What Happens in March of the Machine: The Aftermath?

[@MagicArcanum]

Thank you INTO THE AM for these Elevated Everyday Graphic Tees! Get yours now and get 10% off site-wide when you click the link below: intotheam.com/MagicArcanum

[@clasherking4528]

Any recommendations for a shirt that goes with my Hans Erickson deck?

[@MagicArcanum]

I would say the Final Rest tee: www.intotheam.com/collections/mens-graphic-t-shirts/products/final-rest-tee?color=Black It has red and green flowers, similar to the one's Hans is holding in his legendary creature card, and the skull symbolizes death, and as we all know, that's important to the lhurgoyf creature type in general, and Hans is perhaps best known for being called out in the flavor text of one such card.

[@clasherking4528]

@@MagicArcanum this is a beautiful shirt (might not see much wear with summer coming on but definitely a shirt I will add to my collection) Many thanks for the recommendation.

[@clasherking4528]

The final rest shirt (and 4 other shirts that I found with equally amazing designs) came in and I have to say. Best shirts I have ever owned

[@MagicArcanum]

Aren't they great?!

[@bobfranklin2572]

This set was 10% answers 40% new questions and 50% "they really needed to explain this, but didnt for no reason at all".

[@MagicArcanum]

...and fifteen percent concentrated power of will!

[@bobfranklin2572]

@Magic Arcanum 5 percent pleasure, 50% pain 😭

[@C._Bradford]

​@Magic Arcanum oh my gosh I'm dying 😂

[@Trujones]

@@MagicArcanum beautifully said, i was thinking this

[@jeffm2222]

Fort Minor!

[@ukaszmozejko9984]

I know that MTG never aspired to be Tolkien level worldbuilding and storytelling but... This is literally highschool level fan fiction LOL

[@Improperman]

TRUE

[@maximiliendesallangre6395]

Used to be

[@japoniano]

I love Nahiri's denial to accept that herself naming herself Zendikar's protector ALWAYS ends badly and she keeps doing it over, and over, and over again

[@simonebuonvicino9788]

She's by far the most powerful planeswalker, even without the spark, since she manages to consistently be the worst person ever, and also to become even worse each time we see her.

[@MusicoftheDamned]

Hey, someone had to be Urza's successor in that capacity, especially since Karn is largely sensible for all his flaws.

[@poiri]

While I don’t agree with Nahiri on much, refusing to “atone” for what she did during her time as a phyrexian is absolutely fine. After all why should a character atone for actions they essentially didn’t commit, as they didn’t have the free will to disobey. A person who is mind controlled is not responsible for the acts of their body after all. But then she immediately betrays that by judging Ajani by what he did as a phyrexian, proving just how awful of a person she is, never change Nahiri, never change.

[@TheOuroboros84]

I used to have a friend like Nahiri... got tired of Ajaning for her XD

[@siobahnhurley85]

Karma bit her in ass, by having her break her own spark. 😂

[@Cha0sSp3ar]

In all fairness her distrusting Ajani makes sense, every other time we’ve seen Nahari put her faith in another she’s been let down, wether it be Sorin, jace, ect. Now do I want her to keep going down this path? No but I understand it. I’m just hoping she’ll eventually realize the path she’s on is self destructive before it’s to late for her

[@freshrimp9013]

@@Cha0sSp3ar she is also just kinda an asshole who attempted to Eldrazi a plane, essentially commit mass genocide of everything on that plane, cuz she had a feud with 1 guy.

[@crisgon9552]

​@Cha0sSp3ar If Sorin kept his Spark Nahiri will not be a happy camper, again.

[@mononokemar]

I really hate how short this all feels. It’s like they were phyrexian for a day or two and the invasion of the multiverse lasted like two hours. I hope we go back to 2 blocks so there’s time for the story to be fully fleshed out

[@TheFlamingDraco]

Yeah, MoM should've been like War where it broke the 2 sets a block at the time.

[@jacob4920]

@@TheFlamingDraco It really was, though, when you think about it. Because "All Will Be One" was the setup for "March of the Machine." You have to look at both sets as contained within one story, because otherwise they don't make any sense by themselves. There's also the long list of preliminary "mini-stories," featuring Phyrexian agents, from the Kamigawa, Kaldheim, Strixhaven, and New Capenna sets.

[@TheFlamingDraco]

@@jacob4920 Yeah fair enough, I guess what I was envisioning was more first set being the invasion and the second set being the pushback.

[@jellosapiens7261]

I think we need 3-set blocks back. The storyline just hasn't been the same since...

[@jacob4920]

@@TheFlamingDraco The structure of storytelling is different than it used to be, but if you keep monitoring the big picture, it all makes sense. The Nicol Bolas Arc taught me that, because that whole conflict goes on for something like twenty different sets/blocks! lol This current storyline, if you keep track of the big picture, has been going on ever since the end of "War of the Spark."

[@felipeguidolin1055]

MoM "oh my god, Melira had to sacrify herself to heal Nissa and Ajani! And Karn lost Venser's spark! There is a cost to healing planeswalkers and there are consequences to the story!" Aftermath "somehow Nahiri got healed. Ok then"

[@ryukaze20]

Remember that Vraska and Jace are still MIA and we won't know what happened to them. Also this is just like what happened to Nissa in ONE where we don't see how Nissa got compleated and just shows us one where she isn't compleated then the next she's now compleated.

[@felipeguidolin1055]

@@ryukaze20 the ending of the Phyrexian Invasion was just full of plot holes

[@drastically143]

@@ryukaze20 We do know about vraska. I will copy an answer for my question about vraskas fate. Big thanks to Amber Hernandez who took time to give me the answer. Vraska went to Ravnica, where she dumped a load of oil into the Undercity. The corrupted Golgari forces followed her to the upside, where the oil started to surge upwards. Izzet scientists are all over the stuff (naturally), lawkeepers are trying to force the populace back, and chaos is ensuing. Vraska's forces gouge out the eyes of those they don't compleat, and things look pretty bleak for the plane. Meanwhile, Vraska is having a war in her head. She's bouncing back and forth between herself and her Phyrexian self, in mental shambles with all that's happening. She ends up stopping by her apartment, where it's revealed she's got a cute little collection of trinkets from her adventures, one of which is the thaumatic compass Jace and she used on Ixalan. Touching the device ignites something in her mind, a sort of fail-safe that Jace placed there when he Induced Amnesia on her at the end of the Ixalan story. He meant to "fix" that after War of the Spark, but never had the time, and now her memories and personality are surging back. There's a pretty steamy moment in here, where Vraska appreciates Jace and realises why she fell in love with him again (THIS SIDE STORY IS REALLY GOOD AND REALLY WELL WRITTEN PLEASE GO READ IT ALISON LÜHRS IS INCREDIBLE), but she unfortunately has to get back to the invasion. Awaiting Vraska's approach, Ral Zarek has a new toy that shows his ingenuity and prep skills, as when he's attacked, he blasts Vraska with something that boils the oil in her body . The resulting explosion brings the house down on Vraska as Ral escapes, and the gorgon is trapped under the rubble. A vision of Jace appears again, telling her "this is going to hurt," and then he wrenches her normal self to the forefront of her mind again before that segment ends. When the rubble is excavated, Vraska's nowhere to be found, and Jace makes no in-person appearance here.

[@ryukaze20]

@@felipeguidolin1055 true that... we don't fully know and understand what happened during and the aftermath. Jace was just "I'm compleated and Imma head out" without anything else to say. What are the implications of the aftermath like who are now the "Gods" of Theros where it is implied that the monocolored gods are "dead" How Nahiri just "got better' and this should also show us more stories and more detailed things of this. Overall, the Aftermath is just I wanna bury it and maybe they should have made another normal set instead.

[@darkmindaustin]

Man, with how often they shit on Karn and the various sparks he has lost and gained, the man could be considered a walking black hole for planeswalker sparks.

[@mega2009man]

After just stating no one cares about her, Nahiri turns away literally the only person who came to check on her and offer help. That's some serious projecting and mental gymnastics to vilify Ajani. Someone should tell Nahiri to be careful with mental gymnastics like that. They're so extreme they could rupture a spark Ajani, the literal therapy cat dad, needs someone to talk to. Irony. He's been through more than anyone in this war and he needs time to come to terms with what they made him do

[@Randoman590]

"therapy cat dad", I love that

[@krest3r]

My feelings about Nahiri change with literaly every story she's in. I go from hating to liking her to hating her again.

[@utsuhoreiuji6155]

It's not serious mental gymnastic, It's just a mix of personality matrix plus personnal account and a bit of trigger. Human (or humanoid) are emotional being; we don't operate on full rationality. The best thing to do at the moment (not for long term, obviously) is to have some periods of quiteness perhaps for both of them. Although unrelated, it turns out 12th doctor was right. Every problem ever will settle into one final form: "Sit down and Talk!", which is something that ought to be done in the first place, and always is something we return to.

[@drastically143]

Nahiri just does shitty nahiri thing. Nothing new.

[@benrockefeller6334]

@@krest3r Nahiri is the personification of the hero who lives long enough to see themself become the villain. She is so stuck in her own hubris that she fails to see that the world has changed. She has good intentions, but never considers outside viewpoints, leading to rash and impulsive behavior. That's why I both love and hate her, and why she is such a great character.

[@Tru3kisame]

Chandra and Nissa's ending was basically the ending to the Legend of Kora

[@varsoonhks3211]

Yeah I loved the part where Tezzeret. who was set up as a Hitler parallel, had a huge laser pointed at Nissa but they talked him down.

[@557deadpool]

Except it's actually good and doesn't make one of them a giant whore

[@tttttttttttttttp12]

@@varsoonhks3211 lmao

[@Snivy_1245]

Exactly what I thought lol. Give all lesbians portals, it's in their birthright.

[@hernansanch]

I love how you two struggle to make sense of this mess and manage to deliver ... something? Great Work!

[@echo7992]

Jesus christ. If there was ever a (micro)set to convince me that Blocks needed to come back, if only for the story, it was this one.

[@1krani]

Maybe not all the time, as that does sometimes overextend sets, but the problem is that the story is no longer a concern. I think Wizards would simply drop the story writing completely if it wasn't tradition by this point.

[@dracomundo1498]

​@@1kraniHonestly? They should, for a bit. They should really try to have richer planes than some kind of high school story with weird fanfiction. If every set were as strong conceptually as innistrad, people would be a lot more forgiving of assassins creed and other dumb fuckery

[@АйдоралСмертестойкий]

Imagine the reaction of Zendikar denizens to this story. - Zendikar now has a protector that will defend us from planeswalker meddling! - YAY!!!! - .. and its Nahiri. - oh.... we're totally screwed.

[@MagicArcanum]

Even worse, they thought they already had a guardian in Nissa, but she was curiously absent during the entire invasion.

[@TheAzulon]

Now that the story "concluded" I think that this whole phyrexian invasion was very poorly executed. It could have been so much more, it could have been several sets as each plane fought back and won (or not) using different strategies. Even if the phyrexians were truly defeated, realmbreaker could have become a permanent bridge among planes for those brave enough to brave its branches through the blind eternities. New Mirrodin could have become the heart of the multiverse, a planar crossroads. Problems could leak from one plane to the next as the citizens realized they were now part of a new, conected, multiverse. And that is just one idea I had in 5 minutes. But no, back to the status quo, with stories focused on the same basic idea "plane has a problem, planeswalkers fix it".

[@natben6099]

realmbreaker did become a permanent bridge

[@Lagdarr]

For what it’s worth, I think the idea of the planes being more inter-connected would be really cool! I only wonder if that would diminish the importance of planeswalkers. Even if it did, I don’t know if that would necessarily be a bad thing. It seems like a lot of these stories are told from the perspective of planeswalkers/nascent planeswalkers, but I would like to see more about the average people of a plane.

[@Dlark17]

If only WotC had the foresight to create some sort of structure for an extended storyline, where one set leads into the next... Blocks died for *nothing*.

[@ukaszmozejko9984]

You expect decent story from WOTC?

[@ChemistGeometric]

I'm not sure how "a ton of planeswalkers have lost their sparks and the planes are now connected by pathways for the daring" is a return to status quo.

[@fenrizsharp3938]

wish we got some sarkhan lore! he looks so satisfied/content in the art

[@jacob4920]

Maybe because he finally got a date with Narset, like he always wanted. lol

[@amberhernandez]

​@@jacob4920Jealous tbh 😔

[@davenirline]

@@jacob4920 God damn it

[@ry7hym]

​@@amberhernandez 🙏

[@yorae3153]

I remember when i started MtG with Urza saga (i stopped to play at Nemesis), the old Phyrexia was around for several blocs story wise and right from the get go, you knew that it was no jokes. New Phyrexia was barely noticeable until "All will be one" and when it finally get serious with March of the machine, its invasion ended right when it started in a single expansion. I would have liked to know if the New Phyrexia was set to last longer but cut down by the higher up, because this was the setting for an entire expansion per plane invaded, it could have lasted longer than the Old Phyrexia war while being more impactful. No really, i don't think that the level of the writers has decreased so much that what we got was the original plan for the New Phyrexia invasion.

[@apjapki]

New Phyrexia Phyrexians appeared in 9 sets. They had a whole block to themselves. This is simply not true.

[@1krani]

​@@apjapki Scars of Mirrodin, Mirrodin Besieged, New Phyrexia, Dominaria United, All Will Be One, and March of the Machine. I count only 6 sets, separated by a gap of over 10 years. What are the other 3?

[@dracomundo1498]

​@@1kraniprobably counting the sets wherein praetors showed up and didn't doom the plane immediately somehow

[@reubenfromow4854]

In the Minneapolis convention, they went over the story behind Sarkhan and Narset on Tarkir- Narset has somehow realised Sarkhan has meddled with the timelines on her plane. I assumed she’d gotten a written story. Is this really all there is?

[@MagicArcanum]

This is really all there is, yes.

[@reubenfromow4854]

@@MagicArcanum that’s sad- I was hoping we’d see a little bit for Kiora as well.

[@MonkeyDGreed1854]

I love how Nahiri is becoming more and more like Sorin.

[@natben6099]

I hadn't thought about that, but yeah.. good call. Sorin is, after all, the number one example of "only my plane counts"

[@haroldsandahl6408]

At least he did that in a way that didn't harm his plane. Nahiri damaged her plane multiple times before going, I shouldn't do that.

[@novusnocturnm]

@@natben6099 you only said counts because he’s a vampire didn’t you.😅

[@natben6099]

@@novusnocturnm nope. I didn't even notice the pun.

[@MrUnreal9111]

Marvel/Blizzard writing. "We can write only the same thing over and over again"

[@brandonhall7498]

Awww the Gruulfriends are getting comfy together. Also ffs someone get Nahiri some therapy,

[@nycstreetpoet]

I never liked Nahiri. If she isn’t trying to get revenge on Sorin she’s too mush convincing herself only she is actually capable of saving Zendikar. I have no problem with Lukka being dead, but Tamiyo really hurts me.

[@Krunschy]

The thing is not even Tamiyo is completely gone. Her death triggered some ghost of her to emerge from one of her scrolls. While I'm happy the character isn't gone aswell, it really deducts even more impact from this whole story...

[@SgtNukem007]

Feels kinda cheap to rip a bunch of sparks out and then give the multiverse portals anyone can walk through.

[@apjapki]

The multiverse used to have natural portals anyone can walk through. They were closed during the Mending.

[@calenhoover1124]

someone hasnt read like.. any of the magic story lol

[@tempestandacomputer6951]

@@apjapki were they always called Omenpaths?

[@TempestDacine]

Interesting that both aftermath stories are about two former walkers from zendikar. Guess we'll be back there before long again.

[@jacob4920]

Nahiri lost her spark, so she can't go picking on Sorin again. I am sad.

[@crisgon9552]

Maybe Sorin will come to Zendikar and fight haha. At least she will have hoke terf advantage. ​@jacob4920

[@Riddimensaur]

As much as I think it's a contrivance to have any of the planeswalkers survive, I do think it's kind of baffling that Tamiyo wasn't one of them. Considering she's the one Emrakul used to stick herself into Innistrad's moon you'd think she'd be important enough to keep around. I suppose Jace will be there (they're not gonna kill off Jace let's be real) but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[@TheMrYadrian]

3:50 and my theory is connected with New Phyrexia and Dominaria planes changing places and disturbing flow in the Multiverse.

[@samphillips4289]

Nahiri is my second favorite character in Magic (behind Thalia) and while this story IS really sad and frustrating for her characterization, I think it IS in character for her to act like this. Especially since she's constantly being betrayed or opposed by other planeswalkers, so her having a hair trigger after this and jumping to the wrong conclusions makes sense. That being said, it also felt like a situation where if these two characters could sit down and have a dang conversation with each other like actual thinking beings, this whole thing could have been avoided. Poor Nahiri. Hope she gets a better story next time around.

[@darthsurya88]

You'd think she'd have learned to talk to people after how things went on Innistrad.

[@Chuck13s]

I'm just more confused why anyone would assume Nahiri would even care about Ajani. Since like... They've never talked outside of this event and have no knowledge of eachother's escapades to my knowledge? Her final conclusion in her story makes sense, but Ajani was NOT the right person to talk to her. Maybe Ugin?

[@amberhernandez]

Us Nahiri fans are constantly stuck between "THAT'S WHY SHE'S THE GOAT" and "girl, go sit on a couch and TALK to someone." Oh, and we can't forget the classic: [multi-paragraph explanation coping and trying to explain why she's like this, and why she just needs to be written better for people to empathise with her]. That one's a favourite of mine! (I am in pain)

[@ICantThinkOfAFunnyHandle]

​@@amberhernandez at this point I've just accepted that nahiri is forever cursed to be the "hey look she has trauma!" Character

[@TheFlamingDraco]

I really think MoM should've been 3 sets. Set one would be like shadows, hiding the phyrexian symbol around the place and maybe some planeswalkers readying some planes for the invasion. Set two is where they actually invade and most of the planes we see are losing and getting compleated with maybe a plane here or there resisting but at great cost. Set three is where Elspeth arrives all suped up and helps maybe boost Halo into being a cure and uses it do destroy the invading phyrexians, maybe toss in that Zalphyr plane switching in too. This is just whipped up do theres probably plenty of this wrong with this idea lol.

[@christopherb501]

Worked out with the last Invasion.

[@amberhernandez]

That sounds like the block format, which Wizards decided was too much to hold onto back in 2016. They dropped to one large set + one small set, and then Dominaria came along and essentially absorbed the smaller set, an example which most sets would follow. Midnight Hunt/Crimson Vow was the first time since the single-plane set template came into being that said template changed. Two back-to-back sets on the same plane, both of relatively similar size and telling two halves of the same story, but Oh Nooooooooo, don't call it a block! 😭

[@LionWithShades]

With the story of March of the Machine I was hoping to see if anything would affect the mediation plane where Nicol Bolas is imprisoned. Thought that would be cool.

[@Lagdarr]

I’m a little saddened that there is no new information on what happened to New Phyrexia. I love my boy Urabrask, so I’m continuing to blindly hold out hope that he’s alive and could perhaps lead the phyrexians still on the plane to a slightly less overwhelmingly hostile existence.

[@bigmanjr8707]

I think it was revealed on some video of Elder Dragon Social Club by Loading Ready Run that all the praetor except Vorinclex are dead for good. Also Vorinclex only lived because he is a master of regeneration magic and could heal himself.

[@apjapki]

Not only that, it explicitly says in the MOM story that Urabrask is dead.

[@apjapki]

​​@@bigmanjr8707he video did not say he lived. It says nobody knows if the beheading was enough to kill him or not.

[@happyslapsgiving5421]

The MTG Wiki presents a list of a dozen of Planeswalkers desparked after March of the Machine, including among others Teferi himself and the Kenrith twins.

[@MagicArcanum]

Some of that information came from a panel at Magic Con in Minneapolis, and while that is canon, it's not included within the written story, which is what we're covering here.

[@Trujones]

I really REALLY miss the booklets that came in fat packs that had the stories.

[@cannonspectacle5195]

I really, really don't like Nahiri. Mostly, I can't get over the fact that she didn't feel any remorse over what she subjected Innistrad to. But also, this story, Ajani was reaching out to her, and she could only see him as a threat.

[@siobahnhurley85]

I don’t like her either. She strikes me as that spoiled teenage brat no one said no to growing up, so now she’s a psychopath. 😒 She got a bit of karma by destroying her own spark, however. 😂

[@maxspecs]

Yeah she’s written like a rock. Stubborn, tough, and not really worth talking to.

[@kelpsie]

I wonder if Nahiri's new anti-planeswalker mentality will fester, leading her to be the next big villain. Maybe she stabilizes the multiverse portals that are apparently popping up now with her lithomancer powers to go on a crusade.

[@davidbrasher3595]

Nahiri keeps being a big villain. Shadows over Innistrad, Zendikar Rising, March of the Machine. It seems likely Nahiri will be a big villain a fourth or fifth time.

[@varsoonhks3211]

Maybe she'll team up with that other artificer who has teamed up with every big bad so far...

[@GRIMHOOD99]

@@varsoonhks3211 Tezzeret: Hello there!

[@tttttttttttttttp12]

Tezzeret: "It's free real estate"

[@Awsomeman328]

13:25 ... so REALLY just the two compleated planeswalkers we knew about THAT GOT THEMSELVES SOME CARDS from the March of the Machine story, ... b/c Tibalt was compleated but never got his card, which I know most people don't care about but my partner's favorite planeswalker is Tibalt and their favorite thing in Magic is the Phyrexians, so the idea that we were going to get a Compleated Tibalt card was fuel for so much hype and the fact that we haven't gotten one is a crime. I know we can still get some more cards in the future that are about characters/events from the past, but to be perfectly honest for me personally the fact that we didn't get more compleated planeswalkers and cards for them, enough to "compleat" either a 10 card two-color cycle or a 15 card one-&-two-color cycle of the "Compleated Planswalkers," is very much upsetting me about the outcome of these last few sets. Don't get me wrong, March of the Machine is probably my favorite set of all time from a "cracking some packs and playing the cards" point of view, it is really fun to both open and play! But taking in the other sets that connect to this one, the outcome of what we were given did not fully meet my expectations, both in terms of narrative and card product. I'd give WotC a passing grade, but they're only passing b/c of everything that is not their ending including half of this epilogue. I like the idea of some planeswalkers losing their sparks and I like that all the planes are more connected now for non-planeswalkers to now travel between the planes, and in mentioning this, I know of someone who actually predicted that WotC was going to somehow shift the focus of their future stories away from the planeswalkers and more onto the legendary creatures b/c of the Commander format, so I guess that person was right and this is their way of doing it. But that being said, it is hard to ignore the contradiction filled outcome that we have gotten from this. It really makes me wish to know how they write their story and if they proof-read each or fact check others' works. Notice it is not "how" but "if," that's how you know we're concerned. Anyway, that's all to say 1) I hope WotC eventually asks for Ryan and others to help proof read their story before they publish it to their online story site so that he and hopefully others could critique and fact check their shit, kind of how they got external comedy writers to help with the flavor text on the Unfinity set. And 2) I have a message to Wizards: "HEY! Give us 8 more Compleated Planewalkers you cowards! Enough to Compleat the 15 card Mono- and Two-Color cycles! And make Tibalt one of them! Either the Mono-Red or Black-Red one!" Probably gunna send this to Gavin Verhey where ever I can, hahaha.

[@gabrielt.harris8885]

I get that Nahiri is a bit paranoid. But all of it just feels like a continuation of the character's bad writing. Additionally the Spark in a box thing feels like such a contrivance.

[@LonelyBlueKnight]

I can’t believe I barely came across this channel, super happy I did! Subscribed. Quality content! Love the lore videos.

[@MagicArcanum]

Glad you found us!

[@aziraphale60]

Everyone is really expecting way too much from Nahiri. It's a wonder she's even mobile. She spent centuries guarding the eldrazi seal on zendikar in relative solitude until she was driven insane by watching everyone she meets grow old and die. She went so far as to cocoon herself so she could hibernate until the alarm signaled. When it did and her allies didn't appear, she dealt with the threat and went in search of Sorin concerned for his safety. On Innistrad he casually explains that the Helvault blocked the signal and that he couldn't be concerned with her plane because he needed to protect his and said to find Ugin. Betrayed by her mentor, and one of the only people she can even vaguely relate to that she knows in the multiverse, she lashed out and Avacyn locked her in the Helvault. For 6000 years. For 6000 years she was tortured by demons, marinated on Sorin's betrayal, and worried that if she ever got out her entire plane would be gone. And you know what? When she got out that's exactly what was happening. She planeswalked to Zendikar and found the Eldrazi devouring her world. In addition, she didn't have the godlike pre-mending powers she once did. None of us can imagine the anguish and impotence. So it's not like she's had time to work through any of this. Her immediate thought was vengeance on Sorin and Innistrad. I mean, while Innistrad was basically innocent, she's absolutely unhinged by now and she was also tortured on that plane for 6000 years so why should she care about it? Then, after finally getting some modicum of revenge on Sorin and trapping him like he trapped her, Sorin is freed by Bolas when he teleports them both to Ravnica. Remember, Nahiri's previous experience with an elder dragon was that he didn't fucking show up and her plane was eaten so now another one took the one of the only things she cares about (her vengeance) away. I'm not sure how long after that she got compleated, but then to add insult to injury she's forced to attack her home twhose defense led to all of her pain? She's forced to betray herself. For 6000 years she's known nothing but pain and betrayal and you want her to trust these INFANTS she's just met? People she can't possibly relate to while the one person she can maybe relate to in teh universe she fucking hates? Nah. She has only legitimate reasons for being the way she is, and while that leaves her the villain in everyone else's stories, expecting better of her is crazier than she is.

[@sunstrid3r44]

She was inprisioned for less than 1200 years, ugin was dead already, but your point stands. I think Nahiri is a amazing character, but a terrible person

[@aziraphale60]

@@sunstrid3r44 oh I was getting the info from the wiki.

[@ICantThinkOfAFunnyHandle]

Nahiri has always been one of my favorite walkers because she feels human. She gets hurt and that hurt actually makes an impact on her unlike the other walkers.

[@sunstrid3r44]

​@@ICantThinkOfAFunnyHandle nahiri is a great way to show how a good person can turn into something different and bitter as the universe and loved ones hurts them. my only real issue with the character is the fact that she didnt got a redemption arc between eldritch moon and zendikar rising and she didnt suffered any consequences for what she did on innistrad.

[@evilpellu]

I think that we can all agree on one point : with the planes now ~slightly~ connected, someone needs to bring Eldrazis to Kamigawa so we can have our Neon Genesis Evangelion set

[@christopherfu2169]

Imagine if Quintorius was among those who lost their spark: Freshly of Plane for the first time and now stuck with noway to leave, I'm only joking naturally, that would make no sense. My first theory what Wizards was gona do regarding which walkers lost their sparks was that all pre mending planeswalkers would lose theirs, but nissa already disproves that.

[@apjapki]

Teferi is pre mending so we knew that from the get go.

[@drakonyanazkar]

The issue with not killing planeswalkers and leaving them hanging around is that it leaves next to no room for cool new planeswalkers. I love Ajani as much as the next guy, but we've had Ajani aplenty. Where is that elephant guy in this story? Why couldn't we get something like a reformed Phyrexian to become a new planeswalker? Anyway... you are a great messenger even when the message itself is rather bland. I love your format and enthusiasm. So I finally subscribed. _Yes, it took a while_

[@MagicArcanum]

GOT'EM.

[@_Mythic777_]

I really hope the events of March of the Machine lead into the return of Bolas. With the holes punched in the Blind Eternities and the mysterious portal that appeared, it's all adding up in a way that could mean the God-Pharaoh is coming back, which I think would be badass honestly

[@umoreira2008]

I agree. WoTC won't keep planeswalkers like Nissa sparkless for long. Somehow they will figure out a way to get the sparks back and maybe Bolas will get his too. Remember Jace is the only one who knows Bolas is not dead. I wonder if he spilt the beans while compleated to someone like Tezzeret.

[@_Mythic777_]

Oh that would be interesting! Plus, with Teferi experiencing time travel to some extent, that opens another door for a resurgence of old enemies. But yeah, I don't think the changes to the main heroes will be permanent. Plus, if Tezzeret ever found out Bolas was still alive, I'm sure some whispers in the back of his head will be urging him to bring back his master. Plus, I'd like to think Bolas was a fan favorite so him coming back would probably rake in tons of cash for WotC which I'm sure they would LOVE

[@GRIMHOOD99]

You mean mortal, sparkless and nameless Bolas, with Ugin around? Wtf would he do? I honestly doubt Bolas will ever be reintroduced as a villain again unless they do some timeline twisting bullshit which is unlikely now that Teferi is sparkless as well. Also I doubt there is any power to the contract of Bolas and Tezzeret remaining and Tezzeret hated Bolas so there is more likely that Tezzeret would try to enslave/kill bolas if he found out he's still alive.

[@animo358]

I.... Still think it's stupid that Nahiri assumed Ajani was there to kill her, but I can kinda understand because of Sorin. That said I don't mind a "No More Planeswalkers" storyline. Sounds actually kinda fun. I still think Zendikar itself could have healed Nahiri, needing a new champion with Omnath being Compleated. I'm hoping Nixilous took over the Maestro. Their leaders been gone the longest and he'd fit into their color scheme already

[@CosmicErrata]

Nahiri's characterization is just... Sad. I'm still rooting for her redemption.

[@ukaszmozejko9984]

Right now, after MOM butchered Elsepth with rushed conclusion she's the only female Planeswalker with decent personality and story arc.I qiess WOTC wants to kill her off soon anyway.

[@apjapki]

She does not deserve a redemption after what she did to Innistrad. She is one of the worst monsters in the Multiverse. She has the blood of thousands on her hands.

[@ukaszmozejko9984]

@@apjapki So does Nissa - sure she relased Eldrazi out if stupidity, not malice. But still disturbing how easily she can avoid any responsibility for her actions.

[@NotAnEvilMastermind]

Yeah... Nahiri's characterisation annoys me quite a bit. She seems to have been reduced to "Is A N G R Y" after the SOI storyline, with most new appearances just making her angrier. Wish we could see more of the character she used to be, like how the original Lithomancer art portrays her as very not-screaming-furiously-to-murder-someone. Heck, even in SOI she's got a more focused vengeance thing going on, with a somewhat lower amount of outright fury than nowadays. But in a way it makes sense, she's old and refusing to adapt to the fact the Zendikar has changed. Old folks being unwilling to adapt to changes is far too accurate.

[@CosmicErrata]

@@NotAnEvilMastermind Having their promise crudely dismissed by her mentor, sealed in a timeless prison for lashing out. It'd drive a person nuts, especially the latter part. I'd bet Nahiri wouldn't have been so pissed if Sorin wasn't such a dick and actually apologized.

[@stateovzehn4292]

I'm probably remembering this incorrectly, as I was pretty young when this set came out, but wasn't there an earlier storyline that involved random portals opening everywhere and various Planeswalkers had to work together to close them? Planar Chaos, I think?

[@MagicArcanum]

Yes, but those portals connected points in time, while the omenpaths now connect points in space, so it's different.

[@apjapki]

There were natural portals in the Multiverse before. On Wildfire and Ulgrotha.

[@MTGJosh]

Frustratingly small wrap up stories but beautifully told. Thank you!

[@realK1]

"Chandra and Nissa dive into a hole" subtle

[@MagicArcanum]

You would not believe how many versions of that I had in my script before I settled on explaining it the way I did.

[@brianseiler9750]

I absolutely agree on the thematic appropriateness of using these two characters to highlight some of the responses toward the catastrophic changes that we've been through, but I do wish that there had been a Tezzeret story as well, because...I mean, come on. We know how he's going to react. He's going to try and find some way to use this to his advantage, because he's the closest thing to a pure villain we've got that isn't asleep in some big floating metal ball or smothered in Ugin in the plane of ultimate boringness. Crisis, opportunity - all that mess. I'm also a little bit shocked that they actually managed to limit themselves just to telling thematically contextual stories this time and not dropping ship bait. We know that we're going to end up on Ixalan shortly (a plane relevant to two walkers people have some concern about) and it would have been trivially easy to write a POV passage for some unknown soul waking up on a beach. I'll reserve my congratulations until I find out what they actually intend to do, but I do admire their restraint. One thing that I do find ironic in that Alanis kind of way is how high and mighty Nahiri has decided to be about planeswalkers wrecking shop in other peoples' houses. She is, after all, the one who tried to do a genocide because she got ghosted by a dude, but when the Eldrazi inevitably return...I mean, they came to Zendikar for a reason, and she couldn't beat them by herself then. Considering the practical circumstances, it looks like the Wizards team is making a pretty clear statement about the way to react to disastrous personal change - let in rather than push out. Whether she likes it or not, Nahiri is going to have to learn to work with other beings of enormous power - probably planeswalkers - when the bill inevitably comes due for that whole Eldrazi business (let's not forget Ugin's warning, which Jace so happily ignored - killing those two titans with fire might have some consequences, particularly now that the Blind Eternities have some holes punched in them). Nahiri has been a character in search of a redemption arc ever since she first set out to murder a bunch of innocents in an act of petty vengeance, so it's interesting to see her take the heel turn yet again and place herself in an antagonistic position toward what we all know is going to have to happen at some point so long as this story is being told.

[@stevendefeo8424]

Thanks for letting me know that you covered Ajani.

[@TheyCallMeDio]

I like the part when Tom Bombadil showed up in the end and said "It's ringin' time!" and started the LoTR collab Truly the most moment of the MTG history

[@Gzilla313]

Does that mean at the end of LotR Doctor Who is gonna show up and say "Allons-y"?

[@C._Bradford]

Yeah, and when Optimus Prime helped urza ignite his all spark to fight Mishratron. Never saw that coming.

[@josueantonio12]

I didn't know how much I neeed this video until I finished it. Thank you Ryan and Nicole!

[@hero1151]

Sorin feeling a distinctive but familiar shiver run down his spine in Innistrad.

[@joshualoiacono5488]

Loved this viewpoint of the stories- awesome video!

[@tmbocheeko]

What do you think about the story facts that LRR gave recently (that were all given to them by the lead for Magic's story, so all should be canon)? The two important and fully new bits of info: The Wanderer lost her spark, but it's actually VERY happy about this fact and is taking time to explore Kamigawa. Light-Paws is still acting as her regent on the throne. Obby Nix was fully intending on staying out of the phyrexian invasion, and just hid out on New Capenna to let it ride out. He was actually surprised that the phyrexians lost, and was even more surprised (and very angy >:[ ) that he lost his ability to Planeswalk AGAIN. He's currently planning to make use of the power vacuum left by basically the entirety of the Maestros dying off. Oh and also they aren't entirely convinced that Vorinclex is dead dead, since he is apparently a "very powerful flesh mage" but all the other praetors are super dead.

[@MagicArcanum]

In my last video (Where does the Magic story come from?) I address the difference between story and lore. The information shared in the LRR video is lore; it is bits of trivia which add to the history of a world, but it's not a story. In that video, I stress that we're here for stories, which take the reader (or player) on a ride, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Being told "The Wanderer lost her spark but she's actually happy about it!" isn't a story, so for now I'm pretty much ignoring it. I don't need more random bits of lore to memorize about everyone's status throughout the multiverse - I want to hear stories, and that's what we talk about on this channel (mostly.)

[@ryanselle3778]

Bound to be a tense meet up on Zendikar !

[@Scaldaver]

March of the Machine: Aftermath (Zendikar edition). Can't wait for the rest of the sets to make up the full set, right WoTC?.. Right?

[@ry7hym]

last time I went through something difficult, I relied on others for advice. I was struggling with my study and eventually decided to switch studies

[@darebrained]

Nissa: - struggles to find her place in the multiverse - wants to come home - wants to be able to move on from the horrors she inflicted Nahiri: - A fucking idiot - If someone ever caves her fuckin' head in with a bottle or something idk the entire multiverse probably will suck them off or something for finally fixing that one

[@MatataMcCleskey]

Great channel. Where is the best place to get the books on magic?I would like to start at the beginning

[@MagicArcanum]

There is a link to the official story page in the description of this video, which holds all the recent free stories. Beyond that, there are a few ebooks out there you can buy, and if you go back far enough you'll find paperback novels, though their quality is all over the place, and their relevance to the modern age of storytelling is debatable.

[@andynelson952]

Great video. Seems the bbeg in MTG is gravity and its penchant for breaking plot devices.

[@thecrimsonkobold]

I feel like it's thematically important to mention that Nahiris spark hedron shattered because she specifically fell into the giant pit of metal she had made: almost like a metaphor of how her focus on Zendikar will be her grave

[@thecrimsonkobold]

Well that and nahiri had a chance to get her spark back and she let her paranoia and anger take over and it cost her that ...

[@mRboylls]

I was sure quintorious would still be a planeswalker since it just happened but I think it would be really interesting if he was completely trapped somewhere.

[@froggouk2]

FUCKING HELL YEAH NEW MAGIC ARCANUM. I'm holed up sick with flu and nurturing a wrist fracture. This made my day! Thanks guys!

[@treyconover4107]

This was an interesting set of stories. Over all I loved the characterization and writing, not having all the answers makes sense for Nissa, but was a bit frustrating for Nahiri. What it really left me with though was wanting more. Only two stories for the fifty cards depicting at least 10 despsparked walkers and we only focus on two of them? Especially with some of them being one we haven't heard from in a long time like Sarkhan/ Narset, Calix, etc. I just wish we'd gotten at least a bit of their perspective since they weren't present in the past set.

[@ulyssesdante5483]

Nahiri: Too angry to die, and too angry to stay completed.

[@jahpocalypse]

mtg stories feel like they're created in a meeting room where everybody pats each other on the back

[@QuixoticCowboy]

when ever i face change i am just Sorin, absolutly inept of dealing with the situation but pretending that i am the only one who knows whats best

[@nathanmikkelson3703]

Here me out…Ajani takes Naheri’s spark and planeswalkes to Dominaria. There, in his quest to make things right, he and others salvage the Weatherlight and fuse it with Naheri’s spark now making it able to traverse the multiverse once more.

[@MagicArcanum]

With the presence of omenpaths, the Weatherlight can already travel between planes once more.

[@felipeguidolin1055]

​@@MagicArcanum wait, they remade the Weatherlight? Wasn't it Compleated?

[@MagicArcanum]

We have to assume the oil corrupting it was also rendered inert, and so the ship itself may be salvageable once again.

[@lysander3262]

Looking forward to the story spotlight of Tiana getting absolutely apoplectic at the state of The Weatherlight, Jhoira rigging up a firetruck full of Halo, and Squee and Slimefoot having fun dousing the whole thing three times over until its shiny again

[@MrZer093]

I’m surprised you didn’t go over the brief mention of them settling that crap of “sorry Nissa, I’m not gay, I like men” thing from the horrid WAR novel. For those who don’t know, Chandra says that she did love Gideon in that way, her love for Nissa evolved and caused her to realize that she loves Nissa that way too but also differently and she wants to explore those feelings and she just needed time to sort through them. Which, honestly? I thought it was an interesting and realistic way of dealing with that since plenty of people go through a similar thing and I’m happy they finally had Nissa and Chandra get together and it’s cute. Not as good as Saheeli and Huatli simply by virtue of the fact that they made robo-dinos together so therefore they are superior to any other couple but still

[@Tonz_of_Fun]

There should have been a story for each of the planeswalkers in aftermath. Like what are Kiora, Sarkhan, Narset, Calix, Samut and Ob Nixilis doing with their plane locked existences now. Or the non former walkers like Niv, Nashi, Jirina and Danitha and how they are getting accustomed to their new lives.

[@Filip-uo2sq]

I wasn't satisfied with how MoM plot turned out. They pulled the "off-screen death of unknown characters" card like they did in War of the Spark. However, as Nahiri's store suggests, planeswalkers now could lose their sparks if they handle it recklessly, which, for me, is interesting plot worth exploring and I'd like to see new planeswalkers gaining spark as well as older lose their sparks.

[@aaron9797]

im going to predict "magic origin 2024" a flashback to march of the machine to see 5 characters become planeswalkers including quintourus

[@Jaebird88]

My personal theory is the Roil played a role in uncompleating Nahiri. Going by the flavor text of Rugged Highlands, I'm willing to bet it factored in cleansing her once the oil became inert.

[@ЗловещийЗловещ]

Slightly off topic, but Vorinklex is alive

[@IzzetNilson]

Honestly surprised there were only two stories. Thought there would be a lot more lol

[@Otacon2099]

nothing sums this "set" more neatly than smalltime lorthos creator Loreseeker "Its like a multi layer FAILURE CAKE"

[@VultureXV]

MoM is where i wish Commodore Guff would take one look at it, remark on how it appears written by a toddler, and then reweites the future with his meta narrative power for something better and more entertaining.

[@Unch0sen1]

Been looking forward to this video!

[@bdellovibrioo5242]

Besides New Phyrexia and Zhalfir, something else that got switched by Realmbreaker's branches is Nissa's and Sorin's roles vis a vis Nahiri.

[@apjapki]

Zendikar Resurgent was already Nissa vs Nahiri.

[@eathonhowell7414]

I've always meant to ask since I started watching these, but what is the outro music you use? There isn't a link to someone else's stuff so did you (the channel) come up with it yourselves?

[@MagicArcanum]

I created it myself using Garage Band. 😎

[@matthewmiller257]

Personally I would have wanted more small stories to show up in this set. Maybe something like the large battle scenes in MOM. Just spend a few short paragraphs on one plane to see how things are going, then switch to another plane to see how they are dealing with it. For example, show the people of Kaldheim still fighting per the norm, but if the battle unearths remains from the phyrexian invasion, everyone stops to move the battle elsewhere or rebury those they have lost. Maybe show inventors on Kaladesh playing around with things to get rid of phyresis using aether. Show how the Golgari are dealing with what happened during the invasion. And in doing all these little snippets of atory, you could then hint at some of the planeswalkers who lost thier spark, like saying "oh that guy over there helping with repairs looks vaugely like Sarkhan." What we have now is just too little for the answers we needed after MOM.

[@GreatgoatonFire]

Nahiri is pretty interesting as a villain/antagonist/fuck-up with her Boros identity.

[@ZackWind]

So do we have any hint where jace went?

[@MagicArcanum]

Absolutely nothing. In this story, we just have Ajani confirming nobody found his body yet, and in the previous story Jace left New Phyrexia without a word so nobody but Elesh Norn knows where he was going or what he was supposed to do.

[@Arthur-ux9ez]

Can't wait the next video, I want to hear about every card! Also, still no Jayce news?

[@YeNguyen]

[Rise of Skywalker voice] somehow, Nahiri has survived

[@liu8716]

I think Nahiri was different before she got betrayed, she knew how to trust other people, right? Nissa is just opposite, she learned it from the days with gatewatch. Perhaps Nissa's gonna be the one who cause Nahiri to get back her faith in trusting other people.

[@dizzi6585]

I wish there was a few more stories. Tyvar'd card has flavor text mentioning that "Today, we become gods again." And I'm curious if he means becoming a plainswalker. If not that, I'm not sure. Edit: also why is Sarkahn on the box art if they aren't gonna talk about him?

[@billquinton5565]

The elves were Kaldheim's gods before the current pantheon. They've been fighting to reclaim that for quite a long while.

[@marcoluciani4790]

Ways to lose your godly powers in MtG: - Get corrupted by a massive multiverse-spanning empire of machine theologists and have your mind get messed up by the cognitive dissonance you feel after being forgiven by the friends you betrayed against your will. - "Oops I fell in a hole" Absolutely no difference in impact or storytelling there WotC, another banger story for a banger character that absolutely nobody hates like Nahiri.

[@siobahnhurley85]

“Over reacting to perceived slights.” You mean like how she over reacted to Sorin not answering her call, because his creation blocked the signal? I think destroying her own spark by mistake was a bit of karma coming to bite her ass.

[@UbrShadow]

MENDING 2, PHYREXIAN BOOGALOO!

[@ptodd5373]

I feel these 50 cards could of just replaced the Multiverse Legends slot in the MOM set and just had the stories release a little after the set released. They then could of released the Multiverse Legends in a mini set like release but also could of added to the number they made. Making it a premium product.

[@anthonydelfino6171]

Just a side bit of info about Nahiri's hands.... since the story is famously retconning all sorts of things... now apparently they didn't outright replace her hands with swords, but the swords were just fused onto her hands. (since you mentioned we don't know how she got her hands back) "She ran a finger along a jagged seam tracing down the outside of her right hand, all the way from the tip of her middle finger to her elbow. There had been a heart of metal in the stone blades grafted onto her hands" Also for a set that was supposed to be all about lore and story and tying up loose ends... everything about this set form the cards to the printed story feels lacking.

[@MagicArcanum]

I mean I know what it says. I can also look at her card art and see there is no way her hands were anywhere in there (everything below the elbow was gone, really.) So I "get it," but I also hate it, because to me the cards are the primary source of the story (they're the thing players will actually interact with, while the written stories are entirely optional, and should supplement the cards, not overturn them)

[@anthonydelfino6171]

@@MagicArcanum I don't disagree, felt like them really not wanting to put any effort into answering the question of how she got her hands back.

[@enmanuelrondon9700]

The sparks dont bother me but I really wish they had to keep some of their cyborg features. Did the phyrexians use plug and play parts so the walkers could just unplug everything when they felt like not being compleated anymore?

[@johanandersson8252]

Ajani: Nahiri i need your help. Nahiri: no

[@sortasurvival5482]

The fact that google offered to translate ur comment and then only adds a comma has got me dying.

[@xanderarens5055]

So do we travel back next year to Zendikar? I mean Nissa, Chandra and Nahiri will perfectly fit with the stories. Also the upcoming product of CM shows us a new Eldrazi (titan?), with all that. We all root for these slimy Eldrazi friends. After all this years. At least I do! I'd love some story around the bffs/lovers and Nahiri. Hopefully Eldrazi soon.

[@PallaDrak]

only 2 stories in the whole set?

[@danilopez8285]

My personal theory is that this "mass despark" is an excuse to turn popular planeswalkers into commanders. Because apparently that's easier than just saying "all planeswalkers can be commanders now!". I mean, you can do it in Arena already, why not in paper MTG?

[@nathanielreichley4640]

Nahiri is an ancient being, who with Sorin and Ugin trapped the eldrazi thousands of years ago. And now she's just a normal person who acts the same way as the rest of the Gatewatch. Such a shame.

[@jacob4920]

So, in a nutshell, Nahiri is still cray-cray. Great. Clearly, some things in Magic's story never change. lol

[@Nernkal]

Every group has a Nahiri. If you don't know who the Nahiri in your group is, it's probably you.

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

A bit upsetting that if everybody gets de-phyrexianized and survives, the only lasting death would be... Tamiyo

[@aliceplanque]

And Lukka but who cares 😏

[@ЗловещийЗловещ]

@@aliceplanque and Tibalt

[@zyibesixdouze4863]

@@aliceplanque Lukka existed for all of 6-ish sets and didn't get any character development despite wotc promising big things. Poor guy, but nobody cares

[@aliceplanque]

@@ЗловещийЗловещ true

[@chandir7752]

Jace and Vraska are dead too, aren't they? At least supposedly?

[@Leevodevo]

So much i don't understand and i usually dont look into the lore that much been but ive playing for over 25 years so id like to think i know a little bit and im a huge phyrexian fan from way back. So. 1. If you can cure the phyrexianization why were so many infected for so long and just considered lost, also wouldnt they have tried to cure elesh norn to end the war? 2. I assumed karn wasnt able to be affected by the oil because how could karn have had the oil drip off of him way back in mirrodin where it took over from a single drop and he wasn't affected then. 3. How is one drop able to restart a new phyrexia but you kill elesh norn and then all of a sudden none of the oil works? Didnt elesh norn become a praetor/leader of the machines because the previous "head" passed away that being yawgmoth? Also isnt yawgmoth technically still alive he is just a plane with different levels now? 5. More

[@MagicArcanum]

1. You can't cure it. Melira sometimes could, but it was costly and difficult and didn't always work. At the very end, it took the combined powers of multiple characters to cure Ajani and Nissa, and that ended up killing Melira. 2. Karn's legacy is long and complicated. While he unwittingly brought oil to Argentum, it wasn't until much later (hundreds, maybe thousands of years) for the plane to become corrupted enough to infect its own creator. At the conclusion of the New Phyrexia story, Karn was cleansed and granted some degree of protection (thanks to Venser sacrificing his own spark, so once again, curing people has a high cost) 3. The environment of Argentum was perfect for the oil to spread and replicate. Over a long time, it got into everything. Elesh Norn came to exist from this oil, but all the phyrexians here grew isolated from Yawgmoth (who was defeated long, long before Elesh Norn came to exist.) The phyrexians here have different desires and different methods of chasing their own goals. Norn, perhaps out of paranoia, or out of a desire to be seen as the ultimate ruler, reprogramed the oil to respond to her wishes. When she died and the plane was phased out, all the other phyrexians were rendered inert.

[@Leevodevo]

@@MagicArcanum word. thanks I was having trouble understanding that part. Like I said if a lone drop of oil was able to rebuild an entire new phyrexia how can all these oil filled machines just go limp on all these planes and they not all be affect. I really wanted to see them use tamiyos knowledge of trapping the eldrazi in the moon and an attempt to phyrexianize the eldrazi. A compleated emrakrul was what MTG lore needed imo LOL woulda been the biggest threat also they wouldn't need the world tree because he can create ridts thru planes as well right?

[@grimtopia4804]

How is it that I remember War of the Spark as being underwhelming and then this somehow tops that in almost every way.