Ryan, I’m so glad you actually talked about the problems with her instead of just mentioning her story tie in. Great analysis about her current problems both gameplay and lore wise. I honestly do not think she’ll appear in the next set (Allegiance), since (if the speculations are true and each of the Bolas aligned guilds get a planeswalker as their leader that make up a cycle) it would be Dovinn Baan for Azorius (already confirmed by WotC), Kaya for Ozhov (again, already confirmed to at least be in it story wise, along with Gideon and Chandra) and Domri for Gruul (represents the last two colors needed to complete the color cycle and has flavor text in Guilds of Ravnica referencing him). This makes me sad, since that means we’ll probably only get a card for her (if any) in the final set of this Ravnica series. I’m honestly not quite sure why she was introduced if she’ll be seen once and dropped to the wayside, and in addition all her abilities seem like they would’ve fit on already mentioned planeswalkers (like you mentioned in the video) and have no lore connection. Again, thank you for doing such a great analysis as always. I am looking forward to your next concise, interesting, and thought-provoking video!
Heres my theory, she is actually being set up for Post Ravnica. Bolas will lose and disappear. An implied death that obviously won't be true. The next arch will have a subplot of her traveling the multiverse attempting to find him and kill him, while the gatewatch deal with whatever their next arch is (Probably something Lilianna based)
My biggest guess (and defense I suppose) for the reason as to why her abilities are as basic as we got with her two cards are because of her relative infancy as a planeswalker. I would guess that the planeswalkers that came beforehand would have had some sort of similar growth as hers. So, thematically, I would guess that doesn't really seem THAT out of place for that reason. To me, it seems like the flavor is that she is new and not overpowering.
Icy Napalm Well, if Emrakul willingly let herself be sealed into the moon there must be a way, if they can congince emrakul to play along, to use the combined power of the gatewatch and the titan to break the silver structure, or make a breach that’s large enough to get her out
It just occurred to me that it isn't "Archbow" as in "the ultimate bow" or whatever, but the "Arkbow" as in an Ark that preserves the wildlife of Skalla.
What if Vivian read something like: +1: Create a Beast Spirit creature token that has power and toughness equal to the number of unique creature types on your battlefield. -4: Put X loyalty counters on Vivian Ried, where X is the number of unique converted mana costs among creatures you control. Then, you may put a green creature card into play from your hand that is CMC 4 or less. -9: Destroy up to 5 creatures and/or planeswalkers. Then, for each creature destroyed this way, put a token on the battlefield under your control that's a copy of that creature, except it is a Spirit in addition to its other types. Sacrifice all tokens created this way when Vivian leaves the battlefield. Same converted mana cost, same loyalty.
I think that an interesting thing to do would have been to let her play green creatures from your hand, but only if you don't already have any with that type. So you would get Wolves, Bears, Cats, Elephants- a whole menagerie. That could be her minus, and than have her ultimate be an emblem that gives your green creatures +1/+1 for every different type of creature you control- incentivize deckbuilders to play weird types like Apes or Worms or Camels
He was trapped on Ixalan on holiday (seriously) and turned to piracy to survive and try and find a way back to his home plane and daughters. In the Ixalan storyline he briefly allied with Huatli to find Orazca and then went home. He had a moderately major role in the Rivals story but didn't really affect the plot and has no apparent wider connection with any other planeswalkers. Because of the tone of the Ixalan stories he was presented as a bit of a buffoon but with some funny lines, and despite being a BR pirate with a penchant for killing dinosaurs he seems mostly harmless and certainly not villainous.
However, his cards are powerful, and he does have what I believe to be the third most powerful and mana-efficient fetch card, right behind Nissa's Encouragement and Vraska's Stoneglare. Angrath's ultimate is also pretty broken against Aggro and Mid-range. Basically anything with creatures. Yeah, I'm biased. He's my first Planeswalker and my favorite. But I do think that he will return in the storyline at some point, perhaps when we reach his home plane.
hes is from another plane full of his people he planeswalks for fun and brings gifts for his daughters until he hit ixalan and was trapped there, then he turned into piracy for the hell of it. Well mostly to get back to his homeplane, which is apparently something with ice.
So, Vivien Reid has the Ark Bow and Gideon has the Darkblade. That’s two weapons designed to fight an Elder Dragon. Will it be enough when backed up by Niv-Mizzet, Vraska, and 40% of the Gatewatch?
no. vivien will most likely not appear until like 3 years later,(WotC plans in 4 year batches) and secondly bolas or phyrexia will not win nor lose in the next 3 sets that are coming up, bolas is building up something while the Gatewatch dose so 2 meaning that this is not even close to the climax, and when it comes to pyrexia that's most likely going to be easier to gauge when we learn how karns mission went. and bolas is weird, he is so supidly powerful with plotarmor that he dosent care about pissing of the multivers, yet a single mortal with a bow have been recoded to kick his ass. so we will have to wait and see like the green paitaince is the key.
I really hope they keep Vivien in the story and involve her more, since I actually like her. The fact that she's the only surviver of her home planet and lost all her friends and family makes her an interesting and dramatic character to me and gives a lot of potential for her further character development. For example maybe she (after the fight with Bolas) could try to create a "save space" for all the (basically extinct) creatures contained in her bow? Maybe even with some help of the Simic, who could give all the animal spirits new physical bodies? And she could become an influencing part of the Gatewatch to prevent another creature from ever becoming as powerful and threatening as Bolas is...
This video made me realize that it would be really cool if Planeswalkers were always designed with very strong mechanical identities that made each one feel unique when put against the myriad of others available. There are some with somewhat unique entities but more often than not most planeswalkers just share general mechanics and might have one each that are unique. This is why people are pretty tired of what has been called the "planeswalker formula" of having card advantage, then removal, then a game winning ultimate. You would think that even from a marketing standpoint, having a cast of strong characters who each have uniquely defined abilities would be a good move.
To be fair, unique walkers that have their own flavor is more the norm than the exception. The Planeswalker formula feels played out because that's the most reliable formula for getting competitive play time. Look at all the other walkers in M19. None of them see Vivien's level of play despite being much more diverse and flavor loaded. See also Jaya Ballard in Dominaria, both versions of Huatli and Jace in Ixalan. Unique but almost non-existent in competitive standard.
Yeah, Champion of the Wilds imo is the first Vivien to really show who she is, and her identity as a planeswalkers. She truly cares about the creatures, she wants to build them up, but also create her own at instant speed. Thanks to the static effect she essentially can evoke creatures at any time, as if they are shot right from the arkbow itself, and the dig ability that's also tied to the official arkbow artifact fits this as well. Always having a special creature in the pocket that she can use in a pinch.
Jace-card draw and illusions Lilianna-necromancy Chandra- Fire Gideon-protection Nissa-land Ajani-camaraderie Garruk(uncursed)-Creatures Tezzeret-artifacts Saheeli-artfacts Daretti-artifacts Nahiri-equipment(artifacts) Obnixilis- life for cards Bolas-hand manipulation, draw or discard Sarkhan-Dragons Elspeth-can make and help armies Sorin-can make and help armies of vampires Koth-mountains Vraska-can deal with any permanent Teferi-untap and turns Kiora-untap and giant as octopusses These are some of the most popular walkers because they have very clear mechanical identies, Vivien lacks this, but her lack of mechanical identity really made me appreciate these characters.
I dont like that creature has to die to be absorbed by the bow. Would love to see something like... i dunno... 3GG +2 Exile target creature and put an essence counter on it. Create a token that's a copy of exiled creature. +0 Deal damage to a target equal to the number of exiled card with an essence counter on it. -10 Put all exiled card with an essence counter on battlefield under your control. 4 loyalty
+2 exile a creature and make a token that is a copy of that creature?? What?? In a green planeswalker are u serious? If u want something that rappresents her should be like 2/3GG +2 until your next turn whenever a creature dies exile it instead and put an essence counter on it -2/3 plummet or disenchant is perfectly fine for a green planeswalker -10 is fine maybe a "they gain haste until the end of turn" would be a better payoff for getting her up to 10 counters 3/4 loyalty counters
Arkbow 1gg enchantment artifact Whenever a creature dies you may exile it instead. You may cast creature spells exiled this way for their mana costs. If you do, it gains haste. Exile it at the end of turn. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead.
Here is my idea. Vivien Reid, The Wraith of Skalla 5 loyalty +1: Deal 1 damage to any target. If a creature is destroyed in this way gain an additional loyalty. -3: Destroy target creature, create a token of that creatures type that has the power and toughness the creature destroyed this way. -9: Gain an emblem that reads "All creatures you control get +1/+1 for each different creature type you control and trample."
@@channelname18900 Seems simple enough until you play a Mutavault, then you have to calculate all the different creature types in magic, or any changeling for that matter.
as always, great job! i like that you have been experimenting with ways to present the lore. i really hope to see more of this! i would love to see videos / series that follow specific characters like you have done here, stories about planes, and actual narrative threads as the series started out. keep experimenting! super fun to follow you down this path :)
Vivien, Skalla's Avenger 2GG +1 Choose a nontoken creature you control. When it dies this turn, exile it instead of putting it in its owner's graveyard and put an essence counter on it. Draw a card if it does not share a creature type with another creature that has an essence counter on it. -3 Deal X damage to target creature with flying, where X is the number of creatures you own in exile with essence counters on them. -8 You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +X/+X, where X is the highest power of among creatures exiled with essence counters on them." (5 Loyalty)
The Skalla wolf is like her companion after she planewalks. So they explored this new plane together. Therefore fetching lands and creatures and stuff.
Well, even though I believe that Vivian is probably really just a one-hit wonder like you metioned, made just to complete the color cycle of planeswalkers who got involved with Bolas, I would still like to imagine a story where she might be relevant. Not as the heroine who gets her revenge on the annihilator of her homeworld, but rather as the next menace and legacy of Bolas. In her 3 part story she is reminded of Bolas and has to painfully admit how she understands his actions of destroying her plane, after she is shown the awful island of Luneau which she would just love to destroy in the same way. Now, of course she is nowhere near the powerlevel of Bolas (after all he is an elderdragon who was basically involved in most of the storys of the MTG Lore), but there is still room for an alliance of villainy formed post Bolas (Probably by a surviving and vengeful Tezeret) that may include a lot of dropped and uneventful Planeswalkers, who on their own weren't really powerful enough to have a major impact but with the support of others maybe able to change something. An Injustice League, in which Tezeret gets revenge on those who foiled the masterplan of his master, where Vivien might use her antisociety ideology to destroy civilizations that she deems corrupt, maybe a Zombie Elspeth that wants to get revenge on the gods that betrayed her and overthrow their hierarchy. With this concept the MTG Lore would have plenty of opportunities to reuse and reinvent old characters, rather than come up with the next major villain, somehow bigger than Bolas or the Eldrazi Horror, for the Jacetice League to fight. It also might fill the power vacuum left behind after Bolas gets destroyed so that the fanbase doesn't have to wonder what the next big thing after him might be. ....or they just make another Phyrexian Block
I had tinkered with a player-made card a while back for a green creature with abilities similar to what Vivien is doing with the bow. I could see a green instant Genesis Wave, but only places creatures not all permanents, and shuffles creatures it plays back into your library along with the cards you can't play at the end of turn. This would be more thematic for her creating those creatures from her bow rather than an actual Chord of Calling effect. As far as Viven's appearance in the future, I think she'll still be a part of the greater story. With Garruk gone and Nissa abandoning ties to the Gatewatch and returning to Zendikar, Wizards is without a mono-green planeswalker to use in the story. I think they'll likely write in new goals for her to chase once Bolas is defeated just so they don't have to design yet another mono-green character.
(Ryan) True, she did grow one tiny creature bigger. But I'm still not clear why that's part of what she does. If she can make any creature bigger, why does she need to hunt the biggest and best ones to absorb into the Arkbow? If she can make an ant big enough to fight a Shivan Dragon, why go through the trouble of acquiring a Shivan Dragon at all? Prodigious Growth is just more confusing to me than anything, because it takes focus away from what is supposed to be Vivien's "thing," which is collecting powerful animals.
One: Love this series hope it keeps going! Two: I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that Vivien got the shirt end of the stick. Hopefully she gets another (bigger) spotlight in a future set.
i think a cool ability she could have is cost: you may reveal a creature card from your hand, if you do, put that card onto the battlefield, vivian deals damage to target creature or planeswalker equal to its power plus its toughness, then sacrifice that creature.
Her plain sounds to be very green and blue intensive with not much of the other 3 and with the arc bow being them coming together to fight Bolas I want to see Wizards take her into simic.
Viviens abilities are that specific, because they are just two totally green-themed spells. Her +1 is seek the wilds, her +2 is Return to the earth. Two spells from sets, only at the side connected to Nicol. "Battle for Zendikar" and "Fate reforged" and both have the flair of bringing down foes way greater than one alone, and origin from people with a great connection to nature and a world overrun by a impossible to defeat force. so i quite like her design for the flair she is bringing with her.
It's interesting how you mention making her Gruul, or a red flavor to her already green Planeswalker because of what the Gruul are waiting for: The Raze-Boar. Her bow has the power to take and unleash the power of animals and if she is going to be on Ravnica, she very well could tie into that. Not to mention most art we've seen related to the Raze-Boar has been ethereal in some way, and the animals that come through the bow are ethereal as well. A tie may exist there
If I could request any one character its Huatli. She is a new and exciting planeswalker with an amazing story line that I feel kinda got overshadowed by the whole immortal sun bolas arch.
See I really like Vivian but I am a big fan of Green planeswalkers (Nissa, Garruk, and now Vivian). I do hope to see her more and although her abilities are taken from other characters she is a nice mix because she in mono colored all the planeswalkers that were brought up were either multi-colored or white for things like the ult. So if you wanted to use her in say commander you have many more options to use her in than say Kiorra or Ajani since they are multi-colored or if you wanted to be that guy go White-Green for all the pump planeswalkers
I would totally love a Gruul Vivien playswalker for the set that cmes out. lets call it "Vivien, Sole surviver of Skalla" or just "Viven, Sole Survivor". She could have an ability that says "for each creature type among all creatures on the battlefield (yours and your opponent's)" put a +1/+1 counter on target creature, then if you have lots of different types of creatures, this could make 1 of your creatures pretty huge. this could be a -3 ability. Ultimate should be game ending so something like: emblem that turns every creature you have into a dragon in addition to it's other types and if their power and toughness are less than 5, they turn into a 5/5 flying trample dragon". the +1 or +2 ability should be something that spits out low powered creatures, maybe 0/1 dragonlings with flying (that later mature into 5/5 dragons with her ultimate). that way she has chump blockers to defend herself. I know the + ability is the same as Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, but it's hard to come up with an idea to protect themselves without creating creatures and you can't make them powerful or she will get banned, her -3 and her ult are already pretty powerful, assuming you built your deck around her. her -3 ability isn't powerful if you have lots of the same type of creatures. so that is the downside of this creative planeswalker design of mine. I requires you to think creatively. since she is gruul, you can have goblins, wolves, dragons, elves, fairies, warewolves, Merfolk and lots lots more to make the -3 very powerful. so this is sort of a anti-tribal planeswalker, since it rewards you for spreading out creatures types among your creatures.
@@Thevideosaurusrex I honestly don't get it, they depict a card where Lili beat Garruk's arse and no one bats an eye. Another card where Garruk has Lili in his grip and the whole internet goes wild. She's a super powerful mage with armies of zombies at her disposal and is an all around bitch, but no all of that doesn't matter because she's a woman. Poor Garruk becomes a symbol for toxic masculinity.
(Ryan) Yeah! It seems obvious in hindsight. Nissa has Sword of the Animist but I had forgot about the possibility of legendary artifacts when thinking of Vivien. Oh well!
I think an emblem that basically represents the bow would be neat. Exiling all creatures that would die and you can pay their cmc to summon tokens of them.
If she's on Shiv admiring the local dargons, maybe she'll run into Sarkhan, who isn't too keen on Bolas either. Also don't count Tibalt out yet! He's making a comeback! (in the comics).
I think her arkbow ult should have been something like “you gain imprint and can create a token with haste if imprinted creature that dies end of turn”
nicky b does have weaknesses. after all he's been defeated before. once by anchoring his soul within a virtual plane he used for meditation and blasting his helpless body with a kiloton of magic and once by manifesting an effigy of his soul and fanagling him into fighting it. basically just dont run straight at him and you've got a chance *cough* Gideon *cough*
What if Vivien IS Huatli?? And she recovered her own lost memories through a fortuite encounter with Jace, maybe by watching Jace hiding Vraska's memories, she got a hunch that maybe she also had some hidden memories deeply inside of her mind, and asked Jace to look. Or maybe, Nicol Bolas' intention's in the first place, was that the people in Vivien's plane create the BOW, and he will take it away from her now that is ready and full charged. It would be ironical that he only had to wait until the artifact he was looking in Vivien's home to come right up to him. (I know almost nothing about magic's lore, but I'm liking this series so far).
Vivien Fae - (1)GG [+1] Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order. [-2] Gain 1 life for each type among creatures you control. [-3] Destroy noncreature permanent. It's controller creates a 3/3 green Beast token. {3} Just my thoughts on a Vivien card. Also I think she'll destroy the Immortal Sun, which will allow Bolas to seize Azor's pre-mending spark for himself
Creatures are absorbed into the bow as they are dying making it more powerful. Nicol bolas gets absorbed into the bow. That bow will be the strongest weapon across the plains ever. There is your spin to pick vivian up.
It just occurred to me that the two green cards that, in the art, appear to come from her bow are spirits, just like Ugin, who is, in fact, a spirit dragon. They should do something with her being able to create spirit versions of green creatures and planeswalkers in graveyards. Turning all Nicol Bolas his past enemies against him in a non-zombie way.
Vivien Reid is Smaragdi, forest dwellers of Skalla. An anagram of Vivien Reid Smaragdi is "I revived in diagrams." Fitting, since the story needed a green walker to tie to Bolas. ...and yes, she does look like Rihanna, maybe that's why she needed to "Take a[n] [Ark]Bow."
Idea: Vivien, Huntress of Skalla. 3G +1: Draw 1 card for each creature type you control, then discard cards equal to the amount drawn -1. -3: Create a token that is a copy of a creature you control. -8: Play creatures from your deck with different types from each other and creatures you control up to the number of lands you control, Then all creatures you control gain trample. Base Loyalty counters: 4
I know this is an older video and things may have been fixed since (I'm still behind on the MTG story), but looking at things, Vivien sounds like she should have abilities more like this (numbers are examples and may need rebalancing) Whenever a creature you control dies, put 1 loyalty counter on Vivien. -3: Summon two in any combination of 1/1 Green Insect with Flying, 3/3 Green Boar with Trample, or 6/6 Green Elephant -*: This effect costs all loyalty counters on Vivien. Sacrifice that many creatures. Vivien does not gain any loyalty counters. Then, deal damage to target creature, player, or Planeswalker equal to the combined Power of the sacrificed creatures
I would make it so when something dies she can summon it as a green spirit or when she kills something she should give a totem armor effect give her that hunter vibe
I think Vivien is a good balance to nissa for green. Nissa is more of the land, and ramp side of green, while Vivien is based more upon the creature heavy focus of green
There's always the possibility that bolas kills the gatewatch and takes over ravnica... Would be a great idea from wizzards to assemble a new gatewatch and return to these underused planeswalkers
How about a card like Whip of Erebos where it's the Arcbow? There could be a passive "Creatures you control have reach and get +2/+0" or something similar, and an activated ability on it kinda like imprint where either when a creature dies or you could choose a creature in the graveyard, you could pay mana to summon a token of it that's also a Spirit/Elemental, when it enters the battlefield it could fight another creature or damage a target equal to its power... I also like the idea of a cheap green instant (just like Supernatural Stamina) where when a creature will die, you play the card, and when it dies, either it returns as a spirit/elemental or deals damage equal to its power.
9:00 The better question is: if she had time to use the bow before Nicol kills all the animals, nothing would have come out of the bow at all ? Haha that's kinda sad.
Vivien/the arkbow could become major players if, when they fight Nicol Bolas, it somehow absorbs him or part of his power, just like it does with animals
I have a feeling that Vivian will appear last minute as Bolas is ravaging Ravnica or she appears as bolas is dying to absorb his essence and possibly his spark, The sun only prevents planeswalkers from walking off the plain it's on, so she could appear. not to mention the fact that after bolas either creates a legacy or dies there's still Garruk rampaging across the multiverse. I have a feeling they're preparing to create an arch-nemesis even further beyond the scope of Bolas. We still need to find Urza who is alive with his spark, Jace needs to go back to his home plane and retrieve his memories, Elspeth still needs to reappear with Dac Fayden, and we still haven't revisited the phyrexians that are trapped on Mirroden. Also, we've not found out what plane Saskia The Unyielding or Tana the Bloodsower are from. If we end up getting a new enemy with a four color identity we'll probably revisit the planes that the 2016 Commanders came from: Theros, Mirroden, Alara, and the unknown plane. So we've got a ways to go.
I doubt Vivien will be involved in the Bolas storyline - maybe Bolas will survive the Ravnica story and that can be picked up later, but as with Sarkhan she could just have a backstory revolving around Bolas as a way to define her character, but without having any involvement in the current Bolas story. We know she won't be in the next set as the three planeswalkers in Allegiance will all be Bolas-allied/manipulated (and the Gruul one has all but been confirmed to be Domri again). I suspect Vivien will be a major character in the online stories going forward after the Gatewatch storyline, especially if as it appears the Gatewatch story will be moving to novels from now on. As it turned out, despite her underwhelming appearance her card was ultimately the best of the Core 2019 walkers, or at least the one best-suited to the immediate metagame - so the character's getting a fair bit of early exposure.
The arc bow should have an ability that plays creatures from the deck equal to her loyalty counters. The text could go plus 1 check the top card if it is a creature whose mana cost is equal or less than her loyalty counters put it in play otherwise place the card on the bottom of the library.
I might be 5 months too late but I just came along the MTG Lore from the last 12 months...and I have to say that to me there is potential for Vivians future. Who says that after absorbing Shivan Dragons essences that she won't absorb Nicol Bolas essence as well? Imagine Bolas being dead on one hand but by spoiling her arc bow with his essence allows his mind control powers to alter and corrupt Vivians character. Making her something that doesn't want to cherish and protect life, but conquer and abuse living beings for her own power. Much like Nicol Bolas does, but not with the intention to become a godlike creature again, but just for sheer domination over life itself?
Vivien character-wise seems like the perfect "creature toolbox" Planeswalker. While Domri is more impulsive and short-sighted and Garruk was more Token-centric, Vivien could have a + ability akin to Survival of the Fittest (discard included) to show her creature-oriented side in a different light of other beastmaster Planeswalkers and enable Green Toolbox decks back in Standard.
Okay, but they're bringing Tibalt back in the next set for guilds. No idea whats going on for Koth though considering that we're probably never going back to phyrexia or new phyrexia.
@@bradleyprimeau8663 New Phyrexia is a 5 on the scale currently for how likely we are to go back. Meanwhile Vryn, and Theros are are a lot more likely. New Phyrexia is at the point of... 'We need a proper time and the like for it.' Which puts it about as likely as Alara, and Amonkhet to return. When I posted that, it was a 7 putting it at unlikely to be brought back again. So, its gone from... probably not to, yeah sure if the time is right as of the last month or so. Also! I am rather annoyed at being wrong about the Tibalt thing, because they are featuring him in the expanded materials for ravnica allegiance... but not the actual set itself now that they've revealed the Orzhov and Gruul walkers, as Kaya and Domri. That means Tibalt only appears in a single issue comic and has nothing to do with Ravnica Allegiance... despite said comic being described as being straight out of Ravnica Allegiance.
@swatkatsrule. WE ARE going back New Phyrexia. That article (I read it too) was made around 2017. Besides.... New Phyrexia is a fan favorite. And we may not go to New Phyrexia right away. We still have Theros, Vryn, Ixalan, Amonkhet, Innistrad (With no Eldrazi, They're setting up something different). And we still have things besides Bolas to deal with: Tibalt, Ob Nixilis, Emrakul, Elesh Norn, and Garruk (They still have to wrap that up). So there is a possibility that we'll go back to New Phyrexia.
My proposal for a new Vivien Reid: 3GG Loyalty 5 Flash -2: Exile target creature you control that would be destroyed. Use this ability only when a creature you control is destroyed. +1: Choose any creature exiled this way. Put a token copy of that creature into play with haste. At the next end step, destroy it. -9: Put a token copy of all creatures exiled by Vivien Reid into play. What do you think? A bit more on flavor?
Thank you for such great analysis and background! While we're on the subject of green planeswalkers, do you think you will touch on my favorite, Freyalise? I know there are many other more popular ones, but I have a soft spot for the old days and Freyalise, both in playstyle and story, represesnted a lot i adored. Having her gone and replaced by not one but three regular mono green planeswalkers makes me think most will forget her in time, but those of us who watched her grow from flavor text in ice age to a commander deck in 2014 might feel differently.
What if Vivien had a passive (green creatures you control get +1/+1 for each other green creature you control with a different creature type) and then a plus ability that made a 2/2 token (like a wolf or Jaguar) and then a minus ability that made a bigger mean token like a hydra or a couple rhinos or an emblem that reduces the CMC of green creatures in your hand. It kinda feels like they didn't really try with her and that's a shame, she looks cool and the bow is rad.
Please do a "Who Is Avacyn" video! It would be cool for people to learn how she was an angel created by a Planeswalker and eventually became corrupted after battling one of Liliana's demon lords.
Sidenote, it think it's less so that the bow was made for Vivien (I haven't read the story so correct me if I'm wrong) but that she was the one who picked it up.
There's an issue with your assumption about Vivien's place in the story. All the Planeswalkers in M19 had dealings with Bolas IN THE PAST (caps for emphasis). I don't expect for us to see Vivien again.
I do have a theory, now that we know that bolas is trapped in the prison realm. I think vivian will catch wind that he is not really dead, and she will be the one to accidentally set him free in her quest for vengeance
We're not gonna see a new Vivien card in Alliances; the planeswalkers there will also all be allied with/controlled by Bolas, just like in GRN. Also, I really hope they don't make her red/green; we already have Domni, Arlinn, Samut, and Huatli occupying that space.
looking back, Vivien should have been "Anti-Tribal synergy". Like... creatures you control get +1+1 for each other creature type among creatures you control
I have been binge watching the lore videos, always enjoyed the magic lore and I really love how you pull your work together! Is there anything in the works for a teferi or urza video?
Ryan, I’m so glad you actually talked about the problems with her instead of just mentioning her story tie in. Great analysis about her current problems both gameplay and lore wise. I honestly do not think she’ll appear in the next set (Allegiance), since (if the speculations are true and each of the Bolas aligned guilds get a planeswalker as their leader that make up a cycle) it would be Dovinn Baan for Azorius (already confirmed by WotC), Kaya for Ozhov (again, already confirmed to at least be in it story wise, along with Gideon and Chandra) and Domri for Gruul (represents the last two colors needed to complete the color cycle and has flavor text in Guilds of Ravnica referencing him). This makes me sad, since that means we’ll probably only get a card for her (if any) in the final set of this Ravnica series. I’m honestly not quite sure why she was introduced if she’ll be seen once and dropped to the wayside, and in addition all her abilities seem like they would’ve fit on already mentioned planeswalkers (like you mentioned in the video) and have no lore connection. Again, thank you for doing such a great analysis as always. I am looking forward to your next concise, interesting, and thought-provoking video!
Heres my theory, she is actually being set up for Post Ravnica. Bolas will lose and disappear. An implied death that obviously won't be true. The next arch will have a subplot of her traveling the multiverse attempting to find him and kill him, while the gatewatch deal with whatever their next arch is (Probably something Lilianna based)
She might work for simic green and blue for the two aspects of her home plane
You’re missing the Selesnya planeswalker.
Maybe they are setting her up to defeat nicol bolas and absorb him with the arkbow and then...
My biggest guess (and defense I suppose) for the reason as to why her abilities are as basic as we got with her two cards are because of her relative infancy as a planeswalker. I would guess that the planeswalkers that came beforehand would have had some sort of similar growth as hers. So, thematically, I would guess that doesn't really seem THAT out of place for that reason. To me, it seems like the flavor is that she is new and not overpowering.
We need to start asking the real questions like where in the hell has Garruk been for like 4 years.
He bumped into Hulk at The Crossroads, gave each other a Bro Fist, and is now currently in the series: "Garruk kills the Marvel Universe".
Hes a strong Male character you know we can't have that
Angrath, Nicol Bolas, Jace, Gideon are all male? Wtf you on about?
Maro is afraid of toxic masculinity.
@@thechris312 he said strong
put the eldrazi titans in the bow
I can see this as one possible solution to dealing with Nicol Bolas. How will the Gatewatch or their allies release Emrakul from Innistrad's moon?
Icy Napalm Well, if Emrakul willingly let herself be sealed into the moon there must be a way, if they can congince emrakul to play along, to use the combined power of the gatewatch and the titan to break the silver structure, or make a breach that’s large enough to get her out
Honestly, i feel like this is a better way for an eldrazi to die than a large fireblast killing 2 at once
@Icy Napalm. It wasNissa's "Oath" /Magic keeping Emrakul in there right? Well.... Since Nissa broke her Oath.... Emrakul could be free.
they technically arent animals, and they wouldnt have an essence
It just occurred to me that it isn't "Archbow" as in "the ultimate bow" or whatever, but the "Arkbow" as in an Ark that preserves the wildlife of Skalla.
Calling Tibalt a "one hit wonder" is such a generous compliment.
What if Vivian read something like:
+1: Create a Beast Spirit creature token that has power and toughness equal to the number of unique creature types on your battlefield.
-4: Put X loyalty counters on Vivian Ried, where X is the number of unique converted mana costs among creatures you control. Then, you may put a green creature card into play from your hand that is CMC 4 or less.
-9: Destroy up to 5 creatures and/or planeswalkers. Then, for each creature destroyed this way, put a token on the battlefield under your control that's a copy of that creature, except it is a Spirit in addition to its other types. Sacrifice all tokens created this way when Vivian leaves the battlefield.
Same converted mana cost, same loyalty.
I think that an interesting thing to do would have been to let her play green creatures from your hand, but only if you don't already have any with that type. So you would get Wolves, Bears, Cats, Elephants- a whole menagerie. That could be her minus, and than have her ultimate be an emblem that gives your green creatures +1/+1 for every different type of creature you control- incentivize deckbuilders to play weird types like Apes or Worms or Camels
Who is angrath please he seems cool Buti have no clue what he's about
Trey Pelletier I dont’ think he is really important, he was just a rival of Vraska, Jace, Huatli and Kumena
he is an angry minotaur dad
He was trapped on Ixalan on holiday (seriously) and turned to piracy to survive and try and find a way back to his home plane and daughters. In the Ixalan storyline he briefly allied with Huatli to find Orazca and then went home. He had a moderately major role in the Rivals story but didn't really affect the plot and has no apparent wider connection with any other planeswalkers. Because of the tone of the Ixalan stories he was presented as a bit of a buffoon but with some funny lines, and despite being a BR pirate with a penchant for killing dinosaurs he seems mostly harmless and certainly not villainous.
However, his cards are powerful, and he does have what I believe to be the third most powerful and mana-efficient fetch card, right behind Nissa's Encouragement and Vraska's Stoneglare. Angrath's ultimate is also pretty broken against Aggro and Mid-range. Basically anything with creatures.
Yeah, I'm biased. He's my first Planeswalker and my favorite. But I do think that he will return in the storyline at some point, perhaps when we reach his home plane.
hes is from another plane full of his people he planeswalks for fun and brings gifts for his daughters until he hit ixalan and was trapped there, then he turned into piracy for the hell of it. Well mostly to get back to his homeplane, which is apparently something with ice.
I love Vivien cause I started magic with the 2019 set.
And she is so cool, and I feel a connection with her.
So, Vivien Reid has the Ark Bow and Gideon has the Darkblade. That’s two weapons designed to fight an Elder Dragon. Will it be enough when backed up by Niv-Mizzet, Vraska, and 40% of the Gatewatch?
(Ryan) Asking the important questions, James. I like your style.
no. vivien will most likely not appear until like 3 years later,(WotC plans in 4 year batches) and secondly bolas or phyrexia will not win nor lose in the next 3 sets that are coming up, bolas is building up something while the Gatewatch dose so 2 meaning that this is not even close to the climax, and when it comes to pyrexia that's most likely going to be easier to gauge when we learn how karns mission went.
and bolas is weird, he is so supidly powerful with plotarmor that he dosent care about pissing of the multivers, yet a single mortal with a bow have been recoded to kick his ass.
so we will have to wait and see like the green paitaince is the key.
Chandra has Jaya Ballard too
@@sirderik
He was also affected by PIS when interacting with the twins of Takir*.
@@sirderik The first person to ever defeat Bolas was a random dude with a bow, Tetsuo Umezawa
I really hope they keep Vivien in the story and involve her more, since I actually like her. The fact that she's the only surviver of her home planet and lost all her friends and family makes her an interesting and dramatic character to me and gives a lot of potential for her further character development. For example maybe she (after the fight with Bolas) could try to create a "save space" for all the (basically extinct) creatures contained in her bow? Maybe even with some help of the Simic, who could give all the animal spirits new physical bodies? And she could become an influencing part of the Gatewatch to prevent another creature from ever becoming as powerful and threatening as Bolas is...
This video made me realize that it would be really cool if Planeswalkers were always designed with very strong mechanical identities that made each one feel unique when put against the myriad of others available. There are some with somewhat unique entities but more often than not most planeswalkers just share general mechanics and might have one each that are unique. This is why people are pretty tired of what has been called the "planeswalker formula" of having card advantage, then removal, then a game winning ultimate. You would think that even from a marketing standpoint, having a cast of strong characters who each have uniquely defined abilities would be a good move.
To be fair, unique walkers that have their own flavor is more the norm than the exception. The Planeswalker formula feels played out because that's the most reliable formula for getting competitive play time. Look at all the other walkers in M19. None of them see Vivien's level of play despite being much more diverse and flavor loaded. See also Jaya Ballard in Dominaria, both versions of Huatli and Jace in Ixalan. Unique but almost non-existent in competitive standard.
Well it's all about meta in comp play, sadly not about flavour, but about getting them sweet packs
Yeah, Champion of the Wilds imo is the first Vivien to really show who she is, and her identity as a planeswalkers. She truly cares about the creatures, she wants to build them up, but also create her own at instant speed. Thanks to the static effect she essentially can evoke creatures at any time, as if they are shot right from the arkbow itself, and the dig ability that's also tied to the official arkbow artifact fits this as well. Always having a special creature in the pocket that she can use in a pinch.
Damn, you actually predicted a lot for war of the spark
Jace-card draw and illusions
Lilianna-necromancy
Chandra- Fire
Gideon-protection
Nissa-land
Ajani-camaraderie
Garruk(uncursed)-Creatures
Tezzeret-artifacts
Saheeli-artfacts
Daretti-artifacts
Nahiri-equipment(artifacts)
Obnixilis- life for cards
Bolas-hand manipulation, draw or discard
Sarkhan-Dragons
Elspeth-can make and help armies
Sorin-can make and help armies of vampires
Koth-mountains
Vraska-can deal with any permanent
Teferi-untap and turns
Kiora-untap and giant as octopusses
These are some of the most popular walkers because they have very clear mechanical identies, Vivien lacks this, but her lack of mechanical identity really made me appreciate these characters.
I dont like that creature has to die to be absorbed by the bow. Would love to see something like... i dunno...
3GG
+2 Exile target creature and put an essence counter on it. Create a token that's a copy of exiled creature.
+0 Deal damage to a target equal to the number of exiled card with an essence counter on it.
-10 Put all exiled card with an essence counter on battlefield under your control.
4 loyalty
+2 exile a creature and make a token that is a copy of that creature?? What?? In a green planeswalker are u serious?
If u want something that rappresents her should be like
2/3GG
+2 until your next turn whenever a creature dies exile it instead and put an essence counter on it
-2/3 plummet or disenchant is perfectly fine for a green planeswalker
-10 is fine maybe a "they gain haste until the end of turn" would be a better payoff for getting her up to 10 counters
3/4 loyalty counters
Interesting take from someone named Pavlov.
That's exactly what I was thinking.
Doesn't sound very green, more like red black
Arkbow 1gg
enchantment artifact
Whenever a creature dies you may exile it instead. You may cast creature spells exiled this way for their mana costs. If you do, it gains haste. Exile it at the end of turn. If it would leave the battlefield, exile it instead.
Here is my idea.
Vivien Reid, The Wraith of Skalla
5 loyalty
+1: Deal 1 damage to any target. If a creature is destroyed in this way gain an additional loyalty.
-3: Destroy target creature, create a token of that creatures type that has the power and toughness the creature destroyed this way.
-9: Gain an emblem that reads "All creatures you control get +1/+1 for each different creature type you control and trample."
@@channelname18900 Seems simple enough until you play a Mutavault, then you have to calculate all the different creature types in magic, or any changeling for that matter.
@Travis Schachtner. The name should be changed to Vivien, Wrath Of Skalla. Sounds cooler.
as always, great job! i like that you have been experimenting with ways to present the lore. i really hope to see more of this! i would love to see videos / series that follow specific characters like you have done here, stories about planes, and actual narrative threads as the series started out. keep experimenting! super fun to follow you down this path :)
Vivien, Skalla's Avenger
2GG
+1 Choose a nontoken creature you control. When it dies this turn, exile it instead of putting it in its owner's graveyard and put an essence counter on it. Draw a card if it does not share a creature type with another creature that has an essence counter on it.
-3 Deal X damage to target creature with flying, where X is the number of creatures you own in exile with essence counters on them.
-8 You get an emblem with "Creatures you control get +X/+X, where X is the highest power of among creatures exiled with essence counters on them."
(5 Loyalty)
The Skalla wolf is like her companion after she planewalks. So they explored this new plane together. Therefore fetching lands and creatures and stuff.
My new thing I watch during my lunch break. Your awesome man!
Well, even though I believe that Vivian is probably really just a one-hit wonder like you metioned, made just to complete the color cycle of planeswalkers who got involved with Bolas, I would still like to imagine a story where she might be relevant. Not as the heroine who gets her revenge on the annihilator of her homeworld, but rather as the next menace and legacy of Bolas. In her 3 part story she is reminded of Bolas and has to painfully admit how she understands his actions of destroying her plane, after she is shown the awful island of Luneau which she would just love to destroy in the same way. Now, of course she is nowhere near the powerlevel of Bolas (after all he is an elderdragon who was basically involved in most of the storys of the MTG Lore), but there is still room for an alliance of villainy formed post Bolas (Probably by a surviving and vengeful Tezeret) that may include a lot of dropped and uneventful Planeswalkers, who on their own weren't really powerful enough to have a major impact but with the support of others maybe able to change something. An Injustice League, in which Tezeret gets revenge on those who foiled the masterplan of his master, where Vivien might use her antisociety ideology to destroy civilizations that she deems corrupt, maybe a Zombie Elspeth that wants to get revenge on the gods that betrayed her and overthrow their hierarchy. With this concept the MTG Lore would have plenty of opportunities to reuse and reinvent old characters, rather than come up with the next major villain, somehow bigger than Bolas or the Eldrazi Horror, for the Jacetice League to fight. It also might fill the power vacuum left behind after Bolas gets destroyed so that the fanbase doesn't have to wonder what the next big thing after him might be.
....or they just make another Phyrexian Block
Can you guys do some previous sets? Like Kamigawa or the old Weatherlight crew.
Kamigawa would be nice as it's one of the few sets where a black aligned person is actually a protagonist.
Loweryn would also be pretty awesome too but it may be different due to how the block was before making it turn into Shadowmoor.
I had tinkered with a player-made card a while back for a green creature with abilities similar to what Vivien is doing with the bow. I could see a green instant Genesis Wave, but only places creatures not all permanents, and shuffles creatures it plays back into your library along with the cards you can't play at the end of turn. This would be more thematic for her creating those creatures from her bow rather than an actual Chord of Calling effect.
As far as Viven's appearance in the future, I think she'll still be a part of the greater story. With Garruk gone and Nissa abandoning ties to the Gatewatch and returning to Zendikar, Wizards is without a mono-green planeswalker to use in the story. I think they'll likely write in new goals for her to chase once Bolas is defeated just so they don't have to design yet another mono-green character.
Prodigious Growth is actually explained in her backstory. She uses a growth/enhancement spell on a spider.
(Ryan) True, she did grow one tiny creature bigger. But I'm still not clear why that's part of what she does. If she can make any creature bigger, why does she need to hunt the biggest and best ones to absorb into the Arkbow? If she can make an ant big enough to fight a Shivan Dragon, why go through the trouble of acquiring a Shivan Dragon at all? Prodigious Growth is just more confusing to me than anything, because it takes focus away from what is supposed to be Vivien's "thing," which is collecting powerful animals.
@TCGplayer: Shivan Dragons are awesome! Besides.... Would you REALLY want a Giant Ant? When you can have a SHIVAN DRAGON!!!! Just sayin'.
One: Love this series hope it keeps going! Two: I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels that Vivien got the shirt end of the stick. Hopefully she gets another (bigger) spotlight in a future set.
God damn, im so Happy I found this channel. I love your way of telling lore
give here a static ability? "whenever a creature enters the battlefield or dies under your control, add 1 loyaltie counter to ~"
I really want more of Vivian
The ark bow could be a legendary artifact in ravnica allegiance
i think a cool ability she could have is
cost: you may reveal a creature card from your hand, if you do, put that card onto the battlefield, vivian deals damage to target creature or planeswalker equal to its power plus its toughness, then sacrifice that creature.
Her plain sounds to be very green and blue intensive with not much of the other 3 and with the arc bow being them coming together to fight Bolas I want to see Wizards take her into simic.
Viviens abilities are that specific, because they are just two totally green-themed spells. Her +1 is seek the wilds, her +2 is Return to the earth. Two spells from sets, only at the side connected to Nicol. "Battle for Zendikar" and "Fate reforged" and both have the flair of bringing down foes way greater than one alone, and origin from people with a great connection to nature and a world overrun by a impossible to defeat force. so i quite like her design for the flair she is bringing with her.
It's interesting how you mention making her Gruul, or a red flavor to her already green Planeswalker because of what the Gruul are waiting for: The Raze-Boar. Her bow has the power to take and unleash the power of animals and if she is going to be on Ravnica, she very well could tie into that. Not to mention most art we've seen related to the Raze-Boar has been ethereal in some way, and the animals that come through the bow are ethereal as well. A tie may exist there
Well remember, Huatli is White/Red while Vivian Arkbow is mono Green, meaning that she can be played in more decks AND is a bit easier to cast.
If I could request any one character its Huatli. She is a new and exciting planeswalker with an amazing story line that I feel kinda got overshadowed by the whole immortal sun bolas arch.
See I really like Vivian but I am a big fan of Green planeswalkers (Nissa, Garruk, and now Vivian). I do hope to see her more and although her abilities are taken from other characters she is a nice mix because she in mono colored all the planeswalkers that were brought up were either multi-colored or white for things like the ult. So if you wanted to use her in say commander you have many more options to use her in than say Kiorra or Ajani since they are multi-colored or if you wanted to be that guy go White-Green for all the pump planeswalkers
I would totally love a Gruul Vivien playswalker for the set that cmes out. lets call it "Vivien, Sole surviver of Skalla" or just "Viven, Sole Survivor". She could have an ability that says "for each creature type among all creatures on the battlefield (yours and your opponent's)" put a +1/+1 counter on target creature, then if you have lots of different types of creatures, this could make 1 of your creatures pretty huge. this could be a -3 ability. Ultimate should be game ending so something like: emblem that turns every creature you have into a dragon in addition to it's other types and if their power and toughness are less than 5, they turn into a 5/5 flying trample dragon". the +1 or +2 ability should be something that spits out low powered creatures, maybe 0/1 dragonlings with flying (that later mature into 5/5 dragons with her ultimate). that way she has chump blockers to defend herself. I know the + ability is the same as Nissa, Voice of Zendikar, but it's hard to come up with an idea to protect themselves without creating creatures and you can't make them powerful or she will get banned, her -3 and her ult are already pretty powerful, assuming you built your deck around her. her -3 ability isn't powerful if you have lots of the same type of creatures. so that is the downside of this creative planeswalker design of mine. I requires you to think creatively. since she is gruul, you can have goblins, wolves, dragons, elves, fairies, warewolves, Merfolk and lots lots more to make the -3 very powerful. so this is sort of a anti-tribal planeswalker, since it rewards you for spreading out creatures types among your creatures.
Who is her? Not Garruk and will never be... i miss Garruk... Where is he?
He was mean to Liliana and people are offended by that
Stuck on Shandalar with a hedron in his head to suppress his planeswalker spark. You can blame Jace for that.
@Carl Artel daughter*
@@Thevideosaurusrex I honestly don't get it, they depict a card where Lili beat Garruk's arse and no one bats an eye. Another card where Garruk has Lili in his grip and the whole internet goes wild. She's a super powerful mage with armies of zombies at her disposal and is an all around bitch, but no all of that doesn't matter because she's a woman. Poor Garruk becomes a symbol for toxic masculinity.
ua-cam.com/video/AQ80L5MeLQU/v-deo.html
Hey! Vivien’s Arkbow is very similar to how you described that sorcery
(Ryan) Yeah! It seems obvious in hindsight. Nissa has Sword of the Animist but I had forgot about the possibility of legendary artifacts when thinking of Vivien. Oh well!
TCGplayer still, you nailed the ability
I think an emblem that basically represents the bow would be neat. Exiling all creatures that would die and you can pay their cmc to summon tokens of them.
If she's on Shiv admiring the local dargons, maybe she'll run into Sarkhan, who isn't too keen on Bolas either.
Also don't count Tibalt out yet! He's making a comeback! (in the comics).
Vivien's arkbow reminds me of the spirit totem used by vixen in dc cause it has the spirits of animals
Now that Vivien is quite powerfull in Standard this video seems legit.
I think her arkbow ult should have been something like “you gain imprint and can create a token with haste if imprinted creature that dies end of turn”
nicky b does have weaknesses. after all he's been defeated before. once by anchoring his soul within a virtual plane he used for meditation and blasting his helpless body with a kiloton of magic and once by manifesting an effigy of his soul and fanagling him into fighting it. basically just dont run straight at him and you've got a chance *cough* Gideon *cough*
What if Vivien IS Huatli?? And she recovered her own lost memories through a fortuite encounter with Jace, maybe by watching Jace hiding Vraska's memories, she got a hunch that maybe she also had some hidden memories deeply inside of her mind, and asked Jace to look. Or maybe, Nicol Bolas' intention's in the first place, was that the people in Vivien's plane create the BOW, and he will take it away from her now that is ready and full charged. It would be ironical that he only had to wait until the artifact he was looking in Vivien's home to come right up to him. (I know almost nothing about magic's lore, but I'm liking this series so far).
Vivien Fae - (1)GG
[+1] Look at the top four cards of your library. You may reveal a creature or land card from among them and put it into your hand. Put the rest on the bottom of your library in a random order.
[-2] Gain 1 life for each type among creatures you control.
[-3] Destroy noncreature permanent. It's controller creates a 3/3 green Beast token.
{3}
Just my thoughts on a Vivien card. Also I think she'll destroy the Immortal Sun, which will allow Bolas to seize Azor's pre-mending spark for himself
Sounds like they didn't give her much thought beyond a throw away planeswalker.
Creatures are absorbed into the bow as they are dying making it more powerful. Nicol bolas gets absorbed into the bow. That bow will be the strongest weapon across the plains ever. There is your spin to pick vivian up.
"Vivien's gonna show up in Ravnica Allegiance as a part of the Gruul Clans: You heard it here first."
Obviously this comment didn't age too well.
It just occurred to me that the two green cards that, in the art, appear to come from her bow are spirits, just like Ugin, who is, in fact, a spirit dragon. They should do something with her being able to create spirit versions of green creatures and planeswalkers in graveyards. Turning all Nicol Bolas his past enemies against him in a non-zombie way.
answer: hawkeye
Vivien Reid is Smaragdi, forest dwellers of Skalla.
An anagram of
Vivien Reid Smaragdi is
"I revived in diagrams."
Fitting, since the story needed a green walker to tie to Bolas.
...and yes, she does look like Rihanna, maybe that's why she needed to "Take a[n] [Ark]Bow."
omg you just blow my mind
Idea:
Vivien, Huntress of Skalla. 3G
+1: Draw 1 card for each creature type you control, then discard cards equal to the amount drawn -1.
-3: Create a token that is a copy of a creature you control.
-8: Play creatures from your deck with different types from each other and creatures you control up to the number of lands you control, Then all creatures you control gain trample.
Base Loyalty counters: 4
I know this is an older video and things may have been fixed since (I'm still behind on the MTG story), but looking at things, Vivien sounds like she should have abilities more like this (numbers are examples and may need rebalancing)
Whenever a creature you control dies, put 1 loyalty counter on Vivien.
-3: Summon two in any combination of 1/1 Green Insect with Flying, 3/3 Green Boar with Trample, or 6/6 Green Elephant
-*: This effect costs all loyalty counters on Vivien. Sacrifice that many creatures. Vivien does not gain any loyalty counters. Then, deal damage to target creature, player, or Planeswalker equal to the combined Power of the sacrificed creatures
I would make it so when something dies she can summon it as a green spirit or when she kills something she should give a totem armor effect give her that hunter vibe
Little did he know that Vivien, Monster's Advocate was about to change everything.
I think Vivien is a good balance to nissa for green. Nissa is more of the land, and ramp side of green, while Vivien is based more upon the creature heavy focus of green
I like this "zoo"/alternate name mechanic and it works well with the character.
There's always the possibility that bolas kills the gatewatch and takes over ravnica...
Would be a great idea from wizzards to assemble a new gatewatch and return to these underused planeswalkers
Wow this video shows that Vivien is pretty damn cool!! Just summoning any creature from planes she's been on
How about a card like Whip of Erebos where it's the Arcbow? There could be a passive "Creatures you control have reach and get +2/+0" or something similar, and an activated ability on it kinda like imprint where either when a creature dies or you could choose a creature in the graveyard, you could pay mana to summon a token of it that's also a Spirit/Elemental, when it enters the battlefield it could fight another creature or damage a target equal to its power... I also like the idea of a cheap green instant (just like Supernatural Stamina) where when a creature will die, you play the card, and when it dies, either it returns as a spirit/elemental or deals damage equal to its power.
Kokonut Binks have you heard of the bow of nylia?
@@one_for_one Yes I have, didn't remember what it was called so I just used Whip of Erebos as an example because they're so similar
9:00 The better question is: if she had time to use the bow before Nicol kills all the animals, nothing would have come out of the bow at all ? Haha that's kinda sad.
Vivien/the arkbow could become major players if, when they fight Nicol Bolas, it somehow absorbs him or part of his power, just like it does with animals
I have a feeling that Vivian will appear last minute as Bolas is ravaging Ravnica or she appears as bolas is dying to absorb his essence and possibly his spark, The sun only prevents planeswalkers from walking off the plain it's on, so she could appear. not to mention the fact that after bolas either creates a legacy or dies there's still Garruk rampaging across the multiverse. I have a feeling they're preparing to create an arch-nemesis even further beyond the scope of Bolas. We still need to find Urza who is alive with his spark, Jace needs to go back to his home plane and retrieve his memories, Elspeth still needs to reappear with Dac Fayden, and we still haven't revisited the phyrexians that are trapped on Mirroden. Also, we've not found out what plane Saskia The Unyielding or Tana the Bloodsower are from. If we end up getting a new enemy with a four color identity we'll probably revisit the planes that the 2016 Commanders came from: Theros, Mirroden, Alara, and the unknown plane. So we've got a ways to go.
rewatching this vid and nice call on the arkbow twanging things out of the deck.
Her new emblem should a reverse coat of arms, Creatures you control get +1/+1 for each different creature types among them
I doubt Vivien will be involved in the Bolas storyline - maybe Bolas will survive the Ravnica story and that can be picked up later, but as with Sarkhan she could just have a backstory revolving around Bolas as a way to define her character, but without having any involvement in the current Bolas story. We know she won't be in the next set as the three planeswalkers in Allegiance will all be Bolas-allied/manipulated (and the Gruul one has all but been confirmed to be Domri again).
I suspect Vivien will be a major character in the online stories going forward after the Gatewatch storyline, especially if as it appears the Gatewatch story will be moving to novels from now on. As it turned out, despite her underwhelming appearance her card was ultimately the best of the Core 2019 walkers, or at least the one best-suited to the immediate metagame - so the character's getting a fair bit of early exposure.
@Philip Bowles: They created Vivien just to have a Green Planeswalker with ties to Bolas. Of course she's going to be a part of the main story! Idiot.
The arc bow should have an ability that plays creatures from the deck equal to her loyalty counters. The text could go plus 1 check the top card if it is a creature whose mana cost is equal or less than her loyalty counters put it in play otherwise place the card on the bottom of the library.
I might be 5 months too late but I just came along the MTG Lore from the last 12 months...and I have to say that to me there is potential for Vivians future.
Who says that after absorbing Shivan Dragons essences that she won't absorb Nicol Bolas essence as well?
Imagine Bolas being dead on one hand but by spoiling her arc bow with his essence allows his mind control powers to alter and corrupt Vivians character.
Making her something that doesn't want to cherish and protect life, but conquer and abuse living beings for her own power. Much like Nicol Bolas does, but not with the intention to become a godlike creature again, but just for sheer domination over life itself?
Not bad. I guess I would like that.
Oooo if she has spirits within her bow her ultimate could be bring creatures back from the graveyard
If they ever go back to New Pherexia, I hope they show a compleated Venser. Certainly might give pause for Karn in blowing up the plane.
Vivien character-wise seems like the perfect "creature toolbox" Planeswalker. While Domri is more impulsive and short-sighted and Garruk was more Token-centric, Vivien could have a + ability akin to Survival of the Fittest (discard included) to show her creature-oriented side in a different light of other beastmaster Planeswalkers and enable Green Toolbox decks back in Standard.
Maybe she captures the nephilim in the arc bow?
(Ryan) I like the way you think.
In Russia, the Nephilim capture Reid in a bow.
Okay, but they're bringing Tibalt back in the next set for guilds. No idea whats going on for Koth though considering that we're probably never going back to phyrexia or new phyrexia.
Why would we not be going back? Karn didn't dig up the super nuke bowl for nothing.
@@bradleyprimeau8663 New Phyrexia is a 5 on the scale currently for how likely we are to go back. Meanwhile Vryn, and Theros are are a lot more likely. New Phyrexia is at the point of... 'We need a proper time and the like for it.' Which puts it about as likely as Alara, and Amonkhet to return. When I posted that, it was a 7 putting it at unlikely to be brought back again.
So, its gone from... probably not to, yeah sure if the time is right as of the last month or so. Also! I am rather annoyed at being wrong about the Tibalt thing, because they are featuring him in the expanded materials for ravnica allegiance... but not the actual set itself now that they've revealed the Orzhov and Gruul walkers, as Kaya and Domri. That means Tibalt only appears in a single issue comic and has nothing to do with Ravnica Allegiance... despite said comic being described as being straight out of Ravnica Allegiance.
@swatkatsrule. WE ARE going back New Phyrexia. That article (I read it too) was made around 2017. Besides.... New Phyrexia is a fan favorite. And we may not go to New Phyrexia right away. We still have Theros, Vryn, Ixalan, Amonkhet, Innistrad (With no Eldrazi, They're setting up something different). And we still have things besides Bolas to deal with: Tibalt, Ob Nixilis, Emrakul, Elesh Norn, and Garruk (They still have to wrap that up). So there is a possibility that we'll go back to New Phyrexia.
@@Vamoss39 no way in hell they're ever touching Garruk again
Oh boy Ravnica Allegiance is going to crazy.
Im calling it, Vivian is going to be the first 5 colored planeswalker, you heard it here first
My proposal for a new Vivien Reid:
3GG
Loyalty 5
Flash
-2: Exile target creature you control that would be destroyed. Use this ability only when a creature you control is destroyed.
+1: Choose any creature exiled this way. Put a token copy of that creature into play with haste. At the next end step, destroy it.
-9: Put a token copy of all creatures exiled by Vivien Reid into play.
What do you think? A bit more on flavor?
She should have an ability if you killed a creature this turn bring it back from the graveyard on your side so it acts like the arc bow.
Actually, Bolas planed his confrontation with Ugin and built a spell that turned all dragons against him
Thank you for such great analysis and background! While we're on the subject of green planeswalkers, do you think you will touch on my favorite, Freyalise? I know there are many other more popular ones, but I have a soft spot for the old days and Freyalise, both in playstyle and story, represesnted a lot i adored. Having her gone and replaced by not one but three regular mono green planeswalkers makes me think most will forget her in time, but those of us who watched her grow from flavor text in ice age to a commander deck in 2014 might feel differently.
What if Vivien had a passive (green creatures you control get +1/+1 for each other green creature you control with a different creature type)
and then a plus ability that made a 2/2 token (like a wolf or Jaguar)
and then a minus ability that made a bigger mean token like a hydra or a couple rhinos
or an emblem that reduces the CMC of green creatures in your hand.
It kinda feels like they didn't really try with her and that's a shame, she looks cool and the bow is rad.
Please do a "Who Is Avacyn" video! It would be cool for people to learn how she was an angel created by a Planeswalker and eventually became corrupted after battling one of Liliana's demon lords.
@7xprototype: Avacyn was corrupted by EMRAKUL. NOT GRISELBRAND. LILIANA KILLED GRISELBRAND. IDIOT.
my mono green control modern deck ties in perfectly with her abilities i have her 2 on mainboard (not my original brew btw)
2:24 this part explains why simic my favoriete 2-color combination is
I have all of Koth's planeswalker cards
Made my day XD
Sidenote, it think it's less so that the bow was made for Vivien (I haven't read the story so correct me if I'm wrong) but that she was the one who picked it up.
There's an issue with your assumption about Vivien's place in the story. All the Planeswalkers in M19 had dealings with Bolas IN THE PAST (caps for emphasis). I don't expect for us to see Vivien again.
You miss Vivien`s Invocation.
If only you could see the future of flash vivien
I do have a theory, now that we know that bolas is trapped in the prison realm. I think vivian will catch wind that he is not really dead, and she will be the one to accidentally set him free in her quest for vengeance
Idk why she gets so much hate. I have a Vivien Reid. I like her. Second favorite PW I own next to teferi.
We're not gonna see a new Vivien card in Alliances; the planeswalkers there will also all be allied with/controlled by Bolas, just like in GRN. Also, I really hope they don't make her red/green; we already have Domni, Arlinn, Samut, and Huatli occupying that space.
Viven will absorb Niv Mizzet in her bow to use him in the final fight against Bolas. Saying here first.
looking back, Vivien should have been "Anti-Tribal synergy". Like... creatures you control get +1+1 for each other creature type among creatures you control
So a spell like Vivien's Invocation?
Calling it now Bolas mind controls Viv and she hunts down Ugin to put him in her bow. Then Ugin pops out of her bow like PSYCH and kills Bolas.
Feels like a Garruk replacement... but instead of hunting with an axe, she uses the bow
I have been binge watching the lore videos, always enjoyed the magic lore and I really love how you pull your work together! Is there anything in the works for a teferi or urza video?