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Rivals of Ixalan
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
April 22, 2019
The Jace and Vraska sub-plot was easily the best part of the story. Angrath is also really great as comic relief, but I didn't particularly care much for anyone else here. Overall, RIX was well-written and made me excited for the future of Magic stories.
September 5, 2018
The Ixalan story block concludes with 'Rivals Of Ixalan'.
The lost city of Orazca has been found and the various factions race against each other to be the first to take control of the Immortal Sun artifact and the golden city. Meanwhile Jace Beleren's memories come back in a flood, including details of his past that were hidden away and he thought lost forever, as well as the history between Jace and Vraska is also revealed. Much to Vraska's fear.
It's another great read in the Magic The Gathering short stories series. I liked the different perspectives from the characters throughout the stories, as we follow the drama and action. It added to the narrative giving the characters and world a bit more depth, building on the events of the previous stories. And I also found myself liking Vraska a whole lot too, my favourite character in the Ixalan story block. I liked how her character developed over the course of the story, especially when she was with Jace as his memories returned and how she reacted. Totally unexpected after seeing how she first appeared at the beginning of the story block.
As the story moved forward, a few more breadcrumbs were dropped in the set up of the Nicol Bolas storyline and more was revealed about his motives too. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds in the future stories.
The lost city of Orazca has been found and the various factions race against each other to be the first to take control of the Immortal Sun artifact and the golden city. Meanwhile Jace Beleren's memories come back in a flood, including details of his past that were hidden away and he thought lost forever, as well as the history between Jace and Vraska is also revealed. Much to Vraska's fear.
It's another great read in the Magic The Gathering short stories series. I liked the different perspectives from the characters throughout the stories, as we follow the drama and action. It added to the narrative giving the characters and world a bit more depth, building on the events of the previous stories. And I also found myself liking Vraska a whole lot too, my favourite character in the Ixalan story block. I liked how her character developed over the course of the story, especially when she was with Jace as his memories returned and how she reacted. Totally unexpected after seeing how she first appeared at the beginning of the story block.
As the story moved forward, a few more breadcrumbs were dropped in the set up of the Nicol Bolas storyline and more was revealed about his motives too. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds in the future stories.
January 19, 2019
Being more invested in the larger story arc, and knowing that the Ixalan block was entirely a tangent, I was not overly excited to get into it. But I could not have been more wrong.
Not only is the Ixalan block better than I expected, it's easily the best block of stories they've put out since the transition to online stories.
The plot of the story is a bit standard fare, but the setting and new characters are particularly colorful and evocative. Where Ixalan really shines, though, is in the way it serves existing characters, primarily Jace and Vraska.
There's a much-needed soft reboot for Jace, a character which felt figuratively adrift in recent times. He's now literally adrift, and by the time he's back he's much stronger for it. An unexpected and surprisingly effective romance arc with Vraska is both affecting and highly relevant to the coming climax of the Bolas story.
In the end, this block did everything it needed to. It absolutely left me wanting more, it did great service to its own characters as well as the bigger players, and left the story in a more interesting place than it began.
Not only is the Ixalan block better than I expected, it's easily the best block of stories they've put out since the transition to online stories.
The plot of the story is a bit standard fare, but the setting and new characters are particularly colorful and evocative. Where Ixalan really shines, though, is in the way it serves existing characters, primarily Jace and Vraska.
There's a much-needed soft reboot for Jace, a character which felt figuratively adrift in recent times. He's now literally adrift, and by the time he's back he's much stronger for it. An unexpected and surprisingly effective romance arc with Vraska is both affecting and highly relevant to the coming climax of the Bolas story.
In the end, this block did everything it needed to. It absolutely left me wanting more, it did great service to its own characters as well as the bigger players, and left the story in a more interesting place than it began.
November 4, 2024
Now THAT'S what I call Magic Story. The whole story was good, but the first four chapters are some of the best pieces of MTG content I've ever read. Jace is such a good character, dude. And I'm getting the Vraska hype too. It's awesome that they didn't shy away from referencing pre-origins Jace content. Agents of Artifice is still my favorite MTG story, and getting to see some moments from that felt really cool. The flashback content between Bolas and Ugin was also rather neat. Having never read Khans of Tarkir, this was some much appreciated context. Also, whoever approved the Jace content in Return to Dominaria needs to be fired, cause what do you mean those are supposed to be the same scene, that is a different character.
Anyway, next up we've got the Chronicle of Bolas. 😁
Anyway, next up we've got the Chronicle of Bolas. 😁
April 29, 2018
The Magic story team continues to do a good job, taking the base story that they stared in Ixalan, and moving forward with it. I feel that they are getting more polished with each story block that they do. I found myself caring for several of the characters. I am looking forward to seeing how the story continues to unfold.
February 21, 2020
I'm ALMOST done with this garbage.
I realized I'm skipping over some of the in-between sets like core sets, conspiracy, etc. I'm ok with missing those similar to how I skipped the older anthology books.
I realized I'm skipping over some of the in-between sets like core sets, conspiracy, etc. I'm ok with missing those similar to how I skipped the older anthology books.
July 21, 2025
Ixalan and Rivals of Ixalan is probably my favorite set of MTG stories. I love the characterization of Jace and Vraska: loosed from other bonds - Jace had his memory wiped on Amonkhet and is free to know himself without the interference of guilt over past mistakes or responsibilities of being the Guildpact; Vraska is in a leadership position on a world that has no inured prejudice against gorgons and is receiving respect, affection, and security for what might be the first time in her life - they are allowed to grow beyond the bounds of what would have been possible under other circumstances. Add to this the interesting setting (I do love pirates), cool native characters (Huatli and her journey are great), and driven action (both by immediate concerns regarding the Golden City of Orazca and by larger issues concerning multiple planes) and the whole story is a hit. I originally listened to the production from fan-produced Voice of All (which is excellent and I highly recommend it), have read it several times since, and will continue to read it.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews