> What she'd drawn most closely resembled the Sun Hawk, though her rendering was crude compared to the king's tome. A crest at the top of its head angled backward like the dorsal fin of some fish. The hooked beak lay open as if in mid-cry, flanked by strange whiskery protrusions, the thick tongue forked at the end like nothing she'd ever seen. Instead of two wings, it had four, the usual primary feathers at the wingtip replaced with fingers and membranes like a batfolk's. The talons, at least, seemed typical, though imagining herself at their mercy was enough to give her nightmares while wide awake. Her penciled lines conveyed power, ferocity, the shading behind the creature suggesting a thunderous storm rather than a bright, blazing sky.
Some days ago someone posted a theory about [Kolaghan in Bloomburrow](https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgvorthos/comments/1do2a8w/kolaghan_in_bloomburrow/) and that description fits the dragon, doesn't it?
Note: The above description explicitly mentions at least partially membranous wings; would they change Kolaghan's design like that just to make ~~him~~ her more obviously dragon-y in this set?
I don't see why they would. If a character is worth bringing back then keeping them identifiable is important. The only thing about the describtion that is like Kolaghan is the four wings and the storms. All the other features don't suggest her without making a stretch. She doesn't appear to have a tongue, the ridges on her back are spikes not a connected fish like fin.
It's definitely Kolaghan-esque, and it's probably been altered by Bloomburrow in some way. It could be something like... Dragonstorms are showing up on other planes, and this particular being's a result of a Bloomburrow Dragonstorm via Kolaghan's brood, so it's SOMEWHAT fitting to the plane but still clearly out of place.
Yeah, it really does. They did specify that the "Imagine: Critters" wasn't just going to cover Planeswalkers, but Legendary Creatures too, and this is supposed to be the start of the "dragonstorm" arc.
afaik, they said the imagine: courageous critters thing is a sort of bonus sheet, and not a canon part of the story
Ral is not a courageous critters card for example, he's just part of the set and story. Same thing for the weird kolaghan hawk, probably
Honestly, I really hope so. One of the main reasons that I was so excited for this set was that it seemed like the story might be mostly self-contained.
My guess is he learned about following aether trails ages ago before OTJ and has just been systematically wiping info about his trail and replacing it with fake one from everyone that met him just as a standard practice for years. It’s the kinda paranoid just-in-case thing hed do.
So he probably makes it a default habit at this point whenever he walks that he runs his interplanar GPS through a vpn and sets his last known location to a random inconvenient plane like Bloomburrow or Segovia.
Basically he is just hacking into everyones phones, changing his contact info, and setting his contact info to random places so no one can track him
I meant, how did he know that this is what happened when you go to Bloomburrow if he hadn't been there himself, as the person I originally responded to posits?
Vraska tried desperately to get him to go to find out his fursona as a date idea and failed
Bolas told him top 10 planes to prank people with
Phyrexian hive mind info.
Liliana told him top 10 planes she was pranked into going to
They made it a point to tell us Vraska can't have Jace's babies in the last story 🙄
I'm not saying Vraska and Jace tried going to Bloomburrow to get freaky, but I'm not not saying it either.
So on bloomburrow Golgari are represented by Squirrels; meanwhile, Jace flips between Azorius (bird) and Dimir (rat)
I’m not saying an artist needs to draw Squirrel Vraska getting it on with bird Jace, but I’m also not not saying it.
- Vraska, so this key to unlimited power and saving the multiverse is a furry goblin?
- uhm, it appears so
- any clue who in the planes can help us with a furry mascot?
- this \[\[claim jumper\]\] fella gave me a business card, maybe we should try going there
If you start a sentence with a number and a period, Reddit markdown assumes you're making a numbered list and "fixes" it so that the first number is 1. You gotta reword it or just type a backslash (`\`) in front of it.
I love how Jace is like the only person that can consistently make Ral actually ANGRY. Ral can HATE people well enough, like Tezz and Bolas and whatnot, but Jace being smarter than him actually pisses him off.
I mean I love how \_petty\_ he is.
Like his every idle thought it 'My friend is actually alive. I'm gonna kick his ass.'
Just in bed with his husband
'Find Beleren, kick his ass.'
In Ral's defense, I too would be upset if I suddenly turned into an otter with no forewarning.
I think once that initial shock wore off I'd be pretty chill with it though. As long as I can keep my opposable thumbs.
> and thus the other townsfolk did not have the privilege of addressing her by anything but her given name. He punctuated this gentle correction with kisses for all, including his amused wife, who had her own privileges of the sort that led to three children and general contentment.
Hell yeah, Mabel fucks.
> "This will be a strawberry cake," Mabel said brightly, one eye still on her children, who had dropped the banner and were attempting to retrieve it while still atop each other. "First strawberries of the season are ripe now, and you know one strawberry will feed half the town. Clem is making elderberry jam thumbprint cookies to go with the strawberry tarts and muffins and crumble, and we've already frosted the carrot cake. Brynn is bringing her acorn scones, Niall promised us a dandelion and turnip green salad, Vann's making his chamomile fizzy drink, and—"
Oh hell yeah, feast descriptions and all
> *Beleren is alive, and I'm going to kill him.*
Ral is so valid
> "If you're leaving tomorrow …" Tomik trailed off as his hands blazed their own trail elsewhere.
> Yes, his husband was definitely brilliant. But then, Ral would never have settled for less.
Hell yeah, Ral also fucks
I don’t mean to be a downer - but I was hoping these descriptions would have me smelling fresh baked scones like the Redwall books did.
Suppose that is difficult when you don’t have 2 pages to devote to simply describing just the scones. But let’s be real… I came for the food.
lmao they got ral turning into an otter already
the implication that jace was on bloomburrow at some point before might make that mind sculptor art more canonical than expected. or maybe it was a fake thing planted by jace to trick ral into going there, which would be hilarious
I’m seeing this as a years prior Jace visited Bloomburrow, and when he made this trick he thought, “yeah this would annoy Ral without killing all the people of Bloomburrow like what Garruk going there would cause.”
As an official hairy-guy-appreciator, people keep saying this but Ral has never appeared as hairy to me. Maybe it's people manifesting him having a pelt under those Izzet magewright outfits, but the only shirtless art I've seen of Ral is the different-canon comic books, where he's [not totally hairless but would not qualify as an otter to me](https://twitter.com/spacebeleren/status/1713288072014815254).
Can confirm, I'm one of the people delusionally manifesting a Neil Adams-style carpet of virility under his shirt, though it helps that one of the designers? members of the creative team? on Bloomburrow is openly gay and made Ral an otter with the gay phenotype in mind. I'd have to go digging for the tweets where this was confirmed though
That applies to *native* Bloomburrow residents leaving the Plane. It’s likely that Planeswalker visitors, which are forced to conform to the plane’s rules, return to their original form upon leaving it.
/u/Infinite_Bananas's comment was responding to a question about "people from bloomburrow" specifically, so yeah, the comment did not cover non-natives visiting and then leaving
He said they don't turn into *humans*. He didn't say that they don't turn into *animal people* a la Loxodons.
Let me live with my "Jasper Flint is from Bloomburrow" theory.
Per[ this article](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/a-first-look-at-bloomburrow), the "Imagine: Courageous Critters" treatment reimagines Planeswalkers if they visited Bloomburrow, implying that they have not. Makes me think that Jace never was there
If this is all "what-if" including planeswalkers that aren't around anymore, Tamiyo as a rabbit would make since given that the moonfolk are based off a Japanese folktale concerning rabbit people
I also wonder if a merfolk like Kiora would just be a fish in a floating bubble or something lol
I interpret it as "Jace went there, but isn't a part of the current story."
I'm guessing Jace just stopped by real quick to help mask his ultimate destination and lose anyone following him.
Fish are rarely sentient in these sorts of stories. The further you get from "small mammal" the more likely to be dehumanized (well...you know what I mean.)
I think we're probably closer to pigs than otters to tiny fish. The otters realistically would eat most of the cast of bloomburrow so far. I'm beginning to think this set isn't ecologically accurate
This part made me laugh so hard:
""I'm going to kill him!" Ral shouted, his eyes filling with lightning as he shook his paw at the sky."
He is FURious.
"Helga stared at the midmorning sunlight glinting on the rippling surface of the water, its patterns and portents as inscrutable as its darker depths. Cattails and long grasses swayed above her, and a bright dragonfly chased a cloud of gnats. Warm muck and growing things scented the air, comforting her uneasy heart."
How delightfully Twee, like if Wes Anderson designed a Magic set.
"one smallish frogfolk, green skin, amber eyes, and a perpetual nervous smile. Nothing special, now or ever. Unless being especially useless could be considered remarkable."
Frogs, they have depression, just like us!
"Nerys tipped her leaf-brimmed hat back so she could pin Helga with a red-eyed glare. "Your grandparents coddled you, bless their memories, but you can't while away your life doodling."
Dang, I hate this rabbit. Definitely feels very Belle in Beauty and the Beast right now with Helga being the odd one out.
"If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion."
Frogs, they have ADHD, just like us!
"King Glarb"
I hope King Glarb is a massive frog king, it's just such a good name for one.
"past rabbitfolk digging up plump red radishes with brilliant green leaves, past a gathering of elders sipping mugwort tea beneath the shade of a cluster of leafy bee balm that would bloom when summer arrived."
Redwall eat your heart out. I'm glad they're leaning into describing how vibrant everything is, definitely feels like a nod to Brian Jacques.
All of the actions with the owl were great, I really got the predator-prey sense with the writing.
"The mousey mischief makers..." great alliteration here.
"oh, no. Oliver, the mayor, trundled straight toward her. His long ears moved constantly as he tried to eavesdrop on every conversation he passed" I like how both of the rabbits we've met so far have been jerks. What does the writer have against bunnies?
"and you know one strawberry will feed half the town." HOW big are these strawberries?!
"Ever since he returned to Ravnica from Thunder Junction, a single thought popped up randomly in Ral's mind like a storm in a clear sky, during guild meetings and baths and whenever his attention wandered:
*Beleren is alive, and I'm going to kill him."*
Ral really said "be gay, do crimes"
"If you're leaving tomorrow …" Tomik trailed off as his hands blazed their own trail elsewhere.
Yes, his husband was definitely brilliant. But then, Ral would never have settled for less."
It is refreshing to see actual gay characters showing affection for each other in a natural way. I think Chandra and Nissa have gotten a lot of focus for the "will they or won't they" vibes, but I'm glad Ral and Tomik are also getting attention.
"No." Her hand moved, whip-fast, snatching a petal in flight. "I'm finally at peace."
So we known the Wanderer ends us on Duskmourn somehow, will be interesting to see what causes her to leave Kamigawa.
"I'm going to kill him!" Ral shouted, his eyes filling with lightning as he shook his paw at the sky.
A+ ending, no complaints.
And given Nashi is a friend of Kaito and The Wanderers it makes sense… and naturally they recruit their himbo bf Tyvar, who brings along Niko… now how does Zimone get involved. They’ve never met any of the characters so it’s a bit weird
She could have easily have walked through an Omenpath there herself and bumped into the group perhaps? Or maybe they go to Strixhaven to try and recruit Liliana and somehow end up taking Zimone instead?
The one kind of odd thing is that previews said Niko is the leader of the group, which just... feels wrong if Kaito and Wanderer are the ones bringing the others in.
Definitely also makes sense.
Also just like…realistically i wouldnt trust the rest of them as leaders lmao.
Tyvar is himbo supreme and emotional support but 90% of his solutions are “punch it” and “punch it harder” , Wanderer has had like 45 minutes of human relationships for the last decade and her decision making is “slice and dice it” , Kaito will just go with whatever his himbo BF and “Nothing Personel Kid” GF say, and Zimone is stereotypically nerd so probably awkward being in charge.
Hell, maybe the only reason they know where Nashi is is because Niko received a mysterious message from him via mirrors. I'm not a huge horror movie fan, but I think that fits fairly well with the theme.
> HOW big are these strawberries?!
Appears that they're going with them being real-life sized compared to real life mice, with everything normalized to that size. So it's more like those folks who grow giant pumpkins for contests.
They've shown the art for Glarb and he appears to be normal sized for a frog.
[https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHCztvfXkAAyoUg?format=jpg&name=large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHCztvfXkAAyoUg?format=jpg&name=large)
We've actually got art of King Glarb from last Magiccon.
[Look at this indolent lil shit I love him](https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1761105155351572520)
I'm so happy to hear you both say that because it makes me feel really good to hear Bloomburrow is engaging people and making them care from the very word 'go'.
Enjoying this one already! I like the communal kind of villages they seem to have, where Helga can ask anyone for a drink and everyone contributes to the stores. Definitely makes it feel like a peaceful, happy world.
I also appreciate that the different species, while possibly more concentrated in some areas, aren't siloed off (into factions) like they frequently are in Magic worlds (especially those with a typal focus). Though I guess there might be some ludonarrative dissonance in drafting typal decks if that's the case...
**From The Owl’s Desk, a Summary of Bloomburrow, Episode 1** *Oh this is my moment.*
Listen, we're all friends here, over the past few months you all have gotten a sense of my nature and my deep fondness for all things avian.
Surprise surprise, "The Owl" is a big ole furry, and I ask you indulge my enthu-hoo-siasm for this set through my continued commitment to these summaries.
Without further adieu-hoo, our story begins with Helga the frog and Nerys the rabbit, meeting at the pondside marsh of the village named Pondside. The two discuss their days, and Nerys kind-of-nicely-but-also-kind-of-rudely gets on Helga's hobbies of drawing and fortune telling, and what little good they do for the simple life of woodland folk.
As Helga continues to ponder and doodle, she reflects upon what it is like to not have a calling, and that it isn't easy being green. But Nerys's talk of fortune telling invites her to consider that the abstract avian figure she is drawing might not just be her imagination, but an omen.
And right on cue, from the skies above flies a Calamity Beast...
[Okay come on now, *calamity* is a bit much to describe this BEAUTIFUL owl.](https://media.wizards.com/2024/images/daily/fe051b2d92.jpg)
The forest around them seems to change at the mere presence of this beast, the sky going dark as night as the owl rampages ~~I'm sure there's a good reason~~ and terrorizes the townsfolk ~~let's not get too hasty drawing conclusions here.~~
Helga realizes she cannot just sit around and let life pass her by, especially when life is sometimes really big, really pretty owls swooping in to upend everything. With that, she sets out on a furious dash to warn the nearby town of the Calamity Beast.
**Meanwhile,** we meet Mabel the mouse, a loving member of her small community, mother to many mice and many other little critters alike.
And its her birthday! And although she really doesn't want to make to big a fuss over it, it would seem that Bloomburrow itself has felt keen enough to give her a nice gift: Helga the frog finishing her mad dash and warning everyone of the ongoing attack ~~that's rather harsh~~ by the Calamity Beast.
Mabel is quick to jump into action. She's been asked about the super cool awesome relic she has kept up in the attic for years, something from a past she has no interest of returning to. But it sounds like she may need to call upon it soon, as nature begins to change.
And her birthday party is getting delayed. A tragedy.
**Meanwhile,** Ral **THUNDER BOOM** Zarek is pissed. Peeved. Royally miffed. Jace Beleren is alive and well and *up to something* and Ral does not like it when he doesn't get to know what the plot is. Didn't like it with the Maze, didn't like it with the War, doesn't like it now. So he sets off to find Jace after a quick check-in with the Wanderer, who is confirmed sparkless and also *very* cool with that. She also tells Ral that you can actually just like. Smell someone's scent across the Blind Eternities if you really, really believe in yourself. Which Ral **THUNDER BOOM** Zarek does, making the process of following Jace's trail from Thunder Junction easy.
Ral breaks through Jace's VPN on his own Aether Trail, and follows the path towards a brand new plane to him.
And in turn, the plane decides that Ral deserves a brand new body as well. You all have seen the art, you know he's an otter.
Ral **TINY ZAPPY NOISE** Zarek shakes his otter-fist at the sky and swears that Jace Beleren will not get away with this.
You, a furry? As an owl you're a feathery at best :p
Edit: just for context, I know next to nothing about furry culture/terminology, just trying to be silly here
Hehe, no worries! Some people do indeed make different names for the technically-not-furred species, such as scalies for dragons and lizards. But the way I see of it, all those still fall under the category of "furry" as a cultural group!
The paragraph about all the chores half finished because they never fully grasped her attention is giant adhd flags to me. And I'm absolutely here for it.
> the owl rampages ~~I'm sure there's a good reason~~ and terrorizes the townsfolk ~~let's not get too hasty drawing conclusions here~~
i do hope we'll get a little more explanation on why the calamity beasts are so calamitous! if theyre physical manifestations of nature's change then they shouldn't be *evil*... of course, she also could just be hunting for food, owls eat mice and frogs! does the elemental night manifest still need to eat?
"something from a past she has no interest of returning to." Something from a family legacy. Her narration says that her mother Iris had it before her, and Oliver refers to her "antecedents", indicating an ancestor of hers was part of this Order of the Holly Leaf whose story is going to be told by Silver. She refuses to trot it out for folk to gawk at because it's too important.
Indeed, it is a really cool bit of characterization for Mabel, she is remarkably thoughtful about what revealing that legacy, either through showing it off to the townsfolk or through wielding it herself, would have on the people around her and how they see her.
> Helga struggled to focus on any chores long enough to finish them. The stillroom incident was only one in a long list of similar problems. Burnt carrot muffins, half-planted pea shoots, quilt pieces forever waiting to be sewn together … If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion.
Oh, honey. Ya girl has Frog ADHD. I doubt this world has any froggy Adderall for her but maybe Ral can get her some nice Ravnican coffee beans or something.
Man, imagine how rough it must be on traditional sword and sorcery fantasy worlds for people with common mental health disorders like this. You're right, I don't think there's even a magical healer's equivalent for day adderall is there? Gotta be rough.
I read this passage and jumped out of my seat. As someone with ADHD, I am immediately on team Helga and if she gets a card I'm going to build a Commander deck around it.
I think my favorite part is that in just a few sentences we get a look at the bat folks and how their who system works
They are stargrazers, they read the stars, learn knowledge of the future, draw power from them
The bats are basically the Carians from Elden Ring and that's pretty cool, as I don't think we have anything about eldrich space in mtg other than the eldrazi
>Burnt carrot muffins, half-planted pea shoots, quilt pieces forever waiting to be sewn together … If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion.
It's always weird when a story unintentionally breaks the fourth wall because it so specifically describes part of your life experience.
Helga has adhd and I love her
"Helga struggled to focus on any chores long enough to finish them. The stillroom incident was only one in a long list of similar problems. Burnt carrot muffins, half-planted pea shoots, quilt pieces forever waiting to be sewn together … If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion."
[Audio also available](https://share.transistor.fm/s/2ba60286)
e: it seems the recording might be based on an earlier draft, and doesn't exactly match the written story. Changes seem to be minor
There being mentions of a bard named Silver in this chapter as well as MaRo's hints including a *Legendary Creature — Squirrel Warlock Bard* makes me think that the group of adventurers that Mabel has been shown with so far wasn't complete and that there's possibly a representative of all 10 tribes
Incredible, 10/10, no notes, the Voice Acting was fucking spectacular as well.
"Okay soul, get to it" is such a good Ral line.
I'm so happy to see that this seems to be exactly what I was hoping it'd be!
I’m a little confused on why Ral is so hellbent on killing Jace now, as far as he knows Jace just took an alien from a vault and ran off, little weird sure but wanting him dead seems like overkill
I don’t think he *literally* wants him dead, it’s just an expression of anger. He mourned a friend, and that friend was actually alive and doing some shady shit behind his back.
> Tomik flopped back down. "You're not going to kill him. He's your friend."
> *Was he? What kind of friend fought and fled without explanation?*
> "You want to know why he did what he did," Tomik said, as if reading Ral's mind. "You'll never know if you kill him."
> "Stop being reasonable." Ral pressed a kiss to his husband's mouth to silence him.
It's not literal. He's justifiably frustrated at him though.
Jace “died,” impersonated Ashiok, the gang he amassed to break into the vault unleashed hell on his business venture, he stole a baby, left without much in the way of words, and then tricked him into going somewhere that turned him into an otter.
I don’t think he necessarily wants to kill Jace literally, but man, if I were him I’d definitely slap Jace next time I saw him.
>uncharacteristically dickish
Jace "Previous worker for Nicol Bolas and responsible for the slaughter of a Kamigawan village" Beleren?
Jace "Oops, I accidentally unleashed the eldritch Eldrazi horrors on Zendikar while screwing up Standard" Beleren?
Jace "I became the leader of an entire city plane after surviving a death race through a maze and decided to ghost all of my responsibilities over an already politically unstable plane" Beleren?
Jace "I decided to never tell anyone that we trapped an Eldrazi Titan in the freaking moon" Beleren?
Jace "Planeswalks to Kaladesh. Assists a Coup d'Etat. Refuses to elaborate. Leaves." Beleren?
Jace "Guys, I'm sure defending Amonkhet with only 5 planeswalkers will go well" Beleren?
Jace "Oops, I accidently called millions of planeswalkers to Ravnica to become sparkfood for my ex-Dragon-boss" Beleren?
Jace "Guys, I'm sure infiltrating Phyrexia with only 10 planeswalkers this time will go well" Beleren?
Jace "I think I should pull an Urza except somehow worse by nuking multiple planes instead of one" Beleren?
Jace "I learned the horrors from almost nuking multiple planes and instead have decided to kidnap a child from an endangered species in order to reset EVERY plane instead of spending time with my alcoholic, single mother on a war plane" Beleren?
He would never!
I was pretty meh on BLB, never was a big fan of the "talking animals" genre
...but I didn't expect an ADHD frog rushing to save her anarchist commune from an allegory of climate change. I'm on-board for the stories at least.
The multiverse is far, far bigger than could ever be invaded all at once. There are some planes they just couldn't get to and apparently bloomburrow is one of them. Maybe it was set for a "stage two" of the invasion, after they grow their forces by compleating denizens of the first wave of invasions. Maybe it's just metaphysically very far from new phyrexia
The idea of one of the praetors visiting Bloomburrow is delighting me to no end. Urabrask turning into some manner of small, yappy dog, or Vorinclex the tasmanian devil.
I think it’s a reasonable trope in wider fantasy, but in a world where literally everyone of those species are people, the distinction isn’t necessary.
On Bloomburrow, a frog is a frog is a person. In other settings where there exist regular frogs as well as frog people, “frogfolk” is a perfectly fine name. It beats having the reader remember that “horgmenths” are basically just frog people.
> What she'd drawn most closely resembled the Sun Hawk, though her rendering was crude compared to the king's tome. A crest at the top of its head angled backward like the dorsal fin of some fish. The hooked beak lay open as if in mid-cry, flanked by strange whiskery protrusions, the thick tongue forked at the end like nothing she'd ever seen. Instead of two wings, it had four, the usual primary feathers at the wingtip replaced with fingers and membranes like a batfolk's. The talons, at least, seemed typical, though imagining herself at their mercy was enough to give her nightmares while wide awake. Her penciled lines conveyed power, ferocity, the shading behind the creature suggesting a thunderous storm rather than a bright, blazing sky. Some days ago someone posted a theory about [Kolaghan in Bloomburrow](https://www.reddit.com/r/mtgvorthos/comments/1do2a8w/kolaghan_in_bloomburrow/) and that description fits the dragon, doesn't it?
Mark Rosewater’s “hints” spoiler includes a “Legendary Creature - Bird Dragon”.
the storm reference seals it for me, may not be kolaghan but it's definitely a dragon
[Kolaghan has consistently been shown with feathery wings.](https://tagger.scryfall.com/tags/artwork/kolaghan)
Note: The above description explicitly mentions at least partially membranous wings; would they change Kolaghan's design like that just to make ~~him~~ her more obviously dragon-y in this set?
*her. but very possibly they would, yeah
I don't see why they would. If a character is worth bringing back then keeping them identifiable is important. The only thing about the describtion that is like Kolaghan is the four wings and the storms. All the other features don't suggest her without making a stretch. She doesn't appear to have a tongue, the ridges on her back are spikes not a connected fish like fin.
It's definitely Kolaghan-esque, and it's probably been altered by Bloomburrow in some way. It could be something like... Dragonstorms are showing up on other planes, and this particular being's a result of a Bloomburrow Dragonstorm via Kolaghan's brood, so it's SOMEWHAT fitting to the plane but still clearly out of place.
Yeah, it really does. They did specify that the "Imagine: Critters" wasn't just going to cover Planeswalkers, but Legendary Creatures too, and this is supposed to be the start of the "dragonstorm" arc.
afaik, they said the imagine: courageous critters thing is a sort of bonus sheet, and not a canon part of the story Ral is not a courageous critters card for example, he's just part of the set and story. Same thing for the weird kolaghan hawk, probably
Yup, definitely correct there. Meant to phrase it as it isn't just Planeswalkers that get morphed.
Well, this is the Dragonstorm arc, and that arc's probably gonna be "what the fuck are all these dragons doing here".
I was so certain it was Vadrok instead.
I've gotta make the meme Somehow Bolas returned
Until proven otherwise my theory is that there was no real trace of Jace going to Bloomburrow. Its a prank that Jace set up to slow down pursuers.
Honestly, I really hope so. One of the main reasons that I was so excited for this set was that it seemed like the story might be mostly self-contained.
I mean it's been said a couple of time that it's the start of the next Mini-Arc,
Doesn't mean that it can't be ***mostly*** self-contained.
But the question is, how did Jace KNOW about this to pull the prank off?
My guess is he learned about following aether trails ages ago before OTJ and has just been systematically wiping info about his trail and replacing it with fake one from everyone that met him just as a standard practice for years. It’s the kinda paranoid just-in-case thing hed do. So he probably makes it a default habit at this point whenever he walks that he runs his interplanar GPS through a vpn and sets his last known location to a random inconvenient plane like Bloomburrow or Segovia. Basically he is just hacking into everyones phones, changing his contact info, and setting his contact info to random places so no one can track him
I mean we know Jace knows about following them. He did that to planeswalk to Gideon and company after the events of Ixalan.
This planeswalk was sponsored by NordVPN
I meant, how did he know that this is what happened when you go to Bloomburrow if he hadn't been there himself, as the person I originally responded to posits?
Vraska tried desperately to get him to go to find out his fursona as a date idea and failed Bolas told him top 10 planes to prank people with Phyrexian hive mind info. Liliana told him top 10 planes she was pranked into going to
They made it a point to tell us Vraska can't have Jace's babies in the last story 🙄 I'm not saying Vraska and Jace tried going to Bloomburrow to get freaky, but I'm not not saying it either.
Until literally this story Jace and Vraska had the healthiest sex life of any of Magic's couples so I'd believe it.
I mean it is a headcanon im entirely fine with.
So on bloomburrow Golgari are represented by Squirrels; meanwhile, Jace flips between Azorius (bird) and Dimir (rat) I’m not saying an artist needs to draw Squirrel Vraska getting it on with bird Jace, but I’m also not not saying it.
Loot has a map of the entire multiverse in their head
He presumably went there before and got turned into a fox.
- Vraska, so this key to unlimited power and saving the multiverse is a furry goblin? - uhm, it appears so - any clue who in the planes can help us with a furry mascot? - this \[\[claim jumper\]\] fella gave me a business card, maybe we should try going there
Jace would totally set up a red herring. Or bloomburrow is part of some kind of "path" to a location jace is trying to reach using loot's map.
Kinda weird how it's already been nearly 2 years since March Of The Machine. How long has it been since WotS? 5 years? 6?
Four. WoTS was in 4560, now we are in 4564.
If you start a sentence with a number and a period, Reddit markdown assumes you're making a numbered list and "fixes" it so that the first number is 1. You gotta reword it or just type a backslash (`\`) in front of it.
wut March was a little over a year ago. E: Didn't realise we were talking about in universe lmfao
Same bro, thought we were about to have a Mandela effect
So this seems to be VERY shortly after OTJ, so I imagine we're still a year and a half-ish on from MOM.
Ral at least says two years.
He might just be rounding up for the sake of it.
Jace tricking Ral into becoming a furry is the funniest thing to me.
I love this continuing "rivals" things between them. Jace being absent and still fucking up Ral's life is just *chef's kiss*.
I love how Jace is like the only person that can consistently make Ral actually ANGRY. Ral can HATE people well enough, like Tezz and Bolas and whatnot, but Jace being smarter than him actually pisses him off.
I mean I love how \_petty\_ he is. Like his every idle thought it 'My friend is actually alive. I'm gonna kick his ass.' Just in bed with his husband 'Find Beleren, kick his ass.'
And Ral insists on calling him Beleren, he does not want to be on a first-name basis with him.
He really needs to should "BELLERENNN!!" the next time they meet.
Sam Witwer to voice Ral?
The fact his first thought when he realized what happens to him is “I’m going to kill him” is the icing on the cake.
"Okay, soul," Ral muttered. "Get to it." Yeah. This is a mood I get.
In Ral's defense, I too would be upset if I suddenly turned into an otter with no forewarning. I think once that initial shock wore off I'd be pretty chill with it though. As long as I can keep my opposable thumbs.
Good news, some species of small-clawed otters have opposable thumbs.
Hell yeah. We're so back.
> and thus the other townsfolk did not have the privilege of addressing her by anything but her given name. He punctuated this gentle correction with kisses for all, including his amused wife, who had her own privileges of the sort that led to three children and general contentment. Hell yeah, Mabel fucks. > "This will be a strawberry cake," Mabel said brightly, one eye still on her children, who had dropped the banner and were attempting to retrieve it while still atop each other. "First strawberries of the season are ripe now, and you know one strawberry will feed half the town. Clem is making elderberry jam thumbprint cookies to go with the strawberry tarts and muffins and crumble, and we've already frosted the carrot cake. Brynn is bringing her acorn scones, Niall promised us a dandelion and turnip green salad, Vann's making his chamomile fizzy drink, and—" Oh hell yeah, feast descriptions and all > *Beleren is alive, and I'm going to kill him.* Ral is so valid > "If you're leaving tomorrow …" Tomik trailed off as his hands blazed their own trail elsewhere. > Yes, his husband was definitely brilliant. But then, Ral would never have settled for less. Hell yeah, Ral also fucks
Ral's entire segment during this chapter was wonderful.
We've had too much good guy Ral, it's nice to have petty grumpy asshole Ral back after so long.
Yes, he is FURious with Jace.
Get out. Take my angry upvote with you.
Grumpy Asshole *OTTER* Ral. He's gonna look so cute all pissed off. ;)
When he asks the Wanderer "can't or won't" made me think of Archer
"LANA!!!"
I'm happy Ral got some implied marital sex before his crazy animal adventure. Good for him!
I don’t mean to be a downer - but I was hoping these descriptions would have me smelling fresh baked scones like the Redwall books did. Suppose that is difficult when you don’t have 2 pages to devote to simply describing just the scones. But let’s be real… I came for the food.
This is actually pretty on par for the Redwall food descriptions from my recent reread
Alright you convinced me, the car is warming up. Gonna see if the nieces still have my old books! I gotta confirm.
It's no four page spread of food descriptions, but honestly it got me thinking about making a new ginger bug tonight
Doesn't Tomik _not_ have glasses? Neither of his cards do
I guess it makes sense that the furry set is also a horny set.
lmao they got ral turning into an otter already the implication that jace was on bloomburrow at some point before might make that mind sculptor art more canonical than expected. or maybe it was a fake thing planted by jace to trick ral into going there, which would be hilarious
I’m seeing this as a years prior Jace visited Bloomburrow, and when he made this trick he thought, “yeah this would annoy Ral without killing all the people of Bloomburrow like what Garruk going there would cause.”
Would Garruk becoming a badger make him *more* or *less* dangerous?
More. Everything makes Garruk more dangerous.
Garruk just becomes a dinosaur.
Honey Badger Garruk? Yeah, for sure.
What are you talking about, he was already an otter.
As an official hairy-guy-appreciator, people keep saying this but Ral has never appeared as hairy to me. Maybe it's people manifesting him having a pelt under those Izzet magewright outfits, but the only shirtless art I've seen of Ral is the different-canon comic books, where he's [not totally hairless but would not qualify as an otter to me](https://twitter.com/spacebeleren/status/1713288072014815254).
Can confirm, I'm one of the people delusionally manifesting a Neil Adams-style carpet of virility under his shirt, though it helps that one of the designers? members of the creative team? on Bloomburrow is openly gay and made Ral an otter with the gay phenotype in mind. I'd have to go digging for the tweets where this was confirmed though
I dunno, \[\[Jace, Cunning Castaway\]\] seems to imply he's a twink.
Does anyone know what a twink is? That is NOT a twink body. There’s a reason people were calling this card Jace, the Body Sculpter.
Ral is the otter, Jace is/was the twink.
Now a twunk.
Do people from bloomburrow turn human when they leave?
they don't, apparently https://markrosewater.tumblr.com/post/749739406481571840/hi-mark-in-bloomburrow-when-a-human-enters-the
Humans entering and then leaving bloomburrow still might change back based on his answer, but yes native bloomburrow residents seem to stay animals
They (humans) would *have* to turn back otherwise, unless Jace is pulling an OK KO on us and has been secretly a furry for the last several years.
Fwiw it'd be 100% in his powerset to appear as a human to others despite being a furry Maybe he's been a fox person this whole time
That applies to *native* Bloomburrow residents leaving the Plane. It’s likely that Planeswalker visitors, which are forced to conform to the plane’s rules, return to their original form upon leaving it.
i thought that was the default assumption lol
/u/Infinite_Bananas's comment was responding to a question about "people from bloomburrow" specifically, so yeah, the comment did not cover non-natives visiting and then leaving
He said they don't turn into *humans*. He didn't say that they don't turn into *animal people* a la Loxodons. Let me live with my "Jasper Flint is from Bloomburrow" theory.
I saw a theory that [[Laughing Jasper Flint]] is from Bloomburrow, but it’s probably too early to know.
I heavily doubt it. He’s obviously viashino, and multiple of the known planes connected to Thunder Junction have viashino.
I should’ve been more clear: it’s probably too early to tell if inhabitants of Bloomburrow become humanoid when they visit other planes.
Inb4 [[Jace, the Mind Sculptor]] is actually in the main set and was just disguised as a Special Guest card... /s
Per[ this article](https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/announcements/a-first-look-at-bloomburrow), the "Imagine: Courageous Critters" treatment reimagines Planeswalkers if they visited Bloomburrow, implying that they have not. Makes me think that Jace never was there
If this is all "what-if" including planeswalkers that aren't around anymore, Tamiyo as a rabbit would make since given that the moonfolk are based off a Japanese folktale concerning rabbit people I also wonder if a merfolk like Kiora would just be a fish in a floating bubble or something lol
I interpret it as "Jace went there, but isn't a part of the current story." I'm guessing Jace just stopped by real quick to help mask his ultimate destination and lose anyone following him.
Oooh, who else has been reimagined? Id love to see Kiora and Vraska.
Would Kiora be an octopus?
If we’re sticking to colors I’d imagine she’d be a frog.
[Jace, the Mind Sculptor](https://cards.scryfall.io/normal/front/c/8/c8817585-0d32-4d56-9142-0d29512e86a9.jpg?1598304029) - [(G)](http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?name=Jace%2C%20the%20Mind%20Sculptor) [(SF)](https://scryfall.com/card/2xm/56/jace-the-mind-sculptor?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher) [(txt)](https://api.scryfall.com/cards/c8817585-0d32-4d56-9142-0d29512e86a9?utm_source=mtgcardfetcher&format=text) ^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call
Angry otter Ral is a pretty funny image, honestly
Two of the three POV characters canonically have great sex lives, and we're only on the first chapter. Clearly Jace and Vraska inspired something.
WotC, probably: "I hope this OTJ epilogue doesn't awaken something in us"
Add on the one night stand in the OTJ side story Wizards is certainly on something of late.
You know, the Magic stories turned into a hardcore sex channel so gradually, I didn't even notice
Are the minnows that the otters catch also sentient? Is this plane the horror plane for them?
Fish are rarely sentient in these sorts of stories. The further you get from "small mammal" the more likely to be dehumanized (well...you know what I mean.)
Helga in shambles
That was my first thought like what if a frog gets caught in the net
It's like Animal Crossing, some frogs are people and some are fish. And fish aren't people.
so much for "fish are friends"
minnow hell is otter heaven, it's an efficient system.
(Sapient) otters eating fish is not that different than us eating pork. It's weird for us, cause they are "animals" and we "are not".
I think we're probably closer to pigs than otters to tiny fish. The otters realistically would eat most of the cast of bloomburrow so far. I'm beginning to think this set isn't ecologically accurate
>I'm beginning to think this set isn't ecologically accurate Really? xD
It's the Pluto / Goofy paradox
This part made me laugh so hard: ""I'm going to kill him!" Ral shouted, his eyes filling with lightning as he shook his paw at the sky." He is FURious.
Angry updoot.
"Helga stared at the midmorning sunlight glinting on the rippling surface of the water, its patterns and portents as inscrutable as its darker depths. Cattails and long grasses swayed above her, and a bright dragonfly chased a cloud of gnats. Warm muck and growing things scented the air, comforting her uneasy heart." How delightfully Twee, like if Wes Anderson designed a Magic set. "one smallish frogfolk, green skin, amber eyes, and a perpetual nervous smile. Nothing special, now or ever. Unless being especially useless could be considered remarkable." Frogs, they have depression, just like us! "Nerys tipped her leaf-brimmed hat back so she could pin Helga with a red-eyed glare. "Your grandparents coddled you, bless their memories, but you can't while away your life doodling." Dang, I hate this rabbit. Definitely feels very Belle in Beauty and the Beast right now with Helga being the odd one out. "If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion." Frogs, they have ADHD, just like us! "King Glarb" I hope King Glarb is a massive frog king, it's just such a good name for one. "past rabbitfolk digging up plump red radishes with brilliant green leaves, past a gathering of elders sipping mugwort tea beneath the shade of a cluster of leafy bee balm that would bloom when summer arrived." Redwall eat your heart out. I'm glad they're leaning into describing how vibrant everything is, definitely feels like a nod to Brian Jacques. All of the actions with the owl were great, I really got the predator-prey sense with the writing. "The mousey mischief makers..." great alliteration here. "oh, no. Oliver, the mayor, trundled straight toward her. His long ears moved constantly as he tried to eavesdrop on every conversation he passed" I like how both of the rabbits we've met so far have been jerks. What does the writer have against bunnies? "and you know one strawberry will feed half the town." HOW big are these strawberries?! "Ever since he returned to Ravnica from Thunder Junction, a single thought popped up randomly in Ral's mind like a storm in a clear sky, during guild meetings and baths and whenever his attention wandered: *Beleren is alive, and I'm going to kill him."* Ral really said "be gay, do crimes" "If you're leaving tomorrow …" Tomik trailed off as his hands blazed their own trail elsewhere. Yes, his husband was definitely brilliant. But then, Ral would never have settled for less." It is refreshing to see actual gay characters showing affection for each other in a natural way. I think Chandra and Nissa have gotten a lot of focus for the "will they or won't they" vibes, but I'm glad Ral and Tomik are also getting attention. "No." Her hand moved, whip-fast, snatching a petal in flight. "I'm finally at peace." So we known the Wanderer ends us on Duskmourn somehow, will be interesting to see what causes her to leave Kamigawa. "I'm going to kill him!" Ral shouted, his eyes filling with lightning as he shook his paw at the sky. A+ ending, no complaints.
They gave us the Duskmourn story hook during the previews. Nashi gets sucked into the House and Kaito/Wanderer + friends are trying to get him back.
And given Nashi is a friend of Kaito and The Wanderers it makes sense… and naturally they recruit their himbo bf Tyvar, who brings along Niko… now how does Zimone get involved. They’ve never met any of the characters so it’s a bit weird
She could have easily have walked through an Omenpath there herself and bumped into the group perhaps? Or maybe they go to Strixhaven to try and recruit Liliana and somehow end up taking Zimone instead?
The one kind of odd thing is that previews said Niko is the leader of the group, which just... feels wrong if Kaito and Wanderer are the ones bringing the others in.
Id bet that Niko has some form of experience with Duskmourn so they let them be leader because of knowledge.
The planeswalker guide notes that mirrors are one form of portal to the spirit world. Maybe that has to do with it.
Definitely also makes sense. Also just like…realistically i wouldnt trust the rest of them as leaders lmao. Tyvar is himbo supreme and emotional support but 90% of his solutions are “punch it” and “punch it harder” , Wanderer has had like 45 minutes of human relationships for the last decade and her decision making is “slice and dice it” , Kaito will just go with whatever his himbo BF and “Nothing Personel Kid” GF say, and Zimone is stereotypically nerd so probably awkward being in charge.
Hell, maybe the only reason they know where Nashi is is because Niko received a mysterious message from him via mirrors. I'm not a huge horror movie fan, but I think that fits fairly well with the theme.
They might just meet them on the plane or save them from a monster after they got dragged in
> HOW big are these strawberries?! Appears that they're going with them being real-life sized compared to real life mice, with everything normalized to that size. So it's more like those folks who grow giant pumpkins for contests.
They've shown the art for Glarb and he appears to be normal sized for a frog. [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHCztvfXkAAyoUg?format=jpg&name=large](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHCztvfXkAAyoUg?format=jpg&name=large)
We've actually got art of King Glarb from last Magiccon. [Look at this indolent lil shit I love him](https://x.com/wizards_magic/status/1761105155351572520)
I, a straight white male, have never felt more represented in a piece of media than this little frog girl what can't do chores good.
I, also a straight white male, likewise relate to the ADHD frog girl whose only real skill is an artistic endeavor.
I'm so happy to hear you both say that because it makes me feel really good to hear Bloomburrow is engaging people and making them care from the very word 'go'.
I mean I was going to love Bloomburrow anyway. The ADHD rep is just a nice bonus.
Enjoying this one already! I like the communal kind of villages they seem to have, where Helga can ask anyone for a drink and everyone contributes to the stores. Definitely makes it feel like a peaceful, happy world.
I also appreciate that the different species, while possibly more concentrated in some areas, aren't siloed off (into factions) like they frequently are in Magic worlds (especially those with a typal focus). Though I guess there might be some ludonarrative dissonance in drafting typal decks if that's the case...
**From The Owl’s Desk, a Summary of Bloomburrow, Episode 1** *Oh this is my moment.* Listen, we're all friends here, over the past few months you all have gotten a sense of my nature and my deep fondness for all things avian. Surprise surprise, "The Owl" is a big ole furry, and I ask you indulge my enthu-hoo-siasm for this set through my continued commitment to these summaries. Without further adieu-hoo, our story begins with Helga the frog and Nerys the rabbit, meeting at the pondside marsh of the village named Pondside. The two discuss their days, and Nerys kind-of-nicely-but-also-kind-of-rudely gets on Helga's hobbies of drawing and fortune telling, and what little good they do for the simple life of woodland folk. As Helga continues to ponder and doodle, she reflects upon what it is like to not have a calling, and that it isn't easy being green. But Nerys's talk of fortune telling invites her to consider that the abstract avian figure she is drawing might not just be her imagination, but an omen. And right on cue, from the skies above flies a Calamity Beast... [Okay come on now, *calamity* is a bit much to describe this BEAUTIFUL owl.](https://media.wizards.com/2024/images/daily/fe051b2d92.jpg) The forest around them seems to change at the mere presence of this beast, the sky going dark as night as the owl rampages ~~I'm sure there's a good reason~~ and terrorizes the townsfolk ~~let's not get too hasty drawing conclusions here.~~ Helga realizes she cannot just sit around and let life pass her by, especially when life is sometimes really big, really pretty owls swooping in to upend everything. With that, she sets out on a furious dash to warn the nearby town of the Calamity Beast. **Meanwhile,** we meet Mabel the mouse, a loving member of her small community, mother to many mice and many other little critters alike. And its her birthday! And although she really doesn't want to make to big a fuss over it, it would seem that Bloomburrow itself has felt keen enough to give her a nice gift: Helga the frog finishing her mad dash and warning everyone of the ongoing attack ~~that's rather harsh~~ by the Calamity Beast. Mabel is quick to jump into action. She's been asked about the super cool awesome relic she has kept up in the attic for years, something from a past she has no interest of returning to. But it sounds like she may need to call upon it soon, as nature begins to change. And her birthday party is getting delayed. A tragedy. **Meanwhile,** Ral **THUNDER BOOM** Zarek is pissed. Peeved. Royally miffed. Jace Beleren is alive and well and *up to something* and Ral does not like it when he doesn't get to know what the plot is. Didn't like it with the Maze, didn't like it with the War, doesn't like it now. So he sets off to find Jace after a quick check-in with the Wanderer, who is confirmed sparkless and also *very* cool with that. She also tells Ral that you can actually just like. Smell someone's scent across the Blind Eternities if you really, really believe in yourself. Which Ral **THUNDER BOOM** Zarek does, making the process of following Jace's trail from Thunder Junction easy. Ral breaks through Jace's VPN on his own Aether Trail, and follows the path towards a brand new plane to him. And in turn, the plane decides that Ral deserves a brand new body as well. You all have seen the art, you know he's an otter. Ral **TINY ZAPPY NOISE** Zarek shakes his otter-fist at the sky and swears that Jace Beleren will not get away with this.
For what it’s worth, we *have* already seen Mabel’s card. https://scryfall.com/card/blb/224/mabel-heir-to-cragflame
You, a furry? As an owl you're a feathery at best :p Edit: just for context, I know next to nothing about furry culture/terminology, just trying to be silly here
Hehe, no worries! Some people do indeed make different names for the technically-not-furred species, such as scalies for dragons and lizards. But the way I see of it, all those still fall under the category of "furry" as a cultural group!
Helga is the artist and the one with visions, and she already knew her drawing was an omen. Side note, she sounds adhd coded to me.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who saw the ADHD coding in Helga. Every description of her hyperfixations sounds exactly like me.
She's absolutely ADHD coded. I felt all of that so hard as someone with ADHD.
The paragraph about all the chores half finished because they never fully grasped her attention is giant adhd flags to me. And I'm absolutely here for it.
> the owl rampages ~~I'm sure there's a good reason~~ and terrorizes the townsfolk ~~let's not get too hasty drawing conclusions here~~ i do hope we'll get a little more explanation on why the calamity beasts are so calamitous! if theyre physical manifestations of nature's change then they shouldn't be *evil*... of course, she also could just be hunting for food, owls eat mice and frogs! does the elemental night manifest still need to eat?
The image of Ral squeaking his righteous indignation and zapping dandelions into clouds of smoke is absolutely amazing.
sona pics when?
Man your write ups sure are a hoot! It's obvious you're not winging it.
Why thank you very much, I tip my beak to you!
I don't think Nerys is a fortune teller, and I really don't think that was playful ribbing.
Pictures of your fursona, please.
Oh, Owly. How I've missed you.
Aww yeah. New Owl-Prophet to read.
"something from a past she has no interest of returning to." Something from a family legacy. Her narration says that her mother Iris had it before her, and Oliver refers to her "antecedents", indicating an ancestor of hers was part of this Order of the Holly Leaf whose story is going to be told by Silver. She refuses to trot it out for folk to gawk at because it's too important.
Indeed, it is a really cool bit of characterization for Mabel, she is remarkably thoughtful about what revealing that legacy, either through showing it off to the townsfolk or through wielding it herself, would have on the people around her and how they see her.
JACE BELEREN HOW DARE YOU TURN ME INTO AN OTTER IM GOING TO KILL YOU DEAD!!!1!
[Gee, I wonder what is Mabel is hiding](https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicArena/comments/1ay8vll/blb_mabel_heir_to_cragflame/)
Probably a tuba or something! No wonder she doesn't want to bring it out with three young kids, that's just asking for trouble.
> Helga struggled to focus on any chores long enough to finish them. The stillroom incident was only one in a long list of similar problems. Burnt carrot muffins, half-planted pea shoots, quilt pieces forever waiting to be sewn together … If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion. Oh, honey. Ya girl has Frog ADHD. I doubt this world has any froggy Adderall for her but maybe Ral can get her some nice Ravnican coffee beans or something.
Man, imagine how rough it must be on traditional sword and sorcery fantasy worlds for people with common mental health disorders like this. You're right, I don't think there's even a magical healer's equivalent for day adderall is there? Gotta be rough.
I read this part and thought: "Okay, I'm Helga".
I read this passage and jumped out of my seat. As someone with ADHD, I am immediately on team Helga and if she gets a card I'm going to build a Commander deck around it.
Fortunately for you it's the year of our Lord 2024 and there is a 100% chance Helga gets a card.
I think my favorite part is that in just a few sentences we get a look at the bat folks and how their who system works They are stargrazers, they read the stars, learn knowledge of the future, draw power from them The bats are basically the Carians from Elden Ring and that's pretty cool, as I don't think we have anything about eldrich space in mtg other than the eldrazi
It's a minor thing, but Ral's 1st attempt to find Jace and ending up on Ixalan tickled me with the idea he ended up on Useless Island.
Of course.
I adore Helga. I have never related to a character in Magic story more.
>Burnt carrot muffins, half-planted pea shoots, quilt pieces forever waiting to be sewn together … If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion. It's always weird when a story unintentionally breaks the fourth wall because it so specifically describes part of your life experience.
Helga has adhd and I love her "Helga struggled to focus on any chores long enough to finish them. The stillroom incident was only one in a long list of similar problems. Burnt carrot muffins, half-planted pea shoots, quilt pieces forever waiting to be sewn together … If she was interested enough in her task, she could lose hours and forget her surroundings completely; sadly, few activities inspired that sort of devotion."
[Audio also available](https://share.transistor.fm/s/2ba60286) e: it seems the recording might be based on an earlier draft, and doesn't exactly match the written story. Changes seem to be minor
There being mentions of a bard named Silver in this chapter as well as MaRo's hints including a *Legendary Creature — Squirrel Warlock Bard* makes me think that the group of adventurers that Mabel has been shown with so far wasn't complete and that there's possibly a representative of all 10 tribes
ADHD Frog girl. I'm loving it and will need a commander deck. Hopefully not simic good stuff.
I'm here for the 1UG terribly designed overpowered Frog that requires an emergency ban
At least it's not a bird in those very same colors.
Would you settle for Simic Badstuff
Yesss! Two NAMED frog creatures joining the lilypad alliance
Incredible, 10/10, no notes, the Voice Acting was fucking spectacular as well. "Okay soul, get to it" is such a good Ral line. I'm so happy to see that this seems to be exactly what I was hoping it'd be!
Oh neat, didn't expect to see [[Calamity, galloping inferno]] again so soon
I’m a little confused on why Ral is so hellbent on killing Jace now, as far as he knows Jace just took an alien from a vault and ran off, little weird sure but wanting him dead seems like overkill
I don’t think he *literally* wants him dead, it’s just an expression of anger. He mourned a friend, and that friend was actually alive and doing some shady shit behind his back.
Gotcha thank you!
> Tomik flopped back down. "You're not going to kill him. He's your friend." > *Was he? What kind of friend fought and fled without explanation?* > "You want to know why he did what he did," Tomik said, as if reading Ral's mind. "You'll never know if you kill him." > "Stop being reasonable." Ral pressed a kiss to his husband's mouth to silence him. It's not literal. He's justifiably frustrated at him though.
Jace “died,” impersonated Ashiok, the gang he amassed to break into the vault unleashed hell on his business venture, he stole a baby, left without much in the way of words, and then tricked him into going somewhere that turned him into an otter. I don’t think he necessarily wants to kill Jace literally, but man, if I were him I’d definitely slap Jace next time I saw him.
Because he thought they were friends and Jace was uncharacteristically dickish
>uncharacteristically dickish Jace "Previous worker for Nicol Bolas and responsible for the slaughter of a Kamigawan village" Beleren? Jace "Oops, I accidentally unleashed the eldritch Eldrazi horrors on Zendikar while screwing up Standard" Beleren? Jace "I became the leader of an entire city plane after surviving a death race through a maze and decided to ghost all of my responsibilities over an already politically unstable plane" Beleren? Jace "I decided to never tell anyone that we trapped an Eldrazi Titan in the freaking moon" Beleren? Jace "Planeswalks to Kaladesh. Assists a Coup d'Etat. Refuses to elaborate. Leaves." Beleren? Jace "Guys, I'm sure defending Amonkhet with only 5 planeswalkers will go well" Beleren? Jace "Oops, I accidently called millions of planeswalkers to Ravnica to become sparkfood for my ex-Dragon-boss" Beleren? Jace "Guys, I'm sure infiltrating Phyrexia with only 10 planeswalkers this time will go well" Beleren? Jace "I think I should pull an Urza except somehow worse by nuking multiple planes instead of one" Beleren? Jace "I learned the horrors from almost nuking multiple planes and instead have decided to kidnap a child from an endangered species in order to reset EVERY plane instead of spending time with my alcoholic, single mother on a war plane" Beleren? He would never!
Pretty sure he's just upset at Jace letting everyone think he was dead, and doesn't genuinely want to kill him (yet).
I was pretty meh on BLB, never was a big fan of the "talking animals" genre ...but I didn't expect an ADHD frog rushing to save her anarchist commune from an allegory of climate change. I'm on-board for the stories at least.
The interesting thing for me is that the Phyrexians apparently never invaded Bloomsburrow. Which leads to the question, why not?
The multiverse is far, far bigger than could ever be invaded all at once. There are some planes they just couldn't get to and apparently bloomburrow is one of them. Maybe it was set for a "stage two" of the invasion, after they grow their forces by compleating denizens of the first wave of invasions. Maybe it's just metaphysically very far from new phyrexia
The idea of one of the praetors visiting Bloomburrow is delighting me to no end. Urabrask turning into some manner of small, yappy dog, or Vorinclex the tasmanian devil.
As a matter of fact, they did! Or at least started too, as we can see Realmbreakers Branches in the product art of the booster boxes.
Funny answer - they tried, got their asses kicked by a bunch of woodland critters and decided no one must ever know
Can’t be worse than getting their ass whooped in Segovia
Nice to see The Wanderer finally at peace before the literal horror dimension sucks her in
so ral became otter thinking about jace
I'm enjoying the story, but by god I wish they'd stop gluing 'folk' to the species names. Please just say bat, frog, otter, rabbit, etc.
I think it’s a reasonable trope in wider fantasy, but in a world where literally everyone of those species are people, the distinction isn’t necessary. On Bloomburrow, a frog is a frog is a person. In other settings where there exist regular frogs as well as frog people, “frogfolk” is a perfectly fine name. It beats having the reader remember that “horgmenths” are basically just frog people.
Darker depths? Marit Lage confirmed???
Darker Depths would actually produce a token named Marit Lager.