Eternal Masters is looking pretty sweet. I, personally, cannot wait to play with Isochron Scepter, Counterspell, Sinkhole, and Balance in a limited format.
MCZ: Since the new Planeswalker decks have Chandra on the front cover, it is safe to assume that Chandra plays a role in the block. I think the main character is Saheeli Rai, though.
Tamiyo flew above the fray. Like everyone else here, when Korron had shown her what was happening to the Meditation Realm, she had abandoned all her research and come straight away. Her work could wait. Right now, saving the accumulated knowledge of the Eyes of Korron from eternal annihilation at the hands of unfathomable eldritch abominations was far more important. Speaking of which, Emrakul appeared on the horizon, bringing her entire brood lineage along with her.
Why was Emrakul referred to in the feminine, anyway? It made no sense. The Eldrazi had nothing to indicate their genders. They were mindless, incomprehensible… things. Why were the big ones assigned genders? Someone's desperate attempt to achieve some degree of familiarity with the unknown? Or just the foolish assumption that Korron broke simply by existing?
Around her, the other planeswalkers began fighting. The dragon planeswalker Paarthurnax flew above her, obscuring the sun. One of them, at least. Paarthurnax flew straight at a cloud of levitating Eldrazi spawn. A stream of ice and fire came out of his open mouth, and the Eldrazi plummeted from the sky.
Eris ran towards a large Eldrazi and went to work. Lightning flashed around her as spells went haywire in her presence. A second later, Eris had linked herself with the Eldrazi in a Hive Mind, and forced both of them to cast a spell that would kill the user. Every user, that is, except Eris.
"Pact of the Titan!" She screeched.
The Eldrazi disintegrated.
She casted a flurry of spells intended to summon several Birds of Paradise and watched as her Possibility Storm turned them all into chickens, bears, and ancient Krosan beasts the size of tall buildings.
Tamiyo turned again and saw the old planeswalker Iroh. He fired a Lightning Bolt at the Eldrazi in front of him. He followed it up by consuming the towering abomination in a blast of fire.
Kydele, the Prophet of Kruphix, floated in the air. The god himself casted a four-armed shadow on the horizon behind her. With a wave of her hands, Kydele summoned a ten-headed Primordial Hydra, each head turning fight the oncoming Eldrazi brood.
Tamiyo readied her scrolls. All of the stories and discoveries she had archived were available to her. She lifted her arm out and a scroll appeared in her hand.
Suddenly, an Eldrazi at least three meters tall appeared behind her, ready to strike, then the swipe of an invisible sword sliced the Eldrazi in two. That must have been Zeratul, the ex-Silumgar Assassin.
Korron flew beside her.
"How are you doing, Tamiyo?" Korron asked.
"It seems that all the archives are still in working condition." Tamiyo responded. "Do you need something?"
"While Emrakul has attacked this plane, she may not be the greatest danger we face." Korron began. "On the plane known as Remnant, Ataldis and Daretti have encountered my old enemy, Nicol Bolas. I need you to go there and help them stop him."
"Why me?" Tamiyo said indignantly. "It was bad enough that you disrupted my research, but now you just send me somewhere else to… interfere?"
"Nicol Bolas represents a threat to countless words, Tamiyo. He seeks knowledge not to share or for knowledge's sake, but to abuse it and disrupt the balance of the Multiverse."
"Again, why me? Certainly Riku or Animar would be a much better choice? Kami, Paarthurnax served as Bolas's lieutenant for years before breaking free. Wouldn't he be the most likely to put up a fight against Nicol Bolas?"
"Overwhelming power will do nothing against Bolas, but ingenuity and discovery will. Besides, Remnant has the most interesting moon I've ever seen." Korron replied.
"Fine." Tamiyo agreed. "But if that infernal goblin tries anything…"
"Don't hurt him too badly if he does." Korron said. "Let me tell you about the situation on Remnant…"
Tamiyo stepped out onto a barren plateau, the planar portal closing behind her. She floated a few centimeters off the ground and began to examine the area as the sun slowly dipped below the horizon.
A battle had happened here, and recently. She observed a print a few meters away, and stepped towards it, taking out a scientific instrument that looked to be a cross between a ruler and a sextant. She measured the size and depth of the print before comparing the ambient mana in the print with a control.
Korron's retelling of Ataldis's journey checked out, at least in these specific areas. A Grimm, if one indeed produced the print, was far more massive than its leg should have supported. Additionally, the concentration of black mana, red mana, and even green mana was higher than normal by almost by a factor of two, although the difference between green mana was less pronounced.
Tamiyo looked around. In the distance, she saw a tower surrounded by several smaller stone buildings. It looked like the place Korron had described, Beacon Academy, but she had to be sure. A scroll appeared in her hand. It read, On the Accuracy of Planeswalking. Although she had been able to unlock only the powers of stories at first, she had quickly figured out how to use scholarly papers as well after joining the Eyes of Korron. She opened the contents of the scroll:
The average radius of error when planeswalking to an unknown location but known coordinates was found to be 1.6 kilometers in the horizontal direction… 75% of inaccuracies were caused by the layline attraction effect. Calculating the effective layline attraction and solving the mana-planeswalking equation will give the user their intended destination +/- 3 meters either horizontally or vertically.
A path of blue light appeared in front of Tamiyo, leading towards the distant towers. The path shone through the stone in between and ended in a bright blue light that only Tamiyo could see. Still floating on the air, she started walking toward Beacon.
Both a literal and metaphorical one. She mused.
As she got closer to the towers, she saw the damages they had sustained. Bites, scratches and scorch marks appeared all across the stone pillars. Where Tamiyo deduced a courtyard had been was now overgrown with plants that looked distinctly… Zendikari.
Ah, of course, Ataldis's project. A way of feeding mass amounts of people. Impressive.
She strode through the mass of vegetation. All around her, the plants bore large red fruit just big enough to fit into the palm of her hand.
Tamiyo made her way to the tower. Even in its decrepit state, she could tell it carried immense power. It was a school, after all.
She heard the unsheathing of swords. All around her, creatures with pale skin not unlike her own surrounded her, brandishing their blades. She could make out the tiny details in the kor's appearance and behavior that indicated they had been summoned.
It was probably the work of this Jaune fellow. Or at least it better be. The other planeswalker she knew that was affiliated with the kor… well, she was not someone Tamiyo wanted to meet right now.
"Look who's here!" Daretti shouted.
Speaking of people she didn't want to meet, Daretti zipped through the underbrush.
"It's Tamiyo!" The goblin exclaimed. "Easy guys, she's a friendly. Actually, 'friendly' might not be the right word. Acquaintance? Controlling prick?"
"I did not come here because I wanted to see you, Daretti." She gritted her teeth. "I would much rather be researching the moon of Innistrad. I am only here because I trust Korron's judgement. Where's Ataldis?"
"He's away." Daretti answered. "He found where Bolas is and decided to gather some intel."
Tamiyo sighed.
Just then, Jaune came running out of the tower. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren trailed behind him.
"The kor just reported there were intruders!" Jaune shouted. "Daretti, are you alright?"
"Everything's fine!" Daretti called back. "Tamiyo's here."
Jaune walked towards the levitating moonfolk. He held out his hand.
"My name's Jaune." He said. "And these are my friends, Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora."
Tamiyo bowed slightly.
"Greetings, Jaune." She replied. "My name is Tamiyo, the Moon Sage. If you excuse me, I will start my work."
"What are you going to do?" Jaune asked.
"For some unknown reason, Korron sent me here to help stop Bolas." She responded. "And I will do that the only way I know how: through observations and research."
Tamiyo took out her spyglass and walked away.
A short while later, Tamiyo found herself at the top of a still-intact dormitory. Ataldis had not been very diligent about cleaning up his lab, but she could put the materials to good use. Right now, however, she fixed her eyes on the moon of Remnant.
By the Kami, Korron was right.
The moon hung brightly in the night sky, like any other, but it was broken on one side. Pieces, splinters, of the shattered moon hung in place.
Intriguing.
Certainly, gravity was not a player here. If it was, the moon would have collapsed upon itself, reforming its spherical shape. But why? Was there a force countering gravity? Did gravity simply not exist up there? Or was the moon a projection of some kind? An observatory would have to be set up here, and quickly. Would Daretti be willing to build one?
Tamiyo silently regretted her actions back in the courtyard. Daretti deserved all her grief, but if she needed his help to seek the truth…
It was at this moment that a Storm Crow descended from the sky, landing next to her. Tamiyo recognized Ataldis even before he turned back into his human form. His eyes looked wide as he caught his breath.
"How did your reconnaissance go?" She asked.
"I know." Ataldis paused. "I know what Bolas is planning."
"You think you do." Tamiyo corrected. "How strong is your evidence?"
"Pretty strong." Ataldis replied. He reached into his pack and pulled out three small cylinders of metal.
"You're trying to detect high concentrations of mana?" Tamiyo asked.
"To locate Nicol Bolas, yes." Ataldis answered. "But the results are quite disturbing."
Hours earlier, a Storm Crow flew over a vast ocean. The sun began to set as dark black clouds appeared on the horizon. Ataldis continued on, undaunted. He arrived on a hostile, desolate landscape. A red ash filled the air around him, and the obscuring clouds were omnipresent.
Ataldis landed in a clearing between the mountains. All around him, shining purple crystals throbbed with energy. He crouched down in human form and delicately grabbed one no bigger than a small pebble and carefully placed it in a sealed container.
Ataldis grabbed his pack, put the crystal sample in it, and took out the three metal cylinders. He activated each one and placed them a few meters apart, waiting for the quick measurement to complete.
That's when he saw the obsidian-black steps. He tread lightly up each one, until he got to the very top.
It was Salem. Or what was left of her decaying body. But she fit Ozpin's description perfectly. Ataldis skirted around her, and looked out at what lay beyond.
"No…" Ataldis gasped.
In an instant he had gathered the metal mana detectors, turned into a Storm Crow, and flew back to Beacon faster than a bat out of hell, or in this case, a crow out of a place that sure looked like hell.
"Let me see these results." Tamiyo said.
Ataldis held up one of the metal cylinders and a holographic projection appeared above it.
"Kami, that mana level is over 9000." Tamiyo stated. "Are you sure these results are accurate?"
"I don't know." Ataldis answered. "But each other detector had the same result, and they all point to the same location."
"But that amount of power…" Tamiyo trailed off.
"Is insane, I know." Ataldis said. "But if Bolas has access to it, what happens on Remnant will be the least of our worries if we don't rectify the situation."
Jaune ran up behind them.
"I saw the Storm Crow." He breathed. "I knew it was you. What did you find?"
"Salem is dead." Ataldis answered. "There's an unknown source of mana on Remnant capable of wiping out a planet, probably under Bolas's control, and that's not even the worst of it."
"What's worse?" Jaune asked apprehensively.
"I saw something horrible." Ataldis said.
"Like what?" Jaune pressed.
Ataldis pointed in the distance. Out on the plateau appeared a large black rhino the size of a semi truck. It stared at Beacon tower with its glowing poison-green eyes.
Behind them appeared a white-caped woman. No longer shrouded from view, she dressed in white, black, and green armor adorned with brown scales, and looked at her targets with shining black eyes.
She spoke, and the sound broadcasted all the way to Beacon.
"I am the Rhinomancer!" The voice was unearthly and disembodied. "You shall all fall before me!"
With that, hundreds of Grimm Rhinos appeared behind her, and began to charge.
Grimm Rhino BBGG
Creature - Rhino Horror {R}
Deathtouch, haste, lifelink, trample, menace, vigilance
When Grimm Rhino enters the battlefield, it deals 3 damage to target player. You gain 3 life.
And you thought it was over when Khans rotated.
4/5