it has been well worth it. All of Ravnica’s secrets, from knowledge of the Dimir during their time as The Secret Guild to the private practices of the Gruul shamans and the mysteries of the ghosts of Agyrem, nothing is unknown to me. I am a Delver of Secrets the likes of which this city has never seen.

I knew it would lead to trouble. While researching the Rakdos, I was chased through Tin Street by a dozen Death Cultists and an Igneous Golem. Sure, I was attempting to take a small piece of their shrine, but it was for Private Research! And that was nothing compared to the time the Novijen Sages caught me sneaking out of the Growth Chamber…

But I didn’t mind a little danger. No risk, no reward.

But one tome was conspicuously missing. One fragment of Ravnica’s history, like a missing piece of a nearly finished puzzle, frustratingly eluded me. Like a silhouette slipping out of the corner of my eye, I would see him in the shadows of the words on the page. He would show up here and there during the city’s major events, perhaps not expressly referenced but most certainly present. I didn’t know his name. I didn’t know his motives. But I knew he was there.

But now I have this, the result of my hard work; my years of diligence have now paid off. I have more now on him than I have ever had before.

Now I know his name.

Jace.

…..

Few things have made Magic players more excited than a possible future return to the city plane of Ravnica, and now that we are officially Returning to Ravnica, the Vorthoses in the community are ecstatic.

Central to the upcoming story in #MTGRTR are the leaders of a pair of Guilds that are featured in the upcoming Duel Deck: Izzet vs. Golgari. Niv-Mizzet, the Firemind is a character who is well known by most players since he made his first appearance in the original Ravnica block (in Guildpact) and was reprinted in From the Vault: Dragons. He even appears on an extended art foil version! And beyond his paper printings (and his flavor text), Niv is a character central to the story of the first Ravnica block.

But so is Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord. When last we saw Jarad, he was a conflicted Guild leader who had battled his sister Savra, Queen of the Golgari and teamed up with Agrus Kos, Wojek Veteran, and friends to defeat her and Szadek, Lord of Secrets. He also spent the better part of Dissension recovering his son, Myc, from Rakdos the Defiler, but then was killed by Lysolda, the Blood Witch in a fight. But he isn’t gone forever (since haunting is commonplace in Ravnica) since now he is Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord, neither living nor dead, without his original memories and with no emotion…and with a couple of new powerful abilities on his card!

Although we only know two of the cards in #MTGIVG so far and one of them is a reprint, there’s quite a bit of discussion already as we get warmed up for a Return to Ravnica:

As most of you know, the biggest gaming convention on the planet, @Gen_Con, is fast approaching. And while many plan to attend ‘The Best Four Days in Gaming,’ there will be one notable exception. Vintage luminary Rich Shay will be skipping the event, which has played host to the #Vintage World Championships since the very beginning, for fear of theft. Stealing has always been an issue in the Magic community.

Personally, I collected a full playset of Urza’s Legacy and most of the foils when I was young. One day, while I was trading in a full card shop and with my prized binder a short distance away, it disappeared. At Grand Prix Chicago, I was sitting next to Ben Weinberg when he got his backpack stolen by one of a ring of thieves, who was caught by the judge staff and taken into custody. That time the bad guys were caught, but all too often that isn’t the case. Therefore, I can’t blame him for skipping the event, even if it is a tad disappointing that one of the top players in the format won’t be there to contend for the title.

Here are some thoughts from Twitter on the topic:

You show the Tweets that stop me turn to stone! You Tweet it when I’m alone!

Reuben Bresler

@MoxReuby

Coverage Coordinator and Twitter Admiral for StarCityGames.com

Listen to the @InContention podcast! It’s the official podcast of the StarCityGames.com Open Series with @kstube, @affinityforblue, and me. Listen in at InContentionMagic.com. Our most recent episode, Hero of Bladovich, can be found here.